A few weeks back we mentioned this Sunday’s concert to raise money for roof repairs at Charlton House. The concert is actually being backed by a charity set up to save the nearby Charlton Assembly Rooms – GWEN ZAMMIT, the organiser, explains all, and outlines how you can get involved.
The concert is being organised with the backing of the Save Charlton Assembly Rooms Project (SCARP) to raise money for the roof repairs at Charlton House, which will benefit the whole community. SCARP was started in 1972 by Gwen and George Zammit and Laurie Cole, all members of St Luke’s Players. Laurie was their musician as well as played for St Mary’s, the daughter church of St Luke’s.
The Assembly Rooms had been St Luke’s church hall for decades but, in the end, the upkeep of the building became too much to handle and it was decided to return it to Lord Gough – a direct descendant of the Maryon-Wilson family – who had loaned it to the church for a peppercorn rent. Lord Gough then sold the rooms to Greenwich Council, who earmarked it for demolition to make way for a car park.
Up until then, the Assembly Rooms had been the HQ for St Luke’s Players, so that is why it was decided, with the backing of the whole community and the Charlton Society, to take it over. This was eventually allowed by Greenwich Council. To cut a long story short, the Assembly Rooms now comes under the umbrella of Charlton House, hence the support of SCARP, which is a registered charity.
SCARP is looking for new trustees, most of whom have been members of St Luke’s congregation. Gwen Zammit is the Chairman and only founder member left, however, she is still supported by Pat Wardale and Kitty Baden-Powell. If you are interested in joining the charity, you will not have much to do – really – but a charity needs Trustees to function, albeit not very often!
If you would like to be involved please contact Gwen on 020 8856 7373.
You can also buy tickets for the Music for an Autumnal Evening concert on the same number. Tickets are £15, and the concert is at the Old Library in Charlton House from 7pm this Sunday.
Councillors will decide whether the bar should go ahead next Tuesday
(Update: The planning meeting was postponed to Tuesday 19 October)
Greenwich Council planners are recommending that councillors approve a planned bar in a former bank at Blackheath Standard – but two influential local groups want the idea thrown out.
The brewery’s application to open The Green Goddess will go before the council’s Greenwich area planning committee next Tuesday. Council officers say that the plan “would bring a vacant commercial building back into use and for a purpose, which is appropriate for a designated retail area”.
Common Rioters’ founders Stephen and Maryann O’Connor have been testing out their ideas with a weekend pop-up pub with the same name at Charlton House. Their brewery’s name comes from the Plumstead Common rioters, whose revolt in 1876 saved the open space from being destroyed by a developer.
While 42 messages of support were received, there were 16 objections, including from the Westcombe Society and Blackheath Society amenity groups.
The Westcombe Society said a bar with no kitchen “may lead to an increase in anti- social behaviour outside residential properties” while there would be “smell and waste from the brewing process”.
Meanwhile, the Blackheath Society said “a ‘wet led’ pub without food seems to be designed to encourage pub crawls and potentially excessive alcohol consumption”.
The group also claimed that the bar would “encourage driving to the site, but as there is no car parking proposed this will lead to more congestion and nuisance in neighbouring streets”.
Another objection from a member of the public claimed that there was “no need for additional commercial activity at the Standard”.
There were also concerns about plans to allow tables outside, but a large fence would be put in place to protect the bar’s next-door neighbour on Vanbrugh Park. Outdoor drinking would not be permitted after 9pm.
Two cycle parking racks would be provided for staff. Transport for London had asked for two racks to be provided for customers, but Greenwich planning officers refused, saying “the provision of cycle spaces for customers (short stay) is not, as ‘drinking and driving’, whether it is in a car or a bicycle is not safe”.
The proposed opening hours would be 10am to 11pm seven days a week, with a midnight closedown on Fridays and Saturdays in December.
Work is already under way on the building to convert the bank’s offices into a two-bedroom flat; there is already a flat on the upper floor.
A final decision is due to be made at Woolwich Town Hall on Tuesday.
More than 300 people ran and walked around Charlton Park this morning
Parkrun made its debut in Charlton Park this morning – with 331 people running or walking for five kilometres around the open space.
Runners taking part in tomorrow’s London Marathon helped lift numbers for the inaugural event, with Charlton now the closest run to the start line at Greenwich Park.
Event director Linda Boscic rallies the crowd
But 35 people who had never taken part in a parkrun before also joined in for the first time, along with regulars from other nearby events.
Parkrun will now take place every Saturday – all abilities are welcome, just sign up and print off a barcode, and be by the table tennis tables at 9am. Today’s finish times ranged from 16 minutes to 57 minutes.
