Greenwich Visitor December 2014 by The Greenwich Visitor

GreenwichVisitor for residents & VISITORS since 2010

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greenwich, Blackheath, eltham, charlton,Woolwich, LEE GREEN.

COOL BEANS GREENWICH PANTO REVIEW - P4&5

DEC JAN FEB

RACE INVADER

LISTINGS INSIDE

GIANT MAP INSIDE

READ START OF NEW NOVEL

DECember 2014 No50

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DARTH VADER AT THE PANTO HORSE RACE. EVENT DETAILS - P11

Driverless golf buggies for Greenwich sightseers SEE P14&15

FREE

PIZZA ON BIG RED BUS - VOUCHER P17

LASER: READY, STEADY ..GLOW! SEE PAGE 3

no hands! WORN out walking round Greenwich’s treasures? Soon you can let a golf buggy show you round instead...and you won’t even need a driver!

Greenwich’s new tourism body says driverless carts will go on trial here soon as part of a new drive to make Greenwich a must-stay destination for tourists. The electric vehicles could bring passengers from a new cruise liner terminal due to open here in 2017

and carry people up to the Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory. Visit Greenwich chief executive Barrie Kelly told travel industry experts: “We’re even going to have driverless golf buggies. “We’ll have a series of trials. You’ll be able to go up and down the Hill to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park.” The “multi-class autonomous vehicles” will also help disabled Turn to Page 6

EASTERN PROMISE: Similar buggy in Singapore

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December 2014 Page 2

NELSON’S COLUMN

few years back at this time of the year families made use of the wonderful ice rink in the spectacular setting of the Old Royal Naval College. Sadly the temporary rink moved away – partly because of competition from bigger ones O2 (now gone) and across the river at Canary Wharf (continuing). Reader Harry Glavan asked the ORNC if it would be making a new study comeback. And got a shows that positive reply. “The ice Londoners rink was a great prefer to spend the attraction here and is weekend in the something we haven’t pub rather than done for a while, so we exploring the amazing will think about this very city they live in (Luckily in carefully for next year.” Fingers Greenwich and Blackheath you (inside mittens) crossed. can do both…if you get a

The Greenwich Visitor’s admirable social diary, brought to you by the spirit of Horatio Nelson

THE Greenwich Visitor is published once a month – on the first day of the month – and is distributed every day. We print on average 40,000 copies every month. Of those around 30,000 are taken by RESIDENTS and 10,000 by VISITORS. Readers CHOOSE to read The Greenwich Visitor. We don’t go through letterboxes, so we don’t get mistaken for junk mail or magazines and end up straight in the bin. It means all our copies are taken locally, by people who WANT to read us, within easy reach of your business. Find your copy at: Waitrose, Greenwich: Dreadnought Wharf, Victoria Parade, 1 Thames St, SE10 9FR Sainsburys Greenwich: 55 Bugsby’S Way London SE10 0QJ. Co-Op Greenwich: 200 Trafalgar Road SE10 9ER Sainsburys Eltham: 1a Philipot Path SE9 5DL Sainsburys Lee Green: 14 Burnt Ash Road SE12 8PZ Asda Charlton: Bugsby Way, Charlton, SE7 7ST And at selected hotels, bars and restaurants. If you’d like to stock the Greenwich Visitor for your customers please call 07731 645828. And from our street distributors, Clive Debbie and Papa. Advertising & Editorial: Matt Clark Matt@TheGreenwichVisitor.com

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consultation period ended this month, but the email from Michèle Dix, Managing Director Planning at TfL, asking for the public’s views on a proposed new road tunnel under the Thames from Silvertown to Greenwich said: “The proposal also includes a range of charging

here’s what YOU ask US What happened to the green Status in February 2012. laser that used to shine over What should we do today? Greenwich? The Meridian Laser You’ve picked up a Greenwich was tuned off after “striking” a Visitor – good start. Next visit the new tower being built at Stratford. Tourist Information Centre at But things are looking up. It should Pepys House, 2 Cutty Sark be back now. See our story on P3. Gardens (just next to the Cutty There’s a lot of work going on at Sark). It’s officially London’s best Greenwich Market...are they TIC. And the excellent staff there building the new hotel they were won the Gold Award for 2013 talking about? Not any more! Information Provider of the Year Greenwich Hospital, which owns at the Visit England excellence the site, won permission to build a awards). You don’t HAVE to be a hotel but the recession changed all tourist to make the most of their that. We were first to report the expertise. Get advice, buy tickets plan had been delayed. Then the for boats, tube, DLR, rail, buses landlords announced it was OFF. and coaches, book a tour, buy But they are improving the roof, tickets for other attractions (if you putting a new smaller market in a must!). Discover Greenwich next yard next door and refurbishing door is great for kids. shops and offices. There’s been a We heard about a yacht race market here since the 1300s. coming to Greenwich? Too late! Is the Foot Tunnel working yet? The Tall Ships Festival was in Funny you should ask. After a September. And it was mostly botched £11.5million refurb, the great. 15 ships will return next final touches were still being put to summer and Greenwich Council the 112-year-old Greenwich tunnel wants an annual event. as the Tall Ships arrived in Is anyone using the cable September...only for a car yet? Cheeky! The lift to fail. Annoying! Emirates Air Line is A high-tech amazing and we’re electronic pleased it’s here. experiment is Unfortunately WANT TO ADVERTISE? being planned to it’s little use for allow walkers getting about – HAVE A STORY? and cyclists to at one point just share the tunnel. four commuters Call Matt on 07731 645828 Info: Fogwoft. used it regularly Matt@TheGreenwich org.uk. Updates at – but it is a www.greenwich. fabulous, futuristic Visitor.com gov.uk/Greenwich/ attraction. Travel/foot-tunnels.htm We watched the Olympics in Greenwich. It I read that Greenwich is a World Heritage Site? Yes, it was looks a lot different now. There awarded UN World Heritage Site was a huge 20,000 seater stadium status in the 1990s. It means our here in 2012. It was controversial, buildings and history are so but most agree the Games were great for our global appeal. amazing they’re UN-protected. And it’s a Royal Borough? Yes. We Museums. Are they free? Yes – have 1,000 years of Royal links. except the Fan Museum, which Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were has no public funding but a born here and christened at St world-leading collection of fans. Alfege Church, in the town centre. And the Wernher Collection of art In fact Queen Elizabeth played at Ranger’s House, run by English under the oak tree that now bears Heritage. There are some paid for her name in Greenwich Park. exhibitions at the National Dating tests have just proved the Maritime Museum. You pay to tree – which fell down in a storm stand on the Meridian Line 20 years ago – is the right age. nowadays too. And to use the loos Queen Elizabeth granted Royal in the Park from February.

USERS’ GVIDE

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window seat). Fifty-seven per cent of adults have never visited one of the city’s main attractions, says GetYourGuide. If that’s you, why not go see one today? ow much of a debate will there really be about the Silvertown Tunnel? A

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options for the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels, when the Silvertown Tunnel opens in the early 2020s.”Shouldn’t it be “If” and not “When”? es, we’re not immune from mistakes, as eagle-eyed readers sometimes spot. But we do love this computergenerated internet clanger (left). urious results of the Blackheath Society’s poll on the OnBlackheath music festival. Ten per cent of opponents changed their minds afterwards and are broadly supportive...while those living close to the site are more against it than ever. Full details next month.

This is the place in The Greenwich Visitor where local groups and people tell us what they do, why, and how you can help. This month: Born To Read, a group helping children learn to read in local schools

Born To Read READ ON: Spencer Baldwin helps pupil Arpan Sapkota

2014 was The Year of Reading in Greenwich…you might even have read that somewhere.

And it’s not too late to help children here learn a skill that can not only help them in life but transform their lives. Two charities – Beanstalk and Save the Children, supported by the Royal Borough of Greenwich – is asking for volunteers to go in to Primary Schools to help children read. You need to be able to commit to visit schools twice a week during term time. You’ll receive special training so you can deliver precious one-to-one reading tuition to primary school children. St Joseph’s School in Greenwich is one of those taking part. Headteacher Catherine Green says: “Beanstalk are very valuable to St Joseph’s School. They support vulnerable readers who do not always have the opportunity to read for a variety of reasons. Beanstalk volunteers are always consistent and of a high quality.” Beanstalk and Save the Children are part of Read On. Get On. which aims, by 2025, to get children reading well by the age of 11. Justin Forsyth, of Save the Children, explains: “Read On. Get On. is not just about teachers, charities and politicians – it’s about galvanising the nation so that parents, grandparents and volunteers play their part.” Cllr John Fahy, Greenwich council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “Our schools perform well above the national average but there are many pupils for whom additional one-to-one support from a volunteer can make a tremendous difference. I would encourage anyone who believes they can help to contact Save the Children and get involved.” If you think you can help a child learn to read and for more information about Born to Read in Greenwich schools, please call: Save the Children volunteer support team 020 7012 6997.

WHY WE’RE HERE

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New angle on our story about missing Meridian Line

beam me up!

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New 20p charge to use Park loos STORY - P6

GreeNwich, Blackheath, eltham,

charltoN,woolwich, lee GreeN.

FREE PIZZA

ON THE BIG RED BUS - SEE AD ON P7

NOV DEC JAN

- PAGE 17 Observato ry’s green beam VOUCHER

Domestic Noir Goddess

CENTRE PAGES

AUTHOR PENNY HANCOCK

Laser turned off after ‘striking’ tower

STRATFORD PLAZA 26-storey 93metre tower 4.4miles from...

ROYAL OBSERVATORY

in Greenwich where this beam begins

THE famous green laser marking the could dazzle Prime Meridian from Greenwich has nuisance to construction workers and be a residents, who will also been switched off – because have a a new private terrace on the roof. 26-storey skyscraper got Developers in the way. Telford Homes seem to The 93m Stratford blame the

Plaza, worldwas “struck” by the beam, four miles away, renowned Observatory for not liaising with fired the Royal Observatory since nightly from planning departments in nearby boroughs. the 1990s. David Campbell, Group The Meridian Laser was Sales and August 31. Although the switched off on Marketing Director, told The laser is harmless it Greenwich Turn to Page 4

GREEN LIGHT: Publicity image of Stratford Plaza with Meridian Laser in background

LASER SPOTTED: Our story last month

STRUCK: Telford Homes’ publicity shot of Plaza and laser

0 .4 ˚

REACTION: Twitter reaction

Peter’s maritime art is star of Christmas show new year’s eve Celebrate in style at the Vanbrugh.

Presenting an evening of live music and entertainment with complimentary bubbles and canapes

SHOW: Peter Kent

- P4&5

blocked by new skyscrap

meridian vanishes

46M

PETER Kent’s intricate marine and topographic drawings celebrate the best of Greenwich...and you can celebrate the best of Peter Kent this month. The artist – who works from a Thamesside studio – has a major show at the Greenwich Gallery. There is work from this year’s Greenwich Tall Ships event, drawings to mark the Quincentenary of Trinity House (above) and the Worshipful Company of Watermen and Lightermen, depictions of sea ports, 2012 Jubilee celebrations, historic Greenwich and more – much on display for the first time. Gallery owner Tony Othen says: “In view of the quantity of work, we’ll be highlighting and changing the display through the month. It’s a chance to buy original work at a variety of prices as well as prints and postcards.” The show is at Greenwich Gallery in Peyton Place from December 4 to 24 (M-F 9-5.30 and S-S 12-4). Info: thegreenwichgallery.com peterkentgreenwich.co.uk

NoVemBer 2014 No 49

GIANT MAP INSIDE

LISTINGS INSIDE

Experts fire laser over building KEEP your eyes on the skies – the Meridian incident.” Stratford Plaza is due to be completed Laser beam should be back, three months soon by developers Telford Homes, who seemed after being switched off because a 26-storey to blame the Observatory – despite two years of building under the beam, which also featured in tower got in the way. publicity shots. Experts at the Royal Observatory Builders were said to have been dazzled by in Greenwich have tilted the beam the beam, which is harmless but could be a up an extra 0.2˚ so the green light nuisance to residents, who also have a will clear the 93m Stratford private terrace on the roof. Plaza building, four miles away. David Campbell, Telford’s Marketing The beam, installed in 1993, Above sea level: Director said: “Greenwich Observatory marks the the Prime Meridian Top of Royal Observatory and Telford Homes have established a 0˚ 0” 0’ degrees – the line which height the laser can be lifted to...it will separates the Eastern and Western resume operation in the near future.” Hemispheres and from where all We understand the beam may only time zones are measured. need to tilt by a fraction of a degree. A spokeswoman for Royal Greenwich Visitor readers were Museums Greenwich said: “The New angle dismayed by the switch off on August laser can now be adjusted with of Meridian 31, which we revealed last month. more ease and is ready to be Lasrer @TatteredStones said it was wrong the switched on. We hope the weather light should be turned off to for a luxury will improve so that we can make development. Others joked the laser should final adjustments on a clear night.” She added: “We have also written to all burn through the building! Are you pleased to see the laser again? Send planning authorities within the laser’s path asking them to contact us if any tall buildings are us your views and photos. Email Matt@ submitted to avoid any repetition of this TheGreenwichVisitor.com

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December 2014 Page 4

Miles Hedley’s pick of this month’s best events. Our unique 3-month listings begin on Page 18

THE BEAR/THE PROPOSAL Chekhov double bill at the London Theatre in New Cross begins with a comedy centred on debt and mourning which the playwright subtitled A Joke In One Act. The second is a farce about hypochondria and the politics of arranged marriage. Sounds fab! Dec 2-7

ALICIA GRIFFITHS-TURRILLAS The Lady James Room on the first floor of the beautifully restored Severndroog Castle hosts this brilliant Greenwichbased harpist whose programme reflects her Spanish-Welsh roots by including works by Enrique Granados and John Parry - among many others. Dec 4

