41 New Trees on the Horniman Triangle

By Stuart Checkley, Street Trees for Living

This winter 41 trees have been planted on the Horniman Triangle in an attempt to restore a tiny fragment of what used to be The Great North Wood.

Some of these trees, like 9 Common Hornbeam, will grow to a substantial height and age and will store tonnes of carbon. Others, such as the 9 Cockspur and 3 Rowan will provide berries for birds in autumn. Some will have spring blossom like 7 Wild Cherry, and others like 7 Hazel will hopefully produce nuts for wood mice. There will also be 20 Hawthorn saplings to repair the hedge around the playground and these with some holly trees will protect the playground from traffic pollution from the South Circular. The very damp area at the bottom of the hill, where two large Willows thrive, has been planted with two more waterside trees, one Alder and one Aspen. In the course of doing this we have identified an area of spontaneous oak regeneration above the playground − where 20 Oak saplings are growing well, and several are already several metres high − this area will now be protected.

Our native trees are threatened by imported diseases such as Oak Processionary Moth. By planting a wider range of tree species we are increasing the biodiversity of our tree population, and its ability to survive tree disease in the future. The trees will also strengthen a wildlife corridor which connects the nature reserves at Sydenham Woods and One Tree Hill. This corridor is used by migrating woodland birds such as Buzzard, Warblers, Red Kite, and in winter, Redwing. We hope that the new trees will bring back to Forest Hill both hedgehog and Tawny Owls − these can still be found in Sydenham Woods.

Fund raising continues but already more than £40,000 has been raised, mostly from a government grant from the Treescapes fund. But different groups of local residents have funded three trees together with a group of Lewisham council employees who raised funds as part of a leaving present for a colleague. Local groups have helped in other ways and I am most grateful to everyone for their support.

I will be leading a tree walk around the Triangle at 2pm on Saturday 14th May and this will be an opportunity to find out more about the project, and the forest that used to be here.

Street Trees for Living is a local charity which works with the Council to plant and care for trees on council property. It has planted 1364 trees in Lewisham and in 2020 it won the Woodland Trust Community Tree award for London in 2020.

Events for Your Diary

Subway Cleaning
Saturday 2nd April, 10am-11am.
This may not sound glamorous, and it isn’t, but you’ll be amazed how clean the white panel can become after 30 minutes cleaning by a small team of volunteers. What we can offer is a real sense of satisfaction on a Saturday morning!

The panels were last cleaned a week before lockdown in 2020, so these panels are in need of a good scrubbing.

Bring some gloves, any household cleaner, and an old sponge or squeegee. We really appreciate volunteers for this as it is very fast when there is a team.

Tree Walk
Saturday 14th May, 2pm
Starting from the café in the Horniman Triangle.

Join Stuart Checkley from Street Trees for Living on a tour of 41 new trees planted this winter on the Horniman Triangle. These trees will protect the children's playground from traffic pollution and will restore a part of what was once The Great North Wood. Some of these trees should outlive us and benefit future  generations.

The view from the top of the Horniman Triangle past the new trees and towards the massive mature trees in Horniman Gardens is inspiring.


Havelock Walk Open Studios
14th-15th, 21st-22nd May
www.havelockwalkstudios.com

River Pool Summer Walk
Saturday 18th June, 2pm
Join the Forest Hill Society for a guided walk along the Pool and Ravensbourne Rivers.

Meet at Southend Lane entrance to the Pool River Linear Park (close to the petrol station and car wash).

The route is accessible and suitable for all.

 

Tree Lighting and Carols in Forest Hill and Kirkdale

The Forest Hill Christmas Tree will be switched on Saturday 4th December shortly after 3:45pm with carol singing.

The Kirkdale Christmas tree will be switched on shortly after at around 4:30pm with more carols.

We are thrilled the Forest Hill tree will be decorated again this year by local designer Lee Jackson of Jackson Morgenstern Design.  That evening Lee will also feature on the new Channel 5 special: Incredible Christmas Trees and How to Decorate Them at 7:40pm.  Broadcast is currently scheduled for 7:40pm on December 4th but please check closer to the date for the exact time.

