The New Light.

The transformation of the former Royal Alfred pub in Manor Road, Erith is now complete. Whilst the Premier mini market has now been open for some time, after the Bains family relocated the corner shop business from their old location on the opposite side of Appold Street to the former pub, which they have extensively refurbished and repurposed into a mixed residential and retail facility. The Royal Alfred was for many years known locally as "The New Light" due to Thames sailing barge crews using the light from the pub as a navigation aid whilst sailing up river towards Erith. The top photo was taken by me last Wednesday afternoon, and shows what the exterior of the historic local building looks like with the permanent branding and signage now in place; the lower photo shows what the Royal Alfred looked like back in 1932 - compare and contrast. 

I had an Email on Thursday from a local person who wishes to remain anonymous; they write:- "My attention has been drawn to a piece you wrote on gambling a few weeks ago. I just wanted to share that gamblers anonymous has operated weekly meetings in Bexley for over 20 years. We currently run meetings at Hurst community centre in Sidcup on Thursday and Friday evenings at 7.45. Anyone who is struggling with their gambling is welcome to attend and no appointment is necessary. We can be contacted here, although we cannot share our names publicly. It is our experience that the landscape has changed with far more men aged 18 to 25 and women attending meetings since a change in the law about 12 years ago that allowed widespread gambling advertising. If your gambling is causing problems or you gamble to avoid your problems please come and see us".

I had a conversation on Friday afternoon with one of the assistant managers in Morrison's in Erith; I was very surprised to discover that their most popular food item sold in the period between Christmas and the New Year is sliced bread and bread rolls. It was explained to me that many people have leftover turkey, beef and gammon from their Christmas meal, and rather than eat anything very elaborate, they buy bread in order to turn the leftovers into sandwiches. I suppose that it makes sense, though it had never occurred to me before. I do know that the giant Hovis bakery in Northumberland Heath has been working overtime - it bakes bread under contract for a number of retailers, including Marks and Spencer, so maybe the Christmas / New Year sandwich tradition is something common to the wider country, and not just the local area. On a more negative note, The biggest problem facing Morrison’s in Erith is Morrison’s themselves. The company have become so complacent about their position as the “go to” supermarket for the area that it is alienating their formerly loyal customers.  For example, the Erith store stays open to 10pm on Monday to Saturday, but if you go in the shop much after 7.30pm, both the fishmonger and the self service salad bar are closed. In my opinion these should be open until the dot of closing time, and not as seems to be the case at present, open to suit the needs of the staff. Last Sunday afternoon, I went into Erith Morrison's at 2.45pm in order to purchase a mixed salad from the fresh salad bar. When I got there, the salad bar was closed, and had been for some time, as it takes over half an hour for the staff to remove all of the salad containers from the display and to clean it ready for the next day. Bearing in mind the store was not due to close for another hour and a quarter, I felt this was unacceptable. On top of this, whilst many of the staff are efficient and friendly, there are a significant minority who are surly, unhelpful and stand around chatting rather than serving customers. This is not the kind of behaviour I would expect to see in a big name organisation of this type. Unless Morrison’s can pull their metaphorical socks up, they will continue to have customers voting with their feet and taking their custom elsewhere. Morrison's has had a virtual monopoly on consumable retail in Erith for nearly twenty years, and a shake up can only be good for the consumer - this will be coming  soon in the form of the new Lidl store planned for Fraser Road,  on what is currently the site of the retail unit containing Topps Tiles, Screwfix, and the Bath Store. This row of shops has never been very popular or successful, and I can understand the thinking behind the move. I know that some local residents are concerned about the new Lidl causing more traffic congestion, and I agree, this is a real concern; the whole of Erith, from Bronze Age Way, into Queen's Road and the whole Bexley Road roundabout and bridge is locked solid with traffic on regular occasions, and almost continuously from around midday on Fridays for some unknown reason. On the plus side, Lidl will provide some real commercial competition from Morrison's. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Over the recent Christmas period, a lot of gifts were exchanged, and it is my belief that one class of present that would almost certainly have been given in good faith may well be skirting with the law; specifically, a range of hand held retro games consoles that have been available to buy online from major retailers including Amazon. The range of handheld retro 8 and 16 bit games consoles come from a number of Chinese suppliers. The one pictured above - click on the photo for a larger view - is a close copy of the original GameBoy Colour produced by Nintendo, which was produced between 1998 and 2003, when it was replaced by the GameBoy Advance. The original GameBoy Colour used small ROM cartridges to store the various games that were available for it. The Chinese clone version shown above is somewhat more sophisticated. The internal ROM memory of the handheld device stores a total of 168 different classic games. The unit is charged via a USB port and has an internal rechargeable battery which gives around six hours of game play. The whole Chinese handheld console, along with various accessories costs just £19.99 delivered to your door. Many other variants are also available, some with bigger screens, a greater number of games and many other features; prices range from the modest unit pictured above, to around £49.99 for a unit that closely resembles a Sony PS Vita and has a total of 3,000 games pre - installed. This is where the real problem exists. The games software installed on all of these Chinese handhelds is pirated. The manufacturers have either directly copied the original games, or have "cloned" the games - changing the name, and occasionally a couple of the graphics, but it is readily apparent that the software is of external origin. The handheld console pictured above comes preinstalled with (amongst many others):- Galaxian, Ms Pac Man, Defender, Lode Runner, Space Invaders, Dig Dug, Tetris, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Super Mario Brothers and Batman - the caped crusader. Apart from these classic 8 bit games, there are a number of "original" games which use themes stolen from their intellectual property owners - there is a "Harry Potter" game which has nothing whatsoever to do with JK Rowling, for example. Whilst many of the classic games are now a couple of decades or more old, they are still able to make an income for their original creators. These Chinese handhelds are doing nothing more than stealing from the game creators. Ironically, As with almost all mass media in the country, video games in China are subject to the policies of censorship. Content in video games is overseen by the State Administration of Radio and Television (SART); publishers are to obtain a license for the game in China from SART before publishing, which may be denied if the game contains elements deemed inappropriate. The process to submit games for a license and put them on sale following that is overseen by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In fact, handheld and full sized games consoles were banned in 2000 due to fears that the devices — and the worlds produced by them — had a negative effect on the mental and physical development of children. In 2015, China eased those restrictions by allowing game consoles to be manufactured in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone and sold in the rest of China subject to cultural inspections. In July 2015, the ban on video game consoles within the country was lifted. According to a statement from the country's Ministry of Culture, companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft — among others — will now be allowed to manufacture and sell video game consoles anywhere in the country. This is somewhat ironic when one considers that various Chinese companies have been making knock - off games consoles for sale in the rest of the world for quite some time. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Although technically not local, Romford based radio station Time 107.5FM is listened to by many people in the Thamesmead / Abbey Wood / Belvedere / Erith / Slade Green area. It is an excellent station which in my opinion epitomises exactly what local radio should be. They are very much community focussed, and interact very closely with their audience. This has certainly paid off for them; in two recent RAJAR polls, Time 107.5FM came out as the radio station with the longest listener hours in the entire UK - basically listeners listen to Time longer than listeners listen to any other radio station in the country - including the likes of BBC Radio 2 and 4, and way ahead of any commercial station. This has brought benefits to what is a tiny radio station in the greater scheme of things. For a start they have been able to charge higher rates for their large commercial advertisers. Conversely their advertising rates for small local businesses have been kept low, and they advertise charities and other not for profit organisations for free. Being a small radio station has its downsides, however. At 9.40AM yesterday morning, they went off air. I don't know if the station has a dedicated engineer (I suspect not), but it took them nearly half an hour to get back on air, only to go back off air a quarter of an hour later. I understand that they had a similar problem on Friday as well. Larger stations will have dedicated technical staff, and a backup transmitter, but a small community station such as Time does not have that luxury.

