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The news section of Greenwich.co.uk has been paused since 2018. Please enjoy browsing archive news articles below.

HMS Ocean at Greenwich during London 2012

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GREENWICH will be at the forefront of protecting London during next Summer’s Olympics, it has been revealed.

The Royal Navy’s HMS Ocean will be moored at Greenwich and used for logistics support, accommodation and as a helicopter landing site. Puma and Lynx helicopters will operate from the “Mighty O” to support airspace security.

The announcement that the 200-metre-long amphibious assault ship would be berthed at Greenwich was made today by Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond.

He also revealed that 13,500 military personnel will be involved in ensuring the smooth running of London 2012. Mr Hammond said:

“I am proud to announce the role our Armed Forces will play in support of the police, LOCOG [London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games], and others, in delivering a safe and secure Games.

“The Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force between them will provide up to 13,500 personnel. Up to 7,500 of them will support the smooth running of Olympic sites, while the remainder will use their specialist capabilities and equipment to contribute to the delivery of Olympic security.

HMS Bulwark, a visitor to Greenwich earlier this year, will be offering support in Weymouth where Olympic sailing events will take place.

HMS Ocean’s Christmas Video

Crew members on board HMS Ocean have become YouTube stars. A video of their military personnal performing Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas has been seen over 2 million times since it was posted earlier this month. Carey herself tweeted that it was the “best thing I’ve ever seen.”

Christmas tree goes up on the Cutty Sark

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utty Sark Xmas Tree 2011
It’s Christmast!

LESS than a week after the Cutty Sark got her masts back, a Christmas tree has been hoisted up.

The seasonal addition to the Cutty Sark, which is nearing the end of its restoration, was donated by local broadcaster and hotellier, Robert Gray.

The tree was raised into place earlier this afternoon by workers from Essex-based TS Rigging who are setting up the rigging on the old tea clipper.

Robert Gray commented, “I’m very pleased to make this donation and I’d like to wish everyone in Greenwich a happy Christmas. I’d like to also say a special thank you to Jim Dines and his team at TS Rigging Ltd for getting it up.”

The Cutty Sark, which was ravaged by fire in 2007, is expected to reopen to the public in April 2012 with a visit by the Queen.

Going up…

utty Sark Xmas Tree 2011

utty Sark Xmas Tree 2011

utty Sark Xmas Tree 2011

utty Sark Xmas Tree 2011

utty Sark Xmas Tree 2011

Photos: Daren Clarke

See Also: Greenwich Phantom

Local councillor warns of “return to Rachmanism”

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COUNCILLOR Maureen O’Mara warned against a “return to Rachmanism” at a council meeting last week.

O’Mara said the borough had a “hidden population” living in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs)  at risk of exploitation.

The Greenwich West councillor, who has cabinet responsibility for community safety, said:

“HMOs are growing and growing and what they’re doing is exploiting the kind of people forced to go and live in these kinds of accommodation. What we need to do is find out where they are because… I think there is a huge hidden population living in our borough who we don’t know about. We need to tackle this problem because if we don’t, we could see a return of Rachmanism.”

The term “Rachmanism” refers to the type of exploitation of tenants that was practiced by London landlord, Peter Rachman in the 1950s and 1960s. Councillor O’Mara added:

“Rachmanism is something we can never go back to because  people’s lives were made hell by Rachman. As a local authority, not just here but across London, we need to do something about rooting out what’s going on in houses of multiple occupation and make it clear to these landlords that we’re not going to put up with it, and we’re going to deal with it.”

Councillor O’Mara was answering question on HMOs in the borough from Eltham South councillor, Eileen Glover at the full council meeting on Thursday evening at Woolwich Town Hall.

Last full council meeting before borough goes royal

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woolwichcentregallery

GREENWICH Council has its last full meeting tomorrow night before the borough goes royal.

Councillors will have the hand of history on their shoulders as they convene at Woolwich Town Hall for the last time under the name “London Borough of Greenwich”.

By the time of the next full meeting in January, the borough will have been renamed as the “Royal Borough of Greenwich”.

The future of the parliamentary boundaries will be under discussion on Thursday night as councillors decide how to respond to the current boundary review.

With the adoption of a new royal title, it will be farewell to a name that came into existence in 1965.

As a result of a large reorganisation of local government in London, neighbouring Metropolitan boroughs Greenwich and Woolwich joined together to form the brand new London Borough of Greenwich.

“Charlton”, and even “Royal Charlton”, were considered as names for the new borough but eventually the “London Borough of Greenwich” name was chosen. The amalgamation wasn’t welcomed by all – the very last resolution passed by the old Greenwich borough council placed on record its “deep regret that the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich will lose its identity on 31st March 1965.”

The Council of the London Borough of Greenwich’s first meeting as a local authority took place on the 1st April, 1965, at Woolwich Town Hall – 46 years before the final meeting will take place in the same chamber.

At that first meeting, Cllr Bill Brooks, whose mother was also on the council, was elected as the London Borough of Greenwich’s first mayor and a telegram offering best wishes from the borough’s twin town of Reinickdorf, Berlin, was noted.

