A Look back at the Norfolk Broads in 1959

This was my very first Holiday back in 1959, although i dont remember much about it as i was only 4 months old !! I have however revisited the broads many times since and hired a variety of cruisers from many locations in this area so im certainly no stranger when it comes to this sort of a Holiday. Here we have a film which was shot on a very early Bell and Howell standard 8mm sportster clockwork cine camera, it was using a very early Kodak 8mm film stock which was very grainy. The sounds are all taken from broadland itself. I hope the film will give to those interested an overview of what the Norfolk Broads was like back in that day.
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[@josephinebennington7247]

No plastic blobs, barely any boats, just lovely wooden works of art.

[@philgray1023]

Shame about their toilets flushing directly into the Broads though.

[@andrewbragger2679]

I saw a freeman!

[@daviddogsbody]

Step back in time to a different age.

[@johnbrownbridge873]

They didn't seem too concerned with speed limits back then.

[@kenthomson9562]

Bank erosion hadn’t yet become apparent.

[@georgeradcliffe7511]

My thoughts too... You could have waterskied behind some of em lol

[@chrissmith1443]

Nor lifejackets !

[@philipward3868]

Simply wonderful, enchanting .

[@kreepykraut8153]

Thanks very much indeed for sharing. I thoroughly enjoyed the peek into the past, long before I was even planned 😉

[@dartskipper3170]

I grew up reading Ransome's books based on the Broads, and another story about a Scout Troop discovering a smuggling operation on Breydon Water. ( A Camp Under Sail.) I visited the Broads in later years and enjoyed a holiday in Horning. It's wonderful to see this old film of how we spent our holidays in years gone by. How our Country has changed, and how the Broads have largely remained unspoilt, is quite amazing. Thanks for posting this. I expect I shall watch it again and again!

[@trevorspottiswood985]

The memory of those majestic, now classic boats, lingers on. Wonderful.

[@lilylaw1517]

What a glorious video, it makes the heart sing to see all those classic wooden boats. My parents and I had two holidays a year on the broads in the 70s and well into the 80s always on the beautiful old Supreme from Geo Smith and Sons in Wroxham. I was so delighted to see that she's been saved and renovated to absolutely stunning condition. I was quite teary eyed seeing her again after all these years and now mum and dad are both gone.

[@howardswayable]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@johnharper4723]

So little seems to have changed since the Nofolk Arthur Ransome wrote about.

[@hev2519]

Just wanted to add my thanks for this. We used to holiday on the broads, wooden boats from Sandersons back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. This brought back so many memories, things hadn’t changed much in that time compared to now.

[@howardswayable]

Thankyou, it's a place which iv always wanted to be. Please check out my other films on here including the latest one, The nightmare and the dream.

[@moffatt43]

Me and my father holidayed for two consecutive years,Gemini 1 and Gemini 2 out of the Marina in Potter Heigham. Gemini 1 still had the Gas Mantles for lights and a Gas Fridge,you woke up in the morning with the smell of a bit damp but the wonderful smell of Wood,Varnish and Petrol. Gemini 2 was a bit more modern but she still had that Smell and touch of Wood all around. Always remember my Father saying it was the best sleep he had ever had in his entire lifetime,gently being rocked to sleep with the sounds of the Boat settling and the gentle slap of the Water against the Hull. We went in May ( cheaper ) but had wonderful weather both times,a bit of a drizzle day and foggy another day but it added to the holiday rather than subtracting,being moored up in the Fog was literally like you were completely on your own,suspended or floating in the Fog and Mist and the Sounds of Birds etc was magnified but you couldn’t work out where from,we even had a Swan knocked itself out as it swam into the Boat it was that Foggy, Dad rescued it with the Boat Hook but it wasn’t very happy with us when it woke up in the back of the Boat ! We had to vacate into the cabin and eventually it got out of the Canopy. We smuggled a old Jerrycan full of petrol aboard at the start of the hire because Dad was adamant that he wouldn’t pay Marinas fuel costs, so we would keep the tank topped off and we would find a petrol station on land. The bloke in the Marina at the end of Hire couldn’t understand how come we had a FULL fuel tank and he used his wooden dippy stick a few times !. Dad was extremely chuffed at saving so much money lol 😂. Sadly we could never afford the cost of the Hire again ( even in May ) but what memories 😊. I have a family of my own now and sadly my Dad has passed away but I often think if we had the money ( 4 boys and myself and my GF ) so we would need the biggest boat ,I would Love to be able to take them all or even if it was just me and my GF ( even those funds are sadly out of reach these days ) but if we ever Win the Lottery then the Broads would be the First port of call for a Holiday. I would Love to be able to Live in Norfolk but sadly another Dream.

[@richardsutcliffe8036]

A beautiful film of my country and county.....Modelling at 6:26, a woolly hat, sunglasses, jacket and tie.......Exactly how every great captain should be dressed. Marvellous.

[@howardswayable]

Thankyou glad you enjoyed it.

