PCEG Newsletter June - July 2000

Dates for your Diary

Date of the next PCEG Meeting

3-5pm Sunday 16 July
St Mark with St Margaret Church, Old Mill Road.

Slade Ponds Work Days

11am weather permitting:-
Sunday 11 June
Sunday 25 June
Sunday 9 July
Sunday 23 July
All members welcome to join Pond Group on any work day.
Contact: Chris Day 8473 5932

Nature Reserve Gardening Group

meets each Tuesday at 10.30am, weather permitting.
Location: the wooded ravine behind Blendon Terrace. All members welcome. Contact Julia Cowdell 020-8854 5167

Nature Near: A History of Parks, Gardens and Open Spaces of Greenwich and its Environs

Exhibition at Greenwich Borough Museum, Plumstead High Street till August 2000.
Guest curators David Bellman & Meirion Cynog-Evans, supported with funding by the Millennium Time to Celebrate Office and PCEG.
Very interesting historical material including two beautiful watercolour paintings of Plumstead Common.

Music at St Mark with St Margaret

Parish Church Old Mill Road
Summer Recitals June 2000

6.30pm, Programmes £1.00 Refreshments available

11 June Bridget Budge contralto
Michael Strange piano

18 June Sam Kimuli organ <

Events on the Common

Multi-Cultural Festival

Sunday 18 June

Anti-Racist Festival

Saturday 1 July

Asian Mela

Sunday 23 July

News Items

Several events involving PCEG have taken place this spring.

Rockcliffe Gdns 29/4/00

PCEG members and others, including Councillors Pete Challis and Ann Hutchinson, and some boys from St John’s Terrace, took part in a work session at Rockcliffe Gardens as part of Tidy Britain Spring Clean Month.
Some people planted a hedge at the Eastern side of the Gardens (Southland Road), the purpose being to create an effective barrier against vandalism to the railings, and a habitat for wildlife. Other people swept the concrete section of Southland Road between Rockcliffe Gardens and Woolwich New Cemetery.
For its part, the Council, to co-ordinate with the work day, installed a gallows gate at the junction of Southland and Camdale Roads to prevent future dumping and firing of cars, which has blighted that approach to the Gardens. They also repaired the nearby entrance gate, which had been vandalised by ram raiding cars. A PCEG member and building contractor, whose premises adjoin the Gardens, had already repaired some of the railings at his own expense – a much appreciated contribution.
Other people cleared some of the litter and rubbish from the big pond, taking care not to disturb the abundance of newts and tadpoles, while still others cleared brambles and sycamores. However, as a result of exposing the bamboo, kids subsequently torched it to the ground (what can you say that hasn’t been said before?). Council staff were involved on the day, and we were lucky to have glorious weather. Many thanks to all those who turned out
The Council are working on a management plan for Rockcliffe Gardens. It is still hoped that a Park Watch scheme, or Friends group will emerge in time.

Talk on The Plumstead Common Riots

By Dr Rob Allen
Dean of Avery Hill Faculty Greenwich University 30/4/00
This turned out to be quite an occasion, with around sixty people present, some of them members of the public who had been invited. Afterwards there was a cheese and wine, and a real buzz in the air - no doubt due to the talk having been absolutely fascinating, presented with slides, in a lively and compelling manner. Those present now have a much clearer idea of the historical background to the riots and John de Morgan’s role in them, where they took place, what actually happened and what the outcome was – basically the saving of Plumstead Common for posterity.

Make Merry 6/5/00

Once again the Make Merry was a great success, with a capacity number of stall holders and crowd estimated at 6,000, plus a beautiful hot sunny day. The opening procession is becoming quite a feature, along with the Maypole dancing by children from Conway School, and this year we managed to have morris dancers at last! Also memorable was the dog show, expertly run by a PCEG member. Another PCEG member opened the Make Merry, together with the Deputy Mayor, and presided over the day’s events with great style.
The PCEG plant stall took £218.58 (plants and bric-a-brac). Sale of Tshirts, postcards + new members and membership renewals brought in £87.95, giving a total of £306.53. Subsequent plant sales have come to £8.20. Most of the unsold plants have now been donated for sale to Christian Aid and the Welcare Parents and Children Centre in Nightingale Vale.
Many thanks to all those members whose contribution makes the stall such a success, not to forget essential litter control and clearing up afterwards:

