The Maggoty Man.

The photos above were taken on a very wet and windy Tuesday evening in the conservatory at the rear of the Royal Standard pub in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere. The second public meeting of the Save Belvedere Splash Park campaign was held. Nearly thirty people crowded into the conservatory. The main business of the evening was to elect a committee to actually run the protest campaign. Not long after I arrived at the venue accompanied by my camera, a lady came up to me and asked “Are you the maggoty man?” which left me slightly nonplussed. I knew what she meant, and wondered if she had also got it mixed up with The Matt Smith version of The Doctor, who was occasionally referred to as “the raggedy man”. I confirmed I was that person, which seemed to please her. I have been giving some thought to the whole terminology of online journals, and what the names imply. Personally I am forming the opinion that the term “blogger” may no longer be appropriate for the likes of Malcolm Knight, Darryl Chamberlain,  and indeed myself. In my opinion, blogging seems to denote the occasional postings of missives in a casual and inconsistent manner – a quick whinge about something to get it off your chest and into the world, whether the world is interested or not. Long term, regular postings in a consistent format that involves a considerable investment of time and effort, as well as a degree of subject research and accountability to the readership would seem to me to be more than mere blogging. I would suggest that a more suitable term should be "community journalism". What do you think? Does it sound pompous and self-serving, or do I have a  point? I would solicit your opinions and suggestions. Answers on a postcard please, or better still, leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

As I have commented recently, it does seem that the actions of Bexley Council Environmental Health Department are having a very positive effect. The “Scores on the Doors” ratings of many local food outlets have been steadily improving over the last few months. It has just come to my attention that traditional London Pie and Mash shop – Miller’s in Albert Road, Upper Belvedere has been awarded a five out of five star rating for food hygiene and kitchen cleanliness. This is excellent news; I know several friends who eat there on occasion, and the reports have always been that the pie and mash sold is of exceptionally high quality. In this time of fried chicken and dodgy mass produced burgers it is good to see that certain traditions are not about to die off. One friend has two primary school age daughters – they prefer pie and mash to McDonald’s or Burger King, and I know that Miller’s is their destination of choice. On a less salubrious note, I am pleased to see that the application made by African restaurant K’s Spice in Pier Road, Erith to open from 9am until 1.30 am the next morning, seven days a week has been rejected by Bexley Council planning department. The restaurant is located under a row of low – rise flats, many of which are occupied by people with small children. The level of noise and disruption that such long opening hours would cause are simply not acceptable. As if this was not enough, even though many “Scores on the Doors” ratings in the area are improving, as already mentioned, the K’s Spice has consistently had an unacceptable one star out of five for the last three inspections. Personally I think that the place should be compulsorily closed down until such time as it was able to meet or exceed a three out of five star rating – the level that is generally accepted as the minimum acceptable score. What do you think? 

