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

Horniman Market

Hot on the heels of the successful Forest Hill Food Fair, we bring you details of a new weekly market in the local area.

From today (21st September), the Horniman will be bring you a Farmers' Market every Saturday between 9.30AM and 1.30PM on the Horniman Museum and Gardens' Bandstand Terrace.

You'll find seasonal meat, fish, fruit and veg, bread, dairy and eggs, cakes and other baked goods, street food, plants, herbs, flowers and much more. 

In addition to providing you with the convenience of buying fresh, high quality produce in a beautiful setting, all the stallholders are based within 100 miles of the Horniman, so go along and support British farmers and producers and lower your food miles!

Although this market is not run by the Forest Hill Society, we do of course wish them every success and will use it to supplement our purchases from our hard working independent traders in the Town Centre.

The next Food Fairs will be on Sunday 6 October, 3 November and 1 December.

Summer at the Horniman

There are some great musical and dance events taking place at the Horniman this August. Here are just a few, but there are many of other events for adults and children throughout the summer.

Florilegium concert - Friday, 26 July 2013 (ticketed event)
Florilegium are one of the UK’s foremost period instrument ensembles.

Capoeira Workshop and Performance - Wednesday, 31 July 2013 from 1:30pm
The Afro-Brazilian artform of Capoeira combines martial arts, dance steps and music first developed by Africans as an act of resistance against their colonial rulers. This performance and simple workshop is suitable for all ages and will encourage you to take part in some simple moves.

Brazilian Ceilidh - Thursday, 1 August 2013 from 1:30pm
The Ceilidh Liberation Front, London’s newest and most radical ceilidh band, will invite everyone to take part in the famous Gaucho Handkerchief Dance, with a load of brightly coloured handkerchiefs provided so everyone can wear one and get into the spirit.

Amphion Consort concert - Friday, 9 August 2013 - 7pm (ticketed event)
The Amphion Consort presents an enjoyable and varied programme of guitar pieces by the Brazilian composer Villa Lobos, refined suites by Court of Versailles composers Marin Marais and de Visee, sizzling baroque songs from Latin America and music by J S Bach.

Latin Late at the Horniman - Friday, 16 August 2013 - 6pm (ticketed event)
Live music – Majagua
Circus - Circolombia
Film – The Suitcase Cinema
Talks and object handling - Life in the Amazon Rainforest
Dance - Tango Ball
Storytelling – Mexican stories

Summer Bandstand Concerts - Sundays from 3pm
Mafua de Yaya - Sunday, 28 July 2013
Lokandes - Sunday, 4 August 2013
Afro-American Project - Sunday, 11 August 2013
Cumbé - Sunday, 18 August 2013
Son Yambu - Sunday, 25 August 2013

Latin Music Fiesta - Sunday, 1 September 2013 - 12pm - 6pm
A big Latin fiesta in the Horniman Gardens to celebrate the end of the Latin American series of summer events: the programme will include carnival performances from Brazil, Argentinean tango, brass bands from Mexico, Peruvian party vibes and much more!

Give Us back Our Walrus!

In May this year the Horniman Walrus went to Margate to take part in an exhibition at the Turner Contemporary Museum. His departure has left a large gap in the museum, and in our hearts.

He is sending regular postcards to the museum and children visiting the Horniman are encouraged to send him postcards (they were cutting edge technology when he was born in the 19th century). However, he's no Luddite, so you can also follow @HornimanWalrus on Twitter.

Despite assurances that he will return in September, the Forest Hill Society is considering what action to take to help this poor peripatetic pinniped. Even after watching 70s comedy One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, the executive has not ruled out rescue attempts of the one ton animal.

But we all need a trip to the seaside occasionally and he has been stuffed in the museum for more than 100 years, so he is probably due a holiday.

Horniman Art Sale 13 - 14 July

The 22nd Friends of the Horniman Art Exhibition will take place in the Conservatory of the Horniman, over the weekend of 13th and 14th July 2103.

Opening at 10am on both days, the exhibition will close at 5pm on the Saturday and 4.30pm on the Sunday. Entry is free and there will be 36 exhibitors with all the paintings, prints, sculptures and greeting cards present for sale during the event.

