A walrus welcome to Forest Hill: successful Crowdfunding

Thanks to your generous donation, the project will now become a reality 🚀

In just 75 hours, the SE23 community donated over £2,500 - an astonishing success! 

We raised a slight excess, which will be used as contingency for the project, with any remaining funds donated to the Forest Hill Society (a local non-profit organisation).

Stay tuned to SE23.life for further updates on the progress of this project.

•••

Details of the project

Lionel Stanhope's murals have become a popular hallmark of South London, and with your help, Forest Hill is getting in on the action.

Design
The Forest Hill mural design features a nod to the walrus mascot of our local treasure, the Horniman Musuem. 

The design and colour was decided by a poll of local residents on SE23.life, after a call for submissions from local artists. 

In order to distinguish Forest Hill’s mural from the blue and yellow colour scheme of Brockley’s design, Lionel will tweak the yellow colour (shown in the mock-up) to a London Overground orange.   

Location
The site for this mural will be Waldram Crescent (AKA South Circular) under the railway bridge, on the eastern side as indicated here:

 

 

London: amazing early Sunday morning light

 Towards the North Downs 

Remarkable light over London early this morning, especially looking southwards – a few photos.

 

 Towards Forest Hill School and onto Bromley

Dawson Heights and a shrouded Shard

 Horniman Museum and Canary Wharf 

just visible thru gloom

leaf and groove, Forest Hill London SE23 – now open

 Leaf and Groove's exterior on Dartmouth Road

Our community shop Leaf and Groove opened on Saturday 9th December. It sells books, vinyl, CDs and DVDs to raise money for the Forest Hill Library, which is now run by the community.  Leaf and Groove was crowdfunded and relies on donations of books etc. 

As so often happens the opening was delayed as the premises that had previously been the Cabin Café and empty for some considerable time needed considerable renovation – not least humidifiers to dry the premises out.  

I dropped in this morning and already there are a good number of books on the shelves, although this is only about a quarter of their stock – yet to arrive including a substantial quantity from the nearby Horniman Museum.  

  

 Shop's interior (above and below)

That's Ian behind the counter 

57 Dartmouth Road, London SE23 3XH 

Leaf and Groove

@leafandgroove

London – 10 years of The Overground

'The history of the Overground

The London Overground launched in 2007, taking over from Silverlink Metro services. Customer numbers have risen from 33 million in 2008/09 to more than 189 million in 2016/17 and improvements delivered over the last 10 years include:

• Increased frequency of trains across the network, from 400 per day in 2007 to nearly 1,500 per day in 2017
• Improved reliability of trains, up by 80 per cent since June 2015
• Customer satisfaction score of 85 per cent in the first quarter of 2017/18, its highest ever level
• Greater passenger safety, with all stations manned from first train to last
• ‘Turn-up-and-go’ service across the network for customers with reduced mobility
• Three extensions to incorporate extra lines – East London Line (2010), South London Line (2012) and West Anglia lines (2015)
• Introduction of Oyster and contactless payments, as well as cheaper fare options and all TfL concessions
• Six new stations which have opened up areas of London such as Hoxton, Imperial Wharf and Dalston
• Improved accessibility, with more than half of the 112 London Overground stations now step-free from street to platform
• Sixty-five new walk-through and air-conditioned trains
• A fifth car added to many trains, providing 25 per cent more capacity
• All routes integrated with TfL’s real-time information and Journey Planning tools'

Tube train arriving at old Shoreditch Station (2006)

 

Looking north east of Shoreditch Station (2006)

train heading into Liverpool Street

Dramatic old signal box on line into Liverpool Street

The old East London Line
before renovation and expansion north and south

 
My view from Forest Hill, SE23
It was on 23rd May 2010 that Forest Hill along with other stations on the line from New Cross Gate to Crystal Palace started properly to benefit from The London Overground. This day saw the first trains running directly from Forest Hill through to Dalston Junction using from New Cross Gate the renovated old East London Line that used to run from New Cross Gate and New Cross to Whitechapel. During rush the service was extended to Shoreditch. 

Not only did this mean that there are now many more trains serving Forest Hill, it opened up parts of East London that had previously been awkward to travel to by public transport.  Making it easy to go to Shadwell encouraged us to start going to the wonderful Lahore Kebab House – amazing good food at a bargain price and it's Bring Your own Drink at no charge. 

Equally it opened up access by way of Canada Water to Canary Wharf and to Central London along the Jubilee Line. However, whoever designed the the interchange at Canada Water between Northbound Overground and the Jubliee Line is a dangerous idiot! A single escalator for such a busy interchange is now clearly inadequate and often has to be shut during morning rush hour. 

When traveling northwards from Forest Hill I no longer check the times of the trains before leaving home because they are so frequent. It is only ever a short wait for a Southern train into London Bridge or an Overground to Canada Water or Whitechapel and the District or the Hammersmith and City. 

