The Odeon.

Next Sunday the annual Erith river clean up will take place, organised by environmental charity Thames 21 and the Friends Of Riverside Gardens Erith (FORGE) with help from several local volunteer organisations. I will be attending with my camera to get some photos of the invaluable work that will be undertaken. I wonder how many shopping trolleys will be removed from the River Thames this year? Details of the event in the photo above - click on the image to see a larger version. 

Moments before this Blog update went to press, I received a press release from local not for profit group The Exchange:- "The Old Library in Erith, an impressive local architectural spectacle, sits at the gateway to the town reminding visitors and residents of Erith’s proud history as thriving port town and industrial centre. Built in 1906 using funds granted by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the Library represents what communities can achieve by working together – local architect William Egerton designed a building incorporating bricks made locally, and utilising the skills of local craftspeople including builders, carpenters, plasterers and Sidcup’s Crittall window factory. It then served the community as a library, and later as the town’s museum, until 2009 when it was closed owing to major building dilapidations and lack of funds to deal with them. 10 years later, and the Old Library has reopened as ‘The Exchange’ – a not-for-profit social enterprise that deliver a community-led programme of events and activities that aim to encourage better cohesion and provision of opportunity for Erith. For the past 3 years, The Exchange has been working in partnership with Bexley Council, who own the building, to bring the disused and dilapidated historic space back to life. The Exchange programme started five weeks ago, bringing the historic bookstore back into use as a new café and bar run by a talented local chef, and providing access to other beautiful spaces that have not been used for years. Members of the community are defining what happens in these spaces, including exhibitions, pilates workshops, performing arts classes for young people, film and photography shoots for emerging local artists and makers, and an upcoming market supporting local producers. “Local people are choosing how this building should be used in the future, and the variety and the quality of resident’s aspirations is exciting.” Says Sarah Batten, Co-Director of The Exchange. The Exchange was set up by two Erith residents keen to reopen the Old Library, and maintain it for public use and community benefit. For the past three years, The Exchange has been delivering activities in the town – at Erith Lighthouse, Erith Fun Day and the Christmas Tree Festival – asking people what changes or additions they would like to see in Erith. These conversations and relationships that developed are now informing what happens next at The Old Library. But there is a lot more to do to secure the building’s future: the recent redevelopment project, costing approximately £1.8m, has ensured that the building is now watertight so no further damage is being done, and has brought the lower-ground floor back into full use. However, the ground and upper floors still need a lot of work - there is no heating or proper lighting, walls and floors require repair, and the building needs a lift to make it fully accessible. The Exchange and Bexley Council have been successful with an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, and will be submitting a second-round application later in the year. If successful, this will secure a further £1.2m towards the building works. However, The Exchange needs to raise £300,000 as match towards this figure, and is responsible for how this building is fitted out and used. “Ultimately, it will be the community that save this building. If we as local residents can make it busy, and vibrant with activity, ideas and opportunities, we will get the support we need from funders to make the building’s future viable.” Says Co-Director Peter Nutley. If you are interested in finding out about The Exchange or in getting involved with the programme, please visit or contact The Exchange through their website: www.theexchangeerith.com". 

Some readers may be aware that last Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web. This was created by British Scientist and engineer Tim Berners - Lee.  He called it the World Wide Web, and he was given a NeXT workstation (a sort - of precursor to the Apple iMac) develop his system. Berners-Lee – now Sir Tim – built a very basic website that had further details about his World Wide Web project plus some software for accessing it. The site is still hosted publicly here.  To call the website basic is an understatement, but it did spread the word about the WWW's protocols. Crucially, the project's designs were published openly along with the source code for servers and browsers, allowing anyone to set up on the web without having to pay a penny in royalties or licenses. It is probable that this was the biggest boost to mankind's ability to share information since the invention of moveable type. I actually encountered Sir Tim almost by accident seven years ago. I attended a meeting at The Royal Society in Carlton House Terrace, London. As I came out from the meeting room and headed into the reception area, I noticed a tall figure waiting close to the main entrance; he was wearing a long and rather impressive drover style coat. I recognised him, but could not recall his name. I then realised that there was a life - sized portrait of the same person on the wall, right next to where he was standing in real life. The penny then dropped. I must admit that I was tempted to go up to him and say hello, but fearing I would only make myself look like an idiot, I thought better of it and left the great man alone. 

I have been aware for some considerable time that Nick Hair, landlord and owner of the Kentish Belle micro pub in Pickford Lane Bexleyheath, very close to Bexleyheath Station has had plans in place to upgrade and improve his already impressive facility. He has recently announced that the micro pub will be closing on the 24th March and reopening on the 4th April to allow for a mild refurbishment of the bar area and the replacement of the beer chiller system with an upgraded version; I also am led to believe that Nick will be altering the fascia of the pub to include an awning and some outside seating for the milder weather to come. In order to run down the stock prior to the commencement of the building works, The Kentish Belle will be holding a "bin end" sale from Wednesday the 20th March, so some beery bargains may well be on the cards. Nick told me:- "Everybody is welcome to attempt to ‘drink us dry’ from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th as we will be putting on yet another vast array of beers when we reopen". The Kentish Belle celebrates its first birthday this weekend. Congratulations to Nick and his team. 

