Many thanks to my old chum Roger Jolly for taking over the tiller while I toddled off down the Thames on Terra Nova last week. I’ve escorted the old boy back to the ‘Laughing Ferret,’ bought him a pint, given his parrot a handful of grapes and he’ll be fine until the next time he’s called into action.
Author: Mort Smith
Our capital adventure
The thing about owning a boat on the Thames is that, just occasionally, there’s a desire to venture to pastures new. To cast off from one’s home mooring and head off into the unknown (well, almost unknown, anyway).
So, why should we cop it?
I really hate bean counters. Those faceless accountants who sit in the background out of the firing line in so many organisations and who, with a stroke of a pen, decide that services must be cut to balance the books without any real thought about how the decision could impact on people’s lives.
Dot’s message has wings
Two weeks ago, I wrote about Dot Beeson, the lovely lady who runs the Swan Sanctuary in Felix Lane, Shepperton and told the story of how she first became involved with helping injured birds and other wildlife.
A marine makeover
When Nicky and David Prior bought the Bridge Marine boatyard in June 1984, it was a rundown wreck of a place.
Dot’s a saviour for swans
I’ve met a host of lovely people whilst writing this column but probably none as charming and dedicated to her cause as Dot Beeson, the woman behind the Swan Sanctuary based in Felix Lane, Shepperton.
Idyllic gem’s hidden away
There are many idyllic places from which to enjoy the beauties of the Thames but one of the best kept secrets around seems to be Truss’s Island – a tiny ait on the Surrey bank of the river quite close to Staines Bridge.
Blame it on his mum
Derek Banks blames his mother for his lifelong interest in boats and boating. Derek, who runs barging holiday company European Waterways Ltd from his idyllic riverside home in Wraysbury, was packed off by his mum to work at Crevall’s boatyard in Old Windsor during each school holiday for every year between the ages of 13 and 18.
River plan affects us all
Most of us take the Thames very much for granted as a place for recreation and relaxation – but it has a significant role to play in our overall lives as a source of water, as a habitat for wildlife and as a potential flood threat.
Revive the riverside resort
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.