Parking.

A number of readers have contacted me recently to share their concerns that Bexley Council are proposing making changes to the parking arrangements in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere. The changes, if enacted will cause access problems to people visiting All Saint's Church, the adjacent Vicarage, and also the All Saint's Church Hall, which is used by a number of local community groups. One of the objectors, The Reverend Simon Archer, vicar of All Saints wrote the following message to the council regarding the proposed parking changes, which I reproduce in full here, with his permission:- "I received you communication by post of the proposed changes to the parking bays on Nuxley Road. I would like to make the following objections.

1. Having lived here for some years I can tell you that the biggest issue for buses is the parking on both sides of the road. The proposed change will not change this. The spaces are 2 m wide and the gap for vehicles to pass is 3 m. The buses are approx. 2.5 m wide. As soon as vehicles park to the very edge or overhang even slightly buses cannot pass and hold up traffic. I have never seen a bus struggle to pull into the bus bay after passing the choke point.

2. Some issues are caused by the large white lorries used by the furniture store 4-6 Nuxley Road. The bay changes are not outside the church but actually the Vicarage which is my residence. The lorries park right up to the end of the bays. This is fine but when the bay is moved it will make it more difficult and potentially unsafe to turn left out of the Vicarage driveway. I have no objection to the business or their vehicles, they are just trying to earn a living and small business needs to be encouraged, but this is the reality of living here rather than what it looks like on a plan.

3. Most importantly, changing the times when the parking restrictions are in force from 8 am to 6.30 pm to the new proposed “At all times”, disproportionately affects the users of the church and hall. This will include worshippers on a Sunday who park in bays including many with mobility issues or transporting elderly members of the congregation to services. These services often last longer than an hour, and the social aspect of services and post service refreshments represents an important community activity for many who are lonely, bereaved, elderly, have mental health challenges and a diverse group of people. The hall is used by small enterprises who offer fitness classes, dog training and uniform groups (guides, brownies etc.). Not only might the time changes affect these businesses and charitable groups but if they fail, then the lost income might affect the longevity of the hall, not just a church but a community asset.

I do hope you will consider these objections, at the very least leaving the restrictions unchanged even if you commence with works which will not solve the problem the buses have." . What do you think? Email me in confidence to hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

