Mother Monica.

I took the upper of the two photos above a couple of weeks ago; it shows the general bulk cargo vessel the Elka W heading down river, past Erith. Many people forget that Erith has been a maritime port town since the Bronze Age, and it is really only in the last couple of decades that the reliance on shipping has reduced. Now that Erith Pier is a centre for leisure, and less used as a mooring point for ships, the emphasis has mainly moved away from shipping as a commercial venture, and more towards it as a leisure activity - with organisations such as Erith Rowing Club and Erith Yacht Club being preeminent in this respect. Commercial shipping such as the Elka W does still play a part in the local economy - as workers at the ADM edible oil refinery in Church Manor Way will attest. ADM are very heavily dependant on commercial shipping traffic, as most of their raw materials arrive by sea and river, as can be seen in the lower of the two photos above. The company originally started up in 1908, when it was known as Erith Oil Works – the business then was similar to now; they crush and process all kinds of seeds, to extract their natural oils, which are used in foodstuffs, cooking oils and animal feeds. The seeds, then as now are brought upriver in large bulk freighter ships. The distinctive huge concrete silos that are still present on the ADM Oil site were constructed in 1916, where they are some of the earliest surviving examples of reinforced concrete construction in the UK. They were constructed by Danish structural engineering company Christiani and Nielsen, who invented reinforced concrete construction techniques. ADM Oils have in the past been guilty of causing the terrible smells that we have experienced in the local area. The reason for this was that the filters on the oil seed boiler chimneys used to not be changed as often as they were supposed to be. Lately ADM's plant engineers seem to have been a lot more conscientious in this respect, and the sickly and pervasive smell has now been largely absent, thankfully.

There are a number of scams and fraudulent operations being targetted at the Bexley area at present, two in particular are potentially very frightening for the innocent recipients - these have been confirmed as genuine by Bexley Trading Standards and Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, and are featured separately from the usual weekly ward safety and security updates. The first scam operates as follows - this message is courtesy of Bexley Trading Standards:- "Trading Standards would like to share with you a call they took from a Bexley resident: I received a phone call at approximately 10:20am from a man who reported he was from the Tax Office. He told me he had an arrest warrant for me, he knew my name address and date of birth. He told me I owed £900.00 and 2 letters had been sent to my address but have been returned to the Tax Office. The man told me the arrest warrant will become active unless I pay £900.00 now over the phone, if I don't pay he is going to send a Police Car over with a warrant for my arrest in half an hour. I told the man I am not going to pay you any money, so the man said you can pay now or fight the case in court. I said I will fight the case in court and the man put down the phone. The caller said officers would come from Bexleyheath Police Station". BBNWA say that the HMRC will never telephone you. Never give your bank details over the phone or by email. An arrest warrant would never be issued.  The second scam that is currently being operated locally is in the form of a malicious blackmail Email. The details are as follows:- "'This is a scam, delete the message immediately: Yṍu don't know me and you are most likely thinking why yȫu're getting this email, right? Let me tell you, I installed à malwäre on the adult video clips (pᴏrnography) web-site and guess what, you visited this site to experience fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching videṑs, your web browser started out functioning as ã RDP (Remote cȫntrṓl Desktop) having a key logger which provided me with âccess to yȫur display screen and web camerã. Just after thàt, my software program gathered every ōne ᴏf yṓur contâcts from messenger, social netwŏrks, as well as email. Whát did I do? I created a double-screen video. 1st pârt shows the videȯ you were viewing (you hãve ã fine taste hähà), and next part displays the recording of your cam. What shṍuld yоu do? Well, in my opinion, $300 is a reasŏnable price for our little secret. Yᴏu'll make the pâyment by Bitcoin (if you do not know this, seàrch hоw tȫ buy bitcoin, it's extremely easy). My bitcoin áddress is: 1G1MnBr5iPJSRwZwQwmYGEKkJk5Rq1jcit. Important: You nōw have just one dáy in order to mâke the payment. (I have ã speciàl pixel in this e-mail, and at this mȫment I know that yṑu häve read this e mail). If I dоn't get the BitCoins, I definitely will send out your videṍ tо all of your cȫntacts including members ṍf yȫur family, coworkers, and many others. However, if I receive the páyment, I will destroy the video immidiately. If you wánt proof, reply with Yes! and I definitely will send ŏut your videṍ to your 6 contacts.' " The text above is a verbatim copy of the original, complete with typos, weird fonts and control characters - so don't Email me complaining about the typography. The message is complete rubbish designed to scare the recipient into paying up - there is no malware downloaded onto the target computer - it is all just scaremongering tosh. If you receive an Email of this nature, just flag it as Spam and then delete it.