The News Shopper has reported during the last week that commercial property developer Berkeley, who were given permission in 2017 to build shops and more than 110 flats in the historic ‘Building 10’ at the Royal Arsenal site in Woolwich. Berkeley have been back to the council requesting more commercial space. The developer will now have 3,215 square metres of shops – up from the previously agreed 1,747 square metres. Berkley’s plans for the Arsenal site include hundreds of homes, shops and a courtyard across Building 10 and 11. It comes as the council continues developing The Woolwich Creative District, which will see listed buildings at the Arsenal renovated into a cultural quarter of venues, studios and rehearsal space. What many people do not realise is that the Woolwich Arsenal site was used extensively to design and build Britain's early nuclear weapons during the 1950's and the start of the 1960's. After carrying out some historical research, I am astonished that there was not a serious accident on the site, which could have ended up in wiping out a vast swathe of South East London. This might sound like hyperbole but I can assure you that is is not. Britain’s early nuclear weapons were more than a little crude and shambolic; they lacked basic safety and security features, and potentially could go off on their own if the conditions were right - they were very much "built on the cheap". The main early post war bomb was called the Violet Club; it was a large implosion type un-boosted fission weapon that used a very large amount of Uranium 235 (which was less expensive and hard to enrich than the more efficient and powerful Plutonium 239 that the Americans and Russians used). Because of the very large weight – over 70 kilos of fissile material were used, the bomb was actually greater than critical mass (the amount of weapons grade fissile material needed to create a nuclear explosion) and could theoretically go off with very little provocation - a nearby thunder storm or electrical arc welding in its vicinity could in theory have caused it to spontaneously detonate. The safety features on the weapon would have been laughable had the subject not been so serious. The arming switch of the bomb was secured with a bicycle padlock and an Allen key. The hollow sphere of Uranium 235 that made up the warhead was filled up with 20,000 steel ball bearings, so that if the weapon did have its’ conventional explosive trigger accidentally go off, the sphere could not be crushed and go supercritical, causing a massive nuclear explosion. The ball bearings had to be removed before the weapon was ready to use. The trouble was, during routine maintenance, the bombs needed to be rotated to access various panels (including those that contained the bombs’ internal power supplies – a couple of six volt lead / acid motorbike batteries – (I told you these bombs were built on the cheap). There are several documented occasions when the rubber bung holding the ball bearings in place fell out when the bomb was turned upside down, and all the ball bearings fell out over the floor. This left a very live and unpredictable weapon that could have gone off spontaneously. While the Air Staff of the RAF ordered twelve Violet Club bombs, only five were made, and as British author Chris Gibson put it in his book Vulcan's Hammer "From the RAF's point of view, that was five too many." Other problems with the bomb included the fact that The weight of the ball-bearings increased the bomb's weight to 11,250 lbs which was greater than the capacity of not only the bomb release mechanisms of the V-Bombers but also the ground-transport equipment of the bomb. The outflow of bearings took at least half an hour under ideal conditions - in cold weather, the ball bearings could freeze together, making arming the weapon near-impossible. Once the bomb was armed by allowing the ball-bearings to flow out of the centre of the warhead, there was on way of making the weapon safe again. In fact, engine running was prohibited even with Violet Club "safed" as it was feared vibration would cause the plastic plug to fall out and inadvertently arm the weapon. Because the bomb was armed irreversibly, airborne alerts were impossible because take off and landing were too hazardous to attempt with an armed Violet Club. Dispersal of the V-force to outlying fields was impossible as the bomb couldn't be flown to the dispersal airfield and the bomb transport equipment couldn't handle the Violet Club when it had its ball-bearings in place. With such an unwieldy weapon, why was it even fielded? First of all, remember that the British were classifying the Violet Club as megaton-class weapon by calling it the Interim Megaton Weapon. It definitely was not a megaton weapon, perhaps more 400 kilotons at best, but certainly the tests at Christmas Island in 1957 did indicate to the Americans the British were succeeding at fielding their own H-bombs- even if those test detonations failed to created the desired thermonuclear reaction. So who was the target of the Violet Club? While serving notice to the Soviet Union that Britain was still a force to be reckoned with, it seems that perhaps the Americans were the target, so to speak - with a weapon in their inventory called Interim Megaton Weapon implying that newer designs forthcoming and the tests in 1957 making a good show of things despite failing to work as planned, in 1958 the United States repealed the McMahon Act and resumed full nuclear cooperation with the United Kingdom. The Green Grass warhead used in Violet Club would be the last all-British nuclear weapon as a new Mutual Defence Agreement signed as part of the repeal of the McMahon Act meant British designers now had access to more advanced and compact American designs. In fact, the successor to the much-despised Violet Club, the Yellow Sun Mk.2, used an Anglicised American Mk.28 thermonuclear warhead. But no other fission weapon ever fielded by any other nation approached the explosive yield of the Violet Club. The Violet Club bombs assembled at Woolwich Arsenal were thankfully the last of their kind - if one of the sensitive and accident prone weapons had detonated in Woolwich Arsenal , its 400 Kiloton warhead would have destroyed an area of around twelve miles in diameter. Luckily this did not happen, but if it had the geography of London and North Kent would be very different nowadays.

