Hire Boat Base, Welford Arm

[Heartland]

Was there an early Hire Boat base at the end of the Welford Arm ?

[OldGoat]

I don't 'really' know - but to get the 'discussion' going -

No - it was a basin for working boats to load / unload,

then whe there was no working traffic - somebody (ABC ?)  saw a business oportunity.

 

Now I wait an inrush of locals to disagree....

 

[ditchcrawler]

In recent years there have been hire boats working from there, ie. the last 20

[Rose Narrowboats]

Black Prince were there in the Ed Rimmer era.

[sueb]

Roger Jeffries was involved with a hirebase there many years ago. I will try and find out more. It was over 40 years ago, soon after the arm was reopened.

More info. Welford Canal Boats in the 1970's   Tit Willow was bought for a hire boat. The partners were Phil Gardner; Bob Atkins and John Phillips and Roger. All dead now.

It was taken over by Black prince in the 1980's

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by sueb

[mrsmelly]

13 minutes ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

Black Prince were there in the Ed Rimmer era.

Ed Rimmer!! Now theres a name well known to may of us.

[magpie patrick]

Nicholsons Guide no 1 - South East lists "Welford Canal Boats" who offer "Steel narrow boats for hire, also built for private customers (and fitted out), gas, diesel, water (petrol station 300 yards way), moorings" - it's not the first edition guide as it's priced at £1.50 on the front cover. By 1989 (Guide no. 2 Central - 4th edition) the yard is listed as Black Prince

[Jerra]

Wasn't that were "Just Boats" were in the mid 70s?

[Rose Narrowboats]

52 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Wasn't that were "Just Boats" were in the mid 70s?

They were always at Crick as far as I remember.

[Heartland]

This image was taken in 1974

 

If it helps

 

What happened to NANCY is another related question

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Heartland

[Dav and Pen]

The arm was reopened in I think 1969 after the restoration work carried out by the Old Union Canal society and I did some shoveling there. The understanding was that the Society would manage the arm and its boat owning members would have priority. In fact I left a little cruiser for a winter .

the society had an annual rally and dinner dance at The Wharf pub and one of the most memorable things was seeing Joe and Rose Skinner waltzing . 
 

BWB renaged on the deal and leased it to the boat company.

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Dav and Pen
Content

[Stroudwater1]

Managed to find this advert in the Waterways series Canal book of 1973. It’s one of the larger adverts at half a page. 

[Derek R.]

No phone number!

Spencer House, West End recently:

 

https://tinyurl.com/y5nwbpb7

[Dan]

Here's a few pages from the 1973 Welford Canal Boats brochure.

 

Became black Prince for 1980, until about 1987 I think and a lot of new build Black Prince were fitted out here during those years

 

Dan

[Heartland]

These brochures are a great help with understanding the hire boat development

 

I notice the lack of an anchor in the inventory, so were these craft prevented from venturing onto rivers ?

[IanD]

I remember those recirculating toilets, a bit like portaloos at festivals -- started off fresh and blue, gradually getting browner and stinkier as time went on. Uurgh... 😞 

Edited August 19, 2024 by IanD

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

I remember those recirculating toilets, a bit like portaloos at festivals -- started off fresh and blue, gradually getting browner and stinkier as time went on. Uurgh... 😞 

Yes, I think they were made here in Oulton Broad, sunny suffolk

[Tony Brooks]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Yes, I think they were made here in Oulton Broad, sunny suffolk

 

Well, one lot was and they were far less nasty to use and maintain than the rubbishy (I was going to say crappy) Elsan equivalent. Then I recall Elsan started copyright proceedings. I think it may have been Topcraft making them. The Elsan offering was basically the plastic outer containers that used to hold the bucket, with a bowl fitted to the top with rubber Rawalnuts that pulled out when the pump was used. They also had a big cylindrical screen that fell out of place if the boat hit anything - then the pump could pump sludge. The Topcraft one had a larger capacity and was much better made.

 

Luckily the dump throughs came in so Elsan lost out big time.

Edited August 19, 2024 by Tony Brooks

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, IanD said:

I remember those recirculating toilets, a bit like portaloos at festivals -- started off fresh and blue, gradually getting browner and stinkier as time went on. Uurgh... 😞 

I remember them in hire boats. All white plastic, except the bowl which was a dark blue plastic, so stains from the recirculated elsan fluid wouldn't show.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

I remember them in hire boats. All white plastic, except the bowl which was a dark blue plastic, so stains from the recirculated elsan fluid wouldn't show.

Me too -- but the bowl should have been a sludgy blue-brown colour really... 😞 

[magpie patrick]

9 hours ago, Heartland said:

 

I notice the lack of an anchor in the inventory, so were these craft prevented from venturing onto rivers ?

 Mum and Dad took Tingay's boats on rivers, and they certainly didn't have an anchor! I think having an anchor is a more modern ideal, possibly born of bitter experience.

[John Brightley]

1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

 Mum and Dad took Tingay's boats on rivers, and they certainly didn't have an anchor! I think having an anchor is a more modern ideal, possibly born of bitter experience.

We hired a Dawncraft from Double Pennant at Wolverhampton in 1978 with the intention to go down onto the Severn and back via the Worcester and Birmingham. We weren't given an anchor. Within a day we realised that the boat was much too underpowered to go on the river so when we got to Stourport we turned around and went back up the Staffs and Worcs. However we hired a narrow boat from Countrywide at Brewood the following year and when they heard we were going to go down to the Severn they gave us an anchor, though it wasn't on the boat normally.