A History Of Calcutt Boats
Calcutt Boats Ltd was registered as a business during the winter of 1973. Establishing the business at Calcutt was the culmination of the persistence and determination on the part of Roger and Rosemary Preen, who had first seen the dilapidated site and condemned Lock Keepers cottage during a short waterways holiday the previous year.
British Waterways eventually acquiesced to Roger’s enthusiasm for the waterways and his resolve to start a business, as a result, the family returned from 9 years of living in sub-tropical Zambia to the cold harsh realities of a British winter.
The site was under the control of British Waterways so Roger had to get an agreement in place with them for the site, as due to the state of the buildings a demolition order had been placed on them which had to be removed before any work could start.
Roger managed to get this removed and they arrived on site in the winter of 1972
The first hire boat was bought and in February 1973 Wild Tormentil had its first hire which signalled the start of Calcutt Boats. In 1974 the first moorings were established.
Both the moorings and the hire fleet have proved popular ever since.
