Informer.

Why the photo of a lady on a mobility scooter painting a picture of a church, in a church? I hear you wonder; well there is definitely a method in the apparent madness. The lady in the photo above was photographed by me last May during the Friends of Christ Church Erith "Our Erith" local art exhibition. One of the most popular exhibitors was a local artist called Jay Leffew, who you can see in the photo above, which was taken in Christ Church, Erith. Jay is a multi talented artist who works in a number of different forms. She paints, and she sculpts, both in "found" materials such as old copper electrical wiring, and in Papier Mache, and most famously in wood - namely dead old tree stumps. She has been carving animals and birds into old stumps in Bursted Wood in Barnehurst for some considerable time, to much local approval. Her nature inspired sculptures have appeared over the last couple of years on pieces of dead wood scattered throughout the wood, which is popular with walkers. Finally the News Shopper has picked up on the story, where you can see a selection of photos of Jay's wood carvings. This is precisely the kind of thing the local area needs, and it is a strong piece of evidence as to exactly why The London Borough of Bexley should be considered for the award of "London Borough of Culture" which is currently being debated. I have to add that this consideration would be despite the actions (or in many cases the inactions) of Bexley Council, not because of them. The London Borough of Culture project was announced recently by London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. The announcement reads:- "This an initiative to bring culture to all Londoners, local authorities will have five months to prepare applications before a decision is made on where to allocate the £2.8 million pot of funding for the two winning bids. The great thing about culture is not only the economic boom it brings to London... but it enriches our lives, it nourishes the soul, it brings communities together, it heals division. Good culture is for the rich and poor, old and young, no matter your ethnicity or faith. The funding will commit boroughs to introducing artistic initiatives and make culture an integral part of their future. They will be tasked with bringing new opportunities to their area as well as shining a spotlight on existing treasures. An extra £600,000 will be made available for other boroughs who put forward impressive projects". Bexley does little if anything to bring art or culture to the local area - witness the cancellation of council funding for "Bexley in Bloom", and the permanent cancellation of the council funded Danson Festival, citing drainage problems in Danson Park, which mysteriously disappeared when the event was taken over by a commercial company a year later. The event is now held, but it is no longer free - an adult is charged £7 admission on the door. There are just a couple of examples of how Bexley grabs every penny it can from rate payers, yet returns little of worth - another prime example is the much protested closure of the Belvedere Splash Park, which controversially was converted into the Belvedere Beach - at no expense to the council, as it was all funded by Cory Environmental. Despite this, the residents of Bexley continue to be creative and productive - Jay Leffew being a prime example of this - she just quietly carries on enriching the local environment with little thought of money or fame. What is a shame is how the talkback functionality of the News Shopper website gets misused by people who submit factually incorrect and downright harmful comments, which can be read by people who may think they are indeed correct. What annoys me even more is that the writer of the hurtful comment has not even bothered to check the facts before they posted their misleading prose. The malicious and misleading poster wrote:- "I wonder if this legal and healthy to carve this shxxt into a healthy tree!" The poster is obviously a flame baiter - trying to provoke an argument for their own twisted pleasure. The photos of the carvings clearly show that they are all done on dead wood - stumps of trees that have not been alive for some considerable period of time - a fact that is conveniently ignored (or they are too stupid to have taken the time to look at the photos in any detail). This is precisely the kind of activity the News Shopper needs to crack down on, but from my understanding they are so understaffed that website comments apparently go largely unmoderated. You can see another couple of Jay's creations below - miniature models of two local landmarks - the infamous Erith Fish Sculpture, and the far nicer Lower Belvedere Cob Pony Sculpture. The fish sculpture model is constructed out of papier mache, and the cob pony out of old copper electrical wiring that Jay recovered when her house was in the process of being rewired. She stripped the plastic insulation material from the wiring, then wove it into a reconstruction of the pony sculpture that is located on the roundabout at the Lower Belvedere end of Bronze Age Way. 

Some interesting information has recently come to light in respect of a new BBC TV drama series, which is to be filmed on location in Thamesmead in October and December.  The thriller programme is to be called "Informer" and it is being directed by Jonny Campbell, who has previously worked on Westworld, Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, and Doctor Who. The new show is set on a fictional central London housing estate called Bridgewater, and the story is about a young second-generation Pakistani man forced by a counter-terrorism officer to go undercover and inform for him. The BBC will be filming for one week in mid-October and one week in December, and are calling for local residents to act as extras. These will be paid opportunities. If you are interested in becoming an extra in the show, or merely want to learn more about the BBC production, then an open evening event is being held on Tuesday the 5th of September at the The Link Thamesmead, Bazalgette Way, off Harrow Manor Way, SE2 9BS. It starts at 6.30pm and ends at 8pm. The BBC will be bringing a street casting specialist (who runs an extras agency) to the meeting. Anyone that wants to be involved will be asked to give the BBC their details and will have a headshot photo taken. You will then be added to the agency database and will be offered work on days/scenes that you are considered suitable for. This wouldn’t necessarily be limited to filming in the Thamesmead, you could also be asked to work with the BBC on other days in other locations. Signing up won’t automatically guarantee work being offered, but the BBC will do their best to give everyone the opportunity to be involved.

You may recall that two weeks ago I publicised the Danson Dashes - a rowing regatta held at Danson Park; well, now that the event has taken place, A lady called Alison, who is instrumental in running Erith Rowing Club sent me the photograph above, and the text below for your information:- "Some readers may remember the days when Erith Rowing Club ran an annual regatta in Danson Park, Bexleyheath, which was called the Danson Dashes.  The last one was held in 1999; the following year’s regatta had to be cancelled due to a weed problem at the lake.  This, along with other factors, meant it was no longer a viable proposition for the Club to run it. As this meant there were no regattas in the area for nearly 20 years, Gravesend Rowing Club approached Erith Rowing Club with a view to resurrecting the regatta.  On Saturday, 19 August 2017, Erith Rowing Club and Gravesend Rowing Club jointly hosted the first Danson Dashes Regatta for 18 years.  It was held on a private match basis (a limited number of local clubs were invited to compete).  The races included fours, quads, doubles and singles – and there was even time for a lunch break!  Naomi Riches, rowing champion at the London 2012 Paralympics, presented the prizes.  All the competing crews enjoyed the event and many said they wanted to come back next year.  As a result, Erith Rowing Club and Gravesend Rowing Club will run the Danson Dashes Regatta as a full regatta every year going forward, so any rowing club in the country may compete.  Next year’s event will be on Saturday, 18th August 2018".

