Thorpe St Andrew, River Yare 1919

Hearts Cruisers

This boatyard belonged to my grandfather, Geoffrey John Hart (the gentleman standing at the back of the picture) and the young man in the front of the picture is Jack Ayton Hart, his son. The other son also worked there and his name was Dick. As children my mother, Yvonne, and my brother and myself all played here and learned to swim here too. The boatyard stayed Hearts Cruisers for many years after my grandfather sold it.

Early Years

Too much to say, so in brief: lived on Wolfe Road, played on Mousehold, fireworks night great and sledged on cardboard in the summer and sledge in the snow; watched the soldiers in Brittania Barracks and them lowering the flag just outside the main gates in a railed enclosure long gone; horses at Nelson Barracks at the bottom of Ketts Hill; collected old newspapers which I stacked on old pram wheels which I took to Warmingers by the river to get pocket money; stood on Carrow railway bridge to watch the steam trains, and Derek Warman's father was a signalman so sometimes we went to the signal box, that box has now gone; was photographed by the EDP with Dennis Mathews; watching the old knife sharpener on Brittania Road - still have the photo; used to swim in the rivers around Norwich, no Health & Safety then, we had to use our own common sense; the Heartsease was an open field, saw the first house and at the end of Valley Rise there was a wood yard, now bungalows; stood on Whitlingham station footbridge while the steam train went under and got told off for getting dirty; used to help or hinder at Tookes Roses at Brundall; on Ketts Hill there was a milk depot and they had a horse and cart, I helped there; in winter the buses had a job on Ketts Hill; Gas Hill I have cycled up a few times and in winter sledged down it, past the gas works; waited for mother outside Reads flour mills where she worked as a typist then walked home by Riverside Road; I believe it was Hector Read who used to let me into the wooden office by the road when it was wet, he was a great man. We lived at 14 Wolfe Road, 2 doors away was Mrs Fiddy who had a small shop in the front room, now gone, next to us were the Aldens and Mrs Miller.
On the corner of Brittania Road lived the Scotts.