Charlton House

What’s happening at Charlton House? Local councillor Gary Parker explains

Darryl Chamberlain3 Comments

Charlton House

Charlton ward councillor Gary Parker has sent us a report on what he’s been up to over the past few months. We’re presenting this in two parts – the first is about his work on the board of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, which runs Charlton House.

The Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust was formed in 2014 and I have been a board member since its inception. The special report below highlights the work myself, staff, volunteers and trustees have been involved with recently. The Trust launched a range of leaflets and promotional materials earlier this year, along with their new website where details of all events can be found at www.greenwichheritage.org.

You can also follow the Trust on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, join the mailing list, or sign up to the newsletter online for regular updates. Some recent projects include:

Here Come the Girls – The Heritage Lottery-funded project has been a great success this year. The project introduced Ivy the Nurse, Nell the Munitionette and May from the Progress Estate, 3 local women who share their stories of the First World War with the people of the borough.

Ivy was a Nurse at Charlton House, and the Family Fun Day there in the summer was a huge success. Charlton residents came to meet Nell, the rest of the nurses, and some wounded soldiers in a convalescence hospital recreated for the day. The project continues to tour the Borough with further events in Eltham and Woolwich before the end of September.

Making Woolwich – Generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Royal Artillery Museums Ltd, including the Friends of Firepower, this new gallery for the Greenwich Heritage Centre will tell the story of a Royal Artillery soldier from 1716-2016.

World Monuments Fund – The Trust’s work with the World Monuments Fund continues. Thanks to WMF funding, Donald Insall Associates have now completed the Condition Survey and Measured Drawings at Charlton House. Yale University Scholar, Lily Higgins, recently presented the findings of her research work over the summer to the Friends of Charlton House, Trustees and other invited guests. The Trust are now working on next steps toward a Heritage Lottery Fund application in partnership with the World Monuments Fund.

Other activities – The Trust delivered a programme of heritage events that continue throughout the year including Summer activities for children through August. London Open House takes place this year on Sunday 18 September, from 10am – 4pm supported by the Friends of Charlton House.

Your Devoted Frank is a dramatic performance inspired by First World War love letters found in a Plumstead home. The performance, first delivered for Valentine’s Day at Greenwich Heritage Centre, will come to Charlton House on Friday 11 November at7pm. Tickets are available from Charlton House for just £8.

I have been using my professional skills to advise the Trust on fundraising and how to generate income. I briefed Tracey Stringfellow, the CEO, on this recently and there are likely to be some new initiatives coming forward including a potential crowdfunding project – watch this space.

Charlton House continues to be a fantastic community resource and I am working with many others to improve and develop it.

The second part of Gary’s update will follow in a day or two. If you want to contact Gary Parker or any Greenwich councillor, find their details on the Greenwich Council website.

Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival 2016 programme announced!

Neil Clasper1 Comment

Charlton Woolwich Free Film Festival programmeClick the image above for a full-screen version.

The line-up for the inaugural Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival – a programme of film screenings across SE7 and SE18 organised and run by volunteers – has been announced. Charlton highlights include:

Shaun of the Dead at the White Swan pub: Sunday 11th September, 7.30pm.

Shaun The Sheep at Charlton Park Academy: Wednesday 14th September, 6pm.

A trio of Blow Up-themed events, taking in a location walk around Maryon Park, a screening of the film at Charlton House, and an After-Party event with era-appropriate DJ Sounds of 66 at the White Swan pub.

A Field In England, screening in Charlton House on Sunday 11th September, 2.30pm, preceded by local film collective SELect18’s short film A Car Park In Charlton.

 

All events are free to attend and will operate on a first come, first served basis. If you’d like to get involved or keep up to date with what’s going on, you can find the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film festival online at their website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Local historical records ‘rediscovered’ at Charlton House

Neil Clasper4 Comments

Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust have been in touch with news of a discovery in the cellar of Charlton House: 

WW1 History of Greenwich Borough uncovered as Charlton House’s Locked Vault is opened for the first time in memory.

