Sainsburys trials anti-obesity initiative at flagship Bell Green store

Customers of Sainsbury's Bell Green will have noticed the store has been gradually changing the location of stock but not immediately updating the location signage above the aisles. This is an initiative Sainsbury's is trialling to help address the UK's obesity crisis. The Disruptive Orientation Location Trial (DOLT) entails moving and mixing the location of stock on a regular basis to disrupt customers' familiarity with the store layout.  

No longer will regular customers be able to quickly navigate the store and plan their route to efficiently select the items they want. Instead, customers will arrive at an aisle that had previously contained, for example, breakfast cereals, only to find it now contains toilet rolls, and so begins their exploration in search of their desired items. The aim is to send customers on a bewildering journey, testing their desire for treats to breaking point until finally forcing them to prioritise their search for essential items and give up looking for the biscuits.

One customer, Flora Opil, commented "At first I was exasperated that I couldn't find my regular items and had to wander all the aisles in search of things I used to be able to find straight away. But then I saw the sense of concentrating on just finding the essentials and only picking up treats if I happened to come across them in my expedition around the store. The decision to delay updating the location signage was a stroke of genius and greatly enhances my inability to find anything.  It hasn't completely prevented my consumption of high calorie treats but at least I can no longer find chocolates, crisps and biscuits in a single visit. And, of course, I use up more calories trekking around the aisles."

The frequency of relocating stock has yet to be finalised. 

Disorientation tails off after a few visits, as customers of Sainsbury's Forest Hill branch will understand, after their branch was renovated and reorganised last summer. The frequency could be as often as every six weeks, in order to keep customers on their toes.

Anti-obesity campaigners say the scheme doesn't go far enough as it only influences purchases made in-store and not orders placed online for home delivery. To combat this, Sainsbury's are exploring the feasibility of installing a foreign language program in their online ordering system, so that they can display high calorie items in a regularly changing selection of foreign languages. This would emulate the disorientating in-store experience and also help to address the decline in modern foreign language learning. The company is also in discussions about integrating fitness apps into Sainsbury's customer accounts to identify whether the scheme is reducing customers' calorie intake and, for in-store customers, how many extra steps they are walking. By installing the app Sainsbury's will leave cookies on your phone, giving you something to nibble on your extended foraging expeditions.

A spokesman said the outcomes of the Bell Green trial will be reviewed and, if successful, will be introduced at Sainsbury's Forest Hill to test it on a smaller store layout, with a view to extending the scheme nationwide by 1st April 2025, meaning customers would need to walk between multiple stores to get their regular groceries.

 

Forest Hill Society AGM

All members and non-members are welcome to attend our Annual General Meeting in person or via Zoom on Tuesday, 17th October from 7:30pm at Forest Hill Library (Dartmouth Road).

The AGM is an opportunity to find out more about what is happening in Forest Hill, to share your concerns and to help shape the future of the Society.

For details of the zoom meeting or if you are interesting in discussing any of the roles in the Society or how you can get more involved, please email: email@foresthillsociety.com

Forest Hill Society Whisky and Cheese Tasting

Wednesday 24 May 7.30pm, All In One Pub

 

 

Join us for at the All In One for a guided exploration of six different whiskies, each paired with a matching cheese from Aga's Little Deli in Forest Hill.

On our tour, we will explore various types and styles of whisky, all available from major retailers, and see how the flavours can be matched with different cheeses, for the perfect tasting experience.

To book tickets please follow this link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/whisky-cheese-tasting-tickets-626098516517. Tickets cost £15 per person and are limited to 40 people.

Edible Plant Giveaway

Saturday 28th May - 2pm at Forest Hill station


This year the Forest Hill Society is once again able to offer a free edible “starter” plant to any one who comes to our tables at Forest Hill station on Saturday afternoon, 28th May. We aim to encourage people to grow their own edible plants, or plants with edible products.

No need for a garden, these plants can be grown on a window ledge in any old container. Our plants are provided by the Forest Hill Library garden team, Sydenham Gardens and Kilmorie School.

We recommend coming down as soon as possible after 2pm as plants go quickly. We would particularly welcome families at 2pm 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 15-20 minutes. 

Launching the Trebuchet Railway Crossing Project

Since the Forest Hill Society was formed in 2006 we have been hoping for a new pedestrian bridge to replace the existing bridge between Sydenham Park and Dacres Road. This is an important connection to Sydenham and Forest Hill schools for children on either side of the railway and it is a useful bicycle route too – avoiding the poor cycling provision in the centres of Sydenham and Forest Hill.

