Produced by G. L. Ward - Herefordshire, a snapshot of life on a 2 week Norfolk Broads Holiday in the 1950's aboard Shining Light From the Herbert Woods Boatyard at Potter Heigham
What a gem!!! Loved reminiscing about all those lovely places. Born in 1951 and having a mum and neighbour (her husband was manager at Woods) who worked on the boats on Saturdays (change-over day) I went on loads of them including Shining Light! and later working at Bridge stores collecting together grocery orders for the boats was my weekend job. So enjoyed this thank you.
One of the best things I've ever seen on RU-vid Magical!! A time when men were manly Women were feminine and Kids were allowed to be Kids music makes you cry for what's been lost!
Thanks to this film we have been able to solve a design issue on the hand rails for the newly restored cap on Horsey Windpump - thank you so much for sharing; its a superb piece of historical footage.
I agree - the best, most evocative footage of 1950's Broadland that i have seen too - amazing colour, good weather (lucky them)... made me want to wind time back to then
We came from Greater Manchester, Dad worked in a Factory in Mossley , Cheshire . My First few Holidays on The Norfolk Broads , I was too young to remember , 1951,1952,1953,1954,1955, ,,,,,, My (Late) Parents had their honeymoon in 1950 on the Norfolk Broads , the boat was a two berth Cabin Cruiser called "Smiling Waters" , for the following 21 years we ( I was born in 1951, my younger Brother born in 1953 , our Sister born 1960 and little Brother born 1964), came on Broads Holidays , picking boats up from just about every boat yard , sometimes we had family or friends with us to share our Holidays we had great times , some scary , going over Braden Water in a force 9 gale with a thunderstorm and spring tides is no fun . Then on the 1st June 1973 , we came to live in Norfolk , the broads holidays stopped but we did have some time on The Boats , On My / Our Honeymoon in 1986 we sailed from Herberts Boat Yard for a River Cruise to St Benets Abbey and back , When Our Dad was 80 we hired The Southern Comfort from Horning , having secretly invited many of his former work mates , Relatives and Friends to join us , then arranged to Pick Him and his 2nd Wife up further down stream , then My Sister had her Wedding Reception on it and on May 25th we intend to have a Birthday Party on it for My Brother-in-Law's 65th Birthday , Great Memories , Great fun , Norfolk Broads .
This is a wonderful film. Thank you. It is so full of nostalgia. Though I only started taking hols on the Broads from 1973 I much prefer the wooden oldies of the 50’s/60’s type boats. Full of character. I nearly bought one, and later in the 80’s l saw that this actual boat had sunk, then was restored. It looked magnificent and hopefully will continue to win peoples hearts for many more years.
Captivating! Thank you. Some of the things I noticed - remembered - ... 1. You don't see dredging now 2. Petrol engines 3. No general speed limit 4. Whiteboats (Yare and Bure one-design) racing, probably on handicap as i saw two Rebel class mixed with them. Also a couple of national 12's and a few Merlin-Rockets: I always had a fond attraction for no 450. 5. The lad wore the same summer sandals that we all did then! 6. The flag of St George flying on the church tower and lastly, in the early shots in Oulton Broad, the white ship with yellow funnel: 'Bounty' if I remember well. I never saw it move in all the years I sailed there, about '59 to '72. Happy days!
A wonderful film of an area we are very fortunate to live in. The children would be in their 70s now and it would be great to know if they are still with us.
Thankyou so much for sharing your family film. This has brought back warm memories of our family holiday on the Broads in about 1965 and we're about to return to Hickling for a week after more than 50 years. I am non-plussed as to why anyone would press the dislike button on your film...it must have been in error ! Thank you again for sharing what is quite an important and rare, and exceptionally well made social commentary of the time. Great choice of music. I wish all children of today were privileged enough to enjoy such an experience.
amazing to see a world pre polyester full of canvas, rubber, wood and steel. But the work , oh the work in keeping a wooden boat varnished and ship shape. Nowadays, the 1970s GRP boats are starting to look like classics and are still structurally sound but underappreciated. 18:04 a boy with a cork and canvas life jacket lashed on with a shoe lace! Oh simple lovely days.
Love everybody’s comments, had my first holiday here as a child , my dad hired a boat from Princess cruisers in London, and we went therefor a few more years, I returned when I was 21 and hired my first yacht and learned to sail on the broads, we went there for many years later for our spring holiday. Great memories.
That is superb quality footage for a 1950's film. It shows the Broads boat's exactly as I remember them, the first time I went there with my family. Thank you, so much, for sharing this.
This is such a lovely video of years gone by. Would love to see what the two children look like now. I love watching this. So lovely to see what the Broads were like in yesteryear. 😊 Thank you for a happy time video.
Absolutely wonder footage of the broads,a wonderful family holiday,brought back many memories for me of times gone by of me as a lad with grandparents, parents on holiday in Norfolk which was in the 70,s.. Norfolk such a special place which I still visit to this day now with my wife and kids..thanks
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing. Although personally I never sailed/cruised the broads, my father did a lot in his youth before WWII. I can now see the attraction, beauty and peace that would capture one's heart. I miss Norfolk...
An absolutely fascinating video, the wooden craft are beautiful and extremely tempting to purchase at times, but my sensible side knows that a plastic fantastic is the wiser choice. Thank you for taking the time to convert this film to a format we can all enjoy...
