Riverside Baths redevelopment.

The photos above were taken by me on Wednesday evening at the London and Quadrant exhibition to show local people the development they propose for the old Erith Riverside Swimming Baths site. The event took place in the refectory of Bexley College in Walnut Tree Road. I anticipated that I would be at the exhibition for little more than twenty minutes, but ended up staying there for over ninety.  I must admit that I arrived at the venue with somewhat of a preconception of what I was about to see. I was under the erroneous impression that the site was to get a single monolithic low – rise tower block, but this is certainly not the case. London and Quadrant hope to build a low – rise block, but they also hope to construct a number of three and four bed town houses both behind and to one side of the main block. To be honest, it does not look too bad, though the exterior design of both the apartment block and the houses does to my mind at least look like it is going to date quite quickly. You can see an artist’s impression below this paragraph - click for a larger view; one thing several visitors to the exhibition noticed was that whoever put together the graphic did not have any local knowledge. As you can see, a black car is shown travelling down Erith High Street from the East to the West – everyone in Erith knows this would be impossible, as the road is one – way from West to East! Nevertheless, it will be interesting to hear what feedback London and Quadrant get from the event. I know that some people were concerned about the proximity of the Walnut Tree Road electricity substation, which I understand takes power from Essex via large cables that run under the River Thames and feeds the power from them into the National Grid. This structure will be pretty much next door to the proposed new development, and from what I have been told, there is absolutely no prospect of it being relocated, as it forms part of the regional power infrastructure. The former swimming baths site is actually somewhat larger than it appears when viewed from the High Street; a corner of the space actually exists behind the car park of the Running Horses, which many locals may be unaware of. One thing I discovered during a couple of conversations I had at the event was that I did find out one thing of interest. London and Quadrant were the organisation that originally submitted a proposal for the Thames Gateway Project back in 2010 – the notorious plan which showed the Riverside Gardens being built upon. This was what prompted the formation of FORGE, and the campaign to preserve the gardens. It turns out that it was a mistake at the printer – London and Quadrant at no stage wanted to build on the gardens – it was a cock – up with the printer using the wrong file; by the time they realised it was a couple of weeks later and thousands of leaflets had already been distributed.  I was told by a London and Quadrant senior executive that the gardens and the scenic view across the river was the reason they wanted to build on the swimming pool site in the first place, and that they would hardly shoot themselves in the foot by building on that very view! I think many locals are justifiably cautious about the development, wondering if it could be "creeping redevelopment" with the Riverside Gardens merely being a further, future phase. Opinions in respect of the height of the tower block, the provision of a children's play area, more off - road parking and the colour of the bricks used in the structure have already been fed back to London and Quadrant. There will undoubtedly be more on this subject in the weeks to come. Leave a comment below, or email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com if you have feelings on the subject.

On Monday evening I saw something that made me want to bite my tongue; I knew however that if I said anything I would have most likely got a barrage of abuse. I was standing in the queue at a checkout in Morrison’s. There was a couple in front of me; they looked to be aged in their mid-sixties, and were expensively dressed. The man pulled out his wallet to pay for the contents of their trolley – he had eight or nine debit and credit cards, and inside the wallet was a white address label type of sticker – and written on it were the PIN numbers for each of his cards, along with the three digit number on the reverse of the cards. I could not believe someone would be so stupid as to record the PIN numbers of all of their cards and to keep the information in the same, easily stolen place. He was obviously worth a bob or two, and it was an open invitation for a mugger or pickpocket to steal from him. Not only that, but if he did have his wallet stolen, any money taken from his accounts using the legitimate PIN number prior to his reporting the theft would not be refunded by the bank or credit card company. Madness.

The Maggot Sandwich football reporter, Brian Spurrell has some encouraging news this week:-

DERES MAKE HISTORY AT HOLBEACH

Holbeach United    2          (Dube 3, Duffy 70)
Erith & Belvedere   3          (Walker 13, Miller og 34, Marsh 100)

