Jazz Sundays.

The photos above - click on each for a larger view, were taken by me last Sunday at the very first "Jazz Sunday" event, held in The Bookstore Cafe in The Old Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road, Erith.  As you can see the cafe was packed with visitors for the two hour live jazz show. Many of the visitors also had brunch whilst listening to the music. The Bookstore Cafe is phase one of the refurbishment and re-purposing of the old library. Phase two - work to convert the ground floor, where the main library space is located, and the upper floor, which used to house Erith Museum, and the former private apartment that once was home to the chief librarian and family is now due to start in the Spring. An announcement was made earlier this week, which reads:- "London Borough of Bexley and The Exchange have successfully secured National Lottery funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore the entire Grade II listed Old Carnegie Library in Erith. The National Lottery Heritage Fund has committed £980,000 towards a £1.8m project that will transform the upper two floors of unused space into new community workshops for textiles, woodwork, print, ceramics and gardening. The main central hall will be refurbished for community-led activities, including markets, exhibitions, festivals, concerts and performances. A unique local garden will also be created by the award-winning garden designer Sarah Price, with much of the growing, done by local school children and families. Councillor Louie French, Bexley’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Growth said: “This latest round of funding is good news for local people as it means that the entire building can be brought fully back into use for the benefit of the community.” “It’s a year since we finished the first phase of our investment, which saw the restoration of the lower ground area, the weathervane and full replacement of the roof of the building. We’ve been working hard with our partners since then to ensure that the rest of this beautiful building can be fully restored and it’s good to see that our hard work has paid off.” In February 2019, as part of its partnership project with the Mayor of London, the ‘Greater Erith Programme’, Bexley officially handed management of the building to local company The Exchange. Since then there have been more than 25,000 visits to the  building with local people participating in a variety of community activities and events and enjoying its new bar and café ‘The Bookstore’. The Exchange, with the help of partners, have also continued to source and secure additional funding.  Sarah Batten, Co-Founder of The Exchange, said: “The success of our National Lottery application is down to the Erith and wider community who have given us so much support over the past 12 months. With every visit to the café, every event attended, every kind donation or offer of support, it becomes more and more evident that this new future for the building can be achieved. There is still more work to be done, and funds to be raised, but we are confident that the beautiful historic building’s future will be secured.” Stuart McLeod, Director London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the historic Old Carnegie Library will be brought back into use for the community of Erith. An exciting programme of events and activities will ensure the heritage of the building and the stories of the people who have passed through its doors will remain at the heart of its future.” Over the next 12 months, the ambitious renovation works will take place alongside a packed events programme including both free and paid events including:- FREE: Family Craft Weekends, last Saturday of every month from 2-4pm • FREE: Jazz Sundays, on the fourth Sunday of every month from 12-2pm in The Bookstore • FREE: Open Mic nights, on the third Thursday of every month from 7.30-10pm in The Bookstore, to hear local talent from rapping and poetry to blues and folk • FREE: Embroidery Sundays: stitch, connect and chat every Sunday from 11-1pm in our Textile workshop • FREE: History tours of The Exchange, every Saturday from 3pm • Life Drawing classes, every Thursday from 7-9pm, £8 per session • Carnegie Ensemble concert, 24th April 2020, £10 • FREE: An exhibition of new design work inspired by the works of Bexleyheath resident William Morris, from 18th March in The Bookstore • FREE: Mother’s Day Weekend Plant Fair and workshops with Peckham partners L’Appartemente" I have to declare an interest; as some readers will already be aware, I am a governing board member of The Exchange, and I am the one who runs the weekly free tours of the old library building each Saturday afternoon at 3pm. No need to book - just turn up - the tour lasts between 45 minutes and an hour, depending on the number of tour participants and how many questions they ask.

In case you were wondering what happened last Sunday, when the customary Blog update Email did not appear. Let me explain. Every week, once the latest edition of the Maggot Sandwich has been published, I Email a select number of people to let them know that the latest edition is live. I use Google Gmail as my Email client of choice. At some point last week, Google changed their Email message rules. This was done to try and reduce Spam Email. When I send an update via Email, I blind copy (BCC) all of the recipients into the message. This keeps everyone's Email details private, and for many years this has worked very well indeed. Now blind copying in numerous Email addresses has been banned by Google - an absolute pain for me. The Blog update was still published - as you may be aware, I have not missed a Blog update every Sunday for thirteen and a half years - something that I am very proud of. The Email update may be history however. If this was not enough, my venerable Apple iMac computer has bitten the dust. It died in the middle of last week - looks like a hard disk failure - this Blog post has been courtesy of my tiny Raspberry Pi model 4 B emergency backup computer. Last Sunday I spent around 90 minutes online with Google support. Normally one cannot get proper support from the company - you just get sent links to a load of FAQ's and hobbyist chat rooms, but I have a paid Google account - which means excellent, professional support. Google suggested setting up a Google Group, which would enable me to send one email which would then go to all members of the group. The downside is that there is no way to automate the process of adding all of the members of my Gmail address book - each one needs to be manually copied and pasted. This will take me an age to do. On the upside, I have noticed that not sending out an Email update last week has actually not hurt my readership statistics one bit. I use Google Analytics to get an idea of what my audience like and dislike, and their general Blog reading habits. I fully expected that my reading figures were going to drop off a cliff - but this has actually not been the case at all; I am going to carry out an experiment over the next couple of weeks. I will carry on publishing a Blog update on Sunday early afternoons as I have done for so long, but I will not send out an update message (mainly as things currently stand, I cannot anyway). If the readership statistics stay as good as last week, then I may ditch the setting up of a Google group altogether, as nowadays I don't have as much free time as I used to. Don't worry - the Maggot Sandwich will continue as normal - nothing is changing as far as it is concerned. Comments to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

News reaches me that as predicted, Bexley Council have approved plans to build flats on the parkland in West Street, despite the protests and online petition opposing the plan. Local organisations including Friends of Riverside Gardens Erith (FORGE) and The Erith Think Tank organised a protest in December of last year - photo above - click on it for a larger version. The council vote was close 5 members voted for the redevelopment plans, and four against. Local Resident and FORGE founder, Joan McCarthy read a speech at the council meeting, opposing the plans to build on the popular and well - used park. Here is her speech in full:- "Thank you Chairman and Councillors for giving me the opportunity to speak and I would ask you to bear in mind the following points which all contribute to the London Borough of Bexley being a green borough to be proud of. The description “Land at the Junction of Macarthur Close and West Street” is misleading. It suggests the land is unused and superfluous to requirements.  It should be described as “West Street Small Park” as it is correctly named in the list of 100 parks and open spaces on Bexley’s own website. This is a mature small park planted with trees and grass which was specifically provided by the Council for the use of local residents when West Street was part of a General Improvement Area c. 1984. If approval is given to this application it would be in direct defiance of a planning condition imposed by this Council on the developer in 2003 when the adjoining blocks of flats were built;  namely, that this then well established little park should remain as is and left to mature – which it has done!  If conditions imposed by the Council can be overturned a relatively short time later how can we have any trust in the Council’s Planning and Legal departments? We cannot see how, in these circumstances, approval can be given to this application which would mean the loss of one of the most beautiful small roadside parks in the borough A well loved park used by residents and visitors with safe and easy access to the Thames Pathway. This application would destroy most, if not all, of the matured trees (approx. 30) in this lovely little park at a time when the Government is proposing that millions of trees should be planted to combat climate change.  Each of these doomed trees provides as much oxygen in a season as 10 people breathe in a year.  They are essential to mitigate the effects of the heavy volume of traffic emissions containing particulate matter which is deadly, especially to the young and elderly. These trees protect us from flooding and extreme heat by reducing temperature by about 7 degrees Celsius.  Also, insect life in mature trees cannot be replaced if they are felled. The Council’s website states that there are 623 hectares of open space in Bexley Borough. Erith has just over 5 hectares and this small park is 0.3 hectares.  How can the loss of this park be justified considering Erith has the least amount of open space compared to the rest of the Borough? This park is an essential “green break” between the extended Riverside Gardens to the east and the Council maintained churchyard of St. John the Baptist (which dates back to Saxon times) at the western end of West Street". What do you think? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

