The digger.

Mystery surrounds the photos above, which I took on Thursday. I had received an Email from a long time reader and occasional contributor, who mentioned how he had been told by others that an excavator had dug "massive holes" in the Erith Riverside Gardens, and did I know anything about it? I ventured round to the gardens to investigate. I certainly found a large, tracked digger parked on top of one of the flower beds, but I found no evidence of any holes being dug, or indeed of any work having been carried out at all. No workers were on site, and the digger was locked up. I then walked across to the Running Horses car park, where the site offices for the Quadrant Construction development of the old swimming baths site are located. I had a chat with the Site Manager, who was very pleasant and helpful. I had wondered if the digger was something to do with them? It turned out not; the manager was just as mystified as I. He told me that he guessed that it was council contractors, and that they had been on site on Wednesday, but nothing had been seen of them since. I checked the Riverside Gardens yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, and the digger had been moved a few metres, but no additional activity had taken place, and no holes had been dug. The mystery deepens. If you have any information regarding the mystery digger as pictured above and below (click on any photo for a larger view), please let me know. Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The controversy over the proposed electoral boundary changes in Bexleyheath shows no signs of abating; The Boundary Commission has proposed a new Woolwich constituency which would include four wards from the Erith and Thamesmead constituency and St Michael’s and Lesnes Abbey wards from the London Borough of Bexley. The proposals also include an Erith and Crayford constituency, which includes four wards from the Erith and Thamesmead constituency, and six wards from the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency. Local paper the News Shopper have reported that MP David Evennett, objects to the proposals. He said recently:- “I have objected to the Parliamentary Boundary Commission proposal to place St Michael’s Ward in the new Woolwich constituency, as historically and geographically there are no links between the two areas. I have urged the Commission to think again, taking into account the strong community ties St Michael’s Ward has with the towns of Welling and Bexleyheath. I am also concerned about plans to split Bexleyheath across three Parliamentary constituencies, and I believe the town of Bexleyheath should be recognised in the name of the new constituency. In conclusion, Bexley is formed by a collection of communities, which include Bexleyheath town, Thamesmead town, Erith town and Belvedere village. These are valued by residents across our borough." What do you think? In a recent survey, 88 percent of Bexley residents objected to the proposed boundary changes, on top of which many even objected to being located in a London borough, and who instead wanted to be part of Kent. This makes me wonder - would Bexley be better off seceding from the United Kingdom and becoming independent? There is a precedent, albeit a very old one. At one point what is now the London Borough of Bexley was an independent kingdom, ruled by Æthelberht, King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, lists him as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle he is referred to as a bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler". He was the first English king to convert to Christianity. Æthelberht was the son of Eormenric, succeeding him as king, according to the Chronicle. He married Bertha, the Christian daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks, thus building an alliance with the most powerful state in contemporary Western Europe; the marriage probably took place before he came to the throne. Bertha's influence may have led to Pope Gregory I's decision to send Augustine as a missionary from Rome. Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet in east Kent in 597. Shortly thereafter, Æthelberht converted to Christianity, churches were established, and wider-scale conversion to Christianity began in the kingdom. He provided the new church with land in Canterbury, thus establishing one of the foundation stones of what ultimately became the Anglican Communion. Æthelberht's law for Kent, the earliest written code in any Germanic language, instituted a complex system of fines; the law code is preserved in the Textus Roffensis. Kent was rich, with strong trade ties to the continent, and he may have instituted royal control over trade. Coinage probably began circulating in Kent during his reign for the first time since the Anglo-Saxon invasion. He later came to be regarded as a saint for his role in establishing Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons. Æthelberht died on 24 February 616 and was succeeded by his son, Eadbald. His feast day was originally 24 February, but was changed to 25 February. So we have been an independent kingdom before - do you think it would work again? What do you think - home rule for Bexley? Leave a comment below. or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photo above was taken by a regular Maggot Sandwich reader earlier this week. It shows the flower beds adjacent to the footpath that runs on the outside of The London Southeast College (what used to be Bexley College before it was taken over) in Walnut Tree Road, Erith. As you can see there are hundreds, if not thousands of discarded cigarette butts all over the flower beds and pathway. These have come from the students, who congregate outside of the building during break times in order to smoke. What concerns me is that students at the college are largely in the 16 -18 age range. In the eyes of the law this makes them still children. The college has a duty of care towards its students, which includes caring for their health and wellbeing. Smoking has been banned for anyone under the age of 18 since 1994; I want to know why the college are not doing more to prevent students from smoking through both a campaign of education, and the enforcement of punishments for those who ignore the legal ban? Minors are specifically prevented from smoking in any public place under law. Why this law is not being rigorously enforced by staff at the college is a mystery to me. If you have any insight into this issue of concern, then please contact me. This has been highlighted at a very opportune moment, just as the laws relating to smoking are being tightened and rewritten; new measures being brought in now include include packs of 10 no longer being available as well as some flavoured tobacco and smaller packs of rolling tobacco. The laws actually came into force last May but suppliers and shops were given a year to get rid of old stock and adjust to the changes. The full ban will fully come into effect from May 20th, 2017. Menthol cigarettes are also being phased out and will be completely gone from shops by 2020. This is because the are regarded as a "gateway" to other forms of cigarette. The cheapest packet of cigarettes will cost £8.82 from May 21st. The gradual phasing out of menthol cigarettes will begin; Cigarette packets are set to be plain with only a graphic image showing the impact of smoking on people. Some flavoured cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco, including fruit, spice, herbs, alcohol, candy or vanilla, will be made illegal. You will not be able to buy smaller packets of cigarettes such as packets of 10. Smaller bags containing less than 30g of roll up tobacco will also be banned. Amanda Sandford of anti smoking charity ASH said in a recent interview:- "Cigarettes are already expensive and the price increase of cigarettes is a key factor in making people quit smoking. So by removing the packet of ten cigarettes this means people will have to find that extra money for a packet. It will hit poorer smokers harder, who are usually younger smokers. Paying £3 or £4 for a packet of ten cigarettes at the moment might not seem so much to people and still leave them with change in their pockets. But when you have to spend £6/£7, even £9, people may think, 'Do I really need this packet?'"