The photo above shows the now pretty well known Erith Lighthouse structure, located in the Erith Riverside Gardens - click on the photo for a larger view. The schedule of events which took place over the last couple of weeks at this location has now come to a conclusion; the Lighthouse structure has now been dismantled and has now already been moved to its new location on Erith Pier, where it will re - open for a further series of public events on the 7th to the 24th of September. The official announcement reads thus:- "Save the date: Erith Lighthouse returns 7 September. Join us for another three weeks at the Erith Lighthouse starting on Thursday 7th September at its new location, the Erith Pier. Come along to the Pier Party for a double celebration as we reopen the Erith Lighthouse for our September Programme and mark the inaugural Pier Commission featuring Julia Snowdin's temporary art installation. Across September, 6 different chefs will host 8 dinners at the Erith Lighthouse creating distinct menus inspired by Erith’s unique riverside location on the border of London and Kent. Each dinner will be a celebration and fusion of London’s exciting food culture and this area’s agricultural heritage. Alongside the dinners, a three-week programme of family-friendly events in partnership with Erith's residents will explore and celebrate Erith and this part of the Thames Estuary". Following the earlier story concerning the competition to become the "London Borough of Culture", this kind of enterprise should surely count towards any local submission - what do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The image above shows a suspected burglar who was caught on CCTV whilst robbing a house in Lesley Close, Bexley Village on the 16th August at around 4pm. He was one of a total of four criminals who broke into the house whilst the elderly owners were away on holiday. A spokesman for Bexley Police said: "Three of the suspects are wearing distinctive clothing but have their faces covered, although the fourth male isn't. He can been seen using crutches and appears to have an injury to his left foot." this is the crook featured in the photo above. If you have any information as to the identity of this total scumbag, then please ring Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. This leads quite neatly onto a closely related subject. Unsurprisingly, the announcement that Bexleyheath Police Station was being considered for closure has brought widespread opposition from local residents - ninety two percent voted in an online poll to retain the police station in the centre of the borough. I presume that the eight percent who voted against the retention of the Police station were actually criminals. In an interview with the Bexley Times, MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, David Evennett said:- "A move of the front counter services and the police headquarters to Sidcup would be highly inconvenient and I also believe response times in areas of my constituency would be negatively affected, including Bexleyheath, Crayford, Erith, Slade Green and Welling, I urge residents to respond to the consultation and oppose the reckless and unacceptable proposals put forward by the Labour Mayor of London.” Dana Wiffen, Chair of Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association said of the proposed closure:- "We’re currently based at Bexleyheath, if they’re going to move all of the police over to there, then what happens if there’s no room for us? Obviously we will need to see what happens, but it is concerning as we won’t be able to operate as well if we are based at home, we depend on having a good relationship with the police. Also, if you’re trying to keep police in the job, making them have longer travel journeys to another office seems a bit daft.”  On another subject of great local concern, Dana also said:- "The expansion of Biker Gang Crime and nuisance is not just a Bexley problem in London, many of the culprits are under age and the police are not allowed to chase them for fear of injury. We all know this is frustrating but there needs to be changes in the law so that police officers can clamp down on these youths knowing that they are supported by the law courts until this is done these trouble makers know that in most cases they can get away with it. I suggest writing to your MP asking that they support new laws that will help police tackle this growing problem" This is a real problem which Dana has repeatedly highlighted.



The News Shopper have picked up on a subject that I have been banging on about since January 2014, that of betting shops and Fixed Odds Betting Terminals - a real bugbear of mine. Statistics just released by The Campaign for Fairer Gambling, based on the Gambling Commission’s Industry Statistics from November 2016, showed that in 2016 alone gamblers in South East London and North Kent alone lost more than £53m to these machines.  The main reason that the large betting companies want to open more outlets - such as the former Barclays Bank site on the corner of White Hart Road and Plumstead High Street, is that the law limits the number of FOBT’s in any specific betting shop, but it says nothing about the number of betting shops in any location. To increase the number of very lucrative FOBT units in a town, the bookmakers just open additional shops. Many local councils have been reluctant to block this, due to the fact that during the recession, many shop units have stood empty, and the betting shops offer a steady council tax income, which the council otherwise would not get. A recent report makes for extremely troubling reading; it reveals that in the 55 most deprived boroughs in the UK – overwhelmingly located in Northern cities and urban Greater London have a total of 2,691 bookmakers shops, in which £13 billion was gambled on FOBT machines, and £470 million lost by gamblers in the last year alone. In the same time period, there were 1,258 bookmakers shops in the 115 wealthiest areas, adjusted to cover the same volume of population, within which players gambled a total of £6.5 billion, losing £231 million. A hundred pounds can be lost in no more than thirty seconds. Nick Small, of Liverpool City Council said of the situation “millions of pounds that should be used for paying for food and rent was being sucked into the FOBT machines; Bookies are arriving all the time into prime retail locations. This is all driven for FOBTs. I have no doubt of it. We are seeing horrific reports of family breakdown caused by gambling debts, problems with loan sharks. We are pretty sure organised crime is using the machines to launder money. It's out of control in a city like ours, where there are a lot of poorer people”.  The same situation exists all around the UK, with poorer areas – just like Erith, being hit far harder than wealthier regions. Industry observers have commented that one way to reduce the problem specific to FOBT machines would be to limit the maximum stake gambled to £2 – like ordinary one armed bandit machines, and to limit the maximum payout to £100. The gambling industry is not keen on this approach, for obvious reasons. To add to this, the Government are now showing an interest, as the subject is gaining column inches in the press now. The government have taken a very weak stance, saying that they will wait for the findings of the (gambling industry sponsored) research before any decision will be taken; at the rate things are progressing. At the time of writing, no reductions in the maximum amount gambled have been put into place, and they are looking increasingly likely to be left unchanged. The main power house behind the lack of change in the law to prevent problem gamblers losing thousands of pounds in a FOBT gambling session is an organisation called The Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) - which sounds a bit like a trade guild or a charity, but is actually a commercial limited company. The ABB are the PR mouthpiece and propaganda ministry for the UK gambling industry, and who exist to prevent as many crackdowns on the gambling laws as possible. The public relations manager for this organisation is a chap called Peter Craske. You may well find the name familiar, and he is frequently mentioned both in the Maggot Sandwich, and also rather more robustly by Malcolm Knight in "Bexley is Bonkers". Peter Craske is also a local Conservative Councillor with some rather strident views on a number of subjects. Let's just say that it would appear that he is partial to not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. Sounds pretty similar to his day job then. It is not that surprising that in an announcement this week, Sports and betting companies top the list of donors treating MPs to gifts and hospitality. The Ladbrokes Coral group appeared 15 times in the register of members' interests, more than any other donor. Out of 187 donations from UK sources registered by MPs, 58 were from the world of sport. A further 19 were from betting companies. Ladbrokes Coral said it wanted MPs to take decisions "from a position of knowledge", but campaigners for tighter rules on gambling said companies could use hospitality to lobby MPs not to change rules on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.

