BARA

The East Dulwich Community Centre Association invites you to 'Raising Awareness of Diabetes' event. Tuesday 3rd March. 10 30 - 2 pm. East Dulwich Community Centre, 46, Darrell Road. SE 22 9NL. We will look at Diabetes and how people can help themselves. Diabetes nurses will be in attendance and there will be opportunities to talk about healthy eating, exercise, general understanding about diabetes. Healthy Food available. Mayor. Cllr. Eliza Mann will be in attendance. For more information please email. [email protected]. The event is part of the East Dulwich Community Centre Assocation Development Project.

I heard that there were temporary lights in Walworth Road causing a back uop of traffic

The 12's and 40 normally terminate at Etherow Street. This street and Friern Road is not being used as still thick sheet of ice and traffic is avaoiding the area. Hence 40s terminating at Goose Green- they are resting up either in the bus lane by the petrol station before going round the roundabout, or they are resting outside the Indian restaurant. Buses seem a little better today, managed to get on the fist one that came along (185) and was at Kings within 30 mins ( held up due to road works/temporary lights in Walworth Road). Yesterday I caught the 6th Bus and took an hour to get to work.

The Council did book the Community Centre from 10 - 5 pm that day, but information given yesterday states Bring items in from 11. 30 am Take from 12.30 - 3 pm. Items need to be in good condition and easy for someone to carry home or on public transport. There will be a numbere of Community Centre Volunteers there representing various groups who use centre, so drop in and have a browse and chat. Light refreshments will be on sale.

The speed table at Goodrich Road junction of Barry Road was put in several years ago in response to series of crashes in the road and cars doing 80mph. Bus drivers went on strike refusing to take the then 312s, 12s and 78 up Barry Road as they had to go too slowly at Goodrich, if they misjudged their speed, they would damage bus. After about a week of this, Southwark council had to redo speed table and lower it considerably. BARA over the years have been involved with various consultations re speed ( last meeting was held some years ago in St. Clements Church Hall)- in fairness to the council. they have come up with various schemes - but faced much opposition, mainly from Transport for London and a few stroppy residents, did not got very far. Any good ideas - talk to your local councillors or Dulwich Community Council.

Husband at home got one of these automated calls reminding me of an appointment. He answered 'yes' I would be attending. I knew nothing about appointment ( he had got confused with another one at a different dept) tried ringing back no joy. few weeks later got letter to say I failed to turn up, emailed that did not have a letter advising me of appointment. New appointment made, turned up, consultant wanted to know why I was there, explained situation and had a letter 'signed' by him, he did some tests as I had turned up, but it turned out that my previous tests were clear so did not need to attend. he apologised and blamed it onto computors. I was in and out within 20 mins so no complaints. Working at Kings I know that there have been masses of bed shortages, red alerts and high staff sickness. Currently seeing patients on general wards from Lewisham, Lambeth, Croydon, Wandswoth and Merton - pressume that bed shortages and A & E overload has resulted in ambulance crews having to find spaces where ever they can. KCH is far better than Lewisham in some respects especially if you are trying to get info from wards re patient.

BARA had a similiar application from Hexagon some years ago, we objected on similiar grounds to yourself. Once we had details of the development, the committee put together their arguement and leafletted all residents in the area affected and those who would feel the knock on effect i.e. a street which could become more congested with parking. We invited people to send their own objections into planning and gave a date of a public meeting at the East Dulwich Community Centre. Many people objected to scheme and came to the later meeting. At this meeting we asked for representatives of Hexagon to attend with their plans and also made sure all the local councillors attended meeting. Around 50 people attended, planning permission was refused on grounds of density. Hexagon appealed and won. We managed to delay the project by 18 months to 2 years and got one less storey to the block of flats. A similiar proposal was put in earlier in year for a large block of flats to be sited on Barry Road/Etherow Street - again letters to local residents who submitted individual objections. petition obtained of over 100 names, we also kept our ward councillors fully aware of situation and they were in contact with Planning to make sure that the application came to Community Council. This was a private development, and involved the demolition of 3 perfectly maintained houses ( one which was purchased for around 1 million ?). We contacted local School and we got letters of support from head Teacher. At a meeting called at Christ Church a parent from the school suggested that details of the proposed flats should be circulated in the weekly info sheet sent out to parents, asking them to write in. The new development would overlook the infants playground so an issue of child protection was raised. The proposals were turned down as being too dense and not in character with the surrounding area etc. Credit crunch time came and we have not heard whether in light of this, the company were going to mount an appeal. Although we did not 'win' the Hexagon proposal, we had the satisfaction of delaying the build and the reduced size of the block of flats. We also monitored the building process and noticed several breaches of Health and Safety which were reported. We also monitored the harassessment by the organisation or their contractors of an elderly person who refused to allow her property to be demolished. We forged good links with the 2 local papers who supported our 'fight' It is hard work fighting against these developers - we found a local resident who was a solicitor who gave us free legal advice, another was an expert in planning laws, another could interpret the architects drawings quite well and put it across in lay persons language and gave a visual picture of size etc. Also we got a very elequent speaker with good planning/architectual knowledge to speak at the Planning Committe which helped the councillors to reject the Etherow Street proposals. Also get the local police to give their views if there is an issue of road safety. Sorry this is a bit disjointed as writing during my lunch break. Good luck

