Newsletter 16 - September 2010

www.foresthillsociety.com September 2010 Page 1

Issue 16, September 2010

The Newsletter of the Forest Hill Society Covering all of SE23 and the surrounding area.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Thursday, 21st October, 7.30pm – Forest Hill

Society Annual General Meeting - at the Hob

opp. Forest Hill Station.

Open House Weekend - 18th—19th September.

Saturday, 18th September, 11am-1pm - Perry Vale

Local Assembly - Rockbourne Youth Club, 41a

Rockbourne Road, SE23 2DA

Saturday, 9 October - Crofton Park Local Assembly

– 11am-1pm; St Hilda's Church Hall, Courtrai Road

Saturday, 16 October - Forest Hill Local Assembly

– 10:30am-1pm, Living Springs International

Church, 8-10 Devonshire Road, SE23 3TJ

Monday, 22nd November - Perry Vale Local

Assembly – time and venue to be confirmed

What was life like for destitute girls in the late

nineteenth century? How did Louise House

inspire a visiting paediatrician from Poland?

Could the building find a

new community use in the

21st century?

On S a t u r d a y , 1 8 t h

September, the Forest Hill

Society and Sydenham

Society will be organising

tours of Louise House

(between the library and

the pools) where you can

find some answers to these

questions and look round a

historic building which is normally closed to the

public. This is part of Open House – London’s

hugely popular architectural showcase. The doors

will be open from 10am until 5pm.

Places are limited (for safety reasons) so you

will need to BOOK a tour online at

www.openhouselondon.org.uk. Tours will be for

ten people every half an hour with some time at

the end to look at the exhibition.

Louise House used to be a Girls’ Industrial Home

providing care for destitute girls whilst they learnt

skills (there is a laundry block to the rear of the

building.) The foundation stone was laid by

Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s daughter, in

1890. Built in the domestic revival style, it is

highly decorated externally but it has a utilitarian

interior retaining the original floor plan.

It also has links with Janusz Korczak, the Polish/

German/Jewish paediatrician, children's author

and martyr whose visit to Louise House in 1911

inspired him to devote his life to the enlightened

care of children.

He founded an orphanage in Warsaw,

implementing many of the ideas he’d seen in

practice at Louise House.

On the morning of 6 August

1942, German soldiers

herded the orphanage staff

and 192 children towards

the railway station with

Korczak at their head. The

group was forced onto a

train bound for Treblinka

extermination camp. That

is the last that was heard

of them.

Louise House Open Day - a Journey into Forest Hill’s Victorian Past

Page 2 September 2010 www.foresthillsociety.com

We hope you have all had a relaxing summer and are now ready to get more involved in the Society. Our AGM is being held at 7:30pm in The Hob on Thursday, 21st October and will be your chance to air your concerns and volunteer to join one of the four committees (transport, development, environment and communications). We are always looking for fresh ideas and willing people to help us tackle the issues which matter to you, the members; getting involved need not be a daunting prospect and will only take as much time as you want to spare. Please contact me on 07833 315563 if you would like to find out more about any of the committees. The Society covers the whole of SE23 and, ideally, our committees should be made up of people from the whole area. However the Crofton Park side of our patch is currently under represented even though we have plenty of members there. Crofton Park has received a double whammy with the threatened library closure and fire damage at Stillness School. I would particularly like to encourage members from there to join the Executive so that their needs are addressed. Most of you will have been affected in some way by the closure of the London Road stretch of the South Circular. Rather than moaning and fretting about the inconvenience, we decided to organise a little picnic on what we like to think of as our temporary Forest Hill Promenade. While not the most picturesque venue, it was fun to reclaim the South Circular for a few hours! That section of the South Circular is now open again in time for the beginning of the school term

but by the time you read this Newsletter a section of the South Circular further east, near the Co-Op is due to be affected by roadworks. I look forward to hearing from you.