FA Vase Fifth Round, 14 February

Erith and Belvedere FC made club history in Lincolnshire yesterday, reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Vase for the first time.  An outstanding extra-time winner by Adam Marsh, described by manager Matt Longhurst as “a goal worthy of winning any game”, took them into the last eight, where they host North Shields on 28 February - two rounds from Wembley! Holbeach, of the United Counties League, had an almost identical league record to Deres in the Southern Counties East, so a close tie was to be expected.  But it began with a calamity for Deres - a long goal-kick from Nick Conroy fell for Livo Dube, catching Deres keeper George Kamurasi in no-man’s-land as he advanced and lobbing him from 30 yards.  1-0 to Holbeach after three minutes. The lead lasted just ten minutes until a well-worked move saw Adam Marsh set up Byron Walker on the left-hand side of the box, who controlled the ball expertly and slotted past Conroy to equalise. Kamurasi’s kicking looked distinctly nervy for a while after this, and Danny Spencer nearly capitalised on one dodgy clearance, but the giant Ugandan has few peers as a keeper at this level and soon proved his worth with outstanding saves from Jamie Clarke and Jake Duffy, while at the other end Alfie May and Allan Matthews just failed to get a final touch in a scramble. It was Matthews who set up the goal that put Deres ahead on 34 minutes, but with little Deres input – his cross was headed back to the keeper by Kern Miller, who held his head in his hands as the stranded Conroy missed the header and the ball rolled into the net.  Despite Dube’s shot just wide just before half-time, Deres looked comfortable in the lead. The second half produced fewer chances but still an engrossing game.  Deres were 18 minutes from victory when a defensive mix-up saw the ball cannon off a defender into the path of Duffy, who made no mistake just inside the box to make it 2-2.  Duffy set up Miller for a chance soon afterwards which went too high, but 33-goal striker Alfie May came closest to a late winner on 86 minutes when his dipping shot was tipped over the bar by Conroy. Holbeach had shaded the second half, but Deres stepped up a gear in extra-time, and the tenth minute brought the best move of the match.  Substitute Ben Wilson was released down the left wing and sent over an inch-perfect cross which was met on the volley by Marsh.  An emphatic shot bulged the net to cause mayhem among the Deres team and on the bench. Deres were able to defend from the front for most of the remaining 20 minutes, and frustrated Holbeach went down to ten men when substitute Matt Nolan was shown a red card for clattering Sam Groombridge.  The Deres defender suffered a painful ankle injury, but with all three subs having been used, tried to return to the fray in the manner of Monty Python’s Black Knight missing a limb or two; he had limped five yards onto the pitch when the final whistle went. The Deres are thus in the last eight of a national competition for the first time since the FA Amateur Cup of 1945-46.  The Vase is a successor to the Amateur Cup (scrapped in 1974): not quite an equivalent competition but some of the cast are the same.  At the same stage in 1946 E&B beat Eastbourne, whom they beat in the first round this season; and the Amateur Cup was dominated by north-eastern teams, who have won five of the last six Vase finals.  North Shields are tournament favourites and will be very tough opposition in a fortnight’s time.
Holbeach United - Conroy, Anton, Parker, Warfield (Gibson 69), Miller, Spencer (Cartwright 19), Beeson, Duffy, Steadman, Clark (Nolan 60), Dube.
Deres - Kamurasi, Matthews (Minter 87), Craig, Richmond, Groombridge, Johnson, Hales, L. May, A. May, Marsh (Parkinson 120), Walker (Wilson 66)
Attendance - 265 Thanks Brian. could it be our local team will make it all of the way? Brian will be covering developments; expect an update from him in the coming weeks.

