Charlton

Join Greenwich Dance at Charlton House this winter and spring

Darryl Chamberlain
Greenwich Dance are visitors to New Charlton Community Centre this spring

Greenwich Dance’s MELANIE PRECIOUS outlines what it’s up to at Charlton House and elsewhere over the coming months…

This term Greenwich Dance have added a host of new classes to their weekly timetable to brighten up the winter months … and there’s now truly something for everyone!

Adults have the choice of contemporary (general level and improvers), lindy hop (beginners and improvers), African fusion, yoga and jazz classes at Charlton House. Priced keenly at between £7-£8 a class the classes take place every Wednesday during term time.

If you are in your late fifties and sixties and think the time for dancing is done then you would also be mistaken. Greenwich Dance run a dedicated class at Charlton House every Friday designed for over-55s. Led by artist Maria Ghoumrassi the Friday class is a gentle exploration of creative movement and a perfect opportunity to meet new, likeminded people. For those who would like to take their love of dance that bit further they can also stay on for a further hour and be part of the Dancing to the Music of Time performance company or attend one of the Tea Dance and Workshop combos programmed for spring.

Greenwich Dance also have a number of activities happening around the half term. There is a fun filled Family Day planned for 19 February for parents and babies, 3-5 years, 5-7 years and 8 – 12 years plus an intergenerational workshop for everyone including grandma and grandad!

In addition Tea Dances are back, led by Equality Dance’s Peter Meager. Some of you may know him as he holds classes at nearby New Charlton Community Centre and his approach is one that throws gender stereotypes out of the window. He will be encouraging leaders to follow and vice versa to create an afternoon tea dance welcoming to all. If you are new to tea dances come along for the workshop first: and don’t forget you have tea and cake included in the price of your ticket!

Greenwich Dance will also be out on the road this spring, touring to five community centres around the borough. Called Up My Street Showtime!, the event invites the audience to eat and drink whilst enjoying a line-up of professional artists, the Greenwich Dance youth and over-55s’ performance companies and local community groups. Showtime! will be coming to New Charlton Community Centre on 27 March and will be at Clockhouse Community Centre on the Woolwich Dockyard estate on 28 March with two shows, a matinee and an evening performance. Priced at only a few pounds and including the choreographer of the NHS section of the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Temujin Gill, ZoieLogic Dance Theatre and Mathieu Geffre’s love duet for two men (which some of you may have seen at our wine tasting event last November) it’d be wise to book your tickets soon to avoid disappointment!

Greenwich Dance are also looking for volunteers to be ‘Dancing Friends’ at these performances – their role will be to make sure anyone arriving alone at Showtime! is made to feel welcome. We know that loneliness is a huge issue for people of all ages, and these events have been designed as a way for communities to socialise, meet new people and have fun…right up your street!

To find out more about all of the above and to book go to greenwichdance.org.uk or email chenube[at]greenwichdance.org.uk.

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Can you solve this Charlton Liberal Club mystery?

Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment
Who are these men? (Click for full-sized image)

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.

But who were those men? Can you help Ben Hayes at the museum solve the mystery? Drop Ben a line at the museum (email cafchistorian[at]gmail.com), or leave a comment below.

Friends of St. Luke’s first meeting: learn about the history of the church and future plans

Neil Clasper
Cherub above St. Luke's church door in Charlton
The cherub above the door of St. Luke’s church. Photo © Neil Clasper

A message from the Friends of St. Luke’s Church about an upcoming event and plans to restore the church door.

The first meeting of the Friends of St Luke’s will be held at St Luke’s on Wednesday 19th February, starting at 7.00pm ahead of a historical introduction to the building led by Joseph Spooner at 7.30pm. Joseph will be sharing his wealth of knowledge, as well as revealing some hitherto overlooked or under-documents aspects of the building and its history.

Refreshments include cheese and wine. Entry is free to those who have already signed up as Friends or who sign up as Friends on the night, otherwise entry is £10.00. The recently published and well-received Portrait of St Luke’s will be available for sale on the night for £5.00 rather than the usual £7.00.

Invite to Friends of St. Luke's event

Main door plans

As part of our contribution to the improvement of Charlton Village, the Friends of St Luke’s are looking to raise funds for the main door to be repaired and represented. Locals may recall that about thirty years ago it was painted blue but has long since faded and needs repair as well as repainting.