Staff and volunteers at Charlton House in London have made an extraordinary discovery, in the cellar of the historic building.

Charlton House, part of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, has ‘rediscovered’ historical records and leather bound documents relating to the local area, and dating back more than 150 years.

Hidden deep in the basement of Charlton House, the vault containing the records has been locked since before the building was handed over to the Trust 8 years ago. Amongst the items discovered inside is the First World War Memorial Book for the Borough, containing the names of local men who served during the 1914-1918 war and a 100 year old log book for the local church – St Luke’s, which details all services and is annotated with significant events such as the Silvertown Explosion.

Tracy Stringfellow, Chief Executive of Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust explained: “We don’t know exactly how long it is since the vault was last opened, but the documents inside are very exciting and likely to be of significant interest to local historians and genealogists”

The Trust plans to display the discoveries at their forthcoming Great War exhibition, which takes place at the Greenwich Heritage Centre in February.

The documents and books will now be examined by preservation experts to ensure that their condition does not deteriorate.

There’s not been much information available on progress with Charlton House since it was quietly transferred to Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust in 2014, so we’re glad to hear that things are happening, and hope to see more video updates from the Heritage Trust. A shame, though, that their latest finds aren’t going on display in Charlton House itself.

Charlton Toy Library’s Easter party – can you help?

Neil Clasper
Last year's Charlton Toy LIbrary Party
Diddi Dance providing the entertainment at last year’s Charlton Toy Library Easter Party in Charlton Assembly Rooms

Charlton Toy Library needs sponsors and donations to support its fundraising Easter Party. Can you – or your business – help?

Charlton Toy Library is a small, independent registered charity that has been running for over 30 years. It is based at Charlton House and provides a range of facilities to the local community including: a low cost borrowing service of toys, books, DVDs, CDs, baby safety equipment, dressing up clothes and games and puzzles and stay and play sessions three times a week from 9.30am – 12.30pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It also offers advice, support and information on a wide range of child development and parenting skills.

Additionally the Toy Library runs an Outreach Programme which provides a much needed service in the local community, providing advice and support and taking clothes, books, toys and games to women’s refuges and four HomeStart groups in the area.

The aims and objectives of the Toy Library are two-fold: to provide child development and parenting support to disadvantaged families and a safe and welcoming environment for local families with young children to have access otherwise unaffordable toys, books and child safety equipment.

Charlton Toy Library does not receive any public funding and relies on the endeavours of a small team of tireless volunteers in order to continue to operate. We are currently planning a fundraising Easter Party for Saturday 21st March and are looking for local businesses who would be willing to sponsor or give donations in return for free publicity. To make the party a success we need the following:

  • Donations of £150 to cover venue hire
  • Children’s dance/music activities
  • Children’s craft activities
  • Cakes
  • Raffle prizes
  • Small chocolate eggs (bags of mini wrapped eggs or small wrapped eggs)
  • Small party bags (to fill with chocolate eggs)

As well as helping to raise much needed funds these are great community events enjoyed by up to 150 local parents and children. If you would be able to help Charlton Toy Library by providing any of the things listed above please contact Charlotte on 020 8315 0055 or via e-mail at charltontoylibrary@gmail.com.

Charlton House Open House

Neil Clasper
Charlton House Old Library
Charlton House Old Library

Open House London weekend is rolling around again, and Charlton House is opening its doors for the public to have a nose around on Sunday 21st September, 10am to 4pm. More details can be found on the Open House London website. This will be the first Open House weekend since Charlton House and related assets were transferred to Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust – hopefully the new Trust will take the opportunity to explain to visitors what it all means for Charlton House’s future.

The full list of participating properties across the borough can be found here.

(PS. There’s nothing about this event on charlton-house.org yet, but perhaps it’ll be updated once Charlton House returns from its long weekend in Woolwich).