The upper photo was taken in May 1985, and shows the old Art Deco Erith Odeon cinema, which by that time had been converted into a Mecca Bingo hall. Built for the Oscar Deutsch chain of Odeon Theatres Ltd. The Odeon Cinema was opened on 26th February 1938 with Barbara Stanwyck in "Stella Dallas". Located on the corner of High Street and James Watt Way, the huge frontage was entirely covered in glazed tiles, broken only by long narrow window, just above the canopy. To the left of the facade was an impressive sweptback 65 feet high fin-tower, which became a landmark in the town centre. Inside the striking Art Deco style auditorium, seating was provided for 826 in the stalls and 420 in the circle. On each side of the proscenium were panels with horizontal bands, that were back-lit. There were a series of decorative plaster bands along the ceiling towards the proscenium, which were broken only by a daylight fitting in the centre of the ceiling. The Odeon was taken over by the Independent Classic Cinemas Ltd. chain on 10th December 1967, and was re-named Classic Cinema. The Classic Cinema was twinned from 16th September 1973, with a 1,000 seat Mecca Bingo Club operating in the former stalls area, and a 400 seat cinema in the former circle, which opened with Glenda Jackson in "A Touch of Class". Classic Cinemas leased the entire building to Mecca Ltd. from 3rd January 1974, and the cinema was re-named Mecca Cinema. The Mecca Cinema was closed on 25th September 1976 with Robin Askwith in "Confessions of a Driving Instructor" and Anthony Sharp in "House of Mortal Sin". The building was de-twinned and the Mecca Bingo Club took over the stalls and circle levels from November 1976. In 1995, it was taken over by the independent Jasmine Bingo Club chain, and was closed on 4th February 1996. The building was boarded-up and lay unused until late 2002, when it was demolished. A block of retail / office units and flats was built on the site in 2005, which you can see in the lower photograph. It was a great pity that the original cinema building could not have been retained; Oscar Deutsch’s cinemas were the most exotic architecture in many British towns and cities. Oscar Deutsch was the Birmingham-born son of a Jewish scrap metal worker who had emigrated from Hungary. By the time he died from cancer at just 48 years old, he had opened a total of 258 cinemas across the UK. the name of the cinema chain came from “Odeon”. It was an ancient Greek word meaning “singing place” – and Deutsch and his team decided it wasn’t too exotic to risk alienating the British cinema going public. Additionally, it started with Oscar Deutsch’s initials, and was used to spell out “Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation” in advertising campaigns. In 1940, the year before Deutsch’s death, Odeon cinemas sold 100 million tickets, but this level of popularity would eventually wane, as home television and then video rentals took over. In 1984, the entire British cinema industry sold 54 million tickets. As the silver screen fell out of fashion, Deutsch’s cinemas were at risk of coming down as quickly as they went up. Rank came up against similar opposition in 1981 when it tried to demolish the Woolwich Odeon. “We would love to take over the place and run the place … as we feel it should be run,” an impassioned Tom Myatt, a projectionist at the cinema, told BBC Newsnight in a contemporary interview. Today the old Woolwich Odeon is Grade II-listed but is now known as Gateway House, and is run by the New Wine Church. Seventeen of the surviving 173 Odeons are listed, with 10 of those now used as churches or bingo halls, or standing empty. The Erith Odeon is now little more than a distant memory for many locals, and the block which took its place on the site offers little than a vague similarity to what stood there before. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Bearing in mind Erith is very much a maritime town, the River Thames does not really get the exposure or use one would expect. Historically Erith was an important port outside of London. Many ships which were too large to make it into the Port of London were unloaded at Erith, with their cargoes being taken further up river by Thames sailing barges similar to the one in the photograph above - click on it to see a larger version. This was before the river was fully dredged and managed as it is nowadays. Today one can watch huge container and bulk carrier ships passing Erith river front on a daily basis; the best time to see ship movements is at or around the changing of the tide. As previously mentioned, some of the small and medium sized vessels can often be seen moored on Erith Pier as well. Until 2013 there was an annual Thames Barge race, but for reasons unknown it has not been run since. The origin of this historic competition is well documented. It was the brainchild of a man who was nick named “The Golden Dustman”. His real name was Henry Dodd. He was born in 1801 into a very poor family; his first job was as a plough boy in arable fields that were within view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, which he did until he was in his early thirties, when he found employment as a “scavenger” – a sort of prototype recycling consultant. He soon discovered that the big money was in transporting waste, rather than actually sorting it. London was rapidly growing in size, and the population was booming. As the number of people in the capital increased, the amount of rubbish they generated went up. Dodd saw this as a very lucrative business opportunity, so instead of using slow and somewhat unreliable horses and carts to haul rubbish, he first hired, then purchased a fleet of sailing barges, which could transport far greater cargoes at a higher speed than any contemporary road solution. Most of the waste material Dodd was transporting was burned outside the capital, and the resulting ash was a vital ingredient in making bricks, which in turn were used to build the expansion of London. Never one to overlook a business opening, Dodd invested in several brickworks, including a very large site on what is now Manor Road in Erith. Nowadays, this kind of end to end ownership of all stages in a manufacturing process is known as “vertical integration” and Henry Dodd was a pioneer of it. All this made Dodd incredibly wealthy; he was one of the richest commoners in England, right at the start of the then new middle class. Dodd’s money bought him a degree of respectability in Victorian society (though I am sure there were whispers behind his back – though after having been brought up in the environment he had, I somewhat doubt if this bothered him). Dodd became a very enthusiastic patron of the theatre, and through this mutual interest he became very good friends with Charles Dickens. Dickens scholars believe that Dodd was the inspiration for the character of Mr. Boffin, the millionaire dustman who appears in the novel “Our Mutual Friend”. Dodd invested a large amount of money in sailing barges, and soon discovered that there was an intense rivalry between barge skippers. Never one to miss a main chance, he decided that in 1863 he would stage a sailing barge race – for entertainment, but also as a means to improve the business. The first race was only for his own sailing barges, and was run from Erith to Canvey Island and back, with the first barge and skipper to make the round trip being awarded a generous cash purse, which was awarded under the auspices of the Prince of Wales Yacht Club. Many in society assumed that the event had Royal patronage (something that Dodd did little to discourage), but in fact it was named after an Erith pub! In 1864 the race was opened to all comers, and after a while it became such a big event the running of it was passed over to a committee of barge owners. Within ten years, specially built racing barges were being constructed purely to try and win the race. Passenger steamers would be chartered to follow the racing barges on their course, and records show that over 10,000 people watched the race from on board these steamers. Henry Dodd, the “Golden Dustman” died in 1881; he left a fund to sustain the match – an eye watering sum of £100,000, which today is equivalent to tens of millions of pounds. In the latter years of the 19th century, the event was covered by Charles’ Dickens son (who confusingly was also called Charles) in his annual gazetteer. For the Centenary Match raced in 1963, the two principal rivals in Britain’s coasting trade, F T Everard and The London and The Rochester Trading Co. lavished money on their fastest barges in an attempt to ensure success for craft which were, by that time, an anachronism in transportation terms. The 48 mile course was from Mucking to the Mouse Lightship, and then back up to Gravesend. F T Everard’s Veronica was the winner, leaving the rest far behind in her wake. Not only was this spectacle thought to be the second oldest sailing contest in the world after the America’s Cup, unlike the America’s Cup of 1851, it was still sailed in craft virtually unchanged since those times until 2013, and as such is in itself was an especially important part of this nation’s maritime heritage.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Another good week crime - wise across the ward with only one crime of note reported (please note we do not include domestic related crimes in this report) Overnight from 5pm on Sunday 10th March in Colyers Lane a Ford transit van was broken into by unknown suspects forcing the door locks. Please make sure that anything of value is removed from vehicles when left unattended especially work tools. Please see https://www.met.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/theft-of-a-vehicle for the latest up to date crime prevention advice. A member of the team will be at Barnehurst Golf Course on Tuesday 19th March at 11am. Please pop along for a chat about any local issues that may be of concern. As always, please follow the team on twitter @MPSBarnehurst and Face Book - Barnehurst police to find out what the team are up to and the latest crime prevention advice". Belvedere ward:- "Good news to start - the team have now been joined by PC Marc Smith which puts us back at full strength. PC Smith has worked in Belvedere previously so is aware of the areas and issues that arise throughout the ward. Our most recent ward panel has taken place, and it was decided that the team will focus on burglary, road safety/ motor vehicle crime , and also anti – social behaviour in the coming months. We have also continued our Street a Week initiative with a successful visit to Alfred Road recently, where we were able to speak to many residents about a wide range of topics. This gives the team opportunity to consider various issues when patrolling the area, and has made us aware of what we need to be looking out for. Street a Week will continue on the ward, look out for the team in your street soon. After a recent call from a concerned resident, PCSO Worrall attended the Gordon Road / Parkside Road area to discover various documents and several passports had been dumped at the location. These were collected and moved to a safer place for checks to be completed. It transpired that these items had been taken from a burglary in the Sidcup area and as such, they have been returned to their owners. During patrols of the Picardy Manorway underpass last week, a small amount of drugs (namely cannabis) was discovered near to the public walkway area. Unfortunately, there were no people in the area for the team to question in relation to this. Our patrols will continue. Our next Community Contact Session is due to take place on 18th March at Belvedere library In Woolwich Road". Bexleyheath ward:- "On Saturday 9th March there was a burglary in Arbuthnot Lane between 2005 and 2030 where a laptop was stolen and an untidy search of the property was conducted; There was an arson attack on a car in Chapel Road on Saturday 9/3/19 around 0340 hours, fire brigade attended along with police and it was contained. Between Saturday 9/3/19 and Monday 11/3/19 there was a van broken into in Grace Avenue, small box of electrical items taken and alarm tampered with; Monday 11/3/19 1645 – 1650 Mobile phone left on side at till area and whilst busy with their child the phone has been taken and switched off; Sunday 10/3/19 – Male detained under mental health act following incident at Jolly Millers Public House; Friday 8/3/19 Whilst parked in The Mall multi storey car park between 1145 and 1545 a car had its catalytic convertor stolen from underneath the car; Distraction theft on Thursday 7/3 at Asda Bexleyheath 1130, victim took money from cash machine whilst distracted suspect has taken cash as it came out of machine. Police were nearby location and staff at Asda had located the suspect who was still in the store. Suspect was apprehended and detained at the time; Friday 8/3/19 Theft of purse from The Mall shopping centre between 1200 and 1500; Friday 8/3/19 Theft of items from inside an office of a shop on The Broadway between 1230 and 1700 nothing of value taken; Tuesday 5/3/19 Theft of child's micro scooter from footpath in Martens Avenue between 0930 and 1440 hours. The team are continuing to patrol the ward and support the smart water initiative being rolled out around the ward. Patrols are carried out around all the local known areas for anti-social behaviour. If you do wish to pass on information to the Police then please contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111. Please do not hesitate to contact us via Twitter, Facebook, email and the ward phone. Remember in an emergency please dial 999 or 101 for non-urgent reporting. Keep phones and purses safe whilst out and about, be vigilant and stay safe". Crayford ward:- "Not a bad week crime wise for Crayford with two burglaries to report. There was a residential burglary on the 8th March in Green Walk however it appears this property was targeted as it was currently undergoing refurbishment and was empty. Several tools were taken from the property. There was also a burglary of a commercial premises in Crayford High Street on the 11th march with a hand tool being taken. A vehicle in Iron Mill Lane had both number plates taken overnight of the 7th March. Shoplifting in the Retail Park continues with Boots being hit for baby milk on the 11th March. Crayford SNT are working closely with the shops in an effort to identify suspects from CCTV images. Enquiries are ongoing. Officers from Crayford SNT are being pro active in an effort to reduce anti social driving in and around the car park at Hall Place in Bourne Road with perpetrators being identified and given warnings for their unacceptable driving. These warning last for 12 months and if either the driver or vehicle concerned are involved in a similar incident it will result in the vehicle being seized. Also anti social behaviour and drug use / dealing in Town Hall square is being dealt with by increasing patrols in the area, this has resulted in several youths being stopped and searched. Although knife crime is not a major problem for Crayford at the moment, officers are still taking the threat seriously and under the banner of the MET's Operation Sceptre they have conducted weapons sweeps of several open spaces and built up areas in Crayford but these searches have thankfully proved negative thus far". Erith ward:- "We have been out this week on daily weapon sweeps in a lot of areas across Erith. This involves searching bushes and other areas for hidden weapons, and this is a national operation at the moment. Burg Res 08/03/2019 Riverdale Road – window broken items taken. Burglary Residential Monday 04/03/2019 Riverdale Road – door opened items taken; Theft from Motor Vehicle Saturday 09/03/19 Lowry Close; Theft from Motor Vehicle Sunday 10/03/2019, Erith Road; Burglary Residential Monday 11/03/2019 Rutland Gate – nothing taken window opened and entered; Attempted Burglary Residential Tuesday 12/03/2019 Hampton House Erith Road; Wednesday 13/03/19 Theft from Motor Vehicle Thwaite Close. Regular drug dealing in the vicinity of Rutland Gate and use of drugs in stairwells of one of the blocks and adjacent areas outside. Resident will report to Orbit as it appears there could be improvements put in place to help prevent the issues. Is also contacting the SNT team direct. NW office have passed on basic info to SNT and are putting her in contact with NW Coordinator to help support". Northumberland Heath ward:- "This week the team have been conducting weapon sweeps across the ward as part of Op sceptre, with the aim of reducing knife crime. It's good news to report that no weapons have been found thus far on Northumberland Heath. The team have continued target area patrols, and have had 2 x positive stop searches, a quantity of cannabis has been found, the subjects have been dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately we do have a few crimes of note this week - On Friday 8th March between the hours of 6am - 8.30pm a motor vehicle was stolen from Parsonage Manor Way; On Sunday 10th / Monday 11th March overnight, the front and rear number plates were stolen from a vehicle on Frinstead Road. On Sunday 10th March we had an overnight non-residential burglary on Parsonage Manor Way". 

