Wayne Pritchett on Boating

We always sort of making dinghies and fiddling about with dinghies on the river. Of course what used to happen, if you could get away with it, the barges would often tow a dinghy with them because what used to happen was if they come up the river as far as Medham, and the tide was out at Newport, what they used to always have a dinghy with them because they would tie the motor barge on Medham buoys, and then they would row the dinghy ashore, a big wooden clinker dinghy, and catch the train which ran from Cowes to Newport because there was a stop there you see.

They’d tie this dinghy on the hedge and then the next day they’d come back down by train, get in the dinghy when the tide was up and bring the barge up to Newport. Well when the barges came up to Newport, this dinghy was often still tied alongside of them.

Well of course on a Sunday when no one was working, it was quite usual for us to go down there and get into one of these dinghies and row it around before somebody, the Watchman caught us, you know?

But further down the river, you could hire dinghies. Where those mobile homes or chalets whatever they are now down at Dodnor, that was a Caravan Park and I always remember they got a chap down there, Gordon Marsh, he used to hire dinghies out, just for a few pence but of course they were in poor condition and we used to go down there and give him, I don’t know, sixpence for this rowing boat for the afternoon and as soon as you got out in the water, it started leaking, so you had to ‘pungle’ up the hole with clay and things like that.

I’ll always remember that. Yes, certainly got out on the water quite a lot.