Head of Bexley Council Teresa O'Neill has written in complaint to the Metropolitan Police, asking them to reconsider a plan to close the front desk of Bexleyheath police station overnight. Greater London's police force has said that it can no longer keep all of its front desks open, given its “budget shortfall and shrinking size”. It has proposed closing 13 police station front desks across London while reducing the hours of 11 more, including in Bexleyheath. This means that the police station in Arnsberg Way would only be open between 9am and 10pm during the week, and between 10am and 7pm at the weekend. In an open letter to the Metropolitan Police, Councillor O'Neill wrote:- "We have a number of pubs and restaurants, as well as two busy and successful night clubs that open until 2.30am, meaning we have activity in the town centre until 3am at the weekend. Our police station is close to the town centre and these clubs. Its presence serves both as a deterrent to criminals and a possible safe haven for those in trouble or for anyone wishing to report a crime and yet you are considering taking this away from us; a lack of public consultation had “further compounded local frustration, leaving residents feeling sidelined. For many residents, the loss of a front counter will not be seen as a minor operational adjustment, but as yet another step in the gradual withdrawal of the Met’s presence from Bexley". Bexleyheath has had a number of police stations over the years, with the one in the photos above merely being the most recent. Prior to the establishment of a dedicated police station, Bexleyheath relied on a different system. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the area was sparsely populated. Law enforcement likely fell to magistrates or constables. As Bexleyheath developed, the need for a more formal police presence arose. The formation of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 brought some improvement. However, Bexleyheath initially fell outside its jurisdiction. It wasn't until later that the area came under the purview of the "R" (Greenwich) division of the Metropolitan Police. The year 1840 marked a turning point. A police station opened in a rented house opposite the XII milestone, near today's Civic Offices. This was followed by a dedicated police station built in 1855 at 28 the Broadway. However, as Bexleyheath's population grew, this station became inadequate. In 1907, a new police station was built at the corner of Broadway and Highland Road, replacing the outdated one at 28 Broadway. This building served the community for nearly a century but was eventually demolished in 1994. The location is now occupied by the Sainsbury's car park. The present Bexleyheath Police Station, located on Arnsberg Way, opened its doors in 1994. This modern facility caters to the policing needs of the contemporary Bexleyheath community. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
In the mid-1980s, the personal computer landscape was a battleground dominated by the IBM PC and the Apple Macintosh. But a new contender emerged from the labs of a small company, promising something more: a machine that blurred the lines between computer, game console, and creative powerhouse. This was the Commodore Amiga, a computer whose innovative design and advanced multimedia capabilities would forever cement its place in computing history. This month marks the 40th anniversary of it going on sale in the UK. Here is a potted history. The story of the Amiga begins not with Commodore, but with a small start-up called Hi-Toro (later renamed Amiga Corporation) founded in 1982. The company, staffed by former Atari engineers like the "Father of the Amiga," Jay Miner, set out to create a next-generation video game console. Their project, codenamed "Lorraine" (after the company president's wife), was built around the powerful Motorola 68000 microprocessor and a trio of custom-designed co-processors. These chips were the Amiga's secret weapon, handling graphics, sound, and other tasks to free up the CPU. However, the 1983 video game crash put the project in jeopardy. Facing financial struggles, Amiga Corporation was in a race to find a buyer. A deal was nearly struck with Atari, but in a dramatic turn of events, Commodore International swooped in and purchased Amiga outright in 1984. Commodore’s management saw the potential of the "Lorraine" project, and decided to rebrand it as a personal computer. The result was the Amiga 1000, unveiled in August 1985. It was a machine far ahead of its time. With a Motorola 68000 processor running at 7.16 MHz and 256 KB of RAM (expandable to 8 MB), it was already a significant leap from the 8-bit computers of the era. But the real magic lay in its custom hardware: Agnus: The heart of the system, this chip managed system memory and contained the "Blitter," a dedicated graphics processor that could move and manipulate blocks of data in memory at high speeds. Paula: The sound chip, providing four channels of 8-bit digital audio. This allowed for high-quality sampled sound, a feature unheard of on most other home computers. Denise: The video chip, which could display a wide range of resolutions and colors, including the revolutionary Hold-And-Modify (HAM) mode that could render images with up to 4,096 colours on screen simultaneously. Beyond the hardware, the Amiga ran a pre-emptive multitasking operating system, AmigaOS, which allowed users to run multiple programs at once, a capability that would not become standard on mainstream PCs for years. The computer was launched with a splash, including a demonstration by pop artist Andy Warhol, who used the Amiga to create digital art. While the Amiga 1000 was a technological marvel, its high price tag limited its initial success. Commodore soon realised that a more affordable model was needed to compete in the home market. In 1987, they released the Amiga 500, a compact, all-in-one computer that quickly became the platform’s best-selling model. At the same time, the company also launched the Amiga 2000, a more expandable machine targeted at professionals.The Amiga found its niche in a diverse range of fields. For gamers, its superior graphics and sound made it the platform of choice for iconic titles like The Secret of Monkey Island, Worms, and Dungeon Master. For artists and musicians, it became a powerful tool for creation. The first music tracker software was developed on the Amiga, and its capabilities were used by artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre and Genesis. The machine also found a role in video production with the introduction of the third-party Video Toaster, which turned the Amiga into a powerful and affordable video editing system for broadcasters and independent producers. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, Commodore continued to innovate with new models like the Amiga 3000 (with an upgraded CPU and graphics chipset) and the Amiga 1200 (a powerful and affordable machine with a new 32-bit architecture). However, competition from the increasingly powerful IBM PC compatibles and the Apple Macintosh, as well as the rise of dedicated game consoles, began to chip away at the Amiga's market share. In 1994, struggling with financial difficulties and poor management, Commodore International declared bankruptcy, bringing an end to the Amiga's production. Despite its commercial demise, the Amiga's influence is still felt today. Its groundbreaking custom chipset and multitasking operating system laid the groundwork for many features we now take for granted. It was a machine that inspired a generation of developers, artists, and enthusiasts, and its dedicated community continues to thrive with new hardware, software, and emulation projects that keep the Amiga spirit alive.