Bexley residents are going to have to use a new method to book a car parking space. The new service is known as RingGo - with which you book your car park via a mobile phone application. When you come to park, you’ll have to provide the location code (a five digit number shown on signs near the parking bay) and say how long you want to park. RingGo can be downloaded or drivers can go online to www.RingGo.co.uk to pay, however, a charge of 20p is added each time you use the service. The council claim that by using RingGo drivers won’t have to save up change, hang around in the rain or cold, trek to and from the machine, or put a ticket on the dashboard Users can also be reminded by text message when parking is about to run out and top up wherever they are, reducing the risk of a penalty charge notice. But the cost of a reminder text is 10p. Apart from the additional cost over and above the conventional way of paying for a parking ticket, I can see a number of additional drawbacks. I feel that the onus will be on the poor motorist to prove that they have indeed paid for their space when the parking warden comes to check and the system has incorrectly recorded their details. It also presupposes that all car park users will have a mobile phone. Whilst a majority will, not all may. Fellow local Blogger Malcolm Knight and I share a number of things in common, one of which is that neither of us owns a mobile phone. For me, it is not just a question of actively disliking the things, it is purely that I have no use for one. I rarely use the landline phone at home, let alone any other potential phone device. Perhaps the most common reason people give for having a phone is safety. For the vast majority of us there is no empirical foundation to the idea of phones as essential to our security. That myth depends on something psychologists call the "availability heuristic". Our minds focus on unusual, dramatic possibilities: the broken-down car on a dark and lonely highway; a health emergency where immediate contact is essential. But in reality those scenarios are extremely rare — rarer, no doubt, than accidents while texting or muggers preying on distracted phone users. Focusing on them leads to biased assessment of risk, which, in turn, contributes to a biased assessment of smartphones' utility. Let us not forget that despite the perks, mobile phones have serious downsides, which I have outlined in the past. Experts have even coined a term for phone separation anxiety — nomophobia. Some of it, experts say, comes from the thought of facing big fears — criminals and car breakdowns — without a phone. But I've also been told about subtler anxieties, over "wasted" events that might go unphotographed, uncommunicated, unquantified, as if reality depended on digitization. There's even a pathological aversion to plain old boredom. What if a few minutes waiting for a friend becomes insufferably dull? Owning one, like owning a video game system, has benefits and drawbacks, and I'm convinced there's no reason for me to need or desire a mobile phone. It is all about personal liberty; you are free to own and use a mobile phone, and I am free to choose not to. 

I was walking through Erith Riverside Shopping Centre on Tuesday afternoon when I saw a man coming out of the Paddy Power betting shop. He then approached me and asked me if I could spare 70p? I paused for a moment to allow for the absurdity of the moment to sink in, before I walked away without saying anything. The guy obviously had a severe gambling problem, but his total lack of self awareness astonished me. Why is it that confrontational beggars always ask for a specific amount of money? Do they think it will make them more credible to potential donors? I have had beggars come up to me asking for money for a train fare, but when I offered to accompany them to the station to buy them a ticket, they got abusive. It is the same situation when travelling by train or tube, where you get the career beggars working their way along the carriage. They ask for money - yet how did they afford the fare to get on the train in the first place? Of course they did not, and they are riding illegally, a fact which seems to escape some fellow passengers. 

