Pugwash

St Anthonys delivered a letter addressed to parents and neighbours re planning ideas. dated 29th March and invited everyone to an open meeting between 4 - 7 pm on 7th April to hear about new plans. It is on creamy yellow paper and was hand delivered in Barry Road and Etherow Street and I think Norcroft Gardens - the area most likely to be affected by the building works. Daughter now aged 25 went to St. Anthonys from 5 - 11 (they did not have a nursery class then) parents were from the borders with Peckham, Nunhead, Forest Hill and Camberwell as well as Dulwich. Goodrich was not the intake as it is now and Heber at that time was a 'sink school' so many kids who had at least one RC parent were accepted. Hubby is RC and a regular church attender, and our daughter's name was put on the list when she was 2 years old. Eldest child went to Goodrich and had not Goodrich changed their catchment area (we were the wrong side of Barry Road) youngest daughter would have gone there as well. same problems with parking then as now, but more parents abusive now. The PTA parents took turn in jotting down car regs of poor parkers, those whose numbers frequently appeared had their regs given to the police who would randomly turn up with traffic wardens and issue tickets and warnings.

In my line of work, I have contact with many people who are homeless or seeking a housing transfer. Many have been offered property such as described by LL above, but have turned them down for various reasons. They are unwilling or unable to redecorate, or improve the property in any way. None of them would live in a non central heated property. Many people on transfer list have disability living requirements i.e need for wheelchair access i.e. wide door openings, walk in shower, all on level etc. Disabled Facilities Grant offered by LA usually take 6 months or so to come through after an OT and Surveyor has completed the necessary forms. I believe it is a question as to whether people are willing to accept habitable housing and to make do with a kitchen that might be 20 years old but in usuable condition. In some cases, the council have tried to update the property with new windows and central heating etc, but the original tenant has refused to allow workmen entry to do this. This is surprisingly common amongst elderly tenants who dislike change and are fearful of letting 'strangers' in the property.

It would be helpful to give a breed and area lost in

I would not leave a primary aged child alone in a car or in the house. I was filling up the car once with petrol when another driver pointed out that the 5 year old had managed to get out of his car seat ( he was strapped in) climbed over to where his 10 year old sister was sitting (also strapped in) and was opening the passenger door to climb out. As I was concentrating on the petrol pump on the other side of the car - did not see this happening until the other driver called out. If anything had happened to my grandchildren......!!! Grandson got a good telling off and barred from sweets that day. We could not figure out how he released the safety straps - daughter got a different car seat with more buckles to undo which he never manages.

My MIL only babysat once in 20 years - she only lived in West Dulwich and we used to visit her frequently and hubby phoned her and FIL weekly. MIL always admitted she did not like children and was glad her only child was a boy (which FIL wanted). MIL only liked older children and first (and only time) baby sat when our youngest was in primary school, for about 4 - 5 hours. My mother on the other hand visited weekly most weeks and always ready to babysit either at our house or hers. She retained a strong interest in her grandchildren and great grandchildren until her death in March. Strange thing was I could not say I was close to my mother, my husband was much closer to her emotionally ( even more so than his own mother}. We had different child rearing views and often clashed, but my daughters loved going to Gran's.

When the raised table was first put in at Goodrich and Barry Junctions as there were a number of crashes at this site, all the buses using the route refused to use Barry Road as it meant that they had to really slow down at this point to avoid bashing the bottom of the bus. I cannot remember how long we were without buses as it was many years ago. Southwark after spending thousands doing the work were forced to lower the speed table or deprive an area of buses. TFL are a bolshie lot and have quite alot of power. They can also say where traffic lights can be installed on certain major routes. Give TFL less power and people power and local councils may see improvements.

There is a clothes recycling bank on the Barry Road side of the Plough.

Try contacting your local councillor for further advice. See an earlier posting on this topic by Peckham Rose - Leaseholder Association.

This happened to me last autumn, around 7.30 pm put my shopping in the boot and placed my handbag underneath my car seat. Got in the car went to belt up and noticed that a car had blocked me in, then in the mirror saw a hand grab the back door and my handbag (from under the seat) and my work bag on back seat. I jumped out and got hold of the guy who was sitting in his car, tried to grab my bag back, yelling you bastard at the top of my voice, punched the guy in his face and tried to hang onto the car door whilst he sped away.Landed on the tarmac, sustained a cut forehead but loads of people rushed up including security, police there in less than 5 minutes. Gave description -light skinned older black guy in his 40's, one of the Sainsbury's staff saw the car and thought it was an old type Fiesta. Police checked CCTV but nothing was shown. Police and staff very helpful - stated that this was a one off incident - there had not been any reports of similiar things in the area. Had about ?170 on me as had to pay a workman the next day for a job, lost usual cards, cheque book, driving licence, phone. Work case looked like a computor case but only held papers and diary. Had to claim well over ?300 from my insurance company and had to borrow money for a couple of weeks till I got my cards reissued.

Am a bit peed off as hubby sent cheque to the Dulwich Festival PO Box as stated in the festival programme in April for the Gala Jazz (14/5) and enclosed SAE. No ticket has arrived. He does not use a computor - so I checked a few minutes ago on line to see if ordered tickets can be collected at the venue (All saints)to find that the printed PO box was incorrect and gave the correct POBox. How the hell are non computor owners/users supposed to find this out - I could not see any notices on EDF, not seen any in the press. I am not impressed that someone did not proofread the programme contents before having thousands printed. Will now have to check with the bank - if cheque cashed and by whom and he will have to take pot luck that he can get in so the concert tomorrow ( we have 2 friends playing in the band).

