Broadland Memories Blog

Yet another amateur cine film of the Norfolk Broads in the 1960s has been uploaded to YouTube this week and, as ever, I thought I should share it with you on here. Running for just over eighteen minutes, this latest addition features a holiday on the northern rivers taken by a group of five friends in 1967 and was uploaded by YouTube user pepperyhot.

The five berth, 32ft motor cruiser Tranquil was hired from Richardson’s boatyard at Stalham, and in the summer of 1967 would have cost the group just over £60 for a week’s hire. I know I always say it, but once again there is some lovely footage of Broadland, beginning with a trip down the Ant to Ludham Bridge and then on to South Walsham Broad. We follow the holidaymakers as they pass St. Benets and Thurne Dyke Mill before heading to Womack Staithe. There are also some great shots of everyday life on board the boat – preparing food, eating meals, washing up, engine checks and filling the water tank up using a bucket at the Womack Staithe pump! The friends head to Potter Heigham next where it’s quite a tight fit under the bridge! On to Horsey with some lovely footage taken from the top of the mill. The last part of the film sees them back on the River Bure where they visit Ranworth and Wroxham. Super stuff!

No it’s not a typo – we’re talking amphibious vehicles here! Visitors to Thorpe St Andrew will have probably noticed the ex military amphibious vehicles which are moored opposite the green, but it’s not the first time such craft have been brought to the Norfolk Broads.

Last week, I received a fabulous set of photographs from Vaughan Ashby which were taken on the River Yare at Thorpe St Andrew in 1973. These will make their way onto the 1970s gallery pages on Broadland Memories when I’m next updating that section, but I just had to share them on here, along with the story of that visit. Vaughan recalls:

DUKW entering the water at Thorpe in 1973

“I served in No 17 Port Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport and we had all sorts of ships and vehicles to play with. I actually commanded the last troop of DUKW’s in the British Army. They were disbanded by Earl Mountbatten, at our regiment in Southampton, in 1974. Earlier, I went to see the Colonel and asked him if we should do a KAPE tour of the East Anglian coast and the Broads. (KAPE means keep the Army in the public eye). He amazed me by saying “good idea Vaughan – organise it and do it.” Which bears out the old Forces saying – “never volunteer!” So we arrived at Ipswich with an LCT (landing craft tank) which was easily big enough to take 6 DUKWs in her hold, an RPL (ramped powered lighter) and two diesel workboats which were also high powered fire fighters. The LCT would open her bow doors and we could then drive the DUKW’s out into the harbour, full of schoolkids, drive around and then climb back into the ship, which was our showpiece in Ipswich, Lowestoft, Yarmouth and Kings Lynn. She could not come up the Yare as she was too long to turn round in Norwich, so the RPL and the workboats came up by river while we drove up from Yarmouth and took the water at the old Stephen Fields slip just by the bridge in Thorpe, which was as close as we could get to Norwich and get in the water. (A DUKW draws 4ft 6″ when afloat) The DUKW’s also visited Wroxham Broad (via the public beach) and Potter Heigham.

Whilst these photos were being taken. two other DUKWs were at Cromer, where, full of schoolchildren, they charged down the beach into the sea like lifeboats and went about a half mile off shore, where the kids were winched up into Whirlwind helicopters from Coltishall and brought back to the beach. Can you imagine that being allowed now? Wherever we went, the Army Careers office in Norwich had organised visits from schools all over East Anglia to come and have rides on the boats with us and it turned out to be a big success.“

One of the DUKW’s entering the water at Thorpe St Andrew in 1973.

Alongside Hearts Cruisers – in the background you can see the MGB Morning Flight which was brought to Thorpe by Commander Ashby after the war to become the family’s home.

Approaching the Boat & Bottle public house at Thorpe St Andrew – it has since been renamed the Rushcutters of course!

My thanks as always to Vaughan for the wonderful photographs and memories and for allowing me to share them here.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the popularity of boating holidays on the Norfolk Broads began to increase and new craft were being added to the hire fleets at a rapid rate. Sailing was still the way that most people experienced the joys of life afloat, but the numbers of motor cruisers available for hire also began to grow, catering for those who fancied a holiday afloat without the restrictions imposed by wind and tide! Whilst brand new motor cruisers were appearing from some of the many boatyards across the system, there were also a number conversions of older, and sometimes more unusual craft.

