Have you noticed that the British are obsessed with marking anniversaries? You can be sure that if there is nothing newsworthy to report then the media will rake up some long forgotten event, the date of which just happens to coincide with this scarcity of hard news, to fill their columns with otherwise irrelevant information. Even birthdays are being marked with a greater emphasis. Time was, when after the age of twenty-one, birthdays passed by unnoticed except by favourite aunts who entered birth dates in a special little book often decorated with inspiring quotations from long dead authors. Today celebrating a birthday is not confined to those in the nursery. Septuagenarians and Octogenarians have now joined the ranks of the 30 years olds in marking the decades.
We, in Dulwich, seem to be going with this flow, after all we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the founding of Dulwich Picture Gallery when almost certainly we will be back again in 2014 commemorating its opening. Nor is the Dulwich Society any less guilty. As the President recalls, the Society marked the occasion of its 40th anniversary because it fancied having a bit of a do!
Two significant anniversaries are approaching - HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 50th year of the Dulwich Society. Historically, a Royal Jubilee has been the occasion for villages and towns throughout the land to mark the event by providing some amenity which might benefit the community in the future. Seats and benches, statues and water fountains, recreations fields and clock towers, all bearing an inscription, will be found everywhere. In Dulwich we marked the Silver Jubilee by restoring the fountain in the Village, We do not seemed to have commemorated the Golden Jubilee. Should we mark the Diamond in 2012? I should be very interested to have members’ views on this topic.
There has been a suggestion that the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Dulwich Society in 2013 should be marked with a commemoration of those civilians who lived in the area and were killed as a result of enemy action in the Second World War. It is felt that the great loss of life in Dulwich, there were over 150 of the community killed in air raids, should be marked for the following reasons.- Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of those killed are still alive and would appreciate such a memorial to their loved ones.
- Apart from the mass grave and monument (opened in 1995) at Honor Oak cemetery for those civilians killed in the former Borough of Camberwell, which included Dulwich, no other memorial to them exists.
- This loss of civilian life should be recorded for future generations.
Discussions are at an early stage and there is much research to do. Preliminary investigation has shown that there were at least sixteen serious incidents in Dulwich between 1940-1945. Not all were in the area covered by the Dulwich Society; some were in adjoining roads but in close proximity to our perceived boundaries. The form such memorials would take has also yet to be determined, although an engraved plate on a short metal post, placed near the site of the incident appears the most likely.
In previous articles I have talked about neighbourliness, particularly with regard to residents, but it also applies to our schools. Last month JAGS was given conditional planning permission to build a new Community Music Centre on their existing car park and, understandably, home owners who live nearby were very concerned over the potential increase in traffic and parking on adjacent roads, which can be very bad at times. In this case JAGS had gone a long way to try and resolve residents concerns, but there are other schools whose attitude towards residents is not always so helpful.
Everyone who lives in Dulwich understands that, at certain times of the day, the number of local schools mean a considerable increase in traffic, but should they expect the further inconvenience of large coaches parking in suburban roads in the middle of the day (often with their engines running), or being unable to park near their homes in the evening? School managements need to think a bit more about their impact on the local community.
On a more positive note, fifteen months after the September 2009 public meeting and, following continuous pressure from the Society, the Dulwich Estate has amended its website to include information on Scheme of Management applications. Go into their website www.thedulwichestate.org.uk, click on the ‘scheme of management’ and then click on ‘view applications’ or ‘decided applications’. This is a great step forward and should enable residents to have accurate information about works in their particular roads.
There is also good news on the campaign to save the Herne Hill Velodrome which continues to move forward. Negotiations with British Cycling and the Estate are progressing and the charity should have been set up formally during February. Hopefully the track will be resurfaced in the next few months and a planning application for the new building made later in the year.
Last, but not least, I want to record my thanks to His Honour Michael Rich QC who is standing down at the next AGM after ten years as the Society’s president and several years before as a vice-president. His legal knowledge has also been a great help to the Society, as has been his efficient chairmanship of the Society’s AGM and his work as chairman of the fund raising committee for the Edward Alleyn statue.
The Editor has asked me to record by recollections of the ten years during which I have enjoyed the honour of being President of the Dulwich Society. I think that I am right to boast that I am the first President to whom such a request could have been made upon giving up the Presidency, for I am the first not to have died in office. But the same reason as causes me to give up, disqualifies me from complying with his request: my great difficulty in remembering anything with accuracy!
