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.
19 May 2010
Tewkesbury Lodge garden opening 2010
Opening times and combined admission: Sat 29 May, (5-9pm) £6.50 with glass of wine. Sun 30 May (1:30-6pm) £5. Free for accompanied children. By a ticket on the Green at the junction of Horniman Drive and Liphook Crescent.
Refreshment: Homemade tea and cakes on Sunday. Plants for sale on both days.
NB. Sorry, wheelchair access not possible. Well- trained dogs on leads welcome.
Coach House, 3 The Hermitage.
Mature courtyard and roof garden crammed full of unusual plants and the artist's ceramics and sculptures. The aim is a wildlife garden of interest and productivity twelve months of the year. Water features, decorative plants and vegetables in containers large and small. Art work for sale, pottery demonstrations.
30 Westwood Park
A garden designer's sloping creation, full of unusual plant combinations to suit a variety of conditions in the borders, a herb garden, water features, and winding paths. Featured in The English Garden, Gardeners' World magazine, Homes & Gardens, and House Beautiful.
27 Horniman Drive
Traditional planting in a re-designed contemporary setting to complement modern extension and emphasise long-reaching views to North Downs. Below and beyond there is a potager-style vegetable haven. Small, low maintenance, north-facing front garden with shrubs creating a tapestry of green.
28 Horniman Drive
Garden in two sections, evolving from the owner's love of growing vegetables. Raised beds, fruit cage, greenhouse, working and wildlife areas. Deep informal flower borders under mature trees. Some uneven paths. Newly planted front garden designed for low maintenance.
53 Ringmore Rise
Corner plot with spectacular views over London. Front garden inspired by Beth Chatto's dry garden, with stunning borders in soft mauves, yellows and white. Mature rear garden is on three levels, with themed beds of herbaceous plants and shrubs, some shady, others sunny. Large pond, terraces and pergola.
17 May 2010
Forest Hill Clean Up
Lewisham's Environment and Community Development team are organising a series of clean up sessions in the area as part of the London-wide Capital Clean-Up campaign.
The Capital Clean-Up Campaign aims to make London a cleaner, safer, greener capital fit to host the Olympics in 2012 and is supported by Keep Britain Tidy, 31 London boroughs, McDonald’s and sponsors Enterprise.
Previous campaigns saw Londoners initiating and taking part in clean-up activities including Thames riverbank and canal clean-ups, litter picks and graffiti removal. Over the past two years, the campaign has coordinated over 500 clean-up events. This year’s Capital Clean-Up will take place between 12 May and 23 June. Over the six-week clean up period, people from across the capital will be involved in making London a place to be proud of.
The clean-up involves removing overgrown vegetation and weeds, cleaning off graffiti (where possible), removing flyposters and clearing and sweeping litter. Lewisham council will provide necessary PPE such as hi-viz jackets and gloves but please bring your own sturdy boots and old clothes. The following local clean up sessions are planned
- Friday 11 June, 10 am - 2 pm, Earlsthorpe Mews, Sydenham SE26
(Earlsthorpe Mews is the alley which runs parallel to, and between, Earlsthorpe Road and Sydenham Road) - Monday 14 June, 10 am - 2 pm, Willow Way, off Kirkdale, SE26
- Friday 18 June, 10 am - 2 pm, Forest Hill Footpath (off London Road) SE23
(Directly opposite Sainsbury's)
If you would like to help or require any further details please contact Colin Sandiford by email or using the information below.
Colin Sandiford
Environmental Projects Officer,
London Borough of Lewisham,
Wearside Service Centre,
Wearside road,
Lewisham,
London, SE13 7EZ
Tel: 0208 314 2295
Fax: 0208 314 2128
15 May 2010
Local Plant Sales
It's that time of year again when all those gardeners who failed to plant their seeds in time can buy ready grown plants from the Friends of the Horniman and .
The annual Book and Plant Fair is being held at the Horniman today from 11am to 3pm
Sydenham Garden, an award-winning community garden on your doorstep, and are launching a new garden stall! The stall will be open every Wednesday from 19th May 2010 until the end of September. All proceeds from stall sales will go to the charity to support their work in the community.
Why not pop down, spend some time enjoying their garden oasis and pick up something fabulous at the same time! They will be selling
- Plants grown in their garden
- Home-made jams & chutneys
- Hand-made cards
- Arts and crafts
- Fresh, locally grown produce
The entrance to the garden and stall is via a wooden gate in Holland Drive, SE23. A map is available on their website.