Back from the Brink: Trees of Significance

By Quetta Kaye, Environment Committee chair

At the top of the hill in the Horniman Gardens, near to the Butterfly House, there is a prehistoric park. Next to the model of the 75 million-year-old Velociraptor among the ferns, Cycads, Horsetails, Ginkgo and Monkey Puzzle is a specimen of the brilliant green Wollemi Pine.

The Wollemi Pine, which first appeared during the Cretaceous period around 90 million years ago, was thought to be extinct until 1994 when a specimen was found in the Blue Mountains of Australia, from which seeds were taken, distributed to specialised botanical institutions around the world and germinated. Now an example of this prehistoric survivor has had a chance to live again … in our Horniman Gardens’ prehistory patch.

Elsewhere, near the beautiful Victorian conservatory, is another magnificent survivor from prehistory: the Chinese (or Dawn) Redwood. This Redwood holds an interesting place in the history of palaeobotany as one of the few living plants known first as a fossil record until, in 1944, living trees were discovered in China. There are several specimens in the Horniman Gardens.

How lucky we are to be able to enjoy these throwbacks from the time when dinosaurs walked the earth, and when flowering plants had yet to develop. These are our direct contacts with the past, to be enjoyed in the present and, we hope, to survive for future generations. Significant trees indeed!

 

 

Scientific names of the trees mentioned:
Cycads (Cycas revoluta), Horsetail (Equicetum hyemale), Ginkgo  (Ginkgo  biloba), Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria Araucana), Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis), Chinese Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides).

Oh, Christmas Tree

By Jason Kee

The festive celebrations may have been muted this past Christmas, but the SE23 (and SE4) communities enjoyed some great festive cheer with this season’s Christmas trees.

The tree decorating in Forest Hill outside WHSmith, organised through the Forest Hill Society, reached new heights in 2020 in both stature and decoration. For the second year in a row, local resident Lee Jackson, of design firm Jackson Morgenstern, designed and decorated the tree creating a flourish of seasonal reds, purples and golds.

However, there was little danger of a repeat of the great Forest Hill Hat Caper of 2019. This time, in the place of a Santa hat, three owls topped the tree and kept a wise vigil over Dartmouth and London Roads and the station’s forecourt. The owls were named “Hoot, Ann and Nanny” through a Twitter poll-beating stiff competition from “Blythe, Mayow, Horniman”, “Owly, McOwl, Face” and “Goldie, Frankie, Mervyn”.

The Forest Hill tree was big this season, but it was surpassed in height by a beautiful specimen on Perry Vale in the ‘Village’. Organised by councillors for Perry Vale ward, the tree’s decorations were kept simple and elegant, with strings of white lights. 

Christmas trees also appeared by Honor Oak Park and Crofton Park stations, and were graciously donated by Crofton Park’s Clickmas Trees. These trees were a real community effort with decorations and lighting provided by local residents themselves. Some may have noted that the HOP tree was topped by a mischievous little elf that had its own Twitter account. @HonorOakElf kept the Twitter followers among us amused with some friendly banter with @tweet_owls, a Twitter account manned by Hoot, Ann and Nanny themselves. 

Despite the absence of lighting ceremonies or carol singing this year, the Christmas trees of SE23 and SE4 brought great joy to kids and adults alike. Thank you to everyone involved in organising these trees during a very difficult time for the community. 

Forest Hill Image: © Jackson Morgenstern Ltd	Crofton Park Image: © Jane Martin
Perry Vale Image: © SE23.life	Honor Oak Image: © Nicola Johnson

Christmas Tree Lighting in Forest Hill and Kirkdale

The Forest Hill Christmas Tree will be switched on Saturday 7th December at around 4:15pm with carol singing.

The Kirkdale Christmas tree will be switched on shortly after at around 5pm with more carols and nibbles.

New Street Trees for Forest Hill

Stuart Checkley, member of Street Trees for Living, told us about their project to increase the number of trees around Lewisham and beyond.

Last winter at least 30 new trees were planted on the streets of Forest Hill. Each new tree on a particular street required the street's residents to raise the necessary funds to purchase it (£270) and to find someone to water the tree for its first two years. When more than one tree was to be planted on a street, a planting plan to increase the attractiveness of the street had to be formulated by the residents or their representative. In each case the resident in front of whose house each tree was to b
e planted had given their written consent to the planting.

