23 April 2015
22 April 2015
Parliamentry Hustings Cancelled
The Forest Hill Society and Sydenham Society had arranged a
Parliamentary election hustings for Lewisham West and Penge on Friday
24th April. Unfortunately we have to announce the cancellation of
this hustings. This is due to difficulty getting agreement from the
candidates regarding who should be included and excluded from the panel.
Initially we had invited only the five candidates representing parties with more than 1% at the last general election to take part. We were pressured by a number of the candidates to extend this invitation to all candidates. Having done this, it then proved impossible to get all eight candidates to agree to attend the hustings due to the presence of a candidate from Liberty GB.
In addition we did not wish to place the local church and vicar in the situation of hosting and chairing an event with a speaker from a party that does not accept religious freedom.
We wish to apologise to all members of the public who were looking forward to attending the event.
Issued by Michael Abrahams, chair of the Forest Hill Society and Annabel McLaren, chair of the Sydenham Society.
Initially we had invited only the five candidates representing parties with more than 1% at the last general election to take part. We were pressured by a number of the candidates to extend this invitation to all candidates. Having done this, it then proved impossible to get all eight candidates to agree to attend the hustings due to the presence of a candidate from Liberty GB.
In addition we did not wish to place the local church and vicar in the situation of hosting and chairing an event with a speaker from a party that does not accept religious freedom.
We wish to apologise to all members of the public who were looking forward to attending the event.
Issued by Michael Abrahams, chair of the Forest Hill Society and Annabel McLaren, chair of the Sydenham Society.
21 April 2015
Reinstating Evening Peak Trains
The Forest Hill Society have received confirmation from Southern that most of the evening peak services that were canceled in January will be reinstated in the May timetable change (16th May).
The following services will run again from May (in addition to the existing 2 trains per hour):
16:27
17:06
17:38
18:36
The 18:06 will NOT be reinstated, continuing to leave a 30 minute gap in the evening timetable.
We welcome the reinstatement of these services which might make our journeys home a little better than they have been for the last four months.
The following services will run again from May (in addition to the existing 2 trains per hour):
16:27
17:06
17:38
18:36
The 18:06 will NOT be reinstated, continuing to leave a 30 minute gap in the evening timetable.
We welcome the reinstatement of these services which might make our journeys home a little better than they have been for the last four months.
09 April 2015
Parliamentary Election Hustings - 24th April (CANCELLED)
The Forest Hill Society and Sydenham Society have arranged a Parliamentary election hustings for Lewisham West and Penge on Friday 24th April at 7pm. This meeting is free and open to all.
All Candidates have been invited to speak and answer your questions on local and national issues.
This event will take place at Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Path, off Sydenham Park, London SE26 4EA.
Closest bus stops are five minutes walk away on Kirkdale, served by 122, 197, 176, 356. Both Sydenham and Forest Hill station are 10 minutes walk away.
All Candidates have been invited to speak and answer your questions on local and national issues.
This event will take place at Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Path, off Sydenham Park, London SE26 4EA.
Closest bus stops are five minutes walk away on Kirkdale, served by 122, 197, 176, 356. Both Sydenham and Forest Hill station are 10 minutes walk away.
06 April 2015
Honor Oak Road Covered Reservoir
By Daniel Greenwood (local resident). In November 2014, flyers were circulated to residents around the Canonbie Rd/Tewksbury Lodge area about an ‘illustrative scheme’ to be exhibited for public inspection. Many local residents and members of the Forest Hill Society went along to find out more. We asked Daniel, who attended the presentation, to tell our readers why this site is so significant.
