Inthepink

I was next to the lovely Mickey Flannigan at a recent children's cricket club BBQ prize-giving. He looked pretty bored and left early. I didn't know he has a child playing. It's quite usual to see Jo Brand around the village, Lorraine Chase in Rocca's, James Nesbitt at the Lido, Hugh Edwards in West Dulwich and Jenny Eclair on Lordship Lane. Stars in our eyes indeed!

Hi there I have just found out about your bookclub and would like to come along next Weds. Is that possible? I am local to East Dulwich. Thanks in advance, ItP

Clean Air Petiton is a SUCCESS! Thank you all for the 531 signatures, which have triggered Southwark Council to promise to extend the Clean Air for Schools programme! After a hugely successful last push in April, Southwark Green Party managed to collect 531 signatures for our clean air campaign. This allowed us to have dedicated question time at the latest council cabinet meeting. Chair Miranda Walsh presented our petition and called for more specific action to reduce traffic and pollution, especially rolling out the clean air programme to all 48 schools badly affected by pollution. The cabinet were swayed by our arguments, and have agreed to look at these again and come back to us in three months time. You can read the full article about the meeting here: http://southwark.greenparty.org.uk/news/2013-04-17-airpollution.html Thank you so much to all those who signed and circulated. A high profile programme on air pollution has been broadcast on the BBC this week. Very useful for getting up to speed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s7twg

Thank you to Ellabrunswick for being so articulate and thorough in discussing the air pollution above. Yes there are several very sensible and small steps councils can take to help. It needs to start with public concern, and the monitoring the air levels. Practically speaking the main actions that help are - reducing car journeys, tackling bus and coach emissions from dirty fuels, improving cycle safety, health education about walking and cycling, street and playground planting, smog alerts for routes and general awareness raising. Clean Air London are campaigning across the capital. http://cleanairinlondon.org/ Please aign our petition before tomorrow if you can. Thank you. Southwark Greens

Just for everyone's info, we have over 250 paper signatures to add to the electronic ones, to reach our quota. Please do sign if you would like Southwark Council to start monitoring and tackling the problem. Thank you,

It's good to see we all care about air pollution and the harm it can do to the children exposed. There are some very practical steps that can be taken to mitigate the harm - eg re-positioning play grounds, planting vegetation to absorb chemicals, road glue patches, traffic calming and more. There's more in-depth info to read online at http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2013/01/25/smog-hits-our-green-lungs-once-again/ Please do continue to support our e-petition - we only need a few more signatures to reach the 500 required by Tues 2nd April. http://moderngov.southwarksites.com/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=50000022&RPID=500504125&HPID=500504125 There is also a paper petition you can sign in the Blue Mountain Cafe, Se22. Thank you. Southwark Greens

We at Southwark Greens are concerned about the high levels of pollution near schools in Southwark. We have an ongoing campaign to let the council know how strongly locals feel about the issue. As a part of this, we are asking Southwark Council to urgently reduce air pollution on main roads near schools. This is needed to protect the health of children and staff. We are also asking them to measure the levels of air pollution near affected schools, and to help the schools to take steps to protect children and staff. To help get the council action needed, we have an online petition to sign before Wed 2nd April at http://tiny.cc/swkpetition Air pollution is now one of the leading causes of early death. Young people are particularly vulnerable because their lungs are still developing. It?s estimated that traffic pollution may be responsible for 15-30% of all new cases of asthma in children. Yet there are 48 schools in Southwark within 150 metres of roads that carry over 10,000 vehicles a day. Children, the elderly and people with existing respiratory illness suffer most from air pollution, but we?re all affected. A study commissioned by the Mayor of London estimated that 4,267 Londoners died prematurely in 2008 as a result of long-term exposure to polluted air ? mostly through heart attacks and strokes. Thank you for your support. Southwark Greens

For parents and carers who are concerned, there is a new campaign to bring change to the harmful level of pollution in the air near Southwark's schools. The entire borough of Southwark, except for the area to the south of the A205, has been declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA). This means the area has been identified as being particularly polluted, largely due to heavy traffic. Exposure to high levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution affects the function of lungs, especially in children and increased hospital admissions occur in areas with high levels of nitrogen dioxide. The main concentrations of nitrogen dioxide are around busy roads, and there are 48 schools in Southwark within 150m of busy roads. The Green Party will be calling for the council to take steps to protect people from pollution by: * reducing traffic near these schools * helping the schools to protect their students, e.g. by planting absorbant bushes and trees alongside roads and by incorporating pollution into school travel plans * issuing smog alerts to schools and parents on particularly bad days * encouraging teachers to measure air pollution with children as science projects Come to an important council meeting to discuss this problem and start action - this Wed eve 4th July in Southwark . Details on Southwark Green Party website, or on GreenPartySouthwark Twitter. OR call 07914 425 378

Your small but perfectly formed local Green Party urgently needs extra help in delivering Green Party info to houses in East Dulwich. This is to campaign for Green candidates for the forthcoming London elections on the 3rd May. We are doing an all day leaflet drop on Sat 24th March, and would really appreciate your help. Just turn up at Green and Blue any time after 10am. You only need to volunteer for a couple of hours. Call Tom on 07866 447 075 or see [southwark.greenparty.org.uk]

Hi there. There is an informal group called "Bring a Single Friend" that meet around the Clapham area. It's run as a sideline by two thirty-something gals. They have suggested that I set a new group up for older singletons...maybe "bring a divorced friend"get-togethers! Anyway, you can google their site for more info. And there are always the countless online dating sites to turn to...Hope this helps.

P.S. Have you seen what Southwark News have online for food and drink? Have a look at www.southwarknews.co.uk/food

Have you thought about the time and cost element of your website idea? In my experience - I used to run the "posh" free magazine in Dulwich - you will need to make it a full time job updating, selling and running the site. I started as a website before becoming printed. Your revenues will be key to justifying your efforts. The biggest ad revenues locally are from restaurants and estate agents, but they are mostly notoriously bad payers. Other small businesses have only small budgets, and are mostly unskilled in graphics and marketing. You will have to do any design or online work for them, free of charge. Most restaurants use their own low-paid staff to walk round with their flyers, so it is an incredibly cheap way to advertise. Their flyers are the most expensive cost. But in my experience, the success rate is very low, whilst the irritation factor is very high. Customers largely know where they want to eat, and their budget often dictates. So your listings might be wide of the mark too - menus are not usually the main factor in getting bums onto restaurant seats. Also, restaurants are quick to cut back on spend in rocky economic times. Even if you do get support, your advertisers will do everything to not pay you. My time was largely spent chasing debt in, unsuccessfully. It is what finally took me out of business. Living South has the same ongoing problem, irrespective of the credit crunch and its negative impact of any adv/marketing spend, with debt running into high figures. The group is apparently owed millions in invoices. I know your costs will be lower online, but you will still need to be financially viable. The only successful local advertising vehicle I came across was the Time and Leisure group, who have a fairly popular website supporting their local titles. I won't comment on SE22, for various reasons. T and L cover other suburbs of South London, eg Wimbledon. They have a large team of people in Merton Abbey Mills keeping everything going, including a very heavy handed accounts dept. So I would personally steer well clear of your idea for many reasons. It sounds like a ticket to grief! But good luck if you do try.

Opps. Maybe you could PM me if you are still organising tonight. TY. M

I've not read through all the above posts, but I seriously recommend you look at the FOOD DOCTOR. Ian Marber is an ex-student of the Institute of Optimum Nutrition - a college I am studying at now. They are at the cutting edge of nutrition science, and there is no stupid rubbish here - only the best in healthy diet advice and eating. You can go online or buy Ian's books. Or look at ION online. This info should change your eating habits and life for the better. You can lose weight, gain health or address conditions. It's all about understanding how your body uses fats, carbohydates, proteins, and micro and macro nutrients, and how you can best to eat. Good Luck. Or you can PM if you want. M

Hi there Are you still meeting up tonight at the Forest Hill Tavern 7.30pm, to go onto the Omrith at 8.30pm? I'd like to try to come along with a friend maybe. Just need to check beforehand thou... Thank you. M