The Royal Bath and West of England Society is a charitable society founded in 1777 to promote and improve agriculture and related activities around the West Country of England. Based at the Royal Bath and West of England Society Showground near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, the society is a registered charity in England and Wales (no. 1039397).

Nowadays the society offers a variety of services relating to agriculture and veterinary science including public and professional events, seminars and advice, scholarships, and a marketplace for countryside products.

Foundation

In 1775 Edmund Rack, a draper and the son of a labouring weaver, moved from his native Norfolk to the city of Bath. Despite his modest upbringing Rack had developed interests both in literature and agriculture, and especially the application of modern methods to farming. He was struck on his arrival by the poor standard of agricultural practise in the West Country, and in a series of letters to the Farming Magazine and the Bath Chronicle argued that it was in the interest of all involved to make a concerted effort to improve productivity.

Wessex Bus is a bus operator in the West of England.

History

In June 2007 the bus side of the South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach was purchased by Rotala subsidiary Flights Hallmark trading as Wessex Connect. The purchase included 68 buses and was completed in stages until 31 March 2008, this being dictated by Bristol City and South Gloucestershire Councils needing to approve the transfer of the routes.

In September 2011 Wessex moved into a new depot which was a specially converted former timber yard on St Andrew's Road, Avonmouth. The move allowed Wessex to set up a new regional head office for the south west operations where all the maintenance requirements could be met. The previous depot, which was owned by South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach, was operating at near full capacity following the growth of both businesses.

Wessex Star

A major contract included with the purchase of South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach was the University of the West of England (UWE) Student Shuttle services. The UWE Flyer service was one of the first routes that Wessex Connect ran for South Gloucestershire, and soon after the Student Shuttle and Bower Aston shuttle. From September 2007 UWE in conjunction with Rotala developed a network of routes based around linking the satellite campuses of Bower Ashton, St Matthias and Glenside, with Frenchay campus and student accommodation on a cost contract basis. The services were branded as Ulink, to provide a new high-quality low-cost bus service for students and staff.