Doing something to feed your soul.
Written by monkeycat | Filed under General
Over the last few months something strange has been happening in Camberwell, and I’m not talking about bingo halls. You may never have heard of it, but there is a rather lovely council estate tucked away behind Camberwell Church Street. The neighbours are generally friendly and the houses are pretty well built, if a little warm, owing to the council’s insistence that 90°C. is a perfectly normal temperature for hot water.
Then again I would say that, I live there.
However, about a year ago we were given £25,000 from Southwark Council’s “Cleaner, Greener, Safer” fund to develop a community garden on some wasteland on the estate. After a lot of talking and discussion with residents we asked Walworth Garden Farm to put our plans into fruition.
The plan is for the garden to be a respite from our busy lives and to be able to grow fruit and veg for those on the estate. The raised beds are in, the path has been relaid. There is a new water supply, new entrance and there will even be a gazebo!
So where do you come in? Well we want others to enjoy it too. The feeling is that we were given much more money than we asked for and expected so the community should have a chance to enjoy the benefits. It is also a much bigger garden than the volunteers on the estate can manage alone.
We are having two planting and digging days. These will be to fill in the raised beds with compost and topsoil and to plant all the flowers, shrubs and so on that will make up the bulk of the garden.
We will provide tea, cakes and gloves.
There are two days:
Thursday 25th March 2pm-6pm.
Saturday 27th March 10am –4pm.
Please come along. Children are more than welcome and we will even have some kid sized gardening tools.
And if that isn’t enough for you there is also the We Love Camberwell campaign. This is an opportunity to get to do something that will benefit locally.
There are many ways you can help out, from becoming a Magistrate to volunteering with young people.
See this website for more information: http://www.volunteercentres.org.uk/welovecamberwell.htm
The People’s Republic of Southwark will be at some of the events. I am pretty sure Lili mentioned it somewhere on this blog.
And now back to the bingo…
Sounds good to me…
I’d love to come along…hopefully (work permitting)
Green things make me smile and feel more like a genuine human being
Interesting one about the garden this. Has anyone done a deep survey of the ground?
Like is it suitable for planting fruit trees? Is their a maintenance budget? Does anyone understand the ongoing husbandry of fruit trees and plants generally? Is there a reliable water supply for the plants?
i’ll definitely be there on either thursday or saturday, just posted it on people’s republic site too — twitter it is unwell which is a nuisance
xxx
By the way,
For more info on the garden see here.
http://deynsfordsecretgarden.blogspot.com/
And yes Mark, we have water, we have little in the way of regular funding, but we do plan to have events throughout the year.
Also fruit trees are in the plan.
Too many Tweets. Whatever they are.
Went to Royal Court theatre at Elephant. Watch out for the season this year.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article7055422.ece
An admirable performance but the actual script didn’t engage me that much. Still, good value and a short event and then on to Dragon Castle.
Great restaurant that, but it really suits big banquets. The dishes are a bit too big and if you order a meaty one and end up with a giant plate of meat it can be a bit overwhelming and samey if there are just two of you.
Also recently tried Ambrosia again. Much better than it was when it 1st opened. Will definitely return.
More useful and topical local info from your longtime friend Phil G.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/mar/15/strata-tower-razor?picture=360427571
I’m sceptical that the new block of flats at Elephant is in anyway environmentally friendly. I don’t see how 40 floors of concrete and glass can be. The wind turbines look like tokenist greenwash.
Edit: most of the commentards on that article seem to agree with me.
@monkeytcat — nice one on the garden project.
The turbines probably don’t do much but they are a good way of identifying the building on London’s skyline. Very distinctive.
No construction is green. The amount of landfill from construction is massive — far greater than household waste etc. I wonder how long it’s going to be before we run out of land to hide this shit away.
Yeah, distinctive for sure. I guess that’s the point.
They coulda just stuck a pink elephant on top. Oh wait…
I was told something rather interesting by a friend that works for the firm of architects that designed it.
The turbines will be powered by electricity to go round. Don’t want to make too much noise for the occupier of the penthouse you see…
However, I am not so sure that this isn’t just an urban myth… I am pretty confident the planning chappies are a bit cleverer than that.