Pauline pictured alongside Acle Bridge Inn c1930

I mentioned one such vessel in my previous blog post – the motor cruiser Pauline which was owned by Miller’s boatyard at Oulton Broad. Pauline began life as the Thames spritsail barge Federation No: 113707 which was built at Rochester in 1901 for the Thames and Medway Cooperative Barge and Carrying Society Ltd. She was bought by Frederick Miller in the early 1920s and converted into a luxury, floating hotel upon which one to three week, fully inclusive tours of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads were conducted. A crew of three – the skipper, a steward and stewardess, were in attendance throughout the holiday and places on board could be booked as an individual or as a group. There were six single cabins, two double berth cabins and one with three singles which were all fitted with a wash basin. There was a large galley and spacious saloon which seated the whole party for meals which included breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner and consisted of “good homely catering” according to contemporary adverts. It was also noted that evening dress was not expected to be worn by guests! Pauline was fitted with electric lights throughout and a “good wireless set” was provided. In 1933 the terms, including board and attendance, were between £4 10 shillings and £5 10 shillings per person, per week. Fred Miller ran Pauline until the outbreak of  WW2 in 1939 after which she was sold to a family who lived on board at Oulton Broad for a while. She apparently ended her days being used as staging on Barton Broad. Her remains can still be seen near the the entrance of the cut that leads to Wood End Staithe.

She was one of the largest motor cruisers on the Norfolk Broads and crops up in numerous photos and postcards from the era.  The image below was a promotional postcard for Pauline which dates from the early 1930s.

This was the entry for Pauline in Blakes 1933 brochure:

As had been the case with a number of our old trading wherries, the Federation found a new lease of life by exchanging cargo for people, and must have provided happy holidays for hundreds of visitors during the fifteen or so years that she spent at Miller’s boatyard. She ended her days consigned to a watery grave on Barton Broad, but she certainly must have been an imposing sight on the Broadland rivers in her heyday.

There are lots of wonderful photographs of Pauline along with more information and memories from Philippa Miller in the book Norfolk Broads – The Golden Years which was published by Halsgrove in 2008. Philippa, an artist and teacher, was the daughter of Frederick Miller and the book its full of fascinating photographs and memories of life on the Norfolk Broads during the first half of the 20th century. Another highly recommended read!

As mentioned in my last blog post, I’ve been taking stock of the submissions to the Broadland Memories Archive which are still awaiting my attention. I had managed to work my way through quite a bit of the backlog during the early summer, but still have several small collections of photographs and Broads related ephemera to sort through to add to the main website. In the meantime, I’ve also been sent some further new items of interest!

Amongst the latest goodies to arrive in my inbox are a lovely collection of photographs which have been sent to me by Douglas Pleasants, whose family have a long association with the Norfolk Broads. Doug’s father, Geoffrey Pleasants was the proprietor of several Broadland public houses between the late 1940s and early 1960s, he also established the Allweather boatyard at Wayford Bridge in 1962 and was one of the co-founders of the Wayford Bridge Boat Company in 1967. Doug himself raced powerboats at Oulton Broad during the 1980s. There are some very interesting photographs amongst the collection which includes a fabulous set featuring holidays taken by Geoffrey and his friends on the Norfolk Broads in the early 1930s. A selection of these will be published on the main website during the autumn and winter months, but I thought it would be nice to give a sneak preview of a few images here on the blog in the meantime.

The photograph above dates from 1932 when Geoffrey Pleasants and his friends holidayed on the Wherry Yacht Olive which had been hired from Ernest Collins boatyard at Wroxham.  The bathing costumes are just wonderful!

Another photograph from the 1932 holiday which shows the group sitting beside Olive at an unknown location. The large vessel seen in the background was the motor cruiser Pauline which was owned by Miller’s boatyard at Oulton Broad. Pauline was a Thames barge which had been converted into a luxury, floating hotel by Fred Miller in the 1920s.