Bexley Council are launching a public consultation regarding the possible installation of charging points around the borough for electric vehicles. In an announcement released on Friday, they said that:- "Local residents and businesses are being asked to have their say on the introduction of electric vehicle (EV) charging points in the borough and to help shape the Council’s plans for creating a network of publicly accessible charge points across Bexley. Electric cars are not only kind to the environment but can also save you money on fuel costs as well as providing access to a range of other financial benefits such as government grants for new plug-in vehicles, 100% discount on the congestion charge, no vehicle tax (VED) or a reduced rate depending on their CO2 emissions. If you’ve already got an electric vehicle or are may be thinking about purchasing one in the near future or perhaps you just have something else positive to contribute to the debate, please email your comments and your reason for your interest to electric.vehicles@bexley.gov.uk.  Please let us know if you are willing to be contacted for further discussion and if so, we might be calling on you to help us plan for creating the cleaner and greener Bexley of tomorrow". I am fully supportive of the move towards electric vehicles, as long as the electricity that they are powered by comes from renewable, non - polluting sources; if you are using electricity from, for example a coal - fired power station to propel your electric car, all you are doing is shifting the point of pollution. I suspect that the proposed location of any car charging points will be located in Bexleyheath, Sidcup and other points in the South of the borough, rather than in Abbey Wood, Erith or Slade Green in the North. What do you think? Please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the launch of Windows 98. Back in the day, Windows was not an operating system as we know it today; it was a graphical user interface which sat on top of the actual operating system - DOS - which stood for Disk Operating System. From Windows version 1 through various incarnations up to and including the appallingly unreliable Windows ME, all Windows did was act as an easy to use interface on the top of the then already ancient and outdated DOS, which actually did all of the work. DOS was actually an almost like for like copy of an even older command line interface operating system called CP/M. This was deemed acceptable for home use, but not for office and professional use, Microsoft created a second operating system called Windows NT - which stood for New Technology - which was a completely different beast. It was written from the ground up, and was much superior to the DOS based home versions, but had far higher hardware requirements, which were often out of reach for home users - at that time Windows NT in its various guises also had little support for peripherals outside of a tightly controlled list, and it also did not support much in the way of games, the first few versions also ran older 16 bit applications much more slowly than the home versions of Windows. Microsoft had plans to integrate the two operating system versions into a single product, but it proved exceedingly difficult to do, and for many years the two operating systems were sold side by side. Windows 98 was an update to the hugely successful Windows 95. While Windows NT 4.0 pointed to a future free from DOS, the majority of the Windows user base simply did not have the computer hardware to run much more than a souped-up version of Windows 95. Thus Windows 98 appeared to bridge the gap. Codenamed Memphis, the first beta of Windows 98 arrived in 1996 with the final Release To Manufacturing version appearing two years later. USB support came as standard, along with a range of functions intended as a nod to the then new World Wide Web. Applications such as Outlook Express, FrontPage Express and a personal web server appeared as part of the installation. Windows 98 customers were also treated to the joy that was Internet Explorer 4, along with the Active Desktop, which allowed HTML content (such as streaming news headlines) to be shown on the user's desktop at the cost of prodigious amounts of processor power and memory. Windows 98 is regarded as the pinnacle of the Windows 9x era, with an update shipping the following year in the form of Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) including a number of minor enhancements such as the inclusion of Internet Explorer 5. The final iteration, the much derided and incredibly flaky Windows ME, arrived in 2000. With Windows 98, Microsoft cemented its position as the dominant player in the personal computing industry. However, in the midst of its self-congratulatory antics and self-inflicted legal troubles, it entirely failed to notice something else happen in 1998. A company, initially operating out of a garage in California, was incorporated. Its name was Google.

Erith is about to get a new Vicar. The position has been vacant at Christ Church Erith for a little under a year, since the previous incumbent, The Reverend Julie Conalty was promoted, and moved on to a new role as the Archdeacon of Tonbridge. Her replacement will be The Reverend Monica Eunice Cameron, who you can see in the photograph above - click on it for a larger view. Christ Church Erith will be Monica's first role as Vicar - she was Curate in the Parish of St Mary the Virgin Great Shelford, Cambridge, in The Ely Diocese. Prior to joining the priesthood, Monica had a career as a teacher, and also as a solicitor, which should stand her in good stead in Erith. Monica is a widow, and has three daughters, two of whom are adult, whilst the third will be living with her in the vicarage. Monica, who will be using the name of "Mother Monica" whilst in ministry, will be moving into the Vicarage on 14th August 2018 and she will be appointed as the Vicar of Christ Church on 22nd September at 6pm. Monica hopes to grow vegetables in the vicarage garden. I hope to be running a more detailed article on her in the near future.

