Blah Blah

No need to wait until next year. They always run a post event feedback meeting. And yes, they were using some new contractors this year because the previous ones were not good enough by their own admission.

This is where I sit too. A two day event is bearable. Three tests my tolerance. Finding the right balance on size, noise and impact is where I contribute to the consultation process. BUT, as I wrote elsewhere, every year the GALA organisers ask/ push for more, and deals have already been done with the council before it gets to public consultation stage. It is also worth pointing out that when a licence was first granted, the orgnaisation was different (We Are the Fair), one of the company directors lived literally next to the park (she left when it became GALA) and the current form bears no resemblance to original ethos/ vision sold to the council and licensing committee. This needs to be pointed out and I am fairly confident local councillors would also support a pushback on any further expansion. We have local elections next year, so councillors ears will be open.

There is no question that the events team makes exceptions to the promoted ethos of Southwark Council on green and ecological standards. This is part of the frustration when challenging the decision to allow an event of this kind in that part of the park. It's hypocrisy, and it's entirely commercially led. Other events have always been held on the common, be that the circus, fun fairs, even the two day Irish festival (back in the day). None of those events have ever caused anything like the level of disurbance or damage to the park and common. Local councillors will tell you that every year, the GALA organisers demand more and more and every year they have to be opposed by those same local councillors. It's exhausting. The consultaions are nothing to do with questioning of the event itself, but are designed to make tweaks and allay fears, because the deal is already done with the council events team by the time things get to that. It's so disrespectful to the idea of consultation and what that should mean.

There is emerging research that nesting birds are impacted by festival noise, especially starlings. Some species rely on acoustic signals that are disrupted by the kind of noise a four day festival produces Why is this research emerging? Because the number of these types of events in urban settings is increasing, and it takes time to do the research and observations required. Evolution is a slow porcess taking thousands of years in most cases. Nesting birds don't evolve to these sudden events, they leave. If there are chicks already hatched, that's a problem. If they don't come back to nest, that alters the local ecology. It matters. This is something I have been looking into and will finally have some case studies to make both the council and event organisaers aware of moving forward. As you say, birds don't know that a huge wall of sound is about to hit them for four days. It disrupts the acoustic fequencies they rely on.

They never disclose that, citing 'commercial confidentiality'. On nesting birds. This has been brought up several times at consultations, asking if the event can change to another time of the year that avoids the nesting season. As you can see, no-one is listening.

None of it is spent in the area local to Peckham Rye Park. This is something the council need to be pressed on. The 'Community Day' has started their sound checks and it's clear that is also going to be a day of loud music. So concerns about event creep are valid I think. As today is a seperate event, using the infrastructure, we will wait and see if the same noise abatement processes are in place. For those who say it's only a few days etc. Try living next door to blasting noise for 12 hours a day for three (now four) days and see how good your mental state is at the end of that. Yes there are balances to be struck but the distress of many local residents and those concerend about the damage to the park (and wildlife in it) are valid and real.

It's permitted because the council grants an events licence. But if you were to blast music from your back garden for 10 hours a day accross four days, they'd shut you down on day one. There will be a noise plan in place, but it is probably the same as the one for the GALA festival, which dismisses any breach of the agreed noise levels as long as they are brought back within limits witihn 15 minutes. In other words, a breach is never really a breach according to the council. This is why local residents feel exasperated.

You are not the only one no. Local residents are fighting Lambeth through the courts over the increased use of Brockwell Pak for these types of events. And there is the GALA festival on the Rye this weekend, also unbearable at times, although it seems to be a bit quieter today. Brockwell Park is probably more complicated in terms of noise management, because the entire park is on the side of a hill. The Rye at least is sunken in a bit where they locate the festival.

The other thing I do at an ATM, is cover the card slot with my right hand while the card is in there. I then use my left hand for the rest. If a card does not come out, then you can look for a skimming device and remove it, ATMs are badly designed imo. They could be recessed to make side sccess impossible for a would be theif. The pin number aspect is a weakness also.

Amazing how fast he was. He literally had something like a minute between stealing the card and using another cashpoint before it was blocked. The bank will return the money but willing to bet he will hit that same ATM with the same ruse again at some point.

