Smashfest in Deptford

Unbeknownst to Deptford, extreme climate change has caused a huge flood, which will overwhelm London. How can we prepare? What can we do?

The annual free family festival which focuses on science, technology, engineering and the arts is back next week at the Deptford Lounge and the Albany.

It's billed as a big adventure for all the family – comedy, music, performance, arts, crafts, science, engineering, games, activities and experiments… SmashfestUK is an award-winning narrative-driven science/arts festival which aims to widen participation and increase diversity in STEM and the arts.

Each year it focuses on a different natural disaster, featuring interactive installations, games, experiments, comedy and storytelling for all the family.

This year's theme - flood! - takes over The Albany Theatre and Deptford Lounge over half term from 12 - 16 Feb. They will be tackling a topical and challenging subject - a climate change-induced flood that submerges London.

Find out more at www.smashfestuk.com

The history and future of Laurie Grove baths

Things are finally happening in the project to remodel the former public baths on Laurie Grove in New Cross, which is due to become the new Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art. I wrote about the plans a couple of years ago, since when there has been a bit of a fundraising hiatus; but having been prompted to look it up again I see that according to the Goldsmiths website it is due to open this time next year.

If you want to get a look inside, there's an event tomorrow (Thursday 15th) that involves a look back at the history of the building and its future, combined with a special exhibition of collaborative, site-specific installations and coincides with the opening of the Goldsmiths Fine Art degree shows.

The blurb says:

Join us on June 15th, at the Laurie Grove Baths, home of the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths in New Cross, for an evening dedicated to the slippery inheritances of this historic building. 

This event marks the launch of Urban Water Cultures – a series of collaborative public work, organised and supported by CUCR on the urban sociology of water. Talks by Les Back and Sophie Watson will explore the social significance of water and public baths in the city. It will also celebrate the opening of Slippages – an exhibition of site-specific installations. 

The event coincides with the opening of the Goldsmiths Fine Art degree shows, so there will be a rare opportunity to wander around the baths. Slippages is an exhibition co-curated by the Feminist Methods Masterclass, convened by Nirmal Puwar. It features work by Katerina Athanasopoulou, Yani B, Ama Josephine Budge, Hari Byles, Clare Daly, Chloe Turner, and Santiago Rivas. 

Tickets (which are free) are available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/slippages-and-water-matters-slippery-inheritances-of-the-laurie-grove-baths-tickets-34968919981

Smashfest 2017 coming soon!

Deptford's annual family science festival Smashfest UK is back at the Albany this month with a world record-breaking attempt!

This year, things are going to go with a bang!

Unbeknownst to Deptford a supervolcano is bubbling under Lewisham and things are going to get hot! The tectonic plates are shifting, the lava is bubbling, how do we survive?

The team will be building a 5m high cryo-volcano at The Albany Theatre which will erupt, spewing liquid nitrogen at -196℃ all over SE8, and World Record officials will be there to confirm it’s the biggest one the world has ever seen!

Taking place over February half term, Smashfest UK is a BIG adventure for all the family; comedy, music, performance, arts, crafts, science, hands-on engineering, games, activities, experiments…and more!

The aim of the festival is to widen participation in science, technology, engineering and maths through the arts and design, with a special focus on under-served audiences.

And it's free!

Want to know the scientific secrets of Dr Who?

Listen to BBC presenter and author Jon Chase rapping about science?

Or find out all about volcanos?

At the Deptford Lounge 13th-17th February and at the Albany Theatre, Deptford 16th & 17th February

For full listings see http://www.thealbany.org.uk/whatson
http://smashfestuk.com

Smashfest UK is back!

After its successful debut last year, Smashfest UK is back in Deptford from 18-20 February. A free festival for all ages, it features comedy shows, music, film, experiments and theatre, it is intended to encourage exploration of science, technology, engineering and maths through art and design.