A detailed investigation was undertaken in 2018 and established that the door is oak and has been in place since the church was rebuilt in 1630. Furthermore, under the at least twenty layers of paint revealed by high magnification and ultraviolet examination, the door was originally painted ‘warm brown’, possibly with ‘brush-grained decoration intended to imitate hard wood such as walnut or oak’.

Presumably, in the days long before DIY products that do what they say on the tin, it would have been impractical to have left the original oak uncovered. In re-presenting the door we would also ensure the cherub above the door gets a fresh gilding, noting in passing that the cherub is also found on one of the mantlepieces in Charlton House.

Find out more about the Friends of St. Luke’s.

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Free Film Festival turns five: Find out more and get involved

Neil Clasper
A full house at the White Swan for the screening of ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ during last year’s Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival

An invite from friend of the Charlton Champion, PAUL CHAPMAN, to get involved with this year’s Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival.

Hard to believe but The Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival is about to enter its 5th year! The last 4 years have seen the Festival show free films all over the SE7 and SE18 postcodes. From Hollywood blockbusters to black and white classics; Egyptian arthouse to Shaun the Sheep; we’ve played to crowds of over 100 right down to 2 people and a projectionist – and enjoyed them all. And now is your chance to get involved!

Like all the Free Film Festivals in south London, the CWFFF relies on volunteers; to come up with ideas, to make them happen, to stack the chairs and rattle the buckets, we can’t do it without you.

And if that sounds a bit overwhelming, don’t be afraid. We’ve built up a solid team over the last four years, and we won’t pitch newcomers straight into managing a whole event on their own. If you’ve never been involved before, we can pair you up with a previous volunteer and you can learn the ropes and see if the Festival is for you.

Get involved

Our first meeting is next week, on 12th February at Charlton House from 7.30pm and we’d love to see lots of new faces.

And if you own or work at a great local venue, and you think you could host a film at the festival this year, get in touch! We are also always on the lookout for local businesses who may want to be a food and drink provider at an event, ‘the localler the better’ in the words of our illiterate chief organiser Gavin Eastley.

And after all that, if you are really just interested in watching the films, that is fine too. Sign up to our mailing list and we’ll keep you updated as and when we have more news. You can also find and contact us on Twitter and Facebook or email us at gavin [at] freefilmfestivals.org.

 

The Charlton Champion would like to thank the Free Film Festival for all their support to help us put on a really enjoyable screening of All the President’s Men at Charlton House last week – thank you too to everyone who joined us on the night.

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Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 2-1 Barnsley

kevinnolan

Kevin Nolan's Valley View

KEVIN NOLAN was at The Valley on Saturday to report on a vital win for Charlton.

Whether you’re in a title race or a relegation dogfight, concentrate on your own game and don’t be worrying about other results you can’t control. That’s a piece of advice old-timers used to hand out (they would also quaintly advise never to pass across your own penalty area – a practice more or less coached into players in these enlightened times).

Time – and football – moves on and in this digital age, it’s become impossible to be unaware within your own bubble of events elsewhere in the country. You can bet that Lee Bowyer’s immediate priority, once this nerve-shredding victory over fellow-strugglers Barnsley was in the bag, was to find out how the others had got on. He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t.

The good news was that Stoke, Huddersfield and Luton had lost. The only fly in a soothing ointment was the news that serial-chokers Leeds had dismally failed to oblige at home to Wigan. But the Addicks had moved up to 19th position and had Middlesbrough and Birmingham in their sights above them. The more the merrier in a survival battle, there’s another sage bit of advice for you.

Squad improvements

With his squad stiffened by a few canny loan signings and by the return from injury of several key players, Bowyer has every reason to expect an improvement in results in the near future. This faltering, often chaotic, win over surprisingly resilient Barnsley provided an important first step. It also emphasised how vital the continued good health of Lyle Taylor will be to Charlton’s immediate prospects.

There’s no such thing, of course, as a one-man team but Taylor is almost indispensable. During the Addicks’ dreary winless run, his personality, charisma, not to mention his regular goals, were sorely missed. It’s hardly a coincidence that after he was withdrawn in the 68th minute of this crucial clash, Barnsley flooded forward and took over. Glad to see an end to Charlton’s Taylor-led restless chivvying, they reduced their two-goal arrears three minutes after his departure and went looking for parity. Only desperate defending and two enormous strokes of luck saw Bowyer’s beleaguered braves over the line.

