Adam

From Alleyn's: The incident that caused me to write to some parents over the weekend involved the robbery of two phones and an aggressive confrontation from a group of pupils at a nearby school. I do want to reassure you that our pupils are physically safe. This took place at a bus stop and involved a number of our pupils, in a large group, some of whom were able to return to school. We called 999 as a result. Following this incident, I have been in touch with the school and the police, who are undertaking a criminal investigation. I have been able to send film footage that I received, and the incident was reported independently in addition to our own call to the police. I have maintained contact with the police after two similar incidents, although with no robbery or issues of physical contact, in the early days of this week. We have also maintained contact with senior leaders at the nearby school. I also wanted to summarise some of the additional measures we are putting in place in response to this. We have requested a greater presence of police at particular times of the day – just as I have done before when reports of attempted or actual robbery have regrettably occurred. We have spoken to all the pupils in a whole-school assembly, in tutor time and in a year group assembly, passing on the advice from police that we pass on regularly to parents (at the end of this AP I shall reiterate that advice). Because one particular pressure at this time is the re-routing of the TfL bus network, thanks to roadworks continuing on Lordship Lane, we have asked children not to congregate at the bus stop near the Tessa Jowell Health Centre on East Dulwich Grove although we understand, of course, that this is a route for many pupils to walk home or to find their (re-routed or usual) bus. We have reminded them all to be mindful of their surroundings as they travel, and to know that we have staff here until later in the afternoon if they have any concerns. We were already in the process of recruiting additional security staff to join our team, and X is also targeting trained staff who can take a role in having a presence in the streets near the site. Again, we recognise, of course, that some incidents occur far away from the School, but we hope that this additional staff presence will provide greater reassurance to our pupils as they travel. We remain in close contact with other local schools and we will be reporting our concerns to our MP and working with the police and neighbourhood groups to raise community attention about these matters. Our Schools Liaison Police Officer will be coming in to school to speak directly to our pupils in the coming days.

Alleyn's pupils have been told (in school assembly) to not walk via East Dulwich Grove because of the problem. It's a very sad situation when kids can't take the bus home because they are being targeted by other kids. Don't assume that kids are being obvious with their phones. They know about the risks yet are still being targeted. I agree it's for the schools and police (and parents) to do something about it, but it's also useful for people to know what's going on. With my original post I was hoping to better understand the situation and if anyone knew of any action being taken.

I'm told pupils from Alleyn's School were mugged by some Charter School pupils on Friday on East Dulwich Grove at the bus stop. Does anyone know any details of what happened and if Charter School is doing anything about it?

Hi all. My elderly mother needs a stair rail fitted, which we have bought, but we’re not sure about the wall it’s going into which may have metal in its construction (it’s a modern build). Can anyone recommend someone who is good with fitting stair rails or is just generally very competent with this type of project? My dad could do with some help before my mum returns from hospital…

@EDResident2018 - how are you liking the ID.4? How long does it take to charge on a lamppost? Is it a lot cheaper than petrol?

Thanks everyone for the replies so far! Very useful info! We hired a Tesla for the day and loved it! I didn't try charging it but I took the cable out and saw that it wouldn't stretch to my house across the pavement from the road, so I am interested to know whether it is possible to get longer cables or extensions, but without having to go down to the slow charging of the 3-pin household plug. @Stuka - the gulley solution in Oxford sound very interesting! Anyone from the council know if this could be trialled in ED?

We are thinking of getting a fully electric car, but we don't have off-street parking so I am keen to learn more about the realties of charging in the area! We're on Friern Road. What are the different local charging options, and how easy is it to use them? Do you have to sign up with lots of services? Do you have to book? How much do they cost? What charging speeds do they offer? I have just read the app store reviews (1 star average!) for Source London who have the chargers on Townley Road and there is a lot of unhappiness with the service. People are also saying the cost (70p/kwh I think) is a total rip off. How about the lamppost chargers? Are they far too slow? Trying to work out whether getting an EV without off street parking is going to be too much hassle. What is the council doing to make EVs more feasible? All tips and insights welcome! Thank you!

Thank you all very much for your responses. Much appreciated!

Hi all My parents are looking for a good solicitor to advise on obtaining the ?right to manage? from their freeholder. Situation is particularly difficult with freeholder being MYN (awful to deal with). Others may have useful experiences to share. This is a big ongoing stress for my parents and the other leaseholders. Grateful for any help or advice. Many thanks!

Does anyone know anyone good to help us with this? Thanks!

We have a number of doors that don't fit properly in their frames due to movement in the house. Does anyone know someone who could do a good job of adjusting/planing the doors to get them to fit?

Can anyone recommend someone to repair, render and paint our front garden wall? Thanks!

Anyone know of any good clubs or activities for older Primary running over the summer? Sports, music, art, writing, etc...

Thanks for the replies guys. I am curious to know who?s behind it. The guy on this occasion seemed a decent fella, which is why I bought something. Horrible to read about the other cases where the guys were abusive or threatening.

Just had a guy come round selling household products in Friern Road at high prices out of his hold-all. Said he was on a rehab scheme where he gets accommodation paid for but said he couldn't discount his prices. He said the organisation was called Helping Hands. Felt bad for him and bought something for a tenner. I bought something from one of these guys some years back and other times I have told them I'm not interested. But looking online many think this is a scam. Some people even think the guys could be burglars casing properties. There are organisations called "Helping Hands" online but none that seem to involve criminal rehab or this type of selling. Anyone know for sure? I called 101 (as advised on another online thread) but the woman I spoke to was no help.

