Norfolk Broads Yacht Club Ltd

In the 1930s more and more people were discovering the joys of the Norfolk Broads. On the river, half a dozen Cruisers or Yare and Bure One Designs jockeying for position before a start could form a veritable barrage to river traffic. However, in 1937, word got round that there was a chance of obtaining a lease of Wroxham Broad so during Wroxham Regatta Week a meeting was held on the old houseboat, it was decided to explore the matter further and sound out the views of the local sailing clubs. The Yare and Bure Sailing Club, formed in 1907, decided unanimously in favour of amalgamation, and the Norfolk Dinghy Club supported the scheme. Support was also forthcoming from the Great Yarmouth Yacht Club. This club, founded in 1883, had raised subscriptions in 1897 for the prestigious Diamond Jubilee 150 Guineas Gold Challenge Cup, now raced for by Mixed One Designs sailed by NBYC members only at the end of Wroxham Week. The success of the new scheme was now assured and approved on October 27th, 1937. Work began on transforming the site at Wroxham Broad – land was drained and a cinder track constructed, trees were thinned out to make a car park, a jetty was constructed to give access to the club houseboat and a starter’s box erected on piling next to the jetty. The social and business life of the club was carried out at first in the old club houseboat (formerly the property of the Yare and Bure Sailing Club) but by the end of the 1938 season, membership stood at nearly 600, and a tea pavilion was built with provision for a glass front when funds permitted. Racing was held three days a week all through the war. The course was made more challenging in that old wherries and houseboats were moored at intervals across the water to prevent enemy seaplanes landing. (Wroxham Broad, being privately owned, was exempt from a security ban on boating on the Broads). The clubhouse remained a social centre throughout the war and afternoon tea, complete with cucumber sandwiches, was elegantly served on tables covered with snowy white linen tablecloths on Sunday afternoons.