Arthur

Hi Aubrey and Wendy Great to see you here and a warm welcome from me. I don't know when I will get to Norfolk again but Maybe I will see you on the river again one day. All the best Arthur

I seem to recall that Spindrift did not have any deck area in front of the cabin. The forestay, Mudweight etc being attached to the cabin roof. The cabin windows being in the top part of the hull. Trying to find a picture, i am sure I took one when I was at Whelptons a couple of years ago. It is a bermuda rig though, A lot of the yachts for hire were Gaffers. Of course back in those days there were a lot more yachts in the hire fleets,

In many ways dajen I have to agree with some of your comments. What has not been considered in this push to get people to keep mailing this to people is the affect it has on those who have had a stroke and those currrently living with someone who has had a stroke. It makes things very difficult, particularly for the carer when every envelope that comes through the door seems to be advertising the Stroke Organisation on the postmark. The TV is constantly reminding people of stroke symptoms and now the risk of receiving one of these chain letters in the post. I appreciate that not all situations are the same but many of those who have had a stroke are in denial about it and even the mention of the word can cause problems for those with them Some members will be aware of why I have commented but I wont elaborate in opem forum. It is good to be aware of symptoms to look out for but please think before posting on one of these things. You might be adding problems for the recipiant rather than helping.

Interested to hear you are looking at amateur radio operation Ray. I have had an Amateur Radio Licence for a number of years ( Callsign: G0GJR ) I know this thread is really about the Baufeng units but it would be interesting to know if there are any other Radio Amateurs who are also members of this forum. All the best Arthur

I don't know if this manual may help or if you have it already. I know many of these radios come with little info in the box. http://www.miklor.com/UVB5/pdf/UVB6_Manual.pdf

Welcome Ray. Good to see you here. There is a quiz on here on Monday evenings Ray so you can always join in and improve your idiot ranking. All the best Arthur

Now that is good news Polly Another has decided to follow the true path. No doubt you will assist as much as possible as we must not alllow any backsliding into the old ways. Arthur

Just trying to picture Albion with a Spinnaker

I agree thst picture is not of wherries racing. Howerver if there were wherries racing as far as i recall the wherry rig does not have a boom. Arthur

Cetainly remember Charlie Crowe, Iain. He seemed to get boats thorugh the bridge when it looked impossible. Mind you a lot more boats were able to get through in those days.

Agree with your comments there Iain. I hired from Astons for many years, nearly always single handed and these boats were a delight to handle. The one for sale was originaly one of the wizard class. Aston Merlin I think. Arthur

Classic one that was Iain April 1 1957 and Richard Dimbleby is so believable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU Arthur

Diolch i chi Iain Ddraig Goch am byth

Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit. All the best to you Iain

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race! Aboon them a' ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy o' a grace As lang's my arm.

Late September 1973 Aston Elm from Aston Boats at Loddon. The full tale of this trip and some of my others are on the excellent Broadland Memories Site, http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/page208.html

Must admit to only just getting around to reading through this thread. As someone who has hired for several decades It still brings back memories when I see a boat that I have previously hired, Many of my hires over the years were from Aston Boats and it is very interesting to see how they have changed now they are with new owners. My most interesting experience was in 2009 when I hired a boat from Richardsons for the first time. Dan mentioned to me that there was one of the Ex F B Wilds Calypso class undergoing extensive refurbishment. When I returned to the yard at the end of my break I went over to the boat shed to have a look at the boat that was being refurbished. IT was the same Calypso that I had hired in 1976. Like some others I still remembered the Reg No.

"I think ALL kids everywhere should visit the Jewish war memorial in Berlin and Auschwitz. And I am sure there are plenty of other similar locations that have the same effect." I agree with you Baitrunner, there are many places that you have to be pretty indifferent not to be affected by. The place that has a big emotional impact on me is not a War Cemetery it is a memorial garden in a village in South Wales. A memorial to those lost in a terrible disaster. I have personal reasons for this which I do not wish to talk about but I visit when I can to honour a promise I made to someone nearly 50 years ago. Each of us have our own thoughts. and memories. Some can be discussed, some can only ever be private. My family was lucky. Those who served returned. Many others did not. I don't think I shall add further comment on this thread but please understand that I have taken no offense at any comments made by others. We all have our own views and thank God we are allowed the freedom to express them. Arthur

