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Glemham

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Posts posted by Glemham

  1.  

    Whilst we wait for DulvilleRes to answer some of the points raised above. Here is a letter from a long-standing member of the Dulwich Society sent to members of the Executive Committee:

     

    I  attended the AGM and SGM on Monday expecting to gain some understanding of the issues regarding the proposed new rules of the charity as the information in the letter giving notice of the meetings was very confusing. From the beginning of the meeting it was clear that this was not an environment for informed decision making. A Chair is there to facilitate, not dominate, and should not use his position as an opportunity to impose his own views. In addition,  holding the two meetings together, which the members had wished to avoid, resulted in rushing things through, constant checking of watches and reminders that we had to be out of the building by 10.  The  long inappropriate speech at the beginning left inadequate time for the discussion  which was necessary in order to make informed decisions. There were deliberate attempts to promote guilt in the members for wasting money which could be better spent elsewhere, quoting £2000+  as the cost of providing the meeting.  The instruction from the Chair on how we must vote, and the threat that all trustees would resign and the Society would cease to exist at 9.45 pm  if we did not comply, was outrageous.

    I cannot imagine that any decision obtained in this way can possibly be acceptable in law.
     Correspondence relating to the SGM request shows that the Members acted in accordance with all the rules and  the correct time frame, giving a very clear account of their reasons for requesting such a meeting. Yet the Chair repeated that no notice was given of the  SGM request, and 'Nobody bothered to turn up to the meeting'  arranged by the trustees on  April 14th,  when in fact members had notified him that no one would be attending. Unfortunately the rather peevish inaccurate  version has now been posted on East Dulwich Forum.  
              I am a very long time member of Dulwich society, and  am shocked at the way in which this has unfolded  with such lack of  regard for the members and such an undemocratic approach. Working in the best interest of the Charity includes respecting its members, and listening to any concern which they may raise, it is not just about saving money. 
  2. Why has Southwark designated the space outside St Christopher’s Hospice main charity shop in Lordship Lane as a Lime bike park? This shop depends on donations that often have to be delivered by car. Parking in nearby roads can be difficult. Surely along the length of Lordship Lane there are more appropriate sites for the bikes which some businesses might welcome. It seems really mean and thoughtless to restrict the delivery space outside the Hospice shop.

    Does anyone know how much Southwark Council is being paid to have Lime bikes in the Borough?

  3.   Kathleen Olander said:

    I have received some parcels today 48 hour tracked and posted 16th and 18th October! No wonder

    Royal Mail don't want their Track and Trace system to work


    Spent the morning paying back sellers that have already refunded me.

     

    I’ve just had a chat with the postman delivering a tracked parcel from M&S which I ordered only a couple of days ago. I asked about an undelivered parcel that was sent to me on October 28 and was told that as it wasn’t a tracked item it wouldn’t be given priority, and is almost certainly in a large pile of similar items.

    He had a lot to say about his working conditions and his belief that private companies will soon take over delivering letters.

    He advised me to post extra early for Christmas!

  4.   Bic Basher said:

    I finally received some post today. Private Eye from a fortnight ago, utility vouchers posted on the 3rd November, one of the three parcels I'm waiting for and a whole load of junk.

     

    Ironically it seems to be postcode related as in SE22 I too had my almost-2-weeks-late copy of Private Eye delivered yesterday. My son living just a 15 minute walk away in SE21 had his latest one delivered this morning. I pay for both subscriptions but am thinking of cancelling mine as I have had to buy the last two editions locally. I was wondering if Royal Mail could be sued for withholding my property without a legitimate excuse!

  5. Dulwich does have history in being hostile to ex Tory PMs. When Margaret Thatcher, as a local VIP resident, switched on the Christmas lights in the Village, eggs were thrown at her. She didn’t last long in the ghetto, sorry gated community, on the South Circular and was soon living in the safety of Belgravia.

    She was also reputed to dislike the drive through Brixton on her way to Westminster. Can’t imagine why…..

  6. All day yesterday and again this morning there are two sprinklers watering the Alleyn’s playing field which is visible only to residents of Dovercourt and Woodwarde Roads. The result is a green oasis surrounded by parched gardens. This playing field doesn’t get much use, but the school is a business so no doubt is allowed to waste water in this way.

    At the weekend homes in and around Burbage Road in Dulwich Village were without water due to a major leak, but Thames Water hasn’t introduced a hosepipe ban. It is known to be the worst of the water companies, paying their senior management grotesquely high salaries and bonuses whilst having the worst record for leakage.

    As we’re all beginning to realise that water is the most precious commodity would renationalising it really be worse than what we have now?

  7. Here's a link to an excellent account of the Grove Tavern Saga which in 2022 will ?celebrate? its 10th anniversary. This Saga has it all: a brewery owned by a hedge fund, incompetent landlords, a toothless local authority, and an amenity society so enamoured of Dulwich's past that it has seemingly little interest in its future.

