Lazy parents.

The strikingly beautiful photograph above - click on it for a larger view - was taken by a regular reader and occasional Maggot Sandwich contributor who chooses to remain anonymous. The photo was taken at sunrise last Monday morning (about 7am) from the pedestrian footbridge across the rails at Erith Railway Station, looking East. Apart from the spectacular colour of the sky, the spire of Christ Church Erith can be seen to the right of the picture. 

Late on last Tuesday morning, there was a serious road traffic accident at the top of Picardy Road in Upper Belvedere, almost outside of the Congregational Church. Police, Fire and Ambulance services all attended after a careless woman reversed her car in the narrow road, hitting a motorcyclist behind her, almost certainly fully writing off his months old Triumph motor bike, splitting the fuel tank open, so that the road was flooded with petrol, and the rider ended up on the road, partially run over by the woman's car. Several passers by witnessed the incident, as did the car behind the motor cyclist, which happened to be a driving school vehicle with a pupil in the middle of a lesson. My sources inform me that the driving pupil was so shaken up by witnessing the accident that they were unable to complete their lesson, and the instructor had to take over. The spilled petrol was a fire risk, and a crew from Erith Fire Station made the situation safe. The bike rider, the woman car driver and a number of eye witnesses were all interviewed on the spot by the Police, before the rider was taken off by the ambulance to be checked out in hospital. The bend in Picardy Road, at the top of the hill is a notorious accident black spot. The road has not really been altered or widened since Victorian times, when the occasional horse and cart would use it, nowadays in addition to car and van traffic, the narrow main road is used every few minutes by the wide, double decked 401 buses. If this was not bad enough, cars park on both sides of the road, which is especially a problem on the bend. The reason for the parked cars is that parents leave their vehicles there whilst their pre - school children attend the nursery which is held daily in the Congregational Church hall. The morning and afternoon sessions are parent and child based, so the parents stay with their offspring for the duration of the session, rather than just dropping the children off, then collecting them later. An eye witness to the accident on Tuesday morning informed me that the emergency services all expressed strong concern over the intensive parking on that part of Picardy Road, and they felt that the road should have double yellow lines on both sides, meaning a total ban on kerbside parking on the accident black spot. A year ago Bexley Council Highways Department fitted bollards to one side of the road, as can be seen here. I have personally seen drivers mount the pavement between the bollards, in order to park completely on the pavement, blocking access to pedestrians. In almost every instance the owners of the parked cars are local people who are just too indolent and lazy to walk their children the short distance to the nursery, and instead create a traffic hazard with their irresponsible parking. I hope that after the serious accident on Tuesday that the council will ban parking in the vicinity on a permanent basis. What do you think? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

One of my most reliable sources of information - who chooses to remain anonymous, sent me information on Monday that Lidl have, as expected, now re - applied to Bexley Council for planning permission to demolish the Screwfix / Tile Giant / Bath Store warehouse in Fraser Road, Erith and to construct a Lidl supermarket on the former Atlas trading site. Lidl have actually owned the site for several years. Since I was made aware of the story on Monday morning, it has appeared in the News Shopper; one of the down sides of the Maggot Sandwich being published on Sundays is that stories that I actually get as exclusive scoops end up being broken elsewhere due to my weekly publishing format. Unfortunately there is little that I can do about this. Anyway, back to the story. Erith is dominated by Morrison's supermarket - there is no realistic competition - I don't feel that Farm Foods or Iceland offer anything like the full range of goods that Morrison's does. On top of this, the Erith Quarry housing development - next door to the proposed Lidl site has opened, with over four hundred new houses and apartments. This equates to roughly a thousand new people coming to live in the area. over the next year. Lidl carried out an independently audited survey of local residents; the results were overwhelmingly positive. A total of 1,366 people responded to the survey, of which 1,276 local residents supported the construction of a new Lidl store on the former Atlas trading estate site. That is a majority of 93.6 percent. If the store does go ahead, it will employ 40 local people; I am led to understand that priority will be given to people who are employed by the outlets currently on the site. The detailed development proposal list the following benefits of a new store on the former industrial site:- "Demolition of the Atlas Trade Park and construction of a standalone Lidl food store with associated car parking. Provision of a brand new discount food store (1,375m2 sales area, 806m2 of ancillary space) with 91 free car parking bays of which 2 are for electric vehicles, 6 will be disabled spaces and 8 parent and child spaces. Contemporary food store building using high quality materials. Soft and hard landscaping treatment to be applied to all external areas. A limited range of products (2,000 lines) necessitating continued use of existing local retailers. Provision of up to 40 new jobs for local residents". Following my previous articles on Lidl and their plans to open in Erith, I have had several series of correspondence with readers, which have been overwhelmingly supportive and positive about a Lidl store opening locally. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Apart from scooter gangs, and the theft of vehicle registration plates, the other most common crime encountered locally seems to be the theft of vehicle catalytic converters. Catalytic converter thefts are on the increase with more than 1,000 stolen from cars and vans in London so far in 2019 – five times more than were stolen the previous year. As a result of these thefts, victims are left with hefty repair and replacement bills which can add up to as much as £2,000 a time. A catalytic converter is located in the exhaust pipe near the manifold. It cleans the exhaust fumes emitted from the car and out into the atmosphere. Specifically, it converts pollutants such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides, into carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen, all of which are less harmful, though still large contributors to global warming. The metals which clean a cars’ toxic gases include Platinum, Palladium, and Rhodium, which are all highly valuable. Rhodium can command prices of up to £2,000 an ounce, twice the value of gold. Palladium and Platinum trade at 120 to 180 per cent of the value of Gold. Individually they do not contain a great deal of precious metal. However, organised crime gangs steal them to order for shipment abroad to factories that will salvage the precious metal on an industrial basis. The stolen metals can be recycled for use in jewellery, dentistry and electronics. The catalytic converter is fitted on to the exhaust system so it is fairly accessible on most cars and vans. A professional gang can jack up a car and use a battery-powered steel cutter or angle-grinder to steal the catalytic converter within five minutes. Vehicles with a high clearance off the ground, such as 4x4s are most at risk. The Honda Jazz and Honda Accord have also been targeted because their older devices are particularly easy to reach. Police have said that German cars such as BMWs, Audis and VWs have also been targeted, as have many commercial vehicles. Incidents of catalytic converter theft had been in decline from its peak around six years ago. That led to the introduction of new laws making it illegal to buy scrap metal for cash. Industry experts attributed much of the decline to a fall and bottoming out in metal prices but thefts are now increasing as prices jump to new highs, and the criminal gangs circumvent the UK scrap laws by sending shipping containers full of stolen catalytic converters overseas to be scrapped where no questions are asked. Police advise etching security details into the converters, but that is only going to help recover the converter once it has been stolen. The best you can do really is to slow the thieves down or to make it difficult for them to strike and perhaps put them off attacking your vehicle completely. You can fix them into place using extra bolts or fit a protective sleeve to make them harder to cut out. Defensive parking up against a wall or next to another low slung car may also act as a deterrent. Businesses or homeowners with multiple vehicles parked overnight are recommended to use CCTV, secure perimeter fencing and security lighting.

Last week saw the announcement of the winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, which was awarded to the three scientists who invented the Lithium Ion battery, which nowadays powers many devices, from laptops and mobile phones to electric cars. At 97-years-old, John Goodenough, an engineering professor at The University of Texas, is the oldest person to win the Nobel Prize yet. Goodenough is joined by M. Stanley Whittingham, 77, a professor of chemistry and materials science at Binghamton University, and Akira Yoshino, 71, a professor at Meijo University, Japan. The three Nobel laureates will equally share the cash prize of nine million Swedish Krona, a little over $900,000 or £740,000. Lithium Ion batteries have revolutionised many lives. Having a tiny chemical hub nestled inside phones and computers has made technology portable. More powerful rechargeable batteries have also made it possible to develop electric cars or store cleaner energy from solar and wind power. Since they entered the market in 1991, “they have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the organisation that awards the Nobel Prizes. Lithium Ion batteries are made up of three main components: two electrodes, an electric circuit, and electrolyte fluid. The electrodes - a negatively charged cathode and a positively charged anode - sit on either side of a separator inside a volume of electrolyte fluid and are connected to an electrical circuit. Negative lithium ions flow from the anode to the cathode, producing current through the circuit to provide electrical power. When positive lithium ions flow in the other direction, from the cathode to the anode, the chemical batteries recharge so they are ready to dispense current again when needed.

