We all take locks for granted as we travel up and down the Thames. These days, the modern electronic controls and smooth hydraulics that are in use at most locks allow easy passage from one river reach to another and the hardest problem for lock keepers to face is simply trying to fit a huge number of boats into the lock chamber.

Ron Stevens has contacted me from his home in Ashford to pass on a lovely story based on a would-be angling trip he experienced in 1942 whilst he was working as a Corporal Vehicle Mechanic serving with the Royal Army Service Corps in Feltham.

Hooray, it’s March – and spring is just around the corner. Okay, it’s still blooming cold and that north-east wind is proving incredibly persistent, but at least the hours of daylight are increasing and there are the obvious stirrings all round the garden as nature prepares to share its colourful bounty.

Well, it seems I must be one of the few people who hadn’t heard the stories about prize-fighting taking place in Shepperton!