Now for the weekly safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association; firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Good news again for Barnehurst as we did not have many crimes. The team have carried out various weapon sweeps on the ward in relation to the Mets initiative to reduce violent crime, as several locations have been searched across the ward. If you have any information around knife crime or wish to discuss anything else with the team than please get in contact with us. However if there is an imminent threat or a serious incident than please do not hesitate to call 999. The team have noticed that a black off road motorcycle has been seen riding around Hurstwood Avenue and is being ridden by younger youths. If you happen to have any more information about this than please contact the team. Unfortunately the team will have to cancel our community contact session on Wednesday 4th July at Barnehurst Golf Club. Please join us for our community contact day on Tuesday 10th July at 11am at Barnehurst Golf Course. We will discuss any ward issues that you have and we will also provide residents with crime prevention advice. We will attempt to arrange another contact session before the next one, so please look on the website".  Belvedere ward:- "A resident in Fendyke Rd had her car door opened and cash stolen at approximately 4.30 am on Monday 25th June . The car was not locked. They have got it all on camera. The guy who carried out the theft was white with grey jogging bottoms with a light blue hoodie top. He had a rucksack on his back". Bexleyheath ward:- "We are going to hold our next contact session on Friday 6th July between 1pm and 2pm at the Conservative Club, feel free to pop along if you can. There was a report of criminal damage to two cash machines outside Halifax Bank on the Broadway. This was reported between 23/06/2018 & 25/06/2018. Also there was a report of Theft from person that was reported along The Broadway on the 22/06/2018. We have had no reports of any burglaries or attempted burglaries on the ward which is good news. The team are continuing the World cup patrols and working with local alcohol establishments on our ward to help reduce any ASB. We are also continuing high visibility patrols around Martens Grove and surrounding areas including the garages between Grove Road and Braeside Crescent as this is becoming an area for youths to congregate and misbehave. The team is also conducting regular weapons sweeps on the ward mainly around in car park areas, this is help keep weapons of the streets. A licenced premises on our ward had their licence suspended and another licenced premises had new conditions refused which wanted their licence to be extended until 2am. The team are also dealing with a GBH and Criminal damage as suspects have been identified and is currently being investigated. This had taken place at Goals in the car park area". Crayford ward:- "On Thursday 21 June at 21.30 criminal damage was committed at Grazeley Close. Suspect kicked at door smashing window and damaging a panel. At around the same time a robbery had taken place nearby on open ground close to Hall Place, the suspects were chased and later detained and arrested. It is believed that these incidents are linked. On Thursday 16th at 03.00 a black Ford KA was broken in to at Bourne Mead. The steering column was broken and the log book and car radio was taken. Between 16th and 19th June the river keeper’s area (Crayford Way) by the River Cray was broken in to and a wheelie bin containing aluminium cans were stolen. On Friday 22nd June between 03.30 and 09.00 a white Ford Transit was stolen from outside 10 Mayplace Avenue, number plate NJ62 OPF, the victim still has the keys. On Sunday 17th June between 22.00-22.30 a motorcycle was interfered with at Burgate Close. On Monday 25th June at 21.00 there was a ram raid at HSS, Acorn Industrial Estate. Anti-ram posts were removed and the van reversed hard in to the shutters causing them to buckle and entry to be gained, power tools worth approx £10,000 were stolen. On Monday 25/06/2018 a Male was arrested for offensive weapons after being reported for behaving erratically. A public order offence was committed at Iron Mill Lane on Monday 25th June at 9.15, abuse was shouted in the street. Four tickets were given to people who had been using their mobile phones whilst driving. Our team assisted with the civic parade on Sunday to ensure that all the people taking place were able to parade safely. We have also completed weapons sweeps and foot and mobile patrols around the ward to ensure that Crayford is a safe place to be and to provide reassurance to our residents". Erith ward:- "We will be at the Erith Fun day this year on the 7th July offering free bike marking; be sure to pop along if you need any further advice. I will send an update of the local crimes in Erith later in the week as currently there are a few issues with the system". Northumberland Heath ward:- "We are pleased to announce another week without any reported burglaries on the ward. Reported crime as a whole has been minimal this week with only two of theft of motor vehicle and one of criminal damage. The team were busy over the weekend being called to assist with Borough wide patrols for the World Cup and also conducting plain clothed patrols of the area. During these patrols we conducted one stop and search which started with a male using nitrous oxide canisters and ended up with him being arrested for Possession With Intent To Supply Cannabis and Psychoactive Substances and after a search of his home address being further arrested for Possession of Class A Drugs. We have been in touch with several residents about this potential rise in ASB on the ward and will be out conducting proactive patrols in these areas over the weekend to identify the youths involved, search them wherever the grounds allow and to intervene in the group to disperse them. Our next Contact Session is on Friday 6th July at noon at North Heath Library, Mill Road. Feel free to drop in". Slade Green and North End ward:- "Over the last few years the team has been working closely with L and Q housing association to evict a family well known for causing ASB and involved in vehicle crime. After initially obtaining a suspended possession order, the family continued to breach the order. Yesterday the family of 4 male adults were evicted sending out a very strong message that the police and authorities work together in partnership to evict problem tenants who continue to offend and cause issues in the local community. PC Mark Brookes-Smith has committed a lot of work with L and Q during this time and it is a great result that his hard work has paid off. The only crime of note this week is the theft of a mobility scooter from the car park in Bushey Court. CCTV is being viewed to try and identify the offender(s). The team has completed weapons sweeps in Forest Road, Orchard House and Craydene Open space in the last week as part of Operation Spectre which is set around knife crime. All the sweeps had a negative return. 6 positive stop and searches were carried out by PC Mark and James with several cannabis seizures as a result. PC James arrested a male last week who was wanted for domestic malicious communications. We await to see the outcome of the investigation. PCSO Mark attended the annual Rainbow Road street party on Saturday evening and had a nice time engaging with residents and eating the home made fare on offer. Several residents expressed an interest in taking over the recently vacated Neighbourhood Watch scheme on the estate, watch this space for updates on this". Thamesmead East ward:- "Burglaries - An attempted burglary occurred in Redbourne Drive between 03:00pm on Thursday 21/06/18 and 05:15pm on Friday 22/06/18. Good News - Following an arrest for Cannabis by officers on mobile patrol in Fairway Drive, investigations by PC Nana Quarshie-Awuah are ongoing. Cannabis warning was issued to a male in Yarnton Way by PC Pruden who was accompanied by PCSO Buckley who noticed a small bag of cannabis nearby, which will be destroyed. Future Contact Date - On Thursday 5th July, a Community Contact Session will be held at The Lakeside Health Centre, Yarnton Way between 1 – 2 pm. An opportunity for members of the community to speak with a Dedicated Ward Officer".

