Guisley

[Kez]

Again, title says it all.

 

Found an old photo of a sunken bwb boat marked 'Cowley, 70'.

I can't quite make out the name, but I think it says Guisley

 

I'd post it up and let other people have a gander for themselves, but I havent got a clue how to work the scanner

 

And, as she's one of Linnet's sisters, I have to ask. What happened to Guisley?

Edited May 4, 2010 by Kez

[Lady Muck]

I'm interested in these boats too, I have a Nursers boat table top which was salvaged by my partners grandfather from a sunken vandalised boat (we think) in Cowley.

[alan_fincher]

Assuming you mean the GUCCCo Walker's wooden butty, I can't recall ever having seen the fate of this one discussed.

 

Other sources actually list the spelling as Guiseley, but as several get these things wrong, I'd not like to guarantee it.

 

I'm not aware of any Nurser boat with a similar name, (although I'm no expert on these!), so rather doubt it has any connection with the table top that LM has in her proud possession, despite the apparent link of "derelict at Cowley".

[Lady Muck]

I wasn't referring to Guiseley, I wondered if there were any Nursers boats sunk @ Cowley, we've often wondered where this table top came from.

[Paul H]

I wasn't referring to Guiseley, I wondered if there were any Nursers boats sunk @ Cowley, we've often wondered where this table top came from.

 

Cowley, where the present Packetboat Marina is was a dredgings tip and was where BW towed a large number of abandoned and their own redundant boats eventually heaving them out on to the tip to be buried. Even in the 1970s various boats turned up from time to time including I remember the original hull of Lady Hatherton, Stirling Castle (famous for being stuck in Harecastle tunnel for 3 days) and an iron Josher butty which simply snapped in half when being lifted out full of water and mud and was therefore buried. Old boats were less valued in those days.

 

Paul h

 

PS. We need a scan of that photo Kez and a pic of thetable Lady Muck. I know pics are not easy to add on this forum but please persevere.

[magnetman]

PS. We need a scan of that photo Kez and a pic of thetable Lady Muck. I know pics are not easy to add on this forum but please persevere.

 

An easier and quicker alternative to a scanner is a digital camera set on close-up mode in bright light with the flash switched off. I do it with my mobile phone camera.

 

Then upload to photobucket or similar photo hosting site.

[Lady Muck]

Ok, I found the photo eventually.

 

 

I have a cabin block as well, but it's looking a bit worse for wear - looks like my not so boat obsessed BIL used it as a door stop when he was decorating.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Lady Muck

[carlt]

Ok, I found the photo eventually.

 

 

I have a cabin block as well, but it's looking a bit worse for wear - looks like my not so boat obsessed BIL used it as a door stop when he was decorating.

I'm no expert on the decoration bit but it doesn't look like a Nurser table, to me.

[Lady Muck]

I'm no expert on the decoration bit but it doesn't look like a Nurser table, to me.

 

from our books we thought it was - so what is it folks? <scratches head>

[carlt]

from our books we thought it was - so what is it folks? <scratches head>

The decoration may be Nursers but the woodwork isn't like any Nurser table I've seen, though I haven't seen them all.

[Lady Muck]

It's a bit crude isn't it? Like they were in a hurry. Which I guess sometimes they were. Story was, he found a vandalised boat that had already been harvested for anything worth taking. The table was in the down position, so no one could see the decoration, he thinks that's why it had been left behind.

[alan_fincher]

How "normal" are those angled off corners ?

 

I must admit I always think of these things as being round at the end, but then that may just be the boats I've been in, and other arrangements may have been the norm elsewhere.

[Derek R.]

Well, what's 'normal'? Mostly what was produced for Fellows and GUCCC if sheer numbers are considered. Most have rounded tops, but not all. The Skinner's FRIENDSHIP had corners just like that, though the surround was green. I dare say it was just a few boatyard's exercise in simplicity.

 

Derek

[alan_fincher]

Most have rounded tops, but not all. The Skinner's FRIENDSHIP had corners just like that, though the surround was green.

Yes,

 

You are correct of course - I'd forgotten that!

[carlt]

Well, what's 'normal'? Mostly what was produced for Fellows and GUCCC if sheer numbers are considered. Most have rounded tops, but not all. The Skinner's FRIENDSHIP had corners just like that, though the surround was green. I dare say it was just a few boatyard's exercise in simplicity.

I've been racking my brains, and ploughing through books and photos, trying to remember where I've seen a similar table.

 

Thank you.

[fanshaft]

Other sources actually list the spelling as Guiseley, but as several get these things wrong, I'd not like to guarantee it.

 

Guiseley is how the place name (near where I was born) is spelt.

 

regards

 

David

[Phil Speight]

from our books we thought it was - so what is it folks? <scratches head>

I think it may well be Nurser - but not at his best ! The way the mountains and foreground are painted is very characteristic as is the general nature of the castle itself. Maybe even the great man himself had less good days specially towards the end of his life. The strange composition of roses is to account for the knob , or whatever, that would have sat between the two sections.

Phil

Edited May 6, 2010 by Phil Speight

[carlt]

I think it may well be Nurser - but not at his best ! The way the mountains and foreground are painted is very characteristic as is the general nature of the castle itself. Maybe even the great man himself had less good days specially towards the end of his life. The strange composition of roses is to account for the knob , or whatever, that would have sat between the two sections.

