Langford Jillings Snr.

[unclemike]

not quite true, mustang was in the fleet,if you remember there was a picture on here of it aground in the reeds                           langfords boat was barracuda, the first 35 ft highliner, was there and looked round it as they were fitting it out, it also had davits for a tender, the idea was to take it down to the thames

[DAVIDH]

What i was really asking was whether that style of boat, which you see across the hire fleets such as Bolero, Brinks Lullaby, Silver Elegance - all of these in fact, were designed and built (hull and superstructure) by Alphacraft. If so, they did not seem to get the credit they deserved for the design. 

[VetChugger]

I'd suggest the answer to that is definitely yes David. There were/are some minor vaiations in window layout etc but the basic design concept certainly originated on the Alpha yard.

[unclemike]

yes, designed by john moxham , built entirely at alpha, then fitted out wherever, seen a few shells being towed to new owners

[LondonRascal]

I have fond memories of the old Alphacraft and the small touches that made them so unique to other designs or even hire fleets. The stylised Union Jack on the rear, the quest to make a hire boat as comfortable as possible and ‘home like’. This might have gone a bit far when leaded light effect windows and wrought iron found their way into boats but they were innovative and of course the overall designs were the base of many other yards flagship boats of the day. 

As to Baracuda this was a special boat and I have recently been able to have a look at it. It is a shame when someone who did so much for the Broads and who’s skill and ideas helped indirectly many to enjoy holidays and go on to buy their own boats. It’s sad that despite all this the name Alphacraft is not still churning out boats. 

I do wonder what the next idea would be for an updated flybrisge ans centre cockpit from the Alphacraft stable may have looked like. 

[trambo]

Article in the Great Yarmouth Mercury.

http://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/norfolk-broads-alphacraft-langford-jillings-dies-aged-79-1-5686754

[boycee]

Sorry Chameleon you are absolutely right, my mistake

Boycee

[unclemike]

no worries

 

[Graham47]

Robin was right about trying to make his boats homelike. One our favourite boats we hired from him was his Thunderbolt. At 42ft and only a four berth it was an extremely comfortable craft complete with a full size 3 seater settee and armchair and a smoked glass top dining table. As robin mentioned it also had it,s fair share of wrought iron support work to enable half the boat to be open plan. After a couple years he told us he had a buyer for it and would be replacing it the following year with a new model and that he had been asked by another regular about putting a bath in the new one, what did we think?  We said it was novel as not many boats had baths at that time, but what would also be a good idea would be to have an airing cupboard. When we arrived the following season we found that he had accommodated both requests. The bath was a great success but the airing cupboard didn’t get warm. On further inestigation it was found that in order to fit the airing cupboard in, he had moved the position of the fridge but not the outside vent which was now in the airing cupboard and not behind the fridge. This caused much consternation when pointed out to him, but he took it all in his stride and had the situation rectified immediately.

[Aboattime]

Hi Graham, i remember Thunderbolt very well,we were very envious of it when we met you and your Mum and Dad at Coldham Hall all those years ago.Our Alpha will go under all the Broads bridges, even Potter which was one of the main reasons that we bought her,to us still a great design of boat, there are some for sale,are you not tempted to buy one ? Regards Kevin

[VetChugger]

So this is the typical young Broadsman!

Courtesy of Yarmoth Mercury

[Stationerystill]

I am sorry to hear this sad news. I met him quite a few times and really liked him. I supplied him with office stationery and also met him at classic cars shows .He had a nice Jaguar.

If I mentioned the Broads Authority to him he would get very excited and his voice went up a pitch. I think he hated them more than I did.