The exhibition will be open daily (except Sundays) from 25 May to 3
June, 10.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., at the Lantern Arts Centre (Raynes
Park Methodist Church, Worple Road), and will feature over 300
paintings by 50 local artists. Admission free. Official opening at 11
a.m. on Saturday 25 June.
A summary of my correspondence with Merton Council about the recent
"improvements" :
------------------------------
E-mail to Merton Council Environmental Services Department, 18 April :
I thought the main idea of all the work being carried out in Coombe
Lane at the moment was to improve the traffic flow by moving the
station bus stop into the mouth of the "Cattle Arch"? At the moment,
it looks as though the stop is on the main part of the carriageway as
before, except on the other side of the station. Isn't this just
going to cause more traffic congestion? (Not that I have much
sympathy with car-drivers who complain about being held up by buses ;
this is usually due to other car-drivers parking at bus-stops, e.g.
outside Sainsbury's in Worple Road. Get some wardens down there in
the early evening!) Or is the idea that only buses will be able to
come down Pepys Road?
Bringing the cycle lane more or less level with the pavement, so that
there is no longer a "double kerb", is certainly an improvement (if
you have to keep the cycle lane at all - it always seems fairly
pointless to me, but I understand that it's part of some London-wide
"strategy" over which you have no influence). At least getting on or
off the bus by the Thames Water offices will no longer be such a
steeplechase. However, could you explain the status of the cycle lane
at this point? The pattern of paving suggests that it is temporarily
interrupted (making it even less worth having in the first place
...). Are cyclists required either to dismount while passing the
bus-stop, or (if they're travelling in the appropriate direction) to
move into the road ; and what signs and enforcement measures are
there going to be to prevent them from cycling across the gap on what
seems to be meant as ordinary pavement, putting pedestrians and bus
passengers at risk?
-----------------
Reply from Ray Puddy, 23 April :
Bus Stop outside Raynes Park Station.
The new position of the bus stop has been marked out on the road
surface. To achieve this the area in front of the Cattle Arch has
been filled in. Other traffic will be able to pass waiting buses
(you can see how this will operate by vehicles passing cars still
parking in this area at the present time - and yes we need more
enforcement in this area). Thus this will remove one of the
obstructions to traffic.
Cycle lane
The footpath around the bus stop by the TWA offices is designated as
a shared surface. This is in accordance with the Cycle Route design
manual prepared by the Mayor's Cycle Centre of Excellence. In effect
it means that cyclists cycle round the back of the shelter but must
be prepared to give way to pedestrians.
-----------------------------------------------------
Further e-mail to Environmental Services, 1 May :
I still think a great opportunity has been missed to use the Cattle
Arch entrances as bus-stops and/or a taxi rank ; it looks as though a
great deal of money has been spent to no obvious benefit. I'm also
still concerned about cyclists passing the Water Board bus-stop : a
"shared surface" sounds okay in theory, but I do wonder how much
notice some cyclists will take of pedestrians, and it's odd to expect
them to cross the main pedestrian route twice. There are still no
signs advising them where they should go, and wouldn't it be better
if the ridges on the paving at the end of each part of the cycle lane
ran across their path rather than parallel to it ? (That would be
more likely to discourage them from carrying straight on without
slowing down.)
I would also like your comments on the division of the carriageway in
the Amity Grove area into three lanes. Although there are markings
suggesting that traffic heading west should use the centre lane when
preparing to turn, there seems to be nothing to prevent eastbound
traffic from using it for e.g. overtaking. This strikes me as
especially dangerous either side of the zebra crossing (or whatever
you call it now), particularly since there is no longer a central
pedestrian refuge - it is already taking longer to cross there than
it used to.
-------------------
I haven't received any reply to this second message so far, but to be
fair, the Council staff have been busy with the election, and tonight
I've noticed that there is some more work going on at each end of the
zebra crossing, so perhaps some improvements are imminent. I'll find
out what the Merton Cycling Campaign think of it all, too ; some
comments on their website (at http://homepage.ntlw
orld.com/richard.m.evans/boronews2002.html#jun) suggest that they're
not too impressed with the changes either.