There is another tech birthday this week, but it is not thirty years old as so many seem to have been over this year. This piece of technology celebrates its tenth birthday – the Firefox web browser. If you have been around for a while, you will no doubt record the 1990’s when the web first started to make an appearance. I can recall the heady days of 1996 and browsing the infant web on a PC running Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 3 over a corporate leased line. Even then, it was not a pleasant experience. Private users who were fortunate to have  dial up internet access preferred the Netscape Navigator web browser, which offered a more complete, if somewhat slow and buggy experience. As has been well documented elsewhere, back at this time web browsers were sold in boxes at computer stores. Netscape Navigator was around £35 in PC World – at this time web download speeds were far too slow to download an application, which might be several hundred megabytes in size. Netscape Corporation made a fortune, and for a couple of years they utterly dominated the web browser market. Microsoft came late to the web, but when they did they were ruthless. Microsoft immediately broke the near Netscape monopoly by bundling their rival browser called Internet Explorer free with new Windows PC’s, and by giving away Internet Explorer CD’s on the front of popular computer magazines at the time. Overnight the Netscape market share plummeted, their market capitalisation crumbled, and the company was all but ruined. For the next roughly seven years, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer had a virtual monopoly on the web browser market. By the time they had released version six, so confident that the opposition had been crushed that Microsoft publicly announced that they were not going to release a further version, as there was nothing left to do with the product Apple mac users were even further unsupported in that the Mac version of Internet Explorer was never developed past version 5. This stunning piece of arrogance soon came back to bite them squarely on the bottom. The Mozilla Firefox project was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser – an early open source update of the by then abandoned Netscape Navigator software suite, which consisted of a web browser, an Email client, an Internet Relay Chat tool and a basic “what you see is what you get” web page authoring tool. Hyatt and Ross felt that the Mozilla browser was too large, complex and bloated – very few people really wanted or used anything except the web browser element of the suite; instead they decided to branch out on their own in order to create a much lighter, faster and more efficient stand – alone web browser. Initially this was called Phoenix, but this had to be changed as a company had already go the name registered. The change was then made to Firebird, but again copyright issues were raised. Finally the name became Firefox – named after a breed of Red Panda. Version 1.0 of Firefox was released on the 9^th November 2004. The rest as they say is history. I have a small involvement in the early days of Firefox – I was a volunteer tester – I would download the nightly builds for both Windows and Linux and see how long it took me to find the bugs – which I would then report to the development team. It was quite a big commitment, but the team in those days was only about 25 people in total, and the actual software development team less than half of that, so one soon got to recognise names. Since then, Firefox has been instrumental in removing the dominance of Microsoft – who soon realised that they could not ignore the browser market after all; nevertheless they steadily lost market share, not only to Firefox, but also to the excellent Google Chrome web browser, and to a much lesser extent the rather clunky Apple Safari browser, and the very idiosyncratic Opera web browser (yes, it is still going – just!) If Firefox have done anything, it is to democratise web surfing – they are also the only major web browser company whose products are not tied to a large company, and whose programming code is truly free and open source, Happy Birthday Firefox – you deserve it!

