You only have to look at the success achieved by British women rowers at the 2012 Olympics to realise that we are among the best in the world in this particular sport. But it wasn’t always so.
Now I know spring has truly arrived. Why? Because I’ve got my tickets for Beaulieu boat jumble, the annual junkfest held in the grounds of Lord Montagu’s little pad in the New Forest which attracts boaters and yachties from all over the country – and even further afield – eager to replenish their supplies of unnecessary bits of boating memorabilia.
It seems astonishing now, but there was a time, 100 or so years ago, when Staines was considered a riverside resort to rank alongside the likes of Marlow and Henley.
