Bexley Life April/May 2023

Wildlife s tu dy days

INTRODUCTION TO SOLITARY BEES (Maidstone - Tyland Barn)

22 April 10 00 am – 4 00pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

Introduction to the ecology and identification of solitar y bees, with a mixture of classroom and field sessions

BEGINNERS’ BIRDWATCHING

PART 1 (Sevenoaks Wildlife Reser ve)

6 May 10 00am – 4 00pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

Learn out how to identify birds on this introductor y course An indoor introduction will be followed by an outdoor session to look for birds of woodland and wetland

RESPONSIBLE BEGINNERS’ BEEKEEPING (MaidstoneTyland Barn)

7 May 10 30 am – 4 00pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

An introductor y course for anyone interested in learning more about bees and the craft of beekeeping

LICHENS FOR BEGINNERS (Maidstone - Tyland Barn & Hothfield)

13 May 10am - 3/4pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

Make a start on identifying these notoriously difficult yet intriguing, beautiful and environmentally sensitive plants

REPTILE ECOLOGY AND SURVEY TECHNIQUES (Maidstone

- Tyland Barn & Vinters Valley Nature Reser ve)

20 May 10 30 am – 4 00pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

Discover how to identify reptiles and learn about their habitat requirements Then search for reptiles in a nearby nature reser ve

BEGINNERS’ BIRDWATCHING – PART

2 (Doddington & Oare Marshes)

20 May 10 00am – 4 00pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

Spend a day in the field improving your birdwatching skills

BROAD-LEAVES TREES IN SPRING (Maidstone - Tyland Barn)

21 May 10am - 3/4pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

Learn to identify trees and shrubs by their flowers and leaves

BUTTERFLIES OF KENT (MaidstoneTyland Barn, Bluebell Hill & Burnham Down)

27 May 10 00 am – 4 00pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

Learn more about the butterflies of Kent and their habitats

I

(Maidstone - Tyland Barn & Ranscombe Farm Reser ve)

28 May 10 00 am – 4 00pm

Fees or donations apply and booking essential

What do you know about wild orchids: their life cycles, where to find them, and how to identify them? Discover all this and more

Although ever y ef for t is made assure the accuracy of the content of this

Improvements to Craydene Open Space, Erith

The Council st ar t ed working last month t o bring new trees, fitness equipment, children’s agility equipment and a new footpath t o the large green Craydene Open Space in Erith over the coming months.

It is also introducing raised beds for community gardening, so that residents with green fingers have a space to grow their own produce

Grounds maintenance contractor Tivoli is already on site to clear up the grounds, including cutting back brambles and bushes, as well as installing new fencing to the south of the site Work is being carried out on the Craydene Road access gate to prevent quad bikes from entering the park Tivoli will also be adding large concrete containers that will be filled with wildflower seeds during the summer and used to plant trees in the autumn

In the second stages of development, the new fitness and agility equipment will be installed to the nor th of the site

The improvements are possible thanks to joint funding of £160,000 from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund and the Bexley Wellbeing Par tnership.

Councillor Peter Craske, Cabinet Member for Places, commented: “As one of the par tners of the Bexley Wellbeing Par tnership, the Council shares its aims to suppor t and improve the health, care and wellbeing of local people and communities We hope that the new fitness and agility equipment will help fur ther suppor t the physical health of residents, while the new community gardening group helps promote good mental health, bringing new friendships and fur ther oppor tunities to get outdoors and take up a new hobby “As par t of the Council’s 2023/24 budget, we will be investing even fur ther in ser vices that all our residents use, including our beautiful green parks and open spaces across the borough ”

www bexley gov uk

Easter Fun with the Rabbit Run

Saturday, 8 Apr il 2023

11:00am - 16:00pm

Broadway Management Suit e

Hip hip hooray, the Broadway Centre are really going big on celebrating Easter time!

So It's time for THE RABBIT RUN! They're inviting all the little ones (and the big kids too, shh don't tell anyone) to come and join the fun of becoming an Easter Bunny!

They have four different hutches set up around the town, each with a unique bunny transformation feature. Once you've completed your transformation, head on over to the Farm by the Clock Tower to finish up your training and snap a photo of your awesome bunny self! And guess what, once you're officially qualified, you get to take your newly made Easter basket to some of the coolest shops in town and fill it up with tons of mini Easter eggs! How egg-citing is that?!

But wait, there's more! The best par t is yet to come - the Easter egg hunt!

This is where you get to put all your inner-bunny skills to the test and hunt down all the hidden eggs! And the best par t? It's all free of charge! But be sure to hop to it and arrive early to snag a spot, because space is limited and you wouldn't want to miss out on all the fun!

www.enjoybexleyheath.co.uk

Easte r Fam ily Fu n Eco Event plu

s FREE Easte r Eg g Hu nt!