Bexley Fire Brigade report:- "On Wednesday 6th we attended another fire on the Darent Industrial Park in Landau Way Slade Green and Northend ward. This was at 23:18 hrs. with just one call being received by our mobilising control. Twelve pumping appliances, 2 hose layers and an aerial attended this fire which occurred within the yard of a metals recycling plant. The yard was approximately 160 metres by 95 metres in size and was sited at the end of a long access road on an industrial area adjacent to the River Thames. On arrival of the fire crews they found a developing fire within a 10 metre high pile of scrap metal which was 15 metres by 15 metres. They used a number of water jets and breathing apparatus to fight the fire, with assistance from on site staff who used grabber cranes to pull apart the pile of scrap metal. This allowed deep seated pockets of fire to be accessed. Crews remained at the scene throughout the night and into the following morning". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "Unfortunately we have three burglary type incidents to report this week. In the early hours of Friday 8th March a suspect was seen looking into the window of a flat at Old Church Court (Bridge Road). At this exact time fortunately response team officers were driving past, arrested the male and he was found to have drugs on him too so a double result. There was nothing taken from the address. In the evening time on the same date a resident in Alexandra Road was disturbed by noise in his back garden and as he went to investigate 2 suspects ran away across the garden after smashing his back door to try and gain access. PC Mark Brookes - Smith was the first to attend and the investigation continues. Finally, at 3am on Sunday March 10th an unknown suspect gained entry to Bushey Court Sheltered Scheme in Hazel Road by using a fire drop key and tried to take items from the padlocked communal fridge. CCTV has no clear image of the suspect but evening patrols will be made at the scheme. There have been seven stop and searches carried out by our team in the last week with one suspect given a fine for cannabis possession. The team assisted Belvedere SNT in executing a warrant on their ward last Saturday with suspected drugs seized at the location that have been sent for analysis". Thamesmead East ward:- "Stop and Search: Wednesday 6/3/19 Midnight Male stopped and searched found in possession of x2 bags of cannabis. Arrest: Wednesday 13/3/19 Male was charged and remanded after being forensically linked to Theft from Motor vehicle x2. Child Abduction Warning Notice: (CAWN) Saturday 09/3/19 As part of the fight against county lines and violent crime a male was served with a child abduction warning notice to safeguard some of our vulnerable youngsters on the ward. Theft of Motor Vehicle Manordeane Road Thursday 7/03/19 1:15am unknown person attempted to steal vehicle, pushed down road and unknown person made off. Kale Road Sunday 10/03/19 2:30am Vehicle interference by a group of males in an old shaped Ford Focus in blue or grey - who tried to steal victims van - the lock was drilled and the wires were pulled out. Bazalgette Way Wednesday 13/3/19 9:16 am Theft from motor vehicle. Victim left personal items on view inside the vehicle unknown suspect has smashed window and removed items". West Heath ward:- "We are very happy to report that there have been no burglaries or motor vehicle crimes reported over the past week. Even so the team have been busily patrolling the ward in both uniform and plain clothes. We stopped and searched a male and his vehicle for drugs in Sandgate Road but no drugs were found. On the way back to our ward from that stop we stopped and checked on the welfare of an elderly male showing signs of distress. He was okay but as he resided in a neighbouring borough we helped with transport home. Yesterday, we stopped and searched a male delivering charity bags door to door in Madison Crescent. Several weapon sweeps have been done in Stevens Park and West Heath Recreation Ground and we assisted with a knife arch operation in McDonald's in Welling High Street as part of Operation Sceptre aimed at reducing violence crime. Despite the inclement weather several residents attended our street briefing which was held in Bedonwell Road on the corner of Elmhurst on Sunday 10th March. We were joined by Councillor Philip Read and the main topics discussed were inconsiderate parking at school times, speeding and dog fouling which Councillor Read will look into. The team will increase patrols at school times and request Parking Enforcement. Our next Street briefing will be on Friday 15th March at 8pm in Milford Close at the junction with Westergate Road. The team had a meeting with our Councillors during the week in which we discussed residents' concerns raised at the last street briefing by Bostall Community Library around speeding in King Harold's Way. It was confirmed the Speed indicator device (SIDS) and the speed camera by Bedonwell School do work".

The end video this week is a bit of a curiosity; it features a bus journey from Woolwich to Bexleyheath on the 99 route. It has been speeded up somewhat, as to carry out the full journey at normal speed would take a little over an hour. Apologies for the dreadful music - I have no idea what the person was thinking of when dubbing the video - at least you can mute it if so desired. Please leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Self Service? No Service.

An event took place earlier this week that many had hoped would not happen. Bexley College in Walnut Tree Road was taken over by Bromley College. It has been marketed as a merger by Bromley College, who have also taken over Greenwich Community College. This is to form a new conglomerate called the South East London College Group. Unfortunately in the process, several key members of staff have fallen by the wayside, most notably Danny Ridgeway, the former Principal of Bexley College who has “retired”. The combined college organisation will be headed up by Sam Parrett, the former principal at Bromley College, who is now leading the newly-formed London South East Colleges. The financial success of Bexley College had been in doubt for some time. A combination of cuts in central funding, and a change in the law caused them all sorts of headaches. When the law changed, requiring all young people to remain in full time education or training until the age of eighteen has been very problematic for many further education and community colleges. There is a significant minority for whom education is not suitable, and who would rather be out working (or not, as may be the case). They leave school, sign up for a college course which they don’t attend, and they drop out of education. The funding their sign – up generates is soon cut when their non – attendance is noticed.  Many colleges suffer from “ghost” students to some degree or other. I think the whole ruling that young people should be in full time training or education until the age of eighteen is fundamentally flawed, and really needs to be revisited.

Another piece of bad, but not unexpected news happened this week; Harriet Harper, the Project Manager for Regeneration and Assets for Bexley Council sent the following message to members of Erith Town Forum:- "I am emailing to update you on Erith Market; unfortunately a number of stall holders are unable to attend the market tomorrow and it has therefore had to be cancelled. As you are aware, the market launched as a trial in March and it has proved difficult to establish it as a weekly event in Erith due to a number of reasons. We feel this gives us a good opportunity to evaluate the lessons learned from the trial period and assess it in light of the feedback received. We will be instigating a temporary break for the market and will be working with key partners to re-launch a market later in the year. I trust the above is if assistance and we will continue to keep you informed. Please get in touch with erith@bexley.gov.uk with any feedback on the market that you would like us to consider". Last Wednesday I walked through the market area and there were four traders with stalls; this Wednesday there were none whatsoever. As several readers have told me in the past, it has been held on the wrong day. The most telling content was from a regular reader called Derek:- "I hear are giving Erith Market a trial go. When they know it will fail before they start. They only seem to be catering for the unemployed and the elderly. Because they are the only one that can go to the market. The market should have been bigger and on Wednesdays and Saturdays like it used to be. Saturdays for the people that go to work all week." Several local people have expressed the opinion that the revamped market had been "set up to fail". I must admit that the evidence would seem to support this view at present. It will be interesting to see what happens in future.

Bexley Council are proceeding with the next phase of the selloff of the family silver. Six open spaces are being offered for sale to the highest bidder. The sites being offered for sale are: - a plot of land adjacent to the railway in Gable Close, Crayford, the piece of land at the junction of Bexley Road and Kempton Close, Erith, the Millfield Open Space in Iron Mill Lane, Crayford, the junction of Napier Road and Wellington road in Belvedere;  the land on Holly Hill Road, Erith and the spit of land that separates Fraser Road and Alford Road in Erith. These are all relatively small parcels of land, some of which would have minimal commercial value. One thing that I do notice when looking at the list is that all of the areas are located once again in the Northern part of the London Borough of Bexley. Not one of the areas to be sold off is located in Bexleyheath, Welling, Sidcup or the other wealthier Southern parts of the Borough. This comes as absolutely no surprise; just as Bexley Council forcibly closed (against massive and very well organised opposition) the Belvedere Splash Park, but did not even consider closing the smaller and less popular one in Danson Park. The reason for this is sad, but pretty simple. Bexley Council concentrate on the South of the borough – the reason is that the Conservative majority council see no votes being either won or lost in the predominantly less wealthy, Labour voting North of the Borough. For this reason all of the unpopular money saving / money generating sell off projects the council undertake happen in the North – as this does not affect their primary electoral base in the wealthier, predominantly Conservative voting South. In essence in their eyes they have little or nothing to lose by ignoring the North of the borough.

