Retail Masterclass with Rowland Gee

In conjunction with SEE3, the National Skills Academy for Retail and the Employer Ownership Fund, you are invited to a Retail Masterclass with Rowland Gee, retired Chief Executive of Moss Bros Group plc.

This is an ‘invitation only’ event for independent retailers in Forest Hill, Kirkdale and Sydenham. You are invited to attend either event as follows:
Sydenham Library, 210 Sydenham Road London SE26 5SE on Monday 27th January 6pm–8 pm
or Forest Hill Pools, Dartmouth Road London SE23 3HZ on Wednesday 29th January 6pm–8pm

For more information please contact: Janet Read, National Skills Academy for Retail  eofproject@nsaforretail.com or Tony Buckley – Town Team Manager, SEE3 on townteam@see3.co.uk

SEE3 Christmas Calendar

You may have received a copy through your door, but just in case, the SEE3 calendar is now available on the web. It’s packed with all the festive events happening in the area throughout December. From Christmas markets to special shows, late night shopping and carol concerts, it’s all in here!

SEE3 Calendar 2013

SEE3

The Portas pilot continues to have a positive impact on Sydenham, Kirkdale and Forest Hill.
Recent SEE3 activities include the Makers Market outside the pools and various activities by the Artists in Residence, Michael Burton and Michiko Nitta. Freed from the restrictions of running a community hub, they have been busy running two NESTs* at St David's Coffee House and the Algae Opera and Metamorphosis Factory on Havelock Walk. Hopefully you had the chance to enjoy these investigations into the future of the High Street.

Meanwhile it's Sydenham's turn for the Pop Up treatment with “Pop Goes Sydenham” - a series of evening events, street art, club night and four pop up shops opening in the high street over the summer. The first of the Pop Ups opened on 18 May at 167 Sydenham Road (just down from The Dolphin) with contemporary jewellery and interiors brand Gunpowder Cherry Pie and vintage furniture and clothing company Flash Trash.

The evening events will include supper clubs through the summer at Blue Mountain. Tickets can be purchased online at www.GrubHub.com/Pop-Goes-Sydenham. There will also be a community party at The Dolphin on 13 June.

Despite the initial projects of SEE3 coming to an end, with the contracts for the Markets Coordinator, Hub Coordinator and Artists in Residence drawing to a close by the end of July, there is still plenty to be delivered. We will be returning to Forest Hill with Jack In a Box (a mobile community hub) and another Pop Up, possibly in October. We are also beginning on the next projects which are focused more on supporting existing traders.

Finally, we are building out the Town Team. It will have four action groups; Community Involvement & Development, Enterprise and Creative, Events Communications and Marketing, Built Environment and the Public Realm, Events Communications and Marketing. If you would like to get involved, please send an email to townteam@see3.co.uk

* NEST is an incubator of ideas, future careers, collaborations and projects.

SEE3 - Community party at the Dolphin

Thurs 13 June, 5pm (food from 6pm), The Dolphin, 121 Sydenham Road SE26

The team behind SEE3 (the Portas Pilot in Forest Hill, Sydenham, and Kirkdale) are certainly creating a buzz this summer! With supper clups, pop-up shops, street art and a club night, save the date for a community party at The Dolphin. All are welcome for a fun evening of music, food and great people!

For more information go to www.see3.co.uk or follow on Twitter at @SEE3PortasPilot

SEE3 Makers Market - Saturday, 18th May

 

Forest Hill Makers Markets  - Forest Hill Pools – Saturday 18 May, 10am-5pm

A SEE3 Event

An Eventful Time

Potting Up for the Edible High Road
Saturday 27 April, 10.00am, Devonshire Road Nature Reserve
Potting up and decorating of the fruit trees. Please come along if you can lend a hand potting up to 70 trees prior to the official launch of the Edible High Road in Forest Hill and Honor Oak.
Organised by Forest Hill Society and Lewisham Gardens