Some readers are surprised at the amount of time I spend working on each weekly update of the Maggot Sandwich; on average each update takes around ten hours of work to research, write, edit, create web links and metadata for. Much of the time is spent in research – I try to ensure that I report on facts, not suppositions, and bearing in mind I am both reporter and editor this can on occasions be extremely difficult. This week I have what would have been a couple of local scoops, but the Save Belvedere Splash Park team accidentally blew the stories before I had a chance to properly get the details. I had mentioned the stories to them in passing, and they unwittingly passed them on. Such is the nature of online media. I am constrained by only publishing once a week on a Sunday. Nevertheless I did uncover the following two news stories, one of which is solid fact, and the other at present is still a rumour that has yet to have been properly corroborated, but does come from a previously reliable anonymous source. The first, solidly confirmed story is that there are plans by giant brewing and hospitality company Marston’s to construct a large pub, restaurant and hotel on the North side of the Belvedere flyover at the junction of Picardy Manor Way and Eastern Way in Lower Belvedere. If approved, it could mean some much needed jobs for the area, as any such new operation will be rather labour intensive and will require a certain amount of staffing 24 hours a day. Marston’s are known for their quality real ale (they are the largest brewer of cask ales in the World), but they also run a very sizable estate of hotels and restaurants on top of the nearly two thousand pubs they operate around the country. Marston’s to my knowledge don't have any pubs in the local area; all I can find is one in the City of London (the Pitcher and Piano in Cornhill), and one in Braintree in Essex(Bailey’s Café Bar). Other than that there is nothing Marston’s – wise in the region, let alone the local area. The site, if it gets planning approval, will be very sensibly situated, close to the A2016 Eastern Way to Plumstead and Woolwich and the A 2016 Bronze Age Way to Erith, Crayford and Dartford, with its link to the M25 and the A2 / M2. I think the business planners at Marston’s have been one step ahead of almost everyone, and I can see the benefitting because of it. As I have covered recently, it is quite probable that a bridge or tunnel will be built at some point to link Lower Belvedere with Rainham in Essex; the proposed new hotel / restaurant and pub would be smack bang on the South side of any connection, and in a prime spot for business travellers needing a bed for the night. It is highly likely that any bridge or tunnel connection across the River Thames would require drastically improved local public transport, thus making the pub and restaurant accessible for any locals wanting to leave the car at home when they went out for a couple of pints, or a meal and a glass of wine. The fact that the newly built Belvedere Park residential estate is within a couple of minute leisurely walk would also be a great advantage. A new facility of this nature really has no local competition – the nearest rough analogue would to my mind be the Harvester outlets in Crayford and Dartford, though they are really too far away. The only place I can see that has anything to fear from a pub / restaurant combination is the Running Horses in Erith High Street. A few months ago when it had a previous health inspection, it only merited a woeful one out of five stars on the “Scores on the Doors “ rating system. Back in October it was re – inspected and I am pleased to say that it has seriously upped its’ game and now rates four out of five stars, an excellent improvement. The bottom line is that the pub does not attract anything like the number of customers it used to. Back in the late 1980’s the upstairs carvery was booked weeks in advance, and packed out every Saturday and Sunday. The food was plentiful, well cooked and reasonably priced; The Running Horses was synonymous with family lunches out, and for good reason indeed. Nowadays the reports of the food have been woeful – cold gristly meat, grey vegetables, congealed gravy and sullen service. As I have said before, I don't see the current owners have the financial clout and experience to pull what could be an excellent pub out of the mire. Currently it seems to be living a hand to mouth existence by supplying the lager needs of a handful of regulars who seem to spend much of their time in the smoking shelter outside of the front of the pub, come rain or shine. The Running Horses would seem to need a large injection of capital, both to upgrade the building and facilities, and also to publicise it to the larger area. I am pretty certain that it is not anything like an impossibility to return the hostelry to the glory days of the 1980’s, but in my opinion it requires new management and a pot of money. The only way I can realistically see this happening is if the owners of the Running Horses sell the pub to a pub management company like Spirit, who own brands like Chef and Brewer, John Barras and Taylor Walker. Alternatively I am sure that Wetherspoon’s would be more than interested in getting a foothold in Erith, as they have nothing in Belvedere, Erith, Crayford or Barnehurst, and their outlets in Bexleyheath are very busy. Personally I would rather see a regional brewer / pub owner such as Shepherd Neame or Fuller’s taking on the pub, as they both have excellent records of turning around failing pubs and moving them slightly upmarket with better quality food and drink. I am probably dreaming in vain; it is evident that Erith town centre really misses a quality pub, and there does not seem to be any likelihood of the Running Horses getting significantly better without third party intervention. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or drop me an Email to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The second piece of information is still classified as a rumour, as at the time of writing I have been unable to get any documentary proof, though I am still digging through various sources. The rumour does come from a previously impeccable source though, and I have no reason to doubt its veracity. I am told that the now long empty Potion building (formerly the White Hart pub shown in the photo above - click on the picture for a larger view) is being studied by Subway as a possible sandwich outlet / restaurant. This would be a logical move by the fast food retailer; Erith does not have any equivalent sandwich shop (Greggs is the nearest thing, I concede), and recently a large influx of potential new customers are present in the town – the students from the newly opened Bexley College Campus in Walnut Tree Road. They are already a noticeable presence in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, and have definitely increased the takings of many shops. If the rumour has substance (and I believe I may have found a smoking gun - a company called Malthouse Retail that operates a variety of fast food franchises from as far away as Cardiff to as near as Epping in Essex is recruiting shop staff locally). If this is indeed correct, them Malthouse Retail behind the Subway franchise will have an uphill battle on their hands. The White Hart building is in a poor state of repair, and the kitchens need to be completely stripped out and replaced; the structure also needs a totally new ventilation and fume extraction system (don't forget that all Subway outlets bake their own bread on the premises, and need ovens with suitable flues and smell filtering, all of which costs a lot of money).  I am unsure if any new owner would be legally obliged to undertake the remedial works mandated to the operators of Potion – who infamously ripped out the acid etched glass and green, salt glazed Erith Pattern tiles on the exterior of the old pub. Bearing in mind that the building sits in the middle of a conservation area, it may be a condition of trade that a facsimile frontage is installed. Having said that, I know the Council planning department backed away from that idea a while back. At present the whole thing is pure supposition, with only minimal evidence at present. I will publish more news as it comes to me.  I am always reliant on you the reader for my stories – even if you don't want a name check, any story you send can be published in anonymity if you so choose; alternatively I have regular guest writers, and if you have something that you feel would be of interest to people, get in contact with me and we can discuss it. I don't have many rules, but there are a few guidelines I request that guests adhere to – nothing very arduous, just common sense behaviour.