NO ONE IN THE WORLD Final-year musical theatre students take to the stage of Laban Theatre to revive Charles Miller and Kevin Hammonds’ smash hit show about a group of young wannabes who face joy, heartache and hard graft as they pursue their dream of stardom on Broadway. Dec 5&6

10 TO DO decemBER

HOLDALL’S CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE William and Esme Holdall fight off mythical monsters and struggle through snow as they battle to save Teddy and still make it home in time for Christmas morning in this magical musical melange for all the family in the downstairs studio space at Greenwich Theatre. Dec 5-24

SINFONIA TAMESA This acclaimed orchestra perform the world premiere of Matthew Taylor’s flute concerto at Blackheath Halls, where the composer himself regularly hosts music appreciation classes. The new piece is bookended by two works by Beethoven - Taylor’s inspiration. Dec 6

WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT The Albany presents an enchanting puppetry version of Michael Rosen’s beloved family story by the everwonderful Little Angel Theatre. It’s funny, exciting, silly and warm in equal measure and features a score by singer-songwriter Barb Jungr. A festive must. Dec 10-Jan 4

JOHN KIRKPATRICK Global Fusion Music and Arts bring their annual wassail celebration to Charlton House again, this time featuring accordionist and morris-dancer Kirkpatrick, whose awesome CV includes stints with fellow folk legends Martin Carthy, Richard Thompson and Steeleye

CHAS & DAVE Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a knees-up led by the rockney duo who were once a surprise hit at Glastonbury. Expect plenty of festive cheer at IndigO2 from Messrs Hodges and Peacock and, of course, greatest hits such as Ain’t No Pleasing You, Gertcha and Rabbit. Dec 12

SILVER LINING Dance meets acrobatics as graduates of the National Centre for Circus Arts bring to Borough Hall a cabaret-style show featuring singers and hoofers performing alongside aerialists, tumblers and jugglers. Their gravity-defying skills are guaranteed to take your breath away. Dec 13

THE MESSIAH Handel’s masterpiece for orchestra and massed choirs is performed in the Old Royal Naval College chapel, which is fitting because this pair of prodigies are almost exact contemporaries. And has there ever been a more rousing singalong passage than the Hallelujah chorus? Dec 17

OUR VERDICT ON GREEN GREENWICH’s Great Dame Andrew Pollard is back for his ninth Panto season with Jack and the Beanstalk...is it another classic or has the magic finally gone? Maureen Stapleton gives her verdict

GOOD FAIRY: Melissa Keyes as Fairy Fullobeans

Everyone knows the formula for the perfect panto: take a well-known story, add music, dancing and jokes, have an unforgettable dame, use liberal amounts of fairy godmother, add an audience sing-a-long at the end of the show and don’t forget to give everyone a chance to yell, “He’s behind you!” Jack and the Beanstalk at Greenwich Theatre delivers all this... and more. Written by, directed by and starring Andrew Pollard as Jack’s mother Dame Trott this is his ninth outing at the helm in Greenwich and his experience, along with his incredible legs, shows. It’s got laughs for the children (fart jokes), laughs for the adults (political humour), a good pace and music that everyone loves. And if it’s cheese you want, it’s cheese you’ll get. Literally! The first of seven fabulous costumes for Dame Trott is an elaborate concoction of a cheese hat, a cheese brasserie, and a skirt made up of two cheese rounds. Lest you not get the joke, the top half of the skirt proclaims Extra Mature and the bottom half states Seriously Cheesy. “It’s not too cheesy for Dame Trott: “What you, is it?” she asks. d of man likes to kin The production sticks to the traditional Jack and dress up like a the Beanstalk plot: poor woman? Oh. Wait boy, overbearing mother, a minute...” family cow, magic beans, evil giant, happy ending. But it also adds the panto stalwarts of a love interest (called Jill, natch), a

E ER H W Greenwich Theatre Crooms Hill

EN H W Till January 11

CRACKER!

PANTO EDAM: Andrew Pollard as cheesy Dame Trott. Pictures: ROBERT DAY

IT’S A CRAC Another Pollard

b a d d i e ( t h e g i a n t ’s h e n c h m a n Nightshade) and a fairy godmother (Fairy Fullobeans). The giant himself Giant Bonecrunch also makes a spectacular and unforgettable appearance. The show sprinkles in plenty of Not surprisingly, given the mega-hit local references – Greenwich parking, shows at the O2 and Charlton Athletic status of both songs, both Happy and Let It Go feature in the show, Football Club. Plus topical which certainly humour – a mayor called disappoints no one. Boris, the twerking of He also uses classic Miley Cyrus and David hits, including a or po Cameron’s popularity...or so ’re We k: Jac spirited interpretation lack thereof. when we go to o f B o h e m i a n at th The other star of the KFC we have to lick Rhapsody by Queen, show has to be the involving a cameo by other people’s inventive use of music. a Brian May imposter, fingers. Musical Director Steve and Man in the Mirror “Uncle Stevie” Markwick – by Michael Jackson. also in his ninth year at There’s even a mash-up of Greenwich – uses a combination of popular songs and classic rock the current hit All About That Bass and the classic tune It’s Now or Never, anthems to tell the story.

CRACKER!

giving one musical number a chance to please several generations in one song. Although it might make poetic sense for pantos to feature actors whose best days may be behind them, Greenwich has always resisted that trend. This year is no different. Instead it relies on young, energetic actors, like Sophie Ayers (Jill) and Tom Oakley (Jack). Alim Jayda returns for his second year at Greenwich after having the title role in last year’s Puss in Boots. This time it’s a bit of a role reversal as he’s playing the villain Nightshade, Giant Bunchrunch’s henchman, which

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NWICH THEATRE PANTO

BEAUTY v BEAST: Sophie Ayers as Jill and Alim Jayda as Nightshade

KER, JACK! classic

liked the jokes, my 11-year-old liked the local references and political jokes, I was dazzled by the costumes – especially those of Dame Trott – and my husband praised Andrew he plays with just the right Pollard’s wonderful comedic amount of menace. talent. The cast is clearly Everyone in the having a good time, as audience – from toddlers e: ad sh ht Nig is everyone else in the to pensioners – seemed “Pensioners – I can to love it. This year the theatre. The one sad ep note is that Paul smell ‘em. De panto has its longest run Critoph – Pollard’s Heat and yet. Don’t miss it! larger than life sidekick Debenhams” Jack and the Beanstalk for the last eight years – is at Greenwich Theatre on is absent. He’s in a West Crooms Hill until Sunday End production of the 39 J a n u a r y 1 1 . P e r fo r m a n c e o n Wednesday January 7 (7pm) will be Steps instead. Break a leg, Paul. Like many other families, going to British Sign Language interpreted. Info & tickets: the panto at Greenwich Theatre is one www.greenwich theatre.org.uk of our Christmas traditions, and this or phone 020 8858 7755. one does not disappoint. My teenager

Santa is coming…

CRACKER!

Shop at the Old Royal Naval College for unique Christmas gifts HAPPY TOGETHER: Tom Oakley as Jack with Jill (Sophie Ayers)

Shop located in the Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre, open daily 10.00 – 17.00 T: 020 8269 4718 shop@ornc.org ornc.org

/oldroyalnavalcollege /orncgreenwich /groups/ornc /orncgreenwich

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Versions of loveliness.. EVERY generation has its own notion of beauty but do artists reflect or shape this ideal?

This was one of the questions posed by Aileen Ribeiro, Professor Emeritus at the Courtauld Institute of Art, who gave a lecture at The Fan Museum to celebrate Visions of Beauty, its latest exhibition. VENUE: Fan Museum’s Orangery In the museum’s pretty orangery, Professor Ribeiro talked us through a may shift and change yet one thing range of portraits from different remains constant: Women will strive to cultures and centuries to illustrate how recreate the idealised look of their time. Ribeiro gave an insight into the definitions of beauty depend on contemporary fashions, whims and the history of cosmetics and revealed how far women have gone in the pursuit tastes of ruling elite. of perfection. Elizabethan The iconic sculpture of Paolina Borghese as Venus women applied lead Victorious created by powder and vinegar to Italian artist Antonio their faces to conceal Fan Museum, Canova in 1804 is smallpox scars and s y m b o l i c o f a Crooms Hill, Greenwich w h i t e n t h e i r quintessential ideal of complexion. Their skin beauty. Modelled on was burnt and tarnished Napoleon Bonaparte’s beyond repair. The 20th Till Wednesday s i s t e r, t h e s c u l p t u r e century saw the December 31 depicts an elegant, poised commodification of beauty woman with neat aquiline with make-up available features, an ever-so-slightly mainstream. In the 21st century, rounded figure, ribbons in her mane of with the proliferation of plastic surgery, hair and silk sheets around her waist. it is common for women to go under The reclining semi-nude, sculpted the knife in their quest for perfection. from marble in the early 19th century Ribeiro concluded with a photograph perfectly captures an alluring yet of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent distant femininity. It is so enduring that decades campaigning for democracy in in a 2011 survey of the Italian public, it Burma. Principled, dignified and was chosen as the Italian people’s ideal strong, Suu Kyi makes the viewer depiction of female beauty. question whether beauty is about Yet 17th century Flemish painter, perfect skin, a great body and a certain Peter Paul Rubens had an entirely hairstyle or whether it goes deeper. different notion. Based on a fantasy, his Perhaps it is this indefinable quality, painting Venus at a Mirror (1615) the radiant beauty that comes from represents the Roman goddess as a within, that truly transcends time. large, overweight woman with long ZOE EFSTATHIOU flowing golden hair, fawned over by Info: www.thefanmuseum.org.uk slaves who hold up a mirror and stroke Alieen Ribeireo’s latest book: Facing her hair. Contemporary ideals of beauty Beauty (Yale University Press, 2011).

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Greenwich Morris Men

TWO FACES OF BEAUTY: Aung San Suu Kyi (left) gives a speech and (right) Rubens’ Venus at a Mirror

Dancing traditional Morris in South East London since 1976, we’re a friendly team with experienced members dancing a repertoire of Cotswold Morris. Thursday evenings from 8-10pm at Mycenae House, Mycenae Road, Blackheath SE3 7SE. No previous experience necessary, so come along and give it a go! Call 07730 925892 or visit our website:

www.greenwichmorrismen.com

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PETER KENT Special offers on selected stoves and fireplaces 250-252 Lee High Road (A20) London SE13 5PL Open Monday to Saturday from 10am-6pm

020 8852 6204

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He lives on the river and writes about the river. His blog is free for all to see take a dip riverwatchreturns.com

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Old and New

See the shred poets society TORN on what to give as a gift this Christmas? How about poetry? Poet and musician Rob Mills hosts The Shredding and Giving of Poems this month. He’ll read five short poems of his, which will be shredded as they are read to guitar accompaniment, bagged, and offered as an early Christmas gift. “Other poets are invited to bring a poem to read and shred and maybe bring its shredded remnants back to a reconstructed life,” says Mick Delap, of PNSEL – the Poetry Network for SE London The free event is on Saturday December 13 (1pm) at the Made in Greenwich gallery in Creek Road. On Wednesday December 10, Lorraine Mariner and her Nevada Street poetry colleagues in introduce Collections at the gallery. “This is a great chance to catch a Greenwich-nurtured, truly original poetic voice,” says Mick. Lorraine will be joined by Kelley S w a i n , S a r a h We s t c o t t a n d Dominic McLoughlin from 7pm. Tickets are £5 (£4 cons) including a glass of wine and mince pie.

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Golf buggy

From Page One people make the most of Greenwich’s fabulous attractions. Similar driverless buggies have been developed by the SingaporeMIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). They have a steering wheel in case things go wrong. But sensors help an onboard computer avoid it hitting obstacles including pedestrians and other buggies on a programmed route. The buggies – packed with around $30,000 of technology – travel at up to 10km per hour. Mr Kelly launched the new five-year plan to increase tourism in Greenwich saying he also wants attractions to work together more. He said there is “confusion and a disconnect” between parts of the borough. The aim is turn the area’s £1.1bn annual tourism earnings into £1.4bn by 2018. And boost jobs from 14,000 to 17,000. A new 452-bed Intercontinental Hotel next to the O2 opens soon. And he said Visit Greenwich was developing a free smartphone app with real-time listings and offers. www.VisitGreenwich.co.uk showcasing artwork, ceramics, jewellery, glass, textiles and cards.

paintings, drawings and prints by local artists on the themes of childhood, change and renewal December 1st to January 30th

madeingreenwich.co.uk 020 8293 9823 324 Creek Road Greenwich SE10 9SW opposite DLR Cutty Sark

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CAMPAIGN TO SAVE OUR HISTORIC AND VITAL RAIL LINK BY now, you probably know that huge transport disruption is on the way. London Bridge station is being re-built over the next four years to turn into South London’s transport hub.

