Our story starts with the birth of a baby boy on the outskirts of Norton Estate before the Bridgewater canal was even built. The year was 1759, and Samuel Webb would grow up to become a farmer in his own right, moving only a mile or so from his birthplace to the little township of Acton Grange. While he was still a young man, he witnessed the clash of wills, infamously described as “The battle of Norton”, between Richard Brook, owner of the Norton estate where he was born, and the formidable Duke of Bridgewater over the route of the canal. Perhaps, as his father appears to be a worker for Sir Richard, he was even roped in to the various prevention schemes Sir Richard put forward.

Samuel married a Runcorn girl and the first of at least 8 children arrived in 1786. By now the canal was open from Manchester to Liverpool, and on through to the Midlands via the Trent and Mersey. This was a time of huge changes across the country. As the industrial revolution kicked off thanks to the canals, the agricultural revolution gained speed as well, but the technological advances meant less manpower was needed to work the land. Samuel must have realised quite quickly that there simply wasn’t going to be enough farm to share among his 4 sons.

One son, also called Samuel, was not ‘normal’, most likely having what we would understand as Autism, but then being described as “inferior”.

It seems as though at least 2 of the sons, and possibly one of the daughters, move a few miles up the road to Great Budworth in search of work. Here we find the young men getting married, and a single woman matching the ‘description’ of a sister falling pregnant out of wedlock.

William Webb was only 21 years old when he married Sarah, who was about 30, and what seems to happen next is the couple head to Sarah’s family in Lach Dennis and William takes up work as a canal labourer over at Middlewich. They may have 2 short-lived children during this time, but we can’t track the couple for certain until 1820, when they come onto the Preston Brook radar.

At this time, the wharf was thriving. It was the only true through-route to the Midlands and would remain so until the opening of the Macclesfield canal in 1831. It was shipping hundreds of thousands of tonnes of goods every year, and its warehousing was gradually spreading across the site.

William spends the next decade as a wharf labourer, until in 1830 he appears in the records as a “porter” on the baptism of his youngest son. We lose sight of the Webb family now until the first census of 1841, where William is still a porter and his sons are starting to be absorbed into the hustle and bustle too; eldest boy Peter has become a boatman.

By 1841, William is caring for his older brother Samuel. Samuel is noted as being a labourer, and it wouldn’t be particularly unusual to find handicapped persons employed in simple jobs.

In 1851 we see William at the head of a family well acquainted to the wharf. He is a warehouse porter, along with son Thomas. Youngest son William is now a boatman, and the eldest son, Peter, is “porter for canal carrier.” Peter and his wife Ann have just welcomed their third child to the world and the two older children are staying with their grandfather to give mum a chance to recover. Also in the house is Samuel. Now 62, he is given the description of “inferior from youth,” so it would be reasonable to assume that he is now unable to work. Perhaps the increase in machinery, for the wharf now has a mighty steam engine powering it’s hoists and cranes, has made it too dangerous.

Jumping another ten years to 1861 forward and the family is now firmly entrenched at the wharf. William and his wife live alone with older brother Samuel now, and interestingly William is noted as “Methodist Local Preacher”, as well as a canal carrier’s porter. Next door is his middle son, Thomas, who’s moved off the warehouse floor and into an office; he’s a “canal carrier’s book keeper.” Eldest son Peter is a few doors down and he too has made it into office as a “canal carriers shipping clerk,” while the youngest son, William, is following his father’s footsteps, employed as canal porter and having married a boatwoman some 14 years his senior.

1871 sees William, now 75 but still working as a porter, living with his spinster daughter Mary. Sarah, his wife of 47 years, has died, as has his brother Samuel.

His son Thomas is still a book-keeper and William Jr is now a canal labourer; we could conjecture that his choice of spouse may well have set him apart from his up-and-coming brothers. The eldest son, Peter, is described as a porter but we know it is around this date that he becomes the foreman for the Bridgewater Canal Company at the wharf.

William Webb died in February 1880, aged 84. He had lived to see all three of his sons, and at least 5 of his 7 grandsons join the wharf workforce.

