On 10th October Kit Carson stepped in at short notice to give us a talk about the River Avon. He described various items of interest to be seen from the river and its environs on its 85 mile journey from its source, near Naseby in Northamptonshire, to the River Severn at Tewkesbury. He showed a map of the watershed dividing rivers in England flowing east and west and pointed out that Naseby was very near that line. Although often known as the Warwickshire Avon, to distinguish it from the several other rivers of that name, it actually flows through five counties. The Celtic word for river is “afon” hence our river is the River River! A brief history included the fact that the river originally flowed north to the Trent but, when the glaciers melted, it assumed its present course. In the 17th century it was made navigable to within four miles of Warwick but gradually fell into disuse after competition from the railways. Work on restoring it for leisure boating started in 1950, the very first such scheme to be undertaken using volunteers with funds raised by public donations. Kit mentioned hiring a wooden cruiser at Tewkesbury in 1962 and cruising up the Avon, which was then only navigable as far as Evesham. He then went downstream to go up the Severn to Worcester. We learnt many interesting facts about the places on and about the river and are grateful to Kit for his meandering from source to Severn. On 17th October our member Phil Bawn will give his long-awaited talk about his music. This will be in place of the previously advertised speaker and on 24th October our much-travelled member David Senior will be taking us on a tour of Jordan. We meet at 10:00 every Thursday at The Boathouse, Evesham Rowing Club. Full details can be found on our website www.eveshamprobus.co.uk Alan Smith Photo caption: Mill Avon at Tewkesbury Photo credit: Christine Smith