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Southwark Council has opened Phase Three of their Streets for People: Dulwich Village consultation. It focuses on the design of the public realm around the junction of Dulwich Village, Calton Avenue and Court Lane. This is an important site in Dulwich, near the commercial heart of the Village and close to the important Dulwich Burial Ground and heritage buildings. Phase Three also covers traffic changes at the Dulwich Village, Red Post Hill, Half Moon Lane and East Dulwich Grove junction.
You can complete the consultation here: Southwark Council Dulwich Village Design Consultation and give your views on features such as materials, street furniture and trees.
The deadline for the consultation is 17 January 2024.
Online talk: Tuesday 2 January 2024, 8pm
Before 1860 East Dulwich had two pubs. By the end of the East Dulwich housing boom in the 1880s, there were nearly 20 together with two beer houses and a similar number of beer shops and off-licenses. Pubs were not only for drinking and socialising they were also entertainment, community and sporting centres. Many licensees were interesting characters. as were some of their customers. And, unlike many other parts of London, almost all the buildings are still standing, most still used as pubs - though now run by boutique pub companies rather than large breweries or pub proprietors. Join Ian McInnes to find out more about our local history.
Tickets are £5 per person with proceeds to St Christopher’s Hospice and are available on the Bell House website. If you need a free ticket please email
Christmas at Bell House: A Private View by the Dulwich Players, reviewed by Sharon O’Connor
Could the Dulwich Players match last year's festive offering, the beautifully staged Christmas at Bell House? They could and they did. A Private View was a promenade around the rooms of Bell House, watching Dulwich Picture Gallery paintings come brilliantly to life and tell their stories, and making full use of the house’s architecture and atmosphere.
Kingswood Arts are offering lots of festive Christmas events this year including the immersive Once Upon a Kingswood Christmas from 16 - 23 December 2023, and Winter Wednesdays, which include sing-along carols, mulled wine, mince pies, festive stalls and live music, including the Brixton Chamber Orchestra on 20 December. They are also collecting donations of winter clothes for Wrap Up London so please dig out your no longer needed coats and scarves. For more about Kingswood Arts, please see this 3 minute film and check out their website.
As the Christmas trees go up in Dulwich Village, don't forget the free Dulwich Village Christmas Stocking events this Sunday, 3 December: 12pm-5pm: Pop Choir at 2pm; local school pupils providing Christmas music during the afternoon; a mystery stocking hunt for children; festive food and drink; and Nutty’s Children’s Disco from 2-4pm at St Barnabas Parish Hall, Dulwich Village.
The Dulwich Society is pleased to have completed two small projects in Dulwich with the help of funding provided by the London Borough of Southwark’s Cleaner Greener Safer (CGS) scheme.
The first of these was to refurbish the plinths for the two sets of double benches in Clarke’s Green, near the Dulwich Village/Village Way junction. These have been re-laid on proper bases, using the existing, and some new, York stone to replace the previous mix of concrete and stone. The benches are heavily used by parents and children at Dulwich Village schools.
At its meeting in September, the executive committee of the Dulwich Society discussed the remit of Travel and Environment subcommittee. Over the summer the executive committee undertook a review of the activities of the subcommittee and how best to fulfil the important environmental objectives that the Society has. Harry Winter had expressed his desire to step down as chair of the subcommittee and this was considered in the review.
As a consequence of this review, the executive committee decided that the Travel and Environment subcommittee be disbanded.
Thurs 30 November, 5.30pm - 8.30pm
£1 entry for adults (children go free)
Kindly sponsored by Hamptons
Craft stalls, festive food and drink (BBQ, pizza, popcorn, crepes, bar, mulled wine and mince pies, cakes), musical entertainment by students of CND. Tombolas with prizes generously donated by local businesses including Chern Thai, Bartley's Flowers, Bodyfit Studios, Cherry Tree, Cook!, Cuppo Bubbo, Dulwich Books, Dulwich Sports Club, Duo Dance, ED Flowers, ED Picturehouse, EOS Dance, Fison Fitness, Flotsam & Jetsam, Gail's, Food and Wine, Half Moon Pub, Harold George, Heritage Cheese, Hot Pod Yoga, Jags Sports Club, Jones of Brockley, Kerry Flower, La Niche Dog Grooming, Mac + Miller, Myla & Davis, Oddono's, Poached, Pizza Express, Porters, Proud Sow, Review Bookshop, Rocca, Roger Pope Opticians, Romeo Jones, Shaun's DIY, Sort it Out, South London Music, Splash Dry Cleaners, The Real Greek, Village Books, Wild & Lees.
Society member Trevor Moore writes:
In 2019 an article appeared in the Dulwich Society Journal about the publication of Words in Pain, a collection of thought-provoking and moving letters I co-edited for a centenary edition – the original, anonymous version, having appeared in 1919. (How I delved behind the original anonymity to discover the author’s identity – Olga Jacoby - for the 2019 edition is explained in the Foreword.)
In the four years since, the book has captured the imagination of many worldwide – we are on a third reprint. But what has astounded me is the number of further revelations and connections that have come about.
Poppy Appeal: as fewer of us carry cash now, the Royal British Legion is providing card machines and QR codes to make it easier to donate. Poppies are available from a seller at North Dulwich station with collecting tins in Bartley’s, Proud Sow, the Crown & Greyhound & the Picture Gallery in the Village; M&S, the Neighbourhood Vet & Sainsbury’s in East Dulwich; and various shops in West Dulwich. In addition, Sainsbury's at Dog Kennel Hill in East Dulwich will have a stall selling poppy merchandise. Please give generously and wear your poppy with pride.
The Mark Evison Foundation Carol Concert is on Friday 24 November 2023, at 7pm, Christ’s Chapel, Dulwich Village. With Dulwich College Choir and celebrities including Angus Imrie, Eve Matheson, Rachel Mackley, Susanna Reid and Mick Brown. There is a champagne reception afterwards in Dulwich Picture Gallery's Linley Room, next to the chapel. Tickets £25/U16s free, available from
Wildlife Committee member Dave Clark volunteers at the very special PODA Bird Reserve in Bulgaria. With only two bird reserves in an area the size of the UK, Bulgaria has limited opportunities to experience nature undisturbed. PODA Bird Reserve provides fantastic nature engagement opportunities for the local community with many schools and children relying on it to access nature. Also, international birders and tourists can experience the passage of migration on the famous Via Pontica route where pelicans, eagles and storks can readily be seen.