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
Shad Thames to access them), Bermondsey and London Bridge. The street Shad Thames is named as such in John Rocque's 1747 map of London. The name may be a corruption of 'St John-at-Thames', a reference to the St John's Church which once stood south-west of the street, where the present-day London City Mission is located Alternatively it may be from shad fish, which could be found in the Thames. The surrounding area is also today called Shad Thames, or Butler's Wharf (after the largest of the riverside warehouses). Both names refer to a rectangle of streets, converted warehouses and newer buildings, bounded