Davydine

Why? This isn't a religious debate, it's a story about a Chocolate company that, with a little research is clearly not true. i fell for it initially but having checked, I am convinced that there is no story here, just. Someone somewhere trying to stir up division

Cadburys are selling it on their website right now, so I think it is ok!

This really is silly. This is a predominantly christian country and as such we celebrate Christmas why on earth do they think "Christmas" would cause offence?

The last boat we owned was a sailing boat, kept at Tollesbury in Essex, but it sounds as though the mission profile was similar, coastal trips at weekends with longer trips over to Holland / Belgium /France in the summer holidays. I always loved sailing to Holland and getting in to the Dutch waterways. It came as a shock when we entered the lock at Vlissingen and went down to level of the canal, it really brought home how low lying Holland is, which doesn't help when you are in the middle of the Veersmeer, and you can see a thunderstorm coming closer and we had a 10m metal mast sticking up in the air! We had disconnected every instrument I could easily remove and placed it in the oven, in the hope that it would work as a Faraday cage in the event of a lightning strike... Happy days!

Good luck, hope the offer is accepted, even for a high end boat like a Trader, I am rather inclined to think it is a buyers market. Where do you envisage cruising to? David

Ah yes, I see what I've done there... what I meant was... oh never mind!

Does the sign refer to the playground (i.e. The area around the swings / slide / roundabout etc.) or the whole playing field. If the former, then I see no problem with keeping the ball games, dogs and bikes away from the young kids at play. As described by others above, dog poo and balls can be a hazard to young kids who are only thinking about enjoying their play. If the latter then I agree. Fence the play equipment off and allow the ball games dogs and bikes on the rest of the field. As for kids in pubs, most of the pubs round us have got a reasonably well defined eating area and drinking area. I would expect children to be allowed in the restaurant and would certainly expect to be able to sit down and have a meal with my kids and I would expect them to behave appropriately, but I wouldn't take them in the drinking area. It's hard enough to run a profitable pub these days and most seem to be more restaurant than pub these days. I doubt that many can afford to turn away families.

Thanks, everyone, for all the advice, this thread has certainly gone off in a direction I hadn't expected. I grew up having a week on the Broads every year, but we have only just rediscovered them now that I have a family of my own. The idea of syndicate ownership had never occurred to me, but if we enjoy a few more boating holidays over the next couple of years then it is definitely something to consider. thanks once again, David

I have a feeling that my parents hired a similar boat to Thunder back in the day when Brooms still had them in the hire fleet. Commodore Bridgemaster if I remember correctly. Lovely boat, I particularly like the cabin with two single berths, really good use of the space. Unfortunately I don't think converting the saloon would work when we holiday with friends, but we will only do that once a year, it would work with family. i think I have lots of questions about syndicate ownership!

Thanks Alan, I don't think it would would work for the 8 of us, but an interesting idea for my family of four. Not sure that I get enough time off work to justify 4 weeks on the Broads, and it would be difficult to tie my annual allocation to school holidays, but if I was retired I would be very interesting. cheers, David

Thanks Charles, I did have a look at Jewel of light and it looks very good, the only downside, and I know this is being petty, is that one couple gets the massive forecabin and the other double cabin is a little on the cozy side, but certainly one to consider. In truth, I think the two boats that we have hired hit a sweet spot that suits our needs. Dazzling light is another that I would like to hire, but it was already booked. I don't mind an older boat and we are thinking of hiring Ibiza from Richardsons for a week next year, but when it is the two families it's nice to have a few more creature comforts. Now, if Richardsons could squeeze an extra cabin in to Commander or Commodore....! Cheers, David

Same here, I definately felt emotional when she retired. I have a fascinating DVD which was filmed on board one of the BA concordes and follows the whole flight, from the walk round to the full flight to New York and the return flight. All of the key stages of the flight were filmed in the cockpit, with full explanations of what is happening from the pilots and engineer. Really interesting for anyone who is keen in aviation.