Talking about Food

The Horniman Museum are hosting a series of talks and tastings about food and drink from across the globe. The setting will be in the beautiful new garden pavilion and the timings are after work on week days.

Up coming talks include:
Western Polynesian Food and Drink: Acts of Power by Dr Andy Mills, 21st May
Polish food: Memories in deportation and exile by Dr Monica Janoski, 11th June
Behind the Scenes: Pacific Northwest Coast Potlatch by Dr Robert Storrie, Keeper of Anthropology at the Horniman, 13th June
Hot Spice Gingerbread and Edible Symbols by Dr Kaori O'Connor, 25th June
Stories of cheese-making told by its tools by Professor Harry West, 23rd July


More details on these events from http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/events/type/19/date/2013-05-10/interval/74
Booking recommended

Museum of the Year Photography Competition

To celebrate the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2013, the Art Fund are organising a competition for photographers.

The best shot representing each of the ten finalists will be chosen by the Art Fund, who will then hand over to a public vote to decide the winner.

We’re looking for the most innovative, atmospheric and even humorous images of the Horniman, from a stunning exterior shot to a close-up of your favourite object. The winning picture will creatively capture the spirit of the museum.

Upload your signature snap today and you could win some fantastic prizes including:

• An Apple iPad mini
• A year’s National Art Pass
• A selected image published in Art Quarterly
• Two tickets to the Museum of the Year ceremony on 4 June at the V&A, London

The photograph of the Horniman Museum and Gardens which makes it into the final ten will also be displayed in our main building (next to the shop) for one month.

You can enter by filling in an online form, emailing the Art Fund at photo@artfund.org (make sure to include your name, title of the photography and the name of the museum), or send it via twitpic @artfund.
You can also share your entries with the Horniman by adding them to the Horniman Flickr group, or sharing them on Twitter @HornimanMuseum.

Before you enter please make sure you read the terms and conditions carefully.
The last call for entries is Wednesday 15 May.

A Colourful High Street

Last year the Forest Hill Society was awarded funding from the Forest Hill Ward Assembly to improve the look of some of the empty shops on the high street. It took us a while to find the right way to do this as empty shops inconveniently started opening as successful businesses up and down the high street.

But the first makeover has now been completed and what was a boarded up and burnt out bakery now has a picture of a friendly Walrus and some Papilio hornimani or 'Horniman Butterflies'.

 

We want the high street to be a fun place to be with surprises on every corner.We also want to bring a taste of the Horniman to the high street. We are currently looking for further empty shop fronts for more Horniman imagery to brighten up the high street. But more than anything else, we would love somebody to take on this unit, which needs a lot of work to bring it back into use as a retail unit.

Museum of the Year 2013 (final 10)

We are very pleased that the Horniman Museum has been selected as a finalist for Museum of the Year 2013 by the Art Fund Prize jury. Apparently there was an unprecedented number of entries this year so we are absolutely delighted that the Horniman has made the shortlist of 10 which also includes Dulwich Picture Gallery and a few other museums from beyond South London.

The Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year celebrates museums and galleries across the UK - annually awarding one outstanding winner £100,000.

Each year the Art Fund celebrate the very best UK museums and galleries, rewarding and highlighting their innovation and creativity in bringing objects and collections to life.

Take a trip to the Amazon

Visit Horniman Museum and visit the Amazon to discover a diverse landscape of exotic plants, unusual animals and fascinating cultures.

This dual language exhibition (English/Spanish) is perfect for families looking for some adventure.

You can buy single-entry tickets for Amazon Adventure or annual tickets for unlimited combined entry to Amazon Adventure and the Aquarium.

If you already have a valid Aquarium Annual Ticket, you are eligible to upgrade this to a Combined Annual Ticket which includes unlimited entry to Amazon Adventure. This offer will be for a limited period only.

The exhibition is open from 16th February—24 November.

A Win for the Horniman

rAndom International’s recent immersive installation Rain Room, at Barbican’s Curve Gallery, had visitors queuing for hours. For Museums at Night they will be weaving their magic at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, whose 1,615 votes secured a live art event with an installation, music and storytelling inspired by the museum, garden spaces and natural history collections.

