There’s a thriving Japanese language school in the upstairs rooms at Charlton House. Ever wanted to learn Japanese? You can give it a try there for free, since it has students learning how to teach it as a second language. It’s a place we hope to return to in the coming weeks.

Naturally, though, many of its students’ thoughts have been elsewhere. So the school’s doing its bit to help, with a fundraising day this Saturday…

There’ll be origami and Japanese calligraphy workshops, a Japanese bazaar, sushi tasting and martial arts demonstrations. If you’ve got some time to spare on Saturday, it looks like a good way to spend an hour or so for a very good cause.

The White Swan in Charlton Village is closing tomorrow for a refurbishment, and not opening its doors again until 21 April.

The pub’s now changed hands since the spell last year when a new manager tried to drag it up in the world – serving coffee, starting a “yummy mummies’ morning”, that kind of thing. But the refurbishment only seemed to be half-finished, and when two female friends of mine got harrassed by punters just for the crime of ordering pints last summer, it was clear that the job really hadn’t worked. The boss departed a few weeks later.

Now there’s two new bosses and a black cat prowling the place. Will this be the decent pub the village deserves? Watch this space…

A bit late with this, but it’s worth recording anyway. Last week Greenwich Council renewed planning permission for the development of a diving centre at Charlton Lido, despite the original deal having collapsed some time back.

However, the planning board meeting did bring with it confirmation that Greenwich Leisure Limited is due to take on the lease from the stricken Open Waters Investments, which brings forward hope of some kind of revamp for the lido – and maybe even the diving centre will be built after all.

But there’s strong feelings around Hornfair Park at the moment. Local campaigner Toni Hale walked out of the meeting, angry about the construction of a three-storey building alongside the pool. There’s even stronger feelings about council plans to build a BMX track and improve the park’s tatty playing fields – a sensible idea, you might think, in an area where there’s absolutely nothing for young people to do.

Not so, according to the 500 people who have signed a petition against the plan. (The full application can be viewed here.)

Campaign manager Toni Hale said: “So far we have 500 signatures on our petition. There is just no need for a BMX track in the park. It could lead to an increase in crime and there are already other tracks in the borough.”

Those other tracks, in Woolwich, Lee and Eltham, aren’t really an easy ride for a youngster from Charlton or Kidbrooke, though. Should Hornfair Park be filled with the sounds of bikers and divers, should it be a quiet oasis?

Greenwich councillors have approved plans to turn the old Horse and Groom pub on Woolwich Road into a church, despite opposition from neighbours.

The proposal by the Chreubim and Seraphim Movement Church was backed by five votes to one by a panel of six councillors on Wednesday with only local representative John Fahy (Labour, Woolwich Riverside) opposing the scheme.

Council planning officers said they approved the scheme “on balance”, subject to conditions including noise mitigation measures and restricting its opening hours to 6pm to 8pm on weeknights and 9am to noon at weekends.

The church had operated for a while without planning permission, and one local resident who addressed the Woolwich and Thamesmead planning committee said traffic in the area was “gridlocked” whenever it was open. But the church claimed over 95% of its congregation did not drive to services.

Local residents had signed a petition against the plans, and Cllr Fahy said the local area was “entirely different from other parts of the borough” because of the large number of people driving to football matches at The Valley.

“This application will simply add to the problems people experience,” he said.

But fellow councillor Don Austen (Labour, Glyndon) said the application was “difficult to oppose” on planning grounds.

As well as the change of use from a pub to a place of worship, the church also got permission to install six CCTV cameras, security grilles on the windows and a toilet extension.

Charlton Athletic are hoping for a sell-out crowd at The Valley on Saturday with all tickets for their home match against Exeter City priced just £5, and are rolling out the welcome mat for the club’s neighbours to come and sample the atmosphere with the side on the up.

The deal comes six weeks after the club was sold, and a month after Addicks favourite Chris Powell was installed as manager. The team have won all four matches so far under the new boss, including last weekend’s 3-2 victory over Peterborough United.

Tickets usually start at £17.50, but the club’s new owners want to increase attendances at The Valley, which have slipped as the club tumbled through the leagues. From seeing sell-out crowds of over 27,000 in the Premier League – when club executives were looking at expanding the ground to a 40,000 capacity – crowds have fallen to below 14,000 in League One.

The Addicks are now comfortably in the play-off places following the win over Peterborough.

“Chris Powell’s appointment as manager is just part of the renewal that is already going on under the new owners,” said head of club development Rick Everitt. “Helping us to build the crowd and atmosphere at The Valley is an important contribution fans can make to try to ensure that our stay in this division is as short as possible.

“We need fans to spread the word to their friends, extended family and neighbours that this is their chance to come along and see what football in SE7 has to offer.”

Tickets are available from The Valley box office (open weekdays 9am-5pm) as well as online or by calling 0871 226 1905.