Pugwash

James - I was always wary about the Free School meals in Southwark's primary schools for various reasons. One of the questions I put to the last ED labour candidates was success may need to be made in measure of wastage. Kids can be very fussy eaters and waste food - so free meals does not always mean the food is going in the stomachs of the kids. Is there any feedback from the schools as whether the free meals have a high or low 'wastage/swill bin'?

We have a combined sewer which comes across our back garden and down our side return ( we are in a semi detached) We had sewage (liquid) rise in the cellar many years ago and discovered that building works on other side of Barry Road - builders had let bricks/debris fall into sewer which caused the main sewer in road to block up and liquid sewage seeping into our cellar. Next time - our neighbours had been flushing nappies down the toilet and this had blocked the combined sewage. As we could prove that we did not have young children, the neighbours had to pay for the bill.

ED is full of underground streams. we in Barry Road have streams under the cellar which every so many years make the floor damp. Usually happens after a very long period of rain over several weeks.

Agree the multiplex is great value - went to see the last Dustin Hoffman directed film there ( The Quartet). Every time someone came into the cinema there was a cheer. In the end there were about 20 of us watching the film with most of the audience talking briefly afterwards. popcorn and drinks a bit too pricey for us . One night hubby and I went to the pics and then nipped to the Chinese near Morrisons for a meal. Great night out for less than ?25

see above

If wearing a dark coat - make sure your child wears a reflective band as with dark nights coming and street lights not as good as they could be - they need to be seen.

I have a small drive which goes into a main road. I inch out every day at snails pace because of children running ahead of their parents on the pavement, dog owners who have those ridiculous long leads, suddenly appearing. I have a dropped kerb which may give an indication to others that there may be a car in that drive. I am irritated that as a reasonable observer of the Highway Code, I try when coming back into my drive, to reverse into the drive, my reverse lights and indicators going, checking all mirrors to suddenly find that an idiot decides to cross at angles from the other side of the road and goes behind the reversing car and swears at me when I slam on the brakes as they suddenly appear in my mirrors. The same goes for cyclist who suddenly decide to do a u turn in the main road and get annoyed that I am there. If there is a need for a cyclist to be on the pavement, they should dismount and walk with their bikes for everyone safety.

Re my previous post - the incident quoted was several years ago and things have changed a lot in Children and families Social services because of the high profile cases which come to court. Although I have not had to notify them of concerns re a child as a neighbour, professionally I have raised questions and have done joint assessments with C & F. If I had mentioned my profession years ago - I wonder whether I would have got the same response.

Still not really sure how this will work? Are you affected by the changes in Housing Benefit? Come along and quiz Southwark CAB about the changes. ED Community Centre, 10th September 8 for 8.15 start See poster for more details

My husband knows the lady in question she is 90 years old and was on her way to church

I am a social worker for adults, I had concerns many years ago about a family who used to live next to me and contacted children and families social work team. I was horrified at the way the spoke to me (I did not tell them my profession) and how they reacted to the information I gave them. Stepfather of the 2 girls was always shouting at them, they looked frightened in his company - one was a bed wetter and was publically humiliated by her stepfather. Mother could not care less - stayed in bed most of the time and let the girls do what they want. The final straw was when I was going to work one morning a man came up to me and asked whether I knew 'this little girl' it was the 3 year old. He had found her playing out in the street near the Plough Pub and was concerned. He had knocked on many doors until he came to me and I of course recognised her. Managed to rouse her mother from her bed who had no concern that the child could have been abducted or injured. My other neighbour contacted the NSPCC who acted and we found that the girls were on the child protection list If all else fails and you do not get response from SSD or NSPCC I would contact Child Line and ask their advice.

I think you will find that orphanages are a thing of the past most are now children's homes and children are kitted out either by the local authority or by the voluntary agency managing the home. I would suggest you find whether a local church or voluntary group are sending clothes abroad to Rumania/Africa etc where orphanages are more common place

See attached for details of the animals, the activities etc.

The Old Bellenden School was used in part by ILEA to around 1990 as a workplace nursery along side their site in County Hall. Only the ground floor and playground were used by the nursery but I believe they may have had community groups in the remainder of the building. My youngest daughter went to the nursery from the age of 15 months to rising 5.

When non London based family members visit- they usually pay cash for one or sometimes two bus journeys as it is not worth them getting a pass etc. We keep 2 spare oyster cards for grandchildren visiting ( 2 are over 15) but hubby usually meets them at the train station so takes Oyster cards with him.

