End of the road

Hey folks,

It’s been fun sharing about life in East London.

However, due to other commitments, I’ll have to call it a day for this blog.

Thanks for visiting and take care :)

Olympic peeps in missing money mystery

The Mayor’s office has asked accountants to find out how the London Development Agency (LDA) is now short of over £150m.

The LDA is in charge of buying up land for the Olympics.

It had to pay 3,000 organisations and people to leave parts of Stratford so it could build for the Olympics.

Now with this black hole, BBC London explains that the LDA is going to have to axe some of the Olympics’ projects to balance up things.

Apparently, it will dump those projects with "relatively poor value for money".

Makes you wonder why they created and funded projects with poor value for money in the first place.

Could this sudden audit be a blessing in disguise for the 2012 coffers?

From the brink to the best

Former Manor park resident Martin Darke has trumped homelessness and a nervous breakdown to be shortlisted for a tidy prize in the Barclays Trading Places Awards (BTPA).

How did he get there, you ask? The Stratford and Newham Express explains that unemployed Martin got a job as a messenger, and then became a junior in the corporate loans department.

He worked in the financial sector for some years, even completing a degree in economics before starting his own business MD National Stocktakers and Auditors.

The BTPA awards recognise business people who have overcome adversity. In this case, I think he stands a pretty good chance of clinching the prize.

Good on you Martin :)

Who’s to blame for Upton Park footie disaster?

The fans, stewards, teams or the police – who’s responsible for the fracas during the West Ham v Millwall Carling Cup tie on Tuesday night?

Thirteen people were arrested and a man was also stabbed nearby.

The police issued a statement which reveals they were not expecting drama of this scale; they say there was no intelligence of the sudden pitch invasion.

However, several fans at the match said that security arrangements were inadequate for a game between teams whose supporters have a rivalry dating from the 1920s, according to The Times

The fans in turn have been blamed, with others calling them all sorts of unkind names.

But one unimpressed Jenny, writing in the London Paper’s Letters section, says she objects to the fans being referred to as mongrels because her mongrel dog has a higher IQ than most of them.

Ouch!

Great way to end nutty sales

Children and their famlies have been saved from eating dangerous peanut butter sold in local shops.

Health officers from Newham Council confiscated and destroyed about 200 plastic containers of groundnut products manufactured in Ghana by Jesu Aka Ltd. They are distributed by Marduro UK Ltd.

Many of them were seized in the borough's Green Street area in Upton Park. However, the council's food safety team have warned there could be many more circulating in Newham and across London.

The brands, which are sold widely in Afro Caribbean shops, contain levels of aflatoxins which are way above recommended levels.

Aflatoxins are a type of toxin found naturally in some foods that have been linked with cancer when eaten at high levels. There are strict limits on the level of aflatoxins in foods imported into the UK and the rest of the European Union.

Residents urged to stroll in cemetery

I haven’t heard anyone say they plan to spend an afternoon enjoying the green landscapes at a cemetery, have you?

Call it spookie, but Hackney folk have been given £92,000 to ‘connect’ with their cemetery.

The funding comes from the Natural England and the Big Lottery Fund’s Access to Nature campaign, a £25 million grant programme to connect communities with their local green spaces.

The cemetery, Abney Park in Stoke Newington, is now a local nature reserve and conservation area; it also contains a classroom, visitors’ centre and a disused central chapel.

The cemetery’s plans will involve free environmental education, craft workshops and nature trails.

It is also hoped the funding will allow residents to gain experience of nature in urban landscapes.

Sure does change your concept of strolling in the cemetery, doesn’t it?

Forced child marriage in East London

I’ve just learnt that a 15 year old school girl was forced to marry a 40 year old man – right in East London.

According to the Daily Mail, the girl’s family live in Bethnal Green and the case is being investigated by detectives in Stratford.

The horrific story came to light with the news that the police are hunting the man, who is accused of not only raping the girl,but of also assaulting her 12-year-old sister.

And it gets worse: the elder girl (now 17) contacted the police because she was scared she’d be forced into ANOTHER marriage.

In East London, the Newham Asian Women’s Project offers help for Asian girls wanting to escape violence.

They can be contacted on tel 020 8472 0528.