History walk through One Tree Hill - 23rd September

Andrew Orford and Alona Sheridan will lead us on a history walk through One Tree Hill on Sunday 23rd September, 2:30pm. Meet at Honor Oak Park station.

Great North Wood

By Sam Bentley-Toon, London Wildlife Trust

Stretching from Deptford in the north to Croydon in the south, the Great North Wood was once a vast tract of woodland and wooded commons. The wood was largely managed through coppicing — an ancient sustainable way of harvesting wood — which allowed it to thrive for centuries. As the industrial revolution transformed traditional woodland industries the value of woodland lessened, paving the way for destruction and urbanisation.

Today, the Great North Wood lives on in isolated fragments of woodland scattered across its original footprint. Key sites include Sydenham Hill Wood, Dulwich Woods, One Tree Hill, Beaulieu Heights and Long Lane Wood. The ancient character of these woods is revealed by the presence of plants such as wood anemone, bluebell and Solomon’s seal.

The Great North Wood continues to support a rich fauna with rare insects such as the fearsome-looking stag beetle which spends up to seven years burrowing through deadwood as a larva before emerging as a splendid antlered adult. The great spotted woodpecker, whose distinctive drumming can be heard ringing out through woodland in spring, is another successful inhabitant of the Great North Wood.

Unfortunately, a lack of management in some of these woodlands has led to critical threats to wildlife and to their continued existence. Amongst these threats are erosion and trampling, encroachment by invasive plant species, fly-tipping and vandalism.

London Wildlife Trust’s new Heritage Lottery funded project: The Great North Wood will seek to address these threats by enlisting local people in activities to manage woodland for wildlife.

Working alongside the five borough councils which the project area encompasses will be the Forestry Commission, the Greater London Authority and numerous Friends groups and community groups. Working together with these groups the project aims to make significant improvements to south London’s woodland environment over the lifespan of the project and beyond. An extensive programme of community engagement events will allow a diverse audience to learn about and experience the woodland and remind people about the largely forgotten landscape of the Great North Wood.

To find out more about the project and how to get involved, contact Sam (Project Development Officer) at sbtoon [at] wildlondon.org.uk / 07734 599288 or visit the Great North Wood online:

www.wildlondon.org.uk/great-north- wood
www.facebook.com/TheGreatNorthWood
www.twitter.com/GreatNorthWood

One Tree Hill Festival

Last weekend saw the start of the One Tree Hill Festival, with a performance of works by Mozart, Holst and Mendelssohn from Southwark Sinfonietta - but fret not! There are plenty more events for you to go along to. The second One Tree Hill Festival runs from 28th April to 19th May and has a wonderful mix of music and performance. As well as their Sunday services, which have a theatrical feel, they will be joined by West End singers performing excerpts from Les Miserables, using the story to explore different responses to God.