The photos above were taken by me on Thursday evening at the meeting of the Erith Think Tank, which hosted a question and answer session from two Councillors from Bexley Council - Councillor Louie French (deputy leader of Bexley Council and Cabinet Member for Growth) and Councillor Joe Ferreira (opposition spokesperson for Resources and Growth). As you can see the event was well attended, and the number and detail of some of the questions asked by the audience were impressive - so much so, that the evening, which was meant to finish at 9pm, actually ended up finishing closer to 10pm. One of the questions that elicited the most passion was related to the proposed redevelopment of the small park at the Eastern end of West Street into a new block of flats. Erith ward Councillor Joe Ferreira made an undertaking to attend as many future Erith Think Tank meetings as his schedule will permit. Did you attend? What did you think of the meeting? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

I have expounded at some length in the past regarding the "Scores on the Doors" food and restaurant hygiene rating system used throughout the United Kingdom. At the moment, displaying a food hygiene rating is compulsory in Wales and Northern Ireland – it must be visible close to the entrance where customers can easily read it before they go in. Businesses in England do not currently have to display their rating at their premises but are encouraged to do so. A change in the law will be needed if mandatory display of a food hygiene rating is pursued – the Food Standards Agency have said that they want to bring the situation in England in line with Wales and Northern Ireland. Laura Shirley, food safety specialist in the specialist hospitality industry law firm Harrison Clark Rickerby's regulatory team, said: “Although displaying the rating isn’t yet compulsory in England, proposals to make this mandatory make complete sense  – consumers are entitled to know whether a business has good food hygiene standards and make informed choices about where to buy or eat food. The scheme gives business a rating from 5 to 0.  Five is top of the scale and means that the hygiene standards are very good and fully comply with the law. Zero is at the bottom of the scale and means that urgent improvement is necessary. If a business owner isn’t happy with their rating, they can challenge it, including requesting a re-inspection to demonstrate how standards have improved.”

Last Monday was a significant anniversary in the evolution of the web. It was 25 years to the day since the first serious blog appeared. It was called Scripting News and the url was (and remains) at scripting.com. Its author is a software wizard named Dave Winer, who has updated it every day since 1994. Despite its wide readership, it has never run adverts. This makes my thirteen years and three months since I launched the Maggot Sandwich look pretty tame - and I only update the Blog every week, not daily like Dave. his daily blog at scripting.com continues to be a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection between technology and politics. Winer has a quirky, perceptive, liberal and sometimes contrarian take on just about anything that appears on his radar. He is the nearest thing the web has to an international figurehead. He is also a reminder of the importance of blogging, a phenomenon that has been overshadowed as social media exploded and sucked much of the content out of the information environment. The furore over social media and its impact on democracy has obscured the fact that the blogosphere not only continues to exist, but also to fulfil many of the functions of a functioning public sphere. It is massive. One source, for example, estimates that more than 409 million people view more than 20 billion blog pages each month and that users post 70million  new posts and 77 million new comments each month. Another source claims that of the 1.7 billion websites in the world, about 500 million are blogs. I obviously have a lot of competition!

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "My neighbour knocked on my door last night at 22:30 Tuesday 8/10/19 to say that his CCTV doorbell had detected a man walking up our shared drive and was sat crouching behind his dustbins near his back gate. We both approached the man, who on seeing us, stood up, did not give any reason for him being there and walked off down the road. He appeared to duck into another drive about 8 houses down Merewood Road". Photo of the suspect is above - click on the image for a larger version. "It's been another very good week on Barnehurst ward with only one crime of relevance to report. This was a theft from motor vehicle which happened overnight of Saturday 5th October in Grasmere Road when the victim woke to find both wing mirrors off his vehicle removed. Despite the encouraging lack of crime on the ward (especially burglaries), residents are reminded to remain vigilant particularly with Halloween and Christmas approaching. On that note we are pleased to announce that smart water has been rolled out in Westfield Road with only a handful of properties still to take it up. We are hoping to roll out the next batch to Eastleigh Road in the near future. Our next community contact session is coffee with cops at Barnehurst Golf Course on Wednesday 23rd October at 11am. On Monday 14th October at midday the team will be in Grasmere Road to answer any questions you may have or just to say hi". Belvedere ward:- "PC Holmes and PC Austin (from Thamesmead Moorings SNT), whilst patrolling Picardy Street last week stopped a male who was using cannabis in Mary Slessor House. He was issued a warning, and subsequent checks on the male showed that he was wanted for a domestic incident. He was then arrested and removed from the area. There was a burglary in Upper Abbey Road recently in which a handbag was taken from the property. During the same offence, a vehicle was pushed from the driveway of the property by two white males. A burglary also occurred in Elstree Gardens, in which a handbag was taken. There were also reports to the team in the last week of a male who had been seen in Barnfield Road in the early hours of the morning. He was thought to be attempting to gain entry to several properties by trying door handles of neighbouring houses. After being unsuccessful, he was then observed leaving the street in a blue car – possibly a Ford Focus. The team held a ward panel meeting last week, and can now advise that our priorities for the months ahead are vehicle crime, burglary and school parking/ traffic". Bexleyheath ward. From Neighbourhood Watch Member - Coordinator for Rochester Drive:- "We have had reports of drug dealing both ends of Rochester Drive, can I please ask residents that if they see this taking place that they try and take down car registration numbers and give dates/times and description of both vehicles and persons so that the Police can act. Many Thanks". Report from PCSO Nicola Barnes:- "On 2/10/19 overnight a vehicle was taken from a driveway in Iris Avenue – no keys taken 3/10/19 between 1300 - 1345 Theft of a purse from a bag being hung over a child's buggy Bexleyheath Broadway 2/10/19 Catalytic Converter stolen overnight from Marriott Car Park 4/10/19  x2 taken on this evening. 4/10/19 Broom Mead car being sold privately and persons deceiving seller 6/10/19 Theft of Mobile Phone from bag whilst in Arcadia Night Club 7/10/19 Theft from Motor vehicle outside a house Wenvoe Road overnight Please be aware when dealing with other members of the public selling items take precautions wherever possible. Make sure that when shopping you know exactly where your purse/phone. Ensure you plan your routes to and from where you are going as the nights are getting darker to prevent you being vulnerable. Please contact the team if there is anything you wish for us to be aware of in your area". Crayford ward:- "I'm really sorry to say that there has been a residential burglary in Crayford Way. It occurred between 14.00 on Monday 7th October and 23.00 on Tuesday 8th October. Traditional Asian jewellery and rings, a china money box and cash were stolen. Entry was made by removing a fence panel to the garden and damaging the rear door to gain entry. Number plates WM65PXW were stolen from a vehicles parked in Iron Mill Lane between 18.00 on Friday 20th September and 09.00 on Wednesday 2nd October, they should be on a pink Fiat 500.  Two garages were broken in to in Glebelands, the first one occurred between 09.00 on Monday 30th September and 09.00 on Wednesday 3rd October, a cement mixer and industrial concrete drill were stolen, the bulk of the items suggest there are two suspects, they removed a padlock to gain entry. The other occurred between Sunday 8th September and Thursday 3rd October, the lock was broken and entry gained but nothing appears to have been stolen. A bicycle was stolen from outside Crayford BR station on Friday 4th October between 07.30 -18.25, the lock was left intact. A public order offence occurred at Elwick Court on 4th October, as a result we will be attending the venue to speak with residents about hate crime.  Catalytic converters were stolen from a silver Honda Accord and Toyota Auris Hybrid, both parked in Hall Place Crescent on Monday 7th October. An Apple i-Phone XR was stolen from Haberdasher Askes Academy on Sunday 6th October during a church event held there. The phone had a full battery but would now appear to have been turned off. We held our ward panel meeting at Vintage Lindy Lou's at Waterside on Tuesday 8th October. The Crayford team priority will be Anti-Social Behaviour around Crayford Way, Waterside and Princess Parade as there has been a visible increase in issues at this location recently. We do not have a community contact session booked for the week ahead". Erith ward:- "Crimes of note for the week. One newish scam, a male knocked on an elderly residents door and stated a Frisbee had gone in their garden and asked to collect it, when he was leaving did he took a handbag. Theft from Motor Vehicle Thursday 3/10/2019 Callender Road,  Theft from Motor Vehicle on Wednesday 2/10/2019 Sandcliffe Road, Burg Res Friday 4/10/2019 12:00:00 Holmhurst Road - Suspect has knocked on victim door asking to look for a Frisbee in the garden. On way back through has taken her handbag from her bedroom. Theft from Motor Vehicle on Saturday 5/10/2019 Valley Road, Theft from Motor Vehicle on Thursday 3/10/2019 Bexley Road, Burglary Residential Monday 7/10/2019 Riverdale Road - Bathroom window opened. 2 watches with a value of £70 and £60-70 in cash stolen. Shoplift <£200 Wednesday 9/10/2019 Holland and Barrett, Erith High Street". Northumberland Heath ward:- "On Friday 4/10 between 5pm and Midnight there was a burglary in Avenue Road. Cash, jewellery and expensive ornaments were taken. Entry was gained by forcing a panel in the back door. On Saturday 5/10 around 4am in Brook Street a resident disturbed what was believed to be a suspect using a crowbar trying to gain entry to their house. A vehicle seen driving off was seen by the victim and VRM enquiries are being made. Between 6am and 7am on Wednesday 2/10/2019 two males were seen on a bell camera looking through several letterboxes in Langdale Crescent. The footage was shared on Facebook, and the suspects were identified and arrested. Overnight on Sunday 6/10 and Monday 7/10 a vehicle was broken into in Avenue Road. A bag containing college books was taken. Our next CCS is on Thursday 17/10 from 10am in the library".

