Gates have since been installed at the Angerstein crossing
Network Rail bosses have asked neighbours and passers-by to watch out for misuse and vandalism at the Angerstein Wharf railway crossing, which has been saved from closure this week.
Safety issues were cited as the reason for closing the crossing, but Network Rail said that an independent review by its head of passenger safety, Allan Spence, found that safety measures in place were sufficient to make the Angerstein path an exception to its normal rules on crossings.
Network Rail now plans to straighten out rights-of-way issues at the crossing
Network Rail now plans to upgrade the footsteps to the crossing, installing a new surface on the crossing itself, and is considering installing CCTV to watch the area.
“I am counting on cooperation of people who use the crossing and would be grateful for misuse and vandalism – anything that takes place that is unsafe – is challenged and reported,” Fiona Taylor, Network Rail’s route director for Kent, told a Zoom call for neighbours of the crossing on Wednesday evening.
The crossing would remain open so long as there were no incidents which called its safety into question, Taylor said.
Peninsula ward councillor Chris Lloyd, who also attended the meeting, backed Taylor’s call for help. “An interface between people in the railway isn’t what we would do today,” he said. “We don’t want to be here again should we find out that the crossing as been abused and it’s up for closure once again.”
Questions of rights of way around the land also needed to be sorted out with landowners and Greenwich Council, Taylor added.
The crossing was originally built for farm workers in the 1850s when the privately-built Angerstein Wharf line was built to link the new North Kent line to the Thames. It has grown in importance in recent years with the building of new housing on the former Thorn Lighting site off Victoria Way and Fairthorn Road, with 675 people recorded as using the crossing each day.
The meeting was told that rerouting the footpath under the railway line would cost £3 million, although these costs were challenged. Lloyd suggested that funding from developers could be used to help pay for any path under the line.
Parkrun will be taking place here every Saturday morning
Parkrun will be coming to Charlton Park next month, its organisers have revealed – giving locals the chance to gather and run, walk or wheel 5k every Saturday morning.
The event was given funding by Greenwich Council in April after the Community Voting Day event, staged by the town hall’s public health department to help ideas to boost community wellbeing in the wake of the pandemic. Charlton Triangle Homes also helped fund the start-up costs.
Now organisers have confirmed that they have the go-ahead to start in October. The exact date is under wraps at present to prevent it being swamped on its first day – some more dedicated Parkrun fans have been known to travel far and wide to inaugural events.
All runners and walkers need to do is register on the Parkrun website and print off a barcode, and then turn up for 9am.
However, the team are still looking for volunteers to help put the first events on – if you can stand in the park and marshal, help time the event, scan barcodes or tail walk to make sure nobody gets left behind. If you can help, email charlton[at]parkrun.com.
Updated on Friday to include new email address and to mention Charlton Triangle Homes.
The Blackheath Newbridge club on Charlton Road last AprilThe Horn Fair will return to Charlton House next month after a year away – with its organisers promising that it “will celebrate life across Greenwich after a considerable time apart”.
Residents are being asked to submit photos of life during the pandemic to the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust so that a selection can be displayed at the fair. “Whether it’s a photo of a family at home, a street scene clapping carers, or a local market standing empty, the primary requirement is that photos represent the pandemic as it was from the perspective of the photographer, amateur or professional,” the trust says.
Photos can be submitted by anyone, whether or not they live in the area, but must have been taken in the borough of Greenwich from March 2020 to the present day. The deadline for submissions is this Sunday at 11.59pm. Images may also be added to the borough archive, entrants can also win an afternoon tea for two.
The Green Goddess pop-up pub will also be open, while the Collectors dance trio will also be performing their Picture Me There show inspired by life in Charlton. There will also be “musicians and artisan creators from across the borough”,
The free event will run from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 17 October. For more information and to enter the photography competition, visit the trust’s website.
A couple of months ago, a dance trio, THE COLLECTORS, appealed for readers’ help in creating a Charlton-themed dance piece, Picture Me There. Now it’s about it get its first two performances. They tell us…
This site specific work is devised and shaped from pictures and photos of people in Charlton both historic and present. With references to the lido, Charlton House and the football club, expect a quirky and playful montage.
The crossing has been a local landmark since the 1850s
Charlton Champion exclusive: Plans to close Angerstein Wharf foot crossing have been cancelled by Network Rail, people who live close to the branch line will be told at a meeting this evening.
The historic crossing over a single-track freight line, one of the last of its kind left in London, connects residents in and near Fairthorn Road, Charlton, with Farmdale Road in east Greenwich and a footbridge over the A102 to Westcombe Park station.
Network Rail amended its claim to state that the crossing was the most dangerous in south-east London – however, there are no other crossings like it in south-east London.
News that the closure has been cancelled emerged in an email from Matt Pennycook to those involved in the campaign to save the crossing.
“It would appear that, as a result of the collective pressure we exerted, an independent review was commissioned by Network Rail which concluded that there are sufficient grounds in this case to disapply the national algorithm that the organisation uses to determine safety risk at individual crossings,” Pennycook said.
“As such, Network Rail are content to treat Angerstein as an exception to their general policy vis-à-vis such crossing closures.”
The crossing, originally built for farm workers in the 1850s, has grown in importance in recent years with the development of new housing on the old Thorn Lighting site between Victoria Way and Fairthorn Road. The newer Bowen Drive development off Victoria Way, which welcomed its first residents last year, offers a direct link to Gurdon Road and the crossing.
Network Rail has been contacted for comment. It is due to hold a meeting with neighbours this evening to discuss the findings of its review.
