can we talk about the ole days ......................

[wombat nee blownup]

What about Burgh Castle? It used to be chocker full of men wearing skirts, in the good ole days when Mars Bars were 6" long instead of 3"  now, and Loddon where you could go off and leave your keys in the ignition.....aah the good ole days. Jenny Agutter taking off her knickers and waving them about on a railway line !! just like Yarmouth sea front on a friday night. A little shop run by a bloke in a brown coat that sold everything you wanted, why is it I now need everything that an orange and white  shop on 25 hectares of land  say I need? aah the good ole days. When in winter with just two feet of snow we got to school and work. We don't seem to function now after a snow fall of an inch an a rarf !  aah the good etc. etc.  Watneys Red Barrel.... "Good Ole Days?" Oh mate !!  Our football team had a goalie that had rickets, in the end we phoned Ray Charles to see if he'd help us. Nit nurses pulling clumps of hair out. Not having a penny when needed sometimes. Cleaning out the fire grate, Porridge?  Whats that all about?  sitting in a tin bath while mother scrubs your back in front of aunties and uncles. I was 15 years old !!  WHAT GOOD OLD DAYS? I'm sitting here in a toastie house, warm, Gert ole telly, beer to one side.  Good Ole Days? I'll be down the boat tomorrow to check alls well and straight back here. But (I was always taught that you cannot start a sentence with but or and  etc.) but, we'll be out soon as, and looking for some good ole times so that i can tell my great grandchildren about the good ole days 

[BroadScot]

Walter Coe at Locks Inn with sing song nights with John the accordianist by candle light. Castle Bitter! OMG! Discovering many villages had NO street lighting, still many don't have today!

[650xs]

what about the great ole boat that ran from topcraft with the faltt back to take caravans .......

 

 

 

ant one remember the radio broadland boat from wroxham ex Caribbean which run from powles when it was under the pennant holiday banner...................

 

 

watching the kids at barton turf doing cap size drills ........................

 

 

 

 

 

seeing the trial run drivers jumping orf at lamp post cottage point at brudall

 

 

getting caught by brooms testing boots on the speed stretch, ride that wave ........

 

 

 

mooring up at beccles and having a swim ....................wonder round the boat sales

 

 

 

percivels boot sales in horning.............................

 

 

 

norfolk marine in the old house ............next to wind boats 

 

with linder boats and outboard workshop .............................

 

 

 

sit at the acle bridge  pub watch alan johnsons boots late trial runs ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,eeeeehhhhhh

  ehhhhh

 

 

 

going to " tigers " nite club at potter heigham  at back orf broads haven ...............god bless jon and casey ..............................

 

 

 

herbert woods reception with there engines on display in the old wooden original offices

with the cellar below .......................oooooooooooooooo

 

 

going on the golden gallion to reedham and back with " cub cake " at the wheel we were in good hands ..................................

 

 

hats orf to ole julian and crewe.....................

 

 

 

takin eliz simpsons to from woods to thurne mill on trips from the coaches that use to poor in at there ........

 

 

blowing up petrol wooden day boats tooo................

 

 

ahhh those were the days .............................

 

 

 

no snickers and lots orf marathons .........................

 

 

 

£2.50 filled the tank and lasted aweek ................yipeeeee.............

 

 

keep them coming folk s love them all ...............................

[C.Ricko]

??:Stalham water Tours...

 

marina Quays in Yarmouth,

 

are we scraping the barrel yet?

a pair of boots on the post near Yarmouth!

 

double yolked eggs near Stracey arms..

 

sheep in Horning...

 

JJ, look in my 'slides of the 70s' topic for a old pic of Abbey, do you recognise the crane? (I cant seem to post a link )

[Soundings]

Pleasure Boat, Hickling on a Sunday lunchtime in the mid 70s, used to be packed to the gunnels. And then the pub in Hickling village, The Greyhound, also always packed and run by Ian (don't think I ever knew his surname) - there were Guinea Pigs in the garden and some great Space Invader tables in the bar.

Incidentally, have not seen Ian around for over a year now. Hope he is ok.

[BroadScot]

I hired from Alan Johnson for many years, a proper gent he was, and his dear wife would not let a hire boat out unless spotless!

 

Loved sitting at the Bridge Inn at Potter, before it burnt down, watching the Pilots work their socks off during the low water time to get as many boats through and back as possible. With the odd puff of sandstone coming off the bridge!

[jillR]

hi clive

 

if you have problems copy pasting a link it may be that you need to turn off the switch.

 

it lets you and stops you doing this and that so if there is summut that wont work, try

 

throwing the switch.

 

(top left)

this screen shot was for quo but im sure he wont mind you

sharing it.

[quo vadis]

Only just seen this thread, CRicko and 650xs, when you refer to one eye from Breydon Marine do you mean Wilfred Beck from Beck and Martin who used to operate from next door to Breydon Marine. Burgh Castle Yacht Station.

 

They used to have a small hire fleet all called Burgh something, King, Queen, Duke etc.

 

They also operated a tugboat service to recover vessels stuck on Breydon.

