The Garden Party.

The photos were taken by me yesterday at the first summer garden party hosted by not for profit group The Exchange in the old Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road, Erith. Some really good news now; after having open for six months now, The Bookstore Cafe (seen in the uppermost photo above - click on it for a larger version) in the old Carnegie Library building has just been awarded the best place to eat in Erith by the reviewers of TripAdvisor. You can read their submissions by clicking here. The garden party included a number of events - you can see a Bhangra dance lesson in the second photo above - originally this had been intended as a one - off session, but it proved so popular with visitors that a second session was quickly organised. Following this, a group of African drummers and circus performers took to the stage, as well as sensational traditional drumming, the group juggled hats, metal bowls and wine bottles, danced and clowned with the appreciative audience. The performance ended with the Bhangra drummer joining the African group in a stunning cross genre performance that had the audience up and dancing. As well as the musical performances, a barbecue was run by Old Haven BBQ, who source all of their meats from Pickett's Butchers in Bexleyheath. Later in the day soft rock group Shindig played, and there was the welcome return of the very popular BBC Symphony Orchestra string quintet. Originally it had been intended to hold some of the performances outside, in the newly created herb and vegetable garden to the rear of the library building, but the rain meant that these were moved into the main library hall area. To be honest, I felt that the amazing acoustics in the main hall added to the performances, and that the move inside would have been a good idea whatever the weather. More on performances in the Carnegie Library at the end of this week's update. 

There has been much concern regarding changes to several local bus services; At present the 428 route serves Darent Valley hospital and Bluewater after leaving Dartford town centre. TfL’s proposals would see the route terminating in Crayford with passengers asked to transfer to the 96 route to reach Dartford town centre, Darent Valley hospital and Bluewater. Slade Green Councillor Stef Borella said that:- "At present the 428 route serves Darent Valley hospital and Bluewater after leaving Dartford town centre. TfL’s proposals would see the route terminating in Crayford with passengers asked to transfer to the 96 route to reach Dartford town centre, Darent Valley hospital and Bluewater. One proposal I will be suggesting to TfL will be for the 428 route to terminate at Darent Valley hospital and travel as an express route from Crayford to the hospital. This would therefore deliver some savings to TfL while still delivering a direct bus route to the hospital from Erith, Slade Green and Crayford. I would urge local residents to respond to the consultation arguing that a direct link to the hospital be maintained.” More on changes to the 428 bus route later in this article. One of my local news correspondents, who chooses to remain anonymous, has submitted the following report and analysis on the changes to several local bus services. He writes:- "Some bad news for residents (potentially) in the North / East of the Borough. TfL are now consulting on cutting the 428 back to Crayford and cutting the 492 back to Dartford. A forerunner to this change was made in December 2017 when Route 96 began to operate via Darent Valley Hospital. At this time, it was known that changes to the 428 were afoot and that it was likely that the 428 would be made 'Double Decker' and be cut back to Dartford to improve reliability. That said, with TfL budget cuts now biting particularly hard, it would seem they will be cutting the 428 right back to Crayford to give an end-to-end journey time of some 26 minutes and therefore needing no more than 4 buses instead of the current 7/8. This represents a significant cost saving for TfL although it would appear all buses will be double-deck moving forward. The arguments behind this change are not only that there is now a repetition of the 428 east of Crayford by the more frequent 96 but also that the 'Hopper Fare' also allows people to make the same journey albeit with one change at Crayford Bridge / Sainsburys in each direction for the same cost. I personally am somewhat supportive of the change, although I hear through the grapevine that the reason for making this change now is to provide a future westbound extension of the 428 to Abbey Wood when Crossrail opens (and therefore they need to get the reliability up between Erith and Crayford). As for the 492, east of Dartford it replicates the 480 and 490 buses that Arriva run in Kent. Of course, it is probably the case that they no longer wish to be paying to supply what is, in effect, a cheaper service than the 'Provincial' service that Kent County Council etc. will be involved in. The 492's lengthy detour around Chastilian Road north of Crayford (and also Mayplace Road in Barnehurst) makes it unattractive for the residents of Crayford, Bexleyheath and such to use to Bluewater and Dartford in any event; so it should be the case that the shortening to Dartford is entirely sensible. Moreover, the key use for the 492 bus in the mornings and evenings is school children to the Dartford Grammar School, the Girls' School and the Technology College. These students will be unaffected. The 492 runs with 6 buses, so I assume it will also then be reduced to 4 or 5. Another cost saving, if nothing else. There will also be re-routing in Dartford. Most will know that buses around Dartford are now going the 'same way' they go towards Bluewater when travelling back towards Crayford. Market Street, the Library and such have now been closed off as a result of a huge increase in housing and Dartford developing a 'new public realm'. This is a good change as at least this way people get the bus at the same stops in each direction and also brings Crayford-bound buses right next to Dartford station. Personally, I don't find the changes at all that bothersome. Yes, people from Chastilian Road and Mayplace Road won't be able to get to Bluewater without a change and yes, the limited number of people on each 428 who need to get through to other places will need to change but even if this wasn't cost-cutting it would at least be sensible for cutting the number of 'overlapping' routes and the bits that a lot of people just don't use enough. There's also the issues of reliability: I think the days of extremely long routes such as Bluewater - Dartford - Crayford - Bexleyheath - Bexley- Foots Cray - Sidcup are numbered as people who are making shorter journeys should not be to the detriment of people who might make a long journey as buses get later in traffic. At least two shorter routes would be more likely to deliver people on certain journeys to their destinations more quickly. From my point, the Community Rail Partnership is currently bringing together some ideas as to how to change buses in the Borough for the benefit of end users including creating new journeys presently unavailable within the framework of current routes. Examples include Bexleyheath station to Upper Belvedere and Welling station to Erith. There is also a need to create improved services towards Abbey Wood and Erith in preparation for Crossrail". I am aware that a campaign has been set up to try and save the 428 bus route. The group write:- "Slade Green has long been forgotten by everyone now we have been told that the 428 bus route will no longer travel to Darenth Valley/Bluewater and will terminate at Crayford. We the undersigned want to petition Arriva London to continue with the current bus route. Without this bus route the people of Slade Green have no direct route to a local hospital. Elderly people and those that do not drive use this service to attend appointments and Accident and Emergency services. Without this bus route it will put extra pressure on the ambulance service and will be detrimental to local peoples health. Currently it can take an hour plus on a good day to get to Darenth Valley, travel time will be massively increased and pressure put on other services if residents have to travel on different routes. The 96 which is the only other bus that travels to Darenth Valley is already overstretched by the time the bus arrives at Crayford passengers are rejected because they are over full. We ask Arriva London to rethink their plans for the bus route and help the residents of Slade Green. We also feel that this will make more residents isolated and will affect their health as people won't be able to attend appointments. We also feel that this will have an affect on economy as people will not be able to access Dartford or Bluewater easily. We cannot get to any other hospital directly Queen Mary's -2 buses, Queen Elizabeth's 2 buses. Most appointments are give at Darenth Valley Hospital" You can see the group's petition on Change.Org by clicking here.