Nevertheless, I do speak of “giving up” the Presidency because it is only with great regret that I forgo the honour that my yearly non-competitive re-election has done me, without being required to do anything for the privilege. It is true that towards the end of my first year of office, the Committee did seek my advice. They have not found reason to do so since! I can only think that they have not found another question so simple to answer as whether it would be better to celebrate the Society’s 40th anniversary with a party or a statue to Edward Alleyn. The question was put to me when there would have been less than a year to organise the statue, so we enjoyed the party.
The statue was postponed till what seemed a suitable date, the four hundredth anniversary of Alleyn’s purchase of the Dulwich estate. It was then a privilege of my office, rather than a burden or duty, that I was allowed to chair the committee which raised the money which enabled the project to be successfully completed. As always the work of organising the competition, choosing the design and commissioning the statue fell on the stalwarts who have run the Society so successfully throughout my period of office, thus enabling me to preside over annual general meetings for year after year, with pride and admiration for the work of the Society in whose glory I have been able to bask.
How then can I best recall the achievements of those years? Frankly, I am too terrified to do so. There has been so much, and if I attempted the task I should only give offence by what I had forgotten. That is why I have headed this contribution “reflections” rather than “recollections”. But that does not mean that I am left without memories. Foremost I will cherish the friendship and the confidence placed in me by three hard working Chairmen who have served the Society during my time in office: Bill Higman, Adrian Hill and Ian McInnes, and of the Society’s marvellously devoted Secretary, Patrick Spencer, who has served throughout the same period. I have been privileged also to know the Chairmen of the Committees who carry on the work of the Society which I have been able to follow in the Executive Committee’s minutes of which I am a privileged recipient since I was first elected a Vice-President. But it is, of course, to this Journal that one looks for the fullest and most lively record of the Society and indeed of Dulwich, and, it is, I have to admit, only because of my admiration for the work of my good friend Brian Green that I have felt obliged to make an inadequate attempt to do what he has asked of me. Readers of this Journal will, I think, hardly care what I remember; they can make their own selections from its pages.
Michael Rich
Herne Hill Velodrome
Problems with snow led to the cancellation in December of the reception aimed at promoting the restoration of the Herne Hill Velodrome. The postponed meeting was held in February and a further Public Meeting has been announced for Tuesday 22nd March at Dulwich College at 7.30pm. The plans for a possible replacement of the velodrome, by the architects of the Stratford Olympic Velodrome have been shown to representatives of local interests and to volunteers who have kept the complex operating for the past few years. The Dulwich Society has made a grant from its own funds of £5000 to support the work of the Velodrome Committee in carrying out preliminary professional work on the lease and the governance structure.
Road danger reduction
The Dulwich Society is in discussion with the Police about their use of the hand-held speed monitoring devices provided for them through the Dulwich Community Council. The casualty statistics show that road injuries are concentrated on the main roads, so it is seeking firmer speed controls on these roads. It has asked particularly for surveillance on Half Moon Lane, East Dulwich Road and Gallery Road.
Southwark Council CGS grants
The Society successfully bid for five CGS (cleaner-greener-safer) grants in 2010. These have been completed and are 1. Circular bench in memory of Lt Evison in Dulwich Village. 2. Alteration to the gate at Cox’s Walk to allow buggy access to Dulwich Woods. 3. replacement bench in memory of Bernard Webb outside Barclays Bank, Dulwich Village. 4. Heritage Red fingerpost at the top of Red Post Hill. 5. Re-turfing of the grass verges in Dulwich Village from the St Barnabas Parish Hall to the Crown & Greyhound.
Visit to Buckingham Palace Garden
We are very fortunate that Mark Lane, (Gardens Manager of Buckingham Palace), who is a member of the Trees Committee, will lead a curatorial walk exclusively for the Dulwich Society on Saturday 9th April starting at 3.30pm. He will introduce many of the unusual plantings, both old and more recent, and it is also hoped some of the later camellias will still be in flower, amongst all the fresh spring growth. This will be preceded with a brief introductory talk about the History and Development of the Garden. Numbers are limited so book early.
Tickets £21 are available by completing the form on page 37.
