It’s that time of year when the Thames regularly resounds to the shouts of enthusiastic coxes urging on the oarsmen in the boat in front of them and one of the highlights of the season is always Staines Amateur Regatta which takes place on Saturday, July 24.
I knew from a very young age that I loved the water. It didn’t matter whether it was pottering about in a small rowing dinghy on the Thames at Twickenham where I was born or flinging myself through breaking waves on the beach at Holland on Sea in Essex where we used to stay with my uncle and aunt most summers – I just loved the water.