Commenting on this site Horniman Museum have said:

"A BIG THANK YOU to everyone that took the time to vote for the Horniman in the Museums at Night/Connect10 competition. We're very excited to have won and can't wait for rAndom International to come to the Horniman. We'll keep you updated about the Museums at Night event, which will be in May, as it progresses.

Once again, thank you to everyone for your support, we're very grateful! "

The Forest Hill Society led the way in promoting the vote to our members, our friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, and across local forums: se23.com, Sydenham Town Forum, East Dulwich Forum, South East Central, and Brockley Central.

We are delighted by this success for Horniman Museum and look forward to rAndom International setting up something special at the museum.

Vote for the Horniman Museum - Museums at Night

From Horniman Museum on Facebook:

Seen the Rain Room at the Barbican?

We're in the running to host the artists behind this - rAndom International - at a Museums at Night in May this year.

For this to happen, we need you guys to choose us in Connect 10's vote.

Please vote for us here: http://www.culture24.org.uk/places%20to%20go/museums%20at%20night/art420741

Horniman has gone from 15% to 26% of the votes cast in the last two days, but we need Horniman to push past the top two at 37%.

Please take 30 seconds to vote for the Horniman for this exhibition and ask others in your family/household to vote as well. Voting closes on Tuesday.

Report on Portas Launch

With standing room only, a capacity crowd listened eagerly as members of the Core Team told them about the Portas Pilot and what it meant for Forest Hill, Kirkdale and Sydenham.

Liz Dart, Head of Community & Neighbourhood Development at Lewisham Council, started the evening off by explaining how the bid process had worked and what not to expect from a Portas Pilot; it was not about investing in infrastructure or the environment, it was about making our high streets lively, dynamic, exciting and social places that give a sense of belonging and trust to the community. One of the fundamental requirements for a Portas Pilot is a “Town Team”: a visionary, strategic and strong operational management team for the high streets. This is one way you can be involved.

£80,000 had been awarded for the pilot and this was backed by matched funding from Phase Two works at Bell Green (£100,000) and the High Street Innovation Fund (£15,000). The money will be used to back three projects which aim to re-instill a sense of place and vitality in our high streets.

Ed Holloway, a local architect, then explained the first of the three principle projects outlined in the bid. Jack & Jill are to be two community hubs in Forest Hill and Sydenham. These will be located in currently empty units and renovated by local tradesmen while training some young people (NEETs) to learn a skill. The hubs will be used as a base for the Town Team to interact with the community, showcase local businesses and run business workshops among other uses.

Due to a technical hitch (we had an old presentation up), Louise Brooks, a marketing professional then introduced The Shop Revolution. This project will refurbish up to 12 units for a series of PopUp events with the aim of stimulating demand for empty units. The Shop Revolution will work with Landlords and potential businesses to ensure that we get the right mix of businesses. The Shop Revolution will also work with landlords to find meanwhile uses for premises while looking for long-lasting tenants, maybe under the terms of a meanwhile lease. The ultimate aim is to designate our high streets as a destination – somewhere worth visiting – to bring in visitors from outside the local community.

Richard Hibbert, Chair of the Forest Hill Society, then presented Market Makers. This project will enable the running of a market in each centre. There are already two fledgling markets – the Forest Hill Food Fair on the first Sunday of the month and the Girton Road Car Boot sale on the second Sunday – but it was upto the communities to say what sort of market they wanted. This would be determined by people coming forwards with ideas for stalls and markets and through engagement via the Jack and Jill community hubs.

Councillor Chris Best then summarised the evening, encouraging people to get involved. It was only through community involvement that the pilot would be a success. It was up to you to be involved in the Town Team and shape the future of your high street.

Thank you to everyone who showed up at the Launch Event last night. It was great to see such enthusiasm and so many new faces. We look forwards to seeing you again in the near future. If you filled in a questionnaire, then we will be in touch once we have processed them. If you haven’t filled one in yet, then sign up for our newsletter and we will be in touch shortly.

