Vaughan

Very good point Simon, which I had never noticed. I see no reason whatever why this subject should be "secret". Let's share it with the full membership, please.

On thinking back, in Crown Blue Line, with 450 hire boats, the only spares we kept in stock on the bases for the Nanni engines were for the raw water cooling circuit, the pre-heat glow plugs and the pre-heat relay. Virtually nothing else went wrong regularly enough to need having the part in stock. I don't count the drive line of course, or the mounting feet but that's regular maintenance anyway.

That's funny, they always used to, at least up to about 8 years ago. They offered a short engine, with starter and flywheel, or a bobtail engine with heat exchanger, alternator, etc. Cost was about €2500, (last time I looked!). Maybe Peachments don't do them, but the Nanni factory is at La Teste, near Bordeaux in France. I agree they cannot be practically rebuilt but so long as you change the oil regularly they will last a very long time indeed. I have heard of some with 15,000 hours, on hire, and still going!

This is How Hill Gardens, on the banks of the Ant just above Ludham bridge. If you look on the EDP website - EDP24 - they give an address for getting tickets.

This is exactly what I was thinking. A good view of the sky at night requires a total lack of "light pollution". I can imagine that How Hill would be a great place to find this as there are no villages or main roads around but how can you then make that "safe" for the Great Public to wander about in the gardens in the dark, without getting sued when they trip over a concrete gnome, or stray too far and end up in the river?

I see in the EDP that the BA will be sponsoring "dark sky magic" guided walks around How Hill in late September and October, when paying guests will get the chance to see "glow-worms, owls and other creatures". Hmm . . . Pity that according to the Wildlife Trust's website, glow-worms glow in June and July. One flash of a torch and that will put the owls off as well. Perhaps I am a bit mischievous but I just have a vision of certain well-known forum members (who shall be nameless) staggering about the How Hill gardens in the pitch dark looking for glow-worms. Doesn't sound like health and safety to me!

I haven't yet managed to persuade this forum's checker to accept the word staithe without having to re-type it every time (including this time) so perhaps we have a long way to go?

When Blakes gave up the lease on it. Luckily they didn't do the same on Malthouse Broad or that may not have stayed open either.

That's why I said "I wonder".

Reading a bit more, it seems that Facebook's filters do this because they are based on "American English". Those two words do not go together as American is not English. It is an insidious mangling of our language. As long ago as Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer wrote that we are two great nations : separated by a common language.

Excellent! Many congratulations Doug. I wonder if that hull would come back in varnish, like I remember them in the 50s?

I have just been reading about it. I guess it wasn't Facebook that banned it, but the swear filter on a computer. The name refers of course to Woodcock, which were prolific on the marshes of the Broads in the 19th century and before, long before boating holidays came here. Serious commercial wild fowling was the way of life on the Broads, hence the number of places called "decoy" where huge nets were put up at the end of a dyke (oops) to capture Mallard duck lured in off a broad by gun dogs. They were caught hundreds at a time. There is a decoy broad near horning and there was one on Ranworth inner Broad, among dozens of others. Remember also the Norfolk gun-punt. These names are a vital part of our history, which would be lost if we just allowed them to be cancelled out by some blasted electronic ROBO - MOD.

I think you may have just said more about yourself than you realise.

Well this is more fun than the previous subject anyway! The Royal Corps of Transport were traditionally a mounted regiment (donkey wallopers) so we wore spurs with mess dress as well. It was said that they were very useful when someone had imbibed far too much and was about to collapse. You simply let him fall back into your arms and and wheeled him backwards out of the room on his spurs, rather like a wheelbarrow.

Actually there is a rather more serious one, which was told to me in a speech to Pangbourne College, given by Field Marshall Lord Slim, arguably the most famous general of WW11. He said that an English gentleman is some-one who pays up - owns up - and shuts up.

Apropos of nothing, I have just remembered another definition of an officer and a gentleman : He always takes his spurs off before going to bed.

And that reminds me of Flanders and Swann - I think it was : I have just spent the last two years living in squalor. Which is in Kent.

Not so much a raw nerve as a simple matter of discretion and courtesy. I don't use a forum name as I have always felt that the history and knowledge of boat hiring that I share here would not be anywhere near as valid if members didn't know who I was. You, on at least your third incarnation of forum names, prefer to keep your identity unknown. Not a stable platform, I would suggest, from which to delve into the business affairs of others, even to the extent of naming one of the finance houses involved. I try to share my knowledge of the industry in ways which are helpful to debate, whilst hopefully remaining discreet. The majority of boat hirers and builders on the Broads are very old friends of mine and some of them are members of my own family. In Richardsons' case I was employed by them in a management role on two occasions, in Norfolk and in France. There are many details of other people's businesses that I could share here (quite legally) but would never think of doing so. Looking back on our discussion on this thread I feel that there is a line which has been crossed. A fine one, yes but a line all the same. My father once told me that a definition of an English gentleman is some-one who knows how to play the bagpipes - but refrains from doing so!

That'll keep you busy for a morning, anyway!

Well it may be in the "public domain" if you care to take the time to rake it up but I am afraid your post feels, to me, like poking your nose into other peoples' business. If Richardsons have decided to lay off a few boats for next season that leaves us with a nice piece of armchair speculation as to their long term plans, especially those of us who have known the company and its history for a very long time. We are also interested in the future of the Broads, of course. Please don't let's turn this forum discussion into a "Chasse aux sorcières".

And I am afraid I rather doubt he would recommend a sliding hob on a flexible pipe.

I should think that makes sense. I would not be placing any bets on anything for next year, at this rate! So maybe better to "hedge" your bets and store a few boats in the nettles round the back of the sheds for a bit. Won't be the first time Richardsons have done that, in their history!

There's an old saying : You can't choose your customers. Just be thankful for them. You will very soon miss them if they take their custom elsewhere.

If that's true I don't blame them. I can't help feeling it is a bit rich though, coming from a company that built its less recent reputation on cheap and cheerful discount weekends for readers of The Sun.