Pugwash

there is either a travel Lodge or premier Inn in Tower Bridge Road

Thank you for all your pm's - there does seem some interest in such a workshop. It is more when it is held rather than the contents that people want to know. Will post again after Christmas

Emma - Memory Clinic Specialist Nurse based at the Betty Alexander Unit - Kings is very experienced and very easy to talk with. Age Concern Day Centre at Stones End Southwark are specialists in Dementia

Not sure if there are any gadgets via Telecare that would help Alzheimers Society may be able to advise. There are various talking devises and alarms. pre recorded messages on timers.

Agree with previous poster - my friends range from their 30s - 90s, I am early 60s, but have been told my attitude to life etc is more like a 30 year old - even my kids tell me at times that I am more aware of events, music etc than they are - grandkids are surprised when I talk to them of recent groups/top ten etc. I would hate to live in sheltered housing or a retirement village ( available for all over 55 years of age) variety is the spice of life.

If a dog is off the lead it is likely that owners will not spot it squatting and therefore do not pick up the dog poo. As a former dog owner, the 'cricket or big field' ( the right sided field coming in from Court Lane) was always a designated dog area as the bowling green field and playgound field was nmainly occupied by family groups. I am surprised about the number of owners who still do not scoop up their dogs poo. Perhaps the way to have dogs on lead only areas is to 'catch out' non pooper scoopers with off lead dogs and report them, if this is the only legitimate means of curtailing this practice. What about the notices seen on beaches which do not allow dogs on them between April and September ? Local By lawss?

The workshop will be during the week - possible Mon/Tuesday morning - in the New Year. Weekends at the Community Centre ar very booked up with dance classes and a Saturday School. with Sunday being home to 3/4 churches and a evening group. Kate our dietician is happy to do the workshop if enough people interested - she has many years experience with children and has worked in Guys Hospital. She was instrumental in setting up a project in Goose Green School some years ago - teaching children about food and food production and general healthy eating. The teaching material was adopted by Southwark Education to use in their primary schools. I will try and keep this post up to date so to attract more hits. Please pm me for more details or information.

Best bet is to go by bus. I work at Kings but due to my job, I travel around a bit so have a Southwark parking permit as most of Southwark is now residents permits only - which include the bulk of Camberwell Grove, Grove Lane. You can park on a meter in Windsor Walk usually - not sure how cheap it is but the parking wardens patrol very regularly in the area so if you are a minute late they will book you

I would hate to live in Clapham - cannot find anything attractive about living there.

feedback please

I read so many questions about food ideas for children who have various intolerances/allergies or just plain fussy that I wonder whether it would be helpful to have a workshop put on where parents/carers could get professional advice. The East Dulwich Community Centre's Development Project works with many Health and Social Care professionals and we are considering putting on a 2/3 hour workshop in the New Year to look at children's diets with focus on special diets and general fussy/picky eaters. We have a state registered paediatric dietician who is also a state registered nutritionist with many years experience, and she is prepared to run the workshop. It would be held in the morning at the Community Centre and would be free of charge. Before we organise a date and time etc - need to get some feedback from you. Would this workshop be helpful to you? Would you prefer it to be held during term time or half term holiday?. Would be held in the morning i.e 10 - 1 pm approx - is this a good time? Any other questions you may have. Please reply on this thread or pm me.

I frequent an ED cafe and were surprised to hear from cafe owners that trade has gradually been going downhill. A few regular clients set out to ask former users why they never use the cafe any more. The answers were that mums, buggies, children had taken over most of the tables. No problem with buggies as a clearly defined pram park in the cafe. It was groups of mums who came for a coffee and spun this out for almost 2 hours whilst they chatted with friends. The children were left to wander about the tables. some running, some crying/screaming. Other people were being put off by the numbers and noise of mums and kids. The cafe was being used as a meeting place by a dozen or so mums. The cafe owners did not want to impose a minimum charge as felt this would discourage those who just wanted a quick drink and be in and out in half an hour or so. Wheras some of the mothers may purchase a cake or sandwich to eat, others would bring out packed lunches for the children and sometimes themselves! When approached by staff who point out the notices which state only food purchased on the premises could be consummed, one mum had retorted that she could not afford to eat there as too expensive and had only come in so that she could see her friends!. Whereas having gone through 3 children and 6 grandchildren - I know the difficulty in finding a child friendly cafe/restaurant, but I can also see the cafe owner's point of view that free meeting space to meet friends is not viable if you just have a ?2.50 drink - where could you hire a meeting venue for ?2.50 an hour?

If I recall correctly there have been several community council meetings which have asked about the proposed use of Dulwich Hospital. Also NHS Southwark/PCT have also had public meetings re health care in Southwark and people have put in various proposals re school/police/care home etc. Despite being in a LD ward - we get leaflets from labour and Tory councillors informing us what is going on in Southwark.Perhaps someone wanted to wind you up a little by posting the LD leaflet!!

