Twinkle Park to get its pond back

Twinkle Park at the bottom of Watergate St is one of the hidden secrets of Deptford - it used to be one of my favourite haunts in happier days when its pond was a beautiful centrepiece.

Sadly and somewhat mysteriously in October 2013 it sprang a leak and all the water drained out overnight.

Since that time the pond has remained empty, and has turned into a kind of grassy crater in the middle of the park. Not really what was intended.

So I was delighted to discover that the Twinkle Park Trust, which manages the park and neighbouring Charlotte Turner Gardens, has finally raised funds to pay for the pond to be relined and renovated.

Work on the pond is due to start tomorrow (Monday 9th April) and is expected to take about a month. Twinkle Park Trust is hoping to celebrate the reinstatement of the pond at its summer festival this year.

'Liveable neighbourhood' plans for Deptford Park and environs

Late last year Deptford Folk (the user group for Deptford Park and Folkestone Gardens) got the welcome news that a bid for funding from TfL had been successful. The bid was developed in partnership with Sustrans and proposes a number of improvements to walking and cycling routes in and around the parks - some of them quite substantial projects in their own right.

The money is coming from the 'liveable neighbourhoods' fund and the first tranche will be used to cover the cost of further feasibility studies, with a second slice paid out later for the actual work, presumably depending on the projects being proved feasible - a potential total of £2.9 million for these schemes.

The overall package includes six 'Copenhagen Crossings' (improved road crossings for cyclists and pedestrians) at locations around the parks, and seven more substantial 'interventions' which involve improving existing cycle routes, and creating and opening up new ones, among other things.

One of the flagship 'interventions' which would impact directly on access to Folkestone Gardens is improvement of the existing crossing of Rolt Street, which links the Woodpecker estate (and the pedestrian and cycle route through it) to the gardens.

Although this already exists as a raised crossing, and is on the bend of a road ostensibly with a 20mph speed limit, anyone who uses it will know that this counts for very little. A lot of traffic uses this route as a cut-through, especially in the rush hours, and much of it takes this corner way too fast. There is no refuge or island to slow drivers down, and visibility is poor for anyone coming out of the park, due to the bend in the road and the density of parked cars outside the houses.

Last year Sustrans held a public workshop which involved restricting the road width with some cunningly-arranged straw bales, and inviting school groups and passers by to experience the new road environment and give their feedback on the idea.

During this 'temporary street event' Sustrans also recorded the number and speed of vehicles that passed in both directions - this was collected over a seven day period, 24 hours a day, including the day of the event. Data (which is published in the report here) showed a reduction in traffic speed of around 23% in one direction and 17% in the other at the counter nearest to the restriction. 

I'm curious as to whether this speed reduction would be a permanent outcome of the traffic calming measures that Sustrans is proposing. How much of the speed reduction was down to drivers wondering why there were bales of straw in the road, and kids were prone on the road behind them? Don't speeds just creep back up once drivers get accustomed to new driving conditions? I presume Sustrans has monitored what has happened in other schemes, and I'd be keen to know how it pans out in the long term.

One of the other major projects that the funding will be used to investigate is the plan to create a new cycle route under Evelyn Street, right next to the Blackhorse pub. This route will provide a safe route for cyclists and pedestrians between the parks and estates on the west side of Evelyn Street and the riverside paths and parks of the Pepys estate and Surrey Docks.

It is a collaboration between Deptford Folk, Sustrans, the Ramblers Association, Lewisham Cyclists and Lewisham Council and would create a new route along the line of the former Surrey Canal.

I'm particularly excited about this as when I looked back in the archive I realised I've been banging on about it for seven years now. Seven years! Turns out I've got stamina!

You can read my initial blog post here which includes a photo of the bridge parapet, and a subsequent one here, in which I remarked on improvements to the layout of the buildings proposed for the Wharves development (now the Timberyard) which would make this route a possibility.

It will also build on Deptford Folk's subsequent work which involved objecting against the planning application for the Shurgard storage facility that has just been built at the end of Blackhorse Road. If this application had passed in its original form, the building would have obstructed the proposed route. But Deptford Folk was successful in challenging the application, with the result that the building footprint was moved slightly to leave space for a cycle route on the west side of the road.

With the recent funding award we may at last find out how feasible this idea is, and perhaps even see it brought to fruition in the near future.

More details of the Deptford Folk plans can be seen on the web page here, and if it's something you want to get involved with, they also have an email newsletter you can sign up to, so you'll be kept in the loop. 

Community meeting about Arklow Road ball court

A community meeting is being held this Thursday for people who are interested in campaigning to save the ball court on Arklow Road. 

