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
Chiswick Bridge southern bank now forms part of the Thames Path. As at 2009 the northernmost arch was used by the Tideway Scullers sculling club as storage space. Chiswick Bridge Chiswick Bridge is a reinforced concrete deck arch bridge over the River Thames in west London. One of three bridges opened in 1933 as part of an ambitious scheme to relieve traffic congestion west of London, it carries the A316 road between Chiswick on the north bank of the Thames and Mortlake on the south bank. Built on the site of a former ferry, the bridge is long and faced with 3,400