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!
Steve from the Shooters Hill Local History Group wrote with details of their meeting next Thursday, 16th May at 8.00pm at Shrewsbury House:
Images from the past:
At the next meeting of the Shooters Hill Local History Group you will be transported back forty years, to Woolwich, Plumstead Common and Shooters Hill in the 1970s. We will show three films made by local people:
THIS GIRL WENT TO MARKET – a young lady researches the history of Beresford Square market and finds her future (real life) husband.
PLUMSTEAD MAKE MERRY – the preparation for this popular local festival and the many aspects of how people enjoyed themselves at the two day event on Plumstead Common.
INN AT THE TOP – the archaeological search by members of the Shooters Hill Local History Group and friends for the “Catherine Wheel” ale house at the crest of Shooters Hill, which predated the “Bull” as a stop for stage coaches on the road to Dover.
Meeting is at Shrewsbury House, Bushmoor Crescent, Shooters Hill.
Opportunities for art lovers to meet and talk to local artists in their studios start this weekend when some of the members of the Blackheath Art Society open their workplaces to the public. They are open from 12.00 noon to 6.00pm this Saturday and Sunday (27 & 28th April) and then again on the weekend of the 4th & 5th May. Admission is free.
The Blackheath Art Society leaflet, above, gives details of the artists and where they can be seen (click for a larger view). Some of the artists I saw last year are open again this year. I particularly enjoyed the creations of Nicola White, who makes her art from flotsam and jetsam found along the banks of the Thames such as lengths of driftwood and pieces of glass worn smooth by the tide. I must admit that the Thames Bottle Fish we got from Nicola last year is still waiting, with the wooden Roopachanda fish from Bangladesh, to be put up on the bathroom wall – it really needs a third fish to make a plaster duck like cascade. I also liked the acrylics, water colours and pastels of local scenes by Pat Colman, who teaches art at the University of the Third Age in Greenwich.
Blackheath Art Society also have a Taster Exhibition on at the moment until 19th May at the Greenwich Tourist Information Centre in Cutty Sark Gardens, and will hold their Summer Exhibition at the Blackheath Halls, Lee Road from 5th to 18th June.
There are so many artists working at the seven acre site of Second Floor Studios & Arts that I still haven’t got round them all, despite visiting on a couple of their open studios days. The next one opens on the evening of Friday17th May from 5pm – 9pm and is open on Saturday and Sunday 18th & 19th from 11am – 6pm. The range of creative work going on down by the Thames Barrier is enormous, as their web site says it includes:
SFSA have produced a Family Trail map and activity sheet to guide families with children on their exploration of the site and studios.
Also on the SFSA site over that weekend, the no format gallery has an exhibition of contemporary furniture and lighting produced by SFSA members, and the gallery will be the venue for the launch of Stephen Baycroft’s new book “On Sublimity and Synaesthesia”. And of course there’s the Thames-side Social Enterprise Arts Café CANTEEN to relax and recuperate in when you get studio-ed out.
It was a cold dry morning during the week when a group of children from Timbercroft School headed over to Shrewsbury Park to help Royal Borough of Greenwich Tree Officers put some new bird boxes up in the trees there. The boxes were built by Friends of Shrewsbury Park, several of whom also came along. A total of 13 boxes were fixed up on trees in the park, and should be just in time for this years’ nest building and breeding season.
The bird boxes are the first step in a number of improvements that the Friends will be making to the park over the coming months. Work has already started on fabricating the wheelchair-friendly gates that will be erected at the park entrance near the Garland Road end of Dothill, and a sculptor is creating a carved noticeboard to stand at this entrance. Once the weather improves part of the Dothill path which is susceptible to flooding will have a new drainage system and will be resurfaced. There are also plans to plant wild flowers alongside the path: the Friends will be looking for volunteers to help with this.
The improvement work is mainly being funded by a grant of over £11,000 from the The Veolia Environmental Trust, with the council also providing some support.
Dothill – to be resurfaced and have a new drainage system
Preparations have started for the Friends’ Summer Festival which will be held on Saturday 6th June. Previous summer festivals have been great fun. The Friends are looking for assistance with the festival, in particular: donations of books and bric a brac; leafleting local roads over the weekend of 18th and 19th May; setting up and running the bric a brac or books stall; and providing music. You can contact them on fspdog@hotmail.com.
They will also be leading a bat walk around the park again this year, on Friday 17th May. It will follow a similar route to last year’s successful night-time stroll, when lots of pipistrelles were detected with the bat detectors and seen swooping just above head-height, hunting midges and other food using their high frequency echolocation system. This year the walk will take the opportunity to check the bat boxes that were put up last year for signs of bat inhabitants.
