What do Bream, Perch, Pike, Roach, Rudd, Dace, Ruffe, Barbel, native and non-native Carp, Chub and Gudgeon have in common? According to Ian Tokelove of the London Wildlife Trust, they are some of the 125 types of fish which thrive in the River Thames.

Which brings me nicely to this week's subject - the RNLI Fish Supper. This is an annual charity event for the RNLI to help raise funds for our lifesaving work. It’s simple, it’s fun and it saves lives. The RNLI Twickenham, Teddington & District Fundraising Branch held their first Fish Supper event on Monday evening (15th October) at The Anglers, Teddington. With around 80 attendees including regular supporters, residents and crew from Teddington RNLI Lifeboat Station, the evening was a great success.

Pete Miller, Chairman of RNLI Twickenham, Teddington & District Fundraising Branch, said: "This success of the supper was due very much to the efforts of Jill Goddard, our Events Secretary, who organised the event and arranged the raffle and prizes, (including a donated Jo Downs glass platter). Jill was assisted by Branch Secretary, Rob Ross."

Ben Walton, from the Anglers, added: "We are delighted to support the RNLI. Located at Teddington Lock, the river is a big part of our daily lives and it seemed natural that we would support such a great organisation, who are always ready to help any local river user, should they find themselves in trouble. Due to local demand, we will keep the fish pie on the menu for the rest of October and donate £2 to the RNLI for each one sold."

So what was on the menu on Monday? Crayfish cocktail and fish pie with Salmon.

Did you know that in the 1970s, the British government introduced the American Signal Crayfish to UK waters for export to the lucrative Scandinavian market. Within a few years they realised this species was a carrier of the Crayfish plague, to which it is immune, but which kills off other species. Today the indigenous crayfish is all but wiped out and it is now illegal to return any Signal Crayfish caught back to the water. And the once-prevalent Salmon is now rare due to overfishing, but is occasionally spotted on Environment Agency camera traps in the River Thames, migrating upstream between October and January, at Molesey Weir near Hampton Court. The Thames Salmon Trust set up in 1986 installed an amazing 20 fish passes on the River Thames to help their migration.

Some of the trickier questions in the quiz were ‘how many RNLI stations are situated inland?’ and ‘how many legs does a squid have?’*

On a final note, the amount raised will go towards buying RNLI Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as Drysuits for crew - those of you who live near the river will have spotted the Teddington RNLI lifeboat crew training on Saturday mornings in their full PPE and there is nothing fishy about that!

(*ANSWERS are eight and ten)