The festival is created around a compelling story; a massive solar storm is forecast which wipes out electrical and electronic infrastructure, throwing the world back to the mechanical age: how will we cope without our phones, tablets and social media? How will we survive as our networks, power, transport, medical and supply chains collapse?

Last year's event involved a biohazard spillage

Taking over the entire Albany theatre, including the performance spaces, cafe and garden, the programme includes a human power station, a geodesic dome full of giant ‘Maths’, comedians, poets and astronomers, human-sized mutant fruit flies, a premier of a new play written for the festival, the interactive Solar Storm Survival Unit, a variety show, electric paint, an Aardman animator, survival village building & survival skills, a pilot virtual reality experience and a Mutant Generation Unit. 

There will also be events running all week at the Deptford Lounge library, including the Smashfest UK planetarium, the Mechanical Mobile Phone Exoskeleton, a code-club, a solar exhibition, an artist's residency and a film programme, all themed around the imminent solar storm.

Over the next decade, the UK is heading for a shortfall of more than 50,000 workers for the science, technology, engineering and maths  sector, but only 15% of students aspire to science careers. In boroughs like Lewisham, the school population comprises almost 75% black and minority ethnic students, yet black students identify even less strongly with science as a career aspiration because of its overwhelmingly white, male, middle class image of science, and the multiple inequalities they face growing up, according to recent studies.

Recent research carried out by the National Science Foundation in their Art of Science Learning project demonstrates that art-based learning of STEM works, and works beyond expectation. Harvey Seifter, head of the NSF funded project and founder of the Art of Science Learning firm says "We found a strong causal relationship between arts-based learning and improved creativity skills and innovation outcomes in adolescents, and between arts-based learning and increased collaborative behavior in adults".

Dr Lindsay Keith, festival director & CEO of Refinery TV said: “Science festivals in the UK tend to cater to people who are already engaged with science, and an audience that tends to be ‘non-diverse’. So we thought – ‘why not bring a festival to the young people of Lewisham?’ “You won’t find lectures or debates at Smashfest UK – we’re about mass entertainment, bums on seats and science by stealth! If it’s not fun, it’s not in the schedule – simple as that.”

Find out more at http://smashfestuk.com

Laurie Grove Baths planning application

At last! A planning application to get excited about! 

Goldsmith's College has submitted a planning application for conversion of the old water tanks and service areas of the listed Laurie Grove Baths into a new gallery space.  The initial plans were revealed last year, and the design by Assemble Studio and Alan Baxter & Associates has just been submitted to Lewisham Council. 

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The Grade II listed building is currently used by the college as studio space - the application includes the history of the baths, which date from 1898, and some old photos of them in use as well as photographs showing how they are being used today. I've never been in the building and it's great to see that many of the old features still survive, such as this gorgeous tiling. 

This space does not form part of the current application - it is the buildings at the back of the pools, which formerly housed the water tank and service areas, that will be stripped out and converted into new gallery, performance and public space. 

A number of new gallery spaces will be created, including one in the old water tank, and the building will be opened up to provide a double-height project space at the centre. The bare brick and retention of the steel water tank walls and original pipework will help retain its industrial feel and link to its original purpose. There will be a series of basement spaces suitable for video works or performance.

According to the application: The central gallery is a tall and generous room space which is naturally lit with a central lantern. The ceiling of exposed trusses make it suitable for hanging work. This space is visually connected to the new corner gallery, which is lit with a clerestory window. You then move through to the darker, powerful space of the existing tank, where a new roof with one-sided clerestory has been added to improve the volume and light quality of the space. In the final tank the existing temporary roof will be removed. This is the culmination of a sequence of top lit spaces, progressing from dimly lit basement, to the new insertions, finally to a raised courtyard open to the sky. A new secondary staircase creates a parallel dynamic at the other end on the building. Visitors emerge on the first floor landing which creates access both to the curator’s office and to a bridge which leads into the Lantern Gallery. 