Over the last few years I have occasionally mentioned radio stations – both legitimate and otherwise that I have worked for in one manner or another. I have always had a deep interest in radio – even when I was at primary school, I would find old radios and pull them apart to try and work out what made them tick; at one stage I managed to convert an old Bush valve receiver into an amplifier / speaker for my bedside transistor radio – even if it was only to listen to Ed Stewart on “Junior Choice” on Radio 1. When in secondary school I started to listen the land based pirates which you could find all across both the Medium Wave and (what was then termed VHF) FM bands. The early 80’s were a formative time for unlicensed broadcasting – at that point little government thought had been given to widening commercial licences, and things such as community stations and special event licences just did not exist – with the notable exception of Radio Thamesmead, which at that time was available via cable only to residents physically located in Thamesmead. All sorts of pirate stations broadcast from whatever high points they could find – usually the roof of a tower block – radio signals on the FM band travel in straight lines, so the higher up the transmitter / antenna are, the further the signal can theoretically travel – though other factors also come into play. My own favourite stations at the time were Alice’s Restaurant, and later Rock FM, which broadcast out of the Epping / Hainault area. Another station – which only came on during Monday nights was called Imagine – it played melodic rock and electronic music from bands like Tangerine Dream. When I was in the 6^th form at school, I worked Saturdays at independent computer store Silica Shop in Hatherley Road, Sidcup, and so was not at home to listen to the various other pirate stations that broadcast on Saturdays. A friend handed me a cassette he had recorded of a pirate station that he said sounded like nothing he had heard before. I listened to the tape and was doubly astounded; firstly the station sounded very slick and professional – they had jingles and sound effects, and even had hourly news bulletins. Secondly, I recognised several of the voices as being people I knew, including one who was a school teacher of mine! I said nothing and carried on with the Saturday job. Sometime later when I had left school, I bumped into several of the people whose voices I had heard on the tape – typically we met in a pub – the Fox in Upper Belvedere (which back then was excellent, unlike now). One thing led to another and I was invited up to the studio. The station was called Radio Lumberjack, and it was run from a large semi-detached house in Bexleyheath. Most of the upper floor of the house had been converted into a main studio and a newsroom / production facility. Unusually for such a setup, the transmitter was located in the studio itself. Normally land based pirates would have a small, low powered UHF link transmitter which sent a hard to track signal to a much more powerful VHF FM transmitter located on the roof of a nearby tower block; the thinking behind this was that the authorities could easily track and confiscate the main FM transmitter, but the low power link signal was far harder to detect – thus meaning it was less likely for the studio to also be raided – though this still was a danger. I later found out that the reason the chap behind Radio Lumberjack was unconcerned about the possibility of being raided was that his day job was as a member of the Department of Trade and Industry Radio Investigation Service – the pirate radio hunters of the time! He knew well in advance of any possible raids, and any documents pertaining to Radio Lumberjack promptly got “lost”, so the station got no official investigation at all, and operated with impunity for several years. Having such a “mole” right at the heart of the opposition proved invaluable later, when a number of Radio Lumberjack staff became involved with Radio Caroline – but that is a story for another day. Radio Lumberjack broadcast an eclectic range of music, interspersed with comedy sketches and novelty jingles. I soon became a regular presenter, hosting the evening album music show between 8pm and midnight – allowing pretty much all the other DJ’s to disappear up the pub. The humour on Radio Lumberjack was pretty surreal – 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 wacky. 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. I was part of Radio Lumberjack for a couple of very happy and memorable years, and made friends that I still have to this day. The station naturally ran its course, and in time some of the more dedicated members – the station owner included became involved in Radio Caroline. That is a story for another time.

