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Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up – 15 February 2014

February 15, 2014 By Rob Powell

I mentioned in last week's round up that the Royal Artillery Band would be leaving the borough after 250 years and performing a farewell parade. It was a good turnout in General Gordon Square but if you didn't make it over to Woolwich to see them, here's a photo I got of them marching out of historic Woolwich Barracks for the final time.

ROYAL ARTILLERY BAND LEAVE WOOLWICH

Bugsby's Reach

The stretch of river between Charlton and the tip of the Greenwich peninsula is called Bugsby's Reach but there are moves to change this to Waterman's Reach. Historian and Peninsula ward councillor Mary Mills has penned this article explaining why she's against the change.

Just around the bend from Bugsby's Reach is Blackwall Reach and that's where there was a fireworks display on Friday night, sending red love hearts in to the sky. You might well have seen the short display, or more likely heard them, but here's a short video clip from Twitter user @wontbelong

New restaurant planned in Greenwich?

A new restaurant could be coming to Greenwich town centre in the not-too-distant future. Peyton and Byrne have applied for planning permission for signage and alterations that would be required to open up a new restaurant at 20 & 22 Greenwich Church Street. These two properties have recently been rebuilt by landlords Greenwich Hospital.

What do you think about it?

The List of Adrian Messenger

Many thanks to Monique who got in touch to tell me about The List of Adrian Messenger. It's a John Huston-directed movie, made in the 60s, with an amazing cast list that includes Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum and Frank Sinatra and many scenes were filmed near Monique's home in East Greenwich. Check out this great web page to see the stills from the movie and hover your mouse over them to see more recent photos. Thanks again, Monique, for sharing the find.

The movie is available on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Met boss in Charlton

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Bernard Hogan-Howe, will be at Charlton House next week to answer questions. It's an event for people from Greenwich and Lewisham boroughs and takes place on Wednesday 19th Feb, from 6.30pm - 7.30pm.

Still in Charlton, don't forget you can catch up with all of Kevin Nolan's CAFC match reports on Greenwich.co.uk, kindly sponsored by Grant Saw Wealth Management, who are based at the Blackheath Standard. And this week's round up ends with a short message from Grant Saw Wealth Management.


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Filed Under: Weekly Roundup

Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up – 7 February 2014

February 8, 2014 By Rob Powell

Well, hasn't time flown. It doesn't seem two years ago that the Queen granted royal status to the London Borough of Greenwich but the anniversary of that date passed during the week just gone. If you remember, there were fireworks on three consecutive nights around the borough to mark the occasion - here's a little reminder from the fireworks in Eltham at the Tudor Barn.

Eltham Fireworks

It's also two years since the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery arrived Woolwich at their new purpose-built facilities. They've become a familiar sight being exercised on the borough's roads since then. Here they were down at the Old Royal Naval College in February 2012.

King's Troop in the ORNC with the O2 behind

While it was "hello" to the King's Troop in February 2012, it will be "goodbye" for another group of soldiers this February. As I mentioned in last week's round up, the Royal Artillery Band are being moved to Wiltshire after calling Woolwich home for 250 years. Their farewell performance is Sunday 9th Feb in General Gordon Square at 1.30pm.

Over on the Greenwich.co.uk forum, on which anyone can start a discussion about local issues, I have posted some details of Cathedral Group's redevelopment proposals for the Alcatel Lucent site in East Greenwich.

There's also an update, via local running trainer Ellie Brown, on what's happening with the tea pavillion in Greenwich Park. Find out here.

Next weekend, look out for free performances at the Queen's House where performance artists Akleriah resurrect the extraordinary ‘rags to riches' life story of Lord Nelson's infamous mistress.

Filed Under: Weekly Roundup

Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up – 31 January 2014

January 31, 2014 By Rob Powell

I mentioned in last week's round up that the German frigate, SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN, would be heading past Greenwich on Monday morning. For those that missed her, here she was with the Thames Barrier and the O2 in the background.

Schleswig Holstein

Why do Brits make the best movie villains?

The Queen's House will be seen by over 100 million people this weekend when it appears in an advert for Jaguar that will be shown during the Super Bowl. Most won't recognise where it is though as it's actually doubling for the real Queen's house, edited in at the end of a sequence where a Jaguar drives up the Mall to Buckingham Palace. You can watch the advert, which stars Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong and Tom Hiddleston, here.

The Queen's House also appeared in David Dimbleby's brilliant Britain and the Sea series recently and he has created an audio guide to the paintings that are on show there. You can pick it up for free at the information desk by the entrance.

All this talk of the Queen's House is a good excuse to share this photo I took from over at Island Gardens last summer.

Queen's House at Greenwich

A Poll and a Petition

This week saw the launch of both an online petition and an online poll on two very different issues.

The petition has been set up by the owners of the Old Cottage coffee who want public support for their campaign to get the nearby public toilets in Charlon Park refurbished.

The poll is from senior councillor and cabinet member, John Fahy, who has said on his blog that the council should return to a position of financially supporting Blackheath fireworks. He wants to know if people agree or disagree.

Severndroog Castle nearly ready to reopen

Thanks must go to Laura, the Heritage Manager at Severndroog Castle, for letting me have an early look around this week. Work on the tower, hidden away in Oxleas Wood, is continuing but all's looking good for a reopening this spring, at which time there will be a cafe, venue space and education room.

Severndroog Castle

I put a couple more photos up on the forum.

Apparently it's the only non-winning property from the 2005 programme Restoration that has managed to get itself restored. Maybe show host Griff Rhys Jones should come back and see it for the reopening?