From the property section of tonight's "Standard" :
"Don't chuck your old half-empty tins of paint down the drain,
thereby damaging the environment. They can be put to good use
instead. The Community Re-Paint Scheme, run by environmental
consultancy Save Waste and Prosper, runs 41 such collection schemes
across the country. They will sort and re-distribute unwanted paint
for local community projects and housing services. For more details
about the scheme, call 0113-243 8777 or visit www.
communityrepaint.org.uk. "
They don't have a branch in Merton yet, but there are a couple not
far away. So now you know what to do with your own left-over paint ;
and I wonder whether they might have any utility-cabinet green or
dog-dirt-box scarlet which we could use to cover up stubborn graffiti
?
As some of you may have noticed, the RPWBRA messageboard was unavailable
for a couple of days this week while it was being converted from a Yahoo!
Club to a Yahoo! Group.
This process is now, apparently, complete. Although you can still get to
the messageboard via the old address, it's better to use
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/raynesparkandwestbarnes/ ; I'll be
changing the destination of the link from the home page of our own website,
and making any necessary changes to the "About the messageboard" page, shortly.
I must say that at the moment it doesn't seem like a huge improvement, and
for some reason, HTML codes are showing up in some of the messages (e.g.
"<BR><BR>" where there should be a blank line - and I wonder how that's
going to look once it reaches the board !) ; peculiar and not very pretty.
I might be able to find a way to change that. It won't be too bad as long
as it doesn't happen to new messages as well.
However, a couple of new features which might be useful are the ability to
upload files of any type, not just pictures, to the board, and to post
messages via e-mail. I've already uploaded a couple of text files with job
descriptions for the Editor and Advertising Manager of the Association's
monthly newsletter, "The Guide" ; we're still trying to find one or more
volunteers to take over these jobs, so if you're interested, let us know,
if not, please ask your friends ! See
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/raynesparkandwestbarnes/files/Job%20description\
s/
.
As for sending messages via e-mail ; well, if you can see this, it's worked
... You do still have to be a registered member of the board, though (I
think it checks the "From" address on your e-mail against the address you
gave when you registered).
Please note that Yahoo! have warned that "Groups will be down for
maintenance Saturday, March 16, 12:00am GMT until late morning Sunday,
March 17." ; maybe they'll be making a few final improvements to the new
groups.
Meanwhile, I'll carry on experimenting with the settings and new features,
and hope they'll help us to get more from the messageboard.
Tim
P.S. This didn't work first time because "I had chosen not to disclose my
email address to the group". This means that you can only post messages via
the Web page. I've changed this temporarily (by unticking the "Email
address display" box on the "Edit my membership" page) ; it's up to each of
you whether you want to do the same, but I might change my settings back
later once I see what effect this has.
----------
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
You've probably found this page already, Mike, or
even if you haven't it's probably not telling you
anything much that you don't know already, but I thought
it might interest other readers : a letter to a
local paper in August 2000, entitled "Remembering the
first
raid".<br><br><a
href=http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/local_london/archive/2000/08/25/kingston\
opinion1RM.html
target=new>http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/local_london/archive/2000/08/25/ki\
ngstonopini
on1RM.html</a><br><br>It suggests that the bomb which destroyed the Venner
factory was the first to fall on London during the Second
World War, though apparently there's some dispute about
this (presumably as to whether or not Shannon Corner
is in London, rather than the date or whether or not
it was a bomb).<br><br>A friend told me tonight that
Venners made time-switches in Greyhound Lane, Streatham,
after the war, though he's pretty sure this factory no
longer exists either. There are some examples of Venner
time-switches at <a href=http://www.clock-museum.co.uk/time3.htm#c67
target=new>http://www.clock-museum.co.uk/time3.htm#c67</a> ,
and another at
<a href=http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/rest/esla/esla1.htm
target=new>http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/rest/esla/esla1.htm</a> for
those of you who are fascinated by street
lamps !<br><br>My phone-book includes numbers for a
couple of Venners in the Croydon area ; I won't post
them here, but mail me if you would like to contact
them and have trouble getting hold of the correct
edition.<br><br>Hope this has been useful to you, Mike. I'd quite like
to see some more local history trivia on here.
