John Luff and John Woodford on Fishing

Lisa: Do you remember any of those fishermen from your childhood? What were their names?

John L: Well nearly all family ones. There was brothers Caws, there was Mursells at Point, they all sort of spread round. There was Caldish who taught me … that’s the bloke who taught me and he was 90 when he taught me and then he started coming out in the boat with me and that was me when I was younger. There was the Caws’s …

John W: Caws’s were at Under Tyne …

John L: Caws’s were at Under Tyne …

John W: Russells’ were at Point. There was at Lane End we had Attrills’ …

John L: Bert Baker at the time …

John W: George Smith …

John L: George Smith at Lane End and then Holbrooks’ at Thornton’s …

Lisa And were they catching different types of fish? Did they have different types of boats?

John L: They were only small boats, it was mainly prawns, crab and lobster. They didn’t go very far but nearly all of them had … some of them would go as far as the Nab Tower and that’s only about five mile. They didn’t need as many pots as they got now because the shell fish was quite plentiful then and three of the ones that I’ve mentioned had Tea Gardens and that’s how they used to make a bit more for their money. Also, they used to send some of it to Billingsgate because they used to take it down to Bembridge Station, put it on the train and off it went. A firm called Baxters, that’s still going in Billingsgate, they used to deal with.

John W: Mr Caws had Tea Gardens.

John L: Yeah, he had a Tea Garden.

John W: The Holbrooks’ had Tea Gardens …

John L: And Smith’s had one then. It was a way of …

John W: Supplementing your income.

ohn L You know, getting more for their fish by selling it with a cup of tea and a slice of bread, you know.

Lisa So where were the Tea Gardens? At their homes?

John L: Yeah.

John W: At the back of their homes, yes. Although the Smiths …

John L: That was down where that Blue Beach House is called it.

John W: It’s still there, the Smith’s one is still there but it’s in Hazel Cottage.

John L: Below Hazel Cottage but the Caws’s one was in their back garden. It was open air job.

John W: Yes the Holbrook one at Forelands was very popular. People from all around the Island used to come over and have prawns and cups of tea on a Sunday afternoon.