Our "New" Boat, (actually quite old).

[alan_fincher]

If you can get some pictures on here of whats left looking like old stuff in the cabin . . . like the table cupboard and crumb drawer, ticketdraw and the doorholes side panel and so on . . . then I can tell you whether any of it's Jess Owens.

 

Yes will do, if we can manage to get to a point where I'm not trying to fix things that have stopped working before the next thing stops working.. Right now heat and light are a challenge, and "who painted what", (interesting though it is!), will have to wait.

 

In the meantime I'm told the surviving castle on the table is by Dennis Clark. Pictures soon(ish).

[alan_fincher]

Alan don't forget the moving film of flamingo paired with Bideford, here http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=55155&hl=+there%20+go%20+the%20+boats%20+part

 

Darren

Good grief!

 

Wonderful - I had completely forgotten it was in that footage.

 

So far I knew about later WW pairings of

 

Flamingo and Brighton (Ron Green)

Flamingo and Beverley (Ken Ward)

&

Flamingo and Cygnus (Ron Withey)

 

but

 

Flamingo and Bideford is a pairing I don't think I have got.

 

[EDIT: To acknowledge that Pete Harrison's info to me had actually identified this as a pairing with Flamingo in 1968 - my mistake.....]

 

So, can anybody please tell me who is at the tiller in those pictures, It doesn't look like either of the above Rons to me).

 

That's really made my day after a day when a lot of things have not gone particularly well. Footage of the boat actually carrying - it may not be very exciting to anybody else, but it is to me!.

Edited December 7, 2014 by alan_fincher

[pete harrison]

Flamingo and Bideford is a pairing I don't think I have got.

 

So, can anybody please tell me who is at the tiller in those pictures, It doesn't look like either of the above Rons to me).

When I e-mailed the history of LETCHWORTH to you last week it included:-

 

"early1968 – listed in Alan H. Faulkner's booklet Willow Wren as being paired with BIDEFORD, steerer Ronnie Green."

[Ray T]

So, can anybody please tell me who is at the tiller in those pictures, It doesn't look like either of the above Rons to me).

 

 

 

Alan, I will be seeing Mike Humphries on Wednesday I will ask him.

[bizzard]

Good grief!

 

Wonderful - I had completely forgotten it was in that footage.

 

So far I knew about later WW pairings of

 

Flamingo and Brighton (Ron Green)

Flamingo and Beverley (Ken Ward)

&

Flamingo and Cygnus (Ron Withey)

 

but

 

Flamingo and Bideford is a pairing I don't think I have got.

 

So, can anybody please tell me who is at the tiller in those pictures, It doesn't look like either of the above Rons to me).

 

That's really made my day after a day when a lot of things have not gone particularly well. Footage of the boat actually carrying - it may not be very exciting to anybody else, but it is to me!.

I can't quite properly tell from the pics but looking at the varnish work it might or might not have been Ronseal.

[alan_fincher]

When I e-mailed the history of LETCHWORTH to you last week it included:-

 

"early1968 – listed in Alan H. Faulkner's booklet Willow Wren as being paired with BIDEFORD, steerer Ronnie Green."[/size]

Quite correct, Pete, sorry my mistake - I'm on a different computer on the boat, without access to that mail. (I do have it printed off, but that's at home too.... ).

 

I'm kind of surprised if that is Ron Green, because Jeanette Smith Harrison has recently pointed out that Ron Green is easy to identify, being much taller than many of the boaters of the era, and that didn't look like a particularly tall person to me.

 

Still based on your reminder, I'm now thinking it must be.

 

I must try harder to keep up!

[alan_fincher]

I previously tried contacting the photographer who put this piece together without success, but tried again last night and have got an answer froim Tony Denyer, for which I am most grateful.

From about 4:05 to 4:35 Flamingo can be seen leaving Stoke Bruerne top, then from about 4:55 to the end it can be seen working one of the Marswoth locks. In both it is travelling South, clothed, and not particularly heavily loaded.

