Peter Weightman
Peter belongs to: The Coble and Keelboat Society
Peter was brought up in Newcastle. His mother came from Seahouses and the family would holiday there. Peter's father made him a rowing boat when he was 11 and he spent his time in the harbour with his friends.
Peter was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 16 February 2006. The interview took place at Ouseburn Heritage Centre and lasted 14 minutes and 58 seconds.
Keeping the history alive
"Managed to get a few friends together, we’re pulling our resources to get a few of these old boats, have them fitted out as they were perhaps back in the 1940s and ‘50s"
Managed to get a few friends together, we’re pulling our resources to get a few of these old boats, have them fitted out as they were perhaps back in the 1940s and ‘50s, they were very colourful, the boats, locally, unlike boats in other parts of the country, strangely, it was an old tradition having them smart; beautiful lettering and a lot of attractive features. There was, I think there was a lot more pride in the boats on the Northumbrian coast than there was in much of the country, I don’t know why, but perhaps we can retain a bit of that pride by restoring these old vessels and keeping them on the coast of Northumberland.
They were used for crab potting and line fishing, mainly and they perhaps might not have been used all the way through the year. They would do some salmon in the summer, it would vary according to the season what could be done, and perhaps a few months the boats wouldn’t work at all. But I think some of the traditions have changed, and the availability of fish, the markets have changed, and it’s not working the same way. Salmon is not so plentiful, I believe, a lot of the salmon licences have disappeared so the small boats are disappearing as they can’t make the ends meet now.
Peter has 10 memories in the memorynet:
Interest in cobles
Peter's coble the Royal Diadem IIThis memory has these themes:
The North East | Traditions
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