Dulwich Gardens open for charity 2011
Enclosed with this issue is the 2011 edition of the Dulwich Society publication ‘Dulwich Gardens open for charity’. We very much hope that you will find it both interesting and useful. It gives details of a wide range of gardens to visit – everything from a Brixton balcony to a half acre ‘country garden’. Enjoy your visits.
Notice is hereby given that the 48th Annual General Meeting of The Dulwich Society will be held at 8.00pm on Monday 23rd May 2010 at The Crown & Greyhound, Dulwich Village (upstairs room, access by side door)
AGENDA1. Minutes of the 47th Annual General Meeting held on 25th May 2010 to be approved.
2. Chairman’s Report
3. Secretary’s Report.
4. Treasurer’s Report and presentation of accounts for 2010.
5. Appointment of Honorary Auditor.
6. Reports from Sub-Committee Chairmen.
7. Proposed amendment to the Constitution (so there is an option to increase the number of Vice-Presidents from the present number of six): ‘Honorary Officers. A President and not more than ten Vice-Presidents of the Society shall be elected at each Annual General Meeting of the Society and shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting and shall be eligible for re-election’.
8. Elections for 2011-2012. President, Vice-Presidents, Officers, Executive Committee.
9. Any Other Business.
Note: Nominations for election as an Officer or Member of the Executive Committee must be submitted in writing to the Secretary by two members not later than fourteen days before 23rd May 2011 and must be endorsed by the candidate in writing. (Rule 9).
Patrick Spencer
Hon. Secretary
7 Pond Cottages
London SE21 7LE
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2010, the Chairman’s report and reports of the Sub-Committee Chairmen may be seen on the Dulwich Society Website www.dulwichsociety.com A hard copy may be obtained by application to the Secretary. Following the meeting wine will be served.
Good News for late-night revellers
There is good news for commuters and late night revellers from British Rail. The new Winter timetable between London Bridge and East Dulwich/North Dulwich greatly improves evening train services. There are now four trains an hour in each direction right up to midnight. The last train leaves London Bridge at 00.03 on Mondays to Saturdays and at 11.53 on Sundays. Moreover, there is a 15 minute interval service all day from 08.29 to 19.30 to West Croydon, with one change, 3 minutes at Crystal Palace.
These are enormous improvements, in spite of austerity times, and it is hoped the service will be well used by our members. Use it or lose it!
Dulwich Hamlet School to seek to become an Academy
The governors of Dulwich Village School, which is a local authority primary school are proposing to opt for academy status. The change, if made, will mean that Southwark Council will no longer have a say in the running of the school which will be directly funded by the Department of Education. If this proposal goes ahead, and the date set for it is April 2011, the school will become the first primary in London to be awarded academy status.
As a school judged as ‘outstanding’ by its last Ofstead inspection it was invited to apply for the new status in 2010. The main advantage this would achieve would be to have full control over its budget. At present Southwark Council slices off 9%, over £800 per pupil, from this for its own administrative costs and for redistribution to schools in less advantaged areas elsewhere in the borough. It is considered that this money should be available to the school for its own needs.The staff were consulted initially in December and the parents and the wider community at a public meeting held in January.
Dulwich Picture Gallery Bi-Centenary
The celebrations for the bi-centenary of the founding of the Dulwich Picture Gallery got off to wonderful start with the opening of the hugely popular Norman Rockwell exhibition, the launch of the Masterpiece of the Month exhibition and accompanying lectures and with the Friends hugely successful Big Bang Open Day. The Big Bang brought thousands to the Gallery and its grounds to see the pictures, listen to music and see demonstrations of falconry. Youngsters where invited into the Sackler class room to try their hands at painting. An exciting programme of exhibitions, lectures and events can be see in ‘What’s on in Dulwich’.
Repairs at St Barnabas Church
What’s being done to the Church building?
We are replacing the gutters on the roof. The building has, since 1996, lived up to the hopes of the design brief and is a beloved place for worship and fellowship and the ancillary buildings are used every day by the community. The congregation has continued to grow and the new St Barnabas is, like the first St Barnabas, at the heart of our community, physically, spiritually and socially. The only disappointment has been the poor performance of the gutters which has meant that the roof has leaked since the first day of use and this has worsened over the past 13 _ years. We are only now able financially to undertake the first phase of the repairs.
Why is there so much scaffolding?
The highest gutter is at the base of the spire and other gutters run the east-west length of the building. The scaffolding is very complex due to the shape and the height of the building.