Kevin Nolan's Match Reports

For those that missed them, we had match reports on the site this week from the Huddersfield Town v Charlton game, and then Doncaster v Charlton. Do take a look and add a comment if you think Kev has got it right or got it wrong. Thanks, as ever, to Grant Saw Wealth Management for their sponsorship of the column.

Royal Artillery Band

The Royal Artillery Band have been based at Woolwich for 250 years, but that relationship is unfortunately coming to an end soon. The band are moving from Woolwich Barracks to Tidworth in Hampshire but, before they go, they will make a final appearance in Woolwich. An emotional farewell will take place on Sunday 9th February, from 1.30pm to 2.30pm, in General Gordon Square, Woolwich,

Filed Under: Weekly Roundup

Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up – 24 January 2014

January 25, 2014 By Rob Powell

I thought I would start with everyone's favourite subject: the weather. It's certainly been changeable but on the whole, quite mild for the middle of winter and especially so compared to last year. The contrast was shown up quite nicely by this photo I took in the week of the Ranger's House, exactly one year year after I stood in the same spot in my snow boots to take the same photo.

rangershouse

Taking advantage of the mild weather, I met up with Wapping-based photographer Vickie Flores to go and take some photos of wildlife in Greenwich Park and have, as she calls it, a nut party! The squirrels were enjoying the attention and some geese came along too.

Nut Party in Greenwich Park

There's more photos on the forum.

Also on the forum, I've posted details of the cruise ships that you can expect to see visiting Greenwich this year.

One of the gems of East Greenwich, of which there are many, is the Pleasaunce and the Friends group for the park are holding their AGM this week. If you ever visit or use the park, you might want to get along. As Sue, who added details of the event to our What's On section, says, "Please don't just sit in and watch Holby City, get out and have your say and meet a few more park users."

The committee are even offering to buy a drink in the Vanbrugh Tavern for all those that attend!

Charton Athletic had their replay with Oxford United in the week and, of course, our match reporter Kevin Nolan was at the Kassam Stadium to report on it. Kevin's match reports are sponsored by Grant Saw Wealth Management, who are based at the Blackheath Standard.

Towards the end of the week, a press release came winging its way from Greenwich Market landlords, Greenwich Hospital. They have submitted a planning application to Greenwich Council for a number of changes at the market, which include a new roof and a new open public space. You can read the full news release from them here and why not have your say, too?

Early on Friday morning, well before sunrise, a frigate from the Germany navy came up the river and is currently alongside HMS Belfast (there's pictures on my other website, all about the Thames). If you're somewhere near the river at Greenwich on Monday morning, some time after half-past ten, you'll see them leaving again.

Filed Under: Weekly Roundup

Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up – 13 December 2013

December 14, 2013 By Rob Powell

Here's our weekly round up of things that have been happening in Greenwich this week...

Greenwich Inc

Not long after last week's update was completed came the news that Greenwich Inc Limited had gone into administration. It was announced in last Friday's edition of the London Gazette. What it means and what venues it actually affects isn't immediately clear but on Thursday of this week, the Spread Eagle ceased trading. Sad news just before Christmas for those working there. A spokesperson for the company told the Mercury newspaper that they were "working towards a positive result."

Johnny Depp returns

It doesn't seem that long ago that Johnny Depp was in Greenwich making that Pirates of the Caribbean movie where he raced through the Old Royal Naval College on a carriage and swung through a Painted Hall window (no real windows smashed, I'm told) but he returned last weekend for his latest movie. He is the lead in crime caper Mordecai which co-stars Ewan McGregor and Gwyneth Paltrow. It's another film to the add now very long list of movies made in Greenwich.

I went along to the Painted Hall a few days later and it was nice to see their Christmas trees up.

xmaspaintedhall

Foggy Greenwich

The fog that descended upon London on Wednesday had everyone reaching for their camera to post up photos on social media and there were some really spectacular photos. I didn't manage to get out and get myself but this was a great one from the cable car (it seems fog is the one adverse weather condition that doesn't affect it!)

Did anyone see #London in the fog yesterday? This photo of the Emirates Cable Car looks pretty cool! pic.twitter.com/a77ZvsLem8

— TravelRepublic (@TravelRepublic) December 12, 2013

And here's a beautiful photo from Greenwich Park

This fog rolling back from Greenwich Park is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in London. pic.twitter.com/PoJIw5e4eV

— DanSung (@DanSung) December 11, 2013

Royal Greenwich Brass Band

It was wonderful to see the Royal Greenwich Brass Band with conductor Stephen Maw performing a Christmas carol concert at St Alfege church on Thursday lunch time. The music was beautiful and there was plenty of audience participation too including jangling keys to accompany Prokofiev's 'Troika' - I didn't expect to be playing with a brass band this week.

You can listen to a very short clip here

listen to ‘Royal Greenwich Brass Band Christmas Concert’ on Audioboo

caroleservice

Speaking of St Alfege, as I was, I will be selling my Greenwich calendars in the church hall after the service on Sunday. The cover photo and one from inside were both taken from the tower of the church.

There's another carol service at the church on Monday at 6.30pm in aid of St Monica’s School, Zanzibar. It will be led by St Alfege with St Peter Primary School, Greenwich and Downe School, Bromley.

Oh... just one more thing

The Millies - or the Military Awards sponsored by the Sun newspaper as they're more formally known - were held at the National Maritime Museum this week. The event can be seen on ITV1 on Monday evening.

