Herne Hill #131 (Summer 2015)

HERNE HILLT H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E H E R N E H I L L S O C I E T Y❧ I S S U E 1 3 1❧ S U M M E R ❧ 2 0 1 5 ❧ £ 2

TICKET BARRIERS IN £1.5m station upgrade plans

▶ Singer Annie Gelly writes on her friend Freddie - Turn to 1

TWO SIDES OF A SHOWMAN

▶ Who has right plan for the community? - Turn to Pages 12-13

FUTURE OF THE CARNEGIE

PLUSFull diary

of events

▶ Transport news latest - Turn to Page 5

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WATER RELIEF FOR HERNE HILL▶ Anti-flood scheme wins award - See Page 3

Herne Hill-Summer 20152

THE COMMITTEEPresident Bill KirbyChair Colin Wight [email protected] Chair Laurence Marsh [email protected] Jeff Doorn [email protected] Rosalind Glover [email protected]

Committee Cynthia Anderson John Brunton Ian McInnes Sheila Northover Elizabeth Ochagavia Jackie Plumridge Stephen Carlill Val Suebsaeng Pat Roberts

Magazine Mike Richards

COMMENTS & ENQUIRIESTo advertise in the Magazine [email protected] contribute to or comment onthe Magazine [email protected] comment on planning or licensing issues [email protected] order a publication [email protected] enquiries [email protected] history enquiries [email protected] Hill notice boards [email protected] [email protected] safety [email protected] issues [email protected]

Postal and online addressesThe Herne Hill Society, PO Box 27845, LONDON SE24 9XA

hernehillsociety.org.uk facebook.com/hernehillsocietyTwitter @hernehillsoc

Copy deadline for the autumn issue is 27 July, 2015.Opinions expressed in the Magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily of the Herne Hill Society Committee, which likewise does not approve or endorse the quality or suitability of any goods or services advertised in the Magazine.

ADVERTISINGAdvertising space is available in this Magazine for local businesses. Contact Liz Ochagavia by e-mail on: [email protected]

THE HERNE HILL SOCIETY

CONTENTSAward for flood scheme 3Vandalism on the rise 3View from The Chair 4Society accounts 4Fears over congestion 5Herne Hill Station upgrade plans 5£100,000 grant for botanists 6Burglary figures down 6Cuming Museum fire 7Threat to Lambeth Archives 7Protests at Dorchester Court 8VC hero gets memorial stone 9My memories of Freddie Mills 11Competing plans for the Carnegie 12-13New sculpture for Dulwich 14Herne Hill’s microbreweries 14-15Living with floodwater 15Gandhi turned to Stone 16The importance of being on time 1640 years of Brixton Advice Centre 17Revelations & Ravilious 19It’s a brave new world 21

Planning & Licensing 8

Diary of EventsHerne Hill Society and other events 18

CouncillorsList of contacts 18

Herne Hill-Summer 2015 3

At a ceremony held on 14 May, the Herne Hill Flood Alleviation Scheme was awarded the prize for community contribution, as part of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) London Civil Engineering Awards 2015 programme.

This project utilised local parks in an innovative approach to protect over 100 homes and businesses in Herne Hill and Dulwich from risk of flooding caused by runoff rainfall. Sensitive design helped avoid the appearance of engineering structures in the parks while creating play areas for local children.

The ICE’s Community Contribution Award is

Vandalism on rise in Brockwell Park

Award for the Herne Hill Flood Alleviation Scheme

NEWS

The new playground built as part of the scheme

In the last issue of this Magazine we reported on the arson attack on and destruction of the shelter near the Brockwell Park tennis courts. Sadly incidents of vandalism have continued, and probably increased.

In the last few weeks nine window panes at the Community Greenhouses have been smashed, mainly through people throwing objects such as large rocks over the fence that borders the Park. The police have been involved and are going to implement measures to try to stop further damage.

On a number of occasions, public noticeboards around the Park have been

targeted, with the glass fronts smashed. The glass was replaced only to find that, within a few days, one of the notice boards had its glass smashed again. A large number of glass panes in the shelters have been broken.

In addition, excessive amounts of graffiti have appeared around the Park, including on external Park boundaries, on walls and railings. The Veolia yard has been broken into on a number of occasions, with roof slates on the stable block being removed and broken thus allowing water to enter the building and cause damage to the interior.

Most recently, over a single weekend 35

windows have been broken. These include more public noticeboards, the stable block Veolia mess room, the volunteer room and toilets, including two of the black glass panes on the north side of the Hall. A fire was also lit in the ladies’ toilets attached to Brockwell Hall.

When you are in the Park, please keep an eye out for any inappropriate or criminal activity. If you see anything, please make a note of the date, time and description of any suspicious activity and pass the information on to Park staff or to Park Watch at [email protected].

John Brunton

designed to recognise a project that is a great example of engineering giving real value to the community and was delivered with full community engagement.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Suzanne Moroney, Director of ICE London,

said: “The Herne Hill team worked with the community to create a solution that is better for the community and solves the flooding problem. It is beautifully simple and very sympathetic to the park – you wouldn’t know it was there. A big lesson was

this was a true collaboration between the Environment Agency, Southwark Council and Thames Water which is the key to making sustainable urban drainage schemes work.”


NEWS

And what a view it is… Let’s talk rubbish. Specifically, this stinking pile of refuse in Brockwell Passage, greeting

customers arriving at the Florence and the Commercial. I took this photo on Friday 8 May at 5.00pm (the day after the General Election) but it was certainly there the day before.

This squalid sight is rather at odds with the stylish new lamp-post banners (funded by Thames Water compensation) that celebrate the attractions of Herne Hill – and indeed of our independent shops and traders.

Sadly, a glance at the contents suggests that it’s certain traders, as well as anti-social residents, who are doing it. Are these people lazy, stupid or both? Not only does it look and smell revolting but the area is very popular with foxes and, no doubt, smaller vermin too. And it’s not just here. I know both from what I see and what I’ve been told that Brockwell Passage is just one of many favoured sites for fly-tipping.

So what can we do? You could call

Lambeth Street Care on 020 7926 9000. When I posted this picture on our Facebook page, one resident added that she had rung twice with follow-up photographic evidence, and was given a reference number (360290) – but at the time of writing there has been no action by the Council.

In such circumstances one might be tempted to take ‘direct action’. If I knew for certain who was doing it I would never use those establishments again, and I’d encourage others to act likewise.

Time for a campaign? Tell us what you think at facebook.com/hernehillsociety or @hernehillsoc.

View from the ChairWith Colin Wight

The Herne Hill Society’s accounts for the year to 31 December 2014 were presented at the AGM on 11 March.

The Society’s main sources of income were from membership subscriptions and donations, and from magazine advertising. The Society is also dependent on the profit on the sale of publications. Gift Aid not claimed in 2013 was claimed in 2014.

Our main expenditure is, as always, the cost of printing and posting the quarterly magazine. There was also spending to maintain the website, which will be a periodic cost. The other ‘abnormal’ cost was a contribution towards printing the leaflets celebrating the restoration of the Clock Tower in Brockwell Park. Taking into account the total income and total expenditure in 2014, the Society is showing a surplus of £1,160.31.

A copy of the full, examined, account is on the Herne Hill Society’s website. If you have any questions about these accounts please contact the Treasurer.