Corrugated cement board coloured turquoise to complement the tiling inside the building will be used on some parts of the exterior.

The intention is to open out the buildings at the back, creating a new entrance to the gallery space and connecting it to the rest of Goldsmith's. Access will be via a cobbled bridleway along the side of the baths.

I'm really rather looking forward to seeing this built!

Smashfest UK kicks off in Deptford

The Albany, the Deptford Lounge and the Stephen Lawrence Centre are venues for a whole host of events for young people taking place during the half term break. Zombies and asteroids feature heavily in the story, which creates a narrative around all the different events.

These events, which start this Saturday, are part of Smashfest UK, a brand new science and arts festival for young people, which is being piloted in Deptford from 14 - 22 February.

The press release says: 'Part sci­fi, part horror and part post-apocalyptic-nightmare, the festival is themed around a gripping story in which an asteroid is on a collision course with Planet Earth and a zombie invasion ensues.

You can follow the story online here. Join in by sending us your own Asteroid Survival Kit list, or sending photos with the #smashfestuk hashtag to @SMASHfestUK on Twitter or Instagram.

Real life visitors will have the chance to plan for Armageddon, whether it’s preparing to go underground at our Survival Supermarket Sweep, singing for your lives at Armageddon Open Mic, simply enjoying your last night on Earth with the End of the World Cabaret, creating a #FRIDGIE for our time capsule; The Peoples’ Ark or taking a trip to the Intergalactic Travel Bureau.'

The Intergalactic Travel Bureau

For details of all these events, and lots more, click here.

SmashfestUK is the first event of its kind, intended to widen participation and build diversity in science, technology, engineering and maths by engaging young people and hard to reach audiences. It is the creation of science TV production company The Refinery, and is partnered by the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, the Wellcome Trust, Middlesex University, and the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

Lesoco's expensive rebrand thrown out after two years

There are times when I think I must be in the wrong job. 

Last week, further education newspaper FE Week revealed what I'd first heard several weeks ago, but which was confirmed when I glanced up at the big red brick building on Deptford Broadway as I passed it this evening and noticed this change.

Yes indeed, 'Lesoco' is no more.

If you weren't even aware of Lesoco in the first place, it's hardly surprising since it was only brought into being a couple of years ago after a major 'rebranding' exercise. The rebranding took place after Lewisham and Southwark Colleges (the latter judged 'inadequate' at the time) merged in 2012 and became Lesoco. Or LeSoCo as they liked to write it (*cringe*).

The piece in FE Week is interesting because it answers a question I'd been musing on - how much were 'consultants' paid to carry out this rebranding?

Almost £290k according to the results of FE Week's freedom of information request. 

The 'rebranding' was done by 'the world's most effective brand design consultancy' (according to its own website) Elmwood. Certainly effective at extracting payment for ageing cordage, perhaps. There was even a rather lame video made by another agency. 

Here's some of the guff that was written about the rebranding at the time: 

Elmwood chose the LeSoCo name as it blends the words Lewisham and Southwark, and was influenced by other amalgamated place names like New York’s Soho – a shortening of ‘South of Houston Street’. (Ah yes, of course that's relevant to a small college in south east London).

The visual identity depicts a folded page corner, which Elmwood says suggests ‘the building sense of anticipation that’s felt when you can’t wait to turn the page to your next assignment, your next module or the next chapter of your life’. (Oh good grief).

The graphic device surrounding the name uses an ‘L’ shape with the corner turned up, ‘revealing an exciting new future’, says Elmwood. The red and white colour palette was inspired by London iconography such as buses, post boxes and London Underground signage. 

Elmwood says, ‘At the heart of the LeSoCo vision is the strong belief that the two colleges united as one are greater than the sum of their parts, setting them apart from other London colleges through their mission to instill students with an enterprising spirit and equipping them with the skills they need for the future’.  (*guff detector goes into overdrive*)

Simone Davies*, LeSoCo director of marketing and communications adds, ‘The new branding reflects our aspirations for the future, it has signaled the beginning of the new: joining two organisations, post merger, in to one to create something new and exciting’.

