east-of-the-Rye

I thought this policeman on Consort Road was great, with a lovely smile, but someone tagged his face (before I took this picture) and changed his expression.The whole picture was, I suppose, graffiti, and has gone now - there are houses there now.

https://www.clpe.org.uk/corebooks/six-dinner-sid obviously, buy it from Chener or Rye books rather than on-line...

I would think that the weather has probably sorted out the situation...

when the shop fronts were renewed a few years ago, the old sign, covering all 3 shops, "Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society" was revealed, then covered up again. The bit under the Monleys sign is still there I think.

Yes, I do - they were installed at the end(s) of Rye Lane, there was a huge amount of publicity before they became operational, a few people tried to follow buses over the lowered bollards, the bollards rose up promptly, the cars were damaged, the South London Press seemed to take the side of the car drivers and the council sadly (I think) abandoned the bollards.

Would you and your neighbours like to organise "play street" sessions on your road - but need some support to do so? Play streets are when a road is closed to through traffic for a couple of hours, typically after school, to allow children to play out. Southwark Council can issue temporary play street orders which allow residents to close their streets to through traffic for up to 3 hours once a month. Southwark Living Streets and Play London have some resources to offer: - materials to help you explain the benefits of play and play streets to your neighbours, - support in submitting applications and dealing with paperwork, - advice on the practicalities involved and tackling any challenges that could arise in your street We can provide starter packs of street toys - chalk, skipping ropes, water squirter, big blocks - but probably the children who come out will have ideas of their own what they want to do. We can also give ?200 towards the cost of buying other toys you or your children would like. If you are interested, you can contact me or contact Peter Wright at Southwark Living Streets : [email protected]

We've also asked that the chained up gate into the cemetery opposite the southern end of Kelvington Road be opened and made a regular access point into the cemetery. It reduces the distance (from the Cheltenham Road area of Nunhead) through the cemetery a little and might persuade a few more people that it's (almost) quicker and certainly nicer to walk through the cemetery from Nunhead to Honor Oak Park Station than get the sardine-tin otherwise known as the P12.

This is a good volunteering website: https://do-it.org/opportunities/search you can search according to where you live, how far you want to travel, what type of activities, and what times of day you want to volunteer etc.

Here is a useful website - you can search volunteering opportunities by type and by distance from your postcode. As Pugwash says, you can contact St Christopher's directly but if that doesn't work out, then try this: https://do-it.org/ By the way, my experience of arranging for a friend's daughter to volunteer in a St Christopher's shops was that they weren't great at getting back to me, (but I expect that their office may be staffed by volunteers too) but once the arrangement was set up, she had a good time working there for a few weeks, and I hope she was useful to them.

It does sound draconian the way it is described but closing roads for events isn't exactly unusual - several of us round here had street parties in the summer - our road was closed to traffic (not people) from 12 midday until evening. There was plenty of publicity and people who knew they would need to use their cars in that time parked them somewhere else - actually everyone had to move their cars. I agree it may be difficult to find alternative parking near Southwark Park.

yes there is a good sub-post-office in the Forest Hill Road row of shops - i live in Nunhead and to be honest go to that one rather that the soon-to-close one on Rye Lane. The staff seem to know what they are doing, including checking checking passport applications, the shop has a wide range of papers and magazines and stationary and it's a nice walk / cycle ride through the park. There is a queue at times, but not always. Nunhead hasn't had a PO for some time.

I put up two A4 posters about this on Friday morning on the cemetery railings on Brenchley Gardens and two on the railings facing Honor Oak Park, By the time I came home at 6pm, they had been removed. I thought maybe the cemetery management removed them, although there were also posters for vintage clothes sales, allotment open days and concerts there too. So this morning I put up one of the Network Rail fence near the station - it too had gone by 6pm. So, if you do like the idea of more access through the cemetery, please complete the consultation, as clearly someone does not like the idea!

As well as the controversial changes in Camberwell Old Cemetery and on the hill in Camberwell New Cemetery (please can those issues stay in their own thread please?) it is also planned to use the currently unused, and mostly concreted-over, (plant) nursery site (Area B) beside Honor Park (the road) as a burial ground. There is an opportunity here to ensure that walking and cycling routes through the cemetery are improved. Many people use it during opening hours as a safe and less-polluted way of getting from the Honor Oak area to schools in Nunhead and Hatcham and in the other direction from south Nunhead to the nearest station - Honor Oak Park. The plans at the moment do not include any extra access to the cemetery except the current one through the car park. There will be a path through and around the new area going fairly close to the station, and a new access point could be added here, which would benefit people walking there, and allow a safer entrance/exit for cylists than the current one which is on a narrow bend in the road. If you are interested in this, have a look at the consultation which is here: Camberwell New Cemetery Honor Oak - Southwark London Borough Council Consultation Hub - Citizen Space https://consultations.southwark.gov.uk/environment-leisure/camberwell-new-cemetery-consultation If you want to comment on anything about the plans, you have to do so by 22/7/16.

Thanks for your ideas, he's got two volunteering jobs now - one at an environmental project and one a charity shop, and doing some coaching at a homework club so we'll see how those go. The experience he's getting may help him get a job too. Thanks again.

