vaughans posts of memories of thorpe and the broads.

[grendel]

what was the weed like down there, last year when I went through, it wasnt great and I got tangled a few times

[Malanka]

No more than on the way up to Coltishall. In fact I would say not that much, having said that the water was low so no I didn’t see that much weed. 
 

M 

[KevinB]

What a great thread this is, so much knowledge and history 

[Vaughan]

Here's a good comparison, taken sometime in the mid 50s.  The Broads river cruisers are all moored for the winter and at the left is the pleasure wherry Dragon, on her permanent mooring.

Note that the pub had a big bay window which was behind the bar in those days.

At the end nearest the camera was a big dance floor on the first floor with an old skittle alley underneath which was used by the Frostbite sailing club to store their Norfolk dinghies, before they built the new premises out on the river on the old "Thorpe Broad".  You can see the big door which gave access to a slipway on the quay. This shed was also used by John Hart, (when the pub was called the Three Tuns and he was landlord) to store his skiffs and half deckers before he moved his business over to the island.

I am told that John Hart was still the official boat-keeper to the Bishop of Norwich, since the building, many years before, had been the palace of Bishop De Losinga who was largely responsible for the building of Norwich Cathedral.

[lakesailor]

On 09/08/2021 at 09:22, andyg said:

Hi Vaughan, I recently came across your YouTube videos, what great memories you must have. I really enjoyed them thanks for taking the time to put them together. The logistics at hearts must of been a nightmare and a lot of hard work transporting everything across to the yard. My parents only hired from there once, roving heart I think it was an old wilds Bermuda. I remember the yard ending up being a bit of a boat graveyard for richardsons with quite a few of there old thames moored. A unique location for a yard and of course the mtb moored there. 

Any chance of a link to these please 

[Vaughan]

19 minutes ago, lakesailor said:

Any chance of a link to these please 

They are on this thread a few pages back.

[andyg]

1 hour ago, lakesailor said:

Any chance of a link to these please 

Just put heart cruisers into the search bar and hey presto. I watched one this morning. Vaughan looked quite dashing in his shorts walking to school in the snow. How things have changed..

[Wussername]

1 hour ago, andyg said:

Just put heart cruisers into the search bar and hey presto. I watched one this morning. Vaughan looked quite dashing in his shorts walking to school in the snow. How things have changed..

I lived in Thorpe St Andrew. Not far from master Ashby I can tell you. We all wore shorts. In the snow I might add. His school was just up the road. Just past Thorpe narrows. I peddeld miles in the wind and snow to Norwich. Dashing my ****.

[Vaughan]

Just because I wouldn't let you play with my model railway, on the gunboat . . . 

[andyg]

16 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Just because I wouldn't let you play with my model railway, on the gunboat . . . 

Apologies for calling the gunboat an mtb in my earlier post, us old army boys wouldn't know one end of a boat from the other. 

[Wussername]

15 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Just because I wouldn't let you play with my model railway, on the gunboat . . . 

Every day I passed the Gunboat on the bus the "79". On the way to school, in Norwich. I had heard a rumour of the model railway. My father owned a toy shop, Hornby trains, Dinky toys, matchbox toys. (Some still in boxes somewhere in the sheds) I longed to see your train set. But not to be. Then we went our different ways but not until we passed each other during the Jenner days when Thorpe St Andrew, the River Green changed, and kept on changing to the present day. For better, for worse. For others to decide.

[YnysMon]

I love these posts, both from Vaughan and Wussername. Valued memories indeed.

[Tobster]

10 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Here's a good comparison, taken sometime in the mid 50s.  The Broads river cruisers are all moored for the winter and at the left is the pleasure wherry Dragon, on her permanent mooring.

Note that the pub had a big bay window which was behind the bar in those days.

At the end nearest the camera was a big dance floor on the first floor with an old skittle alley underneath which was used by the Frostbite sailing club to store their Norfolk dinghies, before they built the new premises out on the river on the old "Thorpe Broad".  You can see the big door which gave access to a slipway on the quay. This shed was also used by John Hart, (when the pub was called the Three Tuns and he was landlord) to store his skiffs and half deckers before he moved his business over to the island.

I am told that John Hart was still the official boat-keeper to the Bishop of Norwich, since the building, many years before, had been the palace of Bishop De Losinga who was largely responsible for the building of Norwich Cathedral.

Is that the Wherry Dragon that is now sunk at the entrance to one of the dikes on Oulton Broad.

[Turnoar]

42 minutes ago, Wussername said:

...Thorpe St Andrew, the River Green changed, and kept on changing to the present day. For better, for worse. For others to decide.