The 75th anniversary of the first visit of the M.V Empire Windrush to the UK with the first immigrants from the Caribbean took place last Thursday.  I have a family connection with the Empire Windrush - albeit a little on the tenuous side. After the Empire Windrush made its historic journey to Tilbury, carrying British citizens of Caribbean origin, along with passengers from very diverse backgrounds, the story of which has rather become lost. The actual passenger list from June 1948 included The ship docked at the Port of Tilbury, on 21 June 1948, and the 1027 passengers began disembarking the next day. A commonly given figure for the number of West Indian immigrants on board is 492, based understandably on news reports in the media at the time, which variously announced that "more than 400", Jamaican men had arrived in Britain. However, the ship's records, kept in the United Kingdom National Archives indicate conclusively that 802 passengers gave their last place of residence as a country in the Caribbean. The ship also carried 66 people whose last country of residence was Mexico - they were a group of Polish people who had travelled from Siberia via India and the Pacific, and who had been granted permission to settle in the United Kingdom under the terms of the Polish Resettlement Act 1947. They had been among a group of Polish people who had been living in Mexico since 1943 and the Windrush had called at Tampico, Mexico in order to pick them up. Of the other passengers, 119 were from England and 40 from other parts of the world. The disembarkation of Windrush's passengers was a notable news event, and was covered by newspaper reporters and by Pathé News newsreel cameras. The name Windrush as a result come to be used as shorthand for West Indian migration, and by extension for the beginning of modern British multiracial society. The Empire Windrush was built in Germany in 1930, when it was called the Monte Rosa; unusually it was fitted with four-stroke diesel engines driving two propellers. At the time, the use of diesel engines was highly unusual in ships of this size, which would have been typically steam-powered, and their use reflected the experience ship builders Blohm and Voss had gained by building Diesel-powered U-boats during World War 1. Their top speed was 14 knots (26 km/h) (around half the speed of the large trans-Atlantic Ocean liners of the era) but this was considered adequate for both the immigrant and cruise business, and the diesel engines were substantially cheaper to operate. These early diesel engines were a constant source of problems, as they were under developed and mechanically unreliable - something that would eventually lead to the ships' fate. After World War II, the Monte Rosa was transferred to British ownership under the war reparations act, and then renamed the Empire Windrush. The ship made its last voyage in February 1954, and this is where my tenuous family connection comes in. Windrush set off from Yokohama, Japan, in February 1954 on what proved to be her final voyage. She called at Kure and was to sail to the United Kingdom, calling at Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, Aden and Port Said. Her passengers including recovering wounded United Nations veterans of the Korean War, some soldiers from The Duke of Wellington's Regiment wounded at the Third Battle of the Hook in May 1953. However, the voyage was plagued with gearbox and engine breakdowns amongst other defects, and it took ten weeks to reach Port Said, from where the ship sailed for the last time. On board were 222 crew and 1276 passengers, including military personnel and some women and children, dependents of some of the military personnel. At around 6:15am on Sunday March 28, there was a sudden explosion and fierce fire in the engine-room that killed the Third Engineer, two other members of the engine-room crew and the First Electrician; a fifth crew-member in the engine room and one in the boiler-room, both Greasers, managed to escape. The ship quickly lost all electrical power as the four main electrical generators were located in the burning engine room; the back-up generator was started, but problems with the main circuit-breaker made its power unusable. The ship did not have a sprinkler system. The Chief officer heard the explosion from the ship's bridge and assembled the ship's fire-fighting squad, who happened to be on deck at the time doing routine work. However they were only able to fight the fire for a few minutes before the loss of electrical power stopped the water pumps that fed their fire-hoses. The Second Engineer was able to enter the engine room by wearing a smoke hood, but was unable to close a water-tight door that might have contained the fire, due to a lack of electrical power. Attempts to close all water-tight doors using the controls on the bridge had also failed. At 6:23 am, the first distress calls were transmitted; further SOS calls used the emergency radio transmitter as electrical power had been lost. The order was given to wake the passengers and crew and assemble them at their emergency stations, but the ship's public address system was not working, nor were its air and steam whistles, so the order had to be transmitted by word-of-mouth. At 6:45 am, all attempts to fight the fire were halted and the order was given to launch the lifeboats, with the first ones away carrying the women and children on-board. While the ship's 22 lifeboats could accommodate all on board, thick smoke and the lack of electrical power prevented many of them from being launched. Each set of lifeboat davits accommodated two lifeboats and without electrical power, raising the wire ropes to lower the second boat was an arduous and slow task. With fire spreading rapidly, the order was given to drop the remaining boats into the sea. Many of the crew and troops on board abandoned the ship by climbing down ladders or ropes and jumping into the sea. However, they were quickly picked up by Windrush's lifeboats and also by a boat from the first rescue ship, which reached the scene at 7.00 am. The ships responding to Windrush's distress call were the Dutch ship MV Mentor, the British P and O Cargo liner MV Socotra, the Norwegian ship SS Hemsefjell and the Italian ships SS Taigete and SS Helschell. The last person to leave Windrush was the Chief officer at 7:30 am. All the passengers were saved and the only fatalities were the four crew killed in the engine room. Around 26 hours after Windrush had been abandoned, she was reached by HMS Saintes of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet - my Mother's late cousin Ralph was a member of the crew of HMS Saintes at the time, and some years ago, he kindly supplied the photographs of the burning Windrush and some of the crew involved in the tow above.  The fire was still burning fiercely more than a day after it started, but a party from HMS Saintes managed to get on board Windrush and attach a tow-cable. HMS Saintes attempted to tow the ship to Gibraltar but Empire Windrush sank in the early hours of the following morning, Tuesday, 30 March 1954 after been towed a distance of only around 16 kilometres (8.6 nautical miles). The wreck lies at a depth of around 2,600 metres (8,500 ft). 

A new study shows radio is the most listened-to audio platform in the car with buyers expecting broadcast radio to be standard in their next new car. The new World DAB “Dashboard Dialogue” study from Edison Research also reveals that drivers say radio is an integral part of the in-car experience. The new research was conducted across France, Germany and the UK, through in-car interviews with radio listeners, and over 2,400 online interviews. Reinforcing the need for broadcast radio to remain prominent in the dashboard, the study found that 91% of recent and prospective car buyers said it was important that their recent or next vehicle has DAB/DAB+ or FM radio. Meanwhile 86% of recent/prospective car buyers “would really miss having radio in a vehicle if it were no longer available”. One driver said: “If there was no radio, that would be awful, I’d prefer to go without the air-conditioning.” Radio remains the most listened-to audio platform in the car, with 86% of recent or prospective car buyers listening to DAB/DAB+ or FM radio in a vehicle in the last week. In the in-car interviews, drivers said they valued the radio for its role in providing news updates, traffic alerts, and weather forecasts. “I can’t look at my phone when driving to read the news, so I rely on the car radio for the traffic in my area,” said one listener. Some also said the radio offers companionship during their drives, with the live nature of broadcasts providing a sense of connection and engagement. Radio’s popularity endures, with 87% of recent or prospective car buyers agreeing radio is consistently reliable, and 75% agreeing it provides a better listening experience in the car than other types of audio sources. 82% of prospective car buyers, and 79% of recent car buyers would have been “much less” or “somewhat less” likely to have purchased their recent vehicle if it did not have a radio.