I have a friend who is an architect and also writes an architecture blog…
According to him, the design for this huge tower is 20+ years out of date and is based on the buildings of another architect (can’t remember his name now) from South-East Asia who also designed simular buildings in Australia and New Zealand…
Hmmmmmm…The mind boggles
Our kit car based on a duck skeleton (a duck for £4.93 from the small old Somerfield) crashed into a wall and was written off. The problem was the wishbone suspension — duck bones are just too bendy, so the whole chassis collapsed under the pressure of braking and the weight of the whole Dagmar family.
Back to the drawing board!
The spaceship we’re making from skip wood in our back yard is taking shape nicely and may yet be the next vessel to land on the moon after Obama’s shelving of NASA’s efforts.
The only problem is the snooker table. The balls roll around on test flights over Peckham during a game and we just don’t know how to secure them. Any ideas?
The planets seem to stick to their orbits in space so you’d think a rack of snooker balls would stay put, wouldn’t you?
Snooker in zero gravity. Think of the angles.
@eusebiovic, that figures. Pre-crunch for sure. Kind of an 80s look about it.
Don’t worry too much, it will either get knocked down in a few years or have a revamp.
Carbon offsetting anyone?
Oh the misinformed, hearsay negative comments are so depressing its like this blog has turned into the daily mail ‘have your say’. Strata is probably more energy efficient, per resident, than ALL of our houses… better insulation, smaller roof area (per resident), shared heating and wind turbines that provide 8% of the buildings energy needs. The turbines will have five blades reducing vibration. Construction landfill cannot be compared with household waste landfill for one it produced next to no greenhouse gases compared with the tonnes produced when household waste decomposes.
NickW
I hope you’re right…I can only quote what an architect has told me!
Maybe it’s has been tweaked to provide better enviromental credentials (which is a good thing) but the actual aesthetic of the building is most probably based on an older design
I don’t read the Daily Nail either…or as the late Michael Foot referred to it “The Forger’s Gazette”
I think Strata is great.
We could do with ten of them at Elephant.
NickW — nice point on the gases but that doesn’t mean construction landfill cannot be compared to household. It still takes up far more space, which is part of the problem with landfill, a finite resource.
Given the age and type of most SE5 housing stock I’d be astounded if Strata weren’t more efficient. Christ, a cardboard box packed with straw would be better and more imaginative than some of the flat conversions round here.
A single storey extension to Chatkhara would’ve been far more welcome. We can manage the methane emissions caused by the dhal.
All that said, I quite like the look of the three turbine holes. Gives me something to recognise and point at and tell people about, as if Elephant were anything to be proud of.
Let’s all buy a Prius and move to Noddy Town.
Hi, a friendly neighbourly pointer: The Bear is running a beer festival from Mar 22 to 28. Various events (quiz, music) and promotions. 10 guest ales on.
Let’s not forget The Bear. It was looking pretty empty last time I saw it. We’re spoiled with some great pubs in SE5 so let’s keep it that way.
The Bear had one of the finest ales I’ve ever drunk, Trade Winds, so fingers crossed their quality is up to that one.
Walked past Le Petit Parisien at 7.30 last night, and it was closed. No sign on the door so no idea what was going on.
Hope this hasn’t been posted in the past. An alternative Tube map.
http://www.colourcountry.net/images/south-london-underground.png
Love the map. South London Rules OK!
Now, been driving myself crazy for a couple weeks trying to recall the name of TV prog which appeared late night (Friday?) on Channel 4 in the early 90’s. Quite radical for its time: an adult (not in the pornographic sense) cartoon featuring a young bickering couple (hopeless male and harassed female) and a dog prone to vomiting. It was all set in a fictitious south London district not unlike our own dear Camberwell (“SE99”, I think appeared on the road sign in the opening credits). Not having had a TV for over a decade it may still be running for all I know but please can someone put me out of my misery?
wasn’t pondlife was it? that’s the only one i can think of but dont actually remember much about it :S
which reminds me, there’s another tv programme ive been trying to remember the name of, comedy, channel4 too i think, with a guy in a wheelchair & a seaside resort somewhere dreary & they’re trying to revive this club/pub, there’s a lot of karaokeing going on, i never really watched it for more than minutes at a time, officially it went under ‘cult comedy series’… it’s a newish thing, as in ‘last 10 years’?