His eldest boy, Peter, perhaps rose the highest. Deeply involved in the Methodist Church like his father, he appears to be pretty much the head-honcho of wharf, the company representative. When he died in 1888 the role was passed to his son, Peter James, who held the role until his sudden death in 1920.

Peter James Webb was, according the Runcorn Weekly News, “…quite well at dinner time… was shaking hands in the office of the wharf with Mr Rawlinson, when he suddenly collapsed into Mr Rawlinson’s arms..” and his death produced a wave of grief, with flowers being sent from the porters and warehousemen, boatmen, office staff, banksmen and even “Runcorn and Preston Brook Spoon Boat no4.”

By 1920 the wharf was winding down, though Webbs still worked at the wharf until the bitter end. By the time the engine was ripped from the site, at least 20 men from 4 generations of that family had worked there, and research is slowly revealing the extended family too.

I’ve never been daunted by change; indeed, I undeniably relish it, but Donna is generally more grounded and sedate with her decision making. It usually goes something like; I throw up a fantastical idea verging on lunacy, then Donna has a meltdown and spends the next few days percolating and figuring out the feasibility and possible pitfalls, so that we end up with a refined plausible plan that might even work.

Buying a narrowboat is a consideration not to be taken lightly. We bought our boat to cruise the cut and experience the nature and the seasons at close hand, to visit all the places that the canal system granted us access to and spend time in the company of kindred spirits. The quintessential English idyl that many dream of, however, as in life, things conspire, plans change and sometimes matters can unravel very quickly.

Once we had got aboard, we realised that immediate repairs and some long-term refitting needed to be completed before we could start exploring.  We had an idea of what was involved, as I had already created a spreadsheet with all the things we would like on our hypothetical boat, and I had costed it within an inch of its life. Of course, this turned out to be a total work of fiction and had very little relevance with the Jeremiah Lee. We had only recently dusted ourselves down after a 2-year renovation of a 1900’s cottage but a narrowboat is an entirely different prospect and when reality struck, we didn’t know whether to make a bowline or a beeline.

She had been built as a holiday, getaway, weekend boat by some very capable and experienced boaters who knew exactly what they needed twenty years ago, in effect she was an out of date leisure boat. Her second owner had also fallen in love with her because she will charm anyone who boards her. He wanted to live on her on a permanent mooring, with electric hook up, piped water and all that one requires close by, the well-used phrase and crudely put “floater not a boater” springs to mind.

However, the ambiguity of constant cruising means that your floating home requires a level of self-reliance, the vessel needs to be capable of sustaining you for a duration of time between facilities; you might say her off grid capabilities.

Our narrowboat was indeed somebody else’s baby, and a refit requires one to work within someone else’s original plan. For every action we would take there would be a reaction, that’s to say that the impact of doing one thing will affect another thing that you will have to live with. The boats’ depth and attitude in the water, her ballast, air draught, keeping us warm and a healthy engine are of course crucial, but changes needed to be made regardless.

Primarily the lack of space, the required tools and building materials along with clothes, food and all the essentials needed for cooking and eating, washing and dressing, somewhere to sit, somewhere to sleep, it may sound odd but with so little room, we must move things about just to be able to work.

Secondly, besides the carpentry and decoration, there’s a whole load of other skills required; electrics for both direct current and alternating current, solar systems, security systems, comms systems, gas and water plumbing, engineering and an understanding of engines and mechanics.

Then there are the chores; walking Dylan and trying to keep our place and things clean, shopping, topping up the water, the diesel, the gas and coal, foraging wood, buying food and sorting our waste requires a chunk of time. All of this whilst not owning a car could make matters even more difficult but luckily for us, we could rely on the benevolence of our friends’ network.

One also needs appropriate work arounds to live long term on the cut and this is another quagmire that needs thought and ingenuity; financial arrangements, an income and banking, medical arrangements, any conditions, requirements and prescriptions, mail and parcels, groceries, all need sorting out. There’s the general maintenance of your boat, an appreciation of the weather, understanding navigation, being able to handle the boat and know how to manage locks, bridges and tunnels. In short, becoming competent helmspersons.