We wanted a scheme that would work for everybody and provides a safe way to cross the railway instead of a slippery and steep set of steps over the bridge. After hours of careful deliberation, the Forest Hill Society put together a proposal that combines the latest innovative technology in personal transportation to provide a quick and easy way to cross the railway.

Forest Hill Society Chair, Claus Murmann, tests out the prototype trebuchet

 

On each side of the railway a trebuchet (sometimes referred to as a catapult) will be positioned to transport people across the railway line. This part of the scheme is simple enough, but the innovative part of the scheme is the installation of two ‘bounceways’ on either side of the railway, where passengers land and can bounce their way towards their chosen destination.

The bounceway is a series of trampolines that form the ideal landing site for trebuchet passengers. Bounceways were first proposed in 2014 for Jubilee Gardens by, then mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The scheme never got off the ground, but we are delighted that now that Mr Johnson has taken on a new role in government, this scheme is to take off - in Forest Hill.

The trebuchet will be capable of taking one person at a time with a bicycle or buggy and the speed of the flight and centrifugal force means that any bags of shopping can be safely carried without anything falling out.

Although initially considered dangerous, our experiments have shown that using the catapult in conjunction with two bounceways is significantly safer than trying to cross the existing footbridge.

 

Bounceway sketch from 2014 Architecture for Humanity

Boris Johnson is expected to lend his support to this visionary transport scheme and will be one of the first dignitaries to launch, or be launched by, this project. The PM's spokesperson, Avril Dummkopf, said that "at least with this project, unlike the zip wire, we know he can't get stuck halfway across!" Sadiq Khan is expected to take a different approach, with his own simultaneous launch from the other side of the railway. But we hope compromise is possible and that they meet somewhere in the middle.

The combination of bounceways and catapults is clearly the perfect solution for cyclists and pedestrians crossing a busy railway with the minimum of human debris.

We will continue to push for delivery of a new bridge for this location rather than this ridiculous scheme.

* Press release issued by the Forest Hill Society on 1st April 2022. Some of the details in this article may not be valid on any other day of the year.

Forest Hill Society Response to Airspace Consultation

In December 2021 London City Airport presented to their Consultative Committee a set of completely new route options for their arrivals and departures over London. They shared detailed mapping of five potential alternatives for arrivals and departures but made it very clear that these were outline only. Before taking these to the next stage of the regulated process they asked Committee attendees to comment on these initial ideas.

In early March the airport gave us an early indication of the major points they are taking from the "27 Committee" and stakeholder responses received. They said that stakeholders favoured:-
-    The sharing of routes to provide respite
-    Planes to be kept higher for longer
-    A reduction in fuel and climate emissions
-    A separation of routes so that, wherever possible, the same area was not overflown by planes from different airports
-    Collaboration with other airports.

It will remain to be seen how the airport takes this feedback and translates it into new concentrated flight paths that will give us fair distribution of paths and associated noise from London City and Heathrow, two airports only 22 miles apart with runways pointing directly towards each other. We are particularly concerned that London City is proceeding to plan its own routes with no reference to Heathrow, when it seems obvious that they must develop plans together from the earliest stages.

The interlinking of Heathrow and London City low altitude routes over us is shown in the map below:-

Heathrow westerly arrivals cross the London City concentrated flight path at multiple points over SE London, from Dulwich/Brixton in the west and at least as far as Eltham in the east. Source flightradar24

 

We have published our full response to the airport here in the interests of sharing locally and in full the general concerns that we have. We have shared this with Environmental Health management at Lewisham and with MPs Ellie Reeves and Janet Daby. To summarise, we covered the following:-

1.    We welcomed that the airport seems to making some effort to understand the issues mentioned above. We expressed a major concern though, that designs seem to be being drafted independently of Heathrow, in the process compressing London City paths into a vertical and geographical space that reduces options for London City departure and arrivals routes and also climbing and descent angles. We believe that a publicly transparent dialogue at an early stage with Heathrow on the joint problems to be solved will enhance public confidence in the processes.

2.    We expressed a concern that  the new concentrated paths from City and Heathrow will end up crossing each other, with
-    some communities being under both a London City takeoff and arrivals flightpath
-    some communities being under two different London City flight paths in different wind conditions,
-    the same communities being under one or more  London City and Heathrow arrivals paths.

