Spamalot.

After all of the controversy surrounding last year's licence application by the owners of The White Hart African Restaurant and Wine Bar at 44 Erith High Street, and their rejected request to open until 5am every day of the week, I was hoping that the restaurant would settle down and become an active part of the local community. Proper sit down restaurants are not as common as many would like in Erith, and anything that would encourage more local night life should be welcomed. Unfortunately The White Hart seems not to be living up to that ideal. It was recently examined by health inspectors from Bexley Council, and ended up with a deplorable one star out of a possible five on the "Scores on the Doors" food hygiene rating website. Bearing in mind the kitchen installation is only eight months old, and was apparently brand new when installed, it beggars belief into what must have happened in less than a year to qualify it for a one star health rating. I have had reports from  a couple of trusted local sources that on top of the poor standard of hygiene, the food produced by the restaurant is of dubious quality - one local critic wrote "it looked like it came out of a tin". Another customer wrote that:- "We were seated at 7.30pm. I received my food 9.42pm. The last person received their food after 10pm. There was no kind gesture, or proper apology. No discount off the bill for poor service. They admitted that the mistake was on their part but didn’t see how they could ensure that customers left feeling satisfied. Restaurants stay afloat because customers come in and choose to spend their money there. If they have to wait 2.5 hours for food that was pre ordered days in advance, this is considered poor service. The manager refused to be a part of this conversation. They left a server to deal with a matter that was beyond her. I am deeply disappointed with this service and the lack of compassion and lack of professionalism!" It would also seem from the photographs posted online on various social media channels, that the former pub beer cellar, which has been converted into a VIP lounge would appear to be in regular use, despite the licence condition that the cellar could not be used as it did not have a fire exit, which contravenes health and safety legislation, and also, if true, would be in breach of the building's fire certificate. I attended the council licencing meeting for The White Hart, and was present when a senior Bexley fire officer underlined this fact. This is all very disappointing. I was hoping that The White Hart would become a destination venue for the town, and a lead venue in regenerating night time socialisation in Erith; at present many people - if they go out at all - journey to Bexleyheath, Dartford or Bluewater, rather than eat and drink locally. This also is disappointing when one considers that the food health standards in Bexley have been improving markedly over the last few years. Bexley continues to be one of the highest rated places to eat out in London. Figures released by The Food Standards Agency (FSA) for 2018/19 show that 93.4 percent of food businesses in Bexley are rated at 3, 4, or 5. This is higher than the 90.5 percent rating for the whole of London. The food hygiene ratings scheme scores food businesses from 5 to 0. The ratings are: 5 - very good; 4 - good; 3 - generally satisfactory; 2 - some improvement is necessary; 1 - major improvement is necessary; 0 - urgent improvement is required. Food safety officers from the Council inspect businesses to check that it follows food hygiene law so that the food is safe to eat. Food hygiene ratings are given to restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, food vans and stalls, canteens, hotels, supermarkets and other food shops, schools, hospitals and care homes. The allocated score is supposed to be displayed both at the premises and online, although low scoring premises often use fake ratings stickers, or re - use previously issued stickers with higher ratings. Currently it is not compulsory for food outlets to display their "Scores on the Doors" ratings - however much this might be desirable. What do you think? Have you eaten at The White Hart? What was your opinion of the food and the service? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com with your thoughts.

Yesterday the London Evening Standard published a story which damned the local area with faint praise, and made a factually inaccurate statement - the article read:- "With an average asking price of £305,700, the riverfront area of Erith in south-east London is the cheapest place to buy in the capital. It’s not currently the most prepossessing spot – it's surrounded by sewage works and industrial estates – but you can buy a detached house for under £500,000 and there is change on the horizon. There are new-build three-bedroom houses for less than £400,000 at The Quarry, which describes itself as an eco-development with 600 new homes, a primary school, park and play areas. Help to Buy is available on the scheme. In the as yet undetermined medium to long term the area will also benefit from Crossrail stops at Abbey Wood and Woolwich once the new line is finally up and running.  Erith’s western neighbour, Thamesmead, is the second cheapest place to buy in London with an average price of £309,400". You can read the whole of the original article by clicking here. 