This week, Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association have published the following report on local crime fighting activities. Barnehurst Ward:- "On a good note for Barnehurst ward there have been no burglaries on the ward during the past week and only one reported Incident of criminal damage to a motor vehicle in Parkside Avenue. This Incident occurred on 22nd August between midnight and 07.45pm. The vehicle was parked in a footway bay and was found to have been scratched along the side of the vehicle. There are no witnesses or CCTV for further evidence. Unfortunately Barnehurst Golf Course suffered theft and criminal damage on 25th August between 07.30pm and 08.00pm. This Incident was reported by staff who witnessed five youths throwing golf balls and being abusive to staff. The youths also entered the driving range and stole baskets, golf balls and flags from the course. The group have been seen in this area on previous occasions and are normally riding bicycles. There is CCTV at the location however staff stated the youths had covered their faces with their t-shirts. The next coffee with cops will be held at Barnehurst Golf Club on Thursday 7th September at 11.00am. Please come along if you have and issues you wish to discuss with us". Belvedere Ward:- "22/08/2017 – PCSO Worrall was out patrolling the ward hotspots and visiting the local residents in relation to local concerns. PC Holmes was knocking on the doors of wanted offenders on the ward. PC Green assisted with a vehicle seizure for no insurance as well as a female arrested for failing to appear at court. 23/08/2017 – PCSO Worrall was out patrolling the ward again, while PC Green and PC Holmes were assisting with warrants across the borough followed by further arrest enquiries. PC Green arrested a male for domestic actual bodily harm and shoplifting. 26/08/2017 – PC Holmes was assisting with the investigation into several shop liftings. PCSO Worrall visited residents in Picardy Street in relation to street drinking and ASB in the local vicinity. If anyone has further information regarding street drinkers or concerns, please contact us. An elderly couple on Lyndon Road were the victims of a burglary by means of distraction where money was taken, the suspects were a white males aged 50 years and 17 years, both with ginger hair – if anybody has any information please contact ourselves or crime stoppers. 29/08/2017 – The team were out again speaking with residents meeting with a vulnerable male as well as talking to residents about flytipping on Morvale Close. Images of the fly tipping have been shared on our Twitter: @MPSBelvedere".  Colyers Ward:- "There are no reported burglaries on Colyers Ward between 23rd August 2017 to 29th August 2017. Motor vehicle wise there was one theft of a motor vehicle and one theft from a motor vehicle during the same period. A vehicle was taken without authorisation from Hemsted Road on the evening of Friday 25th August. No CCTV or witness and the car was found abandoned in Cumbrian Avenue Bexleyheath later the same evening. On Sunday 27th August 2017 the victim had been at work all night as a cab driver and went to visit his friend at her home address on Birling Road. The victim parked his vehicle on Birling Road at the junction of Chipstead Road at about 2am The victim left his vehicle locked and secured and went into his friend property at approximately 2am. The victim was inside the address for less than 10 minutes and when he returned to his vehicle, the front drivers’ side window had been smashed and the glove box had been opened and a search completed. There were several items left on the passenger seat. Inside the vehicle the victim had £ 70 in cash and an LG mobile phone was also taken. There was no CCTV but a potential witness approached the victim and stated that he had heard a loud bang and saw a person in a grey tracksuit running away from the vehicle up Birling Road towards Frinsted Road. The witness was unable to give a full description of the suspect".  Erith Ward:- "Our coordinator from Galleons Close Erith, DA8 1AP has reported these issues many times and is frustrated that nothing appears to be being done about this constant crime and nuisance. There are a number of youths on mopeds regularly riding around illegally and faces covered, coming and going from Abbey Wood are and also 82 Galleon Close, Erith. Hyde housing, and local police have been informed. My husband is coordinator but too ill to do this at present and im also disabled. Not only is the constant noise a nuisance every evening but I have witnessed them dealing drugs out of their man bags they carry. They chase around on roads, paths to escape police and known by all they steal bikes, but no one can prove this. They are a danger to other car and bike drivers as well as children that play on street in Galleon close. They have also been seen going tooled up with baseball bats and other things. It starts about 6pm till 11pm every night. Also there are many dogs being allowed to run loose on Galleon close, some have chased and attacked other dogs and children. Chairman's comment-The expansion of Biker Gang Crime and nuisance is not just a Bexley problem in London, many of the culprits are under age and the police are not allowed to chase them for fear of injury. We all know this is frustrating but there needs to be changes in the law so that police officers can clamp down on these youths knowing that they are supported by the law courts until this is done these trouble makers know that in most cases they can get away with it". North End Ward:- "Over the past few weekends (particularly Sunday's) North End Road has been plagued with between 30 and 40 trial bikes and quads, racing up and down the dual carriageway doing wheelies even standing on their saddles and going through red traffic lights. This Sunday they were actually being filmed by a car in the midst of the bikes, out of the sun roof!! Apart from the tremendous noise of this amount of bikes hurtling up and down the road there is going to be a serious accident and probably some innocent person will get hurt". The response from PCSO Mark Piggott of North End Safer Neighbourhood Police Team regarding this issue is as follows:- "We were at work Sunday, and are aware of the issues. I think it all stems from Bike UK group and social media making it easy for them to arrange their meet ups. Please can you note though that this isn’t solely a North End Ward issue. The group use all of Thames Road, North End Road etc all the way to Thamesmead as it is a long stretch of dual carriage way with many turnings for them to drive around annoying anyone they can so it is a borough issue, not just one ward. But we will be keeping an eye out".  He then went on to say that:- "Over the weekend a group of youths unfortunately got into Slade Green Primary School and caused a lot of damage. Kitchens were flooded along with lots of items thrown around the staff room and other areas of the school. There is very good CCTV of the suspects and we will be doing what we can in the hope of identifying those involved. At our surgery in Forest Road café last Saturday, some good intel was received around some drug issues in the park at Hollywood Way. Our surgeries are a good way for residents to speak with us in confidence about local issues and the dates for our surgeries will be sent out in the next 24hours. A theft from the till occurred at Erith Food and Wine store in The Nursery but again, the CCTV footage will hopefully lead to a positive ID of the suspect".  Northumberland Heath Ward:- "Approximately 800 leaflets were delivered to residents and businesses this week to update them as to what the team have been doing since April of this year. We still are receiving reports of youths riding their pushbikes erratically in Bexley Road causing a danger and nuisance to drivers. A black Piaggio Typhoon Moped was stolen on Monday August 28th at the top of Brook Street towards Belvedere between 15.45pm – 1815pm. A white transit van was broken in to overnight on Saturday August 29th where a power tool was stolen. The lock was tampered with to gain access to the vehicle. On Thursday August 24th at approximately 6.45pm there was a report of males drug dealing in Swaylands Road, the vehicle was then stopped in Luddesdon Road and a male was found to be in possession of several bags of white powder. Five drug warrants were executed in relation to the anti-social behaviour problems on the ward which resulted in two males being arrested for Possession With Intent to Supply Cannabis".

The end video this week is a time lapse film showing the construction of the £250 million Ocado / Waitrose warehouse in Church Manor Way, Lower Belvedere, which is currently the largest automated goods warehouse in the world. Not long after it opened for business, it was invaded by a group of travellers, who effectively closed the business for nearly two days back in June. Please leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The spy who came in from the Co-op.

The photo above was taken on Friday morning by Maggot Sandwich reader and local resident Pam, who noted the illegally fly - tipped waste in Fraser Road, Erith. The tipped waste included furniture and domestic waste - including a number of used baby's nappies (delightful - not!) and most notably a three seater sofa that had been dumped in such a way as to make the footpath virtually impassable. Some scumbag had the temerity to dump the waste on what is a busy main road whilst traffic passed by. Once Pam told me of the situation, I contacted Bexley Council Environmental Crimes Unit. Unfortunately the person I needed to speak to was on holiday. After a couple of quick Emails to local Councillors Edward Boateng and Abena Oppong - Asare, they both got things in process, and the mess was cleaned up by a Bexley Council contractor by 7pm on the same evening. Great work and thanks to both of them for a job well done. What we need to do is stop the fly tipping from happening in the first place. In my opinion the two biggest threats to local law and order are illegal bike riding and criminal fly tipping. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