If you attended the community council meeting last week at the East Dulwich Community Centre you will note that most cars after 2001 (I think that was the correct year) conform to the co2 emissions and generally the residents parking permits work out slightly cheaper.

When you say your house is not accessible in any way - how do you mean? Long flight of steps to the front door? No downstairs loo? Some people use a wheelchair because they cannot walk very far - my mother did but we managed to get her walking up and down a few steps into the house and into the loo - took 2 of us and she was very slow. Or are you looking at overnight accommodation? Places like Premier Inn and Travel Lodge usually have a disabled suite/rooms - I think the nearest Inn is around Tower Bridge.

Have 4 cats so will need to be careful - perhaps jam jars with lids with holes pierced in. Will try the Nippon trick Am always washing down surfaces and putting away food. Found my glass cupboard running with ants one night all I keep in there is glasses and it is a wall cupboard well away from the back door.

My daughter and her partner could not agree on a girl's name but decided girl or boy it would be called Morgan. So we have Morgan Heather. There was only one other female Morgan in her primary school. Baby number 2 was threatened with Travis or Lennon, but after he was born Morgan was asked whether he should be called Euan/Ewen or Owen - we now have Owen John and he is one of several Owen's in his school Some names suit 'young people' only can you imagine a 80 year old being called Chardonnay/Tracey/Paris? If we had a boy the choice was Marek, Luke or Matthew. ( We had 3 girls)

For the second time in a year, I seem to have an ants nest in the kitchen. They appear to have eaten into the plaster (again)and got into the wooden door frame which seperates the kichen from the downstairs shower room. There is a daily pile of 'dust' by the frame (the same as last year) Last year they ate the wooden supports behaind the plaster and we had to shovel up the ants with a dustpan and put them into a black sack- took several cans of ant spray and powder to kill them all off. They are back again ................. Anyone got an idea how I can prevent this happening? PS they have eated away the bottom of the back door as well.

heard today that the chap had died- not sure how correct this is

The Rye Raving Ranters are a group that the East Dulwich Community Centre and Christ Church have used for Barn dancing. Not sure where they are based but I know that one of them (Mark) is in ED

From what I gather from hubby - no buses are coming up LL and being terminated at the roundabout at Goose Green. Hubby currently walking home. have not seen any 12 or 197 so imagine these are terminating at the Rye. Wondered why LL seemed extra busy with walkers.

I hope that when the free meals for primaary children gets going that each school records the weight of the wastage each day to calculate how much of our local taxes are going to land up in the food recycling bin. Money would far better be spent on providing a decent day care service to elderly and disabled people to prevent carer stress and to keep people within their own community.

Some one I am very close to was emotionally abused by their parents from about 4 onwards - he was placed in an orphanage where he was the only child speaking English as well as a European language, at 4 years was translating for his peers. Both parents were alive, professional people and wealthy. He lived in this home for 3 years, but saw his parents every few weekends when about 7 years old. Later returned to live with his parents and his mother as he grew older alternated treating him as a surrogate husband and an unpaid servant. Needless to say that he ended up in Maudsley for about 9 months and still suffers from mental illness. It took him over 40 years to admitt that he was emotionally abused and at times still suffers guilt from his actions as a young person. He always stated that if he was hit - he could have bourne the pain, but emotional abuse had long standing repercussions and the scar is still there and so is the mental fraility.

The Committee meet every 2nd Tuesday of the month at East Dulwich Community Centre at 8 pm. Meetings usually finish by 10 pm at latest. We do not meet in August and January. Observers and potential new members are welcomed to attend

Just bumping up and reminding everyone interested that the BARA AGM is on Tuesday 12th April 8 pm at the East Dulwich Community Centre, Darrell Road. There will be a chance for a council tenant or leaseholder to be nominated to the Area Housing Forum. With so many changes in housing benefits and internal changes in Southwark HOusing, it is essential that you support your local tenants and residents association. 2000 leaflets went to each house in the BARA catchment area - if you are one of those households who received a leaflet please come along to the meeting and volunteer for the committee. BARA welcomes residents regardless whether they are owner occupiers, private, council or housing association tenants. membership fee is ?1 single member, ?2. family and ?5 group membership. Council leaseholders and tenants are free as T&RAs cost are included in their rent/service charges. The Community Centre has a portable loop system, disabled toilets,level access

Martin Cambridge is one of the directors there. He is a family man himself and will no doubt be sympathic - telephone number is on the board outside the hostel. I suggest someone other than Buddha note in down when passing. Adrian Crust is the beat police officer for this area and is very easy to talk with. Adrian's been around the area for about 15 years now and knows most of us who have been here a while. Adrian has Police Surgeries both at Christ Church and the East Dulwich Community Centre.

BARA have just delivered around 2000 leaflets in their catchment area - if you are a council tenant or leaseholder, a small amount of your yearly charges go into the Tenants Fund and is distributed to recognised T & R As in Southwark.

What do you mean by being pestered? From my experience, the men congregate in the car park area in front of the church and are rarely on the pavement. Many years ago when the hostel first opened it housed homeless families from all over south london. Many of these families were aweful, children running screaming in the street, fighting, adults swearing and argueing, the noise was terrible. Following a local petition, homeless families were refused the right of stay there as the hostel owners were facing several hundreds of ?s in damages each week where the place was wrecked. Since Barry House has had different clientele - local residents lives have been much more peaceful.