Fundraising Dinner
Sydenham Garden and Ponte Nuovo (in Crystal Palace) would like to invite you to join them for an evening of fine dining, entertainment and great company on 16 June 2010 at 7.30pm
You'll meet lots of interesting new people, including many of their regular supporters, volunteers and staff. You'll also get to enjoy Ponte Nuovo's wonderful culinary delights in a spacious, modern Italian restaurant.
Tickets are available in advance at £25 each. The ticket price includes a fabulous two-course meal and a complimentary glass of wine. All proceeds raised on the night will go directly to supporting the charity's work.
They are busy planning some fun activities for the evening, so do make sure you book your ticket in advance as places are limited (only 100 tickets available). Book your ticket via the Sydenham Garden website
14 May 2010
LOROL Passenger Board
We were recently invited to the LOROL Passenger Board. While there were no agenda items for the East London Line, we were able to raise various points with them.
TVM Displays
LOROL have received a lot of complaints about the lime green colour scheme they chose for the Ticket Vending Machines outside the stations. As a result, they will begin down loading an improved colour scheme for the TVMs on Monday, which should make ticket buying easier. This is an interim change whist they continue to develop an optimum colour scheme and they would value any input to help them get the final solution right for their customers. Please provide feedback to us and we will forward it to them. The interim screens are shown below
Oyster Travelcards
LOROL has inherited the current ticketing system from Southern Railway. As a result, they have to operate two system; FasTIS on the core section (all stations north of Surrey Quays) and FAST on on the mainline section (all stations south of New Cross Gate). LOROL have just paid Shere the licensing fee to allow them to sell Oyster cards, weekly travelcards on Oyster and PAYG topup at the Ticket Offices. However, they will not be able to sell Monthly or Annual travelcards on Oyster unless you go to a station in the core section. This situation is most unsatisfactory.
Timetable
Peter Latham,(Head of Train Performance and Planning) from LOROL told us that the ELL service would reduce from 4tph on each route to 2tph after 2200. We raised the issue of evening trains with LOROL, especially our surprise that the ELL stops running before Southern service from London Bridge. At a meeting in 2009, we were lead to believe that the last TfL service would allow us to leave central London at about 0030. The current timetable shows that while the last Southern train will now leave London Bridge at 0036 instead of 0026 (Mon-Fri), the last train from Canada Water will be at 0017. LOROL pointed out that their services would be in addition to the 4tph that Southern currently run. They also stated that they would like to run later services, but would not do so until the Engineering and Maintenance strategy had bedded in. The earliest that they would expect a change was May 2011.
LOROL also announced that there would be 8 tph running to Highbury and Islington after May 2011. These would probably be the services from West Crotdon and Crystal Palace.
Station Upgrades
David Timmins spoke about the station upgrades. 'Phase Two' upgrades will be complete by 23 May at stations previously managed by Southern. This involves a deep clean, removal of grafitti and scratched paintwork and rebranding of the Station Name signs by temporary vinyl ones. Four stations had been signed off by RfL, with four still to be done (Forest Hill, New Cross Gate, Norwood Junction and xxx)
'Phase Three' will be started in July and hopefuly completed by December, although past experience has shown big overruns due to uncovering unexpected problems. 'Phase Three' aims to improve ambience and Systems.
Ambience improvements will improve signage, platform surfaces, seating and lighting. The new signs will be spaced every 30m on alternate sides of the train and should be more legible than the temporary signs. They will be large roundels, with the station name on the crossbar. Lighting levels will be 150 lux in 4 car area and ticket office, 100 lux elsewhere (similar to bar/restaurant lighting levels).
System Improvements will involve the installation of CCTV (with 90% coverage), Customer Information Screens on each platform, Summary screens in the Booking Hall and Help points and PA with induction loops. The PA System will also adjust its volume level based on ambient noise.
