Southern Passenger Forum

Southern Railway will be running an online Passenger Panel forum between 1700 and 2000 on Tuesday 28 June 2011. This is an opportunity to ask questions and post messages with Southern managers responding direct online. In order to log on to the forum you need to be a member of their Passenger Panel. If you are a regular user of their services and not yet a member of their Passenger Panel, please sign up now.

The Southern managers hope to respond to as many posts as possible within the timeframe but if they are not able to do so Southern will ensure that outstanding questions are followed up and answered over the following few days.

If you are unable to sign up in time, please contact us at email@foresthillsociety.com and we will forward your questions.

St Clements Heights public meeting

The Clement Danes Trust provides almshouses for the elderly at St Clements Heights on Wells Park Road. The majority of their intake comes from the local area and the price of accommodation is subsidised by the trust to affordable levels. However, the current housing on the site is now starting to decay and needs rebuilding to provide residents with housing of a decent standard. This is obviously a costly process and in order to finance the project it will be necessary that some of the existing site is developed into private housing.

Aside from the obvious benefit to the community of decent quality, affordable sheltered accommodation for the elderly, the project will help to meet local housing demand and will be designed to meet Lewisham Council’s 20% sustainable energy target.

Curtin & Co, a specialist community consultancy; will be working in conjunction with Pellings LLP and the St Clement Danes Holborn Estate Charity to conduct a programme of consultation on the proposed redevelopment. They will be running a Public Exhibition on Thursday 30th June 2011, from 3pm to 9pm, and on Friday 1st July 2011 from 3pm to 6pm in St. Philip the Apostle Church Hall, Coombe Road, off Wells Park Road.

Further details can be obtained from Ian on 0207 399 2293 or by email at iang@curtinandco.com. Please note that the workshop referred to previously is an invitation only event while the public exhibition is open to all.

Bloomin' Marvellous

As you are hopefully aware, Forest Hill Society has entered the RHS "It's Your Neighbourhood" scheme and planted the beds outside the station. But now it is your chance.

The annual Lewisham in Bloom competition is here again.

The competition which is open to residents, schools and businesses, gives recognition to the best front gardens, residential planters, business premises, school grounds, wildlife gardens and community gardens in the borough.

There are prizes of £150, £100 and £75 for the winners and runners up.

There are six categories:

Category A: Residential front garden (small – under 20m squared)
Category B: Residential front garden (large – over 20m squared)
Category C: Residential planters (window boxes, hanging baskets, tubs etc)
Category D: Business premises
Category E: School grounds
Category F: Wildlife garden
Category G: Community garden

To enter, download and complete the application form, stating which category you are entering, and return it to Lewisham Council by Wednesday 29 June.

For more information call Katy on 020 8314 2277.

Planning Applications: Radlet Avenue and Waldram Park

The Forest Hill Society has recently objected to two planning applications in the local area:

14 Radlet Avenue

Details of the planning application can be read here.

Details of the objection can be read here.

The main points of the objection concern over development and poor design and layout.

14 Waldram Park

Details of the planning application can be read here.

Details of the objection can be read here.

The main points of the objection concern impact on the character of the street, lack of family units, poor design and layout, inadequate parking provision.

Tewkesbury Lodge Garden Group opening 2011

Saturday, June 11th and Sunday, June, 12th

A group of six very different gardens in Forest Hill SE23 will be open to the public under the National Gardens Scheme, raising money for cancer, caring and gardening charities. The gardens are within easy, if steep, walking distance of each other.

Opening times: Sat June 11th, 6-9pm. Sun June 12th, 2-6pm.

Combined admission on both days £7. Free for accompanied children.

Garden tickets & Plants for sale on the Green at the junction of Horniman Drive and Liphook Crescent.

Refreshments: Homemade tea and cakes on Sunday.

NB. Sorry, wheelchair access not possible, well-trained dogs on leads welcome.

The gardens include a sculptor’s courtyard, crammed full of unusual plants and the artist’s ceramics; there is artwork for sale. A garden designer’s own country style garden (featured in national magazines) delights the eye with lovely plant combinations. Other owners offer a front garden inspired by Beth Chatto’s dry garden; herbaceous planting that complements a modern house extension; and deep informal flower borders under mature trees. A love of vegetable growing is evident with green houses, raised beds, a fruit cage and chicken run. The new garden in the group is a peaceful organic haven with a gravelled beds, summerhouse and newly planted red garden. Wildlife flourishes too, with areas to encourage interest and diversity.