The link from Surrey Quays through to Clapham Junction was opened in December 2012.   

24 hour service (to come)
Apparently Sadiq Khan is soon to announce that the service between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate will run 24-hours a day. Then early in 2018 this service will be extended to Highbury & Islington. I haven't seen any plans to extend the service south of New Cross Gate. Presumably Sadiq believes that anyone living south of New Cross Gate goes to bed early.... 

New Cross Gate – potential line southwards
prior to work starting

 

From London Overground: What does the future hold?

'Further improvements in the coming years will include:

• An extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking line to the Barking Riverside development, helping to unlock 10,800 new homes by 2021
• Electrification of the Gospel Oak to Barking line enabling the introduction of cleaner and more reliable electric trains from spring next year
• The introduction of 45 new air-conditioned walk-through trains next year to replace 30 year old rolling stock on West Anglia lines out of Liverpool Street and Romford to Upminster routes
• The upgrade of ticket machines across the network, offering customers greater functionality'
  
  
  
  

Forest Hill, London SE23: shops – a win, one score draw (?) and a deserved relegation

So for a change a quick look at Forest Hill, London SE23 and let's start with the positive – SmallPrint Books (37 David's Rd, Forest Hill, London). This children's bookshop opened recently and is reported to have taken £2500 on his first day.

Smallprint Books should be joined by leaf and groove, who are due to open on Dartmouth Road this month. 

   

Putative Superdrug

 Repossession Order on behalf of Mackays Stores 

(above and below)

 

 
Superdrug was due to open some time towards the end of September in the old Mackays store on London Road in the centre of Forest Hill. It didn't happen and the premises were apparently occupied by squatters. Mackays got a High Court repossession order on 27th October 2017, so perhaps we will now see the store transformed into a Superdrug.   

Notice put up presumably by the squatters. Mackays duly got a High Court order.

Waters – Fishmonger & Greengrocer

Waters, 14 Perry Vale, SE23 

 

 Another repossession and this time no surprise whatsoever. Forest Hill could certainly do with a good greengrocer and could probably support this and a fishmonger. Waters, the trading name of Waters Enterprise Ltd, however, was never a serious enterprise. It opened several months late and its opening hours especially over the weekend were designed to give the owners a rest after a early visit to the market. What is the use of a food shop opening at 10.30 on Saturday and 11 am on a Sunday if a good proportion of your customers may well be intending to cook lunch that day?

 

 Premises repossessed on 27th September 2017

A fringe post from Edinburgh

Street performer

 Crowd watching 

We are down in Edinburgh for a couple of days at the Edinburgh Fringe. We started with the True to Life exhibition at the Scottish Modern Art Gallery. This is an interesting exhibition of British realist art which was a popular movement between the two World Wars. 

Then it was a hike across town to the Pleasance Courtyard where our neighbour and comedian Twayna Mayne is presenting her show Black Girl during the whole of the festival. Tickets here. Twayna tells of her experience as a child growing up with a non-functioning mother, who she hasn't seen since she was six, and being fostered and finally at the age of 14 being adopted by a white mother, a teacher who lives in Forest Hill (London SE23). Interestingly there were a number of people from Forest Hill in the audience. Definitely recommended – we were very impressed. 

In the evening we went to the excellent Rat Pack Live presented by Nicholas Abrams and Richard Williamson at C in Chambers Street. Afterwards we had a very good meal at Nanyang, a Malaysian restaurant.        

 

 Scottish Gallery of Modern Art

 There will be no miracles: Scottish Gallery of Modern Art

 Detail of the gallery

Colourful tiles in the toilets at the art gallery

Proof that Forest Hill, London SE23 is at the centre of the universe

 SE23 with much of London spread out in the distance 

– looking towards the Horniman Museum, 

Honor Oak and Canary Wharf

 Towards Catford and the Thames Estuary

Forest Hill, London SE23 – new initiative to persuade speeding motorists to slow down

Many of the roads in Forest Hill (London SE23) and in the rest of Lewisham are now 20mph. This move is certainly very welcome as the risk of serious injury and death increases dramatically as traffic speeds approach 30 mph and above.

Unfortunately, although some adhere to the new speed limit, too many drivers don't and at the same time some, a minority, drive recklessly putting both themselves and other road users in danger. 

Given stretched resources for the Police, this new initiative – Lewisham Community Road Watch scheme – looks to be well worth supporting. 