As I have written in the past, Erith and Crayford were the historic home of Vickers Sons and Maxim Limited, who had factories in both locations which made a whole range of armaments and ammunition, principally the Vickers Machine Gun – which was an easier to produce, lighter and cheaper version of the original Maxim Gun, invented by Sir Hiram Maxim - the most famous local resident. What is less well known is that Vickers Vimy heavy bombers were also constructed on a limited basis. It is thought that the aeroplane which transported Alcock and Brown on the historic very first flight across the Atlantic was one of those produced locally. In the present the fact that both Erith and Crayford were major arms manufacturing towns is unknown to many residents; indeed the only relic of the Vickers Sons and Maxim factory in Erith is that the area of shops and houses located at the bend where Woolwich Road becomes Fraser Road is still known by older locals as “The Pom Pom” – due to the sound of guns being tested in the dedicated shooting range that was adjacent to the factory for many years. I think it sad that many people still call the area by the informal name, but very few seem to know the actual reason for it. Nowadays one could be forgiven for thinking that all of the changes that have happened over the years that arms manufacturing was no longer something that no longer happened locally. In matter of fact nothing could be further from the truth. Slade Green is home to a company, which until 2014 was known as Manroy Engineering, and is now called FN Herstal - a company that specialises in the manufacture and refurbishment of machine guns and light cannon for the military. They also make all sorts of weapon mounts, gun turrets for armoured vehicles and assorted other military hardware such as specialised sniper rifles and vehicle armour packages. They keep a very low profile for security reasons, but they are actually located on the Power Works site on Slade Green Road, opposite  St. Augustine's church. It is amazing what a little bit of searching on Google Street view can find! Anyway, the Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) calibre machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the rest helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in the book Weapons and War Machines, describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a failure. "It was this absolute fool proof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one.” The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, reducing its weight by lightening and simplifying the action and substituting components made with high strength alloys. A muzzle break was also added. The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard machine gun on 26 November 1912, using it alongside their existing Maxims. There were still great shortages when the First World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was still equipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914. Vickers was, in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the exorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the price was slashed. As the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Army's primary machine gun, and served on all fronts during the conflict. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and grouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun Corps (when heavier 0.5 in/12.7 mm calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted, rifle-calibre machine guns like the Vickers became medium machine guns). After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was disbanded and the Vickers returned to infantry units. Before the Second World War, there were plans to replace the Vickers gun. However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Hundreds of thousands of these guns were manufactured in Erith and Crayford over several decades, and during both World Wars, this meant that the towns were legitimate wartime bombing targets. During both World Wars, the area economically benefited – for example in 1914, the number of trams run in Crayford and Erith was increased to transport the large number of munitions workers many of whom worked for Vickers making ammunition for use on the Western Front. With most of the young men volunteering for military service (conscription was yet to begin) many women entered paid employment for the first time, something that directly led to the start of female emancipation with the Representation of the People Act 1918. I have written at some length about inventor and businessman Hiram Maxim in the past; Maxim was American born but later naturalised British. He invented the sprung mouse trap, the first practical machine gun, the incandescent light bulb (though he famously failed to get the patent registered before Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan) and  the first heavier than air aircraft. After moving to England in 1881, Maxim began his aerial experiments at Baldwyns Park near Bexley Village, in the late 1880's, leading to the construction in 1893 of his enormous biplane Test-Rig, which weighed about three and a half tons. The machine's two steam engines each produced 180 horsepower. and turned two pusher propellers each 17-1/2 feet in diameter. Since the device was intended to be a test vehicle it was held to a track, preventing it from rising more than a couple of feet. On the Maxim Biplane Test-Rig's third test run, on July 31, 1894, with Maxim and a crew of three aboard, it lifted with such force that it broke the reinforced restraining track and careened for some two hundred yards, at times reaching an altitude of two or three feet above the damaged track. It was believed that a lifting force of some four and a half tons had been generated. After this, Maxim allowed his assistants to demonstrate the flying machine on a number of additional occasions, but he took no further part in the development – he rightly realised that the machine was a design “dead end” as it lacked practical flight controls. It was not until 1903 that the Wright Brothers worked out their system of ailerons and rudders that made flying practical and controllable. 

The weather over the last couple of weeks has been notoriously atrocious. Much has already been written about the subject, and I don't want to repeat what has already been said. One thing that it has highlighted is something I have mentioned in the past, but I feel that needs to be restated. There is understandable concern and public interest in the current coronavirus outbreak, yet there is a risk of infection from another source, and it is far more likely that you will encounter it. People who put their feet on the seats on public transport is something that winds me up no end; not only is it antisocial, but it is extremely unhygienic. Even if the culprit has not directly stood in a dog turd, the harmful bacteria from excrement is washed all over every pavement when it rains and everybody gets faecal bacteria on their footwear, whether they know it or not. It is only after a period of bright sunshine that the Ultra Violet light from the sun kills the micro organisms, but for much of the time in winter the footpaths and streets of Britain are literally awash with harmful bacteria, mainly from dog droppings. When someone puts their feet onto a bus or train seat, they transfer some of this bacteria onto the fabric of the seat, where it can live quite happily for several days. In that time, multiple bottoms will have sat on the invisible bacteria colony, transferring some of them for another ride on an unwitting hosts' clothes. The person has only to touch the invisibly infected area to pass harmful bugs onto their hands, and from there, virtually anywhere. This is one of the main reasons that when you visit a hospital or nursing care home, you are strongly encouraged to use antibacterial hand gel, which is normally supplied in a dispenser by the entrance. A good wash with soap and hot water will do pretty much the same, if like me you are sensitive to the gel. I have been told by a couple of medical professionals that about a third of infections blamed on MRSA in hospitals and nursing homes are actually caused by canine faecal bacteria transferred from visitors' clothing. Think on this next time you see someone putting their feet on a seat. 

