Now here’s a dilemma. I’ve been a staunch supporter of the plans for a new bridge in Walton ever since the idea was first mooted. I urged Surrey County Council to stop faffing about and get on with it.
“The River Thames is one of Spelthorne borough’s greatest assets – and we simply don’t make enough of that fact.” Those were the words of former major and borough councillor Judith Wood-Dow of Staines as she prepared to board the traditional shallop, Jubilant, at the Thames Lodge hotel a couple of weeks back.
Last year in this column, I wrote that I thought the authorities should introduce a mandatory test and a licence of competence before anyone was allowed to take a boat out on the water – and several people jumped down my throat, berating me for proposing to introduce more bureaucracy into our leisure time.
