redjam

Blimey, you lot are a miserable bunch. I agree the price is nuts but the house itself is - clearly - beautiful.

I remember one time when my kids were little, I came across a youngish man hiding in a bush just near the old children's playground in Peckham Rye. He looked very embarrassed and uncomfortable when he realised I'd seen him. I hung around for a while, keeping my eyes on him and wondering whether I should report him ... then a little kid came running up out of nowhere and shouted, 'Found you, Daddy! My turn to hide!'

Just emailed my objection. I'm generally a fan of outdoor music festivals, but this one is just a) in the wrong place, and b) too long, in terms of the length of time it'll close off that side of the park. It's depressing that so many local councils are jumping on this bandwagon of commercialising their local parks. I understand why they do it (£££) but it's a short-sighted policy. The irony is I have a friend who works at a big festival and he says it's becoming increasingly hard to book decent acts as they are spread so thin with all these mini park events springing up everywhere. So I do wonder whether the tide will turn in a few years as promoters realise it's not an easy way to print money.

It's so beautiful, all year round. Hats off to the owner. I always stop and admire it - a little bit of beauty and civic pride to lift the spirits of anyone passing. I'm so glad the owner resisted it being swallowed up by that bland new build behind it.

From beginning of July to end of November is five months!

My older daughter went to Kingsdale and had a great time there, and I thought it was very good too: brilliant for music/extracurricular stuff, generally very good academically and pastorally, and they responded incredibly well during the pandemic. We made the decision not to send our younger daughter there as we thought it would be too big for her - she is also quite shy. However, in retrospect I think she would have been absolutely fine and she would have found her tribe (in fact in some ways I think it's easier to lose yourself in a crowd in a bigger school anyway). I slightly regret not sending her there as overall I preferred Kingsdale to where she ended up. The travel to Kingsdale is a bit of a pain but they get used to it quickly. As the earlier poster says, wherever they go it feels like a huge step up, but they adapt incredibly quickly. Good luck!

Very happy to see Wagamama moving in! As others have said, so much better than the building lying empty.

Can anyone help me understand this para of the council report: 'In the previous financial year (2021-22) commercial events brought in £171,000 in revenue and the projected end of this financial year (2022-23) total revenue is £266,000. It is worth noting that previous year was impacted by the recovery from the pandemic which will account for some of the significant difference. The total budgeted costs of the events team this financial year (2022-23) was £244,000.' So am I right in thinking that the council events team brought in £266k last year but the cost of the team itself was £244k? So we're losing all this use of our parks for the grand sum of ... £22k? Have I interpreted that correctly?

So glad to see this back! Thanks Amanda and Catman. I will take a detour to check it out.

Completely agree with you, oimissus. It's so unhelpful that we can't have a debate about these issues without instantly being accused of being transphobic. I fully support the right of trans people to live safely and happily in whatever gender they choose, but when it comes to certain areas, sport being one, we need to acknowledge there are differences and find a constructive way to accommodate them. Women-only (by which I mean people born as women) and open categories seems the obvious the way to go. Surely the trans lobby should listen to women's concerns and meet us halfway, rather then just stubbornly shouting 'trans women are women' and accusing us of bigotry? There's some very weird brainwashing going on, with public institutions trying to be good liberal LGBTQ allies (which we can all agree is a good thing) but as a result denying actual biological facts. That story of the hospital that denied a rape had occurred is a shocking case in point.

Sorry, there hasn't been any news for parents on this recently. Have you tried contacting the school direct?

I love this thread. So happy the owner has been reunited (I'm sure you are too, JeanieB).

14 year old here. We obviously run a very lax household: 1. No actual rules on bedtime but she tends to take herself off to bed at around 10pm-ish every night. 2. Hours on end! She uses it to watch musicals on YouTube, chat to her very niche circle of musical-mad friends on Discord, play games and make artwork using drawing software (she's not interested in Instagram/TikTok, thank God). We don't limit it and I do trust her as she's pretty sensible. 3. She and her sister take turns to hoover the whole of the downstairs floor once a week and clean their bathroom. They also take turns to make their packed lunches every night, ready for the next morning. That's about it.

Thanks for the explanation, BB. I didn't know they were part of a federation and could refer patients elsewhere within it.