Whilst working on the boat has and can be an arduous undertaking, sometimes stressful, always testing but essentially rewarding. We have flagged a few times, run out of steam, lost the will, taken time out, whatever excuse we’ve used them all. But generally, Donna remains more sanguine and hey if you’re going to get knocked down, fall forward rather than backward as its easier to get up again, so we muddle on and through the tricky stuff.

We knew that making time for ourselves would be crucial for the pleasure of the experience, so our desire hasn’t diminished, and our aspirations grow with the completion of each task. Whilst we are still a few months from being able to go cruising, we are a long way from where we started and have learnt much, how much is to be discovered but that is at the core of our endeavours.

It’s not just the geography, the landscapes and the flora and fauna that requires our further investigation and quiet contemplation, it’s the journey of self-exploration and expression. Getting off the hamster wheel is a life choice and trade off; we have given up comfort and security to slow right down. We may not have an alarm, but the clock is relentless and being able to enjoy our fitness and good health to pursue ones’ aspirations is our reward.

Living in a small space with a bookshelf is all we need to have a light touch in our world. We both have interests and creative pastimes that will occupy our days and quench our ambitions and we have taken this holistic approach to experience life within the briefness of the time that we have.

A major contributing factor for our mental wellbeing is being able to live within this close-knit community of persons who are alternative thinkers, decision makers and risk takers. The achievers that choose their destiny and find their own and unique pathways, gives us a sense of belonging and helps us feel comfortable as our adventure unfolds. It’s also a very social environment that requires our engagement and attendance of events and some considerable quaffing.  After all, your vibe is our tribe eh!

You can follow us on Instagram; @narrowboat_nomads, watch us on YouTube; Narrowboat Nomads and find out more at; www.nomadplan.co.uk

At a recent editorial meeting, our illustrious editor, Lin, showed us the following piece which had been sent in for consideration.  Having doubts about publishing the story because of its content having nil to do with waterways, I interjected with a resounding reply to her question of to publish, or not to publish, "No! Let's publish!"

My reasoning was this. Being an old age boater, and also a member of the hippy elite, I well remember the heady days of pinball machines.  So many bars of ill repute in the 50's and 60's boasted amazing machines providing many a happy hour of balls and flippers. Badges of honour were verbally and mentally given to leather clad bikers, mods et al, and pinball machines were a part of everyday life.

One particular establishment I remember was The Olde Silk Mill in Derby, which became a mecca for the unwashed and black clad biking community. Happy days, happy memories!

So, go ahead and publish, because I am sure there are many in the boating community and readers of MY GENERATION for whom this article will bring back resounding memories and give a little insight into what used to be, for many of us, a daily part of life. Enjoy, and let's have some feedback.

Gerry.

From Soho down to Brighton, there must have been one in every single dance hall, club, pub, or arcade centre.

The pinball machine is looked upon today as a piece of 1950`s, 60`s, 70`s and 80`s youth culture, but how many early black and white films, that were connected with teenagers or gangs, would show a pinball machine in a coffee shop or candy store?

How many images stir up the imagination of the mods and rockers of the sixties all standing together in a coffee bar playing a pinball whilst listening to the jukebox?

How we see the machines today though is totally different to how they were first seen in the early 1930`s.

Inventor Steve Kordek who is recognised as the creator of the first machine designed the first models without the use of flippers, which later propelled the ball up the table hitting the number markers on the way, but more importantly kept the ball in play.

Kordek got the idea from the French game bagatelle, the game where you manoeuvred a metal ball around a board with pins and holes, the idea was to get the ball into the holes avoiding the pins which would redirect the ball, players would also bump and tilt the tables, making the ball sink into better scoring holes.

In his early machines, once the ball had been sent from the plunger arm, it travelled down the table hitting various buffers and stops which created a score that nobody could predict, making it an ideal machine for betting and gambling syndicates to bet on, without the flippers it became a game of chance rather than skill.

