A blue plaque in honour of boat builder Samuel Saunders of Saunders-Roe fame has been unveiled on the Royal Mail sorting office in Goring-on-Thames. The building, a former boathouse, is in the High Street at the end of the bridge.
He was born in The Swan at Streatley on the opposite bank in 1857. His father Moses was the last ferryman and Samuel inherited the boat-building business. He moved to Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1901 only because he was building boats which were too fast for the Thames.
Film of the river near Gravesend can be viewed on the South Bank
The Thames Festival starts today in central London and runs, for the first time, for ten days.
There are walks, displays, music and even short cruises with Andrew Motion and Dan Cruikshank.
Today sees the Great River Race crowding the Thames with craft from London to Ham and on Saturday 14 September there are barge-driving races between Westminster and Tower Bridge.
The focus is an open air cinema at the Samsung site, between the Oxo Tower and the National Theatre, where short river films can be viewed from deck chairs. You can enjoy a ride through the Pool of London from a life boat or sail down the estuary in a few minutes.
Most events including the cinema shows are free.
The Festival climax is not fireworks but something more ambitious: the floating 1513: A Ship’s Opera on Saturday 14 September. One act can be seen at 6.40pm off Trinity Buoy Wharf. The Thames Path by the O2 (Dome) should provide a good view. The climax is at dusk by Tower Bridge with light sound and noise.
Last Sunday’s Countryfile began with ten minutes on Wittenham Clumps.
Julia Bradbury gives an update on the beech trees planted in about 1740 and reveals that new trees will be hornbeam. There is film of the fields being turned in wildflower meadows and a reminder that Paul Nash returned many times over 35 years to paint the two hills.
Young’s recently reopened Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market is ShortList magazine’s 2013 pub of the year.
The Thames Path touches the edge of Borough Market just after Southwark Cathedral which has its handy Refectory for refreshments.
More established as a stopping point on the Thames Path is The Ship (just after Wandsworth Bridge) which comes 10th. This is also a Young’s pub and takes its name from Sir Allen Young’s ship.
Kemble is very convenient for Thames Head but sometimes one can have a long wait at this attractive station so there will often be time to appreciate improvements.
Price’s is offering 50% discount on their candles online to celebrate the birth of the Prince.
This recalls that Price’s became a household name selling candles to mark the wedding of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert in 1840.
Prices’s has long ceased to make candles on Battersea riverside but in part of the old factory there is a candle shop. It is run by Farris which was at first a rival and then briefly part of Price’s.
The factory floor has recently been opened as a Barker and Stonehouse furnishing shop with the candle shop in a corner. Both Farris and Price’s candles are stocked. Candles hang from the ceiling as in factory days.
Farris candles are made in Wiltshire but Prices’s candles now come from just outside Turin.
From the river walk inland down York Place, just before Plantation Wharf, and turn left at the main road to find the shop.