On a sunny Saturday morning last November, I attended a presentation by Thomas Wrenn Homes at The Forest Hill Friends Meeting House to outline proposals to build seven houses on the Honor Oak Road Covered Reservoir site. The Reservoir site is lodged between Canonbie Road, Honor Oak Road, Horniman Drive, and Liphook Crescent. The plans (for an ‘illustrative scheme’) showed the houses to be built on the site, which is, however, designated as a Grade 2 Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation. Access to the new development would be created from Canonbie Road. I did not have a chance to speak to Mr. Wrenn — since he was busy answering questions from concerned residents — but spoke to the development’s designer, Andy Smith. I suggested to him that an ecological survey was of the utmost importance, to which he responded by underlining the need for a ‘positive ecologist’ to survey the site.As someone who was raised in SE23, the green spaces of the local area hold great meaning for me. The Reservoir site is one I never had the chance to visit as a child or teenager but others before me did have the opportunity. The site gets its name from an underground reservoir built into the hilltop of the Tewkesbury Lodge estate, which was formerly part of the extensive Sydenham Common. It was once owned by Thames Water and ceased to function as a reservoir 40 years ago. It was sold at auction in 1995.
An ecological study of Lewisham conducted by John Archer and Ian Yarnham for the London Ecology Unit (‘Nature Conservation in Lewisham’, 2000) noted that the Reservoir site ‘supports some of the most interesting grasslands in Lewisham and is home to several rare plants and invertebrates’. One such plant is the site’s colony of cowslip, which the study described as having ‘all but disappeared from most of London’. The Reservoir site was ‘the only place in Lewisham that cowslips still occur, except where they have been deliberately planted’. The ecological guide also celebrates the literary history of the reservoir; Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) lived on nearby Bovill Road and was inspired by his time at the reservoir as a child to write several poems.
This is not the first time the Reservoir site, a private area with no public access, has been threatened with development. In 1999, the Secretary of State rejected a planning application for housing following a Public Enquiry, due to the ecological value of the site. Residents who attended the presentation were obviously concerned about the loss of valuable space for nature. Some felt that the arguable weakening of planning regulations, through the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework, has offered hope to Mr. Wrenn for building his plans on this precious green space. While Lewisham Council will be conducting updated surveys of their Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) in 2015 and will solicit permission to access the Reservoir site, Mr. Wrenn is under no obligation to give his permission.
Nature in South London — which is not just confined to designated Nature Reserves — is being threatened by a new wave of building (which is not geared towards solving an affordable housing crisis), and the borough’s SINCs are in the firing line. Though no planning application has been submitted so far by Mr. Wrenn’s company, the Reservoir site could be threatened with development once again.
05 April 2015
Lobbying to Make SE23 an Even Better Place to Live
Much of the work the Forest Hill Society does is very visible — especially the flowers that pervade the town centre in the summer — but there is a lot more that goes on throughout the year behind the scenes that is not visible. The Forest Hill Society lobbies on your behalf on a number of issues, for which we try to keep you updated on their outcomes. Two of the big issues we are wrestling with at the moment are the resolution of poor-quality rail services and achieving much needed improvements to our town centre and the high street.
Rail service improvementsSouthern train services to, and particularly from, London Bridge station have been atrocious recently. They started getting worse in the summer and reached a new low in January 2015 with their new timetable. During January, Southern had cancelled half of their evening peak services from London Bridge to Forest Hill; this is completely unacceptable and, even now, the trains that do run are running late and often pass through South London without stopping. Knock-on effects of this disgraceful performance are that London Overground trains have become seriously overcrowded and their punctuality has been the worst on record.
On behalf of passengers using Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park stations, the Forest Hill Society has been transmitting a clear message of dissatisfaction to the train companies, Transport for London (TfL), Lewisham Council, Jim Dowd MP, London TravelWatch, and others. We have also made it clear that we expect our train services to be reinstated as soon as possible and for Network Rail and the operating companies to be called to account for their appalling lack of management.
In the longer term, we also hope to influence the outcomes of rail projects — including bringing the Bakerloo line to South East London and lobbying for Thameslink trains to stop at South London stations, at least during the evenings and weekends when capacity may allow. In addition, we are calling for more evening services on southbound Overground and Southern lines to Forest Hill.
Town centre regenerationTrains have always been something that the Forest Hill Society has campaigned about, ever since the Society’s first meeting in 2006. But more recently we have turned our attention to the much harder problem of town centre regeneration. Over the last few years, we have taken action to improve the visual appeal of the town centre by planting flowers around Forest Hill station and, through the Edible High Road initiative, displaying large-potted flowers up and down the high street; setting up a monthly Forest Hill Food Fair between 2012-2013, before it was replaced by a weekly market at Horniman Gardens; and arranging for two boarded-up shop fronts to get painted to turn them from eyesores into works of art.