Hall Place is the only stately home in the London Borough of Bexley, built in 1537 for Sir John Champneys, a wealthy merchant and former Lord Mayor of London. The house was extended in 1649 by Sir Robert Austen, a merchant from Tenterden in Kent. The house is a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, and surrounded by a 65-hectare award winning garden. It is situated on the A223, Bourne Road, south of Watling Street (A207) and north of the 'Black Prince' interchange of the A2 Rochester Way and the A220. Hall Place has the River Cray running through its gardens. The River Cray is an important freshwater river in the borough; it used to be the home for a large population of water voles, but these indigenous wild creatures are under threat from a number of sources. A recent report by the Canal and River Trust analysed water vole sightings dating back as far as 1970, and found that they were seen in only half as many locations in the past fifteen years as they were in the thirty years before that date. Between 1970 and 1999 water voles were spotted at 53 locations along nearly 270 miles of waterways managed by the trust; between 2000 and 2015 there were water vole sightings at 38 locations covering 141 miles. The decline in water vole population has continued, despite an investment of £500,000 since 1980 in forty projects designed to protect them from predation by American Mink, who were introduced into the British countryside when animal rights protesters illegally released them from fur farms. Water voles are one of the most endangered species in the country, and are fast becoming a rare sight on Britain’s canals and rivers. Non – indigenous mink are one threat, but another, less well known creature is an even greater threat to British Water Voles. In the last twenty years, the American Signal Crayfish has spread like wildfire in British waterways. The creatures, which look like mini lobsters, and are typically 6–9 centimetres (2.4–3.5 in) long, although sizes up to 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in) are possible. They are bluish-brown to reddish-brown in colour with robust, large, smooth claws. They have a white to pale blue-green patch near the claw hinge, like the white flags that signalmen used for directing trains—hence the name. The Crayfish burrow into the banks of the river, destroying Water Vole homes and causing the banks to crumble. The infestation of American Signal Crayfish has affected many of the fresh water courses in the UK. The little critters are very difficult to eradicate, as they breed quickly and produce around 200–400 eggs  after mating in the autumn, and are carried under the female's tail until they are ready to hatch the following spring. The eggs hatch into juveniles, which pass through three moults before leaving their mother. Sexual maturity is reached after two to three years, and the life span can be up to 20 years. You have the worst combination – the creatures are quick to breed, long lived, and have no native predator. The American Signal Crayfish does have one key weakness however – once boiled, they are delicious to eat. It is quite legal to hunt wild American Signal Crayfish – all you need to do is to apply for a hunting licence from the Environment Agency. Most licences to hunt wild animals are quite expensive, and limit the size of the hunters bag to only a few animals, in order to limit the impact on the population of that animal. Tellingly, the Environment Agency website has an unlimited bag size and a free licence when it comes to hunting invasive crayfish. Once you have your hunting licence and officially approved design of trap (designed specifically not to trap Water Voles or Otters), you only need the permission of the land owner (who will almost certainly be more than glad that someone is willing to rid them of the infestation of the destructive species).  You can then trap American Signal Crayfish for your table – and you can feel that not only are you going to have a fine feed, but you will be doing the environment some real good in the process. 

First Top Gear imploded, and the three classic presenters moved to Amazon Prime where they made pretty much the same show under a new title of The Grand Tour, albeit with a massively increased budget. Now my second most favourite car show is also changing - Wheeler Dealers is losing genius mechanic Edd China after thirteen series. Officially Edd China is moving on to new projects, but the real reason is that the original British production company has sold the show to a subsidiary of the U.S Discovery Channel, and the U.S want to reduce the level of technical complexity and the detailed explanations of the engineering that goes into each classic car restoration, reducing the role of Edd to little more that a target for motor mouth Mike Brewer as the main presenter. In essence the new producers are seeking to "dumb down" the programme,  and make it into another scripted reality show. One commenter said:- "I only watched for Edd and his repairs and restorations. Unlike most Discovery channel 'reality', it felt genuine. Hats off to Edd, the first whiff of fakery and he leaves. That's integrity. We don't want more scripted 'reality' nonsense which Discovery pushes to our screens relentlessly. We need a real mechanic and enthusiast like Edd doing real things in the real world which we can share in via media. Thank you Edd, you're appreciated hugely". Car builder and TV presenter Ant Anstead will replace Edd China for series 14; I like Ant, and wish him well in the role, though I wonder how long he too will last if Wheeler Dealers becomes as "dumbed down" as is being threatened.

