Charlton Manor’s award-winning Secret Garden opens to the public on Saturday 9 June from 10am to 5pm with a farmer’s market, refreshments, school-made produce from the garden, pond-dipping, exploration of the school’s observation beehive and a tour of the garden with staff available to answer questions.
The Secret Garden at Charlton Manor is packed with learning opportunities and as well as having a chicken run and beehives, it also has a stag beetle environment, a composting area, flower beds, vegetables, fruit trees, vines, greenhouse, wildlife area and bird hide.
In 2012 Charlton Manor led schools from Greenwich on a learning journey into plant care, resulting in growing beautiful cut flowers, being awarded a silver-gilt medal at the Chelsea Flower Show and meeting Her Majesty the Queen. Every year since the school has been involved at Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows and Bexley in Bloom.
Now’s your chance to discover Charlton Manor’s Secret Garden. A number of years ago it was derelict. Today it’s a haven.
Entry to Charlton Manor’s Secret Garden Open Day and Farmers Market is just £4, there’s no need to book – just turn up on the day. Weekend tickets (to cover all gardens) £15 in advance / £20 over the weekend. Under 12s go free.
Open Garden Squares Weekend Tickets can also be booked online, visit www.opensquares.org.
These Thameslink trains will start stopping at Charlton this Sunday
The biggest shake-up in SE London’s rail services for many years begins on Sunday – with Charlton gaining Thameslink trains to Blackfriars, St Pancras and beyond but losing some trains to Cannon Street.
Completely new timetables come into force as London Bridge’s new central platforms formally open for business, allowing more trains from Kent, Sussex and south London to run through to Farringdon, St Pancras, Luton and Bedford, as well as new destination such as Finsbury Park, Peterborough and Cambridge.
Charlton will be on a new Thameslink service linking Rainham in Kent with Luton, which replaces the old Southeastern trains from Charing Cross to Gillingham, although will run via Greenwich rather than Lewisham.
Two Southeastern trains to Cannon Street via Greenwich remain, while a new service from Dartford to Charing Cross will run via Blackheath and Lewisham.
So while Charlton still gets eight trains per hour off-peak (six on Sundays) – all stopping at London Bridge – they will run to different destinations. The Thameslink trains will only run as far as Kentish Town on Sundays.
Expect some teething problems as the new timetable beds down – a few Thameslink trains appear to have been deleted from early timetables after reports of issues with getting new trains into service, so double-check if you are using the new route.
Separately, Sunday’s service will be disrupted by engineering works.
Heading into town, your service from Charlton should be…
00 to Cannon Street via Greenwich
06 to Charing Cross via Lewisham 10 to Luton via Greenwich, Blackfriars and St Pancras 20 to Cannon Street via Greenwich
30 to Cannon Street via Greenwich
36 to Charing Cross via Lewisham 40 to Luton via Greenwich, Blackfriars and St Pancras 50 to Cannon Street via Greenwich
Heading away from town, this is how the service looks…
05 Rainham (not calling at Woolwich Dockyard, Belvedere, Erith)
08 all stations to Dartford 15 all stations to Barnehurst
25 all stations to Crayford (and back to Cannon Street via Sidcup) 35 Rainham (not calling at Woolwich Dockyard, Belvedere, Erith)
38 all stations to Dartford 45 all stations to Barnehurst
55 all stations to Crayford (and back to Cannon Street via Sidcup)
This is what your new morning rush-hour service looks like…
0529 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0547 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0559 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0617 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0628 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0635 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0647 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0659 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0704 Cannon Street via Greenwich 0710 Luton via Greenwich, Blackfriars and St Pancras 0721 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0730 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0733 Cannon Street via Greenwich 0740 Luton via Greenwich, Blackfriars and St Pancras 0746 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0753 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0757 Cannon Street via Greenwich 0810 West Hampstead via Greenwich, Blackfriars and St Pancras
0813 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0820 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0830 Cannon Street via Greenwich 0840 West Hampstead via Greenwich, Blackfriars and St Pancras
0847 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0850 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0900 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0906 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0920 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0930 Cannon Street via Greenwich
0936 Charing Cross via Lewisham 0940 Luton via Greenwich, Blackfriars and St Pancras 0950 Cannon Street via Greenwich
Where am I? Decathlon opens at the end of the month
Sports retailer Decathlon has snubbed nearly 200 locals to insist it will be calling its new store “Greenwich”, despite being firmly inside Charlton.
192 people signed The Charlton Champion‘s petition to ask the chain to acknowledge the sporting heritage of the are where it will open its new store at the end of the month.
A Decathlon UK spokesperson told The Charlton Champion: “We are honoured that our new store is located in Charlton. However, due to the shopping park being called Greenwich Shopping Park we decided to keep this symmetry with the name of the store, as per other stores in the shopping park and call our store Greenwich Decathlon.”
Decathlon staffers promote their “Greenwich” store (which is actually in Charlton) in Greenwich during the London Marathon
While possibly not the most urgent issue in the area, there is a serious message behind this – if Charlton is to get on its feet and improve itself, it needs major employers in the district to be proud of the area and acknowledge it.
And while, frankly, the stores calling themselves “Greenwich” on the retail park aren’t worth writing about anyway, we hoped better of Decathlon. We like their stuff. We’d like them to engage with an area with a deep sporting heritage.
Petition respondent Maria Tawn said: “They only do it because they think Greenwich sounds more upmarket! Snobbery still exists in the 21st century, especially amongst PR people.”
And Jamie Bannister added: “As a Greenwich resident I agree with this – confusing, nonsensical and a disservice to Charlton.”
The Alexandra Players are back at Bramshot Hall at the end of the month with their latest production, Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced:
“An announcement in the local paper states the time and place of a murder to occur. When the victim falls, Miss Marple is on hand to provide the final solution”.
8pm, Wednesday 30th May – Saturday 2nd June 2018. Doors open at 7.30pm.
Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust are celebrating the centenary of women’s suffrage this Friday with ‘A musical journey through 500 years, featuring Emmeline Pankhurst’s March of the Women and a brand new song commissioned by the BBC‘.
The event takes place in The Old Library, Charlton House, from 3.30pm. Entry is free, RSVP to office [at] rght.org.uk.
Maryon Wilson Park’s Open Day is coming up this Saturday, 19th May: a chance to meet and feed the animals, plus a range of other family-friendly activities. The event takes place 11am-3pm, and you can keep up to date with Maryon Wilson Animal Park on Facebook.
The Charlton Champion 