Over £750k to revitalise Dartmouth RoadLast July, we ran a Town Centre Design Charette (or workshop), which helped to re-focus our objectives for improving the town centre. In the short term, we know that improvements will be made to Dartmouth Road courtesy of two sources of funding: £650k from TfL to primarily improve the pavements, which will make it a better place to shop; and £113k in regeneration funding from the GLA’s High Street Fund — awarded in early March for a bid developed by SEE3, V22, Forest Hill Society, and Lewisham Council — to enable some additional landscaping work to take place between the Library, Louise House, and the Pools complex, which will create another open civic space on the edge of the town centre. However, this is only a small step towards fulfilling more ambitious goals.
Other potential improvementsTwo potential projects that stand out as great opportunities for regeneration involve pedestrianisation, for which we received good feedback at last year’s design workshop: the pedestrianisation of Perry Vale between the South Circular and Waldram Place (from E.J. Carpets to Distinguish Doors); and the pedestrianisation of the part of Forest Hill station’s car park closest to WH Smith to create a better focal point for, and perhaps ‘gateway’ to, Forest Hill. With both of these projects, we will need to work with the Council and other parties to see how feasible these schemes could be. In the meantime, lobbying efforts have been undertaken by the Forest Hill Society to improve the pedestrian crossing outside the station. As a result, we understand that TfL will be reviewing the crossing this year and working to improve it for pedestrians by spring 2018, which is a realistic timeframe in which to achieve something significant.
We are also keen to see better use made of Perry Vale car park, which is so close to the town centre and yet so far away for shoppers — the existing 30-minute free parking isn’t so great when it takes 10 minutes to walk to Dartmouth Road and back again. Suggestions that were made at last year’s workshop were to provide access from the car park to Forest Hill station and, via a footbridge, to Clyde Vale (off Dartmouth Road). These are costly and difficult to deliver but we are keen to explore these options, along with others that might be easier to implement.
As with train service improvements, long-term planning for town centre improvements is something that requires the Forest Hill Society to make its voice heard to ensure that our local area gets the resources it needs and deserves.
Article by Michael Abrahams (Chair, Forest Hill Society)
Rail service improvementsSouthern train services to, and particularly from, London Bridge station have been atrocious recently. They started getting worse in the summer and reached a new low in January 2015 with their new timetable. During January, Southern had cancelled half of their evening peak services from London Bridge to Forest Hill; this is completely unacceptable and, even now, the trains that do run are running late and often pass through South London without stopping. Knock-on effects of this disgraceful performance are that London Overground trains have become seriously overcrowded and their punctuality has been the worst on record.
On behalf of passengers using Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park stations, the Forest Hill Society has been transmitting a clear message of dissatisfaction to the train companies, Transport for London (TfL), Lewisham Council, Jim Dowd MP, London TravelWatch, and others. We have also made it clear that we expect our train services to be reinstated as soon as possible and for Network Rail and the operating companies to be called to account for their appalling lack of management.
In the longer term, we also hope to influence the outcomes of rail projects — including bringing the Bakerloo line to South East London and lobbying for Thameslink trains to stop at South London stations, at least during the evenings and weekends when capacity may allow. In addition, we are calling for more evening services on southbound Overground and Southern lines to Forest Hill.
Town centre regenerationTrains have always been something that the Forest Hill Society has campaigned about, ever since the Society’s first meeting in 2006. But more recently we have turned our attention to the much harder problem of town centre regeneration. Over the last few years, we have taken action to improve the visual appeal of the town centre by planting flowers around Forest Hill station and, through the Edible High Road initiative, displaying large-potted flowers up and down the high street; setting up a monthly Forest Hill Food Fair between 2012-2013, before it was replaced by a weekly market at Horniman Gardens; and arranging for two boarded-up shop fronts to get painted to turn them from eyesores into works of art.
