The Installation.

I took the photos above yesterday whilst attending the licensing and installation of Reverend Simon Archer as the Priest in Charge at All Saints Church, Belvedere, and the Commissioning of his wife Tasha Archer in the role of Anna Chaplain - which I understand is primarily a role involved with the welfare of the elderly, and those suffering from the various forms of Dementia. As you will see from the photos above (click on any for a larger version), the event was exceedingly well attended; in fact the reception, which was held after the service in the church hall was so packed at one point that movement in the hall was actually extremely difficult. Apart from local parishioners, the Bishop of Rochester and the Archdeacon of Bexley and Bromley were in attendance, as was the Mayor of Bexley, and Teresa Pearce, MP for Erith and Thamesmead. Prior to his installation in Belvedere, Simon was the Curate at Christ Church, Erith. 

Veteran readers may recall that I first talked about the forthcoming, what was then termed The London Paramount Theme Park back in October 2012. The London Paramount Theme Park was originally scheduled to open at the latest by 2020, but due to a number of factors - not least that of major partner Paramount dropping out of the project a couple of years ago, the whole affair looked like it was dead on the vine. Last week the new consortium behind the theme park - the London Resort Holding Company, announced a new partnership had been agreed with ITV as the content provider - a bit less ambitious than Paramount perhaps, but still worthy of attention. The theme park will be built on the site of the derelict quarry site at Swanscombe, which has got to be excellent news for the entire region, if not the country as a whole. The proposed site features Europe’s largest indoor water park, theatres, hotels, restaurants and all manner of themed rides, all in a site spread over approximately 110 acres in the core resort, with another 600 acres surrounding; allowing for typical British weather, over seventy percent of the attractions will be under cover. The bill (at least now, but it is bound to escalate) is estimated to be in the region of £3.2 billion, and the park will employ 27,000 people, many of them from the local area.  It will be a massive boost for the economy for the whole of North Kent and South East London. One downside - whilst a lot of ITV content will be used in the new park, along with rides and attractions based on BBC shows such as Doctor Who, one other content contributor announced last week that it soo was pulling out. Aardman Animations, the creators of Wallace and Gromit, and Shaun the Sheep said in 2015 that the deal would “bring a number of the nation’s favourite characters to the resort and introduce them to a whole new international audience”. However, last week a spokeswoman for Aardman announced that the company is “no longer involved with this project”. A spokesman for London Resort Holding Company said: “The partnerships are under continuous review and when the agreement with Aardman expired both parties decided not to renew the partnership.” The park will be a complete economic game changer for an area that will encompass a vast swathe of the South East of England. Once the park is built and running there will be all sorts of permanent jobs needed to keep the place ticking over – electricians, security, engineers, cleaners, administrators – the list is as long as your imagination. The concept is to produce an attraction so large and absorbing that it will take a visitor around three days to see everything. It seems that the planners have been very clever in their thinking; they realise that much of the new economic growth is coming from China and the Far East. They realise that tourists coming a long distance will think “we can go to Disneyland Paris and ITV London in a one – week holiday”. The planners chose Northfleet and Swanscombe, as the area has excellent road and rail connections, is only forty minutes or so by rail from the coast, and is on the rail route to London. It also helps that the land in and around Northfleet and Swanscombe is dirt cheap brown field stuff that would be excellent for a change of use as a theme park. According to the London Resort Holding Company (the organisation behind the project, now in conjunction with ITV) want to present a very British feeling amusement park experience – they are not trying to emulate Disney, rather to make something with a unique and British identity. I would imagine the success of the Harry Potter Experience may well have stimulated this approach, though the Potter park will be miniscule in comparison with the ITV London site. The London Resort Holding Company team did not select Swanscombe / Northfleet for its new theme park on the ground of aesthetics (the place is full of old gravel pits, and is currently somewhat of an eyesore).  They chose it as the area has excellent road and rail connections, is only forty minutes or so by rail from the coast, and is on the rail route to London. It also helps that the land in and around Northfleet and Swanscombe is dirt cheap brown field stuff that would be excellent for a change of use as a theme park. People who complain about the potential traffic congestion that a large influx of new residents will do to North Kent should consider the huge number or well paid, permanent jobs the developments will bring – initially in construction and associated support services (the builders will need to eat, for example) and later all manner of trades and professions will be required to run the theme park. When I mentioned this to one local a few weeks ago, I got the response “But I don’t want to work in a furry character suit!” The reality will be that whilst suitable individuals will be required to dress up in character costumes, these will in a tiny minority. Most of the jobs involved in running a theme park are in areas like facilities – cleaners, repair engineers, project managers, electricians, administrators, security and the like – and these will no doubt have a wide appeal. The ITV London Park and the Ebbsfleet garden city will, if properly developed and run, be a huge benefit to the entire region in terms of economic activity. The one thing that does concern me over the town will be the price of property – if it is too high, the whole project could wither on the branch. Local workers at the theme park and surrounding businesses are likely to be on the low to middle incomes; there is no point in having half million pound homes in the town, if the average wage is in the region of £20 - £30K range. Developers will need to be realistic regarding their target market for this to work. Other parts of the country need the same, but the spur to building a new town is the availability of work for those that are going to live there – this is where Ebbsfleet / Northfleet / Swanscombe win out. The place is in the right spot at the right time. The project planners conservatively estimate that the park would attract around ten million visitors in the first year, and around fifteen million a year by the fifth, when there are more rides on offer. By way of comparison, Thorpe Park pulls in about two and a half million visitors a year. On top of the money visitors will bring into the region, there are the aforementioned new jobs that will result both directly and indirectly from the park. It is estimated the beneficial financial impact of the park will stretch from Greenwich to Dover, with thousands of permanent jobs being created both in the park itself, and in industries that service both the park, and the park workers themselves. The down side to the project is the loss of Paramount, and the on boarding of ITV has affected the project plan to a pretty dramatic extent. The earliest the new park will now open is 2024, and that date is dependent on construction beginning at the start of 2021, and I suspect that this date will be about as accurate as the originally announced date for the opening of the Crossrail project. 

