Colin S
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Posts posted by Colin S
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On 06/05/2019 at 16:15, Chris Williams said:
1968, hired this wooden outboard 2 berth cruiser from Blue Line at Braunston.
We found some old slides relating to my Grandparents hire boat company "Kingfisher Line", but this picture got me curious and google led me to this thread. The Lady in the boat is my Grandmother, Audrey Rice. I have some other pictures which I'll work through and start another thread.
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On 23/02/2022 at 18:36, Scholar Gypsy said:
And here is Nigel's painting. Not bad after 43 years. The scumbling was redone in 1994, and the original wooden doors (not clear from the original quote!) were mounted on steel stern doors at the same date (the second stretching). He said that the dark sky in the top panel reflected air pollution in the Potteries .... Bill the joiner went on to work for BW at their Fradley yard.
Great Aren't they? I think the colours and decorations of canal boats was what drew me into boating from a very young age.
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Brilliant! Thank you 😀
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1 hour ago, GilesMorris said:
I think it would have been A. Rice (he was just "Mr Rice") that I remember as being kind. He let me help to clean the hire boats (Tranquil, Halcyon and a smaller one) one day. I didn't want any payment because I enjoyed working on boats but he sent me off for a couple of hours with the outboard-powered runabout and I took it to Tixall Wide. A long time ago and far away.
Here ya go!
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Wow! I've got a picture somewhere of my Grandfather on the same boat!
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Fantastic Thank You!
I remember Nigel, he lived aboard with his Wife, Jenny? And a Jack Russel. There was Bill, Terry and Paul.
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Thank You. Searching "Hoo Mill" on this forum is bringing back lots of memories.
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On 02/03/2017 at 17:48, Chas78 said:
Hi,
I have just bought a 31ft Narrowboat that was built by A Rice in 1969 does anyone know anything about this boat or boatbuilder please?
As above, A.Rice was my Grandfather but as he died when I was about 3 or 4 my memories of him are very vague! What I can tell you though (with some reasonable amount of certainty) is Kingfisher Line didn't start building boats until after his death.
The business first started as hire boat company concentrating on weekly hires using boats that were bought from another boatbuilder. For some reason, the business changed to day hire only with all the boats being built on site.
But there's a twist, A. Rice was also my Grans initial (Audrey). Highly unlikely I think, but it's possible it could be her name being used, but more likely, you've bought one the original hire boats (built by another yard unknown to me)
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Hi There. I appreciate this is an old post, but I'm sat here on a rainy day googling Kingfisher Line Hoo Mill. I'm reminiscing I guess.
J.E Rice was my Uncle (John Edwin) and A.Rice was my Grandfather. Both Passed away, My Grandfather in about 1971 and Uncle John about 5 years ago.
My Granny continued to live in the house and help out with the day to day running of the hire boat business until it was all sold in about 1981 (ish).
I have very few photos or records of that era even though some of my most memorable and enjoyable holidays were taken at Hoo Mill. When I was 10 or 12 a small dayboat built of steel in workshops at Kingfisher Line (the smell of Swarfega takes me right back to those days! ) was made available to me during my stay. "Flip" as she was called had a Stuart Turner petrol engine and was part of the hire fleet.
I'm still boating now but sea based, our present boat being a Nimbus 3003.
I'd love learn more about Kingfisher Line, I was about 14 when the business was sold (55 now).
ATB
Colin
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A Rice Boat Builder?
in History & Heritage
Posted
That would be an interesting read. Thank you.
My Grandfather died in 1971 so my Uncle and Grandmother would have been running the business and possibly about the time they changed from weekly hire to dayboats.