Passengers need to use their strength in numbers to save our historic service to central London and make Southeastern improve its service, says councillor and campaigner Matt Hartley

But you probably don’t know that c o m p a n y t o c o m m i t t o d e l i v e r i n g December 23 will be the last date you’ll be 12-carriage services as standard in the able to catch a train to Charing Cross from future. Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill or Finally, the petition calls for Southeastern Westcombe Park stations. to work with Network Rail to find a solution Ever. to the planned permanent loss of service to This is not a temporary measure while Charing Cross from Greenwich Line London Bridge is rebuilt – but a permanent stations. This has been caused by the loss of the 150-year old service to Charing decision to remove the Spa Road junction at Cross from our Greenwich Line stations. Bermondsey, and with it the ability for I t i s t h e l a t e s t i n a l o n g l i s t o f Greenwich Line trains to cross over to disappointments from Southeastern Waterloo East and Charing Cross...all in trains, and one that I think we the name of a smoother transit for customers must address, other lines. using our strength in Rebuilding London Bridge is numbers. the right thing to do – but as it In September the stands, commuters in G o v e r n m e n t Greenwich are being announced a welcome expected to pay the price of £70m investment to improving everyone else’s improve service and services. maintenance across the The Greenwich Line Users n opens, Greenwich Statio franchise, as part of a Group, which has done a great ing the first let mp co deal that gives ever train line deal of work on this issue, has Southeastern until 2018 to in London proposed a revision to the plans, improve. It is now up to the with a new junction at North Kent company to deliver – but few East, that would not bring with it this people will have confidence in its ability or disruption. Southeastern and Network Rail willingness to do so. need to consider this alternative urgently. That’s why, last month, I launched a new I believe that the only way we are going consumer campaign – Sort It, Southeastern to secure the change we need is by using our – to hold the company’s feet to the fire and strength in numbers. force it to improve. We must show this company that we are My petition calls firstly for a drastic serious – and over the coming months I will improvement in service and better be out drumming up support on the communication when things go wrong. The doorstep, on station platforms and on social company’s record on communication is media. atrocious, with a lack of information, often After a great start for the petition in its no announcements at stations and incorrect first few weeks, I hope many more fellow or out of date information appearing on commuters will lend the campaign their platform displays. support. Secondly, we need to see longer trains on all three routes going through the Royal Matt Hartley is a Greenwich councillor Borough. We will see some 12-carriage and Conservative Parliamentary Candidate trains on the Greenwich Line from January, for Greenwich & Woolwich at next year’s to help relieve the disruption caused by the General Election. London Bridge re-build – but we need to see the same for residents in the borough Read the history of the Greenwich c o m m u t i n g f r o m s t a t i o n s o n t h e Line in our March 2014 edition at Bexleyheath and Sidcup Lines, and for the www.TheGreenwichVisitor.com

24.12.1838

last train to charing cross 23 December

UtodPay at N IG S n itio Sign the pet

www.sortitsoutheastern.com Tweet using the hashtag #sortitsoutheastern and like the campaign on Facebook at www.facebook.com /sortitsoutheastern

GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 8

Singers on town tour

HARK! Can you hear the Wo o l w i c h S i n g e r s spreading Christmas cheer. The community choir will tour venues in Woolwich this month with classics including All I Want For Christmas is You, Last Christmas, Silent Night and many more. Hear them in Woolwich Library on Saturday December 6 (12-1pm) and at the Great Harry pub (23); Mulgrave Primary on Wednesday December 17 (7.30pm) and at the Older Persons Christmas Lunch in the Public Hall on Monday December 22 (12).

WHAT TO DO AND WHERE TO GO FOR A

A light Christmas HELLO-HO-HO: Father Christmas at parade of lanterns made by school children. Pictures: Sam Warr Photography

E ER H W Ma Greenwich rket WHEN Open every day

Info: woolwichsingers.co.uk

Santa dash

JOIN a Santa race around Danson Park on December 7 for Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice. The 5km Santa Dash costs £10 for adults and £5 for children or £25 for a family ticket. You even get a Santa suit to run in, a medal and hot drink at the finish line. Organisers hope to raise over £10,000. More info: communityhospice.org.uk or call 020 8319 9230.

GREENWICH is all lit up for lanterns with the help of Christmas after a “magical” panto- A r t y P a r t y. D e s i g n s included a glass slipper, a inspired Lantern Parade. Panto dame Andrew Pollard and cast joined Father Christmas, CBeebies star Sarah-Jane Honeywell, Mayor of Greenwich Mick Hayes and dozens of families for the traditional event which ends in Greenwich Market. Schoolchildren from St Alfege with St Peters, James Wolfe , Meridian Primary schools and St Matthew Academy Blackheath made panto-inspired

panto cow, a huge beanstalk, seven dwarfs and many magic wands. There was music from The London Metropolitan brass band and violinist Emily Huntington, 12, and mince pies served by Waitrose partners. Gillie Bexson, of Greenwich Hospital which owns the market said: “It was a magical start to Christmas that brought children, teachers, parents, the theatre

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and market traders together. We’re very proud to be its sponsors.” Greenwich Market, which has 150 craft and designer-maker stalls, shops and boutiques, is open every day until December 24 at 4pm. You can meet Father Christmas and his funny elf in his Greenwich Grotto on December 13, 14, 20, 21, 22 and 23. Visits cost £4, with balloon magic and a bag of goodies.

till Dec 24

Info: greenwichmarketlondon.com

OPEN: Margaret & volunteers

Card shops for charity

SOLVE your Christmas card crisis early and raise cash for 25 charities. There’s a Cards for Good Causes pop-up shop at St Alfege Church from 10.30am (Sundays 11.15am) till 4.30pm until December 19 and at Blackheath Halls from 9.30am to 2pm until Monday December 15. The shops also sell wrapping paper, candles, Advent Calendars and gift tags. GREENWICH artist Margaret Donegan produced a unique local card on sale at the shops. Her snowy image of Flamsteed House was transformed from a MIGHTY HAI: painting to greetings card in Shanghai three weeks. Margaret was asked to open the St Alfege Shop last month.

free

family fun

GreenwichVisitor THE

WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME RIGHT HERE DID you know you can enjoy a live Advent calendar around the streets of Greenwich?

Every day in Advent from December 1 to 24 a different location here reveals a decorated window, writes MAUREEN STAPLETON. Schools, homes, shops and pubs use a variety of methods to create the windows, including paper art, paintings, models, flowers and sculptures. The children of St. Alfege Primary School kick off the 2014 project by creating the first window. Other Windows around participants include the Cutty Sark – ich town centre enw taking part for the first time – on Gre December 8, perennial favourite Pickwick Papers on December 12 and the Richard the First pub on December Till Weds Dec 22. 24 St Alfege Church – organisers of the project – complete the calendar on December 24, unveiling its nativity scene outside the church and holding a Christmas Eve services in the evening. Advent Windows began in 2006. The theme this year is Angel Faces. The Rev Chris Moody said: “The word Angel means ‘messenger’ – anything or anyone that carries a message of hope to us and reminds us of the deeper life we each carry inside us is an Angel Face for us. Throughout our lives we will come across them not once but many times. They may be ‘lost awhile’ but not for ever.” Maps will also be available in the Tourist Information Centre, West Greenwich Library and in the church. St Alfege Church – designed by Hawksmoor – is a Grade One listed building whose East Portico is currently being restored.

YONDER STARS: Observatory features in Advent Window

WHERE WHEN

More info: www.adventwindows.com www.st-alfege.org

Windows 2014

December 2014 Page 9

Winter fayre at Eco park

KICK off Christmas with a country feel right here – Greenwich Ecology Park holds it Annual Winter Fayre on Sunday December 7. There are hot mince pies, wreath making workshops, quiz trails, a barbecue, and special guest Mr Fox...all in the setting of the wildlife haven on the Greenwich Peninsula. Joanne Smith, Senior Warden said: “It’s is a great event to celebrate winter at a unique location. The wreath making is becoming a tradition and uses willow cut from the Park.” Info: greenwich ecologypark.com

Classic Bach ENJOY Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in the classic setting of Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College on December 6 (7.30pm). Dulwich Choral Society sing the joyous masterpiece in German, with full texts and translations in the Chapel. Tickets are £20 (£12 U16s) from www. ornc.org or on 020 8269 4799. Some tickets may be available on the door.

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December 2014 Page 10

£3m painted music series hall grant back in 2015 CONSERVATION of the Painted Hall in Greenwich has been given a huge boost with a £2.77million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It means work can start on 3,700sqm of Sir James Thornhill’s masterpiece yet to be of restored after Phase One of a £7m facelift scheme in 2013. The Painted Hall will be under scaffolding for two years from Summer 2016 while the lower hall, with its spectacular ceiling, the entrance vestibule and cupola are restored. But visitors – including wheelchair users – will be able to go up scaffolding to see the work. A new visitor reception is to be built “This is absolutely wonderful news,” adds Brendan McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Greenwich Foundation, which owns the ORNC buildings. “But much fundraising remains to be done.” Info: www.ornc.org

KEEP the date free – the Greenwich Music Time series is coming back next summer, we can reveal. Bands are due to be announced any day now for four nights of concerts between the towers of the iconic Old Royal Naval College. The gigs will be held each evening from Wednesday July 22 to Saturday July 25. Tickets are expected to go on sale this month. Last summer acts included Goldfrapp, the Australian Pink Floyd Show, Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and Russell Watson with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Follow us on Twitter for updates – we’re @GreenwichVisitr. And we’ll have full details of Greenwich Music Time 2015 in January’s edition. Info: www.greenwichmusictime.co.uk

LIFE IN

ELTHAM

with GAYNOR WINGHAM

elthamarts@aol.co.uk @ @ElthamArts

s there anyone who hasn’t received a postcard? We’ve had them in the UK since 1870, and certainly they’ve been around in Eltham for well over a hundred years. Saying Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Sorry, Hello or Wish You Were Here, they have been black and white and colour, funny and saucy, they’ve commemorated historical events or shown wonderful holiday venues. I love postcards and have quite a collection of Eltham ones. Some show our great historic buildings, Eltham Palace, Tudor Barn and Avery Hill. Others picture Eltham High Street, with familiar buildings as the Library and the old Greyhound, but with old fashioned buses and horse and carts. There are pictures of our parks – the Pleasaunce, Eltham Park, the Tarn. How about bringing them up to date ? e have celebrated Eltham in Verse, written about an Eltham Experience. What next? Our new challenge is to design some new postcards for Eltham. For 2015 we have a new competition A Postcard from Eltham. Get out your pens, paints and pencils, even your paper and glue, and – on an A5 card of thick paper – create an Eltham Postcard . You can show Eltham today or celebrate our history. There may be a place you love, perhaps a park or a building you want to celebrate. You may be able to design a funny postcard. For more information look on the Eltham Arts website (www.elthamarts.org) or look out for leaflets in local libraries and around SE9. he Tales of Eltham community short story book is very popular (see Page 14). Well done everyone who contributed. With over 90 short stories it’s an excellent read over Christmas. You can buy copies at Eltham library or email elthamaarts@aol.co.uk. There are lots of Craft Fairs in December, so buy your original Christmas gifts and support local artists and crafters. ur Creative Eltham conference in October was a great success. If you would like to be 020 8850 3500 involved in taking our Big Ideas forward, get in touch. t’s Panto Time again!. We have at least three ‘FURNITURE WITH A DIFFERENCE’ ESTABLISHED 1973 pantomimes in Eltham in January. Why not book tickets for all of them for all the family and have post Christmas fun! News Furniture for OAK PINE BEECH every room Traditional and njoy a Festive flash Singalong , come long to the New Vintage/ inon your home contemporary White Hart Pub on Eltham High St MonRetro section day December 15, meet us and join in. Lovely offering quality food! Seasons Greetings from ElthamSALE Arts and a ON used/restored Huge choice! NOW Creative New Yearitems. ! Please plus many end of High quality!

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O San Fairy Anne I E call...you’ll be line and ex-display Great prices! This column is your amazed! chance to share your passion for the arts in Eltham. Call me with news & views 222 High Street, Eltham SE9 1BA www.sanfairyanne.co.uk on 07976 355398 or email elthamarts@aol.co.uk

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GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 11

Runners and riders for wackiest race in the galaxy WHERE else can you see Darth Vader, Jedi Knights, John McCririck, Roland from Grange Hill and a string of Pantomime race horses?

OLD BOY: Roland from Grange Hill

HORSE POWER: John McCririck

charge of the light sabre brigade

FORCE POWER: Darth Vader from Star Wars

Start

neigh the course be with you! THE big race begins at Devenport House, in King William Walk, after an Opening Ceremony at 11am. Horses run via five town centre pubs and bars, stopping for a nosebag at each, before reaching the winning post in Royal Hill at around 1pm.

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The Greenwich Panto Horse Race has become the London Pantomime Horse Race...and this year the Sci-fi-themed event aims to raise a record amount for children’s hospice charity Demelza House. THEY’RE ORF: Panto The race – now in its fifth year – begins at horse racers last year Devonport House in the town centre. Horses sponsored by pubs and businesses here race to Royal Hill – with stops for refreshments at pubs along the route. L o o k o u t f o r a b a t t a l i o n o f St a r Wa r s Stormtroopers led by Darth Vader, Imperial Army and Rebel Alliance panto horses and even Princess Leia. Main organiser Mark Biddiss promises this will be the biggest event yet, thanks to support from satirical news website The Poke and entertainment PR specialists Taylor Herring. He promises: “An event that’s unashamedly daft but gloriously funny to witness. We want to help put a big smile on people’s faces in return for a donation to a good cause.” An opening ceremony is hosted by Anna Fiorentini – whose theatre school students will perform songs and dances. There’s also face painting, an appearance by Father Christmas and a mini-panto horse race for children. In the run-up to the big race, celebrity TV racing pundit John McCririck will be giving tips to punters, former Grange Hill actor Erkan Mustafa will be roving reporter on the race. A mystery celebrity will be inside glamour model Katie Price’s own pink Pantomime horse – making a special appearance. The official Police Panto-Horse – with on-board helmet and siren – is on patrol for the first time to ensure good behaviour. Staff from Demelza Hospice Care for Children – a charity supporting families across Kent, South East London and East Sussex – will be at the Race and can take donations. If you don’t make it to the race on Sunday December 14 you can also give online at www. justgiving.com/LondonPantomimeHorseRace When the race is run, the fun goes on at an After-Race Christmas Party at the Greenwich Tavern from 2.30pm, hosted by comic and actor Stephen Frost from TV’s Whose Line Is It Anyway. Six-piece Madness, Specials and Bad Greenwich M anners tribute band band Town Centre Toot’n’Skamen are in concert, followed by headliners The Manzarek Doors. Comedian Dickie Richards and guest DJ Deke Van Dyke and more acts provide Sunday more entertainment December 14 Info and tickets: www.pantohorserace. org email info@pantohorserace.org. Advance tickets are £15.

WHERE WHEN

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GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 12

OLD ROYA;L NAVAL COLLEGE

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Centre

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GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 13

WATER MARGIN JAZZ

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MYCENAE HOUSE COMEDY

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GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 14

SUCCESS STORIES

Eltham book launch

A BOOK of short stories inspired by Eltham was launched in front of more than 100 guests.