Tony can date the first footage exactly, but not the second, although I suspect te dates are pretty close together.

Hello Alan, The Stoke Bruerne video was taken at noon on the 28th April 1968, and what you see in the video is all that I took. As for the final shots at Marsworth top lock, I can not give a date. I checked to see if I had taken any stills at the same time but I did not, so all I can say is it was towards the end of carrying on the Grand Union, regards Tony Denyer

This of course matches the "early 1968" date that Pete supplied me with for a pairing with Bideford, so seems to confirm the steerer as Ron(nie) Green.

 

EDIT:

 

I'm wondering if Tony Dunkley can confirm whether it is him and his boats that appear in the stills taken at Hillmorton (from about 2:48 to 3:05 in the video).

Edited December 8, 2014 by alan_fincher

[Tony Dunkley]

I previously tried contacting the photographer who put this piece together without success, but tried again last night and have got an answer froim Tony Denyer, for which I am most grateful.

 

From about 4:05 to 4:35 Flamingo can be seen leaving Stoke Bruerne top, then from about 4:55 to the end it can be seen working one of the Marswoth locks. In both it is travelling South, clothed, and not particularly heavily loaded.

 

 

Tony can date the first footage exactly, but not the second, although I suspect te dates are pretty close together.

 

This of course matches the "early 1968" date that Pete supplied me with for a pairing with Bideford, so seems to confirm the steerer as Ron(nie) Green.

 

EDIT:

 

I'm wondering if Tony Dunkley can confirm whether it is him and his boats that appear in the stills taken at Hillmorton (from about 2:48 to 3:05 in the video).

Yes it is, with 'Albert' and 'Pictor', in the two stills at the top lock and going out of the bottom lock near the middle.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Tony Dunkley

[pete harrison]

Yes it is, with 'Albert' and 'Pictor', in the two stills at the top lock and going out of the bottom lock near the middle.

All look like the bottom lock to me. In the first still you can see the bridge that leads to the B.W.B. Yard, and there is no bridge above the top lock..

[Ray T]

 

Alan, I will be seeing Mike Humphries on Wednesday I will ask him.

 

Mike confirmed that Ronnie Green did steer Flamingo for a while.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Ray T

[Tony Dunkley]

All look like the bottom lock to me. In the first still you can see the bridge that leads to the B.W.B. Yard, and there is no bridge above the top lock..

Yes, it is the bottom lock isn't it. I am well overdue for a new pair of spec's though.

[madcat]

Knife drawer, I have a stainless steel tray under the breadboard to catch crumbs.

 

Interesting film, I spotted a boat I know well in the stills

[Tony Dunkley]

Knife drawer, I have a stainless steel tray under the breadboard to catch crumbs.

 

Interesting film, I spotted a boat I know well in the stills

 

Breadboard ? . . that's not what the thing on the hinges above the crumb drawer is called.

[madcat]

More info to correct confusion.

 

I use a round wooden bread board to cut up bread etc which resides on a round Stainless tray so the crumbs are capture before they can escape onto the table cupboard and be deposited into the drawer when I close the flap. I consider crumbs getting into the drawer to be an epic housekeeping fail.

the tray and its board live in the table cupboard on top of the other stuff in there.

[Tony Dunkley]

More info to correct confusion.

 

I use a round wooden bread board to cut up bread etc which resides on a round Stainless tray so the crumbs are capture before they can escape onto the table cupboard and be deposited into the drawer when I close the flap. I consider crumbs getting into the drawer to be an epic housekeeping fail.

the tray and its board live in the table cupboard on top of the other stuff in there.

 

Oh, that's alright then, I thought you'd got a flashy, modern stainless steel crumb drawer under the breadboard cupboard.

[madcat]

no normal wooden drawer that sticks a bit sometimes and has the magic ability to shuffle the things I'm looking for into the bottom under everything else. ?. ?

Edited December 10, 2014 by madcat

[churchward]

no normal wooden drawer that sticks a bit sometimes and has the magic ability to shuffle the things I'm looking for into the bottom under everything else. .

