Broads meet 2016 22nd - 24th July

That's great Derek, will you publish a list of attendees with boat model, or could you send me one please?

It was indeed a great event. Many thanks to Derek for pulling it all off, it all went smoothly, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and had a good natter....even Debs left with a smile on her face after suffering a few boat issues...it wasn't me by the way, I had nothing to do with it this time

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]" />On our way[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]" />Leaving this morning a cruise past the boats.

great to meet new people had a good time with a few drinks ....thanks Derek it was good of you to organise it all.

Great show!!!!  Amazing folks.

Enjoy the photos....  linked from https://www.flickr.com/photos/54758027@N00/albums/72157671489991165

There are too many to post them all here.  If there are any you particularly like, e.g. its your boat, email me the photo number and you can have a copy of the original digital file.


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Bloody marvellous deano. Thanks  

also all the other pictures being posted, I was busy most of the time, so never got to take any good ones, but with these its reliving it again!

Looks absolutely marvellous wish i could  have been a part of it but unfortunately boat in dry dock  being repaired maybe next year so pleased you all had a great time great stuff

I'm rather saddened to say that any future meets will have to be cash up front to reserve moorings.

Nice photos will try and join you next year but clashed with holiday this year. Gutted cannot make Thames meet either.

The free draw for two Freeman caps and two Freeman pin badges supplied by Sheridans were won by:

Chris, F26 Tia Maria
Katie,  F23 Anne
Steve, F22 Chickadee
Lynda, F23 Rainbow Wish

Congratulations to all ⚓⚓

Mooring fees !
I have relooked at my figures in the light of the Facebook postings kindly offering to chip in on the shortfall.
Also I seemed sure and was worried an error had crept in somewhere.

I am pleased to say that the shortfall is only £2 on the whole situation.

I had wrongly added the money received on the day from non booked places to the original amount I had previously send to Salhouse to get to a figure owed. I had forgotten to deduct the no shows from the total.
This was further complicated with  cash collected on the sale of some Freeman items getting in on the act !
The total collected for moorings including PayPal payments was £250.
The amount sent to Salhouse originally was £232, with the extras and the minus's this should now be £252. I will send Salhouse the £20 owing and propose any further funds recovered (if any) are donated to the RNLI.
I trust this closes any future discussion on the subject and hope the non payers will be happy now to contribute to this good cause. I do not intent to post the results of this offer, enough has been said already.
The only downside is future meetings requiring payment for moorings will be advance payment only. Having said this, it has not put me off offering my services if wanted to help organise future Broads meetings
Contrary to what you may think, I enjoyed every minute

Enjoyed the photo's Dean, well done.  Looks to have been a good 'do'.

Finally life allows me time to get on the forum,albeit from sunny Plymouth with a dose of hotel living, trust me it wears a bit thin after a while. Now though I can add my thanks to those already recorded.

Fisrtly to Derek for quietyly and modestly going about organising the biggest gathering of Freemans in many years. what an achievement. Well done and thank you Derek.

To Tony Anderson of Tony Tugboats fame who gave up his time to ensure Firdays Child attended and was so helpful with advice and tips, and profesional with the loading unloading at each end. A brilliant servive and we are so lucky to have him being a Freeman adict.

To Pat (Pending) Warner (for it is he who is "admin") who works untill stupid o,clock keeping this forum up and running without the need of membership fees, upgrades or other hassles. whithout him setting up this site there would be no Broadsmeet, Thamesmeet or a decent forum.

To those who attended thanks for helping give me such a great time both at the meet and subsequently when we met up in the following week on the broads.

Its my intention to attend next years meet should there be one and stay for 2 weeks plus two other Freeman owners from my neck of the Thames are seriously considering attending by boat (sorry Tony).

Looking forward to seeing many off you again soon on the Thames meet. There wont be so many boats unfortunately. But the attendees will be just as friendly.

A brilliant event.

F23 flittermouse wrote:The free draw for two Freeman caps and two Freeman pin badges supplied by Sheridans were won by:

Chris, F26 Tia Maria
Katie,  F23 Anne
Steve, F22 Chickadee
Lynda, F23 Rainbow Wish

Congratulations to all

Katie was thrilled....it will be making numerous appearances on the upper Thames over the next couple of weeks 

The real upper Thames that is, not anywhere as far downstream as Sonning where the Upper Thames Motor Yacht Club reside 

ken cattell wrote:
To Pat (Pending) Warner (for it is he who is "admin") who works untill stupid o,clock keeping this forum up and running without the need of membership fees, upgrades or other hassles. whithout him setting up this site there would be no Broadsmeet, Thamesmeet or a decent forum.

