[Broadland Memories]

Hi Neil

It will be available for sale via the Broadland Memories website . No, there is no marketing strategy ..... this isn't intended to be a money making venture with a large production run. My main interest is just to get this fascinating stuff out there for people to share. Yes, I will have to charge for the DVD but all I am really concerned about is recouping the costs involved to me in buying and getting the film transferred (which isn't cheap!). IF it turns a profit in the end then that will all just get ploughed back into the site as I said before. I do bid on old photos etc. when they crop up on Ebay, but there are so many keen collectors out there that I generally have to let things go because I don't have the funds available to compete with the big boys! The sad thing is, that the vast majority of it then just ends up in private collections and is never seen again. I don't even want to think about what I've spent out over the last few years on buying photos, films, books for research etc!

The hours I put into working on the site don't even come into it .... it's done because it's a labour of love and I'm just passionate about making as much of Broadland's history available to view online as possible. I would just like to be in a position where the website is approaching being self financing in respect of being able to purchase some of the more historically interesting material which comes up for sale every now and again. Cine film like this doesn't crop up very often at all, but it is such a valuable and fascinating record of Broadland's past which really brings the history of the area to life. Old film can deteriorate badly over the years and I think it is so important to try and preserve it digitally for the future. You can tell a lot from photos and from people's written accounts (and I am always excited when someone sends me something new), but to see moving footage of what, in this case, was a family holiday from a time when the boat hire industry was really beginning to boom and was opening up to a wider cross section of the public is just so amazing.

On a similar note ..... there was a news article in the EDP this week which reported that the East Anglian Film Archive's future is in doubt with the latest goveenment spending cuts to education. It would be absolutely criminal if funding for this hugely important work is stopped!

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/questions_over_future_of_east_anglian_film_archive_1_785254

Carol

[Broadland Memories]

Oh bless you Howard ... thank you! Glad that you are finding it interesting as it is often just a lot of rambling on my part - the blog is a useful tool for making some notes for myself about it all!

The help from Clive was in regard to the stills of the Oulton Broad launches which I posted on here on another thread, and he identified for me (with the help of Dad!). I know I keep raving about it on the blog, but it is just such a fascinating bit of film and I am so excited about it! It really does capture the essence of what a family boating holiday was all about in the 1930s .... and it is in pretty good condition considering it is now 80 years old.

Yes .... the plan is to release it as a DVD on the website once it is finished as there is about 40 minutes of footage .... but it may take several months to get done as I want to add period music and some commentary ..... yikes!! Once I have recouped the costs of buying the film and having it transferred, any profits made will get ploughed back into the website to help with running costs and, hopefully, it will enable me to buy any further cine films or photographic collections which come up for sale.

I am currently working on a trailer of clips which I will attempt to upload to YouTube at some point over the next week or so. In the meantime watch the EDP website as I was contacted by one of their reporters last week who had discovered the blog and asked if they could do an article on the film and the archive. It should be on there in next week (I think) along with a very short ****** of film clips which I put together for them ...... trying to condense 40 minutes worth of film down into 30 seconds wasn't easy!! I am hoping that it might eventually lead to discovering who this family actually were as I would dearly love to know, and I think the article might be running in the Yorkshire Post too ..... so I am keeping my fingers crossed that someone recognises them.

Thanks again

Carol

[The Pleasure Beach - Gt Yarmouth]

Ok ... a little bit tenuous ... but thousands of boating holidaymakers must have visited the Pleasure Beach over the years whilst moored at Great Yarmouth. I came across a fantastic Flikr collection of old photographs whilst searching for info on something else. Some date back to the early 1900s but there are quite a few from the 1960s/70s/80s and 90s within there too along with some fascinating info behind the rides.

I have vivid memories of the Sky Wheels and the Rotor from the late 1970s early 1980s !!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32335433@N07/

Carol

[Dissapearing Shops]

Here's another one for you ... this was A.L.Parkinson's Yacht Provisions store and cafe which stood beside the river at Ludham Bridge, pictured c1930s ..... it looks rather different there today! I don't actually know anything about this place, or when it disappeared ..... maybe Nigel (Woodwose) can help?

Carol

[Broadland Memories new web site]

The Broadland Memories Blog has moved .... if you have it saved in your favourites then please click on the link below and resave it, or go to it via the link on the BM Home page.

