Residents of the Valley Grove Estate are working on plans to create a new community garden on the disused land above, and are asking for your help to secure funding from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.
Organiser Karin Tucker tells us: “It is a project aimed at improving social involvement by growing our own vegetables, herbs and flowers. We have been successful in our application and now need people to vote for us in order to get either £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000!”. Voting is from 27 February until 6th March at local branches of Tesco, including Woolwich, Greenwich, Plumstead, Eltham, Deptford and Thamesmead.
Karin explains: “When you make a purchase you will be given a token at the till and there will be three projects to vote for. Ours is called ‘Valley Grove’.
You can find the Valley Grove Estate Residents Group on Twitter: @ValleyGroveRes1.
Recognise yourself in these photos? If you’re an old pupil or teacher at Invicta Primary School, you’re invited to a street party to mark the end of its old 1950s buildings.
Thousands of Charlton children have been educated in those old buildings – among the school’s former pupils is actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who namechecked it and Sherington when he won a Bafta in 2008.
Now former staff and pupils are invited to a street party on Saturday 19 March to mark the closure of the old buildings and their replacement with new facilities built on the old playground.
The old buildings replaced the original school, destroyed by a parachute mine in 1940. Considering it was an infant school for much of its existence, these must be a bit of a squeeze for older pupils.
Here are the new buildings – apparently due for completion in April. The school’s also expanding in other ways, opening a new site in Deptford to replace the old Charlotte Turner School.
If you recognise yourself in those old photos, want to share your memories of the school, or want more information about the street party, drop the school a line at admin[at]invictaprimary.co.uk.
If you’re a member of the congregation of St Luke’s or St Thomas’ churches, you’ll already know this, but it came as a surprise to some of us: there’s a winter shelter for homeless people in St Thomas’ hall, and still has another six weeks left to run.
The weather can be cruel at the start of the year and while you may see more campaigns around Christmas, the need for shelter is just as pressing now.
Seven churches across Greenwich borough take part in the night shelter project, run by volunteers, with each church opening their doors one night of the week.
St Thomas’, working together with the congregation of St Luke’s, welcomes its guests on Fridays. They arrive at 7pm, are offered showers and a hot meal, breakfast the next morning and a packed lunch to take with them. The hall can hold 15 people and most of these places are usually taken, with between 12 and 15 people normally sheltering for the night.
Most guests are now regulars, and the volunteers have got to know them well.
Volunteers get ready for Friday night
Beds ready to be made up
We asked James Kinsella, a volunteer at the shelter, to describe the experience of running the shelter in one word, and he chose “humbling”.
He says volunteers have found the project rewarding and that they have been made “more aware of the plight of the homeless in London”. James says his attitude to homeless people has changed:
I am more aware of the homeless that are on the street in this cold weather, and if I give them some money I don’t cast judgement on how they spend it: if I was out in this cold weather I may need some alcohol to numb the pain
Asked how he thought guests found the shelter, James says he hopes they have found the church hall “a very warm and welcoming place where they are treated with dignity and kindness”.
If you’d like to support the valuable work that St Thomas’ Church is doing this winter, while there are enough volunteers, the team woud be very grateful for donations.
You can donate food to the shelter by leaving it at the church after 4pm on a Friday, or you can donate money. The church has a good relationship with its local community and already receives a good amount of food, but it also needs to pay for heating, fresh food and lighting, so money is – if anything – more welcome.
Cheques should be made out to St Thomas’ PCC and can also be dropped off at the church – the volunteers can give you a written acknowledgement of your donation if they know your name.
Charlton Asda: This site could be zoned for housing under a Greenwich Council plan
The area around Charlton’s Asda superstore could be earmarked for housing under plans being consulted on by Greenwich Council.
We’re still waiting to hear what the council has up its sleeve for redeveloping Charlton’s riverside – plans to reveal a new Charlton Riverside Masterplan have been postponed until the spring.
But you can find a few clues about what’s going on in the snappily titled Greenwich Local Plan Site Allocations consultation. It’s not being very well publicised, but it’s happening now and will have a bearing on the future development of Charlton and the wider borough of Greenwich.
This is about allocating particular sites in the borough for particular uses. For example, the unbuilt plots at Greenwich Millennium Village are allocated for housing.
Much of the focus is on Charlton’s riverside area – and that includes the possibility of converting much of SE7’s retail space into housing and community uses.
The Asda site, together with the retail parks and industrial premises that surround it, are part of one area suggested for “residential, non-retail commercial/employment uses, community infrastructure including open space, and an area of search for schools”.