Saturday 1 April 2023, 12:00 - 15:00

Enjoy a fun day full of activities for all the family at the family eco-friendly Easter event run by Bexley Eco Festival at Belvedere Community Centre! Activities include - Easter Egg Hunt; Bike fixing; Kids cycling sessions); Clothes Swap; Real Nappies; Wasteless market recycling more unusual items; Refill stations; Toy Swap; Cooker y demos and free tasters; Craft Activities; Children's games; FREE energy guidance and suppor t with SELCE; Plus loads more fun! Some activities you will need to book including the Easter Egg Hunt or are at specific times Please register your interest for ever ything else, or you can simply turn up on the day!!!

Light refreshments will be available on the day and there will also be free cornflower seeds to give away

Belvedere Community Centre Mitchell Close Belvedere DA17 6AA

Eggs-cellent Easter Trail at Woodlands Farm Trust

Thursday 6th Apr 10:00 - 14:00

It is the return of the annual Woodlands Farm Easter Trail!

Can you find all the Easter eggs hidden round the farm?

If you can then you can get you chocolate egg prize!

No need to book, just drop in. £2 per child.

For more information contact 020 8319 8900 or email education@thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org

Easter at Lesnes Abbey

Eas t er Egg Hunt

April 8 @ 11:00 am - 3:00 pm Cost £4

The Easter bunny has been ver y busy and, in his rush, accidently dropped his eggs he was meant to be delivering around the park to his animal friends Perhaps you can help him out by discovering where each of the eggs is hidden and who each egg belongs to?

If you find them all and help the Easter bunny out, then you will receive a small prize! Please pre book tickets to avoid isappointment, but you can come along on the day se go to the burgundy and green gazebo situated in the Monk’s Garden

Lesnes Eas t er Fayre

April 8 @ 11:00 am - 4:00 pm. Entrance Free

With street food, craft stalls, music, enter tainment and much much more Even the Easter Bunny is making an appearance at 1pm There will be an Easter Bonnet Competition and Parade at Noon Lesnes Abbey, Abbey Road, Belvedere SE2 0AX http://lesnesabbeyevents eventbrite com/

Good Friday challenge at Mount Mascal

Friday 7 Apr, 11:00, Mount Mascal St ables, Vicarage Rd, Bexley

Exciting Cross- Countr y & Show jumping course built across our indoor and outdoor arena Sunshine Tour Qualifier!

£14 Individual Entr y, £12 per Pair, £4 first aid & Arena Charge (payable once per rider)

Telephone: 0208 300 3947 www mountmascalstables com

275 Main Road, Sidcup, Kent DA14 6QL Tel: 020 8300 1465

238 Blackfen Road, Sidcup, Kent DA15 8PW Tel: 020 8850 3243

FOR ALL YOUR EASTER FAYRE - COME TO J.AYRE!

★ HOT X BUNS

★ EASTER NOVELTY CAKES

J.Ayre

★ CHOCOLATE NOVELTIES MADE FROM REAL BELGIAN CHOCOLATE

★ TRUFFLE FILLED EGGS

RE-BIRTH FOR JOLLY MILLERS, BEXLEYHEATH

The Jolly Millers, Mayplace Road

B ex l ey h e a t h , h a s b e e n g i f t e d a wonder ful new lease of life, by two local midwives!

Esther Gorman and Tracey Phayer, both from Bexleyheath, were formerly regulars in the much-loved pub, so when the oppor tunity to take it over arose, they jumped at the chance to rescue it from the sad fate experienced by many local hostelries

The ever popular venue has now undergone a complete refurbishment and looks back to it’s former glor y

Tracey and Esther have said that they want to bring back the ‘old feel’ of the place and revise some old traditions, such as weekend meat raffles, bar snacks, bingo, dar ts and popular spor ts on the TVs - in fact ever ything we all like about a local pub!

“The whole area around the ‘top-end’ of Bexleyheath has, in recent times, undergone many changes, so it is great that some of the traditions still sur vive” commented a local resident.

Top: Jolly Millers today

Bottom: In it ’ s ‘hey -day’ in the 1960s

Spring around the garden...

We sincerely hope by the time this goes t o print, Spring will

Maint

who despit e the t opsy -tur vy nature of the weather

t hrough F ebr uar y and Marc h has continued t o keep extremely busy in and around Bexley.

It's at this time of year where we generally find the grass cutting rounds go into full flow, but because the weather hasn't been conducive just yet, we're finding that general tidyups and maintenance visits (in preparation for Spring/Summer) have been the order of the day. Hedges, bushes, shrubs, weeding and patio cleaning can be worked on no matter what the weather (within reason) and we always say, it doesn't matter how small your patch of garden is, a nice spring clean can make the world of difference We find a lot of our customers are people that might not necessarily have the time or perhaps ability to get out there to do the work themselves anymore, so it always gives us a nice incentive to make things look as good as they can possibly be in order to put a smile on faces The grass cut round is getting booked up quickly now, so don't hesitate in getting in touch with Jon for your free quotation

www.se-gardenmaintenance.co.uk

Patio - before Patio - af t er

Some wonderful entertainment in Eltham

by John Goodwin, Bob Hope Theatre

Following on from our critically acclaimed pant omime, Red Riding Hood & the Et ernal Wint er throughout Januar y, and our production of John Godber’s comedy Up ‘ n ’ Under last month, our 80th Anniversar y celebrations (as Eltham Little Theatre ) continues at great pace

Fur ther productions of our own appear throughout the year and include Round & Round the Garden (14th – 20th June) - In this Alan Ayckbourn play, Sarah's desperate attempts to have a nice, civilized weekend culminate, not surprisingly, in disaster

Ruth, Norman's wife, is summoned but Norman still contrives to cause havoc involving, finally, all three women

Matters are not helped by such events as the slow thinking Tom mistaking Ruth's intentions during a conversation they have together Eventually the horrific weekend draws to a close

Our youth group The New Stagers present their own production of Eltham Through the Ages (7th – 8th July)

Star ting off our 2023/24 Season we present The Lieutenant of Inishmore which delivers dark comedy at its blackest, by awardwinning writer, Mar tin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)

2024 kicks off with the return of the team that brought you this year ’ s panto, simply titled Once Upon a Time A Fair ytale Pantomime You won’t want to miss this one, so keep an eye out for when tickets go on sale

Interspersed through all of these are our guest productions from other local societies

Eldorado Musical Productions present The Addams Family creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky musical (29th March – 1st April)

Ferrier Operatic Society present Gilber t and Sullivan’s Princess Ida (25th – 27th May)

Our next Craft Fair and Coffee Morning is on Saturday 10th June from 10 30am til 1pm in the Bob Hope Theatre Bar and Foyer

For full details of these and other events please visit our website www bobhopetheatre co uk

Modern Indian Restaurant & Takeaway

Green w ich Ch ildren’s Theatre Festiva l...

by James Haddrell, Ar tistic Director of Greenwich Theatre.

Back in 2007 at Greenwich Theatre we launched the Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival It was probably the first major initiative that I implement ed af t er being appoint ed as direct or, and in that first year with financial suppor t from Docklands Light Railway we programmed six dif ferent productions The festival was designed t o be just one of several bridging points for families through the year, so that our pant omime audience - which was transit or y then - could st ay connect ed t o the venue through the year. Until that time, it seemed that audiences moved between local pant omimes - Greenwich, Bromley, Dar tford, Stratford, Hackney - but we were keen t o build a loyal audience that would feel connect ed t o the venue and come year af t er year. That ’ s ver y dif ficult t o achieve if you only see people once ever y twelve months.

One thing is clear - the strategy worked. Our annual pantomime audience is now a regular loyal audience that returns each Christmas, we ’ re now building a regular family summer show - and the festival has continued to grow and grow

Among the nearly 30 per formances, some of the bigger shows this year include a stage version of Fireman Sam and a Greenwich debut for the Ministr y of Science Looking at the scientists, engineers and inventors who have shaped the modern world, with a few loud bangs along the way, this utterly enter taining show will prove that ever yone in the audience, however young, has the ability to change the world. Other shows that will share some amazing facts with our young audiences include Curious Investigators, developed in collaboration with engineering exper ts from Lancaster University and following the for tunes of Scribble and Clipboard as they find a mysterious egg hidden amongst the recycling Meanwhile, the rock ‘ n ’ roll infused Dinosaurs and all that Rubbish is an imaginative adaptation of Michael Foreman’s environmental tale with dancing

dinosaurs, while Animals is an interactive show full of original songs which celebrates the amazing wildlife around us and makes big things feel possible

A series of well-known stories also feature, including The Little Mermaid over the Easter weekend itself, Tales from A Thousand and One Nights, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and The King of Nothing – a new puppet musical based on The Emperor’s New Clothes

The festival has always aimed to offer something for young people of all ages, so I am also delighted that SheWolves, named by The Stage Newspaper in their list of the best Edinburgh Fringe shows from last year, is now confirmed to play on the final night The show, which is ideal for teenagers and i s d e s c r i b e d a s “ s o m e w h e r e b e t w e e n Booksmar t, Little Miss Sunshine and Thelma & Louise”, is an uplifting and empowering play about the power of hope and forging friendships when you ’ re a bit weird. A d d i n a s e r i e s o f w o r k s h o p s a n d p a r t i c i p a t o r y a c t i v i t i e s , p l u s p u p p e t r y productions of Pinocchio, The Nosy Little Troll, and the beautiful ecological Breathe, told from the perspective of an acorn, and we should be all set for a stunning for tnight of theatre.

www greenwichtheatre org uk

This feature was first published in the South London Press

Great evenings at Bexley Park

TAMER KATTAN Multi Award Winning Comedian

Friday 28th April

Tamer is a powerhouse of a headliner who honed his skills in Los Angeles, New York City and London His International experience includes tours for the UN troops in Afghanistan, per forming at the American University in Cairo during the Egyptian revolution and the Edinburgh fringe in Scotland, where he received three 4 star reviews from International press, immediately followed by being featured on Seth Rogen’s Hilarity for Charity event with Todd Glass and Hannibal Buress, winning The World Series of Comedy, Comedy Knockout on tr y TV, ‘Best of Fest’ at Big Pine Comedy Festival and three weeks later winning The Por tland Comedy Festival

He has TV & Radio credits on BBC and Sky TV in the UK as well as in the United States on Fox, HULU, Netflix, Amazon and truTV

In 2021 he joined the writing staff of the soon to be released animated series ‘Tantrum Jesus’ as Writer/Producer )

DAVE FULTON Comedian, Actor, Director

Friday 31st March

Dave Fulton has it all; irony, a sardonic turn of phrase, an amazingly relaxed stage presence and the intelligence to casually riff with the British audiences that have adopted this shaggy American joker

The Seattle-based comedian has played clubs from San Francisco to New York, and notched up many TV credits ranging from Half Hour Comedy Hour (MTV), ShowTime and An Evening At The Improv (A&E) to a cutting-edge US programme called Comedy Explorers where he was filmed floating down the Grand Canyon He’s also been seen enter taining crowds as far away as Hong Kong and Cape Town, South Africa

Dave is opinionated, isn’t afraid to pull punches in his obser vations, yet has a deceptively laid-back stage manner that disguises a raw aggression A varied melting pot of issues that sometimes even he doesn’t want to explore This is un-missable comedy from one of the most dynamic and innovative comedians breaking on the comedy circuit at the moment His mother would never have thought it possible from someone who holds a Masters in Music Composition

Recent television appearances var y from BBC 2’s The ‘Stand Up Show’ to Channel 5’s ‘The Comedy Store’ on which he took the roof off the prestigious club with his highly inventive perspective on life You’ll have also spotted Dave on BBC2’s Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Steve Coogan’s Saxondale

As always there’s a great suppor ting lineup direct from the London Comedy Circuit - Book Early - Limited Availability!

Ticket prices are £15.00 each, £12.50 for a group of 4 and just £10.00 each for a group of six adults www houseofstandup co uk/dar tford/

2 FREE TO ENTER COMPETITIONS

In association with Bexley Park we have two pairs of tickets for each of the upcoming comedy shows to give away Just answer either (or both) of the following questions and email to info@bljournals plus com, including ‘Competition’ in the subject line

Competition 1 - Where did Tamer Katten star t his stand up career?

Competition 2 - What musical instrument can Dave Fulton play?

Take a Friend Fishing!

Take a Friend Fishing Eas t er runs from Saturday 1s t of April t o Sunday 16th of April 2023

The campaign offers more oppor tunity than ever to get out fishing with a friend during the extended Easter and summer campaigns in 2023.

ake a Friend Fishing continues to grow in 2023 with bigger campaigns, more ekends, and more oppor tunity for you to go fishing and create those long-lasting hips and memories

shing licence holders can register for a FREE one-day fishing licence from the Environment Agency at www takeafriendfishing co uk to take someone they know fishing

Half terms, National and family holidays all provide oppor tunities for us to unwind, be with friends and interact with the environment around us Taking a friend or family member on a fishing trip is a great way to spend time outdoors Escaping modern life to build friendships, create lasting memories and just enjoy some time next to the water, is the ultimate in relaxation

With the pressures of modern life, physical health and mental wellbeing are more impor tant than ever The experience of a fishing trip together with a work colleague, family member, par tner or just a mate, offers the ideal oppor tunity to unwind and recharge your batter y, whilst being active at the same time

www takeafriendfishing co uk

WEDNESDAY 5 COURSE BANQUET NIGHT

Papadom, any one star ter, any one main dish (except King Prawn) any one side dish, any one rice dish or naan bread

£10.95

(No fur ther discount on takeaway)

Simply order your takeaway online anytime @www.theovalbrasserie.co.uk

FREE Home deliver y on orders over £15 (3 mile radius)

15% Discount on Collection Only (over £12, cash only)