Before the main Neighbourhood Watch updates, a special report from From Mick Chattenton, Chief Inspector Neighbourhoods, Borough Police. Mick writes:- "On Wednesday 19/12/2018 Crayford SNT were advised that a black handbag had been taken out of the river Cray on Sunday 16/12/2018. It was believed that items within may have been stolen and the bag was kept in a safe place awaiting our collection from a local business. Our enquiries showed that the items including engraved silver goblets and an engraved silver tray as well as other ceremonial items had been stolen by means of an Asian Gold burglary in Bexley on Saturday 15/12/2018. We returned the items to the rightful owners who were delighted to receive them back as they have such sentimental and religious value. Whilst we were just doing our job in collecting and returning these items this is a great time to acknowledge the benefits of local neighbourhood policing and working with our local community. Many thanks to the Penny Farthing at Waterside, Crayford for the part they have played in restoring these items to their rightful owner". Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly from Barnehurst ward:- "There was a burglary reported on Sunday 06/01/2019 along Parkside Avenue. Entry was gained via the front door of the property as the door was not double locked. Vehicles were also stolen from the same address". Next for Belvedere ward, and an update on the homeless people reported last week:- "The homeless persons remain at the disused Belvedere Police station in Nuxley Road. The team have been speaking to the males at the location frequently and have assisted them in seeking medical assistance. We have also been working extensively with Bexley Council, Belvedere ward councillors and other agencies to assist in finding suitable accommodation for each of them. The female that was at the location has been placed in shelter elsewhere and we are hoping that the remaining two males will soon be placed in suitable accommodation. There have been two burglary reports recently – the first from a male who resides at a house of multiple occupancy in Ashburnham Road. Over the Christmas period his room was entered and a games console was taken along with a small amount of money. There was damage to a window suggesting that this was the method of entry. The second occurred in Abbey Road on Monday 7th January 2019 – the female occupant returned home from work to find that unknown person(s) have gained access to her home via a rear door of the property. It is apparent that the address was approached via an alleyway adjacent to the rear of the property which can be accessed by Monks Close or New Road. Damage had been caused to the lock of the door when entry was gained. A substantial amount of money had been taken from the property. Should anyone have seen anything in relation to this incident (between 9 a.m and 1 p.m) on that date, please contact the team on 0208 721 2050. A resident contacted the team on Monday 7th January to report that they had discovered a knife which had been placed in their recycling bin. This was subsequently recovered by the team and has been taken to Bexleyheath Police station for destruction. Our next Community Contact session is due to take place on Wednesday 16th January from 4pm at the Belvedere library in Woolwich Road". Bexleyheath ward:- "Here is our brief summary of what the team has been doing over the last week and what's been happening. Unfortunately we have had two reports of burglary on the ward: Izane Road – Suspect forcing open rear door on Monday 07/01/2019; Epsom Close – Entry forced into the porch area of the property. Car keys stolen, two cars taken on Sunday 06/01/2019. On Friday 04/01/2019 – There was a report of a purse stolen from Poundland along the Broadway Bexleyheath. Also there was a report of a theft from person on Friday 04/01/2019 – a member of public was a victim of pickpocketing along the Broadway. Also, here are two reports of theft from motor vehicles: Theft from motor vehicle - Midhurst Hill, tools taken – Saturday 05/01/2019; Theft from motor vehicle – Birchington Close Tuesday 01/01/2019. Tablet taken & vehicle damaged. There was also one report for theft of motor vehicle along Iris Avenue / Upton Road on Friday 04/01/2019. Below are reports for criminal damage to motor vehicles: Methuen Road – Between Friday 04/01 – Saturday 05/01/2019 vehicle ignition barrelled but not taken. Near Iris Avenue – vehicle parked up doors found open. Police attended and secured vehicle, Friday 04/01/2019. The team are regularly conducting targeted patrols for burglary and anti-social behaviour. Also there was stops made in the ASDA car park in Bexleyheath, this was in relation to vehicles with drives causing anti-social behaviour. Forthcoming event:This Friday 11/01/2019, the team has a contact session between 2pm & 3pm at Café Nero on the Broadway. If you do wish to pass on information to Police then please contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111. Please do not hesitate to contact us via Twitter, Facebook, email and the ward phone. Remember in an emergency please dial 999 and 101 for non-urgent reporting". Crayford ward:- "We are really sorry to say it has been a productive week for burglars and thieves in our local area. On Sunday 30th December a child's mini moto was stolen from a garden shed in Dale Road, it is a blue and white Yamaha Moto X with a number 7 on the side, it is for a child aged 7-10 years. On Thursday 3rd January a black Peugeot motor cycle GK65 KVX was stolen without keys by means of the steering lock being broken in Marden Crescent. On Friday 4th January at 2.15 am residents were woken by footsteps within their home and realised that their BMW was being stolen. The person driving crashed the vehicle nearby and was arrested at the scene. A road rage incident occurred in London Road on Friday 4th January at 18.45 and a blue Ford had a damaged door and smashed window, the suspect was driving a red Vauxhall. On Saturday 5th January at 2.20am a taxi driver reported that his Vauxhall Zafira had been criminally damaged in Woodside Road. A silver Peugeot KS02NXK was stolen from Woodfall Drive between 22.00 on Thursday 3rd January and 12.00 on Friday 4th January without keys. On Saturday 5th January between 01.00-06.00 there was an attempted burglary in Grazeley Close. The suspect attempted to gain entry by pushing out the glass in the top of the front door, there were tool marks around the door, thankfully the door was double locked and no entry was gained. At 5.30am on Sunday 6th January a member of the public reported seeing a young male smashing a window at a property in Iron Mill Lane. The property was entered and a untidy search was made, it is not known what may have been stolen at this time. We will be knocking on doors around the area of Hall Place later this week as part of our street-a-week initiative". Erith ward:- "Please beware that there has been reports of a theft in Fit4LESS in Erith the report read items left in locked locker, when returned to locker door was forced open and wallet and other items taken, bank card was used in this time as well. So please be on your guard if you use this gym. Staff members are fully aware of this. Upcoming dates of note: Erith Ward panel meeting – Thursday 17th January 1900 Erith Pier Road Police station; Contact Point – Friday 11th January Costa Coffee Erith 11am; Contact Point – Thursday 17th January Erith Library 2pm. Crimes of note for the week: C/Dam Vehicle Thursday 03/01/2019 Parkspring Court, Erith High Street; Shoplift >£199 Thursday 03/01/2019 Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, James Watt Way; Shoplift £200 Thursday 27/12/2018 11:15:00 Wilkinson, Town Square – Items stolen from store; Making off Thursday 03/01/2019 Wm Morrison Service Station, James Watt Way; Burg Res Wednesday 02/01/2019 Rutland Gate – Front door damaged; Making off Morrisons, James Watt Way – Car filled up driven off; C/Dam Vehicle Friday 04/01/2019, St. Fidelis Road – Damage to car; Criminal Damage U500 04/01/2019 Saltford Close; Theft of MV Monday 07/01/2019 Victoria Road – Van stolen; Other theft Tuesday 08/01/2019 Fit4Less Erith High Street – Items stolen from gym from a padlocked locker – Please be aware if you use this gym that someone has broken in to the lockers". Northumberland Heath ward:- "Not a great start to the new year with a burglary in Bronte Close on Thursday January 3rd between 8.30pm – 8.15pm. The victim received a call from Police at 8pm stating that two of his vehicles had been stolen, one a Mercedes Compressor, the other vehicle was a Ford Transit van which had been burnt out. Sadly, when the victim returned home he discovered that his property had been broken in to via a rear kitchen window. A number of high value items were stolen including watches and jewellery. One commercial burglary also overnight on Thursday January 3rd at the Brook Street Cemetery. The following morning the groundsman discovered a brick outbuilding had been broken in to. A hedge cutter, leaf blower and a chainsaw were stolen. Unfortunately we have had another attempted burglary in Northumberland Park at 7.30am on Wednesday January 9th. The victim heard banging noises from the rear of the property. The victim went downstairs but did not see anything. Entry was not made and nothing was taken. Two theft from motor vehicles this week, both of vehicle number plates. The first took place overnight in Brook Street between Saturday January 5th 3pm to Sunday January 6th at 9.20am when the victim discovered them missing. The second theft of Vehicle registration plates occurred overnight on Sunday January 6th and was discovered missing by the victim early on Monday morning. The team have been busy out and about patrolling and have conducted a number of stop and searches which have resulted in cannabis seizures".

