Charlton – Page 3 – The Charlton Champion

Time to wassail away again in East Greenwich Pleasaunce this Sunday

January 11, 2022June 19, 2023The Charlton Champion

The Morris dancers are returning to East Greenwich Pleasaunce again

After a break because of the pandemic, East Greenwich Pleasaunce’s New Year Wassail is back this Sunday. RICH SYLVESTER explains more…

As with all local parks, East Greenwich Pleasaunce has been a place to escape to during the pandemic. Beneath the veteran trees on this site a new orchard of plums, apples and pear trees was planted in 2012. Volunteers can join – Planting in the Pleasaunce – or Pip! to care for these trees.

Pip! also organises an annual wassail. This old English tradition – connected to Twelth Night – is to celebrate and bless the trees with cider in the hopes of a good harvest in the coming year.

The event is from 1-2.30pm on Sunday 16th January. The Greenwich Morris Men will provide some lively dancing, there will be wassail songs from Morrigan and Halstow Community Choir and some cracking tunes from Penny Gunstone and the band Clanjamfry.

Plus cider and a range of food and drink from the Pleasaunce Cafe. You are encouraged to bring drums, instruments, pots and pans!

See more at the Pip! Wassail Facebook page.

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Charlton Conservative Club: Seven flats to replace scrapped mega-bedsit scheme

December 31, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

Google image of the Charlton Conservative Club — The old Charlton Conservative Club (image: Google)

A property developer has applied to build seven flats at the former Charlton Conservative Club, a year after plans to build 26 bedsits there were scrapped.

Permission was given in 2015 for flats and a terrace of three houses on the site, but work was never completed and in 2020, a new application was submitted for the bedsits, to accommodate 49 people, as part of a “co-living” development.

That scheme was quickly dropped, and now developers have scaled back their original plans to just seven flats – three of which have already been built as part of the first proposal.

While the club’s former billiard hall would have been demolished, it is now to be retained and converted into homes. Developers say: “It is not sustainable to remove the rear building to build another almost identical one. Therefore, it is proposed to retain the rear building and to simply convert it. There would be no terrace houses proposed in the back garden and the submitted plans show communal garden space with cycle stores.”

In September 2020 plans to demolish what is left of the Charlton Liberal Club were refused by planners, who said there was no evidence that the club was unviable as it had only been on the market for one month.

Plans to build a “luxurious” 49-unit co-living development at the old Antigallican pub further down Charlton Church Lane were withdrawn in March, just weeks after plans were submitted.

The latest Conservative Club plans can be seen on the Greenwich Council planning website.

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Shisha restaurant and music venue plan for Euro Car Auctions building

December 15, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

The restaurant and music venue would occupy the east end of the building

A car auction house on the Woolwich Road could be joined by a shisha restaurant and music venue if its plans are approved by Greenwich Council.

Part of the Euro Car Auctions building, close to the Victoria pub, could be revamped to include a nightspot in space at the east end of the building.

Euro Car Auctions plan — The real-life building is unlikely to include palm trees

The application is brief and only mentions a shisha restaurant and alterations to the exterior of the building to include an open ventilation screen and floral wall, but plans submitted to the council include a music venue and recording space. Images supplied with the application, rather oddly, show palm trees surrounding the site, which is on industrial land but is opposite houses and flats.

Euro Car Auctions, which is behind the plan, hopes that a recent change in planning laws means that permission will only be a technicality, as auction houses and restaurants now fall under the same category.

However, the council may take a greater interest in what goes on as it owns the freehold to the site, having bought it as part of its long-term plans to transform the Charlton riverside into a residential area.

More details can be found on the Greenwich Council planning website.

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Get ready for Christmas at the Charlton Community Carol Service

December 8, 2021June 19, 2023The Charlton Champion

St Luke with Holy Trinity, Charlton — A carol service is taking place at St Luke’s Church next Wednesday

The annual Christmas carol service returns to St Luke’s Church next Wednesday evening. All are welcome, says REVD LIZ NEWMAN, the rector of the Benefice of Charlton…

As usual, St Luke’s Church, The Village, will host Charlton Community Carol Service on Wednesday December 15th at 7pm. It’s a simple service of readings that tell the Christmas story, interspersed with carols. Mulled wine and mince pies will be served afterwards! Representatives of a variety of community organisations will read and sing. There will be a chance as well to sing your favourite carols. Everyone is welcome and we encourage everyone to please wear a face mask.