Since the rebrand things have not gone well. Ofsted gave the merged college an 'inadequate' grade at the start of this year, and in June, principal Maxine Room 'stepped down' to be replaced by interim consultant principal Ioan Morgan.

It seems one of his first acts was to ditch the pointless name that was despised by staff and misunderstood by students. They have managed to re-use the expensive logo to bring it back to something that makes sense, but they are still stuck with a website url that makes little sense and presumably a whole load of other branded stuff that will have to be phased out. Not to mention a big hole in the finances.

*Update: I note that Simone Davies, director of marketing and communications, also left Lesoco in May of this year.

Deptford Fun Palaces

Next weekend (4 and 5 October) there's lots of free, family-friendly stuff going on in Deptford as the Albany and other community spaces create their own 'fun palaces'. 

It's all part of Fun Palaces 2014, a nationwide celebration of arts, culture and sciences which has been created to mark the 100th birthday of Joan Littlewood. Fun Palaces 2014 brings to life the vision she and Cedric Price created for spaces linking arts and sciences, entertainment and education. 

Across two days, a consortium of creative and cultural organisations in Deptford will host an array of free spectacles and activities, alongside the weekend’s central event Source (Sunday 5 October, 3pm), which brings to life an underground world of six forgotten rivers of London.


Created by two of the UK’s leading creative event companies Cirque Bijou and Nutkhut, Source is performed outdoors by circus, dance, theatre and cabaret artists and depicts historic moments connecting Victorian London to pioneering philanthropists, social reformers, artists, inventors and engineers.

The event ends in a 'bring-what-you-can' party in the Albany's main theatre. For more information see listings below or visit the website.

Make Believe Arts Giant Science Playground 
Deptford Lounge
Saturday 4 October, 12-4pm
Make Believe Arts is inviting children/families to create bunting and other crafty delights in preparation for the Giant Science Playground.

Sunday 5 October, 11am-4pm 
The whole family is invited to help solve a mystery of GIGANTIC propositions. Deptford was once the land of giants and the Ministry of Mysteries has unearthed some interesting findings, and the they need your help to work out how a giant from the past got sick!

Teatro Vivo Grimms’ Collecting Agency
Woodpecker Community Centre
Sunday 5 October, 11.45am 
Collecting stories is a family business for the Grimms, handed down through the generations - ever since their great great great great grandfathers, those famous brothers, heard the one about Hansel and Gretel. This year Grimms’ Collecting Agency will be popping up across London. On a mission to assess the state of the nation, the Grimms will be collecting stories. Your stories... Meet the Grimms and share your tales; who knows what you might inspire... Grimms’ Collecting Agency is a performance piece that will interact with a large audience, provide some one to one experiences and offer a performance of a brand new story each time it pops up!

Hunt & Darton Food Fight, 
Albany Garden
Sunday 5 October, 1pm 
Treated as seriously and adjudicated with the same respect as an Olympic sport the makers of Hunt & Darton Cafe bring you Hunt & Darton Food Fight.
Get ready to roll up your sleeves for some brutally brilliant food warfare. After a series of warm up workshops offering activity vital in your preparation to become a food fighter you will be ready to enter the arena. Take note of the rules and rigorous marking system, as there are unexpected ways to win. Perhaps you will be crowned ultimate champion, or be disqualified because your focus face was insincere, maybe you’ll secure additional points with legwork that deemed as beautifully absurd’, or maybe one of the meringues you threw caused the biggest and most spectacular splat. The rules are set, the pitch is painted and the food is prepared – Fight!

