I've often mentioned the activities of the waterways charity Thames21 in this column but I thought it might be helpful to take a closer look at the organisation’s background.

F YOU don’t own a boat, then for many people their only experience of getting out on the Thames is by taking a trip on a passenger launch. The heyday of the Thames passenger launches…

VE spent most of my life on, in or around the River Thames and it has never ceased to fascinate me – and occasionally I find myself pondering the question: Why? Sometimes I’ve heard people…

VE ALWAYS loved the pleasure boats that carry passengers up and down the Thames and I wrote in a recent column that as a youngster in the 1950s I used to enjoy watching the…

I've always had a real soft spot for historic ships and boats. Vessels that hark back to an era when Britain really did rule the waves and when craftsmanship was something to be proud of rather than regarded as old-fashioned.

Last week, I told the story about Doug Millsom and his friends who, as youngsters, used to play around a tunnel that emerged on the bank of Desborough Island and asked whether any readers knew its history.

My old mate Doug ‘the ancient angler’ Millsom called me up this week to chide me for ignoring his fellow fishermen.

For those living close to the river, the past few weeks must have been an absolute nightmare.

A couple of weeks back I wrote about Phil McCarthy, the father of a lady called Dinah Ballantyne, who was a member of the Home Guard given the responsibility for protecting Penton Hook Lock during the dark days of the Second World War.

One of the things I love most about writing this column is that every now and again I’m contacted by someone with a lovely story to tell connected to our stretch of the Thames.