Spring’s here (if we ignore the occasional flurry of sleet) and it’s time for a new Charlton Champion postcard: this time a view of Charlton House in the March sun.
Our last postcard sale exceeded our expectations and it was really nice to meet some of the readers who bought them – these sales all help to keep this site running.
You’ll be able to buy copies from our friends at The Corner at 96 who will be opening their pop-up shop this weekend (and the first weekend of every month), Friday-Sunday. And if you can’t get to the shop you can order Charlton Champion postcards online here (you may need to wait until the end of next week for delivery, though).
You’ll find The Corner At 96 pop-up shop on the corner of Bramshot Avenue and Sherington Road, and it’ll be open 8.30-5 Friday and Saturday, 10-5 Sunday.
Charlton Toy Library are hosting an Easter Party fundraising event this Saturday, 6th April 2019, between 2-4 pm at Charlton Assembly Rooms. The Toy Library is a volunteer-run, independent organisation providing families with a place to come and meet other parents, play with their children or get advice, as well as running outreach services around the borough of Greenwich and some parts of Bexley. Tickets are £6 per child (£4.50 in advance), £2 per adult.
Parking is currently free in the streets adjoining Eastcombe Avenue
Is parking a problem for you in Eastcombe Avenue or the neighbouring streets? DI GAINES has been in touch about a petition that she and residents in the local area are organising, asking Greenwich Council to introduce a parking permit scheme in the surrounding streets.
Action is needed now and we have formed a residents group to petition the Council to obtain residents’ parking in the current free parking areas from Victoria Way, Eastcombe Avenue, Wyndcliff Road and adjoining roads.
We are one of the few areas in Greenwich borough without residents’ parking and although it is mainly one end of Eastcombe Avenue, Wyndcliff Road and Victoria Way that is currently affected we do not want to “push” the problem further into other roads and that is why we are campaigning for the whole area to have permits.
Permits are not expensive, currently £70 a year and visitors permits are easily obtainable. This works our roughly £1.35 per week, a cost we feel justified for piece of mind
It appears that the only consultation currently proposed by the Council is to existing permit holders. So we are taking action to present this petition at the next full council meeting on 27 March.
We are campaigning in the area but if we miss you and you would like to sign the petition or have any questions please email Permitsforus[at]gmail.com
Thank you for your support
Has has parking got worse in your street recently? Do you think a permit scheme is the answer? If you live in an area with a parking permit scheme in place, does it work? Let us know in the comments below.
Gay Pride march. Photo credit: Bishopsgate Institute, ’74-24 Past Marble Arch’
News in of the latest exhibition at Charlton House:
Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust are displaying a small archival collection of LGBTQ+ memorabilia from local charities at Charlton House this month. On display in the Tea Room throughout February this mini exhibition includes items such as postcards from LGBTQ campaigns, through to sharing information on HIV prevention.
Pamphlets and magazines with information and services available to LGBT people in Greenwich, as well as significant changes to civil and criminal law in the fight for equality for LGBTQ+ people are also on display.
Two t-shirts can be seen from Pride Marches, one in 2005 and the other unknown, both from Metro charity a leading equality and diversity charity providing health, community and youth services across London and the South East.
There are also postcards and other ephemera, also from Metro charity, including a cartoon sketch discussing the inclusion of Trans people in LGBT history.
Producer and Community Engagement Officer Helen Young said “The Trust is currently on a collection freeze while we work through a back-log of documentation and collection move, but we are delighted to bring this mini exhibition to the local community and hope to begin collecting oral histories and other ephemera from the LGBTQ+ community in the very near future”.
I set up the Gofundme page on Sunday morning, and since then the total that has been donated is over £6,100.
Having spoken to Michael again at lunchtime today to get the money deposited into his account, he told me how amazing he thought the response had been and he was really touched by the comments that everyone has left on the site.
It doesn’t look like they’ll be able to open again this week, but hopefully this money will make sure that they are able to get back to being the much loved stop-off that everyone clearly loves so much.
I’d like to add how nice it has been from my point of view, seeing the comments coming in for them too. I should however have set the page up NOT to have sent me an email every time there was a donation or comment – my phone didn’t stop pinging all day on Sunday. A nice problem to have.”
The fundraising page is still open if you would like to contribute. Anyone with any information on the break-in should call 101 or use the Metropolitan Police website. We’ll bring you news on when the cafe will reopen as soon as we have it.
The Alexandra Players will perform Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Drowning on Dry Land over four nights this February, Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd.
About the play
Charlie Conrad is a celebrity. His talent? He hasn’t got one; the nation took him to their hearts for very publicly being unable to do anything competently. One fateful day, however, Charlie meets Marsha, and his marriage and career go into freefall… Drowning on Dry Land examines the current obsession with celebrity for its own sake and chillingly but hilariously demonstrates how celebrities can be destroyed as quickly as they are made.
Booking
Tickets cost £9 (£8 for concessions) and can be booked online via the Alexandra Players’ website, by email, or by phone: 07867 627 987.
They’ll be meeting by the Old Cottage Cafe at 10am and birdwatching for an hour; they recommend you wear something warm and, if you have them, bring your own binoculars.
The Big Garden Birdwatch has taken place nationally since 1979 and helps the RSPB to understand the changing populations of birds and other wildlife across the country.
The Charlton Champion 