Bexley Neighbourhood Watch Association have recently made the following announcement:- “We are pleased to announce that working together with Officers from St Michael's Safer Neighbourhoods Team in Bexley that we have managed to achieve full Neighbourhood Watch coverage in St.Michael's Ward. This ward, the first in Bexley and one of the few in London to achieve total coverage, now have all of the 56 streets on the ward covered by Neighbourhood Watch, with around a thousand residents signed up. Sergeant Bryan Young, head of the St Michael's Safer Neighbourhoods Team said: “When I joined St Michael's ward over a year ago, one of my commitments was to reduce the fear of crime in Welling. I thought that one of the best ways to do this was involving the community through increasing Neighbourhood Watch and community contacts. My team have worked really hard from the beginning of October when I set the task of getting every road on the ward covered by Neighbourhood Watch. As part of The Met Police's Operation Shine Campaign, my team leafleted every one of our 56 streets and spoke with many residents and as a result, I am proud to confirm that we now have 100% Neighbourhood Watch coverage on the ward”. Dana Wiffen, head of the Bexley borough Neighbourhood Watch Association said: “We are pleased to announce that St Michael's Ward is the first in the Borough to reach 100% coverage this is largely due to hard work of St Michael's policing team who have canvassed hard on our behalf although it would have not been possible without the full administration back-up of our Neighbourhood Watch office, so well done to Claire Tack and the team of volunteers for also making this possible and ensuring that all those that said yes at the time of the police visit still wanted to continue a week or two later. Inspector Paul Sanders said: “As the Inspector for the area which includes St Michaels ward, I am really proud of what has been achieved here. The police team have gained the support and trust of the public and have secured 100% Neighbourhood Watch coverage. This is a fantastic achievement and I am incredibly grateful to those residents who have made this happen. St Michaels enjoys low crime levels and a joint police and community effort will ensure it stays that way and becomes even safer”. This will hopefully now act as an incentive for other police teams in Bexley to work towards the same goal, already Sidcup, Blendon and Penhill are working in this way with monthly roadshows”. As many readers may know, I also run a large Neighbourhood Watch group; if anyone is thinking about getting involved with Neighbourhood Watch, and is not sure how to get started, please drop me a line and we can have a private chat. It is not difficult, and you can really make a difference to local safety and security. It can also help to foster an old – fashioned sense of community, with an added benefit that many insurance companies offer better rates to both house and contents insurance in areas where there is an active Neighbourhood Watch presence.  Drop a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Several news sources have announced that the maximum limit for NFC equipped debit card cashless payments (sometimes known as “bonk and pay) is to be raised from £20 to £30 this coming September. Personally I am concerned by this – for many people £30 is a substantial sum of money. To be able to “spend” or make a transaction of up to this amount simply by being in proximity with a suitable reader is something that has long worried me. When the contactless cards were first issued the maximum limit for a non – PIN number payment was set at £10; the banking industry has long lobbied for this to be increased. The problem is that contactless technology is not 100% reliable, and it also has a history of security vulnerabilities, as I have described in the past. Just like when Chip and PIN was introduced, where the onus on proving the transaction had / had not occurred was transferred from the bank to the individual, the responsibility for the security of your bank account is biased strongly on the side of the banks – basically any transaction that happens on a “bonk and pay” card is the responsibility of the card user, not the bank. Getting refunds from swipes made in error, or where a fault occurred can be extremely difficult. There is also the issue of non – Pound sterling transactions not being limited to £20 (£30 in September) due  to a fundamental fault in the way the limit rules are enforced. Personally I think that swipe to pay is not for me – I have a bog standard “Chip and PIN” card, which might be slightly less convenient in certain limited circumstances, but it is a whole lot more secure - unless you are the gentleman I mentioned earlier in this posting, of course! If your bank sends you a contactless card which you might not actually want, you can contact them to replace it with a standard card. This is a service that the banks don't advertise, but do offer if asked directly. I asked for a standard card when my previous bank debit card turned up with contactless payment enabled, and when my current card arrived in the post at the end of December, I was anticipating having to visit my branch to ask for a replacement – my concerns were unfounded; it would seem that the bank had made note of my preferences and sent me a bog standard card – a nice touch.

Regular readers will no doubt recall my musings on the empty former Port of London Authority building on the Erith Riverside Gardens, next to the wooden jetty that is used by Erith Rowing Club and others (see the photo above - click for a larger version). I had wondered why it has been left unused for so long – from my understanding it has water and power, and would make an ideal sub – base for the RNLI, who have major bases in the Pool of London and at Gravesend, but nothing in between. Another organisation that could benefit from the riverside office could be the Maritime Volunteer Service - is a uniformed civilian maritime training organisation and support emergency service in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1994 as a response to the disbandment of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS). Volunteers follow similar rates and ranks, traditions, vales and ethos as the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy. The patron of the Maritime Volunteer Service is HRH Prince Michael of Kent, Honorary Rear Admiral, Royal Naval Reserve and Commodore-in-Chief, Maritime Reserves. The Maritime Volunteer Service has over 450 members in more than 30 units around the coasts and estuaries of the United Kingdom. The founding unit of the MVS was MVS Portsmouth. Each unit meets weekly for training which is put into practice afloat using a range of craft including powerful RIBs, launches, dories, purpose made rescue craft and even offshore training ships. One unit has even purchased a hovercraft to provide safety cover in shallow waters and mud banks. The MVS maintains strong links with the Combined Cadet Forces, the British Armed Forces, the Merchant Navy and other maritime organisations.  The aims of the Maritime Volunteer Service are:-  (1) To train people in nautical and maritime skills to recognised international standards. (2) To assist at maritime events around the country. (3) To provide a support emergency service both afloat and ashore in times of need. The nearest MVS units are in Putney and in Gravesend – once again, a unit somewhere in the middle would seem to be a good idea. Erith has a very strong maritime history and tradition; surely something of this nature would be a good idea? What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Crossrail project is likely to make the most significant changes to the transport infrastructure of the local area since the Dartford tunnel first came into operation in 1963. It will halve the time taken to travel across London from East to West or vice versa, and it is likely to bring investment and new residents to areas that until now have been thought of as being undesirable. I feel that Woolwich is going to benefit greatly; ever since I was small, Woolwich has been touted as “the next big thing” – but for one reason or another it has never really taken off. I feel that this is now on the verge of change. The Docklands Light Railway terminus at Woolwich Arsenal station brought relatively wealthy residents to the Royal Arsenal development, though as I have written previously, it is a pity that so many of them treat the estate as a gated residence, and don’t venture into Woolwich town centre. Crossrail will bring more new people to the town, and with them, new money. General Gordon Square was given a much – needed makeover prior to the 2012 Olympic Games, and one of the historic buildings in the square has now been rebuilt and given a new lease of life. The former headquarters of the Woolwich Equitable Building Society have now become a very classy pub and restaurant, right in the heart of Woolwich. I have to say that I have not visited it yet, but hope to put this right in the very near future; reviews on the place are universally positive. The existing up – market pub / restaurant in the town is The Dial Arch, which is actually located on the Royal Arsenal site. It is a nice location and building, but in my experience the food is at best adequate, and very expensive in comparison with other local Young’s pubs such as the excellent Malt Shovel in Dartford. I know that The Dial Arch will have higher overheads than The Malt Shovel, but charging nearly double for the same meal is just too much. The Woolwich Equitable will provide some good competition for high quality food and real ale. I will review the place in the near future. If you have already visited The Woolwich Equitable and have thoughts that you would like to share with others, please get in contact in the usual manner.

