Silvery Ouse

A Memory of Bedford.

I was a summer season driver of these boats during my college holidays in the early 1960s. We operated four boats, Silver Foam, Silver Stream, Silver Crest and my own boat, Silver Dawn, which I believe came from the Norfolk Broads.
The mornings were spent at Fenlake cleaning and polishing to the high standards demanded by Mr Smith (`The Guvnor`). We then came up through Bedford Lock for an afternoon of trips. We mostly ran to Newnham Bridge, but occasionally ventured to Queens Park, although the river was shallow here and I once hit a submerged log by the Britannia Ironworks. Some evenings we ran private hire work and I twice drove the regatta boat (mainly supplying crates of beer to the umpires!). My fellow driver, Stan, nicknamed me 'Dexterous Ted' after the well-known cricketer, Ted Dexter, either as a compliment or a joke.