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.

Pub Crawl: Thursday 26th November

The Forest Hill Society invite you to a Pub Crawl through Forest Hill on Thursday 26th November. 

Pub Crawl through pubs new and old in SE23, starting at the All Inn One on Perry Vale at 7:30pm and departing for the next venue at 8pm. Just turn up!

Sadly we cannot visit all the pubs of Forest Hill, but we have a selection to take you to, where you can purchase a variety of refreshing beverages.

This is a great way to meet other local people to enjoy a drink and a chat.

July's Social event

Come along to a wine tasting and Tapas evening at Alhambra Home and Garden, 148 Kirkdale, SE26 4BB from 6pm-9pm on Sunday, 22 July.

Costing just £19.95, the evening will include tasting three red Rioja wines and a white Rioja under the guidance of Master of Wine and Society member Rob McIntosh, as well as plenty of delicious tapas.

Please book in advance on 020 3417 6385 or by emailing mail@alhambrahome.co.uk. This should be a great evening.

The Third FHS Pub Crawl

It may have been only April, but it was a lovely, warm evening for a stroll through SE23. It was also the first real opportunity to celebrate the refusal of planning permission for the Tyson Road development.

We started with a small crew at the Railway Telegraph, recently taken over by the new landlady, Pam, who kindly brought over a large plate of hot dogs to help line our collective stomachs. The Telegraph is a fine, large, old pub serving Kentish Shepherd’s Neame beers. We wish Pam the best of luck and hope that members will try it out – maybe even the poker table!

More people joined us at our next pub, the hidden back street gem, the General Napier, on Bovill Road. On the walk over, we passed the Stanstead Road Community Garden – immaculately tended - and an assortment of interesting, small businesses including one that makes large models for the performing arts. The Napier just seems to get better and better – on first viewing you may find it a little old fashioned but then it simply grows on you. And it is not featured in any pub guide or blogs on the area. Maybe it is best kept as our secret.

Onto the refurbished Tapastry for the grand reopening, no less, now that the owner, Jason, has expanded into the old video shop next door. But the name has truncated to ‘Try’. It was buzzing, so much so that we sat outside in the still mild evening. There were new beers to try from the Meantime brewery in Greenwich (a note for your diary is the Greenwich Beer and Jazz fest on 8-12 July at the old Royal Navy College, where the brewery will soon be located.) Our agenda would have had us crossing the border into Crofton Park to check out the refurbished Brockley Jack and onto a fave, Mr Lawrence’s Wine bar, but we couldn’t face leaving Honor Oak so left these exciting venues for another crawl.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Wednesday 25th March 7.30-9.30pm
Forest Hill Ward Assembly Meeting. Living Springs International Church, 8-10 Devonshire Road, London SE23 3TJ

Thursday 7th May - 7:30pm
Forest Hill Society GENERAL MEETING - The Hob, 7 Devonshire Road SE23 3HE

OUT AND ABOUT
Sunday 29th March at 2pm
Nature and history walk at Dacres Wood Nature Reserve. Meet in the grassy area in front of the reserve gates, (to the left of Homefield House.) Led by Alona Sheridan & Steve Grindlay.

Thursday 30th April - Pub Crawl.
Starts 7.30pm at the Railway Telegraph, 112 Stanstead Rd, SE23 1BS. Ends at Mr Lawrence's Wine Bar, 391 Brockley Road, SE4 2PH

Monday 4th May from midday
May Day Tidy plus picnic. Albion Millennium Green. Entrance at the end of Albion Villas Road, off Sydenham Park Road.

THE 23 CLUB
Monday March 23 at 8pm - classic Italian.
The Old Bank, 76-78 Honor Oak Park SE23 1DY Phone 8291 1738.

Thursday April 23 at 8pm
The Dartmouth Arms pub, 7 Dartmouth Road SE23 3HN Phone 8488 3117

Saturday May 23 at 8pm
The Thai Orchard, 3 David's Road SE23 3EP Phone 8291 3901

May Bank Holiday Revels on our own Millennium

The Forest Hill and Sydenham societies are joining forces for the Bank Holiday on the 4th of May.
We'll be celebrating spring with a day at a hidden green space on the border of Forest Hill and Sydenham - the Albion Millennium Green.

The Green, formerly a tennis club, was landscaped into an attractive, informal park at the turn of the century under a government scheme to develop 'Millennium Greens.’ Its entrance is at the end of Albion Villas Road (just off Sydenham Park Road), one of the prettiest streets in the area.

It's a haven for flowers and wildlife but it does need a little sprucing up. So we'll start the day with a group tidying up session and then savour the fruits of our labours with a picnic (please bring your own), games and traditional May Day activities for all the family.

Dates for your Diary

7th May – Forest Hill Society General Meeting.
Forest Hill School, Dacres Road. Doors open 7pm for light refreshments. Proceedings start at 7.30 pm.