This week the Maggot Sandwich has a guest contributor, local resident and traffic campaigner Tony Fairbairn. As you may be aware, many local stories have multiple aspects to them, and the ongoing discussion regarding additional crossings of the River Thames to the East of London is certainly contentious. Tony writes:- "There are misconceptions regarding the overwhelming support for a River Thames road crossing at Belvedere. First the TfL survey population was about two million, of which only 4519 persons (Less than 0.5 percent) responded, from that result 77 percent approved a package of train, DLR, tram and road crossings at Thamesmead and Belvedere.  At Belvedere, the only option offered was a road crossing. The Mayor is proceeding with DLR and rail crossings at Thamesmead. The Belvedere road crossing has been put in abeyance but could remain a long- term option; However, readers should note only 4 percent approved a road crossing at Belvedere in isolation, possibly why is was put into the long grass. A crossing at Belvedere is essentially a duplicate Dartford Bridge and a link between the A13 in Essex and the A2016. We all know about the congestion problems at Dartford, but what is little known is that traffic levels on the A13 are five times higher than the A2016. An additional net daily inflow of 17,000 vehicles are estimated to enter Belvedere/Erith, these vehicles will either park in our area thus taking up valuable land (six parking places = one new home), or attempt to drive right through to and return later via the A2016, Bexley Road or the steep inclines of Belvedere towards the A2, and that is on a good day, imagine those days when we have a blocked Dartford or Blackwall crossing. 17,000 vehicles are equal to about an 80 percent increase of those already registered in North Bexley. In addition, North bound traffic of around 10,000 vehicles daily would also be seeking to cross Northwards at Belvedere. The parking spots they vacate would not be occupied by those arriving. That is a massive increase in polluting traffic and congestion that can only turn our environment into an urban sprawl as well as increasing the level of road accidents". Interesting stuff - what do you think? Are you concerned about increased pollution from larger number of vehicles in the area, or do you think it would provide economic stimulus to the borough? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

I have written in the past about former local resident, and prolific inventor and businessman Hiram Maxim – inventor of the Maxim Machine Gun, the first person to fly a heavier than air craft, several years prior to the Wright Brothers, and the man that invented both the fire sprinkler and the sprung mouse trap. Maxim also invented the car exhaust silencer, and as an off – shoot (if you will excuse the pun) his son, the American inventor Hiram Percy Maxim, is usually credited with inventing and selling the first commercially successful model of gun suppressor circa 1902 (patented 30 March 1909). Maxim gave his device the trademarked name Maxim Silencer, and they were regularly advertised in sporting goods magazines. The muffler for internal combustion engines was developed in parallel with the firearm suppressor by Maxim in the early 20th century, using many of the same techniques to provide quieter-running engines (in many English-speaking countries automobile mufflers are still called silencers). Former president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt was known to purchase and use Maxim Silencers. So, it is not too much of a stretch to say that many inventions that we all take for granted were either invented in Erith or Crayford at the two Maxim / Vickers factories, or by people also living in the same area. We for example also had the first petrol – powered tricycle (the Butler petrol cycle), several years before the Benz automobile, which was tested along Manor Road, and the first submarine capable of firing a torpedo whilst submerged was created by the Nordenfeldt works, also located in Erith. The end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century were a real hot house of inventive talent in the local area – some of the most cutting edge engineering took place in and around Erith. I don't feel that we do enough to celebrate our strong links to key moments in the history of Britain. What do you think? Hiram Maxim had a rival in a chap called William Cantelo, who allegedly was the original inventor of the recoil operated machine gun. Cantelo was a Southampton pub landlord with a flair for mechanical engineering whose experiments with firearms in the extended cellar of his pub often caused consternation to both his regulars and his neighbours, though William Cantelo was highly secretive, as he realised the engineer who could invent an automatic, repeat firing rifle would make a fortune. Once he was confident that his machine gun was ready for the world, he packed several prototypes up and went off to market the weapon. That was the last anyone ever saw of him. Not long afterwards, Erith's own Hiram Maxim (born in America, but a naturalised Briton) started producing his range of Maxim Guns - touted as the first recoil operated machine gun, which were made at his large factory in Fraser Road, Erith - to this day the area is known locally as "The Pom Pom" - after the noise of the guns being tested on the range to the rear of the factory. Investigators have noticed that Cantelo and Maxim looked remarkably similar - and certain conspiracy theorists have had a field day in supposing what the connection between the two men was. The thing is, back in the late Edwardian period, most men over the age of thirty had large bushy beards - as did both Cantelo and Maxim, and a lot of their physical similarity would seem to be due to the beard element. Later, Hiram Maxim claimed that he had a double who was impersonating him, but this was never independently confirmed (Maxim was a bit of a showman, and fond of making Donald Trump - like sweeping statements, so this was nothing remarkable or at all unusual). Maxim was already a wealthy man, having the patents for the aforementioned fire extinguishing water sprinkler and the sprung mousetrap, amongst others. Personally I feel that the whole Cantelo / Maxim conspiracy is a fictional construct – Cantelo probably did what many adventurous entrepreneurs did in Victorian times, and emigrated to America (ironically the direct opposite of what Maxim did a few years earlier) – and then disappeared from history. The story makes a good yarn however.

The ending video this week dates back to 1985, and a BBC TV news piece on the then Snooker World Champion, Plumstead lad Steve Davis. In the 1980's Snooker was massively popular on TV; one of the reasons was that by this time nearly all sales of TV receivers were of colour models, whereas prior to this black and white sets had been more popular, due mainly to their lower purchase price and cheaper TV licence. The short TV article goes to Steve Davis's old Abbey Wood School and talks to contemporary pupils, and one of Davis's former teachers about both his time at school and his then dominance of Snooker. It is an interesting historical document.

The Erith Odeon.

