Ian cnat remember exactly when the rowing boats dissapeared think it was in the early 8os , the guys who owned the boats where real characters , there was Low Kelly who lived close to us & always wore a trilby a very cheery guy always smiling & then Yankee Shimmin who had the boats for years , Yankee is still alive i think .
The rowing boats used to be left accross the road from our house in Circular Rd on the corner of Hillside Avenue which was a bit of wasteland .
Can remember the boats getting towed out of the harbour every morning around to the beach .
Think the demise of the boats was the same as the demise of the deck chairs basically due to lack of tourists unfortunately .
Having been brought up in a boarding house & then a hotel i feel very lucky to have grown up in the 70s when there was absolutely loads to do here , loads of tourists & seemingly hot summers all the time .
And of course the TT races & MGP the highlight of my summer would be when i was growing up waiting for the boat to come in carrying the TT gang , from our house we could see it from the top flight , then run down stairs & wait for the guys outside the house .
Happy days , my kids dont believe how busy it was here .
I remember Mr Trilby Kelly...a character if ever there was one...
It used to be a real adventure crossing that fair width of sea to the Tower of Refuge where we could go up the tower years back.
I have some super pics of one of my friends who stepped out of the boat when it beached itself on the Refuge but he found the only bit of deep water on the wrong side of the boat!
Fully clothed he went down into the sea/weed and came up spurting seawater.
Very dignified he climbed back into the boat, still fully clothed, but tipping seawater out of his new posh shoes with a look of total disdain on his face!!
Oh how we larfed !!! Roger was also our Guinness taster and he often disappeared before breakfast and we would eventually find him in the Castle Mona having....Breakfast...a pint of Guinness..with cornflakes !!
Parts of the deckchairs eventually made their way into my hands and bum as they became a little bit old. (I still have a few bits as souvenirs, not in my bum I might add.
Any of you who watch "No Limit" when George sings "In me Little Wigan Garden" will see how it all was even up to the late 60s..