Wanted: budding singers!

The new Sydenham Garden community choir (part of the Sing Out project, getting Lewisham singing) is looking for singers – no experience necessary, all ages welcome!It’s an opportunity for anyone from any walk of life or background to come together and sing, learn some music in a range of styles and share an experience together.

FREE
Where: Sydenham Garden Resource Centre, 28a Wynell Rd, SE23 2LW
When: 7.00-8.30pm Tues (starting May 17th for 8 weeks) leading to a performance at Lewisham People’s Day on July 9th!
More info or want to join? email ‘Sydenham’ to ed.comm@trinitylaban.ac.uk or just come along.

Happy Birthday!

Today is our fifth Birthday.

In the short time that the Society has existed, we have achieved a lot. Notable highlights include a successful campaign to retain the swimming pools on Dartmouth Road, persuading Southern Railway that we needed at least five trains per hour in the evening peak and a respected presentation at the Tyson Road planning enquiry.

Other highlights include

• PopUp Forest Hill, an evening when we matched drummers with estate agents, puppets with pubs and generally created a buzz in Forest Hill,
• Organising evenings out, history talks and nature walks,
• Campaigning to improve park facilities at Horniman Triangle and Honor Oak Rec,
• Keeping the rear stairs open from platform 2 at Forest Hill station
• Responding on a range of planning applications in the local area
• Planting of the raised beds outside Forest Hill station and entry into the RHS "It's Your Neighbourhood" scheme.

We continue to push for improvements to the underpass, improvements to the high street environment, better winter gritting and preservation of Honor Oak Rec.

But we cannot do this without you. We need your membership fees to pay for the various events we run throughout the year and to provide evidence of numbers when expressing our members' views, so don't just follow us on Twitter or friend us on Facebook, show your support in real terms. After all, membership is a real bargain at just £5 per year. Download a membership form from http://bit.ly/JoinFHSoc today and give us the best Birthday present.

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.

Mix it Up at Brockley Max

This year’s Brockley Max festival willl run for nine days from 27 May to 4 June and is dedicated to the memory of the beautiful and vibrant Gill Fraser, co-organiser of Brockley Max. The Opening Night starts at 2 pm on Friday, 27 May outside Brockley Station with the legendary evening of entertainment. With the best line–up ever including more than ten groups, the evening will be hosted once again by ‘Dre the coolest, smoothest MC in Brockley and produced by Richard Swan, one of Brockley’s best known musos. What follows is eight more days of exciting, surprising, family-friendly activities, events, workshops and exhibitions across Brockley, Ladywell, Crofton Park and Honor Oak.

Now in its eleventh year, Brockley Max brings the best talent and creativity the area has to offer for your enjoyment. The theme this year is “Max It Up – Join The Fun” where the community has come together to keep Brockley Max alive and thriving despite the cuts. It still is the best place to celebrate the summer in SE London. Full details of all the events can be found on Brockley Max's website

Brockley Max is run by Max Media Arts, a community-led volunteer organisation. Shops, churches, cafes, bars and local businesses support the festival by hosting events, giving raffle prizes and displaying programmes. The festival only happens because of the hundreds of volunteers who give their time, whether performing, organising, or helping at events. All of them make this area a special and better place to live.

DLR Extension to Forest Hill?

According to London Reconnections, TfL Planning is now developing five Sub Regional Transport Plans which propose projects which can deliver the Mayor's Transport Strategy in each of North, East, South, West and Central London. These proposals include a number of DLR schemes to improve connectivity and capacity to Docklands.

One of these schemes includes bringing the DLR from Lewisham to Catford and on to Forest Hill. While the idea of going to Catford is a relatively old one (it appeared in Horizon 2020, a previous proposal on which these options are based), the surprise addition is the idea of DLR coming to Forest Hill. Catford is an obvious choice for a DLR extension and it would follow a disused railway line which would provide new journey opportunities and numerous benefits to the Hayes line and the Catford loop.

There are no details of what route the DLR would take from Catford, but a solution at ground level or involving a viaduct does not seem very attractive whereas a tunnel would be very expensive. While all four proposals had a BCR exceeding 2.0:1 (which means that the scheme should be built), this option has the lowest BCR of the four proposals and so is probably least likely to go ahead.

The other three proposed extensions are Gallions Reach to Dagenham Dock, Bank to St Pancras and Bank to Victoria.