Charlton House transferred to new Heritage Trust

Neil Clasper1 Comment
Charlton House
Charlton House

Yesterday brought an announcement from the council confirming that a number of local assets – including Charlton House – have been transferred into a new Heritage Trust.

ROYAL BOROUGH ANNOUNCES CONFIRMATION OF SPECIAL TRUST FOR KEY HERITAGE BUILDINGS

The Royal Borough of Greenwich Heritage Trust has officially transferred services from the council and has begun its work to ensure the borough’s much-loved assets continue to be protected and enhanced for the benefit of residents.

The Trust has also officially registered with the Charity Commission.

Royal Greenwich has a wealth of heritage assets, ranging from buildings of great historical interest to war memorials. The not for profit trust will make it easier for residents to have a greater say in the futures of these buildings.

The Trust has been set up specifically to look after the buildings under its care. It will also make it easier to access different types of funding to help maintain and enhance the buildings. The Trust will be led by a Board of Trustees who have been recruited from various fields in Heritage and Architecture.

Some of the borough’s treasures will now be under the care of the trust including Charlton House, the Greenwich Heritage Centre and The Tudor Barn in Eltham.

The Trust will also take on a Custodian role in relation to some of the war memorials of Royal Greenwich, which means they will be first point of contact for enquiries relating to these.

Local war memorials are currently undergoing a programme of conservation and repair during the period of commemoration of the Great War. The programme will take place throughout 2014-2018.

Councillor Miranda Williams, Royal Borough of Greenwich cabinet member for Culture and Creative industries said:

“We are extremely proud of our historic and heritage legacy here in the Royal Borough. Not only are we honoured to have such a rich selection of historical buildings and memorials here, we know they are a huge asset to the borough in terms of attracting visitors from around the world.

“We welcome the establishment of a Heritage Trust which has been shown to work well in other parts of the country.

It should also make it easier to access different types of funding to help maintain and enhance our buildings.

We look forward to working with the Trust to both protect and enrich our heritage and to enable the local community to play an increased role in looking after and learning more about these historical buildings.”

Heritage Trust Trustee, Jonathan Louth said: “We would hope, there will be little change to the services people enjoy and we are keen to engage with the local community as we develop, as we believe their support is essential to our success”.

Trust Chief Executive, Tracy Stringfellow said: “As a Charity, fundraising will become easier and that is vital to the sustainability of heritage services like ours in these times of reduced central funding.”

A list of the trustees (which include Charlton ward councillors Miranda Williams and Gary Parker) can be found on the Charity Commission’s website.

After a period of uncertainty (and, in Charlton House’s case, dashed hopes of a stand-alone heritage trust), it’s good that this move is now out in the open. Few people would argue that Charlton House has been managed to its potential in recent years, and it’s possible to see that a change of management could be a very positive development (even if the council’s press release hardly zips with excitement).

Plenty of questions remain, though:
– exactly which assets are included in the Trust?
– what is the role of Greenwich Heritage Trading Ltd (company registration no. 09021486, incorporated 1 May 2014) in relation to the Trust?
– how will the Trust be scrutinised?
– who was included in the consultation (we understand that the Charlton Society weren’t involved, for example)?
– how exactly will residents ‘have a greater say in the futures of these buildings’?

Cllr Parker has indicated on Twitter that a new consultation will commence soon:

Hopefully the details of this process will be clear soon, and some answers to the questions above will emerge.

For Charlton House in particular it will be interesting to find out what will change day-to-day: what is the new management’s vision? Will there be better engagement with local residents? Can we look forward to an invigorated programme of events, a regularly updated website – or maybe even weekend opening for the tea rooms?

(Charlton House’s Twitter followers may have been bemused to see the account recently singing the praises of a ‘magical community venue for Sunday morning coffee’…in Dalston).

What direction would you like to see the Heritage Trust take with Charlton House? Let us know in the comments below (and we’ll pass on any details of the Trust’s consultation process as soon as we have them!).