Lewisham Council recently announced plans to build a new development of temporary housing on the site, but some residents have raised concerns about the loss of play facilities in the area, and want the council to consider renovating it instead.

The meeting is Thursday 20th July at 7pm at the Olivet Baptist Church, opposite the ball court.

Folkestone Gardens and Quietway work

I regularly go through Folkestone Gardens and am often saddened by the neglect and abuse this little park suffers.

With gates wide enough to admit cars at two sides of the park, it often fell victim to fly-tipping and I once witnessed a motorist trying to drive a car through the park on the footpath and flying into a rage when a dog-walker challenged him. Eventually the park managers clocked that it might be a good idea to restrict access at these gates, and the problems stopped for a while.

Where once was shrubbery...

Meanwhile the vicious 'pruning' exercised by Glendale last year saw the bushes and trees decimated to a shadow of their former selves, and problems with rough sleepers using wood from the remaining trees to create campfires does not help.

..now is a campsite

As part of the implementation of TFL's new Quietway cycle routes, the council has been able to leverage some funds to make improvements to Folkestone Gardens, and both of these projects are under construction concurrently, albeit at a snail's pace.

A new skateboard park is being built at the east end of the gardens, as part of a scheme that was intended to make much better use of space in what was originally a somewhat sprawling play area. This came out of an initiative by a youth group who successfully applied for a grant of £50k towards improvements to the piss poor skate ramps that were already in the park. The council weighed in with a further £225k from section 106 funds and carried out a consultation exercise about what it proposed for the new 'skate and play' park.  

The consultation document had some plans of how the skate and play park would look.

Unsurprisingly, given the name, and the published plans, local people were expecting that there would be some new 'play' as well as some new 'skate'. Now that the work is almost finished, however, it has become clear that the new 'play' is just the old 'play' in a smaller area. 

Promises of new equipment have not materialised, and it seems that the contractors have just lifted the old play equipment and moved it to the other side of the play area. 

One beacon of hope is that the disused toilet block next to the road has been given planning permission to be refurbished and opened as a cafe. I suspect a new roof may be necessary, but it will be good to have this rotting shell brought back to life.

As far as the 'Quietway' goes, the paths through the park have been made bigger, presumably to accommodate cyclists as well as pedestrians. But they seem oversized to me, especially the huge junction by the old toilet block - I've been using the park for years and the only conflict I've ever witnessed on the footpaths was the aforementioned car driver and dog walker. I think the park would have been better with a bit more grass left intact.

It will be a great improvement to have better surfacing in the tunnel between the park and Gosterwood Street, which has always been a bit of a gloomy route at night and prone to fly-tipping. Let's hope that there will be lighting too, which might deter some of this abuse.

I was disappointed to read in Lewisham Cyclists response to the plans for the quiet way that in Folkestone Gardens they made a plea for 'significant vegetation clearance around the route to make it more visible, particularly on corners'. Well they certainly got that.

I found this comment particularly unnecessary because there are two routes through the park; the one with the vegetation, blind corners and absolutely no lighting, and another one with very little in the way of blind corners, and which is lit by the street lights at night. In the summer I tend to take the former, in the winter I take the latter. They both lead to the same place. There is also a perfectly reasonable, direct alternative on the road for anyone who feels uncomfortable using the park when it's dark.

It does beg the question of whether it's a park or a cycle route with some greenery. I would like to see them co-existing happily, but the recent changes seem to be putting more emphasis on cycle access than on the green environment, wildlife and somewhere that can be quietly enjoyed by all.

As an aside, and with reference to my post about the high street rat-running problems, the initial plans for the quietway included a road closure at the junction of Childers St and Rolt St, but this was vetoed by local people who didn't want to have their driving routes impacted. I thought it was a great idea and suspect if it had gone ahead we wouldn't now be faced with the continued problem of rat-running on the high street! 

The Lord Clyde

The past months I've been watching the refurb of the Lord Clyde, a rather grand old Victorian pub which remains as the only sign of its era in a sea of 70s maisonettes and tower blocks and boxy 80s cul-de-sac housing. It's been a bad couple of weeks for Lewisham pubs so it's nice to have something good to report.

The building was saved in 2012 when the council refused an application to demolish it and the planning inspectorate subsequently upheld this decision after the developer appealed. The appeal was dismissed and the council's decision upheld, largely on the grounds of the heritage value of the building.