Thank you for sharing this great film..... i have going on the Broads for some 47 years now... as a child firstly then now at least 3 times a year on hire craft..... The film bought back a lot of great childhood memories as i remember some of the places as they used to be.... Thank you once again =o)
What a fantastic video. They say video is the closest thing we have to time travel. Thank you for taking me back before I was born. The colours are so stunning. Thank you.
How wonderful, our first holiday was 1963 so a bit after this but Bill Solomans Harbour Master at Oulton Broad Yacht Station is instantly recognisable. We knew him for many years.
Wow... This is absolutely amazing quality 'amateur holiday' footage. The colour is so beautiful and clear for such old film and the digital copying is very well done too. The cameraman/woman has done a wonderful job, capturing this beautiful area. All in all, probably the best, most evocative footage of 1950's Broadland I've seen. A superb 'historical document' of that era on the Norfolk Broads... Wonderful... Thank you...
Thanks for your comment, my Grandfather made the film (my Dad is the lad at the start with the life jacket) and I've often thought it should be seen rather than gathering dust.
I knew many of the Yacht Station Keepers , especially Mr Solomon and his Father who became great friends , They were the Station Masters at Oulton Broad Yacht Station , as a boy Mr Solomon worked on The Herring Boats which sailed from Yarmouth & Lowestoft .
What an amazing video and a very good digital conversion, I had all our old cini films done last year, none on the broads though, amazing to see no new bridge at Yarmouth, the old railway bridge at St olaves and the old lift bridge, strange not seeing any GRP boats
Absolutely beautiful. I love the broards go there regularly nice to see a lot is still the same. Thank you for posting this film, sum ten years before I was born. Just great.
Truly Nostalgic. In those days it was traditional for RAF apprentices to 'invade' the broads during the Easter holidays. I was there in 1955 and 1996. Boats from Wroxham in our case. Four of us on Westwind in 55 and three on Gayleen in 56. Or maybe 56 and 57. The mind isn't so sharp these days but the memories are still strong. Great fun!
FANTASTIC.To think my parents had the courage to leave that and emigrate to Australia to a Migrant camp of Nissen Huts and eventually to Woomera in the GAFFA[ Great Australian F All ] in 1952.It all worked out for the best but my mother missed that scenery more than anything and I wish she could have seen your delightful family film. Thank you.
As a kid, I had two 'Broads' holidays with my parents in the 70s but even now can remember most of the place names and boat details. We were in Bairnmore, a Moores boat from Wroxham. Our friends were in Judith, from Martham Boats. They were very impressed at the overall standard of our Moores boat. When we returned a couple of years later, with another family too we had three Moores boats. We had Aviemore, and I think the others were Claremore and Faymore. All were traditional wooden boats, like in this video. Nowadays, there seem to be more GRP boats.
Just seen this, what a fantastic archive. The glory days of wood, left over from WW2 are superb. It's what you see in the background, the M&GN bridges at Potter and Breydon, just brilliant. Once again, fantastic work from the 1950's. Happy New Year to all in 2021.
Superb film well shot and exposed.. nearly overdosed on wooden boats..a lovely view of a bygone age when the skipper wore a peaked cap !! And boys wore short trousers..and less crowds..
Beautiful article: from a more relaxed era. Reminded me of when I was a child & my father & 2 uncles took me & 5 cousins on the Broards in 1969. Similar boats but brown hull's.
How times have changed watching the young kids get the hose and fill up water all helping dad and when full carefully rolls the hose up and puts it back as it was found Can you imagine kids today.....they wou say wait until I have done my selfy.!!! 😪😪😪
Hello, just wonderful and so nostalgic, I love the holiday story. I am now the proud owner of Moorhen1 a 1948 Broads cruiser who was used on the Broads at that time. Looking for anyone who may have hired her or took any cine films or photos for my album. Would be ever so pleased to receive any info on Moorhen1. Thanks you
I hired her in late June 1984 from Moores of Wroxham who had lovely big black boarded boatsheds, now sadly gone and ugly modern houses built on the site. We had a wonderful sunny week of cruising and fishing along the Bure, Ant and Thurne and had a day on the beach at Horsey. We left the Moorhen anchored in Horsey Mere, sailed the dinghy to the windmill, went to the beach, returned 6 hours later and the Moorhen was gone! We found it a mile away at the far end of the mere, having dragged it's mudweight anchor in the stiff wind! Cracking, well built and maintained pretty little timber cruiser, so strange I was thinking about this very Moorhen, only 2 days ago and wondered what became of her, and then this random u tube film and comments pops up. Serendipity? I will ask my ex wife if she has any photographs of the boat and those halcyon days, if it is of use to you ( she was always the photographer). May hear more.......
Hi Yiabw - so lovely to hear about your adventures with Moorhen and funny how she drifted off like that. Sounds like you have some amazing memories there. She now belongs to my boss Reg Francis but he hasn't visited her for some while. Yes any photos, memories are very welcome. I can pass to Reg and he says I can visit her one day. She looks beautiful in the pics he has. Thanks Sally
Dave C.such pity we had to "progress" I just remember the `50s on the broads. Wooden boats, all those yachts, you could moor practically anywhere. BUT no heating , fridge , TV, mobile phones ...lovely! Ah well