Dean Blunkell; Fibonacci Divine Principle
Goldsmiths 
Sunday 5 October, 12.15pm & 13.15pm 
The performance starts with performers appearing and encouraging the audience to view the architecture, apprentices begin to place models of baroque style buildings while other performers mark out on the floor Fibonacci plans gradually a model cityscape is created under the direction of the architect. At the end the ensemble all dance the Fibonacci, created especially for the performance.

Khiyo; Raga to Reggae
Market Square
Sunday 5 October, Midday & 1pm 
Khiyo is a London band that gives Bengali heritage music a modern, fresh sound. Its radical interpretations draw from rock, folk, and Indian and Western classical music. Khiyo is gaining a reputation as a formidable world music band, performing at the Purcell Room for the Southbank Centre’s 2013 Alchemy Festival.

Stefano Di Renzo; Hold On
Giffin Square
Sunday 5 October, 1.30pm 
Hold on is a circus theatre show using slack rope as the base of the theatrical language, exploring the relationship between a man and the system that governs his life.

Source
Cirque Bijou and Nutkhut 
Market Square
Sunday 5 October, 3pm
When London’s sewers and underground system were first created, six tunnellers were sent underground in a secret mission to find and save the sources of London’s rivers before they became buried forever. Now, 158 years later, during building works for London’s new super-sewer, these curious long-forgotten tunnellers emerge, travelling with their giant mobile water-spurting laboratory in a burst of song, dance and acrobatic displays. Cirque Bijou and Nutkhut invite the people of Deptford to join them as they seek the Source, in a mobile, free, outdoor show for all the family. 

Deptford Community Party
The Albany
Sunday 5 October, from 4pm 
A Bring-What-You-Can Party for all the community with live music and performance

Goldsmiths reveals design of new art gallery on Laurie Grove baths site

Goldsmiths University has revealed plans for a new art gallery to be built on the site of the Laurie Grove baths; paid for by funds raised by an auction of works by some of the university's famous alumni.

The gallery, designed by Assemble, will incorporate the black steel water tanks from Laurie Grove Baths. The design 'will expose the hidden character of the Laurie Grove bath tanks and create a unique opportunity to welcome the public to Goldsmiths, enabling them to experience both the tanks and existing building in new and exciting ways' says the press release on Goldsmith's website.

Read the full report here.

New Cross Learning documentary

Lovely documentary about New Cross Learning, the former New Cross Library which is now run by volunteers. Personally I was gobsmacked by the basement full of local history, would love to go and spend a few hours rifling through the archives - bit like Deptford market on a good day!

 

It's also worth noting that NXL is hosting a Local History Society talk about Deptford Power Station on 20th June at 6.30pm.

Find out more at http://newxlearning.wordpress.com/

'Extreme reading' photos needed for New Cross Learning exhibition

Do you like reading in weird and wonderful places, perhaps standing on your head or while bungee jumping?

If so, New Cross Learning wants you to take a photo and send it in for the Extreme Reading Exhibition that is planned for next month. They want to see photos of where and how people read in the most peculiar, strange, weird and extreme ways. Deadline for entries is 28 February; digital photos can be sent to newcrosspeopleslibrary@gmail.com and they will be printed for you. Be creative and have fun!

The exhibition will be held during the first week of March, which includes World Book Day on 7 March. On World Book Day, New Cross Learning will be holding a book exchange, a write-in for the Bridport prize (flash fiction, poetry and short stories) and will have an exhibition of 'extreme reading' photos.

The write-in will start at 6pm, book exchange will run from 6.30pm to 8pm and is the perfect opportunity to pick up some new reading material. Bring along a book of your own (or a pile) and try and convince someone to swap it with you. Refreshments will be available.

On Sunday 10 March there will be another big book sale from 2pm to 5pm.

Underneath New Cross Learning, within the endless catacombs of the Lewisham Historical Society, we have accumulated a store of thousands and thousands of books, and the time has come once again to sell some off! 

If you’ve been to one of our Big Book Sales before you will know that they are among the best places in London to pick up new reading material. Get there early for sweet deals. Hardbacks £1. Paperbacks five for £1. Refreshments will be available.