I am seeking ANY information on the Venner family
who lived for a while at Croydon(later at Worthing)or
their light switch factory at Shannon Corner.I know the
factory was bombed in 1940, but would be pleased to
receive any info.
The next meeting of the Raynes Park and Lower
Morden Area Forum will be on Thursday 28th February, in
the hall of St. John Fisher School in Grand Drive
(opposite the junction with Cannon Hill Lane), starting at
7.30 p.m. Items on the agenda include graffiti and the
results of ward surveys in West Barnes and Cannon Hill.
Hello all.My name is Chris Clapham and I edit the
website for Raynes Park Vale FC(amongst other
things).<br>I wonder what the residents of the area actually
would like to see regarding Prince Georges
Fields?<br>Our future is,obviously,under threat with the news
that Wimbledon FC want to sell the land.<br>Perhaps
our club could meet with the RP&WB association to
discuss the future?<br>Our website can be found under
your links page and I have reciprocated by putting
this site on our site.<br>You may already have
dialogue with some of our members.I would be interested in
the debate so far if this is the case.<br>Best wishes
to you all<br><br>Chris
A graffiti clear up action morning will take
place in West Barnes on Saturday 19th January 2002,
starting at 10 a.m. Meet at the bottom of Seaforth
Avenue/West Barnes Lane. Wear old clothes ; equipment
provided.
Discovered today on the "News" page of the Raynes
Park Vale F.C. website that Wimbledon F.C. are now
planning to move to Kingston (upon Thames, that is ... not
Jamaica, as some of their other wilder suggestions might
have led you to expect). Since this sounds like a
sensible plan, as far as their fans are concerned (as long
as they can actually find a suitable site there), it
might just take the last bit of pressure off Prince
George's Playing Fields. See
<a href=http://m25football.tripod.com/m25football/id14.html
target=new>http://m25football.tripod.com/m25football/id14.html</a>
.<br><br>Apparently this has been in the papers,
but this is the first I've seen about it (I haven't
had the Wimbledon Guardian delivered for about two
months now, which doesn't help).<br><br>Also found, on
the Mayor of London's site at
<a href=http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning_decisions/2001/october_10_01.htm
target=new>http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning_decisions/2001/october_10_01.\
htm</a> , some information about the planning decision
for a temporary WFC "academy" at the David Lloyd Club
(this was back in October, so it's very old news, but I
hadn't realized, or had forgotten, that the Mayor had
been involved in WFC's plans for PGPF at all).
What does everyone think of the fairly simple
lights at the station end of Coombe Lane ? I think
they're quite a good compromise - not too flashy and
expensive, but I did think something was missing a few years
ago when there were no lights at all.<br><br>Do the
Council put up lights on any other streets in the area,
or do any residents go mad and cover their houses
with fairy-lights ?<br><br>(Not the most urgent of
subjects, I know, but at least it's topical, and it was
high time someone posted on here again ! Maybe I'll
send out some more messageboard invitations after all
and not wait for Yahoo! to merge Clubs and Groups -
it says this will happen "in the next few weeks",
but perhaps we shouldn't hold our breath.)
The Council have now identified the top twenty
concerns of the residents who replied to a consultation
document earlier this year, and you have a chance to
indicate whether or not you agree with the priorities
they're now setting themselves. You can do this online at
<a href=http://www.merton.gov.uk/communityplan/survey.asp
target=new>http://www.merton.gov.uk/communityplan/survey.asp</a> (as usual,
there seems to be no way of
guaranteeing that the only replies they get are one each from
genuine Merton residents), or I expect there will be
copies available in libraries. Most of it seems fairly
uncontroversial - some of the dafter ideas which I remember being
in the list to choose from have been filtered out -
though of course whether they will actually get around
to carrying any of them out is another matter !
