Forest Hill Society AGM 2013

Thursday 12th December, 7:30pm
Upstairs at The Hob (opposite Forest Hill Station)

The Forest Hill Society AGM is a chance to elect the new executive and set out our priorities for the year ahead and beyond. We have some great ideas and want to hear all suggestion for ways to improve SE23.

We welcome members and non-members to our AGM.

Update: We have now confirmed our guest speaker: local resident and PhD student Jacob Phillips will be telling us more about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the local resident (80 years ago) and German pastor who opposed the Nazi regime in Germany. This follows on from Jacob's article for the newsletter earlier this year.

Day of the Dead Late, at the Horniman

Thursday 7th November, 6-9pm 

The Horniman’s next after-hours party for adults, Day of the Dead Late, is inspired by the annual Mexican festival. Follow a procession of fluorescent skeletons and Mexican musicians through the galleries, dance with a giant skeleton, experience a magical puppet performance with Theatre of Dolls, join in a Day of the Dead party with DJ Stylus in the Conservatory, discover fascinating skeleton facts, and enjoy short films. Food and bar open including Mexican street food and Day of the Dead cocktails.

Find out more about Day of the Dead Late at http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/events/day-of-the-dead-late. Tickets are £3. Over-18s only due to the nature of the events.

Hat  Tip: Brockley Central

Forest Hill Food Fair - Sunday 3rd November

Horniman Halloween Fair - 26th and 27th October

In addition to their weekly Saturday Farmers' Market the Horniman will be hosting an Arts and Crafts market on Sunday 27th October.

There will be a 'spooky trail' through the gardens, some haunting melodies from the bandstand, and a talk about weird animals in the museum.

More details at http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/events/horniman-halloween-fair

Tales for October

Tea at the Opera

Project:Opera, The People's Opera Company brings you piano accompanied extracts from a variety of works in local venues, keeping ticket prices low and offering ideal tasters for people new to Opera and fans alike, with 50% of their proceeds going in direct support of the local community - in this case, the community of St Saviour's church and the Lewisham Food Bank.

On Sunday, 20 October, they will be performing an Italian inspired program of Verdi, Puccini and Rossini, from Gilda's death scene (Rigoletto) to Rossini's hilarious Cat Duet. True to Project:Opera's style, their artists' passion will make you laugh and cry, wishing you could come back and hear it all again!

Tickets are available through their home-page or for on-the-day purchase. Tickets are priced at £10 for Adults, £5 for Concessions and children under 12 go free.

Performers:
Angela Pascale (Piano)
Annalisa Vaughan (Soprano)
Colleen Nicoll (Soprano)
Ian Pope (Bass-Baritone)
Yuri Sabatini (Tenor)

Meet the Bouncers

Allow me to introduce Les Judd, Ralph and old hand Lucky Eric. They've seen it all. On Club night, they'll be there, checking out the action. Looking cool. Stepping in to break up a fight. Just don't get them started.

From 16 October to 2 November, Spontaneous Productions will be bringing their unique style of size-specific theatre to the authentic atmosphere of Zanzibar Nightclub and Restaurant on Kirkdale.

In this all new, updated version of John Godber's timeless comedy, four nightclub bouncers portray more than 20 different characters (giggling girls, lads on the make, pogo-ing punks and a smooth talking DJ) set against the tatty, glitzy glamour, flashing lights and pulsating beat of the dance floor.

“It's easy to see why Bouncers remains John Godber's most successful comedy.”(Liverpool Post)

Tickets (£12 - £8 concession) are available from Kirkdale Bookshop, 272 Kirkdale, Sydenham. SE26 4RS. Phone: 020 8778 4701. Book early to avoid disappointment!

The Honor Oak

The Honor Oak on St German's Road was one of Forest Hill's better pubs until recently. Unfortunately, the last tenants ran the pub into the ground and have allegedly stripped it bare - including removing all the radiators.

After being approached by several members of the Society who were concerned that The Honor Oak might follow the same fate as The Windmill and The Forest Hill Hotel and be converted into flats or a mini-supermarket, we recently applied for the Honor Oak to be listed as a community asset.

If approved, then should Punch Taverns decide to sell the property, the community will be offered the right to buy the building. If you'd like to get involved and hear about the journey, please join the mailing list at www.thehopeandhonor.com.

The table below summarises the ‘assets of community value’ nominating and bidding process in four simple stages.