The two photos above were taken from exactly the same location, but separated by exactly thirty years of time. The upper photo was taken in May 1985, and shows the old Art Deco Erith Odeon cinema, which by that time had been converted into a Mecca Bingo hall. Built for the Oscar Deutsch chain of Odeon Theatres Ltd. The Odeon Cinema was opened on 26th February 1938 with Barbara Stanwyck in "Stella Dallas". Located on the corner of High Street and James Watt Way, the huge frontage was entirely covered in glazed tiles, broken only by long narrow window, just above the canopy. To the left of the facade was an impressive sweptback 65 feet high fin-tower, which became a landmark in the town centre. Inside the striking Art Deco style auditorium, seating was provided for 826 in the stalls and 420 in the circle. On each side of the proscenium were panels with horizontal bands, that were back-lit. There were a series of decorative plaster bands along the ceiling towards the proscenium, which were broken only by a daylight fitting in the centre of the ceiling. The Odeon was taken over by the Independent Classic Cinemas Ltd. chain on 10th December 1967, and was re-named Classic Cinema. The Classic Cinema was twinned from 16th September 1973, with a 1,000 seat Mecca Bingo Club operating in the former stalls area, and a 400 seat cinema in the former circle, which opened with Glenda Jackson in "A Touch of Class". Classic Cinemas leased the entire building to Mecca Ltd. from 3rd January 1974, and the cinema was re-named Mecca Cinema. The Mecca Cinema was closed on 25th September 1976 with Robin Askwith in "Confessions of a Driving Instructor" and Anthony Sharp in "House of Mortal Sin". The building was de-twinned and the Mecca Bingo Club took over the stalls and circle levels from November 1976. In 1995, it was taken over by the independent Jasmine Bingo Club chain, and was closed on 4th February 1996. The building was boarded-up and lay unused until late 2002, when it was demolished. A block of retail / office units and flats was built on the site in 2005, which you can see in the lower photograph. It was a great pity that the original cinema building could not have been retained; I know that at the time there was much talk of the building having a Grade II* listed status, due to the architectural importance of the design. I understand that matters came to a head when large quantities of blue asbestos were found in the structure. I have to say they the building that replaces it has some very pleasant apartments which overlook the River Thames. If you would like to see more photographs of the old Erith Odeon, both inside and out, then click here for an album of period pictures - the May 1985 image above is used with the permission of the copyright holder. The lower image was taken by me last week.

After a degree of uncertainty, I can now confirm that Erith Fun Day 2015 will be taking place in the Erith Riverside Gardens on Saturday the 18th of July. More details in the coming weeks; for now you can visit the Erith Fun Day Facebook page here.

I get annoyed when I see some of the talkbacks on websites such as the News Shopper. There seems to be a small coterie of individuals who comment on pretty much any and every story, usually with remarks that are overtly derogatory. There have recently been some particularly nasty comments about a couple of people I would rather not identify, and I am surprised that the News Shopper editorial team have not taken the remarks down. Quite often these trolls will become active whenever Erith is mentioned in a story – they seem to take some kind of cheap thrill in bad mouthing the town and those (like me ) who live there. The fact that Erith is an up and coming place that is undergoing dynamic regeneration seems to escape them – all they can see is what they erroneously consider to be a run-down dump full of thieves and chavs. Sure, Erith has a dark side – find a town in the UK that doesn’t? I can certainly vouch that in the years I have lived in Erith, the place has got better and better. What disappointed me earlier this week was a news story which fed directly into the prejudices of the News Shopper talkback trolls. Three men from Erith were jailed for theft and fraud after large scale raids by Met police.  Kevin Lang, 37, of Sun Court was sentenced to 12 months in prison for fraud, after trying to sell his own driving licence, passport and other ID documents including birth certificates.  George Evans, 30, of Bridge Road was sentenced to 8 months in prison for theft, after stealing iPads, sat navs and tools from vehicles. Michael Ozdal, 32, of Slade Green Road was sentenced to 10 months in prison for theft and fraud.  He was accused of stealing sat navs, an iPad, tools, an iPhone, and supplying bank cards and a passport intended to be used to commit fraud. The numpties deserve their custodial sentences.  All three men were arrested on March 24 when police raided 53 homes in Bexley, Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley. They stole the electronic kit from parked cars and vans, and by breaking into private property, and they fully deserve jail.  It just galls me that these crooks play into the hands of those who would like to tarnish all Erith residents with the same brush. I predict that the town will experience a economic and social boost over the next five years or so that will force the naysayers to eat their words.