Rosalind Glover

INCOMESubscriptions and donations £1,630.30Magazine advertising £1,086.00Monthly meetings (refreshments and raffle) £493.71Profit from publication sales £852.21Bank interest £15.62Gift aid £890.93Total income £4,968.77

EXPENDITUREStationery, postage, Magazine printing etc. £2,134.40Hire of hall and stall fees £532.35Insurance £65.00Speaker fees £140.00Refreshments/raffle prizes for monthly meetings £62.22Subscriptions to other organisations £28.00Audit/Accountancy £50.00Misc. Admin. & equipment £87.01Website maintenance £600.48Brockwell Park Clock Tower commemorative leaflets £100.00Total expenditure £3,808.46

SURPLUS The surplus for the year £1,160.31

HH Society Accounts

Tipping like this really is rubbish


FEARS OVER CONGESTION

NEWS

Loughborough Road closure proposal Lambeth Council had been proposing the experimental closure of Loughborough Road just south of Loughborough Junction. There has been some consultation, with strong views voiced on both sides, but the decision was postponed until after the election.

There is little information on what basis the decision will be made. And in the run-up to the general election Council officers were very reticent. It is widely feared that the closure would result in widespread congestion as traffic diverts and causes inconvenience for local residents and school users. The final decision on the experimental closure may be influenced by Lambeth Council’s recent approval of a major redevelopment of the Higgs Industrial Estate.

Rail performance updateAfter a woeful January performance (partly caused by the hapless start to a new phase of work at London Bridge), like most other operators in the spring the Thameslink Public Performance Measure has improved. The March figure of 84.6 per cent of services arriving within five minutes of the scheduled time is still well below their promised ‘target’ of 89.1 per cent and still reflects severe delays and cancellations in peak commuter times.

Cyclehoop bike port on Railton RoadFun pink traffic calming or dangerous, intrusive obstruction? Opinions were sharply divided on the large metal bike parking frame which was installed by LB Lambeth as a temporary experiment. Unfortunately the sticker giving the website address to register opinion was repeatedly vandalised.

Additional bike parking on the edge of the Sunday Market and traffic calming of mini-cabs as they zoom in and out of the railway station approach are to be welcomed. The large unlit frame, on a double yellow line did, however, cause problems for large vehicles which need to travel south through the Market Square. It has now been removed and hopefully less dangerous ways of calming traffic into the Market Square can be investigated, and less intrusive bike hoops can be located elsewhere around the centre of Herne Hill.

Southwark Council cycling strategy Southwark Council published a Draft

Cycling Strategy in October 2014, undertook some public consultation late last year, and planned to finalise the strategy in the spring. The consultation continues and a meeting took place with local Dulwich and Herne Hill interests in mid-May to discuss the way forward.

The strategy has the objective of achieving a step change towards increased cycling in the borough, to work with rising population densities, rising cycling use and falling car use. It was developed by Southwark Council officers with input from a ‘Cycling Joint Steering Group’ including cycling interests. The first priority of the strategy is to develop a continuous North-South Cycling Spine Route through the borough, complemented by local ‘missing links’ and safety problem resolution; and a broad programme of ‘soft’ measures to inform, educate and encourage cycle use.

This has already started in Dulwich and Herne Hill with the appointment of a ‘Bike It Plus’ support officer from Sustrans,

a leading charity encouraging people to choose healthier, cleaner and cheaper journeys.

Southwark Council has ring-fenced funds for the N-S Spine, and further funds may be available from Tf L. The precise route is somewhat controversial. As originally published, it ran from Crystal Palace to the Elephant and Castle via: Dulwich Wood Avenue, Alleyn Park, College Road, across Dulwich Park, Crystal Palace Road, Lyndhurst Grove, across Burgess Park, Thurlow Street and Harper Road.

The route in the north – from Elephant and Castle to Lordship Lane – is fairly fixed and likely to be confirmed by Southwark Council in early June. South of Lordship Lane, further consultation and workshops with local interests are planned through the autumn of 2015. The further work will look at the route options, the joining up with routes in neighbouring Boroughs, the level of protection and priority to be given to cyclists and the way in which road and park space are shared. Bil Harrison

Herne Hill Station plans for upgradeDetails have to be worked out and contractors appointed, but Southeastern Trains has secured a budget of £1.5 million, and work will begin on upgrading our station this autumn.

As well as a programme of deep cleaning and restoration of some of the original features, the programme will include:

• Replacement of the front canopy, as it was before being removed earlier this year for conservation. Unfortunately a full-

width canopy - as installed when the station was built in 1862 - would be too expensive.

• The Booking Hall will be enlarged with a new ‘gateline’ on the left and a smaller ticket office on the right. The unused and hidden storage area to the right will be used for a café and/or retail.

• The platform buildings will be refurbished, with upgraded toilets, a

new café with seating and a hatch through to the waiting room. The Station Manager’s office will become an accessible information centre.

• Improved lighting in the pedestrian underpass with possible removal of the anti-graffiti boards. Suggestions from the community for further improvements here will be welcomed.

Look out for more details in the next issue.


Burglary figures down in context of overall rise in crime in neighbourhood

NEWS

At the latest meeting of the Herne Hill Safer Neighbourhood Panel, the main crime trends discussed were a small increase in total crime, mostly caused by increases in ‘violence against the person’ in each of the 10 months May 2014 to February 2015, compared with the same month in the previous year: a total of 414 incidents from March 2014 to February 2015, out of 1424 total crimes in the year.

This is a cross-London trend, but Lambeth has particular problems. For the last year it has been the

borough with the highest figures of violent crime – 9,528 such crimes in the 12 months to March 2015, compared with 8,336 in Southwark.

Burglary and robbery have been the local police priorities. Both have decreased compared with the previous year, though the burglary rate in Herne Hill remains one of the highest in central Lambeth.

Agreed priorities for the Safer Neighbourhood Team include continuing work on road safety and speed monitoring on Herne Hill, Milkwood and Railton Roads.

Reorganisation of neighbourhood policing and safer neighbourhood panels across London is in progress. A greater emphasis on visible neighbourhood policing was recommended by the 2014 Neighbourhood Policing Review, with an increase in frontline staff numbers and more focused responsibilities.

The present Herne Hill SNP has proved to be an effective way for the local police team to consult the community on priorities, and it was agreed to continue these meetings.

Nicholas Edwards

As part of its £100,000 support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, in March the South London Botanical Institute formally launched its new website and refurbished lecture room.

The new and very user-friendly website provides information about the Institute’s events and activities – from botanical workshops and talks, to tree walks, art and photography classes, suppers, plant sales, open garden evenings, school visits and children’s holiday activities.

The beautifully refurbished lecture room now proudly displays unique William Morris-style wallpaper designed by local artist Augusta Akerman. It is based on her drawings of plants in the SLBI garden and herbarium. Its paisley-inspired design reflects the time spent in India by Allan Octavian Hume, the SLBI’s founder.

About 15 plants from the garden and herbarium have been included, including gingko biloba, the tree standing tall in front of the house and seen on the SLBI’s logo.

This marks the end of the first stage of a two-year project, ‘Living History’. The second stage will see the local community enjoying longer opening times for the SLBI botanic garden, library and herbarium, as well as an increasingly busy programme of events and activities for all ages.

Established in 1910, for more than

funded by the City Bridge Trust. The South London Botanical Institute, 323 Norwood Road, SE24 9AQ, [email protected], is open to the public on Thursdays 10:00am – 4:00pm, on Saturdays 10:00am-2:00pm and also by appointment.

John Brunton

100 years the SLBI has helped share an understanding of plants with local people. It has a beautiful botanical garden and runs a wide range of courses, workshops and events for all ages. There is also a popular programme of educational activities for nurseries, schools and youth groups,

£100,000 Lottery Support for SOUTH LONDON BOTANISTSPart of the refurbished Lecture Room, with a detail of the unique botanical wallpaper

l In Issue 129 (Winter 2014) we introduced our representatives on the two local Safer Neighbourhood Panels (SNP). The SNPs’ role is to discuss local issues and to set priorities for the local police teams.