You may recall that I recently mentioned that Bexley Council were planning on selling off seven parcels of land in the local area, most of which were located in the North of the borough. I have since found out that the sale of such land is not in my opinion economically viable, and does not make any good business sense. In an article published by the Bexley Times last week, the journalist Simon Allin wrote:- "Millfield Open Space on Iron Mill Lane, a recreation area that includes play facilities for youngsters, has been earmarked for disposal, along with five other spaces in Erith, Crayford and Belvedere. The council cited ‘unprecedented financial pressures’ as the reason for the decision, with the need to make savings of £56 million by 2019/20. It estimates that the sale of the six sites will raise £0.07 million, which, when added to the revenue raised from the first four sites in the disposal programme, results in a figure of £0.8 million. Councillor Peter Craske, cabinet member for community safety, environment and leisure, said: “The money from those disposals would be used to prevent further cuts to the grant maintenance budget. If we had to make further cuts, we would have to remove playgrounds across the borough and stop cutting grass.” What Peter Craske fails to make clear in his statement is the amount potentially being raised by the sell - offs of the six further sites will only raise in the region of £70,000 - less than a middle - ranking Council executive's salary. The £0.07 million is window dressing to make unsuspecting readers think the money involved is a bigger sum than it actually is, and on top of this it does not take into account the fees and taxes that will need to be deducted from that amount. The eventual profit will be miniscule compared with the loss of the irreplaceable open space. You can get an idea of the senior management pay scales in the table below.

Regular Maggot Sandwich readers will be aware that I am a big fan of the Tesla brand of electric cars. Tesla founder Elon Musk (often referred to as the “real life Tony Stark”) has ploughed vast amounts of his not inconsiderable fortune into making viable, usable in the real world electric vehicles which are not only practical, but good to drive and extremely desirable. The Tesla Model S saloon competes with marques such as Jaguar and Mercedes, yet is literally years ahead of the competition in drivetrain technology. Last week Tesla announced improvements in both acceleration and range to their vehicles through the adoption of a new architecture for their patented battery technology. The Model S P100D will be the fastest new car produced on an assembly line. The car will have a 100 kilowatt-hour battery, which with Ludicrous mode can go from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds, compared with 2.8 seconds for the current P90D Ludicrous version. It will also go 315 miles (506 kilometres) on a single charge. The P100D Ludicrous upgrade costs $10,000 for customers who have ordered a P90D Ludicrous but haven’t taken delivery, or $20,000 for owners who already have that vehicle type. “It’s quite a milestone that the fastest car in the world will be electric,” Elon Musk said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. Tesla have been gradually upgrading the power delivered by its batteries and the performance of its cars for several years. Musk first unveiled models with Ludicrous mode last year – Ludicrous mode is the ultra-high performance option which gives Tesla cars unmatched acceleration – at the cost of a great reduction in available range. The name comes from a scene is the comedy film “Spaceballs”). You can find plenty of videos on YouTube showing the incredible, hyper – car performance of the Model S, in what is after all a five door saloon car. Up until Tesla came along, electric cars were a bit of a joke – and many in the UK associated electric propulsion with the old fashioned milk float, with its tragic whine and pedestrian top speed. Tesla have made electric vehicles desirable and credible. Other automotive manufacturers are now starting to get worried, and rightly so. Elon Musk has put his money where his mouth is, and he is now starting to reap the rewards.

Next Saturday will mark the second anniversary of the opening of Bexley Brewery. They are located on the Manford Industrial Estate in Manor Road, Erith, in Unit 18. If you look for the Erith Wind Turbine to the East of the town, on the banks of the River Thames, Bexley Brewery is almost directly below this well - known landmark. Next Saturday they are holding an open day party, with a local Barbecue pit master from Belvedere based Steve's Kitchen. They will have the bar open with at least 5 cask ales & 2 Kent ciders, plus wines & soft drinks (they might even has a few special ales on…) If you would like to book a ticket for the BBQ & Beer combination at just £9 then visit the Eventbrite special event booking website for more information.

Much put upon travellers on the North Kent Line will have even more disruption in the next week. On top of the customary rail replacement bus services at weekends that have become so common over the last couple of years, there will be a very changed train service. From Saturday until Thursday, September 1 there will be no Southeastern services to Cannon Street, and instead trains will be diverted to Victoria, Blackfriars and New Cross. Trains will not be stopping at Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill or Westcombe Park stations for those six days.  Over the weekend there are no services to Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Cannon Street or London Bridge stations while work takes place as part of the Thameslink programme. For three working days after the bank holiday commuters will face rail replacement buses running every fifteen minutes between New Cross to Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill and Westcombe Park stations. Personally I have another journey planned, which will involve the Docklands Light Railway. I am also fortunate that my “day job” in technology consulting means that I can easily work from home – all I need is a broadband connection and I am fully able to carry out my duties. I realise that I am very fortunate in this respect. I don’t know how many commuters are going to be able to cope - Southeastern is advising anyone travelling on those days to alter their journey, as fewer trains and busier services - in particular those to Charing Cross - are expected to cause a strain on the service. On top of this, From September 2nd , Cannon Street trains will no longer stop at London Bridge, affecting those who travel on the Woolwich Line from Greenwich, Plumstead, Erith and Dartford. The reason for this is that extensive work is being carried out on both the Thameslink upgrade programme at London Bridge, and the Crossrail Project at Abbey Wood / Plumstead. I fear that the minimal alternative transport offered – a bus every quarter of an hour – is going to be woefully inadequate for the task. At least there is some good news on the horizon. After months of weekend and occasional overnight closures, engineering work at Abbey Wood station has finally taken a recognisable step towards completion. Both the Kent-bound and London-bound North Kent Line platforms are now complete, meaning passengers will benefit from better seating, improved lighting and canopy cover, new customer information screens and new CCTV cameras. you can see the results in the short video above. In an interview with the Bexley Times last week, Matthew White, surface director at Crossrail, commented: “The Elizabeth line will help to transform Abbey Wood. When the new railway opens in 2018, it will be quicker and easier for local people to get to a range of destinations across London and the South East. The improved transport links will also help to bring more businesses and investment into the local area.”

People of a certain age will remember classic children’s TV shows like Play School and Fingerbobs from the 1970’s. The man behind much of this well-loved television was laid back, softly spoken Canadian actor, musician and scriptwriter Rick Jones, he of the bald head and bushy beard that many can fondly remember, and can be seen in the photo above. It turns out that from his memoirs, life at the BBC in the early 1970’s was not nearly so innocent as was portrayed on screen at the time. It turns out that Rick Jones has a link to the local area that I reckon he would rather not have had – as it ended up with him getting the sack from the BBC. Even now at the age of 78, he gets fan mail for Play School and Fingerbobs. Jones, originally from Canada, worked down an Ontario nickel mine to save up the money to come to drama school in London.  He was 24 and married with two children when he became one of Play School’s first presenters in 1964.  But the BBC was nothing like he expected. ‘We went in there thinking “it’s going to be very staid”,’ he says, ‘and soon found out that wasn’t the case at all.’ There was the BBC Club on the fourth floor. It was dangerous as any time you had a break, it was up to the club. All roads met at the Club. You could be doing Songs Of Praise and you’d still be up there, knocking endless drinks back. Everyone met there — there were love affairs, book deals, assignations of almost every human kind.’ Then there were the drugs. I answered a fan letter from a mother,’ he recalls. ‘It was so well-written and so seductive that I drove to Erith to meet this woman.  'I was rewarded by the most astoundingly beautiful person and an astoundingly beautiful daughter aged about four. We spent the whole afternoon sitting under a big tree in her garden smoking her weed. ‘Nothing else happened except that two weeks later a letter addressed to me and containing two huge spliffs turned up on the desk of the head of Play School, Cynthia Felgate.’ Unfortunately for Jones, the fan from Erith had made clear in her letter what she had got up to with him.  ‘Cynthia summoned me in and told me: “Not at the BBC, Rick.” She was old-school. ‘I said to her, “OK, you have that one and I’ll have this one,” and I walked out because I knew it was all over. I was ready to go anyway.’