After all this was done, Lewisham Council surveyed and approved the planting sites, and ordered the trees. The Council supervised the planting of the trees and organised their insurance.

But none of this would have happened without the voluntary organisation Street Trees for Living, which has supported local groups of residents through all of the above and has done so working closely with the Council. Street Trees for Living has helped to get over 200 trees planted before spring in different parts of Lewisham.

If you would like to get trees planted on your street next winter, contact Stuart@streettreesforliving.org. Stuart will help you to get started by giving you leaflets for surveying the views of residents in your street, through which you will undoubtedly discover other tree enthusiasts. You will then be able to work with your neighbours and Stuart to decide upon the trees that you would like, and before long you will get them planted.

And there are a lot of attractive trees to chose from. As our summers get hotter, so trees from hotter climes are starting to flourish on our streets, like this Crepe Myrtle (above), which this summer brightened up a sheltered stretch of Forest Hill Road in nearby Southwark.

Christmas Tree Lighting and Carols

Join the Forest Hill Society and Churches Together in Sydenham and Forest Hill, for tree lighting and carols on Saturday 3rd December 2016 at 3:30pm

We will be officially switching on the tree lights outside Forest Hill station.

Followed by the official switching on of the tree lights in Kirkdale at 4:45pm.

Great North Wood

By Sam Bentley-Toon, London Wildlife Trust

Stretching from Deptford in the north to Croydon in the south, the Great North Wood was once a vast tract of woodland and wooded commons. The wood was largely managed through coppicing — an ancient sustainable way of harvesting wood — which allowed it to thrive for centuries. As the industrial revolution transformed traditional woodland industries the value of woodland lessened, paving the way for destruction and urbanisation.

Today, the Great North Wood lives on in isolated fragments of woodland scattered across its original footprint. Key sites include Sydenham Hill Wood, Dulwich Woods, One Tree Hill, Beaulieu Heights and Long Lane Wood. The ancient character of these woods is revealed by the presence of plants such as wood anemone, bluebell and Solomon’s seal.

The Great North Wood continues to support a rich fauna with rare insects such as the fearsome-looking stag beetle which spends up to seven years burrowing through deadwood as a larva before emerging as a splendid antlered adult. The great spotted woodpecker, whose distinctive drumming can be heard ringing out through woodland in spring, is another successful inhabitant of the Great North Wood.

Unfortunately, a lack of management in some of these woodlands has led to critical threats to wildlife and to their continued existence. Amongst these threats are erosion and trampling, encroachment by invasive plant species, fly-tipping and vandalism.

London Wildlife Trust’s new Heritage Lottery funded project: The Great North Wood will seek to address these threats by enlisting local people in activities to manage woodland for wildlife.

Working alongside the five borough councils which the project area encompasses will be the Forestry Commission, the Greater London Authority and numerous Friends groups and community groups. Working together with these groups the project aims to make significant improvements to south London’s woodland environment over the lifespan of the project and beyond. An extensive programme of community engagement events will allow a diverse audience to learn about and experience the woodland and remind people about the largely forgotten landscape of the Great North Wood.

To find out more about the project and how to get involved, contact Sam (Project Development Officer) at sbtoon [at] wildlondon.org.uk / 07734 599288 or visit the Great North Wood online:

www.wildlondon.org.uk/great-north- wood
www.facebook.com/TheGreatNorthWood
www.twitter.com/GreatNorthWood

Forest Hill Tree Lighting & Santa's Grotto

Saturday 7th December, 3:30pm

The Forest Hill Society will once again be decorating the tree in the town centre, and the lights on the tree will be switched on from 3:30pm on Saturday, 7th December. Please join us for the popular event with carol singing.

With thanks to Forest Hill Ward Assembly for arranging the tree, and to Winkworth for funding decorations and carol sheets.

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.

     

Jewish New Year for Trees

On the 3rd February members of Bromley Reform Synagogue, together with members of the local community (including Jim Dowd MP and Councillor Susan Wise) planted a tree at the Horniman Play Park in Forest Hill to celebrate Tu B'Shevat—The Jewish new year for trees.