I came across the advert above in an old map of Erith that I have had for absolutely ages. It was old when I was given it. Hedley Mitchell was the largest and by far the most important shop in the old Victorian Erith town centre. It was the towns' department store, and as large and grand as Hides in Bexleyheath. Many older local residents recall Hedley Mitchell with great affection. The store had a very high reputation for formal service. It was the first building to be demolished when work began to create the new (and subsequently much hated) brutalist concrete shopping centre in 1966. In fact the first act of demolition was carried out by the then Deputy Mayor, Councillor Mrs M Barron, ceremoniously smashed the window of Hedley Mitchell's store to mark the commencement of the demolition of Erith Town Centre to make way for redevelopment. As a consequence, all the existing Victorian buildings were lost. With hindsight, this was a terrible mistake - the existing town centre should have been sympathetically restored. I gather that this was considered, but would have cost too much money; instead they built a relatively cheap but undeniably ugly replacement out of bare concrete. I don't know anyone who had a good word to say about it. Consequently a lot of businesses upped sticks and moved to Bexleyheath or Northumberland Heath, and it is only now, over fifty years later that much of the social and economic damage is being put right. The current Erith Riverside Shopping Centre is actually a very clever redesign of the much hated sixties structure, rather than a ground up new build, but it has been done with taste and sensitivity - something entirely missing in the original, which was a smelly and soulless concrete monstrosity, detested by all.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. The photo above shows Neighbourhood Watch coordinators who attended the Yorkshire Building Society at Broadway, Bexleyheath, to assist at a fraud awareness event, at which they were informing people all about scams. They have been invited back for regular events and look forward to seeing people there in the future. Barnehurst ward - no report this week. Belvedere ward:- "From Neighbourhood Watch Member - in Flaxman Court -Flaxman Court is a block of flats for elderly people (independent living). On 21st February someone allowed access to, two door to door salesmen which is not allowed. The men were very forceful and I can only describe them as ‘bullying' in an attempt to get the residents to buy items. However, I immediately informed the scheme manager who spoke to the men and asked them to leave the building which they did after being very verbal. From Police SNT Team - PCSO Robert Holmes:- On Friday 21/02/2020 we had a burglary in Ashburnham Road. A male had gained access via the front door but was seen and disturbed. Nothing taken and no damage caused. Over a two week period there was also a burglary in Eardley Road. The house was unfortunately ransacked. The suspect(s) had gained access via the rear door, causing damage. Unknown what was taken at this stage. We have had several thefts from motor vehicles recently on the ward. Please do take all valuables out of your vehicles and do not leave anything on display which might tempt a thief!" Bexleyheath ward:-"Monday 17/02/20 2000 Robbery Personal near Premier Inn Albion Road Head Phones and watch. Monday 17/02/20 1715 Robbery Personal Pushbike Stolen Council Offices Watling Street. Tuesday 18/02/20 1130 Purse Stolen from bag inside Library in Townley Road. Tuesday 18/02/20 0100 Criminal Damage nail in tyre Long Lane. Tuesday 18/02/20 1500 Attempted Theft Person Phone attempted to be taken from victims hand whilst using it Broadway - nothing taken.Wednesday 19/02/20 0330 – 0410 Burglary Business unknown items taken. Tuesday 18/02/20 1817 Theft from Meters Albion Road Car Park cash stolen. Thursday 20/02/20 1400 – 1430 Theft Person Phone taken from pocket Hospice Shop Broadway. Thursday 20/02/20 2000 – 2100 Theft of Motor Vehicle Swanbridge Road van taken keys still in victims possession. Saturday 22/02/20 0100 – 0615 Business Burglary Broadway cash and computer stolen. Saturday 22/02/20 2110 – 2115 Att Robbery on bus near Arnsberg Way - nothing taken. Friday 21/02/20 0900 – 1000 Burglary Bike Shed Clocktower Court 2 x pushbikes taken. Saturday 22/02/20 0700 Theft From Motor Vehicle Number Plates Stolen Hyde Road. Thursday 20/02/20 1200 – 1630 Theft of Motor Vehicle Albion Road. Tuesday 25/02/20 1510 – 1620 Theft from Motor Vehicle Catalytic Converter Sainsbury's car park. Tuesday 25/02/20 0945 – 1030 Theft of wallet on bus near Albion Road". Crayford ward - no report this week. Erith ward:- "Theft from and of motor vehicles is up. Please see the crime advice: Car security at home. Where possible ensure that your vehicle is parked on your driveway or in your garage if you have one. Alternatively, ensure your vehicle is parked in a well-lit area. Have an alarm and immobiliser fitted if your vehicle doesn't already have one. This is an effective way of deterring criminals. A Thatcham-compliant immobiliser or steering lock can help secure older vehicles. Locking wheel nuts are cheap and easy to fit to prevent your alloy wheels being stolen. Catalytic converters can be marked using a specialist metal security marking chemical and secure labels to warn potential thieves that the catalytic converter carries an identification mark. Securing your motorbike or scooter. If your motorbike or scooter doesn't already have one, consider having a Thatcham or Sold Secure approved electronic immobiliser professionally fitted. Ask your insurance company which devices they would recommend that will not invalidate your policy. If you have a security device fitted, always use it. A wide variety of locks can be used, such as chains or padlocks, disc locks and D locks. The most important thing to remember is to secure your motorbike to a solid object that can't be moved. Always put your steering lock on. When you are not using your motorbike or scooter, put it in your garage or a secure outbuilding with a fixed or ground anchor to secure it to inside the building. Don't leave your garage open and make sure your vehicle is covered up, even when you are at home. Crimes of note for the week Theft from Motor Vehicle Thursday 20/02/2020 Carrack House, Saltford Road. Theft from Motor Vehicle Friday 21/02/2020, Riverdale Road. Theft of Motor Vehicle  Sunday 23/02/2020, Chandlers Drive. Theft of Motor Vehicle Sunday 23/02/2020, Callender Road. Theft of Motor Vehicle Monday 24/02/2020 South Road. Theft from Motor Vehicle Monday 24/02/2020 Holly Hill Road". Northumberland Heath ward:- "Good news this week we have had no Burglaries reported within the last two weeks but unfortunately we have had several reports of theft from and theft of motor vehicles. Theft of pedal cycle from Belmont Road. Theft of motor vehicle - Vauxhall Grandland Estate from Bexley Road . Vehicle was then recovered a few days later. Theft of motor vehicle – Fiesta Ghia from Brook Street, Erith. Attempted theft of a motor vehicle on Northumberland Park. Victim found a strange key in the ignition and the the wires had been ripped out from underneath the dashboard. Theft of number plates from Penda Road, Erith". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "Only one crime of note this last week, a vehicle was stolen from Betsham Road between 1700 and 1900 hours on Friday 21st Feb. The owner was alerted after the van was seen by a friend in Springhead Road but not being driven by him. No further information at this stage". Thamesmead East ward:-"Burglary Residential - Walsham Close Monday 17/02/2020 13:00 - Monday 17/02/2020 13:02:00 Keys to the property were hung up behind the door which was insecure. Suspect/s have opened the door removed car keys stolen victim's vehicle. Motor Vehicle Crime - Kale Road, Trefoil House Sunday 16/02/2020 14:00 – Monday 17/02/2020 08:30 suspect/s have gained access to vehicle by unknown method, causing damage to rear seats as they attempted to gain access into the boot. Handbag containing keys stolen from inside vehicle. Lensbury Way Monday 17/02/2020 13:00 – Friday 21/02/2020 11:00 Catalytic converter stolen from Honda Accord by suspect/s unknown. Glimpsing Green Tuesday 18/2/20 06:40 – 08:20 victim parked car at location on returning to the vehicle it was found the rear windscreen had been smashed by suspect/s. Sydney Road Thursday 20/2/20 22:00 – Friday 21/2/2020 19:00 Motor vehicle stolen. Leatherbottle Green 21/2/20 15:00 – 17:00 victim reports suspect/s have stolen his motorbike. A neighbour stated they saw 2 men loading the bike onto a trailer. Wolvercote Road Friday 21/2/20 18:00 – 15:00 Saturday 22/2/20 unknown suspect/s have removed Catalytic converter from Honda Civic. Baylis Avenue Sunday 23/2/20 09:30 – 11:15 Victims reports upon return to vehicle the passenger front window has been smashed beyond repair by suspect/s unknown. Hinksey Path Monday 24/2/20 08:35 – 08:58 victim reports Toyota Corolla broken into via smashed driver's side window nothing taken". West Heath ward:- "One burglary reported to us in Amberley Road this week between the hours of 1200 – 22.28 hours on Friday February 21st. It is not known at this stage of the enquiry how entry was gained or if anything was taken. Theft of a front number plate in Axminster Crescent Wednesday February 19th 170 – Thursday February 20th 11.30. The team have been busy as usual conducting High Visibility patrols in uniform and plain clothes across the ward. One arrest was made this week for domestic criminal damage, and a youth found in possession of cannabis was interviewed at the station. Further drop in surgeries at the Library in Bostall heath will be advertised shortly".

