Let's Get Snapping!

This year, for the first time, we are holding a digital photo competition. With its fabulous views and eclectic mix of old and new, there are sure to be some fantastic images to be found in Forest Hill. Go creative, get snapping!

We are delighted that the competition will be judged by Paul Murphy, local resident, Society member and winner of the ‘Rose Award for Photography’ Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2010. Paul is the second person ever to win this award.

There will be 12 winning photos selected which will then go on to form the Forest Hill Society Calendar 2012, which will be available for everyone to buy. Winners will be notified and presented with an award at the Forest Hill Society AGM in November.

Entrants can submit as many digital pictures as they like to our Flickr group

Every submission must be accompanied by an e-mail sent to alisa@foresthillsociety.com with your name, address, phone number and photo ID/name. The closing date is 15 October 2011 and the final 12 photos will be chosen on 30 October.

Please read the rules for copyright and privacy issues. Full competition rules can be found here on our website

The competition is only open to digital photographs. We hope to be able to accept printed images in the future.

Photo to the right: the view over London from the Hill, with thanks to Rob McIntosh

Cafe Society

We’ve been featuring some of SE23’s new coffee shops and, in this issue, we move further away from Forest Hill town centre to find out what makes the perfect coffee experience. This time we speak to Ben Morris from Hop Scotch in Honor Oak Park and Anna Marciniak at The Brothers, Dartmouth Road

Hop Scotch

Ben was asked about his coffee: “Good, balanced, middle-of-the-road beans (not too strong or weak but 'rich'), freshly ground coffee bean dispensed by knowledgeable, trained baristas on a classic manual / lever machine for maximum flavour, cream and perfect froth!”

The Brothers Cafe

Anna, who is introducing a touch of Eastern Europe to SE23, gave her views on cafe culture: “A great café is a convivial place where people can sit and meet surrounded by friendly and helpful staff who are willing to bend over backwards for their customers.”

Great news for North Londoners!

The extension of the Overground from Dalston Junction to Highbury and Islington opened on 28 February, bringing even more North Londoners easy access to our hidden gems.

All Overground trains through Forest Hill now run the full length of the line. This will give more footie fans a far easier journey to see their South-East London teams play. It will also open up some great places for people to visit – Crystal Palace, The Horniman Museum and all the other lovely spots in our area!

Top soccer at the Crystal Palace

The May timetable will continue to include three late trains through Canada Water to New Cross Gate. These will connect with the last Southern services, to enable a late night return home.

The new route from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction is expected to open late in 2012.

Rumour has it that this is also good news for South East Londoners! Happy travelling

A Fond Farewell

With a mixture of sadness and happiness we say goodbye to Liz Hannaford, one of the very first members of the Forest Hill Society.

Liz has been with the Society from the first meeting and has provided all manner of communications including the excellent newsletters for all of this time (with a couple of short breaks on maternity leave). She has also been wonderful in organising stalls, walks, and lots of other fabulous events. Her cheerful smile will be sorely missed.

Pictures of Liz are rare as she is always dashing around, but she was caught in the attached photo celebrating our victory in the battle to keep the swimming pool in Forest Hill. Alas, she may now never be able to swim in the pool, but since she is moving to Manchester, where it is apparently always raining, she may never be dry again.

More little Russets

In the last Newsletter, we told you about Tom and Sara Russet’s plan to celebrate their daughter’s birth by planting some Russet apple trees on Albion Millennium Green.

Well, on 23 January the planting ceremony was carried out and we hope that in years to come Nell Margie Russet - and the rest of the community - will be able to enjoy the fruit planted in her honour. We would love to hear from other members of any similar stories!

To the right: Tom, Sara and Nell enjoying the planting

An Oscar for SE23?

Well maybe not quite. Lionel Logue, speech therapist to King George VI, lived for some years in our area on Sydenham Hill.

The film ‘The King’s Speech’ depicts the relationship between the two with Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth playing the roles respectively.

Logue had come to England with his family in 1924, supposedly on a holiday. Instead he took jobs teaching around London and then enjoyed a successful career as a speech therapist.

In the 1930s he lived at Beechgrove, a Victorian villa on Sydenham Hill, which had 25 rooms, five bathrooms, five acres of garden and a tennis court. The house is now gone but interestingly you can still see the folly, rockery and remains of an ornamental stream. The area, part of Sydenham Hill Woods, is open to the public.

Grand May Day on Albion Millennium Green

Sunday, 1st May: 12 – 3.00pm

The Bedlam Bunch return to offer two shows (12

and 2.00 for children aged 3 – 8. Parents welcome.

Bring your own picnic lunch (1.00pm – 2.00pm).

Face painting, (squirrels, badgers, hedgehogs galore), May Kings and Queens, bird boxes, cakes and much more.

With support of The Localities Fund, LB Lewisham.

Honor Oak Park Station Improvements (continued)

Following our report in the last newsletter, work is continuing. The stairs are being replaced and newly painted ironwork is emerging from under the tarpaulins. The cutting behind platform 1 is being re-graded and at some stage the platforms will be repaired and extended. When all of that is complete, the station is going to receive its Phase 3 upgrade with improved lighting, new signage and redecoration.

But we have not been informed how long this will all take. Getting information from Network Rail is proving very difficult; however the Society has been told that the stairs should be in place at the end of April.

We have suggested that getting the level of platform 1 rather closer to the level of the trains, either by raising the platform or lowering the track, might also be a worthwhile improvement. Getting Landscaping at Honor Oak Park station.

Looking more like the Pompidou Centre or Lloyds buildings, the stairs under construction! on or off trains is a nightmare for anyone who is not reasonably agile, or who has a buggy to contend with. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that this objective will be achieved any time soon.

Planning Matters

The last few months have seen a lot of new planning applications around Forest Hill, some that may be considered good, and some bad.

The former post office on Dartmouth Road has been given approval for conversion to a restaurant/bar by Antic, the owners of Jam Circus and the East Dulwich Tavern. The flats above will get a face lift and an additional floor. Whilst the Society expressed concern about the additional floor, we believe that the overall changes are very positive. The Perry Vale fire station, (see below), a listed building, had an application rejected despite Council officer recommendation. Lewisham’s planning committee agreed with us that some affordable housing should be provided on a development of this size.

St. John's Church on David’s Road had massive signs, and a concreted over garden. The Council deemed this not in keeping with the conservation area and the signs were removed. A suitable way forward for the garden area and footpath between David and Devonshire Roads is now being discussed.

A planning report would not be complete without mention of the Tyson Road development. The landscaping plans have been approved and building can now commence. Local residents had provided videos of bats in the gardens, but the Council’s ecologist said there was no evidence they were in the trees due to be removed.

29 April 2011 - ROYAL WEDDING STREET PARTY

Whether or not you are a royal fan, the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April this year will be a great excuse for the whole community to come together and have a bit of retro fun.

So the Society is planning a Forest Hill Street Party! We’re still working on the details as we go to print, but we’ll let you know what they are nearer the time.

We’re particularly keen to get local craft groups involved in making this event distinctive. Jeni Johnson at Messy Makers is already on board with this project. She runs art workshops for pre-school children and they’ll be making exciting bunting for the street party next term. We can’t wait!

If you’d like to get involved, please contact: mail@foresthillsociety.com