Slade Green and Northend ward. Image above: PCSO Mark Piggott attended St Augustines Church to attend Rev. Jim Bennett's Priest in Charge Ceremony. "At some time during Sunday 6/10 and Monday 7/10 an empty property in Beacon Road was broken in to via the back door. Nothing was taken and the property has now been secured. Between 1230 and 1330 on Tuesday 08/10 a catalytic converter was stolen from a vehicle in Crescent Road. A male was seen loitering nearby at the time but there are no further leads at this time. PC James has carried out 4 Stop and Searches on the ward in the past week with one male found in possession of cannabis at Sun Court. He is due back for interview in the next week or so. ---- PCSO Mark attended Erith Town FC on Saturday with Erith SNT at Erith leisure centre and will be looking at ways to promote the local area team in future. PCSO Mark has also attended Peareswood Primary school this week (Weds) where he popped in to each class to say hi and was foiled in his attempt at trying to get a free lunch from the canteen! On Sunday 6/10 PCSO Mark attended St Augustines Church to attend Rev. Jim Bennett's “Priest in Charge Ceremony” whereby Jim became the fully sworn in Vicar of the church (image above). A full house saw the ceremony including the Mayor and David Evenett MP. Jim is a very popular part of the community and we wish him well in his now full time role. Our next Community Contact Session is from 12pm on Tuesday 22/10/2019 at the Welcome Café in St Augustines Church". Thamesmead East ward:- "No Burglaries this week. Whernside Close Friday 4/10/19 between 7pm - Sat 15.20pm Number plates stolen by suspect/s unknown. Redbourne Drive Saturday 5/10/19 between 5pm – Sun 1030am Registration Pates removed by suspect/s unknown. Lensbury Way Sunday 6/10/19 8am – 9:40am Victims car broken into damage caused to passenger window. Wallet stolen containing Driving licence and Oyster card. Wolvercote Road Sunday 6/10/19 between 9pm – 6:15am victim reports driver window smashed and interior gone through. £60 cash stolen. Thamesbank Place Monday 7/10/19 12noon – 3pm vehicle broken into wallet stolen. Good News - Allegation of Actual Bodily Harm, Investigation by PC Nana resulted in two males being identified and subsequently interviewed. Both admitted being involved in the assault, Community Resolution issued, victim updated". West Heath ward:- "We have had one burglary in Chessington Avenue this week. This took place Between 11pm on Tuesday October 1st and 7am on Wednesday October 2nd. Unfortunately, two sets of keys and two vehicles were stolen from the property. One attempted burglary in Winchelsea Avenue on Wednesday October 2nd at 6.45am. The suspects forced the front door but were disturbed by the occupants before making off. Thankfully entry was not gained. One attempted theft from motor vehicle in First Avenue between 8am Saturday October 5th and 08.50am on Sunday October 6th.The driver's window was smashed but nothing was taken. Apple air pods and a PlayStation 3 were stolen from a vehicle in Lodge Hill 0n Wednesday October 2nd between 6.45am – 11.30am. Unfortunately the victim had left the vehicle unlocked. Please take a moment to check that your vehicle is locked when you leave it and nothing is left on display to potential thieves. Theft of a blue Jaguar from Gipsy Road between Monday September 30th 08.30am and Tuesday October 1st when the victim discovered it missing at 6am".

The end video this week is a short piece showing the Grade 1 listed pumping station at Crossness sewage works from a YouTuber who visits interesting and historic sites around the UK. Do give it a watch and let me know what you think. Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Goodbye Sky.

Now that we are heading into Spring, the use of Erith Pier will increase, as the anglers, ship spotters, parents with buggy - bound children and all of the other patrons of the unique structure come out to enjoy it. I feel that only in the last couple of years has any real appreciation of the longest pier on the River Thames really come to the fore - and with the inaugural pier festival last year hopefully going to become a regular event in the social calendar of the town. 

Some bad news; it would seem that my announcement of the forthcoming improvements to the accessibility of Erith Station were somewhat premature, despite having information provided by two previously reliable sources. Only a few minutes after I published last week's update, I was contacted by local MP Teresa Pearce with a list of the stations that had been confirmed as being ones who would be getting improvements. Much to my shock and disappointment, Erith Station was missing from the list. I hope to have more detailed information on the subject soon, but at the time of writing it unfortunately looks like once again Erith Station is being overlooked for a much needed lift. One reader with an interest in this issue has advised me of the following:- "Did you know that if any disabled person has not got a Disabled Access Station they can phone South Eastern Railways Head Office and asked to be put through to Disabled Travel Section and request Taxi Transport to take them to the nearest Access Station. I did use this service when living in Erith a few times. The taxi cab does not cost them anything, that is paid for by South Eastern Railway. When phoning South Eastern Railways they must make sure that they ask for a “Wheelchair Friendly Taxi If they use a wheelchair”. That is very important, otherwise they could just send a standard size taxi. Even though Taxis are supposed to be Access Friendly now". More railway news to come.

Last week you may recall that I published a story about the Erith Fun Day 2019 had been cancelled. I appealed for background information about the cancellation, and the organisers named Tracy has been in contact with me. She writes:- "I just wanted to let you know why there will be no Erith Fun Day in 2019.  We (a group of local people along with members of Erith Rotary) have worked tirelessly for the last 6 years organising this event for the community of Erith. It takes up many hours of work each week all year round to organise the event and in the last few months leading up to the event, it takes up even more time, virtually taking over our lives.  A couple of people from the committee stepped down after the 2018 event, others have increased family commitments (including myself) and those of us left on the committee have struggled to recruit new committee members able to commit to the time and effort needed to stage the ever growing event. It was therefore with regret we decided we couldn’t organise something for 2019. We hope to maybe try and bring the event back in 2020, but this will depend on being able to recruit people onto the organising committee who have the time, energy and commitment needed to assist us in putting on a great event for the local community". 

One of the most popular end videos I have featured recently was that of YouTube star Geoff Marshall exploring the unique pedestrian crossing at Angerstein Wharf in Charlton. The video got more feedback from readers than any other for the last couple of months. Thanks to "From The Murky Depths" blog, and a couple of readers who also brought the story to my attention, plans by Network Rail to close the foot crossing are shortly to be implemented. When questioned about the very short notice, and the disruption to many Charlton residents, who use the route to travel to Westcombe Park Station, a spokesperson from Network Rail wrote:- "Thank you for contacting us with regards to the footpath over the Angerstein railway. In order to make the infrastructure safer, the track and signalling in this area must be reconfigured to enable safer operations and stop the risk of derailments. The reconfiguration will mean that freight trains exiting Angerstein Wharf are more likely to sit on the crossing while waiting to exit the Wharf onto the mainline. This will increase the risk of the public coming into contact with moving freight trains and the only way to mitigate against this is to permanently close this crossing. I am also able to inform you that there are no rights of way across this footpath crossing. We are unable to build a tunnel under the railway, however there are alternative ways around the railway which are of a short distance. The safety of the public and our passengers is of the utmost priority and importance". I gather that the real reason is that on the one or at most two times per day that a train makes the journey from the Angerstein Wharf to the North Kent line junction, a safety supervisor has to be present by the pedestrian crossing. Network Rail don't want that inconvenience and expense, and so are closing the crossing as a result. If you were not aware, The freight trains one sees on a fairly regular basis travelling on the North Kent line almost exclusively transport sand and gravel to various sites in the region. They load up at Angerstein Wharf, which is located on the banks of the River Thames between Charlton and Greenwich. There is a branch line which connects to the main line just outside of Charlton Station on the London bound side. This branch line is believed to be the oldest privately owned standard gauge siding in the world. Angerstein Wharf was built and opened by Russian born Charlton landowner John Angerstein in 1852 in order to get rail access to the to Angerstein Wharf on the River Thames; it also ran deep into the old East Greenwich gas works. Nowadays it is purely used for freight. Many of the ballast and gravel trains one sees passing along the North Kent line divert onto the Angerstein Wharf branch line. Gravel and sand that has been dredged from the sea is collected by the freight trains for use in the construction industry. No passenger trains run on the branch line; it is exclusively used by freight trains.