Open day at Dacres Road Nature Reserve
Saturday 27 April, 12-3pm, entrance via Catling Close, off Dacres Road SE23
As Dacres Wood Nature reserve is a bit of a hidden gem, there's a plan to have regular open days on the last Saturday of every month from spring to autumn. The next one is this Saturday. There will be refreshments and tours of the reserve, and opportunities for those visitors coming with sturdy gloves and secateurs to help with some conservation work.
Organised by Friends of Dacres Wood

Sydenham Market - street food, craft & vintage
Sunday 28 April, 10am-4pm, Sydenham Station Approach
Organised by SEE3

Forest Hill Food Fair
Sunday 5 May, 11am-3pm, Forest Hill Station
A Forest Hill Society Event

Syd Soc event: visit to the Brunel Museum & Thames Tunnel, Rotherhithe
Friday 17 May, 10am
The Brunel Museum in historic Rotherhithe is directly above the Thames Tunnel which opened in 1843. We'll be taking part in a one-hour tour of the tunnel, followed by a visit to the museum and lunch at the nearby Mayflower pub. The cost of the visit is £6, payable in advance. To book your place and arrange payment, please email jacquelinealdridge [at] gmail.com
A Sydenham Society Event

Edible High Road Launch Day
Saturday 18 May, 1pm, Forest Hill Station
Official launch of the Edible High Road, with a celebrity guest!
More details at http://www.foresthillsociety.com/2013/03/the-edible-high-road.html
Organised by Forest Hill Society and Lewisham Gardens

SEE3 Forest Hill Market - Saturday 16th March

Seeing Three Ways

2012 was a great year for Forest Hill. We have campaigned hard over the past few years for investment in our town centre and are beginning to see the rewards. 

Back in 2006, when the Forest Hill Society was formed, one of our key concerns was the future of the swimming pool. The sudden closure of the pools was really the driver for a number of local people to come together to form the Society. Over the years we worked hard with many other people in the community and in the council to bring swimming back to Forest Hill. In September 2012 our dreams were realised with the opening of the new pool, a great new facility in the heart of Forest Hill.

The opening of the pool has brought in new businesses to Dartmouth Road after many years of harsh conditions for retailers on the street. In 2011 there were far too many empty shops on Dartmouth Road and the decline was having a bad impact on many businesses that were still there. But as we got closer to the pool opening we started to see new shops opening; a charity shop, a new pub, a few boutiques, a sweet shop, a deli, and a bagel shop. The difference between now and a year ago is stark. Dartmouth Road is back to being an important shopping street, with a mix of shops, restaurants and pubs. There are still a number of empty units but we can be a little more confident that these will be brought back into use in the not too distant future.

In April we decided that we wanted to try having a food fair in Forest Hill, to see if it would help bring more people into the town centre and to prove that there was demand for quality retailers. After a couple of food fairs we were getting good reactions from local businesses telling us that the town centre was busier as a result, so we decided to run these fairs monthly.

2013 is also looking positive for Forest Hill. We are actively involved in SEE3, a separate organisation with responsibility for delivering the promises made in the Portas bid document. We work closely with SEE3 to ensure that Forest Hill and Kirkdale get the maximum benefit from their share of the funds. SEE3's activities will help improve our Town Centres, but unlike us, they are a commercial organisation with funds to pay people to deliver the improvements. Louise Brooks and her team have done a great job in creating three pop ups before Christmas. By the time you receive this, there will be a fourth Pop Up in Forest Hill, “Love Ur Look” at 10A Dartmouth Road, whose launch is timed to coincide with Forest Hill & London Fashion Week (15-19 February) and a fifth is planned for Kirkdale in April.

Forest Hill Traders' Association will be promoting Totally Locally in the spring edition of Lewisham Life, so keep your eyes open for the chance to win a £100 spending spree.

But all is not rosy. We are actively involved in the campaign to Save Lewisham Hospital. Although the Minister has decided that Lewisham should lose its Maternity and A&E units, nothing has yet been closed and the hospital remains open as normal. It will take at least three years before the necessary infrastructure has been built to replace Lewisham's facilities. In the meantime, the fight will go on, and we would encourage you to use Lewisham whenever you need hospital facilities. Other hospitals have suffered due to people avoiding them after similar announcements and we need to make sure Lewisham survives.  The proposed changes will materially impact the long term viability of Lewisham Hospital and it could well suffer a total failure due the impact of the proposals. Lewisham Council will be seeking a Judicial Review of the decision.