Over £750k to revitalise Dartmouth RoadLast July, we ran a Town Centre Design Charette (or workshop), which helped to re-focus our objectives for improving the town centre. In the short term, we know that improvements will be made to Dartmouth Road courtesy of two sources of funding: £650k from TfL to primarily improve the pavements, which will make it a better place to shop; and £113k in regeneration funding from the GLA’s High Street Fund — awarded in early March for a bid developed by SEE3, V22, Forest Hill Society, and Lewisham Council — to enable some additional landscaping work to take place between the Library, Louise House, and the Pools complex, which will create another open civic space on the edge of the town centre. However, this is only a small step towards fulfilling more ambitious goals.
Other potential improvementsTwo potential projects that stand out as great opportunities for regeneration involve pedestrianisation, for which we received good feedback at last year’s design workshop: the pedestrianisation of Perry Vale between the South Circular and Waldram Place (from E.J. Carpets to Distinguish Doors); and the pedestrianisation of the part of Forest Hill station’s car park closest to WH Smith to create a better focal point for, and perhaps ‘gateway’ to, Forest Hill. With both of these projects, we will need to work with the Council and other parties to see how feasible these schemes could be. In the meantime, lobbying efforts have been undertaken by the Forest Hill Society to improve the pedestrian crossing outside the station. As a result, we understand that TfL will be reviewing the crossing this year and working to improve it for pedestrians by spring 2018, which is a realistic timeframe in which to achieve something significant.
We are also keen to see better use made of Perry Vale car park, which is so close to the town centre and yet so far away for shoppers — the existing 30-minute free parking isn’t so great when it takes 10 minutes to walk to Dartmouth Road and back again. Suggestions that were made at last year’s workshop were to provide access from the car park to Forest Hill station and, via a footbridge, to Clyde Vale (off Dartmouth Road). These are costly and difficult to deliver but we are keen to explore these options, along with others that might be easier to implement.
As with train service improvements, long-term planning for town centre improvements is something that requires the Forest Hill Society to make its voice heard to ensure that our local area gets the resources it needs and deserves.
Article by Michael Abrahams (Chair, Forest Hill Society)
04 April 2015
Transport Update
London Bridge Station UpdateBy David McKenzie (Chair, Transport Committee)
6th February, 2015
You will no doubt be aware of the difficulties and disruptions affecting services on the Southern rail network as a consequence of the rebuilding of London Bridge station. The good news is that the rebuilding work on the southern side of the station is mostly complete. The bad news is that there is still one line down at Bermondsey until 2017, which is causing performance issues. Over the last few weeks, it seems that performance has improved (although infrastructure reliability remains a concern). However, Forest Hill passengers have been severely affected by the emergency withdrawal of 50% of Southern’s services during the evening peak hours.
The Forest Hill Society has been putting great pressure on Southern and Network Rail to fully reinstate the frequency of services to Forest Hill — as well as to improve on-time performance resulting from timetable changes — and we are hopeful that this will soon happen. We believe the Society is very effective at having its voice heard by Southern: for example, when it was announced that the 08:31 to London Bridge would be withdrawn starting in January, we successfully pressed for the 08:21 and 08:42 services to be consistently formed of 10 coaches, which is the maximum length possible that can be accommodated at Forest Hill station.
Our Response to London TravelWatch's London Overground Research Paper
By David McKenzie (Chair, Transport Committee)
On 31st October 2014, London TravelWatch published a research paper entitled ‘Value for money on London Overground — what passengers think’.* As a whole, the Forest Hill Society welcomes the recommendations in the paper. Key recommendations directly affecting Forest Hill are to:
• Upgrade London Overground ticket vending machines to allow the direct purchase of tickets to London Underground and DLR stations
• Eliminate gaps in the timetable to provide a ‘turn up and go’ timetable from first-to-last train on all days of the week
• Investigate the feasibility of providing extended canopies at busy stations
• Improve the amount and quality of information given to passengers, particularly in times of disruption and where multiple operators serve the same station
The Forest Hill Society will be especially pushing for the elimination of gaps in the timetable — particularly during the late-night service, which is quickly becoming sporadic and overcrowded. We would like to see the last Overground trains running as late as the last Southern trains (00:36 from London Bridge) or even later on Friday and Saturday nights in order to connect with the last Jubilee line trains at Canada Water (currently, the last southbound service to Forest Hill departs from Canada Water at 23:55).