The end video this week is a bit of a promotion for the local area. Let me know what you think; you can Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The haunted pint.

I had an old school friend come and stay at Pewty Acres last weekend; whilst he was here, he was keen to see around Erith, as he had not visited the town in some years - he now lives down in the West Country. I was keen to see what his opinion of the town nowadays was, as we seem to get so many negative opinions on local websites such as the News Shopper (not that the journalists say anything negative, but the comments left on the talkback pages tend to be negative, if not sometimes downright insulting). I am pleased to say that my friend Steve was impressed at how Erith had improved since his last visit in 2008, although he did note the number of still vacant and unlet shop units in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. Overall he could see that the town is improving in many ways - not least since the construction and opening of the new Bexley College campus adjacent to Erith Station and the fish roundabout. He also observed how lucky local residents are to have access to the River Thames via the excellent Riverside Gardens and Erith Pier. I took the photo of the tugs moored on Erith Pier a little while ago - click on the photo to see a larger version; it would be great to see more people going for a walk, or just sitting on one of the park benches and enjoying the view once the weather improves. As I have said before, Erith is almost unique in being the only place in the area where you can see an unobstructed view from horizon to horizon. I call it "the Erith big sky". Whilst Steve was visiting, I organised a small get together of fellow school friends; we met for a quiet drink and a chat at the Royal Standard pub in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere. The pub has an excellent conservatory at the back, and the group sat at a table there. One of my friends bought me a pint of Young's bitter (one of my favourite "bog standard" real ales) and placed it on the table. As we chatted, seemingly all on its own, the full pint glass started sliding across the table and dropped to the floor, spilling beer down my trousers and into my shoes. Fortunately the glass itself did not break. A replacement pint was sourced - and the landlady gave it free, saying that the pub was well known to be haunted by a ghost, and that the ghost must take the blame. Since I got a free replacement drink, I was not going to argue. What I did note was that the wooden table top we sat at was recently varnished and had also been polished, possibly earlier that evening, and that the pint glass had a flat and smooth bottom that was wet with a little spilt beer. The actions of the "ghost" was actually physics. The table top was inclined at a very slight angle, and the spilled beer formed a thin, frictionless layer between the underside of the glass and the waxed table. The glass actually aquaplaned over the table and onto the floor. Science works whether you believe in it or not. 

For such a significant part that the local area had in recent history, it is quite surprising how little seems to have been recorded; why I don’t know, but the pivotal role that Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green paid in World War 2 seems to have been largely overlooked by anyone outside of the area. Respected historians like Ken Chamberlain are full of knowledge from that period, but when compared to the level of recognition other outer London boroughs get, we seem to draw the short straw. As I have written in the past, Erith and Crayford were the home of Vickers Limited, who had factories in both locations which made a whole range of armaments and ammunition, principally the Vickers Machine Gun – which was an easier to produce, lighter and cheaper version of the original Maxim Gun, invented by Sir Hiram Maxim. The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the rest helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in Weapons and War Machines, describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a failure. "It was this absolute fool proof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one.” The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, reducing its weight by lightening and simplifying the action and substituting components made with high strength alloys. A muzzle booster was also added. The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard machine gun on 26 November 1912, using it alongside their existing Maxims. There were still great shortages when the First World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was still equipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914. Vickers was, in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the exorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the price was slashed. As the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Army's primary machine gun, and served on all fronts during the conflict. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and grouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun Corps (when heavier 0.5 in/12.7 mm calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted, rifle-calibre machine guns like the Vickers became medium machine guns). After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was disbanded and the Vickers returned to infantry units. Before the Second World War, there were plans to replace the Vickers gun.  However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Hundreds of thousands of these guns were manufactured in Erith and Crayford over several decades, and during both World Wars, this meant that the towns were legitimate wartime bombing targets. Bombing in World War two was especially bad; a letter sent from a lady in Berkhampstead Road, Upper Belvedere during 1941 has been published on several websites in the past. The letter, written by a lady called Phylis to an unknown relative called Harry reads:- "I was unable to finish off your letter on Saturday owing to a very heavy raid. I cannot stop now to write much but this will let you know we are alright. We had several landmines in Belvedere, one in Albert Road or rather a little turning off there behind the dairy, four persons were killed in the Busy Bee. I expect there are more deaths but we have not heard yet. One on Calendars no one was killed, and one in Lessness Park, Just the other side of Maycocks garden wall. This did considerable amount of damage to all the houses around. That is why I have been unable to write and get the parcel off before this. I have been cleaning up the mess. I'll let you know more details later. I have to write this letter as the typewriter was more or less bombed. I hope to be able to repair it later. We are the only inhabitants left in Berkhampstead Road. The other houses being more damaged than ours. We have been cleaning ceilings up since 5.30am Sunday. This afternoon we are going over to have a cup of tea with Gladys and a bath. A bath is quite out of the question at Tower House as the bath is full up with ceiling. All day yesterday and today we have been hearing noises like bombs. They are pulling down houses. Burndepts is burnt right down. Belvedere Station is to be pulled down. Dr Barr had a fire in his place. Dad & I have been getting some of the stones off the lawn. Dad had only just cut and rolled the lawn on Saturday. The cars are alright although there is a nasty dent in the back of the roof of ours. The garage looks a mess. 14 ceilings are down, all windows out and all doors from the back of the house. Several inside doors are off and just splintered to nothing. Fortunately I had packed all the china and we had packed almost all the ornaments too. The silver and pewter I have packed away too and your lady. We didn't know where to start cleaning up, but are gradually getting down to it.  I'll write again soon as I can. We are quite alright and there is no need to worry. We sleep in the cellar and have our meals in the kitchen. We are hoping they will come and do the roof soon. Tower House stood up to it very well on Saturday night. Dad sends his love and says we are still holding the Fort (what's left of it). I must close here as I have lots to do before we go out this afternoon. I hope you are quite alright".