Finally, we are monitoring the situation regarding the laundrette. There are rumours that an Estate Agency wishes to get change of use for this vital community resource. Forest Hill has a wonderfully diverse population and a laundrette is an essential requirement for many local residents.

We end the year with a great outlook for Forest Hill town centre. We can be sure that 2013 is set to be a great year for Forest Hill with the SEE3/Portas funding and a great team behind it, pop-up shops, monthly food markets, an active traders' association, and last but not least the swimming pool open again.

Richard Hibbert, Chair of the Forest Hill Society

What’s the difference between SEE3, Totally Locally, Local Assemblies and the Forest Hill Society?

In recent conversations with various people, it has become apparent that there is some confusion about the difference between local assemblies, Forest Hill Society, SEE3 and Totally Locally and how they interact.

The Forest Hill Society is a civic society, supported by its members through their membership fees and volunteer actions. The Society has an Executive of about sixteen members who, together with the additional members on its committees, organise the various events, activities, publicity and campaigns which we run. None of the Executive or committee roles are paid.

SEE3, Totally Locally and the local assemblies are all separate local entities with no direct association with Forest Hill Society. However, since we are the sort of people who are passionate about their community, many of the Executive are also heavily involved in these other organisations too.

The local assemblies are Lewisham Council's way of communicating at a local level. These have been running since 2008 and meet about four times per year. Each ward is given a small amount of money to spend each year on the priorities set by their local assembly. Originally, this was £25,000 per year, with an additional £10,000 at the councillor's discretion. These budgets have shrunk to £15,000 and £3750 as Lewisham Council has had to implement cuts. The Forest Hill Society has successfully bid for funding from various local assemblies to support the Food Fair, cover planting and watering at Honor Oak and Forest Hill Stations, install swings and table tennis tables in the Horniman triangle, run the original PopUp Forest Hill and for a few other projects.

In February 2012, we were approached by Lewisham Council who asked various groups in eight wards to submit a bid for £100,000 of government money. Based on these bids, they chose Sydenham and Forest Hill to put forwards a joint bid for Portas Pilot funding. This bid was put together by a group of people which involved Forest Hill and Sydenham Societies, local councillors and various locals whom we had been working with to improve the area.

Unfortunately, our first round bid was unsuccessful, but we had continued working on the problems and asked why our bid had failed. As a result, a modified bid with matched funding from s106 money (planning conditions) was submitted in Round Two, and was successful at the end of July 2012. None of the money will come to the Forest Hill Society. We are, however, represented in the core group and on the Board of SEE3. We are also deeply involved in delivering the various projects. There are three main projects – Jack & Jill hubs, markets and Pop Up shops. There are also additional projects to support existing businesses.

SEE3 is a commercial organisation which aims to improve the town centres by creating events, improving publicity and encouraging new businesses. They are also required to build a Town Team which involves community groups, landlords and traders. The Town Team will define how the town centre evolves over the next ten to twenty years.

One of the prerequisites for the Town Team is a traders' group in each area. As a result, we encouraged Forest Hill's traders to reform the Forest Hill Trader's Association. This had been neglected following the passing of Michael Davey. Totally Locally is the public face of the FHTA. It has nothing to do with SEE3.

Together all these organisations are working together to make a real difference in the local area, and we are proud that the Forest Hill Society is an integral part of this.

Fancy a bug?

Visit the Co.Futures project at Jill, the SEE3 Sydenham hub at 27 Sydenham Road on the 19th, 20th, 22nd and 24th February between 10:00 and 17:30, to experience how insects might become a part of our future diets.

Discover how a shop can be a farm, factory and food store all at the same time. Drop-into the hub to see more, perhaps even make something with our metamorphosis factory.

Forest Hill Fashion Week 15-19 February

Explore pop-up boutiques, learn how to upcycle your faded favourites, watch catwalk shows and enjoy fabulously fashionable parties in some of Forest Hill’s best bars and restaurants.