Cardtronics do Londis too, so that could be where he went. Worth asking the Police to source CCTV from there and the ATM itself.

The co-op uses ATMs operated by Cardtronics, and they also operate a digital ATM service (meaning he could have made those transactions electronically). That cashpoint is operated by Natwest. It sounds like he brought up their 'Get Cash' scheme screen as the distraction (a way that allows Natwest customers to withdraw cash without needing to use their card). So he was using a skimming device to steal your card in that moment, but brought up the Get Cash screen to distract you while he did that. Your confusion was just long enough for him to get away. Card thieves are incredibly slick. Here is some info on Natwest Get Cash for reference - 'To use a Get Cash code at a NatWest ATM, you first initiate the withdrawal through the NatWest mobile app, which generates a secure code. You then visit a compatible ATM (NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, or Tesco ATMs). At the ATM, press the "Enter" key and follow the on-screen prompts, entering the code twice. The code is valid for 3 hours, and if expired, funds will be recredited to your account.' I use that cashpoint all the time, so it's good to know if a local thief is targetting Natwest ATMs.

So this noise misery has to be endured on a Thursday this year, as well as a Friday? Not to mention the change of location. Southwark really are taking the P.

Royal Mail is still pretty much the only postal service for letters/ cards etc. So lack of competition is why they don't care. A different matter though when it comes to tracked parcels and items for which there is a lot of other courier competition, although they manage to lose a fair few of those too. We used UPS for all our parcels before Xmas and everything arrived the next day. Haven't seen a single Xmas card through Royal Mail yet. Last year we got those during the second week of January. Clearly they dump non tracked items in a corner over xmas and sort them when they get round to it. But what can any of us do about that? Nothing.

There were three people with a loudspeaker in Peckham Rye a few days handing out leaflets, which contained a mix of poor understanding of science (well no understanding to be honest), distortion of data, and an underlying motive of conspiracy 'New World Order' theories. Not really sure what they hope to achieve to be honest.

To be fair, they did have to set fire to an entire library to keep from freezing. I guess they dialed deliveroo for food deliveries.

Easynow Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi Blah Blah, > > Just wanted to highlight a couple of things, those > of us who have been lucky enough to be able to > work from home during the pandemic have had to > endure lots of building work and children > screaming all day every day when the school were > closed. There was no opportunity to close the door > when the temp was 32 degrees +, yet some of us had > to still work our normal hours and cope with all > those added distractions. Many people don't want > to have children, as is their right, or worse > would love to have children yet for many reasons, > can't, and these people live next door to families > with young children and deal with them screaming, > laughing, crying etc. all through the night and > all through the day and they don't complain to > you. > > I think it would be really kind if you had a think > about how much your children affect your > neighbours throughout the year, not only 3 days, > and perhaps thought about how they felt about > that. I'm sure they are very pleasant to your > children despite the fact that they wake them > up/keep them awake/ruin their relaxing time in the > garden and have never mentioned a gripe. > > Perhaps a bit of the old "Do unto others as you > wish to be done by" is relevant here. If you're > certain that your children are so peaceful and > quiet that they never cry/scream/shout and have > annoyed people who have to work from home during > this pandemic then please accept my apologies, but > unless you breed robots, I sincerely doubt that is > possible. My children don't make disruptive noise for ten hours a day three days in a row. Maybe try comparing like for like next time.

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hpsaucey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Elusive Shadow Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > No point arguing on here, let the moaners moan. > If it wasnt this festival, it would be something > else to moan about this weekend then onto the > next > thing next week." > > Would it? I've been following this thread and > really wonder where's people's empathy for others > has gone. 'Moaning' and struggling with the noise > impact are two very different things. It's evident > from this year and others that the sound from Gala > carries in strange ways; also that people's > personal noise tolerances also vary for many > reasons. > > HP Quite. I would love to see where I show a track record of moaning about stuff every weekend. The truth is I don't. I expect there to be one day events and house parties etc, at various times of the year. So I really fail to understand how anyone can not see the difference between that, and 30 hours of very loud music across three consecutive days, one of which is a working weekday for most who work. There was no warning of an extra day, none whatsoever.

