Vaughan

Some green oil for a starboard light was a common one. At Hearts, if customers were fishermen, we used to convince them that bream on the Broads were only best caught with left handed wiggle maggots. Mr Rout, in the shop on Thorpe Green, caught on to the joke, and actually sold them, in labelled tins!

The wherry is not Albion as she is clinker built. In the 60's, this must have been Lord Roberts. I don't remember any others looking as good as that. Just round the corner at the mouth of the dyke is where my yard was. Surely the privately built Windboat that you mention, was called Springsong?

And so is his son !!

OBJECTION! Stay on the subject. Comments on the BA are not "old" history. I only wish they were! Sorry, maybe it was me who went "off piste"?

sorry to be late with this reply, Carol and Liz, but I am also sure it is Thorpe. The yacht in the foreground would be moored on Whitlingham bend, where we have already been talking of the foot ferry that went over to the White House, on the south bank. You are looking up the bank to the cut and behind that would be the railway footbridge. This used to be a Roman road, going up Thunder Lane until it joined the Plumstead Rd. The white house above the yacht's cockpit would be the Oaklands Hotel and further right almost centre, is the Old Rectory, now also a hotel. The sheds are the Blue Circle cement depot in the old station yard and the white house in the middle distance right was the Resthaven nursing home, now a solicitor's office. Thunder lane was not much built in those days, so it looks like open country. The house that you have circled is four semi-detached, of which the far left one was doctor Hilton's surgery.

Especially for Dr Packman in a canoe. (Objection! Strike that from the record). I have just remembered one about the Frostbites. On rum punch Sunday they always have a raffle, which is heavily rigged, so that certain members get "topical" prizes. I remember one year when Raymond Jeckells won a breeze block. He had earlier complained that he couldn't reach the urinals in the new club toilets!

If anyone should be interested in my father's war service - it is quite a good story - there is a site called hongkongescape.org where you can look up Lt. R.R.W.Ashby. It is quite a tale, of the escape in the MTB's from the fall of Hong Kong and even includes a one-legged Chinese admiral. The site is run by Richard Hide, who is the son of the chief engineer on my father's MTB. As a result we are now in contact with more than a hundred relatives of the 67 men who escaped, on Christmas eve, 1941.

When the war ended, my parents, newly married and living in Surrey, had the choice of going back to Hong Kong, where he had lived the colonial life in the thirties and still had a job to go back to, or to move to Norfolk and go into the boat business. They hired the lovely Easticks cruiser "Royal Oak" for 2 weeks in 1946, to cruise and see what they could find. They had to literally cut their way into places like Womack and Rockland, which had grown over during the war. Shows how fast the Broads disappear if you don't look after them (Objection! Stay on the subject). One day they were on their way up the Ant and my father was at the wheel. As was customary then, he was wearing his naval cap as a yachting cap. In his case it had "scrambled egg" on the peak. He was still in the Navy at that time, and still in command of a warship. Just then a fast open launch came past the other way, driven by what my mother described as "a rather dashing young man". As he dashed past he called out "take that bloody hat off!" Father said nothing and they came onto Barton Broad. Half an hour later the launch came back the other way and started to overtake. Father stayed looking straight ahead but held a gin bottle out over the side. The launch swerved in and came alongside and a good session started, in the middle of the Broad. The dashing young man, also ex Navy, turned out to be Miles Simpson of Stalham Yacht Station. The two at once became firm friends, for the rest of their lives. The next two generations of our two families are still firm friends and my daughter, Helen, now lives in the house on the staithe, once part of the Stalham Yacht Station yard and rented to her by Pat Simpson. But they never found a suitable business, so after the holiday they were back in Surrey (father back on his ship) and were making plans to go to Hong Kong. Two weeks later it was Miles Simpson who sent them a telegram to say that he had heard Harts in Thorpe was up for sale. And the rest, as they say, is history.

JM, Barry was one of three men who taught me how to sail - and race, when he used to helm Evening Flight. The other two were Jimmy Clabburn Senior and Leslie Landamore. Barry was the one for "light airs". His patience and calm were incredible. And Jimmy? We tend to forget that he and Martin Broom were Olympic Trials helmsmen in their youth. To sit at Evening Flight's mainsheet, with Jimmy at the helm, and watch a race being thrashed out by those two on Oulton Broad, was living! Broadscot, yes, that sounds like Simon. I think in fairness, that the pub was run by his wife Lillie, and Simon was left to do the "front of house". When I was at Womack we had a pair of old and wizened Muscovy ducks that lived with us on the boatyard. We called them Simon and Lillie! And so to Susan at Geldeston! There are hundreds of stories about her. She is actually the only person ever known - in the World - to have refused to serve my father with a drink! She told him he had had enough, and that was that! Cyril Fiske, who owned the old Friend of All Nations, and was foreman painter at Hearts, told of one night in there, when a group of young rowdies off a hire boat had come in and bought a half of beer each, and then proceeded to linger for an hour or more at a table making too much noise. Eventually one of them stood up and took an old sword off its frame on the wall and started to play with it. Susan came out from behind her hatch (there was no bar) and said "Young man, are you familiar with the words used by Oliver Cromwell when dismissing the Long Parliament?" The youth just stood there and gaped, and she said "You have sat too long for the good you have done and so therefore be gone, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" Suffice to say, order was restored.