Now for part one of a three part special feature by a guest writer to the Maggot Sandwich. Parts two and three will be published next week, and the week after:- "Southeastern: The franchise that didn’t die, the pensions scandal, the private companies vying for a contract and the sorry state of the railway. Firstly, might I introduce myself. I am former Train Driver and Commercial Manager of a few railway companies Nicholas Hair. Following a 5-year career in ‘the trains’, I set up and own the Kentish Belle Micro Pub in Bexleyheath. The reason? Well, the railway is very rapidly going downhill as a result of mismanagement, wastage, Government interference, a loss of knowledge and, most importantly, a complete lack of care for the infrastructure and services by various bodies. I count Hugh Neal as a friend of mine and, following months of interaction since the Kentish Belle’s opening, I have continued to speak to dozens of industry and political contacts and have formed the Lewisham and Bexleyheath Community Rail Partnership to begin to address these concerns. I could never have hoped to form or even participate in a group such as this due to a perceived conflict of interest from companies I have worked for; so to be able to not only have a thorough technical understanding of legal and operational matters (from the movement of sets of points, to the numbers of trains and coaches, through to the stations and whether they get staff or not) without fear of reprisal is a great opportunity for the local area and the line’s passenger base. So, what’s the news? This week, Andrew Jones (Minister of State for Rail) announced that the South Eastern franchise (in the olden days the Integrated Kent franchise) was not going to be awarded. The proposed date for launch in June would have been almost impossible as we were within 7-8 weeks of it starting yet needing around 16-17 weeks to fully mobilise a private franchisee; and therefore a Commons Written Answer to our new friend Teresa Pearce (MP, Erith and Thamesmead) in early April in which it was stated that bids were still being assessed we deem to have been nothing short of an outright lie to all of the MPs of the House of Commons. Whilst Ms Pearce could not make such a ferocious comment for fear of suspension, we are willing to say that given the full facts of the situation it is obvious that Andrew Jones and Chris Grayling must have known many weeks ago that the South Eastern franchise would be extended further and continue to be under another ‘Direct Award’ to Govia (a consortium of Go Ahead and Keolis). A brief run-down of rail franchising, perhaps? A franchise is let from a set start date to a set end date. It is usually about 7 years long and, based on key performance indicators (KPIs), it can be extended under a ‘direct award’ to the private company holding the franchise (it’s almost like being allowed to stay out later playing with your friends for being good and doing as you’re told; whereas giving your mother attitude will get your privileges cut short and you’ll be brought back inside to tidy your room and have to watch everyone else play outside for another hour!). Southeastern was first extended in 2014 to June 2018 (an almost unprecedented franchise extension in respect of length) to cover the London Bridge rebuilding programme, and thence again to December 2018 and then again until June 2019. At this point, we should finally have received a new full franchise, but the Department for Transport has decided to extend until October 2019 with an optional extension again until April 2020. There is a review being undertaken at the moment by former John Lewis Chairman Keith Williams which aims to find all of the ‘fatal flaws’ of the current privatised railway network and identifying how to fix it such that future franchises don’t end in failure or, at least, actually deliver for the customer. It is felt that Govia’s continued extension would be due to awaiting the outcome of the Williams Review but the East Midlands contract was let this week to Abellio and thus we must assume that the Government does not value the outcome of the Williams Review all that much! And therefore we move onto the ‘what on earth next?!’ part of the presentation. Well, Hugh’s previous blogs alluded to several service improvements that were due in May 2022 as part of a mass overhaul of the South Eastern timetable. It was widely-anticipated that new direct peak-time services would operate from Maidstone West to Cannon Street or Charing Cross via Gravesend, Dartford, Abbey Wood and Woolwich Arsenal to create connections with Crossrail; that early morning services would exist from stations such as Bexleyheath to Abbey Wood on the ‘Loop’ service so people could get to Abbey Wood quickly for Crossrail and that Victoria trains would go via Sidcup instead of Bexleyheath to stop trains ‘cutting each other up’ on the unreliable flat diamond junction at Lewisham which was felt would make things more reliable. Whilst we have reasonable confidence that these services will start and run May 2022, it is trains that are now felt to be the problem". Part two of this article will be featured in the next edition. 

Historically, Erith has made quite a large contribution to the world of sport. Did you know that Erith was once one of the centres of English cricketing excellence? What is now The Europa Industrial Estate was once a cricket pitch and recreation ground? On Saturday 20th September 1884 a local team of sixteen played an eleven raised By a Mr. H.H Hyslop - a local businessman, from the Australian touring side of that year. Hyslop's Australian team won. A similar match took place between another scratch Australian team again put together by Mr. Hyslop on the 3rd May 1890. The Erith local team was composed of eighteen local men, pitted against a visitors team which included nine members of the Australian test side. This match resulted in a draw. Hopes for a rematch were dashed when the cricket ground was sold and a heavy engineering factory built on the site. Nevertheless, local historians refer to the matches as "when Erith took on the Australians". As many of you know, I am not a sports fan, but it is fascinating to discover, as I have done during my research for this week's entry, that Erith and the surrounding have been pivotal in the development of several now major sports. Football had much of its' origins in Erith in the early 1880's. Prior to 1885-1886, only Rugby Union was played in Erith - there were three clubs in the area; Star Rovers RFC played on Lessness Heath, near the Eardley Arms pub. Erith Raven RFC played on the recreation ground adjacent to the aforementioned cricket ground, and lastly, Erith Anglo - Normans RFC played on Faulkner's Meadow. This club had to be disbanded when the meadow was purchased, and the Nordenfeldt gun works was built on the site; no suitable alternative playing ground could be found for the club and it was wound up. In April 1885 Association Football was introduced to Erith by a gentleman called Bernard Beard, who came to Easton and Anderson's engineering works as manager of the boiler shop. A club was formed, called Erith F.C which played on an area then called Hartley's Meadow - which was located on the banks of the River Thames, just of what is now Lower Road. As a result of a personal dispute between club members, a rival club was established called Erith Avenue F.C. At first, as they had no ground, they were forced to play all of their games away, but they later were successful in securing a ground in what is now Avenue Road. Meanwhile, Erith F.C relocated from Hartley's Meadow to Lower Belvedere. Several members of the team subsequently played for Woolwich Arsenal F.C, what was later to become the current Premier League Arsenal club. The present Erith and Belvedere football club was founded in 1922 and had its' ground adjacent to Belvedere railway station for many years, until arsonists destroyed their main clubhouse and Park View stand in 1997. The club soldiered on for two years, using portakabins on the site, until they entered into a ground sharing arrangement with Welling United in 1999, which is still in place to this day. Most recent local football club to play in the area is Erith Town FC, who are based at Erith Sports Centre.

Sarah Batten of The Exchange has published an announcement and update on activities in the former Carnegie Library and The Bookstore Cafe within it - photo above. The update reads:- "We have a number of things going on over the spring holidays at The Exchange, including Garden Games available from The Bookstore, and a trail of our new exhibition Ex Libris. Here are a few more things that might interest you: The next stage in the creation of the Kitchen Garden at The Exchange! Participants will get crafty and green-fingered painting pots and planting up the the budding seedlings (which were planted at a previous workshop). Once grown these plants will be planted in our kitchen garden and all participants will be invited back later in the year for a feast made from the produce! There will also be mini-eggs to take away for all those who get involved. Throughout the Spring Holidays, young visitors to The Exchange will be able to borrow art materials - paper, clipboards, easels, paints and pencils - from The Bookstore Cafe, to create artworks for exhibition in our pop-up Young Person’s Gallery. Young People can enter their artworks into a competition where there are 3 categories:- Using The Old Library as inspiration - What I think should happen in the Old Library in the future? - Freestyle - drawing whatever I want! These entries will be judged by a group of local artists, and the winners of each category will win a set of art materials. Details of the judging to be announced very soon". Following this, you may be interested to learn that I will be conducting guided tours of the former Carnegie Library, starting next Saturday afternoon at 3pm. Visitors will be shown around the building, including areas not normally open to the public. You can learn about the historic building, and also of the future plans for the amazing space. Please note that some parts of the library are still a building site, so stout shoes are recommended. If you would like to join a tour, then please click here to book a place. The tours are free, but in order to manage numbers, we need you to book in advance. Please don't Email me personally about booking a place, but use the link above - many thanks, and I look forward to seeing you on a tour soon.

Early last week the BBC News website published a story about an experimental TV built by Sony that is designed to showcase cutting edge technology. The 63ft by 17ft (19.2m by 5.4m) screen is currently being installed at a new research centre that has been built for the Japanese cosmetics group Shiseido in the city of Yokohama, south of Tokyo. It is so large it will stretch between the first and second floors. The 16K display, contains 16 times as many pixels as a 4K television and 64 times as many as a regular 1080p high definition TV, meaning it can show images in far more detail than normal. this kind of technology is unlikely to emerge into public use for many years, if ever, as the resolution is actually far higher than the human eye can detect. nevertheless it gives an idea where one of the major high technology players is heading, and other large TV manufacturers such as Samsung and LG will no doubt be undertaking similar ventures. In practical terms, in a normal or even large lounge or dedicated home cinema room, the size of screen able to be accommodated and the viewing ranges involved mean that a screen of more than 8K resolution would be a waste of time, as people simply would not be able to detect the higher resolution. Having said that, I can recall when many pundits said that PC's would not need any more than 640K of RAM - and we all know how that panned out. In all this cutting edge technological development, let us not forget that not every new discovery gets accepted by the public, or ends up making the manufacturers pots of cash. A prime example of this is 3D television, which has turned out to be a massive white elephant. Initially 3D TV's were seen as being the future of home entertainment - at least by the vendors. In reality,  as early as 2013, 3D televisions were being seen as a fad. DirecTV had stopped broadcasting 3D programmes in 2012, while ESPN in the USA stopped in 2013. In the UK, Sky moved its content to on demand. Fewer and fewer 3D TVs were sold and soon TV manufacturers stopped making them. Vizio stopped production in 2014 and was followed by others. In January 2017, the last two major television manufacturers still producing 3D televisions, Sony and LG, announced they would stop all 3D support. Some viewers have complained of headaches, seizures and eyestrain after watching 3D films. There have been several warnings, especially for the elderly. Motion sickness, in addition to other health concerns, is more easily induced by 3D presentations. There are primarily two effects of 3D TV that are unnatural for the human vision: crosstalk between the eyes caused by imperfect image separation and the mismatch between convergence and accommodation caused by the difference between an object's perceived position in front of or behind the screen and the real origin of that light on the screen. It is believed that approximately 12 percent of people are unable to properly see 3D images, owing to a variety of medical conditions. According to another experiment, up to 30 percent of people have very weak stereoscopic vision preventing depth perception based on stereo disparity. This nullifies or greatly decreases immersion effects of digital stereo to them. 

