Pugwash

if anyone knocks on my door collecting for a well known charity I always say that I have a direct debit to that charity and send them on their way. It is true - I do have direct debits to a number of charities and have done for years.

Following an accident, I contacted Brad (who I had used last year) to see if he could get large blood stains out of a carpet. I am please to say that following Brad's cleaning, the carpet has come up well. Brad lives up to his reputation as a stain remover. I was dreading having to get a new bedroom carpet not so much the cost but moving all the furniture out etc. So pleased that Brad could help. really nice genuine guy.

The east Dulwich Action group grew out of the local shop keepers and traders and initially had its roots in the East Dulwich Society. It became a separate entity to the EDS and as far as I am aware, became defunct many years ago.

I grew up in the 50s and 60s in Spurling Road. Most of the road was private landlords and the conditions of each house were different. Twice whilst I lived there, the street was scheduled for slum clearance. The flat roof of the houses accumulated water as poor drainage and all our rooms were covered in green and black mould. My Mum and I lived in the top part of the house, we had a kitchen with only a cold water tap (kettles had to be boiled up) no heating, my Mum's room was very cold, I had the attic bedroom. We were not wired for electricity other than light but some how we could have a TV. No sockets/power for electric fires - our heating came from one coal fire in the lounge which no matter how my Mum tried to make the place look homely, the damp and peeling wallpaper could not be rectified. We had no bathroom or wc. An elderly woman and her daughter lived down stairs - they did not have the damp but equally had cold water. The toilet was in the back yard and to access it, we had to go through downstairs dining room. One time our loo was out of order, we had to use the next door's wc. We left there in 1968 as although my mother had been on the council housing list since 1948, she was never offered a place. It turned out when we delved more deeply into that Mum and Dad had turned down moving to Harlow. My dad was a bus driver, but at that point there were no transport links in Harlow, he did not have a car, and the nearest bus depot was several miles away and without his own transport he could not get a job. They turned down Harlow and consequently were placed at the bottom of the housing list. Crawford Road in 50s and 60s was a little 'tatty', Worlingham Road was 'classy' CP Rd was a mixture depending which end you were.

if your son is a child try contacting Sunshine House as they may be able to advise.

This is the District Nurses base for the area - they collect details of patients and equipment before they do home visits. Medical permits are issued to enable them limited parking to enable them to do their job. Can park on yellow lines.

Those long leads are a pain - especially to motorists. times I have edged out of my drive and jammed on brakes as dog on lead crossing in front of me where the owners are 2 houses down the road. What about visually impaired folk who may be able to see outlines of objects but not thin leads. Is there not some legal blurb about having control of an animal/dog? In many places there are notices that dogs must be kept on short leads.

Put a written proposal to the Management Committee at the East Dulwich Community Centre. They have a Development Officer who assists new groups and may be able to offer free/discounted rates for the first few sessions to see if the group is viable. Evenings may be better as there are other activities at the centre on Saturdays i.e dance sessions. The next meeting of the Committee is on 15th January and they can put any written proposal to the Development Officer later that week. Applicants are then invited to meet with the Development Officer and her team in person to discuss possible times/days etc. Please put an email address, as well as correspondence address/phone number on your proposal. The centre's letter box is on the Darrell Road side.

All fur coat and no knickers was another of old aunt's sayings. Also was informed when young, that respectable girls/women did not wear patent shoes as their underwear could be reflected in the shine of the shoe!!! As far as I am aware, none of the family were from 'the north' and going back to my great grandparents - they lived in ED all their lives (Pellatt/Landells Road)

The bin and bus stand were both demolished by a crash in the last week. It happened in the early hours of the morning apparently, so very little is known.

We always use the Florist at the corner of Barry Road and Lordship Lane. Very friendly and helpful, have purchased may a bouquet and plants there over the years.

My old aunt used to quote 'she is all mouth and no trousers' never figured it out. It was in relation to a middle aged woman who had several sons. Another one was 'I'll go to the foot of our stairs' and if anyone said 'Haha' she would say 'HaHa she cried waving her wooden leg in the fog' That used to make me laugh and still does nearly 50 years on.

The Charter 1 and 2 have a small catchment area which is unlikely to extend to the Crystal Palace Area. I have friends who send their girls to Harris in Crystal Palace and they are very happy with the education provided there.

The playground at 165 Bellenden Road? or in the temporary playground?

Both my husband and I have a disability which affects our mobility but not severe enough to qualify for a Blue Badge. If going down LL or to Peckham, we use the bus. The exception being if we go to Lidl or take our cats to the vet in Peckham. We do not use the car so much now that we are retired but since family members live in Kent, Sussex and Essex - we need a car to visit them. Also we do emergency child care and need immediate access to transport. We try to be environmentally friendly as far as possible using public transport. However, if we use the train for the family in Essex, we have to fork out additional money for taxis at the Essex end as buses do not go near our daughter's home. Sussex visits by train are better as bus service is every 20 minutes from the station. We have double yellow lines outside our house and thankfully our house is one of a few with a hard standing which was present when we purchased the house in 1974. Visitors frequently end up 10 minutes away due to insufficient parking spaces.