The 14th annual Bexley Beer Festival is taking place at the Dartfordians Community Sports Club War Memorial Club House, Bourne Road, Bexley, Kent, DA5 1LW. It will be open on Thursday 9th May 2019 2pm-11pm, Friday 10th May 2019 11am-11pm, and Saturday 11th May 2019 11am-9pm. I hope to attend on the Friday, which is usually the busiest of the three days. The lower of the two images above shows the beer list for the festival - click on it to see a larger version.

Now, in an attempt for the Maggot Sandwich to be open, inclusive and neutral in reporting as possible, you can see the beer list above for the alternative Bexleyheath Beer Festival, which is being hosted at the Kentish Belle micro pub in Bexleyheath over the same weekend as the more established Bexley Beer Festival. I have had Emails from several readers with various opinions on the relationship between the Kentish Belle landlord Nick Hair, and Bexley CAMRA, which I am not going to go into here. Suffice to say that I refuse to get dragged into the disagreement. I wish to remain balanced and objective in my reporting. 

Following the Erith public space improvement public consultation, which I covered last week, Some output from both that event, and research carried out both by Bexley Council staff, and also by a couple of external consulting organisations has resulted in some initial conclusions, which I reproduce below for your information:- "Town centre users, business and stakeholders were asked about their ideas and priorities for improvement. Improving the retail offering topped the list (30 percent), followed by public realm improvements (28 percent), enhancing the connection with the riverside and regeneration (both 20 percent); and improving the culture and leisure offering (including restaurant and cafés). This feedback, combined with the wider evidence has led to the selection of the below key themes and suggested actions. The key themes for action arising from this vision are set out below: - Erith currently has limited place recognition and many people are unaware of its many strengths, including its interesting heritage and riverside assets. The Council, using its Greater Erith brand has been working to change this – and this brand is becoming associated with positive regeneration projects such as the Carnegie Building refurbishment and community events such as the Pier Festival. There are also a number of businesses and organisations operating locally which have an interesting marketing Erith to residents and visitors. However, there is a need for coordination of marketing efforts to ensure consistency of message and more efficient use of available resources. Part of place marketing is also to develop an inward investment pack to proactively market Erith to potential new occupiers to help deliver the improved offering demanded by town centre users. Accessibility and way finding – Linked to place marketing, the first view that many people have of Erith is from the A206 (Fish) Roundabout, which is not perceived by stakeholders to create a welcoming and attractive feel. Perceptions around way finding and signage have deteriorated since 2013. This needs to be addressed through both a review and rationalisation of the signage and improving the legibility for those who want to access the town centre by foot, bicycle and car. Work has already started on this aspect through the Erith Links project – which will improve linkages between the station and the town centre. Leisure and evening economy – In the town centre user survey Erith did not have any positive scores for the evening economy offer – and in fact the offer is extremely limited at present. Footfall data shows that there are very few visits to the town centre after the shopping centre closes at 5.30 (weekdays and Saturday). Whilst there are a number of takeaway outlets, a pub and a couple of restaurants, there is a distinct lack of diversity in the evening economy and the leisure offer more generally. Therefore there need to be short and long term measures to encourage a wider range of appropriate food and beverage and other leisure operators to locate in Erith – to build a more sustainable evening economy.  Events and markets – Linked to the Leisure and Evening Economy theme is the need to build a regular programme of special events to attract a diverse audience. These events can be used as a test trading environment for new businesses, and as trailblazers for new concepts, such as the London Borough of Bexley Town Centres Strategy - Erith Summary (Draft), Erith Lighthouse and Erith Kitchen events, which have demonstrated that there is a demand for evening food options in Erith. The first Erith Pier Festival was held in September 2018 and it is believed that this, and other events, could be developed in future to have a London-wide draw. Responses show that people miss the Erith Market and work needs to be done to investigate the feasibility of reintroducing a 21st century version into the town centre. Public realm – Erith scored the lowest of all of Bexley’s town centres with only 16 percent of respondents