In its former state

The first application was to demolish the old pub and build a three-storey block of seven two-bed flats, on the grounds that the pub contributed little to the community. A campaign by the pub landlord, and support from the clubs that used the gym on the first floor to train local youngsters in boxing skills, proved otherwise. Although it was saved from demolition, the boxing gym closed its doors in 2013 and the pub eventually closed too when it was put up for sale.

A revised application approved last year gave permission for construction of an extension on the rear of the building for use as a gym, and conversion of the upper floors into one two-bed and two one-bed flats. The conditions of approval not only required the ground floor to be retained as a pub, but also put conditions on the type of replacement windows to be used and the external refurb.

Having seen the building going through the refurb process I was initially quite disturbed when the signs disappeared - not only the ones at ground floor level, but also the pub name on top of the building. Happily they have now been replaced/replicated in identical form - even the painted 'Home of the world-famous Malony's Fight Factory' has reappeared over the side doors.

The brown ceramic tiles on the pub facade have been cleaned/repaired/replaced and now shine in the sunshine like warm chocolate, and the replacement/refurbed windows give the place a really smart appeal that was sadly lacking before. Having seen the damage that has been caused to the tiles on the facade of the former Deptford Arms by Paddy Power, it's good to know that there is another way.

I spend a lot of time scrutinising reports by Lewisham Council's planning department and/or decisions by the planning committee and more often than not, the process does not end in applause, but credit where credit is due. On this occasion - and judged purely on appearance at this stage - the outcome seems to be a win and is a welcome reminder that objections can occasionally have an impact. The council's planning officers seem to have kept on the ball in ensuring that conditions were met, and that the quality of materials was up to scratch.

I used to feel depressed when I passed this pub - its peeling paint and dirty exterior made it look like a slow death was the only possible end. Now I have a renewed optimism that it could have a future.

Whether or not my optimism will be rewarded remains to be seen - although the planning application was originally submitted in the name of Safeland PLC, presumably the owner in April 2014, the building went up for auction in July 2014, and I don't know what the outcome was (if anyone does, please add in the comments).

The guide price was just £350k, hence the addition of three flats is likely to pay back the buyer's investment in no time, but it will take a determined and imaginative landlord to make a success of a pub on this site, especially considering that the rent/lease will be a lot higher than before. But not impossible in my opinion - let's hope there's someone out there who's up for it.

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.

The Job Centre

As a now-regular haunt for me, I've been meaning to write about the Job Centre pub for some time. It has comfortably found its place in my social life, being sufficiently convenient that I can just drop in for a pint at early doors, and close enough that I can roll home without much bother if I end up staying for 'just one more'.  

As with many of Antic's pubs it's a work in progress, and every time I went for the first couple of months I noticed one or two improvements. The most important - addition of the kitchen - still hasn't happened yet but we are regularly assured it won't be long.

Until then I'm happy to go for the beer alone - it's well chosen and well kept, there is always a selection of two or three available. Usually it's properly poured and topped up without the need to request it. As well as local brews such those from the Brockley Brewery, there have been several from Portobello Brewery and even one of my favourite out-of-town brews, Jaipur from Thornbridge. I always have to remember that more than one pint of the latter is not a good idea however, since is has the lethal combination of high ABV and the innocent, subtle flavour of something much weaker.

A lot has been written about Antic's choice of moniker for the pub - I would have preferred the Labour Exchange if I'm honest; while I don't have a problem with them naming the pub after what formerly occupied the building, I reckon giving it a more archaic name might have reduced the ammunition for those who think it was in bad taste.

That being said, the Job Centre was closed several years ago, despite protests from local people and a campaign run by the PCSU. The building has been empty/squatted/used by an art collective on a short-term lease ever since then, and it's great to have a new business that brings people to the high street in the evenings.

I'm personally very happy to have a new pub on the high street - not only does it double the number of such establishments in the high street, it also means there's one I actually want to patronise now.

All the guff that has been written about it being a hipster joint is nonsense - I'm a regular customer and every time I go in there I see one or other of the locals, from shop keepers and market stall holders to former regulars at the Royal Albert who now have a more convenient watering hole. It does have its share of moustachioed scooter-toting customers but no more than anywhere else, including Deptford's most famous old-school pub, the Dog & Bell.

It has a pretty spacious interior and the tables and chairs actually seem less shabby and a bit more stable than those in some of Antic's other establishments. They have DJs playing records (yes, proper records!) most nights; after a slightly shaky start they seem to have got the volume sorted out.

The back yard - it cannot in all honesty be referred to as a garden - is now more or less tidy and clean, and there's half a dozen picnic tables out there, one under a gazebo, for the smokers.

