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Greenwich Yacht Club puts on panto for charity

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Greenwich Yacht Club put on a pantomime for its members and selected guests yesterday afternoon. The fundraising production was titled Blazing Paddles III, and Mary Mills went along to enjoy the show – here’s what she made of it:

Greenwich Yacht Club doesn’t seem the most obvious place for thespian endeavour – let alone an actual panto. Yet they do seem to put something on every year with a cast of thousands. It also seems you only find out about it by accident – so thank you Roger, for telling me at the last minute that it was on, and I really enjoyed it. (Roger, with his triple candelabra, is the musical director).

So this was all about the adventures of Dick Dangler and his faithful Puss cat who had to get the beanstalk Giant to eat chocolate instead of mud so that they could join Greenwich Yacht Club and save beautiful Virginia from the evil clutches of Commodore Tacktightly – or at least I think it was. Tacktightly came from Little Luffing, elsewhere on the river – and as Barnacle Bob explained he could face any danger on the high seas “but its people from Erith I can’t handle”. The whole thing was saved when the Giant took up with Virginia’s sister Chlamydia helped by the ministrations of Flossie, the Woolwich Free Fairy. Anyway, everyone married everyone else in the end so it must be alright.

The cast was headed by the redoubtable, current Club Commodore., Nick Day as Commodore Ophelia Nobbes – with a mountain of blue hair and an impressive bosom. Backing was provided by the GYC Combined Foot and Mouth Chorus who enthusiastically sang a vast selection of songs – anything so long as it had the word ‘sailing’ in it somewhere.

I suppose all there is left to say is that a good time seems to have been had by all and that proceeds will go to a selection of charities headed by the RNLI.

Winter Wanders: Free Guided Walks Across London

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Transport for London (TfL) has got together with the London Boroughs and Walk London to put together some free guided walks which will span the width, length and breadth of the City.

The led walks will take place on London’s Strategic Walk Network, a series of seven long-distance routes broken up in to shorter sections. The 350-mile Network is one of the initiatives being promoted by TfL and the Boroughs to help London become one of the most walking-friendly cities in Europe by 2012.

Greenwich is one of the areas that will be explored with a choice of four walks. Participants of these walks will be able to get up close and personal with the site of the 2012 Games and the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park. There will also be a special walk, “Exploring Seafaring London”.

Ian Bull, who is leading the Charlton Station to Plumstead walk, said:

“We’re cherry-picking some of London’s most historic locations ranging from the geological to the industrial archaeological. We’ll visit the lovely parks around Charlton with their animals and views over the City before the Thames Path takes us to the immense industrial achievements in Woolwich. The Thames barrier represents the 20th Century followed by a possibly unrepeatable visit, and the first for 96 years, inside the cathedral-like 19th Century factory buildings of the Royal Arsenal.”

Ben Plowden, Director of Integrated Programme Delivery at TfL, said:

“London’s great landmarks and green areas are best explored on foot. That is why we are working with our partners and stakeholders to make walking in this city as attractive and enjoyable as possible by investing over £17 million this year to improve conditions across the Capital. Seasonal events like the ‘Winter Wanders’ are a great way to inspire Londoners to get out and either walk on their own or in groups to enjoy their surroundings and to keep fit. These events also show Londoners how walking can be a quick and efficient way of getting from A to B and encourage them to make more journeys by foot.”

Get more information on TFL’s Winter Wanders schedule.

Nick Raynsford pays tribute to Alan Cherry

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Alan Cherry, the chairman of Greenwich Millennium Village Ltd, has died aged 76. Local MP, Nick Raynsford, has shared his memories of Alan Cherry:

Alan Cherry will be widely and deeply mourned throughout the housing, property and construction industries. As founding Director of Countryside Properties he created and built up one of Britain’s most successful and progressive development companies. His passionate commitment to the creation of high quality and sustainable communities shone through all his work, and has left a remarkable legacy.

