The Charlton Liberal Club closed in October 2018 – the last of the two old social clubs on Charlton Church Lane to go. The building, which was on the market for £500,000, has recently been sold. In its later years, it was better known as a matchday watering hole for football fans on their way to and from The Valley.
The Charlton Athletic Museum has recently been given a batch of old items from the club – including the intriguing photo above. It’s thought to date from before World War I, and may well have been taken at the rear of the club’s former premises at 560 Woolwich Road. Here is what is written on the rear of the photo.
Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust is planning a series of events in February to help it make decisions about its new masterplan and plans for major investment at Charlton House. The trust, which runs the Jacobean mansion on behalf of Greenwich Council, is applying for funding to improve the building, which has not seen major investment for many years.
Two events are being held – on Thursday 6 February from 1pm to 3.30pm, and Thursday 13 February from 7.30pm to 9pm.
Questionnaires will also be put online so as many people as possible can take part in the consultation.
The trust is also holding focus groups – to get involved in those, email info[a]rght.org.uk for more details.
The BMX track opened in 2012 but has fallen into disrepair
Hornfair Park’s BMX track “needs investment” after falling into disrepair just eight years after it opened, its operator GLL admitted to Greenwich councillors last week.
While it proved to be a popular facility, it was overshadowed five years later by the opening of the skate park in Charlton Park, and has looked increasingly tatty since then.
At a Greenwich Council scrutiny panel last Thursday, Kidbrooke with Hornfair councillor David Stanley told representatives of Greenwich Leisure Limited, which operates the track, that groups were having to move events to Kent because the track was in such a poor state.
“We’ve a lovely BMX track which is now falling into such disrepair we’re unable to use it and we’re having to move events to Kent,” he said.
Gary Starkey, the partnership manager for GLL’s leisure centres, said contractors were about to visit the track to see what work needed doing.
“We absolutely recognise that the track needs some investment and work to be done – as soon as practical, we’ll get that work done,” he told the regeneration scrutiny committee.
Starkey added that GLL was looking into relaunching the track with a promotional event when the work is done. (See 23 and 27 minutes into the video below.)
Charlton councillor Linda Perks questioned how well Charlton Library – which is also operated by GLL – was being promoted (see nine minutes into the video below). “It’s just a small library ticked away in a corner of Charlton House – I just wondered if you could increase marketing of that facility in that area. There’s not much information inside the building or outside that it’s there.”
Paul Drumm, the libraries partnership manager, said the libraries team went to local events and fairs to promote the service, while Tim Hetherington, GLL’s head of leisure and libraries, said the staff worked closely with the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust – which runs Charlton House – and its events, adding: “Our staff have dressed up as World War I nurses.”
We’ll be screening All The President’s Men tomorrow, the acclaimed film about the exposure of the Watergate scandal that brought down US president Richard Nixon in 1974. Starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, it’s a tale that resonates 44 years after the film’s initial release – particularly with recent events in Washington.
With politicians’ growing intolerance of media scrutiny – globally, nationally and locally – and as a website that has tried to shine a spotlight on the smaller scale shenanigans in our own part of London, it seems like a good time to show the story of how Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward exposed wrongdoing at the White House. And it’s always a good time to meet you, our reader, and thank you for your support.
We had originally hoped to screen the film at The White Swan pub. However, because of an issue beyond our or the pub’s control, we’ve had to switch venue – to the historic surroundings of Charlton House, where we’ll be screening the film in the Grand Salon from 7.30pm. We’re grateful to the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust for accommodating us at such short notice, and thank The White Swan for their patience – we’ll be having drinks in one of SE London’s best boozers after the film (and they’d love to see you before the film if you want something to eat). The bar at Charlton House won’t be open, but you are welcome to bring your own refreshments.
Admission remains free – although as we have to cover some costs, we will be passing around a bucket for donations to help cover them. Any excess will be used to help the Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival put on its fifth event this September.
We were originally going to screen the film as part of last year’s festival, but venue changes meant we couldn’t do it. So we decided to do it now instead, to get us all out on a bleak January night. Here’s a Facebook event page.
We start at 7.30pm (slightly earlier than originally planned) on Thursday 30 January, in the Grand Salon at Charlton House, Charlton Road, London SE7 8RE. Doors will be open from 7pm. We hope to see you then.
We’ve decided not to publish images of the graffiti
Police are looking for racists who daubed fascist imagery and antisemitic imagery on a Charlton takeaway and a bank in Blackheath overnight.
A swastika and a Celtic cross were scrawled on the takeaway at the western end of Bramshot Avenue, while similar graffiti was daubed on the Barclays branch at Blackheath Standard. Greenwich Council workers have painted over the bank graffiti and are working on the takeaway which was attacked.
Greenwich & Woolwich MP Matt Pennycook said he was “sickened” by the attack. “These crimes are a stark reminder of the rise in white supremacism and Jew hatred in our country and, when it comes to the latter, of the need to never be complacent about the unique and constantly mutating form of prejudice that is antisemitism,” he tweeted.
Danny Thorpe, the leader of Greenwich Council, said he was “disgusted and appalled” by the attack, a day before Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated.
Police have asked anyone with information to call 101 quoting CAD 340/26JAN20. If you see any other graffiti in the area, call the council on 020 8854 8888.
Greenwich Council will mark Holocaust Memorial Day with a service at Woolwich Town Hall at 10.30am tomorrow. For more details, visit the council’s website.
Trains (including Thameslink trains) will be running via Blackheath and Bexleyheath instead. Two replacement buses an hour are running from Lewisham to Plumstead, with a similarly infrequent train service between Plumstead and Dartford.
A normal service will run on the Jubilee Line and Docklands Light Railway.
Maddeningly, the rail closure had coincided with a London derby at The Valley – but Charlton Athletic’s match with Fulham, which had been scheduled for Saturday, was brought forward to tonight after the Cottagers won their third-round FA Cup tie earlier this month.
The closure comes ahead of the major works which will close the Bexleyheath line during the February half-term week, which will see busier trains through Charlton for nine days, as well as some extra services such as peak-hour trains to Victoria. More information at bexleyheathline.co.uk.
We’ll be screening All The President’s Men, the acclaimed film about the exposure of the Watergate scandal that brought down US president Richard Nixon in 1974. Starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, it’s a tale that resonates 44 years after the film’s initial release – particularly with recent events in Washington.
With politicians’ growing intolerance of media scrutiny – globally, nationally and locally – and as a website that tries to keep you up to date with what our elected representatives are up to, it seems like a good time to show the story of how Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward exposed wrongdoing at the White House. It’s also good to meet our readers!
Admission is free – although as we have to cover some costs, we will be passing around a bucket for donations to help cover them. Any excess will be used to help the Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival put on its fifth event this September.
The Charlton Champion was originally going to screen the film as part of last year’s festival, but venue changes meant we couldn’t do it. So we decided to do it now instead, to get us all out on a bleak January night.
We start at 7.30pm on Thursday 30 January, in the Grand Salon at Charlton House, Charlton Road, London SE7 8RE. Doors open at 7pm. We hope to see you then.
The Charlton Champion 