JennyMorgan

Folk of more modest means might find themselves slowly being ousted from the Broads. Chip swilling plebs no longer welcome. No, I'm not joking.

Knowing one of the directors, who I maintain would charge just for saying 'Good Morning' if he thought he could get away with it, this news comes as no great surprise. Fish and chips is just so plebian, those who will pay Ferry's increased charges are hardly likely to cross a chippy's threshold let alone use a laundrette. Of course I write in jest - - - - - - - perhaps.

A dose of bromide or a bucket of cold water might help!

Actually I thought the picture of the boys in their yellow, waterproof onesies might excite our Gracie!

Our local newspaper must be hard up for news when it regurgitates old news! http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/lifeboat_launched_after_vessel_seen_travelling_without_lights_on_1_4700690It

Double glazing is the problem, seriously, no one hears what's going on anymore. We sleep with our bedroom window open and hear boats on the river at all hours. Doesn't take much to wake me up!

The problem with a kilt in a Sopwith Camel, for an Englishman at least, would be in landing, knowing what would hit the ground first. Tis why Englishmen don't wear kilts.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/nine_crimes_recorded_at_hickling_broad_in_just_two_days_1_4700023

A number of us are already NSBA members and, as such, are entitled to ask the secretary to raise whatever subject at committee level. I'm all for discussion and subsequent consensus which can then be passed on but not in the name of the forum. The NSBA is there for us all. Carole, wise words but the hire company's seem to have just one agenda, that of making money. For that reason I would welcome discussion between the good folk of the NBN if only to gauge alternative points of view and stand-points. On such issues as rubbish at moorings I suspect that, for once, we are all singing from the same hymn sheet and in rare cases such as that I see no real problem in the NBN becoming involved. However, perhaps we should have a page dedicated to the NSBA? Re Speakers Corner/Broadly Speaking, I rather think that that has been superseded by the political pages on Face Book.

Vaughan, hardly before your time! Surely you remember the Green Book, the annual Broads Bible, with all the regatta fixtures and a mountain of information for Broads navigators landing through your parent's letterbox on the green? You can also buy a nice new flag for your boat or dormobile! The NSBA used to be, if I remember correctly, the NSYA, yachting association. That was thought to be insufficiently inclusive so the Y was changed to a B, as in boating.

Smelly does raise a valid point nevertheless I go with Jonzo's comment, 'I don't think it's about becoming a local political pressure group per se, more that in this instance we can and perhaps should be doing something to help keep the broads great.' I also don't see that any one individual person should be spokesperson however I see no harm in the membership who wish to become involved arriving at a consensus of opinion and that consensus being passed on to the relevant organisation. There is/was a forum that set itself up as the arbiter of opinion in regard to the Broads based service industries, in doing so, in my opinion of course, made something of a fool of itself. All well intended, obviously, but with absolutely no meaningful mandate whatsoever. I would hate to see this forum put itself in a similar position. Personally I would like to see a campaign page that people can, if they so wish, ignore. Others may wish to discuss concerns but at the end of the day I too would not wish to see the forum become a political animal in itself. A letter to the NSBA might start by saying that a group of members from the NBN forum have discussed so and so issue and the consensus is that blah blah blah etc.. Please be aware that this is the consensus of that group and not the NBN itself. We have to remember that the forum is a very wide cathedral in itself and that opinions will vary thus the NBN surely can not claim to represent its membership in its entirety.

I think the best that we can be is a lobby group to the NSBA, the Norfolk & Suffolk Boating Association. Lobbying the Authority itself has repeatedly proven to be pointless, witness the Broads Bill leading up to the Broads Act, the Doctor knows best. The NSBA does have representation within the Broads Authority and is already established, does have both credibility and a meaningful mandate. The NSBA hasn't always got it right but it's the best chance that we have, membership is open to all, the more the merrier! http://www.thegreenbook.org.uk/members/leaflet1.pdf

Spider is unfortunately spot on in regard to the now seemingly moribund Broads Society. I too have dropped my membership. Vaughan, I wish you well with the Society. There have, in recent times, been at least two attempts to provide a voice for boaters, both private and hire, both failed although the presence of one did at the time appear to nudge the NSBA gently from astern.

Have the Hamptons in private hands grown bigger? I doubt it & they are still around. What has happened, I think, is that the provision of private moorings has blossomed but the trouble is, unlike most of the the hire yards and their boats, private boats need two moorings, their home base mooring and one for wherever they choose to go. A hire boat base mooring becomes vacant and available to other hire boats. Where that fails is in the case of Richardsons, their seven hundred odd moorings might remain vacant as 700 odd boats from other yards don't visit Stalham. If the Waveney 24hr moorings are anything to go by then at weekends private boats rush off to their favourite mooring and hog that mooring all weekend rather than actually going boating/cruising meaning that hireboats are often excluded at the weekend hence their searching for moorings on their first night. I really do think that private boat mooring providers should accept visitors to vacant moorings, that simple solution would surely be in every one's best interests.

I shall be heading up North in a week or so, under 'that' bridge but will I be heading up towards Wroxham? No, for one thing I probably won't be able to get a mooring!

Perhaps it's a case of too many boats for the available infrastructure? Horning & Wroxham are both saturated so why go there?

Tis the one and how true it is too! Anyone recognise themselves?

Grammer or Grammar Neither has triggered my spell check! Must be a good natured Suffolk spell checker, what does it matter if it's wrong!!

You mean that my spell check is wrong!??! P.S. My wife thought that you were sweet! (You were having your leg pulled by the bald one.)

Grammer might not be their strong point but frying herrings and rescuing folks is, well done to all concerned.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/firefighters_tackle_blaze_at_brundall_bay_marina_1_4693934

Mark, of course not, such a dastardly thought hadn't even crossed my mind! Perhaps I could have written 'sit and shower'.

When pump outs were first introduced to the Broads we had to install new, box like affairs into the small spaces previously occupied by much smaller 'Baby Blake' toilets. Public demand was also calling for showers. Compromise was called for, toilet cum shower cubicles, the customer could, and reportedly did, enjoy a good shower whilst also enjoying a good pull through thus making best use of their time on the Broads. The shower and sit cubicle had arrived in Broadland!

After a lifetime involved with boats I rather suspect that you, Vaughan, have come across some right showers!