Did you know that Gmail in the UK is fifteen years old in the this week? Google announced the (then) revolutionary browser based Email client in the USA on April 1st 2004, and released it in the UK later in June. Many industry pundits at the time thought the whole thing was an elaborate April Fool’s Day hoax – who would ever offer each and every user an online message storage capacity of 1 Gigabyte – five hundred times the capacity of the then market leader, Microsoft’s Hotmail? As history shows, it was anything but a trick – it was the single most important release Google had made to date since it launched its search engine in 1998. Gmail was revolutionary for a number of important reasons: It has vast storage, a very zippy and responsive user interface that was well thought out, user friendly and intuitive. It also had a very powerful message search function, which other browser based Email solutions were not able to replicate. On top of this, it was the first major cloud based application that was feature complete and capable of replacing conventional PC software, rather than complimenting it. Gmail was started by a chap called Paul Buchheit – a (then) young software engineer, who was Google’s 23rd employee. He wanted a tool that would search through his archived Email messages, and realising nothing suitable was available, decided to write a search function himself. Initially the Email search engine was running on an old PC on his desk; then other Google engineers asked if they could use Paul Buchheit’s search engine to search their own emails. At the time, the likes of Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail had little or no inbuilt search functionality – but then, it was not really a priority when users were limited to twenty megabytes of storage, and were having to continually delete messages in order to keep under their storage limit. Messages were hard to lose when the limits were so small.  Gmail gave users a Gigabyte of storage – all for free. Initially the web based Gmail was a product only used within Google itself. The company managed much of its business via Email, and having an in – house solution made a lot of sense to them. A decision was made to offer the web application (a first – previous web based Email clients from other vendors had been clunky and dog – slow efforts written in HTML – every time something changed on screen, the whole page needed to be reloaded, which was slow and flickery and gave a very poor user experience – something Google were keen to avoid). Instead Google wanted Gmail to feel like an installed application that one merely happened to be accessing via a web browser – something revolutionary at the time, and not that common nowadays. With Gmail, Paul Buchheit worked around HTML’s limitations by using highly interactive JavaScript code. That made it feel more like software than a sequence of web pages. Before long, the approach would get the moniker AJAX, which stood for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML; today, it is how all web applications like FaceBook and Google Docs are built. But when Gmail was pioneering the technique, it wasn’t clear that it was going to work. The fundamental issue was that back in 2002/3, when Gmail was being developed, web browsers were far less sophisticated than nowadays. The problem with using large chunks of JavaScript programming code to make a slick, quick web experience was that Internet Explorer 6 (by far the most widely used web browser at the time) was pretty poor at handling JavaScript, (actually IE6 was pretty poor at everything, but that is another story). Google were worried that by making a sophisticated, cutting edge product, they would end up crashing Internet Explorer 6 every so often, which would annoy and alienate their key user base. Eventually the quirks and shortcomings of Internet Explorer 6 were tamed, and Gmail was ready for release. Initially it was going to be offered to a limited number of public Beta testers (I was one of these people – I have one of the first 1,500 Gmail user accounts ever created). Google were so unsure of how Gmail would be received that they initially hosted the entire service on three hundred old Pentium III computers that nobody else at Google wanted, and were otherwise going into the recycling skip. The initial limited run of accounts was soon boosted, as a Gmail address became the new, fashionable thing to have – the scarcity made it cool. Not everything was going Google’s way though. The Gmail business model, which was (and still is) based on scanning the message text, and serving up discreet, context sensitive adverts was not universally well received. A U.S politician, California State Senator Liz Figueroa  sent Google a letter of her own, calling Gmail a “disaster of enormous proportions, for yourself, and for all of your customers.” She went on to draft a bill requiring, among other things, that any company that wanted to scan an email message for advertising purposes get the consent of the person who sent it. (By the time the California Senate passed the law, cooler heads prevailed and that obligation had been eliminated.) Nevertheless, if ultimate privacy is a concern of yours, Gmail is not for you. Despite this, the last time Google released usage figures was back in 2012; at that time Gmail had 425 million active and frequently used accounts - it is now thought that figure comfortably exceeds 1.4 billion, which suggests to me that discomfort with Google’s approach to online advertising is a minority concern (either that, or many people know no better, which is a possibility). Compared with Hotmail (now Outlook.com) the look and feel of Gmail has changed little – any updates and changes are incremental and subtly performed; Google realise that a substantial portion of their customers value the familiarity of the application, and don’t want change for change’s sake. Whatever your views, Gmail has come a hell of a long way in the last fifteen years, and it is a cornerstone of many people’s lives. Happy Birthday Gmail.

Last night I attended the final performance of Spamalot, performed by members of Erith Playhouse. It was a sell - out show of the classic Monty Python comedy musical. Incidentally the production made history - it was the first time that Spamalot had been performed by an amateur theatre company - all other shows until now had been professionally presented. It was a wonderful - if extremely hot evening, and a very entertaining play. You can read a review of the Erith Playhouse production of Spamalot by clicking here. Click on either of the photographs above to see a larger version. You can visit the Erith Playhouse website by clicking here. 

Once again Belvedere has come out with the dubious distinction of being the hardest place in the UK to pass your driving test, with a pass rate of just 31 per cent over the last decade. December is the least fruitful of months, with success rates declining as low as 29 per cent, the recently reported statistics suggest. The national average of passes is just over 50 per cent. If you sit your driving test in Scotland, you have a far higher chance of passing - go to Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute where it is 73 per cent, rising to an incredible 90 per cent in May. Quite why it is so difficult to pass your driving test in Belvedere is not clear; if any reader can cast light on this situation, please feel free to contact me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It would seem that after several years of on / off negotiations, the theme park that has been so long planned for North Kent is not only back on, but the original partner - Paramount - who backed out of the huge project, are now suddenly back on board. The theme park was originally due to open this year, but has now been delayed until some point yet to be determined. It is to be located on the Swanscombe Peninsula, which will feature Europe’s largest indoor water park, theatres, live music venues, attractions, cinemas, restaurants, event space and hotels. Allied to the project will be a training academy for the entertainment and hospitality sectors, a new country park, a large science and education visitor complex and the biggest performing arts centre in Europe.  The plans for the park received considerable backing from the British government when Paramount London became the first commercial venture to be awarded Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project status allowing the developers to bypass local planning requirements. It will involve at least 25,000 permanent full and part time jobs in an area which has exceptionally high regional unemployment. An area estimated to stretch between Dover and Greenwich will benefit from the jobs and money that the theme park will generate. The theme park have hired a new Chief Executive in the form of PY Gerbeau, who famously took on the failed Millennium Dome project, prior to its conversion into the successful O2 Arena that it is today. London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) said in  a recent press interview:- “The new partnership with Paramount is fantastic news for everyone. Now the best of Hollywood will be joining the best of British from BBC Studios and ITV Studios, to create amazing and unique experiences for the whole family. I am delighted to join The London Resort and to play my part in helping to create a world-class destination to rival all others. Central to that strategy is to partner with the best brands from across TV, film, music and entertainment. Having Paramount on board is a major step towards realising that ambition". I suppose that the pessimist in me says that Paramount have dropped out once before; I can see no guarantee that they won't do it again. Having said that, with intellectual property from the BBC and ITV, along with Paramount, if the theme park does indeed go ahead, it will be a huge benefit to the entire region in terms of jobs and prosperity that will follow. Three times larger than other UK parks, it will have 200 acres dedicated to rides and experiences and a bespoke entertainment district devoted to a full-suite of hospitality experiences including the provision of thousands of hotel rooms. This is inevitably going to push up the local house prices, and the areas such as the North of the London Borough of Bexley are almost certain to be disproportionately affected. If you are contemplating purchasing a property in Erith, Slade Green or the surrounding towns, I would strongly advise you to do it as soon as possible, as prices are set to go through the roof.

