Vaughan

Is this perhaps getting off the subject a bit? Unless the skip floats, of course?

Hmm . . . . .

I know it well, since a very old friend of mine lives in Lessingham. A really good, genuine Norfolk country pub, if ever there was one!

I don't think I like the sound of this. Surely if you disagree with an opinion, you are free to post your own opinion. This is a forum in the Roman spirit of democratic discussion. But not in the coliseum spirit of "Lions three ; Christians nil"!

No, not in the least! I was just mentioning that the boat was designed with two versions, for the sort of reasons that we both mention.

Suit yourself! The original Solar 37 design was provided with two options.

A lot of people prefer the Bounty 37 without the sliding canopy as there is much less draught in the off season. The sunroof is quite adequate in hot weather, when you want a bit of shade, anyway! A PRM gearbox must mean it is a centre engine on a shaft drive and this is also a good combination. The early hydraulic drives were not very efficient in horsepower. It also leaves a lot of storage space in what would have been the engine space, under the aft deck. Looks a nice boat.

Taught by the Royal Marines, we were. All part of my mis-spent youth!

Fair enough! I hope you continue to enjoy it . . .

I did get the significance of your forum name! I was a drummer and bugler, when I was at naval college.

You are still not telling us what you think might be wrong with it, on your boat.

I have been reading press reports on Vera Lynn's funeral today, and wondered what it would have been like without the COVID restrictions? I think the Forces would have made it the next best thing to a State Occasion! As it is, we had a poignant flypast by Spitfires and a bearer party from all three Services. Military ceremonial and tradition is always missed by journalists these days, who can't be bothered to understand its significance. There were no officers in the funeral cortège as she was the "Forces Sweetheart" - the darling of the "other ranks" all over the world. So I just wanted to point out that the guardsman who marched in front of the hearse and who was in charge of the bearer party, was the garrison sergeant - major of Her Majesty's Household Division of Foot Guards. The most senior non - commissioned officer in the British Army, in full ceremonial uniform with sword and medals. That is the level of the tribute that was paid!

Perhaps if you told us why you are researching your system we might be able to suggest what is wrong with it.

Never heard of it!

Small businesses whose annual turnover is just over the threshold for VAT registration are simply un-paid tax collectors whose slightest mistake in their accounts is immediately jumped upon and dissected in detail (at your expense) by the Customs and Excise. Seasonal holiday businesses are especially vulnerable to "Stasi" scrutiny since they make money for 6 months and then spend it on maintenance for the next 6 months. The Government VAT machine has never been able to embrace this concept and I don't suppose it ever will.

Could I please just say that I would never want to discourage anyone from posting historic photos and that very much includes Nigel and the Ludham Archive. I am a great lover of Ludham. I was a special constable there for 7 years and I was also a member of the church choir for several years. I am quite happy to post photos of the old gunboat Morning Flight, although she is no longer there. In fairness I think this incident is a glaring exception which could have been avoided but Nigel has apologised and that is fine by me. I am also very glad to see his apparent confirmation that my yard was actually on the site of the old Harrisons yard. If he is in contact with the family I would ask him to please convey to them how proud I was to be the keeper of a genuine Norfolk Broads wherry yard and also how devastated I was to be forced to put an end to hundreds of years of history and tradition.

Excuse me Peter but it wasn't. That photo of the ruins of my home is abhorrent, distressing and actually sickening. It has just cost me another night's sleep in addition to all those that I lost at the time and above all, it adds nothing positive whatsoever, in any way at all, to the history of the village of Ludham. A moment's thought before posting should surely have prevented this. It wasn't even relevant to the question that had been asked by the OP of the thread. Really. In my time I have had many of my photos published in tourist brochures, for Blakes and other companies. Photographers will always tell you how vital it is to get permission when photographing people or their property - or sometimes their boats - even when taken in a public place. Otherwise you can easily get sued and many have been, for the slightest reason. The PM that you suggest should have been to me from Nigel, to ask if he could post 3 photos on this forum, all taken of my property by someone standing on my property, on 3 different occasions and all without my knowledge or permission. I can say now that if I had been asked about the photo of the bungalow in ruins I would not have wanted it posted. After all, what has it achieved? To Nigel, I thank you for your apology and I accept that in good grace.

This remark has turned out to be rather prophetic! First, I would like to say sorry to andyg that his pleasant thread about memories of Broads holidays has been trampled on and since it seems that an apology from the right quarter is unlikely. I should explain that when I decided that a small hire fleet was no longer viable I sold the yard and got a job with Rank in France. As soon as I got there the purchaser decided to back out and it was left to my mother, in her retirement, to run the yard in my absence. So I had to resign and come back to try and sort it out. The only solution was to close the business, get permission and build houses on the site. At least I had a freehold premises and the bank had no charge on the deeds. So many others of my friends on small yards at that time were not in such a good position. So they just had to go bust. To do this took time and so in between getting the boats painted up for sale while the shed was still standing, I had to go and earn a living elsewhere. In the two weeks when the bungalow was pulled down I was out in the North Sea off Humberside on a gas platform, as helicopter landing officer. A useful skill I had learned in the Forces. I was not there when the bungalow came down and to see a photo of it for the first time now (and taken from my own property) came as a bit of a slap in the kisser. If the Ludham Archive want to tell the full story of history, perhaps we should start further back in time? This photo appears in Wherries and Waterways, by Robert Malster and I have seen it in other publications. I can't be certain but I have always thought this must be the same site as my boatyard. Anyone local I have spoken to, including Stanley Hunter, Jimmy Gedge, Jack Cates and Clifford Allen, have all agreed with me. Whether or not, I know that mine was an old wherry repair and possibly building yard. The aerial photos show a wide, deep dyke to the left of the bungalow leading to a long, shallow angled slip where I know that wherries were pulled out. At the top of the short dyke to the right is the wreck of a wherry, buried in the ground. Some of its timbers stuck up through the lawn. My good old friend Jimmy Gedge, himself a builder, told me that his family had built her, but he couldn't remember her name. They used to own a lot of wherries. The wherry Albion had my yard as her base and winter mooring for several years, on the quay right in front of the bungalow and as it happens, I was chairman of the Norfolk Wherry Trust at the time when I had to sell up. So for me to have to close down a yard with all that tradition and put up houses on the river bank was a personal betrayal of what I stood for and had grown up with. I know I had no choice but I still feel ashamed of it to this day. So you can put that in your Ludham Archive - with my permission this time - if you insist that local history has to be told "warts and all". Meantime, like it or not, the forum has now seen evidence of what it is really like to have to close down a small family business in times of a slump in Broads tourism. You are likely to see more sights like this in the months to come, even though I hope this recession will not go on as long as the last one did.

That is one hell of an apology, that is! For posting photos that were taken on what was my land at the time but entirely without my knowledge. I suggest you take more care over your sources.

I can't say I appreciate you posting those last photos, when I had already said I used to live in that bungalow. I now feel as though someone has just walked over my grave.

Yes, in the days of the previous owners.

Highly recommended! They seem to understand that not all modellers want to buy straight out of the box, and stock a lot of useful parts, tools and accessories.

I am very glad you enjoyed your time with us. That's what it's all about!

I think I might remember both pubs. I worked for Tom Percival in Horning in 1967/68 but before then, as a boy, I would also have visited with my father when duck shooting on a pond that he leased in the marshes behind Southgates main yard. So maybe it was the old pub that had a bay window?

Well, I suppose we are all free to speculate, for the lack of any actual facts . . . .