agreeing that it is an attractive place to spend time and only 20 percent thinking it had good quality public realm. The quality of the public realm needs to be improved and stakeholders want a greener town centre that has visibly improved connections to the river. Supporting businesses – There is a town centre forum that represents the views of businesses, residents and community organisations. However, participation by businesses in the forum is limited and the existing business community is small and relatively fragmented. There is also a limited offer in terms of work space. In addition to provision of a retailer-relevant business support programme – which is a borough-wide requirement – Erith would benefit from work to help kick start a business association, and the introduction of appropriate workspace in and around the town centre". Overall I think this assessment makes a lot of sense. Erith Town Centre is finally recovering after fifty years of under investment, and lack of attention from local government, all of which started with the demolition of the old town centre, and the construction of the horrendous, brutalist concrete shopping centre in the late 1960's and early 1970's. I can recall that as a child, my overall memory of the old concrete shopping centre was the smell of Jeyes fluid and stale wee - and I know that I am far from alone in that respect. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Another IT anniversary happened this week; the Nintendo Game Boy hit 30 years since it was launched. The Game Boy was the first handheld game unit that could use interchangeable cartridges. Up until this point, all hand held games came with just one game, with maybe a few variants of it. Nintendo had been a big player in the single game market, with a range called “Game and Watch” – you got a simple game like a Space Invaders clone, and it also showed the time. This market had slowed – and Nintendo were looking for a new product. Their head designer Gunpei Yokoi came up with a battery powered hand held unit that housed an 8 – bit processor manufactured by Sharp, along with a whopping 8K of RAM. This might sound laughably puny nowadays, but when it was launched, the hardware was way more powerful than anything else on the market. It had a grey scale screen (colour displays were still a few years off, and even then, they would have had a catastrophic drain on the batteries). The Game Boy was designed to fit in a child’s pocket, and could be brought out to play during car journeys and the like. What made the Game Boy so massively successful (it sold more than 64 million units in the ten years it was in production) was that not only were there a mass of great games available for it (estimates are that around 800 titles were produced, including classics like Tetris, Pokémon, Super Mario Land and Zelda) but that Nintendo continually released add – ons, such as a rudimentary digital camera and printer, as well as a cable allowing two Game Boys to share game content ensures that the system continued as a viable toy for many more years than the seemingly low technical specification would suggest. There have been many hand held games computers since the Game Boy, but none have had the success or longevity in the market.

The historic photo above shows the magnificent Walnut Tree House, taken back in 1880. It was owned by the Parish family, who by the looks of it were not short of a bob or two – the place looked lovely. The patriarch, John Parish owned the ballast wharf in West Street, and the ballast pit in what is now the Europa Industrial Estate in Fraser Road. The very fine quality loam dug from the pit was taken to the wharf to be loaded onto freighter ships for transportation up to the great iron and steel forges on Tyneside, where it was used to make moulds for metal castings. I don't know what the Parish family would have made of the location nowadays, with 24 hour motor traffic using the De Luci fish sculpture roundabout, it would definitely be very different from when the house was occupied. As part of the Ex Libris Erith exhibition programme, local historian Ken Chamberlain from the Erith and Belvedere Local History Society will be giving a talk about the Walnut Tree House Estate, the land on which the Old Carnegie Library was built. The illustrated talk will include fascinating stories of the Carnegie gifted library, the tram shed and the electricity generating station. The talk will be taking place in the old library in Walnut Tree Road on Friday, May 24, 2019, between 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM. The talk is free to attend, but to manage numbers you need to book places online by clicking here.