Once the kitchen is up and running I look forward to checking out the menu - I have tested the pork pies and piccalilli and found the current offer a little wanting. My discerning taste in pickles is the stuff of legend, let's be honest, so I am eagerly anticipating the time when I can feast on warm, home-baked sausage rolls* with something a bit more challenging on the side than Haywards preserves.

*Updated: almost as soon as I published this post I heard that my feedback to the management about the pork pies had been heeded, and that they are now shipping in sausage rolls from the Albert. Hopefully still warm. I'll be heading down there in a peckish state in the near future to check them out. 

Deptford - popping out all over

One of the most overused phrases of the last couple of years has got to be 'pop-up', particularly in relation to shops/restaurants and bars. I'm not sure who first popped up (sorry!) with the concept, but I don't really see what's wrong with the myriad of other phrases and words that could be used to describe the same thing - temporary, one-off, short-term, seasonal, weekend, Sunday morning blah blah blah.

It's been used and misused heavily for some time now, so I think it's time we piped down with the popping up and went back to more appropriate terms.

Deptford seems to attract more than its fair share of such temporary bars and restaurants, presumably because it's blessed/blighted with a whole heap of short-term locations begging for 'meantime uses' /developers happy to sponsor such ventures to create a buzz around a place where they are trying to flog apartments and which has traditionally been a hard sell (- 'foodwashing' as Crosswhatfields dubbed it). 

But enough about terminology - what's on where and for how long? 

Presumably Deptford Twinkle - a 'riverside pop-up bar in sunny Deptford serving tasty cocktails, craft beer and south east London charm' takes its name from Twinkle Park at the bottom of Watergate Street even though it's not actually in the park. It sounds like this venture will be on the riverfront of the redeveloped Paynes & Borthwick wharf - go between the buildings and you'll find a rather nice terrace with some planted water features and views across the river and downstream to Greenwich.

Do take a jumper though, the terrace faces north/north east so there's no chance you will be sipping your cocktails in warm evening sunlight I'm afraid.

Deptford Twinkle (@deptfordtwinkle) is open two weekends only - 15th-17th August and 22nd-24th August. From 5pm-10.30pm on Fridays; 2pm-10.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Happy hour is 5pm-7pm every day.

Deptford Brunch Club

This venture - a weekly 'brunch club' in the heart of Deptford - is organised and promoted by Lewisham Council and seems to have a reasonable level of funding behind it as it is running every Sunday until October.

I missed blogging about the original launch of this in June due to other commitments, but according to the council's press release the intention is 'to enhance the town centre's morning offer' and each Sunday showcases a new chef and new menu. It's being organised in conjunction with Grub Club, which is an online platform for supper club (or brunch in this case) promotion.

I haven't been so I can't comment on the quality of the food - looking at the menus on offer they certainly seem to be diverse and interesting and happily there's some very good feedback on the website.

The ticket price - £18 for this Sunday - does seem steep but since most of them now involve unlimited rum cocktails, or similar, as well as three courses, that's probably not bad for what you get. It's also quite modest compared to a lot of the other offers on the Grub Club site, although the vast majority of those are not at the mercy of the weather, nor are they presumably being subsidised by the local authority.

My main problem is the place and time - the idea of sitting in a tent in Giffin Square for Sunday lunch/brunch (it goes on till 5pm that's tea time if you ask me!) just does not appeal, although that could be a case of familiarity breeding contempt. I'm also not sure what it brings to the high street, apart from something to gawp at. Some of the high street shops do open on Sunday, but there's by no means enough to make it a draw for visitors to hang around afterwards, and of course there's no market, making the general atmosphere rather underwhelming.

I'm really struggling with this one. I am happy that the council is spending money trying to promote the high street, but I just think this venture is way off target. The culinary tours they funded last year seemed much more attractive and interesting, and a great way to get people experimenting with different tastes and using the local shops. Yo Yum Tum even made a film about one of the tours, which features my favourite store - Housewives Cash n Carry!

Beer Box

A bit out of the manor this one, but potentially another good stopping off point if you are fond of an evening bike ride around the Greenwich peninsula.

It's two-storey bar outside the O2, which is made out of shipping containers and has a roof terrace, serves Meantime beers and is presumably intended to host bands now and again, like the one that played at its launch. This is very much developer-led; Meantime is working with peninsula developer Knight Dragon on this, and it doesn't really count as pop-up to be honest, since it's due to be there for three years at least.


Little Nan's Bar

Of course the most famous 'pop-up' which everyone thought was here to stay in Deptford for good - Little Nan's Bar - was ejected from its tea-cup laden, antimacassar-strewn home on Deptford Broadway in an unseemly hurry last month, causing a great outcry among loyal fans.