“Current uses are out of-town retail, threatening growth of retail development in other centres,” the consultation says – a not-very-subtle way of saying Woolwich’s development as a shopping centre is being throttled by Charlton’s retail parks.
The effect of Charlton’s retail parks on Woolwich has been a running sore with Greenwich Council for decades. Big box retail first came to Charlton in the 1970s when Makro – aimed at business customers – opened on the site of the old greyhound stadium.
In the early 1980s, Greenwich Council originally refused permission for Asda to open its Charlton store, but was overruled by a planning inspector. Local newspapers at the time reported that plans for a new Co-op store, which would have been the centrepiece of a redeveloped Woolwich town centre, would be axed if Asda went ahead. It’s pretty much undeniable that Woolwich entered a long period of decline from about that time.
Since those early days, retail parks have opened across the Charlton riverside area – with the council’s blessing. The latest – an extension to the misleadingly-named Greenwich Shopping Park – is under construction.
It now appears the council is trying to turn back the tide. The plans don’t affect the retail parks’ ability to trade from their existing sites. But expansion or replacement could be more difficult – and selling up for housing could be more lucrative.
Charlton’s riverside has changed since this photo was taken, and is set for more changes
There’s a useful interactive map on the Greenwich Council website – here’s the plans as they affect Charlton and immediately adjacent areas.
Charlton Riverside West (Asda, Ramac industrial estate, surrounding retail parks): “Residential and area of search for schools.”
Charlton Riverside North West Industrial (north of Makro): “Industrial uses compatible with PIL (SIL) and area of search for Waste facility to include a Vacuum Waste Collection Centre and a Reuse and Recycling Centre.”
Charlton Riverside Central (Makro, Stone Lake Retail Park, Stones Foundries, Penhall Road) “Residential, small scale retail, employment use. Seconday and primary school area of search. To include bus and cycle east-west route and transport interchange at the south western corner of the site opposite Charlton Church Lane.”
Thames Barrier approach and Eastmoor Street (car breakers’ yards, etc): “Community open space to include playing pitch which could be dedicated for school use, replacing playing pitch north of UTC building if the existing playing pitch is needed for school expansion.” (A neighbouring zone, Charlton Educational, covers Windrush Primary School and the Greenwich University Technical College.)
Land to the south of Thames Barrier: “Safeguarding for Flood Defences, only a use compatible with this is to be considered, such as Community Open Space.”
Harrington Way (area around Second Floor Arts): “Existing historic buildings to be retained and used for B1, offices , creative uses, studios in accordance with IBP designation.”
Westminster Industrial Estate (immediately to east of Thames Barrier site): “Existing historic buildings to be retained and used for B1, offices , creative uses, studios.”
Morris Walk, Maryon Grove estates:“Redevelopment for improved quality and intensification of residential uses” – which looks like this little-publicised 13-storey tower planned for the site of the Albion pub on the Woolwich side of Morris Walk.
Maryon Road estates: “Redevelopment for improved quality.” No tower blocks, then.
40 Victoria Way (the one remaining warehouse from the old Thorn Lighting site): “Housing.” No surprise there.
This last one’s interesting – the Angerstein Triangle is an old railway yard (there’s still a set of steps linking it to Westcombe Park station) that was once proposed as the terminal for what became the Jubilee Line extension. Perhaps this is still sitting in planners’ minds. Charlton Champion reader Stephen Baycroft suggests it “should instead be rezoned into parkland and/or community facilities” to ease the pressure of lorries coming down residential streets.
Finally, both The Valley and the Rectory Field remain zoned as community open space under the proposals.
Naturally for a set of council proposals that directly affect Charlton, none of the roadshows for the scheme are taking place here.
Instead, you can talk to planners at the Greenwich Centre on Saturday 27 February from 2pm-5pm, and at the Woolwich Centre on Thursday 3 March from 4pm-7pm. More details on the Greenwich Council website.
Fans of Charlton Athletic are planning to step up protests against absentee owner Roland Duchâtelet after revealing the first of series of billboard posters ridiculing his ownership of the club, which has fallen to the bottom of the Championship.
It’s also emerged that Duchâtelet’s management team at The Valley are exploring the possibility of building flats inside the football club’s stadium.
The billboard, which appeared on Anchor & Hope Lane at the weekend, features a photo of a young boy at The Valley, taken in 1992, while it was being rebuilt in anticipation of the club’s return from its seven-year exile away from the area. The slogan reads: “Here before you and long after you’ve gone”.
It echoes a similar poster used by the Valley Party, which fought the 1990 local elections after Greenwich Council refused a planning application from the club to return to The Valley. That featured a young fan with the slogan: “If you don’t support us, who will he suppprt?”
