The Thames Barge Driving Race under oars' or "sweeps" and ride tidal river currents alone, up river. The event commemorates the skills of lightermen who moved freight this way along the Thames up until the 1930s and in a wider context it encourages ongoing interest in moving cargo via water and as a way to recruit younger people back into river trades.The teams are normally made up of employees of Thames Lighterage companies, Port of London Authority or are sponsored by local businesses. The best places to view the race are Tower Bridge, London Bridge and Westminster Bridge. During the 1970s Britain suffered a major
London Eye Pier London Eye Pier The London Eye Pier (or Waterloo Millennium Pier) is directly in front of the London Eye Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in Central London, England. It is served by various river transport and cruise operators. It should not be confused with the former Waterloo Police Pier, on the opposite side of the river on Victoria Embankment next to Waterloo Bridge, which has since been renamed the Tower Lifeboat Station and has been the base for the RNLI's Thames lifeboat service since 2006. The pier was designed by Beckett Rankine and Marks Barfield