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A welcome email from Southwark Events today, containing the consultation findings report & an appendix containing all the responses to the consultation - both attached below, and worth a read. The good news is that Gala have withdrawn their plans to extend to 6 days, presumably prompted by the overwhelming number of objections - 108 of the 111 responses received, by my count. The bad news is that Southwark are very likely to issue them with an events licence for the usual 3 days, which means yet again the best part of the park being annexed for the best part of a month during the best part of the year, the noise, disruption & pollution during the event, and months of post-event attempts to rectify the resultant damage (which to date have always failed - you can't 'fix' nature!) So maybe a small victory, but still a long way to go to rid OUR beautiful park of this annual intrusion. Don't forget to attend the Gala PR box-ticking 'meeting' next Tues 5th 6pm - 8pm at the Clock House (or online) to keep the pressure on - RSVP to: [email protected] GALA 2024 and one stage shows – stakeholder consultation findings report.pdf Appendix 1.pdf

There was a similar one buzzing around late last week on the roads around Shelbury Rd & Mundania Rd which appeared to be linked with some filming activity there. I presumed it was ferrying actors & crew in & out. Bit of a long shot, but if there's filming going on nearby then maybe ask, or keep an eye out?

I received an email reminder of the "invite" (I think they meant invitation...) to the stakeholder meeting from Southwark Events Team at the weekend, really informal and signed by "Charlie". It also mentioned that "The GALA consultation findings report will be circulated shortly". I replied with a few observations & questions, including whether the report would show all the responses, and if not then how can they be obtained.

I was wondering if ALL the comments would be readily available to view, if they're not then does anyone know how Freedom of Information requests work, or could submit one for all the comments? I'd be very interested to see them, as I can't believe many are positive, and therefore the council should be visibly taking them into consideration. Also don't forget that another way you can gently make your feelings felt is via Facebook "Likes" &: comments - Gala are really pushing ticket sales at the moment... (I did point out their incorrect use of "less", to which they responded by deleting the post. But they haven't changed it to "fewer" for subsequent posts 🤦)

Where is this assertion from, as they do currently (and have for some time - years?) collect the food & garden waste together. On collection day they open the big brown bins up and tip the contents of the small brown bins in, before tipping the whole lot in the back of the truck...

Gala have announced another of their tedious & largely pointless "Stakeholder Meetings" to tell us all what's going to happen despite any objections, nod patronisingly at any suggestions or observations, and promise to do better this year. I guess it's important for as many to attend as possible, just so they can't claim that a lack of attendance = tacit approval? I presume there'll be zero attendance from the council, as usual... Good afternoon, Hope you're well. We are holding a 2nd Stakeholder Meeting for the proposed GALA 2024 event on Tuesday 5th March 2024 and would like to invite you to attend. Details of the meeting below: Tuesday 5th March 18:00 - 20:00 In person The Clockhouse Pub, Room upstairs (The Blakes), 196A Peckham Rye, London SE22 9QA Online Link will follow nearer to the event date. Please email us to RSVP to the meeting. It would be great to see you there if you are available to attend. [email protected] If you'd like to be taken off our Stakeholder list please email to advise. Best, Laura & Dan Useful links: Southwark Council's Consultation Mailing List - form to sign up: https://forms.southwark.gov.uk/ShowForm.asp?nc=D2O5&fm_fid=2236 Southwark Council's Local Community webpage: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/events-culture-and-heritage/events/large-and-major-events/gala-music-festival-peckham-rye-park-and-common GALA's Local Community webpage: https://thisisgala.co.uk/local- community/ -- Community Team GALA Festival

Skirt

Later

Scoot

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of some pay as you play (i.e. no membership required) squash courts locally. I've had a wild goose chase with the ones at DHFC which apparently are closed / non functioning, and I know there used to be some up at CP leisure centre, but any help gratefully received.

Which one was this, just so I know where to avoid?!?

So Gala have started promoting on Facebook the three days that they presumably already have permissions for. This year they appear to be using lots of soft focus imagery of flowers, foliage and blue skies, together with text which gives the impression of a lovely, gentle, nature-friendly summer party e.g. "Back in bloom", "nestled" in the park. No sense of irony that any & all flora & fauna will be completely trashed by the uncaring & inconsiderate hordes - one post actually shows a video of hundreds of revellers dancing / trampling the whole site! I'm sure you're all aware that the old "Like" button on FB is now a series of emojis to enable various reactions to posts. So if you're sad 😢 or maybe angry 😡 about the content of their posts, perhaps you should let them know - isn't this what social media is for? 😊 https://www.facebook.com/thisisgala

Following some investigative research aka Google searches, disappointingly it would appear to be just foxes, not some rare owl 🙁 Although I'm still mystified as to why I've never heard this call before, having lived in the same flat for nearly 20 years and constantly having had foxes & cubs in the garden throughout that time... Oh well, mystery solved!