As I predicted a while ago, the good weather has seen an increase in the number of illegal moped gangs seen in the local area - the photo above is a screen capture of a video shot in North End Road at the Crayford end recently - it speaks for itself. On Thursday afternoon as I headed towards Morrison's from Erith Station, a scrote wearing a bandanna but no crash helmet hurtled on a motor bike with no number plate through Erith town centre, along Pier Road and down into the High Street - an area that is paved and for the exclusive use of pedestrians. This is fairly typical of the anti social behaviour these scumbags exhibit. There was a report in the London Evening Standard this week which said that a recently leaked Home Office report revealed that an ‘excess supply’ of cocaine following a bumper coca harvest in Colombia has played a role, as moped gangs vie for control of a lucrative drugs market. Furthermore, the document stated that changes in policy to keep young people out of the prison system by handing them community sentences instead of jail time may have allowed violent crime to thrive. Added to this toxic cocktail of factors is anecdotal evidence from police which indicates that the decrease in stop and search since 2009 has meant young people are now more inclined to carry knives because of growing confidence that they will not be stopped. As a response to the rising knife crime rate, targeted, intelligence-led stop and search has ‘significantly increased’ since January, according to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, although total searches remain lower. Professor Simon Harding, a criminologist at The University of West London stated that "‘It’s well-documented that there’s a correlation between increased temperature and elevated crime levels.One theory is that adrenaline and testosterone levels rise in warmer weather, and people are spending more time outside, particularly teenagers on summer holidays. Ways for gang members to gain status and respect are becoming more extreme, which is why we’re seeing hyper-violent acts such as acid attacks and zombie knives. Tension in London is so high at the moment that if we get a spell of good weather it could well kick off into public disorder". Harding points out that it is important to notice the connection between multinational criminal networks involved in large-scale importation of drugs and human trafficking, street gangs dealing drugs and running ‘county lines’ (using younger gang members to shift narcotics business outside of London) and small-scale moped crime such as is prevalent in Bexley. ‘In recent years we’ve seen drugs distributed by moped in what’s become a 24-hour “dial-a-dealer” operation,’ he explained in the article. ‘It tends to be young men, aged between 15 and 22 — the pillion rider can be even younger — and as they drive around dropping off drugs they’re noticing all these “phone zombies” not paying attention to their surroundings. They snatch their gadgets and sell them to Africa or Pakistan in bulk. Each boy is carrying knives, drugs and money, so they become a target for rival gangs.’ Home Secretary Sajid Javid has vowed to ban zombie knives with his new Offensive Weapons Bill, and since October the Metropolitan Police have been employing creative tactics against moped-riding criminals, including buying slimline Scrambler bikes that can drive down narrow streets and ProSpike — a remote-controlled bed of spikes which pop up in the road to puncture the tyres of the illegal moped and motorbike riders. Under the current law, officers can be prosecuted for dangerous driving if there is an accident, leading to moped muggers removing their helmets in the belief that police won’t pursue them. But new pursuit rules, which would make suspects responsible for their own driving, are under review. Some London boroughs such as Havering on the other side of the River Thames have already changed their rules of engagement to become much more aggressive and tenacious when combatting these young criminals. In the embedded video clip below, you can see how Greater Manchester Police are now dealing with moped riding thieves / muggers / drug dealers. The Police have definitely changed tactics for the better, as you will see in the video - the known criminal scumbags did not know what hit them! What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Belvedere Beach.