When will the work be completed?
At the time of writing we expect to move back into the building in the Spring and use the building for Holy Week and Easter worship.
Does the work mean that there have been no services at the church?
Since November 2010 our Sunday worship and Sunday School have been taking place at Alleyn’s School. The church is very grateful to Dr Savage, the Governors and staff of Alleyn’s for making this possible. The Barnabas Centre is unaffected by the works to the gutters and the Parish Library in the Barnabas Centre has been converted into the Barnabas Chapel, where all weekday services take place. As always, the Barnabas Chapel is open for prayer or to light a candle whenever the Parish Office is open.
Who is doing the work?
Since 2001 our inspecting Architect has been Roderick Maclennan and he is responsible for this project, working closely with Fullers, the builders engaged to undertake these repairs.
Where can further updates be found?
The parish website www.stbarnabasdulwich.org has details of all activities and services and these are also to be found in the Sunday Notice Sheets.
Canon Dianna Gwilliams, Vicar
The month of May will once again see the hidden corners and secret spaces of Dulwich fling open their doors to reveal a wealth of creative endeavours. Visual arts, music, comedy, theatre, literature as well as a series of walks and thought-provoking talks will be on offer during the 10-day festival. This year’s programme promises to be one not to be missed so do make a note in your diary to book tickets in April via the Festival’s web-site!
The Festival will encompass two outdoor fairs, first on Sunday 8th May the return of the ever-popular Festival Fair on Goose Green and, to close the Festival, the Dulwich Park Fair will take place on Sunday 15th May.
The Festival Artists’ Open House will again enable the huge array of artistic talent on our doorsteps to be displayed throughout Dulwich. All artists will be showing their work on the first weekend and many will continue with openings during the second weekend.
The Festival is delighted to be able to host an evening with the remarkable ceramicist Edmund de Waal who is the author of the prize-winning biography, The Hare with Amber Eyes. Edmund will talk about his work at Dulwich Picture Gallery on Thursday 12th May at 7.30pm.
A spell-binding evening is promised when Guardian columnist and bestselling author, George Monbiot will appear in the Festival on Friday 13th May.
A huge range of music will be on offer throughout the Festival from jazz, through traditional Spanish music to the haunting tones of the London Bulgarian Choir. This unique choir make a return visit to the Festival in their 10th anniversary year. This year’s scratch choral event taking place on Sunday 15th May will be Verdi’s Requiem; this will be a choral event not to be missed under the expert leadership of Leigh O’Hara, whilst the incomparable Dulwich Ukelele Club return by popular demand to curate another fun-filled evening on Saturday 7th May.
Why not take a peek at the Festival web-site once May is on the horizon and chose an event to delight in this year.
Alpha Hopkins Festival Director
www.dulwichfestival.co.uk
Dulwich Society events during the Dulwich Festival
Ian McInnes will be conducting an architectural interpretive walk on Sunday 8th May – Woodwarde Walk – featuring Woodwarde Road. Meet at 2.30pm at the junction of Woodwarde Road/Calton Avenue.
This year the annual Tree Walk will again be led by Letta Jones, well known for her vast knowledge of trees and plants. Only walk through the College Park Gates, through which you have passed so many times, to find you have missed ten things before you have gone twenty paces. We all know about the loss of the canopy of the Zelkova at the College crossroads, but did you know there are two more Zelkovas within those twenty paces? Not so handsome perhaps, and from Japan, rather the Caucasus. Letta tells us fascinating things about ordinary trees too. Saturday May 14th Meet at 2.30pm College Road Gate.
Brian Green will be giving a talk on the Life and Times of Richard Randall - the eighteenth century musician who, for twenty years was both the organist at Christ’s Chapel and a professional musician on the London stage where he sang many of Handel’s oratorios at Royal Command performances. (see Brian’s article on page 18). The talk will be accompanied by musical interludes performed by Marilyn Harper on the same organ Richard Randall played on 1762. Christ’s Chapel, Dulwich Village 3pm Sunday 15th May. Tickets £4
Lionel Logue, The King’s Speech and Dulwich By Peter Watkins
Lionel Logue (1880-1953), untrained Australian speech therapist hurled into notoriety by a recent film (The King’s Speech) was, for part of his life at least, a Dulwich man. How did it happen?
