Angela at Grindley Brook

[davidwheeler]

I am going to have another go and this time I hope I get the canal right. It is I believe Grindley Brook on the Welsh Cut below Bridge 28 looking towards the LMR railway bridge on the line between Chester and Whitchurch. The boat is 'Angela', an old butty cut down at the SE Barlow dock at Tamworth. Angela was 32 feet and three berth. The other half became the 'James Brindley', and the third in the fleet at this time, 1956, was the 3/4 berth 'Thomas Telford' made out of a shroppie fly boat sold off by the DIWE for £10 as 'firewood'. My guess is that the 'Telford' is the other berthed boat in the photos. These boats belonged to Canal Cruising of Stone. 'Telford' was fitted with a Morris Vedette petrol engine which ran fast enough to keep the battery charged. Note: battery. There were no banks of leisure batteries in those boats. As David Wyatt recalled, engine breakdowns, constant groundings and their fair share of sinkings made early cruising, and this was still quite early cruising, truly an adventure. I imagine that the Stone boats were temporarily based at Grindley Brook due to a stoppage. As we were passing in Canal Pleasure Craft's Bredon Hill, which I have added as contrast in style, we stopped and had a good look at these boats. They were tough, had plenty of room and were  quite well equipped, but my parents preferred the clean lines of the Stourport boats. Two of the pioneer hire companies.

[MtB]

Enlarged a bit...

 

 

[Angela Clark]

Lovely to read this post and to see the picture of Bredon Hill from way back when! My father was Holt Abbott, builder of Bredon Hill amongst about 25 others. I believe the half narrowboat "Angela" was named after Angela Rolt (as I was also). Dave and I have another of Dad's boats "Jemima" which was built over the winter of 1964/5 for a private client. Currently stuck in Diglis Basin, Worcester as the River Severn has been pretty much constantly in flood since November, and at least 3 locks on the Worcester & Birmingham canal are closed for maintenance until early March! 

Tried to add a photo of Jemima, but apparently the file is too big. Will have another go tomorrow! 

 

[davidwheeler]

Well, that is quite something. Here are some more photos of your father's lovely boats. Stourvale in 1955, and Bredon Hill in 1956. I regret to say that I did a bit of damage to Bredon Hill. Trying to negotiate Watling Street aqueduct I hit an iron spike and dug a largish hole in her port side. Your father was very nice about it. We also had another incident many years later with Water Rat, when we knocked some hand rails off hurtling about in the dark in the old Harecastle. He was very nice about that as well. 

[Angela Clark]

Thanks very much for these photos, it's always lovely to see the boats as they were. I well remember the "foam bergs" coming out of locks! The boats were always rather easily damaged, we've been guilty of it with Jemima. We've had some very hefty knocks when the bywash catches her coming out of locks  which is why she's in Worcester now, as we took her to the dry dock there to have a leak repaired and got trapped by the river and problems on the canal! Hopefully we'll get her back to her mooring on the Staffs & Worcs canal in the spring! I'll have another try at posting a photo later on today. 

[davidwheeler]

Good. I have plenty more but the printer has bust.

My favourite of your father's boats was the 1968 ( I think) Water Rat. She was a very curvaceous little boat. I will look out a photo of her, together with the specification in the Canal Holiday booklet (price 6p). In fact what I might do is to set out a few other boats of that era, as a contrast. In the 1970s. What people would make of them these days would be quite interesting.

Correction. Not 'price 6p', but 6d. I do not remember paying that sum to Canal Pleasurecraft however. Two weeks in October 1969 cost £22 per week. 

[Angela Clark]

I remember Water Rat very well, she was a sweet little 2 berth, as you say, very curvaceous. the second one of that name, the first being only the 3rd boat built I think.

I hope I've managed to attach a photo of Jemima, not sure how well it will come out as I have had to reduce the number of pixels to stay within the allowed 3mb size!

She has Leaky windows, hence the plastic covers over them. I'll try to find one without as she looks much better that way!

Another couple of photos, the first one including Silver Heron, one of the very early boats, which was built in 1954 and is miraculously still afloat, due largly to the valiant efforts of David Brown, whose family owned her from 1969.

[ditchcrawler]

Now if all canal cruisers looked like that 

[Angela Clark]

Was a time when a lot of them did, Especially around West Midlands area! Only 3 Holt Abbott boats left now, Jemima, Silver Heron and Tavy Cleave 2nd, which is based on the Lancaster Canal. Picture of Tavy Cleave herewith

[zenataomm]

5 hours ago, Angela Clark said:

Thanks very much for these photos, it's always lovely to see the boats as they were. I well remember the "foam bergs" coming out of locks! The boats were always rather easily damaged, we've been guilty of it with Jemima. We've had some very hefty knocks when the bywash catches her coming out of locks  which is why she's in Worcester now, as we took her to the dry dock there to have a leak repaired and got trapped by the river and problems on the canal! Hopefully we'll get her back to her mooring on the Staffs & Worcs canal in the spring! I'll have another try at posting a photo later on today. 

I answered one of your posts a few years ago telling you that around 1967 my father rented "Myiscus".  As it's still the case I thought I 'd say it again! 😋 

Do you know her demise or outcome?

[Angela Clark]

I know she's no longer around, I'll have a look through my records to see if I can find any info about her. Sorry I didn't reply to your previous post, I'm afraid I must have missed it! 