Filed Under: Weekly Roundup

Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up – 15 November 2013

November 15, 2013 By Rob Powell

Halstow Craft Fair Thanks

I thought I would begin this weekly round up by thanking everyone that came down and got a calendar or two at the Halstow Craft Fair. It was lovely to meet, amongst others, Eve, Hilary, Sue and Holly and also to see Lara and Sam again. After a pretty barren first hour - think the heavy rain can be blamed - the rest of the afternoon worked out quite well and I learned important lessons such as, contrary to popular belief, the customer is not always right and it's a good idea to take a flask.

Here's a photo of councillor John Fahy who attended the event and is pictured just before gamely trying a very hot sauce. Well done to Eve for organising what seemed like a very successful event.

John Fahy at Halstow Craft Fair

Speaking of my Greenwich calendars, as I am prone to doing at this time of year, I must say thanks to Mandy Little for this article which appeared in the South London Press and the Mercury this week. Thanks also to Anthony from Warwick Leadlay for stocking them again this year - full, updated list of stockists is here.

Me in the Mercury

Christmas Fairs

There's a couple of Christmas fairs on this weekend in the area if you're looking for any crafty gift ideas. On Saturday there's a Christmas craft market at Thorntree Primary School in Thorntree Road, Charlton between 12pm and 4pm. Admission is £1 for adults (includes a raffle ticket) and is free for kids.

The Blackheath Christmas Fair in aid of Age Exchange takes place at Blackheath Halls on Sunday (17th)between 10.30am and 4pm. Admission is £1 or free for Friends of Age Exchange and children under 16. Looking ahead a bit further, on the 1st December there's a Wild Winter Fayre at the Ecology Park on the peninsula.

A new hotel behind the Trafalgar?

A new hotel is being proposed behind the famous Trafalgar Tavern. The large hotel would replace Trident Hall - Simon has kindly posted up details on the Greenwich.co.uk forum along with information about how you can make your views known before the closing date which is December 3rd. Do take look and see what you think.

The forum is a good place to start a discussion about anything at all that's on your mind about Greenwich or nearby.

Elsewhere on the web, Darryl from 853blog.com went to the IKEA exhibition last week and has posted up his thoughts and, as ever, a good discussion followed. There's also some thoughts on it, along with a range of other local stuff, from Peninsula ward councillor Mary Mills on her blog.

Boycie at the Nag's Head, Greenwich

Actor John Challis, most famous for playing Boycie in Only Fools and Horses, is doing a book signing in Greenwich on Saturday. After doing a couple of autobiographies, he has now turned his hand to fiction and will be signing books in the Pelton Arms pub from 6pm. The Pelton is a very good choice of location, of course, because it was the pub they used as the Nag's Head in the prequel to Only Fools and Horses. John is a good friend of local actor, presenter and hotellier Robert Gray - here's an interview they did a while back.

Keep an eye on the Greenwich.co.uk What's On page for other events coming up or why not add your own?

Filed Under: Weekly Roundup

Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up – 8 November 2013

November 8, 2013 By Rob Powell

High Tides

Twitter has been awash with photos this week of the very high tides which looked quite startling at places like Greenwich and Putney.  I got some photos outside the Old Royal Naval College where the path was covered in water in parts.

VERY HIGH TIDE IN LONDON

There's more on the forum. It was completely different from the day before when I had been in Twickenham, where the tide was so low because of the annual Draw Off at Richmond weir that huge swathes of the riverbed were exposed.

St Alfege Advent Windows

The advent calendar with a difference returns next month: St Alfege Advent Windows. The format will probably be familiar to you by now - participating windows decorate a window that is opened on each day in December, all the way up to Christmas Eve. I hear there are still spaces available for anyone that would like to give it a go. You do need to live in the parish of St Alfege, though. .

Halstow Craft Fair

There will be two floors of cakes, gifts, cards, soaps, pottery and more at the Halstow Craft Fair on Saturday afternoon between 12-4pm. And when I say more, what I really mean is "calendars" because I will be there with lots of my Greenwich and Thames calendars so do come and say "hi". In fact, feel free to do more than say "hi" and buy a calendar, too. If you can't make it, you may like to know that my 2014 calendar is now in stock at SBS Printing in Greenwich South Street, the Firepower museum gift shop in the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, and also at the Woolwich Coffee Lounge (but you need to ask for it at the counter). Full list of stockists here. As we've just had bonfire night, here's a photo of some fireworks that appears in the calendar.

Peninsula housing

Over on the peninsula, news has emerged that Hong King based Knight Dragon has bought out its former partner Quintain and is now in sole charge of Greenwich Peninsula Regeneration company. on that and what it might mean. There's a lively comment thread below, too.

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

Also on the peninsula, the top male tennis players in the world are battling it out at the O2 to win the end of season ATP World Tour Finals. It's the fifth time the tournament has been staged at North Greenwich and despite the absence of Wimbledon champion Andy Murray because of injury, the venue has still been packed out for its afternoon and evening sessions. And since I mentioned Andy Murray, it does give me a chance to share this photo of the very moment he won Wimbledon. Great celebrations from the spectators who watched on the big screen in General Gordon Square, Woolwich.

Crowd in Woolwich celebrates as Andy Murray wins Wimbledon

The tennis concludes on Monday - this is the place to check for any last minute tickets.

And talking of sport, and therefore fitness, I just heard that the new outdoor gym at the Caletock Estate in East Greenwich will be officially opened next Tuesday. If you are involved in any community events coming up, don't forget you can add them all for free to the Greenwich.co.uk What's On section.

And that's it for this week...

Filed Under: Weekly Roundup

Woolwich Granada: “The most romantic theatre ever built”

October 20, 2013 By Rob Powell

A spectacular 1930s cinema in Woolwich is being restored to its full pomp and splendour after being taken over by the ChristFaith Tabernacle Church.

