The P2 Centre.

I gather that things are proving difficult for the operators of the events hall located in what used to be the snooker centre in Electricity House, opposite the fish roundabout at 5 Pier Road in Erith. The African church, which illegally changed the use of the building, are in hot water over a number of issues, and not just in relation to several planning violations which are currently ongoing. The attached playgroup / nursery also run by the same people still has no planning permission in place after 4 years, and that the latest application remains undecided by committee members. The events space has regularly been in breach of its licence - the London Fire Brigade prohibition notice only permits a maximum of 60 people to use it at any one time; last Saturday evening, well over 100 people attended a birthday party in the premises which went on until past 1.30 am in the morning - this directly violated the notice. In addition, if one looks at the venue website - which I have to say is a very slick and impressive looking thing, even if the information and photographs contained therein are very misleading indeed. If one navigates to the Our Event Spaces page, you can see a list of options; these include setups for events holding 350 - 450 people, which directly contravenes the terms of the London Fire Brigade prohibition notice limiting any events to a maximum of 60 people. Later the mention of a capacity of up to 600 guests is made - more on this shortly. The owners of the P2 Events Center (they mainly use the US spelling on their website, though occasionally the English spelling is used) also mislead by mostly using photographs of other events centres to illustrate their own, far smaller, shabby and amateurish looking offering. Quite what any visitor to the P2 Center thinks when they see the reality of the location compared to the glamorous presentation on the website is anyone's guess. On their website, the proprietors of the P2 Events Center use flowery language and a stretch of the truth that would make even the most shameless estate agent blush; for example they describe the venue thus:- "The Main Hall was designed in the 1930s and has a unique Deco charm. The property is situated in a prominent retail position within the town centre at the junction of Pier Road and Queens Road (A206) and opposite a large car park. With a Mezzanine level that looks out over Erith Town Centre, the space is flexible and can be adapted to accommodate your needs – whether for a dinner, standing reception, birthday celebration, wedding banquet, seminars, conference or exhibition. Accommodating groups ranging from 80 to 600 in exceptional glamour, our chefs offer exquisite menus to accompany this exceptional event venue. Our dedicated events team is well versed in delivering high-end, unique events and will work with you to create an exceptional experience for your guests". I know that the planning department at Bexley Council, and several local councillors are very much aware as to what has been going on in Electricity House over the last few years, and as I have previously reported, I have been led to understand that their medium to long term plan is to eventually compulsorily purchase the site for subsequent redevelopment. What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment below, or alternatively, Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Here is a bit of home computing history that I had a direct involvement with; it was 33 years ago last week that the revolutionary Atari ST range of computers was launched in the UK. As you may know, in my youth, I worked for what was then the largest stockist and distributor of Atari products in Europe, the Hatherley Road, Sidcup based Silica Shop. The Atari 520ST had been available from February in the U.S, but their by far biggest market was in Europe - specifically in the UK, France and Germany. It was the first true 16 bit computer designed for home use to be put in sale in the UK, some time before the soon to become incredibly popular Commodore Amiga was put on sale. Incidentally the rivalry between Commodore and Atari was set to turn into a series of legal actions over various patents and intellectual property rights. It all started when the boss of Commodore - a man called Jack Tramiel (whom I met twice - he was not a nice man in my personal experience) got fired by the Commodore board of Directors. In revenge, he decided to set up a rival organisation. Instead he managed to purchase part of Atari, who were in a real financial state, due to the 1983 video game crash in the USA, which left them very much out of pocket. Atari’s owner, Warner Communications, was looking to shed what it saw was “dead weight” in the form of Atari’s consumer products division. Tramiel saw an opportunity to leverage Atari’s manufacturing infrastructure and made a deal to acquire the division in exchange for stock in his new company. Jack Tramiel renamed Tramiel Technology to Atari Corporation, shut down most of Atari’s offices, liquidated its existing stock and fired its staff, replacing them with former Commodore employees. Surviving on its remaining video-game inventory, the new company went to work developing Tramiel’s new 16-bit computer. Based on the same Motorola 68000 processor used in the Apple Macintosh, the Atari ST (the ST apparently standing for “sixteen/thirty-two” - a reference to the 68000 processor address bus configuration, although some have speculated it stood for “Sam Tramiel” after Jack’s son), was designed to be attractive to a wide variety of computer users. Like the Commodore 64, the ST could be plugged into a television for casual video-gaming (initially via an add - on TV modulator, which was built in to later models) , but additionally it could use a colour or monochrome monitor – the latter of which featuring a higher resolution than the Macintosh, an appeal to those in the then-emerging world of desktop publishing. It also came standard with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) ports for controlling synthesisers, making it attractive to musicians. Meanwhile, Atari and Commodore were suing and counter-suing each other: Commodore alleged Tramiel had stolen the technology behind the ST, and Tramiel moved to prevent Commodore from acquiring the Amiga, which had been originally promised to Atari. In the end, neither amounted to much, and Atari announced the 520 ST at the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show. It was soon nicknamed the “Jackintosh”. I was present at a question and answer session for Silica Shop staff on the evening prior to the London based Computer and Video Games show at Olympia, where the UK launch of the Atari 520 ST took place. Staff were able to ask questions of Jack Tramiel, and I mentioned the unofficial name of "Jackintosh" and asked what he though of it; in hindsight this was a very bad move indeed - if looks could kill.... Unfortunately I bumped into him in the gents toilets at the show the very next day - but he either chose to ignore me, or had forgotten the interaction the day before. Either way I was very relieved - in both senses. While the Atari ST’s specifications were impressive for the time, what really stole the show was its graphical user interface, GEM. Jack Tramiel licensed GEM (short for Graphics Environment Manager) from Digital Research, who had initially developed it for their CP/M operating system and later ported it to MS-DOS. Tramiel wanted to give his new computer a user-interface layer similar to the Macintosh, but for a much lower price, and GEM fit the bill nicely, especially since Digital Research had no interest in 68000-based computers, it being fully focussed on the Intel 80286 processor. Like the Macintosh, the ST used a mouse for much of its user interaction. It had icons that represented disk drives (represented as drawers from filing cabinets), applications (although not customisable as they were on the Macintosh), documents and the Trash (a particularly egregious theft from Apple’s Finder.) GEM had a menu at the top of the screen, a “Desk” menu extremely similar to the Macintosh’s “Apple” menu – it’s no surprise Apple was unimpressed with GEM. Apple sued Digital Research, but not because they were concerned about competition from Atari – the ST appealed to a much different market than the Macintosh. No, Apple was afraid of GEM becoming widely available on the PC, which was beginning to approach the Macintosh in terms of hardware capabilities, and could become a serious threat if combined with decent graphical operating system. Digital Research ended up agreeing to change many elements of GEM on the PC in order to satisfy Apple (and Microsoft would be made wary not to borrow too much from the Macintosh for their Windows software), but the Atari version would remain untouched, allowing Atari to continue to unofficially market the ST as a “budget Macintosh”. The ST would save Atari – close to bankruptcy by the time of its launch – and go on to commercial success, sharing the home computer market with the Commodore Amiga for a number of years. A large amount of the ST’s success can be attributed to business software developers, who very quickly recognised the computers potential for productivity applications, including WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) word processing and desktop publishing. Indeed, paired with its companion high-resolution monochrome monitor, the ST would become popular with small business owners and not-for-profit organisations who could not justify the cost of a Macintosh, but wanted to create more professional-looking documents than what could be produced on an older and less powerful 8-bit computer system. As part of my research for this article, I was perusing the Wikipedia entry on the Atari ST range of computers during the week, and I noticed a couple of things that prompted my attention. The entry refers to the Computers' advertising tag line "Power without the price" and infers that this was a central Atari theme; I can say for certain that this was not the case. The slogan was dreamed up by Silica Shop in Sidcup, not Atari. The second, and to me the most telling point is the mention of the fix recommended in the official Atari engineering manual as to how to remedy an ST that when fired up, did not come to life as expected, but instead showed a brown screen of death. Wikipedia terms it thus:- "Early 520ST owners became accustomed to the "Atari Twist" and the "Atari Drop" service procedures. "Atari Twist" seemed to help discharge built-up static electricity (Atari soldered-down the metal shielding to fix the problem) while the "Atari Drop" appeared to help re-seat chips which may have become partially unseated over time, due to vibration and other external factors. Actually, the Atari Drop was a procedure that more often than not fixed the brown screen of death issue - which was caused by a couple of ROM chips coming loose in their housings. The short drop of the computer onto a hard surface would knock them back into position, fixing the problem". I know, as it was me that (accidentally) came up with the fix. I had a number of customers with brand new 520 ST machines that would not start up on first boot. On one occasion I turned the computer over to check the serial number, ready to fill in a warranty return form. On turning it back over, I accidentally dropped it onto the wooden counter top, at which point the computer burst into life. I tried this with several other machines that were exhibiting the same problem, and all but one of them was similarly fixed. After talking to Atari Engineering UK, based in Slough, the "Atari drop" became an official remedy, and described in the engineering service manual. One of my minor and very anorakky claims to fame. It is ironic that I never actually owned an ST myself; they were always far too expensive for my pocket, even allowing for a substantial staff discount at the time.