3.    We asked that the unpopular single concentrated arrivals route low over SE London introduced in 2016 be addressed, potentially introducing alternative or ‘respite’ routes. Over Lewisham, a respite route might look like that shown below, to spread or alternate the arriving air traffic.

 

Possible easterly arrivals routes over SE London. Source LCACC meeting Dec 2021.

 

4.     4.    We pushed hard for a steeper approach route over SE London using a Continuous Descent Approach (CDA). Currently arrivals are in almost level low altitude flight from Dartford and then west across SE London. Air Navigation Guidance says CDA is best practice for all airports, yet London City does not practice it.
5.    Air Navigation Guidance also requires that the height of hills is taken into account. With our highest point near Horniman Gardens at 345 ft, City planes are sometimes only 1255 ft above residents in the Tewkesbury Estate. London City does not yet seem to be taking our hilly terrain into account in their route planning.
6.    Finally, both Heathrow and London City have adopted similar route design principles, after consulting with overflown resident groups from across the city.

Heathrow: - ‘avoid overflying the same communities with multiple routes including those to/from other airports’ (draft Nov 2021)

London City: - ‘avoid overflying communities with multiple routes, including from other airports.’ (approved Design Principle)

We asked for early and public evidence that the two Airports are collaborating with each other on three-dimensional airspace design over London, and that they begin with a shared understanding of the impact not only of their individual but also their combined operations in different wind directions.

Finally, we said that only a complex overlay and creation of a very clear explanation of the joint noise and environmental impact on the ground of proposed plans will enable meaningful respite route planning and enable those on the ground - Local Authorities and public - to respond to flight path consultations in an informed way.

It looks as though public consultations will begin in 2023. But meanwhile we continue to try and influence the two airports and encourage them to be transparent in public engagement and consultation while they make plans and submit them to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Christmas Quiz 2021

 

The Forest Hill Society invite you to the 2021 Christmas Quiz

Tuesday 14th December, 7:30pm

To register for the quiz go to Eventbrite.

Entry is free but donations to Lewisham Foodbank are encouraged:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/foresthillsocietyxmas2021

Forest Hill Society AGM

All members and non-members are welcome to attend our AGM, which will take place at the Horniman Museum Pavilion (near the animal walk), on Wednesday 13th October at 7:00pm.   

We are pleased to welcome Damien Egan, Mayor of Lewisham as our guest speaker.   

The event is free to attend and there will be refreshments on sale.   

The AGM is an opportunity to find out more about what is happening in Forest Hill, to share your concerns and to shape the future of the Society. We would encourage all members to get even more involved by standing for the Executive Committee, or joining one of our committees focused on planning, environment, transport or communications. If you would like more details about getting involved, please contact claus@foresthillsociety.com

Review of 2021 in Forest Hill

By Claus Murmann

I’m sitting at my desk reading former chair Michael Abrahams’ 2019 AGM invitation where he announced he was standing down and also the impressive list of achievements throughout his 8-year tenure. A few months after that he tapped me on the shoulder saying the Forest Hill Society was looking for a new chair, would I be interested. Long story short, here I am another year later wondering how time could fly by so fast during such an unprecedented period. Thanks to everyone for the friendly welcome aboard.

Firstly, I hope that everyone has managed the pandemic as best they could. It’s difficult to say “hope you’re OK” because I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been affected in one way or another. For the Forest Hill Society it has perhaps also been more subdued; we haven’t been out much, have partially met as an executive only once all year in person and have had to conduct all our meetings across subcommittees on this thing called Zoom, which most of us hadn’t heard of a couple of years ago.

So, what have we been doing during a year mostly in lockdown? We break down the Forest Hill Society into four committees; Environment, Planning, Transport and Communications. We also organise popular community events and activities as well as engaging in wider local issues such as our response to the draft Lewisham Local Plan.

Environment
Quetta leads our Environment team. She keeps Forest Hill Society involved in various outdoor pursuits, with volunteers engaging in activities to enhance the green spaces around the town centre including the Forest Hill Station and town centre planters. These are regularly spruced up and watered by volunteers, we even have help from the lovely people at London Energy Garden, and more recently we’ve been talking to the Horniman Gardens team about picking up surplus plants to redistribute around the town planters (rather than buying our own) — win-win for everyone. Volunteers are always welcome to help with planting. It’s fun, fresh air and sociable! There’s more about the environment team on page 11.