Richard Hibbert, Chair of the Forest Hill Society, writes…

Stillness School fire. Photo © Rob Finn 2010

Children playing on the South Circular

The Capitol …

…is also taking part in this year’s Open House. Formerly the Capitol Cinema, it’s a Grade II listed building and a rare survival of a complete 1920's cinema in Art Deco style. The architectural tour will take you behind-the-scenes to the largely untouched first floor area. Saturday, 18th September 10am-5pm. Sunday, 19th September 10am-5pm. Pre-book ONLY on 020 8291 8920.

Honor Oak Park Station

Work is slowly proceeding after the embankment threatened to subside onto Platform 1. Checks are being made to see if the earthworks that have been done have stopped the movement. Once a new retaining wall has been built, it will be possible to remove the existing steel piles. They will then carry out repairs to the canopy and the platform.

It looks like station users will have to endure the narrow platform for quite a while yet.


Louise House was listed at Grade II by English Heritage in August 2008. The building consists of a structure like a house with three large rooms on the ground floor, an unusual central staircase and three large rooms on the first floor. There are a number of smaller rooms towards the rear on both floors. There is a front garden, currently used for parking, and a rear garden which has mainly been surfaced as a play area. The rear garden has a long, single storey building which once housed the Laundry facilities, which has south facing windows.

Lewisham Council owns the building and has said that it may make it available either by transfer or on a long lease at a negligible rent to a community organisation which has a viable plan that benefits the local community. “Expressions of interest” where sought from the community between November 2009 and March 2010.

The Council is currently working with the Crystal Palace Community Development Trust (CPCDT) on its proposal. The CPCDT was set up in 2004 to help with regeneration projects in the wards surrounding Crystal Palace Park. The Trust has submitted a proposal to Lewisham Council for a refurbished Louise House to provide workspace particularly for start-up businesses. The main “house” would thus become a serviced office development. It is also interested in exploring ideas for refurbishing the Laundry as a community nursery with affordable places.

Since March 2010, Lewisham Council has funded a full condition survey of the buildings. Meanwhile, the Forest Hill Ward's Locality Fund has given CPCDT £4,000 which has been used to complete a Feasibility Study. This study indicated that the proposal for a serviced office and community nursery was viable both financially and in terms of the suitability of the building.

This has been taking place against the backdrop of the Forest Hill Pools development next door, which recently gained planning permission. The

architects of the pools, Roberts Limbrick, have visited Louise House. In their plans for the pools, they have made provision for a common treatment of the “front garden” areas of the pools, Louise

House and the Library which would seek to unify the Victorian frontages behind a c o m m o n g r e e n treatment with disabled access to all three buildings. This is in the future, but the plans for the pools do not create obstacles to the eventual realisation of this part of the scheme.

In July 2010, Louise House, the old pools

frontage and the Library all became part of the extended Forest Hill Conservation Area.

CPCDT is working with Lewisham Council to seek funding which will enable the project to move forward. In the current economic climate and against a background of public sector cuts this will be challenging. But there are hopes that the Autumn round of Lottery funding will provide some support.

For more information on Louise House, visit www.louisehouse.notlong.com

For more photos of the interior, visit www.flickr.com/photos/tim_walder

Louise House – The Way Forward?

Central staircase in Louise House


Whether you’re after a standard black coffee or an extravagant flat white, the stretch of road between Forest Hill Station and the Horniman has become a real meeting place for coffee lovers. We asked the owners to tell us the secret of a great coffee.

Lisa Etherington and Dan Shardlow at St David’s Café, David’s Road

The key elements to a great coffee are a fantastic roastery, a clean coffee machine, achieving the perfect grind/extraction and finally a great atmosphere in which to enjoy it.

Petros Yiannourkou at The Teapot, London Road

We all like our coffee just so and at The Teapot it’s about creating a cup of coffee that is received with love and satisfaction. We take the leg work out of grinding Guglielmo beans, carefully frothing the milk and creating a mug of joy that hits the spot.

