A group of local mums have stepped in to save a Charlton playgroup from closure.

Greenwich Council cut funding for the Charlton One O’Clock Club – next to Charlton School on Cemetery Lane – earlier this year. But it has reopened as The Big Red Bus Club, after parents stepped in to take over the running of the club.

Open Monday to Thursdays from 12:30pm-3pm, if offers a healthy eating tuck shop open to all, a large play area with climbing frames, a ball pit, and a place for parents, grandparents and carers to meet and chat.

Organisers are determined to keep the centre free – but want to get as many local people involved as possible, from parents who can join in and spend time with the children, to anyone who can help lock up at the end of the day.

Greenwich Council is allowing the group to use the building – and they are hoping to raise funds by hiring out the centre for children’s parties.

If you want to get involved, visit The Big Red Bus website to find out more.

So who rocked up to the Horn Fayre late and with a flat battery in his camera? Thanks to ThePirateKing for the photos above, and to Diamond Geezer for the pictures below. (He’s also posted about the fair today.)

It’s always seemed an odd event to me – it seems to pop up out of nowhere, there’s a random selection of stalls, and there wasn’t a timetable for events to take a look at. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. But the kids running around had fun, and that counts more than anything else. If you went, what did you think?

It’s the traditional Horn Fayre in Charlton Park this Sunday from 11am-4pm. I wish I could tell you lots of information about what’s planned, but there’s nothing at all – no mention in Greenwich Council’s Greenwich Time weekly, just a banner outside Charlton House referring you to the council website where you’ll find no editorial on it at all.

Search hard, and you’ll get this:

Horn Fayre is a lively and popular annual event attracting more than 2,000 visitors and features stalls from community groups, charities and local retailers.

There’s also music – you can hear from Drum Africa on In The Meantime – and you can find out more about the fair’s history thanks to Alan Palmer on this very site.

The rain might even ease off, too… so it looks like a good day. Shame there’s been so little publicity – if you know any more about what’s going on, please enlighten us below.

Saturday update: Thanks to Sarah for finding a flyer for the Horn Fayre… knobbly knees, eh?

Proposed service cuts at Charlton station during next summer’s Olympics have been scrapped, it has emerged.

The rail company planned to axe two out of the eight trains which serve the station each hour as part of a package of cuts at local stops designed to accommodate extra numbers attending events in Greenwich Park and Woolwich Barracks.

But after a meeting on Tuesday between Southeastern MD Charles Horton, Greenwich & Woolwich MP Nick Raynsford, and David Gardner of the Charlton Rail Users Group, it was confirmed that services between Woolwich Arsenal, Lewisham and Charing Cross would continue to stop at Charlton during the Olympics.

Furthermore, a dedicated bus service to the North Greenwich (O2) Arena will convey Olympics visitors from Charlton station.

Southeastern had originally claimed facilities did not exist at Charlton – which had a bus terminal put in as part of the Millennium Dome project – to run such a service.

The move at Charlton follows pressure from the rail users’ group, Nick Raynsford and Greenwich Council.

It is not yet known what is happening with other stations on the network that were due to face cuts, such as Woolwich Dockyard, scheduled to close altogether; and Deptford and Westcombe Park, due see services cut to two per hour.

Southeastern came under ferocious criticism from rail users and local politicians for their plans to cut services.

The company said the cancellations were needed to allow trains to spend longer picking up and dropping off passengers at Greenwich and Woolwich Dockyard stations.

Full details of the new timetables are expected to be confirmed by July.

From Greenwich Council – another sad story about a former local pub.

Greenwich Council has successfully prosecuted a real estate firm after it illegally converted a former pub in Charlton into eight flats.

The Woodman Pub on Little Heath in Charlton was turned into apartments by Cheltenham Real Estate LLP. However, the owners failed to comply with any statutory requirements to carry out the work, including failing to gain planning permission or Building Regulations approval. It means the flats were not inspected for fire and structural safety and other standards before they were let.

Greenwich Council brought the prosecution over health and safety concerns for the tenants. Cheltenham Real Estate LLP was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1430 costs after pleading guilty at Woolwich Magistrates Court to contravention of the Building Regulations 2000.

Most building work needs Building Regulations approval and without it enforcement action may be taken. This could also mean future difficulties with selling, buying or financing a property. Greenwich Council has now also served Cheltenham Real Estate LLP with an enforcement notice for an alleged breach of planning control. Planning permission is needed for conversions which change the use of a building.

Councillor Maureen O’Mara, Greenwich Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Enforcement said: “It was both illegal and utterly negligent of this firm to house tenants without following the correct procedures and checking whether their building complied with health and safety standards. These regulations are there for a reason, namely to protect innocent people and this case should serve as a reminder to any individual or firm carrying out building works that they MUST seek Building Regulations and planning approval. Most projects require it and lives could be lost without it. Greenwich Council will act promptly in any failures to do this, as this case clearly demonstrates.”

Anyone considering building work should contact Greenwich Council’s Building Control team on 020 8921 5413 and Planning Department on 020 8921 5222/5019 for information and advice before proceeding.

Our Bramshot Avenue correspondent Boneyboy has a nose for a bargain…

“The Haweli Tandoori takeaway opens on Monday 23rd May in the premises on Bramshot Avenue previously occupied by Desi Spice. Leaflets delivered locally and a sign in the window offer 50% off menu prices in their first week.

The menu offers what I would describe as standard Indian takeaway fare. The leaflet delivered through my door contains a number of errors, including a wrong telephone number, corrected by hand , and directions that Bramshot Avenue is “off Victoria Way and Westcombe Avenue”. Let’s hope their cooking is better than the proofreading.”

Your considered opinions on Haweli’s fare would be welcome.