Thursday 31 January 2008

What a great turnout

Over 120 people came to the event last night, wow!

You can read a little more about it on the Forest Hill Society website, and I will link to the online presentation when it is available too.

thanks Steve!

Wednesday 30 January 2008

Last chance reminder for tonight

Just in case you have missed all the other reminders, this is one more quick post to remind those who are interested in Forest Hill that there will be a presentation tonight at The Hob (from 7pm) by Steve Grindlay on the history of Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park.

More details here
.

See you there! And if you are a reader of this blog, do come over and let me know. I realise it has been very quiet around here lately, but I hope to take up the new challenge soon.

Monday 14 January 2008

Condemned no more

A brief update on my post entitled, Condemned (20th of August 2007), about the property on Church Rise whose foundations were undermined by builders.

The good news is that the scaffolding is coming down at this property.

The bad news is that so is the building.

The demolition work has begun in earnest, and in what I guess is a desperate attempt to salvage some investment from the ruins, the bricks are coming down one by one for re-use.

Sad to see it go. I wonder what might be built in its place?

Here are some quick photos I took today:


Tuesday 8 January 2008

The history of Forest Hill

It would be far from an exaggeration for me to say, "I learned everything I know about Forest Hill from this man" when talking about Steve Grindlay.

I first met Steve on the history tour he led around Forest Hill last year, when we expected a dozen or so people on the first Forest Hill Society social event. In the end over 70 people turned up and we had a great time walking all over the area and we learned a lot.

However, if you were there, you'll remember the hard time we all had getting a chance to look at the old photos, documents and other materials Steve had prepared.

Steve has kindly agreed to dedicate another evening of his own time to present more information about how Forest Hill came about, who built it and why, and some of the key features of the area. This time he will hold the meeting upstairs at The Hob, by Forest Hill Station, on Wednesday, January 30th 2008 so we can see the photos better and ask more questions. I know I will be there, and judging by the level of interest in the last event, I hope you will too.

Please do come along, and bring your friends. The event is free and starts at 19:00.

... oh, and if there is enough interest on the night, I volunteer to then lead a walk around Forest Hill in the near future to look at the areas that were of most interest on the night.

See you there!

A History of Forest Hill
19:00 Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
The Hob, 7 Devonshire Rd
Forest Hill, SE23

(brought to you by the lovely people at the Forest Hill Society)

Blogging in Lewisham - 2008 motivator

Anyone out there fancy starting to plan another get-together for early 2008? I feel the need for a chat to get the energy flowing again to start anew in 2008.

We've already been here to Forest Hill, and although the Jolly Farmers seems popular, I wonder whether there might be somewhere else we might try that would accommodate us in such a way that more of us could interact? Last time we ended up rather fixed and unable to move to meet new people.

Any suggestions from other parts of the borough?

It would probably have to be mid to late Feb at this point to give us time to plan, so it is worth starting to ask the question.

What think you Andrew, Kate, Richard, Wulf, Max, and everyone else (too many to mention everyone these days)?

Wednesday 2 January 2008

Still alive and kicking, but not walking

I really do owe you a wrap up of all the walks and some thoughts on the experience, but somehow I have not found the energy to do this. It seems a large, and somewhat traumatic, task.

On December 15th I did complete the last walk, and finished it off with a talk, organised by the Forest Hill Society, to a (small but attentive) assembled audience at the Rockbourne Youth Club.



If I had written up the presentation properly it would be easier to add here, but as I prefer to keep things informal and to make it relevant to the audience (otherwise known as "off the cuff") I only jotted down ideas, so I still need to pull it together properly.

Anyway, as a placeholder for the moment, here is a photo of me (I realise I have not been able to take a photo of myself on the walks, so I have yet to really appear on this site) during the presentation.

I have some thoughts on the experience, and also about what to do next, which I will post soon, I promise!

Happy 2008! Make it a healthy one and get out walking too.