Author: Neil Clasper

Demelza Snowflake Swim at Charlton Lido: take a winter dip for charity

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snowflake-swim

Demelza’s Snowflake Swim returns to Charlton Lido on Sunday 29th of January. Last year’s event saw 80 swimmers join in, and raised over £20,000 for Demelza (this writer was one of those swimmers, and enjoyed the event very much!).

More from the organisers:

Brave the outside waters of Charlton Lido in the depths of winter and swim your choice of distance from 100m – 2km.

2016 saw 80 brave swimmers plunge into the water and raise over £20,000 for Demelza – we want 2017 to be even bigger and better!

There is no minimum sponsorship amount for this event BUT we encourage you to try and raise £50 – this could pay for a morning session in our own hydrotherapy pool for our children and their families!

All swimmers receive a hot drink after the swim along with an exclusive Demelza swimming cap and medal to celebrate your achievement.

Spectators are welcome to come along free of charge to cheer you on – the more the merrier!  Refreshments will be available from the café.

Prize for the top fundraiser will be awarded after the event, spot prizes will be awarded on the day for Best Fancy Dress.

** First 50 swimmers receive EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT (Adult £10, Child £5)**
Standard prices apply until midnight on Thursday 26 January (Adult £12.50, Child £7.50)

On Day Registration – Adult £15, Child £10

Children are welcome to participate but must be able to swim a minimum of 100m.  Young or weak swimmers may be tested prior to the event by our lifeguards.

Find out more and sign up at the Demelza Snowflake Swim website.

 

PS. Charlton Lido’s pool is currently open for general swimming on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday (the latter mornings only). Check the pool timetable here.

Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival 2017: get involved!

Neil Clasper
Last year's Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival included a screening of Shaun of the Dead at the White Swan pub
Last year’s Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival included a screening of Shaun of the Dead at the White Swan pub. Look closely and you’ll see one of the original cast in the audience!

The Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival, launched last year and run entirely by volunteers, is back for 2017 and the organisers have been in touch with details of their first planning meeting:

The Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival (CWFFF) is returning in 2017 for its second annual event. Launched in September 2016, the inaugural CWFFF programmed thirteen screenings and seven supporting events.  We had “The Third Man” at St George’s Garrison Church, the rain masking tears of nostalgia in the hardy audience; the weird and controversial “A Field in England” in Charlton House; and a zombie-interrupted “Shaun of the Dead” at the White Swan.

Matthew Pennycook MP introduced our screening of the troubling “Winter of Discontent” at the Blue Nile restaurant while the intrepid battled their way to Bunker51 for “Predator”.  Local filmmakers Select18 conceived a first rate festival ident and our short film festival attracted over 3,000 entrants. The under 5s took over Shrewsbury House on the Monday, by Friday we were seeking the Grail.

We had talks and performances by a local musician who was part of the 2012 Paralympic closing ceremony; a local director introducing and providing a fascinating Q&A of his Bollywood style documentary; a film  academic describing his love of film moments and a local writer and photographer team who gave a location walk and talk, a photo exhibition and an introductory talk to our inevitable screening of “Blow Up” at a packed Charlton House.

All this was done by volunteers.  Come along to our planning meeting to find out how they did it and how you can get involved this year.

All of you are well and truly welcome.  We are meeting on Wednesday 25th January at 7:30pm at Charlton House to start the planning.  Be part of the Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival 2017.

Website:   www.freefilmfestivals.org/filmfestival/charlton/

Twitter: @CWFilmFestival 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CharltonWoolwichFFF

Instagram:   @charltonwoolwichfff

Predator screening at Bunker51
Predator screening at Bunker51

‘Friends of Charlton Lido: Let’s get started!’

Neil Clasper
Charlton Lido's heated 50m pool at night
Charlton Lido’s heated 50m pool at night

Charlton Champion reader Rosemary Leeke has been in touch with plans to start a user group for Charlton Lido:

“Back in the autumn of 2013, a group of committed Lido swimmers held an initial meeting to discuss setting up a user group under the banner Friends of Charlton Lido; lots more expressed an interest but weren’t able to attend the meeting. 

“The consensus, both of those who attended the meeting and of those responding via the Charlton Champion website, was that a group would be beneficial.  However, at that time there weren’t enough people able to commit to getting it off the ground, and there was a hope that the full reopening of the Lido with the new gym and café would increase usage and address many of the concerns that were being expressed at the time.

“Three years on it is clear that many of the same issues still continue to surface on a regular basis, so perhaps the time is now right to return to the proposal of establishing a Friends group to try to find a constructive way of tackling these.  Informal conversations in the pool and the changing rooms suggest that lots of regulars would support the idea – so let’s try and make it happen!”

To find out more or to get involved, visit friendsofcharltonlido.co.uk or email charlton.friends.lido [at] gmail.com.

 

Charlton’s Horn Fair returns this Sunday 

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Charlton’s Horn Fair – banned for an excess of drunken behaviour in 1874 – is back for a second year in its new guise as a family-friendly, heritage-themed event run by Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust.

Taking place at Charlton House on Sunday October 16th from 10am-4pm, the event promises: “…a day for all ages. With activities from Stone Masonry by the Building Crafts College, plaster workshops from Philip Gaches, and our very own WWI Nurse Ivy and Devoted Frank. Amongst all the music and revelry of the day come along and enjoy our range of short talks, food and drink treats, and lots of children’s activities that are on offer”.

