Ring Of Light 1969 Cine Film

[AdnamsGirl]

It's been a while since I uploaded a film to the Boadland Memories YouTube channel, but the latest addition has gone on this morning ... after a 9 hour overnight upload!

This one dates from 1969 and was filmed during a holiday aboard Herbert Woods "Ring of Light" and it covers both the northern and southern rivers. The film wasn't in the greatest condition, but it is still very watchable. Thanks, as ever, to Video Impact at Loddon for kindly digitizing this for me. I couldn't possibly put all of these films out there without their generosity.

The very beginning of the film does throw up a bit of a puzzle as it is filmed from a different boat - it's not a Woods burgee either. My best guess is that perhaps the previous hirers hadn't made it back to the boatyard and the holiday party were taken to Great Yarmouth to collect Ring of Light as, from there on they are aboard Ring of Light. I don;t suppose we'll ever know! It's another interesting addition to the archive ... I was stunned to see the amount of foam coming out of the Whitlingham sewage works outlet .... and how many swans were there on Hickling Broad - goodness me! It's just over 24 minutes long, so make yourself a cuppa, or pour yourself a beer or a glass of wine, sit back and enjoy!

 

 

Carol

[Timbo]

The blue and white burgee at the beginning of the film is a Landamore burgee I think.

[AdnamsGirl]

I think you're right Tim.

Which might actually fit in with my theory. Herbert Woods was owned by the Caister Group at this time - the Caister group had bought the Jenners fleet in 1968 who had, themselves, bought Landamores Vesta and Vestella cruisers the previous year.

 

Carol

[Vaughan]

Thank you very much for that Carol.

The flag at the beginning is indeed Landamores and I think I recognise the foredeck as one of the Velanda class, which were the the last hireboats that they built. I knew these boats quite well as I delivered them from Wroxham to Thorpe when Jenners bought them in the late 60s.

Lots of old hire boats on view and I can put a name to a lot of them! Also the Iron Bridge in Yarmouth, of course, which used to carry the M&GN railway towards the old Breydon swing bridge, which is now the Breydon road bridge. I also noticed the old Wayford bridge before they re-built it.

Timbo's scan of the Blakes boatyards is pretty old, and shows the Blakes flag without the vertical word "Blakes" in the hoist. You can also see this in the film. It also shows Trumans as a Blakes yard, which was long ago!

Nice shot of the old Red House at Cantley and also what I assume is Hardley Flood. I was especially interested in the shot of a coaster going past the moorings at Beauchamp Arms. He has the tide under him and has taken the bend far too wide, to the extent that he may well go aground before he gets round. You can see the moored hire boats being "sucked" away from the moorings by the squat effect and this would often snap their mooring lines.

In one of my mother's old films that you have posted, called "a launching and a sinking", we can now see why the old Four of Hearts got squashed flat by a coaster on these very moorings.

 

[Vaughan]

Incidentally, the "A" in the Blakes flag stood for association. The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Yacht Owners Association, which was the co-operative of broads boatyards marketed by Blakes Ltd, which was a non profit making company. Any profit at the end of the season was passed back to members as a dividend.

There was also the BOA (Broadland Owners Association) who were the boatyards marketed by Hoseasons, but in this case Hoseasons was an independent travel agency, which charged its members a flat rate commission. As far as I know that is still the case.

[Broads01]

As ever Vaughan, your knowledge is a real asset to the forum. 

I also enjoyed the film, thanks Carol. As always with historic films, there is a fascinating blend of views that have changed completely, views that have changed a bit and views which haven't changed in the slightest! Ludham Bridge looked slightly different at the top, perhaps the road and railings have been strengthened since then. The view going downstream under the bridge however looked very much unchanged. 

Carol - is it definitely dated 1969? I only ask because on the basis of the vehicles, the clothing and the absence of any GRP boats it looked more like early-mid 1960s.

