Messing About On The River

When I was a little girl my Dad made river craft, beautiful timber hulled boats that were his pride and joy. He had his own business with my Grandpa and my Uncle and he worked long hours at a skill he had a passion for, wood, creating things, perfection.

Later on the hulls were made from fibre glass and by the time I was in my teens he had all but stopped making the boats and merged into other glass fibre products and manufacturing.

I have happy memories of accompanying my Uncle, along with my brother and cousins, while he delivered the boats taking the route along the various local canal networks to meet their new owners. We helped open the locks and tied the boats the the moring posts for picnic lunches. We scrabbled about on deck without life jackets and harnesses (and we all survived!) and once safely at our destination we were packed into the old Bedford van that my Dad had driven to its arrival point and driven home.

My brother has recently joined a boat-lovers forum and has discovered that there amazingly are still a few of the timber hulled boats in existence, something my Dad is rather thrilled and astounded at, these boats are now around 40-50 years old!


The picture above is one of them, not quite as sleek and pristine as I remember them but still brought back many memories of simpler, childhood times.