Unfortunately, Matthew Farrow has been unable to continue on the Village Ward (Southwark) Safer Neighbourhood Panel owing to other commitments.

However, Simon Taylor, Chair of the Panel and a member of the Society, will be happy to take up any concerns members may have. The next meeting is on Wednesday 1 July.

Nicholas Edwards continues as our representative on the Herne Hill Ward (Lambeth) Panel.

You can contact them by emailing [email protected].

Colin Wight


NEWS

Museums suffer damage from flood far more frequently than fire, we were told by Judy Aitken, at the Society’s April meeting. But two years ago, on 25 March, a devastating fire engulfed Southwark’s Cuming Museum, housed in what was built in 1865 as Walworth Town Hall.

Judy, Heritage Manager at Southwark, was in the building at the time the fire broke out (the result of a careless contractor’s blowtorch), though fortunately the museum was closed to the public on that day.

Within 10 minutes the building was filled with smoke – there was no question of trying to remove objects. Judy described watching helplessly from behind the safety of the cordon rapidly thrown around the site, as the fire brigade, who arrived within minutes, went into action.

The fire spread with terrible

THREAT TO ARCHIVES

How Cuming survived fire and cutbacks to earn restoration

Lambeth Archives is currently located in the same building as the Minet Library, in Knatchbull Road, SE5. However, the futures of both the Library and the Archives are under threat.

As part of the current austerity measures, Lambeth Council has plans to close the Minet and relocate the Archives. The possible loss of the Library has met with lively local resistance. There are even stronger concerns about the Archives.

Earlier this year, Lambeth published the consultative document ‘Cultural Services by 2020’ asking for views on the future provision of a wide range of services. This Society was very surprised and seriously concerned to discover that Lambeth’s consultation only suggested one possible site for relocating the Archives – Brixton Library – despite a number of other potentially much more suitable locations.

Lambeth Archives are a vital and important resource for researchers and the

120-year-old listed building and the impact on the already heavily used facilities at Brixton Library. The criteria, including these, against which decisions on any future relocation of the Archives should be judged were drawn up by Lambeth staff in a document dated 17 December 2014. It is extraordinary the proposal for relocation should ignore Lambeth’s own principles.

Our concerns are shared by other local amenity societies across the Borough. In common with others we have submitted formal written evidence to Lambeth Council arguing against Brixton as a suitable venue, should it be necessary to relocate the Archives, and urging that full consideration be given to alternatives. The consultation period ended on 24 April. We are waiting with great interest for the results and to learn what action Lambeth proposes to take as a result.

John Brunton

general public. Without ready access to the material stored there and the support of the Archives’ ever-helpful staff, it is likely that our research into Herne Hill’s history and the associated publications would not have been possible. And we would not have been able to respond effectively to the regular queries on local historical issues.

Though Brixton has excellent transport links and would be a good choice for the

Archives if an appropriate venue could be found there, the Society is strongly of the view that the Library is totally unsuitable.

There are a number of reasons for this, including lack of space for users, the likelihood that any storage space would not meet current professional standards in terms of environment and security, problems of converting a

speed; the roof fell in and brought down the floors below, which, combined with the huge amount of water pumped into the building, created the risk of the outer walls collapsing. Fortunately this did not happen. And – most remarkably of all – once

a proper assessment could be made of the damage it was discovered that, because the museum can only exhibit a very small part of its collection at any time, the losses were far less severe than initially feared.

Moreover, the temporary exhibition at the time of the

fire was of the quirky late-Victorian ceramics, known as Martinware, which, being fired at very high temperatures proved remarkably resilient to the effects of blaze. The British Museum had lent a piece for the exhibition and, after a little cleaning up, it could be returned intact.

It was good to hear that Southwark is fully committed to the restoration and re-opening of the museum, as well as the next-door Newington Library, also affected by the fire. It will take several more years. But, in these times of cutbacks in local authorities’ cultural services, Judy Aitken’s final message was especially welcome – South London will not lose a unique and much-loved cultural resource.

Laurence Marsh

THREAT TO CARNEGIESee Pages 12-13


Higgs Industrial Estate, Loughborough Junction Revised applications for major new mixed-use development were considered by Lambeth Planning Applications Committee on 21 April 2015. The Society had objected mainly on grounds of over-development with the residential density being more than twice that considered appropriate for this location.

The Loughborough Junction Action Group (LJAG) also objected and the Society and LJAG, together with Ward Councillor Jim Dickson, spoke against the development at the Committee. However the applications were approved, subject to a range of conditions.

Dorchester CourtThere are no outstanding applications, but the Society has recently been alerted to the fact that the garage block has been cordoned off. It is considered that this may reflect a desire on behalf of the owner to seek permission for development on the site of the garages. There have also been reports of concerns expressed by tenants about the ongoing poor condition of some parts of this Grade II-listed complex.

54 Mayall RoadFollowing a request from a concerned neighbour, the Society objected to an application for a roof extension at this property. The proposal would adversely affect the symmetry of the roofline and inject an incongruous element into the street scene. The Society does not often get involved in domestic extensions,

particularly where they do not affect the street scene. In this case, however, it was felt the impact would be unacceptable. A decision from Lambeth is awaited.

Dee Dee’s, 77 Herne HillFollowing action by a local resident, Southwark has instigated a review of Dee Dee’s Premises Licence. We have submitted a representation repeating our earlier concerns about the unsuitability of these premises for on-alcohol sales and live and recorded music.

Pizzaria Pellone, 153a Dulwich RoadAn application has been made to Lambeth for a Premises Licence for a pizzeria planned for these premises. We submitted a formal objection largely because there were serious omissions and errors in the application. Following receipt of a detailed response from Lambeth that satisfactorily answers our points, we have withdrawn our objection.

‘Milkwood’, 216 Railton RoadThis new restaurant has applied for a variation of the current Premises Licence. The result would be to significantly reduce the hours of operation from the 4.00am permitted by the current Premises Licence to 0.30am and earlier on other days.

We were, however, concerned about a number of gaps in the information provided with the application. Following discussions with the relevant Licensing Officer and after seeking views from local interests, we felt that an intervention from the Society was not justified.

David Taylor/John Brunton

Planning & Licensing

On 2 May, residents of Dorchester Court SE24 organised a demonstration to protest against neglect of the building and substantial rent increases.

The Grade II listed Art Deco block, dating from 1932 and consisting of 96 flats, has historic heritage value, but has been neglected by the landlords. Original features have been lost and repairs have not been carried out.

Residents have been warned not to use their balconies; and parts of the blocks are now propped up with wooden supports. Despite this, tenants face high annual rent

increases, in some cases more than 50 per cent, and leaseholders have been hit with increased service charges to pay for the cost of undoing the flawed heating upgrade which caused protests in 2011 (see http://www.hernehill.org.uk/save-dorchester-court). Leaseholders are currently contesting these charges in court.

Residents have organised a campaign group (Twitter: @SaveDorcCt), and are being supported by South London Renters and Lambeth housing activists.

Nicholas Edwards

DULWICH POT & PLANT GARDEN12B Red Post Hill, SE21 7BX. 020 7733 3697

www.dulwichpots.co.uk

POTSTraditional and Contemporary

Exterior and InteriorTerracotta, Glazed, Polystone, Metal, Ceramic,

Terrazzo, Fibreglass.

PLANTSTrees, Shrubs, Roses, Grasses, Herbaceous,

Perennials, Annuals and Herbs.