My earliest memory of river green is the late 70s in the dark on a bonfire night. My grandfather took me and my brother from Hickling where we all resided to my Auntys fruit farm in south Norfolk for fireworks etc. At the time I thought the route was strange but on reflection wondered if it was intentional to admire the lights and take in the sights of the boats afloat.  Some ten years plus later I recall a visit to the Kings Head, again in the dark, and it was less spectacular. Roll on another dozen years and I found myself renting a flat in Conrad Court with a view over Town House and the old Jenner’s basin. Using the choice of pubs then available I got to know some locals both land based and afloat, more so in the river garden as the KH had become. There was a real village style community feel that you wouldn’t normally expect in such proximity to Norwich city centre. Whether better or worse it still has a draw for me which makes me want to revisit, and compared to some parts of Norwich even if not everything is in its former glory at least the foundations are still visible, and long may they remain so.

[Vaughan]

8 hours ago, Tobster said:

Is that the Wherry Dragon that is now sunk at the entrance to one of the dikes on Oulton Broad.

Yes.

In those days she was owned and lived on by Tony Webster, who was then a young man, with a job in Norwich.  He later became the river inspector for the Thurne, based at Womack and a good friend of mine.

[BrundallNavy]

Just seen a post on FB stating someone has just bought an ex Hearts boat for restoration apparently one of 3 left. Not sure which one it is. 

[WherryNice]

42 minutes ago, BrundallNavy said:

Just seen a post on FB stating someone has just bought an ex Hearts boat for restoration apparently one of 3 left. Not sure which one it is. 

She is the Six of Hearts, been on ApolloDuck for a while now, glad someone has taken her on

[BroadAmbition]

Is that correct?

Only three Hearts boats left from a whole fleet?

I always admired their distinctive design. Well chuffed someone is trying to save Star. I wish them well

Griff

[Vaughan]

On 19/09/2016 at 08:53, AdnamsGirl said:

 

 

I am not trying to advertise my own movies    but I don't know how to move things from one thread to another and it has been mentioned that Paul Wright's boatyard at Buckenham Ferry is coming up for sale.

The yard was first owned by Paul's father Gilbert, who was the local farmer and land-owner, also a good friend of my parents, who brought his sea-going cruiser "Joker" up to visit us often, in Thorpe.

At 4m 01 secs into the film, you can see a Hearts cruiser being driven by Paul Wright, with his father Gilbert on the aft deck.  Later you see the sunken cruiser Four of Hearts being hauled out on the slipway at Wright's boatyard.  The tractor is driven by Gilbert Wright.  So yes, large boats could be hauled out on the slip there.  What it's like now, I don't know.

In the first shot, of Paul driving the boat, you can just see in the background a steam tug, towing the coal barges up to the gas works in Norwich.  It had to go by barge as it passed under Foundry bridge, to unload at the coal staithes just downstream of Bishop's bridge, now part of the extended yacht station.  Photos or film of these long barge tows seem to be quite rare.

 

[Vaughan]

Incidentally - and also topical - I see that in the shot of Paul driving the cruiser, we can see that the wake at the stern of the cruiser has a trace of white foam in it.  This is a sure sign that you have entered an area of brackish (salty) water.  In "my day" this would start to happen around the Buckenham/Cantley area but nowadays I hear it can get as far as Brundall.

[grendel]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Incidentally - and also topical - I see that in the shot of Paul driving the cruiser, we can see that the wake at the stern of the cruiser has a trace of white foam in it.  This is a sure sign that you have entered an area of brackish (salty) water.  In "my day" this would start to happen around the Buckenham/Cantley area but nowadays I hear it can get as far as Brundall.

apparently this surge even got as far as the south end of hickling broad

[Vaughan]

I don't know how to transfer posts from one thread to another, so I offer this one in support of the discussion on the "BA or RSPB?" thread about living on Broads boats and the persecution that they nowadays suffer.

It was written by me on Christmas morning in 2015, shortly after I joined the forum and was re-posted by my late good friend JillR, who, we might remember, was also chairman of the Residential Boat Owners' National Federation.  This was at the time when she and and I, among many other protesters, had successfully won a 10 year battle against the BA persecution of those who lived on boats moored on the old Hearts boatyard on the island in Thorpe.  We won that battle but were sadly later unable to do the same for those in Jenners Basin, at the other end of the island.

I offer it here for what it may be worth, in the light of the apparent continued persecution, by the BA and other institutions, of those who carry on a way of life that has been traditional and commonplace here for hundreds of years.

 

On 14/01/2016 at 02:06, jillR said:

Can I go off piste for a moment, on this Christmas morning? I wanted to share some memories with you. Some say that is what I am here for.

Morning Flight was one of dozens like her on the Broads in the 40s and 50s. The Navy sold off all their Coastal Forces craft : MGBs, MTBs, HDMLs, air/sea rescue launches, even landing craft and they all made excellent houseboat dwellings. There must have been more than a hundred of them all over the Broads in those days when housing was so short after the war. I remember all the Arcon pre-fabs that were erected round Norwich, to try and get people housed. The big Heartsease housing estate was still Boulton and Paul's airfield then. My father used to shoot pheasants over it. So living on a boat was commonplace : the sensible thing to do. They had all been thrown together for the war, without needing to last, so after a few years they just had to be dragged off into a dyke or cutting and left to rot. That was commonplace too.

