Open day.

The photos above were taken by me in the old Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road, Erith on Thursday afternoon. The long closed building was opened for a public viewing for the first time in many years, and I took the opportunity to go along to take a look around. Local arts commissioning group The Exchange are taking over the building from Bexley Council (who have long neglected it), and plan to refurbish and repurpose the building for both public and business use. Contrary to some local rumours, the old library will not be converted into flats. If you recall when the old library was still open, it was a very large space indeed; what I did not realise until my explorations on Thursday was just how big the place actually is. Only about one third of the floor space was ever open to the public, and it was quite an eye opener to see the areas that had always been out of view. Refurbishing the structure will be a truly massive undertaking, involving many construction disciplines - not to mention a large amount of money. The old Carnegie Library is very damp, and whilst I was there it was raining outside, and water was pouring through a number of windows. If Bexley Council had taken more care of the historic building, this situation need never have arisen. I am very much behind the works of The Exchange, and will be keen to follow their progress during the restoration and repurposing of this historic local landmark building.

The photo above shows members of Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association presenting the petition against the proposed closure of Bexleyheath Police Station to Gareth Bacon, London Assembly member outside of City Hall, close to Tower Bridge. The figures in the photo (click on it for a larger view) are:- Meeta, Peter, Dana Wiffen, Olu (Crouching), Joyce(SNB) behind her Claire Tack, Grant (NW Vice Chair), Gareth Bacon, Stewart, Mr and Mrs Smith and Andrew. It is too soon to say what effect the petition will have on the decision to close Bexleyheath Police Station and relocate its function to Marlowe House in Sidcup - a decision which seems to have been made by someone with no knowledge of the local area whatsoever. Crime has incresed in the London Borough of Bexley over the last year - we need lots more Police - not less.

The very worrying local problem of vehicle number plate theft has encountered a further development. It has come to my notice that local criminals are not just stealing legitimate plates from parked motor vehicles in order to circumvent the automatic number plate recognition system used to charge drivers for using the Dartford River Crossing, but also, and even more worryingly they are also doing it in order to travel into central London without paying the new T-Charge penalty applicable to older, more polluting vehicles. The T-Charge (T for toxicity) came into fore last Monday morning; it applies to motor vehicles that were manufactured prior to 2006. Vehicles which do not comply with the Euro IV exhaust standard must pay the charge. The standard defines emissions limits for cars, vans, buses, coaches and lorries. Most vehicles registered before 2006 are likely to exceed these limits. The zone now operates between 07:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday. The T-Charge is an emissions surcharge, applied in the same areas as and paid in addition to the congestion charge, for vehicles travelling through central London. It is expected to affect 10,000 drivers in the capital each year after it emerged 9,000 Londoners a year die prematurely because of long-term toxic air exposure. Drivers of older, more polluting vehicles will pay an extra £10 in the form of the T-Charge, on top of the existing £11.50 congestion charge. This increases the cost of driving through central London up to a total of £21.50. Vehicle number plate theft is now endemic in the local area. Three or four years ago it was a relatively minor issue, but now it is one of the major problems for the Police and local residents. Just how many vehicles are driving around on illegal registration plates I do not know, but I suspect that the number is far higher than many realise. Many of the number plate thefts are carried out by members of the illegal biker gang Bike Life TV UK - more regarding them later. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

As I recently predicted, it seems that the threat of a vigilante group being set up to combat the threat from the illegal moped gangs looks like it is now coming to pass. In an interview with The News Shopper, Orpington resident David Stokes said:- "The feeling is that the local area is under siege - residents have had enough of Police inaction. The problem has escalated over some years from what was relatively petty crime to acts of a much more sinister nature. Confidence amongst those responsible is clearly growing as their actions go unpunished. From what I can establish, the same group has been responsible across the county for theft from vehicles, motor vehicle theft, theft from the person, robbery, assault and burglary. Conversation are taking place between a select few as to how best to resolve this problem if the police are not prepared to take meaningful action". From conversations that I have heard, this kind of reaction to events is becoming increasingly common. Local people feel that the moped criminals are seemingly above the law - a problem which is affecting the Greater London area particularly badly. I have personally heard comments made by residents in both Lower Belvedere and Erith which pretty much reflect the statement made to The News Shopper by David Stokes; whilst much of this may be just "blowing off steam", the fact that people would even consider direct action against the moped criminals says a lot about how seriously the issue is now viewed. In my view there is a third way to combat the criminals, and it does not involve direct - and possibly illegal - action. It is intelligence based. Join your local Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, or if one does not exist, then set one up (contact me for details on how to do this - it is remarkably straightforward). Once you are part of a Neighbourhood Watch group, then covertly gather information on the illegal moped riders in your area; registration numbers (usually fake, but it gives some kind of ID to the bike in question), descriptions of the riders and their vehicles, along with the precise times they are seen in your area, and if possible, discreetly taken photographs of the offenders. These can then be passed onto your local Police Safer Neighbourhood team for further investigation - you might well be surprised at just how much information the Police already have on many of these gang members, as most of the offenders already have criminal records. More on this later in the Neighbouhood Watch local update news.

Some good news regarding the redevelopment of the old Arthur Street Estate - which is located adjacent to North End Road in Erith. The estate has become very run down and it is definitely at the end of its' life. The estate is owned and operated by Orbit Housing Association. They recently carried out a survey of the residents of Arthur Street, and over ninety percent of people consulted, stated that they would like the old Arthur Street to be demolished, and a new estate built in its' place. On Tueday morning I received the following announcement:- "Plans for the £73m regeneration of the Arthur Street estate in Erith will go on display at a public consultation event on Saturday 4 November. Orbit, which owns and manages around 4,600 homes across the borough, is holding the open event, at Peareswood Primary School, Peareswood Road, Erith, between 10.30am and 2.30pm. Following their successful regeneration of Larner Road into the award winning Erith Park in Bexley, 40,000-home housing association Orbit, is now proposing to redevelop the neighbouring Arthur Street estate.  Built in the late 1960s, Arthur Street consists of three 13 storey tower blocks and a number of low rise blocks providing 263 one and two bed flats with some three bed maisonettes. Despite substantial investment since the transfer from the London Borough of Bexley in 1998, many components are now failing and the blocks no longer meet modern standards. The proposed £73m regeneration will feature at least 270 new apartments, of which 80 percent will be for affordable rent and shared ownership with associated parking and public open space. Maggie McCann, Orbit’s development director, said: “The regeneration of Arthur Street is part of our wider investment plans for the borough of Bexley. As one of the largest housing providers and landlords in the borough we are investing in Bexley for the long-term, working locally to create sustainable communities which meet both need and aspiration.” Orbit has appointed Wates Residential to help develop the proposed scheme which is set to benefit from more than £10m from the government’s Estate Regeneration Fund and the Greater London Authority’s Affordable Homes Programme. Orbit intends to submit a planning application to London Borough of Bexley in summer 2018. If anyone would like to view the proposals but is unable to attend the public consultation, the plans will be made available to view online at www.orbithomes.org.uk/publicconsultations and via the Facebook page ‘Arthur Street Future’ from Monday 6 November". This is very good news for local residents; there has been some criticism that some of the local housing developments in progress are focussed to closely on full price, commercial sales, rather than for affordable housing; the new Arthur Street development should answer these concerns - at least to some extent.