This issue was spoken about at the BARA Meeting last night - we know from our representatives at the Safer Neighbourhood Meetings, that the local police have been asked to look at this problem as there have been a number of incidences where people have narrowly escaped being knocked down. We seem to think that it is legal for a child aged 9 and under to ride a bike on the pavement but need to check with the Highway Code. Sussex Police fine people ?30 if they are caught riding on pavements. We are not sure whether there are any by laws in Southwark about this. Cycling on pavements is generally allowed on specific routes identifiable by the bike sign or painted green. Many years ago my aunt was knocked over on the pavements between CP Road and Landells Rd by a 12 year old boy on an adult bike. She fractured her hip and had great deal of pain and reduced mobility for the rest of her life. As someone with impaired hearing, I have had narrow escapes by cyclist coming up behind me on the pavement and also people on mobility scooters who think they own the pavement.

Grove Vale 1955 - 1961 Mrs. McGregor Head Teacher. Mr. Graham Form Teacher. 1961- 1968 Friern Girls - HT Vida Thompson and her chintzy suits, Mrs. Lutz form teacher ( with whom I kept in touch till her death a few years ago) Mr. Bell - Ding Dong - Maths teacher ((I give up none of you are any good -true none of us got entered in for O level Maths) Miss Vine - Grapes of Wrath- English. Miss Rees Games and Biology, Mrs. Balinas - History/Form Teacher. Winifred Pringle Deputy then H.T. Tony Cyrus - music - loved to dress in women's clothing at the end of term play put on by teaching staff. I seem to think he also pulled faces behind senior teachers backs to make us laugh. Remember going out on a trip with class in year 1 or 2 all of us getting drenched- Mrs. Lutz took us to the annexe on the Friern Road site where there was coal fire to dry us all out. She then managed to get some milk and warmed it all up on a gas ring for us to drink.

Application number is somewhere on previous correspondence. The reasons we were given for turning down application were out of character with rest of area, too dense a building for site. Need to watch out for other applications - the building company have forked out over a million ?s which they do not want to lose. Also hear that flat sales are being badly hit by the recession more so that freehold house.

Its nice to know that we have so many cat lovers in the area. One of my cats although she is a tabby is very distinctive as she only has 3 legs - if she wanders (she can climb fences) at least there is a good chance of spotting her.

i have a 5 year fixed rate mortgage with NR which expires in 2 years time (dec 2010) but I notice theat the early payback excesses carry over to 2011 so if 1 change mortgage provider - I will have to pay back over ?3000. Anyone else had this experience? the whole mortgage is for 25 years.

I have found many of the items in Nisha's shop more reasonable than Sainsbury's. I pay ?1.20 for a sliced bloomer, which is far nicer than sainsbury's. Her Polish food is usually cheaper than Sainsburys and you get the personal conversation as well, asking about family member's health and commenting when she does not see them.

The Fair Trade Centre at Christ Church Barry Road is always looking for volunteers on a saturday morning between 10 - 1pm. You are placed on a rota with an 'experienced' volunteer initially until you feel comfortable working in the centre. Basic knowledge in handling money, you are shown how to use the till, some marking up of goods, doing sale and returns. Contact any of the volunteers there during week 10 - 4pm, or on saturday 10 - 1 pm and they will give you Mary, the coordinator's telephone number. At least once a year all volunteers get together for a meal.

In younger and fitter years, I cycled and never jumped red lights. Hubby is a regular cyclist and always obeys lights, he has even been knocked off bike by cyclists overtaking him eager to cross on the red. As a car driver, sitting at the lights by the Plough I often see cyclists charge out on the red light not realising that at some phases the lights have a green filter. They get very annoyed when the green man is up and a pedestrian gets in their way. I always give cyclists a wide berth when overtaking them but also judge the width and clearness of the road first.

1. Compulsary 2 hours per month voluntary work for all residents between ages of 13 - 65. 2. More facilities for young people - bowling alley/cinema etc 3. Free memberships to any sports clubs/gyms for us fatties to encourage us to exercise more. 4. Parents/guardians of school age pupils forced to attend one event per term at their childs school, failure to do so would result in fines and ultimately removal of child from that particicular school. 5. Make parents more responsible for their children. 6. Build a new Community Centre on site of East Dulwich Community Centre, so that they can hold/encourage more groups to attend and be less reliant on party bookings to bring in revenue. Give centre 3 years funding to cover basic costs. 7. Encourage people with large house to turn them into residential homes for the elderly. 8. Build more sheltered housing in area no higher than 2 levels, build more wheelchair friendly properties.