I have a drawer like that it also has the ability to tie knots in anything thin flexible and longer then 2-3 inches!

[Tony Dunkley]

no normal wooden drawer that sticks a bit sometimes and has the magic ability to shuffle the things I'm looking for into the bottom under everything else. .

I've got some drawers from the same makers . . . do you have the same trouble with the fags and matches drawer ?

[alan_fincher]

More info to correct confusion.

 

I use a round wooden bread board to cut up bread etc which resides on a round Stainless tray so the crumbs are capture before they can escape onto the table cupboard and be deposited into the drawer when I close the flap. I consider crumbs getting into the drawer to be an epic housekeeping fail.

the tray and its board live in the table cupboard on top of the other stuff in there.

 

Personally I would not trust any crumb / knife / cutlery draw solutions from somebody who thinks a large wheel connected to bevel gears is a reasonable way of selecting ahead/neutral/astern.

 

For proper reliable crumb / knife / cutlery draw solutions I feel we need input from someone who favours a push pull gear change!

 

[madcat]

crumbs. ?

Edited December 11, 2014 by madcat

[davidg]

I've been trying to do some investigation lately to ascertain who at WFBCo did the cabin conversion and 'stretch' on my boat, i was told it was around the early 90's.

 

I started by speaking to Simon Wain at Braunston this year but he told me it wasn't him or Rex. He said it was most likely to have been Dave Linney. I've recently spoke to Dave and he's told me that it wasn't him either buy that around that time it was most likely to have been Ken Freeman or Graham Pearce. I don't know if they would have done fit outs or just steelwork, but they are 2 names i have been given in connection with WFBCo for around that time.

 

I've just pulled out an old diary and I find I worked on Albion at WFBCo from November 1992 through to March 1993. Looks like we were putting in the floor bearers & battens in November (there is a reference to "gas heater" but I'm guessing that was to keep us warm!) running through lining to "lights" at the end.

 

I would guess Liam Donnelley (Don) was also involved in the fit out. Steeelwork at that time would most likely have been Ken or Graeme if Dave is denying any knowledge of it. Ken tended to steer away from things like cabins so my money would be on Graeme.

Edited December 11, 2014 by davidg

[junior]

I've just pulled out an old diary and I find I worked on Albion at WFBCo from November 1992 through to March 1993. Looks like we were putting in the floor bearers & battens in November (there is a reference to "gas heater" but I'm guessing that was to keep us warm!) running through lining to "lights" at the end.

 

I would guess Liam Donnelley (Don) was also involved in the fit out. Steeelwork at that time would most likely have been Ken or Graeme if Dave is denying any knowledge of it. Ken tended to steer away from things like cabins so my money would be on Graeme.

I've only just seen this, thanks for the information. It's nice to find out a little more about its history andmwho did what and also gives me a date for when the conversation was done. Your post has also prompted Dave Linney to get in touch privately and tell me that he has looked through his old notes and he did work on Albion at this time, so it probably was done by him after all.

[alan_fincher]

Many of you will know that we successfully reverted to owning just two narrow boats when we sold "Chalice" earlier this year.

 

However, although we have owned "Flamingo" since late last year, it has taken until now for us to actually get our two boats "Sickle" and "Flamingo" together.

 

So I took the opportunity of some pictures. Both are 1936 boats built for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company by W J Yarwood and Sons of Northwich. However "Sickle" is a "Middle Northwich" "Star Class" boat, whereas "Flamingo" is a "Large Northwich" "Town Class" boat, ("Flamingo" was originally named "Letchworth" only becoming "Flamingo" in 1962 when purchased by Willow Wren).

 

Apart from the obvious 31' 6" removed from "Sickle" in 1942, when she was converted to an ice-breaker, these pictures give some idea of the detailed differences between the two types.

Also in some of the images is "Purton" yet another 1936 Yarwoods built boat, but in this case a "Town" that has been shortened to about 60 feet.

 

 

 

 

[madcat]

Enough Yarwoods for a revolution.