To end this week we have a new Simon's Cat cartoon - always a real treat. This one is a Valentine's Day special called "Butterflies" - OK it is a day late, but who's counting? Comments below as usual.

Bank Chambers then and now.

Autumn has hit Erith hard, as you can see from the trees around Erith Riverside Shopping Centre in the photo above - click for a larger view. I recently acquired a lawn vacuum cleaner - my new synthetic lawn might not need mowing or watering, but it does not stop errant leaves and sycamore "helicopter" seeds from using it as a landing strip. A brief whizz round with the vacuum sorts it out - until the next batch begin to fall. I have now had my synthetic lawn for a couple of weeks and I am very happy with it. If anyone has any questions regarding synthetic lawns, please drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com

The mystery of the old double decker buses parked in the Europa Industrial Estate in Fraser Road has been solved by one of my informants. The buses are owned and operated by a company called Abbey Travel, who operate a double decker bus hire business. You can see their fleet of double deckers by clicking here. Nice to get to the bottom of that conundrum.

I sometimes get questioned as to how I get so many local stories, and what my sources are. To be honest they come from all over the place; some are issues that have been raised by local newspapers like the News Shopper, but in my opinion have been inadequately explored. Others are from a small army of mostly anonymous informers who drop me pieces of information whenever they come across something that they feel might be of interest to the Maggot Sandwich readers. Another source is from announcements carefully squirrelled away on obscure and little visited web pages, or in the public announcement pages of local publications. Very few people actually read these, and many a time I have been able to bring something to wider attention due to Bexley Council or a commercial organisation trying to “hide in plain sight”. It is the same with applications for planning permission which have to be displayed in public – how many people ever stop to read such an announcement when it is attached to a lamp post, or placed in a vacant shop window? Not very many, I would think. I know that Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers has a similar enquiring mind – probably why we do tend to quite often feature similar local issues, albeit from slightly different approaches. This week a search of the printed version of the News Shopper (which incidentally does not get delivered in large parts of Erith) has brought up a story that will certainly be of local interest. A company with the rather innocuous name of Riverside Resource Recovery Limited has posted a statutory notice / official  announcement in the back pages of the aforementioned paper. The notice states “The variation application is made in respect of the Riverside Resource recovery facility energy from waste station (“the Facility”) which is located in Norman Road, Belvedere in the London Borough of Bexley. The Section 36 consent authorised the construction of the new energy from waste electricity generating station to treat a maximum of 670,000 tonnes per annum of waste with the capacity to generate up to 72 MW. The facility has been operating since 2013 (following commissioning which began in 2011), treating and recovering energy from municipal solid waste and commercial and industrial waste. The variation application is accompanied by an environmental statement which describes the main respects in which RRRL considers that the likely significant effects of the proposed changes sought in the application would differ from those described in the environmental statement submitted in 2002 in connection with the Section 36 consent.  The proposed changes include a request for approval for:-

• An increase in the maximum throughput of the facility from 670,000 tpa to 785,000 tpa of waste.
• The option for river borne waste to be transported to the facility from the Port of Tilbury in addition to the riparian waste transfer stations in Greater London.