There has been an interesting and beneficial side - effect of the eerie yellow / orange / red sky that we all experienced last Monday. As was explained in the press, the cause of the weird sky was as a result of tons of iron oxide based dust from the Sahara being sucked up into the upper atmosphere by Hurricane Ophelia. The iron oxide that gives Saharan dust its red colour acts like fertiliser in the open ocean. Sunlight and warmer weather provide the perfect conditions for spring blooms – vast areas of ocean covered in plant growth typically in springtime. Out in the Atlantic Ocean this iron is an essential nutrient which is needed for growth of masses of microscopic plants – phytoplankton. This provides fodder for tiny animals, the zooplankton, and in their turn, food for fish and larger ocean beings. This sudden, lush growth of plant life is as significant to controlling the amount of greenhouse gases in the world as the contribution of tropical rainforests. These forests of the ocean may be rootless and transient but their take-up of carbon from the atmosphere reduces the amount of CO2 heating the planet. Far away from the coastline where rivers deposit sediments, sewage and excess fertilisers into estuaries and deltas, seawater is surprisingly low in iron. Although it is abundant in soils, the open ocean cannot hold it in solution for very long. Yet it is a micronutrient that is vital for kick-starting the ocean food chain. In the parts of the North Atlantic where there is a plentiful supply of wind-driven dust, there is no shortage of opportunities. Back in 2010 the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted tonnes of iron-rich dust into surrounding seas causing a spike in ocean productivity. So the strange skies that so many people found so disturbing recently, actually had a very beneficial side effect - and may well have contributed to a reduction in the level of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. Another result of the law of unintended consequences.

The latest series of Robot Wars began last Sunday evening on BBC 2 at 8pm. As some readers may be aware, I had a small involvement with the original Robot Wars show back in the day. The Robot Wars reboot now being transmitted seems very similar to the original 1998 version, just with a much bigger budget and far slicker presentation. Motor, material and most importantly battery technology has come a very long way in nineteen years, and the new robots are far heavier, more powerful and better armoured than the old ones. Whilst the technology inside the competition robots has moved on, the kind of amateur engineers who enter their robots into the show have changed very little. Robot Wars is sport for the non - sporty. Back when the show originally ran, I had a friend, Adam Harper - he used to run a small, independent bicycle shop in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere (NOT Nuxley Village – there is no such place – that name is an invention of Estate Agents). Adam’s bread and butter was selling and repairing conventional bikes, but he had an unusual and quite lucrative sideline. When Sinclair vehicles went bust after the commercial failure of their Sinclair C5 electric trike in the late 1980’s, Adam Harper bought up the entire unsold stock, which he then warehoused at a secret location in Bexleyheath. Harper correctly guessed that the C5 would become a cult item, and its value would rise accordingly. He was correct. When new, a C5 retailed at £399. Nowadays, an unused, mint and crated C5 with all its original accessories will sell for around £5000! Harper also sold nearly all of the electric motors used by the competing robots in the original series of “Robot Wars” – because of his expertise with electric motors, the producers of the show hired him as one of the three competition judges. Back in the day, the C5 motor was one of the most compact, efficient and powerful available - which made it a prime choice for robot builders. Now electric motor technology has moved far ahead, and there are far superior alternatives available for the budding combat robot engineer to utilise. But I digress. I accompanied Adam Harper on a number of occasions to the studio to watch the Robot Wars being filmed. Back in those days it was presented by Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester, and was filmed in an old warehouse building next to The Excel Centre in Custom House, East London. I would imagine that it has long been demolished and replaced with an office building or hotel by now. The programme production was all quite amateurish and cobbled together - unlike the rebooted show which now has far higher production values - even if the kind of person who took part, whether as a competitor, or in the audience has stayed exactly the same. Adam parted company with Robot Wars after he disagreed with the producer over the direction the show was heading in. The producer wanted to introduce (scripted) feuds between the competing robot teams, and have the team shouting threats at each other to mimic the manufactured rows between rivals in WWE Wrestling. Adam disagreed with this, as he felt it gave out the wrong message to young viewers; he was of the opinion that the robot fighting was merely a means to an end - in getting young people interested in science, technology and engineering through constructing robots for use in combat. He called it "education by the back door". Needless to say the producer got his way, and Robot Wars and Adam Harper parted their ways. Unfortunately I lost contact with him not long thereafter. A real character and a pleasure to know.

If you would like to be not bothered by "Trick or Treat" children on Halloween, you can download and print out the poster above; alternatively you can download a PDF file of the poster by clicking here.

This weeks local safety and security reports from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association.  Initially a report from Belvedere ward:- "The team recently paid a visit to ‘Little Lambs’ pre-school nursery in Nuxley Road. We spent time playing games and reading stories to the children and chatting to the staff. This was an excellent opportunity to introduce ourselves to the children in a safe environment, and to tell the children a little about what we do on a daily basis. We are continuing patrols of Belvedere Park estate and the area of Fremantle Road in relation to ongoing motor vehicle crime. PCSO Worrall has continued to look for new NHW on the ward and the team have distributed information to 3,900 homes in Belvedere since July 2017. We have also been working with shops in Nuxley Road after repeated shoplifting offences that have been taking place. On Friday, PC Green and PC Holmes assisted Northumberland Heath SNT officers to conduct a warrant at which drugs were found. Officers from both teams then conducted pro-active patrols of both wards, stopping and searching a number of people in areas subject to ASB by youths and drug use/dealing". A special report from PC Ash Green:- "Over recent months PC Green has been working on the concerns of vehicle ASB (anti social behaviour) in Belvedere as well as how it has affected other areas of the North of Bexley. PC Green has met with numerous people and taken various statements. The work has led to numerous arrests and vehicle seizures over the weekend. 15 riders were arrested, 14 of which were for dangerous driving. As well as this, 15 mopeds, motorbikes and quad bikes were seized for different reasons such as no insurance, being lost or stolen. Work is continuing to be done with regards to vehicle ASB and team will look to make further arrests and seizures". Brampton ward:- "On Brampton this week we have had 3 x Criminal damage to motor vehicle in Pickford Lane - vehicle was kicked by an unknown suspect, investigation ongoing. And twice on the same night in Normanhurst Avenue, tyres were slashed. 