The tree chosen was a Paper Bark Maple (Acer griseum) or in Hebrew אֶדֶר (eder) Interestingly there is another incredibly similar word in Hebrew אֵדֶר (ayder) which is translated as the hide of a stuffed animal. Just across the road from the play park is the Horniman Museum which is probably most famous for their collection of stuffed animals!

I would like to say that this was all carefully planned, but no, it was just a remarkable coincidence, but I can't think of a more suitable tree to plant opposite the museum.

If you visit the Horniman Triangle you can see this tree in the corner of the play park, behind the swings. Across the road in Horniman  Gardens, between the sunken garden and the nature reserve you can visit the Sweet Chestnut tree that  Bromley Synagogue planted two years ago for Tu B'Shevat and to commemorate the visit of Janusz Korczak to Forest Hill one hundred years earlier. This tree now has a plaque so you can find it.

New Community Orchard

The community orchard in Mayow Park was planted on Saturday 28th January 2012, after months of preparation that saw Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) working with London Orchard Project (LOP) and Lewisham Council.

Numerous local adults and children helped, learning from LOP how to dig a square hole, mulch and stake the trees. Eleven trees were planted: ten trees were sponsored by local people and one was a gift. The Society sponsored the Brandy Pear tree, which is a medium sharp perry pear.

Six people volunteered to be orchard carers. They will receive basic training on care for the trees and will water them during the growing season for the first two years. A fruiting hedgerow was also planted. We look forward to autumn fruit harvesting and other celebrations annually. If you would like to be an orchard carer or would like to know more about the orchard. Contact FOMP on friendsofmayowpark@ymail.com

May Day at Albion Millennium Green

Dacre Lady Morris Dancing


Tree Planting

35 Sunderland Road - Protected Tree Preserved

Following the objection from the Forest Hill Society, the application to fell the eucalyptus tree has been refused on these grounds:
"The Eucalyptus tree is of high visual amenity value from both the near and distant realms.
The report submitted with the application discounts any damage to the building by the
tree. ... The Council has no objection to crown reduce the Eucalyptus tree T1 by 25%."

Well done to Lewisham Planning Department for making a good decision.

Tree Preservation: 35 Sunderland Road

At 35 Sunderland Road is a large eucalyptus tree that already has a preservation order and application DC/08/69850/FT requests permission to fell the tree. The Forest Hill Society have written to object:

We wish to object to the proposal to fell the eucalyptus tree at 35 Sunderland Road, for the following reasons:

1. Factual inaccuracy: the application states that the tree has caused damage to the 'pavement'. However the accompanying surveyor's report states that the damage is to the 'paving', presumably in the front garden. I recently walked past the property and saw no damage to the pavement in front of the property.

2. The application does not include an arboriculturalist's report. The report submitted is a brief report by a chartered surveyor, which contains only two paragraphs about the trees. The report recommends that "an arboriculturalist be invited to inspect and report on the trees". The application provides no evidence that this has been done.

3. The loss of the eucalyptus would be contrary to policy URB 13 Trees of the Unitary Development Plan. Lewisham has previously acknowledged this, in relation to a planning application in 2006 (DC/06/63172). At that time the outlook for the eucalyptus was positive, with no suggestion that it needed to be felled, and both Lewisham Council and the Planning Inspectorate supported the retention of the three trees on the site:

3.1 An arboriculturalist's report by Simon Jones Associates was submitted with the above application and categorised the eucalyptus in accordance with British Standard (2005) 'Trees in relation to construction - Recommendations' as Category B: "Trees of moderate quality and value: those in such a condition as to make a significant contribution (a minimum of 20 years is suggested)". This categorisation took into account the tree's species and the contraints of its physical location. In no way did the report suggest that the eucalyptus needed to be removed. It did acknowledge that pruning or tree surgery was likely to be required on a regular basis to manage the tree's conflicts with its urban surroundings (s. 2.2.8), and that the constraints of its present situation would entail the need for crown reduction in the very near future (s.4.1.2).