On top of this, the area has just got a completely new bus route - the 301 service, which now runs between Woolwich, Thamesmead, Abbey Wood and Bexleyheath. From Saturday the 13th July, new Route 301 operates from Woolwich, Beresford Street to Bexleyheath, Shopping Centre via Plumstead Station, Nathan Way, Thamesmead Town Centre, Bentham Road, Abbey Wood Station, New Road, Woolwich Road and Long Lane. The route is operated by Arriva London with double decker buses and operates every 12 minutes during the day on each day of the week, and every 15 minutes each evening. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Hall Place has to be one of the most historic and picturesque locations in the whole of The London Borough of Bexley. Most recently it was used as the location for one of the Alcock and Brown centenary commemorations. There is a free to visit exhibition featuring the story of the forts trans Atlantic flight located in the main building, which is open until the 27th of October. The opening times are from 10am to 5pm daily. Hall Place has been home to many organisations over the centuries. The main building dates back to 1537, when it was built for a wealthy businessman and former Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Champneys. In rather more recent times, during the Second World War, it was home to many American service personnel, some of whom worked for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services – the predecessor to the CIA) who used it as a base to train agents to be dropped into occupied Europe. Ian Fleming was based at Hall Place for a period when he was acting as an intelligence liaison officer; it is thought that some of the roots to the James Bond novels may have started whilst he was stationed there. In addition to the OSS, there was also a “Y” radio intercept station, code named “Santa Fe”. The grounds were filled by antenna towers and long wire aerials, feeding then state of the art H.F communication receivers located in the main building, staffed by members of the U.S Army 6811th Signals Intelligence unit. These powerful RCA AR-88 receivers - as seen in the lower of the two photos above - click on it for a larger view - were used to intercept German radio traffic, including both the Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. The encrypted signals were then passed by secure telephone lines up to Bletchley Park for decryption. The interception of weak and sometimes garbled signals made for very strenuous work; operators would spend eight hour shifts listening intently via headphones; any missed digits might make the message indecipherable, and possibly leading to lost lives – operators would often end their mammoth listening session with shaking hands and bloodshot eyes. The Great Hall and Tudor Kitchen housed the set room and cryptographers work rooms, some of the men’s billets were up in the Great Chamber and the Parlour was used as a mess room. The roof was strung with radio antenna wires and outbuildings were erected in the gardens. The GI’s made an impression on the neighbourhood, attending dances at the Black Prince pub, and playing softball on the Hall Place lawns. Some observers noted  said that to their knowledge none of the local’s ‘ever inquired what we were up to at Hall Place.’ It was one of the only intercept stations that was permitted a copy of the “Elephant Book” – a painstaking compiled list of German military call signs from previous, decrypted messages. This gave an indication of just how important the stately home and its contribution to the war effort was. Today the historic building and its formal gardens are open to the public, and the main building is available for hire for special occasions - if you have very deep pockets.

