Growlybear

I agree that your beliefs should come from within when you are older, but when children go to secondary school at 11, their parents are ultimately responsible for making the decision on what they perceive to be the most suitable and best education for them. Many parents feel very differently about the schools they choose, and choose them for a wide range of reasons. In my case, my daughter had a large say in the secondary school she went to, but the final decision was ours as her parents. Fortunately we agreed with her choice of school so there were no arguments, but there were certain schools I would not have let her go to under any circumstances, and if she had decided that she wanted to follow a particular faith at 11 and go to a faith school, then I'm afraid I wouldn't have agreed to it. When she made the decision about her sixth form education, I felt that she was old enough to make up her own mind and would have given my approval to wherever she had wanted to go.

I think it was quite reasonable to assume that Amelie's friend is of the Roman Catholic faith, in which case, I think the reasons why they would want to send their child to a Catholic school would be obvious. Surely you would only send your child to a faith school if you were a believer in that particular faith?

Blimey, all the OP did was to ask for the names of Roman Catholic secondary schools in the Borough - she wasn't even asking for recommendations! Whether or not people approve of faith schools, they are a part of our education system. If people of a particular faith choose to send their children to a school which seeks to provide an education appropriate to that faith, that is their business and their right. What is not anyone's business is to ask another person to justify their religious beliefs, and I really don't understand why Amelie should be expected to challenge her friend on her religious beliefs. Personally, I am an atheist and the last thing I would ever have wanted was to send my daughter to a faith school of any kind, but I would NEVER be so offensive as to challenge the religious views of anyone, whatever I thought of them, any more than I would expect anyone to challenge my views. To get back to Amelie's original post, depending whereabouts in the Borough your friend lives, s/he might want to consider Bonus Pastor School, which is in Downham.

I wonder why the author of the article has confined his comments to coffee bars - has he never been confronted with the true horror of pram gridlock in the Herne Tavern?

I agree with what some others have said as well; I think the article is very funny and really has hit the nail on the head.

Am I not allowed to give my opinion? I live very close by, and thought it was really dire.

I wondered what the dreadful racket was. I have rarely heard anything worse!

Whatever offence you believe this person to have committed, surely it can't be right to post deails like this on a public forum?

Moos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > But I'm > still not seeing quite where you stand here - is > it that anything less than genuine fear of rape is > a compliment to one's appearance, or are we > inching to a middle ground? What we have to go on > here is the OP's original statement, which I > quoted when I said 'jeering and leering', and > which also described these people as pests. No, I don't think that anything less than a genuine fear of rape is a compliment, and I haven't said that at all. My first post was to express incredulity at the comment on posting photographs of the 'offenders'. I rarely post on this forum and doubt that I would have commented on this thread had I not read that particular post, because I actually thought at first that the thread was a joke when I read the first post. The OP didn't say exactly what comments had been made to her, and I have done the same as I expect most people did, and assumed the type of remarks which were made given the use of the words 'jeering and leering'. My personal opinion is that for someone to be offended by wolf whistles, and coarse and suggestive remarks to the point where they bother to start a thread on an internet forum is an overreaction. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest, or anyone else I know. The OP didn't suggest that she felt physically threatened by the 'mean people' outside the Castle; had she done so, my view would have been very different.

No Moos, I said that I had used the Castle on and off over the years. I did not say that I am a regular, or that I would class the people with whom I am acquainted there as anything more than acquaintances, so you're not offending me in the least by referring to the customers as morons. If anyone seriously felt that they were at risk of being raped, then that is an entirely different issue altogether and of course is completely unacceptable, but that isn't what the OP said. My comments have been based on the fact that I think a number of comments on this thread have been serious overreactions to wolf whistling and comments - particularly the ludicrous comment about posting photos of the people concerned.

I think 'jeering and leering' is going a little over the top, but of course everyone is entitled to their opinion on such behaviour. If people would prefer not 'to seek validation in being objectified by the drunken intellectually subnormal', that's fine, but personally, I would rather think that I'm not too much of a munter to warrant the odd teensy leer from the drunken intellectually subnormal oiks who are forced to stand outside the Castle if they want a smoke :))

Jamma Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > when the head of the school should be > dealing with it and saving everyone a lot of > bother. > I'm just wondering what the Headteacher is expected to do? Should s/he lie down on the zig zags to stop people parking? Because I can't think of any other way that schools could stop parents from parking outside. I work for a neighbouring Borough, and I can't think of one of our 80-odd primary schools that does not have a problem with parents parking illegally or inconsiderately. All of the heads I work with write to parents regularly, include items in their newsletters, tell children in assemblies that their parents shouldn't park outside the school, arrange for the Road Safety Officer to come into school and mention the problems parents cause by parking where they shouldn't. Some schools name and shame parents who park illegally and some write to individual parents. A number of schools also put traffic cones on the zig sags (which they don't have the authority to do). Many headteachers do go out fairly regularly to ask parents not to park on the zig sag lines; I don't know of a single one who hasn't been subjected to a torrent of abuse by parents. Schools do get visits from parking wardens, but when you consider the number of schools involved, there just aren't enough wardens to make an impact. It's not a problem that is unique to St Anthony's - every school in this area has problems with parking, and I don't think there is an answer as long as parents continue to drive to school and aren't prepared to park a couple of streets away where they wouldn't cause an obstruction. But I can understand that there are lots of reasons why some parents have to drive their children to school. In my case, I had no real alternative but to drive my daughter to school when she was at Dulwich Hamlet. We were lucky enough to get a place off the waiting list from well outside the usual catchment area; my daughter started school at 9 a.m., and I started work at 9.15 a.m.. Had I not driven her to school, I would have had no way of getting to work on time. However, I would NEVER have parked illegally, and regularly parked some distance away, where I could leave my car without causing an obstruction.