Logue was born in Perth, Australia in 1880. He took elocution lessons and subsequently demonstrated the elocutionary art to huge audiences all over the world. He came to London with his wife Myrtle in 1924, and offered support to Australian veterans of World War 1 who had developed speech defects from shell shock. Already by 1926 he had established consulting rooms at 146 Harley Street, and it was into these rooms that the Duke of York (later George VI) consulted him regarding the stammer which had plagued him since eight years of age, and which some nine “experts” had failed to cure. Indeed, at that time, some speech therapists were regarded as quacks by the medical establishment, some of whom themselves undertook bizarre and sometimes dangerous entirely unproven treatments including partial excision of muscles of the tongue. Logue himself had had no formal medical or scientific training, and did not record details of the techniques he used in treatment. In time he gained a large practice of wealthy patients with whose fees he subsidised the tuition of poorer clients, on one occasion requesting no more than a bunch of flowers. His practice flourished and only began to decline after some 15 years, but throughout he gave incomparable support and friendship to his royal patient, standing at his side during many of his important speeches. Perhaps this close friendship was the underlying cause of his success. It was certainly to his very great credit that in 1935 he set up the British Society of Speech Therapists and was made MVO by George VI in 1937, and CVO in 1944.
Logue had various addresses during his London life—first at Maida Vale, then a flat in South Kensington where he lived until he moved in 1932 to Beechgrove House on Sydenham Hill at the edge of Dulwich Woods. This substantial property, built during the early 1860s, remained a private home until the end of World War II. It was described as having 25 rooms, five bathrooms, five acres of garden, a tennis court and a cook. On 9th February 1933, the Estates Governors of Alleyn’s College at Dulwich granted to him permission to place a brass plate outside the property “to interview at the said premises a few patients in your practice as curer of speech defects and to fix and exhibit on the outside of the premises a brass plate not exceeding four inches by two-and-half inches size, with your name inscribed thereon, and in return for the estate giving him this licence he shall pay the sum of five shillings at Lady Day each year”. It should also be recorded that of Logue’s three sons, Laurie married in St Stephen’s Church in College Road, Antony attended Dulwich College, and Valentine became a renowned neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in Queen Square, London.
Myrtle, Lionel’s wife, described how her own “lovely house” had become a “calling-point” for Australians visiting Britain. She also recorded that “His Majesty frequently comes to our house – he is most charming”, although whether he actually saw George VI at Beechgrove House is not clear. However, his biographer did record that Logue was listening at home to his broadcast at Christmas 1944. He telephoned the King to congratulate him, and suggested “My job is over, Sir”, to which the King replied “Not at all. It is the preliminary work that counts, and that is where you are indispensable”. Logue did indeed continue to help the King on and off with his speeches and was present on VE Day, May 8th 1945, at his address from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Because many of Logue’s patients had left for military service, he began to develop financial problems during the middle 1940s, and had great difficulty in maintaining the large Beechgrove House. He was unable to get anyone to help, and was not even allowed to use the motor mower, instead acquiring sheep to keep down the lawn. Myrtle died on 22nd June 1945, and Logue sold the house in April 1947, moving to a flat in Knightsbridge opposite Harrods. Beechgrove House was subsequently lived in by a Dr Michael Denny, then became a home for elderly patients discharged from hospitals in Camberwell in 1952, closed in 1960 and was demolished in 1983.
The King died on 6th February 1952 aged 56 years, and Logue on April 12th 1953, aged 73 years. Perhaps his greatest accolade was the press report on George VI’s speech at his coronation of 12th May 1937: “The King’s voice was strong and deep, resembling to a startling degree the voice of his father…His words came through firmly, clearly – and without hesitation”.
Sources. The King’s Speech: How one man saved the British monarchy.
Mark Logue and Peter Conrad. Quercus, London, 2010.
Estates governors of Alleyn’s College, Dulwich, London
Dulwich Upper Wood is a 2.4 hectare Local Nature Reserve south of Dulwich Village adjacent to the Crystal Palace parade on Farquhar Rd. The reserve is managed by the Trust for Urban Ecology (part of the BTCV group) with grant aid from the London Borough of Southwark.
The Wood has been managed by the Trust since 1981 when the nature reserve was established. It is a fragment of the Great North Wood that once stretched from Nunhead to Croydon. It has always been woodland apart from the period between the 1870’s to the 1960’s when part of the site was built on with Victorian villas, predominantly because of the Crystal Palace making the area very popular.