Dr. Dewji at 306 is rubbish also Dr. Doha. Dewji has a good female Gp though and good reports. Is melbourne Grove in the Elim Lodge, Burbage Road area? I am with The Gardens after defecting from Dr. Dewji - got through on Monday morning within a few rings and appointment for this morning,

Suggest you report this to Police

Just to clarify. our 2 girls went to Sydenham Girls as both they and us felt it was the best school for them. Waverley and Peckham were the only other local schools at the time. Both girls did well and went to Uni. Our grandaughter lives in Orpington and thats why she applied for Newstead. She is now in Darrick Wood school and in January will have to choose her exam options. At the time of application to Newstead - the first 100 only were accepted - perhaps there were building works or something ( especially since the anticipated intake is increasing) Some of my youngest daughter's friends went to a catholic school in the Croydon area - they complained that they were up at 6 am every day to catch a train about 7.30 from Forest Hill to be in school by 8.30 am and getting home around 5 in evening, 3 hours homework and bed around 9.30. They envied my daughter getting up at 7.30 and home about 4. In bad weather they were still expected to arrive near enough on time. I recall one mum saying to me that heavy snowfall had cut some trains and the girls had to wait nearly 2 hours for a train home. I was criticised by my eldest daughter's head teacher at Goodrich school for not supporting my 'local school' which at the time was Waverley but visits etc to the school made us so depressed as the state of the building ( it was still housed in the old Friern building at peckhan Rye and hardly changed since I was a pupil in the 60s)and that they openly admitted poor exam results and had no former pupil attending Uni. Sydenham offered us a lot more. Every parent wants the best for their child, my stepdaughter's eldest boy had some learning difficulties and in the Harlow area the local senior school holds in excess of 2000 pupils. Although not a catholic, he was accepted at the local catholic school with around 800 pupils a size which he could cope with. His 2 yoinger siblings now attend the same school. Some kids can cope with large schools, other's cannot

Places like Newstead Woods are very over subscribed - my grandaughter sat the entry examin and family were warned that only 100 pupls would be accepted and they would need to have a pass rate of 97 - 100%. Over a thousand pupils sat the exan with my grandaughter, and they took the highest 100. The vast majority of which had had private lessons for over 2 years. Granddaughter was 135 in exam ranking. A friend's daughter got accept this September and lives in Catford. Work Colleagues inform me that their children have applied to Bromley and Bexley Schools as do not want their children to go to Lewisham Schools - one child has sat 6 exams for different school.

The other day in Barry Road, I was behind a bus that indicated it was pulling out, I waited and waited, the idiot behind me could clearly see the bus indication, and decided that he did not like my caution and over took me and the bus and was 50 yards down the road in seconds.

The green crossing indication at waist level is very common in cities other than London, in fact recent trips to Nottingham and Liverpool have shown vertually all crossings there were of this type.

In terms of varying hours to suit needs reminds me of Selsey where my father and stepmother gave kived since 1975. Up to a few years ago when we visited them the only restaurant, not in a pub, closed at 6 pm in the summer. This to me was madness as Selsey has a number of caravan sites with several thousands of people being accommodated and not everyone wanted to stay on the camp site. For an area whose income depended on tourism 5.30 closures of retail shops and 6 pm of the only restaurant always seemed odd. However the last few years, they have seen sense and close the restaurant around 10 pm in the summer. The retail shops still close at 5. 30 and they still have half day closing. It is an area where more couples are living due to the cheapness of housing and large number of teenagers and young parents. There is a ready labour market for part time workers if the shop hours wee extended. The same could be said of ED

Must admit to 85% supermarket shopping. Also get milk and occasional odd things from milkman, sweets and papers from local shop, eggs and some meat from local butcher, Some fruit and veg from local shops. Rarely purchase anything down the main part of LL - as usually have only Saturday free and get fed up trying to dodge all the prams etc around North Cross Rd. Agree the fish stall in NX is good especially towards the end of the day you get some good bargains. During the week, I rarely leave work before 7 pm and most shops closed. I have purchased some meat from Wm. Rose - chicken usually as everything else beyond my price range. I find most of the shops too expensive for food, including the green grocers in NXRd. Farmers have good choice of stuff reasonably priced, as does the pet shop. The East Dulwich Deli very expensive.

I heard of someone who had a property to sell, she contacted local colleges and hospitals and put an ad either in their works newpaper or on their notice board. Got alot of enquiries and eventual sale. If there are any large employers in Bromley i.e. Churchill Ins? they may be worth trying. I am having to sell my father and step mothers home now that they are both in care. Contacts in Sussex got 3 estate agents valuations which put the property in a ?160 -?165 k price range. We heard via the grape vine of contacts in Sussex that someone was interested. I calculated price of estate agent fees (2%)on both upper and lower prices, and got a private sale within 2 days.

Just to support the above poster's plea. Social Work students are also required to do child observation but usually for one term and for under 5's. This is a national requirement for the SW Degree course. They also will have enhanced CRB check and letter from Uni.

Any male.however innocent, is always seen as a perpentrator. A child got left behind on a bus - her mother had got off thinking child around 6/7 was behind her ( she had got caught up behind passengers coming onto bus) bus set off and child tells us 2 stops later that her mum had got off without her. A number of people offered to walk back with child, they were mainly men with their wives and children.The women had shopping and babes in pram were reluctant to let their other halves walk back with the child as they feared they would be classed as abusers. Hubby and I were going to get off when the driver decided to ring the police and explain what had happened. The mother, had phoned police in panic about situation, in the end the bus stayed put and waited till the police with Mum pulled up along side. The POlice advised everyone on the bus that both males and females could be seen as perpentrators and that the driver did the best thing. I would report this guy to the police as nobody in their right mind would offer a child a lift.

Hubby's father spoke to him exclusively in Polish, his mother in English. First words were in Polish. Went to english speaking school but did Polish Saturday School and Polish Scouts. In adulthood spoke a mixture of Polish and English to his father. We went to POland for a holiday and although he could speak language fluently, found it difficult to read in Polish. Still speaks in POlish to friends and aquaintances. Our daughter knows a few words of Polish, hubby decided that she was more english than polish so did not push the lanaguage.