The third photograph dates from the 1950s and was taken in the boat shed of the Kings Head pub at Hoveton which was being run by Geoffrey Pleasants at this time. The two wooden day launches in the background, A550 Columbine and A549 Harlequin, were built for Mr Pleasants by Jack Powles and were originally let from the Kings Head, then from the Maltsters at Ranworth which he ran between 1956 and 1962, and later from the Wayford Bridge Inn – this was the original Wayford Bridge Inn as opposed to the Woodfarm Inn which later became the Wayford Bridge Hotel. Doug informed me that the Wayford Bridge Inn was delicensed by Steward and Patteson in 1961 when the Woodfarm Inn was opened. His father purchased the building and it was from here that he ran  Allweather Boats. In 1967, he went into partnership with John Linford (of Aquafibre fame) forming the Wayford Bridge Boat Company Ltd.

The final photo was taken outside the Maltsers at Ranworth c1960 – the gentleman seated on the far right is Commander Ron Ashby who owned Hearts Cruisers at Thorpe St Andrew.

My thanks to The Pleasants Family for allowing me to share these wonderful photographs on here, and to Doug Pleasants for taking the time to scan and send me the images. There will be more of these to come on the main Broadland Memories website when time allows!

There were some wonderful comedy-dramas made by the British film industry in the 1950s. I’m a huge fan of the old Ealing comedies and it was a style which was much copied at the time … but did you know that the Norfolk Broads was the setting and filming location for one such movie?

The 1954 film Conflict of Wings was filmed largely around Hickling Broad, but also featured scenes shot in Ludham village and Wells-next-the-Sea, and it’s a charming period piece. Based on a novel by Don Sharp, and starring John Gregson and Muriel Pavlow, the plot revolves around the compulsory purchase by the Ministry of Defence  of a bird sanctuary known as the “Island of Children” which the RAF wish to use for target practice. The villagers are up in arms and do all they can to stop it. Filmed in glorious Eastman colour, this is a wonderful piece of cinema and a lovely nostalgic look back to the Norfolk Broads in the 1950s. Conflict of Wings (also known as Fuss over Feathers in the U.S.) has recently been uploaded in full to YouTube – my thanks to Charles Ruddock for alerting me to this.

Grab yourself some popcorn, sit back and enjoy!

Is it September already? Where on earth did August go! Autumn seems to have arrived with sudden gusto this week but it has at least given me the opportunity to sit down for an afternoon to take stock of where I had got to in tackling the website backlog, and to review the new submissions I’ve received over the last few months. More on that will follow, but some exciting recent developments on the Broads Tours front has prompted me to have a final roundup on that story before moving on to new topics!

Personal Memories of Broads Tours by Geoffrey Peek

A couple of weeks ago I was delighted to be given a copy of a new book which has been written by ex- Broads Tours managing director Geoffrey Peek. Personal Memories of Broads Tours covers the story of Broads Tours from the 1920s to 1986 and answers so many of the questions that I’ve posed on  the blog since I began digging in to the history of the company and its passenger launches in March 2012. Over the years, Geoffrey has amassed a large collection of photographs, postcards and other ephemera relating to Broads Tours, much of which is included in this picture heavy book. I have not had the chance to sit down and read the book properly yet, but my copy has certainly been very well thumbed already just for the picture content alone! What it has done is confirm that William Littleboys fleet of passenger launches was indeed amalgamated into the Broads Tours fleet when Charles Hannaford took over the company in the late 1930s, but interestingly it seems that members of both the Smith and Littleboy families continued to have a role within the new company. It has also enabled me to update some of the  information on the set of postcards I featured in my last blog post on early 20th century Norfolk Broads passenger launches.

Ex Admiralty steam pinnace conversion at Wroxham c1920s

Firstly, I will return to the postcard which showed the view looking upstream to the rail bridge at Wroxham which I had dated to c1915. It seems that it may well be a little later than this due to the boat seen in the foreground on the right in that original image, which regular correspondent Vaughan Ashby has identified as being a home conversion of an ex Admiralty WW1 steam pinnace. That being the case, it seems unlikely that it would have been decommissioned and converted until after the end of the Great War, so a revised date of the early 1920s seems more appropriate. I’ve cropped in on the boat in question in the image you see above right – the original postcard can be seen in my previous blog post linked to above. May thanks, as ever, to Vaughan for getting in contact. Vaughan also believes that the motor cruiser seen in the late 1920s postcard of Wroxham (4th down on that page) was one of H.C. Banham’s fleet due to the distinctive, oval shaped badge seen on the bow. I’ve not had the chance to go through the old brochures to try to confirm this yet ….. but when time allows …. !!

