Great evening for Bold Vision...

Last night was a great evening for the Bold Vision team, the group who are working to open a community-led cafe space in the undercroft of St Catherine's.

The Gala event was held to raise awareness and funds - I'm sure it was very successful in both regards. The entertainment was superb - I particularly enjoyed the musical offerings from a range of very talented local artists. And the very good news is that the group are well on their way to raising the funds they need to undertake the work - £30,000 already raised towards a target of £80,000. Apparently, the first works will be started by the Springtime!

It was also a good night for networking. I'm particularly excited about the prospect of a small community garden in a certain spot on the Hill itself (I shalln't say exactly where as yet, until we've made some headway with the plans, but it's something that I'd like to get my hands nice and dirty with if we can get it going).

Things move very quickly in Telegraph Hill; this morning I met with residents to discuss ongoing problems with the 343. We're undertaking a local survey to get other people's views, and I'm sure it's an issue that you'll be hearing more about in time. Then on Tuesday there's the first Assembly meeting of the year!

Dates for the diary - TH Assembly and Kender St plans...

Tomorrow night (Friday) it's the Bold Vision gala event up at St. Catherine's (see blog below).

A few more important dates are coming up next week, for those with an interest in Telegraph Hill. First there'll be the first Telegraph Hill Assembly meeting of 2010, which will take place on Tuesday 2nd Feb between 7-9pm at Barnes Wallis Community Centre (74 Wild Goose Drive). I hope to see plenty of residents there again, and I look forward to reporting back after the meeting!

Then on Wednesday 3rd, Thursday 4th and Saturday 6th there'll be a public exhibition down at Kender Street Primary School, demonstrating TfL's plans for the 'Kender Street Triangle'. This scheme promises a vast improvement to the local streetscape, making the area a quieter, more attractive place to live. But it won't just benefit local residents; improved traffic flow around New Cross Gate should mean easier journeys for drivers and bus passengers, too. The exhibition opens 4-8pm Weds & Thurs, and 10am-3pm Saturday.

Where does Telegraph Hill start and end?

Most local people have a good idea where Telegraph Hill is, but not everyone knows where the Ward starts and ends, for the sake of elections and council business.

When I've been out canvassing in recent weeks I've spoken to a couple of people over towards Brockley who've been surprised to learn that they live in Telegraph Hill!

Mostly people tend to associate Telegraph Hill with the hill itself, the park and the conservation area. But Telegraph Hill stretches from the Kender Triangle and New Cross Road in the North, past Nunhead and Brockley Cross all the way down to the Honor Oak estate in the South.

For the sake of clarity, here's a map showing the ward boundaries. Click the map for a closer look...

Introducing your Green candidates for Telegraph Hill

Priscilla Cotterell, Darren Flint and Bill Konos


Priscilla Cotterell




Priscilla has lived in Lewisham for over 15 years. Since graduating in Journalism studies in 2002, she grew a passion for politics and soon became a member of the Green Party. One of her key motivations was her growing concern about the damage carbon fuels were causing our environment. However, she also campaigns for fairer non-means tested pension for all pensioners and was active in opposing any reduction in services at Lewisham Hospital. She is particularly keen to promote the importance of sustaining our future as prospective generation's quality of life depends on the actions we take now.

She has played a number of voluntary roles in the local community, from facilitating at a Boys Brigade, to supporting vulnerable families and assisting adult learners in education. She feels very strongly that residents, community groups and local businesses should contribute to decision-making processes to enable a just, proactive and democratic society.


Darren Flint




Since completing his Masters' degree at Goldsmiths Darren has been a regular volunteer for Lewisham Green Party. He is absolutely passionate about Telegraph Hill, where he is a local resident, and wants to put that knowledge and enthusiasm to good use.

Sitting as a councillor would allow him to serve others in a way that is grounded in local life, whilst the Green Party platform allows a connection to the broader ethical issues that affect us all. He cannot imagine a more rewarding cause to be involved with than representing the people of Telegraph Hill as one of their Green councillors.

"Telegraph Hill is a fantastic place to live, but I want to make sure that the opportunities and facilities we enjoy here can be shared by everyone in the community.

I also want to protect and promote our local environment and our green spaces. Alongside the people who live here, they give Telegraph Hill its unique character..."

Bill Konos





Bill has lived in the local area for the past ten years. Bill's desire to become a councillor stems from a variety of motivations. His key concerns include health, education, social services and the elderly, arts & culture, regeneration and recycling initiatives. He is keen to serve as a councillor and play a role in shaping the community we live in, in collaboration with and to the benefit of all residents.