Events include

• An Evening of Musical Theatre - Saturday 4 May, 7:30pm
  Adults £5, Children £2
  After the success of previous musical theatre concerts at St Augustine’s, local and West End singers present an evening of songs from popular British and American musicals. Directed by former West End performer and local vocal coach Lisa Olsworth-Peter the concert will inspire and entertain as we listen to an array of well loved tunes.
• Gilbert Rowland performs music for harpsichord - Sunday 5 May, 3:00pm
  Adults £5, Children £2
  Gilbert Roland, renowned harpsichord soloist presents a programme of music for harpsichord by Domenico Scarlatti, G F Handel, Francois Couperin and Padre Antonio Soler.
• May Fayre - Saturday 11 May, 11am to 3pm
  Free entry
  Our popular May Fayre returns to St Augustine's with the usual selection of cakes, stalls and shies
• Lewisham Concert Band present: Swing into summer! - Saturday 11 May, 7:30pm
  Adults £5, Children £2
  An evening of toe tapping band favourites from the popular Lewisham Concert Band. Founded in 1967 and conducted for many years by the late Joseph Proctor, the Lewisham Concert Band soon found fame for its numerous BBC Radio 2 broadcasts during the 70s and 80s on Friday Night is Music Night and Listen to the Band. Today, under the musical direction of Leslie Lake, it is still one of the South East’s most highly-regarded wind bands and consists of professional and amateur musicians based in London and the Home Counties.
• La Bohème by Opera Bohemia - Sunday 12 May, 7:30pm
  £13, Concessions £11 from www.wegottickets.com
  Opera Bohemia, Scotland's dynamic professional opera company, presents Giacomo Puccini's romantic tragedy La Bohème. Rising Scottish star Catriona Clark leads a cast of emerging young artists in the role of Mimi, the young seamstress, whose failing health can’t prevent her from falling in love with the charismatic poet Rodolfo, played by Alistair Digges. This energetic and youthful production, accompanied by violin and piano, captures all the emotional highs and lows in Puccini's romantic score; from playful banter to the rush of first love, to the devastating pain of heartbreak and loss. Sung in Italian with English surtitles, this critically acclaimed production promises to be a memorable night for opera lovers and newcomers alike.
• Fairlawn Singers: ‘Songs for a Summer Evening’ - Tuesday 14 May, 7:30pm
  Adults £7, Children £1
  Under the direction of Alistair Digges, this popular choir made up of parents, staff and friends of Fairlawn Primary School in Honor Oak Park return once again for a wonderful evening of fun summer music. Proceeds will be split between ‘The Ahoy Centre’ and St Augustine's Church.
• Studio Craft Workshop - Saturday 18 May, 10:30am to 1pm
  Free entry
  A family craft activity morning for the young and young at heart to make decorations for the One Tree Hill Festival celebration service on 19th May. Based at the Liturgical Design Studio at Holy Trinity Centre (www.holytrinitycentre.org.uk), all materials will be provided and all skill abilities welcome. Parents and carers are asked to remain with their children.
• Mock Tudor Band present a programme of renaissance and baroque music - Saturday 18 May, 7:30pm
  Adults £5, Children £2
  Join the Mock Tudor Band as they take a musical journey through time from rollicking Tudor dances to regal Baroque masterpieces.
• Festival Celebration Service and drinks reception - Sunday 19 May, 10:30am
  Free entry
  As the festival concludes you are invited to celebrate and give thanks to God for our local creative community. It is also the day we celebrate St Augustine and the Holy Spirit. There will be a drinks reception after the service which all are welcome to attend which will also be an opportunity for us to say thank you to those who have given financially towards our living heritage campaign to address the tower and high stone work which is now complete.

All events (except for the Studio Craft Workshop) are at St Augustine’s Church. For more information visit www.augustineonetreehill.org.uk or phone 020 8699 0172. Tickets are available at the door or can be purchased in advance from www.ticketsource.co.uk/augustine1treehill

Ed Olsworth-Peter and all the team at St Augustine's look forward to seeing you.

One Tree Hill Festival

If you are in the mood for some culture, then you are in luck. St Augustine’s is very excited to launch their first One Tree Hill Festival. Building on their reputation for high quality, professional performances and exhibitions, they hope this will become an annual event as a way of gathering together local creativity in SE23 with local artists, musicians and organisations bringing you a fantastic line up of events.

The festival kicks off on Friday, 18th May with a party at the Hop Scotch Café, a great way to meet festival contributors, local residents and artists.

The festival has a wonderful range of music from classical to jazz, folk, contemporary and musical theatre. They will be celebrating the spoken word with poetry and readings as well hosting an amazing children’s show presented by Pirate Productions who’s sell-out production of Cinderella ran at St Augustine’s earlier this year. There will also be a community art show, including a children’s painting competition which will run throughout the week. If that wasn’t enough, the festival will conclude with the Annual Spring Fair, community picnic and festival celebration service on the final weekend. For more information see www.augustineonetreehill.org.uk and the festival programme.

Programme

Friday, 18 May at 7:30pm. Launch party at Hopscotch Cafe, Honor Oak Park.

Saturday, 19 May at 11am & 2pm (£5, £3 concessions – under 4s free)
Pirate Productions Present: Jason Mavrick goes bananas! A fun show for age 5-11s
Jason, who has performed for Her Majesty the Queen and Madonna as well as being the former Children's T.V Presenter of channel 5’s Havakazoo, presents a high energy all age family show of comedy, slow motion clowning, mime, incredible tricks with crystal balls, amazing juggling, robotic dancing, gentle audience participation and bananas!

Saturday, 19 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Entente Chorale: A singing celebration. Trade Winds welcome L'Air de Rien with special guests Raise The Roof Choir and Raise the Roof Singers.
L’Air de Rien led by their musical director Olivier Capmartin perform songs drawn from their musical heritage in the south west of France as well as Corsica, Spain, Sardinia, Africa and England while Trade Winds will be presenting their repertoire of international songs drawn from many cultures and genres. Special guests Raise The Roof Choir and Raise The Roof Singers will be joining together with L'Air de Rien for a grande finale, truly an evening not to be missed. Bon Sante.