There seems to have been sufficient interest in it over the last couple of months to continue the blog, so I have been looking into ways of self hosting it which means that I will have full control of the content and the site, and will hopefully also make it easier for visitors to leave coments. (Although they will be moderated! ). I hadn't actually planned to do it just yet, but whilst waiting for the new web design software to arrive I looked into using WordPress .... I downloaded it on Tuesday and managed to get it all set up and working in a day. Yestrerday I managed to import all of the exisiting blog posts across from Blogger, with a little bit of tweaking, and it seems to be running OK. I had hoped to spend a little more time getting to know the software and learning how to customise it further, but have really been forced into going live with it today as, ironically, I discovered some major display issues with Internet Explorer in a post I put on Blogger last night. It appears to be yet another png problem but was affecting both IE7 and IE8 on a friends PC. I deleted the post from Blogger and I give up! Blogger seems to be full of bugs and quirks and WordPress has been a little more straightforward to use. It looks rather different but I'm sure I'll get used to it!

The new URL is: http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/blog/

Our postie delivered the new web design software this morning so I will be looking into installing that and hopefully getting the main website up and running in it over the next week, so that I can hopefully address the IE8 display issues. If there are any display issues in the WordPress blog then I shall scream!!!!

Carol

[A Place in History]

The EDP seem to keep mucking around with their URL's .... it's very annoying! The new link for the Place In History section can be found here:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/norfolk-life/norfolk-history

Carol

[Dissapearing Shops]

Whilst going through the various bits and bobs that I have stored on my PC I came across this photograph of Lant's Stores at Horning which dates from the very early 1960s. I'd completely forgotten that I'd got it !!

Carol

[broadlander]

Hi Steve and welcome.

The thread title is bound to catch Terry's eye and I'm sure he'll be able to give you more info ... in the meantime you might like to check out his thread full of photos of Richardson's fleet in the 1960s which I think has photos of Broadlander 1:

http://www.thenorfolkbroads.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4080

Are you currently restoring her?

Carol

[Broadland Memories new web site]

You are very kind Strowager .... the concept of having a "specialist" website does sound a bit dodgy though! It's always nice to get some positive feedback (which thankfully it mostly is) although the website does still have it's knockers because of the software I use and the "messy" code it produces. In fact somewhere on the web BM is hailed as being a prime example of how not to build a web page!

But it works for me, and hopefully the majority of people who visit, and I wouldn't have been able to do what I have done any other way. The main thing is that it's all out there for people to see, and as I have always said, it's the womderful contributions from everyone who has sent me photographs and memories etc. which make it what it is.

Many thanks Howard - I can't claim credit for how the blog is presented though as I just used one of their off the shelf templates!

As I said, I don't know how this one will work out .... I am often sent photographs which may take me a while to get onto BM, possibly because of the research/ cleaning up etc needed, or maybe because I am not updating the relevant gallery immediately. Sometimes there are some wonderful images amongst them, or some puzzles, or an important event in Broadlands history and I would love to be able to post them on one of the forums, but don't have permision. I am hoping that with the blog I may be able to do that there instead and can hopefully get some feedback or more information on the images. I have been planning on doing away with the mystery page on BM as, to be honest, I haven't really made much use of it .... the blog will hopefully fill that gap too. I also make copious scribbled notes when I am researching photos, but have no real system for filing them! The blog will also be a sort of notebook for me as it is fully searchable ... in fact I can also include the blog in the main BM search button so that it will search both sites with one hit! There are likely to be the odd photos/ postcards, or bits of information which may never make it onto the main website so hopefully it will just increase the resource.

A prime example of the sort of thing I want to add arrived in my inbox yesterday. I was sent a lone photo which was taken in 1965 on a Broads holiday ...... it shows the thatched roof of the Ferry Inn at Horning ablaze! The chap had an interesting story to accompany the photo too. Now, obviously, this will end up in the 1960s gallery on BM, but I have some 80s/90s photos, and a three or four collection of photos from 1900-1930s to add before I can even think about updating the 60s gallery again. With the blog, I can at least get some of these historic images out there straight away (Horning picture added a few minutes ago!).

Anyway, many thanks for all your support ... it is greatly appreciated!

Carol

[Broadland Memories new web site]

Hi all

This is somewhat of an experiment as I don't know how much interest there will be really, but I have decided to start a Broadland Memories Blog: http://broadlandmemories.blogspot.com/

It will run alongside the main website to let people know about latest website updates, new submissions and give sneak previews of photos and other items which will be added to BM in the future, as well as providing a place where I can link to other interesting web pages, photos videos, news items etc online which relate to Broadland's history. I don't really have the time or space to be able to do this sort of thig on the main website so thought I'd give blogging a try! There is no link to the blog from the BM website at present, but I will try and sort that out later. I was quite surprised by how easy it was to set it all up and it's incredibly quick to add new posts ( once I'd finally got my head round how to customise the blog page!).

