News of the latest production from SE7’s amateur theatre group:
Thursday 30th October to Saturday 1st November
The Alexandra Players present We Happy Few, a comedy about an all-female troupe of strolling players during WWII, at the Alexandra Hall, Bramshot Avenue, Charlton at 7.45pm nightly.
“Inspired by the true wartime history of the Osiris Players, Imogen Stubbs’ comedy follows the adventures of a small group of women who come together to form a ‘girls only’ theatre company to take the plays of Shakespeare around a culture-starved Britain.”
UPDATE OCTOBER 2ndThe times below have since been further amended, with the pool remaining open on Fridays, and closing on Thursdays; the cafe will also close on Tuesdays and Thursdays. See the lido website for details.
Customer Forum?
There’s a Customer Forum taking place at Charlton Lido on 16th September to discuss the opening hours and other issues, with the centre’s management. We’re told invites have gone out to Lido members by email, and that the event has been advertised in the reception area. This particular member didn’t receive the email, and a number of readers have reported the same, so – if you are a member – it may be worth checking that you haven’t opted out (or been opted out of) email communications from GLL.
If you can’t make the meeting, and would like to have a say, we suggest emailing charltonlido@gll.org with your feedback in advance (and let us know what you think in the comments box below!).
Open House London weekend is rolling around again, and Charlton House is opening its doors for the public to have a nose around on Sunday 21st September, 10am to 4pm. More details can be found on the Open House London website. This will be the first Open House weekend since Charlton House and related assets were transferred to Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust – hopefully the new Trust will take the opportunity to explain to visitors what it all means for Charlton House’s future.
The full list of participating properties across the borough can be found here.
Charlton Champion reader Susie Goss has been in touch with concerns about a planning application to turn the shut-down Conservative Club on Charlton Church Lane into a number of houses and flats:
After a recent successful application to reduce the size of Charlton’s Liberal Club and turn the remainder of the site into flats, neighbours have now received notification of a drastic planning application which would see the Charlton Conservative Club, just a few doors away, demolished.
The plans, which would see the site flattened and replaced by six three-bedroom social houses and 10 flats for the commercial market, have caused horror amongst some local residents. Not only would an attractive building, which previously provided a social space in the area, be lost, but neighbours feel that the proposed development would completely overshadow existing homes and their gardens.
Without doubt the Conservative Club, which closed its doors in August 2013, needs care and attention to bring it back to life in some form but this application is a radical and unwelcome proposal for many local residents.
The project appears to be entirely financially motivated and shows little care or consideration for existing residents or the wider community.
The proposals show a large block facing Charlton Church Lane with homes squeezed in behind them on what’s now the back yard of the former club. With the Liberal Club downsizing, there’ll soon be a lack of community space on that stretch of Charlton Church Lane – is this plan for the Conservative Club the right one?
Yesterday brought an announcement from the council confirming that a number of local assets – including Charlton House – have been transferred into a new Heritage Trust.
ROYAL BOROUGH ANNOUNCES CONFIRMATION OF SPECIAL TRUST FOR KEY HERITAGE BUILDINGS
The Royal Borough of Greenwich Heritage Trust has officially transferred services from the council and has begun its work to ensure the borough’s much-loved assets continue to be protected and enhanced for the benefit of residents.
The Trust has also officially registered with the Charity Commission.
Royal Greenwich has a wealth of heritage assets, ranging from buildings of great historical interest to war memorials. The not for profit trust will make it easier for residents to have a greater say in the futures of these buildings.
The Trust has been set up specifically to look after the buildings under its care. It will also make it easier to access different types of funding to help maintain and enhance the buildings. The Trust will be led by a Board of Trustees who have been recruited from various fields in Heritage and Architecture.
Some of the borough’s treasures will now be under the care of the trust including Charlton House, the Greenwich Heritage Centre and The Tudor Barn in Eltham.
The Trust will also take on a Custodian role in relation to some of the war memorials of Royal Greenwich, which means they will be first point of contact for enquiries relating to these.
Local war memorials are currently undergoing a programme of conservation and repair during the period of commemoration of the Great War. The programme will take place throughout 2014-2018.
Councillor Miranda Williams, Royal Borough of Greenwich cabinet member for Culture and Creative industries said:
“We are extremely proud of our historic and heritage legacy here in the Royal Borough. Not only are we honoured to have such a rich selection of historical buildings and memorials here, we know they are a huge asset to the borough in terms of attracting visitors from around the world.
“We welcome the establishment of a Heritage Trust which has been shown to work well in other parts of the country.
It should also make it easier to access different types of funding to help maintain and enhance our buildings.
We look forward to working with the Trust to both protect and enrich our heritage and to enable the local community to play an increased role in looking after and learning more about these historical buildings.”
Heritage Trust Trustee, Jonathan Louth said: “We would hope, there will be little change to the services people enjoy and we are keen to engage with the local community as we develop, as we believe their support is essential to our success”.
Trust Chief Executive, Tracy Stringfellow said: “As a Charity, fundraising will become easier and that is vital to the sustainability of heritage services like ours in these times of reduced central funding.”
After a period of uncertainty (and, in Charlton House’s case, dashed hopes of a stand-alone heritage trust), it’s good that this move is now out in the open. Few people would argue that Charlton House has been managed to its potential in recent years, and it’s possible to see that a change of management could be a very positive development (even if the council’s press release hardly zips with excitement).
Plenty of questions remain, though:
– exactly which assets are included in the Trust?
– what is the role of Greenwich Heritage Trading Ltd (company registration no. 09021486, incorporated 1 May 2014) in relation to the Trust?
– how will the Trust be scrutinised?
– who was included in the consultation (we understand that the Charlton Society weren’t involved, for example)?
– how exactly will residents ‘have a greater say in the futures of these buildings’?
Cllr Parker has indicated on Twitter that a new consultation will commence soon:
@hjakeways Helen the trust has its first meeting next month, there will be a community consultation process on key issues in due course.
Hopefully the details of this process will be clear soon, and some answers to the questions above will emerge.
For Charlton House in particular it will be interesting to find out what will change day-to-day: what is the new management’s vision? Will there be better engagement with local residents? Can we look forward to an invigorated programme of events, a regularly updated website – or maybe even weekend opening for the tea rooms?
What direction would you like to see the Heritage Trust take with Charlton House? Let us know in the comments below (and we’ll pass on any details of the Trust’s consultation process as soon as we have them!).
Good news for Charlton Lido swimmers as GLL announce that the main pool will open until 9.30pm on Wednesday, ‘until further notice’. It’s to be hoped that if this proves popular then late opening will be extended through the week (more publicity may help, though: this particular Better Swim member only found out by checking GLL’s website; an email to members would surely help raise awareness of what is clearly a positive development).
The Charlton Champion 