The local area has many claims to fame, and for some reason musicians seem to feature prominently – we have Kate Bush (Upper Wickham Lane, Welling), Keith Richards and Mick Jagger (Dartford) John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin (Sidcup) and David Bowie (Beckenham / Bromley). Other famous local residents have in the past included Sir Roger Moore (Wansunt Road, Old Bexley), Bernie Ecclestone (Bexleyheath), Lennox Lewis (Danson), Nevil Shute (Hatherley Road, Sidcup), Delia Smith (Bexleyheath) Linda Smith (Erith), Michael Crawford (Bexleyheath), Roald Dahl, (Hurst Road, Bexley), Sheila Hancock (Erith), Boy George (Shooter's Hill), and Sir Edward Heath (Old Bexley). All of these well – known and illustrious people have contributed to both the local and the national well being in one way or another. The same could not be said of another local resident, of whom you may have heard. Melita Norwood, who died on June the 2nd 2005 aged 93, caused a brief flurry of excitement in back in 1999 when it was revealed that not only had she spied for the Russians for four decades, but that the authorities had known of her treachery but had done nothing about it. The story of Norwood, a jam-making great-grandmother and self-styled "Bolshevik of Bexleyheath", broke in September 1999 after she admitted being "Hola", a KGB agent exposed in papers produced by Vasili Mitrokhin, the KGB archivist who had defected to the West in 1992. Norwood's treachery had begun in the 1930s when she was a secretary at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association and passed on secret documents, including details of Britain's first atomic bomb. Her security clearance was revoked in 1951 amid suspicions about her Communist sympathies, and suspicions hardened into certainty in 1966, when the "Venona" files of decrypted Soviet communications revealed that she had worked as a spy in the immediate post-war years. Yet MI5 decided not to interview her, and she continued to pass documents to her Soviet handlers until her retirement in 1972. When further evidence came to light following Mitrokhin's defection, junior MI5 staff decided not to pursue an investigation because it "might have led to criticism for harassing an old lady", and eventually the law officers too decided not to prosecute. The decision led to an investigation by the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, which concluded that MI5 had made a series of "serious failures". What was far more outrageous, in the view of the press, was the fact that Norwood treated public indignation about her treachery as a huge joke. She steadfastly refused to accept that she had anything to be ashamed of: Soviet Communism was "a good experiment, and I agreed with it… I would do it again," she told reporters. More interesting was the question of how an apparently intelligent woman could have remained loyal to a system which had caused the deaths of millions and impoverished and oppressed millions more. She was born Melita Sirnis on March 25 1912 to an English mother and a Latvian father. A bookbinder by trade, Alexander Sirnis translated and printed works by Lenin and Trotsky, and later founded and edited a weekly paper, The Southern Worker and Labour and Socialist Journal. The family house, at Christchurch near Bournemouth, became known locally as "the Russian colony". Alexander Sirnis died aged 37, when his daughter was six; but her political education was taken up by her mother, Gertrude, a member of The Co-operative Party and active in the Workers' Educational Association. When Melita was 10, the family moved to Thornhill, near Southampton, to live with her maternal aunt, one of the first female trades unionists and an official of the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries, which Melita was to join when she was 19. Melita was educated at Itchen Secondary School, then studied Latin and Logic at Southampton University, but only for a year. She and her family moved to London, where she took a job in a Paddington bakers and joined The Independent Labour Party, getting to know such figures as Fenner Brockway, the founder of CND. In 1936 the ILP split, with some members joining the Labour Party and others (including Melita Sirnis) The Communist Party. This was a time when Stalin was tightening his grip on the Russian people with purges and imprisonments without trial. Such details did not bother Sirnis: "You didn't have to agree with everything that was being done in Russia," she said. "But on the whole, it seemed to be a good idea." In 1932 Sirnis had become a secretary with The British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association at Euston, where she kept quiet about her Communism and was considered an industrious worker. The Russians were aware that the Association was involved in nuclear research, and in 1935 she was recommended to the NKVD, the precursor of the KGB, by Andrew Rothstein, one of the founders of the British Communist Party. She was recruited, and by 1937 was a full agent. In the early years of the war, a secret project known as "Tube Alloys" was launched, to build an atomic bomb. Understanding metals such as uranium was a key requirement, and much of the work passed over the desk of Sirnis's boss. Quietly and efficiently she removed Tube Alloys files from her boss's safe, photographed them and passed them on to her Soviet handlers. After the Second World War, Anglo-American atomic co-operation broke down, and Britain decided to pursue Tube Alloys alone. It entailed massive investment in nuclear reactors and isotope separation plants. Every detail was passed on by Sirnis to the KGB. She seemed to live a charmed life. In 1937 British agents rounded up a ring of Communist agents working at Woolwich Royal Arsenal. Their ringleader, Percy Glading, had mentioned agent "Hola" in his notebook, but the authorities failed to identify her. After a few months on ice she was reactivated in 1938. In 1945 she was cleared for secret documents, despite concerns over her Communism. In 1949 she married Hilary Norwood, a fellow-Communist and mathematics teacher. Her Soviet controller warned her not to tell her husband about her involvement in espionage, though he soon found out. Yet although he was said not to approve of her activities, he did not report her to the authorities nor, it seems, make any effort to dissuade her. Most historians of the period argue that the nuclear spy Klaus Fuchs was more significant in enabling the Russians to build their nuclear capability, and that the worst that could be said of Melita Norwood's treachery was that it enabled them to develop their atomic weapon a little earlier than they would have. This was a view expressed by MI5 in its written evidence to the 1999 parliamentary investigation. Yet this was not quite the picture given in her file in the Mitrokhin archive, where she was described as "a committed, reliable and disciplined agent, striving to be of the utmost assistance". Indeed, so highly was she regarded by the KGB that in the 1930s, when, as a consequence of the purges, there were not enough Soviet officers to keep in contact with all their spies in the West, the KGB chose to keep in contact with her rather than with Kim Philby. After the end of the Second World War, the KGB and Soviet military intelligence fought for control over her. She was secretly given a Soviet award, The Order of the Red Banner, in 1958, and was granted a small pension by the KGB a few years later. In retirement, Norwood settled into suburban obscurity and would probably never have been unmasked had it not been for Mitrokhin's defection with six trunk-loads of files from the KGB archive, and for the work of the historian Christopher Andrew, who recognised the importance of the British spy codenamed Hola. The evidence provided by Mitrokhin added little to what MI5 already knew, but as interviewing Norwood might have led to the archive being compromised, the decision was taken to do nothing. When, in 1993, it was felt to be safe to interview her, MI5 again decided not to go ahead, reasoning that as a committed Communist she would be unlikely to incriminate herself, and that the service might be open to criticism for harassing an old lady. The case slipped out of sight until 1998, when it was decided to allow the publication of Christopher Andrew's book on the Mitrokhin archive. The realisation that publicity surrounding the book might lead to the identification of agent Hola persuaded MI5 to consult the law officers, who recommended, yet again, that nothing be done. Thus it was that when, in September 1999, journalists tracked Norwood down to her 1930s pebble-dashed semi detached house in Bexleyheath, their visit marked the first time that she knew she had been unmasked. For years she had carried on living with her secret, unaware that anyone, apart from her Russian handlers, knew about her past, her husband Hilary having died in 1986. Much of the shock surrounding Norwood's exposure was due to the fact that she seemed so ordinary. Her neighbours in Bexleyheath knew she was a life-long Communist who still took The Morning Star - she would buy 32 copies of each issue and hand them out to friends - but she never appeared other than a mildly harmless eccentric, the only evidence of radicalism being the CND posters in her window. She was "The spy who came in from the Co-op". She remained until the end a true believer in the myth of the Soviet peasant worker state that had first inspired her treachery. She hated all reforms of the Soviet Union's genocidal dictatorship. Norwood remained convinced that Communism could work and that capitalism was ultimately doomed to collapse under the weight of its own contradictions. My mother used to occasionally see Melita Norwood on the bus, blithely unaware of the whispered conversations her recognition had brought. She remained deluded until her death in 2005. Britain's greatest traitor was a little old lady who lived in a quiet suburban side - road in Bexleyheath. 

