Paralympic torch comes to Deptford

Crossfields formed the backdrop again for an Olympic torch handover this afternoon, as the Paralympic Torch Relay passed through Deptford on its way to Stratford at around 5.15pm.

Despite the miserable weather and a two-hour delay, lots of Deptford folk turned up to cheer and wave in Giffin Square. A young marching band stood patiently in the rain, drumming up a mesmerising beat as people waited in excited anticipation.

Paralympic Torch Relay comes to Deptford

On Wednesday 29 August, Paralympic Torchbearers will be coming through Deptford on their way to the Olympic Stadium.

The convoy is expected to arrive in Deptford at approximately 3.15pm. It will travel down Evelyn Street, turn right into Deptford High Street, left into Giffin Street passing Deptford Lounge and Wavelengths Leisure Centre. From there it will turn left into Deptford Church Street and will be handed to Greenwich at the junction with Creek Road.

There will be entertainment at Deptford Lounge throughout the afternoon. Full details of the Paralympic Torch Relay are being updated regularly on the London 2012 website.

Local weekend events

Sacrilege: Saturday 4 August 10am-6pm

A life-size replica of Stonehenge – which is also a giant fully operational bouncy castle – returns to South London for one day only (last bounced on in these parts at Greenwich Peninsula). It will be in Burgess Park on Saturday till 6pm. Pick up the 436 or 171 to the Old Kent Road and get off at St Giles Church (or opposite Curry's). Sacrilege was made by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller and has been touring the country as part of the Cultural Olympiad.
sacrilege2012.co.uk/

Organ Recital at St Paul's Church: Saturday 4 August, 12noon

Complementing the artists showing in the church as part of Deptford X, organist Sue Heath-Downey will be performing various works by Bach, Couperin, Messiaen and Murrill. An antidote to the Olympics... 

Family Fun Day at Creekside Discovery Centre: Sunday 11am–3.30pm
A free day of activities for children and adults to explore the local wildlife in and around Deptford Creek.

 

Super Saturday on Blackheath: 12noon – 10.30pm

Back to the Olympics, Super Saturday is the day when most medals can be won. Up on the heath, apart from the Big Screen showing the live Olympic action, there'll be performances from local bands and local talent, loads of stalls and carnival – a mini Lewisham People's Day in a brand new setting. More here.
Lewisham Council expect large crowds on Sunday evening when local lad Conrad Williams may be in the 400m semi-finals at 8.40pm...and Usain Bolt runs the men's 100m final at 9.50pm.

Family Weekender at Greenwich

At the Old Royal Naval College, as well as the Big Screen, there's free entertainment all day Saturday and Sunday till 10.30pm, with music, film and street arts, as part of Greenwich Summer Festival.
Ticketed events throughout the festival which require booking include comedy shows and Midsummer Night Flicks.

A relaxed crowd at Lewisham Big Screen on Friday evening – the start of the Athletics.
 

Stadium for Casual Sports

If Deptford were to hold an alternative Games, there is now the perfect arena for them – this beautiful mystery willow circle has recently appeared overnight. You'll find it hiding behind the old wall running along Church Street by St Paul's Church...

UPDATE 8 August:
A sign adjacent to the circle reads: This weaved willow circle is 17m wide – the same width as the concrete vent shaft planned for this space by Thames Water. The shaft will be roughly as deep as the church is high. It will take years to construct during which time this green space will be lost. The circle is intended to be an invite to enjoy the space while it is still in its current state.
www.twitter.com/deptfordcircle
www.facebook.com/TheDeptfordCircle

Who's that girl?

Who's that beautful girl? It's Jasmine! From Crossfields Estate, Deptford, London SE8! Watched by over 20 million people in the UK alone. Wasn't she fantastic?!!

Like all the other performers, Jazz was sworn to secrecy and wouldn't talk about her role before the show. On Wednesday, her mum said, "She is SO underplaying it, says it's no big deal! Two billion watching on telly, 60,000 in the stadium and a feature in an hour long section! She's excited though and having fun."

UPDATE 30th JULY:
Jazz was her usual modest self talking to Vanessa on BBC Radio London this morning:

listen to ‘Vanessa Talks to Jasmine Breinberg - Star of the Opening Ceremony’ on Audioboo
You may also have caught her and equally modest co-star Henrique on ITV's Daybreak. She will also be on the BBC Breakfast show tomorrow morning, and has been interviewed by the Sunday Times (yet to be published) and the Daily Mail.

Have you got a light?

Agent 005 (in white) has forgotten his matches

No worries, I'll give you a light

Right, let's set fire to Lewisham shopping centre!

A good few turned out in the morning sunshine to see the torch leave the Laban this morning.  Including the Greenwich council refuse lorry, which had been unable to resist those oh so tempting ''Road Closed'' signs.  As the torch went from Creekside to Creek Road to Deptford High Street, canny Crossfielders used their local knowledge and took a leisurely stroll through the estate to watch the procession reemerge onto Deptford Church Street from Giffin Street 10 minutes and at least one changeover later.