Bold Vision Gala Event

Bold Vision is the community-led group hoping to bring what was Cafe Orange (or rather, the space underneath it!) back into use. I saw their succesful bid for funding at a Telegraph Hill Assembly meeting last year, and their plans sound very interesting - I'd certainly like to see the community get even more use out of the Telegraph Hill Centre, and it would be great to go back to having some kind of cafe or lounge space up on the hill where you can just walk in any day of the week, and find something interesting happening.

Next Friday (29 Jan) Bold Vision are having a Gala fundraising 'do' up at St. Catherine's church. I look forward to some local entertainment and to finding out more about progress on the group's plans.

Here are the details for Friday:

Come and see some of your local professional and semi-professional performers in action! An evening bursting with top class acts for what you choose to give. On Friday 29th January (doors open at 7pm) in St. Catherine’s Church there will be a wonderful variety of high-quality entertainment on offer, when local artists in different genres, who normally perform in top venues, on television and on radio, give their services in aid of our new café. The evening is planned to include a performance of Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals (‘The Swan’, ‘The Elephant’ etc.), and appearances by folk singer/songwriter Kat Drake, 21st Century Blues Band Little Devils, readings and drama by actors who you will recognise (and not just from Sainsbury’s), accordion and violin duo Mazaika, comic interventions by Phil Nice, and much, much more. The first half will be child-friendly and last approximately 45 minutes, so bring all the family for this community event and an introduction to some great music. Tickets will be available from the Telegraph Hill Centre from 18th January, and on the door. The concert is free to under-18s. Adults are asked to donate on a pay-what-you-can-from-£5-upwards basis.

Email mailto:cathoedwards@hotmail.comfor more information about the event.

Bold vision have a website at http://www.boldvision.org.uk/

An 'Urban Orchard' for Telegraph Hill?

Hot on the heels of my post about local food, Transition Brockley/Lewisham have announced plans for an 'Urban Orchard' in Lewisham, and possibly in Telegraph Hill. It's an exciting prospect but it really needs the local community to get behind it to make it work. Details below:

Transition Brockley/Lewisham is very fortunate to have been offered the opportunity to set up an orchard in Lewisham in partnership with the London Orchard Project (LOP). Lewisham is one of three boroughs on the east side of London which have been chosen.

As we are a transition group centred in and around Brockley, we are initially asking people and groups in this area if they are interested in taking on this project in a local park (Hillyfields, Telegraph Hill etc - but not Ladywell Fields where the council already have plans to plant on orchard).

If this is something which you might be interested in, please read the attached proposal set out by the LOP to see what is involved. It covers the scheme very well and probably answers most of the queries you may have, but if you have any questions, do ask.

The main factors to bear in mind are:

- the orchard will be medium to large in size
- the idea is for a flagship park to be chosen
- LOP will provide free advice, training and support, but the organising group will need to raise around £4,500 for capital costs (at a generous estimate)
- the site should be suitable for fruit trees
- most important, the group taking on the project needs to be committed to the concept of the proposal as set out and be prepared to take responsibility for it in the short and longer term.

If you are interested in taking forward this project, please let me know (Fran at fr2rogers@gmail.com). If we don't get any offers from the Brockley area, we will open the opportunity up to the rest of the borough by notifying each of the park user groups for the other parks in Lewisham.

If the idea of growing fruit trees on a smaller scale with some other people is something which you would like to consider, the LOP will behappy to offer advice and training at reasonable cost. Training is essential unless you are a fruit farmer, and having attended the LOP day course, I can thorougly recommend it.

We have a representative from the LOP coming to our meeting on Thursday 18 February (venue to be decided) and will invite interested groups to come to this to hear more about the project. At this meeting we should establish which park group will want to take the project forward and keep within the timeline set out in the LOP proposal.

If you know of any groups in the area who might be interested in this, please pass this on.

This is a really great opportunity to expand local food production, gain new skills, build a stronger community and have a better quality green environment - many of our transition aims!

Spring is on its way...

Being out in the sun today now that the snow's melted and the days are drawing out, it really does feel as if Spring might be around the corner. Green shoots are coming up in the park, and I've seen the first early cherryblossom on Jerningham Road.

With all these early Spring signals, it's time for me to start thinking about one of my big passions - local food. I'm really enthusiastic about our local Farmers' Market, which comes to Telegraph Hill every third Saturday of the month (the same day as Lewisham Green Action Days!). The quality and choice is fantastic, and it's a great way to support our regional farmers, cut down on 'food miles' and keep some money in the local economy, rather than giving it over to the supermarkets.

Whilst there are some real bargains to be had at the Farmers' Market, there are also plenty of luxury products that tend towards the expensive side. Residents on tight incomes can also consider visiting the New Cross Gate NDC Food Co-op. Every Friday between 9am and 2pm there's a stall outside All Saints Community Centre (105 New Cross Road). Local volunteers sell good quality produce at prices that rival the cheapest supermarkets, with any profit going back into the local community.