The photo above (click on it to see a larger version) was taken from a historic 8mm cine film. It shows an orange municipal dustbin lorry in Erith High Street; the footage was taken from the first floor of Burton's Tailor's looking towards Crayford Road (now Compton Place) in 1967. The building in the background is The Prince of Wales public house, which was demolished to make way for the current McDonald’s drive through. What strikes me is that not one single building in the photo, taken in 1967 still exists today. The row of shops to the right hand side of the road are now replaced by the Sherwood House residential care home and the Erith Health Centre, and the left hand side contains residential flats and the new Erith Library, built in what used to be the lovely Art Deco Odeon Cinema. I am of the opinion that the 1970’s brutalist concrete shopping centre was built at minimal cost for what it was, and that someone had their fingers in the till. Nothing else can explain how planning permission could have been granted for the wholesale destruction of a historic town centre with a structure that was not just hideously ugly, but blatantly unfit for purpose, and was so shoddily thrown together than it began to fall apart almost as soon as it was finished. The only shop to have remained throughout the period from the opening of the new concrete shopping centre to the present day is the pharmacists Howells and Harrison – who had the same sign outside as their shop as they did in the 1970’s, until their recent relocation into the shopping centre. Anyone that remembers the old concrete shopping centre will recall how dark and forbidding parts of it were, and how the overpowering smell of Jeyes fluid and stale wee permeated the whole area. The dingy and forbidding multi storey car park over the shops was the hangout of vandals and winos, and one could feel very intimidated when parking in there. The new (ish) Erith Riverside Shopping Centre is a very clever re – use of the carcass of the old structure, but in a far more sympathetic and people – friendly way. The oldest buildings that survived the destruction of the town centre is the post office - which has now become a locally listed building.
At this time of year, so many people seem to carry around a bottle of water; when the weather is hot, this seems like a sensible move. What I find very hard to understand is that rather than carrying an individual bottle containing up to half a litre, I see many people carrying 1.5 or even two litre bottles of water. Are they really planning on drinking that much? What will happen when they need to use the loo, and as we know, the number of public toilets in the UK has been cut back to almost nothing. The search for public toilets in towns and cities has become more and more desperate in recent years because the number of lavatories has fallen markedly. Campaigners say that many have had to be closed because of councils have to pay onerous business rates on them. The search for public toilets in towns and cities has become more and more desperate in recent years because the number of lavatories has fallen markedly. The British Toilet Association has estimated that 40 per cent of local authority run public conveniences have disappeared in the last decade, taking the number down from 12,000 to less than 6,000, in part because councils have to pay business rates on them has estimated that 40 per cent of local authority run public conveniences have disappeared in the last decade, taking the number down from 12,000 to less than 6,000, in part because councils have to pay business rates on them.
I have been absolutely astounded by the level of goodwill and kind wishes that have been sent to me since I returned from hospital. It has been humbling as to how readers have sent me their sympathy to my current state of ill health. I think however that I should make one thing clear. A number of readers have thought that now that I'm out of hospital I was somehow quickly cured of the medical problems I currently have with hyperthyroidism and the associated atrial fibrillation. Unfortunately, the reverse is very much true. I have been told by doctors that it will take a very long time to recover, and that it is quite possible that I will never get 100% cured from the condition. Although at this stage I don't know this for certain. I am on a very strong cocktail of prescription medication and currently have no way of knowing how long this will last. I did not want people to think that I had some kind of instant cure. Instead, I'm in for a very long journey to hopefully conquer this illness. As I previously mentioned, I have been informed that the condition I am suffering from is almost certainly genetic and not a reaction to a lifestyle or diet issue. Basically there is nothing I could have done about it. I have had one message from a person who will remain nameless who strongly suggested that I was slovenly and lazy and brought the condition on myself. This could not be further from the truth. I had no warning of the illness prior to my condition when I needed to be rushed into the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. It was all a very great surprise to me and it is not something I had any warning regarding. Having said this, a vast majority of readers have been extremely supportive and kind. I would like to thank them one and all for their warm regards and generous thoughts. One of the side effects of being unwell with this condition is feeling shatteringly exhausted. In addition to being housebound, I am extremely tired and unable to carry out more than the most basic activities. Hopefully over time this will improve but at present I am very much stuck indoors.
The end video this week is a short documentary on the 1997 train derailment and subsequent crash that took place on the railway bridge in Bexley Village. Comments and feedback to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