COMPOSTSMultipurpose, Peat Free, John Innes,

Ericaceous, Pebbles, Slate, Gravel, Grit.

SHOPHouse Plants, Indoor pots, Tools, Seeds,

Bulbs and horticultural supplies.

Local delivery available.Free parking outside North Dulwich Station

More protests atDorchester Court


New flats planned for former day centre

NEWS

As part of Lambeth Council’s programme to commemorate locally-born people awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I, on a bright, sunny morning, exactly 100 years after he was wounded in action near Ypres, 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin Geary was honoured at a ceremony in Brockwell Park.

Young Benjamin had grown up nearby at 131 Palace Road, Tulse Hill, and was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School and St Edmund’s School, Canterbury before going to Keble College Oxford in 1910. He taught in Walthamstow until the outbreak of World War I, when he joined the East Surrey Regiment.

His “most conspicuous bravery and determination ... on April 20th and 21, 1915” earned him the VC. The citation noted his “splendid gallantry and example” in the face of heavy artillery fire and repeated bomb attacks. “At one time he used a rifle with great effect, at another threw hand grenades, and exposed himself with entire disregard to danger.”

Having been shot in the head and lost the sight in his left eye, he was evacuated to England and promoted to Lieutenant. He then worked on ground duties and returned to France with the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. Though medically he should not have resumed active duty, he commanded a company, and later that year was wounded again.

Retiring from the Army in 1919 as Captain, Geary later took holy orders, and in 1926-27 served as Chaplain to the

Southwark Council was forced to close the old person’s day centre at 46 Half Moon Lane in 2011 as a result of reductions in social care funding, and it has remained empty since then (until recently occupied by short stay ‘guardian’ tenants).

The Council has now applied for planning

permission from itself to refurbish and remodel the inside of the building to provide flats and bedsits for 10 adult residents with learning difficulties and challenging behaviour, changing the use from day centre and office use to residential use.

This is possible due to

policy changes to fund provision for bringing such adults back into their local community, and nearer their extended families and friends. (They are currently cared for in larger establishments, often distant from Southwark).

Very high levels of support staff are promised – one

trained staff for each resident during the day, with one member of staff for two residents at night.

The planning process started in April, with some local drop in sessions, and a formal planning application was submitted at the end of April.

Bil Harrison

Forces. He then emigrated to Canada and in World War II served with the rank of Major in the Canadian Army. He died in 1976.

The unveiling of a paving stone by the Mayor of Lambeth and descendants of Benjamin Geary took place on 21 April, with prayers by the Vicar of Holy Trinity Tulse Hill; the citation was read by General the Lord Dannant.

Representatives of Lambeth Council, the East Surrey Regiment and others were

present; and the event concluded with refreshments in Brockwell Hall.

The memorial stone is just inside Brockwell Park, to the left of the main gate. We thus have a new site for our Herne Hill Heritage Trail and a new entry for a future edition of Herne Hill Personalities. Lt. Geary is also commemorated in the Society’s WWI Interactive Map – see www.hernehillsociety.org.uk.

Jeff Doorn

OUR LOCAL VC MEDAL

HERO GETS MEMORIAL

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Herne Hill resident Annie Gelly, aka Annie Bright, writes about her friend from the Sixties, the champion boxer nominated by the society for a blue plaque

I was interested to read that the Herne Hill Society has nominated champion boxer, the late Freddie

Mills, for a blue plaque.I first met Freddie in 1964

when I was teaching in west London. At that time I was singing on occasional weekends with dance and jazz bands. A fellow vocalist asked me to do a job-share with her, singing at Freddie Mills’s Nitespot in Charing Cross Road. She did the first half of the week and I did Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I could just about manage that, along with the teaching job, though the hours were very unsocial – 9pm to 1am.

In those days parking in the West End wasn’t too difficult and I was often able to park my car behind Freddie’s silver-grey Citroën in Goslett Yard at the back of the club.

Freddie was a very congenial host and showman and he loved to MC the

cabaret acts. The popular show, Opportunity Knocks was on the telly and, in early 1965 when a new series was about to start, Freddie invited Hughie Green to come to the club and audition some of his protégées, including me.

By this time I had given up teaching and turned professional (thanks to Freddie’s encouragement), so was beginning to get cabaret bookings outside London, though still singing occasionally in Freddie’s Nitespot.

It was during this time that I met Michael Holliday, a singer with the band at the Astoria Ballroom next door. He used to come into Freddie’s

Herne Hill-Spring 2015

Herne Hill-Spring 20157

6

Blue Plaque

for Freddie?Cleaner Greener Safer Programme: Tree Campaign

Stunning: The new-look Children’s Library, part of the transformation before Christmas

NEWS

Cartoon by Gary Dexter, 15 November 2014.

Reproduced by kind permission of The Spectator

There has been much speculation over the years about

the origin of the name ‘Milk Wood’. Dylan Thomas came

to London in 1933 and stayed for about four years. One of

his mates from Swansea, the artist Alfred Janes, had digs in

Herne Hill and Thomas shared with him. Apparently he was

known to drink in the Half Moon (and elsewhere, no doubt).

Alfred Janes painted several portraits of Thomas and lived in

Dulwich for over 30 years, until his death in 1999.

We are pleased to say

that our application to

Southwark’s Cleaner,

Greener, Safer (CGS)

Programme for

replacement trees has

been successful.

The award is for £5,000

to replace some of our

lost street trees, to be

replanted next winter.

We understand that

Southwark plans also

to plant some trees this

winter, meeting the costs

from an existing budget.

Sadly we don’t yet have

any progress to report

regarding planting on the

Lambeth side.

Two other applications

for projects in Herne Hill

have been approved for

CGS support: £1,500 for a

bench in Half Moon Lane;

and about £6,000 to bring

back into use the lighting

in Sunray Gardens.

Keen observers walking around Herne Hill

and readers of our Heritage Trail or

Personalities book will spot a number of plaques

and memorials to notable past residents.

Additions are always welcome; and it was felt

time to include boxer Freddie Mills in the

roster. We have accordingly nominated him

for a Blue Plaque.

Initiated in 1866, the Blue Plaque scheme to

honour significant people and sites has been

run by English Heritage since 1986. Rules

for consideration are strict and we made sure

Freddie would fulfil the requirements: he has

been dead for over 20 years, lived at a still-

existing address at a significant stage of his

life, has not previously received or been

nominated for a plaque, and his achievements

are of lasting importance. Moreover, sports

figures are under-represented.

Born in Bournemouth in 1919, Freddie

Mills had a highly successful boxing career

from 1936, winning the British middleweight

championship in 1940 and becoming world

light-heavyweight champion in 1948. He

served with the RAF in WWII and in India to

1946. After retirement from boxing in 1950,

he became a popular light entertainer and was

respected for his charity work. Married at Herne

Hill Methodist Church in 1948, he moved with

his bride to 186 Denmark Hill and lived there

until his death in 1965.

English Heritage will now go through its

assessment and selection process; and we wait

to hear whether our candidate will be approved.

Jeffrey Doorn

This is a worrying time for those who use and value

the Carnegie building and the library service run

from it. There is disagreement about the Community

Hub proposals and how the Carnegie might be

managed, assuming that it can indeed be saved.

The view of the Chair of the Friends of Carnegie

Library has been expressed here. However we will

give more space in our next edition to this important

local issue. Both sides will have the opportunity to

express their views.

New Developments

at Carnegie LibraryJust before Christmas the

library was transformed, with

stylish white bookshelves laid

out to reflect the curve of the

dome skylight and the 1906

sunray pattern. Colourful,

comfy seating, a long counter

for laptops, more logical placing

of the six public computers and

a discrete corner Teen Zone

add to the stunning new look.

