Ye who have a spark in your veins of cockney spirit, smile or mourn acccording as you take things well or ill;— Bold Britons, we are now on Shooter's Hill!
Stephen Matthes, the Secretary of Christ Church Shooters Hill wrote to say that all are welcome at their Advent and Christmas services, which start with a Carol Service this Sunday, 20th December at 6.00pm.
Christ Church’s full list of special services during Advent and Christmas are:
4th Sunday of Advent – 20th December: Carol Service 6pm
Christmas Eve – Thursday 24th December: Crib Service 4pm
Christmas Eve – Thursday 24th December: Midnight Mass 11.30pm
Christmas Day – Friday 25th December: Pilgrim Eucharist 10am
Epiphany – Sunday 3rd January: Pilgrim Eucharist 9.30am
Candlemas – Sunday 31st January: All Age Service 11.30am
Christ Church Shooters Hill is the Church near the top of Shooters Hill opposite the Red Lion Pub. Stephen said that last year’s Carol service was fantastically attended by the local community and finished off with mince pies and mulled wine.
The next meeting is on 17 December and will be a Social & Curio Evening.
Everyone is encouraged to bring along an item with a history and talk about it.
It does not necessarily need to have a link with Shooters Hill, it could be a book; map; photograph; medal; football or concert programme to name but a few.
All welcome, bring nibbles, drink and a glass!
Visitor fee applies.
The group has also been planning their programme for 2016. Currently they have:
21st January: Films of Shooters Hill and area – “The Catherine Wheel dig” and “This girl went to market” etc.
18th February: TBA (perhaps St George’s RA Chapel
17th March: Talk on the local tram system
Local theatre group Front Room Theatre will be presenting their adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at Shrewsbury House on Saturdays 12th and 19th December at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from TicketSource and cost £10 (concessions £8).
The adaptation is billed as a “multi-sensory experience for all the family”, and includes new music by local actor Natalie Wilcox and a special composition with lyrics by Natalie and music by Joseph Finlay. The play’s narrator is Sarah Barrowman.
The Friends of the Pet Cemetery Charlton have just launched their new web site, The Old Blue Cross Pet Cemetery, with the URL http://www.oldbluecrosspetcemetery.org.uk/
It has a lot of interesting information about the cemetery, including the history of its development from its start as the Blue Cross Quarantine Kennels in the years following the First World War, when it was used to house pets brought home by returning servicemen. There are some great archive photos, as well as pictures of how it has changed since the Friends took over responsibility for looking after it. There are also details of how to become a member of the Friends, for only £2 a year, and how to have a plaque commemorating a pet put on the memorial wall.
The events page announces their first open day next summer on 9th July 2016 and the dates of their regular clean-up sessions.
Liz, the Friends’ Chair, who wrote to tell me about the web site said that they would welcome feedback on the website either by through their Facebook page or by contacting the Chair or Secretary whose details are on the closing page of the site.
I’ve updated the links on the right to include this new local web site.
Woodlands Farm and Shrewsbury House have their Christmas fairs on the same day this year, Sunday 6th December. Both are free and run from 11.00am to 3.00pm, and they’re close enough to take in the pair and double the Christmas shopping opportunities.
Maureen from the farm e-mailed their poster and details:
All are welcome at the Woodlands Farm Trust Christmas Fair on Sunday 6 December, 11am-3pm. Visit Santa’s Grotto, sip mulled wine whilst browsing stalls of local produce and crafts for early Christmas present ideas, or relax in our cafe while the children enjoy crafts and games. A great festive day out for all the family. Entry is free, but donations are always welcome and go towards the running of the Farm. No parking on the farm, please use public transport.
There are two new calves at the farm, a cross between Aberdeen Angus and Holsteiner I believe, so an extra incentive to visit.
One of Woodlands Farm’s new calves
Shrewsbury House is always packed with a variety of craft and produce stalls throughout the house at its Christmas Fair, which also includes face painting, a raffle, tombola and children’s crafts. This year they have the added attraction of the Wild Science Show – exploring the world of fluffies, mini beasts and creepy crawlies. Entrance to the fair is free, but there is a £3.50 charge for the Wild Science Show, which includes a visit to Father Christmas.
And of course both fairs have mulled wine.
Local artist Ray Marshall at the Shrewsbury House Christmas Fair in 2012
The Friends of Eaglesfield Park will be planting daffodils and native bluebells in the meadow around the lilly pond between 11.00am and 3.00pm on Saturday, 28th November. Madeleine wrote with details:
We will be meeting up at the pond on Saturday 28th November from 11.00am onwards to plant native bluebells and daffodils. Weather permitting !
Can you help us ? Whatever time you can spare would be greatly appreciated. May we ask you to bring your own tools – e.g. spades/hand trowel/gloves and don’t forget the wellies.
The crocuses planted a couple of years ago now provide a great display and we would now like to add native bluebells and daffodils in the meadow surrounding the pond. We hope you agree they will provide beautiful spring colour, and enhance the tranquillity of this area of Eaglesfield Park.
The Parks and Open Spaces of the Royal Borough of Greenwich have kindly donated 2,000 native English Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and 2,000 Daffodils (Narcissus pseudo narcissus) but, of course, they need to be planted!
Please join us.
The Friends are also planning maintenance of the pond itself, such as thinning out the lillies and other pond plants, working with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Froglife and Ponds UK (Aquatic Management Ltd).