Stage one: Identify an asset for nomination
If an eligible community or voluntary group thinks that a local asset meets the definition of an ‘asset of community value’ they can fill in an application form and ask the Council to list the property as an ‘asset of community value’. If the nomination meets the relevant criteria and is approved by the Council, the asset will be included on the list. A list will also be compiled for any unsuccessful nominations that do not meet the criteria.

Stage 2: The owner wants to sell their asset
If the owner wants to sell their asset they must notify the Council, which will then notify the community group that nominated the asset and publicise the proposed sale to the wider community. If within six weeks of informing the Council of their intention to sell their asset an eligible community interest group does not come forward, the owner is free to sell their asset for a period of eighteen months from the date that they notified the Council of their intention to sell the asset.

Step 3: A designated community group wants to bid for the asset
If an eligible community interest group does express an interest in bidding for the asset, this group or groups will be granted extra time to prepare a business plan and gather the finance needed to purchase the asset. All in all, the time-frame for groups to put together their bids is six months starting from the time the asset owner informs the Council of their intention to sell the asset.

Step 4: The point at which the asset is to be sold
The six month window of opportunity is only for eligible community interest groups to put their business plans together and gather necessary funding. Once the six month window has expired, the asset owner is free to sell their property to who they want. They are under no obligation to sell the asset to any eligible community interest group or groups who bid to purchase the asset.

Apple days

If you've got a surplus of apples or just want a fun day out, pop along to one of the local apple days.

Mayow Park

SEPlentyFree and GrowMayow have got together to run an apple day today (Wednesday 2 October) from 2 - 6pm. There will be apple & pear juice fresh from the apple press, cakes, pies, crumbles & pastries as well as jams & chutneys to sample & buy. There will also be kids activities, free apple recipes to take home, mulled apple juice (hot) & apple lot more.. There will also be a plants on sale as well as freshly made herb bundles.

One Tree Hill allotments

The One Tree Hill Allotment Society will be apple pressing on Saturday 5th October from 1pm to 6pm.

Go and help press apples and taste fresh juice. Please make sure that you wear old clothes and decent footwear as the event is out doors. All ages welcome, but children must be supervised directly at all times. Free event - welcome to bring snacks to share. Entry by Top Side Gate on Honor Oak Park SE23 

Devonshire Road Nature Reserve

Sunday 13th October is Devonshire Road Nature Reserve Apple Day....11 till 3

It’s a fantastic day for the whole family. Take along your apples if you have them. They’ll be crushing and pressing them to make fresh apple and pear juice.

Great food, refreshments and homemade cakes. Also face painting, games and music.
 

They hope to see you there.

Orchard Day

On Saturday 19th, the Forest Hill Society is organising a walk with the Friends of Albion Millenium Green. We will be planting some of the trees from the Edible High Road which were donated by bCards, Bunka and the Horniman Museum.

Meet at Forest Hill station at 11.00 am to walk to Albion Millenium Green for planting of trees at 11.30. We'll then go over the footbridge and walk
through Mayow Park for a brief talk about the trees already planted in the Mayow community orchard, arriving at de Frene community garden's mature orchard with lunch from pizza oven from about 1:30pm.

There will be apple bobbing, apple juicing and other activities.

Posted using Bloggerdroid. Apologies for any weird formatting

Sydenham Recital Series

Today (Sunday 29) at 3pm marks the beginning of a new series of recitals at St Bartholomew's on Westwood Hill, SE26 6QR.

Led by soprano Rosie Lomas the group Literary Music, brings alive the music of literature; from the drawing rooms of the Regency era and fashionable concerts of Georgian Bath to the factories of the industrial Victorian cities, performing songs and arias of the period with quotations from the novels, historical background and entertaining anecdotes.

This will be followed by the Albany Piano Trio on 27 October performing Haydn and Brahms.

On 24th November, the Palomino Quartet, described as ‘exuberant and energetic’, are a fresh and dynamic emerging talent in chamber music. Formed in 2011, the quartet comprises former members of Southbank Sinfonia from England, Ireland and New Zealand.

All concerts are from 3-4pm, and followed with tea and homemade cakes. Tickets are £8 (£5 Concessions) on the door or please contact the box office at info@sydenhamrecitalseries.com or 07761923176. Sydenham Recital Series are also on Twitter (SydenhamRS) and Facebook (Sydenham Recital Series).