Sunday, 20 May at 3.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Chamber Music Recital: Orlando Jopling and friends
Cellist and conductor Orlando Jopling is joined by Matthew Truscott, Ania Safonova, Dorothea Vogel of the Allegri Quartet and Becky Truscott to present a concert of chamber music including works by Bach and others. Orlando regularly conducts the English Chamber Orchestra and has been a guest performer with some of the UK's finest orchestras, among them the Philharmonia and London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tuesday, 22 May at 7.30pm no pre sales - free entry with retiring collection
Fairlawn Singers present: Come and Sing! (clue in the title!)
The Fairlawn Singers invite you to join them for a fun sing along evening. Well known songs of all sorts are on the menu! With some special guest soloists and other surprises, this promises to be a great event. Come and Sing is led by the choir’s musical director, Alistair Digges, who plans to make the rafters ring at St Augustine’s. Come along and join the singing, or just to listen and enjoy.

Wednesday, 23 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Epiphanies with Patricia Doyle (Poems/Readings)
Patricia Doyle, a Brockley actress and director, is presenting a programme of prose and anecdotes taking the lid off a life in the Arts, with extracts from plays and books reflecting her theatrical experience and her life.

Thursday, 24 May at 7.30pm no pre sales - suggested donation £5 on entry
An Evening with Nunhead Community Choir and friends
The Nunhead Community Choir present an evening of accompanied and a cappella contemporary music, from artists such as Queen, Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan. They are joined by the jazz vocals of Konni Deppe accompanied by Martin Slade and ‘The Strum Pets’ - Dominic Spitzer and Corrie-Anne Burton, an acoustic dance/rock duo on guitar uke and mandolin

Friday, 25 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Kaleidoscope: An evening of folk music & original songs
This energetic and colourful triple bill brings folk music and original songwriters to One Tree Hill. Acclaimed south London trio Shadrack Tye, all members of the same family, perform an eclectic and vibrant mix of original songs, folk and traditional music, and contemporary songs from different genre, combining rock and jazz inspired punchy rhythmic riffs and Innovative harmonies with skill and finesse. The Nunhead Folk Circle starring Emily Hall (violin, concertina), Datsun (banjolele, charango) and Matt Allin (guitar, melodeon) will perform original songs inspired by the folk music of Britain and Ireland and further afield. Finally, singer/songwriter Carollyn Eden is joined by Hannah Monaghan (cellist), Kate Jones (violinist) and Drew Stallcop(percussionist) performing a new set of her original songs in which she blends the influences of Celtic and English folk music with classical music in her own unique style.

Saturday, 26 May from 10am-4pm FREE
Spring Fair: stalls, craft, food, games, art, music...
A fun family event for all ages with community stalls, craft, plants, variety of foods, games, live music, community art show and judging of the junior art competition.

Saturday, 26 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
The Hills are Alive! featuring All Souls Orchestra & West end singers
Noel Tredinnick and the All Souls Orchestra present an evening of musical theatre classics and toe tapping orchestral favourites. Enjoy the delights of Broadway show music, offset with 2 of J S Bach's most popular Brandenburg Concertos - No. 2 and No. 4. Back by popular demand after their autumn concert at St Augustine’s last year, Noel brings his wonderful wit and charm to entertain and lead us through another uplifting musical journey. He will also be joined from London’s West End stage by David Erik, Kelly Rainham and Lisa Olsworth-Peter promising an evening full of excitement and energy!

Sunday, 27 May at 10.30am FREE
Festival Service to celebrate St Augustine’s
An opportunity to celebrate and give thanks for the local community and the life of St Augustines. Come and join us in worship as we are joined by guest musicians from the festival.

Sunday, 27 May from Noon-2pm FREE
Community Picnic (bring a rug and your favourite food!)
Enjoy the beauty of One Tree Hill by picnicking in the grounds of St Augustine's. Bring your hampers and rugs to enjoy with old friends and make new ones!

Sunday, 27 May at 3pm (£10, £5 concessions - all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the Children's Society.)
Orchestral Concert by members of the European Doctors Orchestra, conducted by Rupert Bond.
The European Doctors Orchestra will perform a concert conducted by Rupert Bond with pieces by Haydn: Symphony No. 101 ‘The Clock’, Bach: Double Violin Concerto [soloists Helena and Richard Gullan], Mozart: Overture ‘The Magic Flute’ and Schubert: ‘Unfinished’ Symphony.

Booking and Tickets

All ticketed events can be booked online or purchased on the door on a first come first served basis, subject to availability. For more information visit their website www.augustineonetreehill.org.uk or call the parish office on (020) 8699 0172.

ST AUGUSTINE'S - URGENT APPEAL

St Augustine's church in Honor Oak urgently needs £300,000 for essential repairs, or we may face losing this landmark building. Please go to www.augustineonetreehill.org.uk/donations.htm
The deadline for donations is March, so please act fast!