Another memory of the Yare. The first shed on Bungalow Lane, towards Norwich, was where Nobby Clark lived. He ran a ferry service across to the old village of Whitlingham, where there was still road access then, and also had a salvage business, where he would drag the river for lost outboard motors and sometimes, I was told, for dead bodies in Norwich. He built a little catamaran with a paddle wheel powered by a bicycle mounted in the middle, called "Nutty Slack". At the Frostbites Sailing Club on "rum punch Sunday", he would arrive on this boat dressed as Father Christmas, with presents for all the children. He modernised his business by getting some diving gear (he had already been a Navy diver) and from that moment a sign appeared across the front of his boathouse : NOBBY CLARK My Business is going down. The Frostbites, as you may know, is on the last bend before the first Thorpe bridge, going upstream, where it used to be called Thorpe Broad. One Sunday morning in mid-winter, the Norfolk Dinghies were out racing, with the Enterprises out as well, in a flat calm. No wind at all and about 30 dinghies sitting spread out all over the river, in the mist. At this moment the Everards coaster "Ellen M" came round Whitlingham bend with the tide under her and a full load for Norwich power station. Confronted with this lot, she somehow managed to weave her way gently through, while everybody paddled. As she came abeam of the Frostbites clubhouse, the skipper took his pipe out of his mouth, looked down from the wing of his bridge to the race officers standing below, and said "Why don't you buggers go to church?" This incident is recorded in the Frostbites' visitor's book.

If you went past Surlingham Ferry in a boat during opening hours, Simon would come out and flag you down with a tea-towel. People would turn round and moor up, fearing there must be some urgent message from home or something, but Simon just said "well, this is a pub, and it's open". Once you were trapped like that, it was the end of your day's cruising! If he thought you were a very good customer he would come out while you were casting off and sound a fanfare on his post-horn as you pulled away. And Jack Hunt! I have seen a similar occasion to Peter's. He always attended Coldham Hall Regatta, where he would go down the line of moored boats and have a drink off every one that had not got a toll up yet. He also had several with my father even though he did have a toll! One afternoon about teatime he got back in his launch to go home to Reedham and got half way round before falling asleep at the wheel. He went round in circles in the middle of the river for ages, while we all yelled at him and in the end Barry Johnson had to go out in a dinghy and throw out a rope to catch the propellor. Don't forget there were 800 ton coasters coming up the river in those days. But don't let Peter and I mis-lead you about Jack Hunt. He was an excellent river inspector. The best, for me. He had a "nose" for trouble and whenever you were aground in the middle of no-where, or even sinking, it never seemed to take more than a quarter hour before he appeared round the bend, leaning out of his window and giggling, as always. Another time at Coldham, we waved him away as usual and he got all the way to Reedham with a Hearts Cruisers flag on the front of his launch, before he noticed!

I heard on the radio years ago when Sir John Betjeman addressed the House of Commons. He said : "We will be remembered by future generations for our monuments - and not for our blasted efforts to save money".

In 1975 I had a temporary job driving a black cab for Welles Taxis - and great fun it was! Hackney carriages in the City were still required by law to carry a bale of hay and a bucket of water, for the horse. But did we? Who was it said that regulations are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men? Laws may be changed, by due process as and when they become out of date or inappropriate. One way or another, if the Broads are to remain beautiful and attractive to tourists then the bins must blasted well be emptied! That at least is clear. I have said elsewhere that this is what the Broads Society should be engaged in. They should be our voice to get this sorted out. If they are no longer a loud enough voice then we must form another, for the opinion of the populace to be noticed.