The former Granada Theatre in Woolwich's Powis Street opened on Apri 20th, 1937 in the heyday of cinema building. Stars of the day, Glenda Farrell and Claude Hulbert, opened the theatre - part of legendary Sidney Bernstein's Granada group - and the first movie shown was "Good Morning Boys" starring Will Hay.

The architects behind the 2434-seater theatre were Cecil Masey, who also co-designed New Wimbledon Theatre, and New Zealander Reginald Uren who was also responsible for groundbreaking Hornsey Town Hall.

The theatre's stunning interior with its gothic sensibilities, designed by the Russian theatrical director and designer, Theodore Komisarjevsky, saw it labelled as the "most romantic theatre ever built". Its beauty was confirmed when it later became one of only two cinemas in the Granada chain to become Grade-II listed, the other being in Tooting.

Notable design features included a Grand Staircase with medieval figures on the wall, a Hall of Mirrors, extravagant chandeliers, a cafe on the foyer balcony and a stunning auditorium with gothic styling.

In the decades after its opening, the venue also played host to some musical acts that went on to become superstars, including Buddy Holly (1958) and Roy Orbison and the Beatles (1963).

By the 1960s, it went the way of many cinemas and introduced bingo for part of the week and eventually the housewives' favourite game supplanted movies altogether and it become a full time Gala bingo hall. The attractive Hall of Mirrors even served as a casino for a time.

It continued hosting bingo, as Granada and then as Gala Bingo, until new owners took it over in 2011 and since then they have set about returning the building to its former glory and have named it the "Ebenezer Building".

The vast interior has been extensively cleaned, new carpets have been laid that are sympathetic to the original design and new light fittings have been especially commissioned to match the original 1930s lights, many of which are still in place. Many of the original internal doors are also still in tact and where new doors were needed, the church has gone back to the same company that made them in 1937 to get new matching doors.

A Mighty Wurlitzer organ was a major attraction at the theatre when it opened - often played by famous organist Reginald Dixon - but Woolwich Granada's organ was sold off years ago and is currently at a hall in Tywyn, Wales, but the CFT Church say they are working to get the original organ back.

Its original billing in 1937 as the "most romantic theatre ever built" is a title it can now accurately live up to as a marriage venue licence has been issued and the church recently hosted its second wedding.

The theatre is at the corner of Powis Street and stands opposite Woolwich's former Odeon theatre which is also now a church.

A new life as a church is entirely in keeping with the original design. In a brochure produced at the time of the theatre's opening, Theodore Komisarjevsky explained that he designed the building in the style of a cathedral:

"I selected the Italian Gothic style, used mostly in churches, to decorate the interior of the Granada Woolwich," he wrote.

"Houses of worship were not intended to be like cold dismal drill halls or mortuaries. They were not meant to depress people. Churches were designed for 'religious shows' which has the same origin as the shows of Secular theatre. The aim of ecclesiastical architecture was to attract people, to offer them not only rows of pews in which to say their prayers but romantic relaxation and artistic pleasure amid surrounds of hope, colourful beauty and harmony."

The black and white photos below come from a promotional booklet produced at the time of the theatre's opening. A copy of the booklet is kept at the Greenwich Heritage Centre and these photos are used with their kind permission.

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

Now, a look at the building as it is today:

WOOLWICH GRANADA
The church is soon to begin repainting some of the outside and is in discussion with the council about signage and possible cladding.

WOOLWICH GRANADA
The Grand Staircase

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA
At the top of the Grand Staircase are the medieval figures on the wall. Turn left to enter the Hall of Mirrors. A cafe was originally on this balcony area and the church hopes to set up a new cafe near the entrance.

WOOLWICH GRANADA
The Hall of Mirrors with a brand new carpet and extensively cleaned walls and detailing around the mirrors. A new mirror at one end has been designed to match the existing mirrors.

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA
Some original doors remain in place - others have been installed by the same company that originally provided them.

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH ODEON
Opposite the old Woolwich Granada is the old Woolwich Odeon, which is also now a church.

WOOLWICH GRANADA

WOOLWICH GRANADA
The ChristFaith Tabernacle Church was established by Apostle Alfred Williams and it also has a church building in New Cross.

With the interior once again wowing visitors, the London-based church say they are now about to embark on improvements to the exterior, in consultation with heritage consultants and local planners.

Local ward councillor, John Fahy, commented: "I'm delighted to see the old Granada Theatre building rising up once more to embrace this new cathedral in the most splendid of surroundings. This magnificent building is a joy to behold and as Woolwich renews its spirit of hope and opportunity, this building will play a significant role for the whole community."

You might also be interested in this article about the Greenwich Granada

Filed Under: Magazine

Kevin Nolan's Match Report: Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic (02/02/2013)

February 3, 2013 By Rob Powell

Crystal Palace 2 (Murray 75,79) Charlton 1 (Fuller 14).

Kevin Nolan’s Match Report is brought to you in association with , 294 Burnt Ash Hill, London, SE12 0QD.

Kevin Nolan reports from Selhurst Park.

It's generally accepted that lightning never strikes twice in the same place. But it certainly can strike its victims twice -it just lets fly from a different place after kidding them they've seen the worst. The second zapping can be even more painful.

What happened to Charlton at Selhurst Park shouldn't happen to a junkyard dog. A week earlier at The Valley, they led Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 until goals in the 85th and 89th minutes stunned them. On this equally inauspicious occasion they resolutely, if somewhat precariously, defended the 14th minute lead given them by Ricardo Fuller's maverick enterprise before belatedly caving in again. Two excellent strikes- this time neatly bridging the 75th and 79th minutes- from a deceptively subdued Glenn Murray left them badly burned for a second time.