Careful when replying to the "Lifelong Learning" section
- objectives 10c and 10d have been swapped round
between the response sheet and the body of the document.
I've been quite successful recently at finding
pictures of the area to link to our main website (see
<a href=http://www.rpwbresidents.org.uk/areainfo/index.htm#pictures
target=new>http://www.rpwbresidents.org.uk/areainfo/index.htm#pictures</a> ),
but we can also add pictures to this
messageboard : follow the "Photos" link under "Our
Pages".<br><br>I must admit I'm not sure how well this is working,
as I tried to add three pictures to the "default
album" (showing more of the Skew Arch muriels, because I
know our esteemed Secretary will love them ! Well, I'm
glad I managed to record them for posterity before
they got too covered in unofficial graffiti) and
another to a "Personal Album". At the moment, though, I
can only see two pictures in the main album and no
other albums at all. Maybe they take a while to show
up. I'll leave it a day or so before I complain to
Yahoo.<br><br>There is a limit on the space provided for pictures in
each Club, but there seems to be no danger of us
reaching the limit for a while. If anybody has any more
pictures which they'd like to add (Raynes Park Camera
Club, where are you ?), please go ahead. (No samples of
graffiti, though, please, I think it's better to starve the
perpetrators of publicity !)
I've eaten at Man's once or twice and found it
fairly reasonable given that it is probably better than
most. <br><br>As far as takeaway Chinese food is
concerned, the Great Wall has improved a lot since it had
new management some time ago.
The first meeting of the Council-run Raynes Park
and Lower Morden Area Forum will be held in the
Raynes Park Library hall at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday 29
November. <br><br>(Unfortunately it clashes with a parade
and fireworks to kick off Christmas shopping in
Wimbledon town centre, which I was going to attend, but
duty before pleasure, I suppose ...)<br><br>See
<a href=http://www.merton.gov.uk/committee/dpevents.asp?eventId=467
target=new>http://www.merton.gov.uk/committee/dpevents.asp?eventId=467</a> .
I'd always been told Man's was expensive, but I
didn't think it was bad at all on the only occasion I've
eaten there (given that it's a class above many Chinese
restaurants, i.e. it actually has customers before the pubs
close !) <br><br>Haven't tried the Marquee for a while
- they seem to keep changing their mind about
whether to be a cafe, a restaurant or something in
between (and often seem to be closed on weekends or bank
holidays just when I might have gone there with
friends).<br><br>Anybody tried the caff which took over from the barber's
on the Grand Drive side of the station ? (Handy for
people who work around there, I suppose).<br><br>What
about the Japanese/Korean restaurant just beyond
Blockbusters ? (I never seem to see anyone going in there - I
don't think they do themselves any favours by making it
so difficult to see in - anyway, I couldn't offer
any useful opinions as I always think that sort of
stuff is not quite food. Not exactly unpleasant, just
weird.)<br><br>I'm always amazed at the number of restaurants there
seem to be in Merton Park : it's really not the kind
of place you'd expect to have a wide choice for a
night out, but I've tried a couple and they were pretty
good.
Debbie - As our friends in Lampton Rd always tell
us - we are the "wrong side of the tracks". Places
like The Lighthouse on the Ridgeway or San Lorenzos
will always choose the busy, trendy, buzzy areas 'cos
they need that sort of location to survive. Manns is
huge and seems to jog along at pretty high prices "for
Raynes Park" and the relaxed value place Cafe Marque
seems to to do well. It would be fun to do a pub /
restaurant review column in the guide wouldn't it?<br>Andrew
As someone who is (relatively) young and who does
not get out too much with young children, I would
like to see plenty of places in Raynes Park where I
could go and eat and drink. I would prefer restaurants
to pubs (don't fancy Wetherspoons much!) but I will
take anything (almost) instead of charity shops and
the like. Compared to the Raynes Park Hotel, the
Cavern is great!<br>I wouldn't like to see anything like
the scale of this type of establishment in Wimbledon.
Just a bit of choice for a half-decent night out
within easy distance of home.<br>Am I asking too much?
Hi Tim<br><br>I know you invited me here ages ago - I have finally made it!
<br>December Chairman's notes are 'in the post'.<br>Let's hope this gets off the
ground.
Good to have you as a member. How did you find
the messageboard, by the way ? - via the main
Association website, or directly from the Yahoo! clubs list
?<br><br>Do let me know, by the way, if there's anything you
think should be added to the main website. Like this
messageboard, it's mainly intended to publicize the Residents'
Association, but it also contains material about the area in
general, and (time permitting) we can create simple pages
for other local non-profit organizations which don't
have their own sites.
As only the third member of this club I had
better introduce my self. My name is Heather and I live
in Greenway. I have 2 children and so am at home a
lot. I have broadband internet access to keep in touch
and up to date.I spend a lot of time surfing the net
to keep my brain alive :-)<br><br>Heather
The Residents' Association spends a lot of time
fighting planning applications and criticising council
services, but it would be good if we could also come up
with some positive suggestions of new facilities we
would like to see in the area.<br><br>The threatened
playing fields provide a good example ; we might not want
them built on, but can they still be used as playing
fields (remembering that someone has to pay for their
upkeep) ? See Jill Truman's article in the November
"Guide", which mentions that Raynes Park High School would
like to use the Sun Alliance
sportsground.<br><br>Other possible improvements in the pipeline : the
possible new restaurants on the corner of Coombe Lane
opposite the station. There have been rumours that
Wetherspoon's might build a new pub on the old Co-Op site :
does anyone agree with me that this would be very
welcome ? (With a bit of luck it might even put the
Cavern out of business, then all the travelling salesmen
would have to stop somewhere else on the way home and
leave their cars blocking a different bus-stop, while
the Cavern could be converted into the Co-Op Funeral
Parlour it so closely resembles. :-)<br><br>Ideally,
though, I would prefer to see the Co-Op used as a
library, at least temporarily when (if ?) the old library
is being rebuilt, or maybe even permanently since it
seems to be more conveniently located.<br><br>Or there
were the ideas raised at the Wimbledon Civic Forum's
Raynes Park Town Centre brainstorming session a couple
of years ago, including holding a market in the Skew
Arch at weekends (see
<a href=http://www.wimbledoncivicforum.org.uk/pages/raynespk.html
target=new>http://www.wimbledoncivicforum.org.uk/pages/raynespk.html</a> ,
though unfortunately the "minutes" aren't very
well laid out). Perhaps not all of the ideas were very
practical, and finance could be a problem, but it's still
good to hear them, and they might attract the
attention of the very people who would be able to make them
happen.<br><br>So please post any comments on these ideas, or any
new ideas, on this messageboard.
Anyone know what exactly they were filming around
the station today ? When I got off the train at 7
p.m. one end of the Cattle Arch was almost blocked by
a police car (with a sign saying "Film Car" over
its roof lights) and the other by a fire-engine ;
there was another van with lighting equipment, labelled
"The Bill".<br>What's the story - are they coming
after our local graffiti artistes ? I hope they don't
leave W.P.C. Worrall out all night on a stakeout in the
"costume" she wore to last week's National T.V. Awards, the
poor thing would catch her death of cold in that damp
tunnel.
Welcome aboard !<br>Yes, I'll make sure it gets a
mention in the next "Guide", but I don't think we should
go into too much detail there - it would be an
annoying waste of space for readers who don't have Web
access, and those who do will presumably find the link to
the messageboard itself and to the joining
instructions on our main website. <br>Looks like you didn't
have much trouble joining - is there anything that you
think I should add to the "About the messageboard" page
? (As far as possible, I'd like to just provide
links to the relevant pages on Yahoo!, rather than
copying any of their documentation.)
Tim - I think this a good way of communicating to
a large number of people interested in the
activities and events relevant to RP&WBRA. I suggest you
also publicise this service in the Guide and also
include detailed joining instructions.<br>Andrew
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