3.2 Lewisham refused planning permission, one of the grounds being that the proposed development would be likely to prejudice the retention of the protected eucalyptus and two limes trees, contrary to policy URB 13 Trees of the Adopted Unitary Development Plan (July 2004) (s.5 of decision notice dated 1 November 2006).

3.3. The applicant appealed against Lewisham's refusal (Appeal reference APP/C5690/A/07/2042273). Based on a site visit in August 2007, the Planning Inspector supported Lewisham's decision in relation to the eucalyptus and two lime trees, stating 'To my mind, the loss of any protected trees in this urban setting would be a negative step in redeveloping the site. Views towards the site from Waldram Park Road confirm the value of the on-site trees and others in the street scene." (s.6).

It is for these reasons that we believe any claim that the eucalyptus is causing damage to property should be supported by strong expert evidence - evidence which is absent from this application. Both Lewisham Council and the Planning Inspectorate have acknowledged the importance of the eucalyptus and two limes, and permission to fell any of these trees should be given only as a last resort. The trees may well need pruning or crown reduction, in which case any work that is permitted should be carried out in a way that maintains the trees' contribution to the streetscape.

People Power & Planning

When Loromah Estates proposed building 84 flats on land behind Tyson Road, local residents mounted a campaign opposing the planning application. As a result, the council received almost 200 objection letters and petitions.


The site in question is hidden behind the Christian Fellowship Centre on Honor Oak Road. It’s a designated BROWNFIELD SITE. However, apart from some disused garages, this is a green area, full of protected trees and supporting some interesting flora and fauna.

The proposal was to demolish numbers 15 and 17a Tyson Road and the derelict garages. Seven blocks would then be built, some 4-storeys high, containing a mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom flats.

But local people were horrified at the thought of such a dense development on a green space. One resident, Andrew Wood, felt so strongly that he took it upon himself to knock on doors to find out if others felt as passionately as he did. Very soon, he had a full-blooded campaign on his hands using email, internet, fliers and old-fashioned face-to-face meetings.

Andrew says he was driven by a love for Forest Hill: “I don't want to see its unique character destroyed by inappropriate development. The campaign was made much easier by the fantastic help and support I have received from the local residents and the knowledge that this is a site worth saving for future generations.” In the end, the Council received 198 objections, almost all of which came from people living in SE23. The Forest Hill Society – and other local groups – submitted their own objections.

In January, the Council did decide to refuse planning permission considering the proposal to be :-
· an over-development of the site, which would lead to the loss of protected trees.
· out-of-keeping with the surrounding area.
· poorly designed.

The council also believed that more studies needed to be carried out to determine which protected species lived on the site.

So what happens next? Loromah have let it be known that they will appeal the decision and it is likely to go to a full planning inquiry in the second half of this year.

But whatever happens to the Tyson Road site, the experience shows that local people can make their voice heard. And the campaign certainly got neighbours talking to each other - and that’s never a bad thing in today’s London.

Introducing the new Forest Hill Society Logo

Summer	Autumn
Winter	Spring

We are delighted to announce that the Forest Hill Society now has its very own LOGO, thanks to local graphic designer, Jennika Argent.
Jennika wanted to emphasise Forest Hill’s arboreal origins, still preserved in Sydenham Hill Woods, for example. "The roots are included because they are the most important part of the tree," Jennika says.
Over the year, you’ll notice that the tree logo changes with the seasons. "The changing seasons of the tree represent the changes we all go through all year long," Jennika explains. "The importance of the changing seasons logo is that it shows that nothing must be stagnant and for things to improve they must continue to change and improve and grow."

Tree Axed!

Adrienne and Michael from FH Society met with Councillor Paschoud and local Police Officers regarding the pathway between Shipman Road and Sunderland Road. This path is a useful shortcut for many residents in Perry Vale Ward wishing to get to the station and Forest Hill town centre, as well as Perrymount School right beside the path.

We are investigating ways to make the path feel safer and deal with some of the overgrown areas around the path. There was already some discussions about way to improve this path but there was an incident there in early November which has increased everybody's desire to improve the area.

Within a few days of discussing this with John Paschoud I am please to say the tree at the middle of the path has been cut back to avoid blocking the light from the lamppost. This path is now one of the best lit paths in Forest Hill but it still needs more improvements over the longer term.