Until they find a new place - back in Deptford, let's hope, we need its special brand of charm and eccentricity - it seems they will be popping up in Birdie N*m N*m's cafe (sorry I loathe the N*m word)  in New Cross.


Update: I forgot to mention this pop-up on the eastern side of the Greenwich peninsula http://thejettygreenwich.co.uk/whats-on/ 

Dance performance in some shipping containers and 'the most unique bar in London' (yes really, most unique ffs) on an old jetty downstream of the 02. As with Deptford Twinkle you'd be advised to bring a cardy if you want to sit on the jetty and have a cocktail.

Anyway that's enough from me, time I was popping off. Please feel free to share any other local pop ups in the comments.

Recent happenings in and around Deptford

This blog has been shockingly neglected the last few months with my paid work taking up the vast majority of my spare time. Apologies to those of you who have missed getting your fix of cynical sarcasm - I've been keeping up on Twitter but hope to get the blog back to a respectable level of regularity in the coming months.

Of course things move on in Deptford even when bloggers are otherwise engaged, but happily we have a good complement of local voices to cover a lot of the events so I don't feel too bad, you are in capable hands with Crosswhatfields, Brockley Central and the Greenwich Phantom. Even 853 strays down to Deptford from Charlton occasionally, most recently to wade into the Job Centre row.

There's a whole host of upcoming events, new initiatives and places to review that have sprung up since I last did any serious blogging, so I have a lot of catching up to do. There's also a good few stories bubbling under that I hope to do some digging into, and of course you'll no doubt get a dose of my ramblings on new public realm in and around Deptford.

In the meantime, here's some upcoming events, new initiatives and recent stories that have popped up in the last month or so. I apologise in advance for the surfeit of exclamation marks, I was a little overcome by emotion and excitement at my first blog post for weeks.

Deptford Community Garden (aka Deptford Open Garden) on Crossfields St/Coffey St has just been launched, only to find Thames Water are due to start digging trenches around them. In a strange quirk of serendipity the garden group seem to have found a helpful and flexible attitude in their dealings with Thames Water that was sadly lacking from the council contacts supposedly there to facilitate the project.

New Deptford Cinema project! How exciting - plans to start an independent cinema in a disused shop on Deptford Broadway, right opposite the site where the Odeon was originally located! Sadly I missed the first meeting due to total ignorance - I never walk past the shop and I wasn't aware of the meeting, so I'll just have to rely on someone putting something in the comments to tell me how it went! (go on, you know you want to!)

A big row! About a pub name! Move along now, nothing to see here. I'll be reviewing our new hostelry in due course - both the arrival of the pub and my review are long overdue.

Plans for a user group for Brookmill Park, reported on Brockley Central. One of my favourite little Deptford secrets, love to look out for the kingfishers and herons as I ride through this little green strip of parkland. Meet at the park-keeper's shed on Wed 27th August, 6pm, if you are interested. More details on the BC post.

Free entry to the Fan Museum on 2 August! I've been told this is a fantastic museum by everyone I know who's been, shamefully I haven't made it yet but I certainly intend to. The community open day offers free admission for all Royal Greenwich and Lewisham borough residents, bring ID such as driving licence, utility bill etc. There are curator-led mini tours throughout the day, fan-making demonstrations, kids activity trails and refreshments in the Orangery.

4-17th August 2014: Seventh Greenwich Annuale at Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place, SE10 8RS
Mon-Fri 9.30am-5.30pm, Sat, Sun 1pm-5pm
Photographic exhibition by the Greenwich Satellite Group of London Independent Photography.

There are also special events - on 7 Aug at 7pm an exhibition critique by Elisabeth Blanchet and Mandy Williams, and on 14th August they have a Pecha Kucha (a series of presentations of 20 slides, 20 seconds each) from 7pm onwards.

New Cross Learning celebrates winning a two-year lease from the council! New Cross Learning is celebrating with our charity Bold Vision after winning a two-year lease from Lewisham Council, starting Thursday 17  July. It has been nearly three years since a group of volunteers backed by local charity Bold Vision took over the running of the former New Cross Library, and turned it into New Cross Learning which has a full Lewisham Library service with 5,000 books, and offers community internet access  - and much more besides. Read more on the link above...

And finally, for now, the thorny issue of river crossings. TfL wants to hear your views about options for river crossings in East London. You can take part in the survey via this link until 12 September.