No physical works or alterations to the existing facility are proposed as part of the variation application and no change is proposed to the consented application boundary approved under the original Section 36 consent and associated Deemed Planning permission (approved plan D1.2)".

Phew – apologies for the somewhat dense legal language, but the above is a direct quotation from the planning notice. It would seem that the energy from waste generating station in Lower Belvedere is seeking to increase the amount of waste that is processed through the facility each year. I seem to recall that when the power station was initially proposed, it was said that it would not be expanded, and the amount of road traffic would not increase as a consequence. Quite cleverly, the wording of the notice gets around both of these points by saying that the physical size of the power station will be unchanged, and waste will be delivered by river. They may not be breaking the word of the undertaking, but I feel that they are certainly encroaching on the spirit of it. Additionally the small print of the announcement (which is already in very small print to begin with) states that any objection to the application has to be submitted in writing no later than the 14^th of November, and that a hard copy of the full variation application and environmental statement can be obtained from Riverside Resource Recovery Ltd at a cost of £175! Surely an ideal way to put off local objectors. On top of this, the announcement is squirrelled away on one of the rarely read back pages, amongst the adverts for second hand cars and central heating boilers. It reminds me of a scene early in the first “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” book by Douglas Adams. The protagonist. Arthur Dent is lying in the road in front of his house, trying to stop diggers from demolishing his house after the council compulsorily purchased it without telling him. Mister Prosser, the man from the council planning department says to Arthur:-

“But the plans were on display…”

“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

“That’s the display department.”

“With a flashlight.”

“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”

“So had the stairs.”

“But look, you found the notice, didn't you?”

“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

The back pages of the News Shopper are the metaphorical equivalent of a locked filing cabinet in a disused lavatory – any organisation can publish an announcement or planning request there with the fairly secure knowledge that almost nobody will read it. Later when the objections start arriving, they can comfortably say “we did publish the announcement, sorry if you did not read it; now it is too late”. It is only the likes of Malcolm Knight and myself who patrol these dark and little frequented locations and bring such things to wider notice. We do it so you don't have to.

A mole deep within the cadre of the middle management in the Erith branch of Morrison’s has briefed me on the actions being taken since the store infamously scored a two out of five star “Scores on the Door” food hygiene award back on the 14th of July this year. The appraisal of the store found that the inspectors rated the supermarket as Poor for Food Hygiene and Safety, Fair for Structural compliance, and Some for Confidence in Management. This is clearly unacceptable for a “big four” high street supermarket – indeed, in my opinion, a score of two is unacceptable in any kind of case. It turns out that the store senior management have been in in a series of what the Army refers to euphemistically as “a meeting without coffee” – which basically means a real dressing down from the top brass. Subsequent to this, a series of out of hours deep cleaning exercises have been taking place; the checkout kiosks have now been completed, and the cleaning team are making their way around the store over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully improving things before the next scheduled inspection. I would imagine that if Erith Morrison’s does not get a five star rating at the next visit, some senior heads are likely to roll. If you work at Erith Morrison’s and know more, please contact me in complete confidence. I would like to know the details behind the deep clean, and the level of staff morale in the shop. Drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com for a confidential chat.

Here is the next in my occasional series of "then and now" local photographs. The upper photo shows the view looking West along Pier Road, showing the building known locally as "Bank Chambers". The black and white shot was taken in 1965, just before the original Erith Town Centre was destroyed - an event that many locals consider ruined the town to the point that only now, over forty years later is it recovering. On the left is what in 1965 was Clarke's coal office, which was built in 1900; it was originally designed as the Erith branch of the London and Provincial Bank. Soon it was taken over by Charles H. Norris - sand and ballast merchants, and also Herbert W. Clarke and Co., barge and tug owner / operators. It is also interesting to note that all of the cars in the photo are of British origin - An Austin Mini, A Morris Minor 1000 and a couple of Austin 1800 "Land Crabs". In the upper photograph you can also see the now long gone Erith Methodist Church. It was replaced with the Erith Small Business Centre, which consisted of twenty five small office spaces and a few light manufacturing units, one of which contained a small company teaching ceramics and pottery production. That was demolished in the late 1990's and has been replaced with the block of flats you can clearly see in the lower photograph. The retail units on the ground floor have never been let to date. I understand that Nando's did enquire about leasing the largest of the three available units, but negotiations stalled when Bexley Council refused to grant them a reduction in business rates to cover the installation of around £30,000 of kitchen venting and air filtering equipment which would have been required for the restaurant. Hopefully a business will take them on soon. 