In a second television based post; I want to share something with you which reflects my own personal experience, but not something that I am inclined to encourage others to do. As regular readers will be aware, I have been of the opinion for quite some time that the business model used by Sky TV is unsustainable. When Sky launched their original analogue satellite based service back in February 1989, there was no broadband infrastructure in the UK (or anywhere for that matter), as the World Wide Web had yet to be invented by Tim Berners – Lee. Satellites were the only economic method of broadcasting to large areas of the planet. Now the use of satellites for broadcasting is soon to go the way of using hot air balloons for air travel – yes you can still do it, but why would you bother? Fibre optic broadband is the way forward. Mark my words, the age of Sky using hugely expensive satellites to broadcast will soon be at an end; they will either change their operating model and switch to online, or they will slowly die. To this end, after being a Sky TV customer for 23 years (I was originally an Analogue subscriber, and an early adopter of Sky Digital, and subsequently the HD service), last week I cancelled my subscription. Sky have been endlessly bombarded me with promotional material encouraging me to upgrade to Sky Q 4K UHD, but I have neither the desire to spend money on a 4K television to watch a handful of channels that are actually in 4K. The ultra high definition offering is primarily aimed at those watching the sports channels, which are of no interest to me. I also have recently got increasingly ticked off with the fact that even though you are paying a substantial monthly subscription for Sky, they still show commercials. In essence you are paying to watch advertising. After around a year of prevaricating, I have now bitten the bullet and cancelled my Sky contract. I have Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Freeview and BBC iPlayer, so I am hardly going to be short of entertainment. What do you think? Are you a fan of Sky, or do you too feel that the costs have now so far exceeded the benefit? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly the report from Barnehurst ward:- "Barnehurst ward has yet another week with no residential burglaries to report however there has been an Incident in Eversley Avenue overnight on Monday 08/04/2019 whereby a garden shed was broken into and tools stolen from within. Vehicle crime on Barnehurst continues to be a concern following a further three Incidents over the past week. On Friday 05/04/2019 between 06.45pm – 11.15pm in Selkirk Drive both number plates were stolen from a vehicle. In Parkside Avenue on Monday 08/04/2019 overnight a spare tyre was stolen from a brand new Ford Transit van. Tool marks were seen on the van where it is believed the suspect went under the van to remove the tyre cutting the cables that held the tyre in place. Most recently on Tuesday 09/04/2019 overnight in Hillingdon Road a vehicle was entered and a Superdry jacket stolen. There was no damage found on the vehicle. We are asking residents to remove items from vehicles and once you have locked your vehicle please take a second to double check that the vehicle locked. There are opportunists out there that will stroll around and try door handles. On a good note Barnehurst Officers stopped a vehicle in Stephens Road and following checks it was established this vehicle was being driven with no Insurance held and the driver had also been disqualified from driving. The vehicle was subsequently seized. Our next Community Contact Session is on Tuesday 16th April 2019 at 04.00pm at Barnehurst Golf Club. Please come along and join us for a chat". Belvedere ward:- "PC Holmes and PC Smith took part in plain clothed patrols throughout the ward last weekend after reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Nuxley Road/ Lower Road and drug use/ dealing in and around Picardy Street. During this, five stop and searches took place in relation to drug possession (cannabis). A community resolution was completed (this is a first instance warning to the person to cease their behaviour which will result in harsher penalisation should they come to notice for similar offences in the future). We recently received several different reports of a large group of youths causing ASB in Nuxley Road, Lower Road, Coleman Road and Essenden Road. Members of this group were committing various offences. PCSO Worrall and PC Holmes were able to view CCTV from these locations and ascertained that the same group were causing issues across the ward. We were able to identify six youths from the group and over last weekend visited each of the youths at their homes, where they were spoken to in the presence of their parents to make it clear that their behaviour was unacceptable. The youths were handed banning letters from both Asda (Lower Road) and Sainsburys (Nuxley Road) and have all been referred to Bexley Councils ASB team – further action is currently being considered by Bexley Council (the team will work alongside Bexley Council should further action be taken). The team were present at a vehicle collision that occurred in Heron Hill at the junction of Lessness Park shortly before 9pm on Saturday 6th April 2019. Two vehicles were involved however the driver of one of the vehicles failed to stop at the scene of this accident. If anyone was witness to this collision, or has any information in relation to this please contact the team. Our next drop in surgery is due to take place on Thursday 18th April 2019 from 11am at Belvedere Community Centre in Mitchell Close". A report from a Belvedere resident:- "At approx. 16.10 on Wednesday 10th April a group of youths aged approx. 14/15 years old in Kentish Road were picking up rocks from peoples front gardens when three more youths came running down the road after them with very long knifes shouting that they were going to ‘cut' them. The group of youths with rocks ran down Kentish Road and turned left into Abbey Crescent. The three youths with knifes ran back up Kentish towards Picardy Road. The Police arrived and were driving round looking for what we assumed were the youths. One of the knife wielding youths had a olive coloured tracksuit with what we would describe as a mop-top haircut - short at the sides with a ‘mop' on top while another was wearing a black top". Bexleheath ward:- "We have had no reported residential burglaries this week which is good news. There was a report of theft from motor vehicle between Wed 03/04/2019 & Thur 04/04/2019. The times were between 2200hrs and 0640hrs along Rochester Drive Bexleyheath. Laptop was stolen from the boot of the vehicle; On Sunday 07/04/2019 at 0100hrs headlights were stolen from a vehicle along Oaklands Close Bexleyheath; Monday 08/04/2019 between the hours of 1030hrs and 1815hrs – Catalytic Converter was stolen from a vehicle parked in the Marriot Hotel car park; Saturday 06/04/2019 between the hours of 2000hrs and 0800hrs Indicator lights were stolen from a vehicle along Meadow Close Bexleyheath; On Friday 05/04/2019 from about 1700hrs - Four stops inside the stairwell inside the Marriott Car Park which resulted in a community resolution and a fine (PND). Patrols have been and still will be conducted in and around the Premiere Inn car park and including the cinema car park to help tackle anti-social behaviour. The team have had reports of youths riding motorbikes at Bursted Woods. As a result the team shall be continuing to patrol this area. Along Haskenere Road Bexleyheath – There has been reports of scooters causing anti-social behaviour and drug use, area is being targeted with patrols. If you do wish to pass on information to 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 and 101 for non-urgent reporting". Crayford ward:- "Firstly, we are really pleased to be able to say there have been no burglaries on our ward this week. A padlock was stolen from a gated access to a building site at St Paulinus School overnight Sunday 7th April to Monday 8th April. Number plates were stolen from Woodside Road overnight on Saturday 6th April, number plates AV12BWZ should be on a black Vauxhall Zafira. Two company vehicles were significantly damaged between 21.00 and 22.00 on Thursday 4th April whilst parked to the rear of The Parade, Crayford Way. A male was arrested for assaulting a female member of staff at Tower Retail Park on Thursday 4th April. Between 18.00 on Saturday 23rd March and 06.50 Sunday 24th March a silver Kia had the front number plate (GU58HFW) removed whilst parked in Crayford High Street. A wallet, driving licence, cash and perfume were stolen from a black Mercedes YA17 *** whilst parked overnight at Alcock Crescent, the suspect was seen running to a white Ford Fiesta. At 1am on Monday 8th April a resident in Barnes Cray Road was woken up and realised that their Blue Yamaha XJ6, registration EA60 SOH was being stolen and loaded in to a van. Unable to get any description of the thief or vehicle. There have been a series of thefts of commercial high value recycling bins in Crayford. An eagle-eyed security guard recognised the van involved and called police and a male has now been arrested for these offences". Erith ward:- "Another week in Erith with zero burglaries. We have been talking to shop keepers and asking them to fill out ASB questionnaires so we can get an over view of any issues they may be having. Helped out with a warrant on Northend ward, arranging ward panel dates. If you would like to attend the Erith Ward panel we are looking for new members at the moment please email the Erith team for more information. Crimes of the week of note: Theft of MV Tuesday 02/04/2019, Pier Road; Theft from MV Saturday 06/04/2019, Bramble Croft; Shoplift <£200 Sunday 07/04/2019 supersaver, West Street; Shoplift <£200 Monday 08/04/2019 16:20:00 Screwfix, Fraser Road'. Northumberland Heath ward:- "We have very little to report this week. A couple of motor vehicle crimes reported to us over the last week. Between Friday evening of April 5th and Saturday afternoon of April 6th a number plate was stolen from a motorbike parked in Valence Road. The owner discovered that the chain and lock had been tampered with in an attempt to steal the bike. A Mercedes car was stolen near Carlton Road at 7.40pm on Sunday April 7th. The victim was in the process of selling the vehicle and took a prospective buyer out for a test drive ,along with another male who was with him, with as the victim got out of the vehicle, one of the males drove off in the car towards Bexleyheath. The first male was described as white, approximately twenty years old chubby build wearing jeans and a blue top. The second male was described as white, approximately thirty years old and slim. Another week with no reported burglaries".

