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Brummagem Brumtugs


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Years ago now we were on our way with Resolute to the National Festival at Redhill on the Soar, where I was running taster classes. We joined the queue at the bottom of the Watford flight, shortly after to be joined by a Quercus. We fell to chatting, as one does, and I raised the matter of spelling.

” Definitely with a C, “ I was told...” we are members of the Arboreal Society and we should know!”

 

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The boatyard was on Sherborne Wharf which was on the Oozells Street loop. The hire fleet was operated from one side of the loop on the old wharf and a footbridge crossed over to moorings on the other side. There was an arm which was used for mooring and a covered dock, but this was only a small part of the yard.

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I've had another trawl through old brochures for Querc/qus.

 

The first photo is from an Alvechurch brochure, but the boat is still in Brum Boats signwriting. It is clearly Querqus (not sure if that comes through in the reduced size file on here, but is clear in the brochure)

 

The second photo is from Hoseasons 1992 brochure and by this time the boat has been repainted and all the signwriting has been updated - probably post Alvechurch takeover, but is still Querqus.

 

All the brochures I can find print the name as Querqus and all the photos that can be deciphered show the name as Querqus, so it appears that that was the name used for its hire life. What happened after that...

 

Sadly no photo is clear enough for a BW reg No.

 

 

Brum 4.jpg

Brum 5.jpg

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3 hours ago, RS2021 said:

The boatyard was on Sherborne Wharf which was on the Oozells Street loop. The hire fleet was operated from one side of the loop on the old wharf and a footbridge crossed over to moorings on the other side. There was an arm which was used for mooring and a covered dock, but this was only a small part of the yard.

From 1982

 

132 SVR Crowd BCN Sherbourne Wharf 11th Nov1982.jpg

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4 hours ago, RS2021 said:

The boatyard was on Sherborne Wharf which was on the Oozells Street loop. The hire fleet was operated from one side of the loop on the old wharf and a footbridge crossed over to moorings on the other side. There was an arm which was used for mooring and a covered dock, but this was only a small part of the yard.

 

When I first encountered the Oozells Street loop in the mid 70s you could walk the towpath from the far end (alway from Old Turn) as far as the Sheepcote Street bridge, just beyond Sherborne Wharf. There was no towpath from the bridge to Old Turn junction. When Brum Boats moved from Gas Street Basin to Sherborne Wharf the towpath was closed, and the footbridge shown in Tim's photo built to connect it to the boatyard.

 

I also heard it said that when the moorings were built, angled finger moorings were provided (for the shorter boats of that era). Rather than construct these as jetties or pontoons, they put in double lines of sheet piles, and backfilled between them with dredgings from elsewhere on the loop, as there was nowhere else to get rid of them (cheaply).

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On 15/06/2020 at 09:29, dave moore said:

Years ago now we were on our way with Resolute to the National Festival at Redhill on the Soar, where I was running taster classes. We joined the queue at the bottom of the Watford flight, shortly after to be joined by a Quercus. We fell to chatting, as one does, and I raised the matter of spelling.

” Definitely with a C, “ I was told...” we are members of the Arboreal Society and we should know!”

 

Quercus with a "C" does seem to be the correct spelling, but even the University of Leicester seems unsure (see screenshot of tree)!!

I assume Dave you saw the post by RS2021 the other day showing the 1988 Hoseason's Brum Boats hire fleet listing with Querqus spelt with a "Q"??  I'm just wondering how that fits with your great story of when you were writing this boat - you said that Alan Green had corrected the spelling from "Q" to "C" thus saving you from the embarrassment of a mis-spelling.  I'm assuming that the details had gone to print before you did the painting?  So then I wonder how exactly the name is painted on the boat in the photo.....  Perhaps fortunately for all concerned the photo resolution is too low to be seen here!