I was pretty much self taught in computing; when I was at school, computer studies was a very new field, and generally maths teachers were given the job of teaching pupils about computers. Some were excellent, many had little training and less aptitude for the job. At my school, a fair number of pupils knew way more than the computer studies teacher. I recall the time when my friend Roy and I rewrote the CP/M operating system disk on the school’s solitary Research Machines 380Z so that instead of saying on boot up “Research Machines 380Z Basic (C) RM 1979” it said “Washing Machines 380Z Basic (C) Hugh and Roy”. The teacher went ballistic – saying “you’ve broken the computer” and banning us from the computer room for a month. He could not grasp the fact that we had copied the operating system onto a fresh floppy disc, and only made changes to the copy. This kind of innocent (and sometimes not so innocent) tinkering was a key way we learned how to program and also modify computer hardware. It also helped that this all happened at the beginning of the home computer revolution in 1981/82. The BBC Micro, the Sinclair ZX81, and a little later the ZX Spectrum, and a host of other pioneering machines were making their way into the bedrooms of children all over the UK. Compared with kids in the USA, who had Apple II‘s and IBM PC’s, which at the time had a substantially greater amount of processing clout, us Brits were struggling with computers with very limited resources indeed. Back then almost all kids could program their computers with a varying degree of skill. My own programming abilities were okay – my BASIC programming code was horribly inelegant and messy, but it usually worked – in the end. Since these golden days of the dawn of the home computer age, things have changes in many ways, some for the better, but many for the worse. School children have not been taught programming for years; instead computer studies lessons are mainly in how to use Microsoft Office or other proprietary applications. This was until as recently as 2012, when a charitable organisation called the Raspberry Pi Foundation was established. They are a not for profit group aiming to promote children learning programming by using a Raspberry Pi computer - a cheap and easy to use personal computer, which has just been updated to its fourth incarnation. Raspberry Pi computers are a partial return to simple, easy to use and learn computers; in spirit very similar to the original Sinclair ZX Spectrum, although in reality many magnitudes more powerful. It has been commented that the new model 4 Raspberry Pi is actually more powerful that the Cray 1 Supercomputer, which, in 1976 was the most powerful computer on the planet. The photo above shows my own Raspberry Pi 3 model B+ - it is inside the small black box a little smaller than a kitchen matchbox next to the monitor. I use it as my backup computer; it runs a version of Linux designed for the Raspberry Pi. I will be upgrading it to the new model 4 in due course. Click on the photo above for a larger view.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Yet another week goes by and no burglaries on Barnehurst Ward so good news there. We have just had one incident of vehicle crime, this took place in Twigg Close on Tuesday 25th June 2019 at 2.00pm. A Grey Yamaha Vity Motorbike Registration number LY62 GJO was stolen from outside the victim's property. The victim heard the alarm sound and on looking out he saw the motorbike being driven away, the lock to the bike had also been broken. The suspect riding the bike was wearing a brown Nike fleece type jacket and was not wearing a helmet. Three other suspects on motorbikes were seen driving off too. If you have any Information regarding this Incident please contact us. Our next community contact session is on Tuesday 2nd July 2019 at 11.00am, Barnehurst Golf Club". Belvedere ward:- "The team have visited the Smerdon Centre in Lumley Close in relation to damage to the roof that was caused recently and have also been patrolling around Nuxley Road and the Albert Road park area as we have been informed that there are incidents of criminal damage (in the park) and youths gaining access to the rooftops of certain shops. These patrols will continue for the foreseeable future as these incidents appear to be continuing. We were able to return a found wallet to the owner recently – many thanks to those helpful members of the public that were kind enough to approach the team to hand the found item to us. Happy to report that the wallet was not stolen, just lost. The team witnessed an off road bike being driven in Halt Robin Road and Lower Road last weekend, the rider of which refused to stop and speak to us. The team believe we have identified the rider and will be visiting his home address in the coming days. We have had a report of a strong cannabis smell lingering around Battle Road / Stanmore Road / Glendale Road. We have been unable to place where it is coming from yet. If anyone has any ideas or know where it is emanating please get in touch". Bexleyheath ward:- "There has been no reports of burglaries or attempted burglaries on the ward Along Martin Dene Bexleyheath there was a report of a theft from motor vehicle that seemed to have happened overnight between Tuesday 18/06/2019 & Wednesday 19/06/2019; A theft of purse was reported along the Broadway Bexleyheath on Wednesday 19/06/2019. No exact time or location was given. There has been three report of phones being taken. One was taken from the victims pocket in TKMAX, reported on Saturday 22/06/2019. Another one reported stolen from Costa Coffee shop in the Broadway on the same day – Saturday 22/06/2019. The others had their phone stolen along Belvedere Road Bexleyheath on Thursday 20/06/2019. Phone was taken from victims hand whilst suspect was riding a bike. There was also a report of cash taken from the victims pocket on Sunday 23/06/2019 in the Lidl Store in Bexleyheath; Thursday 20/06/2019 - Four males stopped by the bowling alley Bexleyheath and one was found to be in possession of cannabis. Also a PND was also issued for possession of cannabis which was also by the Bowling alley. On Tuesday evening the ward panel meeting took place and new ward priorities have now been set, these are now as follows: - Tackle Drug Dealing along Methuen Road, Hawthorn Road, Oaklands Road, & Sherbrooke Close; - ASB with bikes/youths along Braeside Close and Bursted Woods including the surrounding roads; - An increase use of social media regarding information around theft of purses along the Broadway. The team regularly conduct patrols along drug hot spot areas and ASB areas on the ward and conduct regular stops and searches where necessary". Crayford ward:- "Tools were stolen from a blue Peugeot 307 whilst parked at Tower Retail Park on Monday 17th June at 11.55. A white Mercedes Sprinter (number plate YF18FXW) was stolen from Crayford Way in the early hours of Friday 21st June, no keys were used. Between 22.00 on Friday 21st June and Sunday 22nd June at 07.00 a wing mirror which had been turned in on a Citroen whilst parked at Perry Street was forcefully kicked off. Criminal damage was caused to five vehicles whilst parked at Bookers Cash and Carry on Monday 24th June, it is believed that the suspects of this were going to rob other vehicles. On Wednesday 26th June between 19.00-19.05 there was an attempted robbery in Watling Street, the male was walking towards London Road when he was approached by two Males on a moped who attempted to rob him. Number plates RF66ONB were stolen from Swale Motor Group at Thames Road on between 17.30 on Thursday 20th June and 08.30 on Friday 21st June. These plates are registered to a grey three door Fiesta. Criminal damage was caused to vehicles parked at Crayford Industrial Estate by males in a black Volkswagen on Monday 24th June at 12.30. In the early hours of Monday 24th June a suspect attempted to turn and push away a motorcycle parked in Woodside Road, luckily it was well secured. The Crayford Ward Panel meeting was held at Vintage Lindy Lou's on Tuesday 25th June, our thanks to Fay for refreshments. The new ward promises are Anti-social behaviour and preventing burglary. There will be no community contact sessions for the next two weeks". Erith ward:- "We spoke about scams and took questions from members of the public in Erith Library. This small event went well and we will be looking at doing this again soon. Weapon sweeps have been carried out across Erith. Nothing of note has been found which is a good thing. The next Community Contact Session is at Erith Costa Coffee on Saturday 29th June 2019 at 5pm. Crimes of note - Theft from motor vehicle Tuesday 18/06/2019 Bexley Road; Theft from motor vehicle Thursday 20/06/2019 James Watt Way; Criminal Damage motor vehicle Thursday 20/06/2019 Maximfeldt Road; Theft from motor vehicle Monday 24/06/2019 Vickers Road; Theft from motor vehicle Sunday; 23/06/2019 Fraser House, Fraser Road; Theft of motor vehicle Monday 24/06/2019; C/Dam Vehicle Sunday 23/06/2019 Erith Road; Theft of motor vehicle Tuesday 25/06/2019 Compton Place; Theft of MV Wednesday 26/06/2019 Arran Close". Northumberland Heath ward:- "PCSO Lorraine has been conducting patrols on Bexley Road in relation to an increase of ASB, She has also visited the affected venues and gathered CCTV footage and liaised with local schools and managed to identify 3 of the main youths causing this ASB. Joint home visits will be arranged in conjunction with a member of the Bexley council ASB team. There have been no burglaries on the ward this week. This is good news, however Please do remember to keep doors and windows locked and secured when you leave your premises. In the warmer weather it is more likely your windows are open, so just be mindful to remember to check your property from top to bottom and make sure all windows are secure. There have been a number of Motor vehicle crimes of note as follows: Friday 21st June there was criminal damage to a motor vehicle parked on Swanton Road; Sunday 23rd June there was criminal damage to three motor vehicle parked on Belmont Road. (same suspect caused all 3); Monday 24th June a Grey Ford Transit Van was stolen from Swanton Road; Monday 24th June a Blue Honda Motorbike was stolen from Brooke street. Our next community contact session is on Thursday 4th July at 11am in the Mill Road Library, please do come along and meet a member of the team and discuss any issues or concerns you have, or just pop in and say hello".