Planning
The Planning team look at many of the larger planning applications which might affect Forest Hill, regularly investing time and effort into making considered responses both in support of and against various projects. We get many emails asking for advice, comments, or support with various local issues. Notable progress also includes supporting neighbouring societies with opposition voiced about the Mais House proposals on Sydenham Hill and opposition to 5G mast proposals specifically on public land where they would block pavements for pedestrians.

Lewisham Local Plan
We wrote a long response to the council’s proposals contained in their Lewisham Local Plan (available for review on the website). This was fairly involved and consolidated a lot of work and thinking around the Town Centre redesign plans including site allocations, public realm issues, cultural and environmental concerns and of course another opportunity to mention the flight path issue. In general, the Town Centre proposal is something that I hope will pick up steam again as we begin to emerge from lockdown as it has been difficult to get people together on a virtual round table to engage and plan. We’re expecting a response to our response towards the end of the year, so we’ll see what if any impact this has had.

Transport
We’re actually looking for a Transport committee chair so volunteers are welcome — speak to me before the AGM. It’s been a tough year to progress things here: we’re aware of concerns still outstanding about the Perry Vale crossing as well as the crossing in front of the station. We had tried late last year to discuss this with both local councillors and representatives from TfL with a somewhat disheartening Mexican standoff of responsibilities and who owns what in terms of governance and oversight (quite an eye opener in terms of local government function I have to admit). Generally, the message was along the lines of “we have no budget to do anything anyway, even if we wanted to”, applied both to TfL and the Council.

We’ve had questions about traffic and speeding around the area, mostly from residents bounded by the area around the Dartmouth Road and Honor Oak Road which include some popular ‘cut-throughs’. At the suggestion of the council we spoke to Sustrans who offered to run a consultation for a not insignificant amount of money which we had to politely decline. My impression is that the pandemic has thrown a spanner into the works, from everything TfL budget related through to council workers being reallocated to deal with more urgent public health and safety matters. Any kind of consultation on LTNs looks a way off. I should probably reiterate that in this regard we’re facilitating a discussion and not campaigning.

On a brighter note I wanted to highlight the on-going excellent work by Tim and John on flightpaths and airspace redesign by continuing to highlight the issues and tirelessly challenge the airports to address the issue of flight corridors in the skies right above our heads. It was recently even picked up by our MP, Ellie Reeves.

Events & Communications
Our year began with the AGM in October 2020. For the first time this was held virtually, following the trend of most meetings during the pandemic. While we missed the in-person social aspect, this allowed more people to participate and we were very grateful to have Ellie Reeves MP as our special guest. Ellie updated us on her role as an MP and local area issues in which she is actively engaged.

This year the Horniman Museum has kindly agreed to host our AGM in their Pavilion. We’re also pleased to announce that Lewisham Mayor Damien Egan will be our guest speaker. I’m really looking forward to this as it will be great to meet and greet everyone in real life.

All of our events were held virtually over the last twelve months. This included two history presentations. The first centred on a history of Forest Hill, first created by local historian Steve Grindlay, and updated by our vice-chair, Michael. The second was a history panel where we had three excellent panelists who talked about their personal experience of living in Forest Hill, including stories about surviving second world war bombings and businesses long gone but not forgotten.

We hosted two quiz nights. The summer lockdown quiz in July and the Christmas quiz in December included both seasonal and local questions. Thank you to Andy and Gary who organised and compered these events.

Importantly both quizzes raised several hundred pounds for the Lewisham Foodbank which supported families and children in need during the pandemic and beyond. We also organised a collection drive for old laptops, to be refurbished and were donated to a very happy and grateful local school. Special thanks to John for all the work on this.

This year we were not able to organise carol singing in the town centre, but we had a bumper crop of Christmas Trees, with the Forest Hill Society taking particular responsibility for the tree at Forest Hill station, which was decorated by Lee Jackson (a.k.a. Mr Christmas).

We continued to use social media including Facebook, Twitter and occasionally Instagram to promote local events, provide local information and to support local businesses. Our #ShopSE23 highlighted the many local businesses that continued to serve us during lockdown, and promoted their services and wares leading up to Christmas. Thank you for all those the businesses who used our campaign and to our followers who amplified our posts. Thank you to Jason for his work on this.