My 18 year son started university but some things went wrong and he has taken Leave of Absence until next October. He's back with us looking for a job. He's never been a very sociable person and the few friends he had at school are either at distant universities or in Australia(!). He may find a job with great social life - but he may not. Where can an 18 year old make friends or at least acquaintances? - sports is an option but although he's quite active, he's not particularly good at any sport so from what I can see of the Dulwich Sports Clubs wouldn't be able to join much there. Most "Meet Up" type clubs seem to be aimed at people in their 20-30s or older. Any ideas?

Hi we went to one of Reykjavik's municipal pools at Laugardalslaugin: an outdoor 50m pool and an outdoor fun pool (slides etc.) also an indoor one but i didn't try that. We went in the early evening after a full day out walking on a glacier (surprisingly gritty as covered with volcanic ash), it was September, the temperature was 9 - 10 centigrade outside, the leisure pool about 28c, and the 50m a little cooler for energetic swimming - it was bliss swimming in the setting sun. There are "hot pots" around the side where you can sit and get very hot. The changing rooms (women's anyway) are really clean, everyone must shower completely before getting in, (with a diagram showing which parts of the body must be washed!) and it's also very cheap. I loved it so much i went back the next evening.

Try offering them to charity shops - my elderly mother, whose eyesight is getting worse, likes listening to tapes, particularly book readings / story tapes (which may not be what the main posting is about!) She is luckily able to buy them on line from charity shops and commented that the supply seems to be drying up.

just a little more information in case someone else sees this and is motivated to join in: the school has a Senior and Middle School String Orchestra, a Big Band, a Vocal Consort, a Symphonic and Concert Band, Senior and Middle school choirs, various temporary (depending on student numbers) Flute, Clarinet and other Trios and groups, and some years a Gospel Choir too. They put on Middle School and Senior Concerts each year, a musical, an opera and a Christmas concert, and various performances at Southwark Cathedral. So plenty to get involved with.

Both my sons went there, the younger one left last year and the older one a couple of years before that, so their experience won't necessarily be that of someone starting in Year 7 next year. I think it is a good school. It isn't perfect and there were frustrations, but I did feel that the teachers right up to the senior staff liked children and tried their best for them. All of education is full of testing and results now and HAHC was just the same, but there were some really great things happening, particularly in the music department. They had a very characterful Head of Music for 25 years who sadly died a couple of years ago, he got loads of pupils through their GCSEs and A=Levels, and organised great concerts and operas. The next Head of Music who also had very high standards but didn't stay so long, and I understand that there is now a Head of Music and Drama. Music is certainly taken very seriously. Both my sons played instruments with differing levels of success but both were able to play in a concert or symphonic band and both sang in the choir (until they finally refused to...) The school really prides itself on academic achievement - its GCSE results aren't as good as they used to be but that is presumably because it is now truly comprehensive and has to do its best with its intake. But they send lots to Oxbridge, Russell Group and other universities and colleges of music. For a different career path, a group of boys who left in 2011 formed a band (Chainska Brassica) and supported Madness on tour this summer! If your child does go there, make sure you join the Friends of Askes, a parent group that runs a parent forum and fund raises for the drama, music and PE departments. Good luck with the decision!

Thanks Elloriac. I agree that the plans do not suggest access will get worse, it's just that I think it is an opportunity to make it better.

Do you walk through Camberwell New Cemetery on your way from East Dulwich to Brockley or Nunhead to Honor Oak Park Station or any other route? As most of us know, Southwark has plans to alter Camberwell New and Old Cemeteries. The "Save Southwark Woods" postings have information about this. Whether or not the all plans do go ahead, it's likely that the change of use of the old nursery (concreted area) of the cemetery will happen and with it some changes to access at the Honor Oak Park end. I'd like to try and make sure that the needs of pedestrians using this as a healthy off-road route to work or school are not overlooked. I'm going to contact the council officials and councillors to ask that access points are in sensible places for pedestrians and also that disused gates e.g. opposite Kelvington Avenue are opened up. It would be good to know if anyone else would be interested in this too. Let me know the routes you take and if you think there should be new access points. Thanks!

I (and my son) are thinking of putting him onto a couple of 3 day Easter revision courses in Maths & Chemistry to help him get through his A-levels. Companies out there include Excel in Key subjects (which we are looking at in particular) but I'm also aware that Justin Craig and others run course. Does anyone have any knowledge about any of these companies and how helpful they are? thanks.

I've suggested in the past that there could be a playing field for Ivydale School - with their expansion planned into the old Bredinghurst School site, and not much extra open space, it would be very useful. As a school playing field it could be kept locked up when not in use(sadly for the rest of us) but be a really great asset for the children as only a 5 minute walk from the school. The Honor Oak Reservoir has a golf course on it so presumably any terrorist intent on blowing up / poisoning our water just has to start playing golf?

unfortunately, the staff seem to wear out side shoes on the pool side too...

after careful consideration of all the ideas (& I do sympathise with Louisa) I now actually have a stomach ache from laughing so much. Thank you! p.s. what about people who stand by the bus doors then don't get off. or does that need another post...