Following my recent article explaining why the government announcement that there were "no safe levels" of alcohol drinking was completely misleading and incorrect, another very extremely reputable organisation have come to refute this statement, which was made mainly at the behest of prohibitionists and anti-alcohol campaigners. The heads of Britain’s statistics society have written to the Health Secretary to point out that the government’s alcohol guidelines don’t accurately reflect the numbers. Two weeks ago the British civil servant at the Department of Health responsible for issuing medical advice (who rejoices in the corporate-inspired title of “Chief Medical Officer”), Dame Sally Davies, declared that there was “no safe level” of alcohol drinking. This followed a report produced for her by an “expert group” which contradicts evidence that teetotallers are at higher risk than moderate drinkers, and drinking after middle age correlates with a substantially lower level of risk of heart disease and strokes. Drinkers live longer. Professors Peter Diggle and Sir David Spiegelhalter – the current and next presidents of the Royal Statistical Society – say the report was unbalanced (a nice way of not saying “biased”) and that the bureaucrat’s claims don’t reflect the evidence available to the government’s working group on safe alcohol levels. The report recommend an upper limit of 14 units per week for both adult men and women, and then included the much-derided “no safe limits” observation.  In their letter to Health Minister Jeremy Hunt, the two statistics professors argue that the derision which greeted Hawkins report will make more pressing public health campaigns less credible. Once the public has ignored Hawkins crying wolf over alcohol they may be inclined to ignore the others, too. They add that Hawkins’ group contradicts the principle that the public deserves an “informed choice”. Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at Cambridge University, had already commented on the relative “dangers” of alcohol. “An hour of TV watching a day, or a bacon sandwich a couple of times a week, is more dangerous to your long-term health,” he noted.

BARC (Bexley Against Road Crossings) have been  extensively featured in the News Shopper this week; regular Maggot Sandwich readers will know that I have featured the group on a couple of occasions in the past. Unlike BARC, I have a fairly neutral view on the proposed new river crossings over or under the River Thames. I can see positive arguments on both sides of the issue. A lively debate on the subject of transport and congestion has been under way on the News Shopper talkback page here. I think both sides miss several important observations. Firstly, the argument that elderly people don’t always have access to the web, and may thus be left out of any representations regarding the choice of river crossing is to my mind spurious. Those aged 70+ now may sadly well not be around in 2025 when development of whatever solution is selected, and if they are, many very elderly people don’t travel much – though their opinions and feedback should most definitely be taken into account. Secondly, the oft – quoted issue of air pollution is also worth examining. By the time any cross river solution is put in place, the numbers of zero emission vehicles in public use will have bloomed – the hydrocarbon internal combustion engine is in its last decade in my opinion. By the time any crossing is open and in use, a majority of cars and lorries will run on batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Using present day arguments for future developments seems to me like fighting last decade’s war. I think a rational look at the whole Cross Thames  transport system needs to be undertaken – the trouble is, the area is full of people with vested interests and their own agendas, which turns the whole thing into an adversarial contest, which in my opinion does nobody any good. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.



The Barge Pole pub in Coraline Walk in Thamesmead has had its alcohol licence suspended by Bexley Magistrates this week; I understand that the pub was the location of a large drunken fight in the early hours of the 1st January during some News Year celebrations that got well out of hand.  To anyone that knows the pub, it is a revelation that it has taken so long to do something about the place, which on the one occasion many years ago that I took my life in my hands and ventured inside, resembled the Cantina in Mos Eisley – “you will not find a greater hive of scum and villainy”. It really is a dump, full of the kind of people you would cross the road to avoid; one of the main qualifications for entry seems to be the sporting of facial tattoos of varying levels of repulsiveness. The only vaguely positive contribution to culture the Barge Pole has ever made was back in 2009, when it was used as the location for the filming of the Kaiser Chiefs video for "Never miss a beat". I am a strong supporter of the preservation of local pubs, but I most definitely make an exception in the case of the aptly named Barge Pole, which in my opinion ought to be nuked from space – it is the only way to be sure. 

Erith has been in the national news twice again this week; first because of the news that Arthur Simpson – Kent, the suspected murderer of former EastEnders actress Sian Blake and her two sons aged eight and four and is alleged to have buried them in the garden of 54 Pembroke Road, Erith, is due back in the UK to face charges and trial. Normally I don’t mention stories that have a national coverage, as there is little I can add to the “professional” reporters who cover the news; in this instance the extremely high profile nature of this case, and the international press interest the murders have attracted. If this horrible case was not enough, the news this week that an Erith resident has been jailed for nineteen years and six months for a string of horrendous paedophile offences. Trevor Monk, 47, from Erith, travelled to the Far East with the sole purpose of abusing children and kept thousands of indecent pictures and videos on his computer, including mementos from his trip. Sentencing him for a total of 18 offences at the Old Bailey, Judge Anuja Dhir QC told Monk that the consequences of child abuse of this kind “wrecks lives”. She said: “I have no doubt from the material I have seen today you had a perverted fascination with young females and that is what led you to behave in this abhorrent manner. Your actions were depraved and revolting. It is astonishing that anyone would want to film such abuse, but you did. I have no doubt you did so that you could watch it again for your own sexual gratification.” An examination of computers, external hard drives and memory cards found at Monk’s home revealed tens of thousands of indecent images and videos of children, and evidence that he had himself molested young girls in the Philippines. Just one of the computers contained evidence of more than 43,000 indecent images of children. Thankfully the judge and jury saw fit to put the criminal away for a decent length of time; even if he serves only half of his time inside, he will be away for around ten years, and the life of a sex offender in prison is never an easy one. I am led to believe the derogatory term Nonce comes from the acronym “Not On Normal Courtyard Exercise”. At least he is safely locked up for a considerable length of time.  What is also of concern is that two nationally publicised high profile criminals are being associated with Erith, just as the town is starting to improve its image. Locals know of all the good things and progress that has been made over the last decade or so, but outsiders do tend to hold onto outdated views about the town and the people who live there (you only have to look at wording of some of the talkbacks on the News Shopper website – okay, most of the comments are made by trolls that are trying to initiate an argument, but nevertheless if you repeat a lie often enough, some people will take it as fact – an observation originally made by Heinrich Himmler). 