The photo above shows a (possibly stolen) Honda scooter found hidden amongst the glass recycling bins in the Council recycling centre behind Erith Morrisons in James Watt Way on Friday evening. Both Erith and Slade Green and Northend Safer Neighbourhood Teams have been informed.

Slade Green and Northend ward:- "On Saturday 06/04/2019 the team (along with help from Erith and North Heath SNT) executed a drugs warrant on the Frobisher Road estate. Unfortunately the suspect we believed to be involved in drug dealing was not present at the time. A thorough search was completed but this time sadly we left empty handed. On Sunday 07/04/2019 between 3pm and 5pm an attempted burglary was reported in Frobisher Road. Entry wasn't gained. Reassurance visits have been carried out to the victims. A possible suspect has been linked to male who has been seen entering Bushey Court sheltered scheme late at night several times in recent weeks. Enquiries are ongoing to try and establish a positive ID. It seems that Catalytic converters being stolen is becoming a growing trend. 2 have been reported in the last few weeks on our ward (Frobisher Road, Howbury Lane) and there have been others reported in neighbouring wards. Although this is a hard one to prevent, if you do become a victim, please ensure it is reported via 101 or online so we can see where patrols may be needed. Our next CCS is on Thursday 18/04/2019 from 3.30pm in Slade Green Library". Thamesmead East ward:- "Motor Vehicle crimes - Between Sunday 5:00pm on Sunday 31/03/19 and Monday 5:30am on Monday 01/04/19 a vehicle parked in Overton Road had a window smashed and money taken .On Tuesday 02/04/19 between the hours of 7:00am and 8:00pm a vehicle parked outside of Dutton House, Southmere Drive had the passenger side wing mirror damaged .Between the hours of 10:00pm on Friday and 5:10am a vehicle parked in Northwood Place had both wing mirrors smashed. Overnight between the hours of 4:00pm of Sunday 07/04/19 and 11:10 am on Monday 08/04/19 a vehicle parked in Holstein Way had the front passenger window smashed, nothing taken. Damage to Property - On Thursday 04/04/19 between the hours of 8:30pm and 8:40pm a property in Overton Road, had a ground floor front window smashed, unknown person/s seen". West Heath ward:- "This week on West Heath Ward some scrap metal was stolen from a shed in Sidmouth Rd on Wednesday 3/4/19 at 4.30pm and there was an attempted burglary in Berkeley Rd where a male was seen on a video doorbell trying cars and front doors at 2.25am on Saturday 6/4/19 (see photo in Borough-wide news above). There was a burglary in Cranbrook Rd on the Monday 8/4/19 between 5.20pm and 9.40pm. Entry was gained by smashing the rear patio doors where an untidy search was carried out and cash and jewellery taken. We have also had an attempted theft of a motorbike in New Rd on the Saturday 6/4/19 at just after midnight, several male were seen trying to cut the security chain. The rear window of a car was smashed in Lenham Rd overnight Tues 3 - Wed 4th April and a male was seen on camera stealing change from an unlocked vehicle in Woolwich Rd in the early hours of Tuesday 9/4/19. Next week's street briefing is in Exmouth Road at 7pm on Saturday 20/4/19".

Singer / songwriter Si Cranstoun has been in the press quite a lot lately; he is shortly to go on tour, and his records have been getting a lot of radio airplay. Industry pundits seem pretty unanimous that he is going to be a major, mainstream star. What is less known is that he and his brother used to busk in Bexleyheath Broadway as "The Dualers". Below is a video from Christmas 2011 which shows Si Cranstoun performing to passing shoppers in Bexleyheath. Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

A 113th birthday.

Some great news to report this week; after a decade of what appeared to be fruitless campaigning, led by local MP Teresa Pearce, it has been announced in the last week that Erith Station is finally very likely to get step free access to the London bound platform, and other accessibility aids for the disabled and those with a child's buggy. The Department of Transport has announced a package worth around £300 million to upgrade a total of 73 stations around the UK in order to meet the requirements of the Government sponsored inclusive transport strategy. In an interview published in the News Shopper and also elsewhere, Transport Accessibility Minister Nusrat Ghani said:- "Transport is vital for connecting people with work, friends and family, but also to enable them to enjoy visiting some of the wonderful cultural, historical and natural sites across the UK. We want the 13.9 million disabled people in Britain to be empowered to travel independently, which is why I am delighted to announce this roll-out of upgrades across the rail network. Over the next five years these newly accessible stations will open up routes across the country, helping us move closer to a transport sector that is truly accessible." As long time readers will be aware, I have been banging on about the need for step - free access to all of Erith Station for many years. Erith is one of the stations that has been nominated for accessibility improvements, and just for once I think it is actually going to happen. If you have any information other than that which has already been published in the press, please let me know; Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

On a far less welcome note, last Wednesday the Commons Select Committee on Crossrail published a damning report on the state of The Crossrail Project, and the way in which the Government must explain exactly who is responsible for the huge time and cost overruns to the project. The Commons Select Committee chair has been quoted as saying of the project:- “Passengers were led to believe they would be able use new Crossrail services through central London from the end of last year. Instead, they have been badly let down by significant delays and cost overruns. It is clear that the delivery deadline of December 2018 had been unrealistic for some time. But the Department for Transport, Transport for London and Crossrail Limited continued to put a positive face on the programme long after mounting evidence should have prompted changes. Wishful thinking is no basis for spending public money and there remain serious risks to delivering this programme, with a revised schedule and costings for completing the work still to be agreed. Some £2.8 billion of extra funding has been provided for Crossrail but even that may not be enough. It is unacceptable that Parliament and the public still do not know the root causes of the failures that beset this project. Nor will we accept the Department and Crossrail Limited’s description of these serious problems as ‘systems failures’. Accountability in the use of public money is of fundamental importance. The Department should write to us urgently to explain what it, Transport for London and Crossrail Limited are responsible and accountable for on this programme, and set out clearly what consequences there have been for well-rewarded officials whose costly failures are paid for by taxpayers.” Quite. The whole project has been a series of unmitigated disasters. 

The Maggot Sandwich has now been online since July 2006; I have published the Blog every Sunday for nearly the last thirteen years without a single miss in all of that time. If you click on the drop down menu produced by the “Blog Archive” button to the lower right of this text, you will see a whole list of previous postings. There are a total of 660 individual blog updates; an average of one per week. I have been going through some of these old articles and have noticed that there are some missing images and broken links. Bearing in mind the age of the articles in question, it is not surprising there is a degree of “link rot”. Images I have embedded from links to other web sites, and links to articles posted online are now sometimes broken, or actually lead somewhere completely different to what I intended. The Blogger platform is not really equipped to monitor and prevent link rot, unlike Word Press, which is designed to always use canonical URL’s. Apologies if you surf around the history of the Maggot Sandwich and discover a faulty posting. To be honest it is now such a huge body of text that it has become practically unfeasible for me to police the content and stop things breaking. This is also one of the reasons that I have not updated the theme I use. If I update the theme, I will find every image on the website shifting to the left of centre. The reason for this is that the theme has a bug; when you embed an image, it appears to the right of centre by a few pixels. I have for ages manually edited the HTML script underlying the page to hack the image back to the centre – I have been doing this for so long that I now barely think about it. Any changes to the theme will correct the bug, and I will have nearly three thousand photos all appearing out of place. In theory I could edit the text an HTML editor, using a search and replace script, but I am certain I would end up breaking things – my HTML skills are pretty limited – I know just enough to get myself into trouble, and not enough to get out of it.