Not only has one new micro pub (the Penny Farthing) opened in Crayford, and a second is shortly to open in Blackfen (the Broken Drum), but Woolwich is getting a couple of rather upmarket pubs to compete with the frankly over priced and disappointing Dial Arch in the Woolwich Royal Arsenal development. The old Woolwich Equitable headquarters building in General Gordon Square has been given a major makeover and has been converted into "The Woolwich Equitable" a new pub and restaurant which opens next Thursday. It is operated by the Antic Pub Company, who have a well deserved reputation for taking old buildings in what could be termed "challenging" locations and turning them into successful venues. I understand that they also intend on purchasing and refurbishing the Volunteer pub in Powis Street. This has a patchy reputation at present, and if Antic can succeed in gentrifying central Woolwich, they will be on to a good thing. As I have previously written, the whole region from Woolwich through to Northfleet, along the expanse of the South East banks of the River Thames is ripe for investment and development over the next decade or so. I think we are in for some very interesting and transformative times. In the meantime it is only a twelve minute jaunt on the train from Erith to Woolwich Arsenal station - and the Woolwich Equitable is literally right outside the station entrance. I will be paying it a visit in the near future. 

It would seem that there are a lot of frightened and angry people in Thamesmead right now; the murder of local resident 25 year old Olamide Fasina, who was stabbed to death by a gang of youths in Wolvercote Road last Tuesday has caused a storm of understandable concern. It is rumoured that he was killed over the non – payment of a debt of £400, although this has yet to have been confirmed. Local residents are fearful of further attacks, and accuse the Police of not patrolling the area, and thus sending out an implied message to the gangs that parts of Thamesmead are “no go areas” for the authorities. Locals also say that there is confusion amongst the Police as to where the boundaries between Bexley and Greenwich authorities are, and that they are reluctant to cross into a borough for which they have no remit. Personally I think if a crime has been committed, it should be investigated by whichever Police officers are in the vicinity, irrespective of their beats. In practice I would think that it probably is, but does not get seen for what it is. Quite a few local Police officers read the Maggot Sandwich; I wonder if any would care to enlighten us as to how the borough demarcation actually operates in practice? Nevertheless, Thamesmead has always had a reputation for gang violence – indeed much of the local frustration with the perception that the Police are not around and patrolling has been fuelled by the recollection of a very similar murder back in 2009, when 22 year old Moses Nteyoyo was ambushed and murdered by a very similar group of armed youths. A few community meetings were organised by the Police back then, and little else seemed to happen. Once again the Police are organising residents get – togethers in a community centre, but the feeling seems to be this is pretty much all that is going to happen. I think a lot of it comes down to visibility of the Police – they don’t just need to be doing something, they need to be seen to be doing something, which is not always the same thing.

As I have written in the past, Erith has far less of a crime problem than many people realise. Much of what there is tends to be low level anti-social behaviour, fly tipping, petty burglary, metal theft and small time drug dealing. These small scale crimes are exactly what Neighbourhood Watch is set up to combat. There is a deal of power when neighbours look out for each other, and a better sense of community can also result when a new Neighbourhood Watch is established. Erith Watch is the largest Neighbourhood Watch group in the London Borough of Bexley, and has nearly four hundred household in its’ remit. This week they had a notable success. You may recall that recently I wrote about a youth who had been terrorising pedestrians by riding an illegal and unlicensed trail bike along the pavements of Erith. The errant rider was caught on camera and reported to the North End Safer Neighbourhood Police Team. It all went quiet for a while, then there was a flurry of activity. The offender was traced and caught; when confronted with both the photograph and a formal written witness statement he confessed to the offence, and has now been given six penalty points. When these were added to the six he already held, it meant he was instantly disqualified from driving. The only issue with this is the youth is too young to hold a licence anyway. I understand that when he does become old enough, the history of motoring offences will count heavily against him. I suppose this may mean that he just returns to driving illegally, as he would have little to lose as long as he remained undetected. Hopefully the whole incident will give him the shake – up he needs to stay on the straight and narrow, but I for one am not holding my breath. What the incident does go to illustrate is that the Neighbourhood Watch model does work, and a strong message has been sent to the offender (and several of his mates) that their actions do have consequences. It also lets the local low – lives know that they are being covertly watched, and where required, photographed when they break the law. Some may say that this will only transfer the problem to another neighbourhood; I would concur that this is a possibility, but if that neighbourhood has an active Neighbourhood Watch, then it should not be an issue. You can see the Erith Watch website here; please feel free to join. What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com