On information provision, the Society attended a recent Lewisham Transport Liaison Committee meeting and pushed for a resolution to the issue of screens and announcements at Forest Hill station no longer stating the length of trains — this is particularly useful information when Southern services run with fewer coaches than expected.
* For the full article, visit www.londontravelwatch.org.uk. London TravelWatch is the passenger watchdog for all London transport users and is currently chaired by Stephen Locke, a resident of Honor Oak.
24-hour Overground in 2017?
By Michael Abrahams (Chair, Forest Hill Society)
In February, Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced that 24-hour services on the London Overground's East London Line will begin in 2017. However, these expanded night-time services would run only on Friday and Saturday nights.
While this is definitely a welcomed enhancement to services for South London, these services are only planned to cover the Overground section betwen Highbury & Islington and New Cross Gate. We believe that these services should continue further south to Crystal Palace or West Croydon all night, or at least until 2am. Over the next couple of years, we will be asking for serious consideration to be given to running these late-night trains as late as possible south of New Cross Gate.
6th February, 2015
You will no doubt be aware of the difficulties and disruptions affecting services on the Southern rail network as a consequence of the rebuilding of London Bridge station. The good news is that the rebuilding work on the southern side of the station is mostly complete. The bad news is that there is still one line down at Bermondsey until 2017, which is causing performance issues. Over the last few weeks, it seems that performance has improved (although infrastructure reliability remains a concern). However, Forest Hill passengers have been severely affected by the emergency withdrawal of 50% of Southern’s services during the evening peak hours.
The Forest Hill Society has been putting great pressure on Southern and Network Rail to fully reinstate the frequency of services to Forest Hill — as well as to improve on-time performance resulting from timetable changes — and we are hopeful that this will soon happen. We believe the Society is very effective at having its voice heard by Southern: for example, when it was announced that the 08:31 to London Bridge would be withdrawn starting in January, we successfully pressed for the 08:21 and 08:42 services to be consistently formed of 10 coaches, which is the maximum length possible that can be accommodated at Forest Hill station.
Our Response to London TravelWatch's London Overground Research Paper
By David McKenzie (Chair, Transport Committee)
On 31st October 2014, London TravelWatch published a research paper entitled ‘Value for money on London Overground — what passengers think’.* As a whole, the Forest Hill Society welcomes the recommendations in the paper. Key recommendations directly affecting Forest Hill are to:
• Upgrade London Overground ticket vending machines to allow the direct purchase of tickets to London Underground and DLR stations
• Eliminate gaps in the timetable to provide a ‘turn up and go’ timetable from first-to-last train on all days of the week
• Investigate the feasibility of providing extended canopies at busy stations
• Improve the amount and quality of information given to passengers, particularly in times of disruption and where multiple operators serve the same station
The Forest Hill Society will be especially pushing for the elimination of gaps in the timetable — particularly during the late-night service, which is quickly becoming sporadic and overcrowded. We would like to see the last Overground trains running as late as the last Southern trains (00:36 from London Bridge) or even later on Friday and Saturday nights in order to connect with the last Jubilee line trains at Canada Water (currently, the last southbound service to Forest Hill departs from Canada Water at 23:55).
On information provision, the Society attended a recent Lewisham Transport Liaison Committee meeting and pushed for a resolution to the issue of screens and announcements at Forest Hill station no longer stating the length of trains — this is particularly useful information when Southern services run with fewer coaches than expected.
* For the full article, visit www.londontravelwatch.org.uk. London TravelWatch is the passenger watchdog for all London transport users and is currently chaired by Stephen Locke, a resident of Honor Oak.
24-hour Overground in 2017?
By Michael Abrahams (Chair, Forest Hill Society)
In February, Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced that 24-hour services on the London Overground's East London Line will begin in 2017. However, these expanded night-time services would run only on Friday and Saturday nights.
