The photo above - which is exclusive to the Maggot Sandwich - shows four fire engines and firefighters who were called early in Sunday morning to Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, after a fire alarm went off. The source of the fire was a faulty refrigerator unit, located in the Subway sandwich shop within the shopping centre. Firefighters were able to locate and extinguish the fire, and nobody was hurt. I understand there were concerns that if the fire had spread, it could have affected the apartments located above the shops. Many thanks to the local resident who sent me the photograph; they have asked to remain anonymous. Following the fire, the Subway shop was able to reopen on the following Monday - as you can see from the photo below, which I took last Monday lunchtime.
I have been a user of the Elizabeth Line on a number of occasions over the last few months, and I have to say that I am impressed with it. Thanks to the popularity of the Elizabeth Line, Tottenham Court Road station is now one of the top five busiest on the TfL network. The new line has also brought in £49 million in extra revenue for TfL, far more than was expected. The purple route has the highest passenger satisfaction on the TfL network as well a good reliability figures. However, the success of the final timetable depends on ensuring 'Auto-Reverse' technology at Paddington will be ready in time - and that train reliability improves. At the start of February, London Mayor Sadiq Khan revealed that 100 million passenger journeys had been completed on the Elizabeth Line despite being open for just eight months. In another transport related story, Bexley Council has said it will oppose Transport for London’s ULEZ expansion, but a map shows TfL will still be able to fine commuters using some routes even if they try to block the charges. Two main roads in Bexley are owned by TfL, meaning the authority will not require permission from Bexley Council to install cameras on these routes. The two roads run by TfL in Bexley are the A20 running from Lewisham and along Sidcup and Chislehurst, and the A2 going from Eltham through Bexley village. The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will expand in August this year, meaning drivers will be charged £12.50 a day for driving in the zone if their car or van is not environmentally friendly enough. Several London councils have opposed the plans for TfL to add cameras and signage to roads in their boroughs. Bexley Council, in a coalition with Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon councils, asked for data to support the lawfulness of the ULEZ expansion in a statement last month. A Bexley Council spokesperson said: “A growing coalition of London councils has written to the Mayor of London insisting on more evidence for his ill-conceived ULEZ expansion plans that stand to cause misery and chaos for residents and visitors to the outer boroughs".
In another unfortunate coincidence, I wrote the following piece on an event in local history before the news of the tragic earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. I have decided to publish the article to illustrate just how lucky local residents were back in Victorian times:- I recently discovered that South East London and North Kent once suffered from a serious earthquake. On April the 12th 1884, and powerful earthquake shook an area from Woolwich to as far as Margate. Initially residents thought that one of the armament storage warehouses at Woolwich Royal Arsenal had exploded – as had happened back on Saturday the first of October 1864, when two massive gunpowder stores on the marshes in Lower Belvedere detonated – which was one of the largest non – nuclear explosions in British history. It was understandable therefore that almost twenty years later many who experienced the massive explosion would automatically assume that the earthquake was caused by another accident whilst handling explosives. You can read more about the Belvedere explosion by clicking here. The earthquake was a different beast altogether; the epicentre of the quake was in South Essex, from there the shock waves spread out causing disturbance over an area somewhat in excess of 53,000 square miles. It measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and caused buildings to sway and develop structural cracks, chimneys to collapse, slates to cascade down roofs, and several fires were caused. In North Kent, well away from the epicentre, the effects were still profound. People were understandably terrified – the ground beneath their feet was moving, and great clouds of dust rose into the air. Some people were knocked over, whilst others were sick with fright. Some even wondered if the day of judgement had come, as the motion of the earthquake caused many church bells to ring spontaneously. Eventually the earthquake passed; fortunately there were few serious injuries and no reported deaths. To date the Kent earthquake of 1884 remains one of the most serious geological events to have taken place in England. Let’s hope we are not scheduled for another, as the potential damage both to life and infrastructure would be proportionally worse nowadays – there were few gas mains, almost no electricity cables and certainly no fibre – optic lines for an earthquake to destroy back in 1884 – the same most certainly could not be said of today. As has now been shown with the tragic deaths of so many in the last week, modern infrastructure can indeed increase the number of casualties.
