Stationerystill

It looked great as I went through Martham this afternoon.

There are no petrol pumps on the Broads so I would chose a diesel for safety and economy. A Broom Skipper 30 ft. should go under the bridges and is well built with good handling.

Posted by me on Thorpe History Facebook page. Happy to see it reposted. I have more information in the Thorpe "Janet Smith Archive" the story is also online if you Google the name.

My father designed many wooden boats. He always said below the water line a 50/50 mix of white lead and putty. One goes hard under water and one goes soft so they even each other out. I am not sure if white lead is still available though due to health and safety rules.

They started building in Thorpe in the 1920's so I would think c.1923

The family have posted some information and pictures of Jack on The Thorpe History Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1613500998930684

I have a picture of my father at the helm of Baltimore in 1963. He also designed the timber superstructure on this and many other Griffin (Bourne) 35's. There were so many that I was roped in to help quite often and I almost lost my job as an architectural technician when the boss found me with a boat design on my drawing board at work.

The photo by Islander shows about 30 paddleboards all over the river. Do they know they should navigate on the right to allow traffic coming the other way?

The strange looking cottage behind Riverside Stores was the house of the owner Jim Cole senior.

Do my eyes deceive me. It looks like two of the boats have glass fibre Griffin 35(Bourne) hulls with timber superstructure. These boats were designed by my father in the early 60's.

Diesel is available at about 95p a litre from pumps on the Broads. It is more economical and much safer.

My dad once bought two expensive programmable hearing aids costing thousands. He did not get on with them and ended up using cheap ones bought from a mail order company for £20.

I have found my fathers calculations for a Bourne/Griffin 35 which was for the B.A. wash report. Lady Laurel boat no. 13 in the report, displacement 5.3 tons, wetted surface 360 sq ft. It says 16 x 10.5 at 1500 r.p.m. will give 9 m.p.h. There are various other sizes calculated and h.p. calculations. The wash report was a public document so it might be possible to look up all the calculations.

From a very hazy memory my father, who designed the Griffin/Bourne 35, put on 15" propellers with the 4108 but not sure of pitch. I will try and check this in a few days if I can find some old papers in my office. There is a website which will do the calculations for you https://www.vicprop.com/free-propeller-sizing-calculators or you could pay Andrew Wolstenhome to do the calculations.

It is not possible to check if no name or number is displayed on the boat. There are probably a lot of wrecks around which are not taxed or insured but cannot be checked. The old tax disc system was better as it had to be displayed on the bows so everyone could see if a boat was taxed.

My father gave me an enamel Windboats badge when I was a child and he was the manager. I lost it and decades later I mentioned it to Trevor James who at the time owned Windboats and he gave me a replacement.

It looks like the grain and colour of sapele to me. Teak is very oily so try a drop or water on it to see if it runs off.

Looking at the stencilled letters on the tittle at the bottom of the page I would say it could be anywhere from the 1940's. I have the same stencils which I used in the 60's on architectural plans and I inherited some more from my father who was a naval architect working from 1940 to 2002.

Wooden boats are very nice but they do need more maintenance. This is why commercial fleets dropped them in favour of g.r.p. many years ago. We used to have them out of the water every year and take everything out, take up floor boards and provide good cover and ventilation. Often planks needed replacing. If you can replace planking and frames yourself it is o.k. but if not it will cost. I have worked on both. Martham Boats are one of the few yards to still run wooden boats and they are the people to ask about costs as they still have the skill.

A Broom Skipper centre cockpit handles well and gives a good view over the reeds. The single level cruisers do not give a view over the top of the reeds and aft. They also hold their price well.

Very sad to hear this .My father ran Windboats for many years on behalf of Donald Hagenbach. He introduced aluminium and glass fibre to the company. Mr Hagenbach thought there was no future in glass fibre and my father thought there was no future in concrete so he resigned and started his own company. I remember when they built the new workshop nearest the road for the Oysters and how proud Trevor James was of it when he showed me round.I hope that maybe some one will buy it and save some of the jobs.

The bells of Thorpe Church were only rung once when they were installed and the church was new. The team of bell ringers came from St Peter Mancroft to ring them. When they started the tower shook so badly that the architect rushed up the stairs and stopped the ringing as he feared the tower would fall. They are not swung but a small hammer is swung against them by ropes in the tower. I helped our vicar with the mayor and two visiting Canadians to play a tune on them in 2018. The church was designed by Thomas Jeckyll and built in 1866. The tower was never strong enough for a full set of bells and they were all swung in the same direction instead of opposite directions to balance out the forces.

Jenny Morgan said the local council was slow off the mark. This is not so. Our Town Clerk has written to the E.A. and B.A. about the sewage several times over the last two years. It has been difficult to get them to come and inspect. They are apparently very busy.

This is untreated sewage.It was supposed to go through a pipe under the river to the mains. The E.A. established the fact that it is not connected to the mains at all but just goes into the river. Richardsons used to bring a tanker and float a pipe across the river to empty the holding tank. A local resident has claimed that has not happened for years. The E.A. are going to stop the sewage being pumped into the river. I expect using a tanker is the only immediate option available. A local resident reported it the the B.A. and the E.A. at least two years ago.

This is the situation at Thorpe Green "The Broads Authority is not determining or designating Thorpe St Andrew River Green as a ‘public staithe’ or ‘common’ in history, law or practice. This report is the opinion of the author and, having taken legal advice, the Broads Authority is unequivocally satisfied that Thorpe St Andrew Town Council has the powers in both statute and byelaw to control access, mooring and to charge for all moorings at River Green." This has been added to Professor Williamsons staithes report to avoid the B.A. being sued after seeing the evidence files. Roy Kemp lived in Thorpe and did not include the River green in his list of public staithes. He probably knew it was not.