The letter above has been sent to many Erith, Slade Green and Crayford residents - click on the image for a larger view. Suffice to say the traffic into and around Erith is going to be severely affected over the period of the roadworks. The town suffers greatly from traffic congestion at the best of times; it will be interesting to see if the changes to the road and roundabout layout will improve things. Many locals suspect not. More on this story in the future. If you have an insight into this issue, please contact me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It has been known for over a year that the Peabody Trust, which controls large parts of Thamesmead, has had plans drawn up to try and move the town upmarket. Since the mid-seventies Thamesmead has had an unfortunate image problem as being a giant sink estate full of problem families, anti-social behaviour and crime. Whilst there are definitely problems of this nature in the town, a vast majority of residents are peaceful and law abiding, but the image has stuck for decades. I recall back in 1989, as Belmarsh Prison was being built, a common joke was “why bother building Belmarsh – just build a great big wall around Thamesmead!” Now Peabody are working to move the outdated image of Thamesmead upmarket. They have promised to build 1,300 new dwellings, and create a "temporary high street" at Harrow Manor Way with shops, food and drink outlets. There will also be affordable workspaces and facilities for local businesses, artists and community groups – following a £1m regeneration fund from the Mayor of London. Peabody's plans are being developed with partners including Bexley Council and the Thames Innovation Centre. In an interview with the News Shopper, Peabody Chief Executive Stephen Howlett said: "We want to create a thriving district close to the station which will provide commercial, social and leisure opportunities for residents in Abbey Wood and South Thamesmead. We hope the new mobile high street will provide a platform for local people, harnessing their talent and innovation. These are exciting times for everyone associated with Thamesmead which is fast becoming an even greater place to live, work and visit." This all sounds good; as long as a substantial part of the new development is truly affordable, and not just aimed at property banking investors in the Far East, as was notoriously the case with the tower block recently constructed close to Abbey Wood station which made the national news when it was advertised as having “no social housing” as a bonus attraction to wealthy investors. I feel that this story will develop over the coming months. 

This week guest writer and local resident Alec Tapper has much to say on the proposed (and now approved) housing development on the site of the former Erith Riverside Swimming Baths site. An artist's impression of the development is shown above. Here is his piece:- "Whilst it is very good news to learn that the Mayor of London's London regeneration Fund has allocated just under £2m which is to be matched by the council to provide £3.9m of investment in Erith. It is understood that this finance will be for major improvements to key areas of the town particularly between the Town Hall and the Post Office. It is also designed to re-energise the area an improve training and job opportunities for local residence. We also understand complementary bids have been made for two further funds managed by the Mayor of London  and we will learn of these in the next few weeks. For a number of residents this will be promising news but there are concerns with many residents over the density of developments being proposed for many sites both large and small in Central Erith. A major development such as that on the former Riverside Swimming Pool Site has plans to build some 81 flats and 10 to12 houses to the rear. This development does not recognise that this is a preservation area alongside the River Thames. This site along with a number of other smaller sites are earmarked for even more dense developments. Erith already has more flats than any other ward in the borough and it seems that this pressurized development has the potential to create new problems for Erith in the future. Open spaces are critical to the wellbeing of communities. This proposal brings its frontage hard up against the pavement of the Erith High street up to the Running Horses, which lays back from this harsh development line. This tight development policy with inadequate parking spaces, play areas for children and inadequate work opportunities will militate against harmonious living and reduce any sense of wellbeing for those living in such a packed and intensive manner. The tenants these kind of developments will attract are most unlikely to be from professional, commercial and entrepreneurial background. This in turn will be reflected in a failure to grow Erith's economy. Numerous shops, restaurants and businesses will continue to fail to be convinced by the uptake of people in this density developments who are likely to be open to semi-skilled or unskilled work. Erith is one of the most deprived areas in Bexley and the fear is, it will continue in the same vein. Unfortunately, it seems that Bexley adopts very different policies for developments across the Borough whilst the policy for Erith, North end and Thamesmead East are targeted for density infilling, wards like Longlands, Blackfen and Lamorbey, Blendon and Penhill and Cray meadows with reducing populations are preserved from any innovation for housing developments. Similar examples like Surbiton, Thames Ditton, and Woking in Surrey do effectively increase housing within existing developments. Indeed there are some long term residents that indicate consideration should be given to the wards earmarked from dense developments to be separated entirely and form a  separate District Council.  Clearly a case of sauce for the Goose isn't sauce for the Gander". Some very thought provoking observations. If you have another view, please feel free to drop me a line with an article of your own. 

If you look back at the now very extensive archive of old Maggot Sandwich updates, and visit some of the entries over the last nine and a half years that I have been running the blog (under the "About Me" panel at the top right of the screen) you will see a box marked "Blog Archive" - if you click on the dropdown button, you can see a list of the well over five hundred weekly entries that I have made - select and click on any of these to see old, historical content). You will notice on some entries that photos just show placeholders, or embedded YouTube videos no longer play. This is caused by a phenomenon called "Link Rot". There are lots of reasons for link rot: websites are restructured or shifted to a new content management system and break all the previous URLs; articles get moved behind a paywall; people delete social media accounts or change their privacy settings; or links contain information that goes out of date, or YouTube videos are taken down due to copyright violations. A piece of software called "Amber" has been created to stop this from happening. Amber has been designed by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society and it provides what it calls a "persistent route" to information on the internet by automatically taking and retaining a snapshot of every page on a website and storing it on the same website's server. If for whatever reason a URL goes dead, rather than returning a 404 error page, the tool should provide visitors with the relevant snapshot. The snapshots are stored on the same server as the website but can be configured to save them on third-party systems or in archival systems. All very clever stuff, but no good to me at present, as at the time of writing, the platform which hosts the Maggot Sandwich does not support Amber - maybe in time; it would be a very powerful tool to have access to.

The end video this week explores the inconsistencies and loopholes in London's Oyster travel card system. Personally I find that the old fashioned monthly travel card works very well for me. See what you think, and feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Are you the Vicar?

I took the photo above (click on it for a larger view) whilst helping out at the Christmas Tree Festival held at Christ Church Erith. The vent raises a substantial amount of money for a number of good causes, including Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice. Eighty decorated Christmas trees filled the church and hundreds of people visited from as far away as Milton Keynes over the course of the weekend. Additionally there was a charity sale in the church hall, which was also very well attended; I noted that the kitchen was doing a roaring trade in not only teas and coffees, but also hot sausage sandwiches and bacon rolls. It is just a pity that I am pork intolerant and could not partake. Whilst handing out publicity leaflets for the Friends Of Christ Church Erith (FOCCE), I was approached by a lady who asked me "Are you the Vicar?" Which I must admit that I found highly amusing. 