Phil

Maybe he thought "Well the chippy, who made this, couldn't be bothered, so why should I."

[Derek R.]

Waterways World of October 1989 featured narrow boat cabins, and from which I recollect FRIENDSHIP's layout.

 

As Phil rightly says, the knobs would have distributed amongst the Roses.

Pure idle conjecture: I wonder also if their slightly offset placing was also done due to an obstruction such as the cabin lamp. Likely it was painted in situ, and from the angle that the flap is set at, such offset would not have been immediately clear from a seated position on the side bed, so from a purely visual point of view - it may have been done quite deliberately to centralise the flowers amongst other cabin ware for a purely practical standpoint. I wonder whose boat it was in.

 

Derek

[Timleech]

I think it may well be Nurser - but not at his best ! The way the mountains and foreground are painted is very characteristic as is the general nature of the castle itself. Maybe even the great man himself had less good days specially towards the end of his life. The strange composition of roses is to account for the knob , or whatever, that would have sat between the two sections.

Phil

 

Based largely on comments from 'er indoors -

the roses don't look like Nurser, various technical reasons why not, the castle could well be but rather slapdash - as he could be in later years, apparently. The castle seems to be on a bit of sheet material which has been planted on the table structure, there are even possible screw holes visible in the picture.

 

Tim

[Tam & Di]

Cowley, where the present Packetboat Marina is was a dredgings tip and was where BW towed a large number of abandoned and their own redundant boats eventually heaving them out on to the tip to be buried. ........

 

We can remember a wooden boat which sank on Dave Nurse's length of mooring between Bulldog Bridge (Benbow Way) and Cowley Lock, but not the name nor what eventually happened to it. From knowledge of LM's scavenger I would not have expected it to come from a boat there though as that was a semi-private site - much more likely from the Cowley Peachey tip, where ex-FMC man George Beacham (George the Crane) was "king" in the 60s. We bought the ex-GUCC wooden wideboat Progress from BWB in 1961 when it was sunk at the beginning of the Slough Cut side of the tip. We also tried to get the ancient barrel-topped maintenance flat which was on the bank and used as a tea hut by the dredging team - unfortunately it got burnt out before we managed to get it.

[Phil Speight]

Based largely on comments from 'er indoors -

the roses don't look like Nurser, various technical reasons why not, the castle could well be but rather slapdash - as he could be in later years, apparently. The castle seems to be on a bit of sheet material which has been planted on the table structure, there are even possible screw holes visible in the picture.

 

Tim

I hesitate to disagree with `er indoors and I see what she sees in the roses - but among the slightly uncharacteristic elements are some that equally well say "Nurser" to me. However - I know that in the late 40`s and into the 50`s much Braunston painting was the work of more than one painter. My mate has , for instance , a George Crowshaw handbowl with a very early Ron Hough castle on the bottom. It was usual apparently for the junior painters to be paid a few quid extra to work late to "move the painting on a bit". This would include decoration on boats as well as cans etc. This has caused a fair amount of head cratching in recent years !

`umble regards to `er indoors.

Phil

[Laurence Hogg]

I think it may well be Nurser - but not at his best ! The way the mountains and foreground are painted is very characteristic as is the general nature of the castle itself. Maybe even the great man himself had less good days specially towards the end of his life. The strange composition of roses is to account for the knob , or whatever, that would have sat between the two sections.

Phil

 

I agree with Phil, certainly looks like Nurser work, castles give it away.

[Timleech]

I hesitate to disagree with `er indoors and I see what she sees in the roses - but among the slightly uncharacteristic elements are some that equally well say "Nurser" to me. However - I know that in the late 40`s and into the 50`s much Braunston painting was the work of more than one painter. My mate has , for instance , a George Crowshaw handbowl with a very early Ron Hough castle on the bottom. It was usual apparently for the junior painters to be paid a few quid extra to work late to "move the painting on a bit". This would include decoration on boats as well as cans etc. This has caused a fair amount of head cratching in recent years !

`umble regards to `er indoors.

Phil

 

I do wonder whether the castle was painted separately and added, as it appears to be on a bit of sheet material?

 

Tim

[Paul H]

We can remember a wooden boat which sank on Dave Nurse's length of mooring between Bulldog Bridge (Benbow Way) and Cowley Lock, but not the name nor what eventually happened to it. From knowledge of LM's scavenger I would not have expected it to come from a boat there though as that was a semi-private site - much more likely from the Cowley Peachey tip, where ex-FMC man George Beacham (George the Crane) was "king" in the 60s. We bought the ex-GUCC wooden wideboat Progress from BWB in 1961 when it was sunk at the beginning of the Slough Cut side of the tip. We also tried to get the ancient barrel-topped maintenance flat which was on the bank and used as a tea hut by the dredging team - unfortunately it got burnt out before we managed to get it.

In about 1975 I bought the converted lifeboat Turtle off Peter Frost (who you will remember) - it was moored next to Dave Nurse's place. Amongst the nettles there were quite a few old guard irons (rubbing strakes) off a wooden boat which IIRC I was told came off a boat called George. Does that ring any bells?

 

Paul H