Slade Green and Northend ward:- "There was an attempted break in at St Pauls Primary school overnight on Weds 19th June. Entry wasn't gained but damage was caused to one of the doors. CCTV enquiries have been negative. 2 criminal damage to vehicles have been reported. Overnight on June 19th a van in Craydene Road had its locks damaged in a possible attempted break in. And overnight on Friday June 21st a vehicle had deliberate scratch marks made to the bodywork in Fern Close. No suspects at this time. PCs Mark and James saw 2 motorbikes being ridden with no licence plates on Sunday evening in Bridge Road. After a short chase one of the males was caught and arrested and the bikes recovered. The other male has been identified and will be arrested in the coming days. A great bit of team work from both PCs again. PCSO Mark attended the St Augustines Summer fete last Saturday with many people enjoying the various stalls, bouncy castle and BBQ".  Thamesmead East ward:- "Burglaries: Good news, no burglaries this week. Crime Prevention - Close and lock all your doors and windows, even if you're going out for a few minutes. Photograph and keep a detailed inventory of each item of jewellery and keep it in a separate place. Remain vigilant at all times. Motor Vehicle Crimes: Theft of Motor Vehicle, between the hours of 06:30 am of Saturday 15/06/19 and 06:30am of Friday 21/06/19. A vehicle parked in Holstein Way was stolen; On Sunday 23/06/19 between the hours of 07:30 and 08:00 a vehicle parked in Wolvercote Road had the passenger window smashed and £7.00 taken; Theft of Motor Vehicle between the hours of 06:00pm on Saturday 22/06/19 and 02:30 pm Tuesday 25/06/19 - a vehicle parked in Maran Way was stolen; Theft from Motor Vehicle overnight between the hours of 05:30pm Tuesday 25/06/19 and 07:30am Wednesday 26/06/19 . A vehicle parked locked and secure in Glimpsing Green - a small amount of money was stolen. Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention - Did you know that your vehicle is like a shop window? If you can see ANY property left on view then so can a thief . Take it with you. Goof news - Following good work by PC Pruden, a female who failed to appear at court for various theft offences was arrested, appeared at court and was sentenced to 18 weeks". West Heath ward:- "Good news to start with this week, no burglaries have been reported. On Saturday June 22nd PCs Mo and Gill arrested a male wanted on recall to prison. A second arrest of a male was made in relation to harassment on Monday June 23rd. Once again we have been hit with several Motor Vehicle crimes. A ford Fiesta was stolen from the Pantiles between 2am and 7am on Thursday June 20th. Theft from a motor vehicle in Gypsy Road on Saturday June 22nd. The victim discovered the car had been rifled through and cash to the value of £5 was taken. A similar incident took place in Harvel Crescent on Saturday June 22nd when the victim discovered their car had been entered by an unknown suspect but nothing had been taken. On Monday this week PCSOs from West Heath, Crook Log and East Wickham wards attended 'Raising the Flag for Armed Forces Day 2019' which took place outside the Civic Centre in Bexleyheath. The Mayor was in attendance along with other dignitaries to give our thanks and support to past and present members of the Armed Forces".