I was passed the photo of an advertising flyer that is currently being circulated in the local area by a reader earlier in the week; since then the story has been reported by the News Shopper - one of the hazards of the Maggot Sandwich publishing every week on a Sunday. The flyer is fraudulent - the tree surgeon company is a con - the physical address exists - it a a block of flats - but the land line phone number redirects to a mobile phone. Please do not use this company, as you will almost certainly be ripped off.

Two weeks ago I wrote in some length how Bexley Council have launched a public consultation regarding the possible installation of charging points around the borough for electric vehicles. One reader - Miles - has not only responded to the council with his own feedback in respect of what he believes would be best for local residents regarding the provision of electric vehicle charging points, but he has also written a fascinating guest piece for the Maggot Sandwich this week; Miles writes:- "Electric Vehicles are a genuinely controversial and equally fascinating topic, over the last twenty years there has been countless headlines, everything from Top Gear staging an apparent Tesla Roadster supercar breakdown to Elon Musk blasting it's successor into space! For reasons I still to this day can't understand EVs attract highly polarising opinions, On one hand they are supposedly going to cause a country wide black outs whilst barely getting you to the shops and back, right through to the unicorn farting panacea that is perfectly green, vegan, tree-hugging motoring -  both of which are basically nonsense. Whilst EVs may seem new, this couldn't be further from the truth. The very first electric car can be traced all the way back to the late 1800's where France & the UK battled it out to build several prototypes demonstrating the new technology - a legacy we still use today, the London Underground. Early EVs, like today's mainstream cars had vastly more torque and power than their counterpart gasoline vehicles, yet they simply couldn't compete on energy density - simply put Petrol and Diesel were plentiful, cheaper and global warming wasn't a thing. Let's fast forward, if you think Tesla or Nissan are bleeding edge technology what if I told you we're over 20 years behind the curve! Back in the late 90's General Motors in the US produced the very first viable consumer EV - the aptly named GM EV1. This vehicle is fast by today's standards 0-60 was under 8 seconds, the range around 100 miles with a fully digital display!  Who Killed the Electric Car, a film produced in the mid 2000's, paints a tantalising picture of a motor industry that not only had produced a viable electric car, but also wanted to destroy it. GM, despite building a car far beyond it's time, did everything to stop it succeeding - they intentionally dissuaded customers from purchasing the car, remove it from forecourts and wouldn't even allow you to buy it, lease only. The forced lease is the pivot point in the story, GM, having seen how successful the EV1 had become was terrified it would detract from their main profit centres - which not long after required a HUGE bailout from the US gov - they recalled ALL EV1 cars to be crushed. To this day only a handful exist, deactivated, in museums. An extraordinarily sad tale that has pushed back the industry by decades. All was not doom and gloom, a very small footnote can be added - a small startup called Tesla was founded. When I was a child my friends and I would do nothing but talk about the latest super car, the Jaguar XJ220, McLaren F1 - we'd play Top Trumps learning every intimate detail of the Ford Cosworth.  Today is a far different story, insanely expensive fuel, insurance and rampant breeding of speed cameras have significantly doused the excitement of our kids, what's the point one kid told me? How sad I thought to myself, particularly as a motorcyclist - another dying breed (bloody corners). Last week a friend electrified (I'm sorry) my inner 5 year old. After taking his young daughter to school they were absolutely fascinated about the car, his daughter suddenly became the cool kid. A little bird tells me they are busy googling all the latest Jaguars/Teslas/Nissans and they know all the stats - how fantastic". What do you think? Do you have any additional or alternative ideas to these suggested by Miles? Part two of Miles's thoughts will be published next week. Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Some news that currently has not been communicated to very many local people. Network Rail have written to some neighbours in Slade Green to say the footbridge over the railway at Peareswood Road will be closed for at least three months. In school times this is used daily by many parents. I have been informed that two primary schools and the Slade Green and Howbury community centre and a nursery will be affected by this closure. A very long walk will be needed to go around via Bridge Road and Newbury Road.

Now for the weekly safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly an update from Barnehurst ward:- "Another excellent week for the ward again this week with very little crime reported. Sadly though we have had two motor vehicle related offences in Badlow Close DA8. The first being on Wednesday 4th July between 10am and 1.30 pm where a Black Citroen C4 was broken into by unknown suspects smashing the driver side front window and searching the vehicle, nothing was taken on this occasion. The second offence occurred on Monday 9th July between 12.50pm and 1pm, suspects have smashed the passenger side window of a Ford Transit van parked at the location and stolen an iPhone from within. Don’t make it easy for the criminal - Please make sure that any valuables left in your vehicle are not visible. The best advice is to remove any item completely. If you have any information about these or other crimes please call the team in strictest confidence or alternatively call Crime Stopper free and anonymously on 0800 555 111. The team paid a visit to some of our local allotments on Tuesday and offered some crime prevention advice to plot holders. Despite the lack of rain recently most are expecting a good crop of various fruit and veg this year. The team will be at Barnehurst Golf Course on Wednesday 18th July at 1pm. Please pop along to say hi and discuss any local issues that may be of concern". Belvedere ward:- "On Friday 6th July A/PS Ash Green organised four warrants across Bexley, all of which were drug related. The four address were all connected. Ash conducted lots of research before the warrants were executed. Several drugs were seized and at least two people are going to be prosecuted for drug offences. The team conducted school talks to Year 5 pupils at Lesness Heath Primary School on Monday 9th July. We spoke about ASB, public order offences, respect and responsibility. All the classes that we spoke to engaged with us and appeared to take on board what we were saying. All in all a good day. PCSO Jay Worrall has been investigating egg throwing ASB in Albert Road. He has managed to identify the three youths involved. Two have been spoken to with their parents, the third is due a visit shortly. We will be holding our next drop in session on Wednesday 18th July at Belvedere Library, Woolwich Road from 16:00 till 17:00". Bexleyheath ward:- "Below is or brief summary of what has been going on our ward: 01/07/2018 – A push bike was stolen from a secure bike room in a block of flats in Watling Street Bexleyheath 07/07/2018 – A report of a theft from motor vehicle. Suspect had used a van to take property from another van 07/07/2018 – A pushbike was stolen outside shops along the Broadway Bexleyheath 09/07/2018 – Premiere Inn Albion Road A report of criminal damage to property. 10/07/2018 – Mobile phone stolen from behind the shop counter alt Bella Italia Broadway Bexleyheath We are holding our next contact session tomorrow on the 12th July between 10 and 11am at Café Nero along The Broadway Bexleyheath, you are all welcome to attend if you’re free. We are also continuing high visibility patrols around Martens Grove and surrounding areas including the garages between Grove Road and Braeside Crescent as this is becoming an area for youths to congregate and misbehave. The team had arrested a violent offender who had breached their home detention curfew. Two warrants were executed in relation to the misuse of drugs. Last weekend we had organised along with the Town Centre Management a car show that took place along the Broadway which was a great success. We also had the opportunity to do more bike marking using bike register". Crayford ward:- "Thankfully, not so many crimes reported in the last week in Crayford. On Tuesday 3rd July it was reported that a gully cover had been stolen from Hillside Road. Between 22.30 on 4th July and 5am on 5th July a Nissan Qashqai was broken into at Station Road, a purse containing bank cards and an assortment of gift cards were stolen. The victim was alerted by her bank that there had been a fraudulent use of her card but here was no sign of the vehicle being broken in to. Please do not leave valuables in your vehicle if you can help it. There have been shoplifting offences reported at Tower Retail Park. There have also been a number of domestic incidents reported. Two Ford Transits were stopped in Crayford on 6th July. One had two completely bald tyres, the other was uninsured and the driver did not have a licence. Both drivers were dealt with for the offences. We have been out and about patrolling your local area, especially Dale Road and Ridgeway where there have been several reports of anti-social behaviour and use of nitrous oxide and the associated mess". Northumberland Heath ward:- "We are pleased to announce that we have had no burglaries or motor vehicle crime reported to us over the last week which is excellent news and No new reports of anti-social behaviour. Last Friday morning the team assisted with the execution of several drug warrants. One address was in Northumberland Heath. A male was stopped this week in possession of cannabis and is awaiting prosecution for this offence. The team have attended St. Fidelis school this week to talk to pupils about the dangers of violent crime". Slade Green and North End ward:-