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

Canonbie A Capella Concert, One Tree Hill

Hat Tip: Brockley Central

Apple pressing afternoon at One Tree Hill

The One Tree Hill allotment society have their annual apple pressing afternoon on Saturday, 1st October, between 1pm and 5pm.  All are invited to go along and join them “chop/ mash/ scrat/ press apples into lovely fresh juice for you to drink".

It’s a free event at the One Tree Hill Allotments, just off Honor Oak Park. Entry is by the top side gate on Honor Oak Park. See this map for the location (marked “ALLOT”) or email london_cider@btinternet.com for further information.

ST AUGUSTINE’S

February 5 this year saw the launch of a new exhibition ‘Changing Faces’ telling the story of the life of One Tree Hill, St Augustine’s Church and the people connected with it. As time has moved on, so has the building which is now in desperate need of repair.

Changing Faces launched a major fundraising campaign to save this iconic landmark, and the plans are to develop as a key venue at the heart of the local community; the exhibition is still on show in the studio space.

St. Augustine’s is also about to launch a new project called The Green Rooms which will focus on the areas of the Arts, quiet and meditation and the natural and built environment. Through performances, workshops and community volunteer days we want to serve and celebrate our local community as well as connecting faith and the world around us.

There are many more exciting projects planned. If you would like to be involved in any of the fundraising projects, donate further archive material to the exhibition or would like to hear more about The Green Rooms, please e-mail info@augustaineonetreehill.org.uk

Forthcoming Events

Open Day, One Tree Hill Allotments site, Honor Oak Park - Sunday 13th June. 12 to 6pm.

If you didn’t fancy the crowds at Chelsea this year, this is the next best thing! You’ll see a variety of gardening styles from formal allotment layouts to cottage style. There are grand views over South East London from the top, ponds & beehives. There will be three guided walks by allotment members and they start at 2.00pm, 3.00pm & 4.00pm. or you might prefer to do one of the self guided walks.

The main entrance to the allotment site is in the Recreation ground Car park just off Honor Oak Park SE23. The site is 2 minutes walk from Honor Oak Park Railway station. P4, P12, 122, 171, 172 buses. Admission is free but donations welcome. Refreshments will be available. Please wear stout footwear, as it can be slippery if it has been raining and due to the uneven parts of the site some parts are not accessible for Wheelchairs, Buggies or People with walking difficulties although the lower part is. There is a compost toilet on site.


Sydenham Woods walk - Sunday 20th June, 3pm.
Meet at the gate in Crescent Wood Road. This is a guided walk led by Ashley White, the Conservation Projects Officer for Southwark. The local historian, Steve Grindlay, will also give a short talk about the history of the area. The walk will last about1 hour. We would appreciate small contributions for this walk.


Forest Hill Assembly Meeting – Monday, 21 June 2010, 7-9pm.
Sydenham Secondary School, Dartmouth Road, SE26 4RD


The Sydenham Arts Festival’s Summer Season 2010 - has over sixty events during the three summer months (and a little bit of September!) - diverse music, dance, drama, comedy, film, poetry, visual arts, children’s events and workshops – utilising a variety of local venues and parks. It’s a fantastic community event and we really do encourage you to support it. There’s far too much going on to include details in this eNewsletter so please go to their wonderful website www.sydenhamartsfestival.com

Dogs on One Tree Hill

One Tree Hill is a much-loved Local Nature Reserve on Honor Oak Park with fantastic views of central London. But it's also used by commercial dog-walkers and that's stirred up quite a debate in SE23. We invited Sandy Pepperell, the Chair of the Friends of One Tree Hill (FROTH) to explain the situation.

The Friends of One Tree Hill have received a range of correspondence related to dog walking on One Tree Hill. This has mainly focused on commercial dog walking. Incidents have ranged from several dogs running uncontrolled into the adjoining allotments (chasing a fox) to intimidation and biting of individuals. While we would advise people actually injured by dogs to report this to local police, we have endeavoured to pass on these observations to LB Southwark's dog wardens and they carry out patrols from time to time on the Hill.

However, we were particularly perturbed by a thread on a local Forest Hill chatroom (SE23.com) earlier this year which presented the site as unwelcoming due to the presence of dogs and as a result we have stepped up our requests to Southwark Council to investigate ways to address our concerns about the number of dogs being exercised on the Hill.