The Children’s Library has also

been refurbished, with new

bookshelves, colourful fun

features and two computers.

How was all this paid for?

The budget for installing self-

issue machines necessitated

an overall refit and updating

including replacing the large

issue desk with a neat enquiries

point. Our librarians now have

more time to answer questions

and give help. These developments were

initiated by Lambeth Libraries

Service in consultation with

the Friends; it shows what

can be achieved by working

cooperatively together. Tables

and bookshelves are on wheels,

creating greater flexibility.

Events and activities, during

and out of public library hours

will be easier to host; and

there should be no question

of shrinking or marginalising

the library, as proposed in the

recent options exercise.

The Project Group has now

completed its work, but instead

of disbanding, has changed

itself into a shadow trust

board, making arrangements

for the library building to

be transferred to unelected

trustees who would not be

accountable to the local

community. The Herne Hill

Society should be concerned,

not least because the proposals

would require unwelcome

interventions in a listed public

building. On 30 January Lambeth

announced proposals for

cultural services to 2020.

These include withdrawing

funding from Carnegie,

Upper Norwood and Durning

libraries and supporting “new

community-led models”

funded from an endowment

formed by closing and

selling off the Minet and

Waterloo libraries. See www.

lambeth.gov.uk/culture2020/

cultureconsultation.

Consultation runs until

24 April. Anyone interested

in ensuring the future of

Carnegie Library is truly

community-led should

join the Friends, at the

library or online at www.

friendsofcarnegielibrary.org.uk.

Jeffrey Doorn, Chair,

Friends of Carnegie Library

NEWS

Future of the library▶ World War stories Turn to P12-13

Donald Dean VC, HERNE HILL HERO

Annie Gelly at ‘La Dolce Vita’ nightclub, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1965, not long after leaving her residency at ‘Freddie Mills’s Nitespot’, run by the champion boxer featured in the last Magazine (left)

club quite often. Late one night, when I was at the club, he came in after work and he appeared to be in a very depressed state. Freddie immediately recognised that something was wrong. So he closed the club early and sent everyone home, while he sat

This year’s Festival begins on 9 October. Highlights will include the performance by Charter School of a new opera based on the Peasants’ Revolt; the appearance of Harmony Sinfonia from Lewisham in the final concert; and the return of jazz star Renato D’Aiello.

For further information see the Festival website at hernehillfestival.org.

Herne Hill Music Festival

MY MEMORIES OF FREDDIE, KIND-HEARTED SHOWMAN

with Michael until the early hours, in an attempt to talk him out of ending it all. Alas, his efforts were all in vain, because a few days later Michael was found dead.

Several weeks later I was driving home from a gig in Norfolk, when I heard on

the car radio that Freddie himself had been found dead in his Citroën. He apparently shot himself with a shotgun.

To this day I do not believe that Freddie committed suicide, knowing how he tried to help Michael Holliday. There has been much speculation, but the mystery remains unsolved.

The final irony was that a few weeks after Freddie’s death, I received an invitation to take part in the new series of Opportunity Knocks, but without Freddie’s sponsorship and physical presence, I turned it down.

Annie Gelly (AKA Annie Bright)


Chair, Carnegie Herne Hill Shadow Trust Board, and Friend of Carnegie Library

By Carol Boucher

Now we know. Lambeth has published its strategy for “Cultural Services by 2020”. It proposes closing Waterloo

and Minet libraries, providing the statutory service through “town centre” libraries and no longer providing a service at Carnegie, Durning and Upper Norwood.

Community groups are invited to bid to an Endowment Fund to run a community library in those buildings. Lambeth will, crucially, continue to provide stock, technical and professional back-up.

When Lambeth reviewed its library service in 2012 and declared the Carnegie to be a Community Hub it was clear that the status quo would not continue. The building is a huge community asset that most local people never set foot in. It costs £200,000 a year to run the building as a 31-hour-a-week library for around 1,500 adult and 1,000 child users, many of whom do not live in Lambeth. This is difficult to justify given the cuts to other vital services.

So the challenge is to retain the library and develop the building for wider community benefit as well as generating income to sustain it into the future.

The Project Group’s work aims at a Charitable Trust taking ownership of the building to run it as a Community Hub. Our Architects’ options for a mix of new uses were exhibited and consulted on.

Lambeth’s proposal to seek a community organisation to lead on running the library service came as a complete surprise;

we always envisaged a Lambeth service in the building. We urged the Friends of Carnegie Library, via an open letter, to be that community organisation. We would support them in every way.

At the Friends’ AGM it was announced, without any debate, that the Friends would, instead, ask Lambeth to transfer the building to their user group so that they could commercially rent out space to subsidise the library service. It was not clear whether they would bid to the Endowment Fund if that asset transfer proposal failed. What is clear is that unless someone steps up, the library service will close in 2016. In our view, this is a risky strategy. Lambeth will not allow the Friends to rent out space

HOW TO SAVE THE CARNEGIE

in a valuable building to subsidise a service it sees as marginal. Unless the building is used for much wider community benefit it will be disposed of. The Council has made clear both to us and the Friends that, had the Community Hub project not been in development, the Carnegie would have been added to the closure list.

So, the Friends’ strategy is doomed, despite assertions at its AGM that Lambeth will back down in the face of a campaign. It is one thing to take a principled stand against cuts but quite another to adopt a position that will lose us our library.

The Community Hub project will press on led by the Carnegie Shadow Trust Board

(STB) while an independent process is set up with the Council to recruit the proposed Carnegie Trust. It will apply for an Asset Transfer, develop a Preferred Option and a Business Plan.

Architects will be appointed to prepare funding applications. This project proposes a major refurbishment of the building to

ensure its future as a community asset for generations.

If the Friends decline to bid to fund the professional staff and space needed to run a community library, then I will urge the Carnegie STB to do the job itself. Herne Hill must close ranks. We will get one bite at this cherry and failure is not an option.

The next chapter for the library

FOR MORE INFORMATION

www.carnegiehernehill.org.ukwww.friendsofcarnegielibrary.org.uk

THE CARNEGIE


Vice-Chair, Friends of Carnegie Library

By Stephen Carlill

Carnegie Library is a hive of activity. Whether you want to create, learn, socialise or just relax, the library is for you.

All ages are welcome. For the under-fives there are Wriggle and Rhyme sessions where up to 100 children at a time alternate quietly listening to stories with explosions of activity. For seven to 11-year-olds there are Chatterbooks sessions to discuss books they have read. A popular weekly Chess Club attracts mainly children.

Groups for adults include literacy clubs, reading groups and a conversation club for non-native speakers of English. Silver Surfers is a friendly social group for those of us who are older to develop our computer and internet skills.

All of the above groups and more are

HOW TO SAVE THE CARNEGIE

provided free of charge, as are books to borrow and the use of computers and the internet. The importance of this cannot be overemphasised. Despite the middle-class appearance of its immediate surroundings, the library serves one of the most deprived areas in the country. Also, once children get into reading it is common for them to get through five junior fiction books a week The weekly budgets of most families do not stretch to that, not even second hand.

The library costs £200,000 a year. Working from what the current tenants are paying, the Friends estimate that the rents from areas not required for community use will amount to £80,000 a year, making the net cost of our library about £120,000 a year. This represents excellent value for the Council given all

that the library does to promote well-being, social inclusion and equality of access to opportunities and services.