Slade Green and Northend ward:- "There was a shed burglary reported overnight on Tuesday 2nd January in Festival Close. The suspect(s) got in via the back garden fence and stole gardening equipment from the shed. As a result of our follow up visit the victim is now going to register to set up a new N.watch for Festival Close. 2 vehicle crimes reported overnight on Friday 4th January. A vehicle was stolen from Brompton Drive and one vehicle had criminal damage by way of being keyed in Sheppey Close. Both these incidents are close to each other but no details at this stage to show they are linked. Overnight on Monday 7th January, number plates were stolen from a vehicle in Springhead Road j/w Manor Road. A stolen vehicle was recovered yesterday (Wednesday 09th January) by PC's Mark and James in Hollywood Way (photo above) after recent intel reports of some suspicious vehicles on the estate. Robust patrols will be ongoing. A recent good result from court with the following statement released: 'On Wednesday 3rd January 2019 Desmond Bartley of Frobisher Road, Erith pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault which occurred on 11/10/18 at Tesco Express,119 North End Road, Erith. He was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £200.' In the last week there have been positive stop and searches made by PC's Mark and James with drugs seized and one suspect due back for an interview". Thamesmead East ward:- "Thamesmead East has again been hit with car crime this week. Don't be a target Don't leave your valuables in plain sight Remove all Satnav mounts along with suction cup marks on windscreen. Cables left on show alert criminals to possible property left inside the vehicle. Burglary - No Burglaries this week. Theft of motor vehicle - Kale Road Thursday 3/01/19 between 1am – 10:45am Theft of motor cycle from outside the venue by unknown suspect/s; Criminal damage to a motor vehicle Saturday 5/1/19 between 2am – 10am By suspect/s smashing vehicle window, unknown at this time if any property has been removed from within. Curlew Close Saturday 5/1/19 between 8am – Sunday 7:45am Suspect/s have smashed vehicle window nothing taken from within. Theft from motor vehicle Thamesbank Place on Thursday 3/1/19 between 6pm – 6:07pm By suspect/s smashing vehicle window removing satnav from within vehicle; Rushdene Road Thursday 3/1/19 between 8pm – Friday 8:05pm Suspect has stolen victims vehicle registration plates.; Wolvercote Road Friday 4/1/19 between 5pm – Saturday 2:30pm By suspect/s smashing vehicle window and stealing loose change to the value of £10 from within vehicle; Kingfisher Close on Saturday 5 /1/19 between 8:30pm – Sunday 4:30am Suspect/s have smashed vehicle window by means unknown stealing wallet containing credit cards and £350 cash. Criminal damage - Thamesbank Place on Tuesday 8/1/19 between 10pm – 10:52pm Brick allegedly being thrown at balcony door causing window to smash. Good News - Prolific offender in relation to motor vehicle crime, Zac Nevard, was arrested on Friday 4th Jan 2019. Nevard had been evading Police for a number of weeks, however following a recent social media appeal regarding wanted Zac Nevard, anonymous information received, resulted in his arrest at an address in SE2 for a number of offences. On Monday 7th January Zac Nevard pleaded guilty in court to burglary, assault and three theft from motor vehicle offences. Mr Nevard has been remanded by the courts and will be sentenced later this month. On Wednesday 2nd January 2019, the team discoved a BMW (Southmere Lake car park) which had been stolen by means of Robbery a few days earlier from an address in Illford. The vehicle was recovered to Charlton car pound, where a forensic examination took place. Hopefully suspect/s will be identified. The delighted victim has now had her vehicle returned. Next Community Contact session is on Tuesday 15/01/19 at The Link Bazelgette Way between 5-7pm". West Heath ward:- "A car was broken in to on King Harold's Way on Monday (7th January) at 1.30am. Fortunately, there was no damage and nothing inside to take. Residents, please do the usual - double-check belongings are out of your car or at least out of sight and doors are locked. The bad news is that from the beginning of the year there have only been two burglaries reported, although this is still two too many. One was an attempted in Lenham Road overnight Wednesday 2nd -Thursday 3rd January. Suspects attempted to gain entry by smashing a rear window. The other was in Kipling Road where a shed was broken into and garden tools taken sometime during December. Unfortunately there is even worse news, we have been hit for motor vehicle crime with 9 theft from motor vehicles and 2 vehicles stolen since the beginning of the year, most of which have been over the last 3 days. A car was stolen in Milford Road on Monday 7th January while the victim went back into their house leaving the vehicle running and insecure. A second vehicle was stolen in Plymstock Road overnight Monday 7th - Tuesday 8th January. Police made the victim aware of the theft after arresting a male in the stolen car. Number plates have been stolen from vehicles in Hythe Avenue, Hurlingham Avenue and Hadlow Road. In all, 6 vehicles have been broken into across the ward with the vehicles being searched and various items taken including wallets cash and cards. All were overnight. Please double check your vehicles are secure before you leave them and make sure you take your valuables with you and leave nothing on show. Last but not least a vehicle, with stolen number plates was set alight in Hurlingham Avenue on Sunday 30th December 2018, circumstances unknown".

The end video this week is a new piece of drone footage taken over the River Thames from Slade Green and over Erith Pier. The footage is silent, but it does give a very good idea of exactly what the river front at Erith looks like from above. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or alternatively you can Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Back on Medium Wave.

The photos above were taken recently by me in the Erith Riverside Gardens. You may recall that not long ago I wrote about how Bexley Council were replacing a lot of the old and overgrown bushes in the garden with new ones; they went as far as hiring a tracked excavator and operator for a week to dig up the old and overgrown bushes, to trim back the trees and to generally tidy the gardens up. Once this had been done, they then planted hundreds of new baby bushes. This coincided with one of the longest dry spells in recent memory. The council have since done little if any watering of the newly planted shrubbery, and as you can see from the photos above (click on either for a larger view), at least half of the baby plants have now died from lack of water. The heavy rain on Wednesday and Thursday of last week was too late for many of the delicate, newly planted bushes, which had not had long enough to develop deep root systems which otherwise might have allowed them to survive the drought. Ironically FORGE (Friends of Riverside Gardens Erith) have offered to carry out the watering to take the burden off the council and their contractor, but at the time of writing, nothing has happened. I understand that a fresh water outlet is located underneath the flagpole at the Western end of the gardens, but the tap is covered by a padlocked door, and FORGE do not have the key. Suggestions were made that if a number of watering cans were obtained, these could be filled at a FORGE members apartment in West Street and transported to the gardens; this would however be impractical - you would need at least ten watering cans and dozens of refills to properly water the several hundred new bushes that have been planted - even allowing for those that are already dead due to council neglect. It seems that all of the hard work and council tax payers money has been for nothing - talk about spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar! The costs in refurbishing the Riverside Gardens will have been considerable. A tracked digger of the type used in the work costs around £700 per day to hire, along with a suitably qualified operator. The digger was on site for over a week. Forgetting all of the other associated costs, you can already tot up just how much the work must have cost - my own rough estimates put the total cost at not very far short of £10,000. Not watering the plants has invalidated much of this expensive work.  I have discovered that the contract between the council and the supplier does cover the death of plants - and that the bushes that have not survived the lack of watering will be replaced by the contractor at no further expense to the council tax payer, which is somewhat of a relief. If the council lack the foresight to do arrange regular watering when we have no or little rain, perhaps they will hand over the responsibility (and the associated budget) to FORGE who are far better placed to look after the gardens, which form one of the most attractive parts of Erith. There are willing volunteers who would love to care for the gardens, as it would appear that Bexley Council just cannot be trusted to do so. There are further implications to the whole water situation in the Riverside Gardens. Plans are afoot to hold a series of public events in the gardens later on in the year, which will necessitate a supply of fresh running water. I feel that it is down to Bexley Council to “grasp the nettle” and resolve this prior to it becoming a very high profile issue. If everything pans out as planned, this Summer could be a very good one for Erith residents, with a number of “pop up” events being planned. More on this soon. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Some excellent news was released on Friday. My former employers Radio Caroline have after many years campaigning, been granted an AM Medium Wave broadcast licence in the Norfolk / Suffolk / Essex region of the UK. Up until now the station has broadcast extensively (and very successfully) on the Internet, by satellite and in certain parts of the country by DAB radio. In a statement published on Friday morning, station manager Peter Moore wrote:- "We are pleased to announce that Ofcom have just informed us that our application for an AM licence has been approved and that a licence will be awarded. Further details will be sent to us by Ofcom in due course. Power levels and frequency are yet to be decided. This is the end of – or a further step in – a process started by Bob Lawrence in 2010 and enthusiastically supported by Tracey Crouch MP. We thank them both and further thank the many other people who have helped along the way. There are many preparations to be made and these may take some time. I am sure we will make further announcements in the future. The basis of our application was that our traditional heartland was Essex and Suffolk, where the signal from our ships made first landfall and that we wished to entertain on AM, an audience that we have not been able to serve in this way since 1990. We said that this audience may hear music radio of a style they remember and in some cases presented by the same people they remember. That in essence is what we intend to do". My understanding is that the regional licence is a stepping stone to a full, national licence - something that Radio Caroline should have been given many years ago in my opinion. You can see photos of my time with Radio Caroline at sea back in 1990 by clicking here. More on this subject later.