Because of the risk of infection, it is highly unlikely you will be able to hire one. When people are given commodes, mediquip or the company supplying them will not take back if used. I think you can also get them from Argos and some of the bigger Boots have them

I am surprised that no one has already asked this. Coming home from work around 7.15 to find several fire engines, plus police plus a cordoned off road on the DK Hill estate ( not Albrighton the one nearest to the station cannot remember the name) and loads of people

The scenario quoted took place before the Welfare Reforms of this year took effect.

Sounds familiar!! We just ignored our daughters stroppy behaviour, tried not to rise to her baits, eventually worked. She got fed up trying to attract our attention by shocking us with her behaviour. It does come back - when they are teenagers.

Only last week hubby saw a loose wienamara ( I think that it is spelt correctly)charging down LL from bank opp. Dulwich Library. Followed by a man running with a lead in his hand hubby asked him if he had lost a dog and pointed out the direction the dog had taken. Guy informed him that dog was not his and he had him off lead ( in the park>) Hubby thought guy daft to let a valuable dog which was not yours off lead. He wondered whether it was a paid dog walker

Working in the social care sector, I have considerable contact with the various housing offices and have come across situations where according to tenancy agreement - only one tenant living in the property say over the age of 65. Since pensioners are not affected (yet) by the 'bedroom tax' many have 3 bedrooms as family have all grown up. What you usually find is a number of relatives living in the other rooms. fair enough they have a roof over their head and hopefully contribute towards the running costs of utilities. In many cases the Housing Offices are not aware of these additional adults, some who are in work. The debate is that the official tenant is receiving full HB, if there are other 'official' sub tenants ( for the want of a better word) HB is reduced by a small amount depending the sub tenants income. IE Fred aged 70 gets full HB for his flat at ?110 per week, if his relatives are known to be living there, his HB may be reduced to ?90 pw as the relative would be assessed on their income to make up the ?30 difference. If HB do not know about the 'unofficial' sub tenants, they continue to give full HB of ?110 pw - the other household members may be earning far in excess of ?110 pw but do not contribute towards rental costs. It is a controversial situation - should councils recover some of the money paid out by HB if there are more people living in the property than officially permitted. Or given the housing shortages and waiting lists, should the 'unofficial tenants' continue with the status quo as far cheaper for the council in the long run. From what I have heard Housing Officers are being surprised by the numbers of 'hidden tenants'. One HO informed me some time ago that he had an elderly gentleman living with his wife in a 2 bed flat in Peckham. Following complaints/concerns raised by neighbours as to possible over crowding, they visited the property and found that the old couple were renting out the spare room and lounge to 6 adults and charging them around ?60 each in rent. The old couple were receiving full HB yet getting ?360 pw from their 'tenants' I agree that there are insufficient properties for people to downsize into, if I were a tenant I would not be happy swopping my 4 bed property for a one/two bed in an area I had no affinity with. To make this scheme workable new properties need to be built/developed in all areas of the borough. If you consider the empty properties in the borough which have been empty for over a year, there should be some way of getting the registered owners to sell up. There are instances where properties do lay empty for some time awaiting probate etc.

James - Have many of your ED residents been to see you about welfare reforms? Do we know what impact these reforms are having on the ED public? Southwark CAB are holding a question and answer session on Welfare Reforms on Tuesday 10th September 8 for 8.15 start at the East Dulwich Community Centre in Darrell Road. It has been organised by the Barry Area Residents' Association and is open to all ED residents to attend. If you would like to publicise this event ( and attend if you do not have other council business to attend to) please feel free to do so. Do you have any figures to indicate how the bedroom tax is affecting ED?

There are a lot of Eid parties going on in the area. The Carlton Centre is managed by Southwark Council I believe

I would avoid any ex council flats - someone I worked with has a flat on the Kingswood Estate - their share of the works was in excess of ?30,000 - being pensioners they did not have the money so Southwark Council put a legal charge on the property. The old boy is now dead and his wife in a care home, son cannot sell the property so is having to offer it back to Southwark Council at a greatly reduced market price as no one will buy. the house next door is in 2 flats and council owned. My neighbour purchased her top floor flat many years ago, but had to pay ?6000 as her share of external repairs, The annual ground rent increased dramatically and in the end she sold out as with 4 children and being a widow, could not afford to live their anymore. We brought an ex council house in Sussex 7 years ago, however most of the street is privately owned and there is no extra charges. We paid ?127.000 for a 3 roomed house in 2005 and just an estimates from estate agents valuing it between ?135 - ?160K

My old aunt was knocked down by a pavement cyclist some years ago on the stretch of pavement between Landells and CP Rd and broke her arm. She was deaf and even though wearing her hearing aid, did not hear him come up behind her. He fled quickly so witnesses informed us, if the police could have found him he would have been charged.