[Vaughan]

3 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Carol - is it definitely dated 1969? I only ask because on the basis of the vehicles, the clothing and the absence of any GRP boats it looked more like early-mid 1960s.

Very good point. Landamores for instance, had already been sold to Jenners by then, in 1966.

[Vaughan]

The oldest Blakes Catalogue that I have is 1964 and that shows the Blakes flag with the word Blakes in the hoist, but the flag flown on a yard in the film is just the plain "A" flag. It might have been an old one, of course!

The catalogue also shows the flags of 43 member boatyards, just for Blakes alone.

There are no GRP boats in the catalogue, but the Wilds Caribbean, of course, was Hoseasons. I think they were built in that year. The Landamore Velanda is shown as a new boat, in building for that season.

So my bet would 1964 or 65.

[LizG]

I only got as far as Wayford Bridge before the Norfolk WiFi dropped out. I thought the railway bridge in Yarmouth was beyond the yacht station and now would be half way? Not at home as tricycle tomorrow so can't post my picture but its on an ancient thread. Liz

[AdnamsGirl]

6 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Carol - is it definitely dated 1969? I only ask because on the basis of the vehicles, the clothing and the absence of any GRP boats it looked more like early-mid 1960s.

The film was certainly labelled as being 1969, although you have an interesting point. I didn't have any other information with it as it came via auction. It's always sad when these things are orphaned away from their original owners/ families.

The clothing - they were two middle aged/ older couples who may not have been up to date with the latest fashions. I go by photos of my parents in law in the 1960s here, whose clothes in 1969 didn't look a lot different to what they were wearing in 1964

I usually get Kev on the case where dating cars is concerned as he tends to be rather good at it and is often a great help with photos where cars are seen. I'll get him to have a look at the film again. I'm pleased that people have enjoyed it though.

 

Carol

[Arthur]

1 hour ago, w-album said:

I only got as far as Wayford Bridge before the Norfolk WiFi dropped out. I thought the railway bridge in Yarmouth was beyond the yacht station and now would be half way? Not at home as tricycle tomorrow so can't post my picture but its on an ancient thread. Liz

Not had  a chance to watch the film yet but there were two rail bridges as you came into yarmouth from the north.

The first was about half way  down the yacht station and used to carry the line to Yarmouth Beach  Station.

(This was removed some years ago)

There was then the road bridge followed by Vauxhall bridge which carried the rail line to the docks.

I can recall that at the Yacht Station, moorings above the rail bridge were for yachts and those downstream of it for cruisers.

 

[LizG]

It would be worth checking Blake's catalogues to see when Ring of Light disappeared from hire. 1969 would have been quite late for the old ones but some did hang on...

[AdnamsGirl]

I had checked it out on Craig's database and he has Ring of Light as being with Herbert Woods until 1971. I must admit that I haven't checked brochure entries to confirm this but will do so when I get the chance.

 

Carol

[Vaughan]

12 minutes ago, AdnamsGirl said:

had checked it out on Craig's database and he has Ring of Light as being with Herbert Woods until 1971. I must admit that I haven't checked brochure entries to confirm this but will do so when I get the chance.

This does not surprise me as HW still carried on as a company in those days, although under different ownership - The Caister Group.

Hire fleets (but not yards) such as Landamores, Windboats and Dawncraft were bought by Jenners in 1966 and started to appear in Jenners fleet during the 1967 and 68 seasons.

The Jenners fleet were shortly after bought by the Caister group and were either re-located to Horning (Southgates) or Potter Heigham, or were sold off privately.

The Broads was going through another of its deep recessions in those days, and these were times of great change for the business.

 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Vaughan said:

The oldest Blakes Catalogue that I have is 1964 and that shows the Blakes flag with the word Blakes in the hoist, but the flag flown on a yard in the film is just the plain "A" flag. It might have been an old one, of course!

The catalogue also shows the flags of 43 member boatyards, just for Blakes alone.

There are no GRP boats in the catalogue, but the Wilds Caribbean, of course, was Hoseasons. I think they were built in that year. The Landamore Velanda is shown as a new boat, in building for that season.

