minder

Hi - this could work I suppose if you are hovering after your baby every half hour but I don't think it's potty training as such. It might work for a while but then baby would regress and it would be much harder work at 2 and a half/3 years old.

Bessemer Grange by the way - not Bessemer Road.

Yes I would go with Jessie's advice. But even if the child was older than 14 months, someone should have been nearby. How do you know they were childminders? There is always a split second when something could happen to a child and the parent isn't looking - but it's good to know there are others around. Where were the one o'clock helpers?

I've just heard them and I live just off Red Post Hill, SE24 - my two cats came bounding in running behind the settee. I feel sorry for people with babies and young children who've just managed to sit down for the night!

Womanofdulwich - I don't think people would hesitate in telling Vik they weren't happy with The Charter or Kingsdale if their kids went to these schools and that was the case. That's why she's asking for advice. My son's tutor, who's had them since Year 7, was in tears a few weeks ago when the Year 11's left. My son was sad to leave as well although he's got a place at the 6th Form College there so can't stay away for long. I would have taken them out of Charter if they weren't happy. Although, it would have to be for something serious to be wrong with the school as we haven't much choice in Southwark have we? I took my youngest (then in Year 4) out of Bessemer Grange a year ago because I wasn't happy with it. My two eldest had gone there from Nursery to Year 6 but things changed.

Hi Vik - I have a daughter in Year 8 at The Charter and also a son who has just left Year 11 and is doing his GCSEs. They are both doing really well. My year 5 daughter will be going there too. I think with any school there can be problems for some students but so far I have never had any probs with the school and my two are always happy and eager to go in (even when they feel ill)! There was a stage around 8 months ago when a few of my sons teachers left but he seemed to stay on track. There is another post about The Charter and Kingsdale on the forum somewhere where a parent took her Year 8 daughter out to send to Kingsdale (can't remember the reason) so you could search for that. Another important thing is the travelling. Luckily we are 5 minutes walk from The Charter but Kingsdale is quite a secluded school transport-wise. I know as I also went there many moons ago and it was sometimes a nightmare getting buses home or sometimes the train - in the summer a lot of us used to walk it (took a good 40 minutes). Good luck with your decision.

Yep I read in last week's Southwark News or South London Press that they were opening another shop in ED.

What lowlife scum to do this to a 14 year old. Glad your son is ok but watch him for a while as this could unnerve him for a while even if he seems ok now. This happened to my 14 year old nephew and his friend a year or so ago in Herne Hill in broad daylight outside the costcutters. We all need to be made aware of this and I know I still worry when my 16 year old goes out.

A lot of community church halls etc. don't want to know when asked to put up a poster for something like this. Anyway, as said on another thread, that's how I got my lost cat back through flyposting.

Yeah, it's alright if you have someone with you to pack the stuff at the end, but the looks you get if you don't and it all ends up in a pile at the end! I won't use them on my own again.

Sean - what you said about the yellow noticeboards being everywhere - a couple of years ago my brother-in-law was violently attacked - had his jaw broken and beaten up at a bus stop on Denmark Hill by a group of youths. When trying to get a yellow noticeboard there he was told by the police that couldn't "because it lowered the tone of the neighbourhood".

Hi Clarabelle - I actually grew up from the age of 3 in Dylways and my Mum and Dad are still there and also four doors along is also my sister and her family. I think although it's "an estate" it's not rough at all, compared to some places. I would still feel safe walking around there at night, although probably because I grew up there and lived there until the age of 29 - and know the area. But you are near all the local schools, bus routes, parks, train stations etc. The estate is kept clean as far as I know - my mother and father-in-law live in the flats near the parade of shops in Crossthwaithe Avenue. They have had trouble with youths on motor bikes in that part of the estate but I think that has died down now. I still walk around the estate and know a lot of people living there.

There was an igloo on the Denmark Hill Estate - brick by brick - large enough for people to go inside.

There was an igloo built up on the Denmark Hill Estate - brick by brick and large enough for people to go into.

At least cats cover their poo - foxes don't and they just do it anywhere - on the grass, on top of my son's football, in a welly I left out one night in the summer!

Don't he look a big hard man in the photo? Not! Don't know how he can live with himself. Makes me feel physically sick looking at the phot By the way foxes live alongside cats and I've never known one to harm one - the foxes ignore my two cats at night as I've seen them in the garden together.

If you go to Dulwich Park there are hundreds!

Yes I remember the days when Lordship Lane wasn't so yuppified! Me and sisters and friends used to go to the Magdala Friday and Saturday nights and you couldn't move as it was disco night! This is going back early 80's. Also late 70's early 80's the Somerfield used to be International and I used to take my Mum shopping in my car. Lordship Lane was really dreary then - nothing like now - why can't the same thing happen to Camberwell?

Definitely an albino squirrel in Ruskin Park a few years ago (me and kids used to spot it near the duck pond). Don't know if it's still there - not sure how long squirrels live!

I rate the Dulwich Tandoori as the best in Lordship Lane - I take my family (hubby and three kids 16, 12, 10) every other Sunday for the buffet and it is fantastic. It is always really busy and most Sundays they are turning people away (including us regulars)! Sue the decor has changed a bit ( they have some lovely new indian tapestries) but I go for quality of food rather than decor anyway. The manager is always really polite and helped my daughter with her Indian project for school by giving us lots of mags and bracelets.