25th May – Green Chain Walk – Sydenham Wells Park to One Tree Hill. 2pm, meet at the pond in Sydenham Wells Park. Walk led by Peter Frost of Friends of One Tree Hill.

Out and About

13th April - spring flower walk at 2.30 with Roy Vickery, Chairman of the South London Botanical Institute. Meet at the Crescent Wood Road entrance to Sydenham Wood.

28th June – Blythe Hill Fields Fun Day, starts 11am. There’ll be a live stage with music and performance from local groups, activities and field games for children and food and drink. The Forest Hill Society will have a stall with information about our activities and lots of our popular SE23 cakes to buy!

An Historic Gathering

The history of the area continues to fascinate the residents of Forest Hill and Honor Oak, a point that has been demonstrated several times by local historian Steve Grindlay.

When he volunteered to lead a walk around Forest Hill last February, instead of speaking to an expected dozen or so hardy enthusiasts, the group eventually numbered over 80.

You'd think, therefore, that when the plan was hatched for another such event, this time in the convivial surroundings of the ED Comedy Club rooms at The Hob, that expectations for numbers would be high. However, once again we were quite unprepared for the number of people that attended on the night.

Over 120 people turned out to hear a fascinating tour through the history and development of Forest Hill & Honor Oak. A steady trickle of visitors that had started at around 6, turned into a veritable flood by just before 7. Chairs were hastily added and even so some hardy souls sat or stood through the entire presentation in the back stairs with only a limited view of the stage.

For almost 2 hours, Steve brought the history of many sites and characters of the area to life, thanks to his vast knowledge and his extensive collection of photos, maps and other collected curios.

There was particular interest in the atmospheric railway and its edible vaccuum tubes and also the changing face of shopping and entertainment in the area, such as the arrival of Sainsbury's, the numerous and now departed cinemas, and the rise and fall of local public houses. We hope to be able to link you to the full presentation in due course.

Any one aspect of this talk would have been worth hearing about and we look forward to more opportunities to explore these in more detail and also to cover even more of the local characters that there simply was not enough time for.

Thank you from the Forest Hill Society to Steve Grindlay, to all the 120+ visitors who came and also generously left contributions totalling over £100 for the Society, and to the Hob for providing the venue.

If you want to catch Steve again, he will be talking at the refurbished Forest Hill Library on 28th Feb at 6:30pm (but get there early!)

Devonshire Road Nature Reserve Walk

Glorious weather awaited as 25 or more residents from across Forest Hill, adults of all ages and several intrepid youngsters, gathered on Devonshire Road to explore a local hidden treasure, the Devonshire Road Nature Reserve.

The Reserve covers a large area along the tracks behind the houses on Devonshire Road (see map here). The Reserve functions almost exclusively with the work of volunteers. Nick Pond, in charge of nature conservation at Lewisham Council, gave us the introduction and tour. We also met Johanna Morley, Iris Borger and Tony Canning. Tony was our expert on all matters pond related. Iris manages the Wildlife Garden and also works with local schools to get younger residents involved with conservation, and Johanna is helping to energise more volunteers through the Friends of Devonshire Road Nature Reserve (if you want to know more, send her an email).

The wildlife garden is complete with "luxury apartments" at the wood pile for Stag Beetles and lots of attractive, yet wildlife friendly garden features, including the amazing pond teeming with young toads and even newts. As Nick pointed out, wildlife gardening, and supporting local wildlife, like birds, butterflies, beetles and frogs does not mean you can't garden, but you need to think a little more and maybe incorporate some 'wilder' features. If nothing else, it means that leaving that flower bed unweeded and the pile of logs in the back is not laziness, but positive action for the environment!

On our a gentle trek around the Reserve it was so peaceful, other than the occasional passing train, you could imagine yourself miles outside of the city.

Nick explained how important these areas are to our local wildlife and what small steps we can take to help, such as limiting our use of slug pellets (that also kill birds and spread chemical debris), leaving areas of taller grasses to support the breeding of butterflies, building ponds to help frogs, birds, dragonflies and plants, and more.

This is not untamed wilderness. There are open meadows, well maintained paths and the classroom has the important amenities! The Reserve is not ancient woodland so it is quite open, light and easy to walk.

After 2 hours in almost 25 degree weather, the tea and cakes (home made by Iris and Johanna) were very welcome and quickly devoured whilst we rested in the sun.

If you would like to take a look around it yourself, or even get involved, it is open in the afternoon of the last Sunday of every month. Iris is also there several days a week to welcome the school students to the wildlife garden, so you could speak to her there.

Please do get involved, even if it is just for raising awareness of this local oasis. I'm sure they'd appreciate the support.

To see more photos, you can click here.