That's interesting, Granadaland. Is DMC affiliated to the Tessa Jowell Centre in some way? I don't really understand how it all fits together.

They seem to have been in a complete state for months - since well before Christmas. A few weeks ago, my very elderly neighbour told me she had to wait outside in the cold for over 30 minutes before someone came out and told the assembled queue that they were closing for lunch. She had to go home without her prescription. Really not great.

Haven't heard anything since then, sorry.

The story has also been picked up in the Guardian in an article which mentions East Dulwich (with a pic of the EDT): https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/22/royal-mail-hit-by-decade-high-of-more-than-1m-complaints-last-year And in the Times (behind a paywall): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ofcom-warns-royal-mail-over-month-long-post-delays-x6wc8l37w Good to see the petition getting us more coverage! Let's hope it embarrasses Royal Mail into some kind of action.

Excitingly I got two parcels today - one postmarked mid-December and the other 28 November! 48 days for a first-class parcel - is that a record?

Lloyds seem to have given up. They seem to have had staff shortages since at least mid-December but they can't ALL have had Covid for the last four weeks, surely? Huge queues outside every time I go past and they're 'closed for lunch' every day (what is this, rural France?). Sign up saying staff shortages but they appear to have hired someone to just sit in a chair and tell the queue that only three people can come in at a time. Prescription service in complete disarray. I'm assuming it must be under new management as I've never seen it so bad. Please someone get a grip!

Yes it's been very frustrating. There was an update that went out to parents recently from the CEO of the Charter Educational Trust - as it was a public letter I trust they won't have any objection if I reproduce it here (I've removed email addresses): Dear Staff, Students, Parents and Carers I am writing to give you an update on the completion of building works at The Charter School East Dulwich. I know what frustration and disappointment you have felt on seeing the empty building site over the past few months, and would like to reassure you about what we are doing to make sure we can all enjoy our new environment and spaces as soon as possible. The Charter Schools Educational Trust is working with Southwark Council and the Department for Education (DfE), who are paying for the new building. There have been quite a few challenges in the course of this project. The impact of the pandemic on companies in the building industry has severely delayed the development of the design, and costs for Phase 2 of the building programme during this time have risen dramatically. The higher costs mean we have had to re-think our designs to reduce cost, and then get the new designs and revised budget approved. This process hasn't yet finished, but the local authority and the DfE are doing all they can to make decisions as quickly as possible. As a Trust, we have continued to stress to the DfE and Southwark Council, how urgent this project is for our growing school, and how much our community needs the external space and access to specialist resources. We have worked alongside the DfE and the local authority to push the project on as fast as possible. The Trust has also contributed some of the shortfalls in funding to make sure that the quality of our school environment continues to be high despite needing to re-think our designs. So, where are we now? The demolition and the clearing of the site are complete, and the building of a multi-use games court has also been completed. Next year, Phase 2 of the project will begin. This will include: ➢Main school hall ➢Specialist Sixth Form workspace ➢Specialist music classrooms and instrumental studios ➢Drama studio ➢Main school library ➢Administration and support service offices ➢SEND resource base ➢Increased outdoor space with complete landscaping to the site, including outdoor seating. The Phase 2 works are planned to begin in February 2022 for completion during the 2022-23 Academic Year. We are working with the project managers to make sure spaces can be released for use quickly as they are completed, focusing on classrooms and workspaces for teachers. Our school will continue to provide a full curriculum, making careful use of our current buildings. Our main teaching block already provides over 85% of the total teaching space for the completed project, including all classrooms, state-of-the-art science labs, specialist Art and DT departments. We also benefit from our purpose-built Sports and Catering block. In September 2021, the school took ownership of our new purpose-built MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area), providing much-needed outdoor sports facilities, and this is already being used by pupils. As construction gets underway on the land adjacent to the current school site, there will inevitably be some disruption, but we know we can rely on our school community to be responsible, flexible and understanding. We will keep you fully informed of progress at every stage via our regular newsletters to you all. If you have any questions, please do get in touch with Justine Brennan, the school's Director of Operations, or with me personally - we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Do you have any better suggestions? This has been going on a lot longer than the recent Covid spike.