I took the above photo a while back in August when the rumour first surfaced that Electricity House was possibly going to the the subject of a redevelopment plan; thus far nothing has happened, and the story has gone cold. Nevertheless, the site is being allowed to fall slowly into rack and ruin, and no money has been invested in the building in a very long time indeed. It is only a matter of time before the property owner takes action. It would be great to see it undergoing a complete, but sympathetic restoration. Somehow I just don't see this actually happening. If any reader has heard any new stories or rumours about the future plans for Electricity House, please Email me and let me know - I rely on my informers.

Microsoft are pitching their forthcoming Windows 10 operating system heavily towards the education sector; they will be rolling out tools to enable remote administration of laptops running the new OS to make it more attractive to non – technical staff to administer. Meanwhile Google is making a dent on this lucrative market with Chromebooks. The internet giant has been promoting the use of the Linux based Chrome OS with specific tools for schools to manage the devices, their apps and users. Its Chromebooks for Education programme is helping schools deploy large numbers of devices with an easy management system. While it is possible to purchase a small Windows laptop for about the same price of a basic Chromebook, the associated management and support costs (not to mention the expense of a Windows licence for each user) are enormous in comparison. In addition,  Chromebooks are pre-loaded with apps such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, with similar functionality to Microsoft's Office suite. Schools can easily provision each Chromebook with specific educational apps, remotely wipe the entire device in seconds, and reuse the laptop for a new class without purchasing any more licenses. There is no manual setup for different users and the machines are administered throughout the school, no matter how many Chrome devices they have, or where they're being used. Google claims that there is no manual maintenance, security patching, or time-consuming support. Since Chromebooks are specifically designed to work online with cloud storage there is no risk that students could lose their work and applications. Each student receives an unique Google account and cloud drive where all documents, preferences, and apps are installed, allowing them to work on the school provided Chrome OS device or any other computer, tablet or smartphone able to run Google Drive. If a Chromebook is lost or compromised it can be wiped out remotely with the "power wash" feature. Despite this, the use of Chromebooks outside of the USA is still somewhat limited in schools; Apple have very cleverly marketed the iPad at the educational sector in the UK, and in many places it has now become the de facto standard. Apple has always been a strong player in the education market. While other PC vendors were mostly focused on the corporate and government sectors Apple was cultivating niche markets such as education, press and design. The effort is paying off, and Apple can claim leadership in the education market. Many schools offer “£10 a month” leasing schemes, which enable pupils to have a centrally managed iPad complete with technical support should it break, and full replacement insurance if it is lost or stolen for a relatively reasonable monthly fee. This generates a reliable monthly revenue stream for the specialist educational resellers who operate the schemes. Microsoft need to simplify their offering for education empowering schools and teachers to manage devices, licenses, and content easily – the tools within Windows 10 partly address this, but it may well be too little, too late. They also need to provide free development tools for educators so they can create unique content;  otherwise the current trend of schools moving to iPads and Chromebooks will continue and the professionals of tomorrow won't be used to Windows anymore. This more than any other single reason is why I feel that the once dominance Microsoft and Windows had on the PC is now coming to an end.

The ending video this week is from a relatively new YouTube channel called "Harry's Garage". It is put together by motoring journalist and former Evo Magazine publisher Harry Metcalfe. Harry is fabulously wealthy (but not in the Jay Leno league), and has a fantastic private collection of vehicles which he stores at his family pile in West Sussex. Unlike Top Gear or some of the other motoring channels on TV and online, Harry's presentation style is laid back and thoughtful - he obviously knows and cares a great deal for his vehicles. Many of the cars featured are exotic supercars from the 1980's to the present day, but Harry has a particular soft spot for his 1954 Series 1 Land Rover, which you can see in the video below. Please feel free to leave a comment or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The satisfaction tour.