Until Murrays 24th and 25th goals of a personally prolific season rescued his increasingly frustrated side, the Addicks had more than matched their promotion-seeking local rivals. They were undeniably the better team during a first half they effortlessly dominated; with improved finishing and maybe a timely slice of luck, the points might have been squirrelled away before the break. But Palace survived, relatively but ominously intact. Football makes a time-honoured practice of punishing profligacy and to the sceptics among 3,091 raucous travellers, the potential for disappointment stuck out like a hitchhiker's sore thumb.

Up to the interval, so far was so good. With Leon Cort's physical presence added to the line-up and Dorian Dervite drafted in as a sturdy defensive shield, the visitors called most of the shots. Contesting every scrap of territory, they thrust a large spanner into Palace's midfield works, winning a large majority of second balls while hustling and harassing the startled Eagles to frequent distraction. Only their inability to capitalise further on Fuller's solo effort was a nagging source of worry.

Visiting sinews were certainly stiffened by the shrewd old pro's opener. A muscular, artful handful, Fuller has little to learn about unsettling a defence. A nudge here, a feint there, a nose-to-nose confrontation both here and there, all form part of a softening process. He fights for his right to play but there's considerable skill involved too, as demonstrated by his delicate control of Chris Solly's lofted pass down the right channel. Briefly teasing marker Damien Delaney, he impudently skinned his opponent on the outside before rifling an angled low shot through Julian Speroni's legs into the far corner. Charlton had received a boost but an arduous afternoon still stretched before them.

With the Sheffield Wednesday disaster a raw memory, the Addicks hardly needed reminding that a second goal was vital. They buckled willingly to the task; busy Bradley Pritchard was quickly presented with an acceptable chance by Fuller's cleverly dinked pass but a looming Speroni batted away his attempted lob; Cort headed Johnnie Jackson's resultant corner awkwardly over the bar; the skipper himself glanced an inviting opportunity inches wide after Lawrie Wilson nodded Cedric Evina's cross back from the far post. Not much had inconvenienced Ben Hamer during the first half, meanwhile, but his free ride was not destined to last.

Having switched from left to right, tactically no doubt but just as sensibly to escape Solly's tenacious attentions, Wilfried Zaha made his first contribution with an adroit effort, curled with the outside of his right foot, which missed narrowly. Fuller replied instantly from 30 angled yards, his audacious drive brilliantly tipped over the bar by Speroni. As the home side began to assert themselves, 39 year-old substitute Kevin Phillips shot fiercely from close range but Hamer saved smartly. It was all Palace by now and no surprise that they eventually equalised through the reliable Murray.

The strain was already telling as Palace knitted together a bout of sharp interplay, which culminated in the accurate pass threaded through to Murray by Dean Moxey. One velvety touch made space for a crisp turf trimmer into the bottom right corner. Hamer's superb flying save from Stephen Dobbie's blockbuster briefly protected parity but with a sudden visitation of deja-vu unnerving the Addicks and their apprehensive disciples, Murray did it again four preordained minutes later.
A predatory menace, his expert mastery of Jazz Richards' optimistic delivery put him clear as Cort fatally hesitated and Hamer briefly slipped. A brutal left-footed volley left no room for argument leaving Charlton victors of several battles but cockahoop Palace the outright winners of the war.

With successive defeats following three successive wins, there's no call for panic, of course, but nervous glances over the shoulder toward the bottom of the division are allowed. Abruptly, a season which had been accelerating smoothly for Charlton has run into buffers. There's no intention to add pressure but next Saturday's home game against Birmingham, followed as it is by daunting trips to Hull and Leicester, assumes extra significance. Just saying...that's all.

Palace: Speroni, Richards, Delaney, Ramage, Moxey, Butterfield (Phillips 46), Marrow, O'Keefe (Williams 67), Bolasie (Dobbie 67), Murray, Zaha. Not used: Price, Parr, Blake, Wilbraham.

Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Cort, Morrison, Evina, Wilson (Haynes 81), Dervite, Pritchard, Jackson (Kermorgant 82), Wagstaff (Wiggins 73), Fuller. Not used: Button, Taylor, Stephens, Wright-Phillips.

Referee: Mark Halsey. Att: 17,945.

Filed Under: Sport

In conversation with Cllr Chris Roberts, leader of Greenwich Council

December 24, 2012 By Rob Powell

Unveiling of Nike statue in Woolwich

What were your personal highlights from this incredible year in Greenwich?

It is difficult to pick one thing because it has been such a phenomenal year, one we'll never see the like of again. If I pick a Royal one and an Olympic one: For the Royal one, I think it would be actually bringing the charter in to the town hall. When we came back, the Mayor and I, we brought the Letters Patent in to the town hall and all the staff were around the balconies and standing in the Victoria Hall and all of a sudden starting clapping and cheering, which is unusual for the leader of the council to receive! All around that royal weekend was a great highlight.

On the Olympic side, it has to be Gemma [Gibbons] winning her medal. Particularly having set up the Starting Blocks charity and knowing that we funded her and she asked for additional help just a two or three months before the games. She'd lost her ranking through injury and the way to get it back was to compete in tournaments which were in Singapore or Thailand. But she had would have had to pay for that herself and the Greenwich Starting Blocks charity paid for her to go. Actually seeing one of our own, in every sense of the word, and in such an iconic moment for the rest of the country.