Once the underworld gambling gangs got to hear of this machine, they used it to their advantage by running gambling dens which installed the pinball machines alongside the usual card schools, one armed bandit slot machines and dice tables.

On hearing this the authorities were keen to put a stop to the illegal gambling culture that had gripped most cities in America, but could not pinpoint the culprits in action, until a plain clothes police officer entered a cigar shop, after a tip off, in East Harlem in March 1948.

He approached the pinball machine and dropped a coin into the slot and began to play, he pulled back the plunger arm and propelled the silver ball into action.

The ball danced around the table, with the officer desperately trying to keep it in play, his first 5 attempts were unsuccessful and frustrating, but the 6^th try proved to be better as the ball landed in a hole that triggered a free play mode, which signalled a gambling concern, something the officer had been looking for.

Once the game had ended, the officer arrested the shop owner and charged him with illegal gambling and possession of an unlawful gambling instrument. The arrest was earmarked as one of the first concerning a pinball machine, and was the latest in a crackdown on the perceived scourges that were running rife across the USA in the 1940`s.

During the great depression, gambling was seen by many people as a menace to society, something that had to be controlled or stopped altogether, the pinball was seen as another form of illegal gambling to hit the streets and towns, increasing criminality.

Whilst the law enforcers and civic groups looked at pinball for its gambling culture, churches and schools condemned it for its corrupting influence that it had on the youth, stating that many children had skipped school and stolen coins in order to play the machines, some were spending their dinner monies playing, therefore going hungry in the process.

Chicago was seen as the pinballs main manufacturing city, already seen as a hotbed of criminal activity including illegal alcohol selling, drugs, prostitution, protection rackets and many other crimes were associated with notorious gangs and mobs who ruled the city including the infamous “Murder Inc Gang”. Pinball just added another string to their ever-growing list of illicit activities.

The Mayor of New York at the time was Fiorello La Guardia, who decided that enough was enough, and made pinballs illegal and began cracking down on owners, sellers and end users.

Following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour, La Guardia and other officials declared that pinballs were apart from being illegal, were a waste of valuable materials that could be put to better use elsewhere.

Once the city councils decided to back La Guardia, there was a nationwide ban on pinballs in all public places.

The police began raids on bowling alleys, candy stores, bars, coffee shops and amusement arcades in an attempt to either catch the players and better still, the owners or suppliers.

Like their predecessors during prohibition, the officers who were named the G men, were seen smashing barrels of alcohol with hatchets in front of the waiting press photographers, who captured the event on film.

La Guardia and other officers assembled members of the press, before hitting the pinball machines with sledge hammers, hence smashing the machines to pieces, once smashed the remains were dumped in Long Island, where the materials used, were enough to build over 2,000 aerial bombs for the air force.

Because of the actions that were happening in New York, other major cities followed suit in the banning of the machines, this forcing the activity underground, at one point they were seen as part of the rebel culture and held in the same disregard as leather jackets, cigarettes, motorbikes and greasy hairstyles which were seen as brainwashing the young.

Pinballs criminal gambling reputation lasted long after the introduction of the flippers which were introduced in 1947, which changed the game from chance to skill, which eventually would stop the gambling element for the machines having had the uncertainty removed.

Even the late President JF Kennedy was entangled in a publicity smear by opposition leaders who tried to damage his reputation by printing photographs of the president playing on a machine, which was seen as a propaganda move on the part of the opposition, and was quickly quashed.

During the 1970`s the pinball was finally accepted as a game of skill and reflexes rather than chance.

The Californian Supreme Court overturned its prohibition in 1974 which was quickly followed by other major cities across America.

Although the ban was overturned, a Queens spokesman was quoted as saying “that this will bring rampant vice and gambling back into our cities”.

To prove to the sceptical councillors that pinball was definitely a game of skill, the Amusement and Music Operators Association recruited one of the country’s top players, Roger Sharp, to demonstrate on a machine that was set up in the Manhattan Courtroom where the city council met.