Tales of Eltham contains over 90 evocative stories by writers based in and around the historic part of the Borough, writes Reeva Charles. The book is the brainchild of Eltham Arts, an organisation which aims to encourage local creativity. Authors had to explore the theme of An Eltham Experience to write a 300-word story. Winners were announced in April and the book was launched last month at Eltham Library, a fitting venue for fiction fans, where it was standing room only. The rich vein of talent was demonstrated with readings by some of the short story writers of all ages. The audience was moved, intrigued and delighted by tales of lost romance, ghostly goings-on and trips to Eltham’s many historical sites. Competition judge Professor Andrew Lambirth, of University of Greenwich, said “The best story writers apply masterly craftsmanship TOP TALE: Winner Beatrix (top) and new book (above) with a love for form and an unerring eye for drama.” imagination and memories of Adult winner was Sue Head people who know Eltham and with her story A Letter to Pete, have shared their creativity.” a moving tale of a lost teenage The group plans more projects love. Children’s winner was t o b r i n g t h e c r e a t i v e Beatrix Robinson, nine, with community together and Eltham Escape – a story with a encourage local artists. twiste. Gaynor Wingham of Buy Tales of Eltham (£8) at Eltham Arts said “They have Eltham Library or by emailing elthamarts@aol.co.uk been written from the

progress reward VOLUNTEERS working to celebrate the centenary of Eltham’s Progress Estate have been recognised for their efforts. St. Mary’sCommunity Complex Association have presented them with their 2013/14 Volunteering Award. Lynn Bennett Usher received the award form the association’s chief executive Patrick O’Sullivan and celebrated with fellow members Jill Holmans, Avril Martin and Lisa Jonker. The Progress Estate was built in 1915 to house growing numbers of munitions workers at the Woolwich Arsenal. It earned Conservation Area status in 1975.

AS WINTER DRAWS IN, READ CHAPTER ONE OF A TRICK LAST month we met author Penny Hancock – dubbed queen of the Domestic Noir genre. Now read Chapter One of her third novel, set in Greenwich and Suffolk: A Trick Of The Mind...

CHAPTER ONE: APRIL

now buy it

HAT was I thinking about, as I drove down that winding country lane with its blue shadows dappling the road ahead? Of how hard it was to leave someone, I remember. Even when you knew it was right. Loving a person, while needing to get away from them, was a paradox I couldn’t explain. I felt an unexpected kind of sorrow, almost grief; anyway a hollow in my chest that ached, to be driving towards the sea without Finn. The image that kept coming to mind was of a limb, deliberately cleaved from my body. I was into deep Suffolk, with its ancient trees and lush foliage. Towering hedgerows were silhouetted against the twilit sky, topped with a haze of may blossom. Fresh green smells drifted in. The road had been empty, apart from a solitary jogger I’d avoided on the verge when I’d first turned off the A road, cursing him for not wearing Hi-vis. They thought you could see them, these runners, even when the light was low. As it was now. It was what Finn called the magic hour, poised between day and night. A photographer’s favourite time. I w a s g r a t e f u l f o r P e p p e r, m y neighbour’s Norfolk terrier. He filled the Finn-shaped space next to me. I had promised the old man I’d look after the dog while he had his heart op, that I’d guard him with my life. I’d assumed the little dog would stay on the back seat with his chew – instead he had jumped into the front and had his paws up on the dashboard to see where we were going. Was it even legal to have a dog in the front? I ruffled Pepper’s fur. His nose shot up, his eyes reflecting the soft light, full of love. I’d turned the music up. Beyoncé yelled that she didn’t want to be a broken-hearted girl. I could hear Finn saying, ‘How can you?’ – leaning over, tuning the radio into some-thing folky or traditional. Proper music. This weekend, for the first time since college I didn’t have to worry what

A Trick of the Mind by Penny Hancock is published in hardback by Simon & Schuster, £12.99.

he thought. I was taking control of my life at last. I was free of a relationship that had been holding me back for years! My mood swung upwards again – I felt the way my class of ﬁve-year-olds must do when I opened the door of the stuffy pre-fab at three thirty and they spilt out like crabs heading for the sea. Grateful for space and time to play, to stretch their limbs. To do what the hell they liked. ‘Ssshh, Pepper!’ He’d begun to bark when there was a clunk and a jolt and the car veered sideways.

hoa!’ I said. ‘What was that?’ I slowed, my pulse racing, turned down my music and looked in the mirror. I could see nothing, only a bare branch, sliced off by the storms of last week, swinging over the tarmac. A few broken twigs and thicker tree parts were strewn across the dark road. The impact had knocked Pepper onto the seat. He’d stopped yapping and now he wriggled onto his front. ‘You OK, Pepper?’ He wagged his tail. I glanced again in the mirror as I drove on, slowly, my heart thumping hard. There were only shadows on the road behind me. Nothing, just the branch, a remnant of last week’s storms. It must have caught the left-hand wing mirror and slammed it so it was ﬂ at against the door

‘I’d promised the old man I’d look after his dog while he had his op, that I’d guard him with my life’

now. Yet my heartbeat quickened and the thoughts started up: ‘Turn the car round, go back, check you didn’t hit anyone.’ I had checked. It was just a branch. ‘You hit a person standing on the side of the road back there. Go back.’ Before, I’d have turned the car round. I’d have found a turning place, and I’d have driven back, my palms sweating, to the point where I believed I might have knocked someone over, and there would be nothing there, no injured person, no crushed body. Reassured, I’d turn again and drive on. I had done it, to Finn’s amusement, even when there hadn’t been a jolt – once when the wind had buffeted the car so it had rocked. The thought would enter my head that I’d hurt someone, and I had to go back to check. But not any more, not now I was casting off old ways. I continued, slowly. I leant forward, and scanned the road ahead for bends that were easy to miss in the near-darkness. Nothing was left of the sunset in my mirror but a smear of pink, low on the horizon. Ahead, the bright rhombus thrown by my headlights picked out trees ﬂaunting young leaves and reassigned them to darkness. I was used to London, where it was never dark, where trafﬁc lights and shops and streetlamps and the constant peal of police sirens kept you company. Here, there were so many bends in the road you couldn’t see round. Deep blue coppices you couldn’t see into. Tricks of the light and shadows that looked like

GreenwichVisitor THE

OF THE MIND: NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER BY PENNY HANCOCK

something else. But I would not let the little jolt take hold in my mind. We were going through a village now, its houses lit up, the last one before we got to Southwold. I preferred being among houses. My heart rate slowed and I returned to my reverie. ‘You can’t plan your life the way you plan a lesson,’ Finn had said. ‘This is just a feeling, there is no plan, Finn.’ ‘I love you, Ellie. What’s the point in destroying what we have?’ ‘I need to move on. We were just kids when we got together. Things have changed...’ ‘Is it this exhibition?’ ‘Not just that.’ ‘What? I need to know.’ I couldn’t say it. That his love, his tolerance, had begun to rein me back. I had to free myself if I was ever to change, become the person I was capable of being. We were almost through our twenties, it would be too late, other people had established careers, won prizes, got there. I’d been coasting – accepting a status quo I knew didn’t make me happy – for too long. Now things were happening for me at last. A gallery in May’s town was holding a show of artists in aid of the charity Mind and the paintings I had submitted had been accepted. It only accepted high-calibre artists. I felt a frisson of excitement again at what all this meant for me. And so I’d invited friends, we were going to spend the weekend in my Aunty May’s house by the sea, walking, eating, going to the Private

View on Saturday night. The air coming in the window had changed texture now to something sharper as we entered the town and drove past the familiar shop fronts – the fish and chip shop, George’s antiques, Adnams wine cellar – and I was turning off down a lane where flint-walled cottages lined the pavements, and the faint waft of wood smoke mixed with the tang of the sea. I turned right and the buildings fell away and I drove over the golf course, the wind buffeting the car. ‘Nearly there, Peps.’ Past the water tower, a solitary circular building black against the sky, and at last over the humpback bridge. Left on the unmade track past the Harbour Inn and the black ramshackle fishing huts and jetties along the estuary, bumping over things on the track: rope, or nets, and stones. I looked past the tilted black masts of boats. Nothing beyond but the North Sea and the vast sky that symbolised my future – open, limitless. Left at the end, and then I turned sharply right onto the shingle track, rattling over rough ground, finally pulling up outside my Aunty May’s cottage, so familiar, the sight of it sent me plummeting back into my childhood. It was like coming home.

he house was in darkness, of course. It stood, its back to the road, its broad low form staring across the dunes and further out, to the sea. I sat, wanting to relish the moment. The first time I’d come here alone since my aunt died. Without Finn, I was able to sense everything. The past within the present. Appreciation that Aunty May had left me her house. The strong bond my aunt and I had always shared. It all gathered around me, filling me with warmth, and a sense of completeness. This was where I belonged. I knew at last what it meant that my aunt had left me her house, it was the passing of the baton – she wanted me to take the house forward, to bring life back into it, to fill it. I clipped on Pepper’s lead and we got out. Silver breakers were just visible smashing on the sand a couple of hundred metres down the beach. The wind slammed into me as I came round the car. I stumbled against the bonnet, bruising my hip. ‘Shit!’ Pepper was tugging at the lead, begging me to let him run about. His fur blew upright so he yelped in surprise. I picked him up and kissed his ears. ‘Sorry, Peps, I can’t let you off the lead. Do a wee and we’ll go indoors.’ I adjusted the wing mirror, congratulating myself again for resisting the urge to turn back after the tree caught the car...

‘The sight of Aunt May’s cottage sent me plummeting back to childhood. It was like coming home’

A jolt. The car veers sideways. Did I hit someone? I should go back to check. But I don’t...

December 2014 Page 15

Write play for festival THINK you can write a play? Brockey Jack Studio Theatre is looking for aspiring dramatists for its annual writing festival. The winner of Write Now 6 will have their play staged as a full production for two weeks at the south east London theatre. Two runners up will receive a fully-rehearsed and staged three-night run. All three winning writers will win development time with a director and dramaturg to explore their play further and be offered career development advice. Deadline for entries is January 30 2015. The festival is in May. Info: www.brockleyjack.co.uk @BrocJackTheatre

TV Jason in Producers COMIC and TV host Jason Manford makes his musical debut in The Producers – coming to The Churchill Theatre soon. He plays downtrodden accountant Leo Bloom in the show – based on Mel Brooks’ award-winning movie. Jason said: “It’s my favourite musical of all time. Mel Brooks is a genius and I’m so excited. The show is a riot of laughs from start to finish.” He is joined by dancer, choreographer and TV personality Louie Spence, who plays plays the flamboyant Carmen Ghia Info: www.theproducers musical.co.uk

Buy the Visitor LOVE The Greenwich Visitor but live somewhere else? We can post you a copy each month. To subscribe email your name, postal address and phone number. It costs £20 a year if you’re in the UK, or £30 if you’re abroad, for 12 copies a year. Email Matt@

TheGreenwichVisitor.com.

GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 16

reviews: blackheath halls

DAN’S CURRY CORNER

Fun and games BEFORE the Olympics in 2012, an estate agent described Lee as “The place to dwell, a stone’s throw from the Olympic Park with houses as big as a stadiums.”

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AMAZING: Rich Hall (left) and The Tiger Lillies

rich halls WE ARE so fortunate in our area to have the most amazing array of cultural attractions. It’s hard to think of anywhere else that enjoys quite such diversity. Take Blackheath Halls, for instance. In the course of four weeks the venue hosted – among many other performers – a great comedian, two opera stars of the future, a brilliant choir and one of the world’s most idiosyncratic bands. Week 1: Rich Hall’s Hoedown Band. In the first half Hall concentrated on rapping with the audience to find topics for improvised songs – which made up the second half. The best two were about a rubber-stamp quality controller and a couple who have dated for 14 years without marrying. Hall ended his brilliant show by handing the man a “spare” engagement ring he just happened to have and shaming him into proposing. Week 2: The Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Soprano Anush Hovhannisyan and tenor Samuel Sakker, accompanied by pianist David Gowland, sang songs and arias by Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi,

Tchaikovsky, Puccini and, best of all, Rachmaninov. Fabulous. Week 3: Carmina Burana. Carl Orff’s huge, mesmerising cantata (famous as the Old Spice theme) got a joyous outing with the 140-strong Trinity Laban Chorus conducted by Dominic Peckham and backed by two pianists and six storming percussionists. It was magnificent. Is there a more glorious use of the orchestral gong in all music? Week 4: The Tiger Lillies. This extraordinary trio led by falsetto-voiced, white-faced leader Martyn Jacques served up one of the gigs of the year with a playlist of the bleakest yet most darkly funny songs featuring cannibalistic mass-murdering perverts (I’m Terrible), everlasting damnation (Eternity) and doomed alcoholics (Gin), to name a few. Comedy has never been blacker – or more beautiful and bizarre. So, what a marvellous melange of a month at the Halls. If I may quote William Cowper: “Variety’s the very spice of life that gives it all its flavour.” MILES HEDLEY

Book Early for this magnificent Music early music festival IS THERE a better setting on the planet than Greenwich when you are listening to Tudor music, especially if it includes compositions by Henry VIII who spent much of his energetic youth here in a haze of wine, women, song, dance and jousting? In front of a packed house at St Alfege’s, Philip Thorby’s Philomel recreated several works adapted by that monarch in a wonderful, witty programme of 16th century works featuring viols, flutes, voices, recorders and – best of all – shawms and bagpipes. What a glorious noise! The brilliant quintet were among a host of luminaries who lit up the parish church and the Old Royal Naval College chapel during the annual three-day Royal Greenwich International Early Music Festival. The attractions ranged from larger ensembles such as the magnificent I Fagiolini, who presented an evening of Monteverdi, to a virtuoso display of solo recorder-playing by Anne-Suse Enssle. Her recital included an extraordinary contemporary piece called Austro by

