JennyMorgan Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 The Waveney River Centre came into being during the 1970's. Prior to that it was the Waveney Yacht Station and Waveney Hotel, owned by a Mr & Mrs Wilson, emigrants from Lincolnshire. Clever bloke had a friend or relation who was involved with BOAC and between them they installed half an airliner cabin in the back bar. Very clever, the glamour of flying attracted his clients and on the hour another 'flight' would be announced and more customers would sit down to an another innovation of the day, microwaved airline dinners served by hostesses suitably dressed as cabin staff. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdnamsGirl Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Really? That's wonderful. Years ahead of his time with Nuke'n'Puke pub grub then! Peter ... please get on with writing that book of your memoires of Broadland Carol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetAnne Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 I remember WRC doing a very swish chicken and chips in a basket (and it was a real basket) way back in the early 70's. It was the talk of the area this new fangled food. What would they think of next! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyMorgan Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 Just a thought, it was a Mr & Mrs Wilkinson, not Wilson. Carol, really, and really rather clever. The meals came ready prepared from the airline caterer, The whole timetable and number of covers were controlled. No washing up either. When we bought the place we stripped the 'plane' out and took the idea to a holiday camp where it was a great success for another two years after which we sold the 'plane' to a collector. 7 hours ago, JanetAnne said: I remember WRC doing a very swish chicken and chips in a basket (and it was a real basket) way back in the early 70's. It was the talk of the area this new fangled food. What would they think of next! Scampi & chips and prawn cocktails. We also did a deep fried plaice & chips which was also a great success. Another WRC 1970's thing were the Kray Brothers, out in the depths of Norfolk would you believe. One of their honchos turned up and tried to sell us the idea of us being protected. Did we worry, did we heck, we laughed him off the premises! The East Coast holiday industry has its own Mafia and one of the Krays was in Norwich Prison at the time. We never did have a return visit! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyMorgan Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 Another innovation of the day, besides microwaves, were small black & white televisions on hire cruisers, the height of modernity, three channels to choose from too. How the world has moved on in forty years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranworthbreeze Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 10 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said: Another innovation of the day, besides microwaves, were small black & white televisions on hire cruisers, the height of modernity, three channels to choose from too. How the world has moved on in forty years! Hi Peter, I guess the world has not moved on so much, yes updated TV's, larger, colour, flat or even curved screens. Sadly the same old repeats, soaps or just cheap television. Regards Alan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdnamsGirl Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 It was Mr Wilkinson who also introduced a fleet of hire cruisers named after Whitbread beers too according to an old newspaper article ... I wrote about it on the Broadland Memories blog a few years ago: http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/blog/2012/07/booze-cruisers/ Carol 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadScot Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 10 hours ago, JanetAnne said: I remember WRC doing a very swish chicken and chips in a basket (and it was a real basket) way back in the early 70's. It was the talk of the area this new fangled food. What would they think of next! The Bridge Inn at Acle followed suit JA, it was our lunch before leaving for our holiday on an AJ Alan Johnson boat! They must have used a lot of grease paper for the baskets! and even MORE quarter Chickens! Iain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadScot Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 2 hours ago, JennyMorgan said: Another innovation of the day, besides microwaves, were small black & white televisions on hire cruisers, the height of modernity, three channels to choose from too. How the world has moved on in forty years! We paid £10 deposit on those B&W TVs and IF you were very lucky, you got all three channels! Iain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetAnne Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Anyone else remember the 'O-so-kool' fridges? Now there was cutting edge technology! Isotherm eh? You've never had it so good... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyMorgan Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 8 hours ago, JanetAnne said: Anyone else remember the 'O-so-kool' fridges? Now there was cutting edge technology! Isotherm eh? You've never had it so good... lol Are those the jobs where you poured a cup full of water into a reservoir on the top? Fat lot of good on a sailing boat though, every time there was a puff of wind the reservoir emptied into the bilge! Then along came ice-packs and the swap scheme, great in principle and a pain the nether regions for boatyards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadScot Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Well we must have had a "MODERN" fridge, a gas one, only trouble was, if the stern door was open and the wind was up it blew out the pilot light. I lost count of the times holding the little red button and the spinning flint start to relight it on ones knees!!! From memory I think it was an Electrolux. Iain 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetAnne Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said: Are those the jobs where you poured a cup full of water into a reservoir on the top? Fat lot of good on a sailing boat though, every time there was a puff of wind the reservoir emptied into the bilge! Then along came ice-packs and the swap scheme, great in principle and a pain the nether regions for boatyards. I thought you saily types just used to hang the wine in a net off the transom to cool as you drifted 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadScot Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 1 minute ago, JanetAnne said: I thought you saily types just used to hang the wine in a net off the transom to cool as you drifted Never mind the saily types JA!! My father in law kept his cans of ale in a net bag as an extra fridge! Iain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 16 minutes ago, JanetAnne said: I thought you saily types just used to hang the wine in a net off the transom to cool as you drifted I wouldn't risk that, for fear of having my bottle 'throtched' by an errant 'stinky'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetAnne Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 2 hours ago, Poppy said: I wouldn't risk that, for fear of having my bottle 'throtched' by an errant 'stinky'. These days you'd be more worried about snagging the net on the bottom chap! Am I the only one to imagine the river bottoms must look like a game of tic tac toe with all those keels carving their way back and forward through the putty 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetAnne Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 On 11/12/2015 at 11:09 PM, JennyMorgan said: The Waveney River Centre came into being during the 1970's. Prior to that it was the Waveney Yacht Station and Waveney Hotel, owned by a Mr & Mrs Wilson, emigrants from Lincolnshire. Clever bloke had a friend or relation who was involved with BOAC and between them they installed half an airliner cabin in the back bar. Very clever, the glamour of flying attracted his clients and on the hour another 'flight' would be announced and more customers would sit down to an another innovation of the day, microwaved airline dinners served by hostesses suitably dressed as cabin staff. Just noticed the 'Ford Jenkins' in the corner of your post card Peter. We had a family member who worked there and used to browse the archives upstairs when given the chance. She always said there was more history upstairs than old Jack Rose could have dreamed of! I wonder what happened to it all? Of course the shop was turned into one of the obligatory fast food places we now seem to need dozens of in every high street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyMorgan Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 I know Ford's son Peter well. Apparently some stuff suffered water damage which is something of a shame. Peter Jenkins has allowed access to the collection but the family really does not seem to have any real interest in what they have. The other collection of great local interest was that of Yallop of Gt Yarmouth, it included a great deal of Broads stuff, that largely ended up in a skip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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