Charlton Manor in partnership with Jamie Oliver’s Team are providing Free Meals to children this week. Please visit the School Restaurant from Tuesday to Friday this week – 12 noon & 1.45pm (2pm finish) to receive a free meal. All children welcome. @Royal_Greenwich@jamieoliver
Further afield, Greenwich Council is also offering free meals between noon and 1pm each day at Woolwich library, and Woolwich Adventure Playcentre at 2pm on Friday (see other locations). The Pelton Arms in Greenwich is offering free pizzas today, Wednesday and Thursday from 1pm to 3pm (see details).
You can help the community in Charlton get through the pandemic
With coronavirus cases on the rise again, Greenwich Council’s public health team wants to know what it can do to support you and those you care about as the pandemic goes on.
The team are working their way through different parts of the borough holding community meetings. Everyone is at risk from Covid-19, but the risk is higher for some – such as those who live in deprivation, in dense housing, bedsits, people from black and minority ethnic groups.
Nobody knows this community like those who live here, and to make sure nobody is forgotten in Charlton, the team is inviting residents to a Zoom meeting on Wednesday morning to talk about what happened during the first wave of the virus, who missed out on help, and what can be done now to help people through the coming months.
Just as importantly, with social media spreading false claims about the virus, it is a chance to find out what is really happening with the pandemic.
Overall, the aim is to keep the spread of the virus as low as possible and to and help everyone stay protected.
The public health team have identified an area of Charlton they’re particularly interested in hearing from – see the map below.
The meeting is at 10am on Wednesday 28th October. All are welcome.
To find out how to take part, email kelly-ann.ibrahim[at]royalgreenwich.gov.uk and she’ll send you the Zoom link.
Charlton Community Gardens’ community orchard is next to the Old Cottage Cafe
A message from CHARLTON COMMUNITY GARDENS…
Charlton Community Gardens are keeping in touch this autumn with a ‘Takeaway’ bag.
Children, with a little help, can enjoy these activities at home.
– Plant a bulb in a decorated jam jar
– Make and colour a Halloween mask
– Make a plastic flower to put in the jam jar
– Enjoy some quizzes and word searches
Collect your free bag from our Cafe Orchard (Community Orchard) – next to the Old Cottage Coffee Shop in Charlton Park on Thursday October 29th between 10.00 and 12.00. Children must bring an adult with them.
Please email us to book your bag – your child’s age and gender would be helpful: charltoncommunitygardens[at]gmail.com.
Charlton Village in 1970. “The watchmaker, hairdresser and Fieldings before the cottages were demolished, the tree to the right still stands in Fairfield Grove”
From Saturday, the Charlton Society is hosting a street exhibition in The Village, with displays on 17 shops showing engravings and photographs of the village since 1775. If you can’t make Saturday, the exhibition will last until 27 November.
In addition, if you can spare time on a Friday afternoon, the society is hosting an open day on 30 October from 2pm to 4pm: “Members of The Charlton Society Committee will be in the Village outside The Village Green Grocers where they will hand out copies of a commemorative Year Book and a facsimile of Charlton Village and its Parks Walk, originally printed in 1984. We hope that Charlton Society members and residents will take the opportunity to walk around the Village and view the exhibition.”
A view from 1775, with St Luke’s Church on the left and the spire of Charlton House on the right
The society adds: “The Charlton Society has been operating virtually since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown and have produced this exhibition to highlight Charlton Village as a unique London village, thank our traders for supporting the community throughout the lockdown and demonstrate some of the activities that The Charlton Society has engaged in during its 50 years.
“The Charlton Society has been operating since 1969 in response to a growing concern at the level of modernisation that could threaten the special character of the Village. Never an enemy of necessary development The Charlton Society was established to awake interest in the special character of Charlton Village, to assess new developments with a view to bring the best to Charlton as a whole, to protect the neighbourhood from the excesses of development but support good design and improvement.”
