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…
A close-up of a wild chicory flower (Cichorium intybus) on the left and a lovely clump of them through which we can see a wider vista of the Green. Below, from left to right Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare), Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense) and Bittersweet Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) which will shortly develop red berries. But do beware! This is attractive but poisonous plant. Right now, we have ripe blackberries and there are also abundant damsons and plums.
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…
Saturday 19 June 13.30-15.00. Join us for a FREE performance on the Green. What do you love enough to fight for? Discover the radical history of Sydenham, and imagine a better future, in Tales from the Common. TEATRO VIVO bring to life South London’s important radical characters and events from the 1600s to the present day. All welcome!
This year May Day on the Green will have to be marked informally due to C-19 restrictions. So online, at least, we thought we would go back in time to our May Day 2010 celebrations which introduced the Green to many people who had previously been unaware of its existence. At the event we had Morris dancing courtesy of the Dacres Ladies’ Group. The Green’s newly planted orchard of English Heritage apple trees was ‘launched’ by the President of the…
You may have noticed recent additions to our local Forest Hill signage! Three ‘fingerpost’ signs have gone up directing residents and visitors to the Green. One is in front of WH Smiths near Forest Hill Station, one is at the bottom of Clyde Vale and the third is at the top of Albion Villas Road. We’re thankful to Jordan Ogbeide-Ihama at Greenscene – Parks and Open Spaces for the London Borough of Lewisham for organising this and hope that the…
We’re pleased to report that despite the ‘lockdown’ challenges of the previous year, we are once again Green Flag Community Award recipients. The Green Flag Community Award recognises high quality green spaces in England and Wales managed by voluntary and community groups.
Yesterday, glorious sunshine prompted a visit to the Green and a quiet walk on our labyrinth. Thanks to the careful restorative work being carried out by Maria Strutz, this delicate structure of moss and grass on crumbling concrete is slowly recovering from last year’s dry summer and the usual rigors of winter. As I followed the labyrinth’s winding path my eyes were constantly drawn to a colourful patch of primroses (Primula vulgaris) growing nearby in amongst a tangle of long,…
Frog party in the pond / robins and woodpecker flitting between trees / Labyrinth sorted for another day