Skills, the famous Nottingham coach company, is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. DAVID LOWE reports

SKILLS, a company rooted in Nottingham, is proud of its track record delivering excellent passenger service for 90 years. Though the firm's early history makes fascinating reading, it reveals a distinctly fishy start – in the nicest possible sense.

Arthur Skill founded the firm in Radford in 1919 by using his only lorry, to collect fish from the early morning market, followed by light haulage work during the day.

A roadside encounter with men walking to work from Radford prompted him to launch his first passenger service.

Using the same lorry he was soon carrying miners to Bestwood Colliery and in 1921 he bought a Crossley charabanc – Skills' first true bus.

A workers' service to the Celanese factory at Spondon was followed in 1927 by services to Bridlington and Scarborough, and later to Mablethorpe, Skegness, Cleethorpes, and Southend-on-Sea.

From 1937 onwards, the purchase of other operators at various times, added colliery services to Bilsthorpe and Gedling, stage carriage services to East Bridgford and Bestwood, shop premises on Alfreton Road, and a picking-up point and booking office on Derby Road, Nottingham.

Skills Holidays, the trading arm of Skills Motor Coaches, became a limited company in 1958.

Nigel Skill, grandson of the founder, began work with the family business while at still at school.

During school holidays he and his four brothers and sister helped clean the coaches and then saw them off from Skills' bus station at the bottom of Derby Road.

As a teenager Nigel cycled from his home in Blidworth to earn pocket money cleaning coaches, leaving home at 4am.

His father Stuart Skill, who by then was running the firm, insisted they all learned to drive early and at ten years of age, Nigel would manoeuvre coaches around the depot for washing.

Nigel Skill bought the firm in 1987 to become managing director.

Continental tours were introduced in the late 1970s.

Since 1986 when de-regulation was introduced, Skills has concentrated on the coaching side of the industry, investing in a first class fleet of modern vehicles and offering luxury coach holidays ranging from day trips and weekend breaks to extensive tours of Europe and beyond.

For the firm's 80th anniversary staff raised more than £26,000 for charity in six months.

In May, 2002, Skills Motor Coaches, moved to a new, larger headquarters building, garage and workshops, bringing to an end the company's long association with the city's Radford district.

Mrs Sylvia Skill, daughter-in-law of the founder Arthur Skill and mother of two of today's directors, cut the first turf in a ceremony to mark the start of work on the £1.5 million development.

The new premises on Seller's Wood Drive, Bulwell, became necessary to house Skills' growing fleet of luxury coaches, provide a single location for office, administration and call centre as well as paint and workshop areas, and parking.

The company changed its name to Skills Holidays to co-incide with the relocation.

In 2008, Skills took over the business, vehicle fleet and contracts of Motorvation, the Colwick-based private hire and contract hire carrier.

The company began its 90th birthday celebrations in January by hosting a party weekend in Harrogate for 250 people, giving customers a chance to meet the staff behind Skills Holidays.

During the weekend managing director Nigel Skill introduced his team and outlined how Skills Holidays was backing the £500,000 Maggie's charity appeal to build a £3m specialist cancer care centre at Nottingham City Hospital.

Throughout their anniversary year, Skills Holidays and sister travel company Coachstyle, will organise a collection on each coach tour to raise cash for Maggie's.

Drivers will be running a hand car wash at the firm's Bulwell garage to coincide with Skills' open day in April. And Nigel Skill intends to cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End.