Cockpit Arts open studios and New Cross Learning AGM & Christmas fayre

News of two upcoming local events - the annual pre-christmas open studios at Cockpit Arts and the AGM and Christmas Fayre at New Cross Learning (formerly New Cross Library).

Cockpit Arts Open Studios

7-9 December 2012

£3 entry (free on Friday) 

Friday 11-9

Sat, Sun 11-6

I usually make an effort to get round Cockpit Arts at least once a year and usually find at least one or two great presents. It's well worth the effort, especially if you haven't been before, and even if you don't have any money to spend it's a fascinating opportunity to meet some very skilled crafters and admire their gorgeous creations.  

However I do have to take issue with the way Cockpit Arts is promoting the studios on the website as being 'a stone's throw from glorious Greenwich'. PLEASE! It's 'a stone's throw from glorious Deptford' and a bit further to Greenwich if you like that kind of thing. Anyone would think they were ashamed of being this side of the Creek!

New Cross Learning AGM & Christmas Fayre
Sunday 16 December
AGM 2pm-3pm
Christmas Fayre 3pm-6pm
Free entry.

All are welcome at the AGM as well as the fayre.

The community-run learning space and library in New Cross is celebrating its second Christmas with a festive book fayre. There will be:

• A Christmas tree made of books
• Mystery book bags for £5
• New and second hand books for sale from 20p
• Book consultant service for advice on those tricky Christmas book giving decisions
• Festive crafts
• Raffle
• Mulled wine and mince pies

According to the press release: “It’s going to be a fabulous festive afternoon” said the chair of New Cross Learning, Gillian Hart. “Book lovers should come to buy our books for friends and relatives. We’ve got a marvellous selection, and every penny we make goes towards our utility bills – and keeps our learning space and library open! So it’s not just a gift for your friends, it’s a gift for the whole community in New Cross.”

The Christmas Fair will follow New Cross Learning’s first Annual General Meeting, which will report back on the community-run learning space and library’s first year of work and accounts, and elect a new management team.

DIY home insulation workshop

Transition New Cross has organised a 'DIY home insulation workshop' which will take place at the old Tidemill School building on Sunday 2 December. 

The workshop is intended to help residents install DIY measures to reduce heat loss from their homes and learn how they can minimise their energy bills; it has been organised by Transition New Cross, a collective of locals promoting sustainability issues and engagement in the community.

The workshop provides participants with easy to make insulation adjustments for the house and will cover the following topics and techniques:

- temperature management

- curtain making

- DIY door and window sealing

- radiator reflector installation

As well as learning how to apply these to your own home, participants can get hands-on experience by helping to apply them in the venue. Materials will be provided by the organisers and no building skills are required.

The DIY home insulation workshop

Time: 11am to 5pm

Date: 2nd December 2012

Location: Old Tidemill school (Frankham street, SE8 4RN, Deptford)

Organisers: Transition New Cross and Assembly SE8

The Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to a 'bloggers preview' of the new Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum.

There's nothing I like more than the chance to browse through archive books or read old journals so I jumped at the opportunity to spend a couple of hours snooping round the NMM's library.

The visit gave me chance to try out the new entrance to the museum through the Sammy Ofer Wing - past the huge cafe which looks out onto the obligatory (but extremely tasteful) water feature and to the park beyond. It's a much more pleasant route into the museum, and eliminates the need to dodge the traffic on Trafalgar Road, but does rather lack the grandeur of the northern entrance.

The library is due to open fully from next Monday - it opened its doors a couple of weeks ago but for limited hours to enable the staff to get used to the new archive retrieval system and not be totally overwhelmed by requests. Apparently if the item is on the Greenwich site, they can now have it available for study in a maximum of 40 minutes of it being ordered, which sounds pretty efficient to me.