[stumpy]

Jon - re. Woods display engines I remember Dad telling me all about one (6cyl ex bus engine I think) when an old boy in a warehouse coat heard him. Turned out he was also ex grey funnel line ERA. Two hours later Mum and I had loaded the boat, had the handover and had to prise him out of one of the sheds "but they've just made tea, boy! I int a-coming yet!"

[jillR]

pics from the early 90s

river yare

brundall

an ex waddintons keel at brundall

river waveny

[Timbo]

The bloke that sold 'Prawns on an ashtray' outside Lathems and would buy any large eels that you had caught.

[Poppy]

Who remembers the Shop on Thurne Staithe - the one with the petrol pump outside that's now the very posh house? And the Caravan Club site adjacent.....

[BroadScot]

I do Poppy, may well have a pic of it in a shoebox, taken with my very old Kodak Instamatic

 

Iain.

[LondonRascal]

The earlier years...

 

There are two memories that stick out for me the first was in 1994 when my Dad and I hired a Westwood 38 sedan called Gazelle - she was hired from Ludham Marine which later become the site of DRL at Womack Water.

 

 

One has to remember that back 'in the day' things on boats were so, so much more basic than even the most basic of boats one can hire today.  The boat was rather large but only had heating in the saloon and front master cabin (both small gas catalytic heaters) my cabin had nothing of the sort, clearly the builders decided two heaters were perfectly fine. 

 

To make matters worse,  the berths were covered with vinyl which meant the top sheet would slide all over the place but its real dark side was when you first got into bed you were the hit by this intense cold coming thought the sheet of the freezing vinyl under.  It was a cunning material which proceeded to warm up fooling you that you were now safe.  However, should you move one inch left or right you would be 'bitten'  with a cold patch that would go right through you.  Sleeping therefore was not the most relaxing of experiences on a cold October half term week.

What made this trip memorable was it was the first time my Dad and I had a boat just the two of us, and neither he nor I really knew much about knots. 

 

Each morning the routine would be to leave our overnight mooring - cruise somewhere, whereupon the water would be hot for him to shave with and we would moor up,  get ready and cook breakfast.   One morning we had moored at Thurne Mouth moorings and were just tucking into breakfast when I noticed that we were not only no longer alongside the bank but now moving off in the direction of Acle.

 

"Dad we've come adrift"  I shouted as he just tucked into his breakfast - he looked at me, then out the boat at the bank and then back at me - he, the responsible adult remember, asked: "what do you think we should do?" well, I said how about starting the bloody engine!

 

So while he fired the old girl up I was dragging in the ropes  out of the water to find the Rhonde Anchors were not on the end of them - after much comedic "Robin what do you mean the Rhonde Anchors are missing"  I remember we had to go back to the mooring whereupon they were firmly in the ground.  Rather than moor again using them and finish breakfast, he wanted shot of this mooring and the on looking boats wondering no doubt what was going on with our misfortune.

 

I was dispatched off the boat to grab them, whereupon he would come back and pick me up, this worked well until I went to get on the boat and found the handrail began to part with the boat - I was more worried about loosing the precious Rhonde Anchors than my peril with my left hand clutching the heavy metal mooring pins and my right clasping the hand rail watching as the screws emerged from the fibreglass - oblivious to my Dad who was now motoring away from the bank.  Suffice to say I made it back into the saloon where the topic of conversation was now about our cold breakfast.

 

The other memory was when I convinced my Mum it would be a good idea to go away on a boat - I mean, how much worse could it get compared to my Dad?

 

Money as tight and so we hired Diamond Haze from Diamond Cruisers -

 

 

this was for my eighteenth birthday.  Now let me explain dear boat loving reader, that boating that this was back in 1997 when Richardson's was not seen in the same light as it is now.  Indeed Richardson's were going through a phase of calling themselves New Horizon  - they had their own brochure and logo but  people would still look at you from their modern craft hired from the likes Faircraft Loynes as if they had pity you had to hire from a yard who were promoting the fact they were introducing more soft furnishings and - get this carpets to their boats.

 

Now if we imagine a large plane divided between three classes it may help explain matters:  Boats hired from their Stalham and Acle bases might be seen as the First Class experience for these had been subject to more improvements in their comfort and onboard facilities, but for a little less money one could go Business Class and hire from Thorpe with Hearts Cruisers.  These looked much the same as the boats one could hire up north, but on closer inspection looked a little less inviting internally - you got the idea you might not have the most trouble free holiday aboard them.  My Mum however had booked an Economy ticket  on the New Horizon plane - run out of Horning which later would become the base of Freedom Boating Holidays, Diamond Cruisers were the ugliest ducklings afloat - cheap as you could get and if floated, well then it could be hired.

 

We boarded the Ocean 30 - its brown canopy unable to fit over the metal frame, itself bent out of shape - all the glass in the windscreen replaced with what appeared to be 'pre-scratched' Perspex and a good strong smell of Diesel as you entered the main cabin.  Oh the joys I thought, but it got worse - my cabin would be the small single berth in the after cabin - not only had it once again got no heating, the walls and ceiling were painted bare fibreglass - yep no gel coat, no head linings and was fitted once more with an evil vinyl covered berth.  Damn you, I thought.