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. The first report comes from Barnehurst ward:- "The team have been busy increasing Smart Water coverage on the ward. Beverley Road almost has full coverage as we are hopeful this will be complete this week. Once we have finished with Beverley Road we will be starting Westfield Road. If you live on Beverley Road and have not yet received a Smart Water kit then please get in touch. The team are actively patrolling Drug and ASB area's as stop and searches' have been conducted at Hampton House, Erith Road. One male was found in possession of cannabis. We will continue to patrol ASB hotspots as well as increasing our smart water coverage and street a week coverage". Belvedere ward:- "We have been chasing around these nuisance mopeds this week trying to catch the riders. At least one of the mopeds was stolen. Thanks to our colleagues in Slade Green the stolen one was found abandoned and locked in a garage in Erith. This will have forensics completed with a view to trying to identify the thief. If any suspicious mopeds are seen please try and note the registration plate and let the team know. Theft of mopeds is a regular problem throughout the UK. Please try and lock your moped, motorbike and bicycle up in a garage if possible. If not able to please secure it with a heavy duty chain. We are continuing an investigation into two males that we searched in Mary Slessor House a couple of weeks ago. One had a metal grinder in their backpack. One interviewed, the other to follow. We will look to charge both males with Going Equipped for theft. We arrested a male while helping out in Erith for a Domestic ABH. Took four of us to detain him due to his bulky stature but he was eventually placed in handcuffs and taken to custody. DV will not be tolerated. Our next drop in session will be on Tuesday 07/05/2019 at 11:00 at the Belvedere Community Centre". Bexleyheath ward:- "There was a reported burglary reported on Tuesday 30/04/2019 along Bellevue Road Bexleyheath. Suspect had gained entry from the rear UPVC patio door, items taken as well as the victims vehicle. There has been one report of an attempted burglary along Haslemere Road Bexleyheath on the 26/04/2019 – Suspect had tried to gain entry to the front door of the property using a crowbar. Also a shop along the Broadway had reported a burglary. Steel doors were cut open and cigarettes and cash was taken. We have had three reports of Theft from motor vehicles: Tuesday 30/04/2019 – Brantwood Road Bexleyheath; Monday 29/04/19 - 30/04/19 Heversham Road Bexleyheath Sunday 28/04/19 - Monday 29/04/19 Gravel Hill Close Bexleyheath. Also a catalytic converter was stolen from a vehicle along Rossland Close Bexleyheath on Sunday 28/04/2019. A purse was reported as stolen from a shopping trolley whilst the victim was shopping on Monday 29/04/2019. Also there have been several push bikes stolen from a bike shed along Sovereign Court Sterling Road Bexleyheath. This was on Tuesday 30/04/2019. A group was stopped in the cinema carpark but had made off from Police. This particular group are known to us and further enquiries shall be made. During the dispersal zone on the Broadway, two males were stopped and one male was dealt with for possession of cannabis, the other male after a foot chase was detained and dealt with for assault on PC Laing and offensive weapon. Patrols have been and still will be conducted in and around the Premiere Inn car park and including the cinema car park to help tackle anti-social behaviour. If you do wish to pass on information to Police then please contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111 Please do not hesitate to contact us via Twitter, Facebook, email and the ward phone. If you are after crime prevention advice, please look at the Met Police website which has lots of information that you may find useful. Remember in an emergency please dial 999 and 101 for non-urgent reporting". Crayford ward:- "There has been three reports of theft of motor vehicles: Wednesday 24/04/2019 & Thursday 25/04/2019 along Crayford Road / Town Hall; Tuesday 23/04/2019 - Mayplace Avenue; Friday 26/04/19 - Thames Road Crayford. There have also been five reports of Theft from motor vehicles: Tuesday 23/04/19 – Two reports made along Woodside Road. Between Friday 26/04/19 & Saturday 27/04/19 – Another two reports made along London Road, Dartford; 29/04/2019 – Mayplace Road East. The team has been conducting regular stop & searches on the ward. The team have patrolled known drug hotspots on the ward and two stopped for possession of drugs and investigations are on-going. The team have a drop in surgery planned for the Wednesday 8th May between 10am and 11am at the Vintage Lindy Lou's Waterside Gardens". Erith ward:- "We have had meetings with housing officers regarding ASB in areas, this will be ongoing for a while but hopefully we get some good results on this. Weapons sweeps around Erith including West Street; Stop and searches for drugs in the Erith area daily. We have been doing surveys along West Street with local businesses trying to get some feedback on any issues, a full update with be provided on this. Weekly crime update Burg Res Saturday 13/04/2019 Chandlers Drive; Burg - Bus / Com Friday 26/04/2019 West Street; Theft of MV Saturday 27/04/2019 Lower Road; Burg Res Tuesday 30/03/2019 Pembroke Road; Burg - Bus / Com Wednesday 01/05/2019 Rutland Gate. The next Contact Community Session is on Saturday 11th May, 2pm at Costa Coffee".