1 x shoplifting at Co –Op Pickford Lane; 1 x Theft from motor vehicle in Herbert Road. A street briefing was held in Pickford Lane on Wednesday 25th. Thanks to all the residents who turned up to this. We spoke about the upcoming events of Halloween and Fireworks nights and posters were given out. Residents aired there concerns regarding the traffic in Pickford Lane and surrounding roads which included speeding and parking issues. I will be emailing the council again to raise these with them. Residents also stated their concerns for the safety of youths on cycles 'riding around like maniacs and pulling wheelies'. This is a Borough wide problem and we are tackling the best we can at present. With the night’s drawing in earlier from now on please keep your homes locked please visit www.met.police.uk/burglary for advice , whilst there please check in your area and check on the wards crimes and also the advice it gives you on offences". Colyers ward:- "There were no reported burglaries on Colyers Ward between 19th October and 24th October 2017. There was one reported historic theft from dwelling at Twigg Close Erith from 1st July 2017 to 31st August 2017. The victim has just discovered that someone staying at the address has been stealing from the victim. The victim indicated that they gave the suspect somewhere to live as he had nowhere to go but the suspect has taken lots of items from the victim. The victim has not seen the suspect for over a month. There was one reported attempted theft of motor vehicle outside Heath Way Erith on 22nd October 2017at 10pm. The victim saw three suspects trying to steal the vehicle a white Mercedes Sprinter van registration KT66 UWO but the suspects made off when disturbed".  Crayford ward:- "There was a burglary on Saturday 21/10/2017 in Crayford Way. The burglars entered the property through the front door between 17.00-22.30 and made an untidy search of the property, stealing Asian Gold which was both unique and of great sentiment. For more information on how to keep your home safe, please visit www.met.police.uk/burglary. On Saturday 21.10.2017 between 11.25-11.50 a white BMW was keyed in Tower Retail Park, it is believed this was after an altercation about a parking space. Between Thursday 19.10.2017 at 16.00 and Friday 20.10.2017 at 07.00, two vehicles, a Black Nissan Juke and a Silver Nissan Xtrail were damaged overnight in Ducketts Road, Crayford. Overnight between Wednesday 18.10.2017 at 20.50 and Thursday 19.10.2017 at 07.00 a White Ford van was stolen from outside 186 Station Road. Officers from Crayford SNT took part in Operation Wheelie in Bexleyheath Town Centre on Saturday 21.10.2017, several people were spoken to and two bicycles were seized after being seen pulling wheelies through the area by the bus stops, one youth was from an address in Crayford. At the weekend, PC Gardiner was out and about on the police motorcycle, PC Murphy took part in Op Autumn Nights as part of the current Anti-Social behaviour initiative, PCSO Barlow completed foot patrols and reassurance visits locally in Crayford". Erith ward:- "No burglaries reported in the last week which is good news. Several reports of shoplifting in Morrison’s and the a couple of shops in the town centre. We are working closely with security and the store managers in identifying the suspects from CCTV footage. Proactive patrols have been ongoing in Compton Place, Battle Road and in Erith Town Centre to tackle ASB, shoplifting and drug related information". Lesnes Abbey ward;- "Burglary - On Friday 20/10/17 between the hours of 10 : 30 am and 18 : 20 pm a residential burglary occurred in Bedonwell Road. Home crime prevention - Check you have closed and locked all your doors and windows before leaving your property. If you have UPVC doors and windows double lock them with keys to secure them properly. Leave some lights on if it will be dark before you get home. Install low wattage ‘ dusk to dawn ‘ outside lighting. If you have a burglar alarm remember to activate it. Protect your important property, register at: https://www.immobilise.com. Motor vehicle crimes: On Wednesday 18/10/17 an Interference with Motor Vehicle occurred in King Harold's Way at 03 : 30 am. Fortunately the vehicle’s alarm was activated, nothing taken, no person/s seen . Between the hours 07:00pm on Friday 20/10/17 and 03:00pm on Saturday 21/10/17 a vehicle in Clovelly Road was damaged. Pedal cycle theft: On Saturday 21/10/17 at about 06:35 pm a pedal cycle was taken from outside the Manorway Stores, Harrow Manor Way".  North End ward:- "Crime numbers are low this week with no real trend for any particular crime and no burglaries reported. A firework was thrown through a window at Grange House a few evenings ago. Fortunately nobody was injured and there was only minor damage inside the property. The ongoing investigation is looking to ascertain if this was done deliberately or was just an accident. Extra patrols of the whole area will be ongoing. PC Mark Brookes Smith has stopped and searched 5 people relating to drugs offences. 2 of the searches were positive with cannabis seized, warnings issued and interviews pending. We assisted our colleagues in Northumberland Heath in executing 2 drugs warrants last week with drugs found in both premises. Good work all round from all the teams involved. This was followed by PC Brookes-Smith being on a police carrier with other ward officers tackling ASB related calls until late on Friday evening. We are working until 11pm on Halloween and there are more officers on patrol throughout the whole borough. At this weeks ward panel meeting, ASB in Daleview, Rainbow Road and Drug issues were chosen by the panel members as our promises for the next few months". Northumberland Heath ward:- "Two drug warrants were executed in Brook street in the last week and four cannabis warnings were issued. The team are continuing to receive reports of Motorbikes being ridden in an anti-social manner in and around the Northumberland Heath Recreation Ground. One youth has been identified and a visit to his parents has been completed. He was also issued with a section 59 warning which gives Police the power to seize any motor vehicle he is seen riding on in an anti-social manner in the next 12 months. Police motorbike patrols were also carried out in the area over last weekend to help to identify the culprits. The team have been tasked to carry out anti-social patrols in and around hotspot areas in the lead up to Halloween and Bonfire night to reassure our residents. We have also had several reports of youths banging residents doors in Dickens Close and running away on foot or on pushbikes. Plain clothes patrols will be carried out this weekend by officers in the area. Two reports of vehicle crime this week. A car was stolen from Becton Place, it is not clear when the vehicle was stolen as the owner had not used the vehicle recently. Lastly a number plate was stolen from a vehicle in Hurst Road Erith between Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of October". Thamesmead East ward:- "Good News, no burglary reported this week, however please see below regarding motor vehicle crime. 18/10/17 20:43hrs Fairway Drive - Pizza delivery drivers Scooter stolen whilst attending the delivery address on 1st or 2nd floor of flats; 19/10/17 19:00hrs PARKWAY - Theft of Motor Vehicle taken over night". The next Police Surgery will be held on Friday 24th November 2017. We are always interested in recruiting new Neighbourhood watch co-ordinators for the ward. Please ask your family and friends if they would like to set up a Neighbourhood watch in their road. Please spread the word to any family and friends in the Borough - they can contact us on 020 8721 2049 or Thamesmead.SNT@met.police.uk for more information. For latest news from Bexley Police, visit our twitter pages - @MPSBexley and @MPSThamesmeadE".

