Remembering how we grew to love the Thames River.

Food can not benefit us unless we eat it unless it becomes part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we don’t know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must receive Him into our hearts so that His life becomes our life. His love ,His grace, must be understood fully.

E. G. White Desire of Ages pg 389 ( some of Sandy’s wording)

We were still living in the cottage that we worked so hard to make home, but we needed something to do together as a family. Having done a lot of walking and cycling mostly through the Great Park or around Virgina Water’s lake. We knew we particularly liked being near water. Roy took out a map, and we started our project: to paddle, walk, and cycle the length of the River Thames with our two sons and spaniel called, Patches.

For our starting point , we chose the wet patch nearest the Thames Head Pub. It is difficult to even see the water bubbling from the spring, but there is a stone and inscription saying that it is one of the two spots where the great river Thames of 215 miles 346 km starts, the other being at Seven Springs. Our first walk was from Kemble to Thames Head, Thames Head to Ewen and back to Kemble.

The day was very hot, and on our last stretch to Kemble a middle-aged, uniformed man was struggling to change the wheel on his shiny black limousine. Roy went over to help and got it done with ease. The man immediately put the four of us and Patches into his very clean car. I did try to point out that we were dusty and our boots muddy from the river, but he was determined to take us to the nearest pub for a drink. We were soon saying goodbye with him being most galiantly English. He shook each of our young sons by the hand, gave Roy a warm handshake , gently took me by the hand, and ever so gently kissed my knuckles. This seemed very in keeping with where we were as he was the personal driver of an aristocratic family in the area.

The next memory I have is of us balancing an upside down red, tubby rowing boat on top of the car. We stopped several times to tighten the rope but soon lowered it into a very weed filled river Thames. There was no path along this part of the river and a lot of bends. Our sons helped as we took turns to row and part the weeds. It took us most of the day to cover a short section of river and it was raining when we took the red tub out, leaving it in walking distance of a small church.

Roy walked back for the car, and with a son on each side and our spaniel at our feet, we sat bedraggled in an ancient family box pew of the church, me reading aloud an Enid Blightin book. Little did I know that in a quiet corner of the grave yard lay William Morris with what had been his Summer House just close by.

Barbra Castle (1910-2002) was very fond of this house. She was the first woman to be Secretary of State of the United Kingdom. As Minister of Transport, she oversaw the introduction of permanent speed limits on British roads as well as legislating for breathalysers tests and compulsory wearing of seatbelts. Press on this Utube video to see her show you the house and where some lovely designs left by William Morris are kept. Kelmscott Manor – William Morris’ summer home. She says that William Morris strongly believed that beauty must be shared. It would be sterile if it couldn’t be.

As John Burns says and then, Martin Freeman agrees : ” The Thames is liquid history ” and ” You absorb 2,000 years of history just by being near the Thames.”

I will return to this loved river now and then as I share my memories.

Sandy 🙂