As promised, a copy of the presentation can be downloaded here. Apologies to those at the back of the Pavilion who could not see the slides.

Reproduced from SEE3.co.uk

Horniman Licensing Application

Horniman Museum and Gardens have recently applied for a licence for entertainment and serving alcohol for up to 15,000 people. We contacted the Horniman to ask for more details about this application. Here's what they said:

The Horniman currently has a licence to provide what is termed “regulated entertainment” this means that we can show plays, films, have live music, dance and things of a similar description. The licence allows for “the provision of entertainment facilities” for making music, dancing, and entertainment of a similar description. Our current licence also allows for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises at certain times and we are applying to change these times to enable us to sell alcohol through the shop, cafe and at some events.

Our current licence is complex in terms of the different hours for which different activities are licensed, and we now need to update it to include our new ‘Gardens Pavilion’ which will sometimes be used for the licensable activities referred to above.

We plan to base our programme around the traditional size of event we have been running for many years. Typically over the last decade our larger events have attracted 5,000-10,000 people over the course of the day. This year we have World City Music Village planned for June (5-10,000 people), the Big Dance Picnic planned for 8 July (2-5,000 people) and a community launch for the Gardens planned for 31 May (approximately 2,000 people).

We have had experience of one very large scale event in the summer of 2009 (attended by approximately 20,000 people) which we believe was too large for our site and facilities. We have no intention of staging such very large scale events in the future.

We are not planning events attracting over 10,000 in the course of the day, but we have applied for up to 14,999 on site ( licence bands go up in units of 5,000) to ensure that just a few people over this target do not put us in breach of our licence.

We very much hope that local people will enjoy and participate in our summer programme this year.

Wassail!

In January, as part of their 'Mummers, maypoles, and milkmaids’ series, the Horniman Museum and Gardens presented an event on the traditional Twelfth Night celebrations. Some of you may have seen this for real at London Bankside, where The Lions Part performed a few weeks ago.

Participants had their chance to join in, including a traditional Wassail to bless the coming year's apple harvest. Fruit is abundant at the One Tree Hill allotments, where they carry out their own Wassail, helped by cider (the product of the previous year - see photo to the left) every autumn. For further details including open days see www.othas.org.uk

Open House Weekend in SE23 - 17th-18th September 2011

Havelock Walk Open Studios
Saturday and Sunday 12pm-6pm.

Tour of the landscaping of Horniman Gardens- Sat - 2pm-4pm.
More details

The Capitol - Sat 10am-5pm/Sun 10am-5pm.
Regular architectural tours including behind-the-scenes to largely untouched first floor area. Pre-book ONLY on 020 8291 8920. Last tour 4pm.

Walter Segal self-build house with eco-refurbishment
8 Walters Way, Honor Oak Park SE23 3LH - Sun 1pm-6pm.
Regular tours, first come basis.

Forest Hill Localities Fund

The Forest Hill Society has submitted four bids for funding from the localities fund in the Forest Hill ward. We selected four projects that we believe are of particular importance to the local area and fit with the assembly priorities.
1. Empty Shops - Horniman themes posters - £1,600
2. Flowers for the town centre and watering facilities in the station forecourt - £3,800
3. Swings for the Horniman Triangle - £9,500
4. Games Tables (Table Tennis) for the Horniman Triangle - £4,000

In addition there are a number of other excellent applications from other organisations to improve facilities and services within the ward. All of the project will be put to the vote on Sunday 14th August at 2pm at Sydenham School on Dartmouth Road. Please come along and vote for your favourite projects.

Horniman Secrets

Did you know that only a small proportion of the Horniman’s collection is on display? This weekend there is a rare opportunity to explore the Horniman's collection. Back by popular demand, there is the chance to go behind the scenes with their knowledgeable staff for a tour of the Study Collections Centre in Greenwich, where the rest of the collection is stored, between 2 pm and 6 pm on Saturday, 21 May.

Advance booking is required and tickets are only £6 each. Simply download a booking form from here and return it by email to communitylearning@horniman.ac.uk . Refreshments and transport between the Horniman Museum and Greenwich are provided.

