Fiveways Wilf continues his adventure on Brighton bus

Wilf, a fluffy Persian cat belonging to the Burley family, became a local celebrity as his adventures around Fiveways were shared on social media.

Fiveways Wilf, who has almost 3,000 fans from around the world on Facebook, passed away last October, but now continues his adventure on the number 46 bus – with a group of feline friends.

Brighton and Hove Buses has redesigned the whole bus to feature cat designs in the windows of the double decker.

Carole Richmond, Brighton and Hove Buses’ marketing manager, said: “We’d named the first of our buses after a cat and in response to social media requests, the natural next step was to dedicate the whole space to cats in the same way as we’d done with our doggy bus. Now we have the purr-fect complement to it.”

The cat designs were done by local artist Mike Dicks who also illustrated the bus company’s doggy bus.

A couple of cat outlines have been left blank for customers to send in pictures of their pet felines as part of a competition to win an illustration of their cat on the bus – to be launched in July. The winning cats will be announced after a short paws on International Cat Day on August 8.

Wilf’s owner Johanna Burley said: “It was a real honour that Brighton and Hove Buses chose to put Wilf’s name on a bus shortly after his death in October, but now to have Mike’s artwork to complete the theme really is rather phenomenal. I’m being stopped in the street by people grinning and telling me they’ve just come home from work on ‘Wilf’s bus’! Wilf had a wonderful ability to make people smile and I’m so pleased that his bus does the same.

“Since Wilf’s passing in October, we had a Christmas Open House which raised just over £4,000 for Lost Cats Brighton, bringing the total raised in his name to £5,500. Not bad for a cat, eh?! He really does have a very supportive and generous community of followers.

“As an aside – I’ve still never actually been on the bus! I came close but it’s often used as the bus in service during the school run and so sails past the Fiveways stop completely full and unable to take aboard any more passengers. However, I’ve seen it around town and smiled a little smile at how my beloved Wilf still gets to adventure in spirit. He was such an amazing chap and I miss him every single day.”