Northumberland Heath ward:- "This week the team have continued target area patrols focusing around stop and search for drugs offences, this has led to multiple searches and a number of persons reported for drugs offences. Please continue to send us information regarding drug use and offences that are happening near you, some of your intel has led to successful stop and search incidents. There has been a spate of theft from motor vehicles as detailed below. Please do not leave belongings on display in your vehicles, especially sat nav cradles and phone chargers, this may lead to the belief that there could be items such as phones and sat nav's stored in your glove compartment. On Saturday 25th – Sunday 26th of April a vehicle was broken into overnight on Parsonage Manor Way; On Sat 25th – Sun 26th of April a vehicle was broken into overnight in Swanton Road; On Sat 25th – Sun 26th of April a vehicle was broken into overnight in Cartmel Road, DA7. On Sunday 26th April a Red Honda motorbike was stolen from Northumberland Park, DA8 between the hours of 17:30 -18:30. The good news is that we have had no reported burglaries on the ward this week". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "At some point between Saturday April 20th and Saturday April 27th, 2 garages were broken into. One at Sun Court, the other at Grange House. Both are very close to each other. A bicycle was taken from one and a moped stolen from the other. PC's Mark and James managed to recover the bike after seeing it being ridden close to Morrison's in Erith. Unfortunately the suspect got away after a chase but there has been some good forensics recovered from items left behind. 2 vehicle crimes to report. Number plates stolen from a car in Appold Street overnight on Thursday April 25. A vehicle was stolen from outside Northend Road overnight on Monday 29th April. Several good positive stop and searches have been made across the ward with fines issued as well as interviews and cautions given. 2 knives have been recovered during a weapons sweep in Manor Road/James Watt Way. One was behind a fence panel, the other was propped behind a windscreen wiper! Our next Community Contact Session is on Saturday May 11th at 9.30am in the Forest Road café. Our ward panel have this week chosen Off Road Bikes, Drug issues and ASB in Rainbow Road as our Promises for the next 3 months. If you require more information about our ward panel and how it works etc, please let us know". Thamesmead East ward:- "Unfortunately we have had six burglaries reported on the ward over the past week. Between Saturday 27th April, 2200 hours and Sunday 28th April 0300 hours, three burglaries occurred in Manordene Road. Also later in the day between 2000 – 2100 hours, two properties were broken into, Longworth Close, and a vehicle was stolen. The team will be conducting a street briefing during the evening of the 1st May to update any concerned residents. On Wednesday 1st May, the team attended Northwood Primary School offering bike security marking. We held our Ward Panel Meeting on the 30th April, with Inspector Hebdon, Councillors Amaning and Ogundayo in attendance. The priorities set for the next three months were as follows - Burglary, Anti-Social Behaviour and Bike nuisance. On Friday 26th April, the team visited a victim of crime for what appeared as a burglary. However through diligence and victim care it transpired there were serious safeguarding risks present. The victim was subsequently moved to another address, after discussions with Bexley Council, and Bexley Police safeguarding unit. Excellent piece of partnership working by all involved". West Heath ward:- "There were two reported burglaries on West Heath Ward between 24/04/2019 and 30/04/2019. In Elmstead Crescent the victim was away from 5.30am hours to 7pm hours Friday 26/04/19.On their return he was told told him that his house alarm had gone off between noon and 1pm. The side gate to the rear was open and the French doors were insecure and the lock damaged. There was no sign of search and at the time of reporting nothing is believed stolen. He believes that the suspects made off when the alarm sounded. In Brampton Road states that on Tuesday 30/04/2019 at 0415 hours a male was seen on doorbell CCTV trying to open the garage door and then he gives up. He then hears a car and the suspect hides behind a hedge. The suspect then walks off once the car had gone. There were two reported theft of motor vehicles between 24/04/19 and 01/05/2019. A white Audi Q5 index LS65 WGW was stolen from a driveway in Chessington Avenue, Bexleyheath between 0258 hours to 0310 hours on Friday 26/04/19. Also on Friday 26/04/19 overnight 2200 hours -0730 hours in Burcharbro Road a vehicle was stolen from the driveway. There were also 6 reported theft from motor vehicles. A victim reported someone breaking into her vehicle between 1300hrs on Thursday 25/04/19 and 0820hrs on Friday 26/04/19.The victim states there was no damage to the vehicle and she has the keys to the vehicle in the house...unknown how entry gained into the car and sat nav stolen. On Sunday 28/04/19 at about 1815hours the victim in Westergate Road had parked his car outside his friends address and a black suitcase stolen whilst he was insider. It is unsure if the car was locked. Car was broken into overnight Tuesday 30/04/19 between 9pm -6am in Selsey Crescent and various items stolen. Car was broken into overnight 4pm - 6am on Monday 29/04/19 in Cranbrook Road and speakers taken. Vehicle broken into overnight in Seaton Road overnight Monday 29/04/19 between 5pm -7am and 2 pairs of Designer glasses stolen Prada and RayBan".