Having drunk in the Castle with my husband on and off over the last 30 years, I can't say I've come across too many intellectually subnormal customers - they are actually a far more normal bunch than the namby-pamby coffee drinking brigade who have now taken over pubs like the Herne.

Last year Fairlawn was the most oversubscribed school in Lewisham, so you really do have to live very close by to be offered a place.

Blimey, I do think some of the comments in this thread are just a tad over the top. Only on the East Dulwich Forum would you get people suggesting that the evil perpetrators of such foul sexist deeds should be photographed and have their pictures displayed on a public forum. I'll start to worry the day that I walk past a pub like the Castle and DON'T get any comments or wolf whistles.

Yes, if they are just making comments, I would be flattered. I can't see why it would be embarrassing.

I can never understand why women get so agitated by things like this. :-S I've always found it quite flattering if men make comments.

Although there has been a large increase in demand for primary places in Lewisham, the roll of Eliot Bank School hasn't been increased - there are still 60 places available for 2009/10.

Vik Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Place Bakers, they had 3 shops on Lordship Lane, 1 > is now Hursts? bakers, 1 is Badger Bakery by the > plough, 1 is now HSS hire shop I think, opposite > the Harvester, that one had the bakery at the > back. 1 in Forest Hill, think is's dentist now and > 1 in the village. I had Saturday jobs in 2 of the > LL branches, as did a few of my school friends. > > I remember the Harvester still being the Grove > Tavern, must have been early 80's as I was very > young, they had a sheep in the beer garden called > Mint Sauce! From memory he used to just wander > round the garden with all the kids stroaking him! > > The Forest Hill Tavern used to have childrens > entertainers every Saturday through the summer, > magicians and the like, I remember watching them > with a bottle of Coke with a straw and a packet of > crisps, again probably early - mid 80's. > > Spar on Forest Hill Road opposite the cemetary, so > handy for those of us who lived at the top of > Forest Hill Road! > > The vegetable hut at the bottom of Forest Hill > Road, known to locals as 'The Hut'. > > 'The Wool Shop' at the botton of Forest Hill Road, > Owned by Ray and his mum, they sold all sorts in > there! > > The Moore Park on Wood Vale (think that may be > SE23 though) many memories of under age drinking > and pool playing till the early hours. > > The Irish shop being on Underhill Road. > > The Chinese/chippy on Whateley Road by the police > station, 10p onion rings, we used to buy as many > as we could afford and just walk home eating > them! > > The 12A bus. > > I'm sure I'll think of many more! I remember all of these, especially the Moore Park Hotel. We used to spend far too much time in there, and even had our wedding reception in two of the upstairs rooms in 1980! I used to love the wool shop in Forest Hill Road, and I remember the vegetable hut really clearly. I used to get my meat from Linghams the butcher, which I think was in what is now part of the supermarket. One of the nicest restaurants I can remember was located in Forest Hill Road ,albeit very briefly - Casa Natalina. And I can remember eating in all of the different incarnations of Anatolia over many years.

I've used this car park for over 20 years, and it's always been clear that you have to either pay or get a free ticket if you're going to be less than 30 minutes. I don't agree that the visibility of the Pay and Display signs is poor, and have never seen anyone who didn't appear to know that they had to pay to park.

Thanks for that. So it sounds like it should still be possible to turn out of Melford Road onto Lordship Lane once the work has been completed. I'm assuming that if the road is made one way, traffic will be prevented from turning into Melford Road from LL rather than the other way round.

Does anyone know the nature of the roadworks which are being carried out at the junction of Melford Road with Lordship Lane? The end of the road has been closed for a couple of weeks now, and I know there were suggestions in the past about making this section of Melford Road one way.

I've read through all three pages, and I'm amazed that, in a thread about dog poo, no-one has asked the most crucial question of all - what has happened to the white dog poo that used to litter the streets when I was young? You could never go anywhere without passing pile upon pile of white doggy turds. Where have they gone? :-S

Good grief! The last time I looked I was distinctly female!

I've read the OP several times now, and I'm struggling to understand the justification of her complaint. Whilst the man concerned sounds as though he was unnecessarily rude, to be honest, if I was in a hurry to use the machine in a bank and was prevented from doing so by someone who was faffing around with all her possessions spread around everywhere and not actually using the machine, I think I would have been extremely irritated as well. I would never dream of starting a transaction at an ATM or blocking access to it until I had my card in my hand, and was ready to start using it immediately. It's a bit like people in supermarkets who suddenly realise that they just might be expected to get their purse or wallet out to pay for their purchases when they've packed every last thing away, and hold up the queue for ages whilst they search for their card.