The end video this week is from popular YouTube channel Hub Nut, by motoring journalist Ian Seabrook, which specialises in videos of old and unloved cars such as the Austin Allegro, Vauxhall Chevette, and even the three wheeled Invacar. The video features the 2019 Bromley Pageant of Motoring. Comments to hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Quintet.

The front doors of the former Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road, Erith, were open to the public for the first time in well over a decade last Sunday afternoon. The reason for this was a performance by five members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra of three pieces of classical music, including one by a little known composer from Erith, whose work has not been performed in public in living memory. A capacity audience of 130 visitors listened to the nearly two hour long recital, which was held to raise money to refurbish the book lift in the Grade II listed library building, which is being restored and converted into a community, arts and education centre by not for profit group The Exchange. The programme of music consisted of:- Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Phantasy Quintet, followed by a piece by Percy Hilder Miles (1878-1922, of Erith) String Quintet in A - which to me in some parts sounded very similar to the theme from the "Band of Brothers" TV series by HBO, but I digress. This piece was followed by a short interval, then the recital was concluded by W.A. Mozart (1756-1791) String Quintet in C. The recital was hugely popular; I spoke to many concert goers who were keen for recitals of this type to be staged on a regular basis. The BBC Symphony Orchestra members who formed the string quintet were so impressed by the excellent acoustics in the building that they are keen to return to make some recordings. The Phantasy Quintet by Percy Hilder Miles was performed in public for what may well have been the first time in nearly a century; Miles was born in Crayford 1878, he lived nearly all his life in Erith, at 18 Queen's Road. Percy was a child prodigy, composing from the age of 8. He was also a very talented violinist and performed the Beethoven violin concerto with an orchestra at the age of 13. At 15 he entered the Royal Academy of Music and one year  later composed this quintet in A major, which was the piece played last Sunday. Later, in 1917 he reminisced about the work in a letter to his cello-playing brother Maurice: “A thing of mine I have a very warm affection for is the A major quintet...for grace and charm, general euphony, transparency and naturalness, I have never beaten that A major quintet”. It is a short work which reveals the influence of Brahms and Dvorak, both of whom had written viola quintets only a few years earlier. Percy became a Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint at the Academy upon graduation and later became an examiner for the Associated Board. As such he travelled all over the Empire, going six times around the world, including a stint in Australia. Percy never married and sadly he died of pneumonia in 1922 aged just 43. He left behind over 150 compositions, mainly Chamber Music, but also some songs and a few orchestral works and concertos. He is buried with his parents in Brook Street cemetery. There are plans for the first ever CD recording of his music in the Autumn.

Another event to shortly be taking place in the former library is that visitors from the parallel world of Par Bexia are inviting residents to visit their planet at two special performances at the The Old Library, Erith. The visit to the Old Library, Erith on 21 and 28 June is connected to the Performing Places project and is being hosted by The Exchange, who manage The Old Library.  The Old Library plays host to an exciting programme of events and is also home to the fabulous Bookstore Café. Performing Places features beings from a parallel universe Bexleyheath, called Par Bexia. Par Bexia is falling apart. The Par Bexians want to understand more about our Bexleyheath and how we care for the town centre and the people that live, work and visit it. They believe they will learn how to care for their own place from this visit. The Performing Places concept was developed by Professor Sally Mackey from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has already been delivered successfully in several other towns, including Oldham, Abergavenny and Camden. The Old Library event, called The Bexliest Day of our Lives, promised to treat Bexley residents like real VIPs. They will shoot through the galaxy in our time travelling space portal, be offered a Bexley burger in our famous Earth Café, the chance to meet our very own Bexley human replica robots - and maybe even audition for a special Parbexian episode of ‘Bexley’s Got Talent’. This piece of children’s theatre will be performed by Drama, Applied Theatre and Education students from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and is aimed at 10 and 11 year olds, with their families. You can find more about the event, and book spaces by clicking here.