Thanks to radio DJ and regular Maggot Sandwich reader Gary Drew for the following story, which follows on from the radio theme from the previous article. Over the last while I have been contacted by a number of readers who have been unhappy with the changes recently made by BBC Radio 2, including the removal and replacement of a number of well - loved and long standing presenters, the most notable of which being the popular presenter Ken Bruce. It would appear that from information supplied by Gary Drew that the BBC are acutely aware that Radio 2 has been shedding listeners since the lineup changes were originally announced. Gary has informed me that a new BBC “golden oldie” station featuring vintage hits and much-loved DJs is under discussion for older listeners disillusioned with the shift in the radio industry to targeting younger audiences. The proposed new Radio 2 Extra digital channel would return old recordings of former star names like Gloria Hunniford and Simon Bates to the BBC’s airwaves alongside shows from the vaults by deceased broadcasting legends such as Terry Wogan, Janice Long and John Peel. The idea of Mark Punter, a BBC local radio DJ who presents the weekly Vintage Vinyl podcast on BBC Sounds, Radio 2 Extra would aim to win back listeners to the “mother station”, which lost veteran Ken Bruce to commercial rivals this year and has seen its audience fall by 140,000 over the past year. Boom Radio, a commercial rival targeting older listeners alienated by Radio 2’s embrace of 90's dance music and its move to drop long standing DJs, has doubled its audience after hiring BBC show hosts of yesteryear, including David Hamilton. Mark Punter believes his station would give additional “value for money” for older licence fee payers who feel disenfranchised. It would also allow the BBC to play many more classic pop songs that no longer fit the Radio 2 or 6 Music playlists. The station would air repeat recordings of fondly remembered shows in their original slots, giving listeners a daily run of Wake Up to Wogan at 7.30am, followed by Simon Bates with “Our Tune”. Gloria Hunniford at midday would hand over to Steve Wright, back once again “in the Afternoon”. It would include live over night broadcasts from BBC local radio DJs, giving new opportunities to presenters of specialist and daily shows who lost their roles under the corporation’s cost-cutting measures. Mark Punter said in a recent interview:-  “A Radio 2 Extra would provide more music variety for older listeners, some great DJ archive content and a home for some of the brilliant departed BBC Local presenters.” Confirming the meeting, a BBC spokesperson said: “We are always happy to be approached and hear about different ideas from staff.” The spokesperson added: “We have no current plans to launch a new digital Radio 2 service and continue to serve our audiences with our stations and content across BBC Radio and Sounds.” Radio 2 Extra could be a winner, said one former BBC executive. “The BBC is in danger of losing its heartland audience with Radio 2 slipping and the local radio cuts. A Radio 2 Extra is exactly the kind of initiative the BBC should be looking at to stop losing the over-50s,” the insider said. Mark Punter’s plan for Radio 2 Extra would give new life to shows gathering dust in the vaults, such as Danny Baker’s Saturday morning sports and entertainment programme which aired on 5 Live. The BBC would face a regulatory challenge to launching a Radio 2 Extra. Commercial rivals like Boom Radio would almost certainly object to a new licence-fee-funded service targeting its audience. The BBC would have to submit proposals to Ofcom, which would ask what “public value” a Radio 2 Extra would offer, and assess its market impact on commercial stations operating in a similar sphere, like Ken Bruce’s new home, Greatest Hits Radio. The BBC already has a Radio 4 spin-off Extra station that broadcasts archive drama and documentary programmes. However, that station’s future is unclear after being targeted for closure under cost-saving plans forced by a licence-fee freeze. BBC 6 Music already airs live concerts and sessions from the broadcaster’s extensive archive. What do you think? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The long promised extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Thamesmead may have moved one step closer. Various Thameslink stations — including one on the Jubilee line — have been mooted and summarily shelved, but since December 2020, TfL has been seriously considering a link up with the DLR line on the North side of the river — and as of the 16th of June it is looking likelier that it may eventually happen, because it has now submitted its plans to the government. The building of new housing is key to TfL's proposal; it claims up to 25,000 - 30,000 new homes could be 'unlocked' along the extension route, and is already working with Thamesmead Waterfront - a joint venture between Peabody and Lendlease. If this new connection ever actually appears it would involve constructing a new tunnel under the River Thames East of Woolwich. Nothing is likely to happen until around 2030 at the earliest, however. 

I took the photo above - click on it to see a larger version - in Erith Morrison's at 11.15 am on Saturday morning. In my opinion the photo epitomises everything that is wrong with the supermarket chain at present. Even though the store has a large, fully functioning bakery, in the middle of Saturday morning, there were no baguettes / French sticks available, and none appeared to be in the ovens. Morrison's in general, and the Erith store in particular regularly run out of basic foodstuffs - bread / milk etc are often unavailable. Several readers have commented that the supermarket chain seems on the verge of being run into the ground by its' American owners, the private equity company Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. 

The end video this week is rather unusual - it is an examination of the prehistoric fossils that can easily be discovered in and around Abbey Wood. Comments and feedback to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.