The screen capture above shows data from an internet enabled weather station in Northumberland Heath; the capture was taken at just before 2pm on Thursday afternoon - as you can see, the local temperature at that time was a staggering thirty seven degrees Celsius - for readers in the USA, that is ninety eight point six Fahrenheit. I got stuck on a broken down B12 bus in Parsonage Manorway, on my way home from Bexleyheath. I waited twenty odd minutes in the blazing sun for another B12 to turn up so that I could complete my journey. As many may well be aware, I suffer greatly in the heat, and this incident was an extremely challenging one for me. I have been reading some fascinating research this week into the whole thorny subject of climate change – and before you mentally switch off, it is not quite what you might be thinking. My own personal view on the contentious subject is that there are a lot of vested interests and hidden agendas on both sides of the climate change camp. Much of what we now may attribute to warming due to increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere may turn out to be periodic fluctuations in the output of the Sun – however, I believe that we cannot afford to take the chance based on any particular entrenched dogma; and secondly whatever the actual situation, one unescapable fact is that we have finite natural mineral resources, and it may be several hundred years before mining the moon or the asteroid belt becomes financially or technically viable. In the meantime we have to try and reconcile the current situation: The global warming advocates are mainly financed by large grants or bursaries from the research universities – it is in their vested interests for climate change to be real; conversely the climate change deniers are financed by various big businesses and mega corporations, and they too have their own biased axe to grind. It would seem to me that the opponents are pretty much as bad as each other when it comes to trying to get an unbiased, accurate view of the situation. That may have now changed, a report published a while ago throws a great deal of uncertainty into the very building blocks of climate change research – the temperature and weather data used. It turns out that much of the weather data has been gleaned from a network of mostly privately owned weather stations around the United States of America. Some of these stations have been operational since the early 19th century, though some are much more recent. One thing that has come to light, is that for many years a phenomenon known as UHI (Urban Heat Island) affects the readings from weather stations; in essence, urban areas with large amounts of concrete, asphalt, warm buildings and vehicles make the temperature readings appear warmer than they really should be. This effect is more marked after dark as these surfaces retain the heat of the sun, and release it slowly, just like a giant storage heater. The results recorded by weather stations in areas such as these are understandably skewed. The problem has been that over the last hundred years or so, urban sprawl has happened; weather stations formerly in countryside areas are now in fully developed, urbanised regions. The previous system for measuring temperature change did not take into account the location of the weather stations, so the results were biased in favour of a large degree of temperature increase. Researchers have been revisiting the historical data to try and reconcile the results against modern Urban Heat Island information. It would seem that once this is taken into account, the actual increase in global temperature is now somewhat unclear, and certainly something that the climate change experts need to carefully ponder – it would seem that both pro and anti camps have been working from incorrect data for years. It will be interesting to see where this all leads. I suspect the popular press will pick up on this soon. The fact remains, however, the temperatures in recent summers in the UK have been extreme, as was very much evident this Thursday, and we are predicted to have even more extreme weather in the weeks to come.

As regular Maggot Sandwich readers will know, I am vey keen o supporting local policing and efforts to support law and order. As I have written in the past, things that start off in the USA almost inevitably end up later occurring here in some kind of osmosis. A story broke this week which could potentially be a cause for concern should the same thing take place in the UK. Amazon's home security company Ring has enlisted local police departments around the USA to advertise its surveillance cameras in exchange for free Ring products and a “portal” that allows police to request footage from these cameras. The agreement also requires police to “keep the terms of this program confidential.” Dozens of police departments around the USA have partnered with Ring, but until now, the exact terms of these partnerships have remained unknown. A signed memorandum of understanding between Ring and the police department of Lakeland, Florida, and emails obtained via a public records request, show that Ring is using local police as a de facto advertising firm. Police are contractually required to "Engage the Lakeland community with outreach efforts on the platform to encourage adoption of the platform/app.”Ring donated 15 free doorbell surveillance cameras to the Lakeland Police Department, and created a program to encourage people to download its “neighbourhood watch” app, Neighbours. For every Lakeland resident that downloads Neighbours as a result of the partnership, the documents show, the Lakeland Police Department gets credit toward more free Ring cameras for residents: “Each qualifying download will count as $10 towards these free Ring cameras.” A Ring doorbell camera currently costs $130 on Amazon US. Police already have access to publicly-funded street cameras and investigative tools that help them track down almost any criminal suspect. But Ring cameras are proliferating in the private sphere, with close to zero oversight. Andrew Ferguson, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia School of Law, said in a recent press interview that products like Ring can remove typical judicial due process. Typically, police have to get a warrant from a judge before collecting digital evidence. Ring’s Law Enforcement Neighbourhood Portal, given to police for free as a part of the agreement, lets police request footage directly from Ring owners. “What people fundamentally misunderstand is that self-surveillance is potentially a form of government surveillance,” Ferguson said. “Because the information that you are collecting—you think to augment and improve your life—is one step away from being obtained by law enforcement to completely upend your life. Amazon is convincing people to self-surveil through aggressive, fear-based marketing, aided by de facto police endorsements and free Ring camera giveaways. Consumers are opting into surveillance. And police are more than eager to capitalise on this wealth of surveillance data. The result of Ring-police partnerships is a self-perpetuating surveillance network: More people download Neighbours, more people get Ring, surveillance footage proliferates, and police can request whatever they want. People often buy and use Ring doorbell cameras under the premise that they’re making their individual homes safer. But these people aren’t just making choices for themselves. They’re consenting to surveilling everyone in their neighbourhood and anyone who comes in the vicinity of their home, including friends and family, delivery workers, and anyone else. Professor Ferguson said that it is important to remember the societal impacts of these decisions. “Amazon has products to sell, and an incentive to get consumers to be fearful and buy their self-surveillance technologies; police have a related interest to obtain surveillance from areas that they don't have the resources to obtain surveillance from,” Ferguson said. “You can see why it’s in their economic sense. But it raises some problems and troubles and issues that society should have about whether this is the type of self-surveillance world we’re comfortable with.” As I wrote earlier, what happens in the USA has a way of filtering over to the UK, often more quickly than anticipated. CCTV coverage of one's home is fine; the problem comes when video files are uploaded into the cloud with no proof of how secure that is, and also the default standard is that the local Police have full access to all footage - it strikes me that in the UK and mainland Europe this may well be subject to the GDPR laws. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Now for the weekly safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association; firstly the report from Barnehurst ward:- "Good news, yet another week goes by and no burglaries have been reported on Barnehurst Ward. In Downbank Avenue on 21st July 2019, overnight a Ford Transit van with work tools inside was stolen. This van was later found in Cricketers Lane, Erith however tools from inside the vehicle were missing. Our next coffee with cops is at Barnehurst Golf Club, Mayplace Road East at 11.00am on Wednesday 31st July". Belvedere ward:- "We are pleased to report that Belvedere now has all its Neighbourhood Watch signs put up. If you are a new Coordinator you should note they are now up, if you reported damaged or lost signs you should now see them fixed or replaced. Please let us know if this has not been done". Bexleyheath ward:- "There have been no reports of burglaries or attempted burglaries on the ward over the last week. We have had three reports of catalytic converters being stolen from three vehicles over the last week: Monday 22/07/2019 – Albion Road car park between 0835hrs and 1635hrs; Monday 22/07/2019 – near Marriot Hotel Broadway at about 1345hrs; Monday 22/07/2019 – Albion Road at about 1345hrs. There was also a report of a theft of motor vehicle along Rydal Drive Bexleyheath. This could of happened anytime overnight from Sat 20/07/2019 at about 8pm and Sun 21//07/2019 at 10am. There was a report of a theft of motor vehicle on Tuesday 23/07/2019 along Royal Oak Road Bexleyheath between the hours of 4.15pm and 4.35pm. There have been two reports of theft of purses reported on the ward: Both happened on Monday 22/07/2019 between 1215 and 1245. A purse was stolen whilst in M and S or Dorothy Perkins. Also the other was between 1015am and 1030am whilst victim was shopping. There was a report of money taken from victims handbag whilst in the Savers store between 2.15pm and 2.25pm".

