Mabel and Forget me Not

[Mike Nicoll]

52 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Mabel was originally owned and run by John and Mary Wilson nee Humphries.
Mabel was later sold to Michael Rogers who ran her as a working boat before converting her to a hotel boat at Tooley's yard Banbury. See A Canal People page 122 Longden / Rolt.

 

There was a Forget me Not run by Rose & Jack Skinner, horse boat. I'm not sure if this is the same boat.

There is also a Forget me Knot originally owned by Henry Grantham which became Golden Boy and the rebuilt Sunny Valley in the film Painted boats.

 The forget me not that is shown in one of your pictures with a motor stern is now with the wooden boat trust near Manchester. not the same one.

Had a quick look on face book a lot of information on these boats there.

A quick quote has Mabel being built in 1929 and forget me not as 1928 they worked as hotel boats from 1957 - 1987,

it also mentions forget me not as being owned by Samuel Barlow coal co.

[Captain Pegg]

I believe Forget Me Not was built by Sephton’s in 1928 for John George Grantham.

 

According to Narrow Boat magazine It was acquired by Samuel Barlow Coal Co Ltd in 1940 from a Joseph Grantham. John George Grantham had a son of that name so assuming both of the above pieces of information are correct that’s likely to be the connection.

 

There were multiple boats in the Grantham family called Forget Me Not.

 

Forget Me Not is of course the butty of the hotel boat pair and is the one on the outside with the hold full of weeds in the above picture. Its cabin was removed (or perhaps disintegrated) many years ago now.
 

Mabel still has an extant cabin.

[Pluto]

They were operated by Peter Froud for many years. I think the first photo is mid to late 1960s. The second is 1972 when I worked on Mabel in Dutton Dock with Tim Leech.