"On Friday July 6th at 9.30pm a knifepoint robbery was made at Affishionado’s fish and chip shop in Bridge Road. A male suspect had his face covered in a balaclava under a cycling helmet and took cash from the till while holding a knife". See the image above. "He rode off towards the Shell Garage on Northend Road. Staff were naturally shaken up but fortunately nobody was hurt. Enquiries are ongoing. Our next Surgery is on Thursday July 19th from 11am at Slade Green library where will be sitting and waiting for anyone who wants a chat or to report any local incidents etc. On the 6th July the team found and recovered a stolen white transit van which was found abandoned in Barnett Close Erith, the vehicle had been stolen a few weeks earlier from the Dartford area, the van was full to capacity of wood and waste which may have ended up being fly tipped locally, the vehicle was recovered and the owner was extremely happy to get his van back, enquiry’s continue. Has a vehicle appeared on your road which looks put of place? Has the ignition been damaged? Is it insecure? or is something just not right? If so contact us we can have a look. Your team continue to patrol hot spot areas used by illegal bikers, we’ve received a number of reports of bikers using the rainbow road estate, pulling wheelies, driving on footpath’s and generally causing a nuisance for residents, pedestrians and road users, can you help us identify riders that are concerned in bike ASB, the bikes used are stored somewhere, we need your help to identify where and those responsible, if you have any information please contact your local team or call crime stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111". Thamesmead East ward:- "Burglaries - A burglary occurred in a flat in Wolvercote Road, between Wednesday 04/07/18 and Sunday 08/07/18 whilst the resident was away. No signs of forced entry, property to the value of £462.00 was taken. If you’re off on holiday and wish to post anything on social media, make sure your posts aren’t public and that they’re only seen by your friends. Motor Vehicle Crimes - Overnight Saturday 07/07/18 and Sunday 08/07/18 a vehicle locked and secure outside of Oakenholt House Hartslock Drive had the drivers window smashed. Between Friday evening of the 06/07/18 and 8:00 am of Monday 09/07/18 a motor cycle which only had the steering lock engaged was stolen from Lensbury Way; driver’s window of a van securely locked and parked in Sydney Road was smashed, nothing was taken as the vehicle alarm was activated. On Sunday 08/07/18 a vehicle parked in Kale Road had the driver’s window smashed and money taken from the central console. Crime prevention in motor vehicles - Coins for the car park, sunglasses or other items should be put out of sight. Wallets, Handbags, Purses and Credit Cards should never be left in any vehicle over night or otherwise. Have a Say event (Community Contact Session) Friday 20th July between the hours of 1:00pm and 2:00pm. The team will be attending Lakeside Health Centre, Yarnton Way. An opportunity for members of the community who prefer face-to - face contact, to speak with your Dedicated Ward Officer. Good News - While on patrol PC Pruden saw a male riding a jet-ski on Southmere lake, the male seemed to have difficulty trying to get back on the jet ski after falling off. A friend swam to his aid helping him to the shore. Once returned to shore the male was seen in a slumped position against a brick wall. PC Pruden repositioned the male more comfortably. On talking to friends nearby PC Pruden was informed the male had a heart condition for which he was taking medication. The male started having a tingling sensation on his right side, PC Pruden requested for the London Ambulance Service to attend. On examination by paramedics the male was taken to hospital. Partnership working - PC Pruden was informed by a Peabody staff member she had found a large knife, which she disposed of safely. The knife had been purposely hidden in Coralline Walk. PC Pruden completed a crime and intelligence report".

The end video this week is an old promotional film about the then very new Thamesmead development, which has just had its 50th anniversary. I think it is appropriate to say that the great housing experiment did not quite turn out in the way that the developers intended. Please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Nonexistent Nuxley Village.

Erith has certainly had its share of press attention this week, not least on Monday, when a suspect package was discovered in Pembroke Road, adjacent to the railway line. Train services were stopped, and the Police and emergency services summoned. Eventually the package was found to not be a bomb, and the line re – opened; train disruption continued for several hours, as services were misplaced. Obviously the authorities had to err on the side of caution when dealing with the suspect package, but a few questions still need to be asked. Who found the package, and why was a bomb suspected? I lack the detailed background knowledge to fully understand the circumstances, but it does seem rather unlikely that ISIS or Al Qaeda would target Erith over a more high profile target in central London. Still it is reassuring to know that the authorities are on their toes when it comes to potential local threats.

According to the online resource the Rightmove Rental Tracker, Erith and Belvedere are the cheapest places to rent property in Greater London. Average prices for two-bedroom flats are £1,013 and £1,064 a month respectively, almost half the London average, yet direct train services reach London Bridge station within 40 minutes. Belvedere sits one stop further up the line, which also stops at Abbey Wood, Plumstead and Woolwich, an area set to gain high-speed Crossrail links from 2018. With rents rising by up to 21 per cent in some parts of the capital in the past year alone, it is no surprise that the most affordable areas also are becoming the most in-demand among renters. The Rightmove report refers to Erith as “little known”, and “North East of Bexleyheath and North West of Dartford”. It makes Erith sound like it is halfway up the Zambezi – the survey is obviously conducted by estate agents unfamiliar with the area. This is not unusual, as I have previously covered; A lot of people, some long – time local residents included, who call Nuxley Road in Upper Belvedere “Nuxley Village” – even though no such place has ever existed since the beginning of recorded time. The origin of the names of the  places in the local area, and some of the surrounding landmarks dates back to the early fifteenth century, and the name Belvedere even earlier. The area of Bedonwell gets its name from the Bedon stream, which runs through what is now known as Streamway; the Bedon is a minor tributary of the River Thames, which is now run through an underground drain for much of its length. A fifteenth century form of the name was Beton Well, meaning “praying well”. The exact origin is lost in the mists of time, though the old English word “bydan” meaning a shallow valley may have something to do with it. On the South side of the stream was a further area of open heath land, called Nuxley or Little Heath, which occupied an area around what was later Bedonwell Primary School (and is now a Doctor’s surgery and private flats). The name Nuxley was sometimes spelled Naxley, which in turn is a corruption of Knocksley, meaning a small hill. Nuxley Road was originally named Bexley Road, until March 1939 when it was renamed as Nuxley Road, which it remains to date. There is no record of Upper Belvedere ever having been named Nuxley Village, and parish records for the area date back to 1235 AD, and survived the reformation, when ownership of the parish was transferred from Lesnes Abbey to the owners of Parsonage Farm (on what is now Parsonage Manor Way). During the late 19th century, Parsonage Farm was owned by the Vinson family, who were at the time rich and powerful enough to issue their own trade tokens (a kind of informal local currency). There are records that beer houses such as the Fox, and full pubs such as the Eardley Arms took trade tokens for payment for food and drink until sometime around 1900. The farm buildings, which were  constructed in the Middle Ages (principally to provide food and drink for Abbot and Monks at Lesnes Abbey) lasted until the end of WWII, when it was used to house an auxiliary fire station. After the war the building was so derelict it was demolished. Thus, the name “Nuxley Village” is a construct – a fictional creation of local estate agents who have no knowledge of the history of the area. Upper Belvedere has been so called for at least the last 781 years, and the thoughtless action of a handful of ignorant house peddlers is not going to change facts any time soon.

A report last week in the New York Times poses serious questions about the long held belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It turns out that the idea is the result of spin over the years by breakfast cereal companies and others. skipping  breakfast can allegedly lead to weight gain, a sluggish metabolism, or stress. According to a new piece in The New York Times however, our beliefs about breakfast are all based on "misinterpreted research and biased studies"–propaganda, basically. Author Aaron E. Carroll notes that almost all breakfast studies suffer from a "publication bias." There are flaws in reporting of studies that skew findings to link skipping breakfast with causing obesity. Carroll writes: "The reports improperly used causal language to describe their results. They misleadingly cited other's results. And they also improperly used causal language in citing others' results. People believe, and want you to believe, that skipping breakfast is bad. Additionally, there are usually conflicts of interest behind the studies, considering most of them are funded by the food industry. The Quaker Oats Centre of Excellence, for instance, paid for a trial that concluded eating oatmeal or frosted cornflakes reduces weight and cholesterol. People are conditioned from a young age to believe that breakfast is essential to performance. It turns out that's because most of the research geared toward kids is meant to evaluate the impact of school breakfast programmes. They don't take into consideration that 15 million children in the U.S. go hungry at home–of course they would do better in school if they eat". That isn't the same, though, as testing whether children who are already well nourished and don't want breakfast should be forced to eat it," Carroll writes. Overall, you should just go with your gut. If you're hungry in the morning, eat. If you're not, don't think you're sinning by skipping it. Finally, approach all studies skeptically – Carroll put it best: "Breakfast has no mystical powers."