James - Southwark is more generous than Lambeth, their social services front line staff have borough wide permits. They are also more generous with supplying medical permits.

It is housing that this guy needs not a social worker. Social Workers have no say in getting people housed/rehoused generally. They can recommend over 55s to seek sheltered housing but residents must be accepted by the Housing Dept to be eligible to go onto the Housing Register= social workers can then give a report as to why they feel that person would require sheltered housing. Basically - everything is down to Housing.

Having worked in Lambeth where there are loads of CPZs, it can have a knock on effect to the surrounding areas. Roads are usually 'zoned' i.e. L area may cover 3 or 4 streets - which means residents/car users will be fighting for spaces over these streets. It also means that residents will need to pay for visitors' permits - you can get short ones for a few hours and also 'Day' ones. This means that relatives/friends cannot just pop round to see you but will need to check if you have visitors permits at hand. CPZs also affect people such as carers visiting on a daily basis elderly and vulnerable people. Depending on the care agency - some carers using their cars can get a 'medical permit' which allows parking in CPZs and on single yellow lines. However, these medical permits need to be paid for and most agencies will not fork out for these. When I worked in Lambeth, social workers and OTs were not provided with borough wide parking permits and found using their cars to visit people at home was not feasible due to time wasted finding a parking space or parking meter, so used public transport which could often mean several bus changes. Whilst this may be environmentally friendly, when you take a call from a worried carer not being able to access their client, you need to get to that address asap. It was a few years ago I worked for Lambeth, but I understand from colleagues working in this borough, things have only changed slightly .

Edward Rudolph that was the name

I remember the home in Overhill Road, it later became a Montessori School - cannot recall the name - I have a vague feeling that it was a boarding school and had a man's name.

I remember whilst doing my research module at University, that I also discovered a number of children's homes in East Dulwich. This surprised me, but further research using the local history archives in Borough High street and other archives, indicated that many children had parents in Dulwich Hospital which was classed as the Workhouse Hospital. The same people who ran the children's homes also had a home in Newlands Park (Sydenham/Penge borders) where my stepmother and her siblings were sent after the death of their parents. Unfortunately my stepmother is now 96, very deaf and demented so cannot ask her about education.

My daughter in Orpington was keen for a particular school in the area for her daughter to attend. It had good OFSTED ratings etc. She visited it, was shown around by the head, asked a few questions and decided that she did not like the ethos of the school as too regimented. As she had experience in working with young people with special needs, she asked the head about their SN provision. Head stated only one child with SN in school (autistic) but he did not stand out. Daughter went to another school, asked the same questions, did not have an outstanding OFSTED but a nicer atmosphere, My grand daughter was very happy there, was found to be above average intelligence and was given more challenging work to do. The same grand daughter achieved A* AB A level grades and is now applying to University to study Biomedicine. OFSTED ratings only give a guide - it is what you feel most suitable for your child's needs.

Although not employed by the NHS I spent 20 years working mainly in Kings but also had to include Lewisham, Princess Royal, Orpington, UCL and other hospitals in my visits. Whilst emergency health care is free to all, rehabilitation and routine in patient care is subject to charging if you are a non EU resident. This is why when you now get a letter for an appointment you are asked to bring proof of identity (passport) and address. Several million pounds is owned by non EU nationals for health care throughout the country and many trusts have not been recording these patients or collecting money. An acquaintance of mine received a bill for ?5,000 as his non EU wife was not eligible for maternity care - this was the cost of her ante natal and post natal care. He paid the money in instalments. Another friend told a story that whilst she was working for the NHS they discovered that 20 births were registered from the same address in Deptford which made them suspicious - they found that pregnant women were travelling to this address from Africa in order to have free maternity care. The owner of the property charged the women who were staying there. There needs to be a system to recoup some of the costs from 'health tourists' Many years ago in France whilst on holiday, my husband needed an emergency doctor. We had our EU card but were still charged a notional amount for care and had to pay for a prescription - which we claimed back when returned home. Whilst we do not want to go the American Way - proving that you have the financial means of paying for medical care, perhaps we need to consider that all non EU national have to have medical insurance before they are treated and that non emergency care is only provided if payments are made up front. My family have always had good care from Kings and both of my children were born there. Admittedly on some wards there are staff members who have an attitude problem when it comes to patient care, but the doctors, physios, OTs, Speech and Language Therapists, Specialist Nurses and dieticians have on the whole have been and are extremely professional and caring. Princess Royal's financial failings were long before Kings took over, my daughter worked there and was frustrated that essential documents could not be printed or photo copied as there was no money for paper/printer ink. Office equipment (staplers/hole punchers/note pads, pens etc) had to be provided by individual staff as no budget for stationery. Electronic Patient Records (EPR) were very slow to come to all the wards at Princess Royal and when I had to visit patients there I had to wade through piles of paper files. Princess Royal's car parking fees are extremely high so they should be getting a decent return from the car parks. Orpington Hospital has reasonable hourly costs for parking. M & S and all the other companies now at Kings should generate some rental income. I also suggest that heating costs be looked at as in some areas the heat is overbearing. Automatic lighting in toilets and other low use areas to reduce electricity bills.