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Gorgio Tedde, whose haunting tones, enhanced by electronics, offered a spine-tingling counterpoint to the otherwise historical music. And throughout the festival there was an exhibition and market of early instruments during which a bewildering array of sackbuts, serpents, citterns, gitterns, crumhorns and curtals – to name but a few – were demonstrated and traded. This is a unique event. If you’ve never been, put next year’s dates in your diary now. MILES HEDLEY

MORE REVIEWS – P22

I am not familiar with every house size in SE12. But – like the suggestion andoori Express in Deptford High that Stratford is just a hurled pebble Street got the thumbs up from a away – I suspect it’s an exaggeration. couple of the Curry Club boys Sadly for the estate agent, I can tell recently. There are few seats, but you that Lee Green’s star attraction is essentially this is a takeaway place. Take not a house but a pub: The Lord your pick of the favourites (Chicken Northbrook. Madras £4.95, ditto Chicken Vindy) or try It’s a place where people are happy something a like Special Punjabi Goat to share their space and children mingle Curry at £5.99. The menu is simple and too. (Isn’t it great to hear kids’ laughter straightforward so they can actually will in a pub?) deliver on quality. On the Friday evening I visited, the nother current favourite is Chutney, place was heaving with families as well and a big reason for that was waiter as punters having a quick drink after Ali. As well as excellent service he work. The band was getting ready to always went the extra mile: he once play. It was cosy, warm and had a offered to pick up some ingredients where happy vibe. he lived for dishes I was planning at home It’s one of these pubs which has and weren’t readily available in Greenwich. reconciled successfully the drinking Sad to hear he’s returned to Bangladesh. culture and the food culture. At the Hope to see you back soon, Ali. Lord Northbrook both live in harmony ne of my favourite dishes – being a – hearty British food and well kept pickle fan – is Achari Chicken or beers. Lamb. The tangy, spicy dish It’s a large airy space with a is served with pickles, which glorious traditional decor most chefs chop up and spread and a conservatory at the through the curry. This, I was Did you eat out today? back. There is a corner for told by one chef, is because .. my yum for ue val Was it everybody and every of Western tastes. Prefer your n tha rse wo or a plate need. Comfy settees with pickle whole? Try Le Popadom th? Give us YOUR dea in South Street. piles of board games, open tt@ Ma ail em t: dic ver fire, restaurant space, bar ext month we will reveal TheGreenwichVisitor. stools and tables...plenty of the winners of the annual com tables. Greenwich Curry Club What about the food? Awards, in association with the Glad you asked. The new chef is Greenwich Visitor. Some have tried to copy the awards but we are the original probably a superhero with many arms and the most respected. Keep an eye out and hands...the menu is vast. for winners of Best Restaurant, Best I counted 14 mains, six starters, Takeaway, Best Value and more. many more desserts plus bar snacks

FEEDBACK

Daniel Ford

greenwichcurryclub@hotmail.com @greenwichcurry

My guide to light bites that won’t Greenwich is celebrated for street food. But after hours of shopping and walking sometimes you just need to sit down and get your feet feet under a table. Here are some best value options: Trafalgar Cafe: Traditional English cuisine. Run by the same family for the past 60 years, the Trafalgar cafe serves builders’ size plates of no frill, honest food. Full English breakfast costs little more than £5.00 including a cuppa – don’t miss out on their black pudding, it’s to die for. They do lunch too. Difficult to find

readers right here choose to take and read the greenwich visitor every single day - not just once a week or month. to advertise in this paper talk to matt today on

07731 645828

better value for money. Open: Mon-Fri 7am3pm; Sat 7am-2pm. Sun closed. 98 Trafalgar Rd, Greenwich. SE10 9UW. 0208 858 4167. Royal Teas: Vegetarian. A favourite with the locals who lured by the smell of coffee, the atmosphere, the warmth and the friendliness of the place. Though, you’ll find nobody to admit to it – the stars are the cakes. For a couple of pounds you’ll get a slice of banana and butterscotch cake or a deliciously gooey Chocolate Treacle cake, big enough to share. Open: Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm; Sunday

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TRADITIONAL: Lord Northbrook in Lee serves traditional with a twist

and, “Things to share with friends” – Whole Hog Board with Scotch Egg, Sausage Roll & Ham Terrine (£15) for example. Every dish is an old favourite; some with a twist like the Northbrook burger topped with smoked applewood cheddar for extra flavour (£12.50). How good does a Duo of DuckPanfried Breast Crispy Confit with Bubble & Squeak & Redcurrant Jus (£14.50) sound? The vegetarian options might convert you for the duration – vegetable crumble

REAL T S HONEW S E I V E R y for food

a n y o n e ? B e e r ? Ye s clam pop corn – please. something for everyone. Especially when the Thereby fulfilling the We pa review pub’s philosophy. cask beer is as well kept as we it is at the Lord Northbrook. The Lord Northbrook Next to the pumps of wellwon the Time Out Love known ales and lagers, the pub London Awards 2014 for best always has three or four local beers from pub in the Lewisham area. the best South-East breweries. The staff I think maybe it may be one of the will talk you through the options and let best anywhere. you sample before pouring. SOLANGE BERCHEMIN There’s a Christmas menu available The Lord Northbrook Menu, 116 ths month, including, traditional farm Burnt Ash Road, Lee, SE12 www.thelordnorthbrook.co.uk turkey or wacky sole mousseline with

give you a fright when finances are quite tight 10.30am–5.30pm.76 Royal Hill, Greenwich SE10 8RT. 020 86917230 Greenwich University Cafe: Selfservice canteen. Probably not the first place you’d think of, but with hundreds of mouths to feed, every weekday, they do a fine job. Fresh food, no fuss, in historic surroundings. Yes, it has recurring fish and chips, curries and lasagne but it’s fast, filling food for £3.70 per plate. Queen Mary Court (Under the Chapel, near the East

entrance). Mon to Thurs 8am-8pm. Fridays & holidays 8am-4pm. The Fan Museum: Afternoon Tea. Eat your heart out, Ritz and Claridge’s... afternoon tea here is served in the elegant and calm surroundings of the Fan Museum’s Orangery with its painted walls. There are four sittings daily – reservations on Tuesday and Sundays, walk in on Fridays and Saturdays. This is a not to be missed destination if your cup of tea is well,

31 Vouchers Valid Tues/Weds/Thu/Fri

just that....plus scones, brownies and Victoria sponge. No plans yet for Christmassy bites but check nearer the time. Pay £7 plus museum entry. 12 Crooms Hill, Greenwich SE10 8ER. 020 8305 1441. Sittings: Tues-Sun 1.45pm, 2:15pm, 3.15pm, 3:45pm (booking advised). Fri/Sat: 12.30pm to 4:30pm (no booking). Next month: Good Italian food options. Tell us your favourites.

come dine with

at traditional pub that’s loved by families

GOOD LORD

December 2014 Page 17

id you spot the The Princess of Wales pub on Blackheath lost its W for a while? Is the Princess of Ales a marketing ploy or really the result of a strong gust of ind? Love it, either way! ongratulations to the Big Red Pizza Bus for winning the 2014 Time Out Awards Best Restaurant in New Cross & Deptford. We are chuffed for this unique venue, which hosts comedy, music and movies. It’s a great party venue too. Owner John Cierach – a sculptor – has created an arts space and venue just over the road – Number 3 which is opening at weekends in the run-up to Christmas. Go visit. ike a river view while you dine? Word on the street...well the Thames Path... is that the Cutty Sark pub is expanding its food offer into a vacant restaurant yards away at Anchor Iron Wharf, once a store for Frank Dowling’s fallen Inc Group empire. e were the first place in Britain to get a McDonald’s – at Woolwich exactly 40 years ago...but the newest burgers in town are at Five Guys – launched at the O2. Burgers are nice and simple – choose your own topping – soft drinks come from a free fountain. Verdict: Good meat, could do better with the chips. here are very few chances to dine in the fabulous Painted Hall like the pensioner sailors in the 1800s. So pencil in the December 12 for the Old Royal Naval College Choir Christmas Concert with two course supper. Tickets are £49. Info: www.ornc.org orks are popping at new gastro pub The Honor Oak...and not just to celebrate its opening. The pub has its own label Champagne! Owner Justin Wallace’s specially commissioned and labelled Honor Oak Brut is £39.50 a bottle (£6.65 a glass) while Honor Oak Rose Champagne is £45 (£7.25). Justin says: “We wanted something unique to celebrate the area. I’ve taken in another large order of Champagne for Christmas so we won’t be running out! Info: thehonoroak.co.uk. air Cake, the baking school on Highbridge Wharf, Greenwich, offers a cake decoration workshop lead by sugar-paste royalty Pamela McCaffrey. That’s your berries, holly, Mistletoe and winter foliage taken care of...as long as you don’t eat them on the way back home.

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Our new expert ENJOYED a meal out? Create food we should know about? Meet Solange Berchemin, writer, blogger and, now, Greenwich Visitor columnist. Solange is from Lyon, French capital of food, and has lived in London since 1993. Please tell her your food news at: pebblesoup@gmail.com. Follow her blog at www. pebblesoup.co.uk (You can scan the QR code right).

GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 18

ParkLife

Show about thinker who studied here

By Greenwich Park manager Graham Dear

went to O2 to see the ATP World Tour Finals. Although you needed a good head for heights in the seats we had, there was still a really good view of the tennis court and players below. It was an East meets West confrontation between Japan’s Kia Nishikori – the first Asian player ever to qualify for this top eight player’s tournament – and Switzerland’s Rodger Fedderer...arguably the greatest tennis player ever to grace a court. The match was good, although the Fed proved too strong and won 6-3, 6-2. I like watching tennis at O2 – Wimbledon it’s not, but with the partisan crowd waving their national flags it has a unique atmosphere all of its own. f course we have our own six courts at Greenwich Park which also have a unique setting. They are perhaps some of the few courts that can claim to be in a World Heritage Site, but just how unique they are I have only just begun to appreciate. Because we are having the courts resurfaced – made possible with a generous grant from the London Marathon Trust, funding from the Royal Parks Foundation and our tennis concession, Will to Win. Macadam courts like ours need to be resurfaced every 15 years or so. Otherwise the surface can break up and not drain properly. Two of our courts regularly flooded after rain. To improve the drainage hundreds of holes have been drilled through the surface and backfilled with shingle. Now the courts drain perfectly. Edgings around the court have been raised and soon a new Macadam playing surface will be overlaid across the courts. Temporary courts will be marked out in white with the full colour surface sprayed in Spring when the temperature allows this to cure properly. hilst discussing the line marking with the contractor, we noticed a worn, broken blue line crossing court No2. I’d thought that this was a remnant from a netball pitch but now know that it represents the Meridian line. Amazingly 0” longitude runs right across the court. This must be the only tennis court in the world where you can serve a tennis ball from the Eastern hemisphere into the Western hemisphere. That’s quite some serve. ext year, when the ATP World Tour comes back perhaps we can get Federrer and Nishikori over to Greenwich Park for the ultimate East V West tennis match.

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HISTORIC: First Chinese Students at Royal Naval College with their British counterparts on the steps of the Chapel

A visionary from china

Those years shaped his ideas and deepened his understanding of Western culture and institutions that was to inform his future career. Back home he spent time in the AS Chinese students flock to academic Imperial Navy, but following China’s institutions across the world, with over defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war he 150,000 in the UK alone, it is hard to turned to translation introducing the believe that less than 150 years ago few socio-political doctrines of the Western Chinese had ever studied overseas. thought into China. In 1877 a group from the Fuzhou He argued that the secret to Western Naval Yard School became the first sent wealth and power did not lie in Western by the Qing Empire to study in the UK, technological advances, but in the ideas joining the officers at the Royal Naval and institutions that lay behind these College in Greenwich, writes LESLEY techniques and that China could benefit BOOTH. from greater understanding of these Among them was Yan Fu…a young ideas and institutions. Yan Fu was man who would go on to become one of appointed the first Principle of Peking the most influential scholars of his University in 1912. He died in 1921. generation and to introduce “Yan Fu’s impact on Chinese western philosophy and modern history is profound,” adds socio-political ideas to Dr Kai Liu, Chair of the Yan China through Fu Foundation. He held a translations of major strong belief that the east texts by John al and the west could learn Nav al Roy Old Stuart Mill, Adam from each other to build a ich enw Gre e, leg Col Smith, Thomas H peaceful and prosperous H u x l e y , world.” Montesquieu Mary Ellen Cetra, among others. D e velopment and 1 ry rua To Feb Yan Fu continues Communications Director at to be highly regarded t h e O R N C , s a y s : “ I t ’s as an enlightenment fascinating that over 100 years thinker, translator and later, Chinese entrepreneurs are educator in China today. In investing in London, the city where the 2001 he was the subject of a book with seeds of Western thought in China were a preface provided by no less a luminary introduced, “ she adds, “and it started than Chinese president Xi Jinping. right here at the ORNC.” Yan came to Greenwich to what was The ORNC hosts the first UK exhibition then the Royal Naval College (now the on Yan Fu’s life and times until February 1 ORNC) for two years in the late 1870s. 2015. A new exhibition here marks the amazing story of a young student from China who came to Greenwich and rose to greatness…

STUDENT: Yan Fu in his 20s

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SAT 13 DEC 2014, 8PM. BRITISH OAK, OLD DOVER ROAD, BLACKHEATH STANDARD

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Monday December 1

Organising an event you want thousands of residents AND visitors to know about in the biggest and best local listings guide there is? Email essential details and contact number to: matt@TheGreenwich Visitor.com

MUSIC APPRECIATION Matthew Taylor Blackheath Halls 10am ART Blackheath Art Society Imagine Discover Greenwich till Jan 11 10-5 PHOTOGRAPHY Liz Wrigley Greenwich Park Trees. West Greenwich Library till Dec 13 (except Weds/Suns) MUSIC Belvil Trio Classical recital Blackheath Halls 1.10 MUSIC Blackheath Chorus Blackheath Halls 7.30 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30 JAZZ Corrie Dick Oliver’s

December

Wednesday 10

Tuesday 2

WHAT’S ON

PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 10am MUSIC Trinity Laban Wind Ensemble ORNC chapel 1.05 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 6 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus PLAY The Bear & The Proposal London Theatre 8 MUSIC English folk Lord Hood JAZZ The Porter Quartet Oliver’s

Sinfonia Tamesa – hailed one of London’s finest amateur orchestras – are at Blackheath Halls on Sat December 6.

Charlton House 1 MUSIC Puzzle Piece Orchestra ORNC chapel 1.05 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1.30, 7 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 7 Wednesday 3 MUSIC Boyz II Men IndigO2 PANTO Sleeping Beauty DANCE New Beginnings Churchill Theatre 10.30, 2.30 Chapter II Borough Hall 7.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk MUSICAL THEATRE No One In The Greenwich Theatre 10am, 1.30 World Laban Theatre 7.30 TALK Hawksmoor ORNC 6.30 WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton COMEDY John Robins, Ian Stone, Lloyd Langford UTC MUSIC Turning Of The Year MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus Blackheath Halls 7.15 MUSIC Brother Strut Brooklyn Bowl MUSIC Counterfeit Beatles Pelton PLAY The Bear & The Proposal PLAY The Bear & The Proposal London Theatre 8 London Theatre 8 MUSIC Corduroy Brooklyn Bowl JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s JAZZ John Martin Oliver’s FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 4

PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 10am, 1.30 ART Peter Kent Greenwich Gallery till Dec 24 (M-F 9-5.30

and S-S 12-4).

MUSIC Alicia Griffiths-Turrillas Severndroog Castle 11am MUSIC Trinity Laban Percussion Ensemble St Alfege 1.05 MUSIC Turning Of The Year Blackheath Halls 5, 7.15 SEMINAR Exploration Queen’s House 6 GONGS International Spirit Of Women Awards O2 FIGHTING Christmas Cracker White Collar Boxing IndigO2 MUSIC The Urban Voodoo Machine Brooklyn Bowl JAZZ Beats In The Bar Oliver’s PLAY The Bear & The Proposal London Theatre 8 JAZZ Samuel Eagles Quartet WM Jazz at O2. 8 QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9

Friday 5

VOLUNTEER Nature Trail Dig-In Greenwich Pk Wildlife Centre 9.30 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 10am, 11.45 MUSIC Andrews Massey Duo

Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 1.30, 4 TALK First World War Lives NMM 2 MUSIC Culture Club O2 FILM/PLAY John Link to National Theatre. Picturehouse 8 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood JAZZ Rich O’Toole Oliver’s

Tamesa Blackheath Halls 7.30 DANCE The Ball Borough Hall 8 COMEDY John Robins, Ian Stone, Lloyd Langford UTC PLAY The Bear & The Proposal London Theatre 8 JAZZ Jac Jones Quartet Oliver’s

Sunday 7

NATURE Guided Bird Walk Meet: Blackheath Gate at Greenwich Park 8.30am FAMILY Christmas Market Severndroog Castle 11-3 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure G Theatre Studio 11 FAMILY Winter Fayre Greenwich Ecology Park 11-3 FAMILY I Saw Three Ships... Cutty Sark 11.30, 2 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 Saturday 6 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY Birdwatching Walk PANTO Sleeping Beauty Woodlands Farm Trust 9.15 Churchill Theatre 1, 5 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas FILM/BALLET La Bayadère Adventure Greenwich Theatre Picturehouse 5.55 Studio 10am, 11.45 PLAY The Bear & The Proposal FAMILY I Saw Three Ships... London Theatre 5 Cutty Sark 11.30, 2 MUSIC Save The Children ChristMUSIC Step Into Christmas mas Concert ORNC chapel 7 Severndroog Castle 12 & 3 MUSIC Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball O2 CAROLS Woolwich Singers TALENT Something for Sunday Woolwich Library 12-1, Great Vanbrugh 7 Harry Pub 2-3 MUSICAL THEATRE No One In The FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus World Laban Theatre 7.30 FAMILY Meet Joe Brown ORNC Monday 8 12, 1, 2, 3 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas VOLUNTEER Drop-In Adventure Greenwich Theatre Greenwich Pk Wildlife Centre 1-3 Studio 11am, 1, 4 PANTO Sleeping Beauty PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk MUSIC Blackheath Chorus Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 MUSICAL THEATRE No One In The Blackheath Halls 7.30 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30 World Laban Theatre 2.30, 7.30 JAZZ Corrie Dick Oliver’s KIDS Aladdin Blackheath Halls 3 MUSIC Thomas Tallis Society Tuesday 9 St Alfege 7 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk MUSIC Bach’s Christmas Greenwich Theatre 10am Oratorio Dulwich Choral Soc at MUSIC Kaps Guitar Quartet ORNC chapel 7.30 ORNC chapel 1.05 MUSIC Shalamar IndigO2 PANTO Sleeping Beauty MUSIC Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball O2 Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 MUSIC PREMIERE Sinfonia KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas

PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 10am, 1.30 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 10.30am, 1 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 7 FAMILY Tea and Memories Cutty Sark 2 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure G Theatre Studio 4 SEMINAR The Wounded Healer’s Journey Mercure Hotel, Greenwich 6.30-9.30 POETRY Lorraine Mariner Collections Made in Greenwich 7 MUSIC Contemporary Jazz Ensemble & Jazz Choir Blackheath Halls 7.30 WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 11

PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 10am, 1.30 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 10.30am, 1 MUSIC Royal Greenwich Brass Band St Alfege 1.05 MUSIC Demelza Hospice Care For Children’s Celebration of Christmas ORNC chapel 7 TOUR Dark Tales ORNC 7 MUSIC Basement Jaxx O2 MUSIC Trinity Laban Concert Orch Blackheath Halls 7.30 JAZZ Duncan Eagles Quartet WM Jazz at O2. 8

Friday 12

VOLUNTEER Nature Trail Dig-In Greenwich Pk Wildlife Centre 9.30 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 10am, 11.45 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 10.30am, 1 MUSIC Royal Greenwich Brass Band Charlton House 1 MUSIC Ulrike Wutscher Soprano ORNC chapel 1.05 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1.30, 7 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5 FESTIVITY Greenwich Millennium Village carol concert 5 ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Observatory MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus MUSIC Alfie Boe O2 FESTIVITY Christmas Concert & Supper ORNC 7 MUSIC Chas & Dave IndigO2 MUSIC Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Brooklyn Bowl COMEDY Jen Brister UTC

December 2014 Page 19 JAZZ Wild Card Oliver’s

Saturday 13

KIDS Snowflakes & Snowballs Deptford Lounge 10-4 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 10am, 11.45 POETRY Shredding & Giving of Poems Made in Greenwich 1 FAMILY Meet Grace O’Malley ORNC 12, 1, 2, 3 VOLUNTEER Drop-In Greenwich Pk Wildlife Centre 1-3 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7 RUGBY Blackheath v Coventry Rectory Field 3 FOOTBALL Charlton Athletic v Blackpool. The Valley 3 DANCE Silver Lining Borough Hall 3.30, 7.30 FILM/OPERA Mastersinger Of Nurnberg From New York Met Picturehouse 5 ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Observatory MUSIC Public Image Ltd IndigO2 MUSIC The Messiah & Carols Eltham Choral Society 7.30 Holy Trinity Church SE9 2SD MUSIC War Of The Worlds O2 DISCO Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet! Blackheath Halls 7.30. MUSIC Ronnie Ripple & The RipChords British Oak, Old Dover Road SE3 8SU at 8 COMEDY Ricky Grover UTC MUSIC Toot N Skamen Pelton JAZZ Matt Chandler Trio Oliver’s

Sunday 14

KIDS Holdall’s Christmas Adventure G Theatre Studio 11 CHARITY London Panto Horse Race. Town centre, from 11 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 1, 3 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY Christmas Market Pistachio’s, East Greenwich Pleasaunce 12-4, Santa at 1 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1, 5 TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7 COMEDY Russell Howard O2 MUSIC Fran McGillivray Pelton

Monday 15

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 10.30am, 1 KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 11am, 1, 4 MUSIC Ensemble Iberia Classical

Continued on Page 20

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December 2014 Page 20

recital. Blackheath Halls 1.10 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 MUSIC Rat Pack Christmas Special IndigO2 MUSIC Michael Bublé O2 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30 JAZZ Corrie Dick Oliver’s

Tuesday 16

KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 10am, 11.45 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 10.30am, 1 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 MUSIC John Ball and Torridon Juniors Blackheath Halls 5 MUSIC Michael Bublé O2 MUSIC Rat Pack Christmas Special IndigO2 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus FILM/BALLET Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland Covent Garden Picturehouse 7.15 MUSIC English folk Lord Hood JAZZ Lewis Wright Oliver’s

Wednesday 17

KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 10am, 11.45 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 10.30am, 1 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 7 TEA DANCE Blackheath Halls 2 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 MUSIC The Who O2 WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton MUSIC Handel’s Messiah ORNC chapel 7 CAROLS Woolwich Singers Mulgrave Primary School 7.30 MUSIC Naturally 7 Brooklyn Bowl FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 18

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 10.30am, 1 MUSIC Trinity Laban recital St Alfege 1.05 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 MUSIC Beatles v Stones IndigO2 SPOKEN WORD Chill Pill Xmas Special The Albany 8 MUSIC The Who O2 MUSIC Icarus Club Pelton QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9 JAZZ Jessica Radcliffe Oliver’s

Friday 19

KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 10am, 11.45 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 7 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 MUSIC Jocelyn Brown, Kenny Thomas IndigO2 TALK Dr Lucie Green Christmas Lecture Royal Observatory 7 MUSIC Status Quo O2 COMEDY James Redmond UTC COMEDY Christmas Cracker Mycenae House 8pm MUSIC Christmas Concert Blackheath Halls 7.30 MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus MUSIC Jezebel Sextet Pelton JAZZ Ross Cuthbert Oliver’s

Saturday 20

KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 10am FAMILY Merry Museum Makes Festive workshop Charlton House 10am, 2 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 2 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 11am, 3.30 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY Christmas Past ORNC 1 VOLUNTEER Drop-In Greenwich Pk Wildlife Centre 1-3 FAMILY Christmas Past ORNC Painted Hall 1-4 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk

Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 RUGBY Blackheath v Rosslyn Park Rectory Field 3 MUSIC UB40 IndigO2 COMEDY James Redmond, Eric Lampaert, Andrew Maxwell, Nico Yearwood UTC MUSIC Madness O2 COMEDY Seann Walsh Blackheath Halls 8 JAZZ Marco Marconi Oliver’s

January

Sunday 21

FAMILY Winter Solstice Walk Woodlands Farm Trust 10am KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 11am KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 1, 3 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1, 5 TEA DANCE Blackheath Halls 2 FILM/BALLET The Nutcracker Picturehouse 3 MUSIC Jette Parker Young Artists Blackheath Halls 7 TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7 MUSIC Mike Willis Pelton BLUES Emanuele Fizzotti Oliver’s

Monday 22

KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 11am, 1, 4 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 2 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30 JAZZ Corrie Dick Oliver’s

Tuesday 23

KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 11am KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 1, 3 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 24

KIDS The Holdall’s Christmas Adventure Greenwich Theatre Studio 11am KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 2 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 FAMILY Disney On Ice O2 2.45 BLUES Steve Morrison Oliver’s

Thursday 25

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Friday 26

PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 FAMILY Disney On Ice O2 2.45, 6.30 FOOTBALL Charlton Athletic v Cardiff. The Valley 3 MUSIC Steve Morrison Pelton

Saturday 27

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 2 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY Disney On Ice O2 11am, 2.45, 6.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7

The Sternberg Duo put on concerts at their studio in the Plaza building in Vanbrugh Hill. See Jan 25. MUSIC Eskimo Dance IndigO2 MUSIC Randy Doorholes Pelton

Sunday 28

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 1, 3 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1, 5 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY Disney On Ice O2 11am, 2.45, 6.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7

Monday 29

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 2 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 11am, 3 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS Woolly Jumpers Cutty Sark 11.30, 2 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 FAMILY Disney On Ice O2 2.45, 6.30 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30 JAZZ Corrie Dick Oliver’s

Tuesday 30

KIDS Woolly Jumpers Cutty Sark 11.30, 2 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 1, 3 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 31

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 2 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 KIDS Little Bo Peep Blackheath Halls 3 WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton COMEDY Ben Norris, Dane Baptiste, Jeff Innocent UTC MUSIC Craig Charles Funk & Soul Party Brooklyn Bowl PARTY Trevor Nelson IndigO2 MUSIC The Mish Mash Pelton JAZZ The Jazz Knights Oliver’s PARTY Kisstory Building Six

Thursday January 1 KIDS Bath-Toy Buoys NMM 11.30, 1.30 KIDS The Lighthouse Keeper NMM 11.30, 1.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 7 QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9

Friday 2

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 2 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Obsv from 5.25 MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus

Saturday 3

KIDS We’re Going On A Bear Hunt Albany 11am, 1, 3 FAMILY Disney On Ice O2 11am, 2.45, 6.30 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY My Cup Of Tea Cutty Sark 11.30, 2 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1.30, 5.30 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Obsv from 5.25 MUSIC Battle Of Bollywood IndigO2

Sunday 4

FAMILY My Cup Of Tea Cutty Sark 11.30, 2 PANTO Sleeping Beauty Churchill Theatre 1, 5 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY Disney On Ice O2 1, 5 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7

Monday 5

PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30

Tuesday 6

PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 MUSIC English folk Lord Hood COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus

Wednesday 7

PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 7 WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 8

MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital St Alfege 1.05 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 7 MUSIC Icarus Club Pelton QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9

Friday 9

MUSIC Paradisal Players St Alfege 7 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 7 MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus

Saturday 10

MUSIC Leah Evans Cello recital. St Alfege 1.05 PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 PANTO Dick Whittington New Eltham Methodist Church Footscray Rd SE9 at 2.30, 7.30 newelthampantomime.co.uk FOOTBALL Charlton Athletic v Brighton. The Valley 3 RUGBY Blackheath v Old Albanians Rectory Field 3 LIFESTYLE Matthew Hussey IndigO2 MUSIC Elvis Presley’s 80th Birthday Party Brooklyn Bowl

GreenwichVisitor THE

Sunday 11

Friday 23

PANTO Jack & The Beanstalk Greenwich Theatre 1, 5 TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7

MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 7.30 DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 REVUE Broke Greenwich Th 8

MUSIC Paolo Nutini O2 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30

MUSIC Warwick Hewson Piano recital. St Alfege 7 MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7.30 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus RUGBY Blackheath v Wharfedale Rectory Field 3 ARROWS Legends Of Darts Masters IndigO2 MUSIC alt-J O2 DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 REVUE Broke Greenwich Th 8

Monday 12

Tuesday 13

DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 14

WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 7.30 DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 15

MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital St Alfege 1.05 MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7.30 BASKETBALL New York Knicks v Milwaukee Bucks O2 DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9

Friday 16

MUSIC St Paul’s Sinfonia St Alfege 7 MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 7.30 PANTO Dick Whittington New Eltham Methodist Church Footscray Rd SE9 at 7.30 newelthampantomime.co.uk TALK Chiropractice: Dr Jason Gould Blackheath Scientific Society, Mycenae House 7.45 MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8

Saturday 17

Saturday 24

FAMILY Winter Walk Woodlands Farm Trust 10am HISTORY Immortal Memory Toast ORNC 3.30 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 5 MUSIC Queen O2 TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7

Monday 19

MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 7.30 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30

Tuesday 20

MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 7.30 DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 21

MUSIC Jette Parker Young Artists Blackheath Halls 7 WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton AWARDS National Television Awards O2 MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 7.30 JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 22

MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital St Alfege 1.05 MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7.30 FILM/PLAY Treasure Island Link to NT. Picturehouse 7 DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8 REVUE Broke Greenwich Theatre 8 MUSIC Icarus Club Pelton QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9

Artist blacksmith bladesmith, engineer, welder and coppersmith Own Bush – who has featured on TV shows like Scrapheap Challenge –talks about Damascus Steel at Blackheath Scientific Society, Mycenae House Friday February 20.

Sunday 25

FILM/BALLET Swan Lake Link to the Bolshoi Picturehouse 3 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 5 MUSIC Sternberg Duo 6 137 Vanbrugh Rd SE10 www.sternbergduo.com TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7 MUSIC Dennis Greaves Blues Jam Pelton

Monday 26

PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30

Tuesday 27

DRAMA No Exit London Th 8 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 28

HEALTH Jillian Michaels IndigO2 JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s LITERATURE David Carpenter & Magna Carta Blackheath Halls 8 DRAMA No Exit London Th 8 FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

MUSIC The Peacock Ensemble St Alfege 1.05 MUSICAL Jesus Christ Superstar Thursday 29 Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7.30 MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital PANTO Dick Whittington New Eltham Methodist Church St Alfege 1.05 FILM/BALLET Andrea Chénier Footscray Rd SE9 at 2.30, 7.30 newelthampantomime.co.uk FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FILM/OPERA Merry Widow Link to NY Met. Picturehouse 5.55 MUSIC Queen O2 MUSIC Turn It Loose Brooklyn Bowl DRAMA Lulu London Theatre 8

Sunday 18

February

Link to Covent Garden Picturehouse 5.55 DRAMA No Exit London Th 8 MUSIC Icarus Club Pelton QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9

Friday 30

ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Obsv from 5.25 MUSIC Jefferson Starship Brooklyn Bowl MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus DRAMA No Exit London Th 8

Saturday 31

VOLUNTEER Drop-In Greenwich Pk Wildlife Centre 1-3 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FOOTBALL Charlton Athletic v Rotherham. The Valley 3 ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Obsv from 5.25 FILM/OPERA Tales Of Hoffman Link to NY Met Picturehouse 5.55 MUSIC Atlantic Starr IndigO2

FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7

Monday 2

PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30

Tuesday 3

COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 4

WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 5

MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital St Alfege 1.05 MUSIC Ennio Morricone O2 MUSIC Icarus Club Pelton QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9

Friday 6

MUSIC Hayseed Dixie

Sunday February 1 MUSIC Sacconi Quartet Blackheath Halls 11am

Continued on Page 22

Dedember 2014 Page 21

Long-term

MARKETS Greenwich Market: 10-5.30. Sat and Sun: Arts & crafts, food, fresh produce. Tues, Wed: Food, fresh produce, homewares. Thurs: food, antiques & collectables, crafts. Fri: Food, arts & crafts, antiques & collectibles Clocktower Market: 166 Greenwich High Rd. Sat, Sun 10-4. 50 quirky stalls specialising in vintage, retro and antiques. 07940 914204 Blackheath Farmers’ Market: Blackheath Station, 10-2 every Sun. lfm.org EXHIBITIONS/CRAFTS/COMMUNITY Royal Observatory: Longitude Punk’d. Till Jan 4. www.rmg.co.uk Fan Museum: Visions Of Beauty. Till Dec 13. 12 Crooms Hill. 020 8305 1441 fan-museum.org.uk Old Royal Naval College: Blackheath Art Society exhibition. Daily 10-5 Blackheath Halls: blackheathhalls.com Made In Greenwich: 324 Creek Road SE10 9SW. madeingreenwich.co.uk Tuesday-Sunday & Bank Holidays 11-5.30 Age Exchange: Carers’ group Mon, knitters Thurs, preschool rhyme-time Fri. Old Bakehouse, Bennett Pk SE3 9LA. age-exchange.org.uk. NMM: The Quest For Longitude. Till Jan 4. rmg.co.uk Queen’s House: War Artists At Sea. Till Feb. Daily 10-5. www.rmg.co.uk Greenwich Gallery/The Cave: Peter Kent Dec 4-12. Linear House, Peyton Place SE10 8RS Mon-Fri 9-5, Sat/Sun 12-4 Paul McPherson Gallery: Kate Stephens till Dec 6 77 Lassell St SE10 9PJ. paulmcphersongallery.com Ben Oakley Gallery: 9 Turnpin La SE10 9JA. The Forum: Disabled drop-ins, mums’ groups, kids’ classes, advice. Trafalgar Rd SE10 9EQ. 020 8853 5212 Jazz Open Mic Nights: Mondays (exc Bank Hols) Mycenae House SE3, 8.30 Greenwich Heritage Centre: Artillery Square SE18 4DX. 020 8854 2452 WALKS Greenwich Guided Walks: Local experts. Walks daily at 12.15 and 2.15 from the Greenwich Tourist Information Centre. £8, £7 cons. Greenwich Tour Guides Association 07575772298 guides@greenwichtours.co.uk Rich Sylvester: Guide, historian, storyteller. 07833 538143. richs@onetel.com Dotmaker: Alternative guided walks. dotmakertours.co.uk FAMILY ACTIVITIES National Maritime Museum: Explore Saturdays. Free. Performance and storytelling for over-5s from noon. Discover Sundays. Free. Activities for families from 11.30am. Play Tuesdays. Free. For under-5s from 10.30

Venues

The Albany: Douglas Way, Deptford SE8 4AG. 020 8692 4446 thealbany.org.uk Amersham Arms: 388 New Cross Rd SE14 6TY. 020 8469 1499 Blackheath Conservatoire: 19-21 Lee Rd SE3 9RQ. 020 8852 0234 conservatoire.org.uk Big Red Bus: 30 Deptford Church St, London SE8 4RZ 020 3490 8346 bigredpizza.co.uk Blackheath Halls: 23 Lee Road, SE3 9RQ 020 8463 0100. blackheathhalls.com Bob Hope Theatre: Wythfield Rd SE9 5TG. 020 8850 3702. bobhopetheatre.co.uk Charlton House: Charlton Rd SE7 8RP. 020 8856 3951 Churchill Theatre: High St, Bromley BR1 1HA. 0844 871 7620 Clarendon Hotel: Montpelier Row SE3 0RW. 020 8318 4321. clarendonhotel.com The Duke: 125 Creek Rd SE8 3BU. 020 8469 8260 The Eltham Centre: 2 Archery Road SE9 1HA. 020 8921 4344 Eltham Palace: Court Yard SE9 5QE. 020 8294 2548. english-heritage.org.uk The Forum: Trafalgar Rd SE10 9EQ. 0208 853 5212. office@forumatgreenwich.org The Green Pea: 92 Trafalgar Rd SE10 9UW. 020 8858 9319 Greenwich Communications Centre: 164 Trafalgar Rd SE10 9TZ. 020 8269 2103 Greenwich Dance: Borough Hall SE10 8RE. 020 8293 9741 greenwichdance.org.uk Greenwich Heritage Centre: Artillery Square, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich SE18 4DX Greenwich Theatre: Crooms Hill, SE10 8ES 020 8858 7755. greenwichtheatre.org.uk Greenwich Playhouse: Currently closed. www.galleontheatre.co.uk Laban Theatre: Creekside SE8 3DZ. 020 8463 0100 www.trinitylaban.ac.uk London Theatre: 443 New Cross Rd SE14 6TA. 020 8694 1888. thelondontheatre.com The Lord Hood: 300 Creek Rd, SE10 9SW. 020 8858 1836 Morden College: 19 St Germans Place SE3 0PD Mycenae House: 90 Mycenae Rd SE3 7SE 020 8858 1749 mycenaehouse.co.uk National Maritime Museum: Romney Rd, SE10 9BJ 020 8858 0045 www.nmm.ac.uk 02, Indig02, WM Jazz, Building 6, Brooklyn Bowl: 0844 8560202 www.theo2.co.uk The Old Bakehouse: Bennett Park, Blackheath SE3 9LA Old Royal Naval College: SE10 9LW. 020 8269 4799 www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org Oliver’s: 9 Nevada St SE10 9JL. 020 8853 5970 www.oliversjazzbar.co.uk Pelton Arms: 23-5 Pelton St, SE10 9PQ 020 8858 0572. peltonarms.com The Railway: Blackheath Village SE3 9LE. 020 8852 2390 therailwayblackheath.co.uk The Royal Oak: 54 Charlton Lane, SE7 8LA. 020 8858 4771 St Alfege: Greenwich Church St. 020 8853 0687. st-alfege.org Severndroog Castle: Off Shooters Hill SE18 3RT. severndroogcastle.org.uk The Star And Garter: 60 Old Woolwich Rd SE10 9NY. 020 8305 1144 Trinity Laban: King Charles Ct SE10 9JF. 020 8305 4444. tcm.ac.uk Up The Creek: 302 Creek Rd SE10 9SW. 020 8858 4581 upthecreekmanagement.co.uk Woodlands Farm Trust: 331 Shooters Hill Rd, Welling DA16 3RP 020 8319 8900 thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org.uk

GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 22

reviews: severndroog recitals

Wonderfolly Severndroog Castle is an 18th century folly on Shooters Hill which has just been beautifully restored. And to celebrate, the stunning polygonal Lady James room halfway up the tower is hosting regular monthly recitals of classical music. These were launched by virtuoso flautist Laura Beardsmore, who chose a fascinating programme to mark the castle’s Georgian origins (Johann Joaquim Quantz, Anton Stamitz and CPE Bach) and its more recent rebirth – Arthur Honegger and, best of all, Edwin Roxburgh’s 1992 composition Stardrift. It was a wonderful juxtapostion of musical styles given

extra depth by the amazing acoustics of the small chamber, which is lit on three sides by huge windows looking out on to the woods. The next recital, by harpist Alicia Griffiths-Turillas, is on December 4 (11am). Performances resume in February at 11am on the first Thursday of the month. I urge you to go – in a borough renowned for its historic settings, this is as good as any. And stop off first for a cuppa at the excellent tea-room downstairs. A perfect way to start the day. The castle hosts family Christmas activities and stories on Sunday December 7 (11am). MILES HEDLEY Info: severndroogcastle.org.uk

The Brothers Grin Rapunzel and her beloved prince are alive and well – in Deptford. That was the joyful climax of Teatro Vivo’s brilliant entertainment which lit up the night-time streets around the Albany either side of Halloween. The Hunters Grimm took spectators (about 20 on the night I saw it) around Deptford in the search for a happy ending before Wilhelm Grimm was driven mad by the misery of fairytales he and his brother Jacob collected. En route we met characters including Hansel and Gretel’s guilt-ridden father, one of Cinderella’s hideous sisters and

Brooklyn Bowl MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus CLUBBING Hospitality Building Six

Saturday 7

MUSIC Kate Howden Soprano recital. St Alfege 1.05 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus RUGBY Blackheath v Richmond Rectory Field 3 DANCE Strictly Live O2 MUSIC Bonnie Tyler IndigO2

Sunday 8

DANCE Strictly Live O2 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7

Monday 9

COMEDY Peter Pan Goes Wrong Churchill Theatre 7.30 PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30

Tuesday 10

FOOTBALL Charlton Athletic v Norwich. The Valley 7.45 COMEDY Peter Pan Goes Wrong Churchill Theatre 7.30 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 11

FILM/PLAY Loves Labours Lost Link to RSC at Stratford Picturehouse 7 DRAMA Jekyll And Hyde Greenwich Theatre 7.30 COMEDY Peter Pan Goes Wrong Churchill Theatre 7.30 WOOLLIES Knitting club Pelton JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 12

MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital St Alfege 1.05 DRAMA Jekyll And Hyde Greenwich Theatre 1.30, 7.30 COMEDY Peter Pan Goes Wrong Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7.30

