For MARSHMAN the egnigma

[ditchman]

Let me explain.......i have been shooting in norfolk for at least 50 years (apart when i was shooting abroad)....i have shot all the great estates and run my dogs allover norfolk...in the last 30 years i have stayed closer to home...when you shoot and pick up as often as i did ...you get to know a lot of people......i have stood on the same fields as marshman ..i have shot my fill with friends of marshman....i have drunk my fill with friends of marshman..i have been wildfowling in places where marshman shoots....

YET IN ALL THOSE YEARS I HAVE NEVER MET HIM..........

Marshman.........these are a few of thousands of pics i have ...you should be able to rekonise several people...........for the rest of you just enjoy the pics and smile cause they remind you of the days you have...........

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Blimey, you haven't met John, EVERYBODY else has!   

[Rim Fire]

You got some great memories there and all look like they had a great day and the sky is so blue 👍

[old'un]

he's been avoiding you.

[marsh man]

Brilliant set of photos and how we avoided each offer I do not know , I knew just about everyone in the top photos and believe it or not when I went to the head keepers retirement party I got a certificate signed by the boss to say I had attended the most shoots without missing any and that year I done one more than the keeper as me and his boy took some of the family members on Boxing Day as his dad had to feed up and didn't have the time .

Mind you I have been known to be a bit elusive as in my younger days and maybe not so young I went on most if not all the local marshes with never meeting the land owners , then you won't expect to meet them late at night under the moon 

Here you go , the good looking one on the left taking in the Summer .

[old'un]

2 hours ago, marsh man said:

Brilliant set of photos and how we avoided each offer I do not know , I knew just about everyone in the top photos and believe it or not when I went to the head keepers retirement party I got a certificate signed by the boss to say I had attended the most shoots without missing any and that year I done one more than the keeper as me and his boy took some of the family members on Boxing Day as his dad had to feed up and didn't have the time .

Mind you I have been known to be a bit elusive as in my younger days and maybe not so young I went on most if not all the local marshes with never meeting the land owners , then you won't expect to meet them late at night under the moon 

Here you go , the good looking one on the left taking in the Summer .

Is that a picture of you in your youth? If so you have what I call a friendly face, the guy on the right looks a bit shifty to me.

[ditchman]

6 hours ago, Rim Fire said:

You got some great memories there and all look like they had a great day and the sky is so blue 👍

that was a loverly day.........i will put some pics up some time ...the other end of the scale .....wet wet wet.........i look at them now and think .."what the**** was i doing"....i should have been at home infront of the fire..

[marsh man]

37 minutes ago, old'un said:

Is that a picture of you in your youth? If so you have what I call a friendly face, the guy on the right looks a bit shifty to me.

I wish it was , I was 72 then and my brother on the right was then 75 , it's all the fresh air , mind you the ole body feel twice as old .

22 minutes ago, ditchman said:

that was a loverly day.........i will put some pics up some time ...the other end of the scale .....wet wet wet.........i look at them now and think .."what the**** was i doing"....i should have been at home infront of the fire..

Yea I know we have had plenty of days when I wish I was back at home in front of the fire , although for most of the time I was better dressed for wet weather than the guns so if they were prepared to stand out in the freezing cold rain then so was I .

One chap who used to pick up a lot on ours was Peter Hurst , he used to run Barnaby Gundogs near Beccles , I bought a pup off him once and it turned out a brilliant gun dog , I think he got divorced and had to sell up as his ex wife wanted half of everything , dogs the lot . Did you know him ?

[ditchman]

27 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I wish it was , I was 72 then and my brother on the right was then 75 , it's all the fresh air , mind you the ole body feel twice as old .

Yea I know we have had plenty of days when I wish I was back at home in front of the fire , although for most of the time I was better dressed for wet weather than the guns so if they were prepared to stand out in the freezing cold rain then so was I .

One chap who used to pick up a lot on ours was Peter Hurst , he used to run Barnaby Gundogs near Beccles , I bought a pup off him once and it turned out a brilliant gun dog , I think he got divorced and had to sell up as his ex wife wanted half of everything , dogs the lot . Did you know him ?

no i didnt.......my dogs came via Mike Tolermy............his had Lafyette Tolley in them ...not his Deisel strain..........

all my sprockers came from Fred Warren at Henham.......he put a black cocker FTC Fireflash....across some of the worst lemon and white springers i have ever seen...yet the pups they threw were supreme...

Edited November 21, 2022 by ditchman

[old'un]

55 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I wish it was , I was 72 then and my brother on the right was then 75 , it's all the fresh air , mind you the ole body feel twice as old .

Yea I know we have had plenty of days when I wish I was back at home in front of the fire , although for most of the time I was better dressed for wet weather than the guns so if they were prepared to stand out in the freezing cold rain then so was I .

One chap who used to pick up a lot on ours was Peter Hurst , he used to run Barnaby Gundogs near Beccles , I bought a pup off him once and it turned out a brilliant gun dog , I think he got divorced and had to sell up as his ex wife wanted half of everything , dogs the lot . Did you know him ?