It’s a squeeze: the gate to the cricket field needs widening
Parkrun won’t be able to take place without volunteers – so if you can spare 90 minutes on a Saturday morning to help out, get in touch at charlton[at]parkrun.com.
Work is due to start early next year on 766 new homes on the site of the old Morris Walk Estate, its developer announced this week after being given final planning permission for the scheme.
Demolition work on the old estate, which was built as 562 council homes between 1964 and 1966, began last summer and has continued throughout the year.
The former Morris Walk South estate – including streets close to Maryon Park in Charlton – will be renamed Trinity Rise and feature more low-rise homes and family housing. The northern side will be known as Trinity Park, and feature more high-rise towers of up to 13 storeys.
Of the 766 new homes, 177 will be for London Affordable Rent (about half market rent – the same rent being used for new Greenwich Council homes) with 76 available for shared ownership.
Lovell was appointed to develop the estate by Greenwich Council in 2013 under a deal which also includes the Connaught Estate in Woolwich and the crumbling Maryon Road and Maryon Grove estates in Charlton. The proportion of “affordable” homes was agreed when outline planning permission was given two years later.
Stuart Gibbons, Lovell’s regional managing director for London, said the scheme would “deliver hundreds of energy efficient new homes to the borough whilst also driving job creation, apprenticeships and economic growth over the next six years”.
“There aren’t many new schemes in London which are building this many family homes,” he added. “The Lovell vision is to create high-quality schemes with a strong sense of place and community. Our approach will ensure the new homes enhance existing connections to local communities, shared facilities, health, transport links and other infrastructure.
“Lovell was chosen for its flexibility and collaborative approach to long term partnership. We are proud of what we have achieved so far with our partnership with Royal Borough of Greenwich at Trinity Walk in Woolwich. These fantastic new homes will provide further opportunity for people living and working locally to live in these homes at accessible prices.”
Fancy doing 5k in Charlton Park? Your time has come…
Charlton Parkrun is coming very soon – if you want to take part, now’s the time to sign up.
Parkrun is a simple idea – you simply sign up, print off a barcode, then turn up at 9am on a Saturday morning to run or walk 5k around an open space with others in your local community.
Each event is volunteer-run – and the Charlton team have been steadily building up a list of volunteers. More volunteers are always needed – it’s a great way to meet people and doesn’t take up more than about 90 minutes of your time.
If you want to take part and you’re not already signed up with Parkrun, the website is now live at www.parkrun.org.uk/charlton – that’s where you can sign up and find out when the first run is.
Already signed up with Parkrun and registered elsewhere? You can sign in on the website to change your preferences so you can keep up to date with the Charlton run.
Parkrun began as a time trial for runners in Bushy Park. southwest London, in 2004, and there are now about 700 events across the UK, all taking place at 9am on Saturday mornings. A new run began in Sutcliffe Park, Eltham earlier this month.
In Charlton, the run will start and finish next to the skate park, and will comprise three laps of the park.
While Parkrun is a favourite with fast runners, plenty of people come to take it more slowly with the aim of improving their fitness and wellbeing. At last weekend’s event in Sutcliffe Park, 240 people finished the 5k course in times ranging from 16 to 64 minutes – with a tail walker in place to ensure nobody finishes last.
The event’s start-up costs have been funded by Greenwich Council and Charlton Triangle Homes.
A late equaliser spared Addicks manager Nigel Adkins from the wrath of the Valley crowd at full-time yesterday. KEVIN NOLAN tried to make sense of his latest line-up.
A much-needed interval was offering welcome respite to Charlton, who were a goal down and being completely outclassed by Portsmouth at an increasingly surly Valley.
Only an astonishing miss by old adversary John Marquis had spared them the two-goal deficit, which would more than likely have proved conclusive as they teetered on collapse. The discontent around three sides of the ground was palpable and opprobrium began to rain on the already toilworn shoulders of manager Nigel Adkins.
Featuring five changes from the side which drew at Gillingham in midweek – Pompey were unchanged – his latest in-crowd was struggling to find rhythm or cohesion.
Most baffling was the relegation to the bench of Corey Blackett-Taylor, who had reduced the Gills to distraction and was almost as impressive at Wycombe a week earlier. With the bit between his teeth, so to speak, the youngster needed to play, not rest, or so it seemed to many dedicated observers.
Falling behind after just six minutes was hardly guaranteed to bond disgruntled supporters and a cautious manager but, with almost eerie inevitability, that was exactly what happened.
Receiving Mahlon Romeo’s pass to the left of goal, Ronan Curtis used Lee Brown’s overlap to make space for a superb, dipping drive over Craig McGillivray into the top corner; no challenge was offered by marker Adam Matthews or any of his backtracking colleagues.