It would seem that Bexley Council have taken on board the recent protests by residents of Slade Green and parts of Erith in regard of the Bexley Growth Consultation proposal that I featured a couple of weeks ago. It looks very much like the council regard themselves as "being caught on the back foot" following the rather inflammatory protest leaflet that was delivered to the letter boxes of a large number of roads potentially allegedly affected by the proposed changes. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, the lurid claims made in the leaflet have now been investigated, and I have come to the conclusion that they are for the most part pretty far – fetched. I have had private words with a number of people involved with the Bexley Growth Consultation proposal, and off the record it has been said that it is pretty much a “sticking a finger in the air” exercise at present, and that a lot of the suggestions included in the report will never see the light of day, and those that do may not happen for decades. The protest leaflet looks like a classic piece of scare mongering - a case of "never let the facts get in the way of a good story". The new Council leaflet has a wording that definitely reflects the concerns that have been voiced by concerned local residents who have been persuaded by the original inflammatory leaflet that their houses are only months away from being compulsorily purchased and then bulldozed, which could not be any further from the truth. I think the underlying reason for the level of panic is due to the understandable insecurity of many Slade Green and Erith residents. Many are not wealthy, and don't feel that they have any real say in local events. Historically the North of the London Borough of Bexley has been the industrial / manufacturing heart of the area, and where the less privileged members of society tended to live. If one looks at the demographic breakdown of the borough, the Northern areas of Erith and Slade Green shows a higher than average number of residents receiving benefits, and / or being paid the National Living Wage. The people feel disenfranchised, and completely out of control of their local environment. I think this is the reason for the very strong protests at the perceived changes in the original, poorly worded Council proposal document. I do think that whoever created the original protest document may have done so with the best of intentions, but the end result has not been very constructive, and has worried people unnecessarily. The website of Slade Green Together have a far more measured and realistic analysis of the Bexley Growth Consultation proposal, which you can read by clicking here. There has been a major setback to the Bexley Growth Consultation Plans in their current form - and a great victory for the campaign to preserve Crayford and Slade Green Marshes. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has vetoed the proposed massive 149 acre rail marshalling yard, warehousing and a bridge over the River Cray. The development had been approved by Bexley Council (no surprises there) but blocked by Dartford Council - who share administration over the marshes. In a letter to Bexley Council, Sadiq Khan said: “Having now considered a report on this case, I do not consider the proposal would achieve the modal shifts from road to rail freight within London envisaged within my Draft Transport Strategy, and therefore there are not demonstrable benefits for London which would outweigh the loss of London’s Green Belt. I direct you to refuse planning permission, under the powers conferred on me by article 6 of the above Order. The proposal is inappropriate development in the Green Belt and very special circumstances have not been demonstrated which would clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm.” A significant portion of Bexley's regeneration plans were centred around development of the marshes, and the associated construction in and around Slade Green. I get the feeling that much of these plans will now need to be substantially revisited following the decision of the Mayor of London, which overrides that of the individual boroughs by statute. 