When the light and weather is right, parts of Erith can at times look positively exotic. The photo above shows the key worker apartments (called Tramway House) on the corner of Stonewood Road and West Street, right next to the new Bexley College site. The apartments overlook the Riverside Gardens and the River Thames in one of the nicest locations in the town. If the flats had been built in somewhere like Putney, they would be the thick end of a million pounds or so.

Only a matter of weeks after Erith KFC gave up in their bid to open their drive through around the clock, another local restaurant is bidding for a late – night licence. K’s Spice – the Nigerian restaurant in Pier Road, has submitted an application to Bexley Council to extend its opening hours; currently the place opens from 10am until 11pm, and the owners wish to extend this until 2am daily. I don’t think that the application will meet with success, as there are flats located above the shop unit, and opening into the early hours of the morning would undoubtedly cause noise and disturbance. It would be interesting to see if the council licensing team take other criteria into account when deciding whether to grant opening hour changes to food outlets. For example, should they take account of the restaurant’s “Scores on the Doors” food hygiene rating? If this is the case, then K’s Spice would be on a sticky wicket, as it only gets a rating of one out of a possible five stars for kitchen cleanliness. As I have written in the past (and many reader have agreed with) in my opinion, any restaurant that fails to meet a minimum of three out of five stars (which is described as being the lowest acceptable rating) should be compulsorily closed until such time as the place is deep cleaned, and new equipment installed so that  their rating meets or exceeds a three star rating. The “Scores on the Doors” rating sticker should also have to be displayed by law. I notice that whilst food outlets in Bexley hardly ever have their rating stickers displayed, food outlets in Dartford are far more likely to publicly show their stickers. I think this could at least part be because Dartford’s restaurants seem to overall have a higher standard of food hygiene. I was walking around Dartford Town Centre last weekend, and I noticed with satisfaction that almost all places had a four or five star rating, which they proudly displayed on their window sticker. I don't know the reason for the discrepancy between Dartford and Bexley, other than as we know, the London Borough of Bexley has the worst food hygiene ratings in the whole of the UK. Whether Bexley have less staff available to police the system, or Dartford better promote and foster good food handling and preparation techniques I don't know, but the message seems to be clear. If you are going out for a meal in the local area, you are probably better off going to Dartford if you want to avoid the possibility of food poisoning. Dartford has another point in its favour if you read comic books. News Stand Comics have opened a comic book store in the shop unit at the base of the clock tower opposite Dartford Station and behind the Orchard Theatre. It used to house the tourist information centre, but now is the home of a wide variety of comics, action figures and collectibles. Until now local comic fans had to go to Bluewater or London to buy the latest editions. Now there is somewhere more local to go. I wish them well.

Hearing of the sad death of actor Bob Hoskins this week, it did remind me of an incident that happened many years ago, not long after I had passed my driving test. I was accompanying a friend who was still a learner so that he could get some much needed practice (back in those days you could legally accompany a learner as soon as you had passed your test, unlike today). It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were driving along Romney Road in Greenwich, right outside the National Maritime Museum, and had stopped at a Zebra crossing.  There was a bang and a sudden jolt; momentarily I thought my friend had dumped the clutch and stalled the car. We then both realised that the car had been rear – ended by another vehicle. I looked over my shoulder and saw a large, dark green Jaguar XJ-6 saloon far too close for comfort.  I told my friend to pull over to the side of the road, and the Jaguar followed. The night before this incident, ITV had shown the television premiere of “The Long Good Friday” – a movie which is now regarded by many critics as the finest British gangster film ever made. I had watched it, and was much taken by the performance of Bob Hoskins, as the tough and resourceful London gang leader who tries to move into property development, and unwittingly ends up on the wrong side of the IRA. Anyway as we checked the very minor damage the bumper – little more than a small dent if I recall, who should get out of the Jaguar than Bob Hoskins himself! As he came over to us, a woman at a nearby bus stop came over and started jabbering “I saw it all – he rear ended you – it’s all his fault!” Hoskins turned to her and said “it OK lady, I have it under control”. He turned to us and said “completely sorry – all of my fault”, and the interloper cut in a second time with more nagging. Hoskins now growled at her “I have told you – SHUT IT!” Which did the trick – the woman was so taken aback she was silenced. He pulled out his wallet, saying “can we sort this out like adults? Would £200 do to fix your bumper?” Bearing in mind the entire car was probably worth a maximum of £200 back then, my friend accepted gladly – he knew he was getting an amazingly good deal. Bob Hoskins was friendly and open, though we only spent a few minutes with him, he seemed like a genuine, completely down to earth bloke.