The New Greenwich

To mark the creation of the new London Borough of Greewich, the Mercury newspaper published a 12 page pull out guide, explaining what the new municipal arrangements would mean for residents. Painting an optimistic vision for the new borough, the document explained what the changes would mean for housing, health, industry and tourism.

The borough’s first Town Clerk, Mr Roderick Doble, told the Mercury: “I am certain that the new council doesn’t want to govern on its own – it wants to govern with the people.”

Read ‘The New Greenwich’ in its entirety below:

Read “The New Greenwich”

First meeting of the council

This is a picture of the front page of the minutes from the very first meeting of the council of the London Borough of Greenwich once it became the responsible local authority.

Federer wins season-ending championship in Greenwich

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Roger Federer

ROGER FEDERER has won the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 arena in Greenwich.

Federer beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 6-7 6-3 before a capacity crowd at the north Greenwich venue.

Playing in his 100th tournament final, Federer’s thrilling victory gave him the end-of-year championships for a record breaking sixth time.

By mid-way through the second set, Federer looked all set to wrap it up in two but the Frenchman battled back to take the set and give the fans a final, third set after a nerve-wracking tiebreaker.

Tardy spectators including London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, were booed as the umpire had to hurry them to find a seat as play was held up after a change-of-end break during the third set.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony after the match, Tsonga said it was “amazing to play on this court and amazing to be in London with you.”

Federer added: “I don’t think this tournament could be any better run. We’ve had a wonderful time…I really enjoyed every minute of being here…. See you next year, hopefully.”

The ATP World Tour Finals return to the O2 in November 2012.

Friends of St Alfege Park to consider future at Special General Meeting

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A MEETING of the Friends of St Alfege Park has been called so that the group can decide its future.

Following the smashing of headstones in the deconsecrated church yard, Greenwich Council banned the group from working in the park and severed its relationship with it.

Friends are now being asked to vote on three courses of action when they meet for the Special General Meeting:

  • “We continue to organize events in the park, even though we are not permitted at
    present to do any work.”
  • “We go into hibernation for the present and hope that Greenwich Council will eventually
    relent and restore us to full partnership.”
  • “We disband the group and dispose of its assets in accordance with the principles set
    out in our constitution.”

Ballot papers have been sent to all members of the group, alongside an exchange of emails between group Chair, Tim Delap, and local ward councillors.

With the wider community remaining in the dark about how the headstones came to be broken, the emails do at last give a glimpse of the Chair’s version of events. He says:

I accept that my instructions to the Supervisor should have been tighter, and that I should have sought permission from the burial authority to move stones, in this case St Alfege church. However, the CPB [Community Pay Back] team initially followed my instructions and when clearing the first half of the site (up to the mulberry tree) where, if you inspect the site, you will see that the stones have been dug out carefully (i.e., no stubs remain). If you look at the second half of the site, you will see the stubs of approximately 17 stones remain in the ground, and that no attempt whatsoever has been made to dig the stones out whole. Moreover, whoever broke off the stones continued all the way to and around the corner and beyond the gate, instead of stopping midway along the wall, where the last three projected beds had been marked out.

I cannot know who broke up the stones without attempting to dig them out since I was not on site at the time. I surmise that it was not the Friends for two reasons. First, because we wanted the stones to be whole so that we could use them for paving in a future project. Second, because our Friends are mostly incapable of the heavy manual work of breaking the large number of stone AND transporting the debris to the collection point. Most of our designated working days are sparsely attended and carry out gentle pruning and gardening.

I surmise that it was the CPB team because they were tasked with clearing the site, were known to be on site, and were capable of the heavy manual work involved. I can think of no other organisation that would be likely to carry out the destruction, and therefore surmise that it was the CPB team.

The London Probationary Trust has claimed that apart from one day in July, they didn’t work on the headstones until September and that they were carrying on work already under way. Earlier this month, Greenwich.co.uk published a photo taken in August showing a pile of broken headstones.

The Friends’ Chair has signalled his intention to resign whatever the outcome of the ballot. The meeting, which will be open to members of the Friends only, will take place in the second week of December.

Licensing commitee gives Oranjecamping green light

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COUNCILLORS on a Greenwich Council Licensing Committee have backed a large temporary camp site on the Greenwich Peninsula next year.

The OranjeCamping scheme was back before councillors at the Town Hall in Woolwich yesterday after a previous licensing bid was thrown out.

The up-market camp site aimed at Dutch visitors to London 2012 now has permission, with conditions attached, to sell alcohol and put on live music for guests next summer.

Fears over noise and damage to the nearby Greenwich Ecology Park were raised by opponents but the applicant convinced councillors on the committee that the camp site would not cause a nuisance to nearby residents or to the ecology park.

The license granted means alcohol will be able to be sold on site until 1.30am and live music is permitted to 11pm, after which time background music may continue indoors until 1.45am.

Security patrols by contractor G4S would ensure guests behaved at night and a 24 hour manned complaints line would be in operation to deal with any issues, the applicant explained.