As part of their recent Culture 2020 proposals Lambeth nonetheless propose to stop funding our library. They suggest that local people could provide an all-volunteer library service but, as explained by the Herne Hill Society in its response to the proposals, that would be completely impractical. Seven of Lambeth’s 10 libraries are subject to similar proposals. The other three, one in each of the borough’s Parliamentary constituencies, are promised a mixture of professional and volunteer staffing. The Carnegie Friends together with Friends groups from other libraries are campaigning for funding to be continued and expect to succeed in this.

A potential distraction unique to the Carnegie is the Shadow Trust Board. Membership is by invitation only. Most of

the eight members are Lambeth Labour activists but there is no reason to think they are representative of the Council’s Labour Group as a whole.

The Board proposes that the building and its rental income be transferred to unelected trustees who would use some of the space for community activities. These activities have not been specified but I assume that they could easily be accommodated in the library outside library opening hours.

Financial details have not been disclosed but the idea seems to be that charities and other grant-making bodies might be persuaded to replace Lambeth as the main funders. The problem with that would be that none of those funders would give money for what in effect would be a public library and so books and all of the current activities described above would have to be excluded from the community areas.

The Board has proposed that unspecified space “on site” be rented by the Friends on a commercial lease for use as a library but that obviously would not work. We could not raise enough money to pay rent for an adequate amount of space or to pay for staff.

A library for everyone

THE CARNEGIE


It’s time to embrace our localEstablished in 2014, and hidden away in the arches behind the parade of shops on Norwood Road opposite Brockwell Park, The Canopy Beer Co. is Herne Hill’s latest microbrewery. You may be acquainted with the one at The Florence, now in its eighth successful year.

Why Canopy? I like to think that they drew inspiration from the canopy at Herne Hill

Station (currently removed for repair!), so next time you are sheltering under it as you gaze hopefully down the line, let your thoughts wander to another kind of Canopy.

They brew twice a week, producing the aptly-named Brockwell India Pale Ale, Milkwood Amber and Ruskin Wheat Beers. However, their brews (see labels left) change regularly; the advantage of

being small is that they have the flexibility to experiment. If you prefer a darker ale, try Full Moon Porter which offers rich flavours of chocolate, caramel and coffee from black malts, with light notes of East Kent Goldings hops.

The Friends of Herne Hill Velodrome commissioned FHHV 1891 IPA to a recipe from the 1890s ‘to celebrate the past and help secure the future’

The unveiling of ‘Three Perpetual Chords’, a new art installation by Conrad Shawcross, took place on 18 April in Dulwich

Park. The sculptures were commissioned to replace the Barbara Hepworth’s bronze ‘Two Forms (Divided Circle)’ stolen from the park in 2011.

The much-in-demand artist, who at 37 is the youngest living member of the Royal Academy of Arts, won a competition overseen by Southwark Council and a steering group drawn from local stakeholders.

Five artists were briefed to produce designs and these were put to a public vote. The artworks form a trail in the

northern end of the park. The structures rest on the grass – an attempt to show the juxtaposition between industry and the environment in Southwark. The knot-like forms host a void within them, a subtle reference to Hepworth’s work, in which the hole is ubiquitous. The artist says “I hope they become meeting points, romantic

destinations, and encourage playfulness while remaining beguiling and provoking”. The three sculptures are fabricated from cast iron to reduce the likelihood of theft.

Cllr Barrie Hargrove, Chair of the Dulwich Park Commission Steering Group and Southwark’s former cabinet member for parks, added: “Public art of all kinds but especially those in our parks and green open spaces, have and will always be such a valuable part of the local community. After the shocking and awful theft of the original Hepworth sculpture it was important for us to get the ball rolling, and involve the local community, in the commissioning of new sculptures for the park.”

Ian McInnes

New SculptuRE for Dulwich“I was struck early on by how much I was told that children loved her piece, running around it and poking their heads through the hole. For me, if a kid’s first reaction is to run towards it, you know you’ve done something right.” Conrad Shawcross writing in Tate Etc. magazine of Barbara Hepworth’s lost bronze.


brews, from Canopy to the Beerhive

March 2015, Community Planting Day: volunteers helping to sow wildflower seed and plant perennials

Living with Rainwater: Londoners taking simple steps to reduce flood risk

London was built around a network of natural rivers, such as Lambeth and Southwark’s historic River Effra, one of many

that have been pushed underground by the need for public sanitation and rapid urban development.

But lost rivers have a desire to return, increasing the area’s vulnerability to flooding following heavy rainfall. By working with nature to restore water’s natural flow within urban areas, we can create resilience as well as providing beautiful spaces for people to enjoy and wildlife to flourish.

Led by London Wildlife Trust, the Lost Effra Project is working with communities in Herne Hill and the surrounding area to promote practical ways of working with rainwater and nature to prevent local flooding.

The project’s new publication Living with Rainwater gives an introduction to small-scale projects that do just this. From putting a green roof on your shed, creating a rain garden or re-greening your front garden, this concise and colourful guide provides an introduction to what you can do to make your local area more resilient to extreme weather through working with wildlife.

Living with Rainwater is available online at issuu.com/londonwildlifetrust; and you can follow the project on twitter @LostEffra.

- the Velodrome having been opened in 1891.

There are connections between craft beer-brewing, artisan bread-making and the slow food movement. An enterprise which is taking a stand against mass production and artificial additives must be welcomed.

Until The Canopy’s planned public bar opens, head for Dugard & Daughters, Pullens

or Cafe Provencal, who all stock their beer. As the website says, what could be nicer than enjoying a long, lazy afternoon drinking a beer with friends and family, with laughter and chat and setting the world to rights?

I did exactly that one sunny Saturday at The Beerhive in Loughborough Junction, a small cooperative brewery and taproom which is open to the

public on Saturday afternoons. Leaving behind the traffic of Loughborough Junction, you sneak down Belinda Road, along the side of Tesco, weave your way past various railway arches and with a bit of determination in a few minutes you are in another world, the haven of The Beerhive, with its convivial picnic tables and delicious beers, lagers and meads. Keep your eye on the

website www.beerhive.london as they are planning to open on Sunday afternoons for beer and board games.

If The Canopy’s licence is granted, they will soon be trading to the public at weekends, and with the temporary loss of two of our favourite locals, microbreweries are surely coming into their own.

Elizabeth Ochagavia

An excellent example of what can be achieved is at the Rosendale Allotments at 227 Rosendale Road. Here the forecourt has undergone an exciting transformation from impermeable concrete slab to water-sensitive wildlife haven.

Thanks to a partnership between Mace, J Coffey Construction, Lambeth Council, the Rosendale Allotments Association and London Wildlife Trust’s Lost Effra Project, 153 square metres of concrete and tarmac have been removed and replaced with reinforced grass and new

wildlife-friendly planting areas. The new plant cover will support local wildlife while the cellular paving slows down rainwater runoff from the site, slowly releasing it to the drainage system and reducing this risk of flooding caused by overflowing sewers downstream in heavy rain. Pop by and see a great example of de-paving – a simple way that communities are working with nature to tackle local flood risk!

Helen SpringThe London Wildlife Trust


Since December 1986, one of the three industrial estates along the western side of Milkwood Road has been named after the Mahatma.

The current owners, Capital Industrial One BV, have decided to change the name of the northern half of the Mahatma Gandhi Industrial Estate, comprising Units 25 to 41, to the ‘Stone Trading Estate’.

They approached the Society for information on William Henry Stone, who is commemorated in the new name. We were glad to

In his talk to the Society’s February meeting, Dr James Nye of the Clockworks Museum described both his museum and the history of

keeping time, originally from watching the sun, up until the present, when technical devices feed what sometimes feels like an obsession.