The old Charlton Conservative Club (image: Google)
A developer has withdrawn plans to turn the former Conservative Club on Charlton Church Lane into 26 bedsits to accommodate 49 people.
The club closed seven years ago and permission was given in 2015 to demolish the rear hall to provide a two-bedroom flat and a three-bedroom maisonette together with a new block of three two-bedroom flats, and construction of a terrace of four two-bedroom houses on land at the back of the property. Work began but was never completed, and construction workers have continued to arrive at the site.
Greenwich Council confirmed that RIU Management (UK) Ltd, a company based at the former club, had withdrawn its application in a letter to people who had objected to the plans. The company is controlled by 58-year-old Sanjai Dhar, who is also registered at the club; however it was originally set up by a British Virgin Islands-registered company, Riu Management, which had a correspondence address in Switzerland, according to Companies House records.
“The proposal is a form of residential accommodation aimed at providing affordable and high quality accommodation in the form of co-living arrangement,”planning documents said. “With the average house price in Greenwich at a value of £554,000, co-living which is a house in multiple occupation, offers an affordable alternative of living accommodation whilst retaining the luxury. Therefore, this a growing trend and co- living arrangement caters for young professionals who struggle to afford London’s increasing property prices.”
Meanwhile, plans to demolish what is left of the Charlton Liberal Club and build a three-storey building with eight flats have been refused by Greenwich planning officers. The scheme had been submitted by an Enfield-based company, Liberal Ltd, controlled by property developers Can and Kerem Yavuzarslan.
The council said there was no evidence that the Liberal Club was unviable as it had only been on the market for one month, and that the loss of the club would deny the area a community facility and a source of employment. It also said the “proposed design is excessive in scale and poorly sited, such that it appears cramped with its plot and creates an uncharacteristic terracing effect”.
The main Liberal Club building was converted into flats in 2016 and a new building erected next door, but the club closed two years later.
Stretcher fences in Marlborough Lane – a part of Charlton’s history
Historian RICH SYLVESTER would like a word about a project he’s working on with the National Maritime Museum – what object sums up Charlton’s history to you?…
You can see the pool of objects we have started with at hogblog.org – we invite your suggestions! What objects are in your area that tell of Charlton History ?
Contact the editor with your suggestions at editor[at]hogblog.org.
Plus – join the Zoom sessions on 50 Objects of Greenwich from November 3rd at 7pm – five themed evenings looking at paintings, public art, and a discussion on “who are the history keepers?” Book at http://www.rmg.co.uk/greenwich50objects.
Both Charlton Park and Maryon Park are to benefit from a Greenwich Council fund aimed at rejuvenating the borough’s parks.
Charlton Park will have its playground improved while sports changing rooms will also be refurbished as part of the programme, the first tranche of spending from a £1m fund set aside by the town hall.
Councillors on the cabinet, the borough’s main decision-making body, will discuss the plans in a meeting on Wednesday. However, there is no breakdown of just how much is being spent in the programme, which involves 11 parks.
Charlton Park will see money put towards the modernisation and redecoration of sports changing rooms, playground improvements, new park furniture and basic repairs. There is also funding for a wildlife meadow to the east of the park.
Maryon Park is due to see basic repairs, new park furniture as well as improvements to its ball court and its playground. It will also get new trees and wildflower margins.
There is no new funding for Maryon Wilson Park and Hornfair Park. (See full list.)
More than 2,600 people responded to a council survey about how they wanted to see the money spent. The most common request for Charlton Park was for additional toilets and maintenance as well as picnic area improvements, more bins and floodlights in the skatepark. Users of Maryon Wilson Park, which is not getting funding, called for a café and toilets, as well as work on its pathways and steps. (See full list.)
The report to councillors says: “Cafés and kiosks were also identified as important but creation of new café and kiosks would use a large proportion of the £1m budget and it was considered more important to improve the condition of the current facilities before adding new [ones].”
The Charlton Champion 