The London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, on the other hand, is being shamelessly partisan in coming out with its own design for a new highway bridge for us lot downriver. A rather fugly one if I might be so bold - the influence of the architects on this design is undeniably apparent. The impacts the LCCI quotes make no mention of pollution - you might want to remind yourself of the current situation on our roads by visiting No to Silvertown Tunnel website.

Incidentally I see from the LCCI's facebook page of the launch, our own deputy mayor Alan Smith was present at the launch, where he asked a question. I wonder if it was about pollution - can anyone enlighten me?

That's it for now folks. Having discharged my duty to the community in listing a good proportion of the stuff that's been sent to me, along with stuff I've lifted from other bloggers, I look forward to spending my next lunch hour casting a caustic eye over our latest local public realm etc.

Charlotte Turner Gardens

The recent Twinkle Park summer fayre which was intended to celebrate completion of the works in Charlotte Turner Gardens prompted me to take a look around this little piece of park to see what has been done and what I thought of it.

Charlotte Turner Gardens and Twinkle Park are both leased by the Twinkle Park Trust from the council, and the renovation work that has been done has been developed and funded by the trust, which has worked with the local community (and whose board includes local tenants and residents). 

The details of the full plans can be seen on this drawing - as well as landscaping and new features, existing features have been renovated or improved, and a new play area for toddlers has been created. Quite a few new trees - mostly cherry and local apple varieties - have been planted around the sides of the park. 

What always puzzles me about this park - and my recent visit was no exception - was the lack of use it seems to get. Aside from a few sallow looking youths hovering around the benches on an evening, I can't recall ever having seen anyone else using the park.

On the other hand, it's not really on my way to anywhere, so I've only ever walked through it about three times in ten years of living in Deptford, so that probably doesn't really prove anything!

All the same, I visited on a Sunday afternoon, and would have thought that would be a prime time for families to be out using the park and exploring its new features. I do hope it gets more use than I have seen.

The new play area for toddlers is at the south end of the park, and consists of a series of wooden stumps of various heights, some rocks, a wooden 'sea monster' with humps behind it, a raised wooden platform and two 'sound pipes' that I assume you can talk into and be heard from one to the other. In all honesty I can't remember what was in this fenced area before - let's hope for the sake of the toddlers it wasn't the dog run. 

There's also some new planting, including a load of lavender plants against the fence which separates the park from the road. In due course these should grow up and create a nice fragrant border to the park.

Around the park some new features have been created - one is some very subtle landscaping with two low embankments created with a length of low wooden fencing and earth mounds - intended to partially enclose an area of grass that can then be used for ball games and so on. I was a bit flummoxed when I saw the first one, but when I noticed the other (they really are very subtle) I clocked what it was for. 

The 'trim trail' has been improved with some new features that have rubber mesh around them to prevent the grass getting worn - the grass grows up through the mesh.

Every park has to have a table tennis table these days, and Charlotte Turner Gardens is no exception. Considering the use that the one outside the Deptford Lounge gets, I hope this one will be just as popular, although I don't think I've ever seen the one on Crossfields estate in use. Perhaps it's all about location?

Along the eastern edge is a small apple orchard which hopefully will be given the chance to mature into something quite special. I didn't see any of the cherry trees but I believe most of them are on the west edge of the park.

The petanque court right at the northern end has been refurbished and improved - again, no sign of it being used when I visited but I trust it does attract players from time to time.

All in all I think the work that has been done is successful - we'll only know about the trees and planting in due course when they have had time to mature - but I think the designers have managed to keep the intervention nicely understated and the overwhelmingly natural spirit of the space has been retained.

I do worry about usage levels of the park and whether more should be done to encourage local people to visit it more often - there again maybe it's better as a quiet, reflective place that can be enjoyed for peaceful reflection. 

Completion of Charlotte Turner Gardens improvements and Twinkle Park summerfest

Twinkle Park Trust has announced the completion of Charlotte Turner Gardens improvements; former ward councillor David Grant is set to formally open the play area in on Sunday 29th June.

The press release from Twinkle Park Trust says:

Ian MacVicar and Aileen Murray will also unveil a plaque in memory of two Trust members who sadly died within a few months of each other; Jim Murray (chairman of the Trust 1999 – 2012 and Richard (Mac) MacVicar (Trust director 2002 – 2013). 

The ceremonies will open Twinkle Park’s 2014 Summerfest, presenting performances by DJ Stormy, the reggae supremo; Heart of Soul steel pans and Havanna Good Time, salsa band. Other features include activities for children - craft makers Assembly, face painting, Games through the Ages (in recognition the Rachel McMillan Nursery centenary), 'Pimms-a-Clock' and a café. 

