Forest Hill Walking Festival and Edible Plant Giveaway

The Forest Hill Society will be organising the very first FOREST HILL WALKING FESTIVAL on June 9th, 2024.


The Festival will showcase a series of local walks around the local area, each with a different theme, so that you can explore places and views you may not already know about, and meet other local residents and visitors while exploring our corner of London.


On Sunday 9th of June we will have maps for 5 different walks starting and ending at Forest Hill Station, each of which will include one walk at a specific time of the day that will be guided by a member of the Society.


There will be a range of themes, from local history, musical trivia, lots of nature and also some stunning views, and will also include some activities for children and families. The walks will be of different lengths, from 1 mile to over 5 miles, and levels of difficulty to suit a range of participants, so whether you want a challenge, or just a pleasant stroll, there will be something for everyone.


So put this date in your diary, break out the walking boots, and look out for more information coming soon on each of the walks, including themes and times for the guided tours.



EDIBLE PLANT GIVEAWAY

As the Forest Hill Society will have tables in the station car park for the Walking Festival, we will also be celebrating our popular Edible Plant Giveaway from 12:00 noon on 9th June.


We are once again offering a free edible “starter” plant to anyone who comes to our tables. The aim is to encourage people to grow their own edible plants, or plants with edible products. Maybe you can even pick one up after a walk!

There's no need for a garden, these plants can be grown on a window ledge or small balcony in any old container. Many of our plants are provided and grown by members of the Forest Hill Society Committee, but also by the Forest Hill Library garden team.

We recommend coming down as soon as possible after 12 o'clock as plants go quickly. We particularly welcome families to give children a chance to grow these edible plants. If you don't have children who wish to grow the plant then you are most welcome, but we want to give priority to children for the first 30 minutes.

Edible Plant Give-Away

Saturday 4th May, 2:30pm at Forest Hill station’s forecourt.

A selection of edible plants, grown by the Horniman Gardens and surplus to requirements, will be given away by volunteers from the Forest Hill Society.

Possibly with some music to enjoy too!

Environment Report

By Quetta Kaye, Chair of the Environment Committee

The winter seems to have been a long one, but the Forest Hill Society’s Environment committee has been active, working with Energy Gardens in the area behind the bike stand on Forest Hill station’s Platform 1, with the installation of a ‘bug hotel’ and two new compost bins so that we can create our own compost. A new container of bamboo on Platform 2 helps to screen the metal railings as well as absorbing pollutants.

We suggested to Lewisham Council the need for a footpath across the Horniman Triangle park, from the café to the play equipment area. Our idea was agreed by the Forest Hill Ward Assembly and work is now in the planning stage. Broken play equipment has also been mended and repainted.

Concerned residents raised the problem of trying to use the path at the bottom of Horniman Gardens alongside the nature trail, which is almost impassable after heavy rain. Lewisham’s Highways Department has agreed to look into this and bring it up to standard.

We have been in contact with our new MP, Ellie Reeves, who has forwarded our photographs (see inset) of the area beside the underpass, which gives access to the railway path to Network Rail, in the hope that this town centre eyesore can, at last, be dealt with. Fingers crossed that something can be done, sometime soon.


Diaries Out for Spring Events:

Saturday 28th April, 2.00pm:  Call for gardeners, young and old(er), to help create exciting new planters for Perry Vale. We will also have a general post-winter planting spruce-up session to ready this year’s entry to the RHS’s “It’s your Neighbourhood” contest. Meet in Forest Hill station forecourt and bring gloves, a trowel and secateurs, if you have them — if not, we have a few spares.

Saturday 12th May, 2.00pm: Our popular Edible Plant Give-away. Once again the Forest Hill Society will be giving away starter food plants donated by Horniman Gardens to encourage growing your own, saving money and thinking green. Venue to be announced, but will probably be the station forecourt.

Edible High Road - Plant Give Away

Saturday 6th May from 2pm

The Forest Hill Society will be giving away plants to anybody who wants to grow some vegetables or herbs. The plants have been grown by the Horniman as part of courses and are surplus to requirements so, for the third year in a row, we are delighted to be giving them to local residents and visitors.