The Games themselves seemed to go very smoothly. Did you expect at the start of the year that it would have gone as well as it appeared to and was it as smooth as it looked?

It actually did go as smoothly as it looked, yeah.  If you take the Olympic arrangements, we had teams of staff working in three shifts, twenty-four hours a day, and we had to report to Government about 4am so the Prime Minister could get a national briefing at about 6 or 7. We had to collate the responses from other boroughs in south east London, everything from terrorist threats to anything that might impede the smooth flow of the Olympics. They do this traffic light system and you started query it when everything appeared to be green on every day and you think, "are we sure?" As you got more and more in to it, it just ran really smoothly.

And you were satisfied with the council's response to the concerns from Greenwich town centre businesses during the Games?

Yeah, but I think you can tell from the nature of an event who will potentially gain and who might not and the lesson from other areas that have had successful games like Barcelona and Sydney is how you capture the tourism in future years. That's why it's with great relief that Greewich Hospital have abandoned plans to knock down the centre of Greenwich when we want to be saying to the tourists, "now come back."

Obviously you were against the redevelopment of the market but they were promising a very high quality hotel for Greenwich. Is it a loss to the town that there won't now be that hotel?

I regret the loss of any hotel and yeah, that did look like an interesting one because we do need more hotel spaces, particularly to change the nature of the tourism. But in terms of which bit of Greenwich town centre you need to improve, it isn't the market. If every shop was like the inside of Greenwich market you'd be saying it was a nicer place. So it's not the place to start. We've started to talk to the new Director [of Greenwich Hospital] about things we can do jointly where everyone agrees there needs to be some improvement.

Do you think there's anything to learn from the part-pedestrianisation during the Olympics and has it put it back on the agenda for the town centre?

I think we should continue to look to see if there's better ways to manage the traffic which I don't think means a pedestrianisation scheme at the moment. Someone [an outside contractor] has looked to see if there's a better way to manage the traffic flow through the town centre and that might look at something like widening pavements and where I am at the moment is seeing whether we think that's something we should go out and talk to residents about.

If we think there's something that builds on the Olympics and looks good and doesn't divert traffic up residential streets then at least it might be worth consulting on while the memory is fresh in people's minds.

Parking in Greenwich town centre car parks is quite expensive - just going over  one hour would cost £5 because there's no 'part thereof' payment.  Do you think the price of parking is an issue in Greenwich?

I certainly think it's an issue. It's an issue across the borough in all of our town centres. It's something we're going to have to revisit and look at and see what's the right balance between trying to ensure that we can manage the financial challenges we have alongside bringing people in to our town centres.

The price is due to go up to £2.70 an hour in Greenwich - will that price rise be going ahead as planned?

If there's something planned in the system there's nothing we've done yet that would say it wouldn't.

Returning to London 2012, what are the tangible legacies that residents and businesses can look forward to?

Legacy means different things to different people. From the first person getting a job on the Olympic Park helping to build the stadium - we just had figures that show that of the Games Time jobs across the host boroughs, Greenwich and Newham have the same percentage and if you care to go in to the decimal points, you'll find we got seven more jobs than Newham, not that we're point-scoring!

All of that is a legacy. The volunteering and the thousand people we had as volunteers which we're starting to use in other areas again. I think the planting of the 2012 trees, the green flag parks and so on, all of those things, the facilities at Thomas Tallis and Crown Woods schools. New sports equipment in to parks. We tried to do as much of that as possible because with thought this Autumn would be full of people asking, "where is the legacy?" and people complaining about the Games. We thought we'll deliver as much of the stuff as we can ahead of time.

The legacy now is changing the nature of the tourism in the borough and building the tourism drivers such as the cruise terminal and making sure this becomes more of a leisure-based destination.We want people to stay over night, not come for 2 or 3 hours, then have a sandwich and coffee and disappear.

You mentioned the cruise ship terminal - what's your most recent update on what's happening with that?

The government has set up some new marine based quango which sits parallel to the PLA. Both organisations need to give licences. They're through the PLA bit and this new organisation also needs to give some kind of licence.

In terms of a time frame, when would you expect to see progress?

Depending on how long these licences take but they're ready to go once they have them so I would hope if it's not built and operable by this time next year, it will the first quarter of 2014.

Moving from cruise ships to tall ships, did you learn much at the recent conference in Riga?

We learnt a huge amount, we really did. They rotate the tall ships race but they have things like tall ship regatta which are smaller. We bid for 2016 for the tall ships race. We threw this together after the Olympics, I think we were almost beyond the qualifying period. We went out there and they offered us a 2014 regatta.

They rotate the races between European regions and 2016 should be the Iberian peninsular. So we said to the Dutch guys we've been working with and who brought the tall ships here this summer and who suggested we should go for this, "why are we bidding for the race for the Iberian peninsular?" And they said, "Oh, there's issues" and there can't be any harm to put the bid in so we put the application in.

We went to the conference and there was a report back from each of the host ports. So we got a sense of how different ports had done things. What we started to learn is that there's a shortage of bidding ports for 2016 and therefore there is the possibility of that race potentially being moved. I don't think they're in a position to say that yet but because of the nature of the recessions and austerity measures in Spain and Portugal, there's an issue I think for some of those ports and city mayors.

There are other tensions with our arrival in this network of relatively small ports, who for them, this is the biggest thing they'll ever have. I suspect there may be a tension between them and the big tall ship captains. You can see the captains are really attracted by Greenwich and what it means to access to London for how they can market the corporate hospitality element.

The arrival of London has been welcomed by the ship captains but you can see the smaller ports thinking, "the last thing we need in this is London." but the demand is being driven by the captains and some are saying we want to come on our own next year anyway.

