Brochure Time

[Broads01]

I have vivid memories as a youngster excitedly receiving Hoseasons and Blakes brochures in the post around this time of year. I can remember also walking in to numerous high street travel agents (remember them?) and asking if the brochures had arrived. I was usually disappointed because they seemed to receive them late.

Brochures are a forgotten art, of course but I do miss them. During the winter time, especially they were a tangible coloured window on the boating world. Ban the Internet, I say!

[Gracie]

I have fond memories of the brochures too. I remember being very young and sitting at the table with my parents discussing what type of boat we would like for our next holiday. Whatever we chose from right old wrecks to the posher craft we have never been disappointed in a boat we have hired.

The internet is good for looking at and researching boats but you can't beat that feeling of excitement when that brochure hit the floor.

We can't ban the internet Simon, we wouldn't have our forum  x

[Lulu]

Definitely remember the brochures arriving when I was a kid and Dad keeping them by his chair for months. If only he had kept them.   I often wonder now if I would have seen Luna or Wren as I think she would have been called back then, little knowing I’d own her one day.  Id love to get an original brochure with her in it, but the prices of these brochures are crazy. 

[kpnut]

Going to the travel agent to rummage through the wall displays or them dropping through the letterbox was always the start of the buildup to a holiday. 
I used to read every word. 

I do have Richardson’s last ‘hard copy’ brochure, 2020, and it has my boat in it, Lulu.

I keep it on the boat for quick reference when boats go by. That was one of the fun things when hiring, boat spotting and seeing what we fancied for next year. It has lots of lovely photos of places and suggested itineraries etc. 

 

[Ray]

We used to make a list from the brochure in order of preference before phoning Hoseasons. By the time we got to 4th or 5th choice being unavailable the rep was offering possibles based on the style of the others we'd picked.

I honestly don't think we ever got our 1st choice but we were never once disappointed 🙂

[Broads01]

3 hours ago, Gracie said:

I remember being very young and sitting at the table with my parents discussing what type of boat we would like for our next holiday.

I remember doing that too at the age of 12. By then I'd read the brochures so much my late father had come to respect the knowledge I'd built up and so he asked my advice on various boats as we paged through.

[Roy]

I have many but unfortunately they are only from 1998 to 2014 I also have the individual booklets that certain boatyards produced like Richardson’s and a moonfleet interesting to see how boats changed over these years and how many yards stopped trading unfortunately. 

 

[Dan]

Seeing who was building what new boat and which boat had swapped to another fleet was the most fun I have had with my trousers on 

[jeffbroadslover]

I also remember eagerly awaiting the arrival of the latest brochures.

I would read every detail of every boat again and again. If I was asked anything about any boat I could tell mum or dad everything they wanted to know from boatyard to size to layout and the names and details of any similar boats.

I would also be able to tell them if they had moved from one boatyard to another

It certainly kept me busy during the long dark nights of winter

Jeff 

[Gracie]

9 hours ago, Broads01 said:

I remember doing that too at the age of 12. By then I'd read the brochures so much my late father had come to respect the knowledge I'd built up and so he asked my advice on various boats as we paged through.

Somewhere packed away I have a folder with cut outs of all the boats we hired when growing up. Each boat had the layout underneath and an interior picture. My friends at school thought I'd lost the plot I think. They were looking at pictures of Barbie and there's me looking at boats  

I've sat round the table with my own kids on my lappy doing the exact same thing and although the pics are bigger it doesn't have quite the same feel as a brochure.

We must be proper Broads nutcases or need to get out more I reckon  x

[Chelsea14Ian]

Brochures were always great to cheer up the dark days of winter. Planning your next trip on the water.So too  was the adverts on boxing day.We also enjoyed  going to the boat show in early January. We got our first boat at the boat show.

[Smoggy]

59 minutes ago, Gracie said:

or need to get out more I reckon  x

Nail squarely hit on head methinks, while you're doing the boaty things there's beer/wine needing drinking.

[DAVIDH]

Someone's selling quite a few old Blakes brochures on Ebay, going right back to 1927 (at eyewatering prices). But they do image lots of pages from each one, so there's lots to interest the average Broads nerd. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=blakes+boating+brochure&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=hoseasons+boating+brochure&_osacat=0

[Gracie]

8 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Nail squarely hit on head methinks, while you're doing the boaty things there's beer/wine needing drinking.

Now Smoggy, you can do boaty things and drink wine at the same time. It's called multi tasking  x

[YnysMon]

I’m loving this thread, but it does make me feel like I had a deprived childhood. I didn’t of course…only as far as having childhood memories of the Broads. I think I’ve made up for it since then. 

[Gracie]

7 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

I’m loving this thread, but it does make me feel like I had a deprived childhood. I didn’t of course…only as far as having childhood memories of the Broads. I think I’ve made up for it since then. 

More than made up for it Helen, you are a fully certified Broads nutcase, nerd and anorak just like the rest of us 

[YnysMon]

1 minute ago, Gracie said:

More than made up for it Helen, you are a fully certified Broads nutcase, nerd and anorak just like the rest of us 

Thank you. I am suitably flattered and preening myself as a fully paid up Broads nutcase. 

[Broads01]

Well I'm a nutcase, yes but for many of us on the forum and beyond the Broads is very much part of who we are.