We are excited to announce our 50th Anniversary in 2021!

More news coming soon on competitions and offers that we'll be having throughout the year to help us celebrate our 50 years in business, so keep an eye on our website and social media for more details...

We've all heard older members of the generation start a story with an eye roll prompting, "Back in my day," which is then followed by a seemingly endless list of ways that things have changed since the olden days (usually in a negative light). However, while those tales of walking miles in the snow to school may be a little stale, there's no denying that life has changed in some seriously significant ways over the last half a century. From advances in technology and medicine, life is hugely different today from fifty years ago.

A lot has happened during the last 50 years and the World has changed enormously. So we thought at a risk of sounding ancient, it might be fun to write about ways that our business and life in general has changed over the last 50 decades.

How things have changed for our Businesses

The good news is, that nowadays we can react to the market conditions in a much faster way, we use social media and online advertising to help us buy and sell narrowboats. Every new boat that comes into one of our marinas for sale is emailed out to our customer database from our website automatically. Gone are the days of stuffing envelopes with mounds of boat brochures to post out to our list of customers looking to buy. 

In 1971 the Internet didn't exist and all of our advertising was done in magazines and newspapers. Today our websites rank near the top of the fist page on website search engines and our websites are highly complex. There is a customer database where you can add your details to receive email updates of boats that match your criteria. We also have a vendors area where sellers can monitor the marketing and sales progress of their narrowboat while it is for sale at either of our marinas.

Whilton Marina has many more on site facilities since 1971. We no longer operate the sales office in the corrugated metal building, a purpose built sales office was built in 2001. Read our 'History of Whilton Marina' page for a more detailed story about how our business came about.

Telephones

50 years ago a home telephone was a necessity. The number of people using one today, however, is lower than ever, as almost everyone has a mobile phone.

Social Interaction

50 years ago to stay in touch people telephoned each other or wrote a letter, nowadays there's no need to call or write, thanks to social media we can instantly see where our friends are holidaying, how their relationships are going and even in some self absorbed folks what they had for dinner!

Smart phones

Five decades ago, the idea of having a tiny computer in your pocket that can not only get you in touch with everyone you've ever met, but can also be used to take photographs, track your run, order your groceries, and play your music would seem like the stuff of a sci-fi movie, but nowadays a huge percentage of the population own a smart phone.

Buying

Buying no longer means queing up at the counter in shops, nowadays purchasing is just a click away!

Dating/ Courting

50 years ago you either had a blind date set up by a friend, or you met someone in a pub, club or everyday life and exchanged numbers. Nowadays you just need an app on your phone and a vast array of potential dates are just a swipe away!

Reading

Today there's no need to buy books when you can read all the books in the world on a Kindle or smart phone.

Knowledge

Looking for information in the good old days meant flipping through pages of an encyclopedia. Now all the world’s information is just a click away.

Computers

Computers were huge. We now have laptops on our laps. Thank goodness things have changed for the better.

Taxis

Hailing a taxi has is a lot easier, just use your smartphone app!

These are just a small selection of changes to our lives over the last 50 years. If you have any stories or old family photos that give a glimpse back into a bygone era, please share them with us in the comments below, and tell us what other things you think have changed in the last 50 years that have had a big impact on your life.