President.

Thank you to everybody who has contacted me over the last week in respect of the 20th anniversary of the first publication of the Maggot Sandwich, which I marked last Sunday. I have had an astonishing number of emails from readers, and I have ensured that I have responded to each one individually. Thank you once again for your very kind words and thoughts.

A second subject that I raised in the last Blog update was that of the scrapping of the historic World War I Royal Navy warship HMS President at the European Metal Recycling (EMR) facility on the banks of the River Thames in Anchor Bay, on Manor Road in Erith. You can see the ship in the two photos above - click on either of them to see a larger version. A number of readers have been very kind in sending me photographs of the former warship, which, according to recent reports is already being cut up and recycled. This unfortunate fate is primarily due to decades of neglect by its former owner, prior to them abandoning the vessel. A campaign to save and restore the historic ship has been under way for quite some time, and I wish that it was possible to save a piece of Britain's maritime history, however from expert opinions on the condition of the ship, it seems clear to me that it is too far gone to be restored. To clarify, The Radio Caroline ship, the Ross Revenge - now a registered charity, which is in far better condition, and has been very well cared for and maintained is nevertheless shortly to go into dry dock for a refit. This is going to cost well in excess of half a million pounds. The Ross Revenge is on the historic ships register, which is the marine equivalent of being a listed building. In comparison, HMS President is in far worse condition due to decades of neglect, and any attempt to restore it to its original condition would cost multiple times that amount of money, and would leave almost nothing left of the original ship, even if the money could be raised. Unfortunately it seems to me that this is just wishful thinking, unrealistic and impractical. Any restoration work would have needed to have been done at least 20 years ago, now it is just far too late. There is however potentially a beneficial outcome, of which many people are unaware. The value of steel that was forged prior to 1945 is at a very large premium. The reason for this is that it was manufactured prior to the invention of nuclear weapons. After 1945 manufactured steel contains minuscule amounts of radioactive nuclear fallout. The amounts are too small to be harmful to humans or animals, but if they are used in extremely sensitive medical equipment such as MRI and CAT scanners, the residual tiny amounts of radiation can affect the results of medical investigations. This is the reason that medical scanner manufacturers require the use of recycled steel that originates from before the first use and testing of nuclear weapons. It has been noted that the Chinese have been illegally scrapping sunken World War II warships to obtain quantities of nuclear fallout free steel, even though many of these sunken ships are protected under international maritime law as designated war graves. Thus, it would seem that the scrapping of HMS President may actually benefit people due to the recycling of the very valuable non - radioactive steel, although I gather that the ship is in such poor condition that much of the hull is rusted through, and contains no more than two to three millimetres of steel plate in places - if the ship was in a slight swell, the action of the wind and tide would likely cause the vessel to break up through a lack of structural integrity. A few readers have questioned from photographs they have seen on social media of HMS President, as to why it has a somewhat unusual black and white geometric paint scheme, and was this something that was done by vandals. In fact, the opposite is true. For many years when the ship was used as a conference and party venue whilst moored on the River Thames on The Victoria Embankment in central London, it was painted in conventional colours. Later it was decided to paint it in what is known as The Dazzle paint scheme. This is actually historically accurate for certain Royal Navy warships in the period including World War I. The reason for this unusual geometric paint design is actually quite practical. In the era before the invention of radar, warships had to aim their guns using optical rangefinders to calculate the distance to their targets. These optical rangefinders used a series of lenses and mirrors to focus onto their enemy. Once a clear image had been achieved by the operator of the rangefinder, they could then read off the precise range to the target which could then be input into the gun turrets to obtain a hit. The Dazzle paint scheme was an early form of stealth. It made focusing an optical rangefinder onto a ship painted with The Dazzle paint system extremely problematic, and would gain the warship valuable time to return fire. It was not a perfect system by any means, but it did give ships equipped with The Dazzle paint schemes an added advantage during combat. By the early years of World War II, some warships were equipped with radar range finders, which made The Dazzle paint redundant. More on HMS President at the end of the update this week. As always, comments and feedback should be sent to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Another piece of local maritime history. The photo above dates back to 1920; it shows shrimp fishermen employed by William Gilder, the fishmonger who had a shop in Erith High Street, directly opposite the wooden jetty that is still there today, albeit having been rebuilt on multiple occasions since the time of the photo above. The distinguished chap in the Fedora hat the helm of the vessel is Mr. Gilder himself; I am not sure if he regularly went out on shrimping trips, or if this was a special occasion that merited a commemorative photograph. I was surprised when I came across the photo; I knew that the River Thames off Erith was a rich source of Lemon Sole, Common Dabs and Eels, but I did not know that it had been a historic source of shrimps. What is somewhat troubling is that back then, raw sewage was pumped into the Thames from Crossness Sewage Works. Shrimps and Prawns get their nutrients from filtering the water they swim in, and any noxious substances tend to get concentrated in their bodies as a consequence.  This would have made eating Erith caught shrimps a bit of a lottery regarding whether they would give you food poisoning or not; I guess that people’s constitutions were a bit more hardy back then; personally I would have avoided local shellfish just to be on the safe side.