The rebuilt Abbey Wood Station opened on Monday morning - albeit without any working lifts, and a lack of step free access to any platform. It is most definitely a "work in progress" - though the overland lines are working pretty much as usual. The Crossrail lines do not open until next year, when the name will officially change to the Elizabeth Line. Geoff Marshall, who, along with his partner Vicki Pipe are the people behind the "All the Stations" project, and a great public transport enthusiast, visited Abbey Wood Station last Monday morning; you can see a short video he made below. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or to Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Liberty Ship legacy.

The photo above shows the recently completed affordable housing development by Moat Housing Association which is located in James Watt Way, between Morrison's petrol station and the KFC drive through. The site used to be the location of Erith Trades and Social Club. It consists of a total of forty apartments for affordable rent; understandably interest in the apartments has been very high. The scheme has been finished well over a year later than planned, due mainly to the original building contractor going bust, and it taking a long time to source a replacement builder. The task was completed by Salford based Bowsall Ltd, and the flats are now occupied. In news this week, The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, plans to scrap viability assessments, which private developers use to determine how much affordable housing they can allocate to a site. Under his plans, announced in Estates Gazette, there will be a set rate of 35 per cent of affordable housing on every new housing development.

As reported a couple of weeks ago, Orbit Housing Association carried out a survey of the residents of the Arthur Street Estate, off North End Road, and opposite the newly built stage one of the Erith Park development. The current Arthur Street Estate is very old and shabby, and has an unfortunate reputation as a sink estate. Orbit Housing Association have carried out an in - depth consultation with residents, and the results have been pretty astonishing. Ninety percent of the hundred or so residents that attended the open day voted for the existing tower blocks and low level housing to be demolished and replaced with new housing stock, similar to that which Orbit have been constructing across the road in Erith Park since 2014. I cannot say that I am in any way surprised - the new Erith Park development is fantastic - well designed and constructed, thoughtfully laid out and much more energy efficient and wheelchair / buggy friendly than what stood there before. Understandably their neighbours on the other side of North End Road have seen this and would like the same themselves. I will be covering more on both the ongoing Erith Park and now the Arthur Street Estate redevelopment in future. It looks like being an interesting and fulfilling time for the residents of both estates. Lots of practical problems will have to be solved, such as where the existing Arthur Street Estate residents will live whilst their homes are torn down and rebuilt. I hope to be covering these kind of questions in the months to come. If you have any information or thoughts on the new redevelopment, leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Last Sunday saw the re - launch of a TV show that has been off the air for around thirteen years. Robot Wars is now showing each Sunday in the 8-9pm slot on BBC 2 previously occupied by the disastrous, pointless and little watched reboot of Top Gear. The Robot Wars reboot seems very similar to the original 1998 version, just with a much bigger budget and far slicker presentation. Motor, material and most importantly battery technology has come a very long way in eighteen years, and the new robots are far heavier, more powerful and better armoured than the old ones. Whilst the technology inside the competition robots has moved on, the kind of amateur engineers who enter their robots into the show have changed very little. Robot Wars is sport for the non - sporty. Back when the show originally ran, I had a friend, Adam Harper (see the photo above - click for a larger view); he used to run a small, independent bicycle shop in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere (NOT Nuxley Village – there is no such place – that name is an invention of Estate Agents). Adam’s bread and butter was selling and repairing conventional bikes, but he had an unusual and quite lucrative sideline. When Sinclair vehicles went bust after the commercial failure of their Sinclair C5 electric trike in the late 1980’s, Adam Harper bought up the entire unsold stock, which he then warehoused at a secret location in Bexleyheath. Harper correctly guessed that the C5 would become a cult item, and its value would rise accordingly. He was correct. When new, a C5 retailed at £399. Nowadays, an unused, crated C5 with all its accessories will sell for around £5000! Harper also sold nearly all of the electric motors used by the competing robots in the original series of “Robot Wars” – because of his expertise with electric motors, the producers of the show hired him as one of the three competition judges. Back in the day, the C5 motor was one of the most compact, efficient and powerful available - which made it a prime choice for robot builders. Now electric motor technology has moved far ahead, and there are far superior alternatives available for the budding combat robot engineer to utilise. But I digress. I accompanied Adam Harper on a number of occasions to the studio to watch the Robot Wars being filmed. Back in those days it was presented by Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester, and was filmed in an old warehouse building next to the Excel Centre in Custom House, East London. I would imagine that it has long been demolished and replaced with an office building or hotel by now. The programme production was all quite amateurish and cobbled together - unlike the rebooted show which has far higher production values - even if the kind of person who took part, whether as a competitor, or in the audience has stayed exactly the same. Back in the middle to late 90's, Anyone who initially met him would think Adam Harper was an open, friendly guy – which indeed he was. It was only when you got to know him well that you realised he was someone very unusual – he had a very strong drive and ambition, accompanied by an almost non – existent sense of self preservation. As a by product of selling C5’s, Adam used to take quite a lot of flak from sceptics, who thought the little vehicle somewhat ridiculous. Harper decided to counter this by modifying a Sinclair C5 to attempt to beat the then world land speed record for an electric three wheeled vehicle, and thus give the C5 an image boost. I spent a considerable amount of time helping him design and build the world record machine in the back room of his bicycle shop. The souped up C5 had special, high power motors, fed by a custom electronic power control unit. The batteries were extremely high powered (for the time) gel units for military use – he had to get special permission to get a licence to use them – I recall a meeting at Exide I attended with him – his considerable charisma and power of persuasion were tested to the limit before Exide relented, and not only granted him a licence, but became of his principal sponsors . The front wheel of the racing C5 was from a Harrier jump jet, and the rears from a Lynx attack helicopter. The front wheel had a small parking brake, but the main method of bringing the tiny vehicle to a halt was a parachute built by Irvin – the people who built the parachutes for the Space Shuttle. The underside of the C5 was fitted with an aerodynamic under tray of Harper’s own design, as was the aluminium nose cone – which was tested in the wind tunnel at MIRA - you can see this is the photo above. This might all sound like a bit of a diversion, but bear with me. Adam Harper realised once he had built the super C5 that he would need publicity before the world land speed record itself. Harper had been invited to join the Dangerous Sports Club, and considered what even by his own standards to be an absolutely hare – brained stunt. In the months before the Dartford river crossing bridge (now known as the QE2 Bridge) was completed, there was a large gap in the middle, before the North and South side roadways were joined up. Adam wanted to jump the gap in the super C5! He went as far as contacting the contractors, and both Thurrock and Dartford councils. Understandably, all parties immediately said no. Adam parted company with Robot Wars after he disagreed with the producer over the direction the show was heading in. The Producer wanted to introduce (scripted) feuds between the competing robot teams, and have the team shouting threats at each other to mimic the manufactured rows between rivals in WWE wrestling. Adam disagreed with this, as he felt it gave out the wrong message to young viewers; he was of the opinion that the robot fighting was merely a means to an end - in getting young people interested in science, technology and engineering through constructing robots for use in combat. He called it "education by the back door". Needless to say the producer got his way, and Robot Wars and Adam Harper and the show parted their ways. Unfortunately I lost contact with him not long thereafter. A real character and a pleasure to know.

For those local residents living in and around Fraser Road, Alford Road and Pembroke Road (the area often better known as the "Pom Pom") you may well have noticed that after quite a few months of preparation work, construction has finally started on the Erith Quarry site. I understand that building work to create an initial forty seven new homes on the eastern boundary, by Birch Walk is now under way. It would seem that the main access point for the site is the land which once housed a petrol station on Fraser Road. I would imagine that the owners of the piece of vacant land on the corner of Pembroke Road and Fraser Road, opposite the site entrance must be rubbing their hands in glee; I am pretty certain the property departments of the big supermarket chains such as Tesco and Sainsbury's must be looking to build and open a large convenience store so close to the new housing development. I reckon the existing Londis store will also do well out of it too.

News reaches me this week that something that has been locally rumoured for years actually turns out to have a basis in truth. The Driving Test Centre in Woolwich Road, Upper Belvedere (based in what was once Belvedere Police Station) is the second hardest place to pass a driving test in the whole of the UK. It is only beaten by the test centre in Wanstead, East London. In 2013/ 2014 The Belvedere test centre was the toughest in the entire UK - and was even featured on the BBC News website at the time, which you can read here. Currently if you take your driving test at the Belvedere test centre, you have a sixty seven percent chance of failing. The reasons for the high failure rate are not clear; it may be a combination of factors.

