Walking from the top of hare st straight down the middle of the powis street and then round the market a bit various sounds can be picked out of the din, an acoustic guitar being tuned up, an incomprehensible preacher, some market traders, a rattly barrow, and a couple of stalls playing music.
Powis St and Market Square, Woolwich by eshootershill
Time Team
Grimly contemplating the coming of the cuts and the hikes, I notice that plummy mummy and greenwich phantom both sought reassurance in the knowledge that times have been bad before, so I dug out this reminder of a time when a much more sinister force was advancing on Shooters Hill.
In November 2008 Channel 4 screened ‘Blitzkrieg on Shooters Hill[1. To watch the full 48 minute episode in the 4 on demand player, clickme]’ in which Tony Robinson and Andy Brockman conducted a rapid but fairly extensive survey of the area, finding some interesting items of wartime concrete, electrics, and military uniform, along with what turned out to be some highly significant remnants of early iron production activities dating back to 700-400 BC.
Green Legacy Gym
The New Oxleas Gym
There has been some talk on this site about the olympic legacy money that has been allocated for work on Eaglesfield park (gym or trim trail, plus path and signage improvements). Similar goings on are happening all over the borough[1. the new hyperlocal kidbrooke kite has also covered this], with at least one possibly negative outcome: the once tranquil haven of eltham pleasaunce has become something of a playpark since the mini adventure playground was introduced recently, and tensions have arisen between those seeking beautiful gardens, and those seeking a football pitch (who have access to several nearby sporty parks). Over in greenwich, the friends group at the pleasaunce have apparently managed to avoid this scenario by diverting their olympic money into other projects, nice touch! On hearing this, the thought did spring to mind that perhaps the eaglesfield park money might be better spent on updating the 15 year old swing park… anyway, consultations are going on via the hill’s councillors at the moment.
I had absolutely no idea that oxleas wood was going to get an olympic legacy, until today that is, when I stumbled across the gym in the picture, just near the café, by the conker trees. Currently it’s fenced off, but it looks like it could unveiled at any time soon.
Since seeing the gym, I’ve found out that whilst the olympic legacy fund has donated the money to install these new facilities, their upkeep has not yet been provided for. This may mean that once the facilities have been damaged by the elements, the joggers or the vandals, they will not be repaired!
Well, in an effort to lighten my mood after thinking about the potential olympic legacy shambles that has been unleashed on the area, I unearthed a cheerful anecdote about a free open air gym from a guyanese writer called sapodilla, here’s a clip:
Work out in sea-flavoured breeze, sunshine and the scent of sweet ixoria. Get all the benefits of indoor gym without pungent sweat and socks.
Stretch, bend, squat, pull, climb, lift, haul heavy equipment, oooerg, argh, grrr, &^%$!, moan an’ groan an’ complain just like in your indoor gym.
But unlike that indoor gym where the instructor punish you, torment you and holler Go, Go, Go like he is a wanna-be army man, in this gym your instructor gon work right alongside you, telling you stories about this plant, that plant…
…
Okay, back to work, please pull out all them weeds over there, aha, feel your legs getting stronger with all that stooping and squatting? Hold the plant cutter steady, yes, I know the iron pole is heavy, but think how firm your arms gon get, mm-hm, them pecs gon firm up too…fetch this bucket-load of compost and empty it over there…Ahhh, thank you ladies and gentlemen for doing all this work in we jungle-garden…remember, one man’s jungle is another man’s gym…
Whilst reading this, it struck me that in a way Oxleas Wood does already have its own free outdoor gym, it’s called the Oxleas woodland working party.
–update–
I forwarded this story to kidbrookekite and gamesmonitor, mr kite unearthed a 2008 council document on the adidas gym in charlton [photo], which is available on gamesmonitor, see below for a snip of Clause 7.2 noting that the olympic ‘green legacy gyms’ are possibly going to be managed differently from the one described here which has initial contingency support from adidas:
Adidas will provide a 5 year warranty for the equipment from the time of installation dependent on the equipment being properly maintained to an agreed standard by the Council. It is understood that the cost of that annual maintenance will be in the region of £7,000 per annum. In addition, the Council will be responsible for the replacement cost any items of equipment damaged by vandalism and other misuse. It is understood that it is intended that the Council intends to negotiate a capped limit of 10% of the replacement cost of the equipment in any one year. This will limit the Council’s liability for repair and replacement costs.
— update —
The comments made about the olympic legacy at well hall pleasaunce have led to secretary of the friends of the pleasaunce to write in with a very detailed :
Hi,
Hilly’s post on Green Gyms contains the following statment:
‘with at least one possibly negative outcome: the once tranquil haven of eltham pleasaunce has become something of a playpark since the mini adventure playground was introduced recently, and tensions have arisen between those seeking beautiful gardens, and those seeking a football pitch (who have access to several nearby sporty parks)’.