Another of the postcards featured in my last blog post showed the passenger launch Sombra at Ranworth c1920s. It was a name which I hadn’t heard of in relation to either George Smith’s or William Littleboy’s fleets, but the book has confirmed that it was indeed one of Smith’s launches.

On to some new additions to my own Broads Tours collection now. The postcard below is an interesting one and shows the passenger launch Lyndhurst at Ranworth Staithe c1910.

Once again, this was a name which I hadn’t come across before but Geoffrey’s book contains another postcard featuring Lyndhurst moored alongside the Kings Head Hotel in Wroxham which was posted in 1910.  That particular card states that the launch was owned by Messrs Rounce and Wortley who were apparently a Cromer based printing company and Geoffrey suggests that it was possibly used for staff jollies rather than being available for charter by the general public. It then struck me that this appears to be the same steam launch which is seen moored alongside the Kings Head in the first postcard on my previous blog post, also dated to c1910. Incidentally, the steam launch seen heading upstream in the foreground of that Wroxham postcard was called Vivid and was owned by Ambrose Thrower whose boatyard stood just upstream of Wroxham Bridge.

The hand coloured postcard above is another new addition. Captioned as being the River Bure near Coltishall and dating from c1915, it also features a steam launch which looks as though it may well be be the Lyndhurst once again.

Finally, I’m going to return to the boat which sparked my initial interest in the ex Broads Tours launches and the history of the company itself – Vanguard 2 (now Princess Royal and operating as a waterbus in Cardiff). Geoff’s book has confirmed that Vanguard 1 and Vanguard 2 were built by Jack Powles in 1950 and 1952 for Seagull Coaches who were based in Great Yarmouth. I recently came across a copy of a 1953 Seagull Coaches brochure for sale on a certain online auction website and the following two images show the pages from that brochure which relate to the combined coach trips and Norfolk Broads river cruises on the Vanguards which the company ran. Both launches were apparently bought by Broads Tours in 1967.

Personal Memories of Broads Tours by Geoffrey Peek is published by Avalon Associates of Chelmsford (ISBN 978-0-9529440-9-6) and copies can be purchased from Forrest’s newsagents in Stalham, priced at £20.  It’s quite expensive for a paperback, but has presumably been produced in a very limited run and is likely to become a collectors item in future years! It’s an absolute must for devotees of Broadland boat design and local history, packed full of fascinating photographs, news cuttings and the authors memories of the company. I suspect that this whole Broads Tours thing will continue to run and run …. until the next update, Geoff Peek’s book is a most highly recommended read!

Regular blog readers will remember that I’ve written a series of articles about the history of Broads Tours, the company originally established at Hoveton by George Smith and taken over by Charles Hannaford in the mid 1930s. It’s been a while since I did an update …. so here we go!

I’ve not had the time to carry on with investigations into the history of Broads Tours, but have been quietly amassing some images which relate to the company and also to early 20th century passenger launches photographed on the River Bure. Most are unidentified and may, or may not be, some of the original Smith’s or Littleboy’s launches but could possibly have been operated by others as I suspect that many boatyards, riverside pubs and hotels etc. would have been running trips on the Norfolk Broads for the ever growing number of visitors during the busy summer months.

The first postcard (above) dates from c1905-1910 and shows the view upstream of Wroxham Bridge. A very nice steam launch has just passed beneath the bridge, but ahead on the right you can see a large passenger launch alongside the moorings for the Horseshoes Hotel. As previously mentioned, George Smith was the licensee of the Horseshoes from around 1910 to 1912, so I think this must have been one of his launches. You can see from the funnel mid-ships that this was also fitted with a steam engine. Beyond the hotel, up towards the railway line which you can see in the background, are some boatsheds standing on land which later became the Broads Tours base. It’s also interesting to see that the railway station was visible from this position in those days.

Dating from c1915, the next photograph shows the view looking upstream on the River Bure to the rail bridge at Wroxham. Again, the land on the right became part of the Broads Tours business established by George Smith, although I’m not sure whether it was owned by him at this time There is certainly no evidence of any passenger launches in this photo, but it’s quite an interesting image none the less.