    Meanwhile the Grove DIY skateboarders put them all to shame.


    https://www.dulwichsociety.com/journal-archive/130-spring-2020/1872-the-grove-tavern-saga-by-mike-foster

  8. scrawford Wrote:

    -------------------------------------------------------

    > It?s ridiculous to conflate any increase or

    > decrease in cycling with the Dulwich Village or

    > Melbourne Grove LTN. As a cyclist I will use

    > normal roads, cycle highways, or cycle lanes. The

    > issue is the increase or decrease in car traffic

    > on surrounding streets. As a cyclist the LTNs have

    > made other roads much more dangerous for me, as

    > stopped traffic is much more dangerous and also

    > polluting to cycle through than free flowing

    > traffic.


    Thank you scrawford for making this point, as a cyclist, which cuts through all the hot air on this thread and, for me, sums up the opposition to LTNs.

  9. The traffic situation on roads in and around the impermeable Dulwich Village junction is about to get very interesting. The new owners of the old SG Smith site in the middle of the Village have given the Dulwich Society notice of their intention to start work on September 6, the first day of the new school term for many local children. Aquinna Homes are to develop the site for 10 large family homes and 2 apartments complete with underground car parking.


    This raises some interesting points:

    1. Southwark Council has presumably agreed a Construction Management Plan with the developers. Where will all the construction traffic, which for a start will involve removing huge amounts of earth for the underground parking, access the site and where will it be parked? In Gilkes Crescent, ?Dulwich Square?, Calton Avenue?..?


    2. How will the CMP give protection to all the schoolchildren, pedestrians, residents and cyclists who will be using the pavements and roads immediately adjacent to the site every day?


    3. Why is Southwark Council, by presumably agreeing to the car parking, encouraging car ownership when its avowed policy is to discourage residents from using or indeed owning a car?


    The Dulwich Estate sold this site four years ago for ?5.25 million at a time when the Trustees were looking for a replacement site for their Almshouses. They should have built new flats for their residents and local people wanting to downsize to an affordable home. Most of the proceeds from the sale went to three of their beneficiaries: the already wealthy independent schools.

  10. What can we do? Well one thing is to stop the building of 12 large houses with underground car parking on the old SG Smith site in the middle of Dulwich Village. It has just been announced that McCulloch Builders who paid the Dulwich Estate ?5.25million for the site a few years ago and left it looking like a WWII bomb site, have now sold it on to Aquinna Homes who intend to carry out the original plan, which has planning permission from Southwark, to build 12 large expensive homes complete with underground car parking. How does encouraging residents to own cars fit with the Council?s policy of LTNs, particularly in the area that has become the focus of so much community dispute?

    The site would have been the perfect place for the new Almshouses which the Estate has been trying to relocate for over 80 years, plus some reasonably priced retirement flats.

    The construction will entail removing the old fuel tanks and tons of earth to make way for the underground car parking.

    When this plan was first put forward someone estimated that it would involve 1,000 lorry loads to remove the earth. Which roads will bear the brunt of this and all the other construction traffic?

    On their website Aquinna describe the development as ? 12 family homes in a semi-rural idyll - a conservation village with fabulous schools? and plan for them to be available from Summer next year...........

  11. A couple of months ago I watched a large SUV park in my road ( which serves as an overspill car park for Alleyn?s School) and the driver get out, take a small bike from the boot, and then follow behind as a small uniformed boy ?cycled? on the pavement to a nearby private Junior School. No doubt the boy is one of the statistics showing the increase in the number of children cycling to school.
  12. Allegedly the Dulwich Estate still receives ?100,000 a year from Stonegate who hold the lease. So is it any surprise that the Estate seems to be uninterested in doing anything about the eyesore. On their website page outlining their values and aims they declare that ?we strive to achieve a standard of quality that creates an exceptional neighbourhood?.........thedulwichestate.org.uk.But equally the Council seems reluctant to find a way around the impasse with a solution that will benefit the local community.
  13. At last in this thread the spark of an intelligent solution. Better public transport - whatever form it takes - both within, and connecting this area to a world beyond, Dulwich. Thanks rch for the prompt.

    For example; many people travel to and from Beckenham and Bromley for work, schools and shopping. Relatively easy by car but it takes two bus journeys from East Dulwich to Beckenham and beyond. How possible would it be to persuade TfL to make a new route, perhaps with some of the buses being ?express? ones, to encourage less car use?

    There are undoubtedly other areas which would benefit from this kind of rethink about use of local public transport. Crowdfunding could help in getting some thinking outside of this particular box. If only a few short years ago Southwark had accepted an alternative, crowd-funded plan for the Dulwich Village Junction ................

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