Blimey, if you had not told me I would not of put him down as your brother, mind you I don't look anything like my sister.

As were coming up to the festive season you and ditchman should meet up and have a good old chin-wag.

Edited November 21, 2022 by old'un

[mossy835]

loads of life in you yet MM just keep going.

[marsh man]

4 hours ago, ditchman said:

no i didnt.......my dogs came via Mike Tolermy............his had Lafyette Tolley in them ...not his Deisel strain..........

all my sprockers came from Fred Warren at Henham.......he put a black cocker FTC Fireflash....across some of the worst lemon and white springers i have ever seen...yet the pups they threw were supreme...

I have seen one or two Mike Tallamy gun dogs if that is the same one ? , he ran Brindlebay Gundogs and very good they were to , another one you might have heard of , or knew was Frank Clitheroe who was at Hedenham Hall near Bungay , his dogs were Hedenhan Hall Soot , Sweep and so on , I left one of my dogs at his when I went to the states on holiday , when I came back to pick my ole up I ended up with two as I bought one his Black Lab pups there and then 

3 hours ago, old'un said:

Blimey, if you had not told me I would not of put him down as your brother, mind you I don't look anything like my sister.

As were coming up to the festive season you and ditchman should meet up and have a good old chin-wag.

Yea he don't look much like me and that might be because my dad spent a long while abroad in the R N , no joking aside he was a good wild fowler and a top class shot at shooting Pigeons , he retired early and have now been retired longer than he worked , another one of his hobbies was painting and carving which he was very good at , unlike me who was rubbish at most things , hear he is in his younger days when the Shooting Times done a three page spread on the paintings and carvings .

[old'un]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

I have seen one or two Mike Tallamy gun dogs if that is the same one ? , he ran Brindlebay Gundogs and very good they were to , another one you might have heard of , or knew was Frank Clitheroe who was at Hedenham Hall near Bungay , his dogs were Hedenhan Hall Soot , Sweep and so on , I left one of my dogs at his when I went to the states on holiday , when I came back to pick my ole up I ended up with two as I bought one his Black Lab pups there and then 

Yea he don't look much like me and that might be because my dad spent a long while abroad in the R N , no joking aside he was a good wild fowler and a top class shot at shooting Pigeons , he retired early and have now been retired longer than he worked , another one of his hobbies was painting and carving which he was very good at , unlike me who was rubbish at most things , hear he is in his younger days when the Shooting Times done a three page spread on the paintings and carvings .

Your brother was a talented man.

[6.5x55SE]

Ditchman have you any wildfowling pictures of your days on Lynn and what years was you a member. General interested as i shot Lynn for years on a very regular basis and keep racking my brain trying to place you. John Redheads houseboat was on the bend at Wolverton. Fond memories never to be forgotten 👍

[ditchman]

44 minutes ago, 6.5x55SE said:

Ditchman have you any wildfowling pictures of your days on Lynn and what years was you a member. General interested as i shot Lynn for years on a very regular basis and keep racking my brain trying to place you. John Redheads houseboat was on the bend at Wolverton. Fond memories never to be forgotten 👍

christ ...im racking my brains for what years...i went out on the wolverton marshes with the dockers as i was working for ABP at the time....i think there was only one pontoon houseboat left and that belonged to a docker and at the time was trying to find someone to help him get it off the marsh...it was around -ish 1985..ive got my membership card for GYWA...i will see if i can track down my Kings lynn one

[6.5x55SE]

20 hours ago, ditchman said:

christ ...im racking my brains for what years...i went out on the wolverton marshes with the dockers as i was working for ABP at the time....i think there was only one pontoon houseboat left and that belonged to a docker and at the time was trying to find someone to help him get it off the marsh...it was around -ish 1985..ive got my membership card for GYWA...i will see if i can track down my Kings lynn one

Thank you. Was the whole Marsh still open for shooting eg you could still shoot in front of the Snettisham bird reserve as i believe it was taken by RSPB 1981 ????

[ditchman]

21 minutes ago, 6.5x55SE said:

Thank you. Was the whole Marsh still open for shooting eg you could still shoot in front of the Snettisham bird reserve as i believe it was taken by RSPB 1981 ????

i stuck to wolverton and running a dog over the old whaling station with my mate Mick Howard........at the time i was i great demand as i was the relief engineer onthe lenne regis dredger...and when we went to dump i had to do a rough bird count once we got out of the cut...........and report back to the dockers

[billytheghillie]

1 hour ago, ditchman said:

i stuck to wolverton and running a dog over the old whaling station with my mate Mick Howard........at the time i was i great demand as i was the relief engineer onthe lenne regis dredger...and when we went to dump i had to do a rough bird count once we got out of the cut...........and report back to the dockers

Counting birds while having a dump! You must have a open air kazzie.

[ditchman]

13 minutes ago, billytheghillie said:

Counting birds while having a dump! You must have a open air kazzie.

yup it was tough in them days.......it was the english that invented the toilet seat......then us norfolk folk modified it by putting a hole in it..........