Yet another serious incident on Erith Pier has caused the Gravesend Lifeboat to be called out. Even at maximum speed, the lifeboat takes quite some time to travel Westwards from Gravesend; several times when it was been called to Erith, it has been in relatively close proximity whilst on patrol. The most recent incident happened at around 4am on Sunday morning, where a man was reported to be hanging off a ladder on the far end of Erith Pier. The RNLI and Police were called, and the man was rescued. To my mind, this once again shows that we need a fully staffed lifeboat sub – station in Erith. As I have written before, Erith is approximately equidistant between Gravesend and London Bridge – the two locations of the nearest lifeboat stations, which means potentially it is the point furthest from a rescue service in the event of a river emergency. The RNLI are getting call – outs to Erith every other week at present. Thus far the recent emergencies have all reached positive conclusions, but it is only a matter of time before we have a fatality. Erith Pier already has a plaque fixed to the wall of the building at the far end. This commemorates the young man who ended his life by throwing himself into the river back in 2011. I am writing to the RNLI to see if any consideration has been given to a substation at Erith. As I have previously mentioned, the old Port of London Authority office adjacent to the wooden jetty on the river front would make an ideal substation – it has power and water, and enough space for four people to stay whilst on call. The lifeboat could be moored at the end of the jetty. What do you think? Does the level of river – related emergencies justify the expense of an RNLI substation? Another emergency happened in the outskirts of the town on Sunday. A number of ambulances and other emergency vehicles raced along Manor Road, heading in the direction of Erith Yacht Club at around half past three in the afternoon. A biker had crashed, and in the process had suffered head injuries. It turned out that he had been illegally riding on the marshes. For some unknown reason a lot of local bikers have the erroneous idea that off – road biking is permitted on Slade Green Marshes, when in fact it is specifically forbidden, and the Police have successfully prosecuted individuals for doing this in the past. Slade Green Marshes are an area of outstanding scientific interest, being the home to a number of rare and protected plants and small animals. Biking on the marshes, as well as being noisy, inconsiderate and polluting, causes erosion to the footpaths and damage to the flora adjacent to the pathways. I don’t know the specifics of the biker involved in the accident last Sunday, so I will not comment further. Slade Green Marshes were the location of a large explosion back in 1924 – here is a contemporary press account of the disaster:- February 19th: "The Slade Green Filling Factory, situated midway between Erith and Dartford on Crayford Marshes, was the scene of a terrible disaster yesterday in which eleven girls and a foreman lost their lives. Between 8.45 and 9 o'clock the girls were at their work breaking open Verey light cartridges and extracting powder. Suddenly there was a flash and in a moment that building ? of brick and corrugated iron ? was an inferno of smoke and fire. As the fire reached the cartridges they exploded, appearing like stars among the smoke. Eleven of the eighteen girls were trapped by the fire. Miss Charlotte Coshall, the forewoman and seven of the remaining girls managed to get out of the building, some with their clothes alight. The awful suddenness of the catastrophe and the smoke and fumes prevented any possible chance of rescue. The Slade Green Filling Factory was originally munition works under Government control but more recently has been used by Messrs WB. Gilbert Ltd for the breaking down of munitions. The factory consists of a number of buildings, all separate from each other and reached from Slade Green by a narrow winding road over the marshes. Close to it on the Erith side are the Thames Ammunition works. Some of those who escaped turned back at once but, finding it impossible to reach the unfortunate girls inside, rushed towards the gates of the works screaming for help. One eye witness said the foreman who died had tried to lift a girl through the window but the heat and smoke were too great and he fell back. When help eventually arrived only one girl was alive, Miss Edna Allen, and she was terribly burned. She was taken to Erith Cottage Hospital but died during the night. The inquest will be opened at Crayford tomorrow (Wednesday) and a memorial service will be planned later".

The photo above was sent to me earlier this week by Maggot Sandwich reader, and occasional contributor Alan Magin. He was responding to the request I published last week for any information regarding the very early years of Thamesmead. Alan has exceeded my expectations. Alan describes the photo thusly:- "Photo shows me sitting astride a pre-stressed beam, with another about to be sited. It was a Saturday morning, l couldn't turn down a few hours overtime! It took me 10 months of travelling into London, from June 1968, with people fainting on the train in the heat of that hot summer, to make me realise I wanted out of the Rat-Race! I applied for a job with the construction company Holland Hannen and Cubitts Ltd. I was duly employed as a Junior Engineer/Chainman on the Civil Engineering side of things, (roads, sewers & bridges). Oh, by the way this is East Bridge on Yarnton Way in the summer of 1969. The site agents name Denis Counden, he is standing next to me wearing the trilby hat. The guy on the ground is the site manager Bill Monday, he is not saluting Mr. Hitler, but guiding the crane driver. The guy half-way up the ladder is Alan Rush a Civil Engineer, he designed and built the culvert (getting a BSc in the process) that runs under Alsike Rd, taking water away from the Sedgemere, Sydney Rd Estate that so often flooded back then! I was in construction until joining The London Fire Brigade in February 1974". Fascinating stuff - thanks very much for allowing me to publish it! The lack of any form of safety equipment such as hard hats, steel toe capped work boots, safety glasses and high visibility jackets really shows that things have changed since the photograph was taken. 

A real turnaround for catering in the local area - after woeful results only a couple of years ago, the following press release was published earlier this week:- "Bexley is now of one of the highest rated places to eat in London according to the latest national figures. Over 95% of food businesses in Bexley have food hygiene ratings of 3,4 and 5, which puts Bexley as the best in London, alongside Kensington and Chelsea. Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Environment and Leisure, Cllr Peter Craske said; “The variety of restaurants and places to eat is one of the reasons Bexley is a great place to live. Unseen by residents, our food safety team do a great job, inspecting premises and ensuring people can eat out in confidence. Our figures have improved massively over recent months thanks to changes in practice, a tougher stance on non-compliant businesses and an improved visit regime. I hope this will encourage everyone to continue to support our great restaurants, pubs and cafes.” Premises are encouraged to inform customers of their food safety hygiene rating. Look for the green sticker in the window of restaurants or takeaways or ask the proprietor what rating they have. Or use the Food Safety Hygiene app before you leave home". This is a real piece of positive progress. Only two years ago Bexley was at the very bottom of the pile as far as food hygiene was concerned - this reversal is extremely welcome news indeed. 

I think that pretty much everyone has heard of smart televisions, but did you know that smart radios also exist? Indeed, I recently bought a smart radio that you can see above. The Roberts 93i smart radio is a very good piece of kit; it receives analogue FM stereo broadcasts, DAB and DAB+ broadcasts, and also wirelessly connects to your broadband / fibre optic router to bring you thousands of Internet radio stations. It can also connect to Spotify and play audio files in multiple formats from a connected memory stick, or from a local music server. The sound quality is excellent (with my usual caveats about "old style" original DAB, as used by stations such as Planet Rock, which are only available in relatively low bitrate mono). Internet, DAB+ and FM sound quality is outstanding. You can read the What Hifi? Review of the Roberts 93i here. I highly recommend this radio.

Another radio - related discovery is the web based shortwave receiver - screen capture above. You can access this software defined interactive radio by clicking on the link here. The radio is simultaneously usable by several hundred people at a time - all listening to different frequencies. Give it a try - instructions are on the website. If you have never seen a waterfall display before, drag the on screen pointer to the areas with the white lines - that is where the strongest signals are. The online radio picks up all sorts of H.F signals - amateur radio operators, ships at sea, airliners on long distance journeys, military and clandestine numbers stations, and international shortwave broadcast stations - not to mention quite a few pirate broadcasters. Give the site a try and see what you think. Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