The improvements to Charlotte Turner Gardens encompass both environmental and leisure assets. Veolia have funded a toddlers play area sporting a Viking longship play deck – sculpted by Richard Lawrence, Greenwich sculptor - facing a sea monster, to reference Greenwich’s long relationship and dependence on the nearby River Thames. 

Other leisure facilities include a refurbished petanque court, table tennis table, central casual play area and a fitness trail. 

A Kentish apple tree orchard has been planted and the natural cherry tree orchard refurbished to encourage ‘scrumping’, other planting areas have been rejuvenated to continue to attract birdlife and other wildlife to the gardens. 

Regular readers of the blog who know my interest in public realm won't be surprised to learn I'm hoping to get down there in due course to see what's been done.

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/

Films, art and music (and a bit of food) in and around SE8

There's a whole host of cultural stuff kicking off in the next few weeks around Deptford - here's just a taster of what's on offer:

New Cross & Deptford free film festival
26 April - 5 May

There's an excellent line-up of free film showings in Deptford and New Cross venues ranging from an openair screening of Skyfall in Fordham Park to The House on Telegraph Hill which is very appropriately being shown at the Hill Station in Telegraph Hill.

The most unusual part of the festival looks like being the 'Light houses' which will be on show in the windows of certain houses in the roads around Telegraph Hill. A great excuse to peer into people's front rooms. Do take the map though, if you don't want to get into trouble with the neighbourhood watch.

There will be a rare screening of cult US underground 60s film,  Brand X  at Goldsmiths College Cinema on Monday 29 April, 7:30 pm (doors 7pm).  This film has been unavailable to the general public for over 40 years and isn’t currently available for general viewing.

Conceived and born between 1968 and early 1970, Brand X (Dir Wynn Chamberlain) uses simplistic television programming of that era as a frame to expose and ridicule the politics and taboos of the day.  Brand X is subversive in that it undermines and deconstructs broadcast TV so that your belief in its rationality is seriously challenged.

The film will be introduced by the director’s son, Sam Chamberlain, who will also be available to answer questions after the screening.

As well as showing some great films, the festival offers a fantastic excuse to get into some of the borough's more unusual venues, such as the former Deptford Town Hall, the King of Hearts Tattoo Parlour and the Sanford Housing Coop.

Most venues have limited capacity so tickets are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sound Tracks Festival
11 May

This music festival is based around the East London Line and features bands playing at venues near stops on the route, as well as acoustic performances on ELL trains from noon till 8pm.
Not strictly speaking free of charge - you need a wristband to access the venues and naturally you will have to pay for your ELL ticket to see the travelling bands.

Disappointingly the organisers seem to have focussed on the hip venues in Dalston, Hoxton and Peckham for the most part, with nothing around New Cross, although there are some acoustic bands performing at the wonderful Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe, and you can experience an 'audio-visual sensation inspired by the northern lights' at Canada Water Library.

Uzbekistan: cultural insights photography exhibition at the Stephen Lawrence Centre.
22 April - 19 June

An exhibition of pictures by amateur photographer Kurshid Raupov offers a view of Uzbekistan's rich heritage through the lives of ordinary people.
Unfortunately the exhibition is only open during weekday office hours.

Goldsmiths & Lewisham: shared histories
24 April - 3 May

The intertwined histories of Goldsmiths, University of London and its local community in Lewisham are to be explored in a special exhibition of works of art and historical artefacts across four sites in New Cross and Deptford.

The collaborative exhibition, organised by the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, in partnership with the Goldsmiths Art Collections and the Lewisham Local History Society, offers an insight into the area as a centre of creative work over the past century.

According to organiser Dr Jenny Doussan, Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths: "Such histories, produced by virtue of inhabiting the same space, are often forgotten, yet their presence remains in the sometimes invisible accumulation of objects that comprise our environs.

"The Shared Histories exhibition restores visibility to a few such histories, bringing the past into the present and connecting dislocated spaces."

Each of the four sites - Goldsmiths' New Academic Building and 310 New Cross Road, New Cross Learning, and The Albany in Deptford - will be linked by interactive technology 'We Curate' that allows collective browsing of objects across all four installations.
More information in the press release here.

Deptford Community Cookbook - live demonstrations on Saturdays

There will be live cooking demos of recipes from the Deptford Community Cookbook every Saturday on the market next to the Codfather fish shop from about 11am onwards. And live cooking demos means...free samples!