On Friday, the Metropolitan Police revealed that thieves on scooters and pedal cycles are committing up to 50,000 offences a year in and around Greater London. Gangs of youths are using stolen scooters, mopeds, motorcycles and bikes to commit tens of thousands of snatch offences across London. Police revealed how gangs of mainly teenage boys are stealing mopeds in outer London boroughs and using them to commit snatches in the West End - often motivated by the thrill of speed. The full scale of the moped crime surge came as police revealed details of an alarming new tactic in which a gang sprayed a fire extinguisher into the face of a motorcyclist in a bid to hijack his machine. Detectives say they are targeting at least 500 known offenders behind the crime spree - with suspects moving between using stolen mopeds and pedal cycles to snatch mobile phones. Police also urged Londoners to take simple steps to help prevent crimes, in particular warning scooter owners to use locks to secure their bikes in the street. The scale of the offending can be revealed in new figures released by the Metropolitan Police which show thieves are stealing around 1,500 scooters or motorcycles in London every month. In addition, the same criminals are using scooters or pedal cycles to commit 2,500 theft offences a month, most of them mobile phone snatches. Thefts involving mopeds or motorcycles are currently running at 13,005 over the past 12 months, a 41 per cent increase over the previous period.most offenders were in their teens and early 20s and some were organised in groups of around five to 10 people who use a stolen bike for a period before dumping it. The bikes are stolen in outlying boroughs and used to travel into the West End to commit crimes.  Many prolific offenders have 20 or so crimes to their name, one 15-year-old was only jailed after being arrested 80 times. Bike gangs such as the notorious, Thamesmead - based Bike Life TV UK are thought to be behind much of this increase in reported criminality. 

You may recall that at the beginning of this year I wrote at some length about the plans for the first shelter for the homeless that had been planned for over the New Year period; well, the report on the outcome of the project has recently been published. The night shelter programme was a great success, and will be expanded this coming Christmas. A number of lessons were learned, but overall it was a very positive experience. Many thanks to the Reverend Simon Archer, the Curate of Christ Church, Erith for sending me the details for publication, an edited summary of which you can read below:- "The idea for this project originated from Transform Bexley Borough (TBB) representing the churches in the London Borough of Bexley sometime in 2014. Rev Jim Charles visited the Greenwich shelter in the early part of 2016 and this gave him an insight to the planning process and the need for a coordinator. So, he advertised in local churches for a coordinator. On a volunteer coming forward an initial meeting with Jim took place late in July with several people who had already shown an interest in this idea. A “start-up” meeting then took place in November with some 25 interested churches/people attending. It was clear that there was good support for this venture to proceed and a steering committee, including treasurer, was formed by mutual agreement from volunteers stepping forward. This steering committee then sought to take the project forward and to manage it over the next 5 months and was to meet six times. Despite a request across the Borough churches for venues for this project, only three came forward. So the shelters were going to be at the New Community Church in Sidcup on a Monday evening, the Boys’ Brigade hall by Christ Church Bexleyheath on a Wednesday and all the other nights at the Welling Salvation Army hall. Sidcup and Bexleyheath were able to make showers available, while all three had good cooking facilities and plenty of room for sleeping, eating and recreation. They also had the possible advantage of being easily accessible and in public thoroughfares and so were unlikely to cause any problems with residents. Advertising through the churches, and then word of mouth brought forward some 150 volunteers, not all church attenders. These had to be divided up to cover three shifts viz. an early evening shift (7.00 – 10.30 pm) an overnight shift (10.00 pm – 6.30 am ) and a morning shift (6.00 – 8.30 am) and then dispersed across the seven days- taking into account folk’s preference for the shift, the day and venue. A team leader for each shift on each day was appointed and information on what was to be expected was forwarded. We had been made aware of Housing Justice - a national organisation both politically and charitably, seeking to improve the situation for folk who find themselves in this predicament for whatever reason. We had “joined up” (£1500 fee) with them and they were able to provide information on the running of shelters, a format for a Volunteers hand book and carried out two Saturday morning. It was realised early on that whatever we did had to be consistent across the venues and nights. We would open at 7.30, lights out 11.00 and our visitors left the premises by 8.00 am. On arrival the “guests”, as they were to be respectfully known, were provided with a hot drink and then a sit down two course meal around 8.15. This took the form of a set menu over a 9 day rota. Breakfast, along with cereals, was mainly things on toast. These all seemed to be acceptable to our guests with little to no adverse comments. One observation was that guests seemed to be eating less as the weeks went on! A cook book entitled “Feed my Sheep” produce by another Salvation Army unit was used as a basis for recipes and quantities. All food had to be prepared on the premises (hygiene regulations) and we are indebted to some 12 or so cooks along with the morning catering staff. For this first attempt at running a Night Shelter we were only able to accommodate men and the most we could cater for was 12 (in fact as reported below we never had more than 9 on any given night). An air bed and a sleeping bag were provided along with pillows at each venue. The sleeping bags were named and kept for each guest at each venue. The donated pillow cases were laundered locally. It was recognised early on that there had to be some way of engaging with the “rough sleepers” in the first place, and the need to have some form of assessment as to their suitability for the shelter and if the shelter was going to be suitable for their needs. We were soon made aware of a volunteer organisation called “Cornerstone” which was working out of Trinity Baptist Church with folk who had addictions, mental health problems and homelessness. This resulted in them drawing up an assessment check list and making arrangements to “interview” potential guests – initially after their food bank session on Mondays and Fridays at Trinity but, later by appointment having established a dedicated phone line for folk to ring. If the rough sleeper was deemed suitable, an “invitation” was issued and an agreement as to the conditions and requirements of the guest had to be signed. Cornerstone then advised the venue leader or team leader of the name of the invited guest. Only folk with a specific invitation were allowed to come into the venue. There was to be no “walk in” arrangement and this procedure worked very well with few hiccups.  Flyers were produced for churches and others (e.g. Council and Police) to hand out to people they came across that appeared to be rough sleepers. Most of the referrals were received via the Council, Colleges, Citizens Advice and word of mouth. The service and help provided by Cornerstone was pivotal to the project – it would have been very difficult without them. They were also able to take a firm line with any guest that seemed to not be fulfilling their part of the agreement. They assessed some 23 folk, most of whom were deemed suitable and offered an invitation for the shelter. Not all took up this invite and over the 10 weeks that the project ran, some 16/18 guests did come along for at least several nights before they moved on for whatever reason. Although we were able to offer a “dog sitting” service, potential guests were reluctant to leave their animal and in the end, did not access the shelter. Only one guest had to be excluded and in general, behaviour was respectful, good and settled down once Cornerstone had reiterated the conditions to one or two guests. The service, support, advice and help given has been recognised by the steering committee - approving a donation to them as a token of our indebtedness. Beside a safe and warm environment, along with hot meals, we were able to provide toiletries, clothing and haircuts. A little late in the day we were able to ask a volunteering GP to meet with some of the guests. She diagnosed several guests with severe mental problems that were in need of urgent psychiatric assessment and at least one guest had to be admitted to a special unit where he would have to remain for several weeks’ treatment. The volunteers did get alongside guests by chatting to them, playing games and seeking to give support, understanding and guidance. Citizens Advice has also played a large part in helping guests to sort out their circumstances. However, volunteers where under strict requests not to give money, personal details or agree to help or see guests outside the venue and to keep details confidential. At the end of the project, the guests were asked what they had thought of the service. Guests all reported that the venues were easy to find but a couple of guests expressed a difficulty in travelling between them, particularly as they had no money. All of them felt safe at the venues and felt there was enough to do in the evenings. It was noted that the Sidcup facilities were the best and that a shower at Welling would have been welcomed. One guest reported that the sleeping arrangements were a ‘bit uncomfy’ and another that the Welling venue was cold, particularly in the mornings. There were a couple of suggestions of opening earlier and one guest thought a Playstation would be nice Guests were all in agreement that there was plenty of food available, one guest commenting that he has put on weight. They also all agreed that the quality was good. 2 guests thought there could be more variety and we had some suggestions of steak (!), hash browns, stir-fry and ribs. Another guest thought the food was a bit bland and would have liked a bit more spice. There was also a comment about having too many mince-based meals. The guests were all made to feel very welcome by the volunteers and were treated with respect. According to the guests, all volunteers were happy to engage in conversation and responded well to any issues that arose. The consensus was that volunteers were friendly, caring and helpful. One guest said that volunteers were “generous with their time” and spoke about them helping with clothes etc, while another said the volunteers were “awesome”. An excellent and inspiring article; I am glad to hear that women will be admitted this year - something I did raise when I heard about the inaugural night shelter programme, but I was told that there were no female rough sleepers in the London Borough of Bexley - something I found (and still feel) to be hard to believe. 