Now that Boris Johnson is now longer Mayor of London, and has been carted off to the relative obscurity of the Foreign Office, it may well be that his high concept “Boris Island” airport scheme gets quietly dropped. The plan had all sorts of problems, many of which could not easily be resolved. As I wrote extensively back in January 2012, not least of these is the ever worsening threat posed to the lower Thames and estuary by the abandoned wreck of the wartime cargo ship the SS Richard Montgomery. As you may recall, back in the day I almost had a too close encounter with the infamous shipwreck – more on this later. In case you are not aware, the remains of the SS Richard Montgomery are one of the most contentious and controversial wrecks in the World. The American Liberty Ship, loaded with bombs and ammunition, sank in a storm in 1944, and broke in half in the Thames Estuary, between Sheerness on the Kent side of the river, and Southend on the Essex side. Contemporary accounts say that  on 20th August 1944, she started dragging her anchor, and despite warning sirens from surrounding ships ran aground on a sandbank around 270 yards from the main Medway Approach Channel, in a depth of 33 feet of water. Normally a Liberty Ship has an average draught of 28ft but the Montgomery, at this time, actually drew 31ft. Her overloaded, shoddily built and early welded construction made her vulnerable to the severe stress of grounding, and several serious cracks appeared in her hull, she eventually broke her back on the sand banks near the Isle of Sheppey about 1.5 miles from Sheerness and 5 miles from Southend. As the tide ebbed the ships plates snapped with a sharp crack heard over a mile away and the crew, mindful of its hazardous cargo, abandoned ship at 0300hrs using floats and lifeboats. A Rochester-based Master Stevedore T.P.Adams of Watson and Gill, was given the urgent and highly hazardous job of removing the cargo, which began on 23rd August 1944 at 1000hrs, using the ship's own cargo handling equipment, driven by a venerable, old (and expendable) steam ship the “Empire Nutfield” moored alongside. By the next day, the ship's hull had cracked open further, causing several cargo holds at the bow end to flood. The salvage operation continued until 25th September, when due to a severe gale they were forced to finally abandon the ship before all the cargo had been recovered. Subsequently, the ship broke into two separate parts, roughly at the midsection. During the enquiry following the shipwreck it was revealed that several ships moored nearby had noticed the Montgomery drifting towards the sandbank. They had attempted to signal an alert by sounding their sirens but without response, as Captain Willkie of the Montgomery was asleep. The ship's chief officer was unable to explain why he had not alerted the captain or carry out any remedial action. A Board of Inquiry held aboard the ship during the initial unloading, concluded that the ship’s crew had acted in accordance with their instructions and that the anchorage the harbour master assigned had possibly placed the ship in jeopardy, and returned the Montgomery's captain to full duty. The salvage of the SS Richard Montgomery was abandoned shortly thereafter, and the vessel was declared a hazard to shipping and marked by several warning buoys. It has stayed in position ever since. According to a 2008 survey, the wreck is at a depth of 49ft, on average, and leaning to starboard. At all states of the tide, its three masts are visible above the water. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency nevertheless still believe that the risk of a major explosion is remote. The UK government's Receiver of Wrecks commissioned a risk assessment in 1999, but this risk assessment has never been published. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency convened with local and port authorities to discuss the report in 2001 and concluded that "doing nothing was not an option for much longer." The New Scientist magazine carried out an investigation concluded in 2004, based partly on government documents released in that year, that the cargo was still deadly, and could be detonated by a collision, an attack, or even the shifting of the cargo in the tide. The bad condition of many of the bombs is such that they could explode spontaneously. Documents declassified shortly before, revealed that the wreck was not dealt with immediately after it happened, or in the intervening 60 years, due solely to the expense. According to a survey conducted in 2000 by the United Kingdom Maritime and Coastguard Agency, it was confirmed the wreck still held munitions totalling approximately 1,400 tons. This is thought to consist of:- "13,064 general purpose 250lb bombs, 9,022 cases of fragmenting bombs (these would produce massive amounts of shrapnel.), 7,739 semi-armour piercing bombs, 1,522 cases of fuses, 1,429 cases of phosphorous bombs, 1,427 cases of 100lb demolition bombs, and 817 cases of small arms ammunition". However, because the emergency unloading was carried out in great haste and under less than ideal conditions, no check or tally was made of exactly what was unloaded. Due to this, estimates of explosives remaining in the holds vary between the official figures of approx. 1400 tons and 3600 tons which was the unofficial estimate made by the stevedores and confirmed by the SS Richard Montgomery’s First Officer back in 1944 when the abortive salvage attempt was made. Although the published breakdown of cargo carried appears to be comprehensive, a ship's manifest exists which indicates, that in addition, she was carrying 240 Mustard Gas bombs and other unidentified munitions. Although chemical weapons were not used by either the Allies or Axis powers during WWII, both sides did stockpile such weapons for potential use. A BBC news report in 1970, speculated that if the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery exploded, it would throw a 1,000-foot-wide column of water and debris nearly 10,000 feet into the air and generate a wave 16 feet high. Almost every window in Sheerness (population 37,852 (2011 census)) would be broken and buildings would be structurally damaged by the blast. This, however, is a very conservative view based on 1400 tons of explosive detonating in a chain explosion rather than one single detonation. The opinion was sought in October 1964 of retired Royal Engineer Major A. B. Hartley, MBE, GM., Britain's then most famous bomb disposal expert. His initial analysis said that "Some sixteen different basic combinations of explosives were used in American fragmentation bombs during the war. Those that were filled with TNT might remain comparatively safe for a long time provided, of course, the TNT hadn't crystallized (crystalline TNT is so unstable that the tip of a penknife blade scraped across its surface may cause it to detonate). And provided that the TNT was pure to begin with. But the production standards of all explosives made by the warring nations Allied and Axis became less rigid toward the end of the war. And by 1944 manufacturers were required only to produce explosive fillings with sufficient 'shelf life' to get them through the war. Those bombs inside your ship have existed long past their intended shelf life." His conservative forecast would be for windows to be shattered in Southend-on-Sea, Westcliff-on-Sea, Leigh-on-Sea, Shoeburyness, all some 6.5 miles away in Essex, and a number of smaller communities with a population totalling at least 375,000. In addition all these places might also suffer a heavy fall of shrapnel. The ship and cargo are closer still to the town of Sheerness, Kent and it is estimated that that damage and casualties might well be severe. A tidal wave would inevitably follow the huge explosion, which could  wash away sea walls and flood defences. The bombs also happen to lie alongside the Thames main fairway used by thousands of the world's merchant ships including LPG Gas tankers feeding a huge gas terminal and storage, also seriously at risk and countless amateur yachtsmen at various marinas. There is no doubt that any ships, however large or small, in the vicinity of the explosion would go down. A tidal wave could sweep up the River Medway to cause havoc in Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and a dozen or more outlying places in Kent. If Mustard Gas bombs are indeed also on board as has been claimed, the results of any detonation could potentially involve widespread chemical contamination on top of any blast and tidal wave damage. In the late 1980’s when I was working for Radio Caroline, we would often make tender runs from Strood on the River Medway, out into the Southern North Sea, and the South Falls Head, where the Radio Caroline ship, the Ross Revenge was moored, outside British territorial waters, and thus outside of the law. These trips were invariably made at the dead of night, navigating by radar and from navigational buoy to navigational buoy using good old fashioned charts and a compass. On one occasion I was at the wheel of the thirty foot fishing cruiser we were using as a covert supply vessel; we had to time our trips precisely; at that time, the Olau Line ferry company operated a couple of very large passenger ferries out of Sheerness. The skipper of the Olau Britannia was a great friend to Radio Caroline, and would often go out of his way to help us. One way he gave us practical help was by allowing us to exit the Thames Estuary in the huge vessels’ radar shadow, thus hiding our activities from the authorities. I was concentrating on staying in formation with the giant car ferry, when I suddenly noticed a series of warning buoys dead ahead – I was steering the vessel straight into the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery! Needless to say, I came around hard to Starboard, to the consternation of the skipper and the rest of the crew, who were thrown around by my sudden course changes, and we narrowly avoided a collision. I reckon if we had have hit the wreck, we would probably have been the first fishing cruiser in orbit! 

The vintage Pathe News clip below shows events from back in 1952. It features children "testing" some toys for the newsreel cameras. The toys were manufactured by D. Sebel and Co., trading as the Mobo Toy Company, whose factory and offices were located in West Street, Erith in part of the works originally occupied by the Vickers armaments factory. Mobo toys were a premium brand that were sold all over the world, and were particularly popular in the USA. The company eventually disappeared in the early 1970's with the import of cheaper (and less well made) rivals from the Far East. Mobo toys are now highly collectible. Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

A windfall.

The photo above was taken by me on Monday; it shows some of the key people behind "Our Erith" - the art exhibition that was launched at Christ Church Erith this week. You can find out more about "Our Erith" and the Friends of Christ Church Erith by clicking here. From left to right the people in the photo are:- Paul O’Neill (Friends of Christ Church Erith Committee), Jim Bennett (Chair, Friends of Christ Church Erith), Revd. Julie Conalty (Christ Church, Erith), Leeni Lear (Chair of Governors, Bexley College), Teresa Pearce MP (MP for Erith and Thamesmead) and Ken Chamberlain (local historian). 

Even though he is now locked up behind bars in prison, Joshua Bonehill, the self described racist, misogynist homophobic anti Semitic Neo Nazi bigot is still making waves. He targeted me with a threatening Email two years ago, which I published in full here. In December 2015 he got sentenced to three years and four months in jail for Inciting Racial Hatred. He's currently serving his sentence in Wandsworth Prison where he does not have web access; instead he has been writing a series of deranged letters to a number of people. One letter was enclosed within an envelope covered in perplexing cartoon drawings of Hitler, aliens beneath a spaceship and the 'Harold Shipman seal of authenticity'. His letters, sent to correspondents on the outside, show his expectation that he will be released from HMP Wandsworth within the next year, or possibly even sooner depending on whether he is granted Home Detention Curfew. The Prison Service has said it is investigating the "unacceptable" incident and he is facing disciplinary action. In his letters, Bonehill also expresses his desire to stand as an MP five years after his release, by which time he will be legally allowed to do so. Bonehill writes:- "I intend to stand for election when I am out of here. I am thinking perhaps about taking a seat in Bradford. You can stand for Parliament five years after time served in prison, there are many MPs with criminal records. I will never again put myself in the situation of being grassed up by snitches. Every move I make will be fully legitimate and legal. There are several books in the works about prison, ideology and life. I will write them over the next year. When I get out I intend to continue from where I left off, albeit from a legal perspective. Prison is easy, albeit for somebody of strong character. Prison has not been too bad to me at all. I've made many new connections and have learnt so much that I wouldn't have otherwise known on the out. I have found it to be a land of opportunity and a haven of respite. Most people I have met are fully supportive and will be friends for life. For me, I take the ultimate victory in all of this. I know that those left wing parasites are still spending all of their time on Twitter and the internet, imprisoned in a tomb of ignorance. I however am out here living life, earning valuable new skills and experience that these people couldn't begin to contemplate. For my trial, there has indeed been a victim: the British taxpayer will pay £120,000 for the nearly two years I am here drinking tea, smoking, eating and watching TV every day until they finally release me. Effectively this is like a really gross hotel for free board to stay. I do miss G n Ts though." It would seem, as I and others speculated, that prison is doing nothing to reform Bonehill, and instead is merely reinforcing his (suspected) megalomania and feelings of grossly inflated self worth. The prison authorities are investigating Bonehill's letter writing campaign; A Prison Service spokesperson said when questioned by The Western Gazette said that "We are investigating this unacceptable incident and have put measures in place to ensure this offender's mail is monitored by prison staff. Additionally, we will also take disciplinary action against the prisoner, which could see him being stripped of his privileges and being referred to the police for investigation." The first thing you should do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging. It would appear that Joshua Bonehill is doing the polar opposite. Hopefully it will end up with his prison sentence being extended.