I discovered an interesting historical fact this week. The huge, 219 metre (719 feet) tall antenna tower at Crystal Palace, that supplies TV and radio signals for a large part of London and the South East was designed and built by Erith based company British Insulated Callender's Construction Co Ltd (later known as BICC) with steelwork fabrication by Painter Brothers Ltd, Hereford, back in 1955. Much of the tower’s construction was prefabricated and test erected in sections in the Callender’s Erith works before it was pulled apart and transported to site for final erection. When completed in 1956, the tower was the tallest structure in Greater London, a title it held until the completion of the One Canada Square Tower in Canary Wharf back in 1991. The first transmission from Crystal Palace took place on 28 March 1956, when it succeeded the transmitter at Alexandra Palace where the BBC had started the world's first scheduled television service in November 1936. In November 1956 the first colour test transmissions began from Crystal Palace relaying live pictures from the studios at Alexandra Palace after BBC TV had closed down for the night. In May 1958 the first experimental Band V 625-line transmissions started from Crystal Palace. The transmitter tower holds another record, one that cannot be beaten. On 18 July 1986, with the First Night of the Proms on BBC2, the transmitter became the first in the world to transmit stereophonic sound using the NICAM digital sound system. On 2 December 2009, the site entered service as one of the first DVB-T2 transmitters in the world, carrying a variant of the BBC's Multiplex B broadcasting high-definition TV services. All of the analogue television services transmitted from the Crystal Palace tower were discontinued back in 2012; all TV signals are now from a digital multiplex. The only analogue output of the tower is now FM radio (BBC radios 1,2,3,and 4) a couple of independent local stations, along with some legacy services on Medium Wave. The historical connection that Callender’s had with the BBC back in the day was wider than merely being the constructor of the Crystal Palace transmitter tower. Callender’s had This was an amateur band, called The Callender’s Cableworks Band, which was active between 1898 and 1961, of which all members were employees of Callender's at Erith. They rehearsed and performed in their leisure time, while the company in its role of patron lent its name and supplied uniforms and instruments. The band broadcast prolifically on BBC Radio in the 1920s and 1930s. The Band was started in the 1890s as a Salvation Army brass band, but because they felt limited as to the types of music which they were permitted to play, they formed their own temperance band. However this caused difficulties in purchasing their own uniforms and instruments, so their employer, Callender's, stepped in as patron. From then on they were Callender's Cableworks Band under various forms of that name. They were always an amateur band, rehearsing and performing in their leisure time. The Senior Band had a high reputation, and in 1932 were described as the finest in the south of England. In 1929 Jim Thompson joined the band; later in 1939 he was to found the Belvedere Male Voice Choir. In 1932 the band consisted of all brass instruments, plus four saxophones. At the time they were the only brass band with saxophones. In competitions over the years they had 25 wins, 11 second places and 3 third places. By the end of 1932 the band had performed on radio a total of eighty times – something unprecedented at the time. The band finally disbanded in 1961 as members retired and few young volunteers could be found.

The end video this week was created by Maggot Sandwich reader and local Councillor Abena Oppong - Asare. It is a compilation of images from the "Our Erith" art exhibition that was held at Christ Church Erith on the weekend of the 13th - 15th May. See what you think, and either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Osprey.

As I scooped back in March, Bexley College have now signed up to a "merger" with Bromley College, which should put the Erith based Bexley College in a better financial position. This will happen on the 1st of August. Several heads have rolled in the process, most notably that of Bexley College Principal Danny Ridgeway. I predicted he would be sacrificed when I first wrote about the situation back on the 20th March. I copped quite a lot of flak back then for what I wrote. I had been contacted by two Bexley College insiders with the "smoking gun" regarding the effective takeover of the institution by Bromley College, and I then carried out due dilligence by referring the story to someone with impeccable insight who shall remain anonymous. Suffice to say everything I wrote back then is about to, or has already come to pass. It is a sad situation for Bexley College to find itself in, only a scarce two years from opening its shiny new campus on Walnut Tree Road. I just hope that the college can come out of this stronger than before. On Wednesday the Bexley Times published details of the "merger" and announced that Danny Ridgeway would be retiring as Principal of Bexley College. Make of this what you will. Comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

News broke this week that the Peabody Trust is set to spend £1.5 billion in renovating and expanding the housing in and around Thamesmead. They intend extensively refurbishing many of the existing tower blocks, as well as building  a total of twenty five thousand new homes. This will make Thamesmead the same size as the city of Winchester. By the year 2024 more than £20 billion will have been invested in the area. The existing brutalist concrete tower blocks will be maintained, although they will be extensively refurbished inside and out, as well as being re – clad with a modern finish. The existing low level housing will be demolished and replaced with new housing. All of this investment and redevelopment is down to the imminent arrival of Crossrail at Abbey Wood. The travel times into central London will be drastically cut when the service opens – Abbey Wood to Canary Wharf will take eleven minutes, and to Tottenham Court Road will take around twenty minutes. The Peabody Trust owns eighty percent of the land in Thamesmead, and is understood to be lobbying Sadiq Khan, the new Mayor of London to extend the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead, and to get a river crossing between Thamesmead and Dagenham. It will be a tough task to rebuild and re – image Thamesmead – whilst it was conceived and constructed as a modern “city in the air”, due to poor design the town soon gained a reputation for crime and anti – social behaviour. The high level walkways were designed to avoid flooding, and the underground car parks which were designed to optimise the use of space actually acted as dark and unseen areas where drug dealing and vandalism could take place. As the town went downhill, it became a dumping ground for problem families from around Greater London, and the situation became a vicious circle.  In an interview with the Times on Monday this week, spokesperson for Peabody, Pauline Ford said “This is a great opportunity to release the potential of this sleeping beauty; the perceptions formed by A Clockwork Orange are just wrong, but we know that we need to spend a great deal of money on good design. This is a place on the cusp of something special”. In the same article, long time Thamesmead resident Douglas Rove said “We were promised the earth to move here; I hate living here now, all of the people have come in are riff – raff”. He also worries that Peabody will “gentrify” Thamesmead by building bistros and wine bars “Plans like that are not for people who live here now are they? They are hoping that the locals will move out, and the yuppies will move in”. The good news is that in addition to the refurbishment of the existing tower blocks, and the construction of new low level housing, there will be a new library, cinema, shops and public squares. The Times reports that between five and eight thousand new local jobs will be created to serve the new development, though the increase in property prices may well prevent locals from affording the new houses and apartments. Peabody admit that they are part funding the development by counting on the new property prices rising, and that they will be selling off some of the development in order to finance the rest. This may become a self – fulfilling prophesy if recent events can be taken into consideration; house prices in Abbey Wood have shot up by thirty five percent in the last year, and Thamesmead will surely follow suit. What do you think? Are you affected by the forthcoming redevelopment work? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Online shopping is hitting a major problem. The keen prices many online retailers can offer when compared to a high street shop may soon be at an end. The reason is straightforward – the huge number of items ordered on the web which are subsequently returned to the vendor – usually at the vendor’s expense. A quarter of handbags and a fifth of shoes are returned as unsuitable. There is a discernible pattern of returns; women are far more likely to return an item bought online compared with men, who seem to only return items when they are actually faulty. A study by Barclaycard found that one in four women admitted to ordering more goods online than they intended to keep. In comparison only one man in ten did the same thing. The practice is driving up the cost of internet shopping as websites struggle the sheer volume of items  coming back. The study also discovered that one in six items of clothing bought online is returned, with twenty percent of women admitting to ordering the same garment in several sizes to see one fits best. Man apparently are far less likely to do this. “The speed and convenience of online shopping, and the speed and convenience of returning has led to the emergence of the serial returner, and women are far more likely to fall into this category. Shoppers are deliberately over purchasing safe in the knowledge that they can choose from the ever growing number of ways to quickly and easily send items back, such as hourly courier services and local drop – off points. With six in ten consumers saying that a website’s returns policy impacts their purchasing decision, online retailers are caught between trying to attract customers and remaining competitive whilst also ensuring that they protect their bottom line”. The study pointed out that online businesses did not always lose out, as more than a quarter of shoppers saying that they had intended to return an unwanted or faulty item bought online, but they had never go round to it.

The photo above was taken by me last Sunday, as I returned home from the “Our Erith” art exhibition held at Christ Church, Erith. I was walking over the railway bridge at Bexley Road when I noticed some workers on the railway line. I surmised that as the line was shut for further engineering work on the Crossrail development between Abbey Wood and Plumstead, it would appear that the local maintenance teams are taking the opportunity of the closed line to carry out some repairs. The photo shows the workers a couple of hundred metres outside of Erith station, on the Slade Green and Dartford bound line. The freight trains one sees on a fairly regular basis travelling on the North Kent line almost exclusively transport sand and gravel to various sites in the region. They load up at Angerstein Wharf, which is located on the banks of the River Thames between Charlton and Greenwich. There is a branch line which connects to the main line just outside of Charlton station on the London bound side. This branch line is believed to be the oldest privately owned standard gauge siding in the world. Angerstein Wharf was built and opened by Russian born Charlton landowner John Angerstein in 1852 in order to get rail access to the to Angerstein Wharf on the River Thames; it also ran deep into the old East Greenwich gas works. Nowadays it is purely used for freight. Many of the ballast and gravel trains one sees passing along the North Kent line divert onto the Angerstein Wharf branch line. Gravel and sand that has been dredged from the sea is collected by the freight trains for use in the construction industry. No passenger trains run on the branch line, with the notable exception of the very rare special trains run by railway enthusiasts, which as far as I can tell, last travelled along the Angerstein Wharf branch line back on the 8th of November 2014. You can see a video of this unusual journey by clicking here. 