Did we have as much fraud when we used our cards with the old paper type machine - you know where they put it on a machine and pulled the lever over it - can not explain it clearer, but hopefully you will recall those hand held machines where the card was put in the centre and copied onto carbonised paper. I am in 2 minds about cheques - my 84 year old mum needed to buy a new fridge freezer and wanted to pay by cheque at Comets and was quite upset when they told her it had to be by credit card or bank card only. She had some cash on her but nowhere near the ?165 required. She has never had a PIN for her cheque guarantee card. I ended up paying for the fridge and Mum gave me a cheque. Since she needs a wheelchair to get around, family members are generally around to help out. I think shops need to have some consideration for older people who have difficulty remembering PINs. Its bad enough for me plus all the security numbers we have to use to get in and out buildings at work, to access our data, to record leave etc.

As someone who can be termed as 'older generation' somewhere with comfortable seating where you are not sitting level with your knees and needing 2 strong men or a hoist to get up! Also a decent size loo.

Talking to a work colleague yesterday evening and he was stating that there have been a large number of dodgy withdrawal for the people of West Norwood. Apparently it was in one of the local freebe papers last week. Is there a Sommerfield in West Norwood?. Must have a look at the West Dulwich Forum website to see if they have recorded any problems.

Bumped into an old friend today who was trying to get some money for her holiday this weekend. It would seem as though she had been cloned 5 times this year - Bali, Male, Canada and somewhere else in Africa. Husband also been done as well. She has been gradually eliminating the places she has used the cards. This card had only been used in Sommerfield LL and Halifax have got the police onto it. She also spoke with the manager at Sommerfield who reported that they had a number of complaints. Some of their tills have been 'redesigned'/ updated especially the self service ones. Friend also mentioned that high turnover of staff recently at Sommerfields.

If they appear under 19 Southwark Youth Service have got a range of activities set up for the holidays, I think it is entitled Summer Fun - copies in Library and on Southwark Council Intranet. There are a few venues in East Dulwich area. Also the Post Box Youth Club have a couple of day time events as well as Wednesday and Friday evenings at the East Dulwich Community Centre,.

Gilles BARA covers Barry Road from LL to Upland and both sides. Am surprised that you have not had anything in 2 years. Our last newsletter went out in March to the whole area( we delivered 2000 copies). Are you in a shared house? as what we have found that communual letter boxes are the norm for shared properties, and the fist person in the door grabs the papers and either bins them or leaves them for the next person. We cannot gain access to Halliwell Court due to security doors ( our contact there died some years ago). if you want to PM me with your house number - I will check out who the deliverer is ( we sometimes pay for delivery if we are short of time). Excuse speilling as am at work.

Having just read Jamma's letter, would like to raise certain points. At the BARA Meeting- the attendees listed all their objections and asked that these be included in a letter from BARA to Planning Dept. These being the combined views of the 40 odd people who attended. There was also a request that a version of the same letter be widely distributed in the local area asking that people who agreed with the comments made, sign and return it to the Planning Officer. If they did not agree with some or all of the comments, they could just ignore it. before this general letter was sent out, it was read by many people including those who ran their own business, a head teacher, a management consultant etc - none of whom could be classed as 'stupid'. There are several couples living in a one bed flat, sometimes with a baby, who have 2 cars - one partner needing for business, the other either for business or taking child to child minder. There are equally couples in one bed flats who have no transport etc. The comments made were from the audience - BARA reports as it finds. The only comments which were not passed on were thought to be discriminatory/racist in their nauture and were actually said to the BARA Committee after the meeting. Since the meeting, several people have spoken to BARA Committee Members in the street thanking them for the letter. The letter clearly states should you agree with the majority of the points raised, please add name and address and send to Planning Officer. I guess that Jamma will not be posting his/hers!!.

With property prices falling, the developers may just get outline planning consent and decide to sell off to another developer rather than to risk a loss in their investments. The original price for 259 Barry when it was placed onto the market was aaround ?800+ but eventually got sold for over ?900. There are many unsold flats around the area, many of which have been vacant for months as mortgages get harder to obtain. Local residents are not accepting or rejecting the proposals on financial ground but passed comment as to whether this is the right climate for new builds, There was a mention that all the big building companies laike Barratts/Wimpy etc were laying off staff as the demand for new homes had dropped. Unless empty flats are rented out at affordable rents, the property could remain empty and attract squatters or vandelism. Subsidence is of the highest concern. Barry Road near Etherow Street is built over a small river/stream which rises in our cellars following prolonged heavy rainfull - not often I must add ( 3 - 4 times in last 30 years) but this could change with too deep excavations.

Bring the baby along - all BARAs meetings are 'family friendly'! I did hear that one of the local papers will be there - they rang one of our members and checked out details of the venue. Unfortunately it is a full council meeting tonight so no councillors from any ward will be attending. I will write up what happened - however from previous experience, someone will take objection to what I report. I have been advised to concentrate on objections to the proposed outcome - planning are not interested in interuption of daily lives during building stages.Alternative proposals for site or different type of development. But a good point to quote that it is unalikely developers will recoup money easily as given info from other EDF threads flats etc are selling very slowly.