Reception for Matt Cowling

In recognition of Matt’s outstanding eight year, and on-going commitment in working with PCEG for the community, a small reception was held at the Town Hall, Woolwich, over which the outgoing Mayor, Councillor John Fahy presided, presenting Matt with an Official Millennium Greenwich Mint Medallion 2000. A number of PCEG members and others, (including, briefly, Councillor Vicky Morse and Councillor Jagir Sekhon, the new Mayor), who have known and worked with Matt over the years since he joined PCEG aged twelve, were present. This was a lovely occasion.

Greenwich Agenda 21 Awards

We have been awarded £500 for Our Common Story, the project we are engaged on in partnership with Plumstead Manor School. The money is to be used for research and the production of a booklet.

Museum of London:Collecting 2000

We have been approached by the Museum of London, which is celebrating the turn of the new century ‘by collecting from groups, clubs and societies in London to create an exhibition in September and a permanent archive which illustrates and records the enthusiasms and beliefs of Londoners in 2000.’ To this end we have been asked to choose one object that summarises the group’s current activities and interests, reflecting the everyday lives and preoccupations of the members of the group. In the limited time available at the meeting, we were unable to take a decision but lots of suggestions were offered: a litter picker, dog poo flag, picture of the old windmill, before and after photograph of the Nature Reserve, a litter bin with the PCEG logo, a recording. We will contact the curator and take advice as to which of these objects the Museum would be most interested in. More on this in the next Newsletter.

Presentation to Ralph Mulford

Park Keeper, Ralph Mulford, who is shortly to retire after many years’ service, was the winner of a Customer Care Award for the month of April. PCEG had nominated him for the award and so the Chair was invited to attend the presentation on Wed 17 May. She also presented him with a framed photograph which was taken of him at the hedge planting event opposite Greenslade School in March. Knowing that Ralph is keen to keep his involvement with the Common, he has been offered lifelong free membership of PCEG. A lovely letter has been received from former Greenwich Council officer, now PCEG member, David Topliffe, who has moved to St Minver in Cornwall. He was very pleased to learn of our clean-up in Rockcliffe Gardens. He remembers that there used to be three full time gardeners there at one time. He writes enthusiastically of his garden, which has a wild area (three big mature trees + daffodils, bluebells, cowslips, violas, snowdrops and lots of other wild flowers). as well as three large flower beds, grass areas and a vegetable area. The birds in the garden are the same as we have here on the Common, but he also sees pheasants and buzzards, and of course a lot of sea birds on the River Camel. PCEG member and Green Party candidate in the recent Council By - Election, James Otter, has written to JC about the Greater London Assembly (GLA) debate he attended at the Trafalgar Pub in Greenwich in April. It was organised by Friends of the Earth and GASP and centred around six targets to improve the environment. It was attended by speakers from the Labour Party, Green Party, Liberal Democrats and London Socialist Alliance - the Conservatives could not provide a speaker. ‘All speakers claimed to have good environmental credentials. Only the Greens and Liberal Democrats set specific targets for traffic reduction though. One local issue raised related to Greenwich’s Integrated Transport Plan and that of river crossings along the East London Corridor. Only Len Duvall refused to oppose a road crossing at Thamesmead, insisting it would not be the old East London river crossing. I believe any road crossing at Thamesmead will generate increased traffic around Plumstead Common, and will also lead to the destruction of wildlife habitats at the site of the river crossing. Having prevented the destruction of Oxleas Wood, I believe in the next 12-18 months our local wildlife open spaces and quality of life may be under threat again and we must start preparing to oppose the Thamesmead road crossing scheme.

Sladedale Road (No 86)

Proposal: Retention of existing single storey side and rear extension and erection of additional single storey extension.
We have been informed by letter of the very good news that planning permission for the above application has been refused. Members may remember that we have been monitoring this situation and have argued against the extensions on grounds of potential harm to the mature oak tree, because of their close proximity, and adverse effects to the Plumstead Common Conservation Area and Area of Special Character of Metropolitan and Local Importance. It is really encouraging that the Planning department have accepted these arguments, and are upholding the relevant policies contained in their Unitary Development Plan. We must now hope we are at the end of this long running saga.