More promotion is currently being done to encourage local people to book an appointment for a Smart Meter “upgrade”. These meters are part of the "internet of things". I have noticed that several of the national energy companies are currently targeting local residents with letters asking them to make an appointment to get their current electricity and gas meters replaced with a smart meter. Personally I have received three such letters from my energy supplier, EDF. As I have mentioned before, Smart Meters send real – time power usage data back to the supplier via a 3G mobile phone signal. This means that the meter does not have to be connected to a home data network. This sounds all well and good; the power company can bill you without having to send a meter reader to your house, and you get the option to monitor your power usage in an almost real – time way. There are however, problems. The data sent from the Smart Meter to the supplier is sent unencrypted, and “in the clear”; it is possible to intercept the data stream, and also a malicious attacker can potentially send instructions to the meter remotely. Several Smart Meter companies do tacitly admit this, but they play the whole lack of security aspect down. Secondly if one discounts the security implications, the various energy companies all supply different makes of Smart Meters, many of which are incompatible with each other. If you choose to change your energy supplier at some point in the future, you will need to have your Smart Meter changed again – with the associated additional cost to you that this implies. Tellingly on the EDF letter there are a series of frequently asked questions. EDF initially state in the letter that “your current meter is old and now needs to be replaced – you need to book an appointment for an engineer to carry out this work”. They then go on to stress how old meters can be inaccurate and possibly unsafe. There is a giveaway in the FAQ’s that follow though – and I quote verbatim:- “Occasionally we may be unable to install a Smart Meter, usually due to communications issues with signal strength. If this happens we will not replace your meter, but will contact you again when we believe the Smart Meter national infrastructure will be able to support a Smart Meter in your premises.” There is the smoking gun – they don't actually need to replace the meter for the accuracy and safety concerns expressed earlier – they purely want to do it to make you have a Smart Meter, with all the security, privacy and expense worries that they entail. I have a preferred technique for dealing with such unwanted attention – I ignore everything they send me until they eventually give up and go away. Smart Meters primarily benefit the energy companies, because they no longer need to employ meter readers. The benefits to the consumer are minimal at best, and when allied to the security and compatibility concerns mentioned earlier, they don't add up for me. As always, your mileage may vary.

Work continues on the Crossrail development, with much development continuing on the stretch between Plumstead and the terminus at Abbey Wood. In many ways this is one of the most complex parts of the entire Crossrail project (and before anyone comments “it is called the Elizabeth Line now” – it will only take on the new name when the entire project is completed and officially opened – until then it is still the Crossrail project). The Crossrail project will arguably be more transformational at Abbey Wood than anywhere else along the route. The Elizabeth line will halve journey times to many central London destinations and add twelve trains an hour to the services already provided by the operator Southeastern. The new station will open for Southeastern passengers in December 2017. From December 2018, an Elizabeth line train every five minutes at peak times will allow passengers to travel right through central London to Paddington. From December 2019, when the full route opens, passengers will be able to catch one train right through central London to Heathrow or Reading in the west. When fully open in 2019 it will add ten percent capacity to central London’s rail network, bringing an extra 1.5 million people to within 45 minutes of central London. The Crossrail project is also helping to drive regeneration along the length of the route. It has been projected that new line will support the delivery of over 57,000 new houses. Nearly half of planning applications within a kilometre of an Elizabeth line station has cited the new railway as a justification for the development proceeding, equating to around 5.3 million square feet of residential, commercial and retail space. One quite eye opening example is the journey time from the new Abbey Wood Station to Heathrow Terminal Four (the furthest terminal by train) will be only fifty one minutes. This figure is going to be the cause of much worry to mini cab operators all around the local area; a cab from Abbey Wood to Heathrow costs around £55 and can take up to a couple of hours, depending on the level of traffic congestion. Whilst the fare structure for Crossrail has yet to be published, I think it will be highly unlikely that the fare from Abbey Wood will cost anything like £55, and the journey time will be so much shorter. This is going to prove a real challenge to mini cab companies. I am aware that for many of them, airport trips are their “bread and butter”, as they are far more profitable than short tips to and from pubs or shops. I wonder how many companies will go under once the rail service is fully operational? It seems to me that mini cabs will be mainly confined to running short journeys rather than the profitable long haul journeys of yore with a consequent drop in income. What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photo above shows Erith Odeon cinema and the RACS shop adjacent to it, on opposite sides of James Watt Way. The photo was taken in July 1966. In 1936 Coles designed the "Odeon", Erith as an absolutely typical Odeon, with its slim faience-faced advertising tower contrasting with the more horizontally emphasized brick and faience body of the cinema. It opened on 26 February 1938 and seated 1,240 people. The cinema was later used as a bingo hall but was later illegally demolished (it was a Grade 2* listed building) and now a block of flats with offices and the new Erith Library stand in its place. The RACS shop has also long been demolished, and is now the site of a KFC drive through takeaway. The dockside cranes that can be seen in the distance between the buildings are now where the giant Morrison's supermarket is now located. 

Malcolm Knight of “Bexley is Bonkers” reported earlier this week on a meeting of Bexley Transport User’s Sub Committee that took place on the 21st July. An issue was raised at the meeting which struck me as being of particular interest. Malcolm wrote:- “The police reported that they had issued a couple of speeding tickets but “the big issue” for the borough is people riding motorcycles without helmets. “They are very much aware that by not wearing a helmet there is nothing we can do. There is a group of people who will not wear a helmet specifically so that we can't pursue them.” Councillor Brian Beckwith (Conservative, Blackfen and Lamorbey) asked how many hand held speed cameras there were to cover the whole borough. The answer was two. Councillor John Davey (Conservative, Crayford) said the helmetless riders were wearing balaclavas and they were doing “wheelies on the pavement” and “not chasing them was absolutely ludicrous. It sends out completely the wrong message”. The police officer agreed but then dropped back into politically correct mode. Sometimes air support is called in to track the bikers “but it is not always practical. I don’t know what the answer is and I don’t see it changing”. From the research that I have carried out, it would seem that the Police are in a very difficult situation. One quotation I have read from an inside source said “British police very rarely engage in pursuits of any kind and need to get permission before they do engage. Police have a responsibility to protect the wellbeing of both those being pursued as well as the general public. Being pursued by the police frequently causes collisions that can kill or injure those being pursued and/or innocent bystanders. Motorcyclists are at such high risk of injury or death that police would never pursue, a motorcyclist without a helmet is a full scale deflection on the "will this pursuit kill someone" scale”. The problem with this policy is the message that it sends to the offenders and potential offenders – if you don’t wear a helmet (an offence in itself) you will in essence be immune from consequence. The Metropolitan Police have a set of guidelines that state that criminals on motorbikes or scooters that are not wearing crash helmets should only be pursued by Police helicopters. The demands on the helicopter crews are high, as anyone who has watched any of the numerous TV documentary series on Police chases will understand. It costs somewhere between £850 and £1000 per hour to operate a Police helicopter – which is usually considerably more expensive than the resale value of any bike or scooter being ridden illegally. It is a conundrum what to do in situations such as this, though I do feel that the current position of the Police Service actually does nobody any benefit. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

As I have previously written, I am of the opinion that other than for very specific uses (such as exercise and health monitoring) Smart Watches are a solution in need of a problem. Now, for some users a serious health related matter has come up with one fairly popular brand. Intel has recalled every single one of its Basis Peak smartwatches – as well as urging people to stop using them – because they can become dangerously hot. In June, San Francisco-based Basis Sciences – which Intel bought in 2014 – warned that its Peak smartwatches can cause skin burns and blistering, and hoped to issue a firmware update to correct the problem. It turns out that was impossible without stripping out most or all of its features. An Intel spokesperson said "We are issuing this safety recall of the Basis Peak watch because the watch can overheat, which could result in burns or blisters on the skin surface. It is important that you stop using your watch immediately and return it. Although we are stopping support for Basis Peak immediately, you can access your data until December 31, 2016. After that date, the Basis Peak services will be turned off. Once we shut down the services, your watch will no longer be able to sync, which will cause it to stop working". Some commentators have observed that it is entirely possible that Intel just got bored of running a smartwatch cloud service and pulled the plug, using the overheating problem as a convenient stopping point.

A report was published this week, the findings of which surprise me not in the slightest. A new report from its Department of Criminology at the University of Leicester suggests that supermarket self-checkout technology encourages even normally honest shoppers to commit theft. The report found that installing self-service checkouts raises lost revenue by 122 percent. Some of it is accidental – people forget to scan items, or get confused by instructions; other times shoppers get so frustrated with self-service kiosks that they feel justified in not paying. But the report  states that mostly people shoplift because the technology makes it so easy. Mobile phone scanning technology is just as vulnerable – the study found that at the end of a typical shopping trip, up to ten percent of items had not been scanned, leading to “shrinkage” (loss through wastage or theft) of about 3.9 percent of turnover. Unfortunately the technology makes it very difficult to prove that customers are deliberately stealing. One retailer admitted they almost never prosecute people. For that reason supermarkets are now introducing tagging systems so un-scanned items trigger alarms. Supermarkets such as Morrison’s in Erith have now expanded the number of self – service checkouts so that now half of all tills are of this type. Finding an open, traditionally staffed checkouts are becoming a challenge to find.  I have been told that the cost savings in checkout staff wage reductions is more than offset by both the increase in stock theft and the requirement to hire more security guards – who in any case are usually on a higher hourly rate than the checkout staff that they replace. I have always wondered why you have to pay the same price for an item when it is purchased via a self – service till when compared to a traditional one – after all, you are doing work on behalf of the supermarket, and surely this should be reflected in a cheaper cost? Personally I refuse to ever use self-service tills – why have a dog and bark yourself? I would not be at all surprised if the losses incurred via self-service till thefts cause the big supermarkets to re-think their strategy – which at no point is aimed at helping the customer – it is purely about making it as easy for the supermarket to collect money as cheaply and efficiently as possible.