12 May 2010
May eNewsletter
Forest Hill Society’s next General Meeting will be on Thursday June 10th at the Hob, opposite Forest Hill Station. We’ll be getting an update from the Horniman Museum on their plans for the gardens then we’ll move on to Society business and an informal discussion of the key issues facing SE23. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
FOREST HILL STATION
Following the cosmetic upgrading of Forest Hill Station, the Society initiated contact between the station’s Delivery Manager, Alan Jessop-Peacock, and Shannon’s Garden Centre with a view to removing the plastic flowers and greening up the station. It has now been agreed that Shannon’s will plant up and maintain tubs of real plants on the platforms, once the station has supplied the containers. Meanwhile, the tubs either side of the station’s main entrance will be given new plants donated by Shannon’s. We hope the floral results will put a smile on your faces as you run for your trains.
EAST LONDON LINE
Trains start running on Sunday, May 23rd. There is a rumour (from TfL) that they will be giving away 10,000 free tickets on a first come/first served basis. If these plans go ahead, the tickets will be distributed across the ELL stations according to “ridership patterns.” Those with Annual/Monthly/Weekly travel cards will be able to collect a souvenir ticket, rather than a free ticket.
23 CLUB DOES THE EAST LONDON LINE
If you’d like to celebrate the ELL’s first operating day, then do join the 23 Club on Sunday, May 23rd as we ride the rails.
The plan is to meet on Platform One at 14:00 and catch the 14:11 from Forest Hill Station with Sydenham Society, enjoying their theatre performance on the way. They will be going to Dalston and back. But the 23 Club would like to recommend getting off at Hoxton Station at 14:36 for a visit to the fabulous Geffrye Museum (www.geffrye-museum.org.uk). Opening hours on Sundays & Bank Holiday Mondays are 12 - 5pm. Admission to the museum's eleven period rooms, special exhibitions and herb and period gardens is free. The restored historic almshouse, in the south wing of the museum buildings, will not be open.
06 May 2010
Havelock Walk Open Days
A total of over 20 local artists, including the Havelock Walk community, will be exhibiting their wares as part of the Dulwich Festival's Artists' Open House event starting today. The exhibits will be open from 11am-6pm on Saturday & Sunday 8-9 May and 15-16 May 2010. Some venues are only open on the first weekend and these are shown in green on the map below.
Click on a pin for details of the Artist and their work.
View Dulwich Festival - Artist Open Days 2010 in a larger map
The Dulwich Festival runs from 7-16 May and consists of walks, concerts, films, exhibitions and dancing. Full details can be found on their website DulwichFestival.co.uk
05 May 2010
Mayoral Elections - Liberal Democrat Reply
A little background...
03 May 2010
28 April 2010
Mayoral Elections - Labour Reply
- After a hard fought local campaign, the council has agreed to fund and build a new swimming facility in Forest Hill on the site of the old baths. These plans have now reached the stage where they are due to be submitted for planning approval at the end of May and the construction contract has been put out to tender. What commitment will you make to the future of these pools and what guarantees will you give that the pools will be built and will not fall victim to any budgetary cuts after the election?
- At 70%, Lewisham has the highest proportion of residents that work outside the Borough of any Borough in London. What will you do to attract employment to the south of the Borough?
- Approximately 30% of Lewisham's commuters use the train service to London Bridge along the Sydenham corridor. While welcoming the introduction of the East London Line and the new travel opportunities it presents, we recently presented a petition of 5800 signatures to the DfT and are greatly concerned by the reduction in service to London Bridge. The timetabled services due from May 2010 are predicted to be severely congested at peak times from day one. What will you do to lobby the DfT, TOCs and National Rail and achieve increased capacity to London Bridge?
- According to Lewisham's LIP, Forest Hill Town Centre has had the highest vacancy rates in the Borough for at least 15 years. What will you do to revitalise the town centre?
- The success of the Beach in the Horniman Triangle highlights the need for better youth provision in the ward. How will you address the needs for primary school places and extra curricular youth provision?
I do have to be careful not to appear to be favouring Forest Hill over other areas but as a Forest Hill residents I must say I am looking forward to being able to use the new facility myself as soon as possible. The decision to go with the new build behind the old facia of the building was taken by me and I also identified the funding needed. Forest Hill residents can be very sure that if I am re-elected I will make sure the project is completed. It may be worth explaining that the funding for the Forest Hill Leisure Centre is capital and the expected squeeze on public expenditure is likely to hit revenue (i.e. day to day) spending more quickly than its hits capital – at least over the next year.
