Newsdesk April 2008

Edited by Jeannette Briggs

Newsdesk is up and running once again to bring you the kind of information about the River Thames and Thames-related topics that perhaps you have not heard about elsewhere. Here are a few topics for you to read about......

Easter Spring School Holidays 2008 Are Coming Soon - What to do with the Kids?!!!!

Sea Monsters 3D - Prepare to embark on a prehistoric underwater adventure. See stunning 3D animation that transports you back to the Late Cretaceous age when a huge ocean divided North America. See sea monsters like pleiosaurus, Fierce sharks, the most dangerous sea monster of them all - the MOSASAUR!!!! Disney eat your heart out - this is all REAL. IMAX booking line 0870 870 4771. Price £7.50 adults, £6 children and seniors. More info on all these activities from www.sciencemuseum.org.uk.

The Geffrye Museum in London is holding a week of events in half term - 19-22 February 2008 for children to visit and have a great time using recycled materials to make lots of useful things.  Just turn up from 10.30am and join in the fun.  Phone 020 7739 9893 for full details.  Nearest Tube station: Liverpool Street then a 10 minute walk or catch buses 149 or 242.

The London Marathon is being held as usual on 13 April 2008 - great for the kids to come along and watch and cheer the runners.  Many of the fun runners dress up in outfits like gorillas etc and kids love to see this.  The route of the Marathon is fairly well publicised and passes London sights like the Tower of London and Tower Bridge etc. etc.  Do get to see this one! 

Serious Fire at Camden Market

 We were shocked to hear of the disastrous fire at Camden Lock Market on Saturday February 9th. The market adjoins Camden Lock on the Regent's Canal and is a huge tourist attraction.  Many of the stallholders in the immediate area behind the lock have been affected but as a whole the area is getting back on its feet.  As far as we could see the boats operated by Walker's Quay and London Waterbus Co seem to be OK, and we trust that everything will be done by the insurance companies and Camden Market Holdings to get the area up and running again.  We will keep you posted on developments and in this regard we understand that the Mayor of London will be assisting the recovery, which is great news.

The River and Rowing Museum Henley "Goes to Ireland"
2nd February to 14 April 2008

Martin Ireland is a gifted watercolour artist and a keen rower, and he combines his passions in a unique exhibition to be held at The River and Rowing Museum in Henley upon Thames. Since opening in 1998 this award winning museum has attracted over 90,000 visitors per year. It seeks to celebrate the River Thames through 3 themes:-

• The past, present and future of the Thames
• The historic riverside community of Henley on Thames
• The international sport of rowing

Martin Ireland's art explores aquatic themes and the sport of rowing. He specialises in bright and vibrant colours, and the way water refracts, absorbs light and changes as a human passes through it, and the distortions that occur to both the person and the water. The exhibition will be on until 14 April 2008 and full details can be obtained on www.rrm.org.uk

Roy Elkin and his slides of the River Thames

A few months ago The River Thames Guide was approached by a lady who held a large collection of colour slides of the River Thames which had been taken by her father, Roy Elkin. The majority of them featured London. as Roy Elkin saw it in the 1970ies. His daughter wondered if we might be interested in them as archive material, so we collected them and started to load them onto our computer systems.

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Left: The Thames with the Surrey Docks on the left and masses of cranes...now all this area has been redevoped as luxury apartments.

Left: Waterloo Bridge - note the small trees and absence of skyscrapers!

Photo by Roy Elkin taken about 1970 and reproduced by kind permission.

There are a few which really stand out for historical reasons, and these we reproduce here.

In viewing them thirty years or so after they were taken by Mr Elkin the single most startling change that stikes us is the vast amount of building and rebuilding that has gone on along the river (especially in London) since the 1970ies. There are huge stretches of the Thames river banks that have changed almost out of all recognition.

Left: The skyline of the City of London from the top of Tower Bridge. Note the absence of skyscrapers.

Photo from a slide taken by Roy Elkin and reproduced by kind permission.

In his collection Mr Elkin also had slides of old photographs of London Bridge circa 1900, and of St Pauls Cathedral in the 18th century when it dominated the London skyline.