There will also be collections for the Save the Children Afghanistan appeal and Safe Families.

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Charlton parking permit zone plans announced: is your street included?

November 25, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Wonky CPZ sign — Many residents are frustrated with the council’s lack of action on bad parking

Many households in Charlton will have had a thumping great envelope thwack onto their doormats last week – Greenwich Council has finally got around to unveiling its plans for extending Charlton’s controlled parking zone (CPZ), two years after carrying out a survey into it.

Most of Charlton is already in the CPZ – but much of the area still permits free parking regardless. That will change if the council’s plans go through, with drivers in most streets between the A102 and Maryon Wilson Park set to need £107 annual permits.

With the growth in back-street traffic over the years and complaints about retail park customers parking up in side streets, much of this was probably inevitable, although some streets close to the A102 – where finding a space is less of a problem – may feel a little hard done by.

But if you regard lots of parking as a problem, there are some baffling omissions. Most of Victoria Way, home to vans which don’t move for weeks or even months at a time, would remain free for anyone to dump their old bangers on. As would nearby Tallis Grove, Highcombe and Bramhope Lane, which would find themselves squeezed between streets gaining restrictions.

Here is the same problem @Royal_Greenwich
This person was parking on the pavement next to double yellows as I was walking. She got out and said she was going to call the police. I said do, and tell them that someone is taking a picture in the public of you parking illegally. pic.twitter.com/3dU501jyIc

— Paul in the Webverse 🐦 (@lxtwin) October 16, 2021

Nor are there plans for permits in Charlton Park Road, where drivers frequently leave their motors where they like, with little enforcement. You may know of other omissions.

If you want to check whether your street is affected, download the maps at royalgreenwich.gov.uk/charltoncpz – the consultation lasts until 13 December.

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Charlton Neighbourhood Forum: Help shape your local area this Saturday

November 23, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

Charlton station mural — The neighbourhood forum has its annual general meeting on Saturday

It’s the special annual general meeting of the Charlton Neighbourhood Forum this Saturday. The forum is hoping to put together a neighbourhood plan for the SE7 area that must be taken into account when developers apply to build on sites – its chair Clare Loops wrote for us last year about why you should take an interest.

If the group can get a plan together, then this will be a hugely important step for the area – so if you’ve got an interest in the future of the area, it’s worth heading along. Too often, this kind of group gets packed out with well-off homeowners objecting to schemes that will chip away at housing waiting lists, so if you’re someone that feels shut out of these kinds of decisions, now’s the time to go along and have your say, and think about joining its committee.

The event is in the Long Gallery on the first floor of Charlton House on Saturday 27 November at 11am. For more details, see the Charlton Neighbourhood Forum website.

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Pub quiz for Maryon Park Community Garden, Royal Oak, Wednesday 24 November

November 17, 2021June 19, 2023paulbreen

The Royal Oak on Charlton Lane is holding a pub quiz on Wednesday 24 November to raise funds for the Maryon Park Community Garden. Quizmaster PAUL BREEN explains more…

The Maryon Park Community Garden is a food growing space in a reclaimed area of the park which had previously been neglected and abandoned. Thanks to a group of dedicated local volunteers, steered largely by community stalwarts Tim and Edna Anderson, the food growing space has been radically transformed in the past decade. It is now a thriving social space that brings together people from all parts of our very diverse community. Even through Covid, it has served as a source of social sustenance for members.

Unfortunately, with lockdowns and so on, the garden has been unable to host many open days or public events in recent times. Therefore, this is a very worthy cause and support is very much appreciated. Incidentally, this is also the first pub quiz in The Royal Oak since it came under management earlier this year. New owner Kevin Latta has been very keen to participate actively in the life of the community and is looking forward to welcoming regulars and visitors alike on Wednesday 24th.

The quiz kicks off at 7.30pm with up to five members in each team, at a cost of £5 per player. There is also food available in the pub and people are welcome to come as early as possible. Indeed, in these times, that is probably advisable as every effort will be made to make the venue Covid safe. Quiz attendees are advised to bring masks for use when outside of their seated areas.

And as a taster, what famous 1960s film was shot in Maryon Park? So easy not even any need to answer here! Expect the difficulty of questions to be blown up significantly.