 

EDIT: The above I wrote before RS2021 found his later photos showing QUERQUS spelt with a "Q", so now I'm really confused!!  However the boat appears in both the "original" Brum Boats red livery, then (perhaps later?) with the main colour as green.  Perhaps Dave, after your excellent initial work, the boat was re-painted for the name to match the Hoseason's brochure spelling??  ?

querqus.jpg

BrumBoats Hire fleet 1988.jpg

Edited by rovingrom
New info coming to light - thanks to RS2021!
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On 15/06/2020 at 18:54, RS2021 said:

I've had another trawl through old brochures for Querc/qus.

 

All the brochures I can find print the name as Querqus and all the photos that can be deciphered show the name as Querqus, so it appears that that was the name used for its hire life. What happened after that...

These are brilliant RS2021 - thanks so much!!  Abundantly clear that the spelling was with a "Q".  I think though the "problem" is what happened BEFORE that and not after!  Was the boat written with a "C" as I understood Dave Moore to say in a previous post, and then re-painted to QUERQUS with a "Q" to match the text that had already gone to print for the 1987 or '88 Hoseason's brochure??

The mystery deepens - if anyone has more information I'd love to hear from you.  As they say - please form a Q !!  Now where did I leave my coat............ ;)

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On 15/06/2020 at 18:54, RS2021 said:

The second photo is from Hoseasons 1992 brochure and by this time the boat has been repainted and all the signwriting has been updated - probably post Alvechurch takeover, but is still Querqus.

I love the layout plan for QUERQUS in both the 1992 brochure and the 1988 one you posted previously - the "cocks" must have been very small to fit in the front "cockpit"!!  Was this the only BrumTug to have no front well deck at all??  

Querqus.jpg

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Hi. I think by 1992 following the Alvechurch take over,I was no longer working at Sherborne Street. Another local writer, Peter Woodman also worked for Alvechurch in those days and may have lettered Quercus subsequently, but I’m not certain. It’s all long ago now, when I was young and had black hair! I was a fan of the tugs in the 80s, though having a body wrapped round the blades at Stoke on Trent in 86 did diminish my enthusiasm somewhat! It’s the only free docking job I ever had from BW!!

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22 minutes ago, dave moore said:

Hi. I think by 1992 following the Alvechurch take over,I was no longer working at Sherborne Street. Another local writer, Peter Woodman also worked for Alvechurch in those days and may have lettered Quercus subsequently, but I’m not certain. It’s all long ago now, when I was young and had black hair! I was a fan of the tugs in the 80s, though having a body wrapped round the blades at Stoke on Trent in 86 did diminish my enthusiasm somewhat! It’s the only free docking job I ever had from BW!!

Had to read that twice Dave, as I thought initially it was your body wrapped around the blades.  Fortunately not, but not fortunate for the unfortunate soul whose body it was, and mightily unpleasant for you as well I'm sure.

Believe me, I'm not trying to contradict you with the Querq/cus issue, just trying to get my head round it for the historical record!  Thanks for all your info on this. :)

 

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58 minutes ago, rovingrom said:

Believe me, I'm not trying to contradict you with the Querq/cus issue, just trying to get my head round it for the historical record!  Thanks for all your info on this.

Likewise. I have no first hand knowledge of the boat, just a collection of old brochures!

 

My only first hand experience of a BrumTug was to help recover one from the Stourbridge area which had been abandoned following a heart attack of one of the hirers. Although I have to say it is a design of boat which I can see the attraction for. 

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Have just finished scanning some slides from my brief time working at Sherborne Street Wharf in the summer of 1976, for both the small hire fleet and the trip boats.  These photos show that at that time there was no footbridge across to the far side of the Oozell's Street Loop and (as far as I recall) no canal access at all on that side.

The hire fleet at that time consisted of 5 boats:
BRUMMAGEM LASS, BRUMMAGEM LAD, and BRUMMAGEM LADY were (I think) 42ft long on Rugby Boatbuilders hulls with GRP tops and roofs, louvred windows and Lister SR2's or SR3's.  They were more or less identical with just detail differences as can be seen.  They were hired as 4-berth (or 4/5?) and were the mainstay of the fleet at that time.

