Havelock Walk Open Studios

7th,8th & 14th,15th May from 11am - 6pm

Hidden in plain sight, Havelock Walk is home to a community of artists, designers and musicians in the centre of Forest Hill. Come find them and you will discover a cobbled mews with a delightfully incongruous mix of buildings. Wander through the studios, chat with the artists and designers; relax in the sunshine while you take in a live music set or sample some street food.

Havelock Walk is located off London Road, between Santander and M&Co.

An ode to Forest Hill

By our Ever Living Poet, Mr.William Shakespeare brought back to life in 2016 by the Forest Hill Society

The Forest that did clothe this very hill
My good Queen Liz did chop down for her ships
And left a gap that was just naught and nil,
But soon rose up a place on all our lips:
A magic place of walrus and of pub
Of Shi-shi cafés, wondrous fine boutiques
Now bringing us by Overground to rub
Along in taverns where we all may speak.
We bathe in pools community has saved
And read in lib-ry, view the Havelock art.
The Street on which we walk - edible paved,
South circular where once canal did start.
But it’s the people of good Forest Hill
Who make it special and they always will.

Compiled by actor Mark Stephenson as part of Teatro Vivo's street performances around Forest Hill to celebrate St George's Day 2016.

Planting in the Town Centre

Gardening volunteers needed on Saturday 30th April, meeting at 2.30pm in front of Forest Hill station to clip, weed and replant to get ready for our entry to the Royal Horticultural Society's "It's Your Neighbourhood" 2016 - and more importantly to make our town centre look nice.

Please bring a trowel, secateurs or scissors and gardening or other protective gloves.  No experience needed, but as we will be working in close proximity to the road this activity is not suitable for children.

Saturday 23rd April - Shakespeare comes to Forest Hill

Croydon Canal to be Reinstated after 200 years

Published on 1st April 2016 as a joke:

The Forest Hill Society have been working hard since last April on a great scheme to replace the existing railway line with the old canal as a step towards a speedier and more reliable commuter service.

The basic plan will be to remove the slow and rather cumbersome railway line and reinstate a large section of the Croydon Canal. We know there is a lot of support in the local community for the environmental and health benefits of the canal as a primary means for transportation in South East London.

Some of the details still need to be worked out in conjunction with TfL but along both sides of canal would be cycle paths allowing commuters to cycle to central London without the hassle of traffic or pollution.

One of the early criticism of this scheme was the lack of train services, but commuters will have frequent solar-powered paddle-steamers that will speed them through the South London suburbs at speeds substantially faster than existing train services. To help with speed on these canal services, water flow would be reversed each day to help with the flow of services.

The canal will run from Crystal Palace through to Highbury & Islington and will be the first canal in the world to go through tunnels under a river. Further investigations are required to test the viability for an 'aquavator' which would allow for the canal services to transfer directly to the Thames, for interchange to surface waterways.

The official launch of the first canal transport on the railway line will take place on the 1st April 2017, and during the first two years canal boats and trains will run alongside each other. This may result in flooding of passenger compartments but this will provide passengers with fish pedicures and the opportunity to catch their own dinner on the journey home from work.

* Press release issued by the Forest Hill Society on 1st April 2016. Some of the details in this article may not be valid on any other day of the year.