Matthews gained partial redemption almost immediately with a fine recovery tackle to halt Marquis in the act of point-blank shooting. And it was Marquis who squandered the chance to put early daylight between the teams.
Marcus Harness’ quick feet turned Sam Lavelle on the left, with his clever pass picking out Marquis, whose heavy touch and ponderous turn had the unexpected effect of placing Jason Pearce on his backside. With the goal now at his mercy, the hapless striker incredibly shovelled a seven-yard shot wide of the right post. It was a miss of breathtaking ineptitude and something of a turning point.
The first shoots of recovery had been provided by Elliot Lee, who surged on to Jonathan Leko’s through pass but was thwarted by Gavin Bazunu’s legs. The Dublin-born keeper also saved at full length from Leko and used his legs again to keep out Alex Gilbey’s angled effort before the break.
Charlton’s undeniable improvement, however, failed to placate the mutinous locals whose chorus of disapproval escorted Adkins down the tunnel. The beleaguered manager didn’t get where he is today, of course, without having something up his sleeve.
His interval replacement of the deeply disappointing Harry Arter with recently-neglected Sean Clare was instantly rewarded in the most satisfying way. A clumsy foul by Sean Raggett on Lee close to the right byline conceded an unnecessary free kick which his victim prepared to take from a dangerous position between touchline and penalty area.
Cleverly disguising his intent, the quick-thinking Lee cut the setpiece back to Clare, who barrelled into the area and lashed an unstoppable drive inside the right post. Planned in SE9, executed in SE7, the equaliser temporarily lifted the pressure off an anxious Adkins.
As the momentum briefly switched, Lee broke away, with excellent advantage applied by referee Coggins, to test Bazunu before Leko turned sharply to draw a fine, fingertip save from the suddenly busy keeper.
But it didn’t last and Pompey were back in front with 18 minutes left. Ryan Tunnicliffe’s piercing pass was deftly flicked on by Marquis and slotted efficiently past McGillivray by the irrepressible Harness.
The influential goalscorer’s prompt replacement by the pleasingly anonymous ex-Addick Reece Hackett-Fairchild was not only a huge relief to the Addicks but evidence that Pompey manager Danny Cowley is hardly a genius.
💬 "It's a good point. We got off to a poor start, but we changed shape, showed some resilience and grew into the game."
Watch Nigel Adkins' full post-match interview with CharltonTV following today's draw with Portsmouth… pic.twitter.com/eFGBV5T90m
It was Adkins’ introduction of Blackett-Taylor and Josh Davison that paid off spectacularly as his substitutes combined to produce Charlton’s second equaliser.
A significant contribution was made by steady-as-a-rock Ben Watson, his accurate diagonal ball taken in stride by Blackett-Taylor, who outpaced Romeo before crossing for Davison to sweep home at the far post.
Expect Clare, Blackett-Taylor and Davison to start on Tuesday evening against Bolton – but don’t assume they will.
Funny how grizzled veterans like Pearce and Watson can manage back-to-back games but effervescent kids like Blackett-Taylor and Davison need to put their feet up. It’s one of life’s little mysteries…
Referee: Anthony Coggins. Att: 16,278 (2,995 visiting).
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Lovell’s proposed view from Maryon Park – where Denmark House stood until recently
Greenwich councillors have approved detailed plans for 766 new homes on the site of the Morris Walk Estate on the Charlton/Woolwich border.
Developer Lovell already had outline permission to build on the site, but last night’s planning board meeting rubber-stamped its plans.
Residents and the media – including The Charlton Champion – were unable to watch the meeting remotely because of technical problems which prevented the meeting being webcast. Physical attendance at meetings is restricted so only a handful of people saw councillors unanimously approve the scheme.
Demolition work on the Morris Walk Estate, built as 562 council homes between 1964 and 1966, has progressed throughout the year, with the last blocks to go on the northern edge of the site.
The plans envisage taller blocks to the north of the site
Of the 766 homes promised in the Trinity Park development, 177 will be for London Affordable Rent (about half market rent – the same rent being used for new Greenwich Council homes) with 76 available for shared ownership.
There will be taller blocks – of up to 13 storeys – to the north of the site near Woolwich Church Street, with more low-rise housing to the south near Maryon Park.
The development is part of a 12-year deal with Greenwich Council signed in 2012, which has already resulted in Woolwich’s notorious Connaught estate becoming a new development called Trinity Walk.
Lovell also plans to redevelop the crumbling Maryon Road and Maryon Grove estates under the agreement, with a planning application expected in 2023.
The Charlton Champion 