The end video this week is from local historian Martin Barnes, and it shows the results of the great flood of Erith and Belvedere in February 1953, which caused so much damage locally. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Walnut Tree House.

As I have previously written on a number of occasions, I don't get involved in party politics. For the most part, the mainstream political parties are all aiming at pretty much the same targets, albeit from slightly different angles. On a national basis it is a case of voting for one bunch of idiots over another bunch of idiots. Locally the story is slightly clearer. If you want to know what is going on at a local council level, I would highly recommend that you regularly consult Malcolm Knight’s “Bexley is Bonkers” website – he has his metaphorical finger on the local pulse – and much of what he uncovers is not very encouraging. Malcolm recently attended a meeting convened by the Bexley branch of the UK Independence Party – a group of individuals who would appear to make up in enthusiasm for what they lack in political experience. Their local manifesto makes for interesting reading; though I doubt how much of it they would actually be able to bring off in the (not very likely) event of them winning the local election. They do have one policy which strikes me as well thought out, and indicative of something created by people with real local knowledge. Long term readers may recall that quite some time ago, I suggested that there was a need to improve public transportation for commuters into and out of London. At present, if the overland rail service is non functional, the only option for travellers in the Erith / Belvedere / Abbey Wood areas is to get a bus to Woolwich Arsenal, and pick up the Docklands Light Railway from there into town. In a few years we will have Crossrail from Abbey Wood, but right now the public transport options are somewhat limited when compared to those available on the other side of the River Thames, where the tube is available. What we do have at Erith, which is pretty much unique to the riverside town, is Erith Pier (photo above - click for a larger view). UKIP are suggesting that the Thames Clippers should extend their coverage from their current termination point at Woolwich Arsenal further East to Erith Pier. The mechanics of this would require the rigid concrete pier structure to have at least one moving, floating jetty installed. The reason for this is that the tidal range of the Thames at Erith is very great. If a floating pier was not present, the clipper vessels would be limited to landing only at high tide, which would hardly be practical. I think this could be carried out as a cost neutral exercise. The Clipper service already has corporate sponsorship, and I think that Transport for London could be persuaded to contribute towards the pier modification work that would be required. The travel time from Erith into London by Thames Clipper would understandably be somewhat longer than by train, but I think the overall experience would be far more pleasant – it would also be easier to get a wheelchair or baby buggy onto a Clipper than onto a London bound train at Erith, as South Eastern still refuse to install a lift – but that is an ongoing story for another time. I would be interested in what others think of this proposal? Please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photo above (click on it for a larger view) was taken back in 1880 of a very grand property which was called Walnut Tree House. It was owned by the Parish family, who by the looks of it were not short of a bob or two – the place looks lovely. The patriarch, John Parish owned the ballast wharf in West Street, and the ballast pit in what is now the Europa Industrial Estate in Fraser Road. The very fine quality loam dug from the pit was taken to the wharf to be loaded onto freighter ships for transportation up to the great iron and steel forges on Tyneside, where it was used to make moulds for metal castings. Unfortunately Walnut Tree House does not exist today; it was demolished to make way for Erith Council Offices in the early 1930’s. I don't know what the Parish family would have made of the location nowadays, with 24 hour motor traffic using the hideous fish sculpture roundabout, it would definitely be very different from when the house was occupied. Still, the needs of the council had to be satisfied then, and again today. The migration of staff from the old Bexley Council offices in Bexleyheath Broadway to their newly converted, ex Woolwich Equitable HQ base around the corner in Watling Street will be taking place, starting  in May, and running through in phases until the end of July. Malcolm Knight of the Bexley is Bonkers blog details the move, which you can read here. Malcolm makes some interesting points. The “new” building was originally designed in a pre – office data network age, and was more suited to the storage of large numbers of paper files, and has required extensive internal remodelling to make it fit for purpose. He also points out that the new entrance arch resembles a gallows – for “when the revolution comes” – and I can definitely see his point. To be honest, I am pretty certain that it will be a big improvement over the old Civic Offices, which were only ever intended to be a temporary structure in the first place. I recall that when my late Dad worked there in the early 1980’s, staff would have to grab waste bins to use as buckets every time it rained – the roof leaked in many places even then. I cannot imagine things have improved much in the intervening years. Whilst most of the Council functions will be moving into the Watling Street offices, some departments are staying put. I am pleased to say that the Housing, Council Tax and Benefits unit will be staying put in the old Erith Town Hall, where it has been located for many years. I recall that for a period my Dad worked in Erith Town Hall, before moving to the Bexleyheath offices – to be strictly accurate his office