Anyway, I'll see how it goes ... if there is little interest or takes up too much time then it can all be deleted at the press of a button!

Carol

[British Pathe Historic Broads Films]

This is just superb! The fine art of dwile flonking at the Wherry Inn Geldeston as filmed by Pathe in 1967 ..... ensure you have the sound turned up for the commentary!

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=2265

Carol

[Historical Odds & Ends]

Aha!

Googling "Bleriot Firefly" has led me to the name B.C. Hucks (which I can now see is the name written underneath the wing!) who apparently toured the country giving aerial displays at this time ... more on him here: http://www.earlyaviators.com/ehucks2.htm

Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction by identifying the plane. I also found a clip of him on the British Pathe website: http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=52150

Howard - from what I have read, I believe that the pilots of this first raid on Yarmouth were told to target miltary bases and industrial buildings. It also said that the zeppelins flew at quite a high altitude and were out of the reach of the aircraft of the day. As the war progressed, I believe that aircraft were developed that could successfully shoot down the enemy airships. ... I'm sure that someone with a lot more knowledge on the subject will be able to confirm or put me straight on this! As I said, I really haven't had the time to delve too deeply into it all so my knowledge is extremely limited.

Carol

[Historical Odds & Ends]

That looks like the aircraft ... I look forward to hearing more about it. It would have presumably caused quite a bit of excitement at the time?

Howard ... I might have had a couple of beers and a glass of wine or two at Goodwwod!

Moving on a few years - I haven't really had the time to delve too deeply into the history of the area during WW1 but came across these postcards a while ago. They show the bomb damage caused by the Zeppelin raid on Great Yarmouth on the night of the 19th January 1915. I hadn't realised at the time that this was actually the first Zeppelin raid on Britain during WW1 - London's first attack didn't occur until May 1915. The Emperor apparently forbade attacks initially on London as he had concerns for the Royal family to whom he was related.

On the morning of the 19th January 1915 two zeppelins took off from their base in Germany and made their way, silently, across the sea to the east coast - the L3 headed towards Great Yarmouth whilst the L4 continued on to Kings Lynn. At around 8.25pm the first bomb was dropped on Yarmouth, the crew dropped several more as the airship made it's way across the town. Many buildings were damaged and two people lost their lives in the town that night. Over the next two years, the zeppelins became a familiar sight in the skies above the east coast and London - there were no warnings, no sirens, and no air raid shelters. Policeman blew their whistles to warn of an iminent attack and people were advised to stay indoors and hide underneath tables or in cellars. The following set of postcards show the aftermath of that first raid.

Carol

[Historical Odds & Ends]

Hi all .... back from my sabbatical! (Actually ... it was called building walls, laying paving and freezing my bits off in a tent for the Goodwood Revival weekend!)

I have a few interesting old postcards and photos which I have yet to do anything with yet and thought some of them might be of interest. The first shows quite an historic event .... this was the fire which destroyed Britannia Pier at GY in December 1909. The original wooden pier was opened in 1858 but had it's length reduced by 50ft just a year later when a schooner collided with it (you know what these salty bottoms are like! ). It apparently suffered a second collision in 1868 which took away a bit more. In 1901 it was replaced with a new pier constructed out of steel and wood, and the 2500 seater grand pavillion was built. The pavillion was destroyed in the fire you see below. A new Brittania pier opened in 1910, but just four years later it suffered the same fate as its predecessor when it too burnt to the ground. The third pavillion managed to last through WW2, although the pier alledgedly had a hole blown in it during WW2 as a precaution against enemy planes landing! In 1954 the pier and its building were destroyed by yet another fire ... the current pier was opened in 1958.

Staying with Britannia Pier .... at the entrance to the pier which was destroyed in 1909 was a helter skelter which, as seen in the postcatd below dated 1906, charged 1d per mat. It will probably look vaguely familiar to most people on here ..... after the fire the remains of the helter skelter were moved to Potter Heigham, the middle section becoming a holiday cottage and the top an outside toilet. "Dutch Tutch" is now probably one of the most photgraphed buildings on the Broads!