Sharp explained during the demonstration, that like baseball player Babe Ruth, who would call out a shot, he could not guarantee exactly where the ball would go, the same applied to the silver ball on the table, you hoped it would go into a certain space, but mostly it went elsewhere.

After the demonstration the council overturned the ban, which was expected to bring in an estimated $1.5 million dollars into the city economy by way of charging owners a $50-dollar licence fee for each machine.

Unbelievably, in some American states, the pinball machine still remains banned and is seen as illegal, but the law is not enforced due to the ridiculous rule.

When at its height in the 1950`s, the best-known manufacturers of pinball machine were Williams, Bally and Gottlieb, who introduced many new innovations to the models, which included multi-player games, score reels and increasingly sophisticated playfield mechanisms and art packages.

However, the games were not computerised, but were electromechanical and ran on a precarious balance of moving parts, something that we at Bearingtech know only too well about.

Apart from the minor resurgence in the 1990`s due to the Addams Family movie, the pinball machine of the film, became the best-selling pinball ever in the history of pinball machines, hitting an unbeatable 20,000 units being sold across the world, but during 1995 home game consoles were flooding the markets with tens of thousands of machines hitting the high street shops, which consumers bought at an alarming rate.

This latest battle proved to be the last straw for some pinball manufacturers, so much so that one of the pioneers of the game, Gottlieb, who had been associated with pinballs since 1927, finally stop trading.

Williams, another pioneer of the industry now controlled 80% of the worldwide pinball market, called on their designers to reinvent the gaming tables and came up with the pinball 2000 version, which created some attention at first, but eventually tailed off after the follow up model got less attention.

When you consider that during 1979, the humble pinball had peaked with record sales of 200,000 units, compared to an 85% drop within 3 years, the fall from grace had a devastating effect on the manufacturers who could not compete with the new kids on the block, mostly who were electronic video games such as Space Invaders, Pac Man and Asteroids which were seen as the future.

Apart from the minor resurgence in the 1990`s due to the Addams Family movie, the pinball machine of the film, became the best-selling pinball ever in the history of pinball machines, hitting an unbeatable 20,000 units being sold across the world, but during 1995 home game consoles were flooding the markets with tens of thousands of machines hitting the high street shops, which consumers bought at an alarming rate.

This latest battle proved to be the last straw for some pinball manufacturers, so much so that one of the pioneers of the game, Gottlieb, who had been associated with pinballs since 1927, finally stop trading.

Williams, another pioneer of the industry now controlled 80% of the worldwide pinball market, called on their designers to reinvent the gaming tables and came up with the pinball 2000 version, which created some attention at first, but eventually tailed off after the follow up model got less attention.

Unfortunately, like Gottlieb, Williams decided to close its pinball division and concentrate on its slot machines instead leaving the market wide open for any newcomers to take up the fight.

After Williams left the field, Stern Pinball was the only American manufacturer left standing until Jersey Jack emerged in 2011, other smaller companies such as Spooky and American Pinball have now since joined the market by introducing more complex technology and electronics to their own models.

Because of the new technology that was developed in the early part of the 21^st century, Chicago gaming who are a video game manufacturer decided to re-invent some of the classic pinball machines by adding technological advancements to the classic machines by teaming up with Planetary Pinball who together used the vintage Bally and Williams models and brought them back into the gaming mainstream for new players to enjoy, but with better sound and visual effects.

Talking of effects, when pinball first arrived on the gaming circuit back in the 1940`s and 50`s, one of the biggest attractions was the backboard glass plates and the table playfield frame due to the colourful imagery that adorned the machines, often depicting glamourous pictures with wild adventures or movie stars.

This artwork has now become very famous and sought after by collectors across the world, often seeing thousands of pounds changing hands between avid pinball enthusiasts.

Later as the machines became more elaborate and technically advanced, the artwork became more refined and detailed, creating a masterpiece of contemporary art, which in itself became more valuable and sought after, more so than the actual machines. Some dealers actually buy the machine for the artwork alone, especially if it is one of the best-selling machines in the world, such as the already mentioned Addams Family Pinball that came out in 1991 to coincide with the movie of the same name.