When the BA came along we were in the grip of the great recession of the early 80's. About the first thing they did was to start handing out section 52 agreements like get-out-of-jail cards. As long as you were closing down a boatyard you could build what you liked. But 10 years later, oh dear! No more boatyards and no more service. These yards were the engine room of Broads commerce. If you wanted to empty your bins, you went to a boatyard, where you also got free overnight moorings, free water, free toilets and often showers, ice bottles and a repair service. You could even post your mail. And we DID pay commercial rates to the council. What hire companies that are left are the big ones, with a lot of boats centred on just one yard. That is not the same service structure. Sorry, but it was the BA's policy to get rid of this infrastructure so now they must make up for it.

That wasn't all they did. There was another time I came out, well after closing time, to find my dinghy in the pub car park!

Very glad that all is well! I know what it is like to come out of the Buck after a couple of beers! Love Thorpe, if someone wishes to contact me on here that is fine. If not, my e-mail is www.vaughan.ashby@wanadoo.fr There was one night, long ago, when I came out of the Buck to discover, too late, that one of my friends had come out just before and nailed my dinghy to the bank with a 6 inch nail. I jumped in, the boat didn't move and I went straight out the other side. Oh, happy days!

I have just read in the EDP that a man was in difficulties in a dinghy last night outside the Buck in Thorpe. I assume this must be one of the residents of the island. Is he all right? Anyone any news?

Well, he got there in the end, didn't he? Doesn't he own an oil stone? I don't know what he was spraying, but I always use 3 in one oil diluted with WD40, or paraffin. I am also not familiar with a convex bevel. The front face of a chisel has two distinct angles. The first shallow angle is done on a grinding wheel - if you are repairing damage - and the more acute angle at the tip is worked on with an oil stone. He would not have had a job for long at Hunters if Cyril had seen him leaving planes standing upright on the bench, instead of on their sides to protect the blade. But we all have different ways of doing things......

It's all right - I'll leave all that to Operation Yewtree!

I forgot to mention - when Lundy had her second litter, we were never quite certain whether it was H or Abbott that did the honours. It was supposed to be H but we had a feeling he might have been cuckolded!

Did you happen to know that the original Beaver Fleet was owned by Sir Christopher Cockerill (hope I have spelled it right) who invented the hovercraft? The original design was a biscuit tin with an aero model engine, which he first tried out in the slipway at the yard. I actually worked for the second Beaver Fleet (a different company, owned by Rank) when I started out as a base manager on the Canal du Midi.

Springsong, indeed I remember. You probably saw Moira quite a lot after we were divorced as she lived in South Walsham for a while and I know she went in the pub. I was a guest at her third wedding in February! And the dogs, aren't they lovely? The bottom photo is outside the door of the shop, in our first year at Womack and the pups are Malin, the black one, which was Pat Simpson's dog (his son is called Shannon!) and the yellow one is Lundy, which was mine. Pat's next dog was going to be an Alsatian, called German Bight. They were both from the same litter. Next one up is H for hound, and third one up was taken a year or so later. This depicts H and Lundy in the process of making a litter of puppies. It is great to see these and thanks very much. Best wishes to you all.

Hello Peter, Of course I cannot blame the Eleni V entirely but I can identify it as about the time when everything started to spiral downwards out of control. I have posted this topic as I hope to expand it into an interesting discussion of how things were for Broads businesses then, and the forces that were working against us. Let us see who else replies and what they have to say. I will get back to you tomorrow as I am sure you and I and Jill have lots to discuss! Meantime, corkscrews at the "high port"!

The recent pollution of the beach at Gorleston with old oil from the Eleni V collision has given me bitter memories of the disaster itself. Only a couple of days later, the national tabloid dailies blasted off into Black Death headlines saying "The oil from the Eleni V is encroaching on to the Norfolk Broads!" followed by the usual doomwatch journalism about dead birds, pollution, the Broads will take 50 years to recover, holiday-makers on boats will have their little kiddies covered in oil, and all the rest of it. What actually happened was that the Yarmouth Commissioners quickly got a floating boom across at the Haven Bridge, and the oil never got on to the rivers. But did the press come back and say "It's all right folks, all is well, the Broads have been saved"? Of course not. They had already shoved off looking for the next scandal to feed their rapacious appetites. This was the spring of 1978 when Broads tourism was already in the grip of a fearful recession, and the new competition from foreign package tours. So the Broads was saved but for us in the boat business, that was the end of our bookings for that season. Does anyone have other stories to tell, of our Noble Crusaders for the Truth At All Costs? How about "No Lullaby for Broadland"? Remember that?

Springsong, the boat in front of Vesta 2 is from Hearts and is either Heartbeat or Heart-throb. What happened to them? They were lovely boats. I remember that the new owner of Heartbeat, in the 70's, found her in such good condition that he burnt the paint off the mahogany hull and brought it up in varnish. As every screw had been dowelled in, this was easily possible.