In June 1957, The Andrews’ Family set off from their home in Croydon for a two week adventure on the Norfolk Broads aboard the motor cruiser “Somari”. The trip was documented in a detailed, 40 page scrapbook which I have just uploaded to the main Broadland Memories website.
The scrapbook came to me having been orphaned from the original family so, sadly, I know nothing about the Andrews other than where they were living in 1957. The party consisted of three generations – mum, dad, young lad and one set of in-laws – and the holiday had been booked via the Bradbeers agency back in the January of 1957. The scrapbook notes that Hoseasons had been fully booked for the two weeks they wanted when they had telephoned them. “Somari” was hired by H.E. Woolmer of Oulton Broad, was 30 ft in length with 5 single berths in two cabins. The cost for the two week holiday was £63. After a rough crossing of Breydon Water on the first day, the family then covered the entire network of rivers and Broads over the following fortnight.
Their journey, including various mishaps along the way, is documented via the copious, hand-written notes throughout, and is illustrated with lots of original photographs, postcards, pictures, maps and cartoons cut from brochures, tourist guides, magazines and newspapers at the time. It is a fabulous record of a boating holiday on the Broads during that era. The handwriting is sometimes a little difficult to decipher, but I felt that it should be published in its original form as it is such a charming thing. There are hidden items too – a fold-out letter, text hidden beneath a postcard and a lovely map and guide to Norwich, which are viewable by clickable links on the respective pages. As it is too large for an A4 scanner, I had to rig up a camera on a frame to photograph the pages instead. The original photographs have been individually scanned, remastered and put back on the pages as they were not the greatest quality, but they are at least now viewable. If I eventually get access to an A3 scanner, I will re-do the entire scrapbook, but I wanted to get this published in the best way I could manage for now as it deserves a wider audience.
The last night of the holiday was spent back at Oulton Broad Yacht Station which was apparently rammed with boats due to filming that was taking place for a TV show that evening. A news cutting added to the scrapbook shows this as being a programme called “Pleasure Boat”, hosted by Kenneth Horne along with George Martin (no, not the Beatles producer), Michael Holliday and The Crew Girls. The 40 minute show was described as “Music and song afloat in a series of cruises presented for your pleasure by Derek Burrell-Davis. Come aboard the ‘South Town’ on ‘The Broads’ with the ships company.” Derek Horne and a couple of the other stars of the show were photographed by the family and appear in the scrapbook too.
The steam ship “South Town” was usually found plying its trade between Great Yarmouth and Gorleston but is seen above at Oulton Broad on the day of filming.
The scrapbook runs over two pages of the website and can be found here: Norfolk Broads Holiday Afloat June 1957