We also produce two newsletters per year and the March edition was one of our largest. We also produce a monthly e-newsletter and encourage all to sign up for these through our website. Once again thank you to Michael for his editorial work and to our many contributors. Should you wish to contribute an article let us know.

As the world returns to some sort of normality, we are looking forward to organising more events in-person. Keep an eye out for more announcements.

And finally…
Thank you all for staying involved with the community and helping to make Forest Hill a nicer place to live, work and play. Please do stay engaged, email us or get in touch on social media with feedback, ideas or comments. We hope to see many of you at the AGM on 13th October at the Horniman Pavilion.

Gin Tasting

Friday 24th September, 7:30pm.
The Forest Hill Society has teamed up with Subplot 57 to bring you a taster of Gin.

Charlotte Rose — Gin Judge, Gin Blogger and Gin Festival Organiser will introduce us to the world of Gin, including three gins for £10 at Subplot 57 — beneath Leaf and Groove at 57 Dartmouth Road.

Due to social distancing places are available limited and advanced booking required. Please book early via Eventbrite at https://tinyurl.com/FHGin21

20th Century History of Forest Hill

 

If you are unable to see the recording in this post, you can view it on YouTube.

Recording of the discussion that took place on 20th April 2021 with panelists:

Pip Wedge lived in Forest Hill from 1928 to 1954, including most of the Second World War, and assisted people when Forest Hill station was bombed. He will be joining us from Canada where he has lived since 1965.

Angela Finch is part of the Finch family who have been trading in Forest Hill since 1947. Finches currently focus on bikes, skiing and extreme sports, but once they were one of the largest removal firms in London.

John Hodgett moved to Forest Hill in 1949 when he was two years old, and has lived in the area ever since - in a variety of different streets. John remembers many of the old shops around Forest Hill, some great concerts at the Glenlyn Ballroom in the 1960s, and taking steam trains direct from Forest Hill to Brighton.

Forest Hill Society’s Members Help with Laptops for Schools

By Claus Murmann

At the turn of the year, I was chatting with John Doherty from our Transport Committee to see what, if anything, was new. “Oh,” he said, “I’m building laptops for one of Lewisham's schools.” He’d collected a few laptops from regulars at the All Inn One pub and had set about refurbishing them and re-installing Windows 10 and Zoom, so that they could be handed out to children who did not have access to technology at home or any way to interact ‘face to face’ with teachers during lockdown. The idea was to provide a stop-gap solution for some families while the school waited for national tech-supply programs to kick in.

Without quite realising what we were letting ourselves in for, I said why don’t we put this on our Forest Hill Society social media! Out went a couple of social media and forum requests for old laptops and tablets. We had a fantastic response, so much so that I had to start collating a spreadsheet with who was offering what and via what medium so I wouldn’t lose track. For more than a week I was messaging, emailing and then planning a cycle route around Forest Hill collecting up to five devices a day to drop off at John's house. John was almost overwhelmed, but he very jovially insisted it was all fine, and set about restoring machines and buying random licenses, parts, chargers and even keyboard decals from eBay. I heard stories of random screen and keyboard swaps, and all kinds of ‘surgery’.

We have now successfully refurbished over 27 devices including laptops, MacBooks and iPads — all repurposed and delivered. That’s pretty much equivalent to a whole new class online, plus a few more that were donated and used for spares.

The headteacher of the school has told us that every device is making a difference to the families who received them. It has removed the stress on children of not being able to log in to their daily meetings, eased the issue of siblings and working parents competing for devices, and increased active engagement in online learning in every class. She said,

“I can't thank John and all at Forest Hill Society enough for what they've done. Their generosity in terms of time and money is overwhelming and has made a huge difference to our families.”

It’s not too late — we’ve figured out that the school’s Apple remote install will handle Zoom right down to iOS Ver 9; so, if you have any old iPads from the old larger connector generation lying around, we can maybe bring them back to life. Ditto any laptops that have a webcam, probably going back to 2010; let us know and we will still pick them up.

Some donors have been exceptionally generous and provided more than one device, and one or two very up-to-date tablets and laptops have emerged too.

Thanks to everyone who donated, including the All Inn One pub who contributed £100 for spares, and Finches and Sushi Garden; and a huge thank you to John who’s spent most of January knee-deep in technology. Forest Hill Society has matched the £100 in order to help purchase data SIMs and dongles for households with no Wi-Fi/Broadband.