was a very rickety portakabin in the car park to the rear of the main building, as they did not have enough space in the main building, and they did not have any money to extend it – nothing much seems to change in around 35 years. I recall that a number of staff back then used to take in cans of pet food to feed a family of feral cats that lived in the undergrowth that bordered the car park. I wonder if any of their descendants are still around nowadays? Some time ago, and prior to the Woolwich Building Society office being selected, it had been mooted that the council would commission a brand new, purpose built office building somewhere in Erith. Whilst we have been fortunate to become home to the new Bexley College campus in Walnut Tree Road, which opens in September, I could not realistically see many senior council employees wanting to travel to the furthest Northern town in the whole London Borough of Bexley in order to come to work. If you live in the “posh” parts of the borough, like Bexley Village, Bexleyheath or Sidcup, you will hardly want to slum it in Erith. For various reasons the borough of Bexley seems to be divide in two; with the wealthy south versus the post industrial North. Bexley Council are definitely neglecting local roads in the North of the borough, and I can see it causing a serious accident in the not too distant future. Main roads such as Fraser Road and Manor Road in Erith are not just host to cars and vans; as they both provide access to large industrial estates, many heavy goods vehicles, often fully loaded use the roads, and both are also on the 99 bus route, which employs large double desk buses. The road surfaces are riddled with deep pot holes, which are hazardous to all road users. I was a passenger in a car last Saturday afternoon; we were driving along Manor Road when the driver had to steer towards the pavement to avoid a large hole. A driver who had parked, opened their door without checking to see if any traffic was coming. We almost took his door off. Fortunately an accident was avoided, but something similar to this near miss is bound to turn into something much more serious unless the local road surfaces are greatly improved. Manor Road was resurfaced in May / June 2009, and then partially again in 2011; I talked to the engineer overseeing the work on both occasions. He told me the problem of the road surface falling apart so quickly was at least partly caused by the specification of the foundations. In his opinion, the quality of the foundations were only designed to support regular car and van traffic, not the very heavy lorries and buses that use the road. The top layers were cracking and failing as the too weak foundations sagged under the weight. This would seem to make sense – if you go to either Manor or Fraser Road, and look where the road damage is the worst, it is by the 99 bus stops. Not only do the heavy double deck buses stand periodically at the stops, but their tyres scrub at the road surface as they brake, and then accelerate away from the stops. From what the engineer told me, the only long term solution would be to totally rebuild both roads from the foundations upwards – not re – skin the road surface as was done in 2011, as this merely puts off the inevitable. Bexley Council Highways Department seem to be fixated with “street remodelling” in places like Bexleyheath Broadway and Sidcup High Street – to the almost universal disapproval of local residents and visitors alike. I feel that the money being spent on these high profile unwanted works would be better spent on fundamental problems such as the quality of the Borough’s roads. It might not win any planning design awards, but it would reduce the likelihood of traffic accidents, as I can attest from my own recent unfortunate experience.

Another IT anniversary happened this week; the Nintendo Game Boy hit 25. The Game Boy was the first handheld game unit that could use interchangeable cartridges. Up until this point, all hand held games came with just one game, with maybe a few variants of it. Nintendo had been a big player in the single game market, with a range called “Game and Watch” – you got a simple game like a Space Invaders clone, and it also showed the time. This market had slowed – and Nintendo were looking for a new product. Their head designer Gunpei Yokoi came up with a battery powered hand held unit that housed an 8 – bit processor manufactured by Sharp, along with a whopping 8K of RAM. This might sound laughably puny nowadays, but when it was launched, the hardware was way more powerful than anything else on the market. It had a grey scale screen (colour displays were still a few years off, and even then, they would have had a catastrophic drain on the batteries). The Game Boy was designed to fit in a child’s pocket, and could be brought out to play during car journeys and the like. What made the Game Boy so massively successful (it sold more than 64 million units in the ten years it was in production) was that not only were there a mass of great games available for it (estimates are that around 800 titles were produced, including classics like Tetris, Pokémon, Super Mario Land and Zelda) but that Nintendo continually released add – ons, such as a rudimentary digital camera and printer, as well as a cable allowing two Game Boys to share game content ensures that the system continued as a viable toy for many more years than the seemingly low technical specification would suggest. There have been many hand held games computers since the Game Boy, but none have had the success or longevity in the market.

The period advert above came from an old local publication that I own; I believe the ad dates back to early 1947, which was when the map the advert appeared in was originally published. The reference to war damage claims would tend to back this up. Old maps are a great way to find out about local areas - not just for the maps themselves, but for the adverts that they invariably contain. I always look out for them when out and about.