And now to the end video. This is a TV news report on the large warehouse fire that took place in Fraser Road, Erith. I recall, back on the 16th of May 1984, not very long before the Erith deep water wharf (on the site of what is now Morrison's supermarket) finally closed down, that the warehouse that stored the giant rolls of newsprint brought in by ship from Scandinavia caught fire. Once the paper was alight, it proved impossible for the fire brigade to put out. Fraser Road was blocked for nearly two weeks, as the emergency services contained the blaze, but left it to burn itself out. I can remember standing in the back garden of my parents’ house in  Upper Belvedere on a bright and sunny day, and being amazed by what appeared to be snowflakes falling from a cloudless sky. The flakes were actually specks of ash from the raging paper warehouse blaze a couple of miles away. The smell of burning pervaded the area for nearly a month, well after the fire burned itself out naturally – and left the warehouse building a burned out shell. From my recollections of the fire, nobody was seriously hurt, and there was a substantial insurance settlement to the owners of the Europa Industrial Estate. Watch the contemporary news coverage below. Please feel free to leave a comment below; alternatively you can Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Erith Fun Day 2015.

A view looking Southeast from the Riverside path into the Riverside Gardens, showing some of the many stalls and Marquees that filled the grassy area. It could not have been a better day to hold the Erith Fun Day - it was bright, sunny and warm, but not too hot as to discourage visitors. Several people said that they thought it was the best turn - out for an event on the Riverside Gardens that they could recall. I think it is safe to say that everyone had a good time.

Erith Drum Club had an impromptu jam session going for much of the day; their gazebo was located in the far Western corner of the Riverside Gardens - last year I think they were a bit too noisy for some of the other nearby stall holders, so their new location was agreeable to all.

Volunteers from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association on their stall at the centre of the Riverside Gardens. They are shortly to make a very interesting announcement regarding the provision of the SmartWater property marking system. I will cover this in the next week or so.

Erith based bagpipe master Chic Mackie leading a mini pipe band through the crowds.

Many visitors took shelter under the shade of the trees in the Riverside Gardens. By 2pm the temperature reached 27 degrees Celsius. The ice cream van, pop - up bar and burger trailer all did a very brisk trade throughout the day. The Running Horses pub, directly opposite had a Hog Roast going, which smelled very appetising, but I had to forgo, as I am Pork Intolerant. The pub garden was full of visitors, and the hostelry was busier than it has been for a very long time.

Our elected representatives were at the Fun Day - (left to right) Councillor Joe Ferreira, Teresa Pearce MP, and Councillor Edward Boateng. Councillor Abena Oppong - Asare was also present, but she was was not around when I took this photo. Ed and I spent quite some time helping out on the Erith Town Forum stand, getting signatures on a petition from visitors to support the forum's campaign to preserve both the Carnegie gifted old Erith Library building, and the historically important former Potion / White Hart pub preserved as public buildings. Quite a staggering number of signatures were collected throughout the day. Fellow local bloggers The Thamesmead Grump and Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers were on hand - it will be interesting to see their individual takes on the second Erith Fun Day. I enjoyed myself, and met countless Maggot Sandwich readers, even though I was semi - disguised in a wide - brimmed floppy sun hat and sunglasses - both for entirely practical reasons - I get sunburned very easily, and don't like greasy sunscreen creams. My solution is old fashioned, but very effective - I keep as much of my body covered with layers of moleskin or tweed cloth - all of which has a sun protection factor that is way off the scale.

The situation regarding the closure of the Belvedere Splash Park has got worse. The council say that they won't spend any money on refurbishing it, even though it would benefit so many families in the local area. Please mark the weasel words from Councillor Peter Craske - a man who was arrested in June 2012 for alleged misconduct in public office. He said of Bexley Council's plans to close the well - used and much loved Belvedere Splash Park "This isn't an easy decision to take. No one wants to see the Splash Park closed, but we really have little choice.The expert report is clear, the level of costs needed to keep the splash park running are just too high for the council to continue bearing, in this exceptionally challenging financial climate. We're not talking about a 'one off' cost here - we would need to find as much as £300,000 to make the park usable again and then an annual cost to keep it running. We cannot justify spending our council tax payers' money in this way when we are having to make savings on so many other services. We know how that many people love the park and that's why we are giving organisations the chance to put forward a serious business case. They will have to be able to demonstrate to everyone how they plan to run and maintain the park. If the right business and the right plan comes along the park may still have a future." Like so many (but not all) politicians in both national and local government, you can tell they are lying as their lips are moving.

The ongoing situation with extreme right wing racist, homophobe anti-Semite Joshua Bonehill has taken an interesting turn.  Bonehill is almost constantly in the national press because of his extreme Nazi views, which make Adolf Hitler look like a dreamy Tofu munching liberal in comparison.  As you may recall, Bonehill wrote me a threatening Email some time back, which after some consideration I published in full. Since then he has been involved in a number of activities which led to his arrest at the beginning of July for incitement to racial hatred, amongst a number of other charges. He was already on probation for a number of previous offences, and was also waiting to go to court for accusing Tesco of selling fruit and vegetables in the UK that were grown in Africa that were infected with the Ebola virus. Now, after setting up a campaign for the “De – Jewification” of Golders Green, the authorities have finally acted to lock the scumbag up. He was remanded in custody on the 5th of July; he had a court hearing on the 13th of July where it was decided that he would be returned to jail until his next court appearance on September 21st. He is charged with publishing or distributing written material intended to incite racial hatred. He was arrested by officers from Avon and Somerset Police earlier this month after an investigation run by the Metropolitan Police. Bonehill had previously claimed to be one of the organisers of the neo-Nazi rally planned to take place in Golders Green, North-West London, on Saturday, July 4th. Bonehill never seems to learn the lesson that “when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging” – quite the opposite, he seems to be trying to set himself up as an extreme right wing martyr. Ironically prison may be the best place for him to get some treatment for what is likely to be his mental illness. More in the weeks that come.