You may recall that back in March I wrote in some depth about the problem of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT). Betting shops are now making a significant proportion of their profits from these devices, on which a gambler can lose £100 in less than thirty seconds. The machines have been called “ the crack cocaine of gambling”. In  the 55 most deprived boroughs in the UK – overwhelmingly located in Northern cities and urban Greater London have a  total of 2,691 bookmakers shops, in which £13 billion was gambled on FOBT machines, and £470 million lost by gamblers in the last year alone. The large betting companies have targeted the poorest areas that have the highest unemployment, lowest per capita income and higher crime rates. The last year has also seen a large increase in the number of high street betting shops, mainly due to the leap in the total number of FOBT machines, such as digital roulette in use. In December 2013 there was a total of 9,343 active betting shop licences in the entire United Kingdom, which was an increase of 280 since 2012. The most deprived town council in the UK was identified as being Liverpool. A total of £118 million was gambled in 570 machines, and £23 million was siphoned off by bookmakers in the process. A report was published this Wednesday by The Responsible Gambling Trust that said more than a third of the people who play high speed, high stakes Fixed Odds Betting Terminals have problems with their gambling. The researchers found that 37% of respondents experience “problems with machine gambling” somewhere between “some of the time” to “almost always”. This compares to a problem gambling rate of 0.4% for all adults, according to 2012 government health studies. The Responsible Gambling Trust also found that the players who frequent the UK’s 9,343 betting shops were likely to be poor, jobless and not white. Bookmakers rely on the revenue from the country’s machines, which take £1.5bn from punters. Campaigners point out that the data showed that these problem gamblers were depositing huge amounts of cash – £1,200 a week – into the machines. This from a group where a third of men had incomes of less than £10,400 a year. The money has to be coming from somewhere other than their pay packets; gambling industry analysts suspect that a portion of the money gambled on FOBT machines is from the proceeds of organised crime, and that crooks are using the terminals to launder dirty money. For some reason central government don’t appear willing to legislate against these machines (the cynic in me thinks that the amount of tax that they receive from the gambling industry might well be behind their reticence). This has meant that local councils are forced into setting rules; Newham Council has been in the forefront of such local action; they are proposing imposing a £2 per throw maximum gambling stake, with a £100 maximum pay out – the same as is already in place with conventional “one armed bandits”. There would also be a compulsory warning displayed on screen if any gambler spent more than thirty minutes using the FOBT machines. The book makers vigorously oppose this, as FOBT’s make up such a significant proportion of their revenue stream. Personally I fail to see the attraction of bookmaker’s shops, but it would seem that many do; when I walk past those in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, they always seem to have a steady stream of willing customers, though one does seem to see the same faces week after week.

At long last local authorities have got powers to issue fines to people who spit in public.  After a meeting of council leaders on Thursday, and agreement has been reached by the London Councils’ transport and environment committee. It will now not be long before someone caught spitting in public will potentially be issued with an £80 fixed penalty notice, which will be reduced to £50 if paid within fourteen days. Personally I find the practice of spitting abhorrent and I welcome the new measures, though I do wonder how they will be enforced – it will not make a lot of difference if the new regulations are treated like the regulation banning the use of handheld mobile phones whilst driving – something so widely flouted as to be a toothless and rarely enforced law. No doubt time will tell.

I took the photo above at the Christmas Tree Festival that I mentioned earlier; it shows Erith resident and Scottish Piper Chic Mackie in full flow, piping the visitors into the church hall for the charity sale. Chic is a fascinating person with a very interesting history. He will be guest writing a piece for the Maggot Sandwich in the near future - watch this space.

I have been walking around various shopping centres, vainly trying to get inspiration for Christmas. One thing I have noticed in the technology retailers such as Curry’s and John Lewis’s TV department are heavily promoting 4K ultra high definition televisions over standard HD, which they intimate is now becoming old hat. The problem, as I have written before is that there is very little native 4K content available, and not much chance that Sky, Virgin, or even the humble Beeb will offer 4K content in the foreseeable future. The only alternative to get 4K quality content is to stream over the web (presupposing you have a high speed, low latency fibre broadband connection – bog standard over copper wire ADSL will not be fast enough for a smooth experience with 4K – video will pause and flicker, and freeze whilst content is caching – think what standard video was like on a PC back in the days of dial – up internet connections). If you do have a fast connection, that is not the end of your 4K streaming woes. The slow march of 4K content availability across 2014, combined with the steadily dropping prices for 4K televisions, has finally reached a point where people with regular-sized wallets may be considering an upgrade for the living room. Unfortunately, as more services roll out support for streaming 4K content, it is becoming increasingly clear that none of the boxes currently sat under your TV such as a PS4, Xbox One or Netflix receiver are going to be able to handle those streams. As the most recent supporter of 4K streaming, Amazon’s new page for their 4K Prime Instant Video service lists thirty four televisions that will be able to play 4K streams. A quick look over at Netflix reveals a similar set of televisions that will support this feature. What is not made clear, though, is that these televisions will be handling those streams through the Amazon application that is built into the TV, and for right now those native apps will be the only way to get 4K content. The industry explanation regarding the technology needed to make everything work, is that the current HDMI 1.4 specification is insufficient to support 4K streaming. According to Amazon, HDMI 1.4 “doesn’t support the security requirements that the studios require for the delivery of 4K.” Since the studios are a fairly important part of this equation, Amazon and Netflix need to work closely with the studios in order to stream this content. Unfortunately, the number of devices you can buy right now that support HDMI 2.0 are nearly zero. The specification is very new, which is why Sony and Microsoft didn't include it in their game consoles, and according to the people who built the specification, there is currently no system in place for any company to upgrade 1.4 to 2.0 because most conversions would require a hardware upgrade and firmware updates. It is likely that we'll see plenty of hardware in 2015 to address this, but for the time being you are stuck using the 4K applications that are built into your television. The means no Kinect voice commands, no instant loading from Amazon’s Fire TV, and a Roku remote will probably start collecting dust as more 4K content becomes available. It means those smart TVs that record your activity and dial home to the vendor about it will have a record of your viewing history. Most importantly, it means you are going to need to spend even more money if you want to go back to the way you are currently streaming content if you want it in 4K. All in all, as I wrote a while ago, save your money; if you must have a new television for Christmas, just buy a cheap standard HD telly for a few hundred quid for now, and wait until both the HDMI 2.0 standard has fully rolled out, and when more 4K content is actually available. At present 4K is very much “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.

The swingeing cuts imposed by Bexley Council are now biting services even harder; the following letter was sent to all parents of children who are members of Erith and District Swimming Club (EDSC):-

To: All EDSC Members.

It is with much sadness that I write to let you know that from the end of December 2014 and after some 102 years, Erith and District Swimming Club will no longer be running Beginners and Improvers classes in the teaching pool as part of our swimming programme. This change has been forced upon us by Bexley Council’s leisure facilitator, Parkwood Leisure.  Their 30 year contract to run the Council’s Leisure Centre’s, (which has 22 years remaining), gives them the right to run all swimming lessons at the 3 Bexley Borough Centres and having left us alone for the last 8 years they are now enforcing this right. We have been allowed to continue to run our Sunday afternoon programme of lessons.  These lessons will be for swimmers who can swim and are looking to improve aspects of their swimming to enable them to reach the standard required for them to enter into our Competitive Squad System.  If your son / daughter are affected by this change then Miranda Jaiteh and I will talk with you individually to ensure that you find a way to continue with your their lessons. Miranda will continue in her role as Head Teacher and will be working with the swimmers in the Sunday afternoon classes. As always, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail – john@edsc.org.uk

I have come to a conclusion; what actually is the function of a local council? Is it the traditional role of ensuring the council tax money is responsibly collected, spent and accounted for to ensure that the residents and visitors to the borough find clean, well – lit streets, decent car parking and disabled access, and a range of support, advice and recreation services, or is it to fund exceedingly well pad “jobs for the boys (and girls)” in senior council executive positions, and to ensure that the senior executives get shielded from the inevitable backlash from embittered and angry local residents, who after all end up paying for it all. I will leave that judgement up to the reader. It does seem that Bexley Council do whatever else you may feel have a very skewed sense of priorities – they spend fortunes making expensive and ill – thought out changes to the pedestrian areas of Sidcup, Bexleyheath and Northumberland Heath, which even the locals find baffling and for a large part a waste of time and money. They then undertake a hugely unpopular project to close Belvedere Splash Park for reasons which are mostly little more than sensationalist fiction – incorrectly assuming that locals would be stupid enough to fall for the blatant propaganda that spews forth from the Watling Street Junta. I would elucidate further, but certain members of Bexley Council Executive Committee don’t understand metaphor, and certainly lack even a basic background in English classic literature, so my musings would be lost on the target audience I am afraid.