They were kind enough to dig out a few old maps of the King's Yard in Deptford for us to have a look at, as well as some of the other treasures that they keep nicely filed in their new environment-controlled purpose-built stores upstairs from the reading room.

Anyone can use the library - you simply have to register on the Aeon system here and then bring ID into the library to get your readers card, which will be valid for three years. Apparently the National Maritime Museum is the first place in the UK to use the US-developed Aeon system, through which archive requests are also made.

The library holds about a million ship plans in its archive in Woolwich, which are slowly being digitised in exquisite detail - some 4,000 are currently digitised and can be viewed on the ship plan viewer at the library which calls up the plans and allows close examination of the documents by zooming, panning and so on.

If you want to get copies of material to take away for research, I'm delighted to announce that photocopiers are obsolete as far as the Caird Library is concerned. Not only is it difficult to manhandle large bound manuscripts onto a photocopier without causing physical damage to them, the heat and light of the copying process is also very damaging to such fragile items. The library has a special book scanner that can copy the pages you want and either print them or put the files onto your USB stick.

Even without having any specific research to carry out, I'd be quite happy browsing the shelves of books in the reading room for hours at a time. This book that I picked off the shelf was fascinating with its photos of the British coastline in the late 1890s.

Bathing machines on Margate beach:

Deptford Green School takes shape

Deptford Green School is set to move into its new building at the start of the new school year in September.

Unless you live in that direction it's unlikely you'll pass it, so I've taken a few photographs to show latest progress. Work started back in 2010, here's my post about the contract signing.

The main building is nothing to get excited about - it's a PFI school after all, so they don't spend a hell of a lot on design - but it's not a bad effort. I like the fact that the windows are not all the same size and in a regimented pattern, and the size of them suggest that it will be nice and light inside the building itself. 

The design effort has naturally gone into the main entrance area, where the structure bulges out with an organic flourish and a wood cladding with raised pattern has been applied. A nice contrast to the rest of the block, although I hope they intend to paint the concrete columns, which have a very poor finish at the moment. Let's also hope that the wood cladding is good quality and that detailing has been carefully considered so we don't get patchy ageing of the wood.

I was a bit puzzled by the 'unfinished' bits of the facade that looks over Fordham Park, but looking at the renderings it seems that they are destined to be coloured panels, so there will be a bit of visual interest from this side too.

Tidemill School academy application

Despite massive opposition from local councillors, parents, teachers and members of the community, the governing body of Tidemill School in Deptford voted earlier this month to submit another application for academy status.

The previous one was withdrawn after what the school described as 'a legal challenge', although no further information has been forthcoming about this, and at a meeting at the beginning of May, the governing body voted to go forward with the application.

Quite aside from the arguments against academy status per se, there has been no consultation with the local community about this proposal. This is particularly worrying since the school is set to relocate shortly into a brand new building specifically designed to create greater links between Tidemill school and the local community. The building will house the school, a local library and various other community services in what is intended to be a combined facility. If the school is no longer under the control of the local education authority, it raises all kinds of questions about the legal ownership and status of the different parts of the buildings, and there is still no indication of how these issues will be resolved (or who will pay for them).

It's possible that this application could be signed off within a matter of weeks. Campaigner Leila Galloway is asking anyone who supports the effort to prevent Tidemill school gaining academy status to write to the chair of governors Keith Geary with their objections.

The address for emails is: ChairofGovs.Tidemill@gmail.com and it should be copied to
ruddockj@parliament.uk, steve.bullock@lewisham.gov.uk and cllrPaul.Maslin@lewisham.gov.uk

Please bcc: leila.galloway@gmail.com as she will need a copy for legal evidence.

Many of the arguments and objections are set out on the campaign website here or within Leila's letter which was sent before the latest decision.

Public meeting about Tidemill School

A public meeting about the future of Tidemill School will be held at the Albany on Monday 6 September from 7pm.