In a move that many long - term readers may see as supremely ironic, The local studies and archive centre located on the upper floor of Bexleyheath Library has just won a national accreditation. Bexley’s Local Studies and Archive Centre has been awarded Archive Service Accreditation. The service has met defined national standards relating to management and resourcing, the care of its unique collections and what it offers to its wide range of users. In an interview with the Bexley Times,  Councillor Peter Craske said:- “Local people are proud of the borough and its past and the centre works with people if all ages to help them appreciate our rich culture and history. The team’s passion and enthusiasm is clear to anyone who uses the service or visits the centre and I am delighted that their hard work has been recognised". Those readers with a long memory will recall that I highlighted the threat to merge Bexley local / historical records with Bromley back in October 2013; you can read what I wrote at the time by clicking here. It is instructive to note how Bexley Council can go from wanting to close the archive facility less than four years ago - albeit to a storm of protest, to now taking credit for the unit now being awarded a prestigious accreditation now. Craske and his cronies seem to underestimate local people who recall how the councillors acted back in the day. It would appear in this case the council now wish to take credit for saving something that they actively tried to destroy. 

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I asked if anyone knew what had happened to renowned local fisherman Dave Pearce, who had been the last commercial Eel fisherman on the River Thames. I was extremely surprised to get an Email from the man himself - it turns out that he is a long time Maggot Sandwich reader. Dave writes:- "How I became the last eel fisherman by Dave Pearce. Fishing was in my blood; my great grandfather. Owned several fishing boats fishing out of Erith in the mid 1800s,  and a wet fish shop. Skip a generation. My two uncles. Ron and Bill Dott both well known in Erith. took up fishing. Bill fishing and Ron making gear and repairing it. The boats. from a early age, 3 or 4 I was always with them - boats and fishing was my life. I loved it; at a young age Ron and I built the Harry Boy a 35 foot trawler that I fished in the Thames, regularly landing fish in Erith. One day I saw someone eeling in long reach  had a chat with them and thought I'd have a go - that was 1990 ish  and I did OK. I had a mate with me called Gary Cochran - we both liked the life - you had to, as it was dirty hard work with odd hours. We fished 6 days a week and too the eels to Billingsgate on a Tuesday morning. The season was from April till end of November always glad to pack up by then as  the back usually hurt by then, but after a few weeks I couldn't wait to start again. When I started there were 12 teams eeling between Tower Bridge and Canvey Island. They gradually packed up or retired, but I still loved it I also got to work at The Natural History Museum doing fish surveys. About 2010 I started to slow down eel fishing  and doing other work still on the river that I love. If you see a red workboat going past Erith it's probably me. I would say about  2014/5 I packed up eel fishing. Very sad time I was probably the last fisherman out of Erith. In those years I learned a lot about eels and the river of no use to anyone but me. Never say never! I still own a fishing boat, got my nets, and I am still licenced to fish eels. One day one day I hope to wet a net again . I could go on for ages about  the good days I well remember and the bad days I sooner forget. but I guess I have said enough already, so over and out. Dave Pearce". Excellent stuff, and really fascinating reading; I hope to see Dave back out in his little work boat soon. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The controversial Belvedere Beach play area in Woolwich Road, Upper Belvedere opened on Thursday of last week. It takes the place of the incredibly popular and well used Belvedere Splash Park that was closed down two years ago after much wrangling and anger from local residents. A campaign was set up to preserve the Splash Park, but Bexley Council chose to ignore the overwhelming opposition to the park closure. The Belvedere Beach is a sort of compromise; some of the features of the old park have been retained, but the overall new park layout is substantially different; what the children and their parents will make of the Belvedere Beach remains to be seen. In a not unexpected move, local Councillor Peter Craske (remember him from earlier?) said in an interview in the News Shopper that "Belvedere Beach is a tremendous landmark that will be here for years to come. Both contemporary and unique, children of all abilities will be able to take part in themed, imaginary play, and with the on-site facilities, families can now stay and play for longer. The new playground will also be open all year round and is yet another reason to come and visit our fantastic borough. I am looking forward to the opening next week and hope to see lots of people there!" Craske seems to turn up for the opening of an envelope, so I suppose the comments are really just to be expected. Upon the opening, he was quoted in the News Shopper as saying:- "I’d like to thank all those involved in this project for everything you have done to turn what was an idea on a piece of paper into reality, creating something unique - not just for Bexley but beyond that too. Without the funding from Cory Environmental Trust, strong team work and creativity that everyone involved has shown we would not have a playground of this incredibly high standard that is opening well ahead of schedule and in time for the school holidays. I'm so proud of what you have all achieved". He really does seem to be everywhere. If you have visited the revamped park, do let me know what you think of it. Does it live up to the hype?

