Canal and waterway restoration seems to have taken off in the past couple of decades with more and more waterways being put back into public usage – and I take my hat off to all those hardy volunteers who put their backs (and quite often their own money) into this kind of environmental reconstruction.
There are some sights that really bring home to me that autumn has arrived and winter can’t be far behind it – and one of those is seeing the huge flocks of rooks that wheel in acrobatic formations over the Thames mornings and evenings.
I’ve always been a firm supporter of the Sea Cadet movement. The cadets, with their historic close links to the Royal Navy, offer a disciplined, well-structured environment in which youngsters can learn an array of interesting and useful skills whilst having a great deal of fun.