I quite often pass by the piece of overgrown wasteland behind the London South East College -  Bexley in Walnut Tree Road. Bexley Council undertook to clear the land once the final phase of construction of the college had been completed. This has still yet to happen, and the area is absolutely teeming with rats. They often come out of the undergrowth and run along the path to the underpass, and they seem unafraid of people. I realise that destroying their habitat next to the college will only move the vermin elsewhere, but if they are not dealt with, I could see a situation with the college getting rat infested, which would be awful. I was reading an article on the BBC News website some time ago, which got me thinking. People in Cambodia and Vietnam regularly catch rats to be eaten – indeed there is a thriving cottage industry to supply the demand for rat meat.  Bearing in mind the profusion of rats locally, could an ecologically sound solution to the problem be to trap and kill the rats and then sell the meat on to the various fast food places in the area? It is most definitely organic and free range, after all? People already eat Grey Squirrel, which is also defined as vermin, yet they are treated as a minor delicacy, and are available to order in a number of posh restaurants and gastro pubs – and what is a squirrel? A rat with better P.R. I reckon that once seasoned , battered and deep fried, most people would not realise what they were eating was anything other than poultry – Kentucky Fried Rat, anyone? Rat Vindaloo? Shish Rat kebab with chilli sauce, salad and a pitta bread? The options are endless. Bearing in mind that it is said that you are said to be never more than four metres away from a rat when you are in Greater London, it does seem that we could be on the verge of both a culinary and pest control revolution. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The uppermost photo above was sent to me by a regular reader and occasional contributor. It shows the infamous camper van that until recently was parked outside of the main entrance to Erith Hospital for many weeks; I reported last week that the van had finally been moved its owner, who left a pile of human waste on the road in the process. Unfortunately the van owner and his scruffy and untaxed (and thus by definition, uninsured) camper vehicle had not moved far. The van was then parked in Castleton Avenue in Barnehurst, and as you can see from the photograph, the van emitted a river of liquid excrement that was washed down the road. The photographer, along with several other local residents brought the situation to the notice of Bexley Council's Environmental Health Department. The photographer also mentioned in his communication to me that the stink coming from both the van and the gutter was absolutely dreadful. As of Wednesday morning the camper van was gone - and Council contractors Serco had been on the scene to clear up the noxious mess the irresponsible van owner had left behind. On Friday it was reported to me by another regular reader that the van had turned up illegally parked locally for yet another time. On the latest occasion the camper van was spotted (and photographed - see the lower of the three images above - click on any for a larger version) in a car park just off Alsike Road by Argali House in South Thamesmead. I am led to understand that the car park is owned by the Peabody Housing Association. 

The Association of Bexley Charities '78 is holding a Spring Fair at the United Reformed Church, Geddes Place, Bexleyheath DA6 7DJ (near the Broadway Shopping Centre) on Saturday 13th April 2019 from 9.45 am - 1.00 pm. Local charities will be selling, amongst other things, CDs, DVDs, Jewellery, Books, Cakes, Jams, Model Railway accessories, Collectables and Children's Games. Stallholders will include Alzheimer's Society, Bexley Branch; Bexley Downs Syndrome Group; Bexley Smile; Cats Protection, Bexley & District Branch; The Children's Society; Demelza Hospice Care for Children; Irish Community Services; Motor Neurone Disease Association; Dementia Carers Group, Greenwich and Bexley,

It has come to my attention that the planned Erith Fun Day 2019 has been cancelled by the organisers. Quite exactly why this has happened is currently unclear; if a reader has some insight into the unwelcome development, please let me know at the usual address - thanks!

The photos above were taken by me last night at the 113th birthday party for the Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road, Erith. Both The Bookstore Cafe and the main hall on the ground floor were filled by visitors, and they were entertained by Don't Problem - a local jazz brass band who were absolutely excellent, very original, and also very loud! It was an amazing evening. You can see a full list of events that are to take place in the former library by clicking here. The Bookstore Cafe is open Wednesday - Friday 8am - 4.30pm; 6 - 10.30pm. Saturday 8.30am - 10.30pm. Sunday 9am - 4pm. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Many people may not realise that the cafe and bar is open in the evenings as well as in the daytime. If you fancy an evening socialising locally, I can heartily recommend the place. The Bookstore Cafe has a full drinks licence and serves a number of bottled beers from Bexley Brewery, as well as a range of wines, specialist gins and soft drinks. 

