Taken on the riverside walk between the Anchor & Hope and the Thames Barrier.

– Want to submit a photo for this section? Get in touch.

If the post on next year’s rail fares interested you, then you might like to know the Charlton Rail Users’ Group is holding its second meeting at Charlton Liberal Club on Tuesday at 7pm.

Topic likely to be under discussion include London-bound trains frequently stopping so far up the platform you need to sprint to catch them, the unpredictable hours of the booking office, the ropey bus interchange for North Greenwich (the “dance of death” between the 161, 472 and 486 stops), and poor maintenance and cleaning of the area around the station. You may have other concerns, of course. The aim of the group is to secure a louder voice for Charlton commuters in the ears of Southeastern, Network Rail, Greenwich Council and Transport for London.

All users of Charlton station are welcome, and the Liberal Club bar would be grateful for your custom. I’m hoping meetings and organisations like this can be publicised through the Charlton Champion, so if you’ve any news of anything similar, please let me know about it.

A heads-up if you use the 380 bus – the southern stretch of Victoria Way and The Birches are being resurfaced from Monday, meaning those roads will be closed for all or part of the week. The works are being done now Thames Water has finished two summers replacing two separate water mains under Victoria Way, so hopefully they’ll be the last closures for a long while to combe come.

All this means the 380 bus will be diverted away from its Eastcombe Avenue – Charlton Church Lane stretch while the roads are being dug up; which will be Friday at the latest.

That groggy first day back at work of 2011 will be bad enough, but it’ll also include fare rises for London’s commuters. For zone 3 stations such as Charlton, Westcombe Park and Woolwich Dockyard, there’s a mixed picture. Most off-peak fares are frozen, but there’s sharp increases to one-day travelcards. Meanwhile, the abolition of travelcards and Oyster price caps for zones 2-6 opens up the possibility of incredibly steep rises for anyone who doesn’t have to travel into central London. There’s no figures yet for paper tickets, or for monthly/ annual travelcards.

Single Oyster fares from January 2011:
Peak fares apply before 9.30am and between 4pm-6.59pm.

	Off-peak	Old peak	New peak	Peak % rise
Zone 1-3	£2.00	£2.60	£2.80	+7.7%
1-3 +tube	£3.20*	£3.70	£4.10	+10.8%
Zone 3	£1.30	£1.40	£1.50	+7.1%
2-3, 3-4	£1.50	£1.80	£1.90	+5.5%
Zones 3-5	£1.70	£2.20	£2.30	+4.5%
Zones 3-6	£2.00	£2.70	£2.90	+7.4%

*this off-peak fare is up by 10p (3.2%)

Weekly travelcards

	Old rate	New rate	% rise
Zones 1-3	£30.20	£32.20	+6.6%
2-3, 3-4	£19.00	£20.80	+9.4%
Zones 3-5	£21.40	£22.80	+6.5%
Zones 3-6	£25.60	£27.40	+7%

Peak travelcards/ Oyster fare caps (if you travel before 9.30am)

	Old fare/cap	New fare/cap	% rise
Zone 1-3	£8.60	£10.00	+16.2%
Zone 1-4	£10.00	£10.00	–
Zone 1-6	£14.80	£15.00	+1.3%
Zone 2-6	£9*	£10-£15	+11.1-66.6%

*zones 2-6 tickets/fare caps withdrawn.

Off-Peak travelcards/ Oyster fare caps (after 9.30am and at weekends)

	Old fare/cap	New fare/cap	% rise
Zone 1-4	£6.30	£7.30	+15.8%
Zone 1-6	£7.50	£8.00	+6.6%
Zone 2-6	£5.10*	£7.30-£8.00	+43.1-56.8%

*zones 2-6 tickets/fare caps withdrawn.

Hello! Welcome to the Charlton Champion – a new blog about life in Charlton, south-east London. We’ll celebrate what’s good about the place, and hopefully find ways of starting to fix what’s bad. If you’d like to contribute – get in touch.

Celebrating seemed like a good way to start, so here’s 10 things I like about Charlton.

1) The parks. Charlton is blessed with some wonderful bits of green space, mostly largely hidden from the passing world. Maryon Park is an under-rated gem of a park, little touched since David Hemmings’ photographer stumbled across a murder there in cult 1966 film Blow Up. Maryon Wilson Park is an eerie escape from the urban sprawl, and still feels more like its original name – Hanging Tree Wood. Charlton Park could do with a little TLC in places, but is a vital venue for many local sports teams. Hornfair Park definitely needs some TLC, but some day, its lido will be great again. We hope.

2) Charlton House. When was the last time you stepped inside this Jacobean beauty? The haunted house to out-spook all others, it now functions as a community centre but at one point was under consideration to become the old Greenwich borough’s town hall. Its gardens are also worth exploring, particularly the peace garden to the south of the house.

3) Poplar Cottage. From Ideal Homes: “Poplar Cottage has stood in Charlton Road since at least 1695. It is the last surving example of weatherboarded cottages in Charlton. Many similar cottages in Charlton were pulled down in the 20th century.”

4) The burial place of the only assassinated British prime minister. Spencer Perceval‘s remains lie in St Luke’s Church, nearly two centuries after he was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by a merchant with a grudge against the government. Perceval’s government saw Britain through a time of great economic hardship – so tough, that he had to serve as his own chancellor because nobody else wanted to do the job.

5) The Thames Barrier. Definitely not in Woolwich, as some mistakenly believe, the “eighth wonder of the world” stretches from the eastern corner of SE7 across to the north bank at Silvertown. It officially opened in 1984, 10 years after construction began and 31 years after the catastrophic floods which led to it being commissioned. It was closed four times in the 1980s, 35 times in the 1990s, and 75 times in the 2000s.

6) Charlton Lane level crossing. A strangely peaceful spot. You don’t get many of these in London – and our level crossing is possibly the closest to the centre of the capital. (See also the rural-style foot crossing on the Angerstein branch line, between Fairthorn Road and Farmdale Road, Greenwich.)

7) Gilbert’s Pit. Just to the west of Maryon Park – the last remnant of chalk and sand mining in Charlton, and a site of special scentific interest. Well, there is one other remnant of the mining days…

8.) The Valley. For many years, London’s largest football ground; while the old east terrace was the biggest in the country. Awaiting happier times.

9) Blackheath FC. Technically not in Charlton – the Rectory Field is the first SE3 address as you head west on Charlton Road – but it’d be dumb to ignore this sporting gem. A founding member of the FA, but its withdrawal began the divide with soccer and it is now the oldest open rugby club in the world. The Rectory Field, in use since 1883, also played host to Kent county cricket matches until 1972.

10) The Anchor and Hope. Probably London’s best “secret” riverside pub, with a fine view up to the peninsula and down to the Thames Barrier. Occasionally plays host to low key shows from Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook.

Those are my 10 – but can we find another 10 great things in Charlton? I’d love to hear from you – please add your thoughts in the comments box.