One of the problems associated with increased density of housing in any area is the requirement for improved infrastructure to cope – better water, electricity gas and drainage are needed whenever new properties are built. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Once again the residents of Sandcliff Road have got raw sewage flowing down their road. They are intensely annoyed - and with good reason. They are blighted by the incompetence of Thames Water. Ever since 1998 the road has had drainage problems – a giant chemical effluent leak caused several thousand gallons of industrial liquid waste to seep up through the drains and flood a number of houses in the road; I recall at the time that several houses were evacuated for months on end – and one was condemned as unfit for human habitation. Thames Water were subsequently fined £250,000 by the Department of the Environment for the spillage, and their apparent inability to properly organise the subsequent clean up. There have been a number of sewage floods in the road since, to the point where locals re – named the road “Poo Mews”. It strikes me that the local residents are blighted not just by the actual floods, but by the damage to the reputation of the road. I would be surprised if house prices are badly affected by the situation – after all, who would want to live in an area where you had a strong chance of ending up knee deep in other people’s number twos when you ventured outside your front door? From Thames Water’s perspective, it is a PR disaster; I think the main reason that they don’t take a more proactive approach to the problem is that Sandcliff Road is a little travelled side lane, with a predominantly working class population. If a flood of dung was to happen in somewhere rather more affluent (rather than effluent) like Bexley Village, I reckon that the “sharp elbowed middle classes” would have got a rather better reaction from the powers that be. I have walked down Sandcliff Road several times recently, and I can confirm the aroma of multiple bowel movements is hard to ignore; it is just as well I am a non-smoker, as the volume of methane in the air could well be close to a combustible level. I feel sorry for the residents, and hope that the problem can eventually be resolved. The existing drains are not up to the job(by), and really need to be completely replaced. The problem will only get worse when the nearby Erith Quarry site becomes operational.

Commercially viable (rather than just experimental) magnetic tape recording had its seventieth birthday last week - an event which has not been covered in the press.  Thanks to the good fortune of suffering from insomnia, a curious observation by John T. "Jack" Mullin led to the introduction of tape recording and, by extension, the entire home media business. Mullin, a slight and surprisingly humble man, considering his future status in the recording business, graduated from the University of Santa Clara with a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1937, then worked for Pacific Telephone and Telegraph in San Francisco until the war started. By 1944, he had attained the rank of major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and was attached to the RAF's radar research labs in Farnborough, England. While working late that spring night, Mullin was happy to find something pleasing playing on the radio — the Berlin Philharmonic playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on Radio Berlin. But Mullin was mystified: The performance's fidelity was far too fine to be a 16-inch wax disc recording, the prevailing radio recording technology at the time. And since there were no breaks every 15 minutes to change discs, Mullin figured it had to be a live broadcast. But it couldn't be — if it was 2 am in London, it was 3 am in Berlin. Mullin was right — the orchestra wasn’t up late, and it was a recording. Just not the usual kind, which is why Mullin was confused. After the war, Mullin was assigned to the Technical Liaison Division of the Signal Corp in Paris. "Our task, amongst other things, was to discover what the Germans had been working on in communications stuff — radio, radar, wireless, telegraph, teletype," explained Mullin. Mullin ended up in Frankfurt on one such expedition. There he encountered a British officer, who told him a rumour about a new type of recorder at a Radio Frankfurt station in Bad Nauheim. Mullin didn't exactly believe the report — he had encountered dozens of low-fi magnetic recorders all over Germany. He pondered his decision of pursuing the rumour, literally, at a fork in the road. To his right lay Paris, to the left, Radio Frankfurt. Fortuitously for the future of the home media business, Mullin turned left. He found four hi-fi Magnetophons and some 50 reels of red oxide BASF tape. He tinkered with them a bit back in Paris and made a report to the Army. "We now had a number of these lying around. I packed up two of them and sent them home (to San Francisco). Souvenirs of war. "(You could take) almost anything you could find that was not of great value. (And) anything Germany had done was public domain — it was not patentable." He also sent himself the 50 reels of the red-oxide coated tape. When Mullin returned home, he started tinkering to improve the Magnetophons. On May 16, 1946, exactly 70 years ago last week, Mullin stunned attendees at the annual Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) conference in San Francisco by switching between a live jazz combo and a recording, literally asking the question "Is it live or...?" None of the golden ears in the audience could tell. It was the world's first public demonstration of audio tape recording. Bing Crosby hated doing live radio. And he hated recording his shows on wax records because the fidelity sounded terrible to the noted aural perfectionist performer. When Crosby's engineers heard about Mullin and his Magnetophons, they quickly hired him and his machine. In August 1947, Crosby became the first performer to record a radio programme on tape; the show was broadcast on October 1st. Bing Crosby wasn't the only one interested in Mullin's Magnetophons. Up in Redwood City, California, a small company called Ampex was looking for something to replace the radar gear they'd been producing for the government. Ampex hooked up with Mullin and, in April 1948, perfected and started selling the first commercially available audio tape recorder, the Ampex Model 200. Crosby, Mullin, Ampex and American electronics giant RCA all sort of formulated the same follow-up thought at around the same time: If you could record audio on tape, why not video? Crosby and Mullin teamed up. Ampex formed a team that included a high school student named Ray Dolby. And David Sarnoff gave his engineers their marching orders. A highly-public race began to see who could invent the video tape recorder. Ampex had a leg up on its more well-heeled competition. It had a deal with a Chicago research consortium called Armour Research Institute, now the Illinois Institute of Technology. Working for Armour was none other than wire recording maven Marvin Camras, who solved the most vexing problem facing all the video tape inventor wannabees: Tape speed. Audio recording is accomplished by pulling tape past a stationary recording head. Video, however, is a far fatter signal, which meant tape had to be pulled past the recording heads at ridiculous speeds. A two-foot wide reel of tape could hold, tops, 15 minutes of video — not exactly practical. So instead of spinning the tape, Camras, who got the idea from watching vacuum cleaner brushes, he calculated that he would spin the recording heads instead. Once Ampex got ahold of this key, its engineers shot past Crosby/Mullin and RCA. Even with the spinning head secret, it took five years for Ampex's sometimes part-time six-member team to get things right. On April 14, 1956 — 60 years ago last month — Ampex introduced the desk-sized Mark IV, the first commercial video tape recorder, to a stunned group of TV execs and engineers at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Chicago. To say that this machine changed the world is an obvious understatement. It would take almost another 10 years before Philips reduced audio tape to a cassette and ignited the home audio recording craze, and another nearly 10 years before Sony introduced the Betamax and won a U.S Supreme Court case to allow users to legally record TV shows at home and create the home video business. The U.K had few such concerns - one of the reasons why Britain had the largest number of video recorders per head of population back in the 80's / 90's. Ultimately it was the introduction of Jack Mullin's rebuilt Magnetophons that were the first shots fired in the home media revolution, 70 years ago last week - and nothing got mentioned in the popular press, more is the pity.

If you were around the Northumberland Heath / Erith / Slade Green area on Wednesday afternoon, you might well have seen something extremely unusual flying overhead at around 4.45pm. A rather strange machine called a Bell – Boeing V-22 Osprey. The Osprey is  an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical take - off and landing (VTOL), and short take - off and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop aircraft. I have found out that several of these unusual aircraft are being leased by the Ministry of Defence from the Americans, and British pilots are currently undergoing training from U.S Marine and Army flying instructors here in the U.K. The Ospreys are going to be used to transport special forces troops in the event of a Paris – type terrorist attack in the U.K. The Osprey is almost twice as fast as the SAS’s current fleet of transport helicopters and can carry at least 24 fully equipped personnel. With a top speed of 360 mph it can deploy soldiers from Hereford to London in 30 minutes to bolster the SAS’s anti-terror squad which is permanently based in the capital, and to Manchester in about the same time. The Osprey has machine guns installed in the nose and on the rear ramp. Its range is also much greater than transport helicopters currently in service. It can fly for up to 1,000 miles or eight hours without refuelling, meaning that if terrorists launch strikes across the UK, the same aircraft could fly troops to several locations. I am guessing that the Osprey seen over Erith on Wednesday afternoon was travelling from London down to Chatham, where The Royal Engineers have a large base. The Chinook helicopters currently used for anti – terrorist operations also travel down to Chatham for weekly maintenance and repair sessions. I would expect that we will see more of the Ospreys flying over the local area from now on. At least now you know why.