Bexley Council found itself in the press this week again for all of the wrong reasons. A BBC Panorama investigation had an undercover investigative journalist secretly film Kingdom Services Group - the company that Bexley Council has employed to police littering in the borough, and to collect fines from people who are caught littering. As anyone who has read the Maggot Sandwich for any length of time will know, I am a keen anti littering / fly tipping campaigner, and have been involved in a couple of successful prosecutions of criminal fly tippers in the past. What was uncovered by the Panorama team was appalling - the Kingdom litter police get cash payments every time they issue over four tickets in a day - £5 per ticket, and up to £6 if they issue fines to enough people. There is a real financial incentive for the Kingdom enforcers to collar as many people as possible, and some of the prosecutions were positively Orwellian. If you are a UK resident, you can see the half hour Panorama documentary by clicking here. My concern is that the approach exhibited by Kingdom may well turn local residents against responsible waste disposal - which would be counter productive. 

On Friday, March 10, just after 9.30pm a White Ford Transit pulled into the Shell Petrol Garage in Northend Road, Erith, using a false licence plate reading AX04 XJV. The thieving scumbag was caught on CCTV in the photo above, which shows the driver filling the van with diesel, before returning to the driver’s seat and pulling away without paying. If you know who this thief is, then please contact Bexley Police directly, or phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Word reaches me from a couple of impeccable sources in Erith Morrison's supermarket that the switch to self service checkout tills has not been a happy one, as I predicted earlier in the year. I hear that the level of mis - scanning and outright shop lifting has gone through the roof. One supermarket worker, who understandably wishes to remain anonymous, told me last week that "You get a different type of person using the self service tills; nobody (the staff) likes supervising the self service area, as you are constantly worried that you are about to get assaulted. The kind of people who tend to use the self service area are trying to get away with nicking things. Last week when we had the travellers in the car park, two Pikey women tried to steal over £500 worth of stuff through the self service checkouts - they did a runner when security locked the doors though". Their words, not mine. Earlier last year a report was published by the Criminology Department of the University of Leicester on self service checkout tills. The report found that installing self-service checkouts raises lost revenue by 122 percent. Some of it is accidental – people forget to scan items, or get confused by instructions; other times shoppers get so frustrated with self-service kiosks that they feel justified in not paying. But the report  states that mostly people shoplift because the technology makes it so easy. Mobile phone scanning technology is just as vulnerable – the study found that at the end of a typical shopping trip, up to ten percent of items had not been scanned, leading to “shrinkage” (loss through wastage or theft) of about 3.9 percent of turnover. Unfortunately the technology makes it very difficult to prove that customers are deliberately stealing. One retailer admitted they almost never prosecute people. For that reason supermarkets are now introducing tagging systems so un-scanned items trigger alarms. Supermarkets such as Morrison’s in Erith have now expanded the number of self – service checkouts so that now half of all tills are of this type. Finding open, traditionally staffed checkouts are becoming a challenge to find. I have always wondered why you have to pay the same price for an item when it is purchased via a self – service till when compared to a traditional one – after all, you are doing work on behalf of the supermarket, and surely this should be reflected in a cheaper cost? Answers on a postcard please.

Now for a story which in one way falls outside of my usual remit, as it took place somewhat outside of my normal coverage area, but in another way is entirely appropriate for me to address, as it concerns people's reaction to a story that they uncritically read on social media. The News Shopper have been reporting that according to a story originating on a fake news website that has subsequently been circulating on social media, a popular New Cross based Indian Restaurant has been serving human flesh to customers. If that did not immediately get one's suspicions going, I would be extremely surprised. It turns out that the story is a so called "prank" published on a notorious fake news website called Channel 23 News. The website allows individuals to publish scurrilous and untrue stories about others, which are then automatically posted onto FaceBook and then seen by millions of people.  The originator of the libellous story wrote (excuse the poor spelling and grammar):- "Last night Indian restaraunt owner Rarjan Patel was arreasted for using human meat in his food recipes at his New Cross Restaurant, it is said that a total of 9 Human Body’s were found frozen ready to be processed for meat, Rarjan Patel remains in Custody for further questioning whilst the restaurant has been closed down.” The obvious unprofessional structure of the story did not deter people from believing the entry when they saw it on Facebook however. One brainless Facebook user subsequently wrote (all in capitals - which in itself is a certain sign of somebody unbalanced) "ASIAN RESTAURANT SHUT DOWN FOR USING HUMAN MEAT”. The restaurant in question of course has had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this - but it has been bombarded with abuse by credulous Facebook users who seem to be of the opinion that "If it is on Facebook it must be true". The story has been widely reposted and the restaurant in question, which has only been operating for a little over two years has lost a substantial amount of business, as well as the owner and staff being subject to a number of threats. The Karri Twist restaurant is a relatively new development, but the same family opened their first restaurant on the original site, called the Curry Mahal, back in 1955. You can see photos of both restaurant frontages above - click for a larger view. The damage that has been done to the reputation of the family owned business may be too severe for it to survive. How people can be so malicious in originally posting such a libellous story, and how others can be so gullible to not only read the story, but to repost it to others without checking its accuracy first amazes me. I am not aware of the identity of the person who originated the fake story, but I would hope that the Patel family are taking legal action to bring the person to justice. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The ending video this week shows the ITV News at Ten report on Radio Caroline getting a broadcast radio licence, as per my earlier item. Give it a watch and see what you think. The Ross Revenge certainly looks a lot smarter than during my time on board when it was moored 13 miles off the North Foreland, in the middle of the North Sea. Happy Days. 

Eight years of the Maggot Sandwich.

The photos above were taken late on Saturday morning in the entrance hall of Trinity School in Erith Road; it shows the first public consultation event held over the forthcoming redevelopment of Erith Quarry - the brown field site that is between Bexley Road and Fraser Road that has been left empty and disused for around the last forty years since the loam was exhausted and the quarry closed down. The consultation was set up by public relations company Lexington Communications on behalf of the developer, the Essex based organisation The Anderson Group. They plan to build approximately seven hundred new homes on the site. Unlike a lot of other development work going on locally, which has concentrated on one and two bedroomed flats, the Erith Quarry site will have two, three and four bedroomed houses - they are targetting second or third time buyers looking to upsize from smaller accommodation. There will also be a new primary school on the site, and a large amount of public open space. at present the details are still pretty sketchy; to be honest, whilst I was talking to a chap called Ed Grieve (who I believe is the Erith Quarry project manager for Lexington Communications, the PR company), I got the feeling that they were quite nervous about possibly getting a negative reaction to the development. My own view is that the site has been left unused and left to rot for far too long. It is a sizable piece of land and much good can be made of it. There are sizable engineering problems to be overcome, not least in that the site varies in height by around thirty metres from highest to lowest point, and the physical access points to it are currently quite limited. These can be resolved; their initial issue is that the site has been used as a dumping ground for the best part of forty years, and they need to run ecological surveys to determine just what nasties such as heavy metals and poisonous chemicals pollute the ground, and potentially the groundwater. A team of environmental scientists are currently checking the site, and drilling boreholes to check for underground contamination. One biological problem will certainly challenge the scientists. The whole site is utterly overrun with invasive Japanese Knotweed - which is very hard to kill. I suspect that a mass digging up of the roots, followed by burning may be the only viable solution, since it is illegal to transport Japanese Knotweed plants, as they are legally classed as controlled waste. Once this has been completed there will be a second round of public consultation - it strikes me that the developers are very keen to involve the local community, and seem genuinely to want to engage with the residents of Erith. There is a website where you can register to be kept up to date with the latest developments regarding the Erith Quarry site that you can visit by clicking here.

