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A new butcher, Dugard & Daughter has opened at the south end of Milkwood Road, just a few steps from Half Moon Lane. This is a very welcome addition to the area.
The shops in Half Moon Lane affected by the recent flood are gradually reopening and it is essential that those that are open receive our support. Not surprisingly footfall has reduced since the flood and it needs to return to its former level.
To help things along Southwark traffic wardens have been banned from issuing tickets outside the shops. A local shopkeeper tweeted: “Why does Southwark council send traffic wardens to Half Moon Lane all day. We’re trying to recover from flooding.” Later he added: “Traffic warden patrolling Half Moon Lane from 8.30 gonna [sic] be a busy day not, thank you Southwark”, and “another day of parking gestapo, and guess what no customers after 12 o’clock”.
Southwark Council saw the tweets and agreed not to issue any more fines in the bays until further notice. Local Village Ward Councillor Robin Crookshank Hilton was supportive and said “The traders need to be allowed to get on with the renovations.”
A new tenant has taken over the restaurant at Belair House. Local residents will be pleased that the former name Beauberry House has been dropped and name returned to the original. The new restaurant opened on Saturday. www.belairhouse.co.uk.
A new revised and updated History of the Herne Hill Velodrome has recently been published. It should be available locally shortly priced at £10.00.
The historic pedestrian footbridge over the railway line has been found to be defective and is to be replaced over the next few months. This will require a new temporary entrance to the ticket hall and the construction of a temporary footbridge further down the platform while the works are carried out. As part of the contract the side walls and roof to the ramp access to College Road will be refurbished.
His Excellency Volodymyr Khandogiy Ambassador of Ukraine and Aleksandr Lukyanchenko, Mayor of the City of Donetsk, will visit West Norwood Cemetery on Wednesday, 13 November to lay a wreath on the grave of John Hughes. Hughes developed the first iron foundry in what was then the Russian Empire, and the small town he constructed around the foundry grew into Donetsk, now Ukraine’s second largest city. The official party will be welcomed by members of the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery who researched Hughes’ burial and managed the restoration of his massive headstone, which had fallen into disrepair. The Friends were helped in this by journalists from Donetsk News and a generous donation from the Ukrainian Development Foundation, with the support of family descendants, Glamorgan Archives, the Borough of Lambeth and the Diocese of Southwark. People will gather in the cemetery at 10.30am for a simple wreath-laying ceremony at 11.00. The Mayor will then depart for Cardiff to open an Art Exhibition featuring Hughesovska/Donetsk.
Southwark Council has proudly announced Conrad Shawcross as the winner of the Dulwich Art Commission. The appointment follows an extensive public consultation process and deliberation by the Dulwich Park Commission Steering Group and the Contemporary Art Society who managed the artist commissioning process.
Conrad Shawcross has achieved international recognition for his work - most recently, he won acclaim for his 2013 Timepiece exhibition at the Roundhouse, London. His work was also displayed at this year's 55th Venice Biennale. His design, Three Perpetual Chords, has been selected from a shortlist also including proposals by artists Anya Galaccio, Ryan Gander and Eva Rothschild.
Following a public consultation in which over 400 local people gave their views about the proposals, the Dulwich Park Commission Steering Group came to a consensus to name Shawcross as the artist who best fulfils the commissioning principles originally set out.
Three Perpetual Chords proposes a series of cast iron sculptures, each created in relation to the mathematical patterns found in music. The artist describes these forms as "visual descriptions of musical chords." Roughly human height, the sculptures will be sequenced, leading visitors through an unexpected series of encounters in the park.
The current postmaster has tendered his resignation to Post Office Counters but both the postmaster and the Estate confirmed that Post Office Counters are looking to retain the post office facility in a nearby shop.
At the 50th anniversary party on 12th October the Chairman announced that the Society has now agreed heads of terms with the Council to take over the management of Rosebery Lodge and open a Dulwich Archive Centre. As well as running exhibitions and classes for residents and local schools on the area’s history, the Society will let out the rooms for other community groups. The Dulwich Vegetable Garden, part of Dulwich Going Greener, already use the kitchen and toilet block at the back that was refurbished two years ago also under an earlier Council CGS grant. The historic Dulwich post cart will also be stored there.
Over the past three years the Society has acquired additional CGS funding to carry out the refurbishment work necessary to make the main rooms in the building usable. A meeting held on October 10th instructed the Council’s architect to press ahead with going out to tender. While most of the funds will come from the Council, the Society has agreed to put £5000 from its own resources into the project.
Following numerous complaints about safety at the junction of Lordship Lane and Dulwich Common, Transport for London have confirmed that they are carrying out a feasibility study to assess whether it would be possible to introduce improvements for pedestrians and cyclists attempting to cross the road at this point. As the traffic lights are currently configured, vehicle traffic has the right of way at this junction at all times. Nor is there an alternative crossing nearby. The danger to pedestrians in this situation is very clear.
Residents have been lobbying local Councillors over several years to do something and they have now been joined by the Dulwich and Herne Hill Safer Routes to Schools group. The junction is a critical route to almost all the school for anyone coming from the south east.
A survey is a step forward, though further pressure will need to be applied as TfL’s previous view has been against prioritising the reconfiguring of the junction because the accident rate is not unusually high. Leaving aside the absurdity of requiring a sacrifice of life or limb to draw attention to the danger, it is likely that the accident rate is low because people must avoid crossing there or else take serious and unacceptable risks.
Following some recent TfL sponsored junction alterations which involved the removal of a pedestrian island in Burbage Road, local residents have become very concerned about pedestrian safety at the this roundabout. Following a number of near misses, the Dulwich Society secured a grant from Southwark’s CGS fund (Cleaner. Greener, Safer) to put back the former pedestrian island. The Council has painted some white lines on Burbage Road to show two possible locations for it and are now investigating the technical feasibility of each option. A formal local consultation is expected towards the end of the year with the results being reported back to the Dulwich Community Council for a decision.
Several of the shops in Half Moon Lane affected by the recent flood are reopening. A few were able to start trading again in September but Artimidorus, Tales on Moon Lane, Oxfam and the Oxfam Bookshop, Mimosa, and the Londis Supermarket will not reopen until December.
Cafe Provencal is likely to reopen in January but the Half Moon pub, whose panelled interior was particularly badly affected, is unlikely to be trading before February.