04 March 2016

What a weird winter – weather-wise!

The warmest and wettest winter on record (at the time of writing) has played havoc with plant life and put environmental issues right at the top of the national agenda. Luckily London was spared the horror of the floods which affected other parts of the country.

But we certainly didn’t expect to see hosts of golden daffodils nodding and dancing in the Horniman Gardens the first week of January (see picture). Our efforts to brighten Forest Hill continue with bulbs we planted last year springing up again in the planters in front of the Job Centre in Dartmouth Road, the tubs on the station platforms, on the corner near Barclays Bank and the Horniman play triangle. However, the colourful cyclamens we planted in the station’s forecourt didn’t last long. By Christmas all but two had – how shall I put it – disappeared... and they were not eaten by squirrels!

Literally, on a brighter note, we are negotiating with LOROL to have fairy lights permanently entwined in the trees in the station’s forecourt to bring a bright welcoming feel on dark winter afternoons and a festive feel in the summer and (hopefully to send a message to all those litterbugs), among the many things in the pipeline for this year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Forest Hill Society, we are organising a Trash Mob litter pick-up in the town centre and a Flash Mop wash down of the subway planned for Saturday March 5th from 2.00pm. Both activities will link us into Keep Britain Tidy’s national “Clean for the Queen” weekend. If you would like to join in for about an hour we can supply a selection of very attractive plastic tabards bearing a suitable logo, gloves and pick-up grippers. It should be fun!

We are hoping to give the town centre Edible High Road tubs a bit of a spruce up around Easter. With help from Wes Shaw and his Horniman Gardens’ planting team, our free-to-all-comers distribution of edible/food producing plants will happen again on Saturday May 7th from 2.00pm in Forest Hill station’s forecourt. If permission is granted for us to install brightly painted car tyres as plant containers on the pavement between the Perry Vale station exit and the entrance to the car park, we will extend our neighbourhood planting by working with Rockbourne Youth Club to brighten up this area. Watch the Forest Hill Society’s on-line newsletter for more details about when this happens.

Since Shakespeare and St George share a celebratory day on Saturday April 23rd and the Bard is in the news as 2016 marks 400 years since his death, these events, together with the 10th anniversary of the Forest Hill Society, mean we will be organising some delightfully exciting things - possibly combining the Shakespearean, Georgian and Foresthillian in April.

Watch this space...

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