“We’re bottom of the league at the moment, but it’s not about results,” Phil Reeks, from Greenhithe, Kent, says.
“It’s about the mistreatment of staff, the abject player recruitment policy, the constant mistruths, the same mistakes being repeated again and again, the list goes on.
“Over the years, I’ve had roughly 12 season tickets in various places around the Covered End, but I don’t currently have a season ticket. Even the club has admitted that 3,000 of its season-ticket holders aren’t currently attending games at the moment, and it’s doing nothing to win those fans back.”
After 2,000 fans attended a protest following the match against Blackburn Rovers at the end of January, CARD says it is planning another protest, “with a twist” for this Saturday’s game against Cardiff City.
Meanwhile, the club is considering the possibility of building flats inside The Valley, fanzine Voice of The Valley has reported.
Duchâtelet is said to have ordered his management team to find ways of making more money out of the stadium site. His first club, Belgian side Sint-Truiden, has had its Stayen stadium redeveloped to include shops, bars and a hotel. With The Valley being in a residential area – a plan to include a bowling alley met fierce opposition in the 1990s – his options are likely to be restricted to a hotel or flats.
Rumoured plans to build flats on the site of the current club shop appear to have faded for now after the club went back on an earlier scheme to close the Valley Central community space on Floyd Road. It is believed the club wanted to move the shop into the space. This website understands staff at the Charlton Athletic Community Trust were told Valley Central – which hosts youth services on behalf of Greenwich Council – would close in May, but the club later announced it would stay open.
The 36-year-old Jimmy Seed Stand – the stand furthest away from Harvey Gardens – has been identified as a candidate for redevelopment. The stand, used to accommodate away supporters, is the only significant structure to survive from the days before the club temporarily switched to Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park in 1985.
The Jimmy Seed stand is named after the manager who won Charlton the FA Cup in 1947
Club executives are said to have visited Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road – which has flats built in each corner, with balconies overlooking the pitch – to see how it could be done.
However, such a move is unlikely to be popular with fans, who fear it will restrict the possibility of increasing The Valley’s 27,000 capacity should the club return to the Premier League. Greenwich Council gave outline approval – since lapsed – to a plan to expand to 40,000 a decade ago, a capacity that would be unlikely if there were flats in the stadium.
There are also some practical difficulties – while the current stand is rather old, it allows the police to segregate away supporters easily. There’s also the question of how residents of any flats inside The Valley would access their homes, as the south stand does not sit on public roads.
Charlton’s defeat to relegation rivals Bristol City on Saturday leaves them at the foot of the Championship table, and leaves recently-reinstated head coach José Riga with a far harder task than his last stint in charge two years ago.
The club faced further ridicule this week when a prankster faked chief executive Katrien Meire’s signature on a document sent to Companies House, apparently resigning her role at the club.
Instead of playing down the hoax, the club – which has recently appointed a new head of communications after months of bad publicity – responded with a terse statement saying it was “investigating the matter as it is something we take seriously”, leading to press coverage of the joke in both the UK and Belgium.
In a possible indication of the mood inside the club, a security guard was posted at the entrance to the stadium on Tuesday when Duchâtelet – who has not attended a match since October 2014 – arrived for meetings.
Local MPs Matt Pennycook and Clive Efford met Meire last month to discuss fans’ concerns about the running of the club. However, Greenwich Council leader Denise Hyland told a council meeting two weeks ago that there would be no similar approach from the town hall, saying she was sure the club’s management were aware of fans’ views.
Our thanks again to Cllr Gary Parker, who represents Charlton ward on Greenwich Council, for this report on what he’s been up to for residents. You can read his previous report here.
Street Surgery –I took part in the Charlton ward street surgery on 22 November 2015 on the Springfield estate, a monthly event at which we target a part of the ward and go door-to- door to meet local residents and try to address any issues they may have or forward them to the local MP as appropriate.
I also attended another such surgery in the Wellington Gardens area recently. This is in addition to our scheduled surgery at Charlton House from 7.00-8.00 pm every Friday (no appointment is needed, just turn up)
Planning – I have been working with the Charlton Central Residents Association, and other local groups and individuals regarding a range of planning issues. I have raised a wide range of planning issues again on behalf of local residents.
Wyndcliff Residents Association – I attended a meeting with them and council officers to discuss their concerns about local traffic in January 2016.
Rectory Field Residents Association – I met with them to discuss related traffic issues to WRA in January 2016. I am monitoring the situation in relation to the Our Lady of Grace school development and the impact of contractors on parking, noise and general development issues.
Blackheath Rugby Club – I have dealt with representations over concerns at the impact of the move of the first team to Well Hall after over 130 years at the current location off Charlton Road, at the end of this season. I am awaiting a full report from officers.