"an overpaid know it all sliver spooned idiot" I think more likely this is a corporate effort jumping on the bandwagon as a result of the WW1 media attention. I had made my views known and did not really intend to add any more. However, something occurred this morning which had prompted me to write further. Although not directly related to the original post. I heard someone on the radio this morning making the comment that young people of today do not really care about The Great War and events of 100 years ago. What an insulting comment! Several years ago I contacted local radio after hearing a teacher make a similar comment. On this occasion the discussion on air was about a proposal to organize a school visit to the WW1 Battlefields and the suggestion that this would just be a jolly and the pupils would not treat it with proper respect I had experience of something that had happened to me which i thought might make them think again.. The response from Local Radio was to allow me to tell the story myself. I hope it made some of the doubters take a different view of our young people. I have never forgotten the incident but I have not spoken of it since it was broadcast a few years ago. I think it poignant to repeat the gist of it here. Some 30 years ago I drove coaches. I must admit that school trips were not my favourite groups of passengers as they were often rowdy and poorly supervised. On this occasion I was transporting a group of secondary school pupils 15/16 year olds on a school trip on the continent. They were one of the worst school parities that I had ever had on board. We had already visited a number of historic places and as often happened on school trips the teachers just disappeared and left the young people to occupy themselves until the time for them to return to the coach.and another rowdy journey back to base. Anyway I will get to the point. Toward the end of the trip my detail was to take the group to the Dud Corner Cemetery and the Loos Memorial. Now I felt this was a totally inappropriate place to take this particular group as I felt they would upset other visitors to this site. It was not a day I was looking forward to. On the journey there their behaviour was as bad a usual and they disembarked the coach like a rugby scrum and were soon out of sight. It was what happened over an hour later that was to change my view of young people. This same group of rowdy teenagers came back to the coach in total silence. Some of them seemed totally overcome with emotion and were unable to hold back the tears. Boys as well as girls. Maybe it was the atmosphere of that place or maybe it was these young people suddenly realising that all these ranks of gravestones and all the names on the memorial represented young men not much older than themselves who had died so young. I do not know. However, when you have seen tough teenagers reduced to tears like this you soon change your view of young people. Maybe I have gone of the topic of the thread a bit here but I felt it right to tell of this again. I still feel it is very important that our young people are told of the realities of these events. However it must be done in the right way. Young people are eager to learn, especially at primary school age. It just needs our education system to answer that quest for knowledge. With regard to the advertisement I stand by my original thoughts about it.

Maybe my opinions on this will not be shared by others but personally I find this advert in extremely bad taste. Using the anniversary of the beginning of one of the most tragic events of the last century in an attempt to boost Christmas Sales. The famous unofficial truce of Christmas 1914 is well documented in history and illustrated the reality that most soldiers on both sides of the conflict were human beings. With thoughts for their fellow man and no doubt a desperate hope that they may survive the horrors of the trenches and see their families again. One must also remember that this was not just a brief period of peace in which men spent all their time exchanging Christmas Cheer. Much of this short respite was used as an opportunity for men from both sides to remove and bury the bodies of their comrades who had fallen in No Mans Land and until then had no chance of being recovered. You can see from my comments on the other thread that I have genuine feelings of admiration for the courage and sacrifices of our armed forces. This year 2014 marks 100 years since the start of The Great War. The start. Not the end. The only people who can even comprehend the horror are those who were actually there. We cannot even begin to understand what they went through. I have no objection to teaching those of today about these tragic events. I had the strange experience of going through the education system in this country and none of the wars even featuring in History lessons. They were even missing from the text books. Educating people sensibly about these events is once thing. Turning this anniversary into some sort of circus is another. We already have theme parks with rides based on the Titanic Disaster, (hundreds of lives lost but that does not seem to matter if there are a few dollars to be made) How long before we see similar things happening based on WW1. Maybe it is my age that makes me more sensitive to some of these things but I am not ashamed of that. There is much more I could say but I will not. As had already been said we all have our own opinions.

Thanks to all who have replied on this thread. Many with personal memories. I have strong opinions with regard to politics etc but I am not going to speak of that here. My original post was a simple acknowledgment of the fact it was Armistice day. The anniversary of the end of the Great War of 1914 -1918. The so called "War to end all wars". My Grandfather served with the East Kent Regiment during the 1st World War and was one of the lucky ones to have survived the Somme. Over a million men died in that battle alone. Like many of his generation he never spoke of it and it was not until after he died that I ever knew anything of his military service. There can have been very few families that were not affected in some way by war. Even in my own generation. When I started school I still had a grandfather. A number of children in the class never knew their Grandfathers because they had been lost in the 2nd word war. I echo Kieth's comments of thanks and can say truthfully. WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

Just had a look on Ebay. What a joke. There are loads of them for sale but I do not see many of them actually selling. I see one hopeful actually asking over £400. Still have my old one. Expired end September. Don't think it would fetch a fortune though. Arthur

Mine was due 1 October so I missed out on the Direct Debit option this time, Still seems very strange driving around with no disc displayed on the windscreen. Arthur

As one who has studied history in the past I must object to the way the myth regarding the construction of the so called "Hadrians Wall" continues to be perpetuated. Surely it is time that the truth was accepted. This wall had nothing to do with the Roman occupation of these islands. It was constructed by the good folks north of the border in a last ditch attempt to keep the Sasanach invaders in their place. Arthur