You may have heard that the BBC is going to start enforcing licence fee payment by people watching BBC iPlayer. People who watch BBC programmes only on iPlayer will be required to buy a TV licence to view the content from 1 September. Previously a licence was only needed to watch live broadcasts, so catch-up content was technically exempt from the £145-50 annual fee. But due to a change in the law, a licence will be needed to download or watch BBC programmes on demand. Those who already have a TV licence will not be affected. Personally I have a licence, so will not be affected by this change, but I can foresee a lot of problems in enforcing this new regulation - in fact I think the BBC are making a rod for their own back - but they seem not to have realised this yet. In the "olden days" of analogue televisions with Cathode Ray Tube displays, BBC Detector Vans could patrol the streets - the vans detected the leaked local oscillator from the first stage of the radio receivers that picked up the TV signal. Colour TVs had more receivers to pick up the colour signals, and so could be distinguished from black and white sets. The local oscillators themselves could be quite powerful (as these things go), around about 1mW, so they were easily detected in the street having leaked back through cheap mixers and up the aerial cable. The same thing still applies today for Freeview digital sets. One of the problems I think they'll have with this new technology is that they cannot identify the people using devices. I will explain with the following theoretical scenario:- I have a TV licence, I'm entitled to watch BBC anywhere in the UK, including when I use a public WiFi network such as BT WiFi. I go to a friend's house, who has a BT hub. I use the BT WiFi that their BT hub has switched on by default. That friend has not got a TV licence, and I'm watching BBC at their place but not on their private WiFi that comes from the same BT Hub. However the BBC cannot tell the difference; they are not allowed to examine the network data packet contents, encrypted or not. Effectively they are doing a primitive traffic flow analysis attack on encrypted communications. Only the likes of the NSA and GCHQ have the kind of hardware, software and skilled operators to successfully undertake this kind of work. Another problem - two adjoined houses have their living rooms next to each other. The WiFi routers are in the same corner of the rooms, separated by only a couple of feet and the partition wall. One of the houses has a TV licence, the other one does not. I bet they are unable to direction find the emissions to the accuracy required to tell which of those WiFi routers is in which house. My fear is that the BBC will be too aggressive with prosecutions, and the courts will take an unreasonably optimistic view of the reliability of the technology. The UK courts have not exactly been that clever at sorting scientific fact from pseudo-fact, and there's too many holes in this technique for it to be relied upon as the sole evidence required to jail someone. The Courts have been appallingly willing to accept scientific evidence with low probabilities of correctness as being evidential fact. If an 'expert' states in court that something is fact then the court accepts that, and no amount of dissenting scientific opinion will change their mind. As defence you're not even allowed to challenge the "expert" evidence in court or even discuss probabilities. I feel the new licence conditions will be un - policeable, and unenforceable. 

The ending video this week shows the work that has been going on at London Bridge Station for the last few years. For those who use the station on a regular basis during the construction work, it has been a real pain, but when one sees what has been going on behind the scenes, the transformation and renewal is extremely impressive, and will be even more so when it is all finished in another couple of years from now.  See what you think. 

Clean for the Queen.

It is nice to begin on some good news this week; the photo above shows part of the main concourse in the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. An announcement this week by Barry Owen, the manager of the shopping centre said that sales were up markedly on the same period last year. A greater footfall through the centre had also been recorded - more visitors will encourage more retailers to open outlets in the centre - as previously mentioned, I have it on good authority that Subway will soon be opening a branch, and the much loved Mambocino coffee shop / cafe will be expanding into a second unit so that it will be able to open for "sit down" meals in the evening - something currently sadly lacking in Erith. All in all things are looking good; hopefully the remaining unlet units will soon be occupied. 

Belvedere Splash Park was one of the largest free wet play parks in the country, with a lagoon surrounding a desert island and a mini-‘beach’, equipped with water sprinklers, showers, bubble jets and sprays. Parents brought their children from a very wide area to the park during the summer months; it was incredibly popular and very well used. The Splash Park was one recreational feature which brought many people to Upper Belvedere who might otherwise not visit the village. The Splash Park has been under threat for a couple of years now, and it would seem that even though a concerted and well organised campaign to preserve the park has been for nothing. Many observers, myself included were of the opinion that Bexley Council do everything possible to do exactly what they always intended to do despite so – called “consultation” – the Bexley Council motto of “Listening to you, Working for you” is laughably ironic. It is pretty certain that the Splash Park will not be refurbished – the final decision will be taken at a council meeting on Monday evening, well after the Maggot Sandwich for this week has “gone to press” on Sunday afternoon. One local rumour has been directly denied by the council – that is, that the larger recreation park on the other side of Woolwich Road would be moved onto the former Splash Park site, then the entire recreation park site, along with the adjacent Belvedere Library would be sold off to allow a high concentration flat development, thus making a pile of short term cash for the rapacious council, and a longer term cash cow in the form of annual council tax revenue from the residential development. Councillors flatly deny this is the case – but in my experience (with a few very notable exceptions) I find that you can always tell when a politician is lying – their lips are moving. In an interview with the Bexley Times, Councillor Daniel Francis (one of the notable exceptions in my experience) said “While I welcome the news that the council plans to retain inclusive play facilities on the site, it is deeply disappointing that over 100 years of a water facility on this site will be brought to an end. This decision would have been taken over a year ago, if it were not for the tireless work of local campaigners. I would like to place on record my thanks to all those campaigners and in particular to Ian Doherty for setting up the campaign, Rachael Thompson, Nicola Taylor and Alex Taylor for their work and in particular Faye Ockleford for her tireless work co-ordinating the campaign and the Save our Splash Park FaceBook page. I therefore welcome the assurances we have received that the council do not propose selling either of the Woolwich Road recreation grounds, and we will be holding them to account to ensure they keep their promise on this issue. While the council may claim this decision has been caused by lack of interest from companies to run a water facility, this is of course not the case. This decision is a purely ideological one taken by a Conservative council as a result of the reduction in funding from a Conservative Government.” A pity that he had to put the party political boot in at the end; I know that some Conservative councillors secretly backed the plan to save the Splash Park, but were too afraid to say so publicly for fear of retribution.

The “Clean for the Queen” event aims to recruit one million people to help tidy up the UK’s dirtiest areas in time for the Queen’s 90th birthday on the weekend on 4, 5 and 6 March. Prior to this weekend, it is rather unfortunate that the PR company promoting the positive event have chosen a negative way of publicising it. They have highlighted what they consider to be the twelve dirtiest places in Britain,  and they list Erith as one of those towns.  A photo of rubbish dumped on South Road in Erith was submitted and chosen as one of the dirtiest. Campaign director Adrian Evans said in an interview with the News Shopper: “The dirty dozen all share a common theme – they are local eyesores.  Rubbish has been dumped by people who can’t be bothered to dispose of it responsibly – bottles, cans, wrappers and bags.  We have chosen these grotspots to highlight just how bad the litter problem is and also to emphasise that everyone can make a difference to their local area by not littering. To show that these places would be so much more beautiful if the litter was cleared, the Clean for The Queen team and friends are undertaking to clean up three of the grotspots in advance of the Clean for the Queen weekend on 4, 5 and 6 March.” Other towns listed as being exceptionally dirty and rubbish – filled were Thurrock, Derbyshire (not a town, I know!), Stamford, Tooting, Birmingham, Chippenham, Cardiff, Ipswich, Brighton, Newcastle and Hammersmith. 

