Eltham round-up

A quick round-up of some Eltham happenings which caught my eye:

BBC Radio London’s Eddie Nestor show came to town last week, 26 January. A 120 minute ‘Drivetime live’ radio programme was broadcast  from Middle Park Community Centre in Eltham “finding out how this south east London community has changed since Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993.” The show featured interviews with local Eltham MP, Clive Efford MP, Greenwich Borough Commander Richard Wood and talked to various locals who included Paul Webbewood, ex-Lib Dem councillor and local tweeter @Jackcabnory.  The range of views were to be found from:

- the area is changed and there’s no sense of community due to people from different cultures
- to testimony of racist behaviour,
- or of a community largely now harmonious and no different to others
- and to frustration with the ‘racist Eltham’ theme cropping up again.

According to views on twitter, some thought it was one-sided (Eddie’s ‘like a dog with a bone’) whilst others seemed more sanguine (‘Showing the gd side of Eltham’)
You can ‘listen again’ here for another few days only (is there a nifty way to download and keep these time-limited 'listen agains'?) 

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Elsewhere, but on a related theme, local councillor Nigel Fletcher reported that this motion was debated and passed unanimously at Greenwich Council last week (click to enlarge)

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Last Thursday, Eddie Nestor’s radio show started around the same time as ‘trespassers on the line’ at Eltham caused trains to back down the Charing Cross to Dartford line. At one point trains were held at New Cross while they turned off the power to investigate. My husband was held up in this. As one local tweeter put it:

“kels_1987 Kelly Fox
worst journey home thanks to some numpties that decided to walk along the tracks at rush hour...only in eltham!!!”

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Hilly at the the e-shootershill blog brought news that a public inquiry is be held on the 8th and 9th February into the proposal for Christ Church School to use common land on Eltham Common. She has a fab and detailed write here.


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Last weekend’s Guardian carried a jolly piece about some women who last September hiked and camped their way around London’s ‘capital ring’ in eight days. The piece details their stop-off in Eltham:

“Our destination for the first night was Oxleas Woods in Eltham, an ancient and magnificent expanse of nature moments from intensely urban life, populated with stunning native British trees (oak, silver birch, hornbeam, hazel and wild service).
Even though wild camping in London is technically illegal without permission, we weren't ready to test our stranger-charming skills yet. So after six hours of walking, we bedded down deep in the 8,000-year-old beauty of Oxleas Woods, lulled by the soundtrack of an all-night car park party and the A207 just minutes away.
A broken night, but we recharged with a mighty vegetarian full English at Oxleas Cafe (oxleawoodcafe.info), looking out over the North Downs, before heading off through the woods again. We spotted rose-ringed parakeets – now an exotic staple of London birdlife – and a green woodpecker, and discovered a curious mixture of major roads, royal palaces (Eltham) and lovely locals including Bob, who sold us some runner beans from his allotment for our supper.”


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The prodigious blog Tired of London had a lovely write up on the Tarn: “The Tarn, in Mottingham, is a small lake and nature reserve which once stood within the grounds of Eltham Lodge, a seventeenth century building which was itself once part of the grand estate of Eltham Palace.....”

This reminded me that I haven’t been here for years, and certainly not since some additions have been made, and must visit again soon with the kids.