You may recall that I have written extensively in the past on the subject of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) which are regarded as the “Crack Cocaine of gambling”. These machines are the primary source of income for many betting shops, and it is possible to lose £100 in twenty seconds on such machines. Some authorities have said that the rules regarding the maximum stake to bet should be reduced from £100 per go to £2 per go, which would bring FOBT’s into line will one armed bandits and other gambling machines found in betting shops and elsewhere. This week the government (under intense lobbying pressure from the gambling industry) refused to drop the maximum bet as had been recommended - Bexley's own Peter Craske, who in addition to being a Bexley Councillor who was mentioned earlier in his role to close down the Belvedere Splash Park, is also a professional apologist for the gambling industry as the spokesperson for the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) said: ‘The number of betting shops has remained constant for the last 10 years at about 8,500. They are a key part of a local high street and play a key role in supporting a local economy.’ Although the ABB did tell a parliamentary select committee that the ‘geographic distribution [of betting shops] has been changing.’ Recently the Campaign for Fairer Gambling employed a research company to investigate the issue of problem gambling, and how FOBT machines fuel gambling addiction. In September 2014, the Campaign for Fairer Gambling commissioned polling company 2CV to conduct interviews with FOBT gamblers, in a bid to obtain effective research into player behaviour and patterns. Conducted in areas known to have issues with FOBTs - Newham, Medway, Manchester and Liverpool - the research conducted face-to-face interviews with gamblers as they  exited betting shops. The research showed that 82 percent of betting shop customers perceive FOBTs as an addictive activity, with 32 percent of these borrowing cash in order to feed their habit. The study also looked into abusive behaviour and found that 72 percent of all betting shop customers have experienced other customers acting violently towards FOBTs. One third of Roulette players have borrowed money in order to play. Peers are the main source relied upon to borrow, with personal credit options and pay day loans / pawn brokers also used. Younger players (18-34), those in the lower social grades, and the most frequent Roulette players are most likely to borrow money to play Roulette. Those borrowing money and investing higher stakes are most likely to show a preoccupation with gambling; over 80 percent have gambled for longer than planned, and over 70 percent need to keep increasing stakes for the same enjoyment. FOBTs are perceived as an addictive activity by all betting shop customers, regardless of engagement with the machines. The potential for loss is high, with only 1 in 10 players regularly ending a session with more cash than they started, and frequently reinvesting any winnings back into the machines. Despite this, FOBT engagement is frequent with over half of players using the machines at least weekly. With higher frequency of play comes higher engagement and cash insertion; those playing weekly or more account for 63 percent of annual session activity and 90 percent of cash inserted, highlighting  evidence of problem gambling behaviour. FOBTs have a negative financial effect on players, with one third of Roulette players spending beyond their means and borrowing money in order to play. Whilst borrowing from a multitude of sources, family and friends are relied upon heavily, indicating the wider social impact of FOBT problem gambling. Those borrowing money and investing higher stakes exhibit stronger problem gambling traits and behaviours than other FOBT players and betting shop customers. These players should benefit the most from  a reduction in maximum bet per spin from £100 to £2, if the change can be enforced –the gambling industry are renowned for their resistance to change – especially where it would affect the bottom line on their spreadsheets, and the government have rolled over and accepted that there will be no change at this time. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Once again the RNLI have been called in to an incident on Erith river front. Last Sunday afternoon a person was seen hanging off the wrong side of the railings by Erith Riverside Gardens. The Gravesend lifeboat was called away from a training exercise they were on, but by the time they arrived in Erith, the Police had arrested the individual and taken them away for questioning. Once gain I feel this highlights the requirement for a lifeboat substation at Erith, possibly housed in the former Port of London Authority building adjacent to the wooden jetty on the riverside by Erith Riverside Gardens (see the photo above - click for a larger version). Erith is roughly halfway between Gravesend and London Bridge, where the two nearest lifeboat stations are located. I know issues of staffing and practicality have been raised in the past, but the sheer frequency of emergency events on the river in and around Erith would surely justify the additional presence – especially when one considers the attempted (and on at least one occasion, sadly successful) suicides from Erith Pier. Sooner or later we are going to have a major incident - we need to be prepared.

You may have seen the recent article on Pirate Radio in the London Evening Standard. It describes that following the submission of a Freedom of information request to OFCOM, the regulator has announced that in the last year it has carried out nearly four hundred raids on the sites of illegal transmitters. Nearly a quarter of the raids took place in Haringey, North London, while 90 resulted in equipment being seized. Lambeth, South London, was the next biggest offender, with more than fifty raids on suspected pirates between April 2013 and March this year. I must admit that my views on this have changed over the years; back in the late 1980’s when I was involved with Bexleyheath based pirate station Radio Lumberjack, there was very little to listen to on the FM bands, save the BBC and a handful of heavily regulated independent local stations. If you wanted to hear specialist music, there was very little option but to listen to one of the many pirates operating from in and around London. Radio was the only option; now the web offers a means of transmission around the globe that back then the pirates could only dream of. With mobile apps available to enable streaming content to be sent to all manner of mobile devices – phone, tablet, smartwatch etc. The need to have a transmitter on the top of a tower block seems to be gone. Back in the day we only had one option; nowadays the openings to get your message across are legion – and to be honest a lot more effective. Even a relatively powerful VHF broadcast band transmitter, well located high up on top of a block of flats is unlikely to have a range of more than ten to fifteen miles at best. With an internet connection, you can “broadcast” to the world from your bedroom. Technology has in my opinion changed the nature of broadcasting, just as it has in many other areas. It is easy to romanticise the land based pirates of the 80’s and 90’s, but in reality lugging around car batteries, breaking into the lift motor room on top of a tower block and fitting antennas on the roof whilst keeping an eye out not just for the Police and the DTI, but potential rival station operators was really not much fun for the most part. In my opinion all that has now become redundant. Which brings me on to a piece of information which is pretty ironic, bearing in mind what I have just written. I was recently inducted into The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. I get the feeling that now that the Hall of Fame is already filled by the famous and influential faces in pirate radio, they are now inducting the less well known – they are scrabbling around for the minnows such as me, now all of the big fish have been caught. Still, it is nice to be so recognised. You can see some of my photographs from Radio Caroline here, here and here, and my Caroline Flickr album here.

On Friday I received the following message from Roy Hillman, the Treasurer of the Slade Green Community Forum. Roy wrote:- "For the first time since it was installed in 2012 the plaque at Slade Green station commemorating the bravery of local men on the night of 16th/17th April 1941 has been graffitied ... this turns into a 'good news' story as by the time we held a Slade Green Forum meeting and discussed the problem, staff from the rail companies (best guess Southeastern rather than Railtrack) had successfully cleaned it." I am glad to hear that the plaque was cleaned so efficiently - much of the work to create the plaque can be attributed to former Slade Green Councillor John Eastaugh. What annoys me is that some scumbag would have chosen to deface it in the first place. Hopefully there will have been witnesses to the act of vandalism. I understand that the North End Safer Neighbourhood Police team are aware of the situation. Hopefully the perpetrator can be caught and brought to justice. 