Kollier Bangura at From The Forest, 1 Devonshire Road, opp Forest Hill Station

A great coffee is a blend of carefully selected beans made to the customer's requirements, taking into consideration the strength, texture and temperature. Then it’s served in a warm, comfortable environment with great service from friendly staff. Hiep Ngo at The Lemon Grove, London Road

A great cup of coffee is so many things - the quality of the coffee beans, the roast, the water softener and, of course, the skill of the coffee maker. Then it has to be served with a sprinkle of love!

Café Society

St David’s Cafe

The Lemon Grove

The Teapot

From the Forest

In the next issue, we'll hear from the new cafes opening elsewhere in SE23 - Hop Scotch in Honor Oak Park and the Two Brothers opposite the swimming pool.


My home is as near as you can get to Lower

Sydenham whilst still officially being in Forest Hill

and on my street alone I know several actors,

musicians and dancers - Forest Hill is crawling with

us. Look around the train into London and chances

are you'll see an actor silently mouthing their lines

on their way to rehearsals or a musician strapped

to a large and very oddly shaped instrument case.

Straightforward economics play a part here.

Performers want a place they can afford and

where they don't actually have to live in a

garret. That’s especially true if you're a musician

who needs a large space for your instrument and

tolerant neighbours

when you need to

practise.

Then there are the

trains giving us easy

access to the South

Bank and the West

End. Mind you, since

we've lost the direct

train from Charing

Cross, one actor I

know has chosen to

c y c l e i n s t e a d ,

cutting out the

draughty wait at

London Bridge.

It's helpful living in a community near other

performers. You can try out ideas, share props,

exchange scripts and have a moan about arts

funding over a pint in the local pub.

Performers do like to stick together! As soon as a

place is discovered (nice housing, leafy gardens,

decent takeaways) the performers’ network

swings into action to spread the word. If you ever

need to get some information out there, just

mention it to an actor - it's by far the best way to

reach as many ears as possible!

As for performance spaces, there’s the Brockley

Jack Theatre and The Albany in Deptford close to

hand. The Catford Broadway has a great range of

shows in their studio and main house, and London

Bubble always make sure they visit Sydenham

Wells Park with their outdoor summer show. We

also now have the fabulous Arcola (in Dalston)

within easy reach thanks to the East London Line.

Perhaps because of all this, there are now several

theatre companies based in the area - 'Bold &

Saucy', 'Spontaneous Productions', 'Teatro Vivo',

and my own company

'Ampersand'.

I work mainly with

c o m p a n i e s t h a t

perform in non-theatre

spaces. I directed

T e a t r o V i v o ' s

' S u p e r m a r k e t

Shakespeare' in Forest

Hill Sainsbury's and

Ampersand's 'Headlines'

in The Dolphin on

Sydenham High Street.

Spaces that people use

e v e r y d a y g e t

t ran s formed in to

magical places. And

audiences interact directly with the action -

one lovely man coached one of our (tense)

characters in the supermarket in relaxation

techniques right in the middle of a scene; kids tell

off our grown-up characters, elderly ladies have

given advice on love.

For me, it feels like this is the theatre I want to

make, where the community has as big a part to

play as the actors, especially the community

where we are most at home.

Why Theatreland needs SE23 Do you remember the good old days when we had direct trains to Charing Cross? One group of people

misses that late night West End train more than most - the theatre performers who find Forest Hill

the perfect place to live. Forest Hill Society member, Mark Stevenson, who works with Teatro Vivo

and Ampersand explains what makes SE23 so attractive.

Teatro Vivo perform Supermarket Shakespeare in Sainsbury’s.

Photograph by Tim Sutton.


The Forest Hill Conservation Area is going to be expanded after plans were approved by Mayor and Cabinet in July. At the moment, it covers London Road from the Horniman Museum to the station and all the shops on Dartmouth Road. It also extends along Wood Vale, Manor Mount, and a small section of Devonshire Road.

The new Conservation Area will be extended south along Dartmouth Road as far as Thorpewood Avenue; north along Devonshire Road including Benson Road and part of Ewelme Road; and east to include the railway bridge and 1 Waldram Crescent (the small house next to the railway bridge).