Autumnal EaglesfieldThe Pet Cemetery Charlton
If you’re not at the Climate Change March on Sunday the Pet Cemetery is well worth a visit – to see the amazing transformation the Friends of the Pet Cemetery have made to what was a neglected area just a couple of years ago, and to help them plant some bulbs. Jean Patrick, the Friends’ Secretary e-mailed:
On Sunday, we are holding a bulb planting session. We have received generous donations of hundreds of bulbs that we would like to plant all in one go if possible. If you are able to spare some time next Sunday, between 10am-3.30pm, we would be very grateful, even if you can only pop in for 30 minutes. Please bring a trowel, gloves and kneeling mat if needed.
The Cemetery is looking really good: lots of colourful plants, donated by local people, Thompson’s Garden Centre and the Parks Department; a number of new bird and bug boxes; two new benches from the Royal Borough of Greenwich; and a memorial wall for plaques to commemorate deceased pets. The old concrete bench bases from around the trees have been removed and the Shedders from Men in Sheds will soon be creating new circular seating to replace them, partially funded by a grant from Metropolitan Public Gardens Association.
The Friends are currently setting up their own web site: I’ll publicise the URL as soon as it’s ready.
Anyone who would like to have a plaque put on the memorial wall to remember a pet should contact either the Chair of the Friends, Liz McDermott on mcdermott_liz @hotmail.com or the Secretary Jean Patrick on jmp179@skye.com for prices and other details.
Memorial wall at the Pet CemeteryOld gravestone at the Pet Cemetery
Mary Mills, Secretary of The Greenwich Industrial History Society will be giving a presentation to the SHLHG about the history of the Greenwich Peninsula next Thursday.
The presentation is based on her new book ‘Innovation, Enterprise and Change on the Greenwich Peninsula’.
The book is ‘a snapshop of the Greenwich Peninsula showing how it was home to industries which brought change both in Greenwich and worldwide’
See also, http://greenwichpeninsulahistory.wordpress.com/book/
Meeting starts at 8pm, a visitor fee applies.
I’m enjoying reading Mary’s book about the highlights of peninsula history from 1194 to the present, and it should be a very interesting presentation. All are welcome: there is a small charge for non-members to cover the cost of the room
Mayplace Lane near the bronze age barrow on Plum Lane
The Friends of Mayplace Lane will be holding a tidy up and planting session on Sunday from 11.00am, meeting in the Lane just down the hill from Plum Lane. They would welcome any help from local residents.
As well as picking litter and other larger rubbish, the Friends will be planting bulbs and trees. They have secured a donation of small saplings of various colours from the Woodlands Trust, including silver birch, rowan, hazel, dogwood and wild cherry. Some will be planted in the lane and others in gardens backing on to the lane.
The Friends are keen to encourage wild flowers and animals, and to deter fly tipping. They have had some success in attracting wild life as several hedgehogs have been seen in the lane and in gardens backing on to the lane, sharing the area with foxes as shown in the photo below from the Friends’ Facebook page.
Hedgehog and Fox in garden backing on to Mayplace Lane
Wide Horizons adventure learning woodland in Constution Rise
Wide Horizons, the Eltham-based adventure learning charity are looking for volunteers to help to transform the overgrown 5 acre woodlands on Constitution Rise into an outdoor learning centre. Jack Gower, their Senior Adventure Learning Tutor, wrote with details:
The staff at Wide Horizons Woodland Centre (Shooters Hill) are pleased to announce the launch of our new Volunteer Group. The group will meet every other Sunday from 10am until 1pm and complete work such as clearing brambles, maintaining paths and developing the site. The first meeting will be on Sunday 15th November.
The group will be led by Volunteer Coordinator Jo Hadland. If you are interested in attending or know somebody that might be, or if you would like some more information please contact Jo directly at volunteer@widehorizons.org.uk or by calling 07958523936.
We will be opening our gates to the public in March/April next year for another open day. More details will be sent out nearer the time.
Wide Horizons seem to have made a lot of progress on reclaiming the area which was once the site of a large house called The Rookery. It’ll be interesting to see what changes have been made, especially to the pond at the bottom of the site.
Memorial to the fallen of Woolwich in St George’s Garrison Church
A memorial to recognise the sacrifices of all soldiers based at the Woolwich Barracks, as well as civilians, who died as a result of military activity or conflict will be unveiled at St. George’s Garrison Church tomorrow, 11th November 2015. The names of 10 soldiers and one civilian, including that of Fusilier Lee Rigby, are listed on the memorial plaques. Lee’s mum, Lyn Rigby and her family will attend the ceremony.
The ruin of the Garrison Church seems a very appropriate place for such a memorial, which is mounted in the wall at the right hand side of the peaceful garden. The church also contains other memorial plaques and the Victoria Cross memorial with its recently restored marvellous mosaic of St George and the Dragon, and the names of all the Royal Artillery personnel who won the Victoria Cross from the Crimean War to the middle of the Second World War.
Plaque on memorial to the fallen of Woolwich in St George’s Garrison ChurchPlaque on memorial to the fallen of Woolwich in St George’s Garrison Church
The men commemorated died in conflicts since the end of the Second World War, including Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bombing of the Kings Arms in Woolwich by the IRA:
Warrant Wardmaster James McDuff
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Died 9th February 1946, aged 51
Private George Turner
Royal Norfolk Regiment
Died 27th June 1952, aged 19
Fusilier Denis Jacobs
Attached to the Royal Fusiliers
(City of London Regiment)
Died 25th November 1952, aged 25
Fusilier Stanley Anstead
The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Died 25th November 1952, aged 22
Fusilier Lee Rigby
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
Died 22nd May 2013, aged 25
When I dropped into the Garrison Church on Sunday the lettering on the central white marble memorial stone hadn’t been finished. The missing words are two well-known lines from Robert Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen”:
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Memorial to the fallen of Woolwich in St George’s Garrison Church
