London’s cruise season has got off to a busy start over the past week or so, with four cruise ships passing Greenwich on their way up to berth near Tower Bridge. I got this photo during the week of the expedition ship National Geographic Explorer as she passed the Old Royal Naval College and Trafalgar Tavern.

Ship spotters might be interested to know that a fleet of German navy minesweepers are currently across the Thames in West India Dock (close to South Quay DLR) and there’s a chance to go on board a vessel in an open ship event on Saturday event between 1pm and 4pm.

But with weather forecasters promising a blissfully sunny weekend in store, there’s plenty to see and do on this side of the river too…

Mycenae House Craft Fair

Mycenae House is hold a craft fair on Saturday between 11am – 4pm. There’s be photography, decoupage, wood turning and refreshments.

More details

St Alfege Church Fete

St Alfege Church is having a fete on Saturday afternoon in aid of Christian Aid. Expect to see plants, cakes and more for sale, all for a good cause.

More details

Animal Park Open Day

Maryon Wilson Animal Park in Charlton is holding an open day on Saturday. Meet the animals, watch a bird of prey demonstration or some sheep shearing and why not get your face painted, too.

More Details

Pleasant Pleasaunce Market

On Sunday, it’s the second monthly craft market in East Greenwich Pleasaunce. Following on from the success of last month’s debut market, there will be food, vintage items, arts and crafts, bric-a-brac and more, all in the beautiful surroundings of the Pleasaunce. The market is between 11am – 4pm.

Open Studios

It’s time again for the bi-annual Open Studios event at Second Floor Studios & Arts in Warspite Road, SE18. Taking place across Saturday and Sunday, artists from a wide variety of disciplines will be opening their studios and inspiring visitors with their passion for their arts in this collections of studios by the Thames.

More details

Oh, and don’t forget to vote in the council elections on May 22nd.

All of London’s town halls are up for re-election on the same day as European elections. Some links to help you decide:

Greenwich Labour’s manifesto
Greenwich Conservatives’ manifesto
Greenwich Lib Dems’ Manifesto
Greenwich Green Party
Greenwich UKIP

After a brief hiatus, the Greenwich.co.uk weekly round up returns with some of the highlights of the week just gone and a look ahead to what’s happening soon in Greenwich.

Royal Anniversary

The past week has seen a few little anniversaries of note, dating back to the eventful year that was 2012. It was two years since the Ship in a Bottle arrived at the National Maritime Museum, two years since the Queen and Prince Philip visited Greenwich where spectators waited patiently in the rain to see them and also two years since the reopening of the restored Cutty Sark. Hasn’t time flown?

Council candidate list published

It’s now just a month to go until voters to go to the polls to decide which councillors they want to represent them for next four years. If you want to have a look at who’s standing in your ward, the full list of candidates across the borough is available to download from the council website. The election takes place on Thursday May 22nd.

Pleasant Pleasaunce Market

Lizzie at the lovely cafe in East Greenwich Pleasaunce is starting a new monthly market – the first of which is happening tomorrow (Sunday 27th). It promises all manner of crafts, fresh foods, bric-a-brac and vintage items. Pop along tomorrow between 10am – 2pm or speak to Lizzie if you have something to sell there next time – if all goes well it will be on the last Sunday of each month.

Jaguar Rally

Also tomorrow is the chance to see hundreds of vintage Jaguar cars at the Old Royal Naval College. The classic car rally is setting off from Greenwich to Brighton. About 250 of the cars, including the Mark II driven by Inspector Morse, are expected for the 16th annual rally. The cars can be seen in Grand Square between 8am and 11.30.

Beautiful German Tall Ship

The sail training ship Alexander Von Humboldt arrived in London today, passing Greenwich great landmarks along the way. I posted a full set on my website about the Thames but here’s one of her passing the O2. She will be seen again passing Greenwich on Monday morning when she leaves – she should pass Greenwich some time after 10.45am.

A word from Grant Saw Wealth Management

Many thanks to Grant Saw Wealth Management at the Blackheath Standard for their sponsorship of Kev Nolan’s CAFC match reports. This week’s round up ends with a word from our sponsor…

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Early last Sunday morning, in the cold bracing air above the Thames, a team of aerial experts climbed out on the Emirates Air Line cable that spans the river and staged a mock rescue. It’s unlikely they will be called upon to perform this in real life but useful of course to practice for such a possibility – it certainly made for an arresting spectacle.

I first posted that on the Greenwich.co.uk forum – also over there you can find details about of a planning application for a new telephone box and ATM in Greenwich Church Street.

Coming up this week is a meeting of the Greenwich Historical Society (having been rescheduled from last week). Society President, Warwick Leadlay’s Anthony Cross, will be giving an address, entitled A History of Greenwich in half a Dozen Objects. Click here for full details.

This week also sees the new start of a new exhibition at the Paul McPherson Gallery. “The Londoner and The Interview” is a new solo collection by Aleksandar Basic of figurative-abstract works, oils and drawings, inspired with people, modern commuters, who travel to work in and around London.

Another event to mention is a (5th April) in aid of Cancer Research UK.

If you have an event coming up you would like to promote on Greenwich.co.uk, feel free to add it here.

Following the change in the law, the Royal Borough of Greenwich had its first same-sex wedding today. Charlotte Wood and Carol McCarron were married this morning at Woolwich Town Hall and local photographer Chris Mansfield recorded the historic occasion with his camera as the newly-weds emerged out on to Wellington Street.

Congratulations to Carol and Charlotte.

Fenton Parade

I spotted a license application in the week for a new Sainbury’s at the Greenwich Square development on the old hospital site. In it, a new road name is revealed and it’s called Fenton Parade. Check out the forum for more information on the 18th century actress that provided the inspiration for the choice.

Peninsula ward councillor Mary Mills has put out a request for suggestions for street names along with instructions on how you can send them to the council.

Spring on its way

This long, wet, miserable weather is starting to draw to a close and this week there were some uplighting reminders that spring will soon be upon us, with blue skies and even daffodils spotted in Greenwich.

Also spotted in Greenwich this week was the arresting sight of Thor’s rather large hammer. The comic book hero from Asgard was in Greenwich last year for the filming of The Dark Work and it appears he was in the area again last week, leaving his hammer in the garden of the hotel, Devonport House.

The hammer, which was attracting lots of attention from passers-by, is in town to coincide with the release of The Dark World on DVD. Worth a look for all the scenes at the Old Royal Naval College. I understand the hammer should remain in Greenwich until February 28th.

Coming up this week

Esteemed local historial Neil Rhind will be giving a talk this week to the Greenwich Historical Society. It’s actually three short talks one, prompting the title “A Mixed Medley”, and takes place on Wednesday at Blackheath High School. More information here.

Also coming up is another free lunchtime recital at St Alfege Church in association with Trinity Laban. Eve Wieltschnig on clarinet and Gennie Joy on bass clarinet will be performing on Thursday, from 1.05pm until 2pm.

You can keep an eye on all upcoming events at St Alfege here.

Customers at Sabo’s newsagent today were also treated to a free lunch time recital with Bob doing a great job on sax.

Don’t forget, recitals, talks and any other interesting local events can be added to the what’s on section here.

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.

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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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.