Open Day at Maryon Park Community Organic Food Growing Garden – this Saturday

Neil Clasper

News in of a community garden event this Saturday in Maryon Park:

Capital Growth’s Urban Harvest on Saturday 17th September 2016

10.00 am – 6.00 pm

Urban Harvest

Community food growing gardens across the capital will be open throughout Saturday 17th September 2016, to welcome in visitors and volunteers to take part in free garden activities and workshops.

Maryon Park Community Garden Open Day

Get a taste of London’s edible gardens by dropping in to Maryon Park Community Garden in Charlton, one of Capital Growth’s flagship gardens, from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm

Capital Growth

Capital Growth is London’s largest food growing network, with over 2,000 gardens throughout the city.

Community Garden Open Day Activities

At the Maryon Park Community Garden activities include:

  • Tours of the Garden and Forest School.
  • Activities for children: Making lavender bags and bird feeders.
  • New volunteers can meet the team
  • Pizza Oven fired up from 12 noon, bring your own dough and toppings
  • Refreshments: Organic teas & coffee, cake and herb teas
  • Fundraising activities: Plant Sale, A Bric-a-Brac Stall, Community Garden Shop

Workshops

In the Community Garden Forest School there will be free Outdoor Art workshops at 1.00, 2.00 and 3.00 pm.

How to find the Garden

Enter Maryon Park from the main entrance in Maryon Road, follow the path past the park lodge and find the Community Garden at the end of the park perimeter fence. Look out for the bunting.

Garden Address

Maryon Park Community Garden, The Old Nursery, Maryon Park, Maryon Road, Charlton, SE7 8DH.

Charlton Lido winter opening hours: Pool to close midweek from 1 October

Neil Clasper36 Comments
Charlton Lido in the September sunshine.

***UPDATE 3rd OCTOBER 2016***

Friday morning sessions have now been reinstated until the end of October. The pool will be open 7am-12 noon.

lido2

 

***UPDATE 28th SEPTEMBER 2016***

A note has appeared on Charlton Lido’s website announcing changes to the new winter pool opening hours: the pool will now open on Tuesdays and close on Fridays.

lido

Presumably they’ll be emailing members with the update at some point….Many thanks to the commenters on this post for alerting us to the change. We’ve also been told that there will be a customer forum held on October 18th; email invites are due to be sent on the 3rd of October.

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Charlton lido swimmers’ hopes that a late summer heatwave would lead to extended winter opening hours have been dashed, with news that the pool will be completely closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until March.

The announcement on the centre’s website – yet to be communicated to members at the time of writing – says:

We hope you have enjoyed the summer and are planning to swim into the winter months. Unfortunately the colder months will be soon upon us. With this in mind we would like to introduce you to our winter programme which will operate from the 1st of October 2016 through until March 2017.

Monday 7am-12noon & 2pm-8pm

Tuesday – Thursday Closed

Friday 7am-12noon & 2pm-8pm

Weekends 9am-5pm

The programme has been carefully thought out taking into consideration last years trends in usage, customer feedback and facility feasibility. 

If you are an annual or monthly member here at Charlton Lido & Lifestyle Club you will shortly recieve[sic] an email to confirm the programme changes. This email will also outline alternative options available to our members over the winter months.
 

Last winter saw a reduction in opening hours, though not to the extent of closing the pool for three days a week, and by November had been extended to daily opening:

Monday: 7am-12pm

Tuesday: 7am-12pm & 2pm-8pm

Wednesday: 7am-12pm & 2pm-8pm

Thursday: 7am-12pm

Friday: 7am-12pm

Saturday & Sunday: 9am-3pm

It’s unclear why – after a presumably busier-than-usual summer, thanks to the good weather – it’s necessary to cut opening to this extent; GLL have held fewer customer forums this year than previously, and emails to members remain infrequent. Hopefully the email to members mentioned above will shed some more light.

In the meantime, enjoy midweek swimming while you can! Current pool hours are:

Monday: 6.30am-8pm

Tuesday-Friday: 7am-8pm

Saturday & Sunday: 7am-5pm

We recommend checking the timetable before visiting.

Thanks to Steve Toole on Twitter for alerting us to the new opening hours.

Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival 2016 programme announced!

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Charlton Woolwich Free Film Festival programmeClick the image above for a full-screen version.

The line-up for the inaugural Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival – a programme of film screenings across SE7 and SE18 organised and run by volunteers – has been announced. Charlton highlights include:

Shaun of the Dead at the White Swan pub: Sunday 11th September, 7.30pm.

Shaun The Sheep at Charlton Park Academy: Wednesday 14th September, 6pm.

A trio of Blow Up-themed events, taking in a location walk around Maryon Park, a screening of the film at Charlton House, and an After-Party event with era-appropriate DJ Sounds of 66 at the White Swan pub.

A Field In England, screening in Charlton House on Sunday 11th September, 2.30pm, preceded by local film collective SELect18’s short film A Car Park In Charlton.

 

All events are free to attend and will operate on a first come, first served basis. If you’d like to get involved or keep up to date with what’s going on, you can find the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film festival online at their website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.