Left: Interior shot of the steam engine that raised and lowered the bascules of Tower Bridge - photo from a slide by Roy Elkin and reproduced by kind permission.

His slides that he took of the interior of Tower Bridge with the machinery that raises the huge bascules are also of note - Tower Bridge obviously fascinated him. We thank Mr Elkin's relatives for donating the slides to us.

The River Thames Guide and our "Going Greener" Campaign in 2007 -

Awards made at the Whyte and McKay Earls Court Boat Show

The River Thames Guide decided that, as a company, we needed to support and encourge the development of "green" issues, and we went "Green" ourselves from April this year. We "Axed the Fax" for starters, and asked all our clients if we could send them invoices via e-mail, thus saving paper, postage stamps and postal services. We recycled all paper, bottles, glass and plastic, computer ink cartridges and magazines and junk mail. Some of us even walked or cycled to the office......!

We decided to launch a "Going Greener" Campaign on the web site itself,. and as a result two awards were made to Oxford River Cruisers and to Sofitel St Jame London hotel.

Both businesses described what efforts they had made to "go greener", and the awards were made to thier representatives by The River Thames Guide's Director Stephen Worsfold at theWhyte and Makay Earls Court London Boat Show.

Left: The scene at the White and McKay Earls Court Boat Show as Sofitel St James and Oxford River Cruisers receive the Going Greener Awards 2007.

We intend to maintain this award into 2008 and beyond so watch this space for more news. After all, we've only got one planet - let's look after it!

London's Boatyards - Their Future Protected?

14 boatyards on British Waterways Canals in and around London have been recommended for planning protection to prevent vital facilities being lost. This was the result and conclusion of a study commissioned for British Waterways. High waterside housing prices mean that boatyard owners will continue to receive tempting offers. The study recommends that 14 of the boatyard sites should be protected by planning controls which will prevent permission being given for non-boatyard use of the sites. They range from Harefield and Denham in the west of the capital, through St Pancras in the City of London and right out to Stanstead Abotts and Enfield Dock to the east of London.

We all like the idea of houses and flats by the water, be it the river or the canals. However, once the docks and facilities provided by these vital boatyards are lost to property dveelopers then the they are gone forever. As always there is a balance to be maintained and both sides of the coin to be considered......

Lock Houses on the Thames - Lock Keepers Face Uncertain Future

We are informed that The Environment Agency has thought up yet another great way to raise money - they are "conducting a review of all their assets", and this includes the lock keepers' cottages that are located up and down the River Thames, usually right by the locks they serve. The lock keepers' cottages are sited where the are for very good reasons. The lock keepers are - in the main - on duty "twentyfour-seven" (to quote our American friends), and with good reason, as in times of severe weather ocnditions and floods they need to be instantly available to help control the flow of water at times of expected flood, and to thus manage the surging waters to minimise damage.

The Environment Agency say that they have recently sold a site in Sunbury, and they have also sold or rented out several relief lock houses located away from the Thames. They state that their are charged with reviewing their assets to ensure that they save costs and increase their income. Inother words they are engaged in "selling off the family silver" to quote the famous saying by Harold Macmillan.

This must be really great morale boosting news for the dedicated band of lock keepers who are faced with their duties all around the year, and now with an uncertain future as to their homes and livelihoods... Good one, Environment Agency!

Dig the Thames Deeper to Keep Floods At Bay

The Environment Agency says that a large part of the Thames valley is in danger of flooding (!) because the Thames Flood Plain between Datchet near Windsor and Teddington is heavily built upon. In the event of a global warming induced rise in sea levels the Barrier could not cope and this area would be the first to be inundated. The Agency is discussing plans to cope with this with the local authorities involved. The plans include building of emergency overflow channels, erecting miles of flood barriers along the banks and deepening the Thames itself. We will keep you posted on developments on this one

If you would like to catch our review of 2007 click here

http://www.riverthames.co.uk/news_section/5738.htm

If you have any information about news items connected to the River Thames please do contact us on jeannette@riverthames.co.uk

Jeannette Briggs.