KALLIOPE was, I believe, slightly longer at 45ft and hired as a 5 or 6 berth IIRC. Again she had a Rugby Boatbuilders hull with a timber cabin and bus-type windows.  I think she was privately owned by Julian (and/or Barrie) Stanton, the BB directors, and as such was hired out only for the larger groups or when LAD, LASS and LADY were already booked out.

LORNA II was another privately boat, owned by a friend of the Stanton brothers and leased to the fleet.  She had a GRP top on a Teddesley hull, with a square stern, extremely short rear deck and Lister SR2.  She was hired out as a 2 or 2/3 berth.

The occasion of the photos must have been right at the start of the hire season in early 1976 as the 4 longer boats were being craned back into the water after winter maintenance.  I seem to recall being invited down to the wharf to watch the proceedings, and then being shouted at repeatedly to keep out of the way!! ;) 

In a couple of the photos the 70ft trip boat EUPHRATES PACKET, with its angled cabin top and skylight windows, can be seen moored in the arm at back, left.  This was a purpose-built trip boat on which I was the occasional barman during the summer season of 1976, and even more occasional steerer.  The name came from the original EUPHRATES PACKET which was a fly boat operated by Thomas Monk in the 1820's that operated a passenger and mail service between Tipton and Central Birmingham (see: http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/GB145_p_2211).  The boat visible in my photos is not the same as the present EUPHRATES PACKET trip boat, which has a cabin somewhat resembling the 1970's boat but a totally different hull.  The other trip boat in the Brummagem fleet was the BRUMMAGEM FLY, ex-GUCCC COROLLA.  Both were moored during the winter at Sherborne Street Wharf, but operated out of Gas Street Basin.

 

 

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19 minutes ago, RS2021 said:

Likewise. I have no first hand knowledge of the boat, just a collection of old brochures!

 

My only first hand experience of a BrumTug was to help recover one from the Stourbridge area which had been abandoned following a heart attack of one of the hirers. Although I have to say it is a design of boat which I can see the attraction for. 

Not at all Sir, your contribution of the old brochures has been immensely helpful!!  :)

I hope you don't mind but I will be sharing them on the Facebook BrumTug group that I set up recently, and which is the repository for the research I am undertaking into the BrumTug fleet?

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On 15/06/2020 at 09:18, Laurie Booth said:

A great holiday I had on Beaver. I tried to buy her 1 year later but she had just been sold.

 

This, of course, is the boat we are referring to as BEAVER (2), first licensed in 1989 (47299).  She was part of the Alvechurch hire fleet when you hired her, and was then sold to R. Lawley in 1996.  In 1999 she was lengthened by 9ft to 41ft and repainted red and blue.  In 2003 she was renamed NUTHATCH and received a new licence number (45879). The re-naming came about after an embarrassing moment when bystanders watching a Rugby match shouted numerous comments about 'good Beaver', and similar!!  Alan Waters bought the boat in 2010 and sold her a while later.  She is thought now to be on the River Wey, still carrying the name NUTHATCH and now painted turquoise blue (photo).


This boat is NOT to be confused with BEAVER (1) which was first licensed in 1984 (71376) and the name "BRUM TUG BEAVER".  This is the boat seen in photos of the Brummagem Boats hire fleet in the mid-1980's and the Hoseasons brochures posted here by RS2021 last week.  In 1989(??) BEAVER (1) was sold to the Saisons hire fleet based at Whilton Locks and was renamed ASTI. In 2012 she was sold again, renamed TROS YR AFON, and is understood now also to be on the River Wey somewhere not too far from BEAVER (2) / NUTHATCH.