Some readers who have been following the Maggot Sandwich for a long time may recall my account of back in the mid 1980's, when I worked for Sidcup based computer retailer Silica Shop in their outlet in Lion House in Tottenham Court Road, London. I did not realise it at the time, but being involved in the then still relatively fledgeling home computer industry was to influence me to this day, but I digress. One day, I was chatting to two blokes in the Tottenham Court Road store when they invited me to come and visit them in their studio a couple of roads away; during my lunch break I visited the basement in a large and quite impressive stone building. The guys welcomed me into a darkened room filled with cigar smoke and all sorts of high end electronics that I could not identify. They then showed me a few clips – probably not more than thirty seconds of computer animated footage and asked my opinion. I was blown away – it was better than anything I had ever seen (to be truthful, at that point I don’t think I had seen much CGI – it was a very new field back then). After a few minutes chat and a horrid cup of gritty instant coffee I was shown out. I was impressed, but did not know what the footage was for. A few months later I was watching a music programme on TV (It may have been The Tube – I cannot recall) when I mentally stopped in my tracks – the CGI footage was being shown. It was the video for Dire Straits – Money for Nothing. I was gobsmacked – I had seen the making of one of the most famous music videos ever, from a band that were at the time pretty much the biggest on the planet. The video company was - and is called Framestore. They are still one of the market leaders in computer generated imagery for TV and film. The system I had seen being used to make the "Money for Nothing" video was called the Quantel Paintbox; the Quantel Paintbox and its pressure-sensitive stylus were groundbreaking pieces of technology when they were released in 1981, but they had their limitations. The huge 14-inch platter hard drive could store 160MB of data, enough for just over six seconds of video at 25 Frames Per Second. Longer pieces required playing out each frame to tape before wiping the hard drive, a risky process that resulted in staff working eight-hour shifts around the clock to minimise cockups. The Quantel Paintbox and its multi-frame follow up Harry—which could store up to 30 seconds of footage and manipulate multiple frames of animation at once—would come to dominate the TV industry throughout the 1980s and early '90s. Framestore, the company a chap called Mike McGee cofounded with Sir William Sargent in 1986, is the visual effects house behind Walking with Dinosaurs, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Gravity, to name but a few. Framestore's sizeable reputation has seen it expand to New York, Los Angeles, and Montreal, but its home in London remains surprisingly understated. In the 1990's Walking with Dinosaurs was commissioned by the BBC just three years after the 1993 release of Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking Jurassic Park, as part of an ambitious remit to raise the bar in science programming. Jurassic Park cost $63 million to make, and it featured just six minutes of CGI for its two-hour running time. The BBC needed three hours of back-to-back CGI at a fraction of the cost. After looking to the west coast of America to realise its vision, the BBC turned to Framestore and its head of computer graphics Mike Milne. Milne generated three shots showing how, with simple models and natural history filming techniques, the cost of the CGI per second could be brought down. At a total cost £6 million, Walking with Dinosaurs wasn't cheap—it remains the most expensive TV documentary ever produced at a cost of £37,654 per minute—but this was still more cost-effective than anything the US visual effects companies could offer. Following the release of Walking with Dinosaurs in 1999, the series won two BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, and a Peabody Award. It also made Framestore one of the most sought-after visual effects companies in the world. Its work on the TV adaptation of Gulliver's Travels, in which actor Ted Danson was filmed against a blue screen to create a dramatic sense of scale, netted the company a Primetime Emmy award, the first awarded to a company outside of the US. Framestore went on to win an Emmy every year for the next six years for its work on shows like The 10th Kingdom, Walking with Beasts, and The Ballad of Big Al. Numerous BAFTA awards and, finally, an Oscar for "Achievement in Visual Effects" for The Golden Compass followed. Today there are over 18 different departments in a typical visual effects studio. Concept artists and sketchers create the drawings from which 3D artists and animators create digital renderings. A physics team works entirely on simulations that try to replicate the intricate movements of cloth, water, and hair—elements that are extremely time-consuming for animators to recreate. Others work on the fire, smoke, and mists of a digital explosion. A rigging team creates the skeletons for 3D models, giving them the digital muscles they need to move realistically. At the end of it all, sat in pitch-black rooms, are the lighting and digital compositing teams, which take green screen footage of actors and layer it on top of computer-generated backdrops, while lighting artists make sure that every pixel is precisely lit to the director's specifications. When I look back at the handful of scruffy blokes chain smoking and drinking dreadful instant coffee that I encountered when I visited Framestore, I would never have guessed that they would become one of the most important and respected visual effects houses in the world. Below is a short video documentary about the Quantel Paintbox and the machines that eventually succeeded it. Do give it a watch.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Another week has passed on Barnehurst Ward with no burglaries reported. Unfortunately though we have experienced a number of Incidents where vehicles have been targeted. These incidents range from criminal damage to theft from motor vehicles. On Friday 29/03/2019 In Fairford Avenue overnight a window was found smashed and a door to the vehicle had been forced however nothing was taken. In Colyers Lane on Monday 01/04/2019 overnight personal items were stolen from a vehicle, there was no damage caused. There were two further separate Incidents In Northall Road on Monday 01/04/2019, personal items were taken from both vehicles. In Parkside Avenue oil had been thrown over a vehicle, this occurred overnight on Tuesday 02/04/2019. Most recently in Merewood Road, again overnight there was a theft from a motor vehicle with personal items taken. Can we ask Coordinators to spread the word to ensure residents are double checking their vehicles when locking them and not to be leaving valuable items in vehicles even if they are hidden and out of sight. The team have started distributing Smart Water to the residents in Beverley Road. Smart Water is a useful tool to deter burglars and reduce crime. Please join us for our next community contact session at Barnehurst Golf Course on Tuesday 09th April 2019 at 1pm where we are open to discussion and happy to offer crime prevention advice". Belvedere ward:- "There have been reports of ongoing anti - social behaviour (ASB) by a group of teenagers at Asda in Lower Belvedere. The group have been observed being verbally abusive to staff and security guards within the shop, throwing different items around inside the shop, being verbally abusive to customers and also throwing rocks at the front of the shop after being challenged by security staff. Certain members of the group have been overheard in conversation saying the one was in possession of a knife. SNT officers have since visited the store in order to view CCTV images in an attempt to identify those responsible. Over the course of the last week, there have also been reports of a similar nature (youths acting in an anti-social manner) from residents of Coleman Road, Essenden Road and Sainsburys in Nuxley Road. Each of these locations were visited by the team and CCTV viewed. We have ascertained that the same group has been responsible for ASB in each of these areas of the ward. Thus far, we have been able to identify 6 members of the group and are working toward identifying the remaining members – the group were stopped and spoken to by officers on Wednesday and all were searched with a negative outcome. There was a recent burglary in Eardley Road in which it is reported that a group of 5 males were seen to approach a property, gaining entry by forcing the front door open. A substantial amount of money and several items of Asian gold jewellery were then taken from the property before the males left the area in a grey coloured vehicle. Our next Community Contact Session is taking place on Wednesday 10th April at Starbucks, Clydesdale Way from 1pm". Bexleyheath ward:- "The team have been busy increasing Smart Water coverage on the ward. Wenvoe Road almost has full coverage as we are hopeful this will be complete this week. Once we have finished with Wenvoe Road we will be starting Swanbridge Road next, as well as completing street a week on the same road. There has been one Burglary within the last week as this took place at Eskdale Road and occurred in the early hours of Monday 1st April 2019. Unknown suspects have broken into the shed firstly and used a tool from the shed to break into the conservatory. Various items were taken including the occupants vehicle which was also stolen. The team are actively patrolling Drug and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) areas as stop and searches were conducted at the Marriot hotel car park, as youths were smoking cannabis at the location. We will continue to patrol ASB hotspots as well as increasing our smart water coverage and street a week coverage". Crayford ward:- "Unfortunately we have had two burglaries in Crayford this week. It was noticed that a front door was open in Ridge Way on Sunday 31st March at 10.40 and became evident that the door had been forced open. The house is under renovation and at this time the owner does not know what may have been taken. The other burglary occurred in the early hours of Saturday 30th March in Heathview Avenue, the external lamp was damaged and a blunt instrument was used to force entry in to the property. The resident was away from home and at this time it has not been confirmed what has been stolen. There have been vehicles stolen in the last week. A white Ford Transit, number plate DV62CRK was stolen between 17.10 on Sunday 28th March and 6.30 on Monday 29th March from Bourne Road Trading Estate. A white Mercedes sprinter number plate RV65VXE was stolen from Crayford Way between 16.00 on Sunday 31st March and 07.00 on Monday 1st April. Between 22.00 on Sunday 31st March and 4.40 on Monday 1st April a white Mercedes Sprinter YG65KFF was stolen from Halcot Avenue. On Monday 18th March a Honda was broken in to whilst parked at Century Wharf at Crayford Creek, the lock was broken off the vehicle and a clear footprint could be seen within, items were stolen. On Saturday 30th March at 13.30 it was reported that two Males in a van drove down an alleyway in Eardmont Close and entered a rear garden and took tools and work equipment, this was captured on CCTV. On Sunday 31st March a silver Ford Galaxy Titanium was damaged whilst parked in Iron Mill Lane. Tool marks were seen on the window and the frame bent back, the handle had been forced off. A shed window was broken in Dale Close between Friday 29th March and Monday 1st April, there was no signs of forced entry. A silver Ford Focus was criminally damaged at 00.30 on Tuesday 19th March, it is believed the suspect is known to the victim. On Tuesday 26th March a resident found a large knife hidden in their front garden in Halcot Avenue and handed it in to police. The team have been busy patrolling and several people have been searched for drugs and weapons. Our ward panel meeting took place on Thursday 28th March, the ward promises were set for the next three months. We will continue to deal with Anti-Social behaviour at Town Hall Square and Town Centre and in addition will deal with anti-social behaviour (drugs and alcohol) in Waterside Gardens. We will continue with community engagements and regular patrols. By all means come and speak to us or contact us by telephone or email if you have any concerns that you would like to raise about your neighbourhood. Alternatively Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111 should you wish to make police aware of criminal activity anonymously. We will be at Crayford Library on Friday 12th April between 11.00-12.00 for community contact to discuss any concerns you may have and give crime prevention advice". Erith ward:- "First of all Erith SNT has a new full time PC, that takes us up to 2 PCs and 2 PCSOs this is the most we have had this year, Also the brilliant HHW team have signed up another NHW member in Erith . No burglaries this week we are pleased to say due to having a couple over the last few weeks. We have been patrolling the hotspot areas in both uniform and plain clothing, hopefully this has been having an effect. It is not all good new however, we have had a 2 theft from and 2 theft of motor vehicles".

Northumberland Heath ward:- "Another good week with no burglaries reported to us. One theft of a green/silver Kawasaki motorcycle from Parsonage Manorway on Saturday March 30th between 2.15 – 2.30pm. The lock was cut and the remnants of it were left on the victim's drive. Theft of a handbag in Frinsted Road on Monday April 1st between 0925 – 0940am. The passenger window was smashed in order to steal the bag which contained a purse and a mobile phone. Please remember to leave nothing on show when you leave your vehicle unattended and lock any valuables away, better still take them with you. One report of criminal damage to a residential property in Avenue Road on Monday April 1st at 4pm. A group of youths were seen trying to pull a “for sale” sign down, one of the group threw a brick at the window causing damage to brickwork under the front window. One theft of number plates in Avenue Road which took place overnight between Monday April 1st 6pm to Tuesday April 2nd at 09. 30 am when the owner returned to their vehicle to find them missing. We recommend using anti- tamper proof number plate screws, we have a number of kits in our office and are happy to provide them to anyone who would like a pack. One arrest on the team this week for a male in breach of a court order". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "Slade Green Football Club located just off Moat Lane suffered a break in between Tuesday 26th - Thursday 28 March. Entry was forced into the changing rooms but nothing was taken. The football club no longer exists but board members still attend the venue to carry out regular checks. In a similar incident, the changing hut in the park at Hollywood Way had signs of an attempted break in at some time during Saturday 30 - Sunday 31 March. Entry wasn't gained but the team are doing regular patrols of these locations and others where there are similar buildings. An intruder has been gaining access to Bushey Court Sheltered scheme in Hazel Road at very odd hours. It is usually after 3am where he stays in the lounge area for a few hours before leaving. He gets in using a fire drop key but last week forced a door to get in. It isn't happening daily but we have good CCTV images of the male. Nothing is taken or damaged while he is there but reassurance visits and patrols are being made in the scheme. 1 positive stop and search this week. In Rainbow Road a male was found to be in possession of cannabis and is due back very soon for interview". Thamesmead East ward:- "Good News - A suspect who left behind property which was used to cause criminal has had said property sent for forensic examination - suspect awaits interview. A male currently in prison for motor vehicle crimes will be attending court whilst serving sentence - for similar offences to be taken into consideration". West Heath ward:- "West Heath have had 7 motor vehicle crime between 27th March and 4th April. Three vehicles were damaged, a vehicles windscreen and passenger window were smashed in Hythe Avenue on Wednesday 27th March, another vehicle's tyres were damaged overnight on Saturday 30th March in Axminster Crescent and another vehicles' passenger window was smashed in Chessington Avenue in the early hours of Friday 29th - Saturday 30th March. A vehicle was stolen from Shakespeare Rd overnight 29th - 30th March between 6.30pm and 7.30am and a Motability vehicle was stolen from Abbots Walk overnight Saturday 30th - Sunday 31st March without use of the key. In Amberley Road some aftershave and small change was stolen from a vehicle whilst on the driveway on Saturday 31st March between half past midnight and 1150am. There was also a theft in a dwelling in Stapleton Road where a watch was taken on Wednesday 27th March. Our last Street briefing held on Friday 29th March in the Hurst Estate raised several issues of suspicious activities for ward officers to address including a male sleeping in a Van".

The end video this week is a bit of a departure; it is a US History Channel documentary from some years ago which features the story of seafarer and explorer Alexander Selkirk. April 2019 marks the 300th anniversary of the publication of Daniel Defoe’s world-famous story of Robinson Crusoe. The real life inspiration for this tale was Alexander Selkirk and, after years of being cast away on a remote desert island, he first set foot back on home soil at Erith.