Boating in the 50's

[JennyMorgan]

Am watching a program on TV regarding living in the 1950's, fascinating stuff.

Back then, as a feral Broads kid, if my friends or I wanted a boat we either built our own, generally a Percy Blandford designed canoe, or, as I did, found a rotten old dinghy that I daubed in hot tar. That one survived until 1953 when it was smashed up in the floods of that year. My brother and I then acquired a small pram dinghy that gave us the freedom of the Broad. I was luckier than most in that I also had access to my father's boats but having my own was special. Out on the water, maybe camping on the river bank, no must have amenities, freedom! Could you go boating without a TV, let alone WiFi & texting? No chart plotter, no fridge, no whirlpool bath tub, no micro wave or hair straighteners, no 24 hr moorings, most of which had not yet been invented! By the time I was six I was allowed out by myself! Back then everyone kept an eye out for other folk or other folk's kids. I was one of a gang of kids who lived and played on or besides the river & Broad, it was how it was back then.