Vaughan

I must say, this insistence on exclusivity is wishful thinking in this age of social media and it could easily appear cliquey, as well as snobbish. I always remember, in the days when TV had only 3 main channels and I spent a couple of weeks in the Naval base at Portland on a training course as a flight deck officer. The base covered a great deal of naval training then, so the officers' mess was a big place. There were two television rooms : the TV on the ground floor was tuned permanently to BBC1 and the one on the first floor was tuned to BBC2. ITV was simply not acknowledged, in a Naval wardroom!

I agree with both Mark and MM on this, where boatyard and mooring businesses are concerned. I think it is accepted, world-wide, that marina moorings are charged by the foot length. What irks me, is when you get a non - boatyard business that decides to charge people for mooring on land which abuts the river bank. I refer of course to certain farmers, who did very nicely thank you out of all the flood protection provided for them by the EA and others and then thought that the "camp shedding" put there to protect their fields looked like a nice mooring so they thought what a good idea to charge for it, where it had otherwise been an accepted wild mooring for decades. I am also, and always will be, totally against pubs charging for moorings and thus biting the hand that feeds them.

Anchor's Aweigh. Excuse the errant apostrophe! I also remember that the tow boats from Burgh Castle Yacht Station and Pearsons at Reedham used to do a roaring trade there on a Sunday morning!

Reading back over this discussion, I think it was the hire boat agencies, not the river authority, who advised against mooring there, owing to quite a lot of damage being done. In those days there were many more yards on the south rivers, especially in Brundall and so there would be a big flock of boats crossing Breydon on the tide. The agencies preferred them to wait for the night in Reedham or St Olaves rather than Berney. There was also the problem of getting to them if they broke down, on what was often their first night out. If anyone has an old copy of the Blakes skipper's handbook, called "Anchors Aweigh", I am pretty sure it will be mentioned in there.

What my father would have called a nasty smell in the woodshed. I have often wondered what that "smell" was supposed to be, in his mind. Was it smoke; perhaps an over - hung pheasant; or maybe the remains of a dead gardener?

Exactly!

Berney, Beauchamp and Stracey Arms are all named after the owners of the estates on which they were built. To give an idea of the timescale, the original Norfolk Railway from Norwich to Yarmouth was built in 1844. The reason that Berney Arms Halt still operates today is because its existence was written into the deeds when the Berney estate allowed the railway to cross its land. The halt, the pub and Berney mill itself, were built to serve a huge cement factory, with buildings on both sides of Breydon at its junction with the Yare and Waveney and with wherry loading jetties extending for several hundred yards out onto Breydon itself. Some of the supporting posts can still be seen at low tide. If that lot didn't frighten the birds, I can't see that a bistro would. In fact the biggest threat to birds in those days was wildfowlers from Cobham, not the existence of one riverside pub. I also wonder how all that lot got on without "immediate access for emergency vehicles". There is a certain smell of politics about this. Or maybe the BA planning department are going to play their old Jenners Basin trick and announce that permission has been "abandoned"?

Different pub - same owner. A report on the EDP website this morning says that an application to re-open the Berney Arms as a cafe and bistro has received strong objections from the BA, because of the tidal current and because its "remoteness would limit immediate access for emergency vehicles" and from the RSPB, because it would frighten their birds on Breydon. When was that pub built? Must be 100 years ago, surely?

That sounds like the one!

I was sent to a reputable prep school. So in my case, it was Benson and Hedges.

There was a bittern booming very close by in the reeds that night on Rockland Broad, with a chorus of 3 cuckoos once the dawn came up.

Here is stern on mooring at Surlingham when we were alone on the mooring. The trick is to drop the mud weight on the full length of line, before you finish backing in, so the weight is out well in front of you and it holds you off the bank. There doesn't seem very much slack in the stern lines but it was enough, and we didn't need to adjust for the rise and fall of tide. Members will be pleased to note the NBN pennant on a hire boat!

What a thoroughly dismal prospect. There would be no fun in that for me and there is no way on Earth (wait for the pun) that you would find Susie and I sitting in one of those utterly ridiculous garden pod greenhouse things, looking as though we are waiting to be "beamed up"!

This was the point at which I stopped posting yesterday, since comments like this are simply bordering on the libellous and I see no reason for it in these circumstances. I think the BA's approach to the handling of this crisis is correct and commendable. I see no reason at all, at this time, to try to seek an ulterior motive. I am sorry to have to say that it does no credit to the forum nor to the poster and I am sure, in the cold light of this morning, that he would agree with me.

the private sector has every right to question the largess that has been presented to the hire industry. Both these comments imply that payment is being made from one to support the other, which is not the case. The hire fleets have not received largesse, from the BA or the private owners. All that the BA have done is to alter the dates on which stage payments are made, to allow for better cash flow towards the latter half of the season. Let's look at the small print of that e-mail again : Once a hire boat is put into commission for hire, rather than mothballed, it will pay the full toll for the year, which has always been the case and could I please mention, I have been saying that all through the last 3 months! There will be a review in September to try and see whether yards will have enough income to survive the winter and that is when the BA may well lobby for them to have government assistance. For the moment they are not being paid anything by anyone, except by whatever customers they can manage to retrieve from this crisis. I would guess that any boats that remain mothballed will be put up for sale (if they are not already) and then we shall start to see the real effects of the recession.