Some excellent news broke on Thursday afternoon; nearly four million pounds worth of new investment will be made in Erith over the next couple of years. Half of the money is coming from The Mayor of London’s Office, and the rest is being matched by Bexley Council. The idea is to promote regeneration and growth in the town. The funds are set to create major improvements to key areas of the town - particularly between the old town hall and the post office the area shown in the photo above - click on it for a larger view), though at the time of writing, no specific details have been published. In an interview in the News Shopper, Councillor Linda Bailey, cabinet member for Regeneration and Growth said: “The success of our bid is great news for the town.  Erith has huge potential and our aim is to ensure it is developed in a sustainable way, with well-designed improvements that deliver the results local people need. We have also made complementary bids to two further funds managed by the mayor of London and hope to be able to say more on that in the next few weeks.” I am looking forward to receiving details of the proposals for development and improvement in the town - this certainly very good news indeed.

One of the most iconic and successful civil airliners may be going out of production shortly, after an active life span of forty seven years. Boeing will reduce the number of 747s it makes to just one every two months, citing a collapse in demand for even the cargo version of the aircraft. The company previously announced plans to slow production from 1.3 planes a month to just one a month, with the new and lower capability expected to kick in from March 2016. The newest 747 model, the 747-8, arrived in 2012 complete with plenty of the advanced manufacturing techniques employed in the 787 and other, newer, lighter and cheaper-to-operate aircraft. But the new plane hasn't sold well: just 121 have been ordered and of those, only 51 were passenger jets. The original 747 is credited with pioneering affordable long-haul travel and therefore making a massive contribution to global tourism. The 747-400 arguably pulled off the same trick, making twelve hour hopes like Europe to major Asian cities possible without a tiresome and time-consuming touchdown for more fuel. However, improvements in the reliability and power of jet engines means it is now possible to build twin-engine planes that rival the Jumbo Jet's capacity and range. That makes the four-engined 747s more expensive to operate and therefore a less attractive purchase for both passenger and cargo operators. Boeing cashes in on this trend with its own 777, an aircraft that in some configurations can carry over 450 passengers. Passenger carriers ordered no new 747s in 2015. Cargo operators, Boeing says, aren't buying much of anything at the moment as demand for air freight falls, which is worrying economic indicator for a host of other reasons. The end of an era looks to be on the horizon for the famous Jumbo Jet.

Bexley residents have been urged to have their say over the proposed removal of an engine at Erith fire station. Erith Councillor Abena Oppong-Asare attended the London Fire Brigade Consultation for the 2016/17 Budget for the South East Area, last Monday night - 18th January 2016. The consultation was launched over proposals to meet £6.4m of budget cuts demanded by the Mayor. Residents have been asked to choose from two options, one which will see the permanent removal of 13 fire engines, and the other which will focus on back office efficiencies, allowing the 13 engines to be returned. Residents and local Erith Councillor Abena Oppong-Asare questioned a panel made up of London Assembly Members, Area Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ian Hughes and the Fire Commissioner, Ron Dobson about the two options laid out in the consultation on the LFB’s budget for 2016 and 2017 – one being the axing of 13 engines, which could potentially see the removal of an engine at Erith fire station. However, Councillor Abena Oppong-Asare along with her colleagues Councillor Edward Boateng and Councillor Joe Ferreira are concerned that more fire engines could exacerbate a recent rise in response times across the capital. Thirteen wards in Bexley saw a rise in response times in 2014/15, when compared with the previous year, before Boris Johnson’s closure of 10 fire stations and scrapping of 14 engines. Alternative proposals set out by Andrew Dismore AM, Chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority’s Resource Committee, would meet the savings target through back office efficiencies and changing working patterns, enabling the 13 engines to be returned. Following, the public consultation meeting, Erith Ward Councillor Abena Oppong-Asare, said: “I am concerned about the removal of an engine at Erith fire station. Erith is undergoing many regeneration changes at a very fast pace. I am not convinced that a removal has taken into consideration the growing population in Erith. I know that the Fire Commissioner mentioned in the public meeting that emergency calls received have dropped and that there has been lots of preventative work carried out to reduce fire deaths, but we currently have 12 wards in Bexley not meeting those 6 minute targets. I urge all residents to respond to the consultation on the future of London’s fire service.”

The BBC is shortly to launch a reboot of the popular late 1990’s / early 2000’s TV show “Robot Wars”. As some veteran readers may be aware, I used to have some involvement in the original show, as one of the three judges was Adam Harper, one time owner of Harper Cycles in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere, who was holder of the Guinness Book of Records title as being the fastest person on an electric three wheeled vehicle, with his custom built, souped up 150 mph Sinclair C5. He was a friend of mine, and used to invite me along to filming sessions of the show, which at that time was based in an old warehouse next door to the Excel Centre in East London. Now, years later the BBC is bringing the show back. The broadcaster has commissioned six one hour episodes of the new series from independent production company Mentorn Scotland, which it reckons will exploit “a raft of technological devices since the show first aired” and will lead to “more innovative fighting machines as teams of amateur roboteers battle it out to win the coveted Robot Wars title.” Kim Shillinglaw, controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, said in a statement: “With new technological advances making for an even more exciting and immersive experience this is a fantastic example of the kind of content-rich factual entertainment that BBC Two excels at.” The overall reception the news has brought has been very good. The feedback seems to be that the programme was more than due for a revival, especially as in the thirteen years since the very last episode aired, many technological and material advances have been made, which should lead to even more exciting machines in the competition. I will be watching with interest – perhaps Robot Wars could become a new Olympic sport?