There’s plenty to see, make, buy and get involved with – including dress-up fashion shows for children, and a chance to master the art of creating unique hand-made accessories on a budget.

Events start on Friday, 15th February at the pop-up SEE BOUTIQUE at 10a Dartmouth Road

View all the events at www.see3.co.uk/fhfwevents

Sydenham's SEE3 Festive Fair, Sun 16th December

Seasonal gastronomic goodies will be on offer at SEE3's Festive Food and Gift Market from 10am to 4pm on Station Approach, outside Sydenham Station.

There will be some stall holders from our Food Fair along with some other enticing offerings, so go along and say hello.

Aga’s Little Deli	Christmas deli
Van Dough	Wood fired Pizza
Tongue N Cheek	Street food
Anna & Magdalena	Polish deli
On The Hoof	Bread
DB Foods	South African foods
Stag & Bow	Vintage art & images
Alvin's Jerk Wraps	Jerk wraps
Man Made Foods	Cakes for men
Uli's Cakes	Savoury scones and jams
Capo Caccia Fine Food	Sardinian delicacies
Living La Vida Cocoa	Spanish delicacies
Cakehole	Cakes
Daisy's Décor & More	Handmade home accessories
Sylvia’s Vintage Gems	Vintage accessories
Taste of Spain	Spanish foods
Resistless Ltd	Chimney cakes
Miss Poppy Cakes	Cakes
Angela Kay Designs	Craft
Two Hungry Bees	Vietnamese street food
Elizabeth Cranwell-Ward	Chutney

While you are there, you could also drop in on Conquer Gear (Sydenham's PopUp shop at 4 Station Approach) and Jill (the Sydenham Hub), just around the corner at 27 Sydenham Road.

SEE3 Forest Hill Festive Fair , Sat 15th December , 10am–5pm

Forest Hill Pools will go all Christmassy on Saturday 15 December.

From 10am-5pm the market, just outside the main entrance to the pools, will showcase the best local talent, offering hand-crafted trinkets, wooden toys, jewellery, candles, ceramics, vintage accessories and Christmas tree decorations.

There will be sixteen stalls including a few local favourites. They will be selling a variety of goods from food to candles and a variety of vintage and festive goods.

Miss Poppy Cakes	Cakes
Aga's Little Deli	Deli
Doopodoopo	Locals artists work
Stag & Bow	Vintage art & images
DB Foods	South African foods
South London Prints	South London illustrations
Shop Eastern Bloc	Crafts from the former Eastern Bloc
B Creative & Co	Festive decorations
My True light Candles	Handmade candles
Bubblylicous	Handmade soap
Isa Marie Skincare	Organic skincare
Mariona Otero	Reflector ties and cards
Solivio Soaps	Soaps
Sock Monkey	Sock monkeys
Desnee's Vintage	Vintage and upcycled homeware
Committee of Taste	Vintage homeware and flowers

Organised by the SEE3 team.

Pop-up Butcher and Greengrocer

We are very excited that Franklins will be collaborating with The Butchery to provide fresh fruit and veg throughout December at 49 London Road. Both have been regulars at our food fairs during 2012 and it is great to welcome them to the high street for December.

On Saturday, 1st December The Butchery will be providing samples of their own smoked pastrami, sausage rolls and pork pies.  Their range will include Mangalitza Pork from Chipping Norton, native breed Old Spot pork from HMP Hewel Prison Farm, Llanwenog Lamb from the Forest of Dean, 45 day dry aged Dexter Beef from champion breeder Michael Bancroft in Preston Bagat; Fosse Meadows Truly Free Range Chickens, Creedy Carver ducks, wild pheasant, rabbit and mallards.

There will be an opening special of dry aged native breed beef mince at 6.95/kg, and in the afternoon home made Krupnik (Polish Honey Christmas Vodka) to warm up visitors.

There's lots more going on this weekend across Forest Hill, Kirkdale, and Sydenham and you can find out more at SEE3.co.uk or download the full SEE3 brochure for December.

Shutter artwork by Supermundane and Butch.  

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