Working from a small boatyard in West End, March Charlie built wooden dinghies and hired out rowing boats and canoes. 1973 saw Charlie build his first canal boat and in 1980 he built the marina to the west of March that the company occupy today.
Charlie had a great sense of community and served as a retained fire fighter with Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue service for 25 years and was a recipient of the fire service long and good service medal. While working at the Neale Wade School teaching woodwork during the early 1970’s Charlie taught youngsters to sail at Mepal and ran boatbuilding evening classes at Isle of Ely College, Wisbech.
The waterways were always close to his heart and Charlie worked on various restoration projects including the re-opening of Well Creek Navigation in the 1970’s and dug the winding hole in Whittlesey for the East Anglian Waterways Association in 1993.
Following his retirement from the company in 1997 after handing over the business to his daughters Paula and Tracey, Charlie twice circumnavigated the United Kingdom in his own yacht and sailed a leg on a BT challenge racing yacht from the Canary Islands to England across the notorious Bay of Biscay latterly he extensively cruised the UK inland waterways with his wife Pat on board their Narrowboat.