The photo above shows a fly tipped fridge / freezer which was illegally dumped in Hind Crescent, close to the entrance to The Urgent Care Unit at Erith Hospital. The person who took the photograph noted that the fridge / freezer was right in the middle of the footpath, and anyone with a visual disability might well trip over it and possibly injure themselves on the sharp and rusty exposed metal. I know that I am far from being alone in wanting far more rigorous enforcement of fly tipping; the discredited company Kingdom Services supposedly enforcing the litter ban in Bexleyheath Broadway might be more productive if they were to patrol the streets of the borough to catch and prosecute the commercial fly tippers. Whilst much of the UK suffers from problems of this nature, the issue in South East London and North Kent seems to be especially bad.

Local arts and design commissioning group The Exchange invited proposals from practitioners with ideas to transform London’s longest pier in Erith into a piece of art for the period of the Totally Thames Festival 2017 in September. 75 artists, designers, architects, performers and creatives submitted ideas to use this newest and most unique public art space. Submissions came from all over the world and the quality was exceptional. The judging panel – that included The Exchange, sponsors Orbit and Wates Residential, local artists Guy Tarrant and Gary Drostle, The Decorators (responsible for Erith Lighthouse), Totally Thames, and the Port of London Authority – whittled the list down to four applicants. These four final ideas were then put out to public vote, that was collected online and in Erith Library, which finished on Friday. Julia Snowdin’s ‘Changing Sails’ aimed to work with the community to decorate ships’ sails that would hang around the pier; The City Art’s Doctors proposed to create listening posts, shaped like clay pipes, which would project stories of Erith; Oliver Palmer wanted to recreate Callender’s Cable Works Brass Band with a sound installation and performances; and Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs proposed to create urban auricles that would amplify the sounds of the Thames and industrial Erith. The result of the public vote will be published on Monday. More information can be found by clicking here. The piece will be installed by 6 September, to tie in with the Totally Thames Festival and the Erith Lighthouse project. This will be a major cultural and social event in Erith - something that we have not had before; I for one am very excited by the various projects and will be covering them in some extensive detail - watch this space.

A story was published in the Bexley Times last week which I understand has annoyed many people, and I can fully understand why. Despite a London-wide focus on the behaviour and a spate of moped-related acid and knife attacks earlier this month, Detective Inspector Dawn Morris has said police cannot always pursue every suspicious moped rider. “Our officers have to consider whether chasing after a suspect is always the safest thing to do, or if it could endanger the public, officers or the suspect, In those cases we tend to request support from a police helicopter, or lay down puncture strips, which let down wheels slowly to prevent any accidents. While we may not always make an immediate arrest after an incident, these types of criminals don’t tend to want to dump their vehicle and walk the 10 miles home after using them, so we’re developing a picture of where they are and how we can stop them by basing our patrols in the correct areas. We are also working with the public to show them how to better protect their bikes by making them more secure with better locks and using traceable liquids like SmartWater so bikes can be identified as their own under an ultraviolet light. We are also monitoring websites to see if anyone is trying to sell the stolen vehicles online.” Police say the rising concern of stolen bikes and mopeds can be linked to incidents of robbery and violence in the borough, with the vehicles also used to snatch phones from victim’s hands as riders drive past. I feel that one comment made by Detective Inspector Morris is most telling; Her line:- "Our officers have to consider whether chasing after a suspect is always the safest thing to do, or if it could endanger the public, officers or the suspect" (my emphasis). I think the senior Police officer is fundamentally misreading the mood of the public when it comes to moped and motor cycle related crime. The Police already acknowledge that the illegal moped riders deliberately do not wear helmets as they are fully aware of the Police "Rules of Engagement" that prohibit officers from chasing un-helmeted riders as the illegal riders might crash and hurt themselves. The criminals are laughing at authority. Feedback that I have received is pretty much unanimous - the Police need to change their policy, chase the criminal scumbags, and if required, ram them off the road, and if as a consequence a few crooks get injured, then so be it. I know, as I have previously mentioned, that Dagenham and Redbridge Police are dropping the Met - wide non engagement rule, following a radio debate I took part in on Time 107.5 FM on the 3rd of July, where the Borough Commander of Dagenham and Redbridge Police stated that they were about to trial a new policy of engagement, that, if successful would very likely be expanded to cover all Metropolitan Police areas. Whilst I doubt a change in pursuit policy would deter the hardcore moped criminals, the thought that they might be taking their next meal through a drip might deter many. Secondly Detective Inspector Morris is largely mistaken in thinking that mopeds are sold online after being used in criminal activity; from what my sources tell me, after being used, most stolen motorbikes and mopeds are broken for spare parts, which are then sold on, as the parts are far harder to trace than whole vehicles.  On top of this, moped crooks are getting wise to vehicles fitted with immobilisers - recently they are starting to rip off the immobilisers on certain models of Vespa scooter, and then wire in their own, hacked immobiliser unit which then allows them to start the vehicle and illegally ride it away. The stolen bikes are then used in muggings, car jackings, illegal drug deliveries and most publicly, in the recent alarming spate of acid attacks. Gangs such as Bike Life TV UK also stage illegal "rides" around places including Thamesmead and Lower Belvedere, as I have written about in detail in the past. What do you think? Should the Police institute a tougher policy on bike crooks, or are things fine as they are? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