Hi everyone, Well, I am thrilled to say we have our next Broads adventure booked, following a fantastic weekend on Broads Serenade from Richardsons earlier this year, next year, we have booked Regal light from Herbert Woods, but I would appreciate your collective wisdom to see if there are any other boats we should consider, you can tell I am already thinking about 2019! We are a group of two families, with 4 adults and 4 children, so we need a boat with2 doubles and 4 single berths. I generally prefer either a centre cockpit or, as regal light, an outside helm, but I am always open to suggestions. Are there any other boats you would recommend for us? Thanks, David

As much as I like Mr. Branson, I doubt that he would have been able to convince Airbus to continue to provide maintenance support for Concorde and without support from the manufacturer she was never going to be kept in the air. I rather suspect it was a clever piece of publicity for Virgin and nothing more.

Was it by any chance from a yard on the southern rivers? Sounds similar to a boat I hired once! on another note, we hired "Broads Serenade" earlier this year, and unfortunately the oven wouldn't stay lit, I think the thermocouple had failed. It wasn't a problem for us as we didn't need it over a weekend, but we did report it when we got back and I did wonder if it got fxed before it went out on hire again.

When we had our sailing boat we kept it at Tollesbury marina in Essex, there used to be one of Brooms old seapilots called Trulos Bay, which was used as a liveaboard, there was also, briefly, an old wooden Broom captain class moored out in the saltings at Tollesbury, but it didn't stay long.

The picture above is definitely woodbridge and the bathtub is still there, although it didn't look like something that was too big for the broads, Highcraft at Thorpe came to mind when I saw it and I think it might be a Foster 30. Highcraft used to have one called Peverill... http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Style_Details&style=Fo30

I like to see a red ensign worn in the correct place and can see no reason not to, it's your boat after all. When we had our sailing boat, we always flew it along with the appropriate courtesy flag when we sailed over to Holland or Belgium. As Vaughan said the no nos are the union jack and the cross if St.George. Personally I don't really like the jolly roger pirate flag, but I don't really know why I don't like it!

It's a nice idea, but i'm not sure my close quarters handling is good enough and I am not really convinced that all of the dayboats understand how to stay out of the way of a sailing boat! Why do they have to keep zig zagging?....!

I guess this was my point. Are they building as many boats as they are selling? Most of the new boats seem to be pretty big. Are there any smaller boats coming in to the fleet?

I noticed the post about some of the older Richardsons boats being sold and I was just wondering if the fleet is smaller for 2018 or if there will be the new boats being added to the fleet?

We hired a boat once from a yard on the southern broads and when we collected it we found that it was distinctly shabby, the engine compartment was definitely not pristine, in fact, the boat we had actually booked had broken down and was being repaired, so we were given an alternate. Not surprisingly the yard is long gone. We hired a boat from Richardsons at the beginning of May this year and it was immaculate.

Thanks everyone, it did indeed feel like coming home. Boating on the broads has been such an important part of my life, I have fond memories of family times, like going up the Tower of Ranworth church with my grandad, it felt pretty good to take my kids up there to show them the view!

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum, but not new to the broads, having first holidayed aboard Brooms Wavemaster in the early 1970's when I was just 18 months old. I believe they made a cot side especially for me! From then onwards I would holiday on the broads almost every year with my parents, usually in the Whitsun half term holiday. I can't remember all of the boats that we hired but a few spring to mind, including Brink of Day and Brinks Beryl from Brinkcraft(as they were then), Gleaming Light from Herbert Woods, Seafarer, Midshipman and Mariner from Brooms. Later, mum would stay at home and it would be a boys trip with my Dad and one of my friends on either Skipper from Brooms or Rapier from Bounty Boats. WhenI left school I started hiring on my own with a group of friends, always from Richardsons. Swiftway and San Louis spring to mind. After that I met my wife and we bought our own sailing boat which we used to keep down in Essex and then we had kids and the boat was sold. This May bank holiday we rediscovered the Broads, hiring Broads Serenade from Richardsons with another family. We had an amazing time and have already booked for next May. I love Norfolk and the Broads and can't wait to get back afloat! David