We will be at Forest Hill station from 2pm-4pm this Saturday and all plants are free. All we ask is that you look after them and then eat them!

Get there early for the best selection.

Edible High Road Launch - 16th May

Everything's Going to Look Bloomin' Marvellous!

Quetta Kaye (Chair, Environment Committee) provided information for this report. See the Forest Hill Society’s website for updates, which will be posted when details become available.

Landscaping-improvement areas
Forest Hill station*: A working group is to be organised soon to tidy up the station’s platform and forecourt planters. This is in preparation for the Forest Hill Society’s entry for London in Bloom’s annual It’s Your Neighbourhood scheme, which is run by the RHS Britain in Bloom campaign. Judging takes place between 29th June-17th July, 2015.
Job Centre Plus, 32-34 Dartmouth Road: Before Christmas nearly 600 free bulbs supplied by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association were planted beneath the trees in front of the Centre by volunteers.
Horniman Triangle play area*: On Thursday, 9th April from 11am-2pm, 30 hedgerow whips (young bare-root saplings) provided by the Woodland Trust are to be planted by Nature’s Gym and a general litter pick-up and tidying exercise is to be undertaken — volunteers are welcome! By early spring, 400 bulbs that were planted by volunteers in mid-December are expected to be blooming.
London Road pavement, opposite the Horniman Museum: Transport for London has advised us that two Indian Bean trees will soon be planted to fill in the gaps left by former trees.
London and Dartmouth Roads: The Edible High Road will continue its journey this year with local businesses sponsoring tubs of fragrant plants, adding vitality and interest to the town centre this summer. Each tub will comprise either a Bay tree, lavender or rosemary and be surrounded by Sanvitalia, a yellow trailing daisy-like plant. Potting-up day is planned for Saturday, 25th April (11:30am-3pm) at the Devonshire Road Nature Reserve, 170 Devonshire Road, with distribution planned for Saturday, 9th May (3-5pm). Volunteers are not just welcome, they are actively encouraged!

Hop growing in Forest Hill
The Forest Hill Society is encouraging people to plant easy-to-grow hops which, when ripe and harvested, can be combined with those of others as part of a community project to produce a local beer — perhaps even Forest Hill's own version of Crystal Palace’s Palace Pint?

Clutter clean-upTown centre: Plans are on-going, through campaigning work by the Society working with local businesses, but progress is slow, in tidying up the unsightly areas above and beside Forest Hill station’s underpass.

Long-term campaign
In the long term, we are working on an environmental campaign to consider car use in Forest Hill that will seek to address the problems of air pollution, noise, safety, and parking issues created by both through traffic and local traffic.

* Funding for plants and associated materials for these areas was awarded to the Forest Hill Society in November by the Forest Hill Assembly for the 2014-15 year, under the auspices of the Society’s Making Forest Hill Beautiful proposal.

Outstanding!

The Forest Hill Edible High Road has been judged as 'Outstanding' by the RHS London in Bloom Judging panel!

Congratulations to the volunteers from the Forest Hill Society, Forest Hill station and local businesses!

Growing for Gold in Forest Hill

Following last year's "outstanding" RHS In Bloom rating we are celebrating this year by combining the Edible High Road scheme with the RHS's Golden anniversary by planting tubs of sunflowers, poppies and strawberries throughout the town.  So far we have 110 tubs on order in Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park - so, if you would like to help turn the centre of Forest Hill  gold and edible for the summer, you can help - no experience necessary, simply turn up with gardening gloves, a trowel and secateurs.  Key dates are:

Sunday April 13th 2.00pm - Forest Hill station forecourt to plant seeds and tidy up.
Sunday April 27th from 11.00am - Devonshire Road Nature Reserve to pot up and decorate tubs. Pizza lunch!
Saturday May 10th 2.00-4.00pm - Forest Hill station forecourt - Launch the Edible High Road with music and loads of giveaway free edible plants.

