Young maestros call checkmate at Southwark’s first-ever inter-school chess tournament

By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk

Young C hE ss boffins battled it out at the first-ever Southwark schools Chess tournament which saw sacred heart school romp to victory.

The competition was held at lunchtime at Sacred Heart, in Camberwell, on Friday, March 3, and involved players from St Thomas the Apostle, Notre Dame School and Ark All Saints.

Miss Joan Laffan, librarian at Sacred Heart School, and tournament organiser, said: “Students’ athletic ability is celebrated regularly, but this is an opportunity for our more intellectual and less athletic students to be recognised for their talents and skills in a game of chess.”

“It has been an amazing experience organising and hosting this event. We hope to host another tournament soon,”

she added.

Sacred Heart players were calling checkmate all day, grabbing a stunning eighteen wins and one draw from 21 games.

Reflecting on their success, JustinLloyd Casilagan, from Sacred Heart, said: “I really enjoyed playing against other schools. I hope to play others again soon.”

Rachel, from Ark All Saints School, described it as “a very new experience for me that has challenged me to work harder”.

By Isabel Ramirez isabel@southwarknews.co.uk

A PECKHAM-BASED park, which was where rio Ferdinand played football as a child, has been voted the ‘saddest playground’ in london.

Children’s charity London Play ran the London’s Saddest Playground campaign in a bid to turn the spotlight on poor play facilities in the capital. They said they are offering to work with groups who nominated their local playgrounds to turn things around.

Leyton Square park in Peckham came joint first, along with another south London park.

The park was nominated by Peckham resident, Mary King, who said she used to take her kids there before they went along one day and found it all fenced off.

“I always took my kids there, it’s great for younger kids especially,” Mary said.

“The park is a brilliant space and it’s got really nice long swings. The kids were excited to go in the summer but we went along last August and found that it had all been burnt out,” she explained.

In 2016 Rio Ferdinand issued a plea to save his childhood playground, but Mary said it appears to have been forgotten about again.

“I presume it was vandalism, but no one knows what has happened. There is still fencing around it. It’s not safe,” she added.

“I’ve seen little kids playing around in the dangerous fences.”

Mary said she contacted the local councillor, who assured her it is being fixed.

“It’s great news that they are on it but we need some more communicationwhy does it have to be left abandoned with no sign?”

The park that now shares the title is Crystal Palace Park in Bromley. It was nominated by seven-year-old Wilf who said: “Lots of people use the park and for its size, the playground is rubbish. It only has one swing and a sandpit.”

As part of the competition, they will be offered support with campaigning and fundraising to improve substandard playgrounds over the coming months.

London Play is calling on people in London to let them know about poor play services, facilities or policies in their areas. As well as poor quality playgrounds this could include afterschool clubs or holiday play schemes which are threatened with closure or reductions in their services; or too many signs prohibiting play on a housing estate.

Email them at info@londonplay.org. uk with details