My feeling is (corroboration needed!) that the Brummagem Boats team liked the name BEAVER for a BrumTug, so that when BEAVER (1) was sold to Saisons in 1989 and renamed ASTI, they decided to re-allocate the name "BEAVER" to one of the last of the BrumTugs to be built - namely BEAVER (2) licensed in 1989.  It is rather confusing though....... ;)

 

R Wey 2019 orig.jpg

Edited by rovingrom
Forgot photo!
  • Greenie 1
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29 minutes ago, rovingrom said:

I hope you don't mind but I will be sharing them on the Facebook BrumTug group

No problem. I'd be interested to see your full list of BrumTugs, but I'm not on Facebook so can't see your page. Any chance of a copy?

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1 minute ago, RS2021 said:

No problem. I'd be interested to see your full list of BrumTugs, but I'm not on Facebook so can't see your page. Any chance of a copy?

Yes, by all means.  However it's an MS Excel spreadsheet and fairly extensive(!!), and also being updated every couple of days as new info comes in.  Sadly I can't post Excel files to this Forum but can e-mail it to you if you give me your address?

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6 hours ago, rovingrom said:

I love the layout plan for QUERQUS in both the 1992 brochure and the 1988 one you posted previously - the "cocks" must have been very small to fit in the front "cockpit"!!  Was this the only BrumTug to have no front well deck at all??  

Querqus.jpg

This is the Quercus I hired, which I think would likely have set out late March 1988, Good Friday being April Fool's Day that year. I certainly remember the stove burning for the entire trip. I suppose we must have been one of the first to take her out given that was her first season, and that would explain her resplendent  paintwork and immaculate interior.  I too remembered her as Quercus rather than Querqus as here, but I guess that's because my mind subsequently corrected the spelling for me!   I recall the steerer's step was simply that, so the seats shown in the diagram were not there and there was no cockpit forward, just a short deck.  I don't recall the drop down bunk being there, just a fold out double cross bed, but it may be that we just left it stowed.  No1 son, aged 4, slept in the bench seat in the back cabin, which certainly made a good enough bed for him, but whether it was also long enough for an adult I don't recall.

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5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

This is the Quercus I hired, which I think would likely have set out late March 1988, Good Friday being April Fool's Day that year. I certainly remember the stove burning for the entire trip. I suppose we must have been one of the first to take her out given that was her first season, and that would explain her resplendent  paintwork and immaculate interior.  I too remembered her as Quercus rather than Querqus as here, but I guess that's because my mind subsequently corrected the spelling for me!   I recall the steerer's step was simply that, so the seats shown in the diagram were not there and there was no cockpit forward, just a short deck.  I don't recall the drop down bunk being there, just a fold out double cross bed, but it may be that we just left it stowed.  No1 son, aged 4, slept in the bench seat in the back cabin, which certainly made a good enough bed for him, but whether it was also long enough for an adult I don't recall.

April Fool's Day.....??  Maybe that's the explanation for the mis-spelling of QUERCUS??  Joking aside though, the "C" spelling is grammatically correct but I assume you saw the 2 images posted earlier by RS2021 of the boat in an Alvechurch hire brochure and the 1992 Hoseason's, clearly with the "Q" spelling?

I think that "drop down bunk" may just be a Hoseason's euphemism for a traditional fold out "bed 'ole" - they wouldn't have been too familiar with them at Hoseason's I imagine!  Realistically the sleeping arrangements can only have been the cross-bed double (there would not have been a bunk above that), the side bed in the back cabin which would only really suit a child if the cross-bed was also in use, and the double / 2 singles in the front cabin.  The layout plans in Hoseason's brochures were notoriously incorrect!

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4 hours ago, rovingrom said:

Joking aside though, the "C" spelling is grammatically correct but I assume you saw the 2 images posted earlier by RS2021 of the boat in an Alvechurch hire brochure and the 1992 Hoseason's, clearly with the "Q" spelling?

