Your Neighbourhood Matters
A Society for Forest Hill, London.
To contact the Society about our activities please email email@foresthillsociety.com
Support the Forest Hill Society - become a member today.
03 September 2012
30 years of conservation at Sydenham Hill Wood
a freely accessible nature reserve in the autumn of 1982, as one of the first steps by London Wildlife Trust to demonstrate people's desire to protect sites in the neighbourhood for wildlife.
Over the next few months London Wildlife Trust will be holding a number of public events to celebrate Sydenham Hill Wood's 30th birthday, beginning with an Open Day on Sunday 9th September. There
will be walks and talks to discover more about the Wood's wildlife and its history, as well as cake stalls and a chance to meet people who have been involved at the Wood down the years. The event will run from
12noon to 16:30 with the main congregation being situated at the top of Cox's Walk, near the footbridge.
Despite the development and upheaval since the 1850s Sydenham Hill Wood is home to a number of species of plants and animals indicative of an undisturbed, natural environment, including English bluebell,
wild garlic, wood sorrel, early dog violet, woodruff, wild strawberry and wood anemone, a member of the buttercup flower that takes a century to spread 2 metres across the ground. This diversity is all
the more impressive due to the Wood's standing within one of the world's largest cities. This underlines the importance of a long-term effort in conserving the Wood's ancient character. Surprisingly, Sydenham Hill Wood is home to a number of butterfly species, including the often unnoticed purple hairstreak, a canopy-dweller in old oak woodland.
Today the Wood is a popular place to visit, and is the focus for a devoted volunteer group that help assist the Trust in maintaining the Wood as a critically valuable nature reserve for central south London.
02 September 2012
A curious entomologist - free course
You will learn the simple techniques of finding a wide variety of insects, collecting, examining, selecting sample specimens to be killed and preserved for future reference and identification. Led by Richard Jones who is a nationally acclaimed entomologist, a former president of the British Entomological and Natural History Society, This course is aimed at anyone with an interest who wants to expand their knowledge base. It offers hands-on experience of the best ways to find and capture insects, how (and why) to start a collection and how to go about researching and identifying finds.
29 August 2012
Report on Portas Launch
With standing room only, a capacity crowd listened eagerly as members of the Core Team told them about the Portas Pilot and what it meant for Forest Hill, Kirkdale and Sydenham.
Liz Dart, Head of Community & Neighbourhood Development at Lewisham Council, started the evening off by explaining how the bid process had worked and what not to expect from a Portas Pilot; it was not about investing in infrastructure or the environment, it was about making our high streets lively, dynamic, exciting and social places that give a sense of belonging and trust to the community. One of the fundamental requirements for a Portas Pilot is a “Town Team”: a visionary, strategic and strong operational management team for the high streets. This is one way you can be involved.
£80,000 had been awarded for the pilot and this was backed by matched funding from Phase Two works at Bell Green (£100,000) and the High Street Innovation Fund (£15,000). The money will be used to back three projects which aim to re-instill a sense of place and vitality in our high streets.
Ed Holloway, a local architect, then explained the first of the three principle projects outlined in the bid. Jack & Jill are to be two community hubs in Forest Hill and Sydenham. These will be located in currently empty units and renovated by local tradesmen while training some young people (NEETs) to learn a skill. The hubs will be used as a base for the Town Team to interact with the community, showcase local businesses and run business workshops among other uses.
Due to a technical hitch (we had an old presentation up), Louise Brooks, a marketing professional then introduced The Shop Revolution. This project will refurbish up to 12 units for a series of PopUp events with the aim of stimulating demand for empty units. The Shop Revolution will work with Landlords and potential businesses to ensure that we get the right mix of businesses. The Shop Revolution will also work with landlords to find meanwhile uses for premises while looking for long-lasting tenants, maybe under the terms of a meanwhile lease. The ultimate aim is to designate our high streets as a destination – somewhere worth visiting – to bring in visitors from outside the local community.
Richard Hibbert, Chair of the Forest Hill Society, then presented Market Makers. This project will enable the running of a market in each centre. There are already two fledgling markets – the Forest Hill Food Fair on the first Sunday of the month and the Girton Road Car Boot sale on the second Sunday – but it was upto the communities to say what sort of market they wanted. This would be determined by people coming forwards with ideas for stalls and markets and through engagement via the Jack and Jill community hubs.
Councillor Chris Best then summarised the evening, encouraging people to get involved. It was only through community involvement that the pilot would be a success. It was up to you to be involved in the Town Team and shape the future of your high street.
Thank you to everyone who showed up at the Launch Event last night. It was great to see such enthusiasm and so many new faces. We look forwards to seeing you again in the near future. If you filled in a questionnaire, then we will be in touch once we have processed them. If you haven’t filled one in yet, then sign up for our newsletter and we will be in touch shortly.
As promised, a copy of the presentation can be downloaded here. Apologies to those at the back of the Pavilion who could not see the slides.
Reproduced from SEE3.co.uk
24 August 2012
Anyone for Table Tennis?
A table tennis table has now been installed in the Horniman Triangle between the cafe and the sandpit. This was funded by the Forest Hill Ward assembly following a bid from the Forest Hill Society.
Please come along and give it a try!
23 August 2012
Thameslink Franchise
Summary of Our Recommendations
1. Thameslink stopping service on the Sydenham corridor as outlined in the 2007 Route Utilisation Strategy.
3. Plans for the introduction of 12 carriage trains on the Sydenham corridor.
4. Minimum services frequencies of 4 trains per hour at Crofton Park.
5. Inclusion of minimum specification for off-peak services, including maximising the central Thameslink corridor beyond the primary Thameslink routes.
Full submission can be read at http://www.freewebs.com/foresthill/Thameslink%20Franchise.pdf
Mayow Park Beach - Wednesday 29th August
20 August 2012
Forthcoming Events - August 2012
27 July 2012
Portas Pilot First Steps
Yesterday saw the first meeting of the Town Team (or more correctly, the bid team) since we heard news of our success.
The main item discussed was how to officially constitute the Town Team so that it can take over from Lewisham as the responsible body in the longer term.
We also discussed at length the importance of being transparent and spreading the news about what the Portas Pilot is intended to achieve and what it is not. We want as many people as possible to be involved, but we also have to manage expectations, so please be patient while the nitty gritty of name, website and communications is sorted out. We hope to get this sorted out in the next week or so.
In the meantime, please contact one of the following with any queries you may have:
Who | |||
---|---|---|---|
Richard Hibbert | email@foresthillsociety.com | @FHSoc | /foresthillsociety |
Louise Brooks | louise@bakelondon.co.uk | @bakelondon | /bakelondon |
Ed Holloway | ed@beepstudio.co.uk | ||
Rebecca Leathlean | rebecca@alhambrahome.co.uk | @AlhambraRebecca | Facebook page |
Chris Best | cllr_chris.best@lewisham.gov.uk | @ChrisBestUK | Facebook page |
Paul Gale | paul.gale@lewisham.gov.uk |
26 July 2012
Planning Application: 139 Sunderland Road
The key points are that a number of the units have poor quality living space as a result of over-development of the site. However, we have welcomed the retention of the frontage of this house which was not included in the previous application. Full details of the Forest Hill Society objection can be read here.