The wood is managed as a nature reserve, educational facility, research area and place of recreation and provides an important oasis in an urban environment that is at a hub of 5 boroughs Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham, Croydon and Bromley. The site has some lovely old Oaks and other species of trees, some of which are upwards of 350 years old. The wood also has some important species of Plants, Fungi and Insects that give it associations with Ancient Woodland. An interesting locally rare plant is Ivy Broomrape (Orobanche hedera) that was found on the site in 1997 and is totally parasitic on Ivy and is only observed when the spike of pinkish/yellow orchid- like flowers appear in summer. Two species of rare Fungi were recorded in the autumn of 2010 - Sowerbyella radiculata var. kewensis and Geastrum striatum (a form of earth star) adding to the list of 350+ species recorded on the site. We also had a number of free events in a partnership with Embrace Cooperation in 2010 teaching people all about practical management techniques, identification of species and recording and monitoring.
Our events programme for March 2011
- 10th March - Habitat and Birdbox making (take home for your garden) 10.30am to 3.30pm.
- 17th March – Fencing: learn how to do fencing 10.30am to 3.30pm.
Places will be limited so please email
Sydenham Hill Wood Local Nature Reserve (LNR), together with the adjacent Dulwich Wood, forms the largest remaining parcel of the old Great North Wood that once stretched from Selhurst to Deptford. The woodlands were managed as a system of coppice with standards until the Croydon Enclosure Acts and selling of estates that took place from the late 18th Century. Forming the main path through the wood is the trackbed of the former Crystal Palace High Level Railway Line, which opened in 1865. By the 1870s several large Victorian villas with extensive gardens were established on Sydenham Hill that incorporated large areas of the woodland. The railway closed in 1954 and the last villa was demolished in 1982, in the same year that London Wildlife Trust began to manage the site. The composition of the wood has been greatly influenced by its interesting social history resulting in a unique mix of ancient woodland plants and trees, Victorian garden relicts and recent secondary woodland.
Floral surveys have revealed that the wood contains over 200 species of trees and flowering plants, which include wild garlic (Allium ursinum), bluebell (Hyacynthoides non- scripta), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum)and early dog violet (Viola reichenbachiana). A lichen survey last winter discovered Physcia stellaris; a new record for London. The wood is also host to almost 250 different species of fungi and a multitude of birds and elusive woodland mammals, including hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) and woodmice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Nighttime surveys have found 7 species of bat feeding in and around the wood. Last year London Wildlife Trust set up a butterfly transect and recorded 21 species of butterfly, including the impressive silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia), and an ongoing invertebrate survey has so far turned up a Red Data book pink eyed fly (Paraclusia tigrina) and a ‘Nationally Scarce’ leafhopper (Issus muscaeiformis). There must be countless more fascinating discoveries to be made.
Many of the wildlife surveys that the Trust carries out in Sydenham Hill Wood involve the help of volunteers. This spring and summer surveys will include small mammal surveys, regular bat surveys and we will continue our weekly butterfly survey. London Wildlife Trust also engages volunteers in practical conservation activities in Sydenham Hill Wood every Wednesday and every second and fourth Sunday of the month, with additional days as necessary. We run a range of activities such as seasonal habitat management including scrub clearance, coppicing and also other tasks such as path maintenance, public events and formal education sessions. Over the next couple of months volunteer sessions will include bat hibernation surveys of the old railway tunnel, installing handrails, rebuilding muddy paths, and planting a species-rich hedge along Cox’s Walk. Volunteer sessions are open to all adults, no experience is required- just a love of nature!
We have a comprehensive programme of events planned for 2011, with approximately one event per month aimed at a range of age groups and interests. The events will include a Dawn Chorus event in April, a Minibeast Safari in May and a Wildflower Walk in June. Details of all events will be published on the events page on our London Wildlife Trust website up to one month in advance.
I have been managing the wood since November 2009 so I am lucky to have experienced the wood and its changing flora and fauna through all seasons. Thanks to funding from Natural England we have developed four seasonal trails for all the family, which will soon be available to download and print from the Sydenham Hill Wood Nature Reserve page on our website.
For more information about Sydenham Hill Wood, volunteering or events please contact:
Ashley White, Sydenham Hill Wood Manager
Tel: 0207 252 9186 Email: