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By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk
A CorbynistA candidate for the Camberwell and Peckham parliamentary seat says he’s been removed from the process because of his “life-long socialism” and anti-racism campaigning.
Maurice Mcleod, a Labour councillor for Battersea Park, Wandsworth, says the party told him he would not be on the long list for the seat last Friday evening, October, 14.
The position, set to be vacated by Parliament’s current longest-standing MP Harriet Harman at the next election, is seen as one of the safest in the country. But Mcleod says Labour’s alleged explanation for his removal, his historic social media activity, was “not the real reason”.
“They’re absolutely not the real reasons. The real reason is that I’m considered to be on the left. I’m a socialist and I’ve been saying I’m a socialist forever,” he told the News
A prolific columnist and Chief Executive of anti-racism charity ‘Race on the Agenda’, Mcleod has penned numerous pro-Corbyn articles and been open about his support for the former opposition leader.
According to Mcleod, Labour told him he should not have retweeted a post by former Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas while he was a Labour councillor four years ago. He says he deleted the retweet at the time but maintains that it was “a great tweet”, although he declined to say what it actually was about.
Mcleod also says Labour said it was unhappy with a historic tweet criticising a north London Labour-run council, and that was criticised for failing to attend a vote as a Labour councillor.
He maintains that this reasoning is a “fictional intervention”, and the party is actually trying to put “clear blue water” between itself and the Corbyn administration.
Mcleod, a regular at Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, is the former political editor of The Voice, Britain’s leading black newspaper, and helped campaign for justice after Stephen Lawrence’s killing.
He believes his anti-racism campaigning
through BLM has made him “unpalatable” to a party that he says doesn’t want to seem antipolice.
Mcleod announced his expulsion from the process in a post retweeted over 2,500 times, in which he claimed Labour “sees no place in its ranks for black and brown socialists”.
He told the News: “I’m not saying they said ‘he’s a black guy throw him out’. It’s more the anti-racism part of my career that has meant standing up for communities.
“Even though I’m incredibly careful, that’s exactly the sort of thing that got me hauled out… through BLM, I’ve been on a platform with people who are anti-police and that won’t work with this Labour party.”
His exclusion has been met with a wave of opposition from both local and national political figures. Labour’s Rye Lane councillor, Chloe Tomlinson, said: “The national Labour Party have played dirty tricks to unjustly remove him as a candidate. He was an obvious front-runner in the contest. It’s clear his blocking is intended to rig the vote and instead hand the seat to one of Keir Starmer’s favoured candidates. This is completely shameful from Labour.”
Mcleod noted that in 2019, he had no problems getting on to the long list for Labour’s Vauxhall MP selection shortlist.
On Twitter, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Diane Abbot, wrote: “Very sorry to hear this Maurice. At the very least you should have had the opportunity to put yourself in front of members. But there is lot (sic) of this going on. Strong local candidates kept off the long list to facilitate the favoured ones.”
He is not the only left-wing candidate on the ballot. Miatta Fahnbulleh, tipped by some as the party elite’s preferred candidate, is seen by many as a leftist thinker. She heads up the left-wing economic think tank the New Economics Foundation, and advocates for raising the national living wage and bolstering social security. But there are those who say she is of the “soft left”, making her a more appealing prospect for a party that is seen by some as seeking to regain the political centre.
Explaining why he had been kicked out while other left-wing candidates had retained their places, he said: “There’s a difference
between being Miliband left and joining the party because you’re inspired by the politics brought to the party by Jeremy Corbyn.”
He added that the contest for the seat had been held in good spirits and thanked his rivals for their sympathetic messages.
Mcleod said dropping his campaign, which was backed by two unions, senior MPs such as Dawn Butler and Diane Abbot, and hundreds of supporters and volunteers, had left him “deflated”.
Asked what his vision had been for Camberwell and Peckham, he said: “It needs someone who can and will speak up for them and somebody who is not afraid to stand up to the police, to be visible, local and connected.”
Some of Harriet Harman’s constituents have criticised her for not being present in her own constituency and not having a dedicated constituency office. Mcleod said: “I don’t understand how you can’t have one. My idea of the job means you should have a constituency office and have people going ‘that’s where my MP is’. That has to happen.
You should get tired of seeing them!
“The community needs a champion. You need people who get into the cabinet that is great, but I don’t know if that’s what Camberwell and Peckham needs.”
His exclusion leaves a long list made up of Evelyn Akoto, Marina Ahmad, Peter Babudu, Johnson Situ and Miatta Fahnbulleh.
McLeod, who says he has a “life-long connection” with south London, now wants Labour to clarify his position as a councillor in Labour-held Battersea Park.
“I love what I do as a councillor and we’re doing amazing things. I have every intention of not carrying on… but not with a stain over my name - not if they don’t explain their reasons.”
A Labour spokesperson did not address the reasons for his removal, simply responding: “We are pleased to have a long list of fanastic candidates for Camberwell and Peckham.
“Camberwell and Peckham deserves the return of another Labour MP under a Labour government to deliver a fairer, greener future for Britain.”
Southwark News started life as the Bermondsey News in 1987, as an A-4 photocopied sheet of paper and rapidly grew to cover the entire borough and the surrounding area. As the borough grew, so did the newspaper. It is owned and run by Chris Mullany and Kevin Quinn.
Former reporters for Southwark News, they bought the title in 2002, after the founder Dave Clark died suddenly from cancer four years earlier.
Both directors live in the borough. A dedicated team of staff work tirelessly to cover as much of what is going on as possible and strive to ensure that a community-led, independent newspaper can survive and excel in a market dominated by national and multinational media groups.
The Southwark News is proud to be the only independent, paid for newspaper in Londonsouthwark-news @southwark_news
Maurice Mcleod’s bid to be Labour MP candidate for Camberwell and Peckham halted ‘by the party’s right’
By Isabel Ramirez isabel@southwarknews.co.uk
A PeckhAm-bAsed conker club that hosts an annual competition attracted over 300 people to compete for a 22-carat gold conker.
Peckham Conker Club was started in 2017 by Chris Quigley, 44, who lives in the area. “I used to walk my dog through Peckham Rye, which is surrounded by conker trees. I used to collect them but then I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to start a club where people could come and compete!
“It really appeals to people’s fighting instinct. Safely, of course,” Chris added.
The 2022 Peckham Conker Championships took place earlier this month on Saturday October 8 at the Brick Brewery Tap Room on Peckham Rye. “It was great. People said it was the only event they’ve been to where all ages and genders compete in the same place. It’s a universal game. We had three different categories: Juniors 8 and under, Juniors 8+ and Seniors.”
The winner of the seniors category was Harry Phillips, 28, from New Cross - who first heard about the competition when he was looking for the rules while playing a game in his garden.
“We’d collected some conkers from the trees in our garden over the years.
I started having conker fights with my brother and my mates - but we thought we should start following the exact rules,” he told the News
“We saw there was an upcoming competition so we thought it would be a laugh. The crowd for the junior competition was pretty awesome and it made me reminisce about playing as a kid.
“I had scored the most in the group so went on to the next rounds where I continued to smash the other conkers to pieces. When the final game came around, I was thrown to the floor in a tussle and thought that I was done for sure, but
my conker was still on the string on the floor. If my opponent had stamped on it and destroyed it, he would’ve won. But luckily I picked it up and we went again.
Eventually I hit my opponent’s conker and it exploded!
“I won the golden conker and the rest is history.”
The golden conker, nicknamed ‘The Nugget’, is the prize to be won: a conker wrapped in 22 carat gold by Camberwellbased ‘gilder-to-the-stars’ Elena.
So what’s the secret to a winning conker?
“Age it in a dark cool place like a garage,“ Harry says. “Some of them will rot over time, but the ones that don’t will become solid.”
It’s an age-old trick that putting it in the oven also works to harden it, but Harry is not convinced. “I tried the oven - it didn’t work,” he said.
e xclusive
By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk
southwArk heAdteAchers have blasted southwark Council’s approach to the school admissions crisis, citing regeneration’s “huge impact”, and saying there has been no “sense of a coordinated approach”.
One headteacher said he was “very aware that schools have to close” but feared schools with pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds were most vulnerable.
In June, the News broke the story that sixteen primary schools were in a budget deficit and risk closing because falling pupil admissions had caused a funding shortfall.
The council has blamed Covid-19, Brexit, declining birth rates, the cost-ofliving crisis and unaffordable housing for the exodus of Southwark families.
While recognising that unaffordable housing has contributed to the crisis, the council does not say that its own regeneration policy has contributed to this. But at the Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission meeting on Monday, October 17, the council’s own actions were brought sharply into focus.
Makeda Williams-Pinnock, headteacher at Elephant and Castle’s Victory Primary School, said: “The regeneration itself... well first of all let’s just think about what the word regeneration actually means.
“It actually means a process of growing... and to be honest, all that I can really see growing in the locality is lots of bright shiny buildings because the indigenous population has been decanted far and wide and although a certain section of housing was promised to them they’ve actually been priced out of the market.”
She said that even one-bedroom flats near her school cost as much as £2,500 per month, making it “nigh impossible” for families to live nearby.
Elephant Park, a five-minute walk from Victory Primary School, saw the Heygate Estate’s 1,200 council homes demolished and replaced with just 92 social rent homes.
Ms Williams-Pinnock also said closing the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre had forced parents to relocate in search of jobs, exacerbating the issue. “It’s almost been like a deconstruction of families and the support system because aunties and uncles and grandmothers do not live next door to each other... they’ve been decanted… and we all know how much child care costs nowadays, [which] again has the financial burden on families,” she said.
Schools get funding on a ‘per pupil’ basis and schools across London are facing shortfalls in cash as families leave the capital. In a letter to the former Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, Cllr Jasmine Ali had previously urged him to rethink the funding formula.
Andrew Rojas, headteacher at St George’s Church of England Primary School, Camberwell, said: “I’m very aware
that schools have to close, I understand that. My want is that we’re not just gonna close schools that are like mine, from the lower socio-economic background where the parents, through no fault of their own, are not able to fight... or understand what is actually happening...”
Helen Ingham, headteacher at Ivydale School in Nunhead, agreed that a lack of affordable housing was a problem, adding that communication from council officers had been lacking. She said: “I always think that communication could be better… I’ve attended many, many meetings where there’s been lots of discussion about this, and talk about strategy and talk about steps moving forward and then there being complete silence and things not happening or random things happening without any kind of a sense of a coordinated approach.”
For example, Ms Ingham highlighted Southwark’s attempt to reduce her school’s pupil admission number (PAN) last year, saying the consultation was “flawed”.
The teachers also said pupil vacancies had caused “education tourism” in which parents, exploiting pupil vacancies, shuttle their children between different schools. “One of the things we’re starting to notice is that parents… because schools have vacancies across the borough… that it’s much easier for parents to just… you referred to it as ‘school tourism,” said Ms Ingham. “There’s a lot more mobility in terms of people just moving their child to another school and that being a relatively straightforward process,” she added.
Ms Williams-Pinnock compared the situation to a “laundry” where teachers “iron out” children’s needs, only to see them whisked away elsewhere.
Ms Ingham said schools could consider making the process of changing schools “slower” so parents don’t act on “the spur of the moment”.
Asked by Cllr Cassandra Brown to what extent falling admission numbers were related to declining birth rates, as has often been cited by the council, Ms Ingham agreed it had had an impact. But she said birth rates were declining before her school opened a second building. Ms Williams-Pinnock said the council’s projections had been awry, overestimating future school admissions even as birth rates were declining.
Deputy Leader, Jasmine Ali, said: “We absolutely recognise the issue of a lack of affordable housing; it’s a London-wide problem that is very much in focus in Southwark. We have started the highest number of affordable homes in London, and are on course with our target of 11,000 new council homes by 2043. This is a contributing factor to falling rolls, alongside the other national issues of a low birth rate, the fallout from Covid-19 and Brexit. I know this is an uncertain time for parents, but I can reassure them that we are developing a comprehensive strategy to tackle school budget deficits. We urge parents to support their schools and work with us, head teachers and school governors as we continue to provide an outstanding education for children in Southwark.”
southwArk liberAl democrats have called on the council to expand universal free school meals to secondary school pupils.
Labour-run Tooley Street has funded free school meals during term time since 2010, but free school meals for secondary school pupils remain means-tested. The council confirmed at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday that it was exploring if the scheme could be expanded to secondary school pupils.
,Leader of the Southwark Liberal Democrats, Cllr Victor Chamberlain, said: “We think every child and young person at school should be given a free school meal.
“As the council leader said it’s ‘common sense’, but currently that only applies to those under 11 in primary school. Why would we not afford 11 to 16-year-olds, and their families, the same support? Particularly right now when so many families are struggling.
“The council must make a solid commitment that Southwark will expand universal free school meals to all secondary school pupils and produce a strategy for how this will be delivered.”
The Lib Dems sent a letter to cabinet member Cllr Stephanie Cryan demanding they commit to expanding the scheme and outline a strategy for doing so.
The letter said Southwark is particularly vulnerable to a “looming” cost-of-living crisis. In 2019, the GLA found that one in four residents in Southwark had low food security, meaning 75,000 people were at risk of real hunger, it added.
In August, the News reported that more than 1,600 Southwark children eligible for free school meals were not taking up the offer.
The Children’s Society charity said this could be because of stigma, with some families or children ashamed of asking for help.
The News approached the council for comment but received no reply at the time of going to press.
A fAmily of chefs determined to stop stomachs rumbling during the cost-of-living crisis has knocked up its first batch of free meals for people in need.
Residents at the Dodson Amigo Estate, St George’s, received thirty turkey roast dinners, courtesy of Mick Donovan’s Bermondsey Kitchen, on Thursday, October 14.
St George’s ward councillors paid for the food using their ‘Neighbourhood Fund’. If more ward councillors fund the scheme, Mick says he and his family are
primed to deliver across Southwark. Mick, whose Bermondsey Kitchen provides free City & Guilds catering training to unemployed youths, said:
“We’re pleased to be providing proper meals to people we know will appreciate
them. We always use fresh ingredients, so we can be sure the quality is firstclass. We hope to be able to keep these deliveries going well into the new year.”
Mick’s meals are vital to those in need, many of whom are old, vulnerable, and
fearing the impact of rising energy bills.
“It’s no good giving people giving people fresh ingredients and them having to worry about electricity bills,” he said.
Instead, people can heat their meals in a microwave for just a couple of minutes, or even eat them cold if necessary.
Mick, his daughter, and his wife, began cooking for vulnerable people during the Covid-19 pandemic. At its height, the family were cooking 500 meals a week using funding from Southwark Council and other sources.
But as prices of food and household items soar, Mick is once again seeing the impact. “There are a lot of people in fulltime work who don’t have money to eat.
It’s working poverty,” he said.
Jacqui Gilmartin, chair of the Tenants’ and Residents’ Association at Dodson and Amigo, thanked Mick and his family: “We’re so pleased MIck’s team has reached out to us here, sometimes we feel like the forgotten part of Southwark. These meals are going to make a difference to our community.”
St George’s Councillor Maria LinforthHall, who helped match the two groups, said: “We’re really pleased the Bermondsey Community Kitchen can deliver these meals to our local community. With winter and the current financial situation around the corner, these hot meals will be a lifesaver for local people.”
By Isabel Ramirez isabel@southwarknews.co.uk
A bermondsey garage that has hosted gigs for major stars in the music industry will now open its doors to local kids, with a free afterschool club, where they will be treated to top quality cuisine by a chef to the stars.
ForeverGood started in 2021 as an agency for musicians and events and rapidly made a name for themselves as a creative brand. Based in a garage at the heart of Druid Street, it has hosted gigs for major names including R&B superstar Chris Brown and Jamaican rapper Sean Paul.
Up until now 54 Druid Street has mostly been for creatives and artists, but with the cost of living soaring and times getting tougher, ForeverGood founder and CEO Sebastian Downing decided to swap the decks for dishes and give back to the community.
He told the News: “We’re launching an after-school free meal club on Tuesdays, where Bermondsey kids can play, create and eat food cooked by a chef to the stars, Savannah John.
“With parents all across the country struggling to put food on the table, something like this is needed now more than ever. We’re in a position to be able to do it and what better way to start with people right here on our doorstep.”
Savannah John runs a catering business and has cooked for stars including actor Idris Elba and music sensation Ne-Yo. She also recently catered for British rapper duo, Krept and Konan. “Sav was looking to start her own restaurant, so we’re giving her this space for free,” Sebastian said.
“She does soul food and she’ll be the one cooking
and providing the free meals for kids at the afterschool club.
“From Monday to Wednesday this space is not in use – so we want to use it for doing good for locals.”
Miles Anthony, head of production at ForeverGood, said: “Although we have always been open to anyone, because of the artists and brands we’ve worked with, ForeverGood might have been seen as exclusive up until now. But we want people to know that we are expanding and our doors are open.”
Sebastian added that this is just the start and now that the doors are open, they’re not going to close anytime soon. “This is not a one-off moment,” he said.
“It’s also an invitation for people to come to us with ideas if they want to do stuff for the local community. We’ve got the space and the resources: we want to use our contacts to provide workshops for local young people.
“We’ve had kids in here before for workshops, but it was never community-led and I want to change that.
“We have a great relationship with the whole street - so we really want to give back to them.”
Downside Youth Club, that caters for 9-21 year olds, is just across the road from ForeverGood. “They’re the obvious first port of call for the after-school club,” Sebastian told the News
Alfie Millward, youth worker at Downside Youth Club was delighted with the offer: “We all think it’s a great idea,” he said. “In this area something like this is definitely needed. Local kids will definitely be into it.”
The after-school club will open on Tuesday 8th November at 4pm, so Bermondsey young people are invited to come along. Anyone who wants to attend can fill in a form on their website - forevergood.co.uk They’re launching the soul food restaurant the week before, on the 29th.
To check out Sav’s instagram @savjojntz
A lib dem councillor has said that bermondsey tube station’s broken sign is “emblematic” of transport for london’s (tfl) decline.
In May, a lorry reversed into the station’s canopy, damaging the sign so it has only read ‘Station’ instead of ‘Bermondsey Station’ for the last five months. There were no injuries from the accident.
North Bermondsey councillor Rachel Bentley said: “We would really like to see the Bermondsey Tube Station sign repaired as soon as possible.
“I’ve been chasing for monthly updates and was told in September that the sign would be fixed in the next eight weeks.”
That was on September 8, meaning the sign should be repaired by Thursday, November 3, if TfL sticks to its own timescale.
According to Cllr Bentley, Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat and deputy chair of the London Assembly’s Transport Committee, has also reported the damage.
Cllr Bentley added: “We can’t help but feel that the sign’s disrepair is emblematic of TfL’s struggles and the sorry state of public assets more broadly.”
In August, TfL agreed to accept a £1.2bn funding settlement from the Department for Transport, £740m short of its budget.
Signs elsewhere in the capital are feeling the squeeze. In North London, commuters were complaining for months after Christmas about Edgware Station’s broken sign.
TfL has confirmed that the Bermondsey Station façade was damaged in May during a “slow-speed collision” and that it is “working to replace the sign as soon as possible”. But it added that the work is “complicated” which was why it was taking so long.
Bermondsey Tube Station had been in the wars prior to May. Last year, a bus careered into it while avoiding an oncoming emergency services vehicle, believed to be an ambulance.
The 47 bus mounted the pavement and slammed into the sign at 6.30pm on Tuesday, August 17, cracking windows on the upper deck.
By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.ukloCA l liber A l democrats are urging the council to find a way of rescuing the southwark Park fireworks display.
At an Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday October 12, Southwark Lib dem leader Cllr Victor Chamberlain said the council needed to “use its imagination”.
Southwark Park Fireworks, held sixteen years in a row before 2020, was permanently cancelled earlier this month, with the council citing “the cost of living crisis” and “the fallout from Covid-19”.
Cllr Chamberlain has said: “Despite the many budget pressures we face in local government, other councils are still managing to protect firework events like this and host them in an environmentally sustainable way.
“It is vital we bring communities together now more than ever. It is disgraceful that the council privatised Southwark Park and now local people are getting nothing back.
“The council have forced the cancellation of the century-old Bermondsey Carnival and is not creating chances for the community to get together. The council needs to use its imagination and work with sponsors to keep events like this going for local people.”
The Lib Dems say the council should consider putting on a sustainable fireworks display funded by private sponsorship.
Southwark Council has been criticised for allowing a Southwark Park K-Pop festival to go ahead while failing to fund community events like Bermondsey Carnival and the fireworks display.
Justifying the K-Pop festival despite its widespread opposition, Labour Cllr Alice Macdonald said the profits would help fund local events.
The Lib Dems noted how other authorities had successfully held events despite rising costs and environmental concerns.
The party highlighted Wandsworth Borough Council’s plan to host a carbon-neutral event this year and Cambridge City Council’s plans for a display using private funding.
Dulwich Sports Club, SE24, Gates open: 5pm, Display: 7pm, Under 16s: £1, Adults: £10 (Saturday, November 5)
fireworks at the herne hill Velodrome , Dulwich Village, SE24, Gates open: 5pm Display: 7pm, Under 16s: £1, Adults: £10, (Saturday, November 5)
danson Park fireworks, Danson Park, Bexleyheath, DA15 Gates open: 5pm, Display: 8pm, Under 5s: Free 5 - 15: £5 16+: £10 (Saturday, November 5)
beckenham fireworks in the Park , Croydon Road Recreation Ground, Beckenham, BR3: Gates open: 5pm, Kids’ display: 6pm Display: 7.45pm, Under 10s: Free, Concessions: £10, 11+: £10, 15+: £15 (Saturday, November 5)
rotary Club of Chislehurst Charity fireworks event , Chislehurst Recreation Ground, BR7, Gates open: 5.30pm, Display: 7.30pm, Under 15s: £7, 15+: £13 (Saturday, November 5)
based in Exeter, travels the UK bringing breed specific dog communities together. Their latest tour - the ‘Dashing Dachshund Christmas Tour 2022’- is coming to Bermondsey on the 19th November – and tickets are nearly sold out!
Marcus decided to start the dog café events back in 2019 because there was nothing of its kind. “I saw a need for these events because there wasn’t anything in between the high-end shows like Crufts, and just a walk in the park,” he told the News.
“In 2019 we did our first event in Exeter, and about 200 dachshunds turned up! So we knew we did something right.
There will also be local dog businesses in attendance, with all their goods specifically catered to the breed.
There’s a best-dressed competition, where the prizes include dog wine and dog beer – Marcus assured us: “no alcohol, just a fun dog-themed drink that’s totally safe for them!”
In terms of activities for the dogs, there will be tunnels, ball pits and lots more for them to get stuck into.
By Isabel Ramirez isabel@southwarknews.co.ukhundreds of sausage dogs are coming to bermondsey next month.
A pop-up dog café that attracts thousands of dachshunds a year is coming to bermondsey for a one-off Christmas-themed event.
Pup Up Café, founded by Marcus Ackford,
“We do other events for other breeds – but this Christmas tour is just for dachshunds!”
The last Christmas tour attracted more than 2000 dachshunds in total - and they expect around 300 to come to Bermondsey next month.
Pups will get a christmas-themed present on entry, as well as unlimited treats and puppiccinos [whipped cream with a treat on top which “they love!”] all day.
“For the owners, they will have the bar to hand whilst enjoying the dogs roaming free.” Marcus said that the area will all be safe and secure – “we haven’t lost a dog the whole time we’ve been doing this.”
And if you fancy seeing some dachshunds but are “sausage-less”, he said you can still attend.
You can grab your tickets online at www.fatsoma.com/pup-up-cafe
It’s taking place at Fourpure Brewing Co.25, Bermondsey Trading Estate on Rotherhithe New Rd, SE16 3LL, 10am1:30pm.
By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk
An ‘urbAn forest’ measuring 1.4 acres and inhabited by the uk’s largest beetle will be built on top of blackfriars Crown Court.
The publicly accessible garden will feature stag beetles, 125 mature trees, 10,000 plants, 1,000 tonnes of soil and local fauna, establishing an “authentic eco-system”.
’Roots in the Sky’ is funded by Fabrix, with Mace and Erith as contractors, and will see the former court, closed in 2021, become 430,000 sq ft of office space.
Clive Nichol, CEO of Fabrix, said: “Roots in the Sky is an office building that works not just for a progressive occupier but also for the local community and wider London.”
The public, who will have a separate entrance, will be invited to get involved in planting with access to potting sheds and seed banks.
From the roof, they will be able to enjoy views of the Shard and the City of London, and attend events held in a 3,000 sq ft community barn.
Gareth Lewis, Mace’s CEO for
Construction, said: “We are honoured to have been trusted to deliver a development which challenges the bounds of modern sustainability and gives back to its local community.
“As a responsible business, we are particularly proud when we successfully deliver schemes which are strong in social value.
“We look forward to playing our part in making this bold vision a reality in the thriving Southwark area; working collaboratively with the exceptional team that Fabrix has built to deliver this scheme.”
Both the building and its construction, due to begin in January 2023, aims to be net-zero carbon-emitting.
It will be built using reclaimed steel from the demolition of another building, with the finished development being powered by electricity alone.
The sale of Blackfriars Crown Court, part of a swathe of court buildings sold by the UK government, has been criticised.
In August, a striking barrister told the News that the government’s cost-cutting sales of courts had contributed to the backlog of court cases.
Poli C e A re appealing for witnesses after a teenager was shot in Peckham on friday night , o ctober, 14.
Police were called to Hastings Close, by Bells Gardens, Peckham at 11.25pm to reports of a shooting.
A 17-year-old male was taken to hospital for treatment and later discharged.
Trident officers from the Specialist Crime Command are investigating. There have been no arrests.
Any witnesses are asked to call police on 101, quoting reference CAD 8613/14Oct.
By Isabel Ramirez isabel@southwarknews.co.ukA cAmberwell-based author who has been writing black history books for 30 years has adapted his most successful book for children, ‘to address the need for more lessons in black british history’.
Stephen Bourne published Black Poppies back in 2014 and has now written a child-friendly version of what he calls his “most successful book”. It tells real stories about Britain’s black community during the First World War (WW1).
“Teachers and parents who were concerned about the lack of resources for black children in Britain inspired it,” he told the News.
“They had read the original Black Poppies, and started asking me to adapt it for children so they could start
teaching them about it.”
Stephen says when it comes to black British history, the school curriculum is not yet up-to-scratch: “Schoolchildren are still being taught about AfricanAmericans, but not black British stories. It’s great to learn about Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King - but what about black British heroes? These kids have nothing to relate to.
“The reality is, publishers aren’t publishing black British history books for children. And that’s a problem.
“Teachers are keen to change the curriculum, but they need resources,” he added.
In terms of adapting his 2014 book, he said it was easier than he thought it would be: “You just have to bring it more to their level. When I was redrafting the adult version, I was thinking how I would explain this to an eight year old.”
This book is only the beginning, as
Stephen explained he wants to write more books of this kind, to fill the gap: “I’m now realising in order to enlighten people and change people’s mindsets, you have to start with kids.”
As well as telling the story of how black people helped Britain fight during WW1, he said there’s a lot of positive stories just about black people from that era. “For example, my aunt Esther was a black Londoner and she told me all about her experience. It was very important to broaden the story.”
He added that the book’s already had lots of positive comments from teachers.
Anyone wanting to get their hands on a copy can get it from most libraries across the borough or it’s available to buy on Amazon and other online book shops.
Stephen will be holding a booksigning on Saturday at the Imperial War Museum, from 11am-4pm.
A new post office near borough will open next month, over four years after the Great dover street branch closed.
The new branch, set to open on Wednesday, November 23, 1pm, will be inside the Bagh Convenience Store at 23, Bartholomew Street, SE1 4AL, near the Bricklayer’s Flyover, off New Kent Road.
It will replace the old branch at 159a Great Dover Street, which closed in July 2018, due to the resignation of the operator and the store’s closure.
Sam Coe, Post Office network provision lead, said: “We are delighted to soon be restoring a Post Office to this area as we know how important a Post Office is to a community. The branch’s opening hours will make it convenient for customers to visit.”
The new shop will be open Monday to Saturday, 7am to 10pm, and Sunday 9am to 10pm, offering 103 hours of post office access.
Some Royal Mail workers went on strike on Wednesday, October 13, with most strikes planned for October 20 and 25.
With over 11,500 branches, the Post Office has the biggest retail network in the UK, with more branches than all the banks and building societies combined.
A lo CA l youth campaigner is set to install a stab wound kit outside 91 Peckham high street, but only after she spent nine months begging the council to let her.
In January, the News reported that Lisa Pearson from young people’s charity ‘Let the Youth Live’, had spent three months asking the council set up a life-saving ‘community cabinet’ in Peckham.
Back then, the council said it was “fully behind the plans” and was “in contact with her about next steps”.
But shockingly, nine months later, campaigner Lisa Pearson was no closer to putting up the cabinet.
The News stepped in and asked the council why it hadn’t signed off the plans, even though Lisa had sorted out insurance and licensing.
Now, Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle, cabinet member for community safety, has said: “The bleed control cabinet in Peckham will be put up in the next couple of weeks thanks to the work and commitment of Ms Pearson.
“We are fully behind the Daniel Baird Foundation Charity’s campaign and have been working closely with Ms Pearson and the police to support their important work.”
For Lisa, a DJ and East Dulwich resident, it’s great news: “I feel extremely happy. I’m over the moon just to think we now have vital lifesaving equipment in Peckham.
“As soon as that one is up, we will be rolling out more into different places across Southwark and Lambeth for starters and then across all boroughs.”
The kits are not just for stabbings but can be used to help victims of any incident involving heavy blood loss, such as road traffic accidents.
By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uksouthwArk CounCil is urging the borough’s general practices (GPs) to become ‘safe surgeries’ that allow migrants to register as patients.
NHS guidelines already say patients don’t need documentation to register with surgeries but, according to a 2011 Bureau of Investigative Journalism report, practices often flout this rule.
Council Leader Kieron Williams said:
“Everyone living in the UK has the right to access a GP, without fear or worries, regardless of their immigration status.
Sadly migrants often struggle to access the vital healthcare they are entitled to.
“The letter we wrote to all GP practices in Southwark asks them to help ensure everyone in our community can register and consult with a GP, without question or unnecessary immigration checks.
“I’m delighted that so many GP surgeries in Southwark responded so quickly to state that their doors are open to all.”
As of Monday, 37 GPs in Southwark had affirmed their commitment not to conduct ID checks according to Southwark councillor James McAsh.
Practices that become ‘safe surgeries’ pledge not to ask patients for ID or proof of immigration status, and get help training their staff on migrant healthcare
They have been used to save stab victims in Birmingham’s China Town, a secondary school student in Wolverhampton, and a Scottish man who fell off a roof and impaled himself on a spike.
When somebody dials 999 to report an incident, control staff direct the caller to the nearest kit and tell them, step-by-step, how to treat the victim.
But without the council’s help, Lisa had only been able to install a single cabinet in Southwark - outside the Tesco Express on East Dulwich Road in November.
Lisa turned to local businesses for help, many of which have agreed to store ‘mobile kits’ on their premises.
The problem with these is that they are not outside so, if the shop is closed, people can’t access them.
Lisa was worried, especially given a recent spate of stabbings in and around Peckham.
On September 23, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in broad daylight on Rye Lane. Then, on October 14, a 17-yearold was rushed to hospital after being reportedly shot on Hastings Close, Peckham.
Lisa wants to expand the scheme across the borough. A cabinet is already set to be installed outside Lloyd’s Bank on Camberwell Green.
“Every public building should have one of these kits. They should be on every street, at every bus stop,” she said.
For any community cabinet to be installed in the local area, it is necessary to obtain insurance, licensing and risk assessments – all of which are the applicant’s responsibility.
The campaign to install stab kits was started by the Daniel Baird Foundation Charity, which was set up by Lynne Baird, whose son was fatally stabbed in 2017.
Southwark Council added: “We are delighted to have secured a joint pot of £10,000 between the
entitlement.
In a letter to every single GP surgery, Council Leader Kieron Williams said health inequalities are “especially stark” for many migrant communities.
Cllr Williams wrote: “The pandemic has reminded us all how deep the health inequalities are in our borough, how unfair they are and how important it is that we work together to address them. These
inequalities are especially stark for many migrant communities.”
As well as GP registration, most primary care services, including A&E, sexual health, Covid-19, family planning services,
council and the London Violence Reduction Unit to go towards more bleed control cabinets for the charity to roll out in Southwark.”
and much more, are available to people regardless of immigration status.
However, an amendment passed in 2017 increased the range of services chargeable to people without ‘regularised’ immigration status to include communitybased secondary care.
The government has also been criticised for sharing patient data with the Home Office, raising fears that patients will avoid the NHS for fear of deportation.
A letter from MPs to Health Secretary Matt Hancock in 2020 cited the case of a Filipino man who died while self-isolating with Covid-19 symptoms.
He did not seek treatment because he feared “that he would be charged thousands of pounds for his treatment, or that he would face immigration enforcement if he tried to access care”, the letter said.
As well as ensuring nobody is asked for documentation, participating surgeries get guides on NHS entitlement and translated patient-facing posters.
They also get access to networking events, training for clinical and non-clinical staff on migrant entitlement and quarterly newsletters.
Safe Surgeries is an initiative run by Doctors of the World, an international humanitarian organisation providing medical care to the world’s most vulnerable people.
A lonG-running labour Party investigation into allegations that neil Coyle racially abused a british reporter of Chinese descent is expected to be concluded next month.
When the News approached the MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark for an update on the investigation, he said: “I am expecting this to be resolved very soon and I hope for good news in November.”
The Labour Party has refused to comment on a possible timescale, repeating its line that it “does not provide a running commentary on disciplinary matters.”
If Labour does decide whether to restore the whip to Coyle, it would bring an end to a nine-month saga that began in February.
According to journalist Henry Dyer, Neil Coyle said that fellow Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who reportedly received money from a suspected Chinese spy, had been “paid by Fu Manchu” in a Commons bar on Tuesday, February 1.
In the personal account for Business Insider, Dyer said “there was no need to refer to a 20th Century trope of a Chinese supervillain”.
Since then, it has been radio silence from Labour, who are often reluctant to share the details of their disciplinary processes.
Coyle has since apologised for remarks he made. Opening up about his alcohol problem, he told the News his drinking
“undoubtedly affected my demeanour and attitude and contributed to my own suspension from the Labour Party earlier this year”.
He said he had stopped drinking and thanked the “strong network of professionals and friends who have been crucial”.
Last month, Labour was rocked when its MP Rupa Huq said Kwasi Kwarteng was “superficially” black at the party
conference. Some feared that this could spell trouble for Coyle.
It has been suggested that Labour’s top brass felt they could not retain Coyle while sacking Huq, even if that may be their preference.
The Westminster rumour mill also spat out a curveball last week, with one source telling the News that Sam Tarry would be parachuted in to replace Coyle.
The Ilford South MP had the whip removed when he appeared on a rail strike picket at Euston Railway Station, taking interviews with the press.
In October, Tarry lost a vote to see who would represent the Labour seat, to council leader Jas Athwal.
AdvertorialA british transport Police (btP) officer who claimed he was being “playful” when he sexually assaulted a colleague at london bridge station after a night out has been convicted.
On Friday, October 14, Police Sergeant Tristan Davis was found guilty of sexually assaulting his victim on an escalator and twice more on a train
His colleague tried to push him away multiple times and was forced to leave her seat and stand in the aisle to escape PS Davis, on April 23, 2021.
After the incident, the victim reported the incident to BTP’s Professional Standards Department and Davis was immediately suspended as a criminal investigation took place. In his police interview, Davis told detectives his behaviour was “playful”.
Deputy Chief Constable Alistair Sutherland said: “Put simply, behaviour like this is not ‘playful’ –
it is a serious criminal offence and it will always be treated as such.
“I am acutely aware of how damaging incidents like this are to public confidence in policing, and I am equally appalled that a serving officer could ever think to conduct themselves in such a way.”
PC Davis was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault at Inner London Crown Court and a fast-track misconduct hearing will determine whether he keeps his job.
Deputy Chief Constable Alistair Sutherland said: “In this case, thanks to the victim coming forward and bringing it to our attention, detectives launched a thorough investigation into Davis so we could bring him before the courts to face justice today.
“I would like to reassure the public that we will always relentlessly challenge and thoroughly investigate any officer who breaks the law or falls short of the exemplary standards we expect.”
PS Davis is due to be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on November 18.
Over the years, especially since the appointment of David Cameron and the Conservative party, UK immigration has been a political debate. Through this, the number of migrants coming to the UK has swayed the party manifesto leading to positive polls.
At ICS Legal, we have seen that since 2010, there has been a continuation of nationals looking to settle in the UK. As a specialist immigration firm where our clients turn to us for advice and help on applying, we help them to navigate through the complex immigration and nationality process. Those intending to come and live in the UK, are contributing to the wellbeing of the UK and as they do so, they are able to then apply for British nationality.
Globalisation is real and we are now seeing emerging nations across, and organisations constantly reshuffling, leading to families relocating constantly. UK has remained an attractive place for those seeking to establish a family home, for work, business, schooling opportunities and a sense of security with the order of law.
One must question whether as a nation, do we realise the positives that certain migrants bring to the UK? Their contributions are from working with the NHS, teachers at school or even carers through social services. By doing so, the UK creates a diverse community, so that we are becoming socially tolerable to cultures.
With reflection over the last decade, we have had the luxury of managing settlement visas and naturalisation applications for many individuals and families, where years have been spent with anxiousness about regularising their statuses.
When one seeks to obtain British nationality, initially an individual must spend a term of residence in the UK on average between 5 to
10 years in the UK. Thereafter, they must obtain settlement status also referred to as indefinite leave to remain as one of the key requirements. Further to this, they are required to meet the following:
1. The good character requirements are to be met and demonstrate no breach of immigration laws.
2. Evidence related to residency which considers absences from the UK.
3. An applicant must not have convictions, or offences including traffic offences, that can
affect the application.
4. Meet the knowledge of life, which includes an English language test.
We are in an area of constant change, so you can connect with us on our social media platforms to know the latest legal changes. The purpose is to provide our readers with an insight into UK immigration and the challenges one faces before naturalising as a British national.
KEY NOTE: In November 2021, Priti Patel introduced a provision where those naturalised
in the UK or holding dual citizenship, based on their criminality can be deprived of their British citizenship.
Gone are the days when David Cameron promised to reduce migration down to 10,000s, with Brexit. This either opens new doors to attract the talented to build on skills & expertise of migrant contribution, or critics raising concerns about over-populated schools and crime from migration.
With reference to the Home Office policy, British nationality is a privilege and not a right.
By Isabel Ramirez isabel@southwarknews.co.uk
A Priest from waterloo with a long family history at st George’s Cathedral has now been appointed as its newest dean.
St George’s Cathedral - the most important Catholic church in south London, Kent and north Sussex - has been without a Dean for a year, after Canon Richard Hearn died last October.
On Tuesday, Fr Michael Branch was formerly appointed as the Cathedral’s new Dean, after starting his role back in September.
Born in Waterloo, on Westminster Bridge Road, Michael says this Cathedral has been central to his family for generations. “My grandparents got married here in 1936, and my parents in 1963,” Michael told the News
“All of my cousins and siblings were baptised here as well.
“So I feel as if I’ve come full circle.
Coming here now felt like I was coming home”, he said.
He said the area has gone through many changes, but he hopes to reignite the “close-knit community” he remembers. “When we were living here it was a lot different – people weren’t well off, they were struggling. But it was a very close-knit community.”
The original building was bombed in 1941 and rebuilt in 1953. The new building was blessed and opened by Bishop Cyril Cowderoy, who went on to become the first Archbishop of the new Archdiocese of Southwark.
Michael came from a family of printers, who worked at Fleet Street on the newspapers - but he said it wasn’t for him.
“I decided from a very young age, I wanted to do something different with my life,” he explains. “First and foremost I wanted to be a priest. Then I thought,
if I can’t be a priest, I’ll be a politician. I even considered a career in acting.
“But being a priest is really a vocation. It’s not a job, it’s a way of life for me.”
In May, he celebrated 25 years of being a priest. Now, as Dean of what’s known as the ‘Mother Church’ of Southwark, he said his focus will be on helping those in need.
“The church by its nature is missionary. I really want to make people’s lives better, especially those who are on the margins of society,” he said.
Fr Michael said he’s currently setting up a project with Oasis - a Southwarkbased charity - and the Waterloo
Foodbank. “The cathedral is going to become a weekly referral centre so that people can not only pick up food; they can come for a chat, a tea and coffee and feel a sense of community,” he told the News.
“I want us to be outward-looking, to connect not only with other churches, but with other faiths as well.”
He added that a local muslim leader who is also very involved with Oasis, sent a representative from the mosque to Fr Michael’s induction.
“We’ve got to get beyond labels. I’m not just here for Catholics, I want to positively impact as many people’s lives regardless of religion.”
PeoPle in southwark enjoy working from home more than those in almost any other london borough, according to a recent study.
A report by resume.io, an online CV builder, found that people living in Southwark were the third most likely to tweet positively about remote working.
The data, sourced using geo-tagged tweets analysed by ‘sentiment-tracking’ software HuggingFace, shows that only Brent and Haringey like working from home more.
Back in November 2021, after workingfrom-home guidance ended, public service union Unison wrote: “As the work-fromhome guidance ends, employers must acknowledge that one size does not fit all.
“Flexible working isn’t just about working at home. It can mean having predictable or fixed hours, working as a job-share, or working flexitime, term-time only hours or compressed hours.
“No one should miss out on flexible working. Ministers must bring in a new right to flexible working for every worker, in every job. Otherwise, there will be a new class divide between those who can
work flexibly from home, and those who can’t.”
According to the study, 50 per cent of tweets from Southwark about working from home contained positive sentiment. This was surpassed only by Brent and Harringey, where tweets were 58.3 and 56 per cent positive respectively.
Those in the City of Westminster appear to dislike sofa work the most, with just 14.8 per cent of tweets being positive.
However, the study raises more questions than it answers as there is no clearly discernible pattern explaining why some boroughs might like working from home more than others.
One might expect that boroughs with poorer transport links would prefer working from home to save the inconvenience of a commute.
In reality, Southwark, one of London’s better-connected boroughs, likes working from home more than most other London boroughs.
Whereas in Redbridge, with its low Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL), just 16 per cent of people tweeted positively about working from home.
One possible explanation is that people are tweeting about working from home generally, rather than their own experience of it.
A womAn was taken to hospital in a serious condition after a collision with a car in elephant and Castle on thursday, october 13.
Officers from the Met Police and
London Ambulance Service were called to Newington Butts at 6.45pm and the pedestrian was rushed to hospital. She remains in a serious condition. The car stopped at the scene. No arrests have been made and enquiries continue.
Anyone with information that could assist police is asked to call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting CAD 6292/13Oct.
By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.ukA child and four adults were saved from a bermondsey flat fire by firefighters in the early hours of friday, october 14.
At 1.20am, firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought through the flames on Preston Close, just off the Old Kent Road near Townsend Primary
School, saving two adults and a child from the second floor and two adults from the first floor.
The endangered residents had been speaking to 999 control staff, who gave them potentially life-saving fire survival advice before firefighters arrived.
All the victims were treated at the scene by London Ambulance service crews. The fire damaged most of a tworoomed flat on the ground floor of a
residential block was damaged by the fire.
Firefighters had brought the blaze under control by 2.40am. Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters from New Cross, Lambeth, Old Kent Road, Dockhead, Peckham and Dowgate fire stations attended the scene.
The Met Police Service and London Fire Bridge are investigating the cause of the fire.
Just stoP oil protestors blocked off the st George’s Circus roundabout as they demand that the government stops backing new fossil fuel projects in the uk Protestors began glueing themselves to the pavement and brandishing banners at around 9am on Thursday, October 13.
Police cleared the roads, removing and arresting twenty protestors by 10.40am, with the new police commissioner vowing to “keep London moving”.
While videos show some commuters reacting angrily, furiously discarding the protestors’ signs, others were seen thanking the environmentalists.
Manny McKenzie, 63, a retired child psychiatrist from West Yorkshire, said: “Ending new oil and gas projects seems to me to be such a no-brainer.
“Allowing more oil and gas to be burned is going to fuel climate and ecological disaster with billions of people facing death and starvation, while decarbonising energy, transport and farming will protect us, increase our quality of life through greater resilience, community and [create a] healthier environment, and set an example for others to follow.”
Just Stop Oil are proclaiming this October’s ‘13th Day of Action’. This month, Just Stop Oil protestors have blocked roads leading to Vauxhall Bridge and glued themselves to roads around Parliament Square.
The group says that the last twelve days have seen their members arrested over 337 times, and 1,600 times since April 1.
Just Stop Oil has said: “Our supporters will be returning - today, tomorrow and
the next day - and the next day after that - and every day until our demand is met.”
Jane Thewlis, 60, a retired social worker from Bradford, said: “My life’s work has been to look after people and I can’t bear to see the suffering caused by climate breakdown.
“People are being forced to visit food banks and are unable to heat their homes. I have been seriously depressed to see this government add to their
suffering while giving tax handouts to the wealthy.
“Just Stop Oil gives a simple message: no more oil and gas licences. Let’s start creating a world where we care for everyone!”
A Met Police spokesperson said: “Following action by Just Stop Oil protestors at St George’s Circus near Blackfriars, officers swiftly deployed.
“Ten of the twenty protestors had glued themselves to the ground,
but specialist police teams quickly attended and those concerned were all removed and arrested.
“All lanes around the St George’s Circus area are now open and traffic is flowing again. As of 10.40am officers have, in total, arrested 20 Just Stop Oil protestors.
New Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “I am determined to keep London moving in the face of ongoing disruptive demonstrations.
“I am frustrated that so many officers are being taken away from tackling issues that matter most to communities.
“They are intervening as quickly as they can within the law, balancing the right of Londoners to go about their business with the right to protest.”
Just Stop Oil is part of a coalition of protest groups that share the aim of stopping new oil and fossil fuel licences.
By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.ukPoliCe hAVe recovered seventeen vehicles including a delivery van containing parcels, a Jaguar, a bmw, and firearms, in a two-day operation bringing vehicle thieves to justice.
Officers made fourteen arrests across southeast London, retrieving knives, baseball bats, a stun gun, and a silenced pistol with eleven rounds of ammunition, as part of Operation Huntsman.
The sting involved 60 officers from the Met and Kent Police, responding to concerns raised by Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley residents about rising motor crime.
Chief Inspector Russ Joao, from South East Command Unit, said: “We’ve really listened to what local people have been telling us they are concerned about.
“The rise in motor vehicle crime has had a big impact on the lives of many of our residents and we’ve taken significant action over the last twelve months to tackle this issue.”
Police used automated number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to track offenders, reporting sixteen traffic offences in the process.
Arrests were made for suspected offences including robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, possession with intent to supply class A drugs, dangerous driving and failing to stop
for police.
Police say southeast London has seen a rise in motor vehicle offences, particularly thefts of high-value keyless cars and catalytic converters.
Last year there were 2,608 vehicle thefts in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham. In the first
nine months of 2022, almost 300 car thefts in Greenwich, Lewisham and Bromley were of a single make of vehicle.
Of 4,606 offences of theft from a vehicle, 18 per cent were of catalytic converters.
Inspector Joao said: “Our work does not stop here and there will be more operations in the
future as well as crime prevention initiatives, such as catalytic converter marking events, to help people avoid becoming a victim of this type of offence.”
Operation Huntsman saw officers spend the last year gathering information on individuals and criminal gangs.
∙
Many of them were linked to violent offences, with gangs arming themselves with baseball bats, iron bars, machetes and, more recently, BB guns.
The operation built on the work of a new vehicle crime unit set up a year ago and responded to local ward panels’ requests to make vehicle crime a priority.
Criminal gangs sell stolen vehicles and their parts, but also use them to commit other crimes.
The Met Police has shared some advice on keeping your vehicle safe:
Always leave your car locked and secured. Lots of modern vehicles fold in their wing mirrors when locked –so very easy for thieves to spot when a vehicle has not been locked.
∙ Take valuables with you when you leave the vehicle.
∙ Consider investing in steering wheel locks, pedal locks, immobilisers and tracking devices.
∙ Key fob protectors (Faraday bags) help prevent keyless car thefts.
∙ Consider installing driveway posts. Visit the Secured by Design website for more information –www.securedbydesign.com/guidance/ crime-prevention-advice/vehicle-crime
The NHS is offering all 1-9 year olds in London a polio booster vaccination. For some children, this may be an extra dose of polio vaccine on top of their routine vaccinations. In other children, it will bring them up to date with their polio vaccination. Boosting immunity in children should help protect them and reduce the risk of the virus spreading.
This booster vaccination is being offered following the detection of polio virus in sewage samples taken from north and east London.
Polio is an infection caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system. It can cause permanent paralysis of muscles. You can read more about polio at https://bit.ly/polio-leaflets-for-parents
Where do I get my child’s vaccine?
If your child is registered with a GP, you would have already been contacted by the NHS to book an appointment locally, usually at your GP surgery or at one of Southwark’s Extended Primary Care Service (EPCS) that provide Southwark patients with additional GP and nurse appointments. More information is available at https://bit.ly/SEL-polio-vaccination-sites
Dr Nancy Küchemann, GP and Co-Chair Partnership Southwark, urges all parents and carers to boost their child’s protection against polio.
Dr Küchemann said: “The polio vaccine is safe and effective and is the best way to prevent polio. All parents and carers will be contacted by the NHS to make an appointment and I would urge them to take up the offer as soon as possible.
Dr Küchemann added: “Please can I also encourage those who don’t have a GP to register at a local surgery. GPs treat all common medical conditions and provide immunisations to adults and children”.
The polio vaccine is free and given as part of combined jabs to babies, toddlers and teenagers as part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule.
It is given when a child is: • 8, 12 and 16 weeks old as part of the 6-in-1 vaccine (DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB)
• 3 years and 4 months old as part of the 4-in-1 (DTaP/IPV) pre-school booster
• 14 years old as part of the 3-in-1 (Td/IPV) teenage booster
Your child needs to have all these vaccinations to be fully vaccinated against polio. You can check your child’s red book, the NHS App (https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/) or contact your GP surgery if you are unsure if your child has been vaccinated.
child’s offer of
vaccination
Sangeeta Leahy, Director of Public Health, Southwark said: “There are signs the polio virus may be spreading in London and the number of children vaccinated is lower than it should be. Boosting your child’s immunity should help protect them and reduce the risk of the virus continuing to spread. It is essential your child has all their childhood immunisations to give them the very best protection”.
twothings have dominated my conversations with people across our borough over the last few weeks.
People’s deep fear of how difficult this winter is going to be as we all see our bills rocket and their despair and outrage at how the Government have made it all so much worse.
Never has the contrast between our Labour led council and the Conservative led Government been starker.
On the one hand, here in Southwark we have been working flat out to put in place support for those hardest hit by the cost of living crisis. Setting up our £5 million Cost of Living Fund and a new Southwark Energy Savers service, and working with our partners in the voluntary sector to get advice and practical help to all who need it. The collective determination of people across our community is always inspiring, and I want to thank everyone who is working so hard to get help to those who need it.
A report published just last week found that over 330,000 people died early as a result of Conservative and Liberal Democrat austerity between 2012 and 2019. 330,000 lives cut short. That is a national scandal.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister and Chancellor announced their disastrous mini budget of unfunded giveaways for high earners, big business and bankers. Resulting in the value of the pound collapsing, the Bank of England having to race to save people’s pensions and the cost of people’s mortgages rocketing. Even the Prime Minister’s own MPs have described this as “an unmitigated disaster”.
To make things worse, Liz Truss and her then Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng proposed launching another devastating round of cuts. With the
IFS estimating they will need to cut public spending by £60 billion to pay for their decimation of the public finances. It’s easy to lose track of what such big numbers mean. £60 billion is the equivalent of ending all local government spending on education and social care combined. This is not “trimming fat”.
That the Government is again seeking to impose austerity on us all is all the more shocking when you consider what we now know about the impact of their cuts over the last decade. A report published just last week found
that over 330,000 people died early as a result of Conservative and Liberal Democrat austerity between 2012 and 2019. 330,000 lives cut short. That is a national scandal.
Worse still these new cuts break explicit promises the Conservative Party made to the British people. In the run up to the last election they declared “austerity is over”. Yet now in Southwark alone we face a £24 million shortfall to the council’s budget next year. We will keep doing everything we can to stretch each pound we have further, but with Government funding for the council already cut by two thirds; we are now left with no choice but to scale back vital services that local people depend on, and all to pay for the Tories’ mismanagement of our economy.
Another promise the Government look set to break is their pledge to put up benefits in line with inflation. A move that would tip 200,000 children into poverty. It does not have to be this way.
The government say they want to
eA rlier this month southwark liberal democrat cllr nick Johnson played a large role in opposing a new office block on the old heygate council estate site.
The planning committee, on which he sat, decided to reject the proposal from developer Lendlease due to the building’s excessive height and bulk.
Cllr Johnson rightly pointed out at the meeting that the council was in the last chance saloon when it came to putting more affordable housing on this site.
The 18-storey block would have filled the final plot from the Heygate estate regeneration scheme, which the council once earmarked for residential use.
Luckily, the committee knocked back the planning application, which is a cause for celebration.
Our borough has over 16,000 households on the council homes waiting list and thousands in temporary accommodation.
Not many of these people will
We would go a long way if Labour finally had the bravery to stand up to developers by adopting Liberal Democrat policy of at least 50% affordable housing on all private developments.
be desperate for an office block on what was once an estate with over 1,000 council homes.
A campaigner at the planning meeting also mentioned the ridiculous conditions of the council’s original deal with Lendlease. I hope Labour’s new councillors listened.
Lendlease, when it first agreed to regenerate the Heygate estate with Southwark Labour in 2010, promised that just 25% of the homes would be affordable housing.
Liberal Democrats at the time fought against this pitiful concession to big developers. We demanded that cabinet renegotiate the deal.
But, Labour and its leader Peter John, ignored our pleas and amended our motion to get rid of any request to go back to the negotiating table.
It seems that Peter John (who was council leader until a couple of years ago) still believes they did the right thing.
This month he criticised the planning committee’s decision to reject the mammoth office block.
He tweeted: “[The application] would have made the scheme really mixed use and [would have] brought many jobs to the area.
“[I] can’t help feeling a battle of 10 years ago was being replayed.”
Peter John’s tone-deaf response shows how out of touch Labour are with our residents.
No number of new office jobs in Southwark will make up for children having to move out of the borough they grew up in.
I would not expect Peter John of Southwark Labour to realise this after a decade of rule in which Southwark sold or demolished around 4,000 council homes and only built 1,000 social rent properties.
The current Labour administration are just as incapable of getting to grips with our lack of affordable homes.
The new cabinet member for housing, Cllr Darren Merrill, said in the same planning meeting that he thought the office was a welcome addition to the Heygate site.
If that is this Labour administration’s approach to housing, we are clearly in for a difficult four years.
Cllr Merrill is now in charge of fixing the failure of his
grow our economy and grow wages, and on that we can agree. But the evidence is clear, to get growth you need to invest.
If the Government really wanted growth they would be following our lead in Southwark. We’ve invested nearly £1million in the Southwark Construction Skills Centre, skilling up over 5,000 residents since it opened so they can get good jobs. We are investing £2 million in our Southwark Pioneers Fund to help local businesses start and grow. We’ve establish SC1London’s life science district - to scale up innovation, research and growth around our world leading hospitals; and we are backing the Bakerloo Line extension that would deliver over 2 million square feet of employment space, 20,000 new homes and 12,000 new jobs.
This is the approach to growth and prosperity that our whole country needs. It is clearer now more than ever
predecessors who only built 166 council homes between 2018 and 2022 against a target of 1,000.
His colleagues have left a 144home council block, Maydew House, empty for seven years.
They wasted over £100,000 guarding the vacant building when, by now, they should have been spending money on residents living inside of it.
Astoundingly, they also splashed £14,000 on a failed legal fight after they heartlessly tried to stop a family of four from getting a higher council housing band.
This Labour administration needs to be a lot more radical if they want to tackle our housing crisis.
They could start by learning from their embarrassing agreement with Lendlease for the Heygate estate.
We would go a long way if Labour finally had the bravery to stand up to developers by adopting Liberal Democrat policy of at least 50% affordable housing on all private developments.
the last month-and-a-half, we have reported on two stabbings and a shooting in Peckham alone. for local people, whose sons’ and daughters’ lives are spent socialising on these streets, the news that life-saving stab kits could now be rolled out across the area will prove welcome news.
Lisa Pearson, a local campaigner, began her push for these ‘community cabinets’ after being inspired by the Daniel Baird Foundation’s mission. Set up by Lynne Baird after her son Daniel was fatally stabbed in Birmingham in 2017, their aim is to put blood control kits in all public spaces, so that deaths from traumatic blood loss are prevented wherever possible.
There are already plenty of charities trying address youth violence but the focus tends to be on either prevention or after-care. ‘Lives Not Knives’, active in south London, is about the former, endeavouring to keep kids in education. Meanwhile ‘Redthread’ begins rehabilitating victims and perpetrators of violent crime at their “most teachable moment” - after trauma teams have done their critical work but before the patient is discharged.
These schemes do fantastic work, but stab wound kits offer a tangible, immediate and functional solution that no amount of talking can. When a life is ebbing away from traumatic blood loss, nothing can match the life-saving capacities of gauze, chest seals and tourniquets.
Thanks to Lisa Pearson’s incredible work, a publicly accessible bleed control cabinet will be installed on Peckham High Street. It took nine months of pressing the council, and a late intervention from this paper, but it should be installed in the next two weeks.
And a huge thanks should be given to the local community, particularly small businesses. If you need any evidence of the public support this scheme has, observe how readily local shopkeepers have agreed to put ‘mobile’ bleed control kits under their counters, should the worst occur outside their shops.
Lisa says the council’s delay has prevented more kits from being rolled out across the borough. But now she’s got the thumbs up, she is determined to get dozens more set up across the borough. One is soon expected to go up outside the bank on Camberwell Green.
Of course, it’s not just the victims of stabbings who can be treated with these kits. Victims of traffic collisions and freak accidents will also benefit. After all, it doesn’t matter who you are, what your background is, or how old you are. Every life is worth saving.
Well done Lisa, it shows what can be achieved when you have the level determination Lisa did. We will continue to write about and support her important campaign and hope that it will go further now the council is on board, with stab kits being rolled out across the borough.
Time to take rather a small part (3)
With which to smooth the path to the green? (5)
Ask for a muted bell? (6)
Incursions in the streets? (7)
What a nerve to study this subject! (9)
Firmly of the view that there’s no wing on the wrong date? (11)
The delight of the chosen in our backward times? No, it comes back to the end (11)
The former wrong I take on as getting by force (9)
Stupid how I love a spasm... after I’d begun (7)
The heart of an officer, it’s said (6)
Try to make peace at the party? (5)
Manage a jogtrot? (3)
disAbled shoPPers at surrey Quays shopping Centre are furious after developer british land painted over their parking bays.
Elderly people with painful conditions have been forced to walk long distances with heavy bags because roughly half their bays have been removed.
Esther Matthews, 70, was ‘flabbergasted’ when she arrived to find the yellow disabled paint had been scraped away and replaced with standard bays.
The grandmother and retired ambulance controller, whose arthritis confines her to an electric scooter, said: “At first I couldn’t believe it when they took it all away.
“Several other disabled people were there asking ‘what are we supposed to do?’. It’s a big car park with lots of normal spaces so why they’d have to give up the disabled bays is beyond
me. I think it’s disgusting!”
Shoppers with mobility problems are now limited to just nine parking bays in a car park with up to 650 spaces.
This includes just five spaces outside the Range and four near the entrance.
Previously, there were approximately twenty spaces in total.
Maureen Chandler, in her 70s, from
Lewisham, also suffers from arthritis. She said: “They’ve scraped off all the disabled paint and haven’t replaced it!
“We do struggle to find a space because sometimes it’s busy. A lot of disabled people come in the morning and if you come then they’re all gone. If you’re in a wheelchair, you need the extra space.”
As well as offering more room for wheelchair users, disabled bays are placed conveniently close to amenities.
Carol Wilson, 63, from Battersea, uses a stick to walk. She said: “We’ve struggled to find a space. Every time you come here you struggle.
“The shopping centre is a nice community space and there’s not enough community space so we shouldn’t have to struggle.”
British Land, which owns the shopping centre, said it had reduced the overall area of the car park which had reduced the number of disabled spaces.
It apologised for the “oversight” and has said the disabled bays will be restored this week.
A representative for British Land said: “Due to sequencing of the shopping centre car park works that are currently underway, including TfL’s delivery of a new, step-free entrance hall to Surrey Quays Station (which begins construction next year) and the delivery of works to the north of the Shopping Centre, we have reduced the overall area of the shopping centre car park, meaning there have been a significantly reduced number of disabled spaces. This was an oversight for which we apologise.
“We have worked to rectify this and the disabled bays available at the entrance to the shopping centre are planned to open early next week. We have, in the meantime, temporarily re-opened the area next to The Range. The changes underway to the layout and circulation of the car park are being made to optimise the number of overall spaces, disabled spaces, and pedestrian areas across the whole of the new area.”
e xclusive By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.ukresidents of turney road in dulwich Village have been left incensed by southwark Council’s plans to stop traffic at its eastern end.
Locals have just two weeks to share their thoughts on two designs, both of which involve stopping traffic turning onto the junction from Turney Road.
Clive Hill-Archer, chair of the Turney Road Residents’ Association, said members had already submitted 30 responses, 27 of which are objections.
Describing the Dulwich Village LTN scheme as ‘Machiavellian’, he said: “It will logjam surrounding roads with pollution from stationary vehicles because everyone will have to stop and start.”
He said schools that use Croxted Road, like Kingsdale, Oakfield Primary School and Dulwich College, would suffer from increased congestion.
“How can they sleep with the knowledge they’ve displaced all this traffic to these streets around Dulwich,
and believe they’re doing a good job, I really don’t know,” he added.
But some residents have welcomed the proposals, saying that the designs
will benefit children at Dulwich Village Church of England Infants’ School.
A spokesperson for local campaign group Clean Air Dulwich said: “We’re
pleased to see the ‘Streets for People’ plans in Dulwich Village progressing and the council prioritising the most vulnerable road users by focusing on safety for people walking and cycling.
“It’s important to tackle car dominance in an area which has the highest level of car ownership in Southwark. Changes like these make active, sustainable travel an option for more people.”
Alex Bigham, Dulwich resident and member of the Parklets Campaign, said: “These seem like a sensible set of proposals which would be good for residents and businesses.
“It is important to note that even with these plans, people will still be able to access different parts of Dulwich via car, while protecting children at the infant and junior school from traffic and pollution.”
Southwark announced the controversial proposals on Monday, October 10, saying they aim to make Dulwich Village “more inclusive and safer”.
The council says it has consulted “hundreds of people on the street” and spoken to local schools, schoolchildren and businesses. But Clive Rates and Tristan Honeyborne, conservative
candidates for Dulwich Village in the last election, said: “Residents weren’t meaningfully consulted in the first consultation. This latest one is ridiculously rushed allowing only twenty days to respond.
“Guidance from the Local Government Association recommends six weeks as a bare minimum.”
They said that, by only offering two similar options, the latest consultation “could allow Southwark Labour to misrepresent local views and push through their undemocratic, activist agenda”.
But a spokesperson for local campaign group One Dulwich said the schemes would push more traffic onto Burbage and Croxted Roads.
As well as the Turney Road changes, both designs involve pedestrianising the area next to the north shop parade, creating new cycle lanes, and raising the junction so its four ‘arms’ are flat.
Designs one and two do have minor differences, such as whether or not to build ‘sensory play sounds drums’ and a giant xylophone outside the school gates.
Southwark Council was approached but refused to comment further.
Anthony is not happy when he enters the theatre space and sees his ex, Penny, who will be directing ‘the Play with speeches’ that he says he has written but she says he has collated from other writers’ work. Add to these two - with their own issues - a bunch of actors auditioning for a part in the play and you have yourself a play within a play, writes Michael Holland.
There was some early hilarious confusion when latecomers became jumbled up with the auditioning actors and I truly thought it was part of the performance; a couple walking right by me at the front to find themselves at a dead end before having to do a comic turn and make their way back was one of the funniest bits of the night. It was when another latecomer did exactly the same thing that I was convinced this was part of the play. Strangely, I was quite annoyed that it wasn’t.
The concept is that the theatre has been hired for the auditions but the theatre sold off tickets for an audience to watch the process. That is us. And the auditions will be a series of speeches gleaned from other productions that will tell the
story of a man cheating on his wife with another man who has a heart attack while out jogging. So far so good.
As each actor has his audition the story progresses. On the sidelines, however, we watch Anthony and Penny’s constant bickering and Anthony using the audience to air his grievances about their time together before Penny threw a set of Le Creuset cast iron pans at him as he fled the home and the relationship.
The Play With Speeches, the one I came to see, not the one the actors are auditioning for, gives the opportunity for a large cast to show off their skills while giving the impression to the world that actors actually are a pompous, pretentious, hissy-fitting bunch of people.
James Woolf, the author, has his cast of twelve portraying every aspect - true or not - of what we think actors are like.
There are those who lack confidence, those who have it in abundance, the snooty and the servile. Some want to know if they will get paid or get a share of the profit; those who require a facial warm-up before starting and those who need some back-story to a character who has little to say or do.
And then there is Lionel, auditioning
“life is like a matchstick; our flame burns bright but it quickly extinguishes and we become ...merely smoke”. so says ‘stephen sublime’ in this fabulous story of oscar wilde’s Canterville Ghost, presented by tall stories, writes Lizzie Paul.
On a grim and windy night the Southwark Playhouse did indeed shine out like a warm, glowing flame. This fabulous production is light on grisly and heavy on ghostly. It’s also heavy on laughs, music and magic.
To set the scene, the red velvet curtain raises to reveal a Victorian theatre troupe who entertain us with proper old variety ‘turns’ while telling the story of Oscar Wilde’s Canterville Ghost. It’s a metadrama; a play within a play, just like that of Shakespeare’s Hamlet - but with laughs. Plus, between the story some fabulous pyrotechnic magic tricks, a foul-mouthed puppet and acts of mysticism pepper the narration. And it’s spooky.
Sir Simon de Canterville has been haunting his country pile for centuries, scaring off any proposed residents, except for his weary old housekeeper. We first see the new occupants, the Otis family, moving in
- and pooh-poohing any silly ideas of hauntings. What follows is a madcap and chaotic challenge between the living and the dead - or maybe it isn’t...
The Otis children are twins who rush about causing mayhem and generally winding up the poor old ghost. The choreography here is brilliant, and their antics put me in mind of Marx Brothers, or characters in The Beano! In fact, the whole production is like a trip back in time.
The ghost himself, played by the multi-talented Callum Patrick Hughes is a whining, miserable old soul who might be a few hundred years old but can still bust some great dance moves. The housekeeper, also played by Patrick Hughes, is just as miserable. The scene where she eats a piece of fruitcake is hilarious and a finely crafted piece of comedy. This scene alone is worth the ticket price.
At one point, Victoria Otis risks all to travel to the spirit world to plead the ghost’s case for a decent burial, like a music hall Persephone. She jumps into a box, into which many knives are plunged. But it all works out well in the end.
Elsewhere in this glorious Victorian
extravaganza, Katie Tranter’s psychic medium is something else; as the spirits enter her body she turns, she gurns, she looks like an All Black doing the haka. Matt Jopling is a stooge to his ventriloquist doll - as hard as I tried I could not see his lips move! Steve Watts is the music hall compere who keeps this whole madness rolling along, as well as being a talented pianist. The second part becomes far more ghostly and we learn more of the theatre troupe, who are based on real-life actors. The moral of the story is, tell your tale because we all have one to tell. Make special connections and don’t leave it too late. And don’t let this wonderful piece of theatre pass you by. For we are all just matchsticks...
Southwark Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD until 5th November. Times: Monday – Saturday, 7.30pm; Tuesday and Saturday matinee, 3pm. Admission: Standard tickets are £22 with previews at £14 and concession rates at £18. Booking: 020 7407 0234 www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/ the-large/the- canterville-ghost/
for the role of hospital cleaner, who wonders if he could be considered for other, more meatier, roles. In fact, he would quite like Anthony’s part and would like to audition for it. Penny loves the idea, much to Anthony’s chagrin.
Anthony now has to audition to be himself! This twist not only takes us out of the play within a play concept but smashes down the fourth wall and drags us into some kind of absurd alternative world where this could happen.
The stand-out turn is Matthew Parker camping it up as Anthony, whose histrionic hand and arm gestures turn out to be his undoing when he has to replicate them in his audition.
The Play With Speeches is a great idea but I don’t think it reached its full potential. Yes, it made us laugh and sent us home smiling, and I’m grateful for that, but more could have been done in the second half to give this an ending worthy of how the play had set itself up.
Brockley Jack Studio, 410 Brockley Road, SE4 2DH until 22nd October.
Times: Tuesday - Saturday 7.30pm.
Admission: £16, £14.
Booking: 0333 666 3366www.brockleyjack.co.uk
how mAny of us watch the news and just ‘switch off’ when there are reports of immigrants crossing the channel? Writes Lizzie Paul.
Do those images of ragged people in small boats really sink in or do we just wait for the next programme to come on and forget all about it?
I am guilty of this - I think we become desensitised to it all. In light of this I think that everyone should see The Boy with Two Hearts to witness their reality.
This is not just a story of cruelty and women’s rights, it is a love story.
It is the love of a family battling against terrible odds. It is also a true story, written by Hamed & Hessam Amiri, who lived it all.
In the year 2000, the Amiris, an Afghan family, run for their lives when matriarch Fariba falls foul of the Taliban after protesting for women’s rights. Her husband, Mohammed, and their three boys are proud of her for doing so but the consequences are dire. The Taliban want Fariba dead and beat up Mohammed when they can’t find her, and so begins a race for the Amiris to get out of their homeland.
But the Amiri’s had another, bigger problem. Their eldest son, Hussein, has a life-threatening heart condition requiring specialist doctors and surgeons.
Immediately, they run to the market, sell all of their belongings and arrange for friends to make safe passage for them out of Afghanistan - and to get help for Hussein.
What follows is a nightmare tour of various countries, travelling in the boots of cars, all five of them in a car boot in a lorry, jumping on to trains and risking their lives at every turn.
They end up in Moscow, in freezing weather wearing thin Arabic dress. They pop up in Austria, in France, in Germany.
They are robbed of their life savings, get seasick, threatened by traffickers and look down the barrels of guns.
There are lighter moments, though, when the three boys play football; they play wherever they can with rolled up rags and jackets for goalposts, but with all the exuberance of youth.
Throughout the drama there is the constant reminder that Hussein is very ill. He has attacks and cannot breathe; the lighting effects to demonstrate this left me so panicky. I wanted to shout, ‘Call an ambulance! Get a doctor! Please, somebody, HELP’ It is very powerful stuff here.
Throughout the journey we meet other characters, all played by the cast of five. Most of them are evil, desperate and violent, and we learn of those that try to cross the sea but half way across are told to pay more money for their journey. Those that cannot pay are thrown overboard to drown.
Eventually, the family reach the safe waters of England and settle in Wales where the boys go to school, learn English and become success stories.
Ahmad Sakhi is spellbinding as Hussein, a bright boy with a big heart. The whole cast go above and beyond to bring this tragic but inspiring story to life. The beautiful and emotional background singing was provided by Elaha Soroor.
The cast received a well-deserved standing ovation. The ending left many in tears.
I now also carry Hussein Amiri in my heart.
Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 until 12th November. Times: Mon - Sat 7.30pm, Wed & Sat matinees 2.30pm. Admission: £20 - £60 Booking: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
the two bone-white sculptures hanging in the turbine appear at first like ghostly remnants reclaimed from the shore. made from unspun wool, objects reclaimed from the thames, twisted rope and distorted cardboard they are a continuation of artist Cecilia Vicuña’s work with the ancient quipu, writes Madeleine Kelly.
The quipu was used by the ancient Andeans to communicate, instead of writing they used knots tied into strings to record everything from statistics to stories. The meaning of this knotted code was lost during the European Conquest when quipus were systematically destroyed but their symbolic capacity endures.
Brain Forest Quipu stands as an elegy for destroyed forests and the Indigenous peoples who dwell with them and in them. It is a multi-layered exhibit, both material and ethereal. It starts with the sculptures themselves, or ‘Dead Forest Quipu’. From them comes the sound of Andean pipes, an 8 hour composition by Ricardo Gallo that is at times haunting and then jubilant. The final quipu is supposedly that of ‘Encounters: Rituals and Assemblies’; in it Andean tradition is
connected to contemporary culture and finally to the viewers.
Vicuña’s work is mammoth in its intended reach but not in physical scale. The skeletal forms at each end of the Turbine are dwarfed by the sheer size of the space. In this space the sculptures call to each other across
the hall like the last of their kind. From a distance, these figures even look forlorn. But once you’ve entered the hangings, a world opens up. Driftwood and shells hang close enough to touch and up above you the wool sheet, snakeskin-like cardboard and tattered nets resemble a torn canopy.
The longer you are there the more details reveal themselves. What was underwhelming on first sight becomes an intimate world in which you find yourself increasingly enmeshed. Gallo’s sonic creation brings the forms to life making them breathing beings that expand further into the large room. In the end the willing viewer finds themselves moving with the piece as Vicuña intended, a part of the social quipu. In this way you become a part of its act of mourning, an act that quietly suggests there is still life in this loss.
The exhibition has sat with me all week - in the end I think, though quiet, it is haunting.
Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 until 16 April 2023.
Open daily 10.00 – 18.00 and until 22.00 on the last Friday of each month.
Admission: Free.
1 The Council of the London Borough of Southwark hereby gives notice that to enable various works to be carried out, it made, an order, the effect of which will be to prohibit vehicular
from
part of the above
2 Whilst the works are in progress, or whilst the authorised traffic signs/road markings are displayed, no person shall cause any vehicle to enter, proceed, stop, wait, load or unload in:
Champion Park, between Denmark Hill and Windsor Walk (b) Barge House Street No’s 28 No’s 34 (c) Walworth Road, (north side) suspension of bus and cycle lane, between Fielding Street and Macleod Street
3 The alternative route for affected traffic (2a) as indicated by the signs displayed (2b) Upper Ground (2c) not applicable
Exemptions will be provided in the Order to permit reasonable access to premises, so far as it is practical without interference with the execution of the said works
5 The restrictions will not apply to any vehicle being used in connection with the said works, or for fire brigade, ambulance or police purposes or anything done with the permission or at the direction of a police constable in uniform
6 The works will be in operation for (2a) 29th 30th October with back up dates of the 5th 6th November (2b) 31st October 4th November (2c) 1st 2nd November with back up dates of the 8th 9th November
7 Further information may be obtained by contacting Road Network Management at ttmo@southwark gov uk
this 20th
Law
2022
Manager
(2a) LBSCR12650/ LBSCR12650
(2b) 6297/W118655101 00148 SGN (2c)
1 The Council of the London Borough of Southwark hereby gives notice that to enable various works to be carried out, it intends, to make, an order, the effect of which will be to prohibit vehicular traffic from entering part of the above named roads
2 Whilst the works are in progress, or whilst the authorised traffic signs/road markings are displayed, no person shall cause any vehicle to enter, proceed, stop, wait, load or unload in:
(a) County Street, at it s junction with Harper Road
(b) Trinity Street, between Swan Street and Borough High Street (south west side of carriageway)
(c) Penarth Street, between Hatcham Road and Ilderton Road (d) Ansdell Road, between No s 36/44 and No s 37/41 located between Evelina Road and Dundas Road (e) Commercial Way, between East Surrey Grove and Pentridge Street (f) Westmoreland Road, between Camberwell Road and Red Lion Row (south side of carriageway) and (north side of carriageway) (g) Pocock Street, at it’s junction with Great Suffolk Street to Unit 2a Moonraker Point (ban left and right turn into Pocock Street, from Great Suffolk Street) (h) Choumert Grove, between No’s 1 No’s 5 (i) Ivydale Road, between No s 2 and No s 65
3 The alternative route for affected traffic (2a) Falmouth Road, Harper Road (2b) Swan Street, Harper Road (2c) Ilderton Road, Manor Grove, Hatcham, Road (2d) Dundas Road, St Marys Road, Evelina Road Dundas Road, Hollydale Road (2e) Southampton Way, Cottage Green, Wells Way, Albany Rd, Old Kent Rd , Trafalgar Avenue, Summer Rd Willowbrook Rd, Peckham Hill St Peckham Hill St, Willowbrook Rd, Summer Rd, Trafalgar Avenue, Old Kent Rd, Albany Rd, Wells Way, Southampton Way Additonal Diversion route: Southampton Way, Peckham Rd, Peckham High St, Peckham Hill St (2f) Walworth Road, Arnside Street (south side diversion) & (north side diversion) (2g) Great Suffolk Street, Southwark Bridge Road, Sawyer Street, Loman Street (2h) as indicated by the signs displayed (2i) Ivydale Road, St Asaph Road St Norbert Road Frendsbury Road
The London Borough of Southwark (Bus Priority) (Lower Road C4) (No 1) Experimental Traffic Order 2022 The London Borough of Southwark (Prescribed Routes and Cycle Lanes) (Lower Road C4) (No 1) Experimental Traffic Order 2022
1 Southwark Council hereby GIVES NOTICE that on 20 October 2022 it has made the above experimental Orders under sections 9 and 10 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
2 The effects of the experimental Orders, the intention of which is to trial the provision of active travel measures promoting walking, cycling and public transport modes and to deter motor vehicle through traffic, as part of the Council’s Cycleway 4 improvements, will be to: (a) provide two way mandatory cycle lanes, averaging 3m in width and aligned with the nearest kerb line, operational at any time and segregated from the adjoining traffic flow by either carriageway island sites or segregating bollards, at the following locations:
(i) LOWER ROAD south west side, extending from the boundary of the Transport for London Road Network (on the approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel Roundabout) to a point 6m north west of the north western kerb line of Culling Road;
(ii) LOWER ROAD south west side, extending from a point 3 5m south east of the south eastern kerb line of Culling Road to a point 6m north west of the north western kerb line of Ann Moss Way;
(iii) LOWER ROAD south west side, extending from a point 6m south east of the south eastern kerb line of Ann Moss Way to the south eastern wall of No 68 Lower Road (note: no physical segregating measures will be placed outside Nos 54 66 Lower Road to maintain access to properties);
(iv) LOWER ROAD south west side, extending from a point 8m south east of the south eastern wall of No 68 Lower Road to a point 6 5m north west of the north western kerb line of Gomm Road;
(v) LOWER ROAD south west side, extending from a point 4m south east of the south eastern kerb line of Gomm Road to a point 26m south east of that kerb line;
(b) provide a one way north westbound with flow mandatory cycle lane 1 5m in width, operational at any time and partially segregated from the adjoining traffic flow by a carriageway island site, in LOWER ROAD south west side, extending from a point 34 5m south east of the south eastern kerb line of Gomm Road to a point 27m north west of the north western kerb line of Orange Place; The above cycle lanes are to be linked together by advisory cycle lane markings to form one continuous cycle route Informal pedestrian crossing points with ‘zebra’ type markings would be provided across these cycle lanes to enable pedestrians to access bus stops located on the segregating island sites (c) prohibit north eastbound vehicles in CULLING ROAD from turning right into Lower Road (other than for pedal cycles entering the cycle lane referred to in item 2(a)(ii) above);
(d) prohibit north westbound vehicles in LOWER ROAD from turning right into Neptune Street, and to prohibit south westbound vehicles in NEPTUNE STREET from turning right into Lower Road (the existing prescribed traffic movements at this junction being suspended whilst the experimental Orders are in force);
(e) provide a new north westbound with flow bus lane for the use of buses only and operating at any time in LOWER ROAD south west side aligned with the north eastern edge of the ‘bus boarder’ island site segregating the main carriageway of Lower Road from the cycle lane referred to in item 2(a)(ii) above, extending from a point 6m north west of the north western kerb line of Ann Moss Way to a point 8 5m south east of the south eastern kerb line of Culling Road; and (f) suspend all other existing bus lane facilities in Lower Road located between the boundary of the Transport for London Road Network and the south eastern kerb line of Orange Place
3 Southwark Council hereby GIVES FURTHER NOTICE that it has approved under section 23 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 the provision of a revised ‘zebra’ pedestrian crossing layout in LOWER ROAD, the centre of which would be located at a point 13m south east of the south eastern kerb line of Ann Moss Way and which would provide a formal crossing facility across both the cycle lane referred to in item 2(a)(iii) above and the main carriageway of Lower Road ‘Zig zag’ markings, on which vehicles would be prohibited from stopping at all times would be laid on both sides of the main carriageway of Lower Road for a distance of up to 16m north west of and up to 12m south east of the crossing
4 Southwark Council hereby GIVES FURTHER NOTICE under sections 90A to 90I of the Highways Act 1980 and in accordance with the provisions of the Highways (Road humps) Regulations 1999 and the Highways (Traffic calming) Regulations 1999, propose to construct speed tables of flat top construction having a maximum height level with the surrounding kerb in LOWER ROAD: (a) covering the entire width of the carriageway and cycle lanes at the site of the zebra’ pedestrian crossing in item 3 above, extending from a point 9m south east of the south eastern kerb line of Ann Moss Way south eastward for a distance of 8m; (b) covering the entire width of the cycle lane in which they are located (i) within the cycle lane referred to in item 2(a)(ii) above extending from a point 28 5m north west of the north western kerb line of Ann Moss Way north westward for a distance of 8m, (ii) within the cycle lane referred to in item 2(a)(iv) above, extending from a point 10m south east of the south eastern wall of No 68 Lower Road south eastward for a distance of 7m, and (iii) also within the cycle lane referred to in item 2(a)(iv) above, extending from a point 39m south east of the south eastern wall of No 68 Lower Road south eastward for a distance of 46 5m NOTE: All measurements are in metres ‘m’ and are approximate
5 For more information on the background and implementation of these experimental Orders contact the Council's Highway team Highways@southwark gov uk
6 Copies of the Orders, which will come into force on 27 October 2022 (and can remain in force for up to 18 months) this notice and a statement of the council's reasons for making the Orders may be found online www southwark gov uk/trafficorders; paper or digital copies of plans showing the location and effect of the Orders and the supporting documents may be requested by emailing traffic orders@southwark gov uk, or inspected by appointment only at: Highways, Southwark Council, Environment and Leisure, 3rd floor hub 2, 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH Email traffic orders@southwark gov uk (or call 020 7525 3497) for booking details
7 The council will in due course be considering whether the provisions of the experimental orders should be continued in force indefinitely, by means of a permanent order made under section 6 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 Anyone wishing to object to the making of the permanent order or make any other representation regarding the scheme would have 6 months to do so, from the date the experimental order comes into force (or, if the orders are varied by a subsequent order or modified pursuant to section 10(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, from the date that variation order/s or modification comes into force), and may send a statement to traffic orders@southwark gov uk or to: Traffic Order consultations, Highways, Southwark Council, Environment and Leisure, P O Box 64529, London SE1P 5LX; or use the form labelled 'Parking Road traffic and highway schemes responding to statutory consultation notices' at www southwark gov uk/statutoryconsultationnotices quoting reference ‘TMO2223 EXP03 Lower Rd C4 sect 1’ Please note that if you wish to object to the scheme you must state the grounds on which your objection is made
8 Under requirements of current access to information legislation, any letter or e mail sent to the Council in response to this Notice may be subject to publication or disclosure, or both, including communication to other persons affected
9 Anyone wishing to question the validity of the Orders or of any provision therein on the grounds that it is not within the relevant powers of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, or that any of the relevant requirements thereof or of any relevant regulations made thereunder have not been complied with in relation to the Orders may, within 6 weeks of the date on which the Orders were made, make application for the purpose to the High Court
Dated 20 October 2022 Dale Foden Head of Service Highways, Environment and Leisure
LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 SECTION 14(1) (CHAMPION PARK, BARGE HOUSE STREET, WALWORTH ROAD) (TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF TRAFFIC AND BUS/CYCLE LANE SUSPENSION
LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 SECTION 14(1)(COUNTY STREET, TRINITY STREET, PENARTH STREET, ANSDELL ROAD, COMMERCIAL WAY, WESTMORELAND ROAD, POCOCK STREET, CHOUMERT GROVE, IVYDALE ROAD)
The
LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK TOWN & COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 (as amended)
PLANNING (LISTED BUILDINGS AND CONSERVATION AREAS) ACT 1990 (as amended)
planning
at https://planning southwark gov uk/online applications/ You can use facilities at your local library or 'My Southwark Service Points'
How to comment on this application: You should submit your comments via the above link Comments received will be made available for public viewing on the website All personal information will be removed except your postal address Online comments submitted without an email address will not be acknowledged and those marked 'confidential will not be considered Written comments can be submitted to; Southwark Council, Chief executive's department, Planning division, Development Management, PO Box 64529, London SE1 5LX
Reason for publicity The applications are advertised for the reasons identified by the following codes: AFFECT development affecting character or appearance of a nearby conservation area; OR development affecting setting of a nearby listed building(s); DEP departure from the development plan; EIA environmental impact assessment (these applications are accompanied by an environmental statement a copy of which may be obtained from the Council there will be a charge for the copy); MAJ major planning application; STDCA development within a conservation area; STDLB works to or within the site of alisted building;
10 PARK STREET LONDON SOUTHWARK SE1 9AB (Ref: 87/AP/0278)
Addition of roof top extension to existing two storey premises to include workshop/studio conservatory and roof garden together with change of use of part of the ground floor to residential from studio/workshop use at 10 PARK STREET, SE1 (Within: Borough High Street CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Historic Officer )
6 CANNING CROSS LONDON SOUTHWARK SE5 8BH (Ref: 22/AP/2276)
Variation of conditions 1 (approved plans) and 7 (rear window) pursuant to planning permission 20/AP/1931 (Construction of a two storey rear extension at ground and first floor levels and a mansard roof extension) (Within: Camberwell Grove Conservation Area CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA STDCA (Contact: Samuel Hepworth 020 7525 5465)
32 RYE LANE LONDON SOUTHWARK SE15 5BS (Ref: 22/AP/1835)
Retrospective application for exterior works to existing retail unit: new concealed shutter, new entrance door new tiling to columns redecoration (Within: Rye Lane Peckham CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Sean Gomes 020 7525 0666)
46 STUART ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE15 3BE (Ref: 22/AP/3316)
Construction of a first floor rear extension; and the construction of a pitched roof single storey upward extension and the installation of 1x front rooflight and the provision of a roof terrace to the rear Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Hajnalka Kurti 020 7525 3701)
105 STRADELLA ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE24 9HL (Ref: 22/AP/3256)
Construction of a garden studio in rear garden of a residential dwelling (Within: Dulwich Village Stradella Road CA) Reason(s) for publicity:
STDCA STDCA (Contact: Janey Zhao 020 7525 1258)
105 STRADELLA ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE24 9HL (Ref: 22/AP/3256)
Construction of a garden studio in rear garden of a residential dwelling (Within: Dulwich Village Stradella Road CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA STDCA (Contact: Janey Zhao 020 7525 1258)
34 PECKHAM ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE5 8QA (Ref: 22/AP/3537)
Listed Building Consent for repairs to existing timber doors and windows and replacement of timber windows beyond repair Replacement of Crittall steel framed windows with hardwood timber sash windows to match original building Installation of secondary glazing and decoration of external pebble dash to 1960s extension (Within: Sceaux Gardens CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Eleanor Heagney 020 7525 5403)
OLD ALLEYNIANS SPORTS GROUND DULWICH COMMON LONDON SOUTHWARK SE21 7HA (Ref: 22/AP/3392)
Construction of a timber framed pavillion to be used as a utility store and changing facility by Old Alleynian RFC (Within: Dulwich Wood CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Kerri Simpson 020 7525 3487)
1 KITSON ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE5 7LF (Ref: 22/AP/3519)
Construction of a first floor single storey rear extension and insertion of 3 no conservation style roof lights in the rear roof slope (Within: Addington Square CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Kerri Simpson 020 7525 3487)
PARKSIDE DULWICH COMMON LONDON SOUTHWARK SE21 7EU (Ref: 22/AP/3525)
Construction of single storey rear and side extensions (Within: Dulwich Wood CA)
Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Anna Poulose )
24 WEST SQUARE LONDON SOUTHWARK SE11 4SN (Ref: 22/AP/3562)
Alterations including amalgamation of existing studio flat back into single dwelling house; internal reconfiguration works; alterations to existing rear extension including addition of rooflights and changes to rear fenestration with formation of single large opening and new cladding; rendering of exposed brick lintel detail to first floor rear elevation (Within: West Square CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Michèle Sterry 020 7525 5453)
24 WEST SQUARE LONDON SOUTHWARK SE11 4SN (Ref: 22/AP/3564)
Alterations including amalgamation of existing studio flat back into single dwelling house; internal reconfiguration works; alterations to existing rear extension including addition of rooflights and changes to rear fenestration with formation of single large opening and new cladding; rendering of exposed brick lintel detail to first floor rear elevation (Within: West Square CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Tracy Chapman 020 7525 1948)
212 TOWER BRIDGE ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK (Ref: 22/AP/3578)
Display of new externally illuminated fascia signage and an internally illuminated projecting sign (Within: Tower Bridge CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Agneta Kabele 07548097486)
14 BEAUVAL ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE22 8UQ (Ref: 22/AP/3591)
Construction of a single storey rear side infill extension (Within: Dulwich Village CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Anthony Roberts 020 7525 5458)
Dated: 18 Oct 2022 comments to be received within 21 days of this date
22:30
The provision of late night Monday to Sunday 23:00 05:00 refreshment:
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 10:00 05:00
A register of all applications made within the Southwark area is maintained by: The Licensing Service, Hub 1, 3rd Floor, 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH
A record of this application may be inspected by visiting the office during normal office hours by appointment on 020 7525 2000; details are also available on our website at http://app southwark gov uk/licensing/licenseregister asp
It is open to any interested party to make representations about the likely effect of the application on the promotion of the licensing objectives Representations must be made in writing to the Licensing Service at the office address given above (or by email via licensing@southwark gov uk) and be received by the Service within a period of 28 days starting the day after the date shown below
Note: It is an offence to knowingly or recklessly make a false statement in connection with an application A person guilty of such offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale
Date of application: 6th October 2022
Please take notice that I / we ARTS DISTRICT LTD Have made application to Southwark Council for a new Premises Licence in respect of 87 ENID STREET, LONDON, SE16 3RA
The relevant licensable activities and proposed times to be carried on or on from the premises are: Days Start time Finish time
The supply of alcohol: Monday to Sunday 09:00 23:00
The provision of regulated Monday to Sunday 09:00 23:00 entertainment:
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 09:00 23:00
A register of all applications made within the Southwark area is maintained by: The Licensing Service, Hub 1, 3rd Floor, 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH
A record of this application may be inspected by visiting the office during normal office hours by appointment on 020 7525 2000; details are also available on our website at http://app southwark gov uk/licensing/licenseregister asp
It is open to any interested party to make representations about the likely effect of the application on the promotion of the licensing objectives Representations must be made in writing to the Licensing Service at the office address given above (or by email via licensing@southwark gov uk) and be received by the Service within a period of 28 days starting the day after the date shown below
Note: It is an offence to knowingly or recklessly make a false statement in connection with an application A person guilty of such offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale
Date of application: 6th October 2022
surrey’s will Jacks has been called up to the england test squad for the first time after a superb season.
Jacks is in the squad against Pakistan with Kia Oval teammates Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes and Jamie Overton.
Jacks notched 648 runs as Surrey retained their LV= County Championship this season. He scored 768 across the Vitality Blast and The Hundred, at an average of 38.4.
Jacks played two games in September as England secured a 4-3 IT20 series win against Pakistan.
Overton made his Test debut earlier this year, scoring 97 against New Zealand, and on the back of that he secured an England Pace Bowling Development contract.
ECB managing director for England Men’s Cricket, Rob Key, said: “We are looking forward to touring Pakistan as a Test team for the first time since 2005. It will be a historic tour and a compelling series against a good side.
By John Kelly johnk@southwarknews.co.ukdulwich hAmlet are “deep into the process” of hiring their next full-time manager – with a decision possible this week.
Paul Barnes replaced Gavin Rose last month but it was only on a short-term basis.
There is plenty going on at the Dulwich club. As well as the search for a new manager they are trying to get planning permission for a new stadium.
“They say a problem shared is a problem halved and there is nothing like the events of the past few weeks to remind you how true that is,” chairman Ben Clasper said.
“The problems may not disappear but
there is a world of difference between facing them alone and facing them together.
“For most of my past four years helping to run this football club I have taken the view that the most sensitive issues are best dealt with privately with the role of the board to be the ones frantically paddling their feet beneath the surface but occasionally a different approach is called for. While we are working hard to turn things around on the pitch we face an equally challenging time off the pitch and we have reached the point where we need to come together as a club and a community again to ensure this club has the bright future it deserves.”
Dulwich are dangerously close to the drop zone this season.
Clasper added: “I look forward to the
By John Kelly johnk@southwarknews.co.uk
surrey’s reeCe topley has been ruled out of the t20 world Cup with an ankle injury ahead of the opener on saturday.
Topley, 28, went over on his ankle in training on Monday and suffered ligament damage.
England were expected to confirm Topley’s replacement on Thursday, with Tymal Mills considered the most likely option.
It is yet another injury blow for
Topley who has suffered four stress fractures in his back.
England face Afghanistan in Perth this weekend.
time when the chair of this club has nothing to write about except the odd football result, welcoming our opposition, thanking supporters and sponsors and talking about community and charity work.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think that time will come and energy bills, stadium disputes, match day rail strikes, hospitality staff shortages, cost of living crisis income pressures, double digit inflation running cost increases and suppliers holding clubs to ransom will all be a thing of the past.
“I can categorically say that every single factor that impacts the viability of clubs up and down the country is in a catastrophically worse state than it was when we as fans took over the running of the club and the past four years has
taught us you have to find your own solutions because with rare exceptions, help from elsewhere is extremely limited (Southwark Council being our own rare bright spot in that regard). I hope what we learn from overcoming those challenges can see us through the final pages of this recent chapter.
“We continue to try to find some relief on the pitch and based solely on the feedback from fans there is clearly improvement in that area, we win, we lose but do so in at least equal measure and the football is being talked about as more enjoyable.
“We are deep into the process of taking the longer term decision on the management of men’s team but keeping to our commitment of not rushing and considering how the role should work not just the person that will fill it.”
“The selectors have picked a squad for the conditions we can expect in Pakistan. There is a strong blend of youth and experience and players who will adapt well to the types of pitches we are likely to get across the three-match series.
“I wish the players every success, especially those new to the squad and those returning after a period of time away.”
England team’s Pakistan Schedule:
Three-day warm-up: England v Lions, November 23-25, Zayed Cricket Complex, Abu Dhabi
First Test: Pakistan v England, December 1-5, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi
Second Test: Pakistan v England, December 9-13, Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan
Third Test: Pakistan v England, December 17-21, National Stadium, Karachi
fisher’s difficult start to the season continued as they were knocked out in the first round of the london s enior Cup after a 1-0 defeat to Glebe on tuesday night.
The Fish made a bright start and Billy Brown headed just over in the
22nd minute.
Cedric Nganga had the next chance for the visitors but shot narrowly wide 33 minutes in as the sides went into the break level.
Ajay Ashanike’s team continued to press after the break and Manny Brown forced the home goalkeeper into a save in the 65th minute.
Fisher stopper James Poole then made two good saves as the game
entered the final ten minutes. Just when he seemed like the 90 minutes would finish goalless Glebe were awarded a penalty and former Millwall striker Jamie Philpot fired in the winner. Glebe will play Haringey Borough in the next round.
Fisher travel to AFC Stoneham in the first round of the FA Vase this Saturday. Kick-off is 3pm.
A ComfortAble and low-key 4-0 win over new london at barn elms on sunday ensured that millwall lionesses strengthened their grip on the london & south east regional women’s football league.
After the high intensity and big crowds which marked their victories over Dulwich Hamlet and Bromley, this was a tame affair watched by an attendance of barely 50 on a pitch with a running track separating it from the spectators.
The first goal came from defender Jade Keogh after sustained pressure allowed her to get forward and shoot from outside the box.
Otesha Charles headed the second from an Amy Nash corner, and then a characteristic Charles run on the right set up Angel Reid for the third before the interval. On 52 minutes she attacked the box before being brought down, and the reliable penalty taker Maisie Joyce added a fourth.
As has become the norm in recent games, the Lionesses were then able to make use of their substitutes, and both Kaydence Kabadaki and Chanel Richards hit the woodwork after some great football.
Skipper and key midfielder Sophie Chapman was able to get 45 minutes at the back as a gentle comeback after a three match absence following illness.
Assistant manager Alex Russell was keen to point out that this was a third consecutive clean sheet, and also stressed the squad depth, which saw all the substitutes making really positive contributions in those matches.
Attention now inevitably turns to this Sunday and the FA Women’s Cup tie with Long Grendon of the South Regional League. This is at the usual home ground of St Paul’s Sports Centre in Salter Road, Rotherhithe, where Fisher FC also play. Kick-off is 2pm, and the winners will join all the National League clubs in the draw for the next round.
cAnAdA wAter under-10 dockers played their first-ever derby last weekend and came away with a 3-1 win against fisher youth sharks.
After falling behind, the Dockers hit back through Harry Humphreys, George Mack and Jae-Larell Thorne to claim the win.
The club’s under-10 Porters lost 4-0 to Orpington but bounced back to beat Selection Development Youth 3-1 with goals from William Wiskz, Elliott Tubb and Sonny Farrell.
The under-13s were aiming to continue their positive start to the season with a trip to Punjab United who have been introduced to the league this season. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a result the group wanted as they went down to a 3-2 defeat. The side battled to the end but the late push which saw goals from Sonny Warsing and Mathew Collins wasn’t enough to rescue a point.
They face Dartford next.
Canada Water under-16s had their game called off after a request by
the opposition. They are back in action this weekend against Welling Town.
PeCkhAm town threw away a two-goal lead as ten-em-bee came back to win their kent County Premier league game 3-2 last weekend.
Peckham went in front in the 43rd minute when Joshua Montella crossed and David Gabor took advantage of a ricochet to head home.
Adam Carrick could have doubled the lead in the 54th minute from Montella’s free-kick but he couldn’t keep his effort down.
Montella was once more involved as Peckham made it 2-0 and it was Gabor again on the mark from a corner.
Gabor almost completed a hattrick with thirteen minutes left but shot wide.
Then the game was completely turned on its head in a crazy last
ten minutes. First the hosts got one back and then it appeared Peckham winger Camilo Andres Nieva was elbowed in the head but the referee decided on a drop-ball.
Nieva had to go off before the home side levelled in the 89th minute and scored the winner three minutes into added-time.
Mary Phillip’s side are tenth in the table. They host Kings Hill at The Menace Arena on Saturday. Kick-off is 2.45pm.
Peckham town: 4-4-2: George Legg; Nicky Meta (c), Adam Carrick, Charlie Egleton, Kai Smith-Reason; Joshua Montella, Joe Thomas, Jacob Kemp, Camilo Andres Nieva; David Gabor, Eldin Pateriku.
substitutes: Ethan Frederick (for Camilo Andres Nieva), Tidi Barry (for Joe Thomas), Hamid Bangura (for Eldin Pateriku), Festus Ogunlana (not used).
millwAll ended their winless away run by beating bristol City 2-1 at Ashton Gate.
The Lions had failed to win any of their last twelve Championship matches on the road, a streak which dated back to March 5, 2022.
Manager Gary Rowett had previously highlighted the fact that his side were facing a mental block when they were playing on the road, but shifting to a 4-2-3-1 formation had seemingly improved performances and given supporters hope that they would be able to pick up maximum points in Bristol.
That optimism started to dip in the opening minutes of the match as Millwall switched off at the back, allowing the Robins to deliver a welltimed cross into the box. The ball evaded everyone in the box, bobbling over to Antoine Semenyo, who saw his shot blocked before it could reach George Long in the visitors’ net. Both sides would go on to have good chances before the ten-minute mark.
Tom Bradshaw failed to properly connect with a lobbed ball into the box, allowing Max O’Leary to gather it just in time. A minute later, the hosts won a free-kick, which Alex Scott delivered into the box. Andi Weimann came close to diverting his effort on target, but it flew narrowly wide.
Andreas Voglsammer got himself into some good positions soon after, but he was caught offside for the first chance before smacking his cross over everyone for the second. The game started to become much cagier as it became clear that both teams were uncomfortable at the back.
Bradshaw and Zian Flemming both
had chances to open the scoring after Bristol City failed to clear George Saville’s corners. Neither were able to hit the target, however, with Nigel Pearson’s men clearing the danger both times.
Finally, it looked like it would be third time lucky after half an hour when Shaun Hutchinson connected with another one of Saville’s deliveries, but his powerful header was cleared off the line to prevent Millwall from taking the lead.
A loud roar from the away end was clearly mixed with a sense of frustration as the Lions failed to convert yet another chance during a period of dominance. However, with one minute until the half-time break, Rowett’s men took the lead through Bradshaw.
Millwall won a free-kick, which Zian Flemming delivered into the box. It was easily cleared as far as Tyler Burey, who took aim from the edge of the area. His shot was blocked, but bounced
towards Bradshaw, who in turn saw his effort blocked before rifling the rebound into the back of the net.
It was his first goal of the season, one that had been coming given the number of chances that he failed to convert in recent weeks, but crucially it gave the Lions the lead away from home for the first time in 2022-23.
Bristol City had two good chances to equalise shortly after the restart, with Alex Scott hitting the wall from a freekick after 47 minutes. Three minutes
later, Semenyo twisted and turned his way into the box, shifting the ball onto his right foot before firing a shot across the face of goal.
Semenyo was involved again in the 53rd minute after a fight between him and Jake Cooper escalated from seemingly nothing while Millwall were pushing up the pitch. Both men were booked as a result, with Semenyo firing a near-identical effort to his earlier one wide of the target seconds later.
Both sides made substitutes in the latter stages of the match, with Pearson bringing Cameron Pring onto the pitch. His impact was almost instant, cutting inside from the left flank and firing a low cross into the box which Hutchinson diverted into the back of his own net.
It became clear that this would become a real test of Millwall’s resilience and character as Bristol City looked to turn the tide and take the lead for the first time in the match. With the crowd firmly behind them, they pushed for their goal, but ended up falling behind with 14 minutes left to play.
The Lions won a free-kick down the left which was seemingly whipped into a non-threatening area. However, as O’Leary went to punch the ball clear, Tomas Kalas beat him to it, heading it straight into the path of Flemming. At this point, the Bristol City goalkeeper caught off his line, allowing the Dutchman to slot the ball into the back of an empty net to restore his side’s lead.
The Robins, who were the top scorers in the entire division before the match, threw everything at Millwall in the final seconds. As a result, they were caught out at the back as the visitors regained possession. It allowed Jamie Shackleton to break down the right, crossing into the middle for Saville, who was brought down by Scott in the box for a penalty. Benik Afobe stepped up to put the game to bed against his former side, but O’Leary guessed the right way to keep it out. However, it wasn’t enough to prevent Rowett’s men from picking up maximum points on the road.
By alex Jones alexj@southwarknews.co.ukJed wAllAce’s upcoming return to the den is obviously significant.
The 28-year-old was Millwall’s star man last season, contributing to eighteen goals in 38 games as they finished just six points off the play-offs.
His free transfer divided the fanbase over the summer and he’s likely to receive a fiery reception when he arrives in SE16 with West Brom this weekend, but that certainly shouldn’t be the defining aspect of Saturday’s match.
The reality is that the Lions are in a much better position than many supporters would’ve considered to be feasible as recently as two weeks ago. They sat in eleventh place going into Wednesday’s match against Watford, just two points off the top six.
Gary Rowett’s decision to switch from
a back five to a 4-2-3-1 formation has clearly paid off, with performances and results improving tenfold as a result.
By securing their first away win of the season against Bristol City, they’ve set themselves up to play well both at The Den and on the road. However, it’s clear that Millwall’s home record is what will propel them towards the top six.