While this is definitely a welcomed enhancement to services for South London, these services are only planned to cover the Overground section betwen Highbury & Islington and New Cross Gate. We believe that these services should continue further south to Crystal Palace or West Croydon all night, or at least until 2am. Over the next couple of years, we will be asking for serious consideration to be given to running these late-night trains as late as possible south of New Cross Gate.
Business Profile: The India Gate
David McKenzie from the Forest Hill Society met co-owner Amrit in his restaurant, The India Gate takeaway and dine-in restaurant. While David got down to his meal, Amrit answered some questions about taking over The India Gate, which is located at 47 London Road next to The Butchery.
Who owns the business and how long have you been open?It’s a one-off partnership between myself and the chef, Mr Mukti. We took over the restaurant in April 2014 and kept the name. However, the menu has been completely overhauled, offering a mix of Nepalese and Indian dishes.
Are you new to restaurants? No, I’ve got a lot of experience both managing and owning Indian restaurants. I moved here from Battersea where I owned a restaurant. Prior to this, I managed three restaurants in Crystal Palace.
Is takeaway/delivery or eat-in busier? At weekends, takeaway/ delivery is much busier though the restaurant is busy, too. Part of the strategy has been to do a lot of advertising online as well as in local newspapers. This advertising has driven a lot of business to our website (www.theindiagaterestaurant.co.uk), where orders receive a 20% discount.
(Certainly, on the night I was there, the restaurant was full but still had a relaxed atmosphere.)
What are your speciality dishes?• Pokhareli Duck: Pieces of marinated duck breast cooked in a Tandoor clay oven
• Jimbu Chicken: Chicken breast cooked in typical Nepalese style with Himalayan spices (Jimbu)
• Chicken Hyderabadi: A very hot combination of chicken and mincemeat in a Hyderabadi style of tangy sauce
• Lamb Xacuti: Lamb cooked with roasted aromatic fennel seeds, cloves, star anise, black pepper, and Goan spices in coconut sauce.
What’s the chef’s background? Mr Mukti grew up in Nepal where he was formally trained as a chef. Previously, he’d worked in Delhi and Ealing Broadway. He opened three restaurants in Dubai (which is where he and Amrit met) before moving to Forest Hill last year and when we took over The India Gate.
Why Forest Hill? As mentioned earlier, I used to live in Crystal Palace so I know the area well. While living in Battersea, Forest Hill started to become well known as an up and coming area and, with family still living locally, it made sense to move back here. The area is very busy with lots of passing trade and has a great feeling and vibe.
What are your future plans? 2015 will be a consolidation year here in Forest Hill before we look to expand next year.
Who owns the business and how long have you been open?It’s a one-off partnership between myself and the chef, Mr Mukti. We took over the restaurant in April 2014 and kept the name. However, the menu has been completely overhauled, offering a mix of Nepalese and Indian dishes.
Are you new to restaurants? No, I’ve got a lot of experience both managing and owning Indian restaurants. I moved here from Battersea where I owned a restaurant. Prior to this, I managed three restaurants in Crystal Palace.
Is takeaway/delivery or eat-in busier? At weekends, takeaway/ delivery is much busier though the restaurant is busy, too. Part of the strategy has been to do a lot of advertising online as well as in local newspapers. This advertising has driven a lot of business to our website (www.theindiagaterestaurant.co.uk), where orders receive a 20% discount.
(Certainly, on the night I was there, the restaurant was full but still had a relaxed atmosphere.)
What are your speciality dishes?• Pokhareli Duck: Pieces of marinated duck breast cooked in a Tandoor clay oven
• Jimbu Chicken: Chicken breast cooked in typical Nepalese style with Himalayan spices (Jimbu)
• Chicken Hyderabadi: A very hot combination of chicken and mincemeat in a Hyderabadi style of tangy sauce
• Lamb Xacuti: Lamb cooked with roasted aromatic fennel seeds, cloves, star anise, black pepper, and Goan spices in coconut sauce.