The advert above was first published back in 1903. It does rather infer that other local bakers were not hygienic - I am not sure if such an advert would be permitted nowadays. Still, it does show that even 111 years ago, a local food producer was very conscious about cleanliness. Something that some local outlets today seem to have forgotten.

Have you ever dug an old computer, games console, or other bit of long forgotten old electronic kit out of a cupboard or loft, only to find that the original, light grey plastic case had turned a nasty tobacco brown colour? Many people think that this is just a bit of ingrained dirt – but the staining does not come off, however much you scrub. This unwanted phenomenon has been known for several years, and has been researched by a number of people keen on restoring vintage home computers. The problem is caused by the special kind of plastic used to manufacture the cases. It is called ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene – you can see why even the scientists just call it ABS!) The plastic is made of three different substances, which when mixed together in certain proportions give the plastic its strength, flexibility and impact resistance. The trouble with ABS plastic is that it is very flammable unless steps are taken to do something about it. Scientists came up with a flame retardant chemical that could be added to the ABS plastic mix to stop it combusting. The chemical was one of the CFC group – which you may recall used to be widely used, until  it was discovered that they caused serious damage to the Ozone layer, and were then internationally banned in the 1990’s. Back in the 1980’s though, the chemicals were used in all sorts of ways. The discolouration of ABS plastic cases is caused by a chemical reaction when strong sunlight containing a high percentage of Ultra Violet (UV) light is allowed to shine onto the plastic. Any computer left on a desk in an office, or games console left in a kid’s bedroom would suffer this. The UV light causes the element bromine from within the CFC fire retardant to slowly leak out of the mix – bromine, which is naturally a brown colour – and this is what causes the tobacco – like staining to the ABS plastic. A group of hobbyists, some of whom have a background in chemical engineering have worked on a way to remove this horrible discolouration which can seriously affect the looks of what otherwise would be some attractive and historically important computers. They have created a cleaning gel called RetroBrite, which when pasted onto the discoloured ABS plastic surface of an old piece of electronic kit, then exposed to a UV lamp for a few hours, will completely remove the brown discolouration and return the object to an “as new” appearance. For various technical and legal reasons, this bunch of enthusiasts have been unable to patent RetroBrite, and instead publish online their formula for making it, and instructions on how to use it. To be honest, RetroBrite is pretty nasty, corrosive stuff, and has to be treated with caution. You can read more about it here.  If you ever see RetroBrite available for retail sale, it has been produced by a third party, not the original creators. Because one of the active ingredients in RetroBrite is high strength Hydrogen Peroxide, it is illegal to transport by post or courier. Some shady characters have offered pre – mixed RetroBrite bottles for sale on EBay. This actually contravenes the website’s rules, as it is regarded as a hazardous chemical. If you ever see RetroBrite for sale, it is dodgy. Making it from the recipe on the RetroBrite website is perfectly acceptable, however, and to be honest, it works best when it is freshly made. You can read a detailed account as to how it is made, and how it actually works by clicking here.

