07 July 2014

Call out to local architects, urban designers, landscape architects and related professionals

Forest Hill Town Centre - Design Charrette, Saturday, 19th July 2014
The last area specific vision and planning guidance for Forest Hill Town Centre was produced in 2003 and much has changed since this time. The town centre has seen a considerable increase in new businesses and new residential development over the past 3-4 years, a new swimming pools complex has opened and the Horniman Museum and Horniman Triangle attract ever more people to the area. There is also an established arts community focused on Havelock Walk and new workspace for artists is due to open this year in Louise House. The addition of London Overground to connect Forest Hill into the underground network has been highly successful and the area is in high demand to new residents. BUT at the heart of this the south circular still passes through the town centre and has a big impact on people and spaces, in addition key streets lack coherence, some connections are poor and key sites are an eyesore.

The Forest Hill Society, SEE3 and members of the wider community have identified that there is
a strong need for a new creative vision for the town centre and related areas, based on:
• evidence of how it works today;
• a community led vision for change and action; and
• creative ideas for making the town centre a better place.

Achieving this will be a significant piece of work and in order to start this process off we are holding a community led design charrette to be held on the Saturday, 19th July 2014 in Havelock Walk. 

The idea is to harness the analytical and creative skills of the local community, to focus on using the skills of local architects, urban designers, landscape architects and related professionals and to run the workshops in the format of a short design charrette or creative workshop. The written outcomes of this work will become supporting documents and content for further placemaking and regeneration work, to help support future funding applications and to help inform future policy guidance.

This workshop will be run between 10am and 5pm in a central venue that enables site visits, investigations and ideas testing. This is a realistic amount of time to expect local people to contribute initially and that we hope a sufficient number of people with creative vision and useful experience will be able to attend (ideally we are looking for around 20-25 in total for the charrette plus more for a feedback and review session at the end of the day). Those attending will comprise both invited local built environment specialists, including architects, landscape architects, engineers, planners and other specialists, and others that have identified they would like to attend in response to a local call for support. We would like those attending to include local traders, community groups, and people from a range of ages and ethnic groups.

Specifically we want to bring together a creative mix of skills, experience, local knowledge and new ideas.

THE SITES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The sites and areas that have been identified to look at include:
• Forest Hill Station forecourt and related sites, including the visual approach into Forest Hill from the South Circular
• Perry Vale pedestrianisation ideas and related sites, including the Perry Vale Car park
• The connections between Forest Hill and Sydenham along the railway line
• Dartmouth Road spaces and pocket park opportunities

If you are interested in taking part please contact Hilary@fhsoc.com

05 July 2014

Froglife comes to Dacres Wood Nature Reserve

12th, 13th, 19th & 20th July Dacres Wood will be open for the Sydenham Arts Trail.

The weekend of the 12th & 13th July, 11-5pm artists Kay Bromley, Lilian Chow, Diana Mckinnon, Lisa Muten, & Jill Tse will be showing their work varying from paintings, textiles, prints and jewellery.

On the 19th July Froglife are coming to the reserve, 10-4pm. On this day there will lots of activities for all the family including pond dipping, making plaster cast frogs as well as talks and information on the amphibians and fauna of the pond.

We look forwrad to seeing you then.
Also if you are able to volunteer a few hours on any of these days to help with making teas or greeting visitors please contact us.
 

Devonshire Road Nature Reserve Open Day - 20th July


03 July 2014

Summer at the Horniman


Horniman’s Curious Tea Party

Sat 12 to Sun 13 July 2014

An eccentric weekend of Edwardian inspired dance, music, frivolity and food in our Gardens. See specially-commissioned dance and music performances inspired by the Horniman and its eclectic collections, take part in tea dances, go on a singing treasure hunt, experience immersive fantastical art installations, enjoy ragtime jazz, discover a cabinet of curiosities, meet a giant explorer, see dazzling circus acts and more.


Summer Holidays

Mon 28 Jul to Sun 31 Aug
This summer is packed full of exciting new and regular activities from Big Wednesdays to Nature Explorers. See the full summer programme for families.

Jazz Picnics

Wed 16, 23, 30 Jul, 7-8.30pm
Chill out to three special evening Bandstand concerts set against a stunning London skyline. We start the series with Albert Ball’s Flying Acesthe UK's only fully-professional ragtime band.






The Great Animal Orchestra

Sun 27 Jul – Sun 31 Aug
Explore nature's music and the fascinating sounds of animals, birds and insects in this sound installation designed by Bernie Krause. Come along to The Great Animal Orchestra Party on the opening day, featuring Bandstand concerts and family activities.  




Behind the Scenes: A Tour of the Natural History Collection

Thurs 14 Aug, 7pm
Take a behind the scenes tour of our celebrated Natural History Collection and see some rarely displayed specimens, such as Frederick Horniman’s insects collection.
Tickets: £5. Book online.


Extremes Garden
Until Mon 1 September
A special display of cacti and succulents which explores the amazing adaptations plants have made to survive the most extreme conditions on Earth. This display is near the Animal Walk in the Gardens.


20 June 2014

Free - Meet the Artist event in Forest Hill


Sunday 29th June, 5pm at DoopoDoopo. Art show from Adelina Iliev and Martin Lea.

17 June 2014

Honor Oak Pub to Reopen

Reports on Twitter confirm that the Honor Oak Pub (corner of Brockley Rise and St Germans Road) will be reopening as a Gastropub in August this year.

Last year the Forest Hill Society successfully applied to Lewisham Council to have this pub listed as an Asset of Community Value. We believe this has helped ensure it's survival as a pub, after rumours were received of interest from a supermarket chain.

This news comes hot on the heals of news that Sainsbury's are no longer interested in taking over the Windmill pub in Kirkdale. The Sydenham Society are taking the lead in ensuring the best use is made of this Asset of Community Value in SE26.

Louise House Open Morning

Sunday 6 July 2014, 11am–1pm, Louise House (between the library and the swimming pool)
 
To mark the re-opening of Louise House as an Artists' Studio building, V22 will be hosting Open House and Morning Tea on Sunday 6 July.

V22 Louise House is a Grade II listed building. Formerly an Industrial Girls' Home it now houses fifteen artists' studios and an exhibition space. V22 would like to invite you to visit and join us in celebrating Louise House’s future as a new and exciting arts centre.

Forest Hill Society visit to Olympic Park

Saturday, 21st June meet at Forest Hill station at 10:30am for the 10:45 train towards London Bridge.
 
Join our "walk on the wild side" at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday 21st June.

This walk, in London's most recently created public park, will meander through the magnificent and varied beds of wild flowers which are part of London's Olympic legacy.   The walk is generally on flat paths or grass with occasional wide steps - with handrails.  There are many seated areas, plentiful loos and a cafe where we could either buy lunch or eat a picnic.  The whole park is to be admired for its innovative and environmentally friendly planting and well designed, imaginative street furniture.

We are meeting at Forest Hill Station at 10:30 and will take the train to London Bridge where we will pick up the Jubilee Line to Stratford. The walk should finish at around 3.00pm. If joining at Honor Oak Park find us at the front carriage of the train.

Ward Assemblies

Ward assemblies are an important way to have your say on developments in the local area and are a good opportunity to meet your local councillors.

Crofton Park Ward - Saturday 21st June, 10am, St. Saviour's Church Hall, Brockley Rise (see http://goo.gl/maps/Xj7yQ)
Forest Hill Ward - Sunday 13th July, 1:30pm, Forest Hill Pools, Dartmouth Road
Perry Vale Ward - Tuesday 15th July, 7pm, Rockbourne Youth Club