One of Britain's oldest people died this week - and he lived in Erith. 105 year old Frederick ‘Fred’ Salter died in the Queen Elizabeth hospital on Sunday, May 8. In 2010 he was presented with his Pride of Britain award by Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth, with Prince Charles and prime minister David Cameron present at the ceremony. The reason for this was that he took up competitive ballroom dancing at the age of 90, after his family encouraged him to get out of the house more often. Although he suffered a minor stroke in 2010, which caused him to lose the power of speech for about a month, he recovered and returned to the dancefloor. He was also a keen football fan; he was made a patron of Charlton Athletic - he had a great love of the club. Mr Salter is survived by four of his five children and more than 35 great grandchildren.

The end video this week is a piece of local history; it shows Abbey Wood and Thamesmead back in 1968, just as the first phases of Thamesmead opened to residents. I have to say that the amateur footage does make the newly completed apartment towers look very fresh and inviting. Much of the brutalist architecture has now already been demolished, or shortly will be as part of the Peabody funded regeneration, as discussed earlier. If you have any memories of Thamesmead's early days that you would like to share, then drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Farewell to the Tower.

The photo above was taken by one of my confidential informants - it shows the final stages of demolition of the main tower building on the old Bexley College campus in Tower Road. The building has been one of the landmarks of the Erith skyline for many years. It was also used on several occasions as a setting for E4's sci fi show "Misfits" which featured a group of teenage young offenders with super powers. On one occasion filming on the roof of the tower had to be halted when the Police turned up - a neighbour had reported suspicious activity on the top of the tower, and dialled 999. The producers of "Misfits" had neglected to inform either the authorities, or local residents that they would be filming at the location! The photo below was taken by the same person a while later - as you can see the tower has now all but gone. The brutalist architecture of the tower may have led some to term it an eyesore, but countless students passed through it - myself included. I spent many hours in the building in 1996 / 1997 as I studied for my RAE examinations, enabling me to become a licensed Radio Amateur. I have fond memories of the place.

The anticipated crackdown on criminal gang activity in Thamesmead seems to have begun in earnest; now that a new dedicated ten officer Police unit has been established in the town. The News Shopper have reported that the Police have made twenty four gang related arrests, with individuals being charged with drug and weapon possession, animal cruelty and immigration offences. Gang members were also charged with  growing cannabis, as well as possession of cocaine, cannabis and methamphetamine. It would seem that the demand by Thamesmead residents for concrete action against the crooks that have been blighting their lives has begun to be answered, and not a minute too soon.

I was surprised that web search giant Google have just opened their very first bricks and mortar shop in London. It is quite discreetly located inside the Curry’s PC World in Tottenham Court Road, as a “shop within a shop”. Google admit that the store is a bit of a gamble, but they realise that many customers want to try out Google devices such as the Chromebook or a Nexus mobile phone. The aim is not high-pressure salesmanship but a fun, relaxing environment where there is no guilt in popping in just to mess around on the phones and the tablets. (Just like an Apple Store.) The shop will also be a place where Google device users can seek expert advice, even attend classes. (Again, just like an Apple Store). I hope to visit the place soon and do a comparison with the Apple Store in Regent Street. It will be instructive to see the two tech rivals and their wildly different approaches to the online world. A bit of high street rivalry would be good for consumers. More on this subject in the future.

The problems resulting from the massive rebuilding and refurbishment programme currently being undertaken at London Bridge station have got so bad that they have now made the national news. It would appear that insufficient planning for eventualities such as signalling failure or loss of power had been made. Basically there is no “slack” in the current temporary passenger arrangements. This means that as soon as anything goes wrong, passengers suffer and the kind of massively overcrowded station concourse with travellers having to climb over the ticket barriers is the result. Rail Minister Claire Perry has now waded into the situation; she has demanded that Network Rail (who are responsible for the project management and engineering of the London Bridge works) introduce new measures to improve the rush-hour situation. These include more rapid-response engineering teams, a central control point for all London stations like that which was used during the 2012 Olympics, more highly visible customer service staff, and having some trains stop at fewer outlying stations to help with punctuality. Last week the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union said station staff had been threatened, had hot coffee thrown over them and been spat at by passengers caught up in delays and overcrowding – something I find completely indefensible and abhorrent. I would not want to be working in such conditions; however frustrating it is as a commuter (and I confess that I am indeed one) there can be no justification for such behaviour. On top of all this, the weekend closures of the Cannon Street via Greenwich and Dartford line at weekends due to the ongoing construction works at Abbey Wood and Plumstead for the Crossrail terminal, along with shorter than promised trains are causing all sorts of grief for commuters. Southeastern have managed to annoy a great many people by publishing a “traffic light” comparison, showing travellers how likely (or not) they are to be getting a seat when they travel during rush hour. According to a report in the News Shopper, Southeastern Managing Director David Statham said "We want to give passengers an easy way to see how busy different services are at their station. Those able to catch an earlier or later train can now see which is likely to have more space." Quite. I get the feeling that Mr. Statham does not quite grasp the nature of the average commuter. We don't do it because we want to, we do it as we have no other choice. The times we travel are dictated by the hours of business our employers set; personally I am quite fortunate in that I can work quite flexibly – I don't have to go into the office every single day, and can easily work from my very comfortable and convenient office at home. I am in the minority though, most travellers have no choice in the matter, and have to commute at the same time each day.  The obvious fix for the problem is to increase the length of each train – many on the comparison chart above are only eight carriages, when ten would be preferable; as previously mentioned, it is not possible to run twelve carriage trains on the line due to the restrictions at Woolwich Dockyard station – which has a tunnel at each end of the platform, limiting train length to ten rather than the potential twelve carriages that the extended platforms at other stations would support. I understand that apart from a lack of rolling stock to make all trains ten carriages long, there are concerns about the amount of extra traction current the additional carriages would consume. As with any consideration, Southeastern are primarily concerned with the bottom line on the spreadsheet.

Bexley is Bonkers author Malcolm Knight wrote at length about the road and pavement works that took place in Bexleyheath a couple of years ago. He predicted that much would need to have significant repairs within a relatively short period. He was spot on the money. Last Monday work began in Arnsberg Way to replace the road surface, which had started to disintegrate, despite only being laid in 2013. I understand that Bexley Council are trying to get a refund from the contractors who undertook the work. Much dissatisfaction has been voiced over the whole concept of “shared space” which was rolled out in Bexleyheath, and has been insidiously rolled out in other Bexley towns since. The “shared space” concept is that the delineation between areas used by pedestrians, and areas used by vehicles is deliberately kept unclear; the thinking is that as neither party can tell where one finishes and the other begins, both vehicles and pedestrians will act more carefully, thus avoiding accidents. The brutal reality is however entirely different. The number of reported collisions and other accidents has increased since the changes were introduced, and many local residents are disgusted with the lack of clarity as to who goes where.

Last week I was walking along Picardy Road in Upper Belvedere, as I passed the Conservative Club, an unusual car came along the road. For a few seconds I was unable to identify it. It was similar to the Jaguar XF model, but sleeker and a little lower. What immediately struck me was that it was completely silent as it moved. I then realised that it was a Tesla S – Type; a true electric luxury sports saloon. Tesla cars are pretty scarce, and doubly so in the UK. The American made vehicles are not cheap – the Tesla S has a base cost of nearly £70,000, and most buyers opt for the range – topping P85D model, which with optional extras comes to the thick end of £95,000. I have to admit that the Tesla S is a very good looking vehicle, and looks better in the flesh than it does on paper or screen. Tesla claim an endurance in excess of three hundred miles for the top of the range P85D model, but rumours abound that the company are about to release a software update for the power management computer of the car to make this claim closer to reality. I understand that some owners have been stranded after the power reserve meter on the dashboard indicated plenty of spare battery charge, but the car ran out of juice. The update is meant to resolve this important flaw, and reassure owners who get “range anxiety”. The Tesla S is the first really serious purely electric powered vehicle – I don’t consider the G-Whiz to be anything other than an electric golf cart with pretentions – you certainly could not take one on a motorway, whereas a Tesla S is at home in exactly the same places as a conventionally powered vehicle. At present the Tesla is pretty much a niche car – a combination of the price and powertrain dictate that. A lot of Tesla owners have the vehicle as their third or fourth car, alongside a high end Mercedes, Bentley and Ferrari. The Tesla enables them to be able to claim “green” credentials, whilst still running a stable of gas guzzlers. The problem as previously mentioned with any purely electric vehicle is range and endurance. The claimed three hundred mile range of the P85D model (which has the largest battery capacity of any Tesla S model in the range) is – even when the software fix installed, something that only a drive with the lightest of throttle use with no passengers and the windows and air conditioning off could even approach. The Lithium Ion battery technology that the Tesla uses has a finite capacity. At present no battery technology gives even close to the energy density of a petrol or diesel powered engine. On top of this, whereas at a petrol station you can refuel a conventional vehicle in a couple of minutes, a battery powered car will take many hours to recharge, effectively making it useless in the meantime. There is no real way around this using current technology. The only options are instead to use hybrid technology, where the batteries are supplemented by a smaller conventional engine, usually fitted with a turbocharger to increase efficiency. Another approach would be to use a hydrogen fuel cell – powered drivetrain, as is currently employed in some commercial vehicles; currently there are no commercially available fuel – cell powered cars; again there is a problem with low fuel density and also the storage and transportation of liquid hydrogen (rocket fuel to you and me). I feel that only a really game – changing emergent technology has a chance to really change the way electric vehicles are both used and perceived. The problem with any battery powered vehicle is that it is not truly green – the electricity stored in the batteries is often generated by burning fossil fuels – all you are doing is moving the source of the pollution further up the chain. If LENR technology (see the previous update for details) comes good, this may be an ideal source of truly clean, green electricity with none of the risks of stored liquid hydrogen, or the range limiting use of batteries. Time will tell. There are other, rather less savoury alternative fuels available – mainly in this case for public service vehicles. Bio methane combustion technology is one of these technical solutions. This uses methane generated from organic waste to power the vehicle. This has led a bus that is currently on test in the West Country in and around Bristol to be termed the “Poo Bus”. It takes excrement from 32,000 households in the area and converts it into methane to power the vehicle. Once again, the trouble is energy density; petrol and diesel have been used as the primary fuel source for automobiles for over a hundred years for a very good reason – both fuels are densely packed with energy so that a given volume of fuel will give a predictable amount of motive energy. Most other fuels don’t have this level of energy density – especially so of bio methane. The company running the experimental bus do have a sense of humour though – the “poo bus” is running on route number 2. You could not make it up.