That puts a lot of pressure on Saturday’s match, with the Baggies listed as one of the pre-season promotion favourites despite the concerns surrounding manager Steve Bruce. Despite boasting one of the strongest squads in the division, they’ve really struggled so far this season, with last weekend’s win against Reading just their second of the campaign. Heading into their home match against Bristol City in midweek, they occupied 20th place in the table.
Because of that, Bruce is now gone, with owner Lai Guochuan making the decision
to sack him last week after significant backlash from supporters. West Brom are yet to appoint a replacement at the time of writing, which could make it difficult for Millwall to prepare ahead of the game.
This is, however, an issue that the Lions have faced before. Earlier in October, Rotherham United appointed Matt Taylor as manager just over 24 hours before hosting Millwall, while Middlesbrough travelled to South Bermondsey with interim boss Leo Percovich in charge of the team.
Rowett himself has tackled this problem multiple times in his career, telling the News that his side will prepare as best they can despite the ongoing drama at the Hawthorns.
“I don’t think there’s much to get used to,” he explained.
“It’s like any team, if you’ve watched someone over a ten or fifteen-game
pattern, you start to see patterns and you start to see the way that they want to play.
“Ultimately, if a team has only had a manager for one game, you tend to go off that one game and concentrate a little bit more on yourself because you don’t know, you don’t know what they’re going to do.
“That doesn’t change. It can happen once or it can happen 50 times to you in your career. You only go off the evidence available and you try to come up with as good a plan as you can.
“It helps when you’re at home because you tend to focus a little bit more on yourself when you’re at home and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
Millwall will have two players ruled out for Saturday’s match, with Ryan Leonard [hamstring] and Murray Wallace [groin] sidelined for the next week or two at least. Otherwise, Rowett has a fully fit
squad to choose from, although he will need to decide who to rest after their midweek match against the Hornets. On the other hand, West Brom will be without Daryl Dike and Semi Ajayi for their trip to South London, although interim boss Richard Beale will still have significant talent at his disposal, including the Lions’ former mercurial forward.
tom brAdshAw has had a frustrating start to the season to say the least.
The 30-year-old has been Millwall’s first-choice striker for most of the campaign so far, but goals haven’t been easy to come by. That isn’t to say that he hasn’t been getting into the right positions, but pulling the trigger at the right time is another matter.
In truth, it looked like it would be a matter of time before he would score his first goal of the season, which is exactly what he did when the Lions visited Bristol City last weekend. Shortly before the half-time break, Bradshaw managed to rifle Tyler Burey’s blocked shot into the back of the net after the Robins failed to clear a free-kick, finally ending his goalless run.
“I felt that it was coming,” he told the News
“I don’t feel like I’ve necessarily had the rub of the green this year, whereas maybe last year where I went on my goal run before I got injured, it was like everything was dropping for me where the bounces fall to you and the deflections fall your way.
“Even things earlier in the season, I think it was the first game where the linesman judged Bill [Mitchell] to be offside on my volley against Stoke. It’s just things like that where, when it’s going against you, you’ve just got to take it on the chin and keep getting in the right positions, especially as a striker.
“I’ve just got to think, ‘well, if that one hasn’t got in, the more times I get in that position, the more chance will come and the more goals that will happen eventually’. That’s what I took into the game, that if I keep getting into the right positions, something’s going to drop and thankfully it did.
“I was speaking to Benik [Afobe] about this the other day. Football is a funny game - when things are going your way, everything goes your way. Deflections, where the ball drops in the box, goalkeeper fumbles. Everything seems to go your way.
“When football decides that it’s your turn to have a bit of bad luck, then nothing goes your way. I think it’s a funny game like that, but as a striker, all you can do is keep getting into those positions and work in training on your finishing, get into those positions and do your best to score the goals.
“Hopefully the goal on Saturday will change my luck a little bit.”
Manager Gary Rowett has said that all of his attackers are ‘confidence players’, a statement which is perhaps best highlighted by Zian Flemming.
The Dutchman struggled in the early stages of the season, but after he grabbed his first goal of the campaign against Blackpool, he hasn’t looked back. Heading into Wednesday’s match against Watford, he scored five goals in his last five games, something which Bradshaw is looking to emulate.
“You know as a striker that it’s not enough to play well in games. You’ve got the natural instinct as a striker that you want to score goals, and ultimately if you score the goals you get a lot of the glory, but also if you’re not scoring the goals then you get a lot of flack.
“When you go five, six, seven, eight games and you haven’t scored, it is something that plays in your mind.
But every striker, no matter what league you’re in, will go through spells
where they feel like it’s just not going in, and I think that’s where you’ve got to have belief in yourself. You’ve scored goals for your whole career and that’s not something that changes overnight.
“Just keep getting yourself into the areas where you know you can get goals in, keep getting yourself into the areas where you know your teammates are trying to get the ball, and just be confident with it.
“That’s a big thing as a striker: confidence and believing that you’re going to score when you get the chance. That’s something that you’ve always got to hold on to.”
One of the reasons for his and Millwall’s improvement in the final third is their shift from a back five to a 4-2-3-1 formation, pushing another body further up the pitch rather than having a congested back line. It does mean that Bradshaw is takes with playing as a lone striker, but he claims that his previous experience in a similar role has given him the springboard to lead the line by himself.
“I’m lucky that this is a position that I’ve played a few times back in my Walsall days, I played in the same role for a couple of years. I understand it well.
“It’s different to two up top where
you’ve got more pressure on clearing the ball up if it gets cleared out of our box and waiting for the team to push up with you to get out of our own half. Obviously, there’s things like starting the press, so it’s quite physical. Equally, because you’ve got the three behind you, it doesn’t mean that you’ve got to drop in as far.
“There’s easier parts to it, there’s harder parts to it, but it’s a position that I know well and a way of playing that I know well. I feel quite comfortable playing there, and at the end of the day we’re creating chances, scoring goals and picking up the points.”
The support from his family and friends is also important, albeit that they have had to show it in a rather unconventional manner. Bradshaw’s parents aren’t regulars at The Den or any Millwall away matches due to a family curse that his mum believes to be true, although Saturday’s win at Ashton Gate may have finally ended it once and for all.
“My mum and dad came to the game, they’re based in Shrewsbury. My mum has had a bit of a voodoo where a couple of years ago she’d come to the games and I wouldn’t score or have my best game. She kind of thought it was a bit of a curse, so she stopped coming to the games live and watched
them from home.
“She actually came to the one on Saturday and it’s the first time I’ve scored in front of my mum for a couple of years. It was nice to see them and to go and give them a hug after the game.
“One of my best mates is living in Australia, he’s over for a couple of weeks and he came to the game also, so it was great to score and play well in front of them, to celebrate with them and the fans after the game was a really special feeling.”
Nonetheless, despite finally getting his goal, the striker is adamant that he won’t let his head drop. The competition for places in Millwall’s team is incredibly fierce, especially up front, and he know that he’ll need to keep scoring goals if he is to keep his place in the team.
“We’ve got a lot of quality in forward areas this year, and it’s something I certainly don’t take for granted. I go into every game knowing that I’ve got to play well and do my job well to earn my right to keep the shirt.
“The second you take it for granted is when your position in the team becomes vulnerable. It’s something that I take into every game knowing that I’ve got to work hard and do my job for the team to try and get on the end of some crosses and score some goals.”
One of his biggest rivals for a place in the team is also one of his best friends. In a previous interview with the News, Bradshaw highlighted his chemistry with Afobe when the pair led the line together. However, in Millwall’s new 4-2-3-1 formation, there’s only room for one striker, creating a friendly competition between the two of them which he believes to be incredibly beneficial.
“First and foremost, we’re really good friends as well as strike partners. We speak a lot and we try to help each other out.
“There’s times where, when I’m on the bench and Benik is playing, you can sometimes see better from the side in terms of where positions are and where you stand the best chance of scoring.
“Although we’re competing for the one position, there’s no malice in that at all. Whoever is playing, the other will try to help him to get into the positions to score goals and to do well.
“It’s quite a unique thing actually because historically I guess that people from the outside think that it’s a competitive nature, and it is a competitive nature, but we’re good friends.
“It’s good that we’re helping each other and pushing each other at the same time.”
dAnny mcnAmArA has had a rapid progression from millwall’s academy to becoming a dependable first-team player.
His development has, to this point, been linear, albeit that he’s had to learn a different role in the last two seasons since coming into Gary Rowett’s side.
The 23-year-old is a natural rightback, but his manager has preferred to use a back five formation, forcing him to become a wing-back in order to get into the team.
“For most of my career, I’ve played in a back four,” he told the News
“I’ve probably played as a wing-back for about eighteen months, two years, so I’m still learning the position.
“I really like both positions. I like doing the defensive side of things and I like going forward as well. I know there’s things I need to work on, but that’s something that will come with more experience.”
However, the Lions have recently shifted to a 4-2-3-1 formation, meaning that his natural position is once again available. As a right-back, there are fewer demands to bomb down the wing to provide goals and assists.
Club captain Shaun Hutchinson previously explained that McNamara thrives in a role where he could do the basics to the best of his ability rather than always having to think about contributing in the final third as well as his own box, something which the defender agrees with.
“If you’re playing wing-back, your job is to get crosses into the box, to get goals and provide assists.
“When it’s not happening for you, you do get a bit stressed that you want to be in those positions, you want to set up goals. As Hutchy said, it’s not always about doing that, you might have to do other things in the game to help your team.
“I’ve enjoyed playing in a back four as well, I love the defensive side of the game, but I enjoy going forward as well so it suits me.”
McNamara admits that Millwall’s new formation is clearly much better than their previous back five, although he
isn’t sure why the Lions look stronger at the back with fewer defenders. His best explanation is that it’s because he’s able to play alongside some of the most experienced centre-backs in the league such as Hutchinson, Jake Cooper and Murray Wallace.
“I think it’s good that we’ve got a group of lads that can play a back five and a group of lads that can play a flat
back four as well.
can change it up.
“With a back four, I think we’ve looked very solid, I feel like we look really hard to break down. Then again, we went to a back five in the game on Saturday for the last ten or fifteen minutes and we looked solid then as well.
“I think it’s good that we can play both formations and it’s good that we
“I don’t think it’s down to a certain thing, I couldn’t put my finger on what it is. I just think we look a bit more solid in a back four as a unit.
“We’re constantly talking to each other, having Hutchy and Coops back there talking to you helps massively given their experience.
“It’s one of those things where, if we
do our jobs, the rest will come.
“I’ve played alongside Hutchy for two years now. Every game you play with him, he’s always talking to you. He gives me a bit of dog’s abuse here and there if I’m doing the wrong thing, which is always good to have.
“It’s only going to be good for me and my experience to play alongside top Championship players.”
exclusive
By a lex Jones alexj@southwarknews.co.ukGAry rowett has said that millwall have gained a huge amount of confidence by beating middlesbrough and bristol City. The Lions crucially secured their
first away win of the campaign at Ashton Gate, defeating the Robins 2-1 thanks to Zian Flemming’s second-
half winner.
It sets them up perfectly to tackle their final games ahead of the
World Cup break, with a place in the play-offs still the target despite an unconvincing start.
Rowett believes that his side are fully motivated to achieve their goals, although he admits that there are a lot more games to play in what is an incredibly long and demanding Championship season.
“Results back-to-back breed confidence,” he told the News
“Players feel better about what they’re doing, the group always feels a little bit more enthused. That’s just the nature of any team sport and any group.
“It’s been a strange season because we’ve won one at home, maybe lost away and then lost another one at home. We haven’t lost four or five on the spin where the confidence has been horrifically damaged.
“I think it’s been more frustrating that we’ve not been able to win a
home game and then back that up with a really good away win, or even an away point that has given us that confidence to build. That’s the frustration.
“I was laughing with Vogi [Voglsammer] because I said that we’ve had quite a lot of games to start with but there’s almost an entire Bundesliga season left, and he chuckled because that’s how the Championship works.
“There’s probably eight or ten more games than in most other leagues. By nature of that, it means that you can have periods where you might be disappointed and it doesn’t stop you from achieving what you want to achieve.
“We’ve tried not to lose too much heart with it, but of course we wanted to kick on and show a little bit more consistency. The last three games have certainly shown that.”
GAry rowett is excited by the prospect of facing former lion Jed wallace at the den this weekend.
Wallace, 28, left Millwall on a free transfer over the summer, joining Championship rivals West Brom on a four-year deal.
The mercurial forward posted a tweet on Sunday night saying that he wanted “90 mins of dogs abuse… followed by a small clap after the game if you want” [sic], which Rowett is also expecting at SE16 on Saturday afternoon.
“I think Jed has alluded to it, you’re always going to get a bit of stick because you left,” he told the News
“I think, deep down, people will also appreciate him. How the fans go about showing that is up to them, but at some point in the game, usually afterwards, I’m sure they’ll give him a reception fitting of someone who’s put in a lot of effort and a lot of energy into a long and fruitful Millwall career.
“It’s always hard when a player comes back, they’re essentially always the enemy for 90 minutes, and most players or managers that come back know what to expect. I had a really good relationship with Jed, he was always quite open about what might happen and he’s a really good character.
“Even in a difficult start to the season for West Brom, he’s proved to
be one of their main players straight away.
“My focus will be on trying to win the game and making him very unhappy at the end of it ideally, but he’s a good lad and I’m sure there’ll be a lot of people wanting to say hello to him at the end.”
Wallace, who scored 42 goals across 239 league games for Millwall, has already found the back of the net three times for the Baggies so far this season, providing a further two assists. In fact, many would argue that he’s been their best player in what has been a dismal start to the campaign.
Rowett is hoping that his side’s knowledge of the attacker could help them at The Den, but he admits that the argument goes both ways and that Wallace may know how to exploit certain vulnerabilities within Millwall’s back line.
“When you’ve worked with someone for a long time, you know their strengths. You can say that we know certain weaknesses, but he’s played against a lot of our defenders so he can probably say exactly the same.
“Whether someone has been here or not, I don’t think it really matters. You can have a game plan, you can tactically analyse every team, but ultimately it’s down to the players to do that in the heat of the battle on the pitch when the whistle blows.
“The information that you give them is important, and the tactics, but most of the games in the Championship become about duels and about who comes out on top.”
By alex Jones alexj@southwarknews.co.uk
millwAll suPPorters have been left feeling furious after their away match against luton town was rescheduled.
The fixture was originally set to kick off at 3pm on Saturday, December 17th, but has now been moved to the following day with a midday kick-off after it was selected for Sky Sports coverage.
It means that the Lions’ game at Kenilworth Road will finish just over an hour before the start of the World Cup Final, giving fans a limited amount of time to get back to South London in order to watch it.
Millwall boss Gary Rowett sympathised with the fans, but explained that he had nothing to do with the decision to move the game.
“It’s a bit bizarre, isn’t it?” he told the News “I’ve had nothing to do with that one, so unless someone states the reasons behind that, it’s hard to make a judgement call.
“Let’s hope England are in the World Cup Final so we’ve got that problem! If they’re not, then it would be nice to watch the game but it won’t be hugely essential in my mind.
“Hopefully we’ve got that problem, but again, I’m not really sure why that was and it’s not really for me to worry about if I’m being honest.
“Don’t be surprised to see a few fans leaving early to see if they can make it in time for kick-off.”