The photo above is another historic local train photograph supplied by Tom Burnham. It shows the old Pembroke Road Level Crossing back in 1970, along with a London - bound train which has just passed over the level crossing. I can recall walking over this crossing with my Mum when I was very small, and remember looking into the gate operators little hut, to see him drinking tea. The level crossing was replaced with a metal footbridge back in the late 70's / early 80's. The road in the background has not changed very much, though the building on the left of the photograph is now a private house. I think back then it was a women's hair dressers, though I am not certain. Can anyone who has better knowledge please let me know? Comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The petition to remove the rail franchise from Southeastern seems to be gaining momentum, but at the same time seems to have been somewhat overtaken by events; at the time of writing over fifteen thousand local people have signed up to the online campaign. When petitions reach ten thousand signatures, the government’s own rules mean that they will have to give a written response. That point has now been passed.  What opinion will come from the Department of Transport I do not know – but it is clear that public opinion is strongly against the current franchise holder of the North Kent and other local rail lines. Whilst I deplore Southeastern (and have already signed the petition) not all of the blame can be directly attributed to them. The Crossrail engineering work between Abbey Wood and Plumstead, and the rebuilding work going on at London Bridge have caused massive disruption, especially over the Christmas and New Year period. At least that disruption was well publicised and anticipated. What has been far less well communicated is the long period of weekend train disruption that is about to begin.  Darryl of the Charlton Champion blog has published a detailed and comprehensive list of works to be undertaken on the North Kent line between now and after Easter – basically there will be no weekend rail services running between Dartford and Plumstead from now until Monday the 28th March, which is Easter Monday. From what I can gather, replacement bus services will run from Erith to Plumstead (and from my limited experience of them, they are slow, unreliable and generally a pain in the backside to use). Many locals fully appreciate that some short term pain will (hopefully) result in a long term gain, but the problem is that Network Rail / Southeastern / Transport for London have done very little to publicise the removal of service at weekends, and it would seem that a majority of local residents are completely unaware of the arrangements. I have seen people turning up at Erith Station, expecting a normal service, only to find the place locked and deserted with a handwritten sign on a white board stuck in front of the doors to the ticket hall. The sign directs people to the rail replacement bus pickup point in Erith High Street – the trouble is, quite a few did not know where that was, and there was nobody around to ask. Having a customer service assistant on site would have made things far clearer for occasional travellers, and might have  provided some public relations for the general public. The story last week / earlier in this update that a petition has been started to convince the Department of Transport and Transport for London to strip Southeastern of the contract to provide trains for the North Kent area may well have had an unintended consequence. This week Transport for London has unveiled a landmark agreement to take over the capital’s suburban rail network, reaching into the Home Counties. TfL is promising more frequent and reliable train services and more comfortable conditions for passengers by bringing the services under the umbrella of the popular Overground network. Its reach would go beyond London and reach into places such as Sevenoaks, Croydon, Dartford, Hertford and Chessington, working in tandem with the Department for Transport bringing to them metro-style frequencies and greater strategic and coordinated transport planning. The government believes the creation of a London Suburban Metro service has the potential for more than 80 per cent of stations to have a train every 15 minutes, up from 67 per cent today, as well as more regular services through south-east London and Kent. Mayor of London Boris Johnson told the London Evening Standard : “By working closely together and taking on these new services, we’re going to emulate the success of the London Overground and give the entire capital and surrounding areas the services they truly deserve.” Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “We are committed to making journeys better across London and the south east, and this new partnership represents a huge opportunity to transform travel by putting passengers where they should be – at the heart of the rail network.”  Commuter services running from Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Moorgate, Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge would all be transferred under the plans. The move will come as a good news to passengers in south London who have endured a poor service since upgrade work on London Bridge began – although the transfer will take some years to complete. The routes will gradually be taken over as the franchises of the rail operators come to an end which means the first routes will be Southeastern’s in 2018, followed by Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern services in 2021. If South West Trains “break” clause is invoked, the target date would be 2019. The various London Mayoral candidates are pitching the story in various ways, but all seem to be behind the transfer of control, which seems to be a good thing as far as they are concerned. Green Party mayoral candidate Sian Berry said: "For far too long, suburban rail passengers have endured overcrowding, frequent cancellations and massive disruption to services at holiday periods, while the companies who run those trains make fat profits. It’s an obvious improvement to bring those routes under the control of TfL, which doesn’t need to make a profit and will focus on reinvestment not rewarding shareholders." The online petition has been gaining a lot of column inches in the press, and at the time of writing had gained just over fifteen thousand signatures,  but it may for once be the case that events may well have overtaken the wishes of the petitioners.

The campaign to protect green spaces in the London Borough of Bexley grinds ever onwards. The battle over the Upper Belvedere Splash Park has gone very quiet of late. Personally I think the chances of rescuing this valuable local facility are fading by the day unless some miracle rescue is enabled. Now the fight against the rapacious Bexley Council (who seem to know the price of everything, but the value of nothing) has moved onto the green spaces in and around Erith. The piece of land that separates Fraser Road and Alford Road down at the Pom Pom is shortly to be offered up for sale. The parcel of land contains a number of mature trees, bushes and a small electricity substation of indeterminate age, that is almost completely submerged in foliage. It acts as a very effective sound barrier for those people living in Alford Road from the constant traffic noise from the ever busy Fraser Road.  I would anticipate that one particular organisation will be interested in acquiring it – the developers of the Erith Quarry site, directly opposite. The main entrance to the proposed new high – end development is what was the site of the petrol station on Fraser Road. I would not be at all surprised if the developer bought the spur of land opposite in an effort to ensure that access to the Quarry site was as easy as possible – and I would expect that a roundabout or other form of traffic – controlling construction would be built on the site. Whilst I feel that the Erith news to grow and incorporate new infrastructure, I would not like this to be at the expense of the environment and our existing green spaces. Perhaps some of the £3.9 million local grant could go towards preserving these green spaces, that also insulate local residents against traffic and environmental noise. What do you think?

I use the Docklands Light Railway on a regular basis, and in general I find it to be a reliable and comfortable service. The short video below shows some of the secrets and quirks of this public transport service, and some of the things that you may not have known about it. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Adam, James and the Alien.

The photo above shows the long shuttered and closed Cross Keys pub, the Erith Playhouse theatre, and Potion bar - the home of Erith's recreational pharmaceutical trade, which is frequented by those of mono brow and webbed of hand. Avoid. Meanwhile, the Cross Keys has now been closed for almost two years to the day since it was shut down after a series of incidents in which a large group of travellers rode horses in and out of the pub, which made national news. It was put up for public auction last year, with a reserve price of £300,000 but was withdrawn on the day of the sale. Since then I am led to believe that the building has been sold, but no development or refurbishment work appears to have been begun - the building is dark and empty still. The Cross Keys is a listed building within Erith High Street conservation area; this limits what any potential developer can do with the structure to some extent. Some time ago I wrote to Shepherd Neame, Fuller, Smith and Turner and Young's to see if one of the regions' brewers and pub chain operators would be interested in taking the Cross Keys on. I got polite, but non - committal responses from all three of them. It would be lovely to think that the pub would re-open after a refurbishment to serve home cooked food and proper real ale, but somehow I don't think this is realistic. We can only hope that it does not get either turned into yet more unwanted flats, or worse still, into a convenience store, like so many pubs around the country. The only thing preventing this is happenstance - there is both Erith Post Office virtually opposite, and Morrison's super store just around the corner. The Cross Keys cannot stay boarded up forever; I just wish something good would happen to it for a change.

I was talking to a couple of work colleagues earlier in the week, and the subject ended up on James Bond, and how Daniel Craig is set to earn £37 million for his next two appearances as the eponymous secret agent. I happened to mention in passing that I had been to Pinewood, and had actually been in the Bond production office. This provoked a lot of questions – how I had managed to secure myself an invitation to the studio, and what I had seen whilst I was there. It is a long story, but probably one that deserves to be told. I had a friend, Adam Harper (see the photo above - click for a larger view); he used to run a small, independent bicycle shop in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere (NOT Nuxley Village – there is no such place – it is an invention of the Estate Agents). Adam’s bread and butter was selling and repairing conventional bikes, but he had an unusual and quite lucrative sideline. When Sinclair vehicles went bust after the commercial failure of their Sinclair C5 electric trike in the late 1980’s, Adam Harper bought up the entire unsold stock, which he then warehoused at a secret location. Harper correctly guessed that the C5 would become a cult item, and its’ value would rise accordingly. He was correct. When new, a C5 retailed at £399. Nowadays, an unused, crated C5 with all its’ accessories will sell for around £5000! Harper also sold nearly all of the electric motors used by the competing robots in the BBC TV series “Robot Wars” – because of his expertise with electric motors, the producers of the show hired him as one of the three judges. I accompanied him on a number of occasions to the studio to watch the programme being made. Anyone who initially met him would think Adam Harper was an open, friendly guy – which indeed he was. It was only when you got to know him well that you realised he was someone very unusual – he had a very strong drive and ambition, accompanied by an almost non – existent sense of self preservation. As a by product of selling C5’s, Adam used to take quite a lot of flak from sceptics, who thought the little vehicle somewhat ridiculous. Harper decided to counter this by modifying a Sinclair C5 to attempt to beat the world land speed record for an electric three wheeled vehicle, and thus give the C5 an image boost. I spent a considerable amount of time helping him design and build the world record machine in the back room of his bicycle shop. The souped up C5 had special, high power motors, fed by a custom electronic power control unit. The batteries were extremely high powered gel units for military use – he had to get special permission to get a licence to use them – I recall a meeting at Exide I attended with him – his considerable charisma and power of persuasion were tested to the limit before Exide relented, and not only granted him a licence, but became of his principal sponsors . The front wheel of the racing C5 was from a Harrier jump jet, and the rears from a Lynx attack helicopter. The front wheel had a small parking brake, but the main method of bringing the tiny vehicle to a halt was a parachute built by Irvin – the people who built the parachutes for the Space Shuttle.  The underside of the C5 was fitted with an aerodynamic under tray of Harper’s own design, as was the aluminium nose cone – which was tested in the wind tunnel at MIRA (the photo above was taken during testing there). This might all sound like a bit of a diversion, but bear with me. Adam Harper realised once he had built the super C5 that he would need publicity before the world land speed record itself. Harper had been invited to join the Dangerous Sports Club, and considered what even by his own standards to be an absolutely hare – brained stunt. In the months before the Dartford river crossing bridge (now known as the QE2 bridge) was completed, there was a large gap in the middle, before the North and South side roadways were joined up. Adam wanted to jump the gap in the super C5! He went as far as contacting the contractors, and both Thurrock and Dartford councils. Understandably, all immediately said no.