So my bet would 1964 or 65.

If the video shows Ranworth Church with a partially thatched roof, that would date it 1965 or before

[BroadAmbition]

Thanks Carol, enjoyed that very much.

Nice to see decent airdraft at PHB, just how I remembered it as a young lad when you could sometimes take a small dinghy through the side arches.  Oh for a return to the days when the lower Bure was constantly dredged by grab buckets either side of the river.

Also good to see so many proper boats afloat both Stinky's and Rag-n-Sticks, none of your tupperware in them days.

Griff

[MauriceMynah]

Oi, Tupperware don't get woodworm! 

[Timbo]

13 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

Oi, Tupperware don't get woodworm! 

What oh fellow idiot!

Oofy Prosser was only saying the other day 'how do I make my Tupperware seem decidedly boaty? Could you get your man to help?'
'Hewing the wood and sailing the old wet stuff and so forth? I asked.
'Quite' he answered
So here it bally well is by Jove! A guide to making your Tupperware all ship shape and spanky like a proper boat, don't cha know!

Get your man to take a big knife and a rule, and gouge some nice straight lines into the side of your plastic...really dig through that jelly coat stuff, but not too far. Now take a very small drill and simulate your woodworm by drilling some holes into the tub. Next, seal up all those leaky metal windows. Then apply varnish, lots of flags, several bottles of gin and get ready for visitations from appreciative ample deck totty ready to admire your woody, old boy. Failing that, I soft soaped Aunt Agatha to buy me a jaunty gentleman's cruiser.
Tickety Boo! 


 

[Springsong]

Carol a great film I enjoyed it a lot.

The opening scene with the steering wheel was definitely a Vesta as was the boat at the Beaucham arms moorings

Sorry Vaughan I think the forward view over the foredeck was also a Vesta. Just my view of course.

[grendel]

you can get those tools that simulate wood grain in a varnish type finish, that might add some authenticity.

Alternatively take some timber - bend up some wooden ribs for the inside, once that is done, go along and remove all that nasty tupperware and replace it with good honest timber.

[Chelsea14Ian]

Just watched it took me back.Had a few holidays in the mid sixties as a child.Cant remember the dates as such.Must have been around the same time.Always remember seeing the coasters.The next time I went in 1974 with my mother from Loddon ,on a boat I think was called Capril.Never been able to find out any information about the yard.

Ian 

[Vaughan]

12 minutes ago, springsong said:

Sorry Vaughan I think the forward view over the foredeck was also a Vesta. Just my view of course.

Well you would know that one better than me, Barry!

[NorfolkNog]

Flowers Keg Bitter! I bet that was good stuff!

Seriously fantastic film Carol, many thanks for sharing - and hats off to Video Impact too!

I watched it a few days ago but our ISP is rubbish so I've now downloaded the film and I can watch it at leisure and go through it in some detail. I downloaded a very handy little programme called Free You Tube Downloader and it works very well. Once on the hard drive you can watch is as often as you like without affecting the bandwidth.

[AdnamsGirl]

Really pleased that you've all enjoyed the film.

Sorry for the delay in responding. I've had the chance to look through the film again now. It does feature Ranworth Church and it is indeed still thatched which, certainly would date it to the early 1960s. Why both the Landamores cruiser and Ring of Light appear .. perhaps the party hired two boats? Strange ... as is the date of 1969 wfitten on the film ! That will teach me to rush through editing without doing z bit more research! 

I can change the date  in the title on YouTube but can't change the title on the film itself without re-editing and uploading it again. Bother!

Thanks to everyone for your comments and help with this. Much appreciated as always.

Carol

[AdnamsGirl]

Aha - sorted (I think). I have  nipped off the beginning of the film with the erroneous title and have updated everything else. It is still editing itself on YouTube so may show the original for a little while ... hopefully I have actually deleted the right part of the film!

 

Thanks again

 

 

Carol