Off to Norwich in 1912 .... this one is a complete mystery to me and I would love to know more about it! All I can tell you is that is labelled as being "The Flying Man". It looks as though the name of the aircraft may possibly be Firefly. I can't read what the notice poster says, but the writting on the plane tells us the "The public are requested not to touch". There also appears to be a name written under the wing? If anyone knows anything about this event or who the flying man was then please do tell!!

Carol

[Active And Afloat]

I should add ... with what is effectively £1,000 to spend on boat then you could get a free weeks holiday by booking this way ... but it is a boat that would probably cost you £600 if you booked direct. If I had enough for a completely free week then I'd probably go for it ... but they keep having special offers to double up your vouchers for wine and clothes so the vouchers disappear!

Carol

[Active And Afloat]

Hi Simon

I looked into this last year as I too had amassed a good few Tescos vouchers .... the prices I found were considerably more expensive than booking the same boat through Blakes or Hoseasons (whichever Le Boat are with!). In the end, the savings made didn't seem that great a deal even though my £100 worth of vouchers would have taken £400 off the price .... if memory serves me right, the cheapest boat they had would still have cost me around another £300 -£400 on top .... and that was for an October week !

Carol

[Pacific Grayling]

It certainly does look very good! I think Richard was hoping that it might prove to be quite popular as an out of season hire.

Does anyone know what the air draft on these is?

Carol

[Pacific Grayling]

Hi Simon

I would imagine that it is the boat I mentioned in this thread:

http://www.thenorfolkbroads.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7530#p104180

Good to hear that it is now up and running.

Carol

[womack water]

The Ashby's home was "Morning Flight" ... MGB 56 .... seen below from c1964.

Carol

[womack water]

Hi

The postcard is of Womack Boats which was situated a little way down from the Staithe ... this is an advert for them from 1974:

Coincidently, W661 (the second Sir Tristram) began life as Classic Safari which was part of Hamptons fleet at Oulton Broad and was the boat which my brother-in-law hired for his Broads holiday in 1966.

Carol

[Broads History and Old Photos websites]

Yikes !!! My apologies ... that's what comes when you type in haste and don't read it through before hitting the submit button !!

It has been duly edited!

Carol

[Broads History and Old Photos websites]

I posted a link to the Foxearth Society website earlier in this thread as they have a collection of transcribed newscuttings from old Beccles newspapers which cover the 18th and 19th centuries.

I revisited the site a couple of days ago as I was searching for info on something, and got rather distracted by a fairly new addition of newspaper transcriptions relating to Beccles during the years of WW2. They provide an absolutely fascinating glimpse into a Suffolk town in wartime - both in the preparations made in the months leading up to the declaration of war, the war itself and the aftermath. There are some incredible little snippets of news amongst these ..... preparations for evacuees should war come and the speed at which the country mobilised that evacuation within the first week of the war. There was notice of the old wine vaults in Hungate (now a restaurant) being converted into a air raid shelter, people being fined for being concienscious objectors or flouting blackout rukes. Notices about rationing .... etc. .. etc. There are also a few amusing bit and bobs ... like the market trader who was fined £35 for selling over priced hairpins and combs!

If you have an hour or two to spare then it is quite interesting stuff!

http://www.foxearth.org.uk/BecclesWartimeYears.html

Carol

[Some availability for the summer...]

Checking their online availability, Pacific Cruisers at Loddon also appear to have some boats still available during August (and a few this month) for those who want to avoid the crowds and explore the beautiful southern rivers.

http://www.pacificcruisers.co.uk/

Carol

[holiday homes]

i know not for 12 in one lodge but in two then it might be a little cheaper

Unfortunately, I don't think it works like that. Much the same as with hiring boats ... you will probably pay more for two cottages that each sleep 6 people in than you will for one that sleeps 12.

Carol

[holiday homes]

I don't know what time of year you are looking at Jonny, but as Julia says, you will not find riverside accomodation for 11 people cheaply I'm afraid!

On thought is Hedera House which is about 50 yards from Thurne Mouth - they have a large farmhouse which sleeps up to 12 people or smaller villas and bungalows. The accomodation looks clean, but basic, so is likely to be around the cheapest you will find. Don't expect luxury though. Even so, Hedera House itself will cost between £575 to £1,045 per week depending on the time of year. Don't forget that pets are also likely to incur extra charges of around £25 each per week.

http://www.hederahouse.co.uk/hedera-house

click on the "terms" button for the prices.

Carol