Friends Of Charlton Park – I met with them in November 2015 to discuss the Skateboard Park and their concerns.
Leader Of The Council – I met with the leader of the council in late November to discuss the Charlton Skateboard Park, community engagement and environmental issues.
Charlton/ Charlton Village/Charlton Park – I dealt with an inquiry from Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust members, regarding a rumoured planning application to build flats on top of the club shop. There is concern again that the new owners of CAFC may be decanting to a site at Morden Wharf. I raised this, there has been no planning application lodged with regard to this after follow up from my last report in November.
Cleansweep Issues – I recently chaired a very successful meeting of the Community Safety & Environment Scrutiny Panel to review the Cleansweep service recently at which a range of community organisations including some Charlton/Woolwich organisations – Charlton & Carnbrook housing panel, CCRA and Wonderful Woolwich. A write up on this was featured in the 8 December edition of Greenwich Time, with excellent feedback from local residents and tenants reps who attended the meeting. As a result of this meeting a new environmental task force has been launched in Charlton, in the Floyd Road area, to provide more intensive street cleaning and to work with local residents to improve the environment and address some enforcement issues.
Playing Out Scheme – I advised CCRA on the drafting of the Playing Out Scheme funding application to Greenwich Action For Voluntary Service and reviewed the application. All your local councillors are supporting the Playing Out programme in Greenwich, which we are hoping to develop in the Charlton area to allow children and their parents/ carers to use the streets more for play and community events.
Social Enterprise Event – I attended the council supported social enterprise market event on 18th November.
I met with my co-councillors at the end of January to discuss the implementation of ward budgets and designed a draft application form. Once we have clarified some administrative and management issues, we will be launching the scheme locally – more details soon. I also met with CCRA officers to brief them on the scheme.
Council & Other
I attended the full council meeting on 16 December and spoke against the Tory motion on libraries. I also attended the January 2016 council meeting.
I attended the Greenwich Action For Voluntary Service AGM in November.
I met with Volunteer Centre Greenwich on December 21st.
I attended the Federation Of Small Businesses regional dinner on 3rd December at which Sadiq Khan was the guest speaker. I also met Zac Goldsmith.
I attended the overview and scrutiny panel on 26/1/ children’s services scrutiny 13/1 and chaired Community Safety and Environment Scrutiny Panel 14/1.
Blow Up in Maryon Park: Charlton’s most famous contribution to cinemaWant to get involved with a free film festival for Charlton and Woolwich later this year? Organiser Gavin Eastley is looking for people to help make it happen.
They show mainstream films – last year’s Peckham event screened Gravity in Peckham Rye Park – as well as more arthouse fare in smaller venues. Most festivals hold a couple of big outdoor events that bring in crowds of up to 300-400.
There are also workshops, filmmaking events and the chance to support local filmmaking talent.
And there are also chances to volunteer…
Projection. Could you get involved in projecting films at our free events? No particular skills needed as long as you’re happy around a laptop, projector and PA.
Event planning and management. Would you like to plan a film event? Do you know a venue that might like to host a film screening? At Free Film Festivals we welcome people who want to create their own film events – feature films, documentaries, new films, filmmaking events. Our festivals are completely created by local volunteers.
Stewards. Could you guide people at our larger events and help with collecting evaluation forms and shaking a bucket? Stewards always needed.
Filmmakers. Could you help to run a filmmaking workshop or organise a ‘meet the industry’ day or similar event to inspire new filmmakers? Read a filmmaker Tom Worth’s blog on how getting involved can inspire you as a filmmaker.
Marketing. From leafleting to social media, press, graphic design and website editing – our marketing teams are always looking for people to help with publicity.
Fund raisers. There is a cost to putting these on and most are funded by partnerships with community organisations and sponsorship.
Gavin says: “I can see The Draughtman’s Contract at Charlton House, The Guns of Navarone at the Royal Artillery (bit of a stretch that one), Mr Turner at Rushgrove House, a big cycle-powered event in Charlton Park and I am sure someone will want to do something with Blow Up. I am sure there are great documentaries about Woolwich.”
Well, now you say it, the London Screen Archive has a few…
Can you help Gavin put the Charlton & Woolwich Film Festival on? He’s holding a meeting at the White Swan, Charlton Village on Wednesday 24 February at 7.30pm. Or contact Gavin via the Free Film Festivals website.
If you’re a member of the congregation of St Luke’s or St Thomas’ churches, you’ll already know this, but it came as a surprise to some of us: there’s a winter shelter for homeless people in St Thomas’ hall, and still has another six weeks left to run. 
The Charlton Champion 