Wildlife Sightings

We can report an increase in the thrush population on the Common at Blendon Terrace, as well as in the Nature Reserve – the birds’ brilliant and penetrating song has been a real feature of the spring. Also exciting for Julia and Alex Cowdell has been the first use of their bird nesting box by a family of tits – after two years of it sitting up in the ash tree unused. And in a hole in the bough of an aspen tree opposite their house in Blendon Terrace is a nest of starlings. 16/4/00A lizard has been seen sunbathing on a tyre dump near the Winn’s Common Football Pavilion. ‘It was dark brown, almost black – superbly camouflaged against the tyre’ (Mark Angliss).
22/3/00 Monica Meeneghan and Julia Cowdell saw a yellow brimstone butterfly in Monica’s garden. There follow a few other first-of-the-season sightings recorded by Monica from her garden (bearing in mind that her health doesn’t always allow her to be consistently in the garden) :-
10/300 Bumblebee
5/4/00 Ladybird
7/4/00 Small white butterfly
8/4/00 Peacock butterfly
24/4/00 Hoverflies
6/5/00 Orange tip butterfly, feeding on honesty in her garden.
11/5/00 Frog (chestnut coloured), which she disturbed when hunting snails; very pleased to see it as she finds there are far fewer in her garden, due to neighbours’ use of electric mowers.
29/4/00 Several people saw a baby lizard emerging from under a wall when we were digging the ground in preparation for planting the hedge at Rockcliffe Gardens.
7/5/00 Julia Cowdell saw a green woodpecker for the first time on the aspen tree just beyond her back garden. She has often heard the bird, but never before managed to see it.
18/5/00 Angela Saunders and some Plumstead Manor students saw a slow worm on the steps leading down to the Slade Ponds. It appeared to have been hit with something and sadly did not survive the day.

Presentation

by Dawn Squires, Greenwich Council’s Cemeteries Adviser, on ‘The Victorian Celebration of Death’
This, our second talk within two weeks, proved a worthy successor to the first one given by Dr Rob Allen, and we were again pleased to welcome some members of the public who had been present a fortnight earlier. The talk traced the history of burial from church yards in local parishes to the opening of private cemeteries on the outskirts of London in the 1830’s (Kensal Green, Highgate and others) in order to relieve overcrowding and provide a safe and healthy alternative for those who could afford to pay. These were so successful that municipal cemeteries were created after an Act of Parliament in 1852. They were seen as part of the urban improvement of schools, sewage systems, cemeteries, parks etc. The talk then focused on Highgate Cemetery, where Dawn previously worked before taking up her position in Greenwich, and was illustrated throughout by fascinating slides showing historical and contemporary drawings and photographs.
There has been, as with Dr Allen’s talk, very positive feedback from members, who would now like to hear Dawn’s ideas on woodland burials and wildlife areas in our cemeteries.

Reports

Our Common Story

This is the PCEG awareness raising millennium project, in partnership with Plumstead Manor School, and celebrating a thousand years of the Common. It developed from the original concept of Nature Near, devised by David Bellman and Meirion Cynog-Evans, who have concentrated on the currently showing exhibition at Greenwich Borough Museum. We in PCEG will be focusing on Plumstead Common, for which we have received funding from the Millennium Time to Celebrate Office and Greenwich Agenda 21 Awards. We are also applying for a grant from the Woolwich Community Chest Fund. The three grants are for different strands of the project:-

A mixed-media exhibition at the Citizen’s Gallery, Powis Street, Woolwich in October 2000.

An educational resource pack for local schools, a nature/landscape trail and printing of a booklet which will be available to the community. Included will be some aspects of the history of the Common, and of PCEG, flora and fauna and citizenship issues|: the environment, balancing the needs of people and wildlife, graffiti, litter and vandalism.
The setting up of a data base as a permanent record of material gathered together for the exhibition, and an on-going source of information in the future.
The project is being led by senior teacher and, now, PCEG member, Angela Saunders together with Julia Cowdell. We are very pleased to have the enthusiastic involvement of Kirsty Sheddon, history teacher at the school, and research into the history of the Common through the ages is well underway. We will shortly be writing to at least six primary schools near the Common and inviting their participation.
Now is the time for members to really get involved. We need:

historical and contemporary material, maps and information

photographs of the different seasons and events on the Common;
oral reminiscences ideas for nature/landscape trail (to include points of historical interest). Where should it go – from a nature and historical perspective, and for developing awareness? It will be worked in with the schools’ curriculum.