During our natural pre-occupation with the virus there are still other matters, (such as Brexit ) waiting "in the wings". As one of the "usual suspects" where national park status is concerned, I take especial note, and encouragement, from what Dr Packman states in that opening paragraph. This is what my father's generation had been saying about the Broads ever since the War and I have always believed it myself. It makes the Broads unique and it also makes navigation indivisible from any other NP priorities. I am very glad to see him state this and I will not forget, in future, that he did so!

If you want peace, prepare for war. It is attributed to Plato as well as assorted Roman Generals and was the accepted motto of those of us who served in the Forces during the Cold War. Still appropriate in this case, I thought.

"Si vis pacem, para bellum".

So have I. From a reliable source!

And please don't let's think it would be the first time that old trick has been played! Many a cruiser, over the years, has left Wroxham, Potter or Stalham with 4 people on board, only to moor that evening and meet the rest of the party off the train at Acle. Or Yarmouth, or Reedham. And from July 4th onwards, day boat parties will be able to meet up in pub car parks again. They often get caught though, as the rangers, apart from their other skills, know how to count heads! Personally, I think we should all calm down a bit and see how this season develops. I was most impressed with the e-mail as it demonstrates a level of understanding and interaction between the authority and the tourist businesses which I don't think I have seen stated as meaningfully as that since the days of the River Commissioners. Coming directly from the pen of Dr Packman himself, I find that heartening and most encouraging. I could quote several parts, but this one is most significant : "at this point the prospects for the remainder of the boating season are unclear". I think I would be more inclined to believe that, from him, than I would all the marketing claims of how the bookings are flooding in!

Oh dear. I feel a bit guilty about this as it seems to be me who first put his foot in this particular ant - heap and stirred it up! I agree with everything Andy says as I have been through all these experiences myself - including the stress medication. It is a way of life which can sometimes seem like a thankless task, especially as a small business will naturally take a great deal more personal pride in its boats and its customer service than the large ones (although they would wish to) ever can. I don't know anyone who took more pride than my father, and it showed! But then his standards were so high that he never made a profit and decided to sell and retire at an early age. Let's look back to the OP's original post on this thread. It was only one line : I'd have been straight on the phone to the yard. It is this immediate assumption that the boatyard should do something, that I was reacting to, since the fact still remains, like it or not, that a yard cannot - ever - be held to account for the anti-social behaviour of holidaymakers just because they have hired one of their boats. I was speaking, as I always do, on the side of the boatyards, whose position is so often mis-understood but I had not realised that my support would get such a strong reaction, indeed contradiction, from Andy or I honestly would not have started this. This subject has been raised many times before on the forum - sometimes it seems to happen every time someone pukes outside a pub - and it always seems to cause strong feelings that get no-one any satisfaction. To those of a neighbour-hood watch disposition who wish to do their duty as they see it, could I just suggest three things : 1/. The Broads depends, now as always, on tourists having fun on holiday. Without them, your private river toll would be eye-watering. 2/. There has always been an element of rowdyism, ever since the days of the Midland and Gt. Northern railway. It comes with the territory. Doesn't anyone remember Yarmouth Yacht Station in the 60s? 3/. Please understand who is responsible for what. If you want to complain of uncivil behaviour then complain to the authorities, who are there to police it.

That is perceptive of you. Whether it is true or not, I couldn't say!

Perhaps I am getting out of my area of knowledge here but the source was quite clearly a smartphone video, taken on another day launch and then posted to the EDP, but not, it seems, to the appropriate authorities. The EDP then added their own, ill - informed opinion to it.

I would also like to add some comments to that, from a hire fleet manager. What do we suppose the boatyard should be "made aware of" by these phone calls and videos? There are companies on the Broads such as John Loynes (Broads Tours) who have been letting day launches ever since the petrol engine was invented. They are very well aware of what their customers get up to, thank you! Their staff are also most adept at checking their boats for damage when suspicious looking lads bring them back in again. But they are NOT, never have been and please God, never will be responsible for the civil behaviour of members of the public, in public. The behaviour of yobs on Bournemouth beach is a public order matter for the police but NOT for the coach tour company that brought them there. And what is all this about with-holding security deposits when bad behaviour is reported? That, itself, would be blatantly illegal! You can't even with-hold a hirer's deposit for damage to another boat : that is for third party insurance cover. You can't extract money out of people just because some member of the boating fraternity (who probably posts under a synonym) says they saw them pee-ing in the reeds! I am sad, honestly, that we now live in a dash-cam age where the slightest incident can be uploaded in seconds and dissected at will on the internet. I repeat, I am not condoning this although I am not in the least shocked by it either. Could those who wish to report these things please report matters of civil behaviour to the civil authorities? Meantime, if this is a sign of what is going to be happening on this forum during this season, then I for one will prefer to stick to railway modelling.

"You and me both" old chap. I am well retired, these days. You just end up with hassle from every angle. Despite trying to survive in a local business and trying to bring a bit of tourist revenue to the Broads at a time when it needs it more than ever.