Notley Garden Village in Essex, St Mary’s Island in Chatham, Greenwich Millennium Village (GMV) and Accordia in Cambridge have all been widely recognised and praised as imaginative, ground-breaking developments which raised the bar in terms of social, environmental and architectural quality and in doing so helped lift the reputation of the housebuilding and development industries. Accordia is the only housing development ever to have won the RIBA’s Stirling Prize, no mean achievement.
For me personally GMV will remain Alan’s finest memorial. Conceived in 1997 as the first Millennium Community to be promoted by the newly elected Labour Government, it has transformed a previously foully-polluted industrial wasteland into an exemplary mixed tenure development, demonstrating real vision as a brilliantly planned, imaginatively designed and environmentally responsible housing scheme. Alan threw himself with huge energy into the tough challenge of making GMV a success and achieving something special and memorable. When problems occurred, he never left it to others to sort out. He took a close personal interest in working to identify and implement solutions. He could see both the ‘big picture’ and the detail, and was never too grand or busy to deal with the minutiae. I last met him on site last summer when his passion and commitment remained undimmed, despite the onset of the illness that was tragically to end his life.

Unlike many others who have achieved huge success from relatively modest beginnings, Alan never lost his common touch and his sympathy for those less fortunate that himself. While some housebuilders stubbornly resisted demands to mix affordable and social homes with those for market sale, Alan showed that mixed income developments could work very successfully and took great pride in the fact that at GMV housing for rent and for sale is indistinguishable.

Alan didn’t keep his passions and skills to himself. He gave generously to a wealth of other causes, contributing to a series of ground-breaking initiatives such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Inquiry into British Housing in the 1980s, the Urban Task Force in the late 1990s and more recently the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership. He was for many years closely associated with Anglia Ruskin University and supported a range of charities and other good causes in his county of Essex.
It was always a pleasure to meet Alan. He combined a number of characteristics that do not always sit easily together. He was idealistic, entrepreneurial, imaginative, determined, courteous and thoughtful and combined a breadth of vision with modesty and personal kindness. I am very proud to have known Alan, to have called him a friend and to have been associated with one of his finest developments. He leaves behind an inspiring legacy and he will be remembered and honoured by many, many people whose lives he touched.

Daily Photo: 25/01/10 – New Pipelines

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Fergal Spelman kindly sent in this photo that he took this morning of new pipelines, for gas presumably, being laid at the bottom of Westcombe Hill. The entrance to the car park on the north side of Westcombe Park station is on the right.

Thanks Fergal! Have you taken any interesting photos around Greenwich lately? You can email them to rob@greenwich.co.uk for inclusion in the Daily Photo.

Daily Photo: 22/01/10 – Pelton Road in the late 30s

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Many thanks to Dave Levitt who kindly sent me a great selection of old photos a while back, and I’m finally getting around to using. I’ll hand over to Dave to describe the scene:

View looking looking toward the Royal Standard pub situated in the corner of Pelton Rd and Christchurch Way. No cars just evidence of a horses passing by. I can remember horse drawn carts after the war when I was a child and people collecting the manure for the gardens. My Father was a milkman and I helped in school holidays and thought it was great to drive the horse & cart but of course no driving was needed as the horse knew the route backwards and would happily walk around on it’s own following my Dad. It would get to a bakers on his round, stop and not move until the lady there came out a gave it a bun. The horse knew when the end of the round came and my Father had make sure he was on the cart otherwise the horse was off, really had a fight to slow it down because he knew his day was over and looking forward to its feed.

Motorcyclist hurt on Woolwich Road

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Road closures were put in to place around Woolwich Road and Blackwall lane last Wednesday after a nasty road traffic accident involving a motorcycle and another vehicle.

Police closed roads from early morning through to 11.30am.

Initial reports from local shopkeepers suggested that there may have been fatality but Greenwich.co.uk has been informed that this was not the case.

If you know any more about this incident, please email news@greenwich.co.uk