Let There Be Light — in the Horniman!

By Michael Abrahams (Chair, Forest Hill Society). Michael reports on a public consultation meeting that was hosted by the Horniman Museum in August regarding the redevelopment of two of its main galleries.

When the Horniman Museum was first opened to the public in 1901, its roof had large windows to let daylight flood into its galleries. Unfortunately, all of this direct sunlight eventually damaged many exhibits and it was not until the early 1980s that a decision was taken to permanently cover over the windows. Since then the South Gallery (which today contains African Worlds exhibits) has been one of the darker areas of the museum with no natural light.

The Centenary Gallery — containing the torture chair, merman and lots of puppets — is even darker. This area used to be a lecture room, with plenty of light coming in from the windows, but as it became a gallery all light was blocked out to protect the exhibits.

However, the Horniman Museum now plans to reintroduce natural light into these galleries in order to improve the general quality of the interior spaces, and to especially encourage more people to visit the exhibits on display in the South Gallery. The plan for the South Gallery is to install a daylight reflector below its roof light to deflect daylight onto the gallery’s barrel-vaulted ceiling and, therefore, prevent sunlight from directly hitting any displays. This would be augmented with electric lighting to enhance the visitors’ feeling of light and space, but without subjecting the exhibits to too much of the degrading effects of UV light.

The architectural design work for these improvements has been carried out by Rick Mather Architects, who have previously brought new life to Greenwich Maritime Museum and Dulwich Picture Gallery through their design expertise with exhibition spaces and in enhancing the use of listed buildings.

The South Gallery would be curated to include more of its objects from its internationally renowned Anthropology collection alongside many of the items currently on display in the Centenary Gallery. It would also include more interactive exhibits as well as places to sit to contemplate the collection. Meanwhile, the Centenary Gallery would be transformed into a studio space — part exhibition space, part interactive design space — in which artists and community members would create new, temporary exhibits.

Sadly, all of this work will involve the closure of these two areas of the museum for a period of 18 months, if funding is secured. The Horniman is currently finalising their Stage 2 bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (having already received some initial funding) — to be submitted in December — and a decision is expected to be reached by March 2016. If successful, the museum would then plan to close the two affected galleries from September 2016 until March 2018.

This seems like a great scheme to bring further improvements to our wonderful local museum, and we wish the Horniman Museum every success in this project.

For more info, visit www.horniman.ac.uk.

Wednesday Walks in Forest Hill

By Sandy Pepperell

In March 2013 a post on the SE23.com community forum led to the formation of a walking group in Forest Hill. The aim was to get some exercise on our local hills and a group met in Canvas and Cream’s restaurant to plan how to organise it. People agreed that there should be a weekly walk of about an hour on Wednesday evenings, starting at 7pm (and ending at about 8pm). The walk would cover about 3 miles in this time period. The plan was to alternate starting points between Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park stations.

Two years later the walks continue (mostly) come rain, come shine and in winter and summer alike. In the ‘lighter’ months there are lovely green spaces all around us that we walk through (including in SE26 and the Southwark Woods), and in winter there are many interesting and historic buildings in the area to look at. Of course, the views from our hills are stunning all year round and one of the delights has been to see the effect of changing light and weather as we look north and south of our ‘ridge’.

So far, we have created over 30 routes and have found out some surprising details about the area from seeing it up close and from conversation as we walk.

Just getting out and about for an hour during the working week ‘recharges the batteries’ and, as well as providing some exercise, it is a chance to meet new people and find out more about where we live.

 
If you are interested in joining Sandy’s walking group (and you don’t have to commit to every week) please contact her at s.pepperell [at] btinternet.com

Business Profile: The Perryvale Bistro & Bar

Belinda Evans from the Forest Hill Society interviewed owner Royston Holmes about his new venture, The Perryvale Bistro & Bar, which is located on the east side of Forest Hill station at 31a Perry Vale.

Why did you choose Forest Hill for your new venture? Opening our business in Forest Hill has been a real pleasure, and everyone has been incredibly kind and complimentary. We were looking for a site in South East London in order to link with my partners’ (Hector, Jen & Matt) other site, The Crooked Well in Camberwell. A lot of The Crooked Well’s regular customers are from Forest Hill and it kept coming up in our search; so, when The Perry Vale site became available we had a really good feeling. 

Tell us a bit about some of your dishes and their provenance? Our menu aims to provide a modern British feel drawing on some classic European influences.

What’s your most popular dish so far? It’s difficult to say which dish has been most popular however our baked squid flies out on a daily basis along with our mustard rabbit leg in its summery broth. We always have great specials on, too!!

How do you choose your wines since you have a really extensive and lovely wine list? Our wine list is personally selected by Hector who has some fantastic contacts in the industry, including some of the best vineyards in South Africa and world-class Master Sommeliers.

Do you use local suppliers? We use local, independent suppliers where we can, including William Rose Butchers in East Dulwich.

What’s your favourite thing about Forest Hill? I’m overwhelmed by the feeling of community in Forest Hill. Ninety-five percent of our customers at the moment live ‘just down the road’ so it’s great to be able to build strong links with the area.

Where do you like to eat out in Forest Hill (or the wider area)? I must confess, I haven’t had a huge amount of time to sample the culinary delights in the area, but I’ve had two really good meals at The Dartmouth Arms.

What do you think Forest Hill needs next? I doubt very much that I am qualified enough to discuss what Forest Hill needs next. However, it would be great to see the Perry Vale side of the tracks given a bit of a lift!

What are your plans for The Perryvale in the next few months or years? Having been open for just a month the focus is very much on gaining confidence in our product, but we’re already looking at developing a weekend brunch and pushing a wallet-friendly lunch menu.

For more info, visit www.theperryvale.com.