Rickety Bridge, River Mole At Fetcham And The Splash.

A Memory of Fetcham.

I remember the rickety bridge over the River Mole here, when I was very small my mother used to take me over it to eat sandwiches by the 'splash' and go for a paddle. The bridge was really scary with wobbly planks and I was afraid of falling through where the missing one was. When I was old enough to go on my own I learned to swim in the river, hanging on to the water weeds and kicking my feet until I was confident enough to let go and 'doggie paddle'. I am not sure why that part on the river is called the 'splash'. Some say it is because it was once a ford and the horses splashed across, and others say it is because a bomb dropped in the river which made a big splash. The water is deep over the bomb crater which is still there. Last summer I was 60 and swam over the bomb crater and it was still out of my depth so I don't know how deep it is. I got some strange looks but couldn't resist it. Someone threw a ball for a dog which landed nearby and the dog seemed to think I was competing in a race for its ball! The rickety bridge has been replaced by one that I think was carefully chosen to resemble the old one, but there are no wobbly or missing boards.