I've managed to edit a video I took the other night to isolate the calls - any ideas anyone? (Yes I know I should've used an audio recorder but I didn't have one on my phone and didn't want to miss it!) VID_20240113_004128878.mp4~2.mp4 VID_20240113_004128878.mp4~3.mp4

Has anyone else heard a strange animal call over the past few nights, near the junction of Colyton & Dovedale? Very distinct, four or five throaty chirps every few minutes, almost sounds tropical. First thoughts were a pheasant or some type of owl, could possibly be foxes but haven't ever heard them make a sound like this before. Very odd...

A reminder that the deadline for the consultation is this Monday 8th January at midnight. Please make your voice heard. https://www.southwark.gov.uk/events-culture-and-heritage/events/large-and-major-events/gala-music-festival-peckham-rye-park-and-common So many empty promises from the organisers in the 'Community Benefits' section it's just depressing - "Opportunities" for local businesses / traders / artists / creatives / employment. The word "opportunities" here is meaningless, it just means giving them a chance to apply along with everyone else! And "additional funding...for biodiversity projects" but no mention of how much, and at the bottom they admit they have no idea what this entails as they are actively asking for suggestions! How about just not holding it on this site (let alone for twice as long) which would do wonders for the biodiversity in the whole park? Also they say only 239 of the 500 FREE tickets were taken up last year - shouldn't this be taken as a good indicator of how popular it is for the local community? But there will be an increase in resident tickets available - 500 - which is 14% more than last year. For an event that they want to hold over 100% more days. Thanks, Gala, you're all heart!

Before 24 hour opening, the general rule after price changes on the system was for the EPoS staff to replace the shelf edge labels for every item that had gone up first, before the store opened; that way no one would be overcharged. Then, when they had time (and usually while the store was open) they would replace the labels for the items that had gone down - the logic being that customers would be charged less at the till than they expected, so not a trading standards issue, and happy customers! No idea what the procedure would be in a 24 hour store, but there must be one...

I've been reliably informed by a local publican friend that it's going to be an independent cinema...

If there were any jobsworth assistants in there then you wouldn't need to! I don't think you'd get into trouble for doing their job for them?

DKH Sainsbury's are one of the worst for incorrect pricing, I have to pick them up on at least one almost every shop. I used to train staff (from other supermarkets, not Sains) on Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS) process & procedure, so I know it's just down to sloppy practices, usually not removing shelf edge labels after a promotion ends. Used to be (maybe still is?) that if Trading Standards turned up they could issue a £1k fine for every instance of incorrect pricing, so the stores used to take it very seriously. I've pointed this out many times to many managers there, but they don't seem bothered. And if I do see a clearly incorrect price then I do take a photo to show the checkout staff, they usually then will charge the lower price. I also often remove the shelf edge label or turn it around so that other shoppers aren't caught out...

No, not at all. I'm trying to express that inconsiderate idiots riding e-bikes shouldn't be considered "cyclists". They're just inconsiderate idiots who happen to be using a form of transport. Just as you wouldn't call inconsiderate idiots driving cars "motorists". It may be considered semantics, but the constant negative, anti-cyclist narrative is very tedious & unwarranted - the vast majority of people who enjoy cycling are considerate, law abiding folk. Let's not turn this thread into yet another smearing of all cyclists - this is about one inconsiderate idiot who happened to be riding an e-bike dangerously & illegally.

If you wade through the documents on the council website, it would appear that this is a Flood Alleviation Scheme, to protect properties to the North of the Rye from a 1 in 75 year (or 1 in 30 year, it's not entirely clear) flooding event. The plan appears to be building some 'bunds' (banks or mounds?) along the North & West sides of the common to create a sort of temporary collection / storage area for flood water, which can then be drained in a controlled manner. There will also be a semi-circular 'bund' in the NW corner of the park, near where the fence has been removed for Gala. This is where the mature trees are due to be felled, but it would appear that it's only because of site access reasons, not because the trees are where the 'bund' is due to be built. The image below shows where flood water is projected to go, and therefore the locations for these 'bunds'. There's lots of stuff about landscaping & replanting, but it seems such a ridiculous thing to do, cutting down perfectly healthy, environmentally important trees just because they will make it a bit tricky to get diggers in...? It's very odd that there's been zero notification from the council, one would presume they have to publicise and hold consultations etc? So it seems very important to spread the word, especially as the cutoff for objections / comments is before 16/6!

We seem to get parcels delivered roughly on time, but letters are clearly held back until RM decide there are enough to justify posting. So zero letters for about a week, then a huge pile arrives. 1st class regularly take a week from postage date.