King Henry School in Erith has been put in special measures after a visit from the regulator at the end of last year. The school was previously rated 'Inadequate' by inspectors and the MyLondon news website recently revealed one school mum who claimed she "wouldn't return a dog to that school". She alleged that her 15-year-old son had the reading age of a seven-year-old, had minus 797 house points and was being excluded an excessive amount of times. The latest visit in December 2022, published this week, revealed that leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is necessary for the lowest rating to be removed. Ofsted previously called out the school for having children going AWOL during the school day, with no record of where they were or what they were doing. School leaders have now reviewed security of the school site and erected fencing to prevent truancy. Now, pupils cannot leave the school site from different parts of the playground or the school field. Teachers have finally begun to take registers at the start of each lesson, where leaders are then able to quickly check for any pupils who are not in their lessons. King Henry School (formerly Erith Grammar School) is a large mixed secondary school and sixth form for students aged 11 to 18. However the school recently announced that it was changing its name to Leigh Academy Bexley. The school is managed by The Odyssey Trust for Education, originally established by Townley Grammar School. Townley Grammar School currently has the highest possible Ofsted rating of 'Outstanding'. The latest visit to the school found that behaviour of pupils has improved. MyLondon previously spoke to a former teacher of the school who alleged a number of teachers were physically assaulted in the past by pupils. The teacher, who decided to leave the school last year, told MyLondon anonymously: "It became quite a dangerous place to work in because behaviour was so bad. It was more of a school where you were just trying to control behaviour rather than actually teaching. Students had no respect for any member of staff whatsoever, the way they spoke staff was disgusting. A member of staff was hit in the face. We had chairs thrown at us. And there were a number of children with special needs, who were just not looked after during the school day, they would just be left to absolutely trash the place. We were pulled out of lessons and you'd be running around the school with radios trying to find kids and then you try and herd them up and get into the hall and it got to the point where the hall or the canteen was full up with children refusing to go to lessons." However, in the latest report, inspectors said in classrooms there was a "calm and orderly atmosphere". It added: "Staff say that they feel less stressed and anxious as the expectations for the management of behaviour have been made clear. They say leaders support them in implementing the behaviour policy."
The site of the former WRH Car Sales in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere has recently been sold at auction; at present the purchaser and the intended future use of the site are unclear. If any reader has information as to what the future holds for the site adjacent to The Fox pub, then please contact me in confidence at my usual email address - hugh.neal@gmail.com. More on this at the end of the update.
Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association (BBNWA) released the following statement last week:- "On 8th February, we were swamped with reports from concerned residents about ex-offenders going door to door selling homewares during the evening. A young woman knocked at a door in Canterbury Avenue, Sidcup at 8pm. She became very agitated when the resident asked her to produce her peddlers permit. At 7.40pm a lady in Hurst Road opened her front door to a dishevelled man with a nasty cut to his eyebrow. Again, he said he was an ex-offender but had no bag with him containing products to sell. He is described as white, in his 20's, 5'7", average build. He wore a dark tracksuit with a cap which all appeared dirty. His speech was slurred. The lady gave him some money just to get rid of him, as it was dark and she was frightened. Other residents reported the same stories in Old Farm Avenue, Penhill Road, The Rise and in Barnehurst the same day. One resident in Sidcup stated that one man asked her for Amoxicillin, so she called the police. It is unknown whether they found the individual. BBNWA are making enquiries to try to find out if there is a genuine ex-offender salesperson programme. If you have information about such a scheme, please get in touch by email to bexleynw@outlook.com".
The advert above dates back to 1901, so the "20th Century Cycle co." would have been an extremely futuristic brand at the time. I think it strange that it does not give an address for callers though. An eye catching design, nevertheless.
The following public announcement was made recently by Bexley Labour Group:- "Bexley’s Labour Group of councillors have launched a cost of living information booklet to assist residents, businesses and voluntary groups in supporting residents who are seeking assistance due to the current cost of living crisis. The booklet outlines information available from both national and local organisations to assist people in a range of ways regarding financial support, energy costs, food and groceries, childcare costs, housing costs, support from the local voluntary sector and within the work place. Cllr Daniel Francis, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services said “It has been clear to me through conversations with groups in the voluntary sector, that there was a growing need to collate financial signposting advice of both national and local organisations in one place. The creation of this information booklet to support residents has been a team effort from Bexley’s Labour Councillors to provide virtual assistance through this crisis.” Cllr Stefano Borella, Leader of the Labour Group said “Many residents across Bexley have had to make difficult choices to eat or heat their homes, and the cost-of living booklet contains helpful information in one place to help residents who don’t know whom to turn to. I hope residents find the information helpful and as ever they can get in touch with their Labour Councillors who are always happy to help.” The cost of living booklet can be downloaded freely from the following link - https://www.bexleylabour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/513/2023/01/Bexley-Cost-of-Living.pdf-small.pdf or hard copies can be made to residents or voluntary groups".
The end video this week is a largely silent tour around the aforementioned WRH Car Sales prior to its close down and sale. It gives a very good idea of what the business looked like behind the scenes. As previously mentioned, if you know what the future holds for the site, then please email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment