Latest news with #Wombles
Time Out
a day ago
- Time Out
South-east London is getting a new rapid bus route
Londoners, meet the Bakerloop. No, it's not a new pastry from Gails, it's TfL's brand new express bus route. Officially called the BL1, the service is officially set to launch this autumn as part of the ongoing Superloop expansion. The loop's route essentially just traces that of the proposed (and still unfunded) Bakerloo line extension we've all been dreaming of, zipping between Waterloo and Lewisham via Elephant & Castle, Old Kent Road and New Cross Gate. Basically, it's an answer to that age old problem of trying to get anywhere from south-east London. Thank God. The new route comes off the back of a public consultation, which found overwhelming support for the BL1: 82 percent of respondents said it'd be more convenient, and 79 percent reckoned it'd get them there faster. The people have spoken – and TfL listened, albeit with one tiny tweak. A planned stop in Lewisham's Station Road has been scrapped to keep the journey swift and streamlined. The Bakerloop is set to run every 12 minutes from Monday to Saturday, then every 15 minutes during off-peak hours and on Sundays. So, soon there'll be no excuse not to visit those arty friends of yours who never leave New Cross. This is the first central London route to join the Superloop network—a now fully operational system of rapid orbital buses designed to connect outer London without the faff of switching trains. And yes, we've already waxed lyrical about its southeast expansion here, so naturally we're thrilled to see it taking shape. But the Bakerloop isn't just about getting from A to B. It's a not-so-subtle nudge toward that long-promised Bakerloo line extension - an upgrade that Lewisham locals have been desperately campaigning for. While the Tube extension remains stalled in budgetary limbo, BL1 is here to prove that south-east London deserves better, faster transport, whether it's underground, overground or Bakerlooping free. Yes, that's a Wombles reference in 2025. So, while the government and TfL keep negotiating the future of the Bakerloo line, at least one thing's clear: the loop is coming. And this autumn, you'll be able to hop on board. .
Daily Mirror
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
AFC Wimbledon promoted to League One as Guitar Hero joins Crazy Gang folklore
Myles Hippolyte fired the goal that restores the modern-day Crazy Gang to League One in their play-off final against Walsall and Saddlers fans are wondering how they blew a 12-point lead at the top in January Spice Boy Myles Hippolyte sparked another Wombles party at Wembley as AFC Wimbledon left their unloved step-brothers from Milton Keynes behind. As the Grenada international's winner in first-half stoppage time sent the original Dons - accept no imitations on retail parks - back into League One, manager Johnnie Jackson led the celebrations of 30,000 fans following their 1-0 win against Walsall in the fourth tier play-off final. On international duty, 30-year-old Hippolyte represents the Caribbean island where the most famous export is nutmeg. In more than 400 games from the Spartan South Midlands League upwards, he has never played at a higher level than League Two - but now he belongs in the Crazy Gang pantheon of Wembley heroes with Lawrie Sanchez and penalty-save legend Dave Beasant. Hippolyte said: 'We're just a great team. We're hard to beat, we run, we fight, we do everything for each other. I had a feeling I was going to score today. I don't know why, but I got a few texts saying this was going to be my day.' In a throwback to Wimbledon's finest hour, there were echoes of the 1988 FA Cup final - all-blue against all-red, same score. With Crazy Gang godfather Dave Bassett and Beasant in the posh seats, they had to weather heavy pressure and an even heavier downpour to take the chequered flag. Guitar hero Jackson raised £10,000 for a children's cancer charity by performing open-air gigs in his back garden and posting them online during lockdown. Now he's turned his promotion heroes into AFC Wimbledon's boys of strummer. Jackson said: 'As a player, not playing at Wembley was one of my big regrets, so to lead a team out here and win makes this probably the best day of my life. But it was all torture. We couldn't rest for a minute and this is surreal, it feels like a dream. 'This club was reborn in a pub and I should think we'll be visiting quite a few in the next 24 hours to celebrate! I was pleased to see Charlton go up because I've got a long history with the club, and I got a few messages off people there overnight saying, 'Now it's your turn.' But I wouldn't have thought I'll be getting the guitar out yet - I don't want it doused in champagne.' Walsall must have feared it wouldn't be their day when clots selling half-and-half scarves on Wembley Way couldn't even spell the club's name right. But the Saddlers were 12 points clear at the top in January and somehow they blew it. Their collapse will go down as one of football's most harrowing Devon Loch tributes. In the battle of League Two's best defence and highest scorers, it was more cagey than the lions' enclosure at Whipsnade Zoo and the first goal was always likely to prove decisive. Chances were rarer than hen's teeth until Marcus Browne's shot was blocked but Hippolyte's crisp half-volley from the edge of the box was too much for Walsall keeper Tommy Simkin, only his third goal of the season and easily the most precious. The Saddlers rallied after the break, Riley Harbottle clearing off the line from Jamille Matt's flick, and Walsall boss Mat Sadler seemed convinced Joe Lewis should have been penalised for grabbing a handful of Levi Amantchi's shirt in the box. Sadler groaned: 'When you are stood there watching the celebrations and it's not your players who are celebrating it's torture. But we are fighters so there will be no feeling sorry for ourselves.' WIMBLEDON (3-5-2): Goodman 6; Harbottle 7 (Ogundere, 69, 6), Lewis 7, Johnson 8; Tilley 6, Smith 6, Reeves 7, Hippolyte 7 (Maycock, 90), Neufville 6; Browne 7 (Pigott, 90), Stevens 5 (Kelly, 77). WALSALL (3-4-2-1): Simkin 7; Okagbue 6, Williams 5 (McEntee, 34, 6), Allen 6; Asiimwe 5 (Barrett, 74), Chang 5 (Lakin, 74), Stirk 6, Gordon 6; Jellis 5 (Adomah, 63, 7), Hall 6; Matt 5 (Amantchi, 63, 6). ATTENDANCE: 50,947 MAN OF THE MATCH: Ryan Johnson
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'Like nothing I've felt' - Jackson's defining moment
Johnnie Jackson's biggest regret was never stepping out on the Wembley turf as a player. But he has now sealed his place as an AFC Wimbledon legend by leading his team to a play-off victory under the arch. The Wombles beat Walsall in the League Two play-off final after Myles Hippolyte's first-half strike secured a 1-0 victory. Former Charlton defender Jackson called lifting the trophy "the most special moment" of his career. "The privilege of leading the team out here for starters but to get the opportunity to walk up the stairs with them and lift the trophy is like nothing I've ever felt," he told BBC Radio London. Jackson moved to the Cherry Red Records Stadium on the back of the Dons' relegation to League Two in 2022. Progress has been steady - a 10th-placed finish in his second season was a marked improvement on 21st in his first. This season they secured a fifth-placed finish and a play-off spot, before twice beating Notts County 1-0 and defeating the Saddlers by the same scoreline. "A load of hard work, perseverance, support from those above and obviously the fans [has led to this]," the 42-year-old said. "But it's just been a long three-year journey for me because obviously I came to the club on the back of relegation, there was lots to sort out. "Loads behind the scenes and that's probably why I was afforded time in that first season, which wasn't great. "It's never going to be plain sailing through a League Two campaign. But what we have done, when it's mattered, is we've gone and won four games in a row now 1-0 without conceding a goal. "The way that the boys have handled being under such massive pressure over the last month, I just can't credit them enough." Match-winner Hippolyte has had an injury-hit season, playing a total of 28 games. The 30-year-old popped up with the crucial goal two minutes into first-half added time to sink the Saddlers at Wembley and credited his team-mates for their success this campaign. "The feeling's unreal. It's just the stuff of dreams, I used to dream of playing here. I got the opportunity two years ago, unfortunately lost and this time started and got the goal needed to get us promoted," he said. "As soon as it left my foot I knew it was going in the goal. It was a good clean connection and then after that it was just straight to the corner to go and celebrate. "I've been out quite a while with injuries and watching them has given me the platform to come back in and try and create things. "This opportunity is for them, massively. I'm enjoying the rewards for it at the end but the boys have been there for the majority of the season. I'm delighted for them." Club captain Jake Reeves spoke in the week building up to the game of wanting to emulate his former team-mate Barry Fuller in lifting the League Two play-off final trophy at Wembley with the Dons. And at the end he and Jackson both got to walk up the steps and hold aloft the trophy, just as Fuller and former boss Neal Ardley before them in 2016. "It felt good. It was more relief. Relief, elation, everything you could possibly think of," Reeves said. "And just to be able to look out and see how many fans we had today, it means so much to people with the history of this club and what they've been through."
BBC News
07-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Football table and 'wine bush' found during Peterborough clean-up
Bushes full of wine bottles, a table-football game and a burnt-out motor scooter were among the things discovered by litter-pickers during the Great British Spring Litter Wombles have been highlighting the problems with littering in the group comprises volunteers who work alongside Peterborough City than 184 volunteers collected 313 bags of litter during the cleaning spree. Almost 200 of the same small Blossom Hill white wine bottles were found in finds from the riverside near Stanground Lode included the rusty, burnt-out scooter, a shopping trolley, nitrous oxide canisters and Wombles chairman Harry Machin said it was an ideal time to clear the area because the river was low."A load of rubbish has washed up into the reed beds, and the vegetation hasn't got going yet," he said. A council spokesperson said: "Following on from a successful similar campaign last year, it's hoped that once again the litter-picks will highlight the positive work carried out by the council and voluntary groups to tackle the problem, as well as encouraging more people to get rid of litter correctly."The Great British Spring Clean and the Great Big School Clean were set up by Keep Britain charity said many volunteers regularly found "retro rubbish" that was dropped many years ago but was still causing harm to the environment today. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Dons skipper eyes promotion at 'spiritual' home
"For the club to be back in its spiritual home, to be able to do anything positive at that ground would be insane. It would be unbelievable. The events that happened afterward would be remembered and talked about for many, many years," said Jake current players, if any, know AFC Wimbledon better than the skipper has made 176 English Football League appearances across three stints with the south London years ago, he was part of the Wombles team that beat Plymouth Argyle 2-0 in front of more than 55,000 people at Wembley to earn promotion to League One for the first time in the club's then, the team played at Kingsmeadow in Kingston-Upon-Thames. In 2020, they returned to Plough Lane and a purpose-built stadium just down the road from their former 31, says it would be "unbelievable" to win promotion again at their "spiritual home" and more meaningful than previous promotions at former grounds."Only our fans can really know what it's like to feel that pain of when their club got taken away from them. To play for them, [it] is an honour to be able to give them anything positive and be a positive chapter in this club's long and very fruitful - hopefully - future," he told BBC Radio London."Obviously I was fortunate enough to be promoted with the club at our old ground and it served its purpose really well." 'Promotion is there for us' Reeves first joined the club on loan from Brentford for a month in 2012, before making a permanent move from Swindon Town in helped the club win promotion to League One in his first season, Reeves was sold to Bradford City in 2017 before returning to the Wombles six years later after spells at Notts County and Stevenage. AFC Wimbledon's story holds a unique place in English by fans in response to Wimbledon FC's now infamous relocation to Milton Keynes, AFC Wimbledon started out in the Combined Counties League and rose all the way up to the third return to League Two three years ago is the only relegation in their 23-year history and this year, under head coach Johnnie Jackson, the Wombles are pushing for promotion sit fifth in the league, two points off automatic promotion, with 10 games of the season remaining. A run of one victory in six has seen them drop from second in the table, yet they trail league leaders Walsall by eight points - just as they did when they occupied the runners-up spot last month."If anyone would have offered us the position that we're in now, with 10 games to go, at the start of the season I think we would have snapped their hand off," Reeves said."We've obviously still got to play many of those sides that are in and around us as well so it's all there for us. "We've got to keep going and believing in what we're doing and hopefully by the end of the season we'll be celebrating." 'If we end up in the play-offs, I back us' Wimbledon travel to Carlisle United on Saturday knowing they could end the day in third if results go their Dons' last home game of the season on 26 April is a crunch match against fellow promotion chasers Port Vale, before their final-day trip to Grimsby Town."We've put ourselves in a position where we'd like to finish on the last day of the season [with automatic promotion, that] would be really nice," Reeves added. "If it ends up being that we're in the play-offs, so be it. It's still a massive, massive improvement from where the club has been in recent history. "It would be another step forward from last season when we fell just short of the play-offs, which was extremely frustrating."I'm not sure there would be many clubs who'd want to face us in the play-offs, across two legs, with possibly the second leg at Plough Lane. Over one game in the final, who knows? It's down to the day really but I'd back us either way."
