BUS enthusiasts will have a chance to buy an exclusive coloured Christmas card at a meeting on Monday (October 28) being hosted by a group raising money to restore Maidstone's last trolleybus.

The card, produced from artwork by Brian Cannell, is being sold by the group to help the fund-raising effort to restore Maidstone Corporation trolleybus No 72.

The trolleybus carried passengers to and from the town via Loose Road, Sutton Road, and the Tonbridge Road, from 1947 to April 1967. It is now in Sandtoft Transport Centre in Doncaster, where it has been on loan from Maidstone Borough Council since 1987.

However a lot of a repair work is needed to the trolleybus and a small committee was formed in Maidstone two years ago to raise money for that work.

The committee is asking for enthusiasts to help by contributing material to illustrate a forthcoming book celebrating 100 years of public transport in Maidstone. They are being given the chance to offer photographs, slides and film of local trams, trolleybuses, and buses for the proposed book at Monday's meeting which is being held in Maidstone Library Gallery at 7.30pm.

At the meeting, entitled Memories of 72 Evening, people will also have the opportunity to purchase copies of the Christmas card which shows the trolleybus in question, and the former Mill Street bus station, in a seasonal setting.

Proceeds from both the book and the cards will go to The Maidstone Corporation Trolleybus No 72 Restoration Fund.

About £12,000 worth of repairs is needed to restore Maidstone No 72 trolleybus to its former glory.