Community.

News broke last week that the much loved Belvedere Community Centre in Mitchell Close, Lower Belvedere is in imminent danger of closure. The Belvedere Community Forum, which has run the centre since 1999, says it can no longer continue and is urgently looking for a solution.  The community centre, which runs all sorts of events and facilities to help local people, is in danger of closing at the end of February this year. A spokesperson for Belvedere Community Forum said: “It is with a heavy heart that we need to tell you that the Belvedere Community Forum are unable to continue to run the Belvedere Community Centre and that unless the council or another organisation are found to run the centre, the community centre may have to close on 28, February 2025. If you have a regular room or space hire with us, you will be able to use the centre as normal until 28 February. We remain hopeful another organisation will be able to take on the running of the centre. We are actively seeking another organisation that can take over the management of the community centre to ensure that this vital resource remains available to you and the wider community. However, there is the possibility that this does not happen or there is a time between us ceasing to run the centre and another organisation taking on the responsibility. We deeply appreciate your support and engagement with the Belvedere Community Centre over the years. Your involvement has been invaluable, and we are committed to finding a solution that will allow the community centre to continue serving your needs. Thank you for your understanding and support during this challenging time.” A petition has been setup to try and save the much valued and important community centre. The petition description reads as follows:- "I've seen firsthand how essential our community centre is. It's a thriving beacon of solidarity, providing invaluable assets such as a community fridge, diverse social groups, children's play groups, and necessary support for our most vulnerable people. Yet, these resources are at risk with the current Board of Trustees’ inadequate management. We are uniting to demand the removal and reformation of the Board, to safeguard the centre's continued positive impact on our communal life. Our community centre is a hub for all, especially for those who require extra help. The staff are truly exemplary, demonstrating commitment and compassion at every turn. Their dedication serves as a lifeline to those who depend on the centre's services the most. Unfortunately, the disconnect with the current Board of Trustees threatens to fracture the heart of our community. As our rallying cry, we collectively implore a restructuring of the leadership. The urgency of this reformation lies in preserving the inclusive spirit that the centre promotes—one that is directly affected by the actions or inaction of its governing body. In order to ensure our community centre and its varied resources continue to exist, we need a Board that can effectively support its vision and its role within the community. This isn't simply about a fridge or a room; it's about hundreds of lives woven together by the threads of support, trust, and community spirit. It's about preserving an institution that plays an indispensable role in the lives of many. For those who believe in the power of community, the compassion of the staff, and the vital importance of this centre, signing this petition is a step towards protecting our resilient space for the present and future generations. Will you sign?" You can read more details about the campaign to save Belvedere Community Centre, and if you wish, sign the petition by clicking here. 

Many thanks to the readers who have contacted me with commiserations regarding my current illness. Unfortunately I am still suffering from Post Covid Fatigue. I have had a total of three telephone consultations with NHS health care professionals last week, and the upshot is that I will just have to wait until it goes away - there is no actual treatment for the condition. In my case the main symptom is extreme tiredness and exhaustion, along with some intermittent nausea, lack of appetite, and unwelcome trips to the loo. Both Sainsburys and Ocado delivery services are doing well out of me at the moment. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