This view was taken from the rail bridge, looking downstream towards to road bridge and probably dates from c1920 or possibly a little earlier. I suspect that George Smith owned the patch of land on the left by this time and there are certainly a couple of small launches moored alongside, and a larger passenger launch heading upstream. The site was developed further by Charles Hannaford after he purchased Broads Tours, with large tearooms etc. being constructed as the fleet and business grew, as seen in the photograph of the base and launches in the 1950s about half way down the page on the very first Broads Tours blog post.

Moving on to the next photograph, which I believe was taken between the mid to late 1920s, this must certainly be one of the Smith’s or Littleboy’s launches … but which one? It’s a fabulous image, with Ernest Collins boatyard seen in the background. I’ve not had the chance to try to identify the motor cruiser seen on the left which may help to pin the date down a little.

Another wonderful photographic postcard showing an unidentified passenger launch c1930, captioned as having been taken on the River Bure at Ranworth.

Slightly earlier, probably early to mid 1920s, this was also taken at Ranworth and shows yet another small passenger launch complete with it’s attendants. The name on the bow is “Sombra” which is the Spanish word for shadow …. or alternatively it’s apparently a village on the River St. Clair in South West Ontario in Canada! The name doesn’t fit with any that I know were used by either George Smith or William Littleboy so it may well have been operated by someone else. Another wonderful image though!

Another photograph which was taken at Ranworth, probably just pre WW2, showing what must have been one of the Broads Tours fleet moored alongside the staithe.

I finish with two promotional postcards for boats from the Broads Tours fleet, dating (I think) from the late 1920s or early 1930s, prior to Charles Hannaford’s purchase of the business. The first (above) shows The Prince which has been the subject of a previous blog post which you can find here: Broads Tours – The Prince. Still going strong after 90 years, The Prince now resides in Scotland under the name of Ratho Princess The final photograph below shows sister ship The Princess from the same era.

I’m sure that more Broads Tours related photographs and information will keep turning up and, hopefully, I will be able to devote more time to continuing research into the history of the company during the winter months. In the meantime, if you have any photographs or further information on the history of Broads Tours then please do get in touch. For those who are interested, or may have missed them, links to the other articles I’ve written about Broads Tours can be found at the bottom of my previous blog post on the subject: William Littleboy – Broads Tours Connections.

I’m continuing to make my way through the backlog of photos which have been sent to me over the last year or so and have uploaded some new additions to the 1970s Gallery on the main Broadland Memories website.

Ludham Bridge moorings, photgraphed by Bill Cooper in 1981

I’ve now turned my attention to a few small batches of photographs of the Norfolk Broads taken during the 1980s by various contributors. These are all prepared and ready to go, I just need to set aside some time to sit down and get the captions written, but hopefully they will appear on the website next week. There are, as usual, some interesting images amongst the new additions, but the photograph on the right caught my eye as it clearly shows some of the many relics from the Second World War which are to be found throughout Broadland.  Showing the moorings upstream of Ludham Bridge and taken in 1981 by Bill Cooper, on the left you can see the remains of a spigot mortar emplacement which was part of a range of defences built to protect the bridge in the event of an enemy invasion. (The boat alongside was Silver Light 4 from Herbert Woods by the way). An identical spigot mortar emplacement stood on the opposite bank beside the old drainage mill seen above.

In 1940, the threat of a German invasion of Great Britain was believed to be a very real possibility and the country needed the means to defend itself … cue images of bumbling old men being equipped with broom handles and pitch forks à la Dad’s Army! Although there was initially a distinct lack of weaponry, much of which was apparently outdated anyway, some serious defences seem to have been built around the UK in quite a short space of time. The rivers of the Norfolk Broads were a natural stop line which enemy tanks would be unable to cross. Consequently, all of the bridges were heavily defended to the point that chambers were fitted to them to hold explosives which could be used to destroy the bridge should the other defences fail. The chambers on Ludham Bridge were still visible up until it was demolished in the early 1960s.