Hopster is the app that makes screen time smart. Our content helps develop kids? literacy, numeracy and encourages their curiosity. Your little one?s learning is at the heart of everything we do. We?re looking for parents of 2-6-year-olds to help us test some new features in the Hopster app. Testing will take place at our London office, 54 Commercial Street E1 6LT, between 3-14 June 2019. The session will last 45 minutes. You will be reimbursed for travel expenses (within London) and will receive a ?40 Amazon voucher. If you are interested in taking part, please DM me. Many thanks, Adam

Still looking for recommendations for this - thanks!

Looking for recommendations for furniture repair - to fix a designer stool that has had the seat come off. Thanks!

Can anyone please recommend? I'm looking for someone to do some paving/landscaping, fencing and ideally install a cat flap. We have some other medium-sized jobs to do inside the house too, such as routing an extractor. Thanks Adam

moved

My advice, I'm sorry to say, is to avoid George Pistolea. In 2015/2016 he worked on our extension and loft conversion and he has caused us a huge amount of stress over two years. Our project was the largest project he has taken on and he was completely out of his depth. He costed the project completely wrong, we ended up having to pay him significantly more money, and then he left us to work on another project, leaving our project unfinished. Our contract included all electrics, and he assured us he would bring in a qualified electrician, yet because he ran out of budget he tried to do the electrics himself and I got a potentially lethal electric shock. This was particularly scary as I have 2 young kids. I immediately called in an electrician, who also shocked himself on the faulty wiring, and he told me the wiring was a deathtrap. The paintwork on the front of our house started peeling off after just a few weeks. George laid paving stones over the top of our manhole cover so we can't access it. He fitted the Velux so that they don't open properly. He left gaps around our sliding doors so the cold air gets in. There were many other issues too. All of these things can be fixed, but the huge problem with George is that he doesn't know how to organise his business, so rather than sort out the problems he has created for people, he always prioritises the new work that will pay him more. So while he was getting more money from us, he abandoned "rawsparks" (the poster above) leaving her house completely open and unfinished. Then when our project was no longer profitable for him, he went off to work on Timothy & R.Grieve's project. George - if you are reading this - you need to come back and fix these problems for your customers or your reputation will be beyond repair. Timothy above may "be amazed" by rawsparks's comments, but I am not. I believe that Timothy and R.Grieve (2 of the posters above) live together and are big fans of George. I have spoken to R.Grieve at length and his recommendation was a big reason I used George. I also visited the house of "misskathleenmurphy", the other positive poster above, and she had a good experience with George. So I know that on these two projects George has done a good job. But I have also spoken to rawsparks about her project and I know she had a very expensive nightmare with him. George abandoned her project not long before he abandoned our project, to go back and do more work for R.Grieve and Timothy. I am just lucky that I was able to pay George some extra money to finish most of our project, whereas rawsparks ended up in a terrible situation. Timothy patronisingly writes above to rawsparks: "Judging from your urgency to reply to positive recommendations to George's work after such a long time since you did your building project you do seem rather hung up on the situation." This shows a complete lack of empathy for what it is like to experience a traumatic building project. You feel betrayed and exploited by the builder, and it is hard to draw a line and just forget about it because you always hope that he might come back and fix the problems. You also want to make sure others in the neighbourhood don't fall victim to a similar experience. I'm sure Timothy is very happy though because George left our projects to go to work on his. The poster "dean1962" above who accused rawsparks of "trying to sleep with" George is disgraceful and should be banned from this forum for posting such an accusation. I have to say, if George really did say that to him, then this reflects very badly on George as well.

Many thanks to everyone for your responses. I managed to speak to him and basically the story is that he lost money on our project (due to his inexperience at costing projects of this scale) and decided he couldn't afford to come back. He also felt he had finished the project, although from our perspective he clearly hadn't, and there are some significant faults. The whole thing has been a very stressful experience for us.

I'm looking for ideas on how to resolve a situation with our builder. Last summer we started a project to build a wrap-around extension and loft conversion on our terraced house in Friern Road. We decided to go with a builder who was recommended by at least two people on this forum, and we spoke to these people and saw his work. Over the 8 months of the project we built up a very good and trusting relationship with the builder. We had a fixed price for the project, but we gave him more money as we came towards the end as it was clear he had underestimated the whole job (he had not done a project of this scale in London before). We ended up giving him more money and also agreeing to not hold back the 5% we had originally agreed in the contract for a 6-month snagging period. In March we agreed to pay him some extra for a few smaller pieces of work. We have not seen or heard from our builder since March. He has gone to work on another project in the area. As well as the usual snagging, we have a fairly major leak and some electrical issues. I had to call out an electrician after I shocked myself, and then the electrician also shocked himself and described the wiring as lethal. So he's left us in the lurch, and we don't know why. We never had any kind of argument. He is not responding to our messages/calls and he still has our house key. We understand that he is deliberately not calling us (his wife has told us that). He used the council's building control, and we haven't yet got "sign off" from them, as the project isn't completely finished. Maybe they could help us? I am not going to post the builder's name here at this stage, as I want to resolve this amicably. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should do?

Just wanted to recommend a lovely family place in northern Brittany which we have been to the last couple of years: lerhun.com run by 3 generations of the same family who run crepe evenings, know the local area well etc. It's a converted cider farm with 5 or 6 converted farm buildings, shared pool, woods and outdoor play area like pirate ship. Great value and in a really peaceful part of Brittany with beautiful and empty beaches.

Hi Loungers (is this the right place for this kind of question?!) Can anyone recommend someone who can supply good quality bi-fold doors/panels to divide a room in two? The quote I have had from one firm is ?4600, which seems a tad high... Thanks Adam