A memorial to my husband William Bloomfield, Boatbuilder and Craftsman.
Bill was born in Drinkstone Suffolk the youngest of eight brothers and sisters.He passed away in March 2000,I thought it was about time I did a memorial to him,he was fine craftsman working with wood putting his heart and soul into everything he created,when I first met him in the 50's he was building model boats,which progressed throughout the years to boatbuilding as a trade,he built two 30FT Catamarans,as well as many other sailing boats.He hand carved thirty rocking horses which pulled a sleigh in Harrods window one Christmas,he could turn his hand skilfully and lovingly to anything !
This blog is mainly to showcase his craft,I have gathered together photographs of just a few of his achievements of which there is to many for me to record here !
Throughout the years he never gave up building his scratch made model boats,he would rush home from work to get onto the next stage,always built from plans,which involved lots of research into whichever one he planned on building,up to the point of going to the Greenwhich museum in London to get copies of plans which would then be pinned up in his shed to work from..........meanwhile I was busy working for agents and publishers with my paintings ,needless to say we didnt see much of each other lol,we had an intercom from the shed to the house ! I did come in handy sometimes to help make the sails,or just paint the flowers on a canal boat or a name on the side :-]
Bill had articles written about him showing his boats in two Model Boat Magazines.
Hi Pat . Lovely memorial for Bill you have captured every thing about him ..We remember Bill well from the 50's and saw lots of his craft work he was a real crafts person and loved every thing to do with his work, always helping people as well ,RIP Joan John Burns
ReplyDeleteHi Pat, this is a lovely tribute for Bill, I remember coming round your house one morning, and you had the easel up and you was painting,,, Bill was making a boat, i joked it was like an art and craft shop lol. and Bill encouraged me to paint.he was a lovely man.
ReplyDeleteRita xx
That is a lovely memorial to your husband Pattie, a really good idea!
ReplyDeleteReally like this pattie, I am glad we have still got one of the boats, but I remember the barge with the little dog on the back, who looked just like kipper..lol! And the shed and the intercom we were talking about that the other day. I said Gary needs to get one now he has got his shed back...lol!
ReplyDeleteSo much talent in one union - you were just made for each other.The work that must have gone into making all the model boats is mind boggling!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing such wonderful memories with us all xx
He sounds like quite a man. What a nice memorial...
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