More than a year after the Woolwich fireworks celebrating Greenwich becoming a Royal Borough, Shooters Hill has its first street signs with the Royal Borough of Greenwich logo and crest. The signs are on roads in the Shrewsbury Park Estate, which has also had some maintenance to its trademark verges recently. These are given particular mention in the estate’s conservation area appraisal:
The relationship of public and private spaces on the Laing Shrewsbury Park Estate is one of its special features. The well-developed verges originally laid out with posts and chains throughout, enlarged at the entrances, complement the spacious front gardens to create a verdant and sylvan setting, which softens and warms the houses.
Over the last few months the verges have been enhanced by filling gaps with new shrubs and succession tree planting: Parrotia persica, Olea europaea, Sophora japonica and Prunus cerasifera ‘Nigra’ have all been added to the kerb-side beds. For the non-horticultural that means Persian Ironwood, Olive, Japanese pagoda and Black Cherry Plum trees have been planted. The trees will provide colour at different times of the year and I’m looking forward to seeing them mature to their full glory, especially the “stunning autumn colour” of the Persian Ironwood.
Have you seen our new website? You still have to go into it via www.shrewsburyhouse.info but this will soon be changed to .org. The House over the past few months has had something of a facelift, with new lights in the old library and room 3 now housing our books all donated by residents which can be taken out free of charge. It has also had a facelift with newly polished floors in a number of rooms. New curtains have been hung in room 3. A majority of our other rooms have also had an upgrade and the House is something to be proud of. If you have not been in there recently or if not at all, it is worth spending five minutes of your time, especially if you are thinking of holding a party or wedding.
They will be holding a table sale, which I think is a kind of indoor car-boot sale, in aid of the house on Sunday 12th May: I’ve included the flyer below.
The pregnant ewes have been gathered into the barn in preparation for the arrival of their lambs, and the lambing volunteers are signing up for the shifts on the lambing rota. Lambing season has started at Woodlands Farm. There will be a chance to see the new-born lambs at the farm’s Lambing Day on Sunday 7th April. Maureen at the farm e-mailed the details:
?All are welcome at the Woodlands Farm Trust Lambing Day. Come and see our new-born lambs, and enjoy the chance to buy quality local produce at reasonable prices, including home-made preserves, cakes and honey. Relax in our café, enjoy the treasure hunt or get involved in craft activities.
Entry is £1 for adults and 50p for children, and all proceeds go towards caring for our animals. A great family day out!?
What’s it like to be a lambing volunteer? For a graphic description of a ewe giving birth read Suzanna Fitpatrick’s brilliant poem “Lamb 001” which is reproduced at the end of the recent post about Shooters Hill Poets.
Pregnant Ewes in the barn at Woodlands Farm
I also heard from Lorraine, the Wildlife Officer at the farm, that they will be holding a Spring Wildlife Walk at the Farm on Easter Monday, 1st April:
Winter is behind us so put a spring in your step and enjoy a community countryside and wildlife walk around Woodlands Farm. Led by members of the Woodlands Farm Trust. Please wear appropriate clothing including sensible footwear. The walk will probably be a bit challenging for buggies but supervised children are very welcome.
£1 per person (under 18’s free)
Free for farm volunteers and members
Meet at the Education Centre
The Woodlands Farm Trust
331 Shooters Hill, Welling, Kent DA16 3RP
Website: www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Email: wildlife@thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Tel: 020 8319 8900
The farm is host to many wildlife species that are of high conservation importance, including bats, common toad, hedgehog, song thrush, house sparrows, and stag beetles. There are also frogs, toads and newts at the farm ponds. It’ll be interesting to see how many creatures are out and about already.
Theatre comes to Shrewsbury House next month when Shooters Hill based Front Room Theatre present their play Lie Back and Think of America. The one-woman, multi-role drama performed by local actor Natalie Penn and directed by Naomi Jones starts a UK tour at Shrewsbury House on 15th and 16th April. It will also play at Mycenae House in Blackheath on 26th April.
Lie Back and Think of America has been performed at various venues, including the Edinburgh Fringe. The Edinburgh Fringe listing described the play as:
1940’s London. Sarah wishes dad could meet GI Joseph. Evacuee-with-attitude, little sister Lucy descends on Wales. Can Sarah find the courage to tell them the truth? Engaging multi-role one-woman show. ‘Compelling … well written’ (Soho Theatre). ‘Amazing … kept us all enthralled throughout … a show good for both young and old’, ‘We both thoroughly enjoyed it and thought that Natalie was brilliant’ (audience comments).
Tickets for the Shrewsbury House performances are available from Natalie on 07786 980 781 and cost £8.00 (concessions £6.50).
