A Short History of the Richardson Family and the Norfolk Broads

by kind permission of the Richardson Family and Russell Batchelor (General Manager, 1967-1993).

The first boatyard owned by the Richardson family was the Old Mill House boatyard in Commodore Road, Oulton Broad, this was just before the second World War, where they let out row boats, sailing boats and motor launches.

After the 1939-45 war was over, they resumed the letting of rowing and sailing boats (no petrol was allowed for motor boats), from Oulton Broad, evenings and week-ends when Mr Richardson was not required to work on Naval vessels.

Their first motor cruiser, was built by Landermoors (sic), originally called "Wanda" and renamed at some time to "MacNab", was bought in 1943 from Wally Hoseason, the father of the current head of Hoseasons Boating Agency.

The first motor cruiser built by Mr Bob Richardson, was "Just Jane" which was laid down in 1948 and let in 1949. This was quickly followed by "Wayfarer", "Care Free" and "Fancy Jane". Then the Mermaid Class, Tranquil Class, Crusader Class, Voyager Class, Minstrel Class, Merlin Class, Osprey and Serenade.

By 1957, the hire fleet had outgrown the Oulton Broad Boatyard, and therefore Mr Bob Richardson Jnr, who had taken over running of the business, started looking for larger premises on the Northern Broads.

The land where the present boatyard is situated came up for auction in 1957 and Mr Richardson made a successful bid and moved the business, together with the fleet of hire boats, to Stalham during the winter of 1957/58 and started hiring cruisers from Stalham in 1958.

Not only did Mr Richardson build the largest fleet of cruisers, he also built the Stalham boatyard with his own labour, digging out all the mooring basins, all the piling and catwalks, and all the buildings for the workshops and offices. Three of the sheds are the largest boat sheds in Norfolk, two of which were ex-aircraft hangers known at T2's. which were used during the 1939/45 war to house Lancaster Bombers. The other large shed was an American wartime building known as a Butler Building. These three buildings cover approximately 3 acres and can accommodate up to 150 cruisers at any one time.

To expand their letting base, the acquired Horizon Craft of Acle (46 craft) and in 1986 purchased the Horning boatyard, which started as Caribbean Cruisers, later named Blue Line and rename by Richardsons to Horning Pleasurecraft (105 craft) Next came three boatyards on the Thames, Benson, Oxfordshire (54 craft); Wallingford, Oxfordshire (39 craft); an Thames Ditton (37 craft). In 1992 they purchased Hearts Cruisers of Thorpe, Norwich from which they operate 66 craft.

The total fleet of Richardsons is now over 650 boats, plus day launches, rowing and sailing dinghies.

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