It is not often that the local area makes it into the national news. This week two local stories have ended up getting a number of column inches in the popular press. The first story is a positive one, but the second is somewhat less so. Firstly, the department for culture, media and sport has announced a new competition to be held in 2028. It is called the Town of culture programme; last week it was confirmed that Dartford Borough Council have submitted an application for this new award, Which emulates the existing City of culture award which has been running for some years. If Dartford Council wins, it will receive a prize of £3 million, Which will be used exclusively to promote cultural events within Dartford Town. The two runners up for the award will be given grants of £250,000 each to deliver cultural events in their local areas. Observers have commented that Dartford's bid is strong, it being the home of both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and also the renowned artist. Sir Peter Blake. It is also the home of the award-winning Mick Jagger Arts Centre. There are also many smaller arts based enterprises run by enthusiastic volunteers in and around the town. A spokesperson for Dartford Borough Council said in a recent interview:- "Dartford's cultural influence runs deep. From the town's industrial heritage to the global legacy of artists and musicians who began their journeys here, Dartford has long helped shape Britain's cultural identity. Today, the town continues to deliver meaningful cultural experiences – from celebrating its world famous music heritage through statues of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, to the Sir Peter Blake Gallery, a year round programme of free community events". The second story is somewhat darker and also rather worrying. As readers may have seen, an undercover reporting team posing as Kurdish refugees were able to negotiate with a middle man to bring two fictional family members into the UK illegally via a small boat operated by a criminal gang. All of this was covertly filmed and has since made the national news. The local link is that the criminal gang were using a small mobile phone accessory shop in Woolwich as a front for their activities. Since this came to light early last week, the government has said that it is forming a task force to combat organised serious criminal gangs who use small independent shops such as nail bars, hairdressers, vape shops and similar outlets that trade mainly using cash. The reasons for this are multiple, but are primarily down to money laundering. Years ago money laundering was mainly done through bogus minicab companies, as then most of their transactions were using cash. Nowadays, most transactions are done via large organisations such as Uber, or even smaller cab companies having mobile phone apps that enable passengers to pay cashlessly. This makes them far less attractive to criminal gangs who wish to launder money made via a number of illegal activities, mainly involving the sale of narcotic drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and ketamine. I certainly do not want to imply that all small independent retailers are involved in this kind of criminal behaviour, indeed, I know that many are honest and extremely hard-working with long hours and low pay at the end of it. There are however a significant number who exploit this image as a cover for crime. Somehow I doubt that the the current government initiative will make much of a dent into this, but I feel it is more a case of being seen to be doing something, although in my opinion they are shutting the stable door after the horse has already bolted. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
The photo above was sent to me in the middle of last week. It shows the advertisement in the window of an estate agent based locally. As regular readers will be aware, the excellent and very long established Wide Shoe Shop in Bellegrove Road, Welling closed a little while ago. I wrote about this at the time. The owners of the shop have decided to take a well-deserved retirement and the shop is now vacant and up for rent. Bearing in mind its location in the centre of Welling, the amount being requested is not inconsiderable. £20,000 per year for a premium location in a very busy shopping area. Personally, I am very sorry to see the store close, as I was a long-time customer. I have very wide feet, and find it very difficult to purchase shoes elsewhere. The Wide Shoe Shop was very old-fashioned in a good way, and the internal layout and design I doubt had changed much since the early 1970's, which was part of its charm. Service in the shop was excellent and very knowledgeable, and the prices charged were reasonable. I feel that many of its former customers will be forced to purchase online, as there is no other specialist wide shoe retailer in the local area. Indeed, I was told by the owner some time ago that they had customers from overseas, who would bulk buy several pairs of shoes when they came to the UK. I feel that it is a pity that the shop could not have been taken over by new management and ownership, but I understand it is a very specialist area of retailing, and something outside the experience of most shop operators. Once again, I feel that we have lost something important from a local High Street.
That's regular readers will be aware, over the last 18 months I've been quite seriously unwell, including spending a month as a hospital in-patient. The investigation into various conditions I seem to be suffering from is ongoing, as is the treatment. Recently, the NHS asked me to complete an online survey into my diet and eating habits. I did this, and it presented me with a series of results and analysis of what I had told them. In essence, my diet is about 80% vegetarian with the remaining 20% being mostly chicken and fish. One thing that did strike me was one item that my family used to eat when I was a child, that is now little used, which I find rather sad. That is, many people no longer eat rabbit. It has gone from being a cheap nutritious food source that is low in fat, high in protein and full of vitamins into something that is just served occasionally in high-end restaurants. Bearing your mind that rabbits are classed as pests, and there are large infestations of them in many parts of the UK, and there is no bag limit or restriction on shooting them. It seems strange to me that they are no longer a common source of meat. I know that other countries, including France and Italy value eating rabbits as something that is culturally a part of their heritage, and I think that the lack of interest in eating a sustainable and largely unused source of healthy protein has been dictated by the fact that many people feel that rabbits are cute and cuddly, when in fact they are just a rodent, merely a similar species on a larger scale than rats or mice. They also threaten many farmers crops, and indiscriminately destroy many vital food sources on arable farms. In many ways, one could argue that eating rabbit would be a vital contribution to maintaining farming within the country, as well as being delicious, sustainable and keeping a fast breeding, crop damaging pest species at bay.
