Author: Neil Clasper

What’s on in Charlton: February

Neil Clasper1 Comment
Thames Pilots at the Anchor & Hope
Thames Pilots at the Anchor & Hope – photo © Neil Clasper

Dates for your diary
A round-up of February events we’ve found in and around SE7. What have we missed? Let us know in the comments below or email neilclasper[at]gmail.com, and we’ll update the post as we get the chance.

4th Feb, 7pm: Charlton Rail Users Group (CRUG) annual open meeting, Charlton Liberal Club, Charlton Church Lane.

7th, 14th, 21st, 28th Feb, 1pm: Friday Lunchtime Concerts, Charlton House.

13th Feb, 8.30pm: Charlton Pub Quiz, Rose of Denmark, Woolwich Rd.

15th Feb, 2.30pm: Charlton Society talk – John Beckham on ‘Wildlife in our local parks‘, Charlton House.

20th February, 7-9pm: Death Cafe at Charlton House. “Join us in the comfortable Dutch room to drink tea, eat cake and discuss life, death and what comes after!”.

20-22nd February, various times: the Alexandra Players’ performance of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, Alexandra Hall, Bramshot Avenue.

26th February, 6.30pm: Global Fusion Music and Arts’ Fairtrade Fortnight Networking Event, Charlton House. “Fairtrade stalls including clothing, food, gifts, books, arts, and massage; plus dance, music and poetry – including a few songs from the GFMA singing group. Topping the bill will be the amazing Kora player Mosi Conde from Guinea – and if fancy trying your hand at drumming, Tai Chi or African dance, there will be some fun taster sessions”. Free entry. Email globalfusionarts@yahoo.co.uk.

Disclaimer: These listings are up to date to the best of our knowledge, but we advise checking  details with the event organisers before attending any events.

Photo feature
Have you got a Charlton photo you’d like to share with the world? A shot of your favourite part of SE7, or a recent event? We’d love to feature some readers’ photos in our monthly diary round-up. Send your image to neilclasper[at]gmail.com with a title and – if you like – some words to tell us what the picture means to you (don’t worry: we’ll attribute the photo as you wish, and you’ll keep full control of copyright).

PS. The Charlton Champion is now on Facebook – you can ‘like’ us here: https://www.facebook.com/CharltonChampion!

The Victoria Way 20mph zone is Go

Neil Clasper11 Comments

20140105-120322.jpgA letter to residents from the council’s Strategic Transportation department confirms that the proposals for a 20mph zone in the streets around Victoria Way will go ahead, with work starting Monday 13 January.

The letter states that 460 consultation questionnaires were returned (of 3681 sent), with 75% of respondents being in favour of the proposed changes.

The first phase of work will be the installation of signage and road markings and is expected to take two weeks, after which the installation of speed bumps and cushions will begin. There will be temporary parking restrictions around the works, plus some road closures and diversions on roads which aren’t wide enough for two-way traffic. It’s not clear from the letter how long this second phase of work is expected to take, but it says residents will be informed in advance of parking and traffic restrictions.

The 380 bus will be affected once work starts on Wellington Gardens, Priolo Road and Sundorne Road: while work takes place on Wellington Gradens, eastbound buses will divert via Charlton Road; when work moves to Sundorne and Priolo Roads, westbound services will divert via Charlton Road.

You can read the full letter here:

PS. Greenwich Council has committed to expanding 20mph zones across its borough. Fellow SE Londoners who want 20mph zones in their areas might find this petition for a 20mph zone across Lewisham borough interesting.

Charlton Toy Library’s Christmas Appeal

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Charlton Toy Library

 

 

 

A message from Charlton Toy Library about their Christmas appeal:

Charlton Toy Library is a charity maintained by fundraising. As well as a toy borrowing service and stay-and-play sessions, we also run an outreach programme. Our outreach worker visits four women’s refuges in the area, lending books, toys and games to the children. To help these children – who have no toys at Christmas – we are aiming to raise £1,000 in donated toys/donations for toys to be used in our outreach programme. If you are clearing out cupboards for Christmas and have toys that you can donate to the library we would be most grateful. Alternatively, if you would like to give us a donation to buy toys, please visit our Virgin Money Giving site to donate and put in the comments box that the funds are for ‘outreach toys’.

You can find out more about the work that Charlton Toy Library does at: http://www.charltontoylibrary.co.uk/

Victory for ‘We Call It Charlton Lido’ campaign

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lido petition

GLL announced today that the refurbished Charlton Lido will be called ‘Charlton Lido and Lifestyle Club’, dropping plans to rename it as ‘Royal Greenwich Lido’. The ‘Lifestyle Club’ addition to the name refers to the gym and cafe facilities due to open in January 2014.