Blacker Bombard spigot mortar

There are a number of pillboxes still to be found near Broadland bridges and, indeed, the old drainage mill seen in Bill’s photograph at Ludham bridge was itself strengthened and converted into a two storey pillbox, the lower storey windows still showing how they were adapted as gun ports. Beside the entrance to the mill is a blast wall and alongside that is the second spigot mortar base. The photograph on the left is from the Imperial War Museum collection and illustrates what the two at Ludham would probably have looked like. This was a Blacker Bombard, 29mm spigot mortar which was intended for short range use and was developed as an anti-tank weapon. Other defences at Ludham Bridge included “flame fougasses”, devices which could be remotely detonated and would project burning liquid (petrol) at a target, and the field opposite Ludham Bridge boatyard is rumoured to have been the site of an Allen Williams turet ( a rotating, metal pillbox built over a pit).

It’s fascinating that these relics of WW2 remain if you know where to look for them and I really must stop by and have a poke around with my camera when I next visit Ludham. The spigot mortar base seen on the left hand bank in Bill’s photo was left in situ when the moorings were upgraded, although it is now buried deeper with a little fenced surround to stop people tripping over it!  There is an interesting page on further evidence of WW2 around the village on the Ludham Community Archive website including the bridge defences and the old airbase: http://www.ludhamarchive.org.uk/ww2.htm

Update 03/03/2016 – If you wait long enough, a jigsaw piece often comes along which slots nicely into place within a topic I’ve written about on here or on the main website. I recently purchased an album of photographs of holidays taken on the Norfolk Broads in the late 1940s and early 1950s for Broadland Memories. Amongst them was the image below which shows Ludham Bridge North Mill in all its wartime glory, having been converted for use as a pillbox and lookout post. I particularly like the wooden hut on top, presumably designed to protect more against the elements than the enemy!

The annual Royal Norfolk agricultural show opens at the Cottessey showground today. Whilst not strictly Norfolk Broads related, I thought that some people may be interested to see what the show looked like when my grandfather filmed it in the early 1950s.

There has been a long tradition of school parties and other youth groups visiting the Norfolk Broads over the years, and the latest additions to the Broadland Memories website document annual boating holidays taken by a group of Sea Scouts in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

“Too full to Talk” – courtesy of John Austin

Submitted to the archive by John Austin, who was a senior scoutmaster with the group, I made mention of this collection on the blog last year. Personal circumstances meant that it has taken me a while to get them onto the website, but I’m hoping to continue trying to tackle the backlog as time allows over the next few weeks. The Sea Scouts visited the Broads annually, usually over the Easter week, and always hired multiple boats from Hearts Cruisers at Thorpe St. Andrew. The photo on the right is from the collection and shows the crew of one of the boats tucking into tea! In addition to John’s photographs, I’ve also uploaded a small set which were taken by Mick Middleton in 1969 whilst holidaying on the boat Dawn Tempest. The “Memories” section of the archive has gained a new addition too with recollections from Iain Hamilton of a night spent on board a  hire boat during the hurricane which hit Britain on October 15th 1987.

Links to these updates can be found on the Latest Additions page of the Broadland Memories website.

I’ve written several blog posts on the subject of Hearts Cruisers in the past and have been very grateful for the information on the boatyard, and many other aspects of Broadland history, which has come from Vaughan Ashby whose father, Commander Ron Ashby,  purchased the yard from the Hart family in 1948. The latest additions to the Broadland Memories website are a small collection of newspaper cuttings relating to to the Hearts and Jenners boatyards at Thorpe St. Andrew which were sent to me by Vaughan and have been waiting on my “To Do” list for a while!

The hapless crew of Four of Hearts pictured in May 1949

The first cutting dates from May 1949 and covers an early trial of the Knave of Hearts which was the first diesel powered motor cruiser to be built on the Broads. In an article Vaughan wrote for Broadland Memories on the evolution of hire cruisers he wrote:  “The first engine was a Turner diesel, a V twin with 2 separate injector pumps and was originally designed to power fire main pumps on ships. So the vibration, at low revs, was quite something. To say nothing of the noise! We later became agents for Coventry Victor and most Hearts boats in the 50’s had the “Vixen” engine, a flat opposed twin cylinder diesel , again designed as a ship’s fire pump, and whose vibration was enormous. Hirers had to be shown how to prime each cylinder with an oil pot when cold starting. But they were very economical and very reliable. Petrol prices, post-war, were just as crazy as they are now, but diesel was very cheap, so it was a big selling point for holidaymakers.” The second article, from September 1965,  reports on the repairs being carried out to Reedham swing bridge after the coaster Ellen M had collided with it whilst trying to avoid a yacht which had been hired from Hearts Cruisers by four young lads from London. (see photo above left)