We have another new African church in Erith – the Household of Faith Ministry, City of Truth church which you can see details of above. Personally I would have thought that the market would now be completely saturated, bearing in mind that we already have  the Gateway Chapel on Kennet Road, next to the Thames Road Industrial Estate, the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry in the Manford Industrial Estate off Manor Road, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, which occupies the “Praise Ministry” at 33, Bexley Road - the former tyre warehouse behind the kebab shop and close to the hideous fish roundabout. They tend to have very noisy services, and have been in trouble with the council over exceeding their permitted car parking quota. The Celestial Church of Christ shares the same building, though I am unsure of the precise mechanics of their co-operative arrangement, but it seems to work for them anyway. There is also a church apparently using one of the industrial units located just off Birch Walk, though details of it remain hazy – and their web domain seems to have a lapsed registration, so they may well have moved on. Nevertheless it would seem that Erith is extremely well provided for if you wish to visit an African church. I just wonder how they compete for parishioners? Do people visit more than one, or is there a degree of “brand loyalty”? I know if I walk around Erith on a Sunday morning you can hear the singing and drumming from the Redeemed Christian Church of God – they seem a very cheerful and enthusiastic lot. I have been told in the past by a close friend who knows about such things that in general, the more flowery and impressive sounding wording an African church has in its’ title, the smaller and less impressive it turns out to be in reality. Nevertheless, they all seem to fulfil a local need, and it definitely comes under my personal libertarian philosophy of “if it works for you”.

Mobile phone maker Blackberry are becoming less and less relevant with business as well as casual users. The days of the firm being able to tout their “end to end secure” Email infrastructure as a unique selling point are now just a distant memory. What Blackberry pioneered in their proprietary hardware back in the day is now done in software on all the major smartphone platforms. Blackberry are now looking for new niche markets to exploit – they are realistic enough to understand that they are no longer in a position to go head to head with the likes of Apple and Samsung. Their latest foray is into the tablet marketplace – somewhere they famously (and very publicly) exited a couple of years ago, when they abruptly discontinued it. Early reviews were mixed, saying that although the hardware was good, several features were missing. Shipments totalled approximately 500,000 units during the first quarter of sales and 200,000 in the following quarter. Many of the 700,000 units shipped to retailers allegedly remained on the shelves for months, prompting BlackBerry to introduce dramatic price reductions in November 2011 to increase sales. Sales rebounded following the price cuts, with BlackBerry shipping approximately 2.5 million BlackBerry PlayBooks by June 1, 2013. Now Blackberry are back in the marketplace with a tablet that is primarily aimed at government and businesses, rather than private individuals. The new tablet is actually a re – badged Samsung Galaxy S10 that has additional cryptographic features. Samsung’s Knox secure boot technology ensures that the OS on the tablet has not been tampered with, while IBM’s contribution to the security chain is to “wrap” certain apps in an additional layer of code that intercepts and encrypts key data flows using the Secusmart hardware. All this means that the tablet meets with the security standards mandated by the U.S Government – possibly a big customer for the Canadian company. Each tablet will retail at $2,300 – though I would estimate that government or corporate bulk orders would get s substantial discount. Whether this approach will be enough to enable Blackberry to survive, I personally doubt. The company has been struggling for the last couple of years, and I would not be surprised that in 2015 Blackberry goes the same way as Nokia, who were once the dominant force in mobile phone technology, but now no longer exist.

The mystery of the halt in construction works to the new affordable rented flats being built in James Watt Way has been solved by some detective work by Erith Councillor Abena Oppong Asare. She has found out that the contractor being used to build the flats has got into financial difficulty, and the developer is currently looking for a new form of builders to complete the outstanding work. The good news is that this will only be a temporary delay to the construction of the much needed flats for affordable rent. Hopefully I will be able to report a re-start in the work very soon. 

I mentioned in the last update that I had recently paid a visit to one of the UK’s top advertising agencies – Grey London in Hatton Garden. The agency handle accounts from pretty much every high street brand, and are seen as one of the prime “go to” creative companies in the business. One advert that they are particularly famous for is the Vinny Jones mobster character doing CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) to the Bee Gees “Staying Alive” which the agency created for the British Heart Foundation a couple of years ago - you can see the advert below.  The very successful advertising campaign led to forty six lives being saved by people who carried out the lifesaving procedure on people who had collapsed. Now local MP Teresa Pearce is campaigning for CPR to be taught in schools. This, in conjunction with the provision of defibrillators in public places (they are already installed on larger railway stations) should hopefully cut the number of deaths due to heart attacks in the UK. Personally I was surprised that CPR is not currently taught in schools. I can recall lessons in basic first aid when I was at school, and I was surprised to learn that this is not something that all schools have on their curriculum. Teresa Pearce MP took part in a debate with the Department of Education in Westminster Hall; she said in the debate: “There is currently no mandatory requirement of teaching about CPR—first aid—or public access defibrillators in the national curriculum in England. That is denying generations of young people the opportunity to develop life-saving skills that would benefit everyone. Many people say that even if it was for a loved one, they would be reluctant to get involved because they would not know what to do. Teaching people CPR and defibrillator awareness in secondary schools would alleviate that fear. Young people would leave school with knowledge that could save a friend, a loved one or a stranger. I urge the Minister to take on board all the comments that have been made today and to take affirmative action to ensure that CPR and defibrillator awareness are a mandatory part of the national curriculum for the benefit of us all.”

Another local MP has been given a new responsibility; MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, David Evennett has been promoted to the Privy Council. This is apparently a highly prestigious position usually given to senior politicians. The Privy Council give advice to the Queen on matters of state. Somehow I guess that the Queen is more likely to be the one giving advice to her councillors, given her years of diplomatic experience. The Sovereign may appoint anyone to become a Privy Counsellor, but in practice appointments are made only on the advice of the Government, and generally consist only of senior members of parliament, the church and judiciary. There is no limit to the numbers sworn in as members. As of January 2012 there were about six hundred members. However, the members have no right to attend all meetings of the Privy Council, and only some are summoned to each meeting (in practice at the Prime Minister's discretion). David Evennett is not a senior MP, but he has been around for a while, and has the additional role of Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nicola Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education. All in all he’s done well; Evennett has not got caught with his fingers in the till, or bed hopping, so I guess that the Privy Council appointment is a reward for good behaviour. It certainly gives him more clout in his role as a local MP, which can only be a good thing for his constituents. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com

The end video this week is charming - an excerpt from a new episode of The Clangers. As a small child I used to absolutely love The Clangers. I was quite concerned when I heard that the BBC were making a new series of the classic show for small (and not so small) children, and was worried that they would "modernise" it and make it with sterile CGI. I should not have worried - the programme is still made with real models and stop - motion animation. Michael Palin narrates, and it is an utter joy to watch. This clip shows the Clanger family preparing to watch a solar eclipse. At least they can see what is going on, unlike the real thing that happened on Friday morning - the skies around Erith were so cloudy and overcast that almost no indication that an eclipse was taking place was evident - I noticed a few cars switching on their headlights for a few minutes, but that was about that.