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Angela Clark said:

 

 

 

 Andy Tidy's boat in the background

[Angela Clark]

Indeed, lovely chutneys & jams!! 

[Angela Clark]

4 hours ago, Angela Clark said:

I know she's no longer around, I'll have a look through my records to see if I can find any info about her. Sorry I didn't reply to your previous post, I'm afraid I must have missed it! 

I've had a look and I'm afraid I don't have much info on Myiscus. There were 2 boats of that name built. Both for the same client. The first in 1953 which was taken to Yorkshire, then returned to Stourport to join the fleet when the owner had a 2nd larger version built in 1957, which also eventually returned to the hire fleet. I would think it was the 2nd one your family hired. I have no info about where either of them ended up. They would probably have been sold when they became too old to continue in the hire fleet. They certainly weren't still there when Dad retired in 1978

[Pluto]

Waterways Journal vol 19 has an article about Abbott's boats. David Brown has been, and is still I think, one of CRT's reservoir engineers, particularly those on the L&LC. As a young BW engineer, he did live on board, I think in the early 1980s. In these days of rapid staff turnover, it is nice to know that there are still people with a longterm commitment to their job.

[hughc]

When our children were small and we needed something a little easier to handle than Avon we bought a Holt Abbot boat which was on brokerage at Sawley. She carried the name Moonbeam but I think orginally she was .. Wyevale? The boat was 35 feet long  with the same lines as Jemima. It was the fastest canal cruiser I have ever experienced and made the speed with very little disturbance. As an example we came from Sandon to Derwentmouth in a day even with three young children to look after. This was without any ill mannered shouts of 'slow down' as the boat swam beautifully and the Morris Vedette petrol engine was smooth and, from the bank, silent. I have often thought that a modern cruiser based on this design, i.e a shallow water draught but with a deep central keel and good internal headroom,  would be an interesting exercise in todays conditions. We have perhaps become too accustomed to poor copies of working narrow boats which swim like noisy bricks.  I last saw her on the bank somewhere on the Bridgewater.

[Angela Clark]

Very interesting to hear this, I had no record of what happened to Wyevale (1st) when she left the fleet. Glad to hear she was enjoyed! There was also a 2nd Wyevale in the fleet 1974 - 78 which was later purchased by Ian Mackersey who I think was once an editor of Waterways World. She was renamed "Tanui" by him.

I know what you mean about the speed, we try very hard to keep within the 4 mph, but most of the time we are actually out of gear when passing moored boats (with the resulting lack of steering) in order to try to slow down enough not to be shouted at. 

We actually had to have Jemima's prop re-pitched when we bought her to slow her down a bit, as she had been on the broads where the limit is a bit higher!

[John Brightley]

On 12/02/2024 at 09:24, Pluto said:

In these days of rapid staff turnover, it is nice to know that there are still people with a longterm commitment to their job.

In my experience many people still have a long term commitment to their job, but unfortunately the majority of companies don't have the commitment to their staff that they used to, and have no qualms about getting rid of staff no matter how long they have been with the firm.

Apologies for taking this thread off-track !

[Derek R.]

Outside of CWF, the world is being driven to destruction. It is inevitable that influence will permeate formerly sacrosanct places.

[davidwheeler]

Angela, just in case you still have an eye on this, here are some more of Bredon Hill in 1956. A lovely boat. It lead us on to a lifetime interest.

[Angela Clark]

Thanks David, lovely to see these photos! Quite a few boaters have told me that their first (or their parents' first) boating experiences were in Dad's boats and inspired a life-long interest in boating. Good to know that he made a difference! 

Angela

[davidwheeler]

Well, ours is a case in point. Here, a couple of photos of Water Rat which we hired in 1969, 13 years after Bredon Hill. Water Rat was a lovely boat, albeit taken by the wind a bit, and rather slow. Your father is reported in 1978 as saying " The type of hirer has changed completely. In the old days they came to discover the canals and to explore.." In 1969 it was still exploration. Meeting the Thurlewood Steel Lock was a challenge. Rising up the Trent and Mersey from Middlewich was an adventure. Many of the locks inoperable only to be discovered when inside them. Arriving at the Northern portal of the Harecastle with absolutely no sign of life or even if it was still open. The thought that we might have to turn and go back the way we had come, to get back to base on time. Plenty of adventure then. Of all the many boats we hired before we bought, Water Rat remains our favourite. Perhaps because it was our first but also because it was a very jolly boat. And if I may be allowed to say it Mr Abbott was a lovely man. To us, he was. Given what we had done to his boat.

[Angela Clark]

Water Rat was a very pretty boat, lovely lines, and the only 2 berth Dad built, although some of the original 4 berths were no longer, just more cramped!

I've attached info from the brochure to bring back a few memories for you.

I remember the days when every trip was an adventure as you never knew what problems you would encounter along the way, not to say that it's always plain sailing even now, only last year we were stuck in a lock as there was an obstruction behind the gate, but at least help was on hand from CRT who got there within the hour!

As you say, Dad was a lovely man, albeit somewhat eccentric - but then I suppose he had to be to start up what was considered to be a very bizarre enterprise in the very early 50s, brave too!

Mum must have had tremendous faith in him as she never doubted that it would work.

[davidwheeler]

Thank you, that was a kind thought. But I still have the brochure your father sent me.

 

But if you still have the boat itself, I would quite like that.

[Angela Clark]

I wish!!