Shiver me timbers – where on earth did that year go? I was amazed when I came to write this final column of 2008 to realise that I'd been doing it for nearly 12 months - firstly in our now defunct sister paper, the Leader and more recently in the Herald & News.

It's funny how things can spark all kinds of memories for some folk. Jennifer Willis from Weybridge read my Riverwatch column on the history of Staines Bridge and was prompted to get in touch to say that it brought back recollections of her youinger years growing up beside the Thames at Staines where she was a successful competitor in punting races.

At a time when youngsters are regularly vilified for congregating on street corners and causing problems with antisocial behaviour, many people say there is not enough for them to do. Well, there is – and the sea cadets corps might be just the way to encourage the next generation to do something constructive with its spare time.

Des Davidson from Shepperton has contacted me about my column describing the activities of the Upper Thames Patrol, a branch of the Home Guard during the Second World War, who were given the responsibility of defending the locks, weirs and bridges on the river.