Activity in respect of the proposals for construction on the old Erith Quarry site seems to be ramping up. A couple of residents have complained to the News Shopper that they have concerns that traffic levels will markedly increase in the area around the new development, affecting both Fraser and Bexley Roads and the turnings off these roads. One lady who is a resident of Athol Road commented that “We've only been in the road two years. People live there because it's a good, quiet road but it won't be for much longer with this going on now”. I can understand the concerns around the volumes of traffic – this is certainly something that will need to be addressed in conjunction with Bexley Council – roads will need to be restructured, and possibly widened to take account of the increase in volume. The comment about only having lived in Athol Road for two years, and it being a quiet place is a bit of a red herring in my opinion. The quarry site has been empty and unused for thirty five years, but for all of this period it was widely known that it would be built on at some stage – indeed the feedback from many locals has been that they were astonished that it has actually taken so long for any construction proposal to emerge. Any resident new to the area should have been made aware of the potential for the development of the quarry before they moved in nearby; any solicitors search would have revealed this information. I don't think that it is entirely realistic to expect one of the premium brownfield development sites in South East London to remain empty in perpetuity. Having said that, I think it will be incumbent on the developers to undertake the long term building work in a manner that is sensitive to the feelings of those living around the verges of the site. It seems to me that at the time of writing, the Anderson Group are bending over backwards to listen to local residents and alter their plans accordingly. I understand that there will always be some people who would rather that the quarry site be left undisturbed forever; this was never going to be a realistic outcome – there is a massive pressure on housing in all of Greater London, and especially in the East and South East, and the location close to Junction One of the M25, the A2 at the Black Prince interchange in Old Bexley, and the train links into London and out into Kent from Erith station do make the location exceptionally attractive to developers looking to appeal to a mature, professional customer base. It will be instructive to see how the proposal plans are modified after the second local consultation, held last weekend. I found both the developers and their professional consultants to be exceptionally open to suggestions and honest in their responses. What was made clear to me during my visit, and something that was said on a number of occasions is that Anderson’s are “in it for a long time”. An oft repeated criticism of the developers behind local estates has been that they treat the construction process like a commando raid – everything is prepared with the maximum amount of secrecy, the build is done as quickly as possible, and the developer then gets out as quickly as they can once they have been paid. Anderson have been promoting the message that they are in it for the long run, and want the Erith Quarry Development to become an intrinsic part of the greater Erith community. Thus far they have not given me any reason to doubt their veracity.

You may recall the video that ended the Maggot Sandwich update last week; it featured footage filmed in and around Erith, Crayford, Welling and Bexleyheath. I commented at the time that I thought it dated from the early to mid-1950’s – but I was not entirely sure. Local transport expert Dana Whiffen dropped me a line to explain the precise dating of the archive film. "The Q type single deckers seen in the footage were only on the 241 route during these 3 years (1949-52), they ran alongside RTL's which ran for a lot longer and were eventually replaced by RT type buses. There the video must have been filmed between 1949-52”. So there you have it – thanks to Dana for the piece of detective work.

I don't normally feature adverts or commercials on the Maggot Sandwich; as I have written before, any small financial gain I might make would be more than offset by the loss in impartiality and independence I so treasure. I am featuring the current TV commercial for Sainsbury's Halloween offers for one reason only. It features local Belvedere actress Isabelle Doherty in her first television appearance. She plays the little girl dressed as a pirate in the Halloween party - blink and you will miss it. Still, you have to start somewhere. Good luck to her. Comments below as always.