Did you learn anything about the economic benefit of being a host port?

All the host ports had these DVDs and I dont think anyone came out with less than nine-to-one in terms of economic benefit to the outlay and some were more than that.

Did anyone you spoke to raise any concerns about getting the largest tall ships under the Dartford Bridge?

They all know about it. Some can take their masts off and some can't come but we met a guy who said he had the biggest tall ship in the world and he wants to come next year but he needs a berth like the cruise ship terminal.

The council has launched a campaign called Bridge The Gap - can you explain the thinking behind it?

Years ago before the mayor of London existed there was a proposal for what was called the package of three and the third was a rail link to the Woolwich. That one's been delivered and we continue to support the other two crossings. The reason for both is partially to ease some of the congestion but also in recognising the development opportunities that exist on the peninsula and in Charlton, in Woolwich and through to Thamesmead and on the other side of the river around the Royal Docks. If you're going to really promote employment and growth, then you need to maximise what you can get out of these brown field sites. The ability for goods and services to move between the two is crucial.

About five years ago I was told from someone in Canary Wharf but there was not a single business south of the river that services the Canary Wharf estate. The reason for that was because anyone offering to clean an office, or whatever service, is that was would have to be able to get through the Blackwall tunnel.  So our support has been consistent for the best part of 20 years on these crossings.

Increasingly the jobs are being created on the other side of the river. We'll have some new jobs but we're never going to be self sufficient in employment or solve our own employment problem. Access to those jobs is crucial.

Doesn't more roads mean more cars and more pollution?

We've ummed and ahhed about the tolling but we do think tolling is a necessary. If that's the only way of getting them built then we'll support the tolling. Clearly with tolling comes the possibility of demand management. 85% of the traffic through Blackwall doesn't start in Greenwich so why can't that go over the Dartford Bridge? Why can't it go elsewhere? Well there is nowhere else to go so the prospect of more capacity, also with a bridge at Thamesmead, but also with  a tolling system to manage demand. We'll make an argument about local access and whether local residents can cross for free.

We are also making a case for Greenwich town centre and saying we want to understand the impact a tolling system would have upon the world Heritage site in terms of traffic through Greenwich if people seek to avoid tolls.

Question from a Facebook user: what is the council doing to increase advice and support for people affected by changes in benefits, legal aid and especially people with disabilities and young people without family support?

We are currently getting our head around the number of people we think will be affected by these changes to individual benefits. So we know that there's something like 400 families affected by the universal benefit. 122 of them will lose more than £100 a week. We are looking at the people affected by the bedroom tax where they get their benefit cut if they're under occupying. There is the council tax benefits scheme which the government is delegating to local authorities to implement from April 1st but doing so with a 10% cut. We're not allowed to cut the benefit for pensioners which is fine but does mean the cut for everyone else will be more like 15% than 10%.  So what we're doing at the moment is trying to identify all these people and support them. We're talking to advice centres to see who's coming through their doors but most of these changes hit in April so we are building profiles and how we can assist.

What's the status of Greenwich foot tunnel and is there enough money to complete it?

There's still work to be done on both of the foot tunnels and we know that we need to secure people to do that work. We have appointed construction lawyers to understand what went wrong and where liabilities might be. There's an assessment going on as to what should be the proper allocation of responsibilities and liabilities. We appointed someone to do an independent look at other contracts just to see if the structures are in place to make sure there isn't anything like the foot tunnels happening elsewhere. He's not been asked to look at the tunnels until the lawyers have said who's to blame for which bits.

In so far as there had been improvements, have they been worthwhile? Do you almost wish you'd never been given the money for the project?

As I understand it, after about a hundred years there was certain work that needed to be done and in one sense we went through this with the Cutty Sark. There was a point at which you could just put it back together, as it was, or you could raise it and do what has been done with it. We decided to go with the iconic scheme with the Cutty Sark. I said, "if you just put back as it was you'll have spent £30 million and nobody will know what you spent it on other than having a state-of-the-art but original-looking rivet."

With something like the Cutty Sark you can go the extra mile and raise the extra money and make it look like what it is. I think at the end of the day a tunnel's a tunnel but if there starts to be seepage as there was the main job is just to fix the tunnel and after a hundred years of pretty little maintenance, it's never going to be an artistic looking project.

There was some support earlier in the year for a change back to the committee system at the council including a petition and also a motion from the Conservative group which was dropped at a council meeting. The political groups went away to consider this further - do you have an update on that?

I think it was one particular Conservative member, from what I've been told, rather than the whole group. We have had a discussion. I have to say nobody spoke in favour of returning to the committee system and it was overwhelmingly defeated. I think the reason it was defeated was that people don't want to go back to that system. If people have a view of what they want the council to be, then simply saying let's go back to something that was very insular where all the committees are whipped so you wouldn't have a planning or licensing meeting where the councillors in the room weren't whipped.

In my party's rules, it's against the constitution to whip the scrutiny panels but you would move to a system where everybody would be whipped in every committee. So there was a lot of opposition to it, particularly with people saying is this the right time to be doing this, mirroring the debate nationally as to whether this is the right time to change the electoral system or redraw the boundaries or reform the House of Lords when the country's got these debt problems.

I could sit here and talk to you about these 400 families that are about to lose £100 a week or the other people about to get trampled all over by the benefit changes and the unemployment challenges we have. But to then say actually what Greenwich Council is now going to do is talk about its internal management?

With regards to the town hall, it's a very nice building but sometimes it's hard to usefully attend meetings  because of the poor acoustics in some rooms. Is it still fit for purpose?

