Blythe Hill Fields Festival - Saturday 5th July

Free - Meet the Artist event in Forest Hill

Sunday 29th June, 5pm at DoopoDoopo. Art show from Adelina Iliev and Martin Lea.

Honor Oak Pub to Reopen

Reports on Twitter confirm that the Honor Oak Pub (corner of Brockley Rise and St Germans Road) will be reopening as a Gastropub in August this year.

Last year the Forest Hill Society successfully applied to Lewisham Council to have this pub listed as an Asset of Community Value. We believe this has helped ensure it's survival as a pub, after rumours were received of interest from a supermarket chain.

This news comes hot on the heals of news that Sainsbury's are no longer interested in taking over the Windmill pub in Kirkdale. The Sydenham Society are taking the lead in ensuring the best use is made of this Asset of Community Value in SE26.

Louise House Open Morning

Sunday 6 July 2014, 11am–1pm, Louise House (between the library and the swimming pool)

 

To mark the re-opening of Louise House as an Artists' Studio building, V22 will be hosting Open House and Morning Tea on Sunday 6 July.

V22 Louise House is a Grade II listed building. Formerly an Industrial Girls' Home it now houses fifteen artists' studios and an exhibition space. V22 would like to invite you to visit and join us in celebrating Louise House’s future as a new and exciting arts centre.

Forest Hill Society visit to Olympic Park

Saturday, 21st June meet at Forest Hill station at 10:30am for the 10:45 train towards London Bridge.
 

Join our "walk on the wild side" at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday 21st June.

This walk, in London's most recently created public park, will meander through the magnificent and varied beds of wild flowers which are part of London's Olympic legacy.   The walk is generally on flat paths or grass with occasional wide steps - with handrails.  There are many seated areas, plentiful loos and a cafe where we could either buy lunch or eat a picnic.  The whole park is to be admired for its innovative and environmentally friendly planting and well designed, imaginative street furniture.

We are meeting at Forest Hill Station at 10:30 and will take the train to London Bridge where we will pick up the Jubilee Line to Stratford. The walk should finish at around 3.00pm. If joining at Honor Oak Park find us at the front carriage of the train.

Ward Assemblies

Ward assemblies are an important way to have your say on developments in the local area and are a good opportunity to meet your local councillors.

Crofton Park Ward - Saturday 21st June, 10am, St. Saviour's Church Hall, Brockley Rise (see http://goo.gl/maps/Xj7yQ)
Forest Hill Ward - Sunday 13th July, 1:30pm, Forest Hill Pools, Dartmouth Road
Perry Vale Ward - Tuesday 15th July, 7pm, Rockbourne Youth Club

An Urgent Appeal on behalf of Sydenham Arts Festival

From the team behind the Sydenham Arts Festival:

You may know that we currently planning our sixth annual arts festival in Sydenham - as always providing a fantastic, wide-ranging programme of arts events and activities for the whole community, more than half of which are free (see http://sydenhamartsfestival.co.uk/).

Having received some very generous grants from National Lottery and Lewisham Council, not to mention support from local businesses, this has become our most ambitious programme ever, meaning July will see several, very high-profile, large-scale events come to Sydenham and Forest Hill.

With events on this scale, there has been a much larger than unexpected increase in costs – in particular for technical infrastructure, security personnel and health & safety provision. Despite strenuous efforts to meet this shortfall in our budget, we need additional funds. We are therefore making an urgent appeal to local residents, festival goers, business owners, stakeholders and supporters, to help us meet this gap.

Become a Friend of Sydenham Arts FestivalIn our own 'crowd-funding' bid, we are looking to raise additional funds from private donations. You may donate any amount, but those contributing £50 or more will be listed as a Friend of Sydenham Arts Festival on our website, and can also claim two free tickets (subject to availability) to one of the following events:
HEGLEY & KAY or IAN SIEGAL: 21ST CENTURY FOLK & BLUES
OR 1 family ticket (2 adults, 2 children) to JEREMY STRONG
OR 2 adult & 2 child tickets to TOY SYMPHONY
PLUS an invite to our pre-festival ‘warm up’ in June.
NB: Tickets may be claimed up till Mon 23 June 2014.