If you have taken a 99 bus recently, you may have noticed a subtle difference in the bus itself. Whilst they look very similar to the widely liked Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 models (photo above - click for a larger view) that have been used on the route since 2011, they seem to operate in a somewhat different manner. When the bus comes to a halt, the engine cuts out completely. When the bus subsequently pulls away from the bus stop, it travels for a few seconds in complete silence, before the diesel engine cuts back in. It is fairly obvious that the drivetrain of the bus uses some form of hybrid system. As a regular passenger on the 99 route, and as someone who has an interest in engineering, I did a bit of research. Here is what I found; the new buses are using an energy storage system they call Gyrodrive. I found the details on a bus engineering website “Working with Williams Hybrid Power and GKN on an £18m project to bring Formula 1 technology to buses, ADL has plans to introduce a Gyrodrive parallel hybrid system that uses an electro-mechanical composite flywheel as an energy store. For OEM or retrofit installation, the system has been trialled at Millbrook and in service with savings of 25% predicted from it. Unlike other flywheel systems, there is no direct mechanical link required between the flywheel and the rest of the system, which means it can be mounted wherever best suits, and there is also no complex continuously variable transmission (CVT) required. Costs are expected to be cheaper than a battery in whole life terms with the flywheel unit only requiring bearings every six years or so at a cost of around £1,000. On an Enviro400 the power electronics and flywheel energy store are located in the saloon under a pair of double seats, with the electric machine (a flywheel running at 36,000rpm) and its transfer box mounted on the prop shaft. Ken said that field trials on vehicles retrofitted with the device would be running in the fourth quarter of this year with OEM fit vehicles scheduled for 2015. He confirmed that other applications for Gyrodrive were being looked at. “ The document was dated early 2014, so the prediction of rolling Gyrodrive out in 2015 would appear to have been accurate. I can understand local bus operators opting for a fairly basic form of hybrid power. When you consider the capital outlay to replace part or whole of a bus fleet, the expense would run into many millions. I recall that well over a year ago I saw a prototype fuel cell powered bus, stopped in Bexley Road, at the junction with Cross Street in front of Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. The bus was immobile, and a couple of bus fitters were standing outside. I went across and asked then what the problem was, as the bus was blocking nearly all traffic from the bus halt in front of the shopping centre. One of the blokes looked a bit embarrassed when he told me that the Fuel Cell powered bus had broken down, and at that time they could not get it to move. He explained that the on board computer had crashed, which had locked the drive unit into park, and had locked on all of the brakes. The only thing still working were the emergency flashers. I left the pair as they tried to reboot the bus. This is the kind of scenario that the bus companies cannot afford to see happening in production buses – the incident I saw was very much just a test run. Fuel cell powered buses have been operated on routes in central London for several years  - usually out of the Waterloo garage. They have not been widely taken up, mainly due to the huge capital outlay that such technology costs, and also because very few places are licenced to store the liquid Hydrogen the fuel cells require. The upside of Hydrogen fuel cells is that the only exhaust they release is water vapour – steam. They are totally clean and don't require charging like conventional electric vehicles. I think that in the coming years, legislation will change making fuel – cell powered vehicles of all kinds much more financially attractive to own and operate – especially in the case of public service vehicles. In the meantime it would seem that the pragmatic bus operators are now taking the first steps towards that goal. Next time you go on a bus, listen as it stops – does the engine cut out, only to smoothly cut back in as it draws away? If it does, it almost certainly uses some type of hybrid system – quite possibly the Gyrodrive system described above. On another note, you may recall that I mentioned seeing a Tesla Model S electric car recently in Upper Belvedere; I have since discovered that the owner works in Canada Square, Canary Wharf, and makes good use of the free dedicated Tesla recharging point in the underground car park beneath Waitrose / John Lewis in Canada Square. I used to be deeply sceptical about zero emission vehicles – mainly because of the woeful G-Wiz that one used to see limping around central London for a few years. The G-Wiz may still be in production (from what I have been able to ascertain, they are built in a shed in India) but they are ugly, slow, badly built, short ranged death traps. The G-Wiz is exempt from most European road safety legislation, as it is not legally regarded as being a car – instead it is a “heavy quadricycle” rather than a car. Consequently there have been a number of horrendous accidents involving other vehicles and a G-Wiz, with the pitiful electric cart invariably coming off far worse. In 2010, a fatal accident in London occurred between a G-Wiz and a Škoda Octavia, with the driver of the G-Wiz, a top British scientist named Judit Nadal, being killed. The coroner Andrew Walker was quoted as saying about the G-Wiz at the inquest: “What concerns me is that this vehicle was destroyed in this collision in a way that I have not seen a vehicle destroyed before.” The G-Wiz thankfully discontinued back in 2012, but you can still see the occasional model trundling around the City and West End, doing an impression of an asthmatic milk float with a body like a bad dodgem car. All this, along with Top Gear voting the G-Wiz one of the worst new cars of the last twenty years has not done much for the image and acceptability of vehicles powered by renewable energy. All this is now about to change. The Tesla S is stunning to look at, beautifully built, uses the latest cutting edge engineering technology, has a decent range and a luxurious interior – and on top of that it goes like stink. Once you have seen one in the flesh you will appreciate what I mean – in photos the Tesla S looks a little on the bland side, but when you stand next to one that all changes – it is beautiful, with a hint of Jaguar and BMW from certain angles; I had the opportunity to study one up close on Friday night, courtesy of local businessman Vik, who I bumped into in Morrison's car park with his brand new top of the range 700 horsepower 4 wheel drive Tesla-S P85D. It is manufactured in a dedicated facility in California, but it does not look overtly American – the quality of the interior materials feel more European – like an Audi. They are available in the UK with right hand drive. Check out the road test video below and see what you think. The Tesla S model is certainly not cheap – it is aimed at the same affluent professional who might otherwise buy a Mercedes E – Class or a BMW 5 – Series, but it is the first truly credible electric car that a driver or passenger has to make absolutely no concessions to own – see what you think.