Join in and help make Forest Hill a brighter and more pleasant place to live.

Royal Horticultural Society Review of Forest Hill Edible High Road

The Edible High Road in Forest Hill got a very positive write up in Grass Roots, the magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society.

  

Forest Hill and Honor Oak’s Edible High Roads

Forest Hill went back to its roots on May 18th, transformed into an urban orchard by members of the Forest Hill Society and Anne-Marie Parker of Lewisham Gardens as part of the Chelsea Fringe Festival’s Edible High Road - a volunteer-run celebration of plants, gardens and landscapes. Fifty shops and businesses in Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park joined forces to create an avenue of seventy fruit trees celebrating Forest Hill’s history and its current standing as a hub of community gardening.

Close to one hundred people gathered in Forest Hill station’s forecourt to see Channel 4’s Landscape Man, Matthew Wilson, cut the red ribbon to launch the event. Onlookers were genuinely surprised when several hundred free tomato and runner bean plants and various packets of seeds were handed out – as well as an early Harvest Festival basket of fruits supplied by J. Sainsbury’s. Kate’s Sax Quartet provided the opening music, followed by the sweetest renditions from Holy Trinity Primary School’s amazing brass band.

Continuing until Sunday 9th June, a trail map to lead visitors along the route lined with apple, cherry, pear and plum trees is available from Forest Hill Library, the Horniman Museum and various shops. Children taking part can also win gardening prizes with the first 100 correct answers to the puzzle sheet submitted to Shannon’s Garden Centre before June 9th receiving a small herb pot to kick-start their own gardening fun.

Thanks go to all those who volunteered their time and a not inconsiderable amount of energy to making Forest Hill’s first Edible High Road such a success.

Special thanks go to sponsors Shannon’s Garden Centre and Winkworth estate agents, the Horniman Museum and participating stores, Happy Seeds and the Chelsea Fringe.

     

Edible High Road prize winners

Congratulations to Jake, Arthur, Olga and Edith who won our competition by completing the Treasure Trail Quiz and drawing a picture which represented gardening in SE23.

The lucky winners were awarded their prizes of ceramic bird feeders and some seeds for the garden, with ice cream or sweets for the winners by Edible High Road coordinator, Alisa Owens. Alisa said “It was a difficult decision, but these were the clear winners. It's great to see the difference the Edible High Road has made to the look and feel of Forest Hill and how it has brought people to the High Street”.

The prizes were donated by local traders, Shannon's Garden Centre and Sugar Mountain.

The Edible High Road - Launch Day, Saturday 18 May

Forest Hill is going back to its roots next month, to be transformed into an urban orchard. Forty-seven shops and businesses in Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park will join forces to create an avenue of 70 fruit trees – the Edible High Road – celebrating Forest Hill’s history and its current standing as a hub of community gardening. A trail map will lead visitors along the route lined with apple, cherry, pear and plum trees, ending in the Horniman Museum’s Gardens at the crest of the hill. Children taking part can also win gardening prizes.

Organised by the Forest Hill Society, in partnership with Lewisham Gardens and Shannon’s Garden Centre, the Edible High Road opens on Saturday 18 May until Sunday 9 June, as part of the Chelsea Fringe Festival, the volunteer-run celebration of plants, gardens and landscapes.

The Forest Hill event is part of a city-wide network of Edible High Roads including Shepherd’s Bush, Kilburn, Chiswick and Kensal Rise. The Horniman Museum and Gardens is also hosting a series of other Chelsea Fringe events including a family fun day and plant sale, compost cookery, guerrilla gardening and much more.


Our Edible High Road launch will take place on Saturday, 18th May at 2pm when we are delighted to welcome Matthew Wilson, presenter of Landscape Man on Channel 4 and regular contributor to BBC Gardeners World and Radio 4’s Gardeners Question Time

Join us at Forest Hill Railway station car park to help us launch this exciting innovation on the high street.

Bringing the Forest to Forest Hill

62 trees potted up ready for the Edible High Road. Click through to see more photos on Facebook.