Recently I wrote that I did not want to describe Erith as one large building site; I am now of the opinion that to all intents and purposes it is. The entire town is undergoing a degree of regeneration not seen in a couple of generations. Not since the old and beloved Victorian town centre was demolished to make way for the brutalist concrete monstrosity that was the 1970’s era shopping centre (of which my enduring memory as a small child was the ever present smell of stale wee). Whatever issues or subjects Erith residents of a certain age disagree with, the unifying subject is that the heart of the town was ruined when the shopping centre was constructed. Only really in the last few years have things started improving, firstly by the fundamental re- engineering of the old shopping centre to form the current Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, which is a very pleasant place to be, and light years away from the gloomy and threatening old structure. Morrison’s have added a lot to Erith; in fact the Erith store was the first the then Northern based supermarket chain opened in the south, back in 1999. I recall being served by Sir Ken Morrison on the first day of opening (though I had to be told who he was, as I was clueless). Morrison’s employ well over five hundred local people, and put a lot of money back into the local economy. I would estimate that they are second to, or equal with ADM Oils as being the largest employer in the town. There have been a lot of rumours about the Erith Morrison’s over the last couple of months. Until now I have declined to mention this, as I wanted to try and find out more. After consultation with someone in the know, I can say that Erith Morrison’s is not closing due to lack of trade. It is correct that Morrison’s are reducing the number of managerial grades in all of their stores over the coming months in order to streamline and modernise their management structure, and that some managerial roles may be merged with some local job losses. I think it extremely unlikely that anything more than this will happen to the Erith store; if anything it will need to strengthen its position, now that the Asda in Lower Belvedere has proved to be so popular, and with the advent of the forthcoming giant Tesco on the site of the old Bexley Council offices in Bexleyheath.

On Wednesday the 16^th, the Maggot Sandwich officially celebrated its’ eighth birthday. I had absolutely no idea how the blog would take off – indeed for the first couple of years, it did struggle to find a style. You can see the very first posting above - I am sure that you can appreciate that it has evolved substantially over time. Nowadays it is so much part of my life that I could not imagine a Sunday without a publishing deadline to meet. I have never missed a Sunday in all these years; on a couple of occasions I have had to go elsewhere in order to publish, due to no network connection at home, but I have never actually missed a deadline. The Maggot Sandwich has enabled me to meet with innumerable people who have now become friends, and in return I have been empowered to highlight some local issues that could have otherwise had a very negative impact on the local area. A number of people have commented in the past saying that they think that I am a frustrated journalist, and I guess that they are right. I always wanted the blog to have a positive impact on Erith and the surrounding area, as historically the town has had a bad rap, with nobody really giving it an online voice. Others such as the excellent Erith Town Forum do far more for the area than I, but as far as the online presence of the town is concerned, I try and do my bit. 

Although I have previously explained where the name of my blog originated, I feel that it was long enough ago, and I have picked up many recent readers, so that the story bears repeating. Back in 1987 I was working for a small but very influential Bexleyheath based pirate radio station called Radio Lumberjack, which broadcast live every Saturday on 92.4 FM from 9am until midnight or later from a house off Bedonwell Road. The station played an eclectic mix of music and humour; much of the comedy material was written by the station staff. There were many spoof adverts, with commercials for fictional companies such as “Bethlehem Motors – car faith healers – save money and save your soul! With one simple low cost prayer, we can have your vehicle back on the road”. “Tacky’s Nightclub, with your host, Bland Groover”. Also, “Gaskets motor spares – suppliers of neo Georgian suspension, arc brake lights and stained glass windows”. Best of all, a commercial for the Thamesmead Tourist Board, with a cod salsa song “it’s the place for fun, it’s the place for sun, come to Thamesmead – go on day trips to all the popular holiday destinations like the Belvedere Rift Valley – home of the world famous earwig farm; enquire at the Thamesmead Tourist Board office – the little green hut behind the bike sheds in Thamesmead High Street!” It was all very slick and professional; the chap that ran the station was a big fan of Kenny Everett, but had his own unique style. Each presenter had their own introductory jingle – mine started with an incredulous voice – “oh my God.... It’s Arthur Pewty!” followed by the sound of Stuka dive bombers, explosions and collapsing buildings, accompanied by a massed band of Daleks screaming “Arthur Pewty, Arthur Pewty!” It was all very over the top and surreal. My pseudonym came from the meek and mild insurance salesman Arthur Pewty from the famous Monty Python sketch about the marriage guidance counsellor. When I first started my evening show, I racked my brains to think of a suitably surreal and silly name for it. I had already got my nickname, and recently I had read a history of 1960’s offshore station Radio London, where John Peel got his big break into radio. John Peel had a show called “The Perfumed Garden” where he played a lot of hippy music and recited poetry sent in by listeners (some of it toe curlingly bad, but I digress). I thought that my show needed a really surreal title, so, as a play on “John Peel’s Perfumed Garden”, “Arthur Pewty’s Maggot Sandwich” was born. And the rest, as they say is history. Back in 2006, when I started this blog, I resurrected the long disused name of my one time radio show; my thoughts were that whilst it was no longer on the radio, it was a newer form of interacting with an audience that could be anywhere in the world. This proved to be correct. Today the Maggot Sandwich has readers all over the planet – from Australia, Japan and India to the USA and mainland Europe, along with people closer to home. It might be a silly name for a blog, but I can guarantee nobody forgets it! Please feel free to comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photo above was taken on Friday the 18th July at 8.15 pm, and sent to me by a resident of Manor Road who wishes to remain anonymous. It shows a van belonging to Concept Building Services illegally avoiding the road closure, and driving along the pavement. There have been innumerable occurrences  of motor bikes doing this, but this is the first time that such a blatant criminal act in a four wheeled vehicle has been recorded since the road works began. The van drivers' employer and the local Police have already been informed and sent a copy of the incriminating photograph. Hopefully the outcome will be available for me to publish in the next edition. Fortunately the road works on the residential section of Manor Road are close to completion. Hopefully the offender in the photo will be brought to justice, or at the very least sacked by his employer.

As many will already be aware, I have been documenting the appalling standard of food hygiene in the London Borough of Bexley, and Erith in particular for some considerable time. I have bemoaned the number of food outlets that score less than a three out of five stars for their food hygiene standards. Nine places in West Street alone got zero scores last year; not something the area would really want to boast about. I have been very pleased (and not a little surprised) to discover that many of the very low scoring places have now been re – examined by the health inspectors, and have been given substantially improved star ratings. The Yildiran kebab shop on the corner of West Street and Mildred Road has gone from an awful one star out of five to a very creditable four stars in their most recent inspection; I am very pleased by this, as their food has been consistently excellent. It would seem that the council are doing some positive work in encouraging better standards of cleanliness and good food preparation practice, which is gratifying. Even Town Kebab, by the infamous fish roundabout on Bexley Road / Bronze Age Way junction has improved and now has an acceptable three stars. I half jokingly mentioned last year that if the place did not get closed down by the health inspectors, it could make a small fortune from feeding the hungry students of Bexley College when it opens in September. It seems that the owners of Town Kebabs have taken this to heart, and could well be doing very nicely indeed by this time next year. Being the closest fast food outlet to the new college campus will have all sorts of advantages, however good the food in the college refectory undoubtedly will be - the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I expect the whole of Erith to benefit from the influx of around a thousand college students. Until now Bexley College was located out of the public eye, half way to Belvedere; the building was difficult to access and it was generally not in a position to be a very active contributor to the local community. Now that the new campus is slap bang in the middle of town, it will be far more inclusive and an important part of life in Erith. Retail outlets in the Riverside Shopping Centre will also benefit from having an influx of new customers, which should be interesting, especially at lunchtime. I might sound like a propagandist for the college, but hard as I try, I cannot think of any negative aspects of the college moving into town – it seems to be a win / win to me.