The World Snooker Championship finals took place last weekend, and there was extensive coverage of it on both BBC 2 and Eurosport. I noticed that Steve Davis, former multiple snooker world champion was one of the commentators. Whilst he apparently lives in Brentwood in Essex nowadays, he lived for many years in Danson Road, opposite Danson Park in one of the big white Art Deco mansions. I can recall that at the height of his fame in the 1980’s he could often be seen on a Sunday morning outside of his home, washing and polishing his numerous and rather flashy 1950’s American cars. He had definitely moved up in the world, even if he'd only moved a couple of miles from where he was born and brought up, in Plumstead. I have heard tales (which I have been unable to verify the accuracy) that Steve Davis used to practice relatively anonymously at the Erith Snooker Centre in Pier Road. If anyone has any information about what does sound to me suspiciously like a bit of an urban myth, can they drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Veteran readers may recall that I first talked about the forthcoming Paramount Theme Park back in October 2012. Now the local press seem to finally be picking up on what quite possibly will be the biggest story to hit the region in a couple of decades. The Paramount Theme Park will, if planning permission is granted, be built on the site of the derelict quarry site at Swanscombe, which has got to be excellent news for the entire region, if not the country as a whole. The proposed site features Europe’s largest indoor water park, theatres, hotels, restaurants and all manner of themed rides, all in a site spread over approximately 110 acres in the core resort, with another 600 acres surrounding; allowing for typical British weather, over seventy percent of the attractions will be under cover. The bill (at least now, but it is bound to escalate) is estimated to be in the region of £2 billion, and the park will employ 27,000 people, many of them from the local area. If this plan gets the green light next week (and I seriously doubt it won’t) it will be a massive boost for the economy for the whole of North Kent and South East London. Much of this story is detailed on the News Shopper website here. What amazes me (quite apart from my usual misgivings about the quality of talkbacks and lack of moderation on their website) is the naysayers who are already moaning about the increase in traffic and likely disruption that the construction work will undoubtedly cause. These small minded people seem to completely miss the fact that the park will be a complete economic game changer for an area that will encompass a vast swathe of the South East of England. Once the park is built and running there will be all sorts of permanent jobs needed to keep the place ticking over – electricians, security, engineers, cleaners, administrators – the list is as long as your imagination. The concept is to produce an attraction so large and absorbing that it will take a visitor around three days to see everything. It seems that the planners have been very clever in their thinking; they realise that much of the new economic growth is coming from China and the Far East. They realise that tourists coming a long distance will think “we can go to Disneyland Paris and Paramount London in a one – week holiday”. The planners  chose Northfleet, as the area has excellent road and rail connections, is only forty minutes or so by rail from the coast, and is on the rail route to London. It also helps that the land in and around Northfleet is dirt cheap brown field stuff that would be excellent for a change of use as a theme park. It is also apparent that Paramount are very keen to capitalise on the franchises that they own; as well as American shows such as  Star Trek and Mission Impossible, they also have licenced very typically British franchises such as Sherlock, The Italian Job, Spooks, Dr Who, Wallace and Gromit, and Shaun the Sheep from the likes of Ardman Animations and the BBC. I note that the Top Gear franchise is not mentioned anywhere – as it has probably been excised from the planning documentation following the recent controversy. The feeling I get from reading the documentation is that Paramount want to present a very British feeling amusement park experience – they are not trying to emulate Disney, rather to make something with a unique and British identity. I would imagine the success of the Harry Potter Experience may well have stimulated this approach, though the Potter park will be miniscule in comparison with the Paramount London site. The Paramount planners conservatively estimate that the park would attract around ten million visitors in the first year, and around fifteen million a year by the fifth, when there are more rides on offer. By way of comparison, Thorpe Park pulls in about two and a half million visitors a year.  On top of the money visitors will bring into the region, there are the aforementioned new jobs that will result both directly and indirectly from the park. It is estimated the beneficial financial impact of the park will stretch from Greenwich to Dover, with thousands of permanent jobs being created both in the park itself, and in industries that service both the park, and the park workers themselves. I think in inconceivable that it will get denied planning permission – what do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Woolwich Ferry seems to be experiencing regular mechanical failures at present - this week all three vessels have been out of action for much of the time; In many ways this is not unexpected. The three vessels that make up the Woolwich Ferry fleet were all built in a shipyard in Dundee in 1963, and having been in almost continuously in service for over fifty years. They must be very close to wearing out by now, however carefully they are maintained. The ferry provides a vital transport link across the River Thames – it is less important for pedestrians nowadays, since the Docklands Light Railway extension to Woolwich Arsenal opened back in 2009, but for vehicles and especially oversized freight vehicles that cannot get through the Rotherhithe or Blackwall tunnels it is vital, unless they wish a detour via central London (with the associated congestion charge) or out to Dartford and the crossing there, with the toll.  