Forthcoming Events

Open Day, One Tree Hill Allotments site, Honor Oak Park - Sunday 13th June. 12 to 6pm.

If you didn’t fancy the crowds at Chelsea this year, this is the next best thing! You’ll see a variety of gardening styles from formal allotment layouts to cottage style. There are grand views over South East London from the top, ponds & beehives. There will be three guided walks by allotment members and they start at 2.00pm, 3.00pm & 4.00pm. or you might prefer to do one of the self guided walks.

The main entrance to the allotment site is in the Recreation ground Car park just off Honor Oak Park SE23. The site is 2 minutes walk from Honor Oak Park Railway station. P4, P12, 122, 171, 172 buses. Admission is free but donations welcome. Refreshments will be available. Please wear stout footwear, as it can be slippery if it has been raining and due to the uneven parts of the site some parts are not accessible for Wheelchairs, Buggies or People with walking difficulties although the lower part is. There is a compost toilet on site.


Sydenham Woods walk - Sunday 20th June, 3pm.
Meet at the gate in Crescent Wood Road. This is a guided walk led by Ashley White, the Conservation Projects Officer for Southwark. The local historian, Steve Grindlay, will also give a short talk about the history of the area. The walk will last about1 hour. We would appreciate small contributions for this walk.


Forest Hill Assembly Meeting – Monday, 21 June 2010, 7-9pm.
Sydenham Secondary School, Dartmouth Road, SE26 4RD


The Sydenham Arts Festival’s Summer Season 2010 - has over sixty events during the three summer months (and a little bit of September!) - diverse music, dance, drama, comedy, film, poetry, visual arts, children’s events and workshops – utilising a variety of local venues and parks. It’s a fantastic community event and we really do encourage you to support it. There’s far too much going on to include details in this eNewsletter so please go to their wonderful website www.sydenhamartsfestival.com

Festivals Galore!

Living on the 'Culture Line', we really are spoilt for choice. Not only do we have excellent Museums to visit, but we have a wonderful selection of local festivals to choose from. The Sydenham International Music Festival is in full swing at the moment and runs until 27 June, while the Sydenham Arts Festival kicks off this Sunday and runs until September 11. Slightly further afield, Brockley Max draws to a close this weekend having been running since 27 May.

The Sydenham Arts festival has over 90 events scheduled, featuring dance, drama, poetry, film and comedy as well as workshops and childrens events.

The backbone of the International Music Festival meanwhile is the amazing, virtuoso St Bartholomew Festival Orchestra that gathers together the most prestigious players from London‘s internationally recognised orchestras. Together with Festival Director Robert Trory, their reputation is now well established. This year is the seventh anniversary and presents a real feast of live music to match anything on offer in London with a stunning lineup including international opera star Susan Bullock. All concerts are held at St Bartholomew's Church unless otherwise specified.

The festival was opened on 23 May by the ever-popular virtuoso Russian violinist Sergey Dogadin who gave a performance of Brahms' Violin Concerto. He also teamed up with Martin Roscoe on piano for a further recital last Sunday and there have been two other concerts; EMMA SELWAY - mezo-soprano performed at St Christopher's Hospice and the FIDELIO PIANO QUARTET made its fourth appearance in the Sydenham Festival.

However, worry not! There are still plenty of gems still to come.

On Tuesday 8th June at 7.30pm the LONDON CONCHORD ENSEMBLE will be performing at the Dolphin (£10). This fun evening with an American flavour (and some Mozart and Beethoven thrown in for good measure) is given by London’s leading mixed instrument group that has toured the UK, Europe and North America.

This is followed on Sunday 13th June - 7.30pm - by the SUSAN BULLOCK CELEBRITY CONCERT (£18, £12 concs.). Recognised as one of the world's leading Wagnerian sopranos, Susan Bullock will come together with Maestro ROBERT TRORY and the stunning ST.BARTHOLOMEW FESTIVAL ORCHESTA in Wagner's 'Wesendock Leider' and Cantaloube's 'Songs of the Auvergne'.

The ever popular CHILDREN’S CONCERT (£6) returns on Saturday 19th June - 11.00am and features 'The Carnival Of Animals' narrated by Jamie Ripman. This is a lively working of Scottish Dances with bagpipes for good measure and is a fun-packed concert for children of all ages. Children are encouraged to come dressed as one of the Animals in the Carnival (a fish - a lion - a donkey - an elephant - a kangaroo .....) for a Fancy Dress competition.

Also making a welcome return is the young Serbian cellist MAJA BOGDANOVIC who stunned the audience in 2009 with her performance of Shostakovich Cello Concerto. Maja will take part in the FRIEND’S EVENING on Friday 25th June - 7.30pm, an evening of talk with music, hosted by Noel Craven with MAJA BOGDANOVIC & ROBERT TRORY (£10 - free to Friends of Sydenham Music) before finally closing the Festival with Elgar's Cello Concert on Sunday 27th June - 7.30pm at the CLOSING CONCERT (£18, £12 concs.)

Forest Hill Day, Sunday 6 June

We are pleased to announce that we have been allocated a stall at this weekend's Forest Hill Day, which is being held at the Horniman Gardens from 1 pm to 6 pm on Sunday, 6 June.

As well as over 40 stalls selling a variety of crafts and food, there will be plenty of entertainment for all the family including an inflatable slide and assault course, donkey rides, face painting, Punch and Judy and birds of prey. Live music will be provided by the Ian Petrie band and Rough Justice.

Forest Hill Day is organised by the Forest Hill Traders Association and supported by funding from the Mayor of Lewisham and the Town Centre Management team.

Planning Application for Forest Hill Pools

The Forest Hill Society has submitted a response to the planning application for Forest Hill Pools.

We have been through the application in some detail and write in support of the proposals. To a great extent we think this is a very good scheme, in a good location, and in particular:

1. The general arrangement of the two pools works well and appears to allow a good level of natural side lighting into the main activities of the building
2. The retention of the superintendents’ house is a strong element of the scheme and helps to tie together the three ‘civic’ buildings of the Pools, the library and Louise House
3. The approach to the scheme from Forest Hill Town Centre is effective and the two entrances are well located.....

You can read the full response here.

East London Line Arrives at Forest Hill

Tewkesbury Lodge garden opening 2010

A group of five very different gardens will be open to the public under the National Garden Scheme, to raise money for cancer, caring, and gardening charities. The gardens are within a few minutes walk of each other.

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.

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

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

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.

May eNewsletter

GENERAL MEETING
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.