DuncanW Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Gala have offered residents heavily discounted > tickets each year since they started. And they are limited to just 400 out of the 17k sold. Hardly generous. But again, the real issue here is that a two day festival was allowed a third day, a day that is a working day for most. The council changed the existing licence to allow that with no regard for or consultation with local residents seemingly.

Lebanums Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The park is for everyone, and we are a community. > All of us older ones have been partying in our > time without a care for anyone else. Let's put > this in perspective, it was 3 days or 30 hours of > party, as previously said, that's 362 days of > peace and quiet, and it finished at 10, so it was > not keeping anyone up in the evening, sorry for > those on shifts. Many people have had works done > to their home during lockdown, which lasted way > more than 3 days. I'm sure we were all more > accommodating for our neighbours... > > The partygoers were respectful. I get some > comments about weeing & bottles, but there have > been many groups hanging around drinking in Sexby > gardens for months with their nicked Borris bikes, > leaving their bottles on the ground, so Gala > cannot be held responsible for one or two ignorant > individuals. > > Regarding the state of the grass, the grass at the > entrance of Dunstans has disappeared, but this has > been like this since lockdown began, so can't all > be blamed on the festival. The site will repair > itself as it has done in the past, and I'm sure I > will find you all on here next year with the same > complaints. So until then I bid you goodbye. No it finished at 10.30 and those with children had a terrible weekend. This is not the same as having work done on the home at all. Noise around that type of work has to finish by 7 by law. Most workmen finish by 4.30 in reality. Where I do agree is in the event being well organised. No other issues with it. The noise wasn't at a constant level either. Live bands and MCs seemed to suddenly get loud and I suspect there was some riding of the volumes. But the key thing here is that the licence granted in 2018 was for a TWO day event once a year until end of 2021. Somewhere, the council decided to change that licence, and did so without consultation. That is what I personally will be challenging with the local councillors.

Roachy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Went to all three days and had the time of my > life. After 18 months of no festivals Gala was the > perfect comeback. Those complaining about noise, > buy earplugs next time. And that is the selfish response that typifies the average festival goer it seems. Not against the event for the last time, but think the location is too close to people's houses, which it definitely is.

Okay, let's be clear here. This WAS a very noisy event. It also ran for TEN hours a day, for THREE days. Previously it was two days. If it were a one day event. I wouldn't be complaining, just as I don't complain about the occasional house party that disturbs me. But THREE days? That is 30 hours of loud bass on my doorstep. It is not a laughing matter. As for what young people have had to put up with etc, we have all had to put up with a lot over the last 18 months. Some people were working 90 hours a week dealing with waves of seriously ill people, so spare me the bs because kids can't party. Now it appears, the same company want to lease the Bowling Green to destroy the peace and quiet of the gardens that surround it on a regular basis! Where does it stop? It is a park, not a nightclub. Are there no commercial music venues this company can rent? I despair that such a proposal is even shortlisted.

jazzer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It was banging out loud enough even up the hill > last night. Are these events not governed by the > no. of db's and if exceeded, need to be reduced. > Where's the noise team??? It is worse at night because other ambient noise drops. Not sure how they measure decibel levels to be honest. If it is loud enough to interfere with other noise, then it is too loud. And it is too warm to keep all the windows shut for three days.

jazzer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It was banging out loud enough even up the hill > last night. Are these events not governed by the > no. of db's and if exceeded, need to be reduced. > Where's the noise team??? > I do feel very sorry for those in the midst of the > intolerable bass. > Today Hornimans Gardens are closed for the Jerk > music and burnt food event that they have brought > back, so stuck in the middle of the two. > It seems to be all about ?? Money at the expense > of local residents. Indeed. Right now all I can hear are drums drums drums. I have two very tired kids and and two more days of this crap. The music is audible well beyond two mins away. I worked an early shift and am now supposed to be sleeping before my early shift tm. So am in no mood for stupid people who think I am being a selfish party pooper because some council official decided it was a good idea to put a three day music festival that runs until 10.30 at night on my doorstep. There are better, less disruptive locations for this kind of event, end of.