Crayford ward:- "There have been three robberies in Crayford this week. The first occurred on Sunday between 8.05 and 8.22 near McDonalds, a black iPhone and bus pass was stolen. The second robbery occurred between 8.20 and 8.30 in Crayford Way by The Rise and Airpods were stolen. The suspect for these robberies was described as IC3, early twenties. The third robbery occurred at the bottom of Station Road between 11.50-11.58, the victim was robbed by IC1 males for his Apple iPhone 8 and earphones, all the victims were teenagers. It has been reported that an empty property in Crayford Way had a door forced and entry made between 12.00 on Tuesday 16 July and 15.00 on Wednesday 17th July. It appears that someone had been sleeping there but nothing appeared stolen. The property is now fully secured. Vandals destroyed two large round picnic tables with seats attached and damaged hard wooden benches as well as damaging plants at Hall Place, the cost to replace and repair is significant. A catalytic convertor was stolen from a green Honda Jazz between 12.00-19.30 on 17th July from Stadium Way, on that same day and location another catalytic convertor was stolen, vehicle details not updated on report at present. A white Mercedes van, registration PN65 EJG was stolen without keys from Shearwood Crescent on Friday 19th July between 5.05 and 5.10. It was later involved in an RTC and recovered by police. A motorcycle was stolen from Lower Station Road on 18th July between 13.00 - 17.00, no further details given at this time. A shed was broken in to at the allotments at Bourne Road between 20.00 on Saturday 20th July and 06.00 on Sunday 21st July and two knives were stolen. Youths were reported jumping on vehicles at the Mazda garage on Friday 19th July at approx. 00.15, damage was caused to several vehicle bonnets. On Monday 22nd July between 7.30-16.00 a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso registration number GF07 YHB was stolen from outside a property in Ridge Way. Our next community contact session will be held on Wednesday 31st July at Vintage Lindy Lou's at Waterside Gardens, please come along if you would like to have a chat about anything that may concern you. Please see the attached link https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/96-428-492/. Cuts are proposed to route 428 and 492 from January 2020. Please read this and consider how it may affect you or your loved ones, at the very least route 96 will be even busier. Already evident is that it will affect people trying to go to Darent Valley Hospital or to Haberdashers Academy, please take the time to have your say". Erith ward:- "PCs Dan and Markus from Erith have been on cycle patrols across the ward. Stopping and searching people, we have been sharing the cycle patrols on our twitter profile so be sure to check them out, plenty of searches carried out and a few good results. Adam attended an Orbit residential scheme pop up event. And finally the full team attended the community fun day on west street, which seemed to go well, NHW was also there in full force hopefully signing up a few new members. Crimes of the week – Erith bowls club was broken in to on Monday night and items were stolen. Theft from motor vehicles is on the decline so we are going in the correct direction. Finally, be sure to drink plenty of water in this weather and check on your neighbours if they are venerable just to make sure they are ok and having plenty of fluids". Northumberland Heath ward:- "The team have been patrolling Northumberland Heath recreation ground. Today we issued a community resolution for 1 male adult with regards to cannabis. Our new PC Lucy has had an arrest this week with regards to a domestic related incident. The team assisted with a mental health assessment. After receiving some intelligence from members of the public, the team recovered a stolen motorbike in York Terrace. Very pleased to say, there have been no burglaries again this week. Our next community contact session is on Wednesday 7th August at 2pm in the Mill Road Library. Please do come along and meet a member of the team and discuss any issues or concerns you have, or just pop in and say hello". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "Four more number plate thefts in the last week. Two occurred during the daytime on Thursday 18/07 close to Slade Green train station. Both victims were commuters. The other two happened around 11pm on Monday 22/07 in Hazel Road, both vehicles were close to each other in the road. Patrols of these areas will be taking place, especially the train station area. A male has signed an ABC (Acceptable Behaviour Contract) with ourselves and Bexley Council as he was identified as being involved in recent ASB in and around Rainbow Road. This is a result of some excellent work by PC's Mark and James as well as good information given by residents on the estate. Two Orbit tenants in our ward who have been causing issues for neighbours, came to our office this week and both tenants signed an Orbit Tenancy Management agreement meaning their behaviour must stop or Orbit will look to seek possession of their property. Our next Community Contact Session is on Sunday (28th July) at our Pier Road SNT base from 6pm. At this week's panel meeting the promises chosen for us to concentrate a bit more effort on for the next three months were ASB Open Spaces, Vehicle ASB and Drug issues (Dealing/taking)".