The LB of Southwark and the Friends of One Tree Hill have no intention of excluding dogs from the Hill, but we do wish (and have a duty) to protect this Local Nature Reserve from destruction and damage by large groups of dogs running loose, digging up the ground and leaving faeces behind. In addition, of course, our aim is to promote One Tree Hill as a visitor site and £15,000 has just been earmarked by the council to maintain and improve access and information. Our events have included bird and tree walks and this September sees the second stage of an archaeological dig relating to the likely siting of a WW1 anti-Zeppelin gun at the summit of the Hill.

All of this promotion of One Tree Hill will be undermined if local people (and this has included dog owners) are discouraged from visiting. It is to address this that we, together with Southwark, are investigating controls on dog walking. This is likely to relate to the number of dogs walked at any one time, to their being 'under control' and clearing up after them. Before anything official can be put into practice, however, the council is obliged to consult locally so there will be an opportunity for people to have their say.

We are aware that discussion of this issue sometimes results in strong feelings in respect of the freedoms of various users of One Tree Hill and that dogs and dog walking give some a great deal of pleasure which not everyone shares. In order to achieve a balance, we hope some kind of compromise can be achieved.

Then it will truly be a community amenity where we can all appreciate a bit of calm in an otherwise frenetic world.

You can visit our website and contact us at: www.onetreehill.org.uk

This Green and Pleasant Land

If you'd ever like to impress your visitors with the greenness of SE23, then we can recommend the walking route from Sydenham Wells Park to One Tree Hill. Well-kept gardens, dense woodland, panoramic views - we have everything on our doorstep.

On 25th May, Peter Frost of the Friends of One Tree Hill led this walk in perfect weather - in spite of the torrential rain throughout the morning. It took us two hours at a leisurely pace with lots of stops whilst Peter filled us in on local history, flora and fauna.

Without the stops, you could do it in an hour. It's a tricky route to do with a buggy because of the swing gates in Sydenham Woods but the 7 month old in our group certainly enjoyed herself being carried in a sling. The vicar of St Augustine's on One Tree Hill had very kindly invited us to use the church's facilities at the end of the walk and there were refreshments there as well.

There are plenty of buses that go past both ends of this walk so you can certainly leave the car at home.

Archaeology in Forest Hill

On Sat 25th and Sun 26th August (8am - 6pm) the Great War Archaeological Group are organising an exploratory dig around the WWI gun emplacement at One Tree Hill (sometimes erroneously called the bandstand). They want to encourage community involvement in the first instance by inviting people to come and watch the dig (and there will be someone to talk about their work) and possibly contribute local family recollections of the time. If this study reveals findings of interest there will be further explorations when they would hope to involve local groups (such as schools) and individuals.

If you need any further information please contact:
Sandy Pepperell
Chair, Friends of One Tree Hill
Tel: 020 8699 2812

One Tree Hill Allotments – The True Story

We always like seeing SE23 get the recognition it deserves in the media. But when ‘Time Out’ magazine featured the One Tree Hill Allotments (Tree Amigos, February 21) there was some unhappiness about the way the journalist portrayed the plot holders. So, Ian White, the vice chair of the One Tree Hill Allotments Society, thinks it’s time to set the record straight.

When ‘Time Out’ came to the One Tree Hill allotments, it was to attend the Wassail - a festival held in January in praise of next year's apple crop. But the article seemed to portray the good denizens of Forest Hill and Honor Oak as hippies, crusties and New Age travellers. Now, we may be an exceptionally enlightened and liberal community, but the journalist did exercise a large degree of artistic license.

The allotments are close to Honor Oak Park Station. It’s a challenging area being clay and on a hill. It covers nine acres and holds 70 plots. Over the last few years, the very active committee has cleared large amounts of rubbish, created better access, reinstated derelict plots and created new ones. The result is a thriving community with plots fully occupied and a waiting list. Many think of flat caps and 'Dig for victory' but members are from all walks of life, across the age, cultural and ability (both physical and gardening) spectrum. You will see a variety of gardening styles, from formal regimented rows to Cottage Style gardens. Organic/sustainable activities are encouraged as are measures to support wildlife through set aside areas, tree planting, bird and bat boxes and a number of ponds. This has resulted in a wide variety of fauna and flora.

Plot-holders share and take part in communal tasks and hold events including barbecues, Apple days, Green Man Fayres and Bonfire night.

You may now understand why some members were annoyed at the incorrect picture ‘Time Out’ portrayed. The magazine focused on one aspect of the activities of the Permaculture group who rent just one plot. Even more frustratingly, ‘Time Out’ could not get the musical instrument right in the article. It isn't a Tambourine, but a Bodhran!

The site is open to the general public on certain days and guided walks are often organised. The next open day is on Sunday 8th July 12-6pm. You can get more information here or email Ian White at contact@onetreehillallotments.org.uk