Movies and music seem to go hand in hand where pinball is concerned with many of the biggest films and rock stars often being displayed on the back-glass plates and playing frames.

Some of the most famous films have at one point shown a pinball machine on screen, either in movies or television, with some of the biggest stars standing alongside them.

Remember Henry Winkler as the Fonz in Happy Days, which at one time was one of the most watched tv shows in the world, opening scenes as the titles rolled, you guessed it, Fonz playing a pinball machine.

Or how about the disturbing film the Accused starring Jodie Foster, where a young barmaid is viciously raped in the most talked about scene of the film, on a pinball machine.

There are countless other films and stars who have appeared along the iconic machines including Paul Newman in the Verdict, Taron Egerton in Rocket Man, and how about Elton John in the most famous film of them all where pinball is concerned, Pinball Wizard from the film Tommy?

Alongside other films such as Ghostbusters, Goodfellas, Home Alone, Live and Let Die, Love Actually, Quadrophenia, Godspell and even Harry Potter have become platforms to promote pinball machines.

The most famous machines that are on most collectors wish lists are littered with music and film titles, everything from the Twilight Zone to the Rolling Stones are sought after.

The top ten must have machines are listed below.

Medieval Madness ( Williams ) 1997
Attack from Mars ( Bally ) 1995
Jurassic Park ( Stern ) 2019
Monster Bash ( Williams ) 1998
Addams Family ( Bally ) 1991
Iron Maiden ( Stern ) 2018
Elviras House of Horrors ( Stern ) 2019
Twilight Zone ( Bally ) 1993
Deadpool ( Stern ) 2018
Metallica ( Stern ) 2013

Alongside the most sought-after machines, is the artwork that has fast become a collectable item in its own right, so much so that an early William Wiley model sold for an incredible $125,000 and was listed in the catalogue as “a piece of art”, rather than just a pinball machine.

Some of the best artwork that adorned the pinball machines seem to be associated with the 80`s and 90`s.

Although the early artwork on the old machines have a certain charm and appeal to collectors, purely due to the images and topics portrayed at the time.

To grab someone`s attention and stand out from the crowd you needed to create an image or sound to draw the prospective player to your machine, this is where the artwork comes into its own.

The best artwork is listed below, not necessarily the best selling but influential.

Space Invaders (Bally) 1980
Xenon (Bally) 1980 Creatures of the Black Lagoon (Bally) 1992
Theatre of Magic (Bally) 1995
Scared Stiff (Bally) 1997
Tales of the Arabian knights (Williams) 1996
Circus Voltaire (Bally) 1997
Twilight Zone (Bally) 1993
Medieval Madness (Williams) 1993
Indiana Jones (Williams) 1993

"Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all"
The Who

History has a funny way of putting things into perspective, after all the fuss and bother in trying to get the pinball machine banned all those years ago, along comes the digital age, which in affect killed the pinball stone dead, people saw them as old fashioned and boring, they preferred to play the new electronic games that were being imported from Japan at an incredible rate.

Can you remember the first time that you saw a Space Invaders machine, or a Pac-Man in a pub or arcade? These were the machines that took the mantle from the pinballs and slot machines and ran with it for years, until a new breed of entertainment arrived in the shape of quiz machines, not only could you play the machine, but you could also win money by answering questions, something which has now been taken up by television broadcasters who literally have a quiz show on every channel.

But like most well-loved machines, designs and models that were deemed out of date and dull have suddenly become “vintage” which seems to attract another genre of players and collectors.

People who grew up with the pinball machine, one armed bandit slots, dartboards, jukeboxes and table football know the value and pleasure that these pastimes brought, albeit for a few minutes.

More and more of the old 1960`s and 70`s machines are becoming very much a thing of the future, gaming antiques maybe a strong category to list them under but when an item brings back nostalgia, pleasure and more importantly, value then people start to take notice.

As the lyrics in the famous pinball wizard song read, “I`m not handing my pinball crown to him” not unless you are willing to pay a lot of money for it that is.