A further Police related story - you have none for ages, then two turn up together. I am surprised at how many local people are unaware of the threat of closure to Bexleyheath Police Station. It has been proposed that Bexleyheath police station is sold off and services moved to Sidcup. This has been vigorously opposed by MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford David Evennett.  The proposal is to close and sell off Bexleyheath Police Station (which has already lost its custody suite and cells) and move everything to Marlowe House in Sidcup, right on the far South of the Borough. This would leave the entire borough with only one fully active Police Station. What also concerns me is that if Police make an arrest say in Lower Belvedere, they then have to go all the way across the Borough to Sidcup in order to get the felon processed - which could take them off active duty for several hours. This definitely sounds like an idea that has not been properly thought through - I feel the law of unintended consequences coming into play once again. I do appreciate that nowadays the Police are lot more mobile than they once were, and don't all sit in the Police station waiting for a 999 call to come in, then all run out Keystone Cops style, but the message this sends to crooks is a poor one.

A message from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association:- "Can everyone remember that with the summer comes the unwanted door knockers touting for Gardening / tree pruning work, Roofing/guttering cleaning , and Driveway work. These cold callers are usually in unmarked transit vans and not in any kind of company uniform but you may see them slowly driving around looking at houses. Likewise, they will often put a card through doors if nobody answers when they knock, but can I just remind everyone to please look out for their elderly neighbours as these are often the easy target for chancers, and that if you haven't personally called anyone or don't actually need the work done, don't answer the door but if you do DON'T be talked into having any work done". Reports from a Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator in Barnehurst reads:- "Two reps from Safe Style UK Windows knocked on my door and said they were doing work for a neighbour and offered me a quote. They were a bit pushy, but I agreed to have a quote from them. Soon afterwards, another neighbour said they were calling further down the road, saying I was having work done by them, as if in recommendation. I cancelled my appointment but would caution others that they are at least guilty of misrepresentation". From The Colyers Safer Neighbourhood Team:-"There were 2 reported burglaries, 1 commercial burglary in Erith Road on 24th July. Suspect forced entry via a glass panel in the early hours of the morning. Cosmetics and food were stolen. Suspect identified by CCTV and arrested. Investigation ongoing There was also 1 attempted burglary on the morning of the 19th July in Edendale Road where an attempt to enter by forcing the kitchen window. Entry was not gained and nothing was taken. No CCTV or witnesses. There have been 3 thefts from motor vehicles this week. One in Badlow Close on the morning of the 19th July where a lock was forced and a bag stolen from the foot well of the car. There was no CCTV and no suspects were seen. Another was in the early hours of the 21st July in Cumbrian Avenue where the wheel trims were stolen from a vehicle. There were no witnesses or CCTV and no viable leads. Lastly there were some number plates stolen from a car in Northumberland Way sometime between the 18th-21st July. There was 1 criminal Damage to a vehicle in Larner Road overnight between the 12th-13th July where a known suspect poured paint on the victims vehicle due to an alleged parking dispute. Investigation ongoing. Our next surgery is on Thursday 27th July in the Community Centre, Blackberry Patch, Badlow Close at 6pm". A report from the Erith Safer Neighbourhood Team:- "There has been an increase in theft of number plates in Erith we are trying to get hold of some security screws that will hand out to local residents that request them. We had a successful ward panel meeting with a record turnout and Jerry Martin was voted in as our new chairman. We are going to increase patrols in the area - that was brought up from the meeting – more on this to follow". 

The ending video this week shows one of the newly installed cycle path barriers on the Thames Cycle Path at Abbey Wood, close to Thamesmead; apologies that the video is in vertical / portrait format, but that is how it was supplied to me by a long - time Maggot Sandwich reader who chooses to remain anonymous. It is most definitely worth a watch, and really highlights how council tax payers money has been wasted in a poorly planned and even more poorly executed piece of very expensive street furniture. Give the video a watch, and either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.