Ward councillor, Mary Mills, spoke on behalf of local residents concerned about proposed road closures in West Parkside – which will be examined by a separate meeting of the Highways Committee – and also questioned whether consultation had taken place with the local travelling community.

Oranjecamping’s counsel apologised to representatives from the Greenwich Ecology Park after he riled them by pointing out that the protection of “fish, birds and frogs” was not an objective of the licensing application.

He added: “This application is, if granted, likely to lead to an event that is very good news for Greenwich. With the conditions that are on this license, if you grant it, it’s not going to lead to any undue nuisance or disorder.”

The licensing bid covers HCA-owned land next to Peartree Way, some of which had been been established as the Meantime Nursery. A ‘business lounge’ will be at the northern end of the site, near the River Walkway opposite Greenwich Yacht Club.

View a map of the site that has been granted a license.

The previous application that was rejected by the council had included the use of Greenwich Yacht Club and also plans for a 45,000 capacity concert venue.

ATP World Tour Finals start this weekend

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The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals get under way at The O2 arena on Sunday.

The end-of-year spectacular, now in its third year at the North Greenwich venue, sees the top eight male players of 2011 go up against each other.

Andy Murray joins world number one, Novak Djokovic, in Group A along with David Ferrer and Thomas Berdych.

Rafel Nadal, Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish make up Group B.

Players go head to head against the other members of their group, with the group-winners and runners-up advancing to the semi finals.

The tournament last throughout the week, with doubles matches daily too, and will conclude next Sunday.

Check ticket availability for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

Penrose Market returns for second year

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Penrose Market returns to Greenwich Peninsula next week for its second consecutive year.

The market gives students from Ravensbourne College the chance to showcase their creative talents in a one-day event which they will plan and manage themselves.

Hundreds of one-off products will be available on the day, such as bespoke jewellery, greetings cards, custom made bags, backpacks and laptop cases and lots more innovative gift ideas.

This year’s market always includes a trade show where students will pitch business ideas to industry professionals to forge partnerships or gain funding.

Penrose Market takes place at Ravensbourne, next to The O2, on Tuesday 22nd November. Find out more at www.penrosemarket.co.uk

Penrose Market from Sheldon Stewart on Vimeo.

St Alfege Park: Friends banned from working in park as photo raises new questions

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THE FRIENDS of St Alfege Park have been banned from undertaking “any work whatsoever in the park,” while a new photo has raised questions about when headstones were first smashed.

The decision to forbid the Friends from working in the park was taken by the Cabinet member responsible for parks, Cllr John Fahy, and relayed in an email from Chair, Tim Delap, which has been seen by this website.

The email from Mr Delap says:

“I think that we are being made a scapegoat for the destruction of gravestones by the Probation Service community payback team, who did the actual destroying. It was never our intention as a Friends group to damage gravestones, only to move them to make way for the community garden facility and then reuse them as paving in another project.

“I have as you know issued a public apology both personally and on your behalf, and had hoped that that would be sufficient. It appears not, and I am afraid that we are to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.”

Doubt will hang over the future over the group with it confined in future only to promoting events in the park. The Chair goes on to say in his email:

“In banning the group, I personally think that the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater and that John is doing more harm to the park than by allowing us to continue under closer supervision, which we would have welcomed.”

Following the outcry at the destruction, Councillor Fahy ordered the removal of the broken headstones and their storage at a secure location while consideration is given to creating a “memorial heritage path” or a rockery, in consultation with groups such as English Heritage, The Georgian Group and the Mausolea and Monuments Trust.

An Extraordinary General Meeting is being called by the Chair of the Friends to discuss the future of the group.

Question marks remain

Uncertainly lingers over the chronology of events in St Alfege Park which led to historic headstones in the deconsecrated churchyard being smashed to smithereens.

In his email to Friends, the Chair says it was the Payback Workers that “did the actual destroying” but the Probationary Service has suggested they were continuing work that was already under way.

They say that other than one day in July, they only worked on the headstones in SEPTEMBER but Greenwich.co.uk has obtained a photo of smashed headstones taken in AUGUST.

A spokesperson for the London Probation Trust told Greenwich.co.uk:

“Work began on the Community Payback project in St Alfege Park in June 2011 and consisted of clearing an area to create a new raised flower bed.

“Aside from one day removing headstones in July no other work took place regarding removal/breaking up of stonework until September.”

This photo showing a pile of smashed headstones in the park was taken on August 30th by local illustrator Sarah McIntyre for her blog.

Council officers are currently investigating the incident to ascertain exactly what happened.

The controversial destruction of headstones in St Alfege Park caused outrage and made headlines on websites around the world, and was featured in the Daily Mirror, Private Eye, the Evening Standard and this month’s edition of Family Tree magazine.

Read all of Greenwich.co.uk’s coverage of the St Alfege Park controversy

UPDATED 26th January 2012

An FOI request was submitted to the London Probation Trust asking them to provide a log of all their activities and visits to St Alfege Park during 2011. The results are published below:

St Alfege Church