Suggestions made by the Forest Hill Society and others, which are not to be adopted, included extending the boundary east of the railway to include the Waldram and Rockbourne 'triangles', and including part of Tyson Road and more of Honor Oak Road.

Sixteen buildings or groups of buildings will be 'locally listed'. This requires the buildings to be preserved or enhanced wherever possible, but doesn't give any additional planning control. The buildings include the Dartmouth Arms pub, Forest Hill pools frontage, the Horniman bandstand, and various buildings on London Road and Manor Mount.

An Article 4(2) Direction will be made, for the purpose of preserving and enhancing the area's character. This means that houses within the Conservation Area will need planning permission to make alterations such as replacing windows or doors, retiling roofs, or painting the exterior.

Forest Hill Conservation Area Review

Local Libraries May Close Lewisham Council is considering closing Crofton Park Library, Sydenham Library and three others in the Borough as part of its plan to reduce Council spending by £60 million over three years. Karen Jonason says Crofton Park Library is very well used and she’s set up an online petition and Facebook page to fight the closure. You can find the petition at www.ipetitions.com/petition/savecroftonparklibrary. Or you can sign the paper petition on September 11th between 11am and 1pm at the corner of Brockley Grove and

Brockley Road. There’s also a petition to save Sydenham Library at www.ipetitions.com/petition/savesydenhamlibrary The final decision will be made by the Mayor on 17th November.

Forest Hill Pools Update Mounds of rubble lie on the site of the pocket park. Buddleia sprouts from the superintendant’s house. Thomas Ardwinckle’s Forest Hill Baths are no more. But in late 2012 we will have two new pools, a gym, a community room and a cafe on the site. Planning permission was granted on 22nd July at Lewisham Town Hall. Concerns remain in a number of areas. Local residents are worried about the impact of pool users parking on surrounding streets. The internal lift is planned to be one person only. The pedestrian versus coach access at the front entrance is confusing and the mass of plant block beside the superintendent's house will probably intrude unattractively on the streetscape. But in spite of these problems, the Forest Hill Society believes that this is easily the best proposal Lewisham Council has put forward since they first started consulting on the issue in 2005. It is on the better site (not Willow Way!) and we will have two pools (only one was proposed in 2005). The conservationists are in part satisfied by the retention of the superintendent's house which, together with Louise House and Forest Hill Library forms the Victorian “Face of Forest Hill” and behind this façade, we will have a modern facility built to twenty-first century standards.

Crofton Park Library


You can comment on any article in this newsletter on our website: www.foresthillsociety.com

Newsletter Team Editor Liz Hannaford, [email protected] Tel: 020 8699 4184

Layout—Michael [email protected] Distribution—Charlie [email protected]

If you’d like to submit an article for the next newsletter, then please contact the Editor. We look forward to hearing from you. All articles are subject to editing.

Our sincere thanks to the contributors to this edition: Richard Hibbert, Liz Hannaford, Andrew Reid, Tim Walder, Mark Stevenson, Penelope Jarrett, Michael Abrahams.

Forest Hill Society Contacts Chair— Richard Hibbert [email protected] (07833 315 563) Vice Chair – Michael Abrahams (020 8291 6104) [email protected] Vice Chair and Communications Officer – Liz Hannaford [email protected] (020-8699-4184) Treasurer – Helen McAllister [email protected] Secretary – Katherine Willett [email protected]

The Overground has become a regular part of many

people’s everyday commute from SE23. The air

conditioning now seems to work and the service is

reliable – but the trains are already packed to

capacity in the morning rush

hour. We’ve asked Transport

for London for load numbers

and will be interested to

hear how they propose to

provide more capacity.

For the moment, we are happy that there appears

to be adequate capacity to and from London Bridge

on Southern but we will be continuing to monitor

the situation.

The success of the Overground has increased the

parking problems around both Forest Hill and Honor

Oak Park and we will be working with Lewisham

Council and residents to see what, if anything, can

be done about this.

