There’s not much confirmed online yet, but it looks like Charlton could be enjoying two Horn Fairs this year.
A ‘Horn Fayre’ in Charlton Park on Sunday July 27th:
And a ‘Horn Fair’ in Hornfair Park on Sunday August 3rd:
Neither are listed on the council’s events page yet, though the latter event is included on the Parksfest 2014 website (and seems to be supported by GLL, suggesting that there’s a link with the various leisure activities that they run in Hornfair Park). We’ve asked the council to clarify the situation via Twitter, and they’ve promised to get back to us:
@CharltonCSE7 We’ll look into this and get back in touch asap. Sorry for the confusion.
If both are going ahead, it seems a little strange to be running similar events in adjacent parks on consecutive weekends, but perhaps this finally resolves the issue of how you spell ‘Horn Fair’: a different spelling for each park…We look forward to finding out more as information becomes available (on which subject, the organisers could learn a lot from the – volunteer – team behind this coming weekend’s Plumstead’s Make Merry). If you’ve got more information about either event, please get in touch!
UPDATE: After some confusion, the council Twitter feed has confirmed that both events are going ahead:
@CharltonCSE7 Hi again – sorry for mix up – GT IS correct – Parksfest Family Fun is 3 Aug in Hornfair Park & Horn Fayre is on 27 July
A recent flurry of comments on an old post reminded us to take a look at what’s happening at Charlton House. The answer – if the website and Greenwich Time are to be believed – is ‘almost nothing’.
At the time of writing the website was showing this for ‘What’s On in June’:
The Facebook pages and Twitter feed are updated sporadically – but with little interaction with followers – and events are included in Greenwich Time’s listing section occasionally (nothing this week, though); the council’s website is similarly low on information (the events page’s drop-down ‘what’s on where’ menu doesn’t include Charlton House as a venue). So how, without calling in, does a local resident find out what’s going on at Charlton House?
In contrast to this, a short walk over the border into SE3, Mycenae House have been doing a great job of raising the profile of their events: a smartly-designed leaflet through locals’ doors (including into Charlton), a revamped website (compare and contrast with Charlton House’s website, which focuses heavily on pictures of empty blue chairs…), a refurbished bar/cafe, and a range of music and comedy nights that are pulling the punters in.
It’s arguable that Charlton House’s Listed status places limitations on how it can be used, but this doesn’t seem to have presented a problem down the road in Bexley: Hall Place offers an excellent case study in what can be done to bring a property of this sort to life (and their social media efforts show how event marketing and audience engagement can be done successfully at this level).
Of course, the internet isn’t everything, and we know that Charlton House does get used. But if the comments we’ve seen here and on our Facebook page are anything to go by, there’s a demand for Charlton House to be more than a few dusty meeting rooms and a nice wedding venue. We know that plans to spin it off into its own heritage trust were stymied, and are waiting to hear more about the plans for a borough-wide heritage trust to emerge. In the meantime, who’s speaking up for Charlton House? Can it get more than the bare minimum of attention from the council’s events and marketing team?
One possible sign of optimism is that Charlton ward’s newly-elected councillor Miranda Williams has been appointed member for cultural and creative industries in the council’s new cabinet; hopefully she’ll be able to remind her colleagues that there’s more to the cultural life of the borough than what happens in Greenwich town centre or Woolwich’s General Gordon Square (or onboard Tall Ships, for that matter).
We’d love to hear our councillors’ vision for the venue, and we’d love to hear what other users and readers think of the current offering – and what they’d like to see. Get in touch, or let us know in the comments below!
The panel listens to a question from the audience at the Woolwich Riverside hustings.
The hustings for Charlton and Woolwich Riverside wards have come and gone, and there wasn’t one fist fight to report – barely even a cross word. A good amount of people turned out for both evenings, and those that stayed around to chat at the end seemed on both nights to think that the Charlton Society’s experiment in access to local democracy had been worthwhile. Discussions were civil – audience members had a chance to put to the candidates the local issues that were really bothering them, and candidates responded thoughtfully.
Questions put to the panels ranged widely across local topics: how to tackle youth crime, road safety, air quality, the council’s responsibility for public health and even the future of the Woolwich Ferry were all mentioned. Perhaps you couldn’t make it and you’d like to catch up? If you’re in Woolwich Riverside, and you’d like to find out:
why Labour’s Jackie Smith thought maybe one day Woolwich could be like Berlin,
which of the candidates had to admit to not having heard of Windrush School or
which of the candidates agree with rent control and landlord registration
there’s much much more detail to be found in this collection of recordings and tweets: Woolwich Riverside Hustings.
Or you’re in Charlton ward, and you’d like to know:
whose reaction to being shown around cycling infrastructure in the borough was ‘Christ, are these the good bits?’
who thinks that the treatment of Charlton House shows Charlton to be ‘an unwanted child’
or what the panel as a whole thought that councils should do with their new public health responsibilities
then, likewise, there’s much more for you to take in here: Charlton Hustings.
In both meetings, one party’s candidates declined the invitation to appear: in Charlton, no Conservative candidates joined the meeting while in Woolwich Riverside none of the Liberal Democrat candidates appeared. In both cases, the Greenwich borough parties offered to send a substitute speaker, but the Charlton Society felt that the meetings would only keep their integrity as local hustings if only the candidates from that ward were on the panel.