What’s the chef’s background? Mr Mukti grew up in Nepal where he was formally trained as a chef. Previously, he’d worked in Delhi and Ealing Broadway. He opened three restaurants in Dubai (which is where he and Amrit met) before moving to Forest Hill last year and when we took over The India Gate.
Why Forest Hill? As mentioned earlier, I used to live in Crystal Palace so I know the area well. While living in Battersea, Forest Hill started to become well known as an up and coming area and, with family still living locally, it made sense to move back here. The area is very busy with lots of passing trade and has a great feeling and vibe.
What are your future plans? 2015 will be a consolidation year here in Forest Hill before we look to expand next year.
03 April 2015
Forest Hill Society Member’s Profile:Quetta Kaye, Chair, Environment Committee
As Chair of the Forest Hill Society’s Environment Committee, Quetta is the driving force behind many high-profile green initiatives in Forest Hill’s town centre and surrounding green spaces.
Quetta would be the first to say that she has not achieved this alone; she inspires a team of committed FHS members and other Forest Hill residents who volunteer when they can. She also works closely with local businesses in Forest Hill to support her. “If you don’t ask, you don’t get” is her motto when getting things done!
Quetta and her team’s hard labour has indeed borne fruit in the form of ‘Outstanding’ awards for Forest Hill from the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘London in Bloom: It’s Your Neighbourhood’ category for the second year running in 2014!
Quetta is often asked about her unusual name, which is a diminutive of the name Jacquetta, a feminine form of the French Jacques. Originally from a small village on Dartmoor in Devon, Quetta moved with her parents when she was a child to the Kent coast. These rural surroundings and her appreciation of the open air have stayed with her and shaped her life ever since. From Kent, Quetta moved to North London to study and work but, contemplating having children, she ‘reluctantly’ moved to Forest Hill 40 years ago, where property prices were cheaper.
She was soon very pleasantly surprised by Forest Hill: the accessibility to green space, parks (particularly Horniman Triangle park), and even woodlands close by, in addition to her own garden. Added to this, Quetta was impressed with good local schools, the Horniman Museum and Gardens, the local swimming pool and library, and good transport links both into central London and to Kent. This all proved to be a happy place in which to bring up her three children.
Quetta spent an interesting period working in politics at the Houses of Parliament, as Personal Assistant to various backbench MPs. Quetta was also able to work from home before flexible working became mainstream whilst bringing up her young children in the late 1960’s and 70’s. When her youngest child started school, Quetta fulfilled a lifelong interest to study Archaeology at University. She was soon working on excavations in England but for the last 12 years has co-directed an excavation project on Carriacou Island in the Caribbean, during which time she completed a PhD, looking at aspects of pre-colonial Caribbean archaeology.
Quetta strongly believes that individuals can make a difference if enough of them do the same thing at the same time and stand up for what they believe in order to effect change. She believes that participation in community-led pressure groups, like the Forest Hill Society, is a great vehicle to improve the life of Forest Hill residents.
Quetta joined the Forest Hill Society after getting involved in the campaign against the closure of the Forest Hill swimming pool, where she met members of the Society. Quetta then attended an AGM where she volunteered to join the Environment Committee — a natural place for her, given her background — and became the Chair in 2009.
Quetta has plans for the coming year to win a third Outstanding award from the RHS (to qualify for the Champion of Champion award!), and plant hops on Platform 1 at Forest Hill station perhaps leading to the creation of a Forest Hill pint to rival Crystal Palace’s Palace Pint. This is a real step forward considering several years ago, Forest Hill station had plastic flowers hanging in baskets!
More broadly, Quetta is also keen to see improved signage in Forest Hill, the removal of some of the ugly street furniture, and more environmental initiatives such as working with Sydenham School’s girls who recently picked up five large bags of litter along Dartmouth Road in one hour! She is also keen to make better use of the car park in Perry Vale, behind Forest Hill station, suggesting that even a simple, sloped wheelchair access path from the car park onto Platform 2 would be a good start!
If this profile has inspired you to get involved or help make Forest Hill greener, please contact the Forest Hill Society now!
Article by Helen Wicks (Communications Committee)
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