Twitter account @deptfordmarket has more information (or alternatively follow @deptforddame for all your Deptford gossip and news!).

and finally (as they say)... classical music in a pub stylee

The Night Shift: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the Amersham Arms
23 April

If you like classical music but hate the stuffy atmosphere of concert halls, this could well be for you. As the marketing blurb explains (in a somewhat flowery rhetoric): "The Night Shift returns to crush the rules of classical music like the fragile hearts of weeping Beliebers, for a night where audiences can drink, chat and clap when they want.

"With a programme also featuring classical A-Listers Handel and Purcell, it’s a rare opportunity to hear some of the world’s greatest composers played by top performers, in a relaxed pub atmosphere. Presented by James Redwood, the OAE players will also be improvising a new piece inspired by the music of the evening. There’ll even be a few drinking songs to finish the night off."

Freeze leisure centre prices for a year - with your library card!

Just came across this today and since I haven't seen it publicised much at all I thought other locals might  be interested in knowing.

Prices at Lewisham's leisure centres are due to rise on 1 April by 9% but if you have a valid Lewisham library card you can use the Fusion leisure centres at the old rates for a whole year! 

Full details are here - the main points are that your library card must be activated and working by 31 March in order to take advantage, and you must take it with you when you go to the leisure centre.

For some reason it only applies to the facilities managed by Fusion, so if Downham is your local leisure centre it seems you'll be expected to suck up the price rise.

Of course there's a rather sad irony about the fact that with all the library closures in Lewisham you'll probably get more use out of your library card for physical fitness than you will for mental stimulation.

Charlotte Turner Gardens improvements

Deptford's extensive public realm has seen quite a lot of changes in the last few years, with improvements to Fordham Park, Margaret McMillan Park and green spaces on the Pepys estate to name but a few.

Now it's the turn of Charlotte Turner Gardens to get a makeover - this open space north of Creek Road is not in Lewisham, it's just over the border in Greenwich, but it's managed by the Twinkle Park Trust and for all intents and purposes it still counts as Deptford as far as I'm concerned.

(pic courtesy Twinkle Park Trust)

To be entirely honest I've never really explored this green space - evidenced by the fact that I've got no photos of it and have had to lift one from Twinkle Park Trust's new website - and so I was surprised to learn that it has a fitness trail and a Petanque court.

Plans for the improvements were approved at the Trust's recent AGM and they hope to let contracts shortly with completion in time for the summer holidays.

The improvements are quite exciting - I particularly like the idea of planting an orchard and some cherry trees. More of this kind of thing please - perhaps Lewisham Homes should consider planting fruit trees in its many small public green spaces around Evelyn and Pepys?

The main features are as follows:

• A central grassed area with timber-retained mounds at each end – suitable for ball games and all kinds of play activities. 
• A tidied and more attractive area between Carrick Mews and Brig Mews, with better views of the park and easier to maintain. 
• A row of cherry trees, running the entire west edge of the garden, bringing colour in the spring and fruit later in the year. 
• An orchard of old Kentish variety apples, which will also be ripe for harvesting later in the year. 
• An improved surface for the existing Petanque court, with a nearby table tennis table, creating a more formal sports area. 
• A more legible ‘trim trail’, using boulders and timber elements to add to the existing pieces of equipment on the grass next to Gilbert House. 
• An entirely new Toddler Play Area, in the fenced area at the edge of MacMillan Street.   

You can find out more details and follow progress on the website.

Fordham Park planting

Pootling around on the bike this morning I was happy to see that the planting and turf in Fordham Park is starting to mature and really give the park some character. Of course you have to overlook the bits of rubbish blowing around the pathways - inevitable given the footfall - but in general it strikes me as a rather well-maintained public space.

At the entrance from the Woodpecker estate, the shaded grassy hillocks where the spring flowers bloom are still unmown and currently covered by some beautiful purple flowers.

Next to Deptford Green school, a whole range of planting presumably intended to withstand arid conditions is flourishing - the lavender in particular looks stunning, and I was pleased to notice a couple of small sea buckthorn bushes among the grasses and other plants. (There are lots of sea buckthorn bushes - usually fully laden with fruit for those keen foragers among my readers - around the tip of the Greenwich peninsula).

On the east edge of the park a different planting regime has been used, including some beautiful yellow broom which is just coming into flower.

The turf of the football field seems to have fully recovered from its disastrous, waterlogged start. It might have been painful to have the field fenced off for so many months, but it seems to have done the trick in giving the grass the chance to establish itself properly at last. Can't comment on the properties of the field for playing footy or other games - hopefully it's not too lumpy - but it certainly looks pretty lush.