As I covered back in April, Bexley Council and a couple of their hired consulting firms undertook two open days in the empty commercial units at 68 Pier Road, Erith. This was to encourage opinion and feedback on the proposals the council had published relating to improvements in the public realm in the local area. Over two hundred people turned up to these events, and the council have now decided to expand the consultation with two additional open days. The events are held as part of the Erith Kitchen, at Pier Road on Friday, June 14 4pm-9pm and Friday, July 12 4pm-9pm. Residents can also fill out a survey online at www.greatererith.com/riversidegardens.

Residents in Sandcliff Road in Erith are up in arms yet again – and with very good reason. They are blighted by the incompetence of Thames Water. Ever since 1998 the road has had drainage problems – a giant chemical effluent leak caused several thousand gallons of industrial liquid waste to seep up through the drains and flood a number of houses in the road; I recall at the time that several houses were evacuated for months on end – and one was condemned as unfit for human habitation, Thames Water were subsequently fined £250,000 by the Department of the Environment for the spillage, and their apparent inability to properly organise the subsequent clean up. There have been a number of sewage floods in the road since, to the point where locals re – named the road “Poo Mews” – something which seems to have stuck. Back in 2012 there were floods of liquid excrement – you can read all about it on the News Shopper website here. Since then, nothing much has been done to permanently rectify the situation. In the last few days with the heavy rain, Sandcliff Road has once again been flooded with raw sewage. It strikes me that the local residents are blighted not just by the actual floods, but by the damage to the reputation of the road. I would not be surprised if house prices are badly affected by the situation – after all, who would want to live in an area where you had a strong chance of ending up knee deep in other people’s number twos when you ventured outside your front door? From Thames Water’s perspective, it is a PR disaster; I think the main reason that they don’t take a more proactive approach to the problem is that Sandcliff Road is a little travelled side lane, with a predominantly working class population. If a flood of dung was to happen in somewhere rather more affluent (rather than effluent) like Bexley Village, I reckon that the “sharp elbowed middle classes” would have got a rather better reaction from the powers that be. I have walked down Sandcliff Road several times recently, and I can confirm the aroma of multiple bowel movements is hard to ignore; it is just as well I am a non smoker, as the volume of methane in the air could well be close to a combustible level. I feel sorry for the residents, and hope that the problem can eventually be resolved. If you have any insight into this situation, please Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com - any messages will be treated in the strictest confidence. 

In last week's Blog update I wrote at some length about historical local engineer Thorsten Nordenfelt and his work on early submarines; I touched on the subject of his collaborator, the Reverend George Garrett, and now I will expand on this. The Reverend George Garrett (1852–1902), clergyman and submarine designer, was born on the 4th July 1852 at 45 Waterloo Road, Lambeth, London, the third son of John Garrett, an Irish curate, and his wife, Georgina. The Garretts moved to Manchester in the early 1860s, and George attended Rossall School in Fleetwood until 1867, when the family was financially ruined and he was moved to Manchester grammar school. From 1869 he worked as a schoolteacher and studied chemistry at Owens College, Manchester. The combination of work and study reflected the financial pressures on his father. At Owens he developed an effective system for self-contained breathing, using caustic potash to remove carbon dioxide from the exhaled air. Work on this device probably damaged his lungs, and brought about his early death. In 1871 he went to work and study in Ireland, and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, with an honours degree in experimental sciences in 1875. After a year travelling in the south seas Garrett married Jane Parker of Waterford—they had four children—took the Cambridge theology examination, and in 1877 became curate to his father. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–8 and the war scare that gripped the British empire inspired Garrett to develop a simple one-man submersible, built in Birkenhead and demonstrated by the autumn of 1878. This secured support for a company from a mystery backer, possibly the Swedish armaments magnate Thorsten Nordenfelt, for the construction of a larger, 33 ton, steam-driven version. This craft, the Resurgam, was completed at Birkenhead in November 1879. Extensive trials were conducted at Liverpool and at sea, demonstrating that it could be submerged, if only briefly, and propelled underwater. This was the first time any vessel had been mechanically propelled below the surface. In February 1880, while on a voyage to Portsmouth for Royal Navy inspection, the boat was lost off Rhyl in a storm. In August 1882 Garrett travelled to Sweden to work for Nordernfelt's Submarine Torpedo Boat Company. Here the interests of inventor and owner clashed; Garrett sought an effective submersible, while Nordenfelt wanted a torpedo boat that could submerge. While Nordernfelt's name graced the product, the design was essentially Garrett's. The new boat carried a single locomotive torpedo. The boat was completed in August 1883, but underwater trials were hampered by the poisonous fumes from the steam plant. However, public trials were held in September 1885. Despite Garrett's best efforts the flawed design did little more than show that it could operate on the surface and run briefly underwater. It was sold by Nordenfelt's agent Basil Zaharoff to the Greek navy, and delivered in January 1886. While trials in Greece were a failure the Turks were persuaded otherwise, and bought two boats. These were badly built, inferior, if larger, versions of the prototype, and did not work when completed in 1887, though Garrett did manage to carry out the first submerged launch of a torpedo. In their efforts to make the boats work the Turks even commissioned Garrett as commander, though on an honorary basis. A fourth boat was built at Barrow in Furness to an improved design, but the hectic schedule of work in Britain and Turkey finally caught up with Garrett, never in good health, who suffered a breakdown. He recovered in time to demonstrate the latest craft at Portsmouth in May 1887, and at the jubilee naval review in July. Eventually the Russians agreed to try the vessel on a sale-or-return basis, but it was wrecked, en route on the Danish coast. Garrett, who was living in some style at Southampton, continued to work on enclosed steam systems, but when the Nordenfelt company was subsumed into the new Barrow Shipbuilding concern, which eventually became Vickers, Garrett lost his major backer. The Germans built two Garrett/Nordenfelt submarines, but paid no royalties. Not surprisingly, they also made them work rather better than the originals. In 1890, after discussions with John Jacob Astor, Garrett moved to the United States to become a farmer in Florida. He was already seriously ill with the pulmonary disease that was to kill him. Farming proved disastrous, and after a spell as a railway fireman in New York, and an American soldier during the Spanish-American War of 1898, when he became an American citizen, he died of tuberculosis in New York Metropolitan Hospital on 26 February 1902, aged forty-nine. He was buried in Mount Olivet cemetery, Maspeth, New York on 1 March. Garrett's career combined innovation, triumph, absurdity, and failure in a way that quickly obscured his real contribution. By creating a submersible, though it failed, he spurred the work of others, notably the American John Holland, which resulted in effective submersible warships entering service within a decade of Garrett's death. The Garrett family remained in the United States, and subsequently prospered. At the time of writing the Resurgam had been located by divers, with the possibility of being raised.

