Teatro Vivo’s ‘Tales from the Common’: An Artist’s Impressions

Teatro Vivo’s ‘Tales from the Common’: An Artist’s Impressions

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…

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Performances on the Green by Teatro Vivo
‘Voicing’ Sydenham Common with Teatro Vivo

‘Voicing’ Sydenham Common with Teatro Vivo

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…

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Teatro Vivo / Tales from the Common

Teatro Vivo / Tales from the Common

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!

May Day Celebrations 2010 on Albion Millennium Green

May Day Celebrations 2010 on Albion Millennium Green

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…

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On the map: new signage

On the map: new signage

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…

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2020-21 Green Flag

2020-21 Green Flag

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.

Easter on the Green / Primroses

Easter on the Green / Primroses

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,…

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Spring on the Green: Elder trees and bushes

Spring on the Green: Elder trees and bushes

A first sign of Spring is new leaves opening on the Elder trees and bushes. There are several Elder Sambucus nigra trees on the Green, two very near the kissing gate from the railway path. How many others can you find? Recognise them by their pale brown twigs, with corky looking warts along the stems. These are lenticels which allow the tree to breathe. Also notable is that the buds on an Elder don’t have bud scales holding the new…

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Take us on a journey

Take us on a journey

We all know Albion Millennium Green is that special place, almost our own (secret) ‘village green’. There are still a few clues about its former life as a tennis club. But what about before, what was it? Asking such questions often takes us on a journey as one set of answers lead us to a new set of questions. What happens when we ask such questions—knowing that we are leading into a ‘journey’ of discovery? This process can be used…

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