It was inevitably Taylor who shot Charlton into an early lead. A cynical foul on Josh Cullen gave its victim the opportunity to dink a clever free kick into the danger area, where Jason Pearce contributed a key header, to which Taylor reacted sharply in stabbing his eighth goal of an injury-blighted season past Samuel Sahin-Radlinger. The goal was initiated by a marvellously indefatigable midfielder, carried forward by an uncomplicated battler and finished by a cold-eyed predator.

Pearce had already cleared up a mess of Charlton’s own making when defensive indecision allowed Jacob Brown to set up Luke Thomas inside the home penalty area. Making ground quickly, Pearce legally smothered the busy midfielder as he prepared to shoot. Bleeding profusely, Thomas must have wondered what hit him.

Essential save

Midway through the first half, Dillon Phillips made what is now recognised as a Banksesque save to maintain the lead. Meeting Clarke Odour’s left-sided free kick, Danish defender Mads Andersen directed a downward header destined for the bottom left corner until Phillips scrambled across his goalline to athletically conjure the ball to temporary safety. He deserved the good fortune he enjoyed as Aapo Halme blasted the rebound against the outside of the post. A rare standing ovation from the Covered End saluted Phillips’ outstanding save.

Comfortably on top otherwise, Charlton doubled their lead in added time. A right wing corner swung in by Alfie Doughty was returned to its young taker, whose second delivery from an improved angle picked out Pearce at the far post. The captain’s deliberate header eluded Naby Sarr but was emphatically drilled inside the left post by Andre Green. His second goal for the club capped an impressive shift put in by the Aston Villa loanee, who showed class and tenacity.

The 57th minute departure of a predictably battered Jonny Williams was followed eleven minutes later by the withdrawal of Taylor, himself the recipient of some illegally heavy treatment. The momentum promptly changed as the Addicks retreated deep into their own half. While they wavered, Andersen’s ferocious drive almost knocked Phillips off his feet, with Cauley Woodrow sending the rebound crashing against the bar.

Often Charlton’s nemesis in previous encounters, Woodrow refused to be discouraged. Played into space following Thomas’ fine run and through pass, the Tykes’ leading scorer halved the lead with a crisp rising drive beyond Phillips’ reach.

The spectacle of rampant visitors besieging the Jimmy Seed end, where the vast majority of 20 goals conceded at home this season have been scored, was now familiar.  Blind panic and sheer desperation to hang on unnerved The Valley with luck playing another priceless part as Brown rattled the bar for a second time and Halme’s late shot was hacked off the line by an unidentified but heroic red shirt. Six added minutes were actually negotiated with uncharacteristic efficiency.

So much for the five-year plan (funny how it’s always five years) to secure Charlton’s place in the Premier League. More to the point, this precious victory might prove to be the first step in a five-week plan to keep the Addicks in the Championship. Bring on the long-term dream by all means but spare us a short-term nightmare in League One. But it’s so far so good, Tahnoon, welcome aboard. Make yourself at home…spit on the floor… call the cat names.

Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce. Sarr, Doughty (Purrington 90), Cullen, Williams (Forster-Caskey 57), Pratley, Green, Taylor (Hemed 68). Not used: Amos, McGeady, Field, Oztumer.

Barnsley: Sahin-Radlinger, Jordan Williams (Simoes 68), Sollbauer, Andersen, Odour (Ludewig 68), Thomas, Halme, Mowatt, Brown, Woodrow, Chaplin. Not used: Walton, Ben Williams, Dougal, Schmidt, Styles.

Referee: John Brooks.  Att: 19,870 (1,083 visiting).

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Can you help plan the future of Charlton House?

Darryl Chamberlain
Charlton House SE7
Charlton House is managed by Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust. Photo by Neil Clasper.

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.

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Hornfair Park BMX track ‘needs investment’, operator admits as work planned

Darryl Chamberlain
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.

The facility opened in 2012 as an Olympic legacy project, with some local residents initially objecting to the track because of fears it would attract antisocial behaviour.

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.”

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