Paul Thomas Martin Broom, chairman of Broom Boats, at the London Boat Show in 2010 Paul Thomas remembers brilliant Brooms, builders of special yachts and motor boats and his friendship with founder Martin Broom MBE Boats have been much of my life… the apples of my eye. Here in Norfolk, over four decades I owned a wonderful sailing yacht, then also three motor boats we took abroad as well as around the UK – all created by members of the Broom family, Britain’s oldest boat-builder, 112 years of it. I started in boats 70 years ago - at the age of 11 on the Norfolk Broads, in a holiday hire boat.