Natalie has previously worked with Shared Experience, the BBC, Channel 4, Nottingham Playhouse, Watford Palace Theatre and the Guildford Shakespeare Company.
She was also in the video for Deptford band Athlete‘s Black Swan Song which was released to raise money for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Day Appeal. The song, described as “powerful and moving” is about the death of the grandfather of Athlete’s lead singer and guitarist, Joel Pott. The video is certainly powerfuul and moving: I’ve included it below as a taster for what you might experience on April 15th and 16th.
Hannah, the Education Officer at Woodlands Farm, sent me details of their Easter Holiday activities for children:
Easter Holiday Activities at Woodlands Farm, 331 Shooters Hill, Welling DA16 3RP
Friday 29th March (Good Friday) Easter Egg Hunt 10am – 2pm
£1 per child, accompanying adults free
Can you follow our trail to find all the eggs hidden around the farm?
If you manage to find them all you will get your own chocolate egg to take home. This is a drop in activity so pop in anytime between 10am-2pm.
Wednesday 3rd April Dreamcatchers 10am -12pm and 1pm-3pm
£1 per child, accompanying adults free
Do you love having a good dream? Traditionally dream catchers were believed to trap your bad dreams but allow your good dreams through. So come and join us at Woodlands Farm as we make dream catchers using willow and other natural materials. This is a drop in session.
Friday 5th April Tour of Woodlands Farm 10am, 11am, 1pm and 2pm.
Free
Join us for a guided tour of our animals at Woodlands Farm. Meet our new-born lambs and hopefully some piglets too. There will be a chance to stroke our chickens and get up close to our guinea pigs, Lottie and Lola.
Meet in the farmyard by the farm shop. This is a drop in session.
Parking is limited so please use public transport where possible
For more information, see our website at www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org or contact Hannah Forshaw on education@thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
The Eskalators kicked off a season of live music at The Bull on Shooters Hill last night in great style with a brilliant ska set that included one of the best versions of Hey Joe I’ve heard, and that includes the Tim Rose version I heard back in Leeds more years ago than I care to remember. I’m frequently very pleasantly surprised at how talented the musicians are that play at small local venues, and the members of the Eskalators were no exception. They were all good, from the lead singer who looked a bit like author Ian Rankin but with the attitude of Paul Jones and with a great ska voice, through to great rhythm, keyboards and trombone but especially the bassist and sax player. A brilliant evening!
The atmosphere the Eskalators generated in the Bull is captured in this audio clip:
Greenwich Park Ranger John Beckham will be talking to the Shooters Hill Local History Group on the subject of “Birds of Rye Harbour and Surrounding Area” on Thursday, 21st February. The presentation will take place at Shrewsbury House, Bushmoor Crescent starting at 8.00pm. John regularly gives presentations on ornithology to local groups and is one of the leaders of Greenwich park tours and rambles.
It should be an interesting talk. A very wide variety of different birds are seen at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, and their January sightings included: over 2500 wigeon, 972 teal, 2130 brent goose, bittern, a smew, 68 white-fronted goose, 10 goldeneye, six pintail, two great white egret, a little egret, large numbers of curlew, lapwing, golden plover, snipe, a flock of 26 ruff, 220 dunlin, 180 knot, 120 sanderling, 61 grey plover, three avocet, a bar-tailed godwit, several woodcock, five jack snipe spotted redshank, three marsh harrier, merlin, peregrine, a buzzard, a hen harrier, brent goose, red-throated diver, 75 gannet, 70 guillemot, 120 razorbill, three slavonian grebe, Mediterranean gull, 180 fieldfare, 45 redwing, 235 skylark, corn bunting flocks, a raven, a firecrest and the highlight, a hawfinch.
Greenwich Oxfam are marking International Women’s Day with a “Touch of Glamour” in the Nelson Rooms at the Trafalgar Tavern on Thursday 7th March starting at 6.30pm. Part of Oxfam’s national Get Together, the event aims to showcase local female talent and raise money for Oxfam to transform the lives of women living in poverty around the world.
The evening’s entertainment includes music from south-east London singer songwriter Sarah Flotel, a reading from her new novel “How to Create the Perfect Wife” by Eltham-based author Wendy Moore and stand-up comedy from writer, broadcaster and comedian Viv Groskop. It ends with a cat-walk show from local boutique Traffic People.
Nails Inc will be offering free manicures throughout the evening, stylist Bee Barnsley of the Stella & Dot Foundation will give style tips and there will be a range of fashion and craft stalls.
Here’s one of Sarah Flotel’s songs as a taster:
Tickets cost £8.00, which includes a free cupcake, and must be bought in advance. They are available from :