Anyone remember the wreck of the "Longmynd" in a cut near Brundall Gardens? She was a lot bigger than Morning Flight - a Fairmile "D". One of the famous Dog Boats. In the Mediterranean in 1943, where one flotilla of them was commanded by my father, they became the most heavily armed warships of their type in the World. Any fighter pilot trying to attack one of them had better have his life jacket on! But now? Just an old hulk in a basin.

Remember the Golden Galleon? She was a harbour defence motor launch, a Fairmile B, just like the ones built in the war by Herbert Woods and Percivals. The mooring basin in the marsh across from Lower St in Horning is known as Perci's dyke. It had to be dug out in the war so that the Fairmiles built in Percival's sheds could be launched. The river wasn't nearly wide enough. Imagine the undertaking of building ships the size of the Golden Galleon on a little yard in Horning. They called it war effort!

Remember the big pleasure wherry sunk on the bank at Surlingham Ferry, for all those years? Or the long line of wherry hulks on the north bank of the Yare between Postwick Grove and the Wood's End? One of them is said to be the Faun - the fastest wherry ever built.

So it's not strange for me to see Morning Flight, resting there, in the basin. She is just the last of so many, that's all. Why? She was built well before the war of seasoned timber. That's why my father chose her - he knew she would last a long time. Her bottom under the chine is triple diagonal teak, inches thick. It had to be, if you were going to charge around the North Sea in the dark at 38 knots on three Merlin engines.

I sometimes wonder how we, and the BA, really see the Broads now. They are not natural; they have to be maintained by Man or they will go back to a peat bog - faster than we think - so why can't Man be allowed to make best use of them, for his money? The navigations are not commercial any more, so they are maintained just for pleasure boating. But boating means mooring, and sometimes living on board. That's part of the fun.

In the 50's the Broads had a big income, from tourism and boatbuilding and were run and well maintained by the River Commissioners. We certainly made best use of them then, I can tell you!

So now, as this sounds like Gray's Elegy - "The paths of glory", and all that - I think I'd better go and open a bottle of wine.......

 

[andyfish]

Well I've only just picked up on this thread and what a belter it is too

Thankyou for your recounts of a much nicer time

Cheers

Andy

 

[Vaughan]

Yesterday Mark (Ex Surveyor) sent me this photo by PM, which he had picked up from a public facebook group.  He has posted my reply on facebook and we thought the forum would also be interested in the history behind the photo.

This was my reply :

Thank you very much for that and no, I hadn't seen it.  I have been looking at it last night and this morning and there is a lot there to see.

For a start, I notice that the yacht Three of Hearts has the nameplate and the cast Hearts flags missing from the transom.  Some of the cruisers are also missing the cast playing card stem plates that they all carried.  They also look rather smart, so I would guess this is in the spring ; they have just been launched from the sheds and the nameplates are still in Norwich being re-cast.

I would guess that the photo was taken by the EDP photographer, Fred Low, for an article in the old "Clement Court" column about the coming of spring, and the hire fleets getting ready for the season.  It would have been taken from the bow of the old gunboat Morning Flight, which in those days was moored on the front quay near the office in summer and was then towed across to the Thorpe Gardens quay for the winter.

The cruisers in the back row, left to right, are the Knave, Four and Ace. In the front row are the Ten and the Queen. Missing are the Two, Five and Six and I remember they used to be in the far end shed in winter and have not yet been launched.  The tide is low, so they are probably waiting till next day.  The Queen is looking very new, probably starting her second season, so I would date the photo as 1950.

The Four was sunk by a coaster in 1957 and the name Four of Hearts was passed to a second yacht.  Both of these yachts are still going, as members of the River Cruiser Class.  The Three of Hearts is now named Tea Rose.

In the background is Hazell's boatyard with the houseboat they lived on and one of their dreadful old hire boats.  They were members of Blakes (somehow) but were not good quality and went out of business in the early 50s.  You can see what a great pub the Thorpe Gardens was in those days, when it had proper gardens instead of a tarmac car park!  On the front quay is the slipway which led up into the long boatshed under the dance hall above.  This was where the Frostbite Sailing Club used to store their Norfolk Dinghies, before they built their clubhouse out on the main river.  Before that, it was where John Hart (who was landlord of the pub, then called the Three Tuns) kept his skiffs and half deckers for hire, before moving his business over to the island after the railway was built in 1844.  Just off the photo to the right is the bungalow that the Hart family lived in, right up until my parents bought the yard.

 

 

[Vaughan]

I have just remembered what that peculiar bundle of pipes is in the photo, standing on the quay beside the boats.  This was the portable electric pump that we used for pumping the boats while they were "taking up" after launching.

The Ace of Hearts was always the worst : you had to sit up all night with her.  She was built just after the War out of soft deal planking and opened up a lot in the sheds in winter.  At least she closed up again quickly, in about a day and a half. The mahogany boats could take 4 or 5 days to stop seeping water but then they didn't open up very much in the first place!

None of your electric bilge pumps and float switches in those days : the boats had a big brass Whale hand pump, mounted on the bulkhead beside the helm position. This was polished by the cleaners every Saturday.