Tag Archives: People of the Deben

A New Chapter for Deben Boatyard

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by Sam Whitworth

The Larkman family hand over to Sam and Kayleigh Whitworth.

Since arriving in Suffolk, we’ve been overwhelmed by the warm welcome we’ve received. The support, encouragement and kindness shown by customers, neighbours and the wider River Deben community have made us feel at home from the very beginning. We’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to introduce themselves, share their knowledge of the river, and place their trust in us. It has reaffirmed that we made the right decision, and we’re excited to become part of this community.

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Report from the River Deben Association AGM 29 April 2026

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Words by Julia Jones, Photos by Anna-Marie Sellon

Dan Shemming and Matt Lis from Woodbridge Boatyard, giving a steambending demonstration at the AGM.

This was a particularly relevant and enjoyable AGM. Members had the opportunity to look at the exquisite sketchbooks of the ‘creative native’ Jackie Brinsley from Waldringfield before undertaking the essential association business. We also welcomed our new secretary Phil Skinner and new treasurer / membership secretary, Amanda de Margary. Out going secretary Caroline Peeke was thanked for her committed and effective work and also for being prepared to serve another four-year term on the RDA committee. Our co-chairman Colin Nicholson also entered his second four-year term. His is a demanding and varied role which he undertakes with great diplomacy and thoughtfulness, as well as a quiet determination to achieve results or (to quote his own remarks about the current crisis in the upper Deben area between Ufford and Melton) to persuade the statutory agencies to turn words into effective actions.  He deserves our gratitude. (The Minutes of the meeting and business papers will all be available on the RDA website as usual.)

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Learning the Long Way Round

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By Ariana Cottam

Ariana Cottam is a shipwright at Woodbridge & Waldringfield Boatyards. She was a member of the first year group at the Boat Building Academy to have equal numbers of male and female students. As a group they were awarded the Classic Boat magazine’s Rising Star award 2026. Here Ariana offers a glimpse of the work of her award-winning group and shares her first impressions of life on the Deben:

Ariana Cottam on the Deben, sailing Lo Verily (which she helped build)

The path that led to Woodbridge was not a straight one. It wound through regenerative seaweed and shellfish farming, ethical outdoor retail, and time spent guiding people on the water. Different as these roles were, they shared a rhythm of practical, community-based work with a strong connection to the environment. Boatbuilding, as it turns out, gathers all those threads together – craft, place, people, and the quiet satisfaction of making something that belongs to the water.

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Andy Seedhouse obituary

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By Victoria Smy (Andy’s daughter)

Andy was born in Dudley, Wolverhampton, and moved to Suffolk with his family in the late 1970s. It was here that he discovered Woodbridge and developed a lifelong love for the River Deben. Soon after settling in the town, Andy’s enthusiasm and ambition saw him purchase his first dinghy and rent a small patch of land beside the river.

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The Angelic East Coast Pocket Cruiser

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By Julia Jones

(This article originally appeared in Practical Boat Owner in 2024.)

The 21ft Deben Cherub was designed for competitive class river racing.

It is 100 years since the first Deben Cherub was launched. Julia Jones looks back at the history of this 21ft river racing class:

Cherubs and I first met when I was less than two years old. I don’t consciously remember this, but my mother did. Years later she wrote to remind me that I’d been strapped into my pushchair and parked in the cockpit. The topsides were low enough for me to see out and when the little boat heeled slightly on a windy day, I was able to watch the wave patterns. ‘Over and go, over and go,’ I apparently chanted, allowing my parents to conclude that I was commenting on a wind-over-tide situation.

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Astrid Dixon / Llewellyn: skippered first all-female crew in the Tall Ships race

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by Julia Jones

Dusmarie.

No-one, sailing through Ramsholt in the later part of the c20th will have failed to notice Dusmarie, moored just below the entrance to Kirton creek, unique, beautifully maintained and always with that indefinable air of capability and class. But what of the people connected with her? Astrid Llewellyn (née Dixon) who has recently died (22.1.2026) grew up on Dusmarie, sailed many thousands of adventurous miles on board, was the first woman to skipper an all-female team in the Sail Training Association Tall Ships race and supported her mother in making a distinctive contribution to girls’ outdoor education.

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Some Portable Magic: RDA Books for Christmas and the New Year

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Introduced by Julia Jones

‘Books are a uniquely portable magic,’ wrote Stephen King. Although Stephen King is not on my personal favourites list—and isn’t on this RDA list either—he is undeniably someone who understands about the relationship between words and readers and the ability of books to lift us away from our everyday preoccupations, fire our imaginations and extend or transform our understanding of the world. It doesn’t always happen, but when one finds a book that seems to speak directly to one, one has found a treasure. In this article, for Christmas and the New Year, some of the RDA Committee members and magazine contributors share their finds from 2025.

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Woodbridge Regatta – an intergenerational event

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Interview with Geoff Holdcroft, former chairman by Julia Jones

Geoff Holdcroft moved to Suffolk in 1985, working for BT. At first, he missed the hills of North Staffordshire where he had grown up but soon discovered the different beauty of the River Deben. He learned to sail on the BT boats at Waldringfield, then bought himself a Mirror dinghy – and after that, a Jaguar 22.

(courtesy Alan Comber)

Within ten years Geoff had joined the Deben Yacht Club in Woodbridge and was involved with people who were involved with the Woodbridge Regatta. His first job as a volunteer for the DYC, however, was to gain advertisements for the annual handbook. This put him in touch with many more interesting people running businesses around the town and surrounding area. Among them was Alan Readhead, a colleague at BT who introduced him to the Regatta committee   ‘We need someone to do the same for the Regatta programme,’ said Alan. The Regatta handbook then ran to eight pages so the revenue from advertisements also helped support the costs of the Regatta infrastructure – items such as the public address system and First Aid attendance. Geoff took on the job.

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I just want to record my memories of this area

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A review of Shingle Beaches and Tidal Rivers: the River Stour to Southwold by Robert Simper

Published Creekside Publishing £16.50

By Julia Jones

This is Robert Simper’s farewell to the stretch of Suffolk coast that he has known and loved over more than 80 years. In its introduction he recalls his wartime childhood living at Bawdsey watching bombers coming and going and sometimes aerial dogfights between the RAF and attacking German planes. He was clearly an inquisitive child and one who was shaped by his East Coast environment. ‘The North Sea was in front of us. It looked a cold and unwelcoming place and as time when by I found out it was just that. However, I was fascinated by the rivers and places beside the sea and felt I had to explore them.’

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The Last Wooden Kestrel on the Deben?

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By Ned Jones, Julia Jones and Bertie Wheen

and with acknowledgement to the book Waldringfield: A Suffolk Village beside the River Deben (Golden Duck 2020).

Kestrel Sail Emblem

Box containing the designers name (J Fancis Jones)

The birth of the Kestrel in Waldringfield  (Julia and Bertie)

The Kestrel class of small, wooden cruiser-racer yachts was conceived in Waldringfield in the mid-1950s, then spread across the country during the 1960s and 70s. 150 were built in wood, 250 in GRP. Their story began when local sailor Paul King, who had owned a Waldringfield Dragonfly, wanted a small yacht with similar characteristics. He and Harry Nunn – of Waldringfield Boatyard – built a model to embody their ideas, then took it to Jack Jones at the Old Maltings to finalise the design and provide the necessary technical details.

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