The ferry service provides one of the few available crossings of the River Thames east of London. Although there are seventeen river crossings in the twenty miles west of Tower Bridge, there are only three river crossings  the same distance east. As long as there is a demand for a vehicle ferry it is unlikely to be discontinued, and it would require changing an 1885 Act of Parliament to do so. The spectre of the two proposed new tunnels under the Thames at Gallions Reach and Lower Belvedere loom large over the Woolwich Ferry. Whilst nothing concrete has yet been agreed in respect of new river crossings, the fact remains there is a massive imbalance in the number of crossings between the East and West sides of the city.  The need for additional cross – Thames transport links is nothing new; the issue has been at the forefront of both politicians and civil engineers since Roman times. The first tunnel to be built under the River Thames was actually the first tunnel to be built under a river anywhere. Back in 1843, a 396 metre long tunnel at Rotherhithe was constructed by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the first to have been successfully built underneath a navigable river. It was the first tunnel to utilise the innovative tunnelling shield technique invented by Marc and Isambard that is still used to build tunnels today, although now huge tunnel boring machines do the hard work instead of hundreds of men. The tunnel was a marvel of engineering, and made underground transportation around the world a possibility, all because of the tunnel shielding method invented by Marc Isambard Brunel. Before his innovation, tunnels had been attempted twice before beneath the Thames, but had failed because of the soft clay, quicksand and flooding that collapsed the efforts, leading to loss of life, and bankruptcy for the tunnelling companies. The tunnelling shield was a sort of cage structure that was pushed to the front of the tunnel. In the original design, men in the cages would dig forward a little, while those behind were shoring up the tunnel by building its walls. The design was later improved by engineers working for the railway companies building the London Underground and still forms the basic idea behind modern tunnel boring machines. Despite the vast improvement in methodology, digging the Thames Tunnel was still a dangerous job; one in which Isambard himself, working as an engineer for his father, nearly died. He was the only survivor of the second major flood of the tunnel in 1828, when six men died. Half-drowned, he was sent to Bristol to convalesce and here he designed his first individual project, the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge. Back then, labourers would spent two hours at a time digging, often while also being gassed and showered with excrement (the Victorian Thames was an open sewer, and vastly more polluted than nowadays). As it was constructed, the tunnel was constantly waterlogged, leading to a build-up of effluent and methane gas. The result was that not only would miners pass out from inhaling the noxious gas – even if they didn’t, men who re-surfaced were left senseless after their two-hour shift – but there were also explosions as the gas was set alight by the miners’ candles. All in all it was an extremely hazardous place in which to work. The hard work paid off; once the tunnel was completed, it opened to some fanfare. Originally intended as a means of getting cargo across what was then a hugely trafficked river, the Thames Tunnel ran out of money before it was able to build the extended entrance necessary to get horses and carts underground. Instead, the tunnel was opened for pedestrian use in 1843. It quickly became a major tourist attraction, with two million people a year paying a penny to walk through. It sounds pretty successful, but Londoners were also paying a penny to use any of the other ways to cross the Thames and the tunnel – tolls were charged whichever way you wished to cross the river back then. The Brunel foot tunnel was new and daring, this was seen as pretty risky way – literally walking underneath the River Thames. To try to scare up some more payback for the massive investment, the tunnel opened up some of the very first tourist souvenir shops, selling Thames Tunnel memorabilia and souvenirs like cups and plates – so you could prove you were brave enough not only to walk through the tunnel, but to stop and browse along the way. As time went on, the seedier side of Victorian London started to reckon a dark, underground tunnel might be the perfect place to conduct some nefarious business, and the numbers of respectable tourists declined. Various projects to make more money out of it were tried, including turning it into what must have a been a fantastical underground fairground to attract even more visitors, before it was sold to the East London Railway Company in 1865. A part of the original tunnel is still visible today if you look  down the line from Wapping station towards Rotherhithe. A fascinating piece of historic construction – and worth remembering the next time you drive through the Dartford Tunnel, which along with nearly all modern tunnels around the world, was built using with engineering techniques developed by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Rotherhithe in the early 1860’s.

After all of the press coverage and hoo - ha about the general election last week, I did some digging about on YouTube; I came across this silent footage of the 1965 Erith and Crayford by - election. What is remarkable in this fifty year old footage is although some places have changed, much of the area is remarkably recognisable today. The footage shows James Wellbeloved, who went on to be a long serving Labour, and later Social Democrat MP for the area. He was highly regarded by many local people - including a number who would class themselves as Conservative voters. Give this slice of local history a watch - it is fascinating stuff; and as mentioned, there is no sound on the clip.