Christmas Quiz 2020

Following the success of our Summer Quiz during the first lockdown, we are back with the Winter Quiz on Tuesday 8th December (from 7:30pm).

To register your team go to Eventbrite 

 

The quiz is free to enter, however we encourage participants to support Lewisham Foodbank by donating here.

A new Chair for the Forest Hill Society

On 7th October the Forest Hill Society elected Claus Murmann as the new chairperson of the Society for the year ahead. Below is an interview with him to find out more about him.

 

 Q: How long have you lived in Forest Hill? 

My family and I moved here in 2011, so almost 10 years with 3 boys who all spent their teenage years here and all but the last one (17) have been happily dispatched out as adults.

We moved back to the UK after 11 years on the US East Coast where the kids grew up with a big backyard, a beach and schoolbus rides. Coming back to London was a crash course in city living and the 185. Prior to that I’d lived in Richmond for 10 years, grew up in Ealing from age 2 and rewinding right back to the beginning I was born in Germany. I do still speak German and my side of the family is all back over there now.

Q. What do you do when you are not running the Forest Hill Society?

I work in the City for a bank albeit more on the tech side in data, analytics and cloud adoption. I’ve done a variety of roles ranging from program management through product management, IT architecture and what I would describe as translating between the business and technology. Lots of facilitation between different parties to get stuff done basically. My background originally was an aerospace engineering degree so I like to joke with people who say ‘well it’s not rocket science’ when there are problems that need solving… to atone for my City job I volunteer a couple of times a week at the Lewisham Foodbank on the cycle delivery squad.

Q. What is your favourite thing about Forest Hill?

Well, it used to be Sugar Mountain I’m not ashamed to admit. I love the access to parks, open spaces and even nearby woodlands - from a location perspective you’re almost equidistant from the West End, City and Canary Wharf (especially on a bike). I think it’s a lovely diverse community: I’ve met people who will share everything from gardening tips to power tools or give up their time to help others and improve the area.

Q. What is your favourite cycle route from Forest Hill?

Ah, you know I’m an avid cyclist. Fear not, I am also a car enthusiast. But to answer the question, simply my commute: over the top of the hill, Wood Vale, Peckham Rye (the shopping street is great now it’s been closed to everything but bikes and pedestrians - there’s always someone signing or a band playing, street barbecues - transformational improvement), then past the Peckham library, up the old canal path and Old Kent Road, then over to London Bridge with it’s new segregated bike lane (yay) and into the City. I still do it regularly to get some lockdown exercise and often meet my wife after her work day up in Angel.

Q. What most impressed you about the Forest Hill Society?

Getting real things done. I see markets, people planting flowers, things changing for the better, support for local business and a general policy of positivity as well as keeping the history of the area alive through educational talks, support for the library etc.

Q. What is your top priority in the role?

I would look for ideas to solve the somewhat impossible problem of the Station access on both sides: pedestrian crossings & timings - I know it’s already on the list. Overall I’d describe myself as a good listener with no political affiliation meaning I’m not coming in with an agenda. I cycle but I also drive and also (used to) use the Overground regularly at weekends. Transport always seems to feature high up on the priority list for people. 

Aside from that I think we can help support local businesses as much as possible especially as we come out of lockdown - and back in again?

Q. If you could change one thing about Forest Hill, what would it be?

Apart from demanding Sugar Mountain re-open? I maybe hinted at it above, but I think rebuilding  the whole station complex as a workable town centre would help focus some regeneration of the area and remove a proper eyesore. Again I know there are plans for this so it would be great if we could make it a reality.

Q. What else would you like to confess?

Apparently I buy too many records and have too many bicycles. I hold the privileged position of being on the moderation team for one of the local forums and enjoy taking an active interest online. If I appear to be overly pro road safety campaigning it’s because I’ve had 2 free rides in an ambulance in the last 3 years after altercations with motor vehicles. And finally I’ve been married for over 20 years to my wife who is just the best.

Transport Concerns from Forest Hill

At our AGM on 7th October, we were delighted to welcome Ellie Reeves MP to speak and take questions. A number of people expressed concern about the lack of train services through Forest Hill at weekends due to engineering works and the 'temporary' loss of all direct Victoria service, which is a well used route by many Forest Hill residents.

We are pleased that Ellie has written to TfL raising the issue on behalf of her constituents. Below is the text of her letter to members of the Forest Hill Society and we look forward to hearing when the services will be more adequate for residents.