 

Handover was swift, a trial run was attempted - my poor mum proably hit most of the quay heading and likley some other boats, the chap decided that was good enough (or he just wanted off the boat) and he asked to be dropped off further down the dyke and we were off!  Highlights of the trip was going aground briefly somewherealong Fleet Dyke area where it was marked 'shallow water', being unable to watch TV because when we turned it on it blew a fuse and that was the hot water tank was not lagged - hot water therefore was not something that lasted long at all oh and that canopy what joys it brought us.

 

But you know what - I loved the experience of being on a boat, even if this was taken in June when vinyl has its other party piece to offer - it will make you sweat like a pig and your bare legs will stick to it like nothing else.  Diamond Cruisers lasted only one season but it made my mum and I happy and had it not been for them and their cheap cheap prices we would never have been able to have gone.  These were the days of boating holidays where it was not about the 'luxuries' onboard but the adventure of the day - it felt a more simple time, banks were not all neat and tidy, formal moorings were less formal - you needed your Rhonde Anchors at How Hill and Ludham Birdge and people seemed to me more carefree.

[LondonRascal]

Shop at Thurne Staithe - i rememeber it, have a little wooden model fishing trawler I bought there from years ago.

[TrevorAndDeirdre]

There was the little shop by the bridge at St. Olaves. The boat that did take aways from south walsham it was called once bitern. Yes boats more basic as Robin says but good,  you used to look and see if they had a shaver point.

[BroadScot]

Ah yes the old couple who ran the shop at St Olaves, one about 86 the other about 90, and carried a stock of 4 morning papers, you had to get up early or the milk would be gone by 8am

 

Iain.

[SteveO]

Family of 4 taking a week's holiday on a Freeman 22. Having to take kids into naff smoke-filled children's rooms, which was often a lean-to next to the pub, if you want to eat out.  Watneys Norwich Bitter, rabbit pie in the Black Horse on the Horning to Wroxham road. That old shop on the corner in Stalham, which sold everything. Market days in Stalham and Acle. The notice board at the mouth of the river Thurne? Coypu control.   

 

Those were the days.

 

 

Steve

[BroadScot]

Hi Steve,

 

Not forgetting the Locks Inn corrugated gents outside loos! But, drinking by candlelight there, was something else.

 

 

Iain.

[Timbo]

Hi Steve,

 

Not forgetting the Locks Inn corrugated gents outside loos! But, drinking by candlelight there, was something else.

 

 

Iain.

ewwww...why were you drinking by candlelight in the corrugated gents outside loos...and what were you drinking in the corrugated gents outside loos? 

[BroadScot]

ewwww...why were you drinking by candlelight in the corrugated gents outside loos...and what were you drinking in the corrugated gents outside loos? 

Walter Coe's generator failed! So that visit was by candlelight Tim   Nah, not really. He use to sell a little bottled beer there, Tolly Cantab 250 think it was called, drink three you got the fourth free! Needless to say, many tried it, all failed. I tried one, and left in a state of not walking very straight. Oh how that pub ooooozed atmosphere in those days.

 

 

Iain

[C.Ricko]

I remember behind the shop there was a shed full of ancient outboard engines....

[LondonRascal]

Oh yes remember the black boards along the rivers which I think would have SOS on them and a space under so if someone was needed they could chalk up the boat name etc. Lease I think that is what they said.

 

Anyone else remember things called 'quay headings' along much of the river banks and grass to moor up to not reeds?

 

The house on the way to Wroxham where there would be (a lady I think) feeding the ducks and swans and notices to slow down for them and the whole lawn had birds on it and food.

 

Going up the top of Sutton Mill.

 

Lathams china department where we at least seem to collect all sorts of large items from elephants to plant stands.

 

Passenger boat which went from Potter Heigham.

[650xs]

did we mention the floating shop ex ricos boot or chumley boat can,t quite remember ...............

 

 

 

meetin mr diver super star lord chet ..................

 

many many times diving for gold on them props ..........

 

good ole john and his dad and wife ...................

 

 

 

seeing little ole henry selling his super doopa windmills at the yard at south gate s all made from real bricks .............

 

 

etc etc etc .................

 

 

 

letting the ole port and haven boys chase yer around wroxham while water sking through the bridge  and midd inte racing oppppssss............

 

 

 

 

towing loads of boots around the broads when all was quite ................in the depth of winter

 

 

not soul to see ............

 

 

chasing holiday maker,s  around all the pubs for keys for boot s on break downs ......

 

 

calling the eel man at horning and telling him I ve  of got all his nets in a pile to collect from a boat props and tangles ..!!!!!

 

 

getting chased by the cockerel at hearts .look out he is behind you ...........

[Labrador]

"Watneys Norwich Bitter, rabbit pie in the Black Horse on the Horning to Wroxham road".

Is the Norwich Bitter linked to the Black Horse, Steve? Bearing in mind the Black Horse was a Lacons/Whitbread pub, not Watneys/Grandmet.