The idea that three pieces of equipment tucked away in a previously unused corner of Eltham (sic) or rather Well Hall Pleasaunce have turned it into ‘something of a playpark’ shows a strange sense of proportion.
The area is neither visible nor audible from any part of the formal gardens or informal woodland. The Pleasaunce is 13 acres in all and the play features occupy an area about 10 metres square.
The Friends did a survey of park users over the summer and found overwhelming support for the new play features, which were supported unanimously by the Friends committee.
There’s a reference to a football pitch? There are no proposals to this effect.
Well Hall Pleasaunce was, until a year or two ago, very under-used and it was a key objective of the Friends group to reverse this, making sure the park was as relevant today as it was when first planned in the 1930s.
At that time, it was provided with two bowling greens, four tennis courts and a putting green. Therefore, sport was always seen as an integral part of the design. The new playable space, therefore, is entirely consistent both with the park’s history and original objective.
It was designed by a leading play designer with experience of dealing with heritage environments. The vast majority of people consider it has been sympathically designed, sitting between mature trees. The atmosphere in and around the front of the Tudor Barn and Kidbrooke Lane has been transformed, making it a safe and pleasant family space, used by people of all ages and backgrounds. Anti-social behaviour has been steeply reduced, as the area has become more populated.
Neither the council’s Parks dept nor the Friends group have received any correspondence complaining about the development.
I hope this sets the comments in a proper context.
With thanks to the secretary for getting in touch. I should clear up things from this end: I relayed a grumble that play was spreading out from the adventure playground into football games on the lawn in front of the tudor barn. From what the above email said this must have been a fairly low-key grumble as it has not been made officially, and so it would be a shame if this site was to cast a negative light on what is one of the more sympathetic olympic installations around (low lying, natural materials, secluded location, landscaped surroundings etc). This is in contrast with the acid green metal gym that has landed on oxleas meadow.
General Election Vote Percentages
At the last poll it was relatively easy to find out how Shooters Hill voted in the local election (Greens 4%, Tories 29%, Liberals 17%, Labour 48%, Bnp 3%). The ward results were published on the council website.
It wasn’t so easy to find out how locals voted in the general election, with the council only publishing constituency results, however today I received a Liberal Democrat leaflet, and it included this information: Liberals got 15%, Tories 25% (40% combined) and Labour got 42%, so that leaves 18% for the other candidates. [actually the reason I thought these figures were for the national election is because they were different to the published local figures and because of the picture of cleggy, but as it turns out the figures used are local election votes reported in a different way].
I’m not sure why the Liberals are distributing leaflets at the moment, although the fact that this communication coincides with the first full day of the Tory conference might not be just accidental. I emailed the address on the back to ask for more info, but apparently the address doesn’t exist (yet)? (shootershill@greenwich-libdems.org.uk)
Freebie school
A few posts back I speculated that the late opening hours offered by the proposed free school might be reflected in a direct fee to parents (as opposed to the indirect
use of their tax), however following the recent report in the mercury, I looked at their website again, and couldn’t help but notice several mentions that the free school will be free in the money sense of the word as well as the lea one.
Actually if I’m reading things rightly this could actually represent good value for money for working families as it could end up being cheaper than using an after school club at a non-free school.
Elsewhere in the unfolding story of the school, things are looking very promising in terms of uptake, the one form intake policy has been revised to two with the reception class being oversubscribed! Years 1 and 4 are also looking busy, so now’s the time to join the bonanza!
Parents that have expressed their interest in a place are being invited to a forum next wednesday, details can be obtained following registration on the school website.
Open Garrison
The Woolwich Garrison
As part of this year’s london open house weekend[2. It was notable that severndroog castle was missing from this year’s openings, although hopefully before too long it will be open almost every day!
] I visited the officers mess of what was once the home of the royal artillery, Woolwich’s long standing military inhabitants of nearly three centuries.
Woolwich has a long military history, which stretches back to the tudor period when weapons were stored here for henry the eighth’s hunting expeditions. Until recently, the royal artillery were an important part of this history, however some time around the beginning of the new century, the army was seeking to capitalise on the sub-prime mortgage boom, and planned to sell off its London properties at bumper prices. Moves were afoot to sell both Woolwich and Chelsea barracks to speculators who were going to turn them into, yes, you’ve guessed it, flats… but then the country found itself at war, and it was decided that it might be worth keeping a few soldiers in the capital after all. By that stage the dizzying prospect of the £900 million (record breaking sale) that could be made by selling Chelsea made it clear that Woolwich would be the last home of the armed forces in London. Unfortunately by the time this about face had been performed, the artillery had already started the process of moving out to their training grounds in Wiltshire, and so that was how hundreds of years of traditional life in woolwich came to an end.
Nowadays the garrison plays host to the second battalion of the The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, until they go off on-tour again, at which point another section of the army will move in, and things will probably continue in this way for a while.
Interestingly the current inhabitants have extended the front parade and added a fence, which has had the pleasant side effect of a public footpath being opened alongside which runs parallel with the front of the garrison, making it possible to walk the full length of the allegedly longest georgian façade in europe! If you do venture that way, please remember to stick to the path, or you might find yourself looking down the wrong end of a gun.
