Boating in 1965.

[oldgit]

Due to the splendid bank hol weather and while listening to the rain beat against the window and wind howling round the roof started to rummage through my draws to find an old brouchure proclaiming the delights of boating as seen by the Inland waterways Association,price 3/6d.
To get into the upper Medway from the tidal bits will cost you 2/9d each way.
The cover shows East Farleigh Lock on a splendid summer day (everyday was splendid) with a hire cruiser peacefully chugging along.

On the inside of the cover is an advert about hiring a boat on the river and for the wealthy an opportunity to buy one,no mention of prices.

However, inside are listed the cost of a 7 daylock pass £2.0.0 and 14 day £3.0.0
There is a multitude of small businesses advertising their wares, engineers.cafes.petrol.calor gas etc, virtually certain not one of which is in existance today including the boat hire outfit which went years ago.
Also mentioned the fact that the manned locks are open between 8am and one hour before sunset unless by special arrangement.Tovil boat yard is now under a block of riverside flats with a nice view.
Ps all distances are helpfully listed in furlongs and the locations and distances of those vital public telephones are published,they all worked then and did not smell of wee.

 

[Elessar]

Excellent. I notice the grand metropolis of maidstone has a hard to remember 5 digits in its phone numbers, east peckham a far more civilised 3.

 

[teddington_lock]

Bet it's fierce getting in that lock when the weir is running !

 

[tinkicker0]

How positively quaint; where did you dig that up from? The only publication I was interested in then was the front of a farley's rusks box.

I see the invicta has a chemical toilet. Wonder if it was a war surplus Elsan out of an Hampden bomber? I note it is a craft that the whole family will love and a home for the weekend. LOA 17' 7" and covered upholstery

Weekend home for a family of five, chemical bog, chintz upholstery and nav lights.

Nice.

Glad it does not have a price, it would probably be the 50 pounds, 36S 6/3 /8ths, tuppenny D hieroglyphics that I can't make head nor tail of.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Wonderful stuff. I recall a boathouse in Tonbridge that did a vast range of rowing boat types (or so it semed to my young eyes), houseboats in the pool above the wier at the Town Lock and a proper boatyard upstream of the Big Bridge. All gone now of course.

 

[bulto]

My memory of 1965 is my Father taking his boat,Rocinante, to the first Dunkirk reunion.
I have been a few times since but it never seems the same.

 

[byron]

My memory of 1965 is my Father taking his boat,Rocinante, to the first Dunkirk reunion.
I have been a few times since but it never seems the same.

I have to agree, I have attended many if not all of them and the first one is the one that really sticks in my mind although all were excellent.

 

[ianc1200]

There were two previous Dunkirk reunions before the ADLS organised their first in 1965, the other two times being (about) 1947 and (about) 1956. I can dig out the Motor Boat & Yachting articles which covered both events if needed.

What happened to Rocinante? It's mentioned in the index of names in the Dunkirk book, but I can't find anything else.

IanC

 

[bulto]

Further to the above.the 1965 crossing was organised through the Sunday Times, the ADLS was formed later that year.
Rocinante was owned by my Father from late in the war until his death in 1966.
She was kept on a mooring at St Margarets, originally between the rail and road bridges and susequently just above the steps of the old Jones ferry between the road and lock bridge.
She was a converted ships boat from the Armadale Castle and converted by Toughs.
Her construction was a teak hull and pine and oak upper. Power was 2 Austin Seven engines which were replaced by a pair of Ford Eights driving the Ford gearboxes.
After my fathers death she was sold to a gentleman who lived at Langley Vale and she was moved to Shepperton,where the sailing club is now, and was eventually broken up there.
The bronze plaque from Dunkirk my Mother kept and now hangs proudly in my hallway.