A confused and incoherent performance saw the Addicks slump to an embarrassing defeat at The Valley yesterday. KEVIN NOLAN took his stopwatch.
Cheltenham Town turned up at The Valley on Saturday as rank outsiders in more ways than one and did a neat number on the locals.
Cor, they marvelled, look at that stadium! Get a load of the dressing rooms! Can’t wait to have a go under those shower baths just as soon as we find out how they work! Gosh, it’s a bit different and no mistake from last season at Chippenham and Tiverton. I’m loving this, Jethro.
At 3pm, the Robins – their nickname and they’re welcome to it – emerged into the sunlight, not a bumpkin among them, and proceeded to play Charlton off their carefully barbered pitch. Urged on by precisely 511 yokels who knew all the songs, including the one about being in a library, they were two in front on the half hour and already planning their getaway to the boondocks with all three points.
Slightly rocked by Charlton’s early second half reply, they weathered a brief flurry before, in manager Michael Duff’s words, “seeing it out with a calmness and a clarity of what they wanted to do. Their supporters won’t have known much about us because it’s little old Cheltenham – we have to use that as fuel to show the rest of the country we can compete at this level. We managed the game superbly.”
What we did learn about “little old Cheltenham” was that their “game management” was as cynical as any you’ll find anywhere in the big city. They wasted time while wasting time, if you catch the drift.
Led by a goalkeeper who moved with all the urgency of a garden slug, they condensed the playing time after the interval to what seemed no more than a handful of minutes.
That’s not meant as a complaint, by the way, more as a backhanded compliment to a focused, united side denied a much larger winning margin by the brilliance of Craig McGillivray. And, anyway, the addition of six paltry minutes justified their methods. It took their three substitutes half of those minutes to hitchhike off the field.
Understandably irritated by the supposedly shock outcome, Nigel Adkins pulled no punches. “First half for me the team was unrecognisable [from the side which comfortably disposed of Crewe Alexandra, presumably] – unrecognisable from what we’ve done. It’s more like hoof-ball and I don’t want that.”
Adkins was reacting to an opening period in which the Addicks were jaw-droppingly abysmal and during which the visitors scored their decisive goals. After just six minutes, the home defence was cut to pieces but temporarily rescued by McGillivray, who saved magnificently at close range from Town debutant Taylor Perry. Unhappily for the defiant keeper, Matty Blair slammed the rebound into the bottom left corner.
Disastrous as it was, Charlton’s start would have deteriorated but for McGillivray, who kept out Alfie May’s fierce drive with his feet. But the Westcountrymen were not detained long before doubling their lead. It was Blair’s turn to make the running as he beat Chris Gunter on the right flank and crossed waist-high for Perry to slam home from six yards.
On the end of a torrid seeing-to, and with wide men Diallang Jaiyesimi and Charlie Kirk both grave disappointments, Charlton resorted to the “hoof-ball” deplored by their manager.
Jayden Stockley laboured alone up front, while Albie Morgan showed again that, despite his appetite for work, he lacks the gravitas to quarterback between defence and attack. Some hope was offered by Elliott Lee and Ben Watson who strove to restore some order to the general chaos but these were 45 excruciating minutes only an evening spent with Michael McIntyre could hope to match.
💬 Watch Nigel Adkins' full post-match interview with CharltonTV following this afternoon's defeat at The Valley…
Just two down and technically still in with a chance, the Addicks improved after the break and briefly bothered their country cousins.
Stockley caught Scott Flinders in even more glacial motion than normal near the penalty spot, robbed the complacent keeper and square-passed to Jonathan Leko, an interval substitute for Kirk. Leko skilfully teed up Jaiyesimi, who blasted an inviting chance wildly over the bar. Jaiyesimi was promptly replaced by Conor Washington who, with Leko, made a huge difference. A flying save by McGillivray kept out a point-blank connection by Callum Wright before Stockley’s diving header sent Morgan’s cross over the bar.
But Charlton’s best period produced the goal which inspired brief thoughts of revival. Both substitutes were involved with Washington cleverly controlling Morgan’s perfect delivery and setting up Leko to finish crisply past Flinders.
With a half hour left, there was ample time to find an equaliser, an ambition which reckoned without the crafty connivings of Duff’s time bandits. It’s hard to recall anything of significance apart from May’s incredible two-yard miss and the feeling that, in the words of the Willie Nelson song,“Funny how time slips away…”
Cheltenham: Flinders, Long, Hussey, Pollock (Freestone 72), Thomas, May (Joseph 76), Chapman, Boyle, Wright, Blair, Perry (Sercombe 64). Not used: Evans, Williams, Bonds, Horton. Booked: Long.
Referee: Andy Davies. Att: 13,790 (511 visiting).
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And without men to fill the roles, there can be no musical. GWEN ZAMMIT appeals for help…
Mamma Mia! needs some more fellas please. We still have to find two dads for Sophie, aged 40+. They are not very big parts and are mostly one-liners. We also need two friends of Sky, Sophie’s bridegroom, 18+. Again not massive parts.
We attempt to not waste people’s time at rehearsals and try to plan so you either do not have to attend every rehearsal or you are only needed for a specific time.
Our “crowd” is also a bit small. We need even more males as well as a few more females for singing in the chorus.
Without the above, we cannot start the production because, although small, they are key parts. So come on please help us out – you will have fun! The four performances are scheduled for November 26th, 27th and 28th at The Assembly Rooms, The Village, Charlton. Dress rehearsal: Sunday, 21st November for everyone.
Please ‘bell’ me on 020 8856 7373 if you want to know more ASAP. Thanks.
The Charlton Champion 