Dear Society Members,

Many thanks for inviting me to speak at your AGM. I am always glad to attend and be involved in these community based events particularly during this challenging time.

I am aware that many of you raised the issue of a lack of weekend Overground services from Forest Hill station, and I have also been contacted about this issue by other constituents. 

I fully appreciate that these closures have significantly reduced your transport options at a time when we are all being encouraged to use our cars less. Furthermore I am also aware that this reduction of services to two trains an hour may have ramifications on passengers ability to social distance whilst using these services. 

I have written to Transport for London on your behalf, in my letter I have outlined your case and have requested an update on when regular weekend Overground services from Forest Hill will resume. I have also asked them to respond, more generally to the individual concerns raised by many of my constituents on this issue. 

I will of course let you know as soon as I receive a response. I will also write to Network Rail and the Department for Transport. Please be assured that I and my team will continue to follow up on this issue to ensure that Forest Hill receives an adequate service from London Overground and all other forms of public transport.

Best wishes,
Ellie Reeves

Member of Parliament for Lewisham West and Penge

Getting More Involved

At the AGM in October we elect the new committee for the Forest Hill Society. We are always keen to have new members on the committee, as well as existing members who wish to continue.

We are fortunate to have a committee consisting of many people who are passionate about Forest Hill and making a difference to benefit the area. The most visible way this can be seen is the planting and maintenance of plants around the town centre - even when activities had to be socially distanced. This year the Forest Hill Society has again been awarded “Outstanding” for the In Bloom competition organised by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Having more members on the committee means we get a better idea of what is important to you and the everybody in the community. And it also means more people to help at events and in campaigns.

We are particularly looking for people with an interest in the following areas:
 

	Environment - including planting and gardening around the town centre and looking at ways to improve air quality in the local area
	Transport - including improving roads for pedestrians and cyclists, ensuring Forest Hill is well served by public transport, and considering flight paths over Forest Hill
	Planning and Development - including developing long-term plans for the town centre, and also reviewing planning applications in the area
	Communications and Events - including contributing to our newsletter and arranging events for the community (e.g. book sales, gin tasting, history talks, pub quizzes Christmas tree lighting and carols).

This is a great time to get involved, and there are even rumours that we might have a new chairperson starting at the AGM.

You can put your name forward for the committee in one of two ways:
1. Email email@foresthillsociety.com to let us know you wish to stand
2. Join us at the AGM and raise your hand when we ask for nominations
and you can become part of the team that has been making Forest Hill even better for 14 years.

Forest Hill Society AGM 2020

All members and non-members are welcome to attend our Annual General Meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, 7th October from 7:30pm.

The AGM is an opportunity to find out more about what is happening in Forest Hill, to share your concerns and to shape the future of the Society.

We would encourage all members who wish to get even more involved by standing for the Executive Committee, or joining one of our committees focused on Planning, Environment, Transport, or Communications. And we continue to be on the look out for a new chairperson for the Society.

Please register in advance of the meeting to receive joining instructions: https://fhsocagm2020.eventbrite.co.uk

If you are interesting in discussing any of the roles in the Society or how you can get more involved, please email email@foresthillsociety.com

Children's Second-hand Book Sale

On Sunday 20th September we will be attending Horniman Farmers' Market with second-hand books for children. This is organised in conjunction with Forest Hill Library and Leaf and Groove bookshop and to raise money for the library. Actually, our main priority is not to raise money but to get more children reading books, particularly while access to the library is limited.

If you have books to donate please make sure that are donated to Leaf and Groove before 13th September so that all books can be quarantined for at least three days.

 

 

History of Forest Hill Talk

 

On Monday 14th September, 7:30pm, The Forest Hill Society presents a free online talk on the History of Forest Hill.

Find out about the history of the local area, its buildings and its people.

Please register in advance of the meeting to receive joining instructions: https://historyfh.eventbrite.co.uk

 

Gardening in the Town Centre

Forest Hill Society will be undertaking gardening ‘tidy up’ from 2:30pm on Saturday, 29th August. Please join us for some socially distanced weeding, trimming and tidying up for the autumn.

 

Meeting point: Forest Hill station forecourt, 2:30pm.
Tools provided, no experience necessary just enthusiasm!
Face masks may be needed in some locations and please bring your own gardening gloves.