The usual, excellent letter from Brian Parker, about the oak trees being planted in Kingswear, reminded me of what many people who have not lived here for long may not know – that the old Roman name for the River Dart was Derte after the Old English word for oak which once flourished on both river banks and from which many of our ancient warships were built.

It also reminded me of the time when I was sailing in the Baltic in the 1980s. I was with a group of Danish sailors when one of them spoke in Danish to his friend.

“He doesn’t like you!” his friend translated.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Well, your Admiral Nelson came here 280 years ago and sank all our ships in the Battle of Copenhagen. So we had to plant a lot of oak trees to replace them – and they have only just grown big enough! So he doesn’t like you!”

I could only apologise – but made sure I bought the next round.

So start planting those oak trees as soon as you can.

Adrian Lloyd-Edwards

New Road, Stoke Fleming