Arthur

Hi Andy, Seems so sad these days that people just cannot be bothered to read such useful information. I know in my early days of hiring back in the busy times of the 1970's you had to book up many months in advance to have any chance of finding a boat. Particularly in high season. We always used to read the handbook as it was part of a way of looking forward to the forthcoming week on the boat. I guess with some people , even the suggested hammer drill aprroach will not work. Thanks for letting us know your comprehensive approach to the handover procedure. This is good to see as even those of us who have been hiring for years always have something to learn. Sadly I have never yet hired from you, Maybe one day I will get the opportunity, providing you are Ok about single handed hiring. I cannot really comment much on the incident as I was not there and do not know any of the facts. However, it does surprise me that the incident should occur. As I said I have not hired from yourself but I have hired that particular boat on numerous occassions in her previous guise as Aston Broadsword. I have also hired the other two Ex Astons in your fleet. I was always single handed and all three boats are very easy to manouvere. Maybe I have been lucky but in over 40 years I have never had any problems with the Ferry at Reedham and have always found the operators very helpful if there is any element of doubt as to whether to pass or not. Hope she is back on hire again soon Andy. All the best Arthur

The first time I hired a boat on the Broads. (Over 40 years ago I have to confess.) I made the booking through Hoseasons. With the invoice etc came a very useful little booklet called "The Holiday Hints Handbook" I am sure there are others who remember this booklet. This contained a wealth of information covering most of the topics mentioned. Including how to moor in different situations, what knots to use, How to pass yachts, and much more. In those days it even included indormation on what to do when meeting coastal ships on the Yare which still travelled up to Norwich. Much of this information is still there but is in the Skippers Handbook which the hirer does not see until actually on the boat. Anyway when I had my first hire on the Broads I was already was armed with the knowledge of how to deal with situations thanks to the "holiday Hints Handbook." which had been read cover to cover prior the holiday. Now, in this age of easy video etc there is the chance to actually show things in a far more interesting way. People love to watch videos of the Broads. Just look at the interest shown In Robin's Captains Blog Series. I like the suggestion that Maurice Mynah has made about doing this with an element of humour. An element of humour, Not TV style, stupidity. Good ideas JOhn. Arthur

Just to let you know that I am still working on the site but at the moment it is so difficult to find time. Arthur http://www.astonboats.co.uk

Glad to be of help. I think the BBC Iplayer does not allow access from outside of the UK. Arthur.

Try this youtube link. I think this is the same bit of film Arthur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc4eYhlj-60

Thanks for sharing this Jason it's great to hear such wonderful news. Contgratulations to them both. Arthur

More wonderful pictures Peter. Many thanks for sharing them. Arthur

Thanks for the encouragement. So far so good at the moment. There are still more pictures to upload and I need to spend time adding details into the gallery identifying each of the boats. Unfortunately the one thing I badly lack at the moment is available time but I will gradually add to the site and will update on here when changes have been made. I am open to any suggestions regarding the site, either on here or you can email me at: arthur@astonboats.co.uk Arthur

Aston Boats ceased hiring at the end of the 2008 season. A number of the boats had already been sold into private ownership by that time, The bulk of the remaining fleet went to Ferry Marina at Horning but there are three ex Astons in the Freedom Fleet. Aston Broadsword, Aston Vanguard and a Thames Class believed to be Aston Mersey. These boats are now named, Sweet Freedom, Song of Freedom and Rambling Freedom. Arthur

Still working on things but the photo gallery now has a number of pictures in it and can be viewed by all. There is a link on the home page. http://www.astonboats.co.uk Arthur

Have done a bit more. A few of the photos are back online but I have not labeled any of them yet. The photo galley is only available to registered users at the moment and can be reached via a link on the main forum page once logged in. Arthur

Thanks Paul. Welcome back again to the Aston Site. Not much to see yet but I have activated your account so you can post messages on the forum. Arthur

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Robin. Nice to meet another old friend now I have moved over here. The previous hacking attacks were not random but were deliberate and targeted and there were also threatening emails involved warning me that it would continue to be attacked, I never found out who was responsible ot why but they seemed to have a lot of info as they managed to gain access to the settings on my hosting account even when I was hosting the site in Johannesburg. The site is now hosted here in Gloucester. I have little time to work on things at the moment but I will update from time to time. Arthur

Reading the Carnage at Wroxham (1998) thread it would appear that there is still some interest in the Aston Boats hire fleet which operated from Loddon and Beccles. I used to host a site dedeicated to Aston Boats but after a lot of hacking problems gave up on it a couple of years ago. As I said in the other thread I have decided to give it another go. It wil take me a while to rebuilt the photo gallery and other parts of the site but the forum section is now up and running. Any suggestions for sections or any other suggestions and contributions will be welcome. The url is www.astonboats.co.uk Regards Arthur

Thanks for the reply and suggestion Alan. I still own the Astonboats.co.uk domain name and have spare webhosting capacity so as there still seems to be some interest in the Aston fleet I will try and rebuilt the site shortly. Unfortunately for various reasons I have very little time to do anything much at the moment but as soon as the site is live again in some form I will announce it on here, The attacks on the site were not random hacking but deliberate. However this was a couple of years ago so maybe it will be OK now. Lets hope Arthur

You may remember Iain that I used to have a website and forum devoted to the topic of Aston Boats. Unfortunately the site was constantly the target of malicious hacking attacks and in the end I gave up on it. There were a fair number of pictures of the Aston Fleet which were kindly supplied by various members. Maybe one day I will risk trying again as I still have much of the material. Interesting story of the Wroxham Bridge incident. The two major ones I recall hearing about were Aston Vanguard starting to sink at reedham after a propshaft broke and Aston Penguin getting hit by a coaster whilst moored on the Yare. Arthur

Hi Clive, Good to see you here. Hope to meet you on the water again sometime. Arthur

Astons were always a good yard and treated their customers well. I hired boats from both their Loddon and Beccles Yards regularly over a period of around 35 years. It was sad to see yet another yard close on the southern broads when they finished on 2008.

Really great pictures Peter. Many thanks for sharing them. Arthur

Arthur Ransome questions are Ok especially if you are one of the priviliged few who have moored on WIld Cat Island in the Lake District. It is unlikely I am going to be able to attend any quiz on a regular basis for the foreseable future but when and if I am able to take part again any night would be fine with me. Arthur

Now who would ask Arthur Ransome questions ? All the best Arthur

I know what you mean! I am hopeless on any questions about tv or films and pop music after the 60's is a total mysteryto me. Quizes are supposed to be fun and you can always throw the teddies back at whoever launched them. Arhur

Looks like a great time was had by all and LBBY was a very liveley place. All the best to you Jason and hope things improve for you. Arthur

To CooWee, Hi Keith, Thanks for the welcome. Hope all is well with you and Lisa. Arthur

Hi Iain, I am sure I have included Robet Burns quotations in previous quizes at some point in the past. Arthur