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Focus Autumn 2001 - Menu - Index -
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Friends And Neighbours
As the Croydon Society's representative on the London Forum
of Amenity and Civic Societies, my main job is to receive magazines
and newsletters from as many as possible of the Forum's 120 or
so member societies. I then prepare a "Round the Societies"
column three times a year for the Forum's own newsletter, News
Forum. It is rather like Radio Four's "What the Papers Say"
but does not have to be done nearly as quickly.
In the Forum's early days, I had a double problem - a shortage
of material with the little that I did receive heavily weighted
towards South London. These days the imbalance is still there,
but such a mass of material now arrives that selection becomes
increasingly difficult. I like to include a few comic items,
if I think I can get away with it, to lighten the unremitting
seriousness of the rest of News Forum.
As News Forum is seen by very few Focus readers, it may be
of interest if I report here some of the stories provided by
our neighbours to the north, east and west over the past year
or so. (The Bourne Society, whose interests are mainly out county,
is not a London Forum member).
Pride of place must go to the Norwood Society, a Croydon society
which is older than our Society. Its magazine, The Norwood Review,
has a similar format to ours and is essential reading if one
does not want to miss any of Hugh Byford's historical articles.
His latest piece is on the little-known Croydon composer, William
Hurlstone. The editor, Nicholas Reed, is also a local historian,
author of an attractive series of small books on French artists
who painted local views, e.g. Pissarro at Crystal Palace. The
Norwood Society is on the moderate wing of the Crystal Palace
Campaign, not opposing a new building in principle but objecting
to the blatant commercialism of what Bromley tried to do.
Staying with Crystal Palace, the Dulwich Society has always
been one of Bromley's fiercest critics. The Summer issue of its
newsletter (also edited by Nicholas Reed) welcomed the recent
victory, seeing it as evidence that the era of the multiplex
is already passing. The magazine also contained a valuable feature
by Audrey Hammond, who managed to provide in only twelve pages
a vivid topography and social history of the area, a critique
of the one-way system for The Triangle and thirteen drawings
from her beautiful 1988 book "Crystal Palace - Norwood Heights."
The Herne Hill Society recently reminded its members that, as
well as the famous 'grands projets' of Central London, they (and
we) have two important buildings much closer at hand. The remodelled
Dulwich Picture Gallery recently mounted the first international
exhibition to focus on Murillo's Scenes of Childhood - street
children and famished dogs competing for a living in C17 Seville.
A mile away, the Horniman Museum celebrated its centenary this
year and looks forward to the completion next Spring of an exciting
new extension, part-funded by a £13 million Lottery Grant,
which will include four new galleries, a cafe, a shop and an
education centre.
I must not fail to mention the Streatham and Sydenham Societies,
though many of us regularly see their magazines. The Streatham
Society's greatest concern is Streatham High Road and its inadequacies
as a town centre. The Sydenham Society's representative on the
London Forum served for many years as its highly efficient Events
Organiser. When no longer able to represent that Society, he
formed his own tiny society so that he could continue as a Forum
member!
Turning eastward, we have links with two societies in Bromley.
The Chislehurst Society is a large and vigorous organisation,
which manages to publish two newsletters, Chislehurst Report
three times a year and The Cockpit, with a more historical approach,
twice a year. Although a longish drive from Croydon, Chislehurst
is only a short flight away, so the Society shares our concern
over expansion plans for Biggin Hill.
The St Mary Cray Action Group's area of benefit includes Orpington,
the River Cray having its source in the lakes of Priory Gardens
north of the High Street. Members were amused to note when visiting
the "I,000 Years of Bromley" exhibition at Bromley
Central Library last year that by far the oldest feature of what
is now the London Borough of Bromley is the Cray Valley, which
pre-dates the last millennium by many years.
Looking west, the Sutton and Cheam Society presents its own Design
Awards, actively supported by the Council - an interesting contrast
with how things are done in Croydon. Topics covered in its latest
Newsletter include delays to the proposed Millennium Gardens
in the Town Square, the Inspector's report on the UDP (Croydon
has only just produced its first draft) and the innovative Beddington
Zero Energy Development (BedZED) at Hack bridge, where the first
residents are now moving in.
The Wimbledon Society was formed 98 years ago as the John Evelyn
Society. It has about 90 active members representing over 1,000
households and its own very professional museum and meeting room
in Wimbledon Village. As with us, town centre redevelopment is
a major issue and the Society has achieved some important modifications
to the original plans for The Broadway. Its Chairman, Martyn
Harman, is also a leading member of the London Forum.
Finally, the John Innes Society represents Merton Park, a
large Conservation Area just this side of Wimbledon. It takes
its name from a local businessman, who ran the Council for many
years, achieving far more than the eponymous compost. An article
in a recent Newsletter marked the fiftieth anniversary of the
Festival of Britain - a national event in which Merton did its
bit. The parallels with last year's Millennium Exhibition are
striking - a derelict riverside industrial site, "temporary"
buildings including a dome (of discovery in '51) and the expenditure
of vast sums of public (or Lottery) money on an attempt to capture
the spirit of a nation with varying degrees of success. Local
manifestations included a Festival haircut and Festival relish,
whilst at Clapham Junction Arding and Hobbs laid on a special
corsetfitting event in what they called for one year only "the
South Bank Store."
George Parish
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