Monty Python’s Spamalot is a musical comedy adapted from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the motion picture, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian legend, but it differs from the film in many ways. The original 2005 Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, received 14 Tony Awards nominations, winning in three categories, including Best Musical. This is the amateur premiere by members of Erith Playhouse. You can read more about the production and also book tickets by clicking on the link here.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, starting with the report from Barnehurst ward:- "Good news for Barnehurst, no burglaries have been reported in the last week. We have had another theft from motor vehicle in Barnehurst Avenue on Friday 07th June 2019 at 1900 hours. On this occasion a hole was made to access the vehicle however nothing was taken. This area has been targeted particularly over the last month. Can we ask you double check your vehicle is locked as thieves will go round trying door handles until they get lucky. Remove all items even if you feel they have no value. Sensor lights may quickly discourage thieves away from your vehicle too. A quantity of drugs were found following a drugs warrant being executed on Friday 07th June 2019 in the local area. Investigations are ongoing. Just a reminder our community contact session will be on Tuesday 18/06/2019 at 4.00pm in Barnehurst Golf Club, Mayplace Road East, hope to see you there". Belvedere ward:- "On two consecutive nights recently there were reported break-ins at B&Q in Lower Road. These offences took place in the early hours of both Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th June at around 2am. Two males were seen to break into the store via the locked exit doors after having smashed through glass panels with a hammer in order to gain entry. In total around £6500.00 worth of goods were removed from the store. There was a burglary in Abbey Road on Sunday 9th June at around 7.30pm. A male gained entry to the property via the rear door before being disturbed and challenged by a resident of the address. The suspect made his way from the property without having taken anything from within. An attempted garage burglary took place in Grosvenor Road on Sunday 9th June at 5.35pm. Two young males were caught on CCTV as they were observed trying to enter several garages without success. All of these incidents are still being investigated. The team also attended the Sikh Temple in Lower Road on Sunday 9th June to offer Smartwater kits to the community". Bexleyheath ward:- "Good news: There have been no reports of residential burglaries over the last week. There has been a report of a theft of motor vehicle along Heversham Road on Monday 10/06/2019 between 3 & 4pm. Ward officers are conducting regular patrols along drug hot spots on the ward along Albion Road and surrounding areas, so far the team has had approximately 18 stop and searches. Car parks on the ward are also included in the patrols. ASB patrols also take place around the war memorial as the team have received complaints about ASB and drugs. 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. If you are after crime prevention advice, please look at the Met Police website which has lots of information that you may find useful. Remember in an emergency please dial 999 and 101 for non-urgent reporting". Crayford ward:- "On Monday 3rd June property was stolen from a delivery vehicle at the rear of Currys. The rear number plate was stolen from a vehicle parked in Old Road on 5th June. A white Ford Transit van was stolen from Bexley Lane at 00.20 on 7th June, this has since been recovered by Crayford Safer Neighbourhood team in Shearwood Crescent. A bag was stolen from the locked staff room of a local business in Waterside on Friday 7th June between 18.15-18.20. The bag was discarded nearby but money, ID, and an IPhone were stolen. Between Thursday 6th and Friday 7th June a car was broken in to and money taken in Woodside Road. A front number plate DY59FHM was stolen on 8th June from Maiden Lane, this should be on a blue Fiat Punto. A blue Nissan was stolen from Ridge Way between Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June, it has since been recovered from Halcot Avenue. A lady had her money taken on Monday 10th June at 14.00 whilst near Stadium Way, at this time there are no further details. £10,000 worth of tools have been reported stolen from a building site at Mayplace Primary School in Woodside Road on Tuesday 11th June, no further details given at this time. A light metallic grey sports car with a canvas roof has been stolen from the garage area of Claremont Crescent on Monday 10th June, the wing mirror was broken on the driver's side, the garage door had already been damaged. We have been very busy around the ward this week with our officers conducting uniform and plain clothes patrols, many stop and searches completed and class A and B offences detected". Erith ward:- "We have been hit again with quite a few theft from motor vehicles, do all you can by not leaving anything on show in your vehicle overnight, even a little bit of small change left is enough to tempt some people. Also remember to lock the vehicle doors, you will be surprised at how many people forget to do this. One Burglary from the week at Bexley college where a male broke into the café and stole some items of food and drink this was captured on CCTV. Crimes of note from the week: Shoplift <£200 Wednesday 05/06/2019 Morrisons, James Watt Way; Theft from motor vehicle Monday 03/06/2019 Winifred Road; Theft from motor vehicle Thursday 30/05/2019 Pembroke Road; Theft from MV Thursday 16/05/2019, Erith Road; Other theft Saturday 08/06/2019 W M Morrison petrol station, James Watt Way; Burg-Bus/Com Monday 10/06/2019 Bexley College, Walnut Tree Road; Theft from motor vehicle Wednesday 05/06/2019 Chandlers Drive; Theft from motor vehicle Tuesday 11/06/2019 Chichester Wharf".