It is possible that this event is only suitable for adults. Please check with the Horniman first.

New Year's Honours

Local papers may have spotted that local resident Howard Davies (Director), was awarded a CBE for services to drama in this year's New Year's Honours list, but they omitted to mention that Ms Janet Vitmayer (Chief Executive and Director of the Horniman Museum) was also awarded a CBE for services to Museums.

Janet has been the Director at the Horniman since 1998. Before joining the Horniman, she worked at the Imperial War Museum and was the Director of the Livesey Museum. She is also a visitor of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford, a trustee of the Collections Trust, a Trustee at the London Transport Museum and Chair of the Women Leaders in Museums Network

We would like to congratulate her on the award and wish her and the Horniman success for many years to come.

World City - Music Village Festival at the Horniman

Cultiural Co-operation, a London-based arts and education charity with an internationally respected history of innovation and achievement, is bringing their World City Music Village to London this weekend and next.

The Music Village is Europe’s longest running festival of world cultures and the 23 Music Villages since 1983 have provided a public platform to over 3,000 world class artists from 80 countries, and a safe, yet fertile, ‘contact zone’ in which audiences of all races and faiths can learn about and openly celebrate each other’s cherished artistic traditions. Its abiding principle of free admission to all its events has enabled over 2 million people to attend.

If you want to enjoy the full flavour of their festivals, then go the main event in Victoria Park this weekend (July 3/4 - catch the Overground to Hoxton and then a bus) or Hyde Park next weekend (July 10/11).

However, they are also running a smaller show (aimed at families) in the Horniman from 1 pm tomorrow. There will be music in the Bandstand and dancing in the Gallery Square as well as various craft stalls.

Music on the Bandstand

1.30 – 2.15 pm Sumaya
Thrilling contemporary flamenco.

2.45 – 3.30 pm Hai La Drum
Hai La Drum (Let’s Hit the Road) are led by violinist Baz Stanescu with Pete Watson on accordion,Jason Henson on guitar and Dan Sheppard on double bass together they perform infectious Romanian and Balkan folk music and Gypsy jazz.

4 – 4.45 pm Mauricio Velasierra
Virtuoso flautist Mauricio Velasierra fuses the rhythms and melodies of the Andes and Africa.

5.15 – 6 pm Harare
Led by highly energetic ex-Bhundu Boy Kudaushe Matimba, Harare bring an eclectic mix of Zimbabwean styles from Jit Jive to the traditional hypnotic rhythms of the mbira (thumb piano) which reflect the different backgrounds of the group.

Dance in the Conservatory

1.15 – 1.45 pm Baila Peru
The UK’s longest running Peruvian dance group bring their Amazonian rhythms and carnival spirit to the Horniman having previously delighted audiences at the Thames Festival and Carnival del Pueblo.

2.15 – 3 pm Beeja
Classical Indian dance.

3.30 – 4.15 pm Deborah Alleyne-Degazon
Deborah Alleyne-Degazon’s high-energy Caribbean dance is complemented by live drumming.

4.45 – 5.15 pm Jose Navarro
Master puppeteer Jose Navarro.

In the Gardens

Children’s Area
Drop in for art and craft with Makendoo and facepainting from Face/Off, Hands On Masks at 1 – 1.45 pm and Storytelling from 2.15 – 3 pm and 3.30 – 4.15 pm

Food Stalls
Pizza in Piazza serve up authentic Italian delicacies, Bhangra Burger give quarter-pounders an Asian twist, plus Caribbean Jerk.

Youth Yurt
A chance to see a display of work by the Horniman youth project that explores the theme of teenage identity. Come along to the Youth Yurt to see the display, meet members of the project and find out about how to join the brand new Horniman Youth Panel that is being launched this summer!

Wildlife Garden
Meet Perrymount Primary School Museum Club and enjoy a tour of the Wildlife Garden. Drop in between 1 - 3 pm.

Gallery Square

Museum Club showcase activities 11 am - 1 pm
Meet Horniman Primary School and Eliot Bank Primary School Museum Clubs and find out some Horniman history. Make a Horniman tea packet and enter a competition.