[@raymondwhittle9096]

Absolutely brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

[@anthonysteel3232]

Beautiful time .Why is it modern times the roads and streets in UK smells of wee most

[@DeannaAllison]

Well, that was lovely, thank you! I also liked the background music and I would love to know what it is.

[@philgray1023]

Try "Phillip's Dog and the Whoots", very hard to find though.

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

That is absolutely fantastic. Thank you for sharing. With our sounding silly. It’s the only form it time travel we have. Thank you.

[@philgray1023]

We were in Roys only a few years ago in Wroxham. It is the way shopping was in the 1960s. Just wonderful.

[@howardswayable]

Thankyou, I think Roy's will always be wroxham

[@MadMickey58]

What a lovely film and nicely edited. Thank you for sharing 🙂

[@howardswayable]

Thankyou so much

[@susanhill8332]

This brings back many great memories. Remember very well the first time on the Broads in the 60s. The boat was called "Lolita" and I am sure it was hired from Jack Nichols at Great Yarmouth. Great video.

[@howardswayable]

Thankyou very much for your kind words, the broads was always and always will be a very special place for me.

[@davidbarry4227]

Wonderful

[@meichong8278]

It's amazing to think many canals were being abandoned at this time and key land and infrastructure sold off when its evident what future use they could have .Still through the hard work of trusts and volunteers many are now being restored .

[@janechanning984]

And sadly as charities they are accepting supposedly enormous donations from folk who take it they therefore have the greater say in how the money is spent. The CRT recently stated that the millions paid in by boaters for licences and moorings etc is only 10% of the total money spent toward the upkeep of the network, whilst the rest was donated. They have taken to banning certain boaters completely from the waterways. Those certain boaters are the single most defenseless water users, yet the most colourful and characterful boaters. Those new rules are being renewed constantly, for no apparent reason. (All the so called reasons for closing public access throughout our land is devised by the devisive ones to make up the reason for no vote laws being invented to keep more and more boaters from water.) Beware, the so called donors and volunteer management. My local councillors are living in some of the top properties in London, yet about 12yrs ago the Mayor was accepting housing benefit to pay his rent, which he did not pay the landlord!

[@davesmith60]

@@janechanning984 who are the boaters they are keeping off the network? Are they the ones who'd like to make up the 90%?

[@G1NZOU]

Just last week I got to cruise around on the former B777 Delight VII pictured in the thumbnail, now named Water Rail.

[@PeterPan-wh1sg]

A beautiful place in kinder, happier times. I was born in Lowestoft and grew up in Oulton Broad. This makes me so homesick.

[@Susan-c1q]

Absolutely agree with you. Lived in Oulton Broad myself for 15 years (Near Flying Dutchman pub) Likewise makes me miss it very much.

[@heraldeventsandfilms5970]

Every hire boat came with a harpist and whistle player.

[@Dan23_7]

My folks have an old photo album of the broads when they went mid 70’s (before I was about) They said the Jack Russell (patch) continually jumped off the boat but then my dad had to swim in after her because she’d go in the opposite direction of their cruise boat 😂😂…… The little sh!!! 😂

[@Helliconia54]

thank you for posting this gem.

[@anthonysteel3232]

Beautiful time .Why is it modern times the roads and streets in UK smells of wee most

[@dartskipper3170]

And covered in chewing gum and graffiti.

[@alandavies3727]

How I wish I was back in those days. Lovely video. I’ll be there in September 23. Staying at Little Haven at Potter Heigham not far from that bridge.

[@davidklyne5134]

Went a few times in the sixties and seventies. Used to love the arrival of the Blakes catalogue each year. Liked to have a mooch around the boatyards to see what the next seasons boats were being built.

[@howardswayable]

That's exactly what I enjoyed the most, waiting for next blakes and hoeseasons catalogues to be posted to me 😁😁

[@heraldeventsandfilms5970]

The Compass Maid for me and my pals, 1980.

[@mikesmith2]

Great movie. It's still much the same, except the boats are bigger, more white or blue plastic, and people seem much younger somehow. I hope the Broads stays as charming and unhurried as this!

[@rogersmith8339]

Must have been a warm summer with all those bare legs around!

[@kevinpotts9583]

nice to see Roy's still going

[@stevebruce6344]

Thank you. Only just come across this. Lovely to see the Broads in times gone by.

[@howardswayable]

Thankyou.

[@juliancripps1580]

Great

[@fabmanly1070]

Wow, beautiful, I’d give anything to live around there.

[@ClintonBaptiste.Clairevoyant]

Nice video. Even though there's been changes the locations are still instantly recognisable. The days when virtually every boat towed a dinghy behind it and around 5 pm when the boats had moored up there was the sound of 2 stroke Sea Bee motors everywhere as people took to their dinghys. Back then raw sewage was pumped from the boats into the river and believed to be the cause of many cases of Typhoid.

[@howardswayable]

Thankyou glad you enjoyed the film

[@fabmanly1070]

Wow, I was just about to say, it looks clean.