Buying locally is just one aspect of local food. The other side of it is growing your own, or even gathering stuff from the wild! Now I appreciate that not everyone has the space, time or inclination to grow their own veg, and a lot of people will be put off by the idea of gathering wild food. But there are great benefits to sourcing food locally - it's a fun and healthy passtime, and it if the will is there, it's open to everyone.

Telegraph Hill has its fair share of private gardens, and most of us have access to a balcony or yard at least. There's also fantastic support in the form of Besson Street Gardens to the North of the hill, and Frendsbury Gardens to the South. Both of these community gardens can give you help and advice to get started with 'growing your own', and if you don't have any space you can join in with other local people to tend the community gardens themselves.

With prompting from the Greens, the council is also finally moving forward with schemes to open up local growing spaces, to match people who are interested in growing things with suitable patches of land. If you're interested, you can find Lewisham’s new Community Gardens Guide online (http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/NewsAndEvents/News/CommunityGardensGuide.htm) or in the Borough's libraries.

You might think I'm crazy to be thinking about growing things when we're still in January and the snow has only just melted. But I'm not the only one! Transition Town Brockley/Lewisham have been talking about 'seed swaps' - sessions where avid gardeners swap seeds (and tips!) for free, or for a small donation. They're a great opportunity to gain confidence and inspiration for your own home-grown adventure. This year, nearby seed swaps are happening in East Dulwich (Jan 24th) and Lambeth (Feb 28th) - see http://www.potato-days.net/ for details.

The final part of the puzzle is wild food gathering. I won't suggest that we should all be out picking over strange weeds like Ray Mears, or that wild food could ever play a large part in most Londoners' lives. But in many parts of the world - including more rural parts of Britain - large numbers of people regularly supplement their diets with tasty, healthy, FREE foods that they find growing wild around them.

Even in the city, anyone can enjoy 'scrumping' for apples in the autumn time. Even better are wild brambles - the 'blackberries' that people pay ££s for in the supermarket, but which grow all over London like a weed! Anyone who is curious can check out a map of really abundant local wild food sources, which I started last year. See http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&vps=1&jsv=196c&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116953339734644052553.00047afe0bee1da18fa33

As Spring unfolds I also hope to present an introduction to wild foods in our area, in conjunction with Transition Town Brockley/Lewisham. For more exciting news from TT Brockley/Lewisham, see my next post on the London Orchard Project!

Well, that's all on local foods for now... But I hope that with time people will start to take more of an interest in where their food comes from, whether that means visiting the farmer's market once-in-a-while, joining the food co-op or community garden, growing their own or even tapping into some of the vast resource of free wild food that covers the city. After all, we are what we eat!

Plans to cut local rail services

In case you hadn't heard, Southern Railways have axed direct evening services to Charing Cross on the Brockley/New Cross Gate line. To make matters worse, they now plan to cut daytime services to London Bridge by 33%, giving us just four trains per hour each way along this busy stretch of line.

Like many local residents I use services to-and-from London Bridge (and the other way, towards East Croydon) on a regular basis. One of the great things about Telegraph Hill is the fantastic transport links. I'm used to turning up at New Cross Gate and waiting a few minutes until the next train comes along. From May onwards it looks like I might have to wait for a quarter of an hour or more. It's really not good enough!

Southern and TfL seem to think that nobody will mind these cuts, what with the East London Line reopening at the same time. The thing is, the East London Line goes up to East London, whereas most of the time I want to head straight into the city centre. The improved ELL will be a great new facility and I welcome it wholeheartedly, but it's no substitute for our existing services.

I took up the issue with Labour MP Joan Ruddock but have not yet had a response. That's why I'm glad to say Brockley Green Party councillor Dean Walton has put a motion before Lewisham council, condemning the cuts and calling on stakeholders to revisit these plans before further cuts take place. Dean's motion was passed unanimously with cross-party support. Dean says, 'These service cuts are unacceptable. The long-awaited East London Line service should not be used as an excuse to cut London Bridge services purely for financial reasons'.

The council's formal commitment to condemn these cuts is a valuable step forward, but we still want to see Southern, TfL and central government do everything in their power to keep our trains running.

Telegraph Hill Action Day, Saturday 16th January

This Saturday, Green Party activists and supporters will be coming from across London to speak to local residents and deliver copies of our January newsletter. The focus will be on Telegraph Hill and Brockley, and we're hoping for another bumper turnout. Anyone who can help out will be most welcome!

Activities will be going on all day from 10am - email sue.luxton@greenparty.org.uk for more details.

A hearty lunch will be provided and there'll be a social gathering in the evening.