Letter from Michael Hill of the Forest Hill section of the Met outlining the new scheme:   

    

'PL - Lewisham Borough PL - Forest Hill SNT

Catford Hill Police Station

128 Catford Hill
Catford

London SE6 4PS

Tel; 0208 721 2723

Michael.R.Hill@met.pnn.police.uk

www.met.police.uk

7th March 2017

 

Dear Resident,

I am writing to inform you of a new initiative that I feel you may wish to participate in. This is the Lewisham Community Road Watch scheme, a joint initiative between Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police. It is designed to address community concerns of speeding in the local area. It allows volunteers from the community to work with the police using speed monitoring equipment to identify and educate drivers found exceeding the speed limit.

How it works:

·      Volunteer(s) join a Safer Transport Police Community Support officer at a specified location.

·      The volunteer uses the speed detection device to check the speed of vehicles. · Any vehicle exceeding the speed limit has its Vehicle Registration Mark and speed recorded and a warning letter is sent to the registered keeper by Transport for London. · Volunteers are provided with a high visibility vest and are required to sign a disclaimer which will be explained fully to those wishing to participate.

·      All sites are risk assessed in advance.

·      The sessions would run for one to two hours.

The events are run by a Safer Transport Police Community Support Officer. A Police Officer cannot be present as they would be expected to stop the vehicles and report offences at the scene. Volunteers cannot participate on the road they live on as this could lead to a dispute with neighbours. However, you can suggest locations where these actions will take place. The speed gun can not be loaned out to residents without the attendance of a Safer Transport PCSO as the equipment is supplied to the Safer Transport Teams to run the events for Transport for London.

If you wish to take part in this scheme, know of a suitable location or require further information then please go to; Lewishamcommunityroadwatch@met.pnn.police.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Michael 195PL, Michael Hill PC 195PL (DWPC)

Follow us on Twitter at - @MPSForestHill MetSec' 

 

leaf and groove: a home for culture, art & the written word – a new hub for the community in SE23

 57 Dartmouth Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 

Empty for six years – future home for 

leaf and groove? 

Forest Hill Community Library 

profits from leaf and groove 

will go to supporting the library

leaf and groove is a new venture in Forest Hill (London SE23) aiming to provide funds for the Forest Hill Community Library through selling donated books and records. Friends of the Horniman Museum have already donated over 1500 books. 

The intention is to take over and renovate 57 Dartmouth Road, which was formerly a café but which has been empty for six years. 

The first step is raising funds. To date £13,145 of the £19,905 needed to get leaf and groove off the ground has been raised. There are 24 days left to bring in the remaining £6760. If you live in the Forest Hill area please consider funding this new project. Even a fiver can help to make all the difference!   

 

Details of the project: 

leaf and groove

A fantastic space selling books & records to generate income for the community library scheme. A home for culture, art & the written word. Leaf & Groove will be a new hub for the community in SE23.

Leaf & Groove will take a long-disused shop space in Forest Hill and turn it into something wonderful. A second hand bookshop of distinction, also selling vinyl, donating profits to the community library scheme. Not only that, but also an underground lounge space for secret meetings & speakeasies; robotic engineering & art lessons; a writing group & a gin club; board games & tai chi – unbounded possibilities.

This shop has been empty for 6 years, everyone is keen to see it turned into something useful, rather than yet another estate agent or bookies. Libraries are inundated with book donations, not all capable of fitting on their shelves. But from their sale great things can be done: more shelves bought & books to fill them, more events for children, senior citizens and those on the fringes of our society that visit daily.Then there is the lounge, large enough for 30, a new home for cultural activities, creativity and learning new skills.

What we'll deliver: 

     Totally refit a long abandoned shop on Dartmouth Road.

• Open the ground floor space as a book shop with all profits going to the community library.
• Turn the basement into a community function space.

Why it's a great idea:

We are rejuvenating a disused space and turning it in to a benefit for the community - whats not to like? No want wants grubby old disused buildings just being a waste of valuable space - but this building needs a great deal of love to get it back on its feet. Between us we can create something engaging and vibrant - with events that will reach out to all the community. We have some great people on stand-by - Adam from South East London art rooms with proposals for Blue Harmonica nights; drama workshops; life drawing, and; a speakeasy among other interesting suggestions. Then there is local illustrator Miriam Elgon who has so many ideas they could fill this page and more - art workshops based around making paper theaters; masks; book illustrations; collage etc. Then there is Orlando, a strong example to young people in Lewisham, who is bringing robots into libraries among other enterprises. From fine art to robotics, via drama and books - something for everyone!

Steps to get it done:

• Refitting the disused, unloved space and turning it into a community hub.
• Bringing on board a wide range of cultural activities for people to enjoy.
• Developing the back office space into a meeting room and therapy space.

Rejuvenation of the town centre. The book shop will not only re-open a space that has not been in use for six years, but it will be staffed by volunteers. We hope to extend paid employment opportunities over time and take on apprentices from the local community.

Louise House (artist studios) with the Forest Hill Library beyond

Forest Hill Pools and Gym 

next to Louise House

Photos from the leaf and groove website.