With this setback in mind, he decided to try a different approach, and wrote to Eon Productions – the company behind the James Bond franchise, who were intrigued to the point that they invited Adam along for a chat; I was asked along too. We turned up in my not very impressive, but classic Triumph Dolomite at the iconic gates of Pinewood Studios, and were waved in. We parked the car and were met by Simon Crane, the newly appointed stunt co-ordinator for Goldeneye, which was at that time in pre – production. We were then ushered into the Bond production office, which was exactly as one would expect it – a 1930’s mock Tudor house opposite the main studio office block; once inside your feet sank into some of the deepest white shag pile carpet I have ever encountered. The huge, open plan office was decorated with framed posters of all the Bond movies in languages from all over the world, and the centre of the room housed a large Victorian roll – topped desk, which (then) belonged to Cubby Broccolli, who thankfully was not around, as I was already in fanboy heaven – I was gob smacked enough as it was. Simon Crane then showed us onto the Bond Sound Stage, where they were in the middle of filming “First Knight”; we also got to enter the members bar, and generally got a good look around the studio; most of which, quite disappointingly is just like a large industrial estate – if you have seen the car chase scene in “Goldfinger” around Auric Goldfinger’s metal works, that is actually the back lot and workshops at Pinewood. Adam Harper got talking in detail about what he wanted to do stunt – wise, which turned into a race through a 70 foot tunnel of fire. One regret I have is that I missed this event – I had recently started a new job, after a considerable time unemployed. I did not want to ask for a day off so soon after starting the job, so missed the show. By all accounts it went seamlessly, and Adam emerged from the inferno unscathed. One side effect of all this was that Adam ended up with a credit on “First Knight” as “Specialist Transport Supplier” – he used to have a modified Milk Float as his company vehicle – the rear milk carrying compartment was boxed in to form a storage area that was painted on both sides with his company logo and contact details. The driver and passenger compartment was fitted with Perspex doors, a gas powered heater and a car stereo system – it made a very effective sales gimmick, as he drove it locally (very slowly, naturally) and lots of potential customers got to see it. He had decided it was time to sell it on – he mentioned this to Pinewood, and they purchased it to transport the very heavy plate armour used in the Arthurian thriller “First Knight”. Harper jokingly asked to be credited, and the producers took him at his word – much to his surprise!

Later I helped him with another publicity stunt – he raced his super C5 against a Group B Golf VR6 race car, along the main straight at Silverstone, as part of the pre race entertainment for the 1996 Formula 3 championship. I was the driver of one of the three unmodified C5’s that escorted Adam onto the track. As we got going the three standard C5’s did our “ground based Red Arrows” party piece. Each trike had a smoke canister attached to the back, and we slowly trundled down the straight in front of thousands of spectators with one C5 spouting red smoke, the second white, and the third (mine) blue smoke. It certainly got a big laugh, though the laughter shortly turned to amazement as Adam gave the special C5 some beans – it shot off (0-60 was something like 3 seconds) beating the race car easily, before we heard the sharp crack of the parachute deploying, and the super C5 trundled safely to a halt.

Another amusing incident involving Adam Harper and I happened in the historic pumping station in Crossness Sewage Works; as many will already know it is one of only two industrial buildings that hold Grade One listed status in Greater London – the other being Tower Bridge. The pumping station has been used as a location for many big budget movies, including the original “Alien”, the 1987 Tim Burton “Batman”, and the 2009 Guy Ritchie directed “Sherlock Holmes” (the Masonic temple at the start of the film, where Holmes and Watson foil a human sacrifice by the evil Lord Blackwood was filmed in the main pump room.) Back in the mid 90’s, Harper was a guest and occasional presenter on a BBC Children’s TV show called “It’ll Never Work” – a kind of kids’ “Tomorrow’s World”. The show was filmed in the pumping station, giving it a gothic, post apocalyptic look and feel. I was present for several of the filming sessions, which it has to be said for the most part were extremely boring. In TV you seem to spend most of your time sitting round and waiting for a technician to do something. Not a career I would have ever entertained! Anyway, during one of these long pauses in filming, Adam and I went exploring round the historic building. Back then, the restoration project had not long been running, and much of the structure had not been used for many years – there were offices and store rooms, mostly full of junk. One thing we did find you can see in the photo below. When “Alien” was being filmed in the place, the producers had no idea of the massive cult hit the film was going to become; when the movie wrapped, many of the props and costumes were simply dumped. The Alien costume in the photo below was a genuine one used during filming, that we came across in a abandoned store room – which gave us both a bit of a shock! The photo shows Adam Harper posing with the costume – bearing in mind Adam is about five foot ten, it gives you an idea of how tall the actor playing the Alien would have been. The costume was intact, if rather smelly, and nowadays it would be worth an utter fortune. We briefly entertained the idea of “liberating” it from Crossness, but decided that discretion was the better part of valour – besides which, an eight foot tall Alien warrior sitting in the passenger seat of a Ford Fiesta would attract rather a lot of unwanted attention when driving through Lower Belvedere! I have no idea what ever happened to it – hopefully it is now residing in a museum somewhere. A few months later, Adam Harper got a business offer from a Coventry based engineering group, and he sold up his bike shop and moved to the Midlands. I occasionally heard from him for a couple of years, then we lost contact. He was a real, larger than life character. I wonder what he is up to nowadays?

My antipathy towards mobile phones is well known, and not something I am about to repeat in prose now. I take The Times every weekday, and whilst leafing through its’ pages on Wednesday, I came across the following piece, written by journalist Sarah Vine, entitled “My Secret to a Calmer Life”. Whatever your thoughts on mobile phones, it makes interesting reading. ”I had my mobile phone stolen at the weekend; my fault really. I was picking up my son from football and left it in the car when I dashed to get him. Minutes later I returned to find my car window smashed and the phone gone. At first I felt a bit sick with panic. My whole life was on that phone: contacts, photos, diary dates. I rushed home to block it. The phone company promised to get a replacement out to me as soon as possible, and that was that. Three days on I haven’t received a new phone; three days without mobile access to Google Maps, Twitter, Facebook, emails, messages, diary alerts, or contacts. Far from being frantic, I am calmer than I have been for ages. The absence of this little electronic device has done me nothing but good. Three days without my work being interrupted by calls. Three days without me taking the damn thing to the loo with me in case it rings. Three days without the children pestering me to play on it. Three days without the fear of running out of battery. Three days of peace and quiet. This must be what life used to be like. And it seems to me it was really quite civilised.” Well said. In this case, by someone who in previous articles has described herself as a “mobile phone junkie” – it would seem that even a relatively short time that she has come to appreciate the joys of not having a mobile phone, and constant contact with the world. I think her definition of civilisation is interesting. I wonder what the illustrious readers of the Maggot Sandwich think? Answers on a postcard, or better still, leave a comment below. All comments are moderated within 24 hours; I am getting an unbelievable amount of spam posing as reader comments – which is I suppose to be expected when one considers, that even when all spam is discounted, the Maggot Sandwich is getting well over 11,000 reader hits a month now.

The end video this week is the new release by Mister B the Gentleman Rhymer of a track from his new long playing gramophone record. The record is called "The Tweed Album" and it contains the track below "Just like a Chap". Enjoy.