After my article on the future of physical media products such as Blu - ray disks, I got sent the following message by fellow local Blogger, Malcolm Knight of the excellent "Bexley is Bonkers" Blog, which I have been following for some years. It would appear that the situation with Blu - ray is somewhat more nuanced than I understood. Malcolm writes:- "Thank you for inviting me to enlarge on my weekend message suggesting that your report about Sony dropping out of the blu-ray film business was mistaken. I have followed the audio visual scene ever since I entertained school chums with film shows on a hand cranked Pathescope projector (I think the screen may still be in the loft) and made a record player from components bought in mid-1950s war-surplus stores and a circuit diagram in an electronics magazine. Maybe I shouldn’t have done either as it led to a lifetime of trying to build better ones. It was around 15 years ago that Sony introduced Recordable Blu-ray discs and I have a recorder as has a friend. Neither of us have ever bought a blank blu-ray disc firstly because they originally cost several pounds each and secondly it is far cheaper and arguably more durable to rip discs to a computer hard drive. As such Recordable Blu-ray was never a big seller and Sony announced about a year ago that the market was dying except in Japan and if that tailed off too they would have to cease production. That decision was confirmed in late January. Mini-Discs, - remember them? - are going too. The popular press and some of the technical press which should be ashamed of itself failed to notice that only recordable media was affected. Among AV enthusiasts Sony is very well regarded churning out new blu-ray discs every week from the Columbia back catalogue and new films to the very highest standards. Not only restoring the video so that 1950s films look better than they ever did but frequently remixing the audio to Dolby Atmos standard. Sony is the most consistently reliable of the film studios.Of course the blu-ray market struggles against streaming but it just about holds its own and when occasionally one of the smaller distributors announce that they are going to make a limited number of discs, commonly 5,000, unless you get an order in early you won’t get one. Then they command three figure sums on e-bay. It may be a niche market but there is a big enough demand to see 20 or more new titles issued every week.  HMV in Bexleyheath has approximately tripled its Ultra High Definition disc selection since it opened two years ago. The best standard by far is Ultra High Definition blu-ray especially in the audio department. Ordinary blu-ray can be just as good but marketing pressures usually see the best quality confined to the UHD copy. If you have finely tuned ears it is easy to hear the difference between DVD and blu-ray audio. Streaming services are just as bad. Even their Atmos is not the full-fat real thing. The top tier Netfiix service at £18 a month maxes out at 16 megabits a second and I have seen UHD discs get close to 200, although 70 would be more typical. I find it disappointing that we seem to have bred a generation of AV degenerates who are content to see a £100 million plus blockbuster film intended to be seen on a 50 foot screen and heard on two dozen loudspeakers on a two inch mobile phone screen with Bluetooth ear plugs; a technology which by and large is incapable of transmitting anything approaching hi-fi. (The very latest Bluetooth standards can but don’t expect to see them in anything but super-expensive speaker systems.) Returning to Sony and home entertainment blu-rays, the company presumably had some confidence in the format when they took over Disney’s disc production and distribution (and their Fox back catalogue) last year. Disney was putting out sub-standard blu-rays to make their streaming service look good and damaging what little reputation the company still had among AV aficionados. How long the disc formats can keep going is much debated. There will never be anything better than UHD disc – forget 8k - because we have Gen Z which hasn’t a clue about AV quality and cares less. Also the discs are becoming very expensive, £45 each sometimes in so called collector’s editions with booklets, posters and original scripts etc. It’s obviously a niche market but for the moment film distributors are still making money. I bought three UHDs the week before last, one last week and four are due for delivery from the USA any day now. (UHD discs are not region coded.) If Sony had recently dropped out of the film business the AV discussion forums would be awash with disgruntlement but absolutely nothing has been said. Blu-ray lives on".

I have written in the past about the two unusual double decker trains which used to operate on local rail lines from 1949 until 1971, which were a remarkable failure. This week the end video is a brand  new short documentary by well known transport YouTuber Jago Hazzard featuring some long lost history of why the experimental trains were created, including details of a government report on the subject that was thought to be long lost. The use of double-decker carriages, where feasible, can resolve capacity problems on a railway, avoiding other options which have an associated infrastructure cost such as longer trains (which require longer station platforms), more trains per hour (which the signalling or safety requirements may not allow) or adding extra tracks besides the existing line. Double decker (sometimes referred to as bi-level) trains are claimed to be more energy efficient, and may have a lower operating cost per passenger. A bi-level car may carry about twice as many as a normal car, without requiring double the weight to pull or material to build. However, a bi-level train may take longer to exchange passengers at each station, since more people will enter and exit from each car, and they are accordingly most popular on long-distance routes which make few stops (and may be popular with passengers for offering a better view). It may surprise you to know that double decker trains actually ran locally for quite some time - between November 1949 and October 1971 on the Dartford via Bexleyheath to Cannon Street line. The arrangement of two levels of seating was interesting, for the existing loading gauge precluded development of a double-decker unit in its true sense. Essentially, a ‘’one-and-a-half’’ decker unit had been proposed, which featured alternating high and low seating compartments along the length of each vehicle. Each of the four coach units carried twenty two high level and twenty four low level seats, a total of 508, with additional tip up seats at the ends of the upper level. This was a total of 1,104 seats on the train, normal trains had 772 seats. Access to the upper deck was via a short staircase. Ventilation of the upper deck was by constantly running electric fans, as the windows couldn't be opened. The train was higher than other trains so care had to be taken which routes to use it on. The Dartford routes were ideal and no alteration had to be made to the  track and bridges. Bearing in mind many people smoked on trains back then, the fug on the upper deck must have been terrible, especially in summer. The other problems with the double decker train was that the seats were cramped, hard and uncomfortable, and the time taken to get on and off the double decker carriages was significantly longer than with a conventional train. The double decker trains were finally taken out of service on the 1st October 1971, and was scrapped. You can learn more about the Kent double decker trains by clicking here. The end video features historic footage of the double decker trains from when they were in service, along with a commentary from the aforementioned Jago Hazzard. Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.