Mexborough and Swinton Times August 12, 1938
Boat Building Industry Revival at Wombwell
Where’s this? It doesn’t look like Wombwell, but it is. The photograph was taken in a corner of a backyard in Station Road, Wombwell, where boat-building is being developed as a side line to motor engineering. The proprietors are two brothers, Messrs. Claude and Eric Smith, and they hope to make it pay.
They believe that boat building is coming into its own again and when the revival lands they want to be in on the first floor as it were.
The brothers are natives of Hull, and therefore know something of a water craft; they are also motor engineers, and therefore know something of engine construction.
Mr. Eric Smith told a “Times” ‘reporter this week, “Boating in all forms is becoming exceedingly popular as a sport. There is some of the nicest cruising water in England within thirty miles of Wombwell.”
He mentioned the facilities available on the River Ouse in the region of Drax, and said that several Wombwell enthusiasts had enquired after boats in that neighbourhood. That is where they propose to take the boats they are making.
At the moment the brothers are fitting inboard motors, which they have taken out of old motor cars. They say that boating is the answer to the problem as to what to do with old car engines.
Mr. Claude Smith said there was not a boat builder in the country who was not advertising for men. It is a very highly skilled job, of course, but even a novice can find interest in it. He said it was not essential that a boat builder’s yard should be near water. All boats are built to scale, and it is an easy matter to transport them by road.
The brothers are partners in a pleasure boat known as the “Golden Hope II.” At present moored at Scarborough and they also have a sailing yacht at Wintersett, near Wakefield, which is the headquarters of the West Riding Sailing Club. Nearly all their week-ends are spent on the Scarborough craft. Most boys are interested in boats and their chief difficulty is to keep them off.