Yes indeed, I saw the images and I'm in no doubt that she was written with "Querqus" in her time.  Whether or not she started life with 2 Qs though, I'm still not sure - she only became an Alvechurch boat a few years later and she had 4 years of service behind her when she appeared in the 1992 brochure.   We took her out as a brand new boat from Brummagem Boats, and I thought she was "Quercus" then (this seems to  agree with @dave moore 's recollection of how he wrote her) but I can't be sure, which is why I acknowledged that my mind may have subsequently corrected the spelling to the correct Latin for me.  Sorry I can't be definitive. 

 

I have a photo of No1 son eating a sausage sandwich on the steerer's step, closely supported by Labrador No1, but that won't cast much light.  I suspect we have other photos somewhere, so if I come across them I'll add to this thread if they're helpful.

 

Good luck in your quest!

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On 18/06/2020 at 08:16, Sea Dog said:

Yes indeed, I saw the images and I'm in no doubt that she was written with "Querqus" in her time.  Whether or not she started life with 2 Qs though, I'm still not sure - she only became an Alvechurch boat a few years later and she had 4 years of service behind her when she appeared in the 1992 brochure.   We took her out as a brand new boat from Brummagem Boats, and I thought she was "Quercus" then (this seems to  agree with @dave moore 's recollection of how he wrote her) but I can't be sure, which is why I acknowledged that my mind may have subsequently corrected the spelling to the correct Latin for me.  Sorry I can't be definitive. 

 

I have a photo of No1 son eating a sausage sandwich on the steerer's step, closely supported by Labrador No1, but that won't cast much light.  I suspect we have other photos somewhere, so if I come across them I'll add to this thread if they're helpful.

 

Good luck in your quest!

Actually these personal memories are really helpful, and thank you for backing up Dave Moore's recollection.  I think it all makes a great story - I can imagine it working out something like this:
In-house boat decorator Dave Moore is about to do the signwriting on yet another recently painted BrumTug for the hire fleet.  He's seen the documents around the Wharf referring to BrumTug QUERQUS (with 2 Q's).  Along comes Alan Green, designer and academic (I knew Alan) and says: "Ooo no, this is the Latin name for oak trees and it's spelt with a "C"!".  Our Dave is a good lad and just does what he's told, so he changes the second "Q" to a "C".  The boat's in the water, the happy hirers are rolling in thick and fast, and then one of them says: "Hang on, in our Hoseason's brochure it says "QUERQUS" with 2 Q's but this boat's got one Q and a C.  The company directors all rush off to check their brochures and lo and behold the hirer is right - Hoseason's reckon it's QUERQUS but the boat is QUERCUS.  So next time the boat comes up for a re-paint, QUERQUS it is!

I agree, the photo of No.1 son with his sausage sandwich might not help us a lot with documenting the changes in QUERCUS's name.  But if I ever get round to writing a BrumTug book I might ask if I can use the photo anyway.  Was it a QUERCUS Sandwich or a QUERCUS Sandwich then?? :)

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09medY.jpg

These roofs look identical to the one we fitted to the boat my father and I built at Teddersley on one of their hulls in the early 70's. I was drawn to the oval patch on each one  on the roof above the doors as ours had the words "Teddersly Boating Centre" moulded into the fibreglass here.

Screenshot 2020-06-22 at 08.48.15.png

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1 hour ago, Alstonite said:

 

These roofs look identical to the one we fitted to the boat my father and I built at Teddersley on one of their hulls in the early 70's. I was drawn to the oval patch on each one  on the roof above the doors as ours had the words "Teddersly Boating Centre" moulded into the fibreglass here.

 

Quite possibly the same mould?  All I know about the 3 boats in my Brummagem photos is that the hulls were Rugby Boatbuilders - quite distinctive at both bow and stern.  Did you see my photo of LORNA II, a sponsored boat in the mid-1970's Brummagem fleet, and most definitely a Teddesley build:

14medY.jpg

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