I seem to be having a bit of a Dartford oriented theme this week; readers may recall that a couple of years ago that I observed that whilst Liverpool never ceases to find excuses to celebrate the Beatles, and their links with the city, Dartford seems almost embarrassed to be the home of the Rolling Stones in comparison. OK, you have the Mick Jagger Centre, but that is about as far as it goes. Some years ago a campaign was started to get a blue plaque erected on Platform 2 of Dartford Station, to commemorate the place where Keith Richards and Mick Jagger first met on returning from buying obscure blues albums in Soho. They discovered they shared a deep love for the music, and the rest, as they say is history. The plaque campaign came to nothing, and currently there is no form of commemoration at all. One thing has changed though. A local company has started running something called the Satisfaction Tour, which describes itself as “Join us on a fascinating and fun – filled coach tour of Dartford – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ home town. Discover where Mick and Keith grew up and met before the formation of the Rolling Stones, the world’s greatest rock and roll band. Tour guests staying at the Hilton Dartford Bridge Hotel will be collected from the hotel and taken to Dartford Railway Station, where the tour begins. The tour will then take you onto the places associated with Jagger and Richards early years, such as visits to their childhood homes and schools. Dartford Railway Station where Keith and Mick became reacquainted on platform 2 in October 1961; The hospital where they were born; Keith's teenage home; Holy Trinity Church where Mick was christened and Keith sang in the choir; Len Goodman's Dance Studios; Keith's childhood home where we visit the garden and his bedroom. Near here you will have the opportunity to stop for refreshments. Mick's childhood home; Wentworth Primary School where Keith and Mick first met; Dartford Technical College where Keith attended (now Wilmington Grammar); Mick's teenage home; Dartford Grammar School where Mick attended.” I would imagine that this would generate a lot of interest amongst foreign Stones fans, though personally paying a tour fee of £32.50 to stand on Dartford Station and then to look at Len Goodman’s dance studios (which incidentally are situated above a kebab shop in Market Street, Dartford) has a somewhat limited appeal. I hope the tour does well. You can read more about it, and see some vintage photos of the legendary rockers if you click here. 

Last week I featured Walnut Tree House, which until 1932 used to occupy the site now the home to Erith Council Offices. Walnut Tree House was owned by John Parish, a successful businessman who owned Erith Ballast Wharf on the banks of the River Thames, and also the ballast and loam pit in what is now the Europa Industrial Estate in Fraser Road. Once the pit was exhausted, it was decided that the great big quarry was ideal for use as a sports venue. Erith Cricket Club, Erith Football Club and Erith Shooting Club all used the facilities. A later ballast and loam excavation site was located on the land sided by Bexley Road and Fraser Road, which was eventually worked out in 1970. Since then it has been unused, though as Malcolm Knight of Bexley Is Bonkers has pointed out, there are rumbles that the site may finally get redeveloped – it got purchased by an Essex based property development company called the Anderson Group back in January, most likely as a housing estate. The situation is still far from decided. I will be keeping tabs on it. Other planning news indicates that the traveller pony that has been living on a piece of waste land at the end of James Watt Way may be in danger of losing its home. Bexley Council are discussing the potential redevelopment of the old RMC Aggregates site (currently in temporary use by Abbey Car Breakers as an overflow from their main site) and the adjacent river front land, including the area currently occupied by the pony. They are keen for the site to be used for industrial or commercial purposes; I quote:- “The eastern part of the site offers opportunity to make use of the river frontage. Accordingly there is a preference for industrial and commercial uses. As these are in close proximity to existing and potential residential areas it is necessary to ensure that new industrial and commercial development is of high environmental standard, especially where close to residential properties”. It will be interesting to see where they go with this. More news as it arrives.

The ninth Bexley CAMRA Beer Festival is almost upon us; it runs from the 15^th to the 17^th of May, and is held at the Old Dartfordians Sports Club in Bexley Village. It is an excellent venue, and is much better served by public transport than the old venue, which used to be Sidcup Rugby Club (a great venue, but miles from anywhere and a pain to get to and from).  Not only is the Old Dartfordians Club far easier to travel to and from, but it is in fairly close proximity to Bexley Village itself – which is helpful if one fancies a post festival curry, as there are several Indian restaurants in the town that display a three star or higher “Scores on the Doors” rating. I will be covering the festival in greater detail after the event.