Only a week after I wrote about how the Ladbrokes betting shop in Erith High Street had recently closed, reports are emerging that the giant William Hill bookmaking chain are about to close around 109 shops around the country, putting 420 jobs at risk. I feel sorry for those who will be put out of work - the company blames the rise in tax on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) - the "crack cocaine" of gambling. The Government has raised the tax levels on these terrible machines from 20% to 25% in an attempt to curb their invidious spread. Last year, a report discovered that over £13 billion was gambled on FOBT machines in that year, often by the poorest and most disadvantaged members of society. After doing some digging, I have discovered that the story about William Hill closing outlets may be a bit of a red herring. I understand that the company has been based in Gibraltar for tax reasons for some considerable time. They are looking to increase their revenues by migrating much of the business that has up until now been taking place in their network of betting shops and moving it online, where it will not be taxed, and they will be saved the expensive overhead of having to employ shop staff. The excuse that they are being penalised by an increase in taxes by the Government would seem to be little more than a cynical move to try and elicit some kind of sympathy, when in actual fact the increase in FOBT taxation would seem to be playing directly into their hands. Personally I detest gambling, but at the same time I continue to espouse my personal libertarian philosophy of "If it works for you" - but beware. 

Three years ago, Transport for London trialled contactless payment by mobile smart phone. It was a very low key effort, and it was quietly dropped after a number of problems were encountered. The trial took place across London, but problems were found with devices not registering with the readers, accounts being debited more than once despite only being swiped a single time, and a general slowness in the system. TFL are about to try again, citing the improvement in smart phone technology in the intervening period as the reason to give it another bash. The main motivator behind this is that TFL feel that the Oyster system is too expensive to operate, and they are thinking of the long term – where payments will go in the future, in a post – Oyster environment. There are a number of issues with NFC (Near Field Communication) payment systems. Whilst it is possible to store encrypted details of a number of debit and credit cards on a smart phone employing NFC, it is not always a good idea to do so. The Near Field Communication technical standard does not make any allowances for the  prevention of eavesdropping, and it is possible to record an NFC signal up to ten metres away from a smart phone, with suitable equipment and software – which is all available online already. Gangs who previously have been engaged in illegal “card skimming” activities at cash points are now known to be working on NFC snooping. The problem with the NFC protocol is that once contact has been made and verified between the smart phone and the computer at the far end of the connection, the far end computer will accept almost any data sent over the connection; only the most basic of parity checking is undertaken. This leaves NFC open to all sorts of trickery. I am sure that in a majority of cases NFC smart phones will work splendidly with the TFL electronic ticketing system. The problem comes when something does go wrong – be it due to malicious interference, or a plain old fashioned mistake. The onus is on the device owner to prove innocence, not the other way around, as is already the case with chip and PIN debit cards. NFC may be acceptable (due to convenience) for many regular public transport users, but it does not help occasional travellers such as elderly people and tourists. Some form of manual ticketing system is going to also need to be put in place – even if it is a single use passive NFC ticket, as is already deployed in the public transport systems in places as diverse as Singapore and Canada. What is clear is that Oyster is regarded as old, nearing end of life technology, and a cheaper replacement is needed soon. Comment below.

The BBC News website has been getting quite excited about a subject I have covered on the Maggot Sandwich in the distant past, but now seems to be back in the news. For some inexplicable reason, they have been writing about Secret Numbers Stations in some detail. Secret Numbers Stations have been in existence since World War II. They can be found quite easily if you have a radio which can receive the shortwave bands. Generally speaking, numbers stations appear somewhat erratically and consist of a disembodied electronic voice reading out streams of numbers which repeat a fixed number of times. The stations are usually outside of the main shortwave broadcast bands, and can sometimes be encountered in the amateur radio bands – much to the annoyance of their legal users. Whilst number stations are well known to radio enthusiasts like me, most of the general public will be unaware of their existence. The purpose of numbers stations is simple. They are the most secure method of communicating with spies in the field. Computer communications are easily intercepted, and even the most heavily encrypted ciphers can be broken over time by supercomputers – and it is relatively straightforward to identify a person from an Internet Service Provider. Old fashioned shortwave radio is completely anonymous – no sign in, or account is required, and a suitable radio can be picked up in a shop for a few pounds. Anyone found with a radio which can receive shortwave will not get much attention – most compact travel radios can receive shortwave broadcasts; thus a spy can be completely anonymous and untraceable whilst listening to the coded broadcasts. You can hear a BBC Radio 4 documentary about numbers stations by clicking here. Sometimes new technology is not the best solution to a problem, and this is most definitely the case here. Each numbers station transmission is read out by a computer generated voice, giving it an eerie, somewhat creepy sound. One would have thought that once the Cold War was over, the need for numbers stations would cease, but in many cases, the number of stations has actually increased – radio traffic, including numbers stations has been recently noticed in the Ukraine, where before the recent dispute with Russia, it was pretty much a backwater. You can watch a short news broadcast about secret number stations below. It is a few years old, but still very accurate and insightful. Please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.