The message sent to Lido members this afternoon:

A common theme that came through in your feedback was the important place that the Lido has within the local Charlton community as well as its historical significance.

We have invested over £5 million so far refurbishing and extending the facilities and are committed to securing the Lido’s future as a local landmark and community facility for years to come.

In response to your comments the name we have chosen, Charlton Lido and Lifestyle Club, recognises the historical and community aspects of the Lido while incorporating the exciting developments to come. The new gym facilities will launch in mid January, with the pool re-opening in Spring.

We will be holding a series of open weekends in late January to give everyone the opportunity to see the new facility first hand. For the latest updates, visit www.better.org.uk/charltonlido or email us.

Today’s announcement reflects a victory for the ‘We Call It Charlton Lido’ campaign, set up after GLL started to rename the lido without any local consultation. An online petition gathered nearly 500 signatures, plus support from across the local political parties, and gained considerable coverage from local media.

This site would like to thank all those who supported the campaign!

PS, the first, informal meeting of the newly-launched Friends Of Charlton Lido takes place at 6.30pm on Monday 25 November, at Brew & Choo cafe (next to Charlton station).

‘Understanding the Children and Families Bill and SEN reforms’ – Free Event At Charlton House

Neil Clasper

Greenwich Parent Voice

Greenwich Parent Voice have been in touch about an event they’re running next week at Charlton House:

The Children and Families Bill and SEN reforms: what will they mean for you and your child?

24 October
Charlton House, Charlton Road SE7 8RE
10am-2pm

Brian Lamb O.B.E. and Greenwich Parent Voice present a free information event about the big changes coming in the Children and Families Bill, due to become law in September 2014. They will be helped by managers from Children’s Services in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Brian is an expert in SEN policy and will be talking in depth about the impact the reforms will have on every family with a child with special needs or disability. He will cut through the complexity and leave parents with a clear idea of what it all means and how to take advantage of the changes. There will be plenty of time for discussion and questions from the audience.

Email to book your place: info@greenwichparentvoice.org

You can also find Greenwich Parent Voice on Twitter: @GPVinfo

Charlton Society Annual Meeting – Saturday 19 October 2013

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Charlton House
Charlton House

If you’ve ever wondered what the Charlton Society gets up to – or want to get involved – here’s an opportunity:

Dear Charlton Friends

All members, Charlton residents and friends are invited to attend our 45th Annual Meeting on Saturday 19 October at 14.30 in Charlton House.

Our guest speaker will be our local MP, Rt Hon Nick Raynsford. We will also be joined by the Society President, Viscount Gough and the Mayor of Greenwich will also be with us at the end of the meeting. Charlton councillors and representatives from other Charlton organisations have also been invited.

Charlton has continued to grow in its resilience and confidence this year although we face a few challenges. One of these is the attempted renaming of Charlton Lido to Royal Greenwich Lido, please do sign the petition if you haven’t already: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/gll-it-s-called-charlton-lido-because-it-s-in-charlton-2?share_id=ZBzGdxRuwG.

The developments on Charlton Riverside move on apace and the 20mph zone is to be extended to most of Charlton.

I do hope you can join us for the AGM. As a society, we celebrate our heritage and conservation, care passionately about our built and green environment but also about our community and future. We would always welcome new people to join the Society and our Committee.

Hope to see you on the 19th.

Yours

David Gardner
Chair
The Charlton Society

PS Date for your diary – our Annual Dinner will be on Friday 22 November 2013.

 

Charlton Community Gardens: Gardening Party And Open Day

Neil Clasper
The community garden at Charlton Station - photo by Nikki Coates
The community garden at Charlton Station – photo by Nikki Coates

Charlton Community Gardens have been in touch with a couple of dates for your diaries (and  they also have a new website):

Gardening party Sunday 6th October 2-4 pm
This is the first of our regular gardening sessions planned for the first Sunday of every month. Those that use the station regularly will have seen 2 more raised beds installed and the newly planted wildlife-friendly garden. There’s still plenty to do before winter is upon us, so please join us any time between 2 and 4 pm this coming Sunday 6th October at Charlton Station.

The jobs that need doing include:

  • planting spring bulbs
  • clearing shrubs
  • planting currant bushes
  • tidying and clearing the raised beds
  • planting winter veg

We have some tools and gardening gloves if you don’t have your own.

Open Day
Our next open meeting will be on Wednesday 23 October in The Old Library at Charlton House from 7pm We plan to have stalls featuring local projects as well as the usual Plant Sale and raffle. Come early to visit the stalls before the formal meeting starts at 7.30pm. The first part of the meeting will involve planning for the Highcombe site and will also consider how the station garden might develop. This will be followed by a quiz–questions on both gardening and Charlton. Please get in touch if you can spare some time to deliver flyers door to door in the next couple of weeks.