Many people - both parents and local residents - are concerned that the plans to make Tidemill School an academy are being rushed through without proper consultation. The two month 'consultation' took place over the summer holidays and the school's governors are planning to make a final decision next month.

There is also a petition demanding full consultation before any decision is made - this can be signed at http://sayingno.org/cms/ or http://www.gopetition.com/petition/38021.html

The campaign can be contacted by emailing admin@sayingno.org or 020 8692 8939

For more information about the campaign visit http://sayingno.org/cms/

Deptford Green School contract signed

I'm a little late with this story but I don't think any of the other local bloggers have picked up on it so still worth highlighting.





Deptford Green School has won the dubious honour of being the first school rebuilding scheme to reach financial close since cuts in the national school rebuilding programme.

The £28.6m school will be built by contractor Costain, as part of Lewisham Council’s £400m BSF programme which involves the major refurbishment or renewal of 12 secondary schools including three special educational needs schools.

Deptford Green will be a 1100 place mixed comprehensive school; the development consists of temporary school facilities, a multi-use games area, a main school and decant from the temporary facilities and demolition of the existing schools and landscaping.

The main school is planned to open 3 September 2012.

Deptford round-up

After a short hiatus in blogging brought on by work pressures and travel, the Dame is back in residence for now.

During my absence I've missed various Deptford-related matters, but as they have been covered elsewhere I am not going to repeat them. We are very lucky in Deptford and surrounds to have an active blogging community, past the noses of whom not a lot can get. I link to nearly all of them in the sidebar, but just in case you have been away too, here's what they've been talking about.

Leila contacted local bloggers to raise awareness of the fact that Tidemill School (yes, THAT Tidemill School!) is bidding to convert to an Academy. Perhaps we should not be surprised at this, given that the school has reportedly undergone a massive improvement and perhaps believes this is a way to maintain its elevated status away from local authority intervention. The concern is the speed with which the school wishes to pursue this option - attempting to complete the process by September - and the very minimal consultation that has been carried out.

Crosswhatfields blog has the full story and links to a petition, along with a rather craftily-Photoshopped illustration.

Caroline followed up the debate over head-teachers' pay with an alarming story about the methods used to recruit teachers in Deptford in the 1800s. This sparked a bit of digging to uncover the result of the interview.

Just over the boundary in Greenwich borough, Darryl has been having a go at the 'rotten-looking developments' that are strewed along Creek Road like putrifying roadkill. He extracts the urine quite mercilessly from 'Bullshit Mansions' (the Teatro development which describes itself as being 'at the heart of Greenwich’s cultural quarter') before Crosswhatfields weighs in with its own two pennorth.

Naturally I enjoyed reading the banter and bile - everyone knows that I regard the Creek Road carnage as the worst kind of visual offence.

Darryl has also blogged his walk of the route of the old Surrey Canal, much of which passes through Deptford and some of the proposed developments.

Meanwhile up the road in Blackheath, the ever-vigilant Bugle has been keeping up with the ongoing debate over Lewisham Council's proposed library closures, which is also covered by the Blackheath Village Residents Group.

As far as I am aware, there is no similar campaign in New Cross. I suspect the fact that New Cross lacks a central focus (you can't really count Sainsbury's, can you?) makes it much more difficult to generate and sustain community spirit, although I'm sure it does exist in pockets.

Happily the New Cross Local Assembly has just invited your comments on priorities for the area, via its survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/newcross. The survey runs till 24th August.

Apparently if you can't do it online you can find the survey at the libraries in Deptford and New Cross. Oh, the irony!

Over at A room of one zone, Marmoset has posted some great pictures and memories of the Dog & Bell in 'the days before Charlie and Eileen'. Personally I find it difficult to believe there ever WAS a time before Charlie and Eileen!

Finally, a review of 'Deptford's finest' Athlete, playing at the Old Royal Naval College. Whether you like their music or not ('accessible pop-rock'? hmm!) it's good to see a name check for the 'ford.