I understand that a large number of Morrisons Daily stores, the smaller community-based convenience shops, rather than the full-sized supermarket outlets are scheduled to close. This means that the shop in Slade Green, opposite the railway station is currently threatened with closure. Although at this point I believe no final decision has been made. Some years ago Morrisons bought around 100 convenience stores from McColl's, and rebranded them with the Morrisons logo. I understand that this was not a success, and many of these stores have been loss making over the last few years. These stores are now planned to be closed. As I have previously written, Morrisons are now owned by a private equity company who appear to be asset stripping the company, and loading it with debt. This is a common activity when any organisation purchased by a financial company. One only has to look at what is happening currently to the former WH Smith shops, where many are being closed and the employees made redundant. If the Morrisons branch in Forest Road, Slade Green is closed, it will be a major blow for many residents of Slade Green, as there is no other general retail outlet nearby. If they have no car, they would either need to get the 99 bus into Erith or go the other way on the same bus to Bexleyheath to Asda or Sainsbury's. I must emphasise that at the time of writing the fate of the Slade Green Morrisons still has not been determined, but it is very worrying for local residents, who may have been relying on the store over the last few years. More news when it comes this way.
It is not very well known that Erith was the birthplace of a man who could well have gone on to be a Formula One world racing champion, had he not met an untimely end in a plane crash. Tony Brise was born in Erith in March 1952, and was a promising racing driver, who took part in ten Formula One Grand Prix events in 1975, before dying in a plane crash with Graham Hill. Tony Brise was born in Erith, the son of John Brise, a pig farmer and racing driver, who won the World Stock Car Championship on three occasions. Both Tony and his brother Tim showed an interest in go-karting at a young age, and John Brise gave up his hobby to support them fully. Tony Brise won his first UK championship in 1969, and switched to single-seater racing the next year, driving an Elden MK8 Formula Ford. In 1971 he placed second in the BOC British FF1600 Championship. While completing his degree in this period, a BA in Business Administration, he chose to continue with motor racing, joining Formula 3 in 1972 driving a Brabham BT28, the team run by Bernie Ecclestone. After switching to a GRD 372, his performance increased until he was one of the top drivers in the formula. He won two of the three British Formula 3 Championships in 1973, sharing one (the Lombard North Central championship) with Richard Robarts, as well as winning the John Player Trophy. At the end of the season he won a Grovewood Award for the second time, shared with Tom Pryce. Brise wished to move up to Formula 2 for the 1974 seasons, but was unable to due to financial limitations. Instead he bought a second-hand March 733 car, fitting it with a Holby-tuned Ford engine, and entering the MCD Formula Atlantic series. He won the first round of the British Championship unexpectedly, but subsequently wrote the car off in a crash at Snetterton. However, his performance had brought him to the attention of Teddy Savory of Modus, who offered him a work drive in the series. Although the car was another modified F3 chassis, he drove well enough to earn a drive in a purpose-built car in 1975. He also drove a Modus M1 F3 in the Monaco Grand Prix F3 support race, finishing second behind Tom Pryce in a March 743. Brise excelled in the new car in 1975, winning six consecutive races, at Snetterton, Oulton Park, and twice each at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, enough to win him the MCD International Formula Atlantic Championship. As a result of these achievements, he was contacted by Frank Williams in April, to make his Formula One debut standing in for Jacques Laffite. Brise made his Grand Prix debut on the 27th April 1975 for Williams at the Spanish Grand Prix in Montjuic Park near Barcelona, a controversial race marred by strikes over safety issues, a high number of crashes, and the deaths of four spectators. Brise finished seventh in this race, two laps behind the leaders, his race affected by a collision with Tom Pryce. Laffite returned for the subsequent Monaco Grand Prix, relegating Brise once again to Formula Atlantic, though former world champion Graham Hill's retirement at that race, due to a failure to qualify, brought Brise straight back into the top division driving for Embassy Hill, intended to be for the rest of the season. Over the next few races Brise showed a lot of promise, recording some very fast qualifying times and frequently outperforming his team-mate, Alan Jones. However, a combination of technical difficulties and bad luck prevented him from ever finishing in high leader-board positions, and he took just one championship point. Nonetheless, by consensus he was considered a bright hope and one to watch for the future, with a successful season anticipated in 1976. On the 19th November 1975, Graham Hill and Brise, along with Andy Smallman, the team's designer, and three team mechanics, were returning to London from southern France, where they were testing a new race car, the GH2. The Embassy Hill plane, a twin-engine six-seat PA-23 Piper Aztec piloted by Hill, was attempting to land at Elstree Airfield at night in thick fog when it crashed and burned at Arkley golf course, killing all six aboard. Tony Brise was just 23 years old, and was survived by his wife Janet, daughter of triallist Reg Allen. Formula One experts think that had he lived, Tony Brise could well have been a future world champion.
The end video this week is by a YouTuber whose channel is named Ringway Manchester. He covers all sorts of radio and other communication technologies in a manner that is both easy to understand for those unfamiliar with technical issues, and also detailed enough for those who have an interest in such a subject. In this video he explains in detail the forthcoming closure of the BBC Radio 4 service on Long Wave. He also goes into some of the history of Long Wave in the UK. Comments to me as always at the usual address - hugh.neal@gmail.com.