The visit itself was by guided tour, and took in the front parade, the silver collection, various meeting rooms and display pieces, including some tigers and tusks, a table on which the peace treaty of Italy in ww2 was signed, and we wound up in the chandelier festooned dining hall, while I was there i saw a small group of soldiers tucking into some cornflakes, but it’s clear that this place was built with royal dinner guests in mind! I would wholeheartedly recommend this tour to anyone that might be interested in going next year.
Grade II* listed (1776-1802), commissioned by the then Board of Ordnance. Front Parade, at 1080ft, is said to be the longest Georgian frontage in Europe. Comprises both the Officers’ and WOs’ and Sgts’ Messes of the Barracks, linked in centre by magnificent South Arch. Officers’ Mess, opened in 1802, was the first communal Mess to be used by the Army.
Nearly New Sale
A request has come in to publicise a forthcoming nearly new sale, if you want to sell, or buy nearly new things for babies and children read on:
There will be a Nearly New Sale at Christ Church Hall, on Shooters Hill Road between 12pm – 2pm on the 25th September.
Tables are only £5, they need to be booked in advance with Vicki Hall victoriahall23@googlemail.com as there are limited spaces.
Admission for buyers is 20p per adult.
Home made cakes, teas and coffees will also be available, as will the new Christmas card range from Phoenix Trading.
Punch and Judy
This is from the well hall pleasaunce fun day last sunday, ok ok it’s not on shooters hill, but the pleasaunce is a nice place to visit locally (apart from the so-called ‘relief’ road[1. Relief roads often turn out to provide little relief in the long run, although i did read somewhere that the rochester relief road had the completely unanticipated effect of reducing traffic trouble on shooters hill, although it’s obvious a new tube station would have given more relief than that brutalist monstrosity]), what with the newly refurbished tudor barn, and the most romantic (ex-)cinema around.
We join the story at the point where a policeman arrives to take mr punch to be hung for beating up his wife and child, only to get a beating himself. Luckily joey the clown arrives in time to save the day, following a bizarre interlude where the bexley basher and the woolwich walloper have a quick boxing match. The show was performed by award winning professor john styles, one of the grandest of them all. He introduced the show by explaining that mr punch hits people, and that anyone of a politically correct disposition might be advised to ‘clear off’ (twirl of the hand), which is curious because a lot of professors handle the domestic violence aspect of the show a bit differently; the guy at the plumstead make merry for example, who pulls of the tricky feat of modernising the show whilst keeping the tradition alive. The problems about violence were pointed out in advance, and the audience were invited to challenge punch’s behaviour. Also, it does have a happy end, mainly thanks to the crocodile, who eats mr punch’s stick, and nearly finishes off mr punch too, who then, having been resuscitated by joey the clown, realises the error of his ways and promises to turn over a new leaf.
This would have been better as a video as it includes lots of visual jokes, there’s the odd decent one on youtube, such as the weymouth beach version.
Shooters hill free school plc
The idea of setting up a new free school in the area has just been announced in a local leaflet in which potentially interested parents of (near) school age children are invited to complete a questionnaire on their website.
It seems that this whole enterprise is very much in the early stages and it’s difficult to know exactly what’s going on, but if it does manage to open in September 2011, it will be the first free school to be set up by a plc (skyeward) rather than parents (hampstead and dearne).
The news section of the website reports that premises have been found at adair house (opposite the old herbert hospital), and the company “… have gained a better understanding of the needs in se18, greenwich”.
Currently the school is being marketed, measuring potential numbers of children, dates of birth, and postcodes as part of the campaign to start the school – they are also looking for parental support in this regard. The curriculum appears a little odd as it runs to 5pm on weekdays, so presumably it will be a fee paying school, with some tax funding on the side.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this pans out; could it be that Shooters Hill becomes a test case for the future privatisation of education?
Spitfire steam train coming through falconwood station
Judging by the relatively large amount of visitors this website receives via its post on the falconwood model railway[1. Welling and district model engineering society], it seems that there is much enthusiasm for steam trains in these parts, and so it gives great pleasure to announce[2. Thanks to 853, ianvisits, and event sponsors sheperd-neame, the journey itself is being run as part of a two day hop festival in faversham this weekend.] that this train will most likely be passing through falconwood on it’s way to kent having left london bridge at 0955 on sunday september the 5th and due to arrive at faversham at 1145. The train is expected back at london bridge at 2000, but it’s coming back a different way.
I say most likely going through falconwood station as the journey is advertised as passing bexleyheath, which is on the same tfl line as our station, whether or or not the same goes for special services I’m not sure. As a provisional guestimate, and pending the actual departure times, I would reckon that the train might come through the falconwood at around 1015-1100.
London, Midland & Scottish Railway "Black Five" No. 44932 (this is not at falconwood by the way)