As I have written in the past, the proliferation of African restaurants in Erith, Plumstead and Woolwich has been noted, but they seem to restrict their advertising and publicity to within the African community – they don’t seem to make any efforts to encourage other customers to try them out. Back in the early 1960’s a large number of men migrated to the UK from mainly Bangladesh and Pakistan. Initially they opened small cafes to cater for their desire from food from home. Never people to miss the main chance, some of the more entrepreneurial of them realised that they were sitting on a huge, untapped market of British people who at the time were used to a fairly bland diet, and who might well find the novelty and diversity of a foreign cuisine a real attraction – as most definitely turned out to be the case. The food served in what became the high street curry house might not have resembled what you would be served in a respectable family abode in Lahore, as the dishes were tweaked both for the relatively untutored British palate, and were also made easier to make in large quantities with cheaper ingredients. By this clever tailoring of the food to appeal to the British, many curry house owners went on to earn vast fortunes, both from restaurant chains, and the later move into chilled ready meals, tinned curry sauces and a plethora of other “Indian” style comestibles. The market in the UK alone is now worth hundreds of millions of pounds per year. It strikes me that the African restaurants could take a similar approach – tweak the menu to appeal to the Brits (who nowadays are a lot more open to experimentation than back in the 1960’s) and welcome them in – the tills might then start ringing. To be honest, it may be difficult for the independent African food outlets to gain a toe in a more general market, as big business has already seen the gap. You might be wondering what chain already sells African food? Nando’s – it is marketed as “Piri Piri” style food, but it is basically a watered down version of Southern / West African cuisine. For example, what Nando’s call their “Spicy Rice” is called “Jollof Rice” in Nigeria, Ghana and much of Africa in general. Nando’s has been an astonishing success in the UK – it is one of the fastest growing food brands, and it has an amazingly high brand value and level of recognition. Unlike many fast food outlets, it has fan sites and even has a UK wide website for reviewers.

This month marks an important 50th anniversary for a technology that most readers will not have heard about, let alone care about, but very quietly, it was the cornerstone of a technological revolution that still has strong influences today. It primarily took place in the very late 1970s, but mostly in the 1980s and 1990s, but still has a great deal of relevance nowadays. The UK is widely known as one of the principal hubs for extremely high-end computer software creation, including but not exclusively in regard to video games. For example, the extremely popular Grand Theft Auto series of video games are widely thought of as being an American product, whereas in reality they were all written in Scotland. The origin of this hugely profitable and extremely influential industry is primarily down to a small microchip which powered many  devices over a period in excess of 30 years. The Zilog Z80 microprocessor, which has its 50th birthday this month. In July 1976, a small silicon chip packaged in a 40-pin dual in-line package (DIP) rolled out to the market. Few realised at the time that this modest 8-bit microprocessor—the Zilog Z80—would go on to power an entire generation of home computers, arcade machines, handheld game consoles, and industrial equipment for nearly half a century. Now, the Zilog Z80 stands as one of the most successful, durable, and influential CPU designs in computing history. It was used to power many of the early Sinclair home computers, including the pioneering ZX80. the ZX81, and the hugely popular and influential Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It was also used in the Tandy TRS-80, Amstrad CPC series and the Japanese MSX systems. It was also the heart of many early arcade video games machines, including Pac-Man, Galaga, Frogger, Dig Dug and Defender. The Zilog Z80 chip was also inside many home video games systems such as the Sega Master System, Game Gear, and the Nintendo Game Boy. On a more serious note, it was also used in a multitude of industrial control systems, and even as part of domestic central heating installations. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Readers may recall that I recently wrote extensively about the flood that affected central Crayford, and how this was apparently due to a lack of engineering maintenance of the water mains by Thames Water. Now, since a hosepipe ban has come into effect since the recent heatwave, a local resident, who chooses to remain nameless has written the following open letter to Thames Water to express their frustration over the situation. The letter reads as follows:- "This is an Open letter to Thames Water after they just messaged me to tell me there’s a hosepipe ban. I completely understand why we need to protect our water supply, and under normal circumstances I’d have no issue with it. Water is a precious resource and we all have a part to play. What I do have an issue with is this… Nearly two years ago I reported a continual leak in Hall Place Crescent, Bexley. I was told it was losing somewhere in the region of 500 litres of water every hour. If that’s accurate, we’re now talking about millions of litres of water wasted. Since then I’ve been told on several occasions that engineers would be attending. I’ve taken days off work to be there, only for nobody to turn up. So it’s difficult to accept being told to use less water when such a significant leak has apparently been allowed to continue for so long. Instead of asking customers to shoulder all the responsibility, how about fixing the leaks that have already been reported? Higher bills, a hosepipe ban, and years of avoidable water loss don’t sit well together. Customers deserve better".

Whilst I was doing some online research for a future article on the Maggot Sandwich, I came across something which has triggered somewhat of a minor mystery. It appears that the extremely popular and always busy Furze Wren in Bexleyheath Broadway is currently closed. I have checked on the Wetherspoons website, and there is an announcement to the effect that the pub will remain closed until the 11th of August. Quite why it is shut in what is an extremely busy season for them is at present unclear. From what I have been able to determine, the Furze  Wren is one of the strongest performing Wetherspoons pubs in the region. I would have thought that if it was going to close for redecoration and / or a refit, the senior management would have chosen another period of time in which to do it. If any reader is privy to the reason for the current closure, then please contact me in complete confidence. 

And now, as they say, for something completely different. Long time reader and occasional contributor Christine wrote to me during the week to say that she had attended a cake baking demonstration and workshop, which took place recently at the independent domestic appliance retailer, Wellingtons located in Bexley Road, Northumberland Heath. Christine writes (slightly edited for clarity):- "I attended a Victoria Sponge (including home made jam) master class by Lesley who did very well on GBBO 2025. She is a local hairdresser. This was her first teaching class, held at Wellington's kitchen showroom (in Bexley Road, opposite their main store). She is planning on holding a couple more before the end of the year, again at Wellington's show room. There was a chap filming throughout and taking photographs for Lesley's Instagram account (Lesley Anne Bakes)".  

The end video this week shows the aforementioned HMS President being towed from Chatham Royal Dockyard by two tugs, on its way to to be scrapped at the EMR recycling facility at Anchor Bay on the River Thames in Erith. Comments and feedback to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.