UPDATE (via Sue): More pics from Crossfields residents...

Augustina (Holden) reporting from Laban and Wavelengths...

Tim (Castell) almost caught "the kiss"...

Augustina jogged to the Broadway for the changeover and snapped Doreen Lawrence in Brookmill Road...

Deptford Torch Weekender

Lewisham Council is inevitably making a big deal of the Torch Relay this weekend, with events planned in Giffin Square, The Albany Cafe, Deptford Lounge and Wavelengths from 10am -3pm on Saturday. Much of it is kids-orientated, with pop-up performances, entertainment and taster swimming lessons. There's more on Sunday in Wavelengths only.

On Monday 23rd, there's stuff planned from 6am-12noon, even though the 'Olympic Flame' will have come and gone before 8am. See the route here or pick up a leaflet at Wavelengths or the Lounge. Those up early enough will be able to watch Doreen Lawrence carry the torch. The relay begins at the Laban Centre in Creekside, starting at approximately 7.30am and arriving at The Stephen Lawrence Centre on Brookmill Road at around 7.49am, passing via Creek Road, the high street, Giffin Street and past Crossfields on Church Street at about 7.40am.

There will be road closures all around the area till midday on Monday, starting from this evening when the top part of Creekside will be closed all weekend.

The Stephen Lawrence Centre will also be hosting a Family Fun Day from noon-4pm on Monday, (during which time the torch will have been through Bromley, Croydon and Sutton and arrived at Merton, as part of Day 66 (?) of the relay).

www.london2012.com/torch-relay/torchbearers/community=the-london-borough-of-lewisham/

UPDATE: Thanks to a comment from Anonymous (below) we have made a correction to the printed information in leaflets available in local venues: Giffin Square has replaced 'Albany Square' as the venue for much of the entertainment planned. Unfortunately we could not find any details on Lewisham's website to refer readers to.

HMS Ocean back in town + missiles on Blackheath

Ian Visits (his pic above) reported earlier in the week that HMS Ocean is back in dock at Greenwich. When it was here in May, Greenwich residents were invited on board for a look around. On Sunday 15th it will be open to all between 10am and 3pm. Muster point is the Old Royal Naval College grounds, where there will be a bag search before the public can board a boat transfer to the aircraft carrier.

Meanwhile, the Blackheath Bugle has posted an MOD information leaflet about the missiles that are to be sited now installed on Blackheath. It has more detail than previously circulated, including some FAQs. For instance: Is there a risk of the missiles exploding accidentally whilst on site? Where would an aircraft fall if it was hit by a missile fired from Blackheath?
Download the leaflet here.

Greenwich Park closes...the madness begins

Don't forget that most of Greenwich Park closes tomorrow for four weeks till 8 September. The Children’s Playground and parts of The Flower Garden will remain open, except on 30 July (for an Olympic Cross Country event). The Avenue is closed to cars till 1 October. The Royal Observatory will be closed on 7 July, reopening on 4 August. The National Maritime Museum will remain open throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Park alternatives:

Maryon Wilson Park: hilly, great views, bonus zoo (53 to Charlton House)
Southwark Park: flat, lovely groves and hidden places, bonus art galleries (47 to Surrey Quays)

Saturday Sunset

The view of the city on Saturday evening from the Observatory was smashing, only slightly ruined by the Olympic Equestrian site structures on the Queen's Field. The newly restored Cutty Sark and Dome (sorry, O2) were magically lit like Christmas trees. Locals should make the most of this before the park is closed to them in July.

Meanwhile, with quite a few security guards looking after the Olympic bits, it seems the Parks Police find it unneccessary to patrol the park to politely ask people to leave before they shut the gates, and nearly 50 stragglers (this author included) found themselves temporarily locked in the park on Saturday night, with the new security team unable to find a key for the main gates. Apparently, it's been happening quite a lot.

Fireworks display – with a military twist

As we posted here a couple of weeks ago after a tip-off from a reader who keeps an eye on Port of London 'notices to mariners', there will be a fireworks display lasting about 10 minutes from barges positioned mid-stream in Greenwich Reach off the Old Royal Naval College tomorrow, Saturday 5th May at 9.45pm.

We've been wondering what celebration might be taking place. We may now have our answer. Can it have something to do with HMS Ocean coming to Greenwich? There are always a few crackers going off when the Navy are in town...

Here is the Navy's largest ship navigating down the Thames around midday today. Click here to see the BBC video.

The BBC reports: A large-scale exercise to test the military contribution to the Olympics security effort has been taking place. Tests of air defence missile systems at six sites across London using dummy armaments have begun. And Typhoon jets, based at RAF Northolt in west London, will take to the skies over south-east England with Lynx, Sea King and Puma helicopters.

Exercise Olympic Guardian, which goes on until 10 May, will also see HMS Ocean sail to Greenwich in the capital. Military chiefs have warned residents of an increase in loud air activity.

Er...no they haven't.

Meanwhile, the Blackheath Bugle has been keeping a wary eye on the Blackheath Missiles and has alerted us to this scary BBC video, filmed yesterday when the army demonstrated their weapons capability on our lovely heath.

Also see our March 20th post about the military build up in Greenwich.

Olympics 2012: the Podia Project

Lewisham Council commissioned five local organisations/businesses to choose artists to create temporary public art for the Olympics. Under the theme "everyone's a winner" they had to create a winner's podium to be installed in outdoor locations in Lewisham.

Crossfields resident Carlos Quinones has been working with Zoe Hamilton-Peters, on behalf of the Deptford Project, to make "Bound for Glory". Carlos and Zoe are usually to be found working in the Deptford Project Yard's arches in their respective creative spaces, Boro and Crafty Bitches. Their podium features a life-size version of the children's game 'misfits' or 'consequences', with four different types of sport represented (equestrian, Paralympic running, weight training and tennis) – so you can stand on the top step and rotate different parts of an athlete's body to get one of four, or a mix of, costumes.

The Podia Project will be launched on Thursday 12 April, as part of an event that also launches Lewisham's new Creative Industry Strategy 2012-2015. Check the Podia Project website to find out the other artists and organisations taking part.

Zoe would love people to take photos of themselves on the podium and upload them to Facebook, and she has set up a page  to encourage you to share them publicly. 

An Olympic breakfast anyone?

Bikepest writes:

On Monday 23 July, early rising Crossfields residents will have the chance to glimpse from their windows the Olympic torch as it starts day 66 of its 70 day odyssey around the country.

Lewisham’s first torchbearer will leave the Laban Centre at 7.20am and take in key (!) Deptford landmarks on its way to Tooting Bec common. From the Laban, the torch heads north onto Creek Road to go west with the rush hour traffic, then turns left down the High Street and left again onto Giffin Street (and its brand new square), past the Deptford Lounge. It then turns right onto Church Street, passing the Bird’s Nest and Lewisham College before heading to the Steven Lawrence Centre and onwards to Lewisham High Street.

What’s less clear is who Deptford’s torchbearers will be. Though the names of the nominated individuals and some details are online (see www.london2012.com) the time slots are not revealed. Nor is it clear whether they are actually local residents, though all the Lewisham runners are described as living in London.

But Seb Coe can’t pull the wool over the eyes of your Crosswhatfields editorial team. Through painstaking research (OK it was just a chance discovery – ed.) we have established that at least one Lewisham torchbearer actually lives across the river in Newham. We’ve no objection to this, but clearly it would be more meaningful if torchbearers had some relationship with the community that hosts them. If you can cast any light on any of the local nominees, let us know so we can campaign for a Deptford-based torchbearer to represent us. That might, at least, make it worth getting out of bed for.

Check out the Olympic Torch Relay map online.

Olympics 2012: Blackheath Missile Crisis etc

RAF snipers will hover above Olympic sites in Lynx Mk7 helicopters

A reader reported seeing an armed military helicopter flying over our area last week. Possibly it was part of the MOD's evaluations to station Rapier surface-to-air missiles in one or more of six sites as part of the security measures for the Olympics. Two of the sites identified are on the heath itself and at Oxleas Woods (see BBC news).

The Blackheath Bugle has been closely following the story throughout March. The main concern as reported by the press is that local politicians were not consulted, but in reality the worry is that should short range missiles actually have to be deployed to bring down a hijacked aircraft, the plane(s) will fall in densely populated areas – possibly on us! Indeed, what better gift to a hijacker -on-a-suicide-mission can there be than the certain knowledge they will be shot down – after all, their target may not necessarily be the Olympic stadium.

The other concern is that official sources have stated the battery of missiles would be guarded by unarmed military personnel (thus presenting a possible target for attack themselves).

Meanwhile, during the Olympics the Royal Marines will be based on the Navy's largest vessel, HMS Ocean (a 'platform helicopter assault' ship) to be moored "just off Greenwich", and RAF heli-snipers will be deployed above East London and Greenwich, capable of "killing an enemy" more than a mile away (and over half a mile at night). Well, that'll put a stop to any rioting in Woolwich in August!

As of December 2011 the total number of armed forces expected to be involved in the security operation overall had increased to 41,700, pushing the security budget to over £1 billion (see The Telegraph). We can expect to see the armed forces patrolling in Greenwich too (7500 will be working as security guards checking visitors to Olympic venues), so...that'll be nice.

If the idea of ground-to-air missiles being stationed up the road (along with the build-up of military hardware and personnel in the area) does not phase you, and your feathers are not ruffled by the inevitable disruption to your daily transport routine, you may just find the prospect of the drone of helicopters coming and going and circling above us day and night may tip the balance. The Games are running from 27 July – 9 September, so if you don't have tickets and you aren't "getting involved" in any way, you only have around 125 days left to plan your escape.