Lewisham Council accept that the changes made in

Sydenham Rise haven’t pleased everybody. There

has been displacement of car parking to other less

suitable locations, and the coaches that were

parking there have moved to a more residential

area. In the long term, the solution is to provide a

proper footpath on the park side of the road which

would prevent visitors to the Museum and the Park

having to struggle on an uneven and overgrown

surface and the bus build out could be

removed. More parking could then be provided

without causing an obstruction to the road or

compromising pedestrian safety. It is not clear

that this option was properly investigated before

the changes were made to Sydenham Rise and

funding constraints mean

that such major changes are

not likely to happen

soon. However, the Council

are investigating whether the

yellow lines above the bus

build out could be reduced to

provide about three more parking spaces and will

be pressing TfL to review the pedestrian crossing at

the junction with London Road. No major changes

are likely in Sydenham Rise in the near future.

TfL has rejected our suggestion that traffic flow on

the A205 might be improved by restricting right

turns into and out of Devonshire Road. We will,

however, be looking at the problems caused by

traffic queuing to turn right to get to Perry Vale. A

better right turn lane might help here.

Sometimes a relatively simple change makes a big

improvement to local transport. A suggestion by a

local resident has resulted in the northbound 356

bus stopping at Forest Hill Station. Previously it

didn’t stop between Perry Vale and Wetherspoon’s.

If you have any suggestions that you would like the

Forest Hill Society to pursue on your behalf, please

email [email protected]

Getting Around

“For the moment, we are happy that there appears to be adequate capacity to and from London Bridge on Southern…”


Keep up-to-date with what is happening with the Forest Hill Society on our website:

www.foresthillsociety.com

Your comments and concerns for the Forest Hill Society:

The society will hold your membership record on computer for delivery of the newsletter and other information relevant to your membership. Your information is confidential and will not be shared with any third party without your prior consent. If you object to the society holding your membership record on computer please tick this box.

Areas of Interests

I would like to help with occasional newsletter deliveries and campaigns I would be interested in standing for election to the Executive Committee (in October) or joining sub-committees to help run the Society

Please return to Forest Hill Society, c/o Belinda Evans, 2 Perry Rise, London SE23 2QL. Do NOT send cash in the post.

Join the Forest Hill Society Firstname Surname Address Post Code Phone E-mail I enclose £5—Method of Payment: Cash Cheque made payable to Forest Hill Society

Tour de France Every July, Philippe and Odette Grelat leave their home near the Horniman Museum for three weeks to join the huge support team which keeps the Tour de France on the road. They provide the catering for the TV crews and commentators who follow the cyclists for thousands of kilometres around France. We caught up with Philippe on his return to Forest Hill. How did a French chef end up in Forest Hill? We’re from the French Alps and Lyon originally. But eighteen years ago, I simply tossed a coin between going to Austria or England…adventure, adventure! Then ten years ago we found a flat on a hill surrounded by trees with no cars around to bother us!!! How did you get involved in catering at the Tour de France? We approached the US, British, Danish, Belgian and Swedish television crews directly to see if they were interested. At that time, there was no catering and the organisers thought food service was far from essential. But now the Tour has become so big and everyone is too busy to leave the compound so they do need to be able to eat on site. We’ve been doing it for fourteen years. So what’s a typical day on the Tour? An early morning to have the continental Petit Dejeuner ready by 07.00/07.30. Then lunch to be served by 12.00 until 15.00. Then, loading by 17.00 so you can hit the road to get to the next stage, to be on site for the next morning. Plus we

have to fit in the food shopping every 3 days!!! An average of 16 hours a day for 21 days. The driving is a killer really, covering a total of 5500/6000 km. But the thrill comes from knowing that for those three weeks, you are the key to survival for the 100 guys you are catering for. What is the most popular dish you serve? I shall say Duck Confit. We tried this year a vegetable “toad in a hole” and this was very successful. Are you a big cycling fan? Yes I am, Odette not that much! What do you do for the other 49 weeks of the year? I am a freelance chef working in the UK and abroad and Odette a therapist Do you have a favourite place in Forest Hill? Energie Fitness Club

Philippe and Odette’s Tour de France Kitchen

Documents

Newsletter 16 - September 2010