It’s probably fair to say that many of the attendees were not entirely new to local politics, and in both meetings the hosts didn’t make a point of asking those submitting questions to declare interests or introduce themselves. It’s probably worth thinking about this for the next time we do something similar in Charlton. At both meetings, questions were asked by people active in party politics and the process might be more transparent if everybody knew who was asking what.
Did you go to one of the meetings? Were you happy with the way the candidates answered? Did you get out of the meeting what you hoped for? If you had anything to suggest to the organisers, what would it be? Let us know in the comments below.
UPDATE – 14th May
The organisers of the hustings meetings have been in touch to offer a correction:
To say “the Charlton Society felt that the meetings would only keep their integrity as local hustings if only the candidates from that ward were on the panel.” isn’t accurate.
After it became clear that the three Riverside Lib Dems were unable to attend, the organisers went to some considerable effort to include Lib Dem candidates from the next door and nearby wards in the interests of providing as wide a range of views as possible on the night. However, this was not considered acceptable by other attending candidates, and the organisers agreed that this was not an unreasonable position for them to take. Consequently, it became impossible to reach a compromise with out-of-ward candidates from the Conservative party for the next night. The organisers were disappointed that in each case major parties were not represented during the discussions but hope that now a precedent has been set for running fair, well moderated and unbiased hustings events, all those seeking election for the future will be keen to attend and make their case in front of the voters.
Apologies to the Charlton Society for the initial error.
Local council elections will soon be upon us – they’re due to take place on the 22nd May – and now Charlton residents will have the opportunity to put questions to the candidates at two hustings for the Charlton and Riverside wards organised by the Charlton Society. Do you have questions for local candidates about how they’re going to make a difference in Charlton? Do you want to ask the parties what their priorities are? This is your chance to make your voice heard. All candidates for election have been invited to join the panel, and these events should be a good opportunity to understand more about the people that hope to represent us. The Charlton Society write:
Please come along and hear what our prospective councillors have to say about the vital local issues facing our area in the next four years.
Each of the parties will make a brief opening statement, followed by questions from the floor. These are free events supported by the Charlton Society and St Thomas Church. All welcome.
“These are the first ever Hustings to take place in Charlton and Woolwich Riverside. We’re breaking new ground. We anticipate that these will be two interesting and exciting evenings of debate on the future of our communities and the area we live in. Charlton and Woolwich Riverside have an awful lot happening at the moment. It’s an exciting place to be, with a great future if we get it right.” Roden Richardson – Secretary, Charlton Society
Woolwich Riverside Ward Hustings – 7:30pm to 9pm on Sunday 11th May 2014 at St Thomas Church Hall, Woodland Terrace, SE7.
Charlton Hustings – 8pm to 9:30pm on Monday 12th May 2014 at Charlton House, SE7
Thinking of coming along? Going to give it a miss? Any thoughts on the format of the debate? Let us know in the comments below. You can also keep up with the Charlton Society on twitter (@TheCharltonSoc), and the Woolwich Riverside hustings has its own account there too (@RiversideWard14)
It means if the building is sold for development, the local community will be asked if it wishes to put together a bid. If it does, then the sale will be put on hold for six months to allow a bid to be put together.
The pub’s currently on the market, but the designation will encourage owner Punch Taverns to sell it as a going concern, rather than as a site for development.
Now the Charlton Society’s looking to repeat the process for the village’s other pub, the Bugle Horn.
“We’re delighted to see the ACV application be granted,” the society’s Andy Donkin told this website. “It’s vital that Charlton keeps two thriving pubs at the centre of the village.”
The pub’s recently reopened, although things still aren’t ideal – when a Charlton Champion drinking party popped in last Thursday, it was told that only Fosters was on offer.
But with a Facebook group dedicated to its future topping 200 members, hopefully better days lie ahead for the White Swan – so long as it can find a sympathetic buyer. Who will step forward?
Two pubs in Plumstead, the Star and the Plume of Feathers, were given ACV status by Greenwich last month, while another Punch pub, the Dutch House, near Horn Park, has also joined the Swan on the list.
An interesting museum has opened in Catford – the Prefab Museum, which is open until May on the Excalibur Estate and recreates the atmosphere of these temporary homes erected in the 1940s. See the Prefabs – Palaces For The People website for more.
But while the Catford prefabs survived for decades, those in Charlton are long gone. Carol Kenna of the Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project has a question:
“The CPRP project was told about the prefabs that were along Canberra Road backing into Charlton Park this was up to the end of the 1950’s. During the project we could never trace any photos of this. I have now been contacted by a gentleman who lived in one of the prefabs asking if we had any photographs.
“Could you ask your other readers if they have any, whether they would accept them – if they do – being passed on and also added to the Parks website.”
Charlton Lido – South East London’s only heated, outdoor 50m pool – resumes weekday opening from today. The pool (and ‘sun terrace’ – from which the photo above was taken) has been open on weekends through March, while the new gym facilities opened in early February. The cafe is expected to open around Easter.
Current pool opening hours are:
Monday – Friday: 7am to 6pm
Weekends: 9am to 5pm.
The Charlton Champion 