Friends will be listed on our site in four categories:
Platinum - £500 +
Gold - £250 +
Silver - £100 +
Bronze - £50 +

How to donate to Sydenham Arts Festival Ltd (a not-for-profit organisation):
Cheques (made payable to Sydenham Arts Festival Ltd): drop in or post to Sydenham Arts Festival, Kirkdale Bookshop, 272 Kirkdale, Sydenham SE26 4RS
Cash: please leave envelopes at Kirkdale Bookshop, marked Sydenham Arts Festival Friends (receipts will be provided).
Bank transfer: Barclays account number 43366650, sort code 20-05-57. Please use reference Friend of SAF

Please also email financeofficer@sydenhamartsfestival.co.uk with subject line Sydenham Arts Festival Friends Appeal, to claim your free tickets and be named as a Friend on our site.

Thank You!
The SAF team

If you go down to Dacres Woods today you're sure of a big surprise

On Saturday, 31st May 2014 the Friends of Dacres Wood Nature Reserve are hosting a teddy bear's picnic as part of an open day.

From 1pm-4pm you could hunt for teddies, make a sculpture, share a picnic with your teddy or just go for a tour of the nature reserve.

All you need is a teddy and picnic (and even those are optional)

visit http://dacreswood.org.uk/ for more information

The 23rd Annual Friends of the Horniman Art Exhibition

14-15 June will see the 23^rd Friends of the Horniman Art Exhibition in the Conservatory of the Horniman Museum and Gardens.

More than 30 Artists will be showing work over the weekend, in a wide variety of styles both contemporary and traditional. We will have oils, acrylics and watercolours but also drawings, prints, textile art and sculpture. Many artists will be familiar to previous visitors but we will also have a number of new artists this year. This is a great opportunity to purchase a unique, original art work while also supporting the museum. Even if you feel that you don’t currently have the wall space many of the artists will also be selling greeting cards.

The Sunday is Father’s Day so we are hoping that many people will incorporate a trip to the Museum and the Art exhibition into the weekend, perhaps including a trip to the Extremes exhibition, the Aquarium or your old favourites. 

Where: The conservatory, Horniman Museum and Gardens

When: Saturday 14 June 10am-5pm and Sunday 15 June 10am-4.30pm

Forest Hill Traders’ Association

There’s been some exciting developments in Forest Hill over the last few years, and as traders we’re thrilled to witness the continued regeneration of our town centre and the increased visibility of our creative community.

Local regeneration was given a boost a couple of years ago when a group of residents and traders (including members of the Forest Hill Society) pitched for and won a Portas Pilot grant for high street regeneration in Forest Hill, Sydenham and Kirkdale. One of the scheme’s conditions was that each of the areas involved should have an active traders’ association, so we duly resurrected the then-dormant Forest Hill Traders’ Association in support of the new SEE3 initiative that was born as a result of securing the Portas funding.

In the words of the SEE3 website: “The Forest Hill, Sydenham and Kirkdale’s Portas Pilot vision is of a high-street where established independent traders are an integral part of the community, new traders bring innovation and further quality, boundaries between retail, culture and community blur, energy of active citizens is harnessed, new ideas are championed and space that is secured for start-up enterprises to develop is readily accessible.”

We’ve been proudly involved in the many SEE3 initiatives that have taken place since, from exciting pop-ups and new markets through to community events and the Forest Hill Fashion Week (visit http://www.see3.co.uk/ for more details). We believe the scheme’s benefits have been both tangible and highly visible, making our neighbourhood a more varied and interesting place to live.

Totally Locally is a nationwide social enterprise which provides “support for independent retailers with a free branding and marketing campaign for their town.”

One of our local traders (Serge Sumerling of B Cards on Darmouth Road) had the idea to establish a Totally Locally hub for Forest Hill (http://totally-locally.co.uk/foresthill/), and this has now become the online “home” for the Forest Hill Trader’s Association and its members: a place where people can learn about what Forest Hill businesses have to offer, and where they can keep abreast of forthcoming initiatives, special offers and events.

We’re excited about the forthcoming Forest Hill Film Festival, with some of our members hosting screenings and events, and we’re due to install a map outside the station that will encourage people to explore Forest Hill’s hidden retail and other gems - so keep an eye out!

We’re especially keen for new members to join us. Established businesses, newcomers, market traders and home businesses are all welcome. This is a relatively young organisation and you’ll get a chance to help shape the future of independent business in Forest Hill.

Please contact Julia Channon (allinnone@btconnect.com) if you’re interested in joining, or even if you’d just like to attend our next meeting.