Thamesmead East ward:- "Burglary: On Friday 19/07/19, between the hours of 07:15am and 07:20 am, a burglary occurred in Overton Road, the back door was open. The victim heard a noise behind her and turned around to see a suspect standing in her living room. He said 'Sorry I'm looking for my cat' and then made off out the kitchen over the back fence which leads onto a service road which is gated at both ends but can be accessed by climbing the fence. A bank card was taken and used locally. CCTV has captured the suspect using the card. Investigations ongoing to identify the suspect. Attempted Burglary: Wednesday 24/07/19 an attempted burglary in Portmeadow Walk, the victim stated that they went to take the rubbish out of the front door ,when it was noticed the Yale lock was warped and the whole lock unit spins. the victim believes that someone tried to break in .There was a second lock and that kept the door secure ,so no one managed to enter. Crime Prevention: Close and lock all your doors and windows, even if you're going out for a few minutes. Photograph and keep a detailed inventory of each item of jewellery and keep it in a separate place. Motor Vehicle Crimes: On Thursday 18/07/19 between the hours of 00:01 and 06:00am an unknown person cut off the catalytic converter from the vehicle, which was parked near Dexter House, Kale Road. Another Theft from Motor Vehicle occurred in Maran Way between the hours of 12:00 am and 12:30 am. The exhaust pipe ripped apart and part of the pipe taken away, believed to be the catalytic converter. Wolvercote Road, Vehicle Interference on Friday between the hours of 07:00am and 11:00am an unknown suspect smashed the drivers window ,no apparent property taken .Saturday 20/07/19 a vehicle parked locked and secure in Kale Road had the drivers window smashed and a mobile phone taken . the incident happened between 11:00am and 12:00am.Between Tuesday 16/07/19 at 11:00am and Sunday 21/07/19 at 10;30am a vehicle locked and secure in Lensbury Way, had the rear doors damaged ,tools and other equipment taken ,unknown value . Between the dates and times of 21/07/19 at 04:30 pm and 23/07/19 at 06:45pm a vehicle parked in Whernside Close had the vehicle damaged by an unknown suspect using an implement scratching the vehicle .A vehicle parked in the garaged area in Dalberg Way was scratched by an unknown suspect ,down the whole passenger side of the vehicle .This incident happened between Saturday 20/07/19 at 06;00pm and Monday 22/07/19 at 06:15am. Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention: Did you know that your vehicle is like a shop window? If you can see any property left on view then so can a thief. Take it with you. Recent thefts of Catalytic Converters on the ward. Vehicles made after 1974 all have Catalytic Converters. There are 3 precious metals in your Catalytic Converter and thieves know this. Protect your vehicle before you become a victim of theft. Mark your catalytic converter by etching your vehicle registration onto the metal shell, or by using a Secured By Design (SBD) approved forensic marking solution which is heat-resistant. This makes it easier for police to trace the converter back to your vehicle should it ever be stolen, and links offenders to a crime. Consider fitting additional security on your vehicle(s) by installing an SBD approved converter security product, such as a catalytic converter clamp".West Heath ward:- "No residential burglaries to report this week, however there were two business burglaries at the same premises in Brampton Road on Monday July 27th. Several males were seen acting suspiciously just before midnight in a vehicle and on pushbikes. It is not clear at this stage if anything was stolen".

The end video this week was shot in the main hall of the Erith Old Carnegie Library mentioned earlier in this update - it features the Tom Fleming trio, a band headed not unsurprisingly by a chap called Tom Fleming, who is a guitarist, record producer, arranger and mixer. You can see his website by clicking here. Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The digger.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Erith Manor House.