I have had several readers ask me about buying a new computer, and what they should look for. A couple of years ago many IT industry insiders were predicting the imminent demise of the desktop PC, to be replaced with tablet devices and mobiles. The only people who were expected to continue using tower PC’s were gamers who endlessly upgrade and tweak their computer hardware to get the best performance possible. In the end, the death of the desktop PC seems not to have happened after all. There is still a demand for desktop machines. I have some predictions for the next year and the personal computer. The switch to Windows 10 will really start to have an impact, as Windows 7 goes out of mainstream support – and very few migrated to the disastrous and buggy Windows 8 / 8.1. It is expected that plenty of organisations will look therefore decide 2016's as good a time as any to take the plunge on a new PC fleet, powered by Windows 10. The top three PC-makers – Dell, Lenovo and HP have released details of the products they think will appeal to their customers.  One thing all three companies think customers will want this year is size. Or more specifically, a lack thereof. Towers and mini-towers are now for workstation-wranglers only. The corporate desktop is now a margarine-tub-sized affair. That shrinkage has been made possible by three things, the first of which is the demise of optical drives. Nobody needs to load software from CD or Blu – Ray disc anymore, and USB sticks are now the dominant portable data medium. So out go optical drives and the space they occupy. Disk density helps, too, as a 500GB 2.5-inch drive is now easy to find at decent prices and solid-state disks are also cheap. Whatever storage device you choose, it needs less space than its predecessor, meaning smaller PCs become possible. Intel's Skylake processors are the third and biggest space-saver, as they run cooler and also boast built-in graphics. By requiring less cooling and removing the need for a graphics card, Skylake means PCs can shrink in size. Nowadays only hard-core gamers looking for ultra high resolution and very high frame refresh rates still feel the need for a separate, dedicated 3D graphics card, unlike the days of yore. Smaller PCs also have manufacturers thinking about what they can do with a shrunken system. Bolting the client to the back of a monitor is now a common trick. Lenovo's taken the idea further with the “TinyOne 23”, a small form factor PC designed to mate with a slot in a matching monitor. Personally it reminds me of a “Happy Shopper” Apple iMac, but without the slick design. 2016's new laptops will do what laptops have done since day one: get smaller, lighter and thriftier in the demands placed on batteries. Under the hood, the M.2 interface will make plenty more appearances, as a connector for all manner of devices but especially SSDs. The three manufacturers who were consulted expected to see 256GB SSDs as 2016's sweet spot, with demand for 512GB rising, but cost keeping demand muted. Solid state storage will continue to take over from hard disk drives, as SSD capacity increases, costs come down and their life is extended. The two biggest improvements SSD drives bring to the party are increased speed and decreased power consumption – no need to spin a physical disk around saves a lot of battery power. The newly introduced USB-C connectivity standard won't appear in all business laptops: consensus is it's too soon for business users to want it, but it's tipped for bigger things next year once its potential to replace desktop docks is realised. Users are tired of proprietary docks, the big three tell us, and USB-C is expected to clean up in coming years. One other advantage USB – C has will be welcomed by everyone who has ever needed to connect a USB lead to a PC. For the first time ever, the USB standard, version C will allow plugs to be inserted either way round – no more scrabbling around the back of a computer or TV, trying to work out which way the USB plug goes in (and it is always the wrong way first time – I think this is a universal law). Another new connectivity standard has also been launched with 2016’s new PC hardware in mind;  WiGig is a short-range wireless protocol that can transmit audio and video or data. It's felt that the standard will let a laptop drive a monitor and connect to peripherals. The standard will find its way into some laptops this year, with Lenovo planning it as standard and intending to release a WiGig dock. Dell and HP see later adoption of the technology, which should prove popular with business users. The ability to wirelessly connect to external monitors or 4K televisions will be something many users will wonder how they coped beforehand.  Laptops capable of doing duty as tablets are very much in demand, so touch screens are increasingly common across all three vendors' ranges, bringing with them the ability to contort devices into different working positions. Whatever you buy, in whatever form factor, expect it to come with at least 4GB of DDR 4 RAM – better still 8GB. Anything less is seen as cutting corners. On a slightly different note, There's a new Sinclair ZX Spectrum in the works - this time it's a handheld dedicated games console.The Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+ passed its £100,000 crowdfunding target on IndieGoGo in less than three days. At the time of publication £160,000 had been pledged by 1500 backers. The handheld, which follows last year's Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega, comes with 1000 licensed games built-in and costs £100. A bit of background: the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+ is marketed by the Luton-based Retro Computers (Sir Clive's Sinclair Research Ltd is a shareholder). The development and marketing of the Vega+ is under license from Sky In-Home Service Ltd, who inherited the intellectual property rights to the Spectrum computers from Amstrad. Retro said development of the Vega+ is complete and a fully-functioning prototype is ready to go into production. It has a colour LCD and can be connected to a television. As already mentioned, it comes with 1000 licensed games, but you can download additional games free of charge. The design concept of the Vega+ is the work of Rick Dickinson, who was responsible for the design of all of Sinclair's ZX computers in the 1980s. A short explanatory video is below.



Now here is some interesting information about a newly formed local crime fighting initiative:- "Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association has set up a BikeWatch scheme in Bexley to try and help reduce the amount of nuisance and crime from Biker gangs in the Borough of Bexley. The main problems are in and around Thamesmead and Erith (although not confined to these two areas) at the very least these gangs can cause a nuisance with the noise they make late at night with their bikes, but there has also been other instances where bike gangs have attacked individuals and where their behaviour on their bikes has endangered members of the public.As the numbers of bikers increase the police are struggling to cope, as often they are unable to chase the bikers as they drive off-road while being pursued by the police, additionally often by the time the police are able to respond to a call the bikers have gone, although the disturbance has already happened and residents have been woken from their sleep. Our BikeWatch scheme like many of our other non-residential schemes such as ShopWatch and HoundWatch offer membership to residents who are then able to report instances and give information on the bikers for example time the incident happened, the number of bikes, what they were doing, registration numbers and description of riders etc etc, which we would pass onto the relevant ward police team according to area/ward of the incident, and this enables them to build up information for possible prosecution. What this scheme also offers differently from our other schemes is that residents don't have to join, they can fill in a BikeWatch incident report card and send it to us without giving their details if they fear they could suffer from reprisals from these youths. We feel also that parents should also be brought to bear when bikers are caught as they often enable their children, by purchasing them a bike and by allowing them to be out on them sometimes to the early hours of the morning. The police have powers to confiscate the bikes and have them crushed and we hope that with this scheme and residents support more of the constant offenders will be caught and that dealt with in this way. More serious instances have included a lady with a buggy nearly being hit when a biker who was riding on one wheel slipped off nearly hitting her and her buggy / child in Erith, another where one of our members who was filming their illegal activity near a shopping centre was attacked and punched also in Erith, and a person being beaten to a pulp by a gang of bikers in Abbey Wood, plus gangs on bikes riding around at night stealing motor bikes from residents. THIS HAS TO STOP NOW, BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE JOIN BIKEWATCH TODAY. For copies of our BikeWatch Cards please either ring 0208 284 5537 or email bexwatch-office@btconnect.com BEXLEY BOROUGH NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ASSOCIATION-we now have over 1,000 volunteers working to help to keep the Borough Safe why not join us NOW?" You can find out more about Bexley Neighbourhood Watch Association by clicking here. 

Fellow local Blogger Malcolm Knight, of the excellent “Bexley is Bonkers” blog has been making adverse comments on the changes made to the roadways and pavements in and around Bexley, principally in Sidcup High Street and Bexleyheath Broadway. His poor view of the changes in the street layout, removing the delineation between pedestrian and traffic areas into what some now called “shared space” matches my own. The town planners and architects seem to like this uncertainty of what is road and what is pavement, but the council tax paying public seem to not. It appears that our antipathy is mirrored by Councillor Stef Borella, Labour shadow cabinet member for traffic and transport, who views the works as a council vanity project. He said in an interview in the Bexley Times that “The works are costing £5.5million, that’s money that could have been spread elsewhere. You can put that money in places like Sidcup High Street, Forest Road in Slade Green, or in developing Belvedere. It’s such a vanity project to focus on developing Bexleyheath. When I was knocking on doors during the general election, I’d say around 85 per cent were opposed to the idea of these roadworks.” In my opinion the reason the money gets spent in Bexleyheath and the Southern part of the London Borough of Bexley is because that is where the governing councillors live; the poorer North of the Borough gets repeatedly ignored, as the residents of the North did not elect the councillors that are now in power. Danson Splash Park in Welling was not even considered for closure, but the much more popular and widely used Belvedere Splash Park was - you work it out.

The photo above shows the former Odeon, Erith when it was being used as a Mecca bingo hall back in 1985; it was a sad end for a glorious Art Deco building, constructed in 1937, and opened in 1938, it seated 1,240 people. You can see more period photos of the building by clicking here. Sadly, even though it was a Grade II* listed building, it was demolished in 1999, and now a block of flats and offices stands on the site. Wetherspoons had hoped to conserve the original cinema building and convert it into a pub / restaurant, but the close proximity of the Sherwood House sheltered housing scheme directly opposite meant that this was never going to happen - the levels of noise and disturbance at night would never have been permitted by the licensing authorities. 

MP for Erith and Thamesmead, Teresa Pearce has been getting rightly annoyed in my opinion in cuts being made to the Magistrate's Court system locally. Dartford Magistrates' Court has been axed in moves to "modernise" the justice system, the government has announced. Meanwhile, two justice buildings will be lost in the Greenwich borough - where both Greenwich Magistrates' Court and Woolwich County Court are to close. They were three of 91 buildings, 57 magistrates and 19 county courts, at threat of closure by the HM Courts and Tribunal Service.  According to the HM Courts and Tribunal Service, the 86 courts they are closing are used for just over a third of their available hearing time, the equivalent of less than two days a week. In Dartford, the proposal was to transfer all cases seventeen miles away to Medway Magistrates' Court - but 97 per cent of residents nationwide should still be able to reach their court within an hour by car. The workloads and hearings of Greenwich and Woolwich will be moved to Bromley County Court. In an interview with the News Shopper, Teresa Pearce said “The government has already slashed legal aid and increased court fees. Many are representing themselves because they cannot afford a lawyer. And now victims and witnesses will have to travel much further than before, further threatening their right to local access to justice. Many of the cases looked into at these courts are for family matters or less serious offences. The Ministry of Justice say it will only take 20 minutes from Greenwich to Bromley – well that’s just not my experience. It will take longer for police to transport prisoners and longer for witnesses or victims to travel to court at greater personal expense. I urge the government to reconsider these proposals. You cannot put a price on fair access to justice for all." To balance this, it has to be said that some of the court buildings that are being closed have been chronically underused in recent years. I understand that currently the inefficiency in the court system and the underuse of buildings is estimated to cost the UK taxpayer half a billion pounds a year. What is the answer? Leave a comment below, or Email hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Look out for increased levels of Police, emergency service and military activity in and around the local area in the next couple of weeks; Exercise Unified Response will simulate a tower block collapsing into Waterloo Underground station packed with passengers. The four-day exercise, starting on February 29th, aims to test the contingency planning of more than seventy organisations, from mortuaries to the Government’s Cobra committee. It will be staged at the decommissioned Littlebrook power station, near Dartford Crossing, and include two thousand volunteers playing casualties amid upturned Tube trains and thousands of tons of rubble. It is understood that the techniques being tested could also be used in a terror incident. Following the Paris suicide bombings and gun attacks in November, which killed 130, London firefighters wearing bulletproof vests have been trained to work alongside police while gunmen are still at large. The €1 million (£770,000) drill is funded by the European Union and will include specialists from Hungary, Italy and Cyprus. Part of the exercise is to test if they could get to trapped survivors faster than the July 7 terror attacks in 2005, and help reduce their trauma. It will be interesting to see what happens. If you have been contacted as a volunteer for the four day exercise, please let me know - Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The end video this week examines the future for the currently empty and derelict Spillers Millennium Flour Mill in Silvertown, Docklands. The iconic building has been used as a TV and film location, most notably in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket". It is now about to be refurbished and put back into use. The short video explains how the listed building is going to be restored and internally transformed; it makes for interesting and informative viewing.