You may have seen the BBC News website story on the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the Sinclair C5 last week. Those with longer memories may recall how the revolutionary electrically assisted trike was launched with a wave of publicity by Sir Clive Sinclair at a time when his star was still very much in the ascendant; he was the golden boy of the British technology boom of the early to mid 1980’s. The press referred to the C5 as an electric car, which it clearly wasn’t, and derided its’ low profile and relatively sedate road speed (something that was partially dictated by the road legislation of the time, which required a licence for any powered vehicle using the road that was capable of speeds in excess of 15 mph). It was intended to be an entirely new class of vehicle to be used instead of a car for short local journeys, but as soon as the press saw it, they made fun of it. They said that as it was made in a factory operated by Hoover that the C5’s electric propulsion was powered by a washing machine motor, which was factually incorrect – the drive was a specially designed, very efficient and advanced design for 1984. The chassis of the C5 was designed by Lotus, who then as now had a reputation for producing lightweight and very well handling car designs. All this did nothing to stop the press from making fun of the C5 and Clive Sinclair. They cited the low driving position and lack of visibility to other road users as potential dangers. It really was a case of an invention that was too far ahead of its time. The C5 only sold around 12,000 units before the project was scrapped. I think if the C5 was launched now (with updated technology) it would be a hit. They were never designed to be driven on roads next to cars, though this is invariably what the press always seemed to show. I have a personal involvement with the Sinclair C5 story; after Sinclair Vehicles went bust, owing over £1.5 million to Hoover, the remaining stocks of unsold C5’s plus all of the spares and accessories, including the right to the C5 name were bought by a friend of mine. Adam Harper used to own a bicycle shop in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere (NOT Nuxley Village – there is no such place – it is a name made up by Estate Agents who don’t live in the area and know its history). Adam bought everything related to the C5 from Sinclair, and stored them all in a warehouse. He was of the opinion that eventually the C5 would be recognised as the ground breaking piece of transportation technology that it actually was. He was correct. A mint, boxed and never used C5 with an uprated 24 volt specification battery can sell for up to £4,000 now. Even a fairly run of the mill used model will sell second hand for £450 - £475. Adam Harper got so fed up with the negative and inaccurate press the C5 continued to get, even after the end of production that he built a special racing C5 in 1995. The machine cost over £30,000 to put together, including several sessions at the MIRA wind tunnel (where the photo above was taken). It had an aerodynamic under tray which provided down force; the front wheel was from a Lynx helicopter and the rear wheels from a Harrier jump jet. The racing C5 was powered by aeronautical gel batteries supplied by Exide, which were actually graded as military secrets, and he had to get a special licence to use them, and a custom made, ultra high output double electric motor; it also had a braking parachute made by Irvin – the same company that manufactured the parachutes for the Space Shuttle. Performance – wise the special C5 could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds and hit 150mph. As you can see from the photo above, it was substantially different from a stock model, but the basic body and chassis were original – a real tribute to the design engineers at Lotus. Adam was featured in many TV and press articles, and even made the front cover of the Sunday Times magazine. During development of the racing C5 (much of which took place in the rear of his bike shop) Adam discovered that the aerodynamic under tray was so close to the ground that it would occasionally scrape against the ground, interrupting the aerodynamic flow and causing the vehicle to become unstable at high speeds. Without funds to book another wind tunnel session at MIRA, Adam decided to try a more practical problem solving approach. Despite being enormously modified from stock, the racing C5 was still road legal as long as it stayed below fifteen miles an hour. He sprayed the under tray with some removable marker paint, and we decided to drive the racing C5 slowly along Woolwich Road from the Abbey Wood end back towards Upper Belvedere and his shop we would then check the paint on the under tray to see where the problem was coming from. I was to follow in the “chase car” (an old Volvo 240 estate, if memory serves). One bright and sunny weekday morning, Adam started trundling sedately down Woolwich Road. He had his crash helmet on, but not his protective overalls. We were making sedate progress when a couple of lads driving a Ford Escort XR3i pulled up parallel with Adam and started shouting insults at him. It would appear that even though by this stage Adam was a minor local celebrity, they did not have a clue as to who he was, or that the C5 was far from bog standard. I was following behind, and helpless to do anything. I noticed that the C5 had begun to gain speed; the Volvos’ speedo was reading 25, then soon 45 miles per hour. Adam did not take criticism well, and was easily riled. The XR3i driver and his hapless passenger were getting perplexed; as soon as they increased speed to outrun the tiny electric tricycle, it matched, then exceeded their speed. By this time we had got as far as the entrance to Abbey Woods, where Adam opened up the C5 fully. There were tiny spurts of smoke as the rear tyres tried to spin under their load, and the vehicle shot off, seemingly at Warp speed. The XR3i occupants were so gobsmacked they pulled over to the side of the road, enabling me to try in vain to catch up with the errant racer. The racing C5 had enormous straight line speed, but it also had a great weakness – it was impossible to turn either left or right at anything over around 20 mph. The consultants at MIRA had previously told Adam that if the vehicle tipped over at speed, helmet or not, he would be killed, as his neck would be broken. Adam had obviously realised this too, as he was very rapidly approaching the roundabout opposite All Saint’s Church and Belvedere Police Station. The racing C5 had two braking systems – a very small bicycle type parking brake for very low speed use, and the aforementioned Irvin Parachute system which was used for rapid deceleration at the end of high speed runs. Adam was now alongside Belvedere Library, and rapidly running out of options. I saw a puff of smoke and sparks from the front wheel – we later discovered the aluminium parking brake had vapourised as it overloaded with far more energy than it was ever designed to cope with. There was then a sharp crack as Adam deployed the main parachute, which was roughly the same size as a chute you would use for sky diving. Adam and the 150mph C5 came to an undignified halt right on the roundabout with smoke coming out of the nosecone and the parachute slowly falling to the ground at the rear. A couple of amused looking coppers outside the Police station were looking on. Surprisingly, although he got a stern ticking off, no charges were pressed. I get the feeling the Police did not want to stand up in court to recount the incident. That was the last time the vehicle ever went on public roads. To further promote his souped up C5 and electric vehicles in general, he then undertook a series of publicity stunts. Initially he raced a Group B racing car – a VW Golf VR6 on the main straight at Silverstone, just before the start of the 1996 formula 3000 championship. The C5 easily won; he then planned to jump the gap between the two sides of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at Dartford, before it was completed. Understandably the authorities took a very dim view of this and banned him from the attempt. He then decided that the racing C5 should be driven through a 75 foot tunnel of fire. I was involved with this, and accompanied him to Pinewood studios where we met with the head of Eon Productions stunt team – the James Bond people. I have actually been in the James Bond production office and in the Pinewood members bar and on the James Bond sound stage. Eon arranged the tunnel of fire on the Pinewood back lot, and it all went very smoothly indeed - I was unable to be there, as I had recently got a new job in London after being out of work for quite some time, and did not want to ask for a day off so soon after starting. At this point Adam was invited to join the Dangerous Sports Club, which was limited to one hundred members, all of which were by invitation only. He also became involved in the BBC TV series “Robot Wars”, where initially he was employed as a technical consultant. Later he became a competition judge, and for several years he was a regular on television. I used to accompany him on many occasions to the location where the show was filmed (an old warehouse adjacent to the Excel Centre in East London – long since demolished). An interesting time. Unfortunately not long after this I moved house and lost contact with Adam - he had moved to the Midlands to take up an engineering consulting role. I wonder what he is doing now?

The end video this week is something I stumbled across on YouTube; it is a mock documentary on the history of the USA, had the South won the civil war. It is thought provoking, and sometimes blackly humorous piece - especially watch out for the commercial breaks - they remind me somewhat of the spoof commercials in the original "RoboCop" movie. Feel free to leave a comment below.