What skills can you offer? Please contact Julia Cowdell on 8854 5167 asap if you feel you can contribute to this important project in any way. If you think about the Common and why you love it, what concerns you have and why you joined PCEG, you may well come up with something valuable which we could use.

‘ …the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’ T.S.Eliot

Nature Reserve

(Ravine behind Blendon Terrace) This has never looked more beautiful! With the wet spring, and as a result of coppicing some of the sycamores, there is abundant new grass on the slopes extending right down to the path at the bottom, bluebells (now finished) and vibrant birdsong. New plantings at the Bramblebury Road entrance are all thriving.

Slade Ponds

The exciting news is that this spring the moorhens have succeeded in breeding! From five chicks we are down to two, now looking like juvenile versions of their parents. The meeting was told of the heroic, and successful, efforts of the mother moorhen to fend off a pair of Canada geese who were threatening her nest on the floating duck platform.
It was most helpful being joined one Sunday by a young ecologist, whose advice on the blanket weed was to leave it at this stage as it was teeming with life and was not yet a problem in terms of its quantity. He felt that judging by the presence of fresh water shrimps, the water was pretty clean at the moment. There is also an abundance of tadpoles in the pond, and a fish (not so welcome) has been seen; also, of course, the resident mallards, which don’t seem to want to breed!
Correction: Oh yes they do! In fact they have!! The hot news as of 20 May is that there are seven little ducklings, only two days or so out of the eggs. Let’s hope they survive. At the last count it was six. This is the first time in the eight years since the start of the PCEG pond restoration project that the ducks and moorhens have been able to breed successfully, so it is a real milestone!

Plumstead/Winn’s Common

Again, looking wonderful. The conservation areas edging the mown areas are a real delight, both visually (all that cow parsley!) and in terms of wildlife. The young trees in St Margaret’s Grove and at the top of Bramblebury Road, for which PCEG donated tree guards, are all doing well. Also, there is definitely less dog mess around, and evidence that the dog bins are being used. Last year’s ‘flag’ demonstration has certainly had an effect. But: we still have no new bins (either dog or litter) on Winn’s!!

Graffiti Campaign

A day was spent removing graffiti from the Rugby Club, in time for the Make Merry. Using the orange zest based chemicals supplied by the Council, it was nevertheless a very hard job because the graffiti had been in place for so long that the paint had hardened and sunk into the brickwork. So far no new graffiti has appeared.
Two PCEG members removed extensive graffiti from the side wall of the house of a member who is in her late eighties, before the meeting on 14 May. Again the chemicals were used.
A massive painted-in graffiti ‘set piece’ has also been removed from the side wall of another member’s house which faces the Common, the chemicals being used to good effect.
The side wall of a local corner shop has also been effectively cleaned by two PCEG members.
Bloomfield Road: We continue to monitor the top area near the bus stop and only have to deal with the occasional tag. We have been encouraging the Council to keep the alleyway at the side of the empty white building free of rubbish and dumping, to show that the area is being maintained.
A PCEG member proposed at the May meeting that we should hold a ‘Reclaim Our Community Campaign,’ surveying graffitied areas and organising a demonstration graffiti paint-out day, tackling several black spots on the same day and attracting maximum publicity to show the community fighting back against this scourge. He also suggested writing to the new Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to find out what policy he was going to put in place to combat the problem.
We certainly plan several blitzes on graffiti black spots on and around the Common in the near future, with the aim of completely removing graffiti from the Plumstead Common Conservation Area.
Julia Cowdell has continued to write her Graffitibusterscolumn in The Mercury, having now done thirteen articles. Any input from members is always welcome; also please continue to put pressure on local businesses which have graffiti on their premises. The more people complain the better, and the more likelihood that action will be taken. Hopefully the points stressed in the articles will eventually permeate through to the wider community, and change the apathetic attitude so prevalent at the moment.