Lewisham has always been a largely residential borough and that is one of the reasons that I have given a high priority to improving transport links and making sure our residents are able to develop the skills they need to compete for jobs elsewhere in London. The actual patterns of employment are complex in London with both inflows and outflows to and from Lewisham. It would not be realistic to expect to create large-scale opportunities for employment growth in the South of the Borough but we do need to protect the employment that is already here and identify opportunities for growth.
The retail sector is important and I want to launch a “Shop Local” strategy building on the positive work that has already been done with local businesses. Lewisham as a borough has some particular strengths like the cultural sector and an unusually high number of successful Social Enterprises. I have worked with these sectors in the past and the Council should go on providing support to enable both those sectors to grow further.
Lobbying ministers, the London Mayor, Transport for London, the TOCs and National Rail are almost an everyday part of the mayor’s job. That extends from pursuing long terms campaigns to get things like the DLR and the ELL to very detailed issues about the operation of services and management of stations. I am not happy about some of the changes not least the end of through running to Charing Cross. I am aware as mayor of the whole borough just how complex some of these issues are with changes on one line impacting on capacity elsewhere. I will want to see what happens once the new services start running – as a regular user of the line I know only two well how bad conditions get at times and if there are problems I will seek to use the links that I have developed to not only lobby those who can do something about it but make sure they are held to account for their actions.
The fact that units remained unlet even during a period when the economy was buoyant points to an underlying problem. It may be that there is an over supply of units and this is something which should be looked at carefully. We know that shopping patterns have changed with an increase in Internet shopping (I can remember buying vinyl records from a specialist record shop in Forest Hill!) and also the increasing tendency for Supermarkets to offer “one stop” shopping.
The businesses that appear to be most successful in centres like Forest Hill are either specialist retailers or personal services. The new Leisure centre on the Pools site offers a major opportunity to look at Dartmouth Road. It will pull more people to that location and I would like to see an exercise carried out that looks at the whole stretch of road from there to the junction with London Road to seek ways of improving the lay out and facilities with a view to not only encouraging pedestrian use but trying to create small but attractive spaces where potential shoppers can linger – the work which is going to be carried out in Sydenham High Street may offer some ideas.
The revamp of the Horniman Triangle through the Play Builder scheme has proved a great success and the missing link i.e. the toilets is being sorted too. Provision for older young people is more challenging. There are good youth projects either within the ward boundary or close by which will need to be supported. The new Leisure centre should offer young people much more than the old pools did and they have had a voice in what is planned. A major investment in a new youth facility will be taking place near Wells Park and this is intended to serve young people from a wider area including Forest Hill.
London Councils, the body that brings together all the London Boroughs, reports that this problem has emerged quickly and is likely to be due to a number of factors, Including an increase in migration to London and the accompanying rise in birth rates and changes in London’s housing stock, which has led to parents remaining in the capital rather than moving away as their children reach primary school age.
Neighbouring Southwark has had a government bail out because of the problems it faces. In Lewisham we did not act as precipitately and retained some so called “surplus places” even when the figures seemed to falling. However the spare capacity in the Borough’s schools is in the upper years and demand is, of course, lower down the age range. At least 17 “Bulge” classes have been created for September, and a number of these are in the local area.
It does appear that this is a permanent shift in numbers rather than a temporary change and we will need to increase primary provision across Lewisham. I have already instructed council officials to work on plans to do this either by expanding current schools or building new ones. If I am re-elected I have made it clear that this will be one of my priorities for the next four years.
A little background...
Source: citymayors.comSteve Bullock’s public service career began in 1982 with his election to the council of the London Borough of Lewisham. Bullock steadily worked his way up its civic ladder, becoming Chair of Finance and Deputy Leader before taking the council leadership in 1988. Bullock spent five years as leader before standing down in 1993 and from the council altogether in 1998. During this time (1993-1995) he served on the Commission for Local Democracy, an influential think tank which was successful in getting elected mayors on the agenda for the reform of local government by the incoming Labour government in 1997. He was also instrumental in establishing the New Local Government Network in 1998, the leading campaign and think tank in favour of elected mayors and modernisation in local government. After leaving the council in the late 1990s, Bullock became Head of the Labour Group Office at the Local Government Association (formed in 1997), an important time for the body given the new Labour government and Labour’s pole position among the ranks of local government. He also took up the post of chairman of the local hospital trust, a central government appointment, which he held until becoming mayor in 2002. He was reelected in 2006, though Labour lost control of the council chamber that year for the first time in 25 years.