Some enterprising local person has set up a new business. Delivery Busters is a service by which you can get fast food, groceries, drinks and tobacco delivered directly to your door within an hour. The service works by collecting goods from a supplier / retailer and delivering them to the customer for a fee which is based on the distance covered. Delivery Busters also will collect pre – paid electricity keys from the customer, get them charged and then returned for use. The fees that Delivery Busters charge are lower than that of a cab service, and for someone without a car, or who has had a couple of drinks and is worried that they would be over the blood alcohol limit if they did drive, it would make a lot of sense. The Delivery Busters website is slick and well designed, although it would seem to me to be a one person operation. Under their testimonials page there are a couple of quotations which if I were in charge of the brand, I would think twice about publishing:- “It was Friday night and we were all pissed… and we ran out of alcohol and fags. We got delivery busters to bring all our alcohol, vodka, Jack Daniels, and ciggies. We all were too pissed to drive really so it’s great to have delivery busters around”. Another writes “I was seriously craving a McDonald’s breakfast, but was soooo hung over from an explosive party the night before and my head was simply spinning so there was no way I was going out to get it myself. Lucky for me, I called up delivery busters and they got my food to me in no time”. Neither quote really reflects the kind of values a respectable company would wish to promote – whatever the reality. I would guess that their everyday work would probably come from requests of this nature, rather than from another satisfied customer, who wrote “All I needed was some bread, eggs, milk and toilet roll. I don't drive, I have 2 kids and the nearest shop is 35 minutes’ walk away. It would cost me £10 to use the taxi there and back. Delivery busters sorted it for me for a fiver. I use them regularly now when I am stuck“. There is a concern over this kind of service, and I have to say right now that I am not a lawyer, and have not received any legal training, so my view may well be factually inaccurate. I am of the view that reselling tobacco and alcohol without a licence may well be an offence, albeit a somewhat technical one. Delivery Busters buy the goods from the vendor, then sell them on to the end user with the addition of a delivery fee. This would seem to me to be something that if I was running the service, I would want to get a competent legal opinion on from a solicitor with retail and licensing experience before I made the decision to deliver alcohol and tobacco. My only other concern is the “guerrilla advertising” that Delivery Busters use. They are currently fly posting adverts and stickers on bus stops and public notice boards around the local area – something the hoarding operators take an exceedingly dim view of. These issues aside, it would seem that Delivery Busters are providing a much needed service in an innovative and imaginative manner. It may well be that Delivery Busters are in the vanguard of a new kind of service based business; it would not be the first time that a real business innovation would have its’ genesis in the area. I recall that back in the late 1980’s if you wanted a take away meal of any type, you had to go out and collect it yourself – Chinese, Indian, Fish and Chips, Pizza – there was none of the “delivered to your door" malarkey that you get nowadays. A bright spark in the back streets of Plumstead came up with a new, and for that time revolutionary food service. It was an Indian food outlet that consisted just of a kitchen and a few delivery drivers – they had no shop for customers to visit at all. Instead customers phoned through their order and it was delivered to their door shortly thereafter. The name of this then revolutionary company was “Hurry Curry”.  They did very well for a couple of years, but soon thereafter the ordinary takeaways caught on to this, and introduced their own delivery services, and Hurry Curry ended up quietly expiring. I have many fond memories of 1987 and 1988, sitting in the Radio Lumberjack studio in Bexleyheath, and eating a Hurry Curry prepared Chicken Vindaloo, Mushroom Rice and Garlic Naan whilst presenting the original Maggot Sandwich – my pirate radio show on Saturday evenings; and talking of pirate radio – who says that I don't plan these things?

Over the past couple of years or so, I have been running an ongoing feature bringing lesser known radio stations to Maggot Sandwich readers attention; there are a number of other such stations I may well mention in the future, but I thought this week I would highlight another radio phenomenon – the weekend hobby radio pirates. These stations come on air sporadically for a few hours, usually on a Saturday night or Sunday morning, almost certainly broadcast from the operators’ spare bedroom or garden shed. They usually broadcast on Shortwave, and probably only have audiences numbering in the couple of dozen. Nevertheless there are a number of people who have made it their hobby to monitor and record when these stations come on air, and what content they broadcast. The transmitters these pirates use are usually either homemade, or heavily modified amateur radio equipment, re tuned to work on the broadcast radio bands, rather than the legally allocated amateur radio spectrum. The Christmas holiday period tends to bring these hobby pirates out of the closet and onto the airwaves. These pirates operate pretty much with impunity nowadays – back in the 1980’s at the height of land based pirate radio activity, enforcement was a lot more rigorous, when the likes of the infamous Eric Gotts of the DTI Radio Investigation Service would be chasing round the country, eager to feel a few collars and confiscate an illicit transmitter. Nowadays things are a lot less strict; the Radio Investigation Service is no more – it was subsumed into OFCOM some years ago. Nowadays unless an unlicensed transmission is causing interference with a licensed service, or someone complains, there is a very slim chance that OFCOM would take any action. In other European countries, the situation is different – in the Netherlands for example, penalties for unlicensed broadcasting are pretty strict, with fines and the confiscation of equipment being normal upon conviction. Whatever the penalties, the number of such stations has remained pretty constant for years. You can read more about them, and what radio frequencies you can find them on, and when here. You can see a daily updated log of stations here. Have a look and let me know what you think. There are also a very small number of full - time Shortwave radio stations in Europe that operate 24/7 outside of government control. There is the quirky commercial station Radio 700 in Belgium, which transmits locally on FM, but also has a shortwave transmitter. There is also the Netherlands based commercial Shortwave station KBC Radio, which I have examined in the past. Lastly there is also the long running pirate station Laser Hot Hits, which I will be covering in more detail in a week or two.

Last week I wrote about the historic connection that both Erith and Crayford have with the armaments industry; I explained how over a hundred years ago the Vickers Maxim company produced the first really effective squad machine guns, and these had a devastating effect on not only the First World War, but also in many later conflicts. It is said that Vickers machine guns have killed more people than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs combined. Here is a short video showing a Vickers machine gun in action on a shooting range. Fortunately in this case only paper targets are involved. Feel free to comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.