Work has finally begun on repairing the fire damaged roof of Moat House in James Watt Way Erith; as you may recall, back in early August there was an extremely serious fire which destroyed much of the roof and top floor of the very recently opened block of apartments for affordable rent. All of the residents of Moat House were successfully evacuated from the building, and have subsequently been put up in temporary accommodation. The fire story made the national news. Things went very quiet since then, and my attempts at investigation had met with very little in the way of new information. I had heard contradictory reports regarding the standard of the temporary accommodation that the tenants had been moved into, but even those stories turned out to have little in the way of new information. Now things are finally moving. Over the last week scaffolding has been erected around Moat House, and preparations have begun to repair the damage the fire has caused have begun, as you can see in the photo above - click on it for  a larger view. Moat House is one of the most notable buildings in the centre of town, and the building is high enough to make itself a local landmark. It is also an important building in terms of providing much needed, high quality housing for affordable rent. Erith ranks only second to Dagenham in being the cheapest place to live within an hour's commute of central London. It is therefore becoming an increasingly attractive place to move to. I have to be honest, twenty years ago, when I first moved to Erith it was not because of the scenery or the local amenities, it was because it was very cheap at the time. That was in the days of the old hideous concrete monstrosity shopping centre, before Morrison's had opened on the old Erith Deep Water Wharf site, and when the only supermarket in the town was the small Co-Op in what is now the Farm Foods shop. Back then Erith had little in the way of amenities - what it did have however was extremely cheap housing. I was able to to buy Pewty Acres for a very reasonable £42,500 - a figure completely unimaginable now. The intervening two decades have seen Erith change hugely for the better - the refurbished Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, the Sports Centre, the Health Centre and the forthcoming new Fit4Less gym, to name but a handful of many other local amenities that have arrived in the town over the last two decades. Erith is now in a better shape than it has been for over fifty years - new homes and businesses are opening up left and right, and an influx of new people are moving into the area. There is a fair way still to go, but in my opinion things are getting steadily better, and there is more improvement to come. One mixed thing that is coming out of the gradual "gentrification" (I hate that term) of the town is that property prices are on the up. The News Shopper are reporting that research has looked at how difficult it is for someone in London to buy their own home without help from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ or a partner. It took the average salary in the capital of £34,320, banks lending buyers up to four times this figure and the average cost of a flat in London being £457,000. It then calculated that if prospective property owners put 10 per cent of their net salary away each month it would take a typical Londoner 121 years to buy that first home. Even saving 20 per cent of take-home pay, it would still take 60 years to get the keys to an average priced flat. In Bexley it would take just under 36 years to £94,311 – start now and you’d be there around this time in 2052. There currently is simply too little property being built; and whilst the London Borough of Bexley does not suffer from the absentee owner / investors as some other parts of London does, as the Elizabeth Line opens, property investors will undoubtedly hit on the area. Also on the subject of property, a tenancy fraud has been uncovered, and a man has been found guilty at Bexley Magistrates Court. The Bexley Times have reported that on October 19th, Faruq Hameed, of Bainbridge Road in Dagenham, pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly sub-letting his social housing flat at Cobham House, Boundary Street. Evidence collected by investigators showed Hameed was making a profit of almost £200 a month from one sub-letter, charging monthly rent of £650 - significantly higher than the £482.71 charged by Orbit Housing. An investigation By Orbit's fraud team revealed Hameed was not living at Cobham House but had been sub-letting it to others between May 2014 and December 2015, and from January 2015 to August 2015. For each charge Hameed was given six weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months, to run concurrently; a community order for 80 hours of unpaid work and an Unlawful Profit Order for £4,800. He was also ordered to pay £500 costs and £80 victim surcharge, and a collection order was made. It would appear that the fraud did not take very long to detect and prosecute, which is good to know. I believe that Cobham House is part of the proposed Arthur Street redevelopment which Orbit plan once they have finished the second phase of the Erith Park development on the other side of Northend Road is completed. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photos above both shows Pier Road, Erith and how it looked in the past. Many thanks to the person who wishes to remain anonymous who sent me the upper black and white photo which shows the road in what appears to be the 1930's, and to Martin Barnes of the popular FaceBook group - Bexleyheath, Crayford and Erith, past, present and future, who sent me the lower colour photo of the same location, taken in 1966 shortly before the block of shops was demolished to make way for the much hated brutalist concrete shopping centre. 

It would seem that some serious consequences have come from the recent riot that took place in Northumberland Heath, that made the national news. Schools inspector OFSTED have made unannounced inspections of several local secondary schools, and have published a pretty damning report on their findings. Inspectors visited St Catherine's Catholic School, St Columba’s Catholic Boys’ School, Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys and Erith School. The report’s author, Sir Michael Wilshaw wrote:- “I found it difficult to comprehend how the individual schools did not pick up, at an early stage, that a significant number of students were plotting and planning a fight at the end of the school day.  The pastoral and welfare systems of the schools should have been finely tuned to issues of this nature and particularly to the changing atmosphere in classrooms, playgrounds and corridors as students became excited and agitated by the prospect of trouble with other schools.  All my experience has taught me that in good schools, when trouble is brewing, staff intervene and take action very quickly before events take over and escalate. This is worrying.  Leaders do not ensure that the promotion of tolerance and respect towards pupils from different groups and cultures is effective.  They do not ensure that staff consistently challenge pupils’ misconceptions and stereotypes. Good behaviour, both in and out of school, is not promoted well enough. Pupils do not receive enough information about how to keep themselves safe outside school.  Leaders therefore do not fully prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.” The report follows the riot, which took place on the evening of the 19th September, involved more than a hundred youths; there were seven arrest made by the Police, and two people were taken to hospital as a result of injuries received during the mass disturbance. After extensive investigation, it would appear that the riot initially started in Bexleyheath Broadway. Even on a normal day, hundreds of pupils from schools in the area congregate here to catch buses home. There were rumours that teenagers from rival gangs were meeting to fight after the brother of one of them had been attacked. On school days, a couple of PCSO’s stand in the square to keep an eye on the children and to encourage them to move swiftly on to buses and out of the area. On the Monday of the riot, however, shopkeepers noticed a growing crowd of children. Soon skirmishes began, and when the PCSO’s and Police officers intervened, the youths used their free bus passes to travel to Northumberland Heath, where the main violence really kicked off. Initially it was thought to be inter – school rivalry, but subsequently evidence has come to light that there was almost certainly a racial element to the violence. Two local gangs – the Thamesmead based RA (Racial Attack) gang, which is composed of white youths were pitched against members of the Woolwich based black gang, T-Block. Several national tabloid papers have engaged in some pretty lurid speculation, but at the end of the day, the riot does not seem to be very much more than the usual lawless kids kicking off – aided by social media. Now the policing situation in Bexleyheath Broadway around the clock tower have changed markedly; instead of two PCSO's, there are ten PCSO's and full Police officers commanded by a sergeant who patrol the area from early afternoon until all of the school children have left the area. This must cost an utter fortune, and stopos officers from carrying out other duties. If you have any experiences or insight into this issue, please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Bexley CAMRA have just published the following announcement regarding popular pub magazine "Draught Copy" :- "Given that "Draught Copy", which circulates to the majority of Bexley Branch pubs as well as to Maidstone/Mid-Kent and Gravesend and Darent Valley branches, urgently needs production hands, the editor has posted the item below in the latest pages. We would like to add our voices to the appeal for assistance. If you think either of the roles listed might be the thing for you or someone you know and you might like to try your hand at it then let us know in reply here and we will coordinate as appropriate. This is a first-class CAMRA campaigning opportunity. Last Copy? It is with considerable sadness that we tell you that with the departure of editor, Tim Mathews, to Emsworth, your free local newsletter must take a break until a new editor and production team can be mustered. Thank you for reading us over the many years that this publication has been available. Thank you, too, to our advertisers who have kept the production costs viable for us within the Maidstone & Mid-Kent branch. It has been an enjoyable time putting together Draught Copy and it will be missed. But we trust that this will only be a hiatus and not a funeral. If there are any members from the three branches Draught Copy represents, who would like to take on the role(s) of editor and typesetter, then do please let us know". It would be a real shame to see the end of "Draught Copy".