Its my intention to attend next years meet should there be one and stay for 2 weeks plus two other Freeman owners from my neck of the Thames are seriously considering attending by boat (sorry Tony)

I've said it before and if nobody minds I'll say it again.....
I didn't want to run another forum, but was talked into it, you all make it easy and a pleasure, I'm not going to claim it's difficult or takes up vast amounts of my time, it isn't and it doesn't. I thouroughly enjoy being here with such a great bunch of people. 

We're intending to be at the Broads meet again next year, and spend longer, so that'll be at least 4 Thames boats....half the Thames meet...think on Broads mob  

As Ken said, we're also looking forwards to meeting everyone at the Thames meet later this month, I hope the weather is as good 

Many thanks Ken for the kind words, seeing Freemanites enjoying themselves was thanks enough !

I add my thanks to Tony, first time i have met him, what a nice guy   moving Freemans is becoming a way of life and he sees all types to compare yet its a Freeman he choses.
Of course I must mention Pat /Prof who unknown to all fed me information in numerous emails back and forth until finally I did ask him if he was fed up with my constant emailing, his reply ( not just being polite I hope) was ",keep 'em coming"

Fi nally to all the lovely people that came by boat (and car) to join us , a massive Thank you !
As far as next year, (God willing !!) I hope we can do it all again , not sure about the numbers doubling each year though,we don't have the mooring room . (I dont think the Salhouse users will be pleased with a total takeover)
Dave (Simritdave) has promised he will be back from his forced sojourn in foreign places(USA) to help out, with a committee no less , so look forward to that.

Perhaps adding to my workload of the very successful Northern meet I have a little germ of an idea for an early shakedown southern meet with maybe  ten to a dozen boats at possibly  Beccles ? There are plenty of Freemans on the South side, and spreading the word is the name if the game

Roll on 2017

F23 flittermouse wrote: his reply ( not just being polite I hope) was ",keep 'em coming"

I'm a say it as I see it kind of chap

F23 Flittermouse wrote:Perhaps adding to my workload of the very successful Northern meet I have a little germ of an idea for an early shakedown southern meet with maybe  ten to a dozen boats at possibly  Beccles ? There are plenty of Freemans on the South side, and spreading the 

As for the extra meet, the more the better as far as I'm concerned, can't promise I'll get to them all, but I'll certainly try and I'm pretty sure there are others that feel the same

I loved my stop in Beccles I thought it was a smashing little town.
What are the chances of pre booking 25 (35)? harbour berths there for next year if we are getting to big for Salhouse?

Already had that idea Ken, see a couple of posts above. Not sure how many Beccles Yacht Station can take but it would give a few "Southerner's boats" a chance to join us, me included.

The wooden boat Group ( not their proper title) have a meet there on the 18- 22nd of  this month which coincides with Carnival weekend, with a max of 20 (may be their limit),



Wood boat group

http://forum.norfolkbroadsnetwork.com/topic/9190-2016-beccles-wooden-broads-cruiser-show/

It's been a while, but I reckon last time I was there, there were around 30 hire boats each side. They were all somewhat larger than your average Freeman, not sure if they'd restrict what could be booked up-front.

Would we get the freedom we get at a venue like Salhouse though  finding somewhere to eat as a group could be a challenge

From what I've seen last years wooden boat show, the grass behind the moorings used had tents , marquee's, BBQ 's, events etc all set up. If I get a chance I  may pop down and have a look ( by car) no chance of getting  moored  that weekend !
The area is on the North side, which is the opposite side to the park/kids playground.

I was thinking of making this an earlier meet so Salhouse (?) could still go ahead as usual

Oulton Broad could be worth looking at. I believe they have other club rallies on the non hire craft moorings. Could be worth a chat with the staff down there. 

One thing I would like to add from a personal aspect is, don't plan the dates too early or too late in the school holidays. I can boat round the coast for early August but cannot make late July.

Was at Beccles yesterday,  the Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club meet was taking place, not as impressive as our Salhouse do in numbers but the boats were generally in the mega bucks range. Cosyness of Salhouse was absent
Missed the Harbourmaster, he was at lunch (1-2pm..........good time to moor up and b**gger off !), was going to ask about block bookings. Will also try Oulton Broad Deano, I take it that to fit you plus boat in the late meet would be better for you in August, will bear that in mind .
The Southern jaunt was something that just came to mind for earlier in the year to try and pick up some Southerners ! The later meet at "wherever" is still TBA

F23 flittermouse wrote:The free draw for two Freeman caps and two Freeman pin badges supplied by Sheridans were won by:

Katie,  F23 Anne

Said cap has had numerous outings this week

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So pleased that Katie was a recipient of one of the Freeman (Sheridan supplied)  caps, it suits her a treat, and lovely that its getting aired in some pretty obscure waters !

It may well visit Moulsford this week