I received the following message in the week from a local musician and Vox enthusiast, following my piece on the connection between Vox and Erith. "I am contacting you about your recent MS story about the Stones and/or The Beatles visiting the Vox factory in  Erith. I would refer you to Jim Elyea's excellent book "Vox Amplifiers - The JMI Years" Vox's main facility was at 119 Dartford Rd. According to Jim's book, JMI production moved to the Erith building in 1965 and production continued there despite a fire on December 1 1965, it is not clear whether Vox actually owned the building as it also housed another Royston Industries company Burndept's Ltd (JMI was partly owned by Royston at this point). In January 1967 there were 150 employees at Erith. The Vox factory in Erith was closed in 1970. Apparently Mick and Keith were regular visitors to the Dartford factory as they were Dartford boys themselves but all reliable sources confirm that the Beatles never visited the Vox factory in Dartford or Erith. The Kinks, also Vox users, never visited the factory as "it was too dangerous for Muswell Hill boys to go to Dartford". Tony Hicks, lead guitarist with The Hollies was a frequent visitor, as were the Dave Clark Five. Hank Marvin brought his red Fender Stratocaster that he had bought at Jennings shop at 100 Charing Cross Road into the Dartford factory one day because he was having trouble keeping it in tune...the powers that be simply decided to give him a new one. The Charing Cross Road shop was more likely to have been frequented by the stars of the time. Much more information including photos, lists and details of JMI employees can be found in Jim's excellent book ".

Local bus company Stagecoach buses are currently testing new, hybrid engine double decker buses. On Tuesday afternoon I saw one running on the 602 school bus route. The very smart looking, brand new bus was in the middle of Bexley Road at the bus halt in front of the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. It had broken down! The driver and another Stagecoach person (possibly a mechanic) were trying to restart the vehicle, which appeared to be completely dead, apart from working hazard warning lights. These vehicles are largely reliant on computer control, and I would not have been surprised if there was a computer related problem – this is one of the most common causes of faults on the networker trains used by South Eastern. I have witnessed this whilst on the platform at both Cannon Street and Dartford stations. The driver could not get the train to start up  - it had completely frozen. He ended up doing what many PC users do in such circumstances – he switched it off, then back on again. I suspect that the bus crew would probably end up having to try the same technique. I hope that the teething troubles are soon overcome, as it would be a great move for Stagecoach to replace the older vehicles in their fleet with more economical and lower emission buses. Ideally they would go for Hydrogen fuel cell powered buses, as have run in and around Waterloo in the past. The trouble with these zero emission vehicles (OK, they emit a little water vapour, but that is it) is that currently they are prohibitively expensive to purchase. Hopefully as the technology matures, the costs involved will come down and we will have many hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles.

Word reaches me from one of my confidential sources that the closure last Wednesday of The British Music Experience exhibition at the O2 Arena was long overdue.  My source, who had some involvement with the project in the past wrote “It was a fabulous exhibition with interesting exhibits and lots of audio visual interaction, but unless you went around it slowly and logically there was almost too much to take in. The ticket booth was set up on the assumption that there would be huge queues lining up, but I found both the 02 and the British Music Experience like a ghost town, and sometimes I saw more staff than visitors. The entry fee was very high indeed - it was always my view that the place could not survive”. This is all a great pity. From my understanding the reason for the closure is that their sponsors refused to renew their support for the 2014 / 2015 season; the Experience is now looking for a new home. I wonder if a local venue might make a good place for The British Music Experience might be the former Woolwich Granada Cinema? It is currently being used as a cathedral by the Christ Faith Tabernacle Church, who seem to have made a very good job of restoring the old Art Deco building, which has Grade II listed status, so I very much doubt if they would be interested, which would be a pity, as the Granada has strong historical musical connections;  it was used in the 1950’s and 60’s as a live music venue as well as a cinema. Buddy Holly held some gigs in 1958 (one of which my late Dad attended), Roy Orbison, and even the Beatles played the place back in 1963 – though I doubt they would have been heard over the screaming!

The video to end this week is a curiosity. It, along with several others, has been made by a professional Hollywood film editor. He's taken an episode of Gerry Anderson's "Space:1999" and intercut it with an episode of the original "Battlestar Galactica" to tell a completely new story. It really does go to show just how much a good editor can do to influence a film. It is very well done; for the most parts you cannot "see the joins". Feel free to leave a message below, or Email me directly at hugh.neal@gmail.com.