Many security organisations use high definition video cameras linked to sophisticated computer based facial recognition systems to detect and record the comings and goings of people in public areas and elsewhere. Facial recognition technology has improved markedly over the last decade. Although well-trained machines can recognise objects more quickly and accurately than most humans, they can’t handle change very well. Humans can still recognise the same faces even if they appear slightly differently, but for machines it’s more difficult because they process images by searching for particular features. Slight changes to images can mislead neural networks. Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill announced. Results from their paper “Real and Stealthy Attacks on State-of-the-Art Face Recognition” were presented at last week’s ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Austria. Criminals and ordinary people wishing to avoid being recognised simply had to be mistaken for some arbitrary face. For impersonation, the identity must be recognized as someone the system already knows. The team trained neural networks to recognize 2,622 celebrities, three researchers and two volunteers. During the trials, one of the researchers – a South Asian woman – was incorrectly read as a Middle Eastern man 88 per cent of the time. Her paper spectacles hoodwinked the artificial intelligence into simply not recognising her. Impersonation is a little tricker. Although one male researcher wearing the paper glasses could pass as Milla Jovovich, an actress and supermodel, almost 90 per cent of the time, another male researcher had a hard time trying to impersonate Clive Owen, an actor – only succeeding around 16 per cent of the time. There isn’t anything special about the spectacles themselves. The frames were just printed on paper and overlaid on proper glasses. Obviously there are simpler ways to trick facial recognition systems. People can wear face masks or heavy makeup, but the authors of the report wanted to look for ways to trick the system inconspicuously, without tampering with the facial biometric software before or during the training process. “Facial accessories, such as eyeglasses, help make attacks plausibly deniable, as it is natural for people to wear them,” the security research team said.

Erith has cropped up a few times in the course of the greater history of the United Kingdom, most famously as the place where Alexander Selkirk – the real life “Robinson Crusoe” came ashore after being shipwrecked and living on a desert island. Something that until now has been less known is that Erith is thought by some historians from Bexley Local Studies and Archive Centre to have played a pivotal role in the Gunpowder Plot. In some information they released just in time for Guy Fawkes’ Night back in 2012, when they indicated that their research showed that in the summer of 1605, Erith Manor House, which was located on what is now Erith High Street, was rented under a pseudonym by Anne Vaux, the daughter of Lord William Vaux, the head of one of the wealthiest and most prominent Catholic families in the country at the time. Anne Vaux was known to arrange for safe houses to be made available for Catholic priests to hide up and hold underground church services – Catholics were widely persecuted in England at the time. Erith Manor House was considered an ideal location for Robert Catesby, Guy Fawkes and the other plotters against the King to hide up, as it had, according to Catesby “a secluded but convenient location” on the banks of the Thames, which had the added benefit of offering an easy escape route by boat, should the situation arise. What the plotters did not realise was that the intelligence service of the time was aware of them – spymaster Sir Anthony Standen, first assistant to Sir Francis Walsingham, who was then head of the English Secret Service, working directly for King James I, had broken up a plot (The Bye Plot – click here for more details) eighteen months before hand, and was now acutely aware that other Catholic activists had designs on the life of the Protestant monarch. Sir Anthony had informants all over the place, and soon became aware of the small group of men who were acting very suspiciously in and around Erith. Several of the plotters had also been seen in a number of taverns in Southwark, and it is possible that they were followed back to Erith, where their safe house was then discovered. When agents subsequently raided the house, the conspirators had already made their escape, and the place was deserted. Some of this is extrapolation from verified facts – it is certain that Anne Vaux did indeed rent Erith Manor House using the cover name Mrs Perkins, though it is not certain the Gunpowder Plotters did use it as their primary base of operations – there may well have been an underground Catholic church in the house, which in itself would have aroused suspicions. Unfortunately there is no opportunity for Erith Manor House to become a tourist attraction, as it was demolished in the 19th century after falling into a state of disrepair. Personally I think the story is somewhat fanciful. A group of wealthy gentlemen taking residence would stand out like a sore thumb in a small fishing village, as Erith was back at that time. Their fine clothes and expensive horses would mark them as outsiders, and this would be certain to at the very least provoke curiosity from local people.  I think it far more likely that their base of operations was located in Southwark, which in those days was effectively lawless.