Mechanical time-keeping devices are based on the principle of storing energy, which is then allowed to “escape” through an “escapement”. The use of springs, weights and batteries in complex permutations was described in simple terms with photos and short videos of the machinery of clocks in action.

In the 1840s, a Mr Lund of Cornhill in the City of London kept a regulated clock in his shop. It was estimated that between two and three thousand people a day would try to synchronise their watches with this clock. Alternatively, customers could pay a regular charge to the clockmaker who would send a boy round to your house every week to set the clock you had bought. But Mr Lund invented an ingenious electro-mechanical device that would automatically regulate the time on

any clock bought from him without the need for a visit.

There were two main drivers for accurate time measurement: the need to regulate working time practices, (some employers cheated their workers by having more than one clock showing different times) and the need to regulate the opening hours of pubs under the Licensing Act of 1872.

From the 17th century, pocket watches became popular as status symbols. Wrist watches emerged from the 1890s and were first used by women in preference to a pocket watch. We heard about the competition between British and Swiss manufacturers. The UK clock industry fell behind before World War Two but

was boosted by Government investment afterwards. Swiss watch manufacturers now produce 10 billion watches per year. In contrast we heard about Roger W. Smith, a British watchmaker based in the Isle of Man. He produces 10 watches a year with prices starting at £95,000!

The Clockworks Museum at 6 Nettlefold Place, SE27 0JW is open by appointment only. Phone 020 8676 4856 or email [email protected] to arrange to visit. The Museum has a wide variety of exhibits: clocks, watches and other timekeeping equipment. It also contains a library of works on horology, and a workshop for conserving and restoring timepieces.

Val Suebsaeng

The Importance of Being on Time

Part of the museum’s collection, which can be viewed by appointmet

When Gandhi was turned to Stone

help and have produced the text of a plaque that will be erected on the site.

William Henry Stone (born 1834), lived in a large Regency villa known as Casino House, address 3 Herne Hill. The house was

demolished in 1906. The site of this house and its grounds were included in the development of the Sunray Estate after World War I.

Stone was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Portsmouth in 1865,

and again in 1870, but later lost his seat.

He donated money to many charitable works. A Patron of the Herne Hill Parish, he was commemorated on the foundation stone of St Saviour’s Church, Herne Hill Road (demolished 1981).

His name was also inscribed on the foundation stone of St John’s Church, Lowden Road, where it can still be seen on the west wall. Unsuccessful business ventures eventually led to Stone selling Casino House in 1880. He moved to the village of Thursley in Surrey, where he died in 1896.

William Henry Stone, and his home on Herne Hill, Casino House (c 1830)


We played it at her funeral in March: “A change is gonna come” by Sam Cooke, an African American song

that harks back to a time when the world was calling for change. Terri Gibbon was a founder of the Brixton Advice Centre over 40 years ago, when Lambeth Council staff along with volunteers created it in Railton Road Methodist Church in recognition of the high levels of need among what was then the West Indian community.

Terri worked there for the next 30 years. You could not go anywhere with her in Herne Hill, Brixton or most parishes in Jamaica, without Terri being approached by someone she had helped.

The Centre reflected a hope for change; a belief that things could be better. A ferocious amount of volunteer effort went into it. Fundraising enabled us to lease nearby 167 Railton Road, and Lambeth Council provided a grant to employ two staff. It was soon a much-loved facility and, in the 1980s rioting, when Railton Road was in flames, the Centre did not suffer as much as a broken window. The Trustees

worked hard and in 1994, with grants, bought the premises and then secured our first Legal Services Commission contracts for specialised advice services.

In 2003, again with grants, we acquired the adjoining 165 Railton Road and integrated and modernised both premises. The distinguished West Indian writer and political activist C.L.R. James had lived there until his death. So we asked English Heritage to erect a Blue Plaque. In 2004 Dame Tessa Jowell opened the refurbished offices and Darcus Howe unveiled the Blue Plaque. A triumphant day.

Terri recruited me as a Trustee in 1986 and I have since witnessed a steady increase in the numbers seeking our help; and then more latterly a slow loss of hope. House prices in gentrified Herne Hill and Brixton may have gone through the roof but we are living in the twilight of the welfare state.

loan sharks, unfair dismissals, incompetent housing agencies, bad employers, bad landlords: the Centre sees it all.

Today, with funding from Lambeth Council, the Legal Aid Agency, charities and personal donations, we can afford 13 staff, including two barristers, two solicitors, and generalist advisors who, with our volunteers, deal with 20,000 people and 4,000 cases each year. Last year we enforced the rights of hundreds of clients and recovered £590,000 for them. We run outreach sessions at Food Banks, on Estates and in Brixton Prison.

When Terri started she believed the world would get better. The country has never been richer, but thousands in Herne Hill and Brixton face a struggle just to live. The human cost is dreadful.

Beneath our veneer of prosperity, economic and other pressures are making matters worse for too many. “A change is gonna come” and it is probably not what any of us will like. The Centre may never get to close its doors.

Fred Taggart, Honorary SecretaryBrixton Advice Centre

The casualisation of employment, low wages, zero-hour contracts, homelessness and a benefits system that does not provide enough to live on has created a tidal wave of need reflected in the quiet desperation of many who come to the Centre.

For most of us our sense of what is happening to poor people is defined by those with power and money - politicians, media and business leaders. We see headlines about “welfare scroungers” and cuts from budgets that support our social infrastructure: cuts accepted by the comfortable on the grounds that if they don’t hurt them they don’t hurt anyone.

But the Centre has given me an insight as to what it is like for ordinary people to grapple with bureaucracies that have their own agendas, an experience no longer confined to “the poor”, but if not yet “the comfortable”, increasingly the “not poor”. In the struggle to exercise the rights and entitlements that the system says are yours, people have to fight every inch of the way against bodies that were set up to help them. Unjustified stoppages of benefits, evictions, unfit housing, homelessness,

Behind our Beautiful Façades40 years of Brixton Advice Centre

The advice centre has grown from a humble start and now has 13 staff, with four lawyers

l If you have legal skills or specialist knowledge of welfare benefit, housing or debt issues, or might like to contribute as a general volunteer, or even a Trustee, we would be delighted to hear from you. Email our Acting Director, Patrick Torsney, [email protected]


Wednesday 9 September“Compulsory Purchase - Camberwell & the Dulwich Estate 1945-65” by Ian McInnesCamberwell’s long-term aim to build working-class housing on the Dulwich Estate was finally realised after WWII when central government funding allowed councils to compulsory purchase privately-owned land for their own developments.

Despite the Estate’s objections, the 20 years between 1945 and 65 saw the council acquire substantial areas of land on the Estate, several of them in Herne Hill.

Ian McInnes will describe how what appeared initially to be a disaster for the Estate’s future turned out, in the end, to be to its advantage - as it led directly to the construction of nearly 2,000 new private houses on the southern part of the Estate, enhancing its income and ensuring the long term future of the foundation schools.

Wednesday 14 October“The South London Pottery Industry, including Doultons, Greens and Stiffs” by Brian BloiceThe Chair of the Streatham Society gives an illustrated view of this important part of our industrial heritage.

Wednesday 11 November“King’s College Hospital in World War One” by Joanna NurseThe Head of Internal Communications at King’s College Hospital

DIARY OF EVENTSNHS Foundation Trust discusses the impact of the War on the hospital and the important role it played.

SELECTION OF OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTSSaturday 27 June at 1:00-5:00pm Friends of Ruskin Park: Summer Fete.Community stalls and musical entertainment at the bandstand in Ruskin Park.

Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 July 11:00 – 6:00pmLambeth Country ShowSociety stalls, music, animals, rides, flowers, food and fun. Brockwell Park.

September Lambeth Heritage Festival organised by Lambeth Archives & Lambeth Local History Forum “Water in Lambeth” is the main theme. Fifty years of London boroughs also celebrated. Events in many venues include exhibitions, talks, walks and films. Brochure will be available in local libraries.

SUMMER/AUTUMN

l Unless otherwise stated, Herne Hill Society meetings will be at Herne Hill United Church Hall, at 7:30 (doors open) for 7:45pm. To avoid disturbance to others, please try to arrive before the speaker is introduced.

FOR MORE iNFORMATION AND OTHER SOCIETIES’ EVENTS, SEE hernehillsociety.org.uk

Herne Hill Ward LambethMichelle Agdomar (Lab.) [email protected] @MichelleAgdomarJim Dickson (Lab.) [email protected] @JimDicksLambeth 020 3149 6657Jack Holborn (Lab.) [email protected] @jack_holborn

Thurlow Park Ward LambethAnna Birley (Lab.) [email protected] @annamaybFred Cowell (Lab.) [email protected] @fredacowellMax Deckers Dowber (Lab.) [email protected]

Village Ward SouthwarkAnne Kirby (Lab.) [email protected] Jane Lyons (Con.) [email protected] Mitchell (Con.) [email protected] 07535 932 326

Your MPHelen Hayes MP (Lab.) [email protected] House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

Your GLA MemberValerie Shawcross AM (Lab.) [email protected] GLA, City Hall, Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA 020 7983 4407

Environmental ContactsLambeth Streetscene:Cleansing, rubbish removal, pot holes, abandoned vehicles, graffiti removal etc: 020 7926 9000Southwark Streetscene (as above): 020 7525 2000

AdvertisingAdvertising space is available in this Magazine for local businesses at the following rates:

Full page £70Half page £35Quarter page £18

Four issues for the price of three. There is a premium for a full-page advertisement on the back cover. Please provide your own artwork.

OUR COUNCILLORS


The first thing you see on entering Dulwich Picture Gallery is a whirling wooden structure in front of the busts

of Bourgeous and Desanfans. This is “Counterpoint”, an oak and steel sculpture by Conrad Shawcross mechanically turned like a windmill with flashing lights at the tips. It links with models in the main gallery of the “Three Perpetual Chords” recently installed in Dulwich Park.

The Made in China mystery has been revealed as Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s “Young Woman”. The original 18th century portrait was temporarily removed and replaced with a replica produced in China. Now the original and copy face each other and the viewer, so we can compare the brushwork, facial expression, tone and colour, darker and more subtle in the old master.

Visit the Ravilious exhibition, on until 31 August, and step back to a gentler time. We begin with Relics and Curiosities, a strange array of abandoned vehicles among fallen branches, farmyards and empty roads, boats and parts of ships out of place or out of use. Amusing touches include a wheel-less vintage No. 29 bus on barrels. No sign of people apart from footprints in the snow.

A display case of books, engraving tools and woodblocks speaks of the artist’s work as illustrator.

While landscapes predominate in the light, delicate watercolours of Eric Ravilious, he did some pencil portraits, lithographs and a tempera view of fellow artist Edward Bawden working in his studio, on show with studies for Morley College murals, sadly destroyed in the Blitz.

Still, silent interiors reveal bedsteads or chairs in what seem abandoned rooms. There is a sense of anticipation, e.g. the same empty chair set outside for tea in one picture waits under a window in a room with an open door in another.

Several double depictions look out of windows to the outside world or through an open bathing machine to the sea. There are also evocative

views within greenhouses, replete with growing flowers and fruit.

From a pastoral looking Hammersmith to Wiltshire to Sussex, Ravilious captures the atmosphere and season perfectly, with wintry skies, frosty farms and rolling hills. Timeless, but for telegraph poles or a lone red post van. Yet he finds unconventional ways to present familiar sights, e.g. instead

of viewing the Westbury Horse from below, the horse looks out at a distant steam train cutting across fields.

As a war artist, he eschewed grim battle scenes for early morning preparations at the dockyards, mine disposal or waiting for take-off on a rain-swept airfield. The sparkling flash of gunfire in “HMS Ark Royal in Action” at night is as exuberantly celebratory as the fireworks of “November 5th”, full of joyous fun.

His mastery of contrasting darkness and light is eerily telling in “Train Going Over a Bridge at Night”, with its shadow engine man, glowing windows and empty road beneath. A naval expedition to Norway inspired paintings of the red midnight sun and the dark sea, land and ship, pale sky, light snow on hills and cloud.

Eric Ravilious was killed in a plane crash in Iceland in 1942 aged only 39. This charming, absorbing exhibition is a suitable tribute and proof of his enduring stature.

Open Tuesday – Friday 10am-5pm; weekends and Bank Holiday Mondays 11am-5pm. Gallery and exhibition £12.50, seniors £11.50, cons £7.50; Friends and children free.

Jeff Doorn

Revelations & RAVILIOUS

Eric Ravilious ‘Dangerous Work at Low Tide’, courtesy MOD


Opportunity KnocksWith the continued lack of properties on the market and the Government ‘s ‘Help To Buy’ scheme, our local market has seen unprecedented price rises, often well in excess of the asking price! The lettings market also continues to be buoyant, a great opportunity for investors with interest rates at a historic low!

Diana Burn, Founder

Thinking of selling?At Oliver Burn we pride ourselves on our ability to complete the sale. It is not just about getting an offer, this can often be the easy bit. The hard work is to ensure the whole process thereafter moves as swiftly and efficiently as possible towards a successful completion.

‘From the moment I met Diana I knew that she cared about me and my home and that she

understood what was important to me for the sale. Warren and the team made the process

very easy in spite of challenges that could have been incredibly stressful. I would have no

hesitation at all in recommending Oliver Burn, as I really did feel that I was the most important

factor in the whole process.’

Steven Coates

Norwood Road, SE24


IT’S A BRAVE NEW WORLD

The public lavatories at the en-trance to Brockwell Park 1956

Following the Society’s AGM in March, Edmund Bird brought us up to date with an account of the third volume, written in

conjunction with Fiona Price, in their series of books about Lambeth’s architecture since 1900.

With each new volume the size has grown, and Lambeth Architecture, A Brave New World 1945–65 is more than twice the length of the first. This is of course in part due to the fact that more buildings were erected in the post-war period than in the Edwardian era; and more remain.

But we were also reminded that already many only survive in photographs – as, for example, the public toilets at the Herne Hill entrance to Brockwell Park. Those toilets in a sense exemplify the strong civic spirit that inspired so much of the building in this period.

Public authorities had the funds and the political will to provide the Borough with much-needed social

housing, as well as schools and other public buildings such as the Royal Festival Hall and the magnificent Stockwell Bus Garage.

Edmund began by saying that when he embarked on the third volume he felt less

attracted to the architecture of this period than to those that preceded it, but he had come to greatly admire its creative diversity. His talk was illustrated with the excellent photographs (by John East) used in the book. They do indeed show how, in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second World War, Lambeth’s planners and architects aspired to create a “brave new world”.

Now we look forward to the fourth volume in the series, in which Edmund Bird will take his superb account of Lambeth’s architectural heritage up to our own times.

Laurence Marsh

l Edmund Bird’s books are available

from the Society, price £10.00

plus £1.50 p&p – go to our website

then click on Publications >

Bookstall. They are also available at our

monthly meetings


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Herne Hill #131 (Summer 2015)

Documents

Transcript of Herne Hill #131 (Summer 2015)