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
Thames Hub Airport UK’s prevailing southwesterly winds, aircraft predominately approach Heathrow over Central London. As a result, over 750,000 people live within the 55dB aircraft noise contour and suffer from aircraft noise pollution. A proposed solution to the need to expand London’s hub airport capacity, which has been studied on a number of occasions, is to build a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary. Following the work of the Roskill Commission, in 1973 the Maplin Airport Development Act was passed to enable an airport to be built at Maplin Sands. However the project was cancelled in 1974. In 2009, London Mayor Boris