For May Day this year: a quiet celebration with Maria Strutz, who created our labyrinth in 2013 — 10 years ago! Last December it was renovated, with as little intervention as possible, by our trustee, Bruno Roubicek. After some experimentation, we decided on the simple use of gravel to better define the path. This means that if and as hot or dry weather causes the labyrinth’s grassy areas to disappear, its winding structure will still be visible and walkable. The…
On the second Saturday of each month we hold Workdays on the Green to which all are welcome. Join us at the Albion Villas Road entrance at 10.30 am, making sure you are wearing strong shoes or boots and have a good pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands. Do also bring any small hand tools you may have. This month (as well as the usual litter-picking) we focused on clearing areas of bramble. While bramble flowers are a…
We’ve had a 7-circuit classical labyrinth on the Green since May 2013. Local artist Maria Strutz designed it for an arts festival that was held on the Green (LEAF 2013). Maria created it using stones and twigs and it wasn’t expected to last beyond the festival. But moss and grass gradually gathered and helped stabilise the fragile structure. And Maria has given it a lot of ongoing care. In more recent years, though, with several spells of hot, dry weather,…
We are delighted that Albion Millennium Green is featured in a new book, Green Lewisham: Our treasured open spaces by Candy Blackham. The book, which is full of beautiful full colour reproductions, and fascinating, carefully researched articles was published by Clink Street Publishing in July of this year and there is a copy in Forest Library if you would like to check it out. In the book – as described by the author and publishers – “we are invited to…
Many thanks to Steve Bolton from Big City Butterflies for leading this fascinating event on the Green, which was open to all. The species spotted were Speckled Wood (the most common butterflies on the Green this summer) as well as Gatekeeper (pictured above), Small White and Large White. Other butterflies spotted this summer were the Holly Blue, Comma, Marbled White and the Jersey Tiger (moth).
On Saturday 9 July about 25 young Mud Club members had a day out on the Green. Mud Club is an outdoor arts and crafts session for children aged 3 and over. One of the club leaders, Ellie Weedman had this to say! “What a wonderful day we had! Our job today as a team was to put some magic into Albion Millennium Green!! We truely did! It was a magical 4 hrs of very busy fun and exploring! It…
We are very pleased to be hosting Teatro Vivo on the Green again this year. Do come and join the workshop!
The end of year on the Green is somewhat waterlogged but there is much to celebrate. Thank you to everyone who enjoys the Green, and to our Friends, Trustees and other volunteers, for collectively making the Green a safe and refreshing haven over the last year. We are also grateful for the ongoing support we receive from Lewisham Council’s Nature Conservation team and those working for Greenscene, from Nature’s Gym, and many others. This October we again received a Green…
Walter Hayn is an artist and part-time art teacher living in Penge. He has numerous social and community ties with friends in Forest Hill and has on many an occasion spent time drawing the trees and scenery at Albion Millennium Green. On 19 June, we invited him to record his impressions of Teatro Vivo’s “Tales from the Common” performances. Here is a selection – click on the blog title in order to see them in greater detail! All images are…
Sydenham Common was a 500-acre plot of common land. It was enclosed between 1810 and 1819 and most of it was then built upon. Our Green (for a while, the site of a tennis club) is a mere 2.5 acre portion of it. But today, the Lewisham-based theatre company Teatro Vivo brought forgotten histories of the old Common back to life. In a series of short, interactive performances, the Common rose up to remind us of its great past, to…