Will Hay and Uncle Horace.

The photo above (click on it for a larger view) shows the flats being constructed in James Watt Way, between the KFC Drive Through, and Morrison’s petrol station. The construction of the block of affordable flats for social rent has been suspended for nearly six months; this has been due to the contractor that was building the block going bust. The developer, who is backed by the Mayor of London’s office has taken an extremely long time to get building work going again, and much of the thanks for repeatedly asking for status updates from the developer must go to local Councillor Abena Oppong – Asare, who has effectively nagged the developer into getting work underway again. Hopefully the social housing will be finished and open for the first residents before Christmas. The area has a huge amount of house building going on – from Erith Park, which is a giant estate of mixed social and commercial housing, to Tower Hill – the new development by Barratt Homes on the old Bexley College site, and of course Erith Quarry, the brown field site that is set to be the location for the six hundred homes and a primary school development; planning permission has been granted, and the first phase of the construction on the former quarry site is due to be completed by September 2017. All of this new housing is going to attract roughly five thousand new people into the area. My concern is that local infrastructure (gas, water, drainage, electricity) will need to be substantially upgraded to cope, and public transport, health care and shops will need to be expanded for the additional residents. The opening of Crossrail in 2018 will mean that South East London / North Kent will be a lot more accessible than it has until now; one of the major factors in why house prices are less outrageous than in other London suburbs is the historical lack of public transport links into central London – with no tube or DLR connections, the only way to commute into town has been by overland rail on the North Kent Line. If there are any problems with the trains, you really have had little option. With the colossal Paramount theme park almost certain to get the green light, the development will transform an 872-acre brownfield site on the Swanscombe peninsula and be twice the size of the Olympic Park in East London. It will feature Europe’s largest indoor water park, theatres, live music venues, attractions, cinemas, restaurants, event space and hotels. Allied to the project will be a training academy for the entertainment and hospitality sectors, a new country park, a large science and education visitor complex and the biggest performing arts centre in Europe. It is almost inconceivable that the Crossrail project, which is currently set to terminate at Abbey Wood will not be extended down to Swanscombe to cater for visitors to the massive entertainment complex and new town. This would mean that Belvedere, Erith, and Slade Green would be prime commuting areas both into London and down to the Paramount Park – where something like 25,000 new, full time jobs will be required. This is almost certain to be a huge financial and social boost to the entire South East, and could well turn Erith into a new Hoxton. The downside of all this could well mean the end to affordable housing within easy reach of the capital. Many people who live in the local area and who work in central London do so in the service industries – engineering, cleaning, shop workers, facilities maintenance and the like. If they cannot afford to live within commuting distance of London, businesses are going to suffer, and jobs won't get done. There would seem to be a delicate balance to keep things ticking over and the lights lit in London.

Pac-Man, the biggest arcade game of all time, turned 35 years old last week. Released by the Japanese company Namco on May 22, 1980, Pac-Man was like nothing else at the time. At a time when Space Invaders and Asteroids and other games with abstracted, monochrome graphics ruled the arcade, Pac-Man offered a striking, cartoonish design with an appealing central character. It revolved around eating, not shooting; and it was designed to appeal to young women and couples, not spotty nerks in anoraks (although they all played it too). The colourful design and unique collect-the-dots maze gameplay—plus the wonderful tension of running away from those ghosts, then scrambling to eat them once you got a power pellet—made Pac-Man almost instantly addictive, eating ten pence pieces as rapaciously as its protagonist swallowed pixels. By one count, Namco sold 400,000 Pac-Man machines, head and shoulders above anything that had come before, or since. And it is still highly playable and popular in a way its contemporaries are not—few people are paying for Asteroids or Space Invaders updates today, but Namco Bandai still makes and sells variations on Pac-Man on every platform imaginable. Pac-Man’s ubiquity was our first indication that games were about to become the dominant entertainment medium of the information age. (It also arguably marked the beginning of Japan’s impending pop-cultural invasion of the rest of the world, even if players at the time didn't know where it came from.)

Bexley CAMRA have named The Penny Farthing in Waterside, Crayford, as its pub of the year for 2015. Another of the borough’s micropubs, The Door Hinge in Welling, was runner-up. The Penny Farthing only opened in September last year on the site of an old children’s craft shop and is run by couple Bob and Bev Baldwin. This is really good news for local real ale fans; the excellent Robin Hood and Little John in Lion Road, Bexleyheath won the CAMRA award for ten years running, and there really was very little in the way of competition until the micro pubs started appearing a couple of years ago. I am a great fan of micro pubs / ale houses, as they usually sell quality real ales from the local area; in this case, the Bexley Brewery in Erith. The Penny Farthing now goes forward to compete to be crowned the London region CAMRA Pub of the Year, competing against twelve other pubs including Petts Wood micropub One Inn The Wood. The Penny Farthing is also involved in the upcoming Crayford Fun Day on June 13th, hosting its own mini beer festival from June 11th to the 14th, with at least eight beers on sale. I will be paying the place a visit soon.

On Thursday afternoon I was alerted by one of my local informants that a couple of workers were installing metal anti burglar / vandal shuttering outside of the former Potion Bar / White Hart pub. I made my way to the venue and had a friendly chat with the two men; they knew absolutely nothing about the future plans for the building, and had just been hired to secure the place on behalf of the owners. My informant and I share the opinion that shuttered buildings tend to foster crime and anti - social behaviour in areas. I have been in contact with a couple of people who are in a position to find out exactly what the owners of the building intend for its future, and I will report back in due course.

The much anticipated soft play centre for children is now beginning to take shape in the former Blockbuster video hire store in the corner unit of Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. Builders are hard at work converting the store into a giant play area for small children. The windows have been whitewashed over, but it is still possible to peek inside to see what is going on. Lots of work still needs to be completed before the place is ready to open, but I reckon it should be ready by the middle of July, at the rate construction is running. The soft play area is going to be called the Kassiopi Cove, and will have a pirate theme. The company running it have been operating in the area for sixteen years, and have a well-established child-minding and after school group in Northumberland Heath called Jacqueline's Gems childcare services. It looks like they are very well qualified and experienced to run a new child – centric business in Erith; I will be contacting them once the soft play centre nears completion, and I hope to get some photos.  It is good to see the retail unit back in use; since Blockbuster went bankrupt early in 2013, it has been empty and unloved. There are lots of small children that need to be kept occupied and entertained in Erith – I think the soft play centre should do rather well. 

Some worrying statistics have been published earlier this week by Transport for London. There were 567 sexual offences reported on London Underground and on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in 2014/15 compared with 429 in 2013/14. There were also more sexual offences reported on London buses, with 684 in 2014/15 compared with 513 in 2013/14. TfL attributed the rise in reporting of sex attacks to a joint initiative with police called Project Guardian. The project aims to raise public awareness of unwanted sexual behaviour and encourages victims to report these historically under-reported crimes. In other areas statistics showed improvement - there were 27,758 crimes on London’s public transport network overall, which is 8.3 percent fewer than in 2013/14. London mayor Boris Johnson said he was “very pleased that Londoners have been given greater confidence to report sexual offences following the launch of Project Guardian.” Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT transport union, had a different reaction to the year’s statistics. “We warned right from the off that cash-led cuts to station staffing would turn London Underground into a criminals’ paradise. “Those who ignored those warnings, and in particular Boris Johnson, should be hanging their heads in shame today, apologising to Londoners and reversing their lethal cuts programme” he said. Oh well, as normal the politicians and union leaders use people's misery to back up their political arguments. For the South East region, the overland trains and the bus service are the two areas of greatest local concern – there is not much call for the tube in Slade Green! The local buses are a big worry – especially late in the evening. I think more should be done to encourage the Police to travel around by bus whenever possible.

