Category: News

Santa’s Pixies have been working hard baking mince pies and preparing the Vintage Broadsman for our sold out Santa Cruises, which start this Saturday.

The pixies have worked their magic transforming our paddle steamer – the Vintage Broadsman – into Santa’s Grotto as well as wrapping up hundreds presents.

You can join our Facebook Competition to guess exactly how many presents were wrapped by Clicking Here

Even more excitingly we managed to take this picture of Santa  when he found a few minutes in his busy schedule to drop by for a final inspection of the Vintage Broadsman – passing the pixies with flying colours!

With Santa’s approval the ever-popular Santa Cruises, which have delighted children for generations, can now start this Sunday.

The one-hour return cruises to Wroxham Broad depart from the Vintage Broadsman’s special Christmas moorings close to Wroxham Bridge, where there is a lovely view of the boat lit up with Christmas lights at night.

During the cruise the Pixies will serve festive cookie and soft drinks to the children and mince pies and mulled wine to the grown-ups.  We’ll sing Christmas songs and there’ll be a festive quiz plus a Christmas colouring and drawing competition.

The real excitement will start when we reach Wroxham Broad where Santa has told us that he will have just enough room to land his sleigh on the roof of the Vintage Broadsman!  Better still Santa will hand an extra special gift to every child (aged 1-15)!

With a busy schedule of SOLD OUT trips running up to three times per day up to Christmas Eve we are really excited about sharing the festive fun with hundreds of children and their families!

There’s also something for grown-ups to enjoy, with availability remaining on our popular Norfolk Broads festive cruises.

We’re always excited to share previous Santa Cruise experiences, so be sure to post your images and stories with #santacruisememories so that our team get to see them!

For more information call 01603 782207.

Party goers have had the time of their life aboard Broads Tours’ Boogie on the Broads disco cruises this summer.  As a thank you to all who have made the evenings so successful Compact Disco and Broads Tours have made charitable donations to Alzheimer’s Research UK and local hospice Priscilla Bacon Lodge.

Discussing the legendary music cruises, which have been held for many years throughout July and August, Broads Tours’ Barbara Greasley said: “Hundreds of people have had a wonderful time dancing on our disco music cruises this summer with other holiday makers waving and joining in the dancing from the moored cruisers and waterside cottages.”

The events DJ’s Mike and Ben Goulder, from Compact Disco, wanted to share this good vibe by donating money to charity and Broads Tours were delighted to match fund them.  Two hundred pounds have been donated to Alzheimer’s Research UK with a further £200 being donated to local hospice, Priscilla Bacon Lodge.

Barbara added “Donating to these two charities that are both very dear to all of our hearts, seemed like the right thing to do after such a successful and fun filled season of Boogie on the Broads cruises”.

The final word on the Boogie Season must go to trip advisor reviewer, tcauUKVulcan, from Mundesley who, like dozens of other avid Boogiers, left us a lovely review writing:
“Had an amazing evening trip from Wroxham on the boogie night boat. We were a group of mostly 60-80 year old teenagers and all had a great time. The crew were super and the excellent DJ made sure the music was right for us. Couldn’t believe how the people on the boats we passed waved and joined in with the dancing! Weather was just right. Overall a magical evening.”

International bestselling author Erica James has just released her 22^nd book – Swallowtail Summer – and its set right here on the Broads!

The Romantic Novel of the Year award winner, who has sold more than five-million books and had her writing translated into 13 languages chose to set her book on the Broads after a recent holiday to our National Park staying in a riverside cottage.

Swallowtail Summer is set on the Broads in a fictional village called Linston End, which draws more than a little inspiration from the Horning area.  Three families spend every year together in a holiday cottage in the village and it feels as if nothing will ever change. Then widower Alastair threatens to do just that, by telling his friends about decisions he’s made that are bound to shock them and send ripples through the still waters.

Erica isn’t the only author inspired by a love of the Broads.  One of our very own former Broads Tours trip boat skippers, Chris Crowther, has released a series of murder mystery books set on our National Park featuring Broads Ranger Jack Fellows as the sleuth.

Last year Chris, who lives on a riverside house in Hoveton, released his first children’s book – Timecruiser.  This follows the adventures of three 13-year-olds who are transported back in time during a holiday on the Broads and have to voyage through history as they struggle to return to their own time.

You don’t have to be an author to be inspired by the Broads – why not see it for yourself on a boat trip with us!

Just to give you a brief update, our three trainee skippers have been busy during the last couple of weeks with continued training, including fire safety training.

The firefighting course took place in Felixstowe and involved training with a variety of firefighting equipment, in mock set-ups to replicate different fire incidents.

We are very pleased to advise that David, Roy and Andrew successfully completed the course and are now qualified in basic firefighting.  The guys all agreed the fire training was very informative and an important part of the course, in order to ensure passenger safety.

Patrick reported that he is very happy with how the training is progressing and David, Roy and Andrew, under Patrick’s supervision, each took the helm of one of our passenger trip boats, Belle of the Broads, during the school half term week.

We will update you again in another couple of weeks.

Currently completing three months of intensive training are Broads Tours trainee skippers David, Roy and Andrew who are busy working towards achieving their MCA Boatmasters’ Licence.

The qualification will mean that they can take command of Broads Tours trip boats unaccompanied and is the culmination of many hours of practical and theory training, together with individual courses in Personal Survival, Fire Fighting and First Aid.

Patrick, one of our most knowledgeable skippers, has over 17 years of experience in conducting the skipper training and, following almost 90 hours of lessons and accompanied driving experience for each candidate, has achieved a 100% pass rate for all those he has put forward to undertake the exam, which is conducted by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Catching up with the David, Roy and Andrew during training aboard one of our passenger trip boats, Belle of the Broads, they were all very enthusiastic and really enjoying their training and made the following comments:

David – “I also work for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, taking up to 12 passengers on boat trips around Ranworth and Hickling Broads.  I’m looking forward to seeing a different aspect and sharing my knowledge of the Norfolk Broads and local wildlife with customers.  I’m really enjoying my training on a much larger boat than I am used to and am very excited to be skippering with Broads Tours”.

Roy – “I am a retired police officer and will be working part time.  I have a life long passion for the Norfolk Broads and am a very keen fisherman, having enjoyed many hours of fishing on the Broads.  I am a family man and have three children and three grandchildren.  I am loving the job so far and am very much looking forward to working on the Broads”.

Andrew – “I was in the Merchant Navy and have undertaken wide and varied sailings in many areas and have previously held a Boatmasters’ Licence. I can’t wait to get back on the water.  I have been holidaying on the Broads for 14 years and moved to Norfolk to enjoy this beautiful county two years ago. I am very much looking forward to meeting all the customers joining our river trips”.

We at Broads Tours are very much looking forward to welcoming David, Roy and Andrew to our team.