An Eventful Time

Potting Up for the Edible High Road
Saturday 27 April, 10.00am, Devonshire Road Nature Reserve
Potting up and decorating of the fruit trees. Please come along if you can lend a hand potting up to 70 trees prior to the official launch of the Edible High Road in Forest Hill and Honor Oak.
Organised by Forest Hill Society and Lewisham Gardens

Open day at Dacres Road Nature Reserve
Saturday 27 April, 12-3pm, entrance via Catling Close, off Dacres Road SE23
As Dacres Wood Nature reserve is a bit of a hidden gem, there's a plan to have regular open days on the last Saturday of every month from spring to autumn. The next one is this Saturday. There will be refreshments and tours of the reserve, and opportunities for those visitors coming with sturdy gloves and secateurs to help with some conservation work.
Organised by Friends of Dacres Wood

Sydenham Market - street food, craft & vintage
Sunday 28 April, 10am-4pm, Sydenham Station Approach
Organised by SEE3

Forest Hill Food Fair
Sunday 5 May, 11am-3pm, Forest Hill Station
A Forest Hill Society Event

Syd Soc event: visit to the Brunel Museum & Thames Tunnel, Rotherhithe
Friday 17 May, 10am
The Brunel Museum in historic Rotherhithe is directly above the Thames Tunnel which opened in 1843. We'll be taking part in a one-hour tour of the tunnel, followed by a visit to the museum and lunch at the nearby Mayflower pub. The cost of the visit is £6, payable in advance. To book your place and arrange payment, please email jacquelinealdridge [at] gmail.com
A Sydenham Society Event

Edible High Road Launch Day
Saturday 18 May, 1pm, Forest Hill Station
Official launch of the Edible High Road, with a celebrity guest!
More details at http://www.foresthillsociety.com/2013/03/the-edible-high-road.html
Organised by Forest Hill Society and Lewisham Gardens

Call for Volunteers

If you would like to lend a hand on Saturday afternoon at Forest Hill station (13th April at 2.00pm) we need people who can push seeds into the platform planters, the street tubs and help with some planting under the trees.  There's a free cup of tea/coffee at the Question Bar afterwards.

You could also make a note that our Edible High Road project (part of the Chelsea Fringe) also needs help with potting up fruit trees and prettifying their containers on 27th April (10am Devonshire Road Nature Reserve).
On EHR Launch Day (Saturday, 18th May). Anyone with sufficient strength would be welcome to help transfer the potted up trees onto a truck at Devonshire Road Nature Reserve (also 10am) and/or off load them at FH station and then help to deliver to the various participating shops.

The Edible High Road

This summer Perry Vale, London Road and Dartmouth Road will be transformed into an Urban Orchard and community garden and we’re inviting all traders to take part!

More and more people in Forest Hill are enjoying growing their own fruit, herbs and vegetables.  This area has allotments and community orchards and gardens; it’s a true food growing hub. In honour of all this fruitiness, the Forest Hill Society, in partnership with Shannon's Garden Centre and Lewisham Gardens, will be hosting The Edible High Road.

This event will be part of the Chelsea Fringe, a massive, London-wide flower and gardening festival which takes place from Saturday 18 May to Sunday 9 June 2013. One of last year's most successful events was the Chiswick Edible High Road, organised by Abundance London. This year, several more high streets have taken up the challenge and over twenty Forest Hill shops and businesses along Perry Vale, London Road and Dartmouth Road have already decided to join in and host a blossoming fruit tree or two.

Each business will receive a fruit tree in an attractive container to display outside their premises for the three-weeks of The Edible High Road. The pot will also be planted with sweet-scented herbs like parsley, coriander and basil. Each tree will be fixed with a tag with its variety and basic care instructions. After the Festival the fruit trees can be donated to local schools and the Albion Millennium Green community orchard, or shops are welcome to keep their beautiful fruit tree.

We are also planning a series of events for the three weeks, so if you're keen to get involved, then drop an email to volunteers@foresthillsociety.com.