I know many law abiding local motorbike riders are heartily fed up with the illegal activities of Bike Life TV UK – the gang of feral scumbags who congregate on their stolen, uninsured and unlicensed mopeds, motorbikes and quad bikes and who criminally ride, pulling wheelies and other idiotic stunts on public roads, causing distress and danger to civilised local residents. They have seemingly ridden with impunity for the last couple of years, but it would appear that this is now thankfully changing. The gang (who laughingly refer to themselves as a “family” on their website – which may be true in a sense, as many of their members would appear to be knuckle dragging inbreds). Bike Life TV UK held a get together in Blackheath last Sunday, where over a hundred illegal riders raced along roads, many not wearing helmets; this time the Police were present, and a total of seventeen illegal bikers were stopped by the Police using stinger tyre deflation devices when the riders refused to stop when ordered. Four riders were subsequently arrested and charged with a variety of offences, including disorder and anti-social behaviour – a fact I find hard to reconcile with the fact that seventeen illegal bikers had to be forcibly stopped by puncturing their bike tyres – I would have expected all of them to have been arrested under the circumstances? Still – it is a start. The Police regularly confiscate and crush illegal bikes – the trouble is, the criminal bikers just go and steal new ones. It would seem that the events of Halloween eve in Blackheath may be the start of a well – overdue crackdown on the gang. Their principal areas of operation are Thamesmead, Lower Belvedere and the Slade Green Marshes, although Bike Life TV UK are now such a large criminal group that their activities spread to a far wider area nowadays. Several of the group have been injured in carrying out stunts on public roads, and two have actually been killed. This needs to stop.

Bexley Brewery have announced their real ale lineup for Christmas - you can see their order form above - click on for a larger version - please feel free to download the form to print out and place an order with them. If you have not sampled their ales before, they produce extremely high quality beers made with locally sourced ingredients; I am  regular customer at their brewery and shop, located on the Manford Industrial Estate at the Slade Green end of Manor Road, Erith.

I have previously written at some lengths about by opposition to the government’s proposed roll – out of smart utility meters. News was published earlier this week that the IT system designed to underpin the smart meter roll – out remains unfinished. The last time it missed a smart meter deadline, the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) promised that “the new infrastructure is planned to go live at the end of September”. That did not happen. The IT system was initially planned to be up and running in April 2015, but was subsequently delayed until December 2015, then April 2016, then August 2016, and has now missed its September 2016 deadline. The project is being run by a subsidiary of Capita called The Data and Communications Company (DCC), which responsible for providing the communications infrastructure for smart meter readings. The smart meter infrastructure project was subject to an impact assessment back in 2014. The result of that assessment was that the project would come with an £11 billion bill to be paid by customers, and was described as “in danger of becoming a "costly failure" by a government report after a farcical number of delays and internal government warnings that it would most likely not be completed for another 50 years. Last year, the Institute of Directors warned that the smart meter project would add billions to consumers' bills and that the rollout "should be 'halted, altered or scrapped' to avoid a potentially catastrophic government IT disaster". As of today, the “timely rollout” of the smart meter system promised by the government has remained anything but, and the requirement to see domestic suppliers using the DCC by 1 August of next year seems as if it may not be met. The potential annual cost savings that energy companies claim, are frankly minuscule compared with an average household’s  other outgoings, and certainly too small to warrant drastic changes like replacing the fridge or oven, or less drastic ones like pre-emptively changing the lightbulbs. The irony of course is that those who would benefit the most from reducing their energy bills are generally those without the cash to do something about it. I am sure a lot of people on the bread line would like to save £20 a month by upgrading their electrical appliances, but they are a bit stuffed by not having the money to do so. The best most of them can do is to turn things off, and you don't need a smart meter to tell you that. Germany has already cancelled their own domestic smart meter programme, on the grounds that forecasts showed that it was going to cost far more money than it would have saved, and that is aside from any personal privacy or network infrastructure security worries that I have outlined in the past.

Concerns are growing in respect of the future fate of Hall Place, the borough’s stately home located conveniently close to the A2 at Old Bexley. The trust which has run the historic house and formal gardens has announced that it is no longer able to operate.  Cuts to the trust’s council grant and the prospect of becoming self-sufficient by 2020 mean the Tudor house and gardens will be handed back to the council as of April 2017 after a unanimous vote by trustees. Bexley Council have announced that the historic site is safe, but I share the concerns of many local residents. Speaking in the Bexley Times, Councillor Peter Craske said it was  “a ‘difficult decision’ caused by the gradual removal of funding from central government. The council recognises the significance of Hall Place and Gardens - an important and well-loved heritage site – which is not only an impressive historic destination for residents and tourists, but also provides a premiere wedding and event venue. In recognition of its value, I would like to make it absolutely clear that it will be ‘business as normal’ for Hall Place House and Gardens – both as a visitor attraction and also as a wedding/event venue.” From the experience these reassurances may count for little, though at present it is too early to say for certain. I doubt that anything drastic will happen to Hall Place – I don’t foresee it being converted into a Travelodge, for example (Hall Place is a Grade 1 listed historic building) but I do think that changes are likely to take place. If you have any insight into this, please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The ending video this week shows Erith Pier - the longest pier on the River Thames, and one of the most overlooked and underrated features of the town. The video shows the pier both with the tide out, showing the extensive mudflats, and at high tide. When the weather is nice there are few better places to be than strolling on the pier. Have a watch and see what you think.