I think it might not work as well as it should but I think there would be a reluctance to get rid of the town hall although one of my councillors has advocated it. But I think we do need to spend some money on it and it's always this balance of "oh, you've got money to tart up the town hall whilst your closing this, that or the other." Although hopefully we're not closing this, that or the other. But the challenge in the current financial climate is to be seen to be spend money wisely. We do know that the acoustic system is something that needs to be looked at.

Under the constitution, members of the public can't record a meeting. Is there a reason why they shouldn't be able to?

I think it's just a discussion and debate we've never had so we have these current standing orders and rules. We need, probably, to have the discussion about are we fit for purpose in the social media world, I guess.

When it comes to those discussions, do you have any thoughts yourself? Do you think it's a good thing if people are interested enough to want to record a meeting?

I don't know, I'd want to give it some more thought. I haven't given it a great deal of thought in all honesty. If you talk about a planning meeting, if a councillor says something that's a stray word because they are not trained legal professionals, if you turn something down and a developer's lawyers have recorded it you might find that that stay sentence, that stray word from one councillor, does you in at an appeal.

So I can see the upsides and the downsides but I don't particularly have a hugely strong view about it.

Are you happy with the way the council engages with people through its meetings or does it need to do a better job?

I think we try to do that more through the service elements, so engaging in the way in which people choose to organise themselves such as friends groups, tenants' groups, pensioner groups and young people. It's a lot stronger in those service related areas. You can always say we should have more people [at council meetings] but I'm reluctant to say to people this is how you should engage with the council as opposed to facilitating other ways. I'm keen to make sure we're engaging with people where they're demonstrating their levels of interest and where our services are touching upon them.

One of the ways in which people get information from the council is through Greenwich Time. Do you think it will be around for the foreseeable future?

Well I hope it is because I think it enables us to engage with their residents. When I listen to my peers talking on a London-wide basis they often talk about the information gap they have. We did look at the statutory guidance from the Government and we did go through it in a lot of detail and looked at the costings and the coverage of local newspapers and talked to them about where they do and where they don't deliver and there are great big holes in that, and there are great big holes particularly around council estates. I understand that because they're delivering to the demographic of their advertisers which is perfectly fine, they've got a business to run.

But there is a real underreported element. There was a scam going on, and this was told to me by a Conservative Essex county councillor who said, when this debate was going on, that they tried to place an advertisement [in a local paper] as the county council and they were being charged an astronomical fee. Because it was something that bordered on being potentially party political, he said , they then did it as the Conservative Party instead and got it at a tenth of the rate.

Because newspapers knew that notices had to be issued for traffic, for licences, for planning and various things, the charges that they would make to local authorities.... it was virtually a monopoly.

What do you say to people who make the argument you get a political benefit from delivering your good news to people every week?

I don't think we're classed as a newspaper but I'd happy to sign up to Leveson!

I mean, it cannot be political. You won't find a commentary on the chancellor missing his debt targets...

But even if not overtly political, doesn't it seek to make people very comfortable with the status quo because it tells them all the positive side of the council's work. Isn't there a benefit, even if unintended?

I don't think so, no. I think the public are far more intelligent than we give people credit for. If anyone has this debate it's the Labour Party, asking how would you ever get a Labour government with the national media we've got. Well, the fact is we did with two of the biggest majorities in British peacetime history at times when Rupert Murdoch was at his most vociferous.

At a time when Labour nationally was not so popular, if that's fair to say, in 2010, you still managed to increase your number of councillors. In 2014, with the coalition parties carrying out austerity cuts, is there a chance that opposition on Greenwich Council will be weakened even further - is it important to have an opposition?

You do need an opposition. You need a good opposition.

Has it got a good opposition at the moment?

I don't think they're as strong as they could be or should be. I don't particularly want to comment on why not but talking about 2010, there was certain things you could read from the 2006 results about where the threats were to Labour.

So from 2006, absolutely nothing to do Greenwich Time, we set out to deal with what we could see were people's concerns. I think the one thing you would normally get from a Conservative opposition, perhaps, is they would attack us on financial competence and spending and the realities they haven't been able to do that despite that article you had [by Cllr Matt Clare on Greenwich.co.uk] which just beggared belief.

You're one of the longest serving leaders of Greenwich Council - probably the longest serving - and a lot has happened in that time. Are there still things you want to achieve as leader of the council.

You always have things you want to do, there's never a feeling of "oh well, that's wrapped up". Things are running in parallel  but if there's one thing I want to do in the next few months it's to nail the Crossrail station at Woolwich and resolve the finances of the fit out of the station. You can see that whatever the challenging times we've got, if you're going to regenerate Woolwich - and it's still the poorest area of the borough - it's the one thing that would make sure it happened. We would cease to be on the cusp and it would just generate so much interest.

Do you have plans to go "on and on"?

That's a phrase that will never cross my lips.

Do you have political plans or ambitions outside of the council?

Umm... No. I haven't got any. Like what?

Maybe standing for parliament one day?

It was suggested to me before the last election and I looked at it and I thought in all honesty I'd be bored.

So you're happy doing what you're doing?

I think that whatever I do in the future and however long this lasts, it's probably the best job I'll ever have. It's great - no two days are ever the same. You get to see things moving forward, you see people getting new jobs in Tesco and you know you had a hand in that. GLLAB in a sense was my baby before I became leader so it's great to see things like that take place.

Thanks to Cllr Chris Roberts.

Filed Under: Magazine Tagged With: Advent Calendar, Car Parking, Chris Roberts, Interview

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