News from the Westcombe Society

What A Great Meeting - the AGM

Many thanks to the fifty or more people who came

to the AGM of the Westcombe Society on 15 May

and enjoyed the party. There was so much of interest

to be reported but in summary.....

The existing committee was re-elected with the

change of Andrew Riley becoming chairman and

Patricia Slade-Baker becoming Treasurer.

Jill Slade remains as Secretary and Anne Greenslade

as membership secretary. Anne Williams and Jenny

Maloney who stepped down were thanked for the

work they had done in the year. The winners and

runners-up of the John Petty Award gratefully

received their prizes from Ida Petty.

The society made a surplus for the year of £317.

Views on the membership fee ranged from having a

free membership to doubling it. The winner of the

Pol Roger champagne, donated by Majestic of

Greenwich, was Donald Champion. Many thanks to

Carol Riley and all the people who helped her

organise the delicious food. And thank you to

everyone who volunteered their services and ideas -we

will be contacting you later.

Our key efforts for the year will be to enlarge on the

membership (after making a decision about fees in

readiness for September), find a replacement for

Anne Greenslade who will be leaving us in the

summer, and have a great community summer fayre

and Dickensian bazaar.

Summer Fayre - Mycenae Gardens-Sunday

11 July 2-6pm

Put this date in your diary because by turning up you

will have the time of your life!

Yes! This highly successful event from last year has

come round again. This open air Westcombe

community party allows young and old alike to play

games, run races, and bouncy on castles in the

grounds of Mycenae House. Local schoolchildren

will be there to have fun and run their own stalls. A

highly-regarded jazz band ‘Timepieces’ will play

from 4pm. BBQ food and drink will be on sale. Bring

a picnic. Bake a cake and donate it to our cake stall.

Get those dancing/bouncing/running shoes on.

Summertime is here!

Contact Liz Court with offers of cake and help with

stalls. Tel 293 0242. She also needs a loud hailer. Do

you have one to lend?

We would like to thank Woodlands and Mycenae

House for their help in running this event.

Dickensian Bazaar - 20 November 1999: Help!

We have a venue and a date. Last year was the best

ever Bazaar raising £1,4000! We have half a dozen

people willing to run the event but we need six more

volunteers in order to make this flagship of the

Westcombe Society happen.

Some of last year’s key people can not commit as

much time this year due to health, family and work

commitments. Since the last appeal we have had one

enthusiastic response.. but can we have some more.

There will be a ‘make or break’ meeting on

Wednesday 16 June at 84 Beaconsfield Road. Please

contact Caroline Owens on 853 0948.

Your commitment can be tailored to how much time

you have. What is involved is not onerous and is fun!

* Be an entrepreneur and help run and organise a

particular stall which makes lots of money for the

society

* Let your advertising consultancy skills run riot and

get involved in the publicity

* Use those magazine articles you have kept to

positive effect and make decorations and food ( this

would be a great trial run before trying it out on your

friends and family )

* Try out your power of persuasion and see what

local traders will give you

Remember the money raised gets ploughed back into

community events and local charities. So the time

you give will make a difference.

Adult Nearly New - Saturday 22 May

Apologies to those people who came to Mycenae

house to buy clothes. The Adult Nearly New had to

be cancelled at late notice because there were so few

stallholders.

This happened last year as well. A Children’s Nearly

New will take place in the autumn but for the present

the Westcombe Society will not be organising any

more Adult Nearly New Sales.

The future of Greenwich District Hospital

Bexley and Greenwich Health Authority is

consulting on proposals to develop the

Memorial and Golden Leigh Hospital sites, and the

future of the Greenwich District Hospital site once

the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital opens in 2001! In

1993/4 the argument for the new hospital was that

the provision of high quality, efficient services could

not be managed from the existing three sites - the

Brook, the Memorial and the Greenwich District

Hospital and so the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital

was born.

* A consultation document is available:

‘Modernising healthcare in Bexley and Greenwich’

(see contact numbers below ). A number of public

meetings were held in May. Unfortunately we

received details of these too late before going to press

so we could not give you any notice. The consultation

period ends on 30 July 1999 and your views are

welcomed on four specific areas:

* The future of the Greenwich District Hospital

building and site

* The services to be provided for older people ( over

the age of 65 ) with mental health needs and the

proposed siting of those services

* The proposed development of the Memorial

Hospital site, including plans to provide mental

health services for adults ( up to the age of 65 ) on

the site

* The proposed development of the Golden Leigh

Hospital site, primarily for people with learning

difficulties

It is proposed to sell the Greenwich District Hospital

building and site as it is considered unsuitable for

other NHS users and will cost £800,000 a year to

maintain. Planning permission has been granted for

the Millennium Village Health Centre, which will be

built on Greenwich Peninsula. It is expected to

provide GP services to about 12,000 patients, when

the village is fully developed. Services that may be

available for the wider community in Greenwich are

also being explored. These include chronic disease

management in diabetes, asthma and heart disease

and on-site blood testing facilities

Please send your comments ( no stamp required ) to

Bexley and Greenwich Health

Authority, FREEPOST SEA 1927, Bexleyheath,

DA7 6BR. Freephone message line is 0800 917

6310. E-mail: [email protected]

Kosovo lunch

Many thanks to all those who attended the very jolly

fund-raising shared lunch in aid of Kosovo’s

refugees on May 15th in Glenluce Road. The event

was a great success: a total of £800 was raised - much

of it through advance donations by people who could

not attend. As a result, £400 is to be donated to local

charities looking after Kosovo refugees in this

country, including Lewisham Refugee Network and

the Copleston Centre in Southwark, and the

remaining £400 is to be donated to Oxfam’s Kosovo

Crisis Appeal and UNHCR relief work in Macedonia

and Albania.

Welcoming a new estate agent to the community

Since opening their doors last April, Peter Burchell

and James Power have been amazed and pleasantly

surprised at how quickly they have established

themselves in the area. "There was a definite need for

a fresh approach to estate agency. An independent

estate agency is the way forward" said James and

Peter, "people prefer the personal approach and the

ultimate tenacity that you get from a partner in the

business."

Peter and James are currently recruiting more staff to

cope with their rapidly increasing workload. Their

doors are always open, so if you require advice, a

valuation or if you are looking to buy, sell or rent then

call them on 858 2533

Accidents keep happening

Hopefully now that the waterworks are finished you

are not suffering from ' hit and run’ accidents. Thanks

again for the new letters which recently arrived. We

would like to write to Thames Water and Greenwich

Council with a complete list of the accidents. If your

parked car has been damaged since the traffic

restrictions complete the details  below and send them

to The Page Editor of Community Life, 20 Humber

Road, SE3 7LT:

ACCIDENT DETAILS

Name, Number and Road:

Type of car damaged:

Accident date:

Damage value (approximate)

Car wars - white line wars

No one could have failed to notice the white lines

which occupy most of the Westcombe area roads. A

community plea is to consider your neighbour and

make sure that your car does not straddle two spaces

and therefore excludes any one else from using it.

The consequences of doing so may be forcing others

to park on yellow lines and incur fines and a danger

to other traffic and pedestrians.

A second point to note that in the second year of

operation, the council may be asking for your

viewpoint as to whether to continue with the parking

restrictions ..at a price. What do you think?

Local M.P. for Greenwich & Woolwich

Do you have a matter to raise with your M.P. which

affects you as an individual or the community?

Contact your local M.P.

Nick Raysnford M.P. for Greenwich and Woolwich

surgeries are: 2nd and 4th Friday

(7pm) of the month, Labour Party Office, 32

Woolwich Road, SE10; 2nd Saturday (

11am), Charlton House, SE7; 2nd Saturday ( 2pm),

West Greenwich House,

Greenwich High Road, SE10; 4th Saturday (11 am),

Ferrier Community Hall, SE3; 4th Saturday (2pm),

Town Hall, Wellington Street, SE18.

For more information ring +44 [0]20 7 219 5895