Vaughan recalls the  incident: “The yacht Four of Hearts had had its trial run done by me but the lads weren’t listening and so forgot how to start the engine. they also lowered their sails before trying to start it. When we took the boat back the engine was in good order. British rail sued the coaster owners, who sued the hirers of the yacht. Their solicitors sued Hearts and my father managed to sue someone or another which turned the whole thing into a vicious circle and so nothing ever came of it.“

The third news cutting dates from November 1967 and records the purchase of Hearts Cruisers by Jenners, a takeover which not only included the 16 craft in the fleet, but also the land and boat sheds owned by the company. The Jenner boatyard had been bought by the Millbank family just after the Second World War.  The article mentions that Hearts was the eighth company which had been taken over by Jenners that year, bringing the combined fleet up to over 250 boats. Other yards which had been swallowed up by the Jenners Group included Herbert Woods, Southgates, Herbert Freeman and Easticks along with the neighbouring A.G. Ward boatyard at Thorpe.  The news article also mentions the proposed island development scheme which would see an enormous marina with shops and holiday accommodation built at a cost of £250,000.

Jenners yard as seen from Thorpe Island in 1970.

Grand plans, but the following year saw Jenners being taken over by the Caister Group, under the chairmanship of Tom Watson, having seemingly overstretched themselves financially.  The fourth news cutting provides further insight to the story, dating from September 1970, it reports on the sale of the Jenners complex and the shelving of the plans to develop Thorpe Island Marina  further. The company’s profits were down and, along with the sale of the land at Thorpe, the Caister Group were also looking to shed 130 boats from it’s fleet. This appears to be when many of the sailing cruisers left in hire were sold off.  Questions were raised about the future of the island where some of the proposed development had already begun with a 58,000 square foot basin having been created, a massive wet shed built and a £15,000 concrete bridge erected to connect the island to the main boatyard on Yarmouth Road.  Mr Watson envisaged that Thorpe Island could be suitable for conversion to a residential weekend leisure center for both water and land based sports.  The Hearts Cruisers site was to be retained by the group and would be run “under the personal supervision of Commander Ron Ashby.“

It’s a fascinating bit of history which sheds a little more light on the long, and sometimes controversial story of Thorpe Island which seems to have been the subject of planning and legal wrangles ever since! It’s also part of the even more complicated “corporate takeover” story which saw many boatyards being snapped up by large organisations such as Rank, Ladbrokes and Guinness in the 1970s as big business diversified and tried to cash in on the Norfolk Broads boating boom. But that’s another story for another day …..

Links to these news cuttings can be found on the Latest Additions page of the Broadland Memories website.

Firstly, my apologies for things being rather quiet on the Broadland Memories front of late. I won’t bore you with my catalogue of excuses, but I hope to get back to working my way through the backlog of website submissions and will also try to update the blog a little more regularly once again.

The River Police launch at Malthouse Broad in the 1960s - by courtesy of Ray Spinks

The first new addition to the main website has been uploaded today and comes courtesy of Ray Spinks who initially contacted me regarding the whereabouts of the old, wooden River Police launch which was used by the Norfolk Constabulary to patrol the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads. The launch had the registration number A2 and was built by Jack Powles at Wroxham in the late 1950s – it can be seen in the photograph on the left at Mathouse Broad in the early 1960s (by courtesy of Ray Spinks). Ray spent three seasons working on the launch in the early 1960s and has kindly written down a few of his memories of that time for me which can be found on this page. Ray would love to know what happened to A2  as the last known sighting, according to the entry for the launch on Craig Slawson’s Boats of the Norfolk Broads database, was in 1999 when it was up for sale with the Norfolk Yacht Agency. Did she stay on the Broads or move elsewhere?

I still have quite a large number of photographs from various contributors to get onto the website, and it can be quite a time consuming process to remaster these, research the images and then lay them out on the website. Please bear with me if you are still waiting for your photos to appear! I’ve also got quite a few new “Then & Now” photographs to add when I get the chance, however, I really think that the Then & Now pages could do with a redesign to include a town and village directory. In the meantime, I have been sorting these out and uploading higher resolution copies to my Flickr photostream and they can be found within the Then & Now set on there.

Right … back to work!