I have been giving some thought to the matter of Erith Morrison’s, and the reduced number of customers it is currently attracting. I think that there is no one single reason behind the fact that for the last couple of years it has been haemorrhaging customers, but there are a number of complementary factors. Firstly the well documented rise of the very low cost German supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi, and the middle class realisation that low price does not mean low quality when purchasing from these stores, along with the opening of the Asda in Lower Belvedere, on the former site of Erith and Belvedere football ground. There was a great deal of very vociferous opposition to the Asda, as many locals were concerned about the impact of the additional traffic the store might attract to an area already beset by traffic jams, especially on Picardy Road, where the narrow, circuitous and winding road uphill has caused problems for drivers for years. Once the Asda opened, the silence from the former critics was deafening. It seems that everyone loves the new (ish) store; it has certainly hoovered up a portion of former Morrison’s customers. The biggest problem facing Morrison’s in Erith is Morrison’s themselves. The company have become so complacent about their position as the “go to” supermarket for the area that it is alienating their formerly loyal customers. For example, the Erith store stays open to 10pm on Monday to Saturday, but if you go in the shop much after 7.30pm, both the fishmonger and the self service salad bar are closed. In my opinion these should be open until the dot of closing time, and not as seems to be the case at present, open to suit the needs of the staff - a fact I mentioned when I complained to the Manager on Tuesday evening when I went in the store to get a self - service salad at around 7.15pm, only to find the salad bar empty and cleaned ready for the next day, even though the shop had nearly three hours of further opening time still to run. On top of this, whilst many of the staff are efficient and friendly, there are a significant minority who are surly, unhelpful and stand around chatting rather than serving customers. This is not the kind of behaviour I would expect to see in a big name organisation of this type. Unless Morrison’s can pull their metaphorical socks up, they will continue to have customers voting with their feet, and taking their custom elsewhere.

It is a matter of history that the beach ball-sized Sputnik 1 satellite was the first manmade object to orbit the Earth after it was launched by the Soviets in October 1957. It is possible the US managed to put an object into space a few months before that. In 1956, astrophysicist Dr Robert Brownlee was asked by his boss at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to figure out a way to test nuclear weapons underground. The scientists working on “Operation Plumbbob” were concerned about the amount of radiation emitted  out by nuclear warheads during tests above the surface, so Dr Brownlee started experimenting with the idea of blowing up small atom bombs below the surface. "Most of the radiation generated in a blast has a half-life of about four hours," Dr Brownlee, now 91, of Loveland, Colorado, told an interviewer from technical news website The Register. "We figured you could keep everything in but for a few per cent by going underground. But Mother Nature can outwit you in a great variety of ways." In July 1957, for an experiment codenamed Pascal A, the team drilled a borehole 500 feet deep for what was to become the world's first underground nuclear test. Unfortunately, the bomb yield was much greater than anticipated – 50,000 times greater, apparently. Fire shot hundreds of feet into the air from the mouth of the uncapped shaft, in what Dr Brownlee described as "the world's finest Roman candle." The next month, in a test codenamed Pascal B, the team wanted to experiment with reducing the air pressure in the explosives chamber to see how that affected the explosion and radiation spread. A four-inch-thick concrete and armour plate metal cap weighing at least half a ton was placed over a 400ft-deep borehole after the bomb was installed below. The lid was then welded shut to seal in the equipment. Before the experiment, Dr Brownlee had calculated the force that would be exerted on the cap, and knew that it would pop off from the pressure of the detonation. As a result, the team installed a high-speed camera to see exactly what happened to the plug. The camera was set up to record one frame every millisecond. When the nuke blew, the lid was caught in the first frame and then disappeared from view. Judging from the yield and the pressure, Dr Brownlee estimated that it left the ground at more than 60 kilometres per second, or more than five times the escape velocity of our planet. It may not have made it that far, though – in fact the scientist, who retired in 1992, believes it never made it into space, but the legend of Pascal B lives on. "I have no idea what happened to the cap, but I always assumed that it was probably vapourised before it went into space. It is conceivable that it made it into orbit though," Doctor Brownlee told interviewers.

The London Borough of Bexley is now officially the top place in Greater London for first time house buyers. Just over sixteen  percent of first time buyers opt for Bexley, mainly due to the relatively affordable accommodation prices compared to the rest of the capital. For some inexplicable reason, the London Evening Standard have reported that Bexley was voted as the best London borough in which to bring up children (this is somewhat surprising, bearing in mind Bexley council’s stance against children as it sells off public spaces, including recreation parks, and most notoriously closing the massively popular and heavily used Belvedere Splash Park, as previously mentioned).  The Standard reported on Wednesday that the most popular town in Bexley Borough for first time buyers was Bexleyheath, I quote “which has great schools, a thriving High Street, and good commuter links. Houses are also affordable compared with the rest of London”. The report goes on to list comparative house prices. It was obvious to me that the author of the piece, journalist Ruth Bloomfield was completely unfamiliar with the London Borough of Bexley – for a start Bexleyheath is one of the last places that first time buyers would look at in the area – it is just too expensive. The Northern parts of the Borough – Lower Belvedere, East Thamesmead, Abbey Wood, Erith and Slade Green are the real areas that are attracting first time buyers. As for Bexleyheath Broadway being “thriving” – I beg to differ; there are still far too many vacant retail units and discount retailers – and as I have written before, the Broadway has one sure – fire identifier of a financially struggling area – it is home to a branch of Brighthouse.

As I have previously mentioned, both the long established Oyster card system, and the newer contactless bank debit cards have proved to be as problematic for the end user as I have previously described. Contactless was introduced as a more technologically advanced alternative to Oyster, and deducts each fare direct from the passenger’s bank account. It has been revealed that passengers using contactless bank cards have been penalised by almost £8 million in eight months after failing to touch out at ticket barriers. Of the 58 million journeys using the new technology between September and May, 1.38 million were classed as “incomplete” - with travellers being charged the full fare. About a third of the £8.374 million in excess charges has been reclaimed by passengers, leaving £5.776 million sitting in Transport for London’s bank accounts - alongside about £100 million on dormant and unused Oyster cards. TfL believes some passengers deliberately trigger the excess charge, because it is cheaper than paying the correct rail fare. It insists it is not “sitting on £5.7 million” - saying the bulk of this cash is owed to it in fares. In addition to this, there have been 342,000 contactless “card clash” incidents worth £2 million since September last year - when the wrong card is read by the barrier, due to being in close proximity to another contactless card – something I warned about nearly a year ago. I have found the easiest way to keep my peace of mind has been to stick to the old – fashioned monthly paper travel card – no problems with tapping in or out, no card clash, and no chance of the card being cloned by a crook. Sometimes the old ways are still the best.

Don't forget that next Sunday's Maggot Sandwich update will be a special one; it will be the ninth anniversary of the first edition of the blog - I have never missed a Sunday update in all that time, and the blog now consists of something around sixteen million words! If you have any thoughts, memories or opinions on the whole Arthur Pewty's Maggot Sandwich corner of the interweb, please let me know, as I want to publish as many people as mini "guest writers" as possible for the ninth anniversary edition. You can remain anonymous should you so wish, or have full credit - the choice is entirely yours, as always. Drop any submissions to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The end video this week comes from The Institute For Alcoholic Experimentation. It demonstrates the method of mixing three distinctive cocktails from the 1930's. In the true spirit of the time, the demonstration was filmed in the magnificent Art Deco entrance lobby of Eltham Palace - most certainly the finest piece of architecture in the area. The original owner, the multi millionaire textile magnate Stephen Courtauld used to mix his own cocktails in the lobby, every day at 6pm sharp.