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece about the Erith Odeon cinema. Local historian Ken Chamberlain sent me the photos you can see above, which show the cinema when it opened on the 26th of February 1938, showing the Hollywood movie "Stella Dallas". By the looks of it, the Odeon was a very grand building inside, and a landmark piece of Art Deco architecture outside. I can recall that even when it was empty and abandoned in the late 1990's, it still had a real presence. The current block of flats with offices underneath does have some echoes of the original structural design, but it is not a patch on the original. It is ironic that now Art Deco is very much back in vogue, if the cinema building had survived until today, it would most likely have been preserved. The Odeon showed a wide variety of films during its existence as a cinema, in the years before it declined and became a Bingo hall - the fate of many cinemas around the UK. One film star whose movies were shown at the Odeon Erith was Will Hay - a name largely forgotten today, but a comic actor whose best work influenced the likes of the Goon Show, and Monty Python, and his most famous film "Oh, Mister Porter!" was a direct influence on "Dad's Army". I have to declare a family connection with Will Hay; my Great Uncle Horace (whom I have written about previously) was a very close friend of Will Hay for many years. This week marks the 80th anniversary of Will Hay having his first starring role in a British film. Born in Stockton in 1888, Hay’s family moved him south to Suffolk before his first birthday. As his father became a jobbing engineer so the family’s mobility quickly increased – moving next to Hemel Hempstead then to London and finally to Manchester where Hay Senior established his own firm. Wanting independence, Will refused to join the family company and started instead as an apprentice engineer for Westinghouse. Yet Hay was no typical engineer and his humour hid by the fact that, by the age of 19, he had learnt German, French and Italian to such a high level that he was able to leave engineering and became an interpreter. His nineteenth year also saw him married to fellow teenager Gladys Perkins and when his daughter Gladys Elspeth was born some eighteen months later Hay decided he could make a better living for his new family in the pre-Great War music halls. Stealing some of his sister Eppie’s staff room reminiscences – she was a full time teacher – Hay began to develop his pompous, bumbling schoolmaster act. After working for over three years with the Fred Karno troupe, where Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin had developed their craft, Hay swiftly found himself the talk of the town: selling out Britain’s biggest music halls, playing sets for the Prince of Wales and successfully touring America, South Africa and Canada. Then came Boys Will Be Boys (1935) his first starring film role with a screenplay written by Hay himself. The story wasn't overly deep – a prison teacher cons his way into a boarding school job and helps stop a diamond theft – but it did have its moments. And it was the perfect frame for Hay’s idiot teacher routines…Then, in 1937,  Graham Moffat joined Moore Marriott as Hay’s two sidekicks in the finest comic film any of them would ever be involved with, Oh, Mr Porter! wherein Hay discovers the (Northern) Irish railway station he’s been sent to run, Buggleskelly, is actually a run-down mess. Gun-runners, ghosts, secret windmills and missing trains – Hay and his two stooges come out on top in a film that is, even now, genuinely funny, at times hilarious. Oh, Mister Porter! (1937) was a deserved box office smash in its day, taking some £500,000 in British cinemas alone – the equivalent now would be over £15 million. In the immediate pre - war years, Will Hay was the second highest paid entertainer in Britain, earning a reputed £800 per week - narrowly pipped in the earnings stakes by George Formby. Outside of show business, Will Hay was a dedicated and respected amateur astronomer. He constructed a personal observatory in his garden in Mill Hill and built a glider in 1909. He became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1932 and is noted for having discovered a Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933. The spot lasted for a few months and then faded away. He also measured the positions of comets with a micrometer he built himself, and designed and built a blink comparator. He wrote the book Through My Telescope in 1935, which had a foreword by Sir Richard Gregory, formerly Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at Queen's College, London. When Hay died, a few items of his equipment were bequeathed to the British Astronomical Association. Some years ago I came across a long out of print book on the life of Will Hay, and it had some photos taken of his garden and his private observatory; in one of the early shots, the construction of his observatory is shown; several people are helping with the digging. One chap is seen stripped to his string vest and leaning on a shovel - it was my late Great Uncle Horace on what must have been a very hot day for manual labour. I wish I had a copy of the book. In 1947, Hay suffered a stroke which left him physically disabled. He died at his flat in Chelsea, London after a further stroke in 1949, and is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery, London SW16. Will Hay's films are now out of copyright, and have been released into the public domain. Below you can see Will Hay's greatest work - one of the best British comedy films of all time, the excellent "Oh, Mister Porter!" in full. Click to make the video window full screen, sit back and enjoy the movie.

One local Maggot Sandwich reader made the following observations regarding my piece on the long unused and empty former Port of London Authority building adjacent to the Erith Riverfront Gardens that I published last week; I have to say that I was aware of some of the points he raised, as I too am a Shoreline member of the RNLI, and have been since I was working at sea for Radio Caroline, back in the late 1980's / early 1990's. Anyone who has spent any length of time at sea will have nothing but immense respect and admiration for the men and women volunteers for the organisation. "I noted your comments regarding a possible RNLI station at Erith. As a basic member/supporter of the RNLI I can say that it would be very unlikely to happen for a number of reasons. Firstly the RNLI is currently reviewing the number of stations it has and the number and type of call outs it gets. Some stations have already been reviewed and the type of cover and vessel stationed changed. The North East and East Coast of Scotland around recently underwent changes of this type. Reviews of this type are regularly taken by all of the emergency services too. Generally speaking the crews are all volunteers who are 'on call' while doing their usual employment, not at a station. So volunteers from the local area would have to be sought and trained, not easy as their jobs must allow them to drop everything at a moments notice.  I personally do not feel that there is a need for any sub-station at Erith as the regular river users from the rowing and yacht clubs are experienced sailors and are always watching out for each other, and while the RNLI is there for everyone who needs them I just don't see any justification for a station at Erith with the attendant expense of a boat, security etc when events you mentioned are relatively rare. Problems like where to moor a vessel given the silting around Erith, security of the vessel when not in use etc. Like all charities the RNLI has limited funds as has to allocate where the most benefit can be accrued, and setting up a station, buying a boat, training crew members is a massive expense that at this time is probably not feasible A list of the call outs of all boats can be found on the RNLI website and gives an excellent picture of the reasons they are deployed ". Excellent and very informative stuff. My original piece was designed to encourage discussion, debate and positive feedback; in that case it appears to have been successful. The riverfront building definitely needs to be put back into productive use sooner rather than later. If you have any observations or opinions on what it could be used for, I would be more than interested to hear from you on the subject. The building is one of those unusual ones that seems to "hide in plain sight" - people pass it all of the time, but nobody ever seems to pay it the slightest bit of attention. I think this is a waste of what could be a very useful structure, bang on the riverfront. I think we are collectively missing a trick.

With all of the attention the Police have been giving the illegal bikers who have been tearing up Slade Green Marshes, you would have thought that the bikers would have got the message at least for a while and gone to ground until the heat was off. Not a bit of it, I am afraid. One of the main offenders has been caught on camera on the A2 near the Dartford River Crossing – as you can see in the photo above, he’s pulling wheelies on his quad bike on a motorway. Personally if he wants to kill himself with acts of stupidity, that is his lookout, but he’s likely to injure or potentially even kill others in the process. I recognise the distinctive design of the bike as being one that has frequently been ridden illegally in and around Erith – of course, the scumbag does not have the bike registered, so no number plate to give the game away. I know that the local Police are aware who a majority of the offenders are. This guy needs to be collared as soon as possible, especially after the news last week that another biker called Ernest Miller, known as "Della" to his friends, died after his motorbike collided with a car in Beckenham at around 8am on May 13th.  Witnesses described seeing the 26-year-old thrown from his motorbike over the top of a car and into the road. He died shortly thereafter. Ernest Miller was a member of Bike Life TV UK (probably more accurately described as "Chavs on mopeds"), linked to groups known for haring along Lower Belvedere and Thamesmead’s roads and pavements on motorcycles performing tricks. I have featured them in a previous update. It is ironic that on this occasion he was not riding irresponsibly. Nevertheless groups like Bike Life TV foster and encourage illegal and dangerous riding – and if more deaths are to be avoided, they need to be reined in by the authorities. On top of all this, several serious incidents have been reported this week, involving the two 13 / 14 year old youths on a high powered sports bike that I have remarked upon before. On Thursday afternoon they raced their stolen bike along James Watt Way; A Police patrol car was parked in the road, as the officers were dealing with an incident. The rider of the high powered motorbike slowed down, allowing the passenger to kick off the wing mirror of the Police car - they then rode off at speed. An even more serious incident happened some time later. A local resident was walking his dog along the riverside pathway close to the far end of James Watt Way, near where the traveller pony lives on a small piece of wasteland. The two young crooks came racing along the pathway on the bike, and narrowly missed hitting the man and his dog in the process. The skid marks from the frantic braking can still be clearly seen on the paving slabs. The bike is huge and very powerful - it may be a Suzuki GSX-R 1000, or something similar. The Police know the number plate, and have confirmed to me that the vehicle is indeed stolen. The two youths need to be caught soon; they are a danger both to themselves and others. From what I have been told by a very reliable source, the Police think that the two scumbags are deliberately trying to provoke a chase with them. My own thoughts are that they probably have a couple of GoPro cameras mounted on the stolen super bike, so that they can later upload videos of their exploits onto YouTube to gain bragging rights from their criminal mates. I would imagine that law abiding bikers are getting heartily sick of the antics of a small group of criminals, who don’t do anything to enhance the image of the responsible bike rider. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The ending video this week show the work of the Lesnes Abbey Conservation Volunteers (LACV). It is a fascinating insight into the work of this little - known local volunteer group who do such good work for the area in and around Lesnes Abbey Wood and Lesnes Abbey Ruins. Give it a watch - you might learn something (I know that I certainly did).