Friday 13

an ancient aristocrat seeking the soonto-be cursed Sleeping Beauty. Wilhelm’s pain grew with each story – until Rapunzel found her man in director Sophie Austin’s fine production. Full marks to the magnificent cast, led by Joel Mellinger, Mark Stevenson, Kas Darley and T’nia Miller. But none of it would have been possible without the people of Deptford. Passers-by and traders were sometimes bemused, often delighted but invariably tolerant – which says a lot about the community and the Albany’s ability to embrace it. MILES HEDLEY

RITES OF WAR

Power of war in air

WHAT happens when you mix dance with circus? Magic, if Gravity & Levity’s Remembrance Day production of Rites Of War at Laban Theatre is anything to go by. This astonishing show featured dancers on wires high above dancers on a stage, allowing choreographers Darshan Singh Bhuller and Lindsey Butcher to bring into play the back wall of the stage as a supplementary performance plane. Using film shot from overhead of Tommies launching an attack at Mons in 1914, the aerial performers appeared to join the charging troops - bringing home the horror of the slaughter when they were hurled across the arena on bungees as enemy bullets and shells ripped through the advancing line. The carnage of the War “to end all wars” was contrasted devastatingly with the more insidious nightmare of British t r o o p s i n A fg h a n i s t a n a century later as they faced the murderous terror of guerrilla ambushes and IED bombings. We have become largely inured to the visual trauma of war thanks to graphic films and television. However, the subtle yet paradoxical grace of dance in general and this production in particular brought a new dimension to that trauma - and gave fresh life to the cycle of tragedy that Mankind seems incapable of breaking. MIILES HEDLEY

February MUSIC Kaiser Chiefs O2 COMEDY Peter Pan Goes Wrong Churchill Theatre 7.30 MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus DRAMA Jekyll And Hyde Greenwich Theatre 7.30

DRAMA Arcadia Churchill Th 7.30 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 18

FAMILY The Wind In The Willows Greenwich Theatre 11am Saturday 14 FAMILY Tea Story NMM 11.30, 2 MUSIC James Brawn DRAMA Arcadia Churchill Th 7.30 Piano recital. St Alfege 1.05 JAZZ Jam session Oliver’s FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30 DRAMA Jekyll And Hyde Thursday 19 Greenwich Theatre 2.30, 7.30 FAMILY Captain Finn And The COMEDY Peter Pan Goes Wrong Pirate Dinosaurs Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7.30 Greenwich Theatre 11am, 2 FOOTBALL Charlton Athletic FAMILY Tea Story NMM 11.30, 2 v Brentford. The Valley 3 MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital ASTRONOMY A Valentine’s St Alfege 1.05 Evening With The Stars DRAMA Arcadia Churchill 2.30, 7.30 Royal Observatory from 5.25 MUSIC Icarus Club Pelton MUSIC You Me At Six & All Time QUIZ NIGHT Star & Garter 9 Low O2 Friday 20 MUSIC Hil St Soul Cutty Sark FAMILY Captain Finn & Pirate Theatre 7.45 Dinosaurs Greenwich Th 11am, 2 Sunday 15 FAMILY Tea Story NMM 11.30, 2 FAMILY Valentine’s Walk MUSIC Howard Jones IndigO2 Woodlands Farm Trust 10am MUSIC St Paul’s Sinfonia FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus St Alfege 7 FAMILY Handa’s Surprise Green- DRAMA Arcadia Churchill Th 7.30 wich Theatre 11am, 12.30, 2.30, 4 MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus TALENT Something for Sunday TALK Damascus Steel: Owen Vanbrugh 7 Bush Blackheath Scientific Monday 16 Society, Mycenae House 7.45 FAMILY Handa’s Surprise GreenSaturday 21 wich Theatre 11am, 12.30, 2.30, 4 FAMILY Chinese New Year FAMILY Tea Story NMM 11.30, 2 All-day celebration. NMM DRAMA Arcadia Churchill Th 7.30 MUSIC Geoff Hobbs PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30 Organ recital. St Alfege 1.05 Tuesday 17 FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus FAMILY Tea Story NMM 11.30, 2 DRAMA Arcadia FAMILY The Wind In The Willows Churchill Theatre 2.30, 7.30 Greenwich Theatre 2, 7 RUGBY Blackheath v Esher

Rectory Field 3 STORYTELLING The Forbidden Door Greenwich Theatre 7.30 VARIETY House Of Fun With Arthur Smith Blackheath Halls

Sunday 22

TALK Friends Of Greenwich Park Annual Lecture ORNC 11am FAMILY Kids’ cinema Big Red Bus TALENT Something for Sunday Vanbrugh 7

Monday 23

PUB QUIZ Vanbrugh 8.30

Tuesday 24

DRAMA Bleak House Greenwich Theatre 7.30 COMEDY Open mic Big Red Bus MUSIC English folk Lord Hood

Wednesday 25

DRAMA Bleak House Greenwich Theatre 2.30, 7.30 FILM QUIZ The Green Pea 8.30

Thursday 26

MUSIC Trinity Laban Recital St Alfege 1.05 DRAMA Bleak House Greenwich Theatre 7.30

Friday 27

ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Obsv from 5.25 MUSIC Live Jazz Big Red Bus PLAY Much Ado About Nothing Greenwich Theatre 7.30

Saturday 28

VOLUNTEER Drop-In Greenwich Pk Wildlife Centre 1-3 MUSIC Maria Marchant Piano recital. St Alfege 1.05 PLAY Much Ado About Nothing Greenwich Theatre 2.30, 7.30 FOOTBALL Charlton Athletic v Huddersfield. The Valley 3 ASTRONOMY An Evening With The Stars Royal Obsv from 5.25 MUSIC Faith Evans, Syleena Johnson, Teedra IndigO2

Want the inside guide to what’s best in Greenwich and Blackheath? NIKKI SPENCER asks a local

MyLife DOWNrIE KRYSTLEy Cap ture Life Stor

hen one evening whilst flicking through the TV channels in my flat in Greenwich, I heard Davina McCall call out for contestants for the game show Million Pound Drop. I thought we had a million to one chance of getting on it, let alone winning. But it was like all my dreams had come true - after a gruelling two-day appearance Davina asked what we’d spend our winnings on. My mum, Pauline and I looked at each other and said: “Our own business!” ’ve come from a line of female entrepreneurs – aged 19, my mum took me as baby along with her as she did deals on her clothing stall in Camden Town. I call her the female Del Boy. Going further back you’ll find my great gran Anita, who at 19 had her own shop in St Ann’s Jamaica - quite a feat for a female so young at that time in rural Jamaica. ur business – It’s My Magazine – was conceived because of Anita. That inspirational married mother of six children, worked hard enough in her shop to pay for passage to the Motherland in the 1950s and she settled in Greenwich. She entertained us children with stories of buried Downie family treasure in the mountains of St Ann’s, and impressed us with tales of growing up with Bob Marley’s mum. I’d always promised to write her life story, but Uni (and life) got in the way. When she passed after a short illness, all that history was erased – I resolved that there must be a way for people to record their extraordinary life stories and family histories. It’s My Magazine was born (www.itsmymagazine.com) ur journalists, photographers and designers, uncover secret histories and forgotten achievements and turn them into a stunning luxury magazine heirloom for future generations. We’ve aligned with October’s Black History Month as I’m Afro-Caribbean but really, my quest is to be a Life Story Capturer for all ethnicities and communities. We’ve been shortlisted by the British Council’s as one of the UK’s top three most innovative businesses and we are now also Princes Trust supported. ‘m still here in Greenwich. And I love it here. There’s so much to do. I’d always heard about Up The Creek comedy club, from even before I lived here, and it was a great night spot, as you could always get a special entry deal, free cocktails or bar entry - 2 for one tickets on a show. Next door to it used to be a fabulous Thai restaurant called Kum Luang, but sadly it’s closed. love going to Greenwich Market – you can find everything wonderful from authentic Churro doughnuts to a one-of-a-kind print. The crafts and handmade goods are truly great and usually made by fellow enterprising individuals. y favourite hidden gem is a sushi place called www.sensuru.co.uk - fabulous sushi and sashimi and a great Sunday buffet. Do remember to try their noodles, tasty, delicious and thick like worms. Beautiful!

O O I

I M

Tell us your life stories and favourite local places. email Matt@TheGreenwichVisitor.com

GreenwichVisitor THE

December 2014 Page 23

cutty sark was quite a site HERE’S one we took earlier...back in Spring 2012 the race was on to get the Cutty Sark ready on time for its opening day after a seven-year restoration. And we got this shot of the site – including work on Cutty Sark Gardens – up a very tall ladder on the pub next door (don’t tell ‘elf & safety!). Last month the tea clipper celebrated its 145th birthday. Congratulations! Have you taken a

In association with

Like it? Live it!

Answers: 1 William the Conqueror / William I (in 1066). 2 Holiday Inn. 3 Australia. 4 12 Drummers Drumming. 5 Chris Rea. 6 Capricorn. 7 Noel. 8 Do They Know Its Christmas by Band Aid. 9 Max. 10 Italy.

The Pub Quiz

it’s quizmas – BY BIRTHDAYQUIZ.CO.UK 1 Which King of England was crowned on Christmas Day? 2 In which film did the song White Christmas first feature? 3 Which country does the territory of Christmas Island belong? 4 In the song The Twelve Days Of Christmas, how what did my true love give to me on the 12th day? 5 Who sang the christmas song Driving Home For Christmas? 6. If you were born on Christmas day which star sign would you be? 7 Whiuch word associated with Christmas could be illustratied by ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 8. What was the biggest selling single in the UK in the 1980s? 9 What is the name of the dog in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas? 10 Which European country began the tradition of exchanging gifts at Christmas time?

COME on then cleverclogs. Think of a team name and test yourelf against our legendary quizmaster Deke. Still not authentic enough?

VANBRUGH Fields forever...as The Beatles once didn’t sing If you’d like a view of the Heath, to be right next to Greenwich Park and live in one of these

Get off the sofa and catch his legendary quizzes at The Vanbrugh Tavern every Monday night. 8.30.

classic apartments, call John Payne on 020 3318 8006. You’ll get a fiver’s change for half a million pounds for this two-bed home. Lovely.

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Mystery object

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IF you read the paper carefully this SANTA DASH; ON; BLACKHEATH; wordsearch should be easy. Look LASER; CARDS; DARTH; VADER; for: JACK; BEANSTALK; ANDREW; ECO; POETRY; TALES OF; ELTHAM;

POLLARD; TEA; GOLF BUGGY; C H A R I N G ; C R O S S ; YA N F U ; SOUTHWOLD; WING MIRROR; TENNIS; Happy hunting – SCF

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The Blog of Samuel Pepys unday. My wife hath cajoled me to join her society of Ramblers, such a id reach the top of the hill most breathless with my stockings torn and thing as I have never heard but which I thought may be a merry stroll to Dmy only consolation that, though my buckles were covered in mud, S see Miss Gwynn at Drury-Lane or to a Greenwich tavern to drink butter-ale. the King was not there to see the sight. The Ramblers, however, expressed

But her telling me that I do need to get “a little fit before Christmas” made me fearful. So it was out betimes by the incommodious publick transport to a dismal place in Kent where there was not a theatre, lady of the court or even an inn, but instead to be met by a small company dressed as if to clear the streets of horse droppings. heir leader did churlishly berate me about my attire. I cried that the King himself had admired his face in my buckle and that my ribbon bows were the talk of the Strand. I asked to whose estate we were headed and the coxcomb said “Up there,” pointing to a hill. A hill may present a good background for Mr Rubens for a composition of nymphs but is not fit for a gentleman without a sedan and porters. But they straightaway set off and I must follow them up at a pace used normally for fleeing footpads.

pleasure at the air. “The air,” I cried, “might be acceptable if it were full, not of the cold and drizzle, but tobacco-smoke and the perfume of orange girls.” My wife pointed to me what she called the wondrous view. Looking at the other hills about, at the mud, the brambles and the vicious farm beasts, I did think it was more a panorama of despair. This put me in mind of Mr Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and I realised that the Ramble was nothing less than a Puritans’ training ground for vile deeds against the King. e descended and entered a tavern where by Providence a group of Morris-Dancers arrived. I did ask them for haven from a nest of Puritans at which they laughed and bought me ale and made me join in their stick-dance. When my wife and the Ramblers told me to leave and climb the next mount with them, I did loudly refuse. The dancers’ leaps are near as tiring as walking uphill but I fear not as I will teach them the quadrille. Here I will stay till Christmas.

AS IMAGINED BY TONY KIRWOOD: @tkirwood tonykirwood@gmail.com

GreenwichVisitor THE

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Catch the Christmas spirit in Greenwich Greenwich Market open every day 1 – 24 December

Visit Father Christmas and his funny elf in his Greenwich Grotto • 13, 14, 20, 21, 22 & 23 December • Balloon magic and gift bag • £4 per visit 1

Tom Biddulph, hand-turned fruit bowl made from bolted sycamore £195

Stubble & Strife, Kent stainless steel razor £46

TeaBird, Victorian Staffordshire tea cup candle c.1860 £32

Beauty & The Bib, spotty fleecy lined child’s mac £28

Nell Harper, red leather, hand-stitched Fern tote bag £90

Clementine & Bloom, hot water bottle cover £25

Lush Designs, pussy cat money bank £26

What Sarah Made, moustache cotton wash bag £15

Natty Peeps, cotton hand-crochet indoor Frisbee, £12

Alice & The Thimble, polar bear on wheels £20

Francesca Abram, silver three ring necklace £25

Sparrows Green Studio, 100% silk Bumble Bee scarf £35

Uccelli Jewellery by Paula Boyle, necklace £68

Print Trip, men’s T-shirt New York, Paris, Peckham £20

Johnny Rocket, rose gold & black rhodium earrings, 10th Anniversary in Greenwich Collection £250

Bubsquash, 100% organic Fairtrade cotton babygrow £15

Made by Hodge, mouse door stop £12

Shed Laser Co, acrylic ginger cat clock £20

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