T.S Saumarez - Twickenham Sea Cadets

A view from the river from my kayak of part of the Twickenham Sea Cadets site. Many people get very confused as this is actually in Teddington and not in Twickenham! Originally they were on Eel Pie Island in 1932 in Twickenham but after a couple of moves ended up here with a better and bigger site from 1947. The name T.S Saumarez honours a Royal Navy destroyer which took part in WWII. Both my children were members for a few years and enjoyed all the watersports activities on offer, took part in various parades and went on lots of adventure experiences with the unit. My son even went on a tall ships trip from Plymouth! This branch benefited hugely from the generous benefactor Sir Donald Gosling ( founder and original owner of National Car Parks) who lived very locally. He had been in the navy during WWII and kept his connections with the Navy with several honorary roles and usually presented the annual awards at Sea Cadets.

The old boat on the right of the photo is an old Dutch barge which appeared here at the end of last summer. I presume their are plans for the Sea Cadets to restore it?  I can get quite near it when walking the dog and I can see they have made a bit of progress at repairs on the deck.

Another lovely sunny day so good to get out on the river to benefit from it. We passed four groups of youngsters engaged in watersports summer schools…topper sailing, canoeing, kayaking and rowing! But saw only one motor boat moving in over an hour on the river. I am always amazed at how many boats are moored but never seem to move and most are on moorings where they will have to pay a considerable rent!

No athletics to watch on TV any more!