Northumberland Heath ward:- "Unfortunately we had two garages broken into. Burglars will usually try a shed or garage first because they can potentially find tools needed to get into a house nearby. It's worth having a good padlock on the door with no exposed screws. Pay attention to hinges as these are sometimes easily removable. Consider a battery operated alarm; they look low-key but respond to movement or contact with an extremely loud siren. If you have windows then these could be vulnerable unless they are secured with wire mesh or grills. Drape a sheet or blanket over items inside to keep them covered from view. Ideally lock everything away securely. Never leave your garage or shed door unlocked if you are not around. Check that your insurance covers the contents of your outbuildings. A set of number plates has been taken from a parked and unattended vehicle in Frinsted Road. If you happen to see registration number RN51CCY please contact police so further enquiries can be made. Should you wish to protect your vehicle from this type of offence drop us a line and we may be able to provide appropriate anti-theft devices. Our next open surgery to give local residents an opportunity to speak to us about any issues or concerns is due to take place 4pm Friday 21/6/19 at the Library in Mill Road DA8 1HW. The surgery is scheduled to run for an hour and no prior notification is required to attend". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "Two vehicle crimes in the last week to report. Tools were stolen from a van in Peareswood Road overnight on Sunday June 9th and overnight on Monday June 10th some Rayban sunglasses were taken from the glove box of a car parking in Hazel Road. Please do not leave anything valuable in your car, even if it is parked on a driveway as both of these vehicles were. The police helicopter was flying over and the ward in the early hours of Sunday June 9th and noticed a moped driving dangerously on the pavements in Slade Green. Units were called and after a short chase, both suspects were caught, arrested and interviewed. We just are awaiting a charging decision but our thanks goes to our colleagues in the air. 2 positive stop and searches from Mark and James this last week with a PND fine issued to a suspect after a car was stopped in Whitehall Lane with 3 occupants. The vehicle and suspects were all searched with some drugs recovered. The team helped Immigration Officers last week on an operation in Belvedere, no arrests made. Photo's were sent to us by Orbit Housing showing a group of youths on the roof of Grange House Sunday afternoon. No positive ID's at this time but enquiries are ongoing and the access door to the roof area has been secured with warning letters sent out to all residents in the block and in Daleview". Thamesmead East ward:- "Vehicle Crime - Theft of Motor Vehicle Martham Close Thursday 06/06/19 between 10am – 6pm Vehicle seen on drive at 10am Victims husband arrived home at 6pm the vehicle was no longer at the location however there was evidence of broken glass on the ground. Victim had been home all day and heard nothing. Thamesbank Place Friday 07/06/19 between 2:30pm – 8am 08/06/19 Victims vehicle has been removed from location without permission my suspect/s unknown. Chadwick Way Monday 10/06/19 between 12pm – 9:40pm suspect/s unknown taking victims vehicle from the location without permission. Theft from Vehicle. Maran Way Monday 10/06/19 between 9:15pm – 8am 11/06/19 Victim states vehicle broken into suspect/s removed items within". West Heath ward:- Unfortunately we have two burglaries and an attempted burglary over the last week. On Thursday June 6th between 07.15 and 07.30 the victim was at their home address in Woolwich Road when the victim was at her home address in her bedroom. At approx. 0715 hours the victim's husband left their home address via the side gate as he does every morning. At approx. 0720 hours the victim heard a noise as if a door was being closed and thought nothing of this as she normally hears next door in their property. A few minutes later she went downstairs and noticed her phone had been taken from the kitchen side along with her purse containing multiple store/membership cards and 2x debit cards. A Lloyds Bank car and royal bank of Scotland card which was also taken. There was no sign of forced entry. On Monday June 10th between 1am to 2pm a window was forced to a property in Amberley Way several electrical items were taken. One attempted burglary in Long Lane on Monday June 19th at approximately 11.30pm. The property was empty following the recent death of the resident, a window was forced but entry was not gained. We have also had several reports of motor vehicle crime this week. A black Ford Fiesta was stolen from Woolwich Road overnight between Tuesday June 4th between 5pm and 5.30pm the following day. A green Volkswagen Polo was stolen from Brampton Road between midnight and 6.30pm on Thursday June 6th. The team executed a warrant in Darenth Road on Wednesday June 12th to seize a believed pit bull to assess the dog and to ascertain if it could potentially be of a dangerous breed".

The end video this week comes courtesy of long established local recycling firm, Abbey Car Breakers, whose large facility is located at Wheatley Terrace Road in Erith, close to Morrison's supermarket. They have around seven hundred vehicles for breaking and recycling on site at any one time, and also sell new and refurbished spare parts for a wide range of vehicles. I had occasion to visit Abbey Car Breakers last week, on the lookout for a rare and  hard to located component for a friend's car. The last time I visited Abbey Car Breakers was about thirty years ago, and the place seems to have changed little - they still have a huge supply of new and used spares for a wide range of vehicles. Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.