@ Liliana
Not Pondlife but so close that it by googling around it I found what I was looking for: Crapston Villas! Thanks. Now off to Youtube to see if it’s as good as I remember it to be…
Lili you are thinking of Phoenix nights. And what a programme it was. Set in Wigan I believe. Took me a while to get into it as I had been living a while in Spain at the time but very very funny.
ah yes it was phoenix nights thank you!
and ah yes i remember crapston villas too very vaguely.
gee, we’re old!
Went past Petit Parisien yesterday and it was open, so presumably just a temporary issue…
Anyone go to this event off Lyndhurst Way last night?
I dont know if anyone else has seen this (or mentioned it on the site yet — a quick scan suggests not) but this could be a good sign that things are on the up…
Clothing retailer Peacocks looks set to open a store in Camberwell — they are advertising for staff in the latest South London Press.
Peacocks is at the lower end of the clothing market but it is interesting that a multiple is looking to set up in Camberwell — wonder where they will go?
An update on the meeting with the representatives of the church here:
http://camberwellcommunitycinema.webs.com/apps/blog/show/3178434-so-how-was-the-meeting–
A worthless offer then. Ask them whether they’d allow a pensioners’ Tai Chi class!
oh re peacocks, dont know if it was this thread or another, but isn’t anyone else really sick of ‘nobody’ knowing anything about any of the empty properties, soon-to-become empty properties, existing owners, prospective developers etc
we seem to keep having these outbursts of ‘such and such bought/took over some place or other’ without anyone knowing anything beforehand? or caring to share with anyone actually living in the area?!
Come on, Denman.
We Are Loughborough Junction on the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8574000/8574716.stm
Apparently The George Canning is being taken over by new owners next week.
Stavros Flatley of Britain’s Got Talent fame and one half of Chas & Dave performing today in Burgess Park. Can you honestly think of a better way to spend your Saturday afternoon?
http://www.creationtrust.org/index.php?siid=13109
Speaking of gardening I see that there is a planting day in the greenhouses of Myatts Fields tomorrow — its running 10–1 and will involve planting produce which will be sold in the cafe in Myatts — there is information at http://www.vassallview.com/2010/03/greenhouse-growing-launches-in-myatts.html — the Myatts Field website (http://www.myattsfieldspark.info/) doesnt seem to have much recent content
Also in Kennginton there is a Roots and Shoots open day on Sunday which looks interesting — Roots and Shoots (http://www.rootsandshoots.org.uk/) is a great local organisation.
Speaking of gardening I see that there is a planting day in the greenhouses of Myatts Fields tomorrow — its running 10–1 and will involve planting produce which will be sold in the cafe in Myatts — there is information at http://www.vassallview.com/2010/03/greenhouse-growing-launches-in-myatts.html — the Myatts Field website (myattsfieldspark.info/) doesnt seem to have much recent content
Also in Kennginton there is a Roots and Shoots open day on Sunday which looks interesting — Roots and Shoots (http://www.rootsandshoots.org.uk/) is a great local organisation.
Tessa Jowell is coming to Camberwell SE5: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2796/4448833107_f8bf204a21_b.jpg
Note the badge she’s wearing… That’s class.
initiative to get the trains back to camberwell & walworth copy and paste the whole link into your browser, as it’s being funny for some reason
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=100650846641310
Two 40-tonne trucks from the mighty Boom Logistics of Holland coming down the New Camberwell Road tonight on the way to Nine Elms Lane, full of flowers, fruit and veg.
BOOM
BOOM
they read as they thunder past. We John Lee Hooker fans always hope on Sunday nights to see four of ‘em in succession. Surely Boom bv of Veldray nl, can arrange it? What a great video that would make with the soundtrack. Thunderin’ trucks filled with flowers.
Tessa Jowell’s SE5 Forum badge is great. Is the Forum as cool as its badge?
For the first time in a few years living in SE5, I got a train from Denmark Hill. Took a matter of minutes to get to Blackfriars. A world away from the crawling buses. Wish I could use the train more often, though I’m sure it has its drawbacks.
10 mins to London Bridge or Victoria, 20 mins to King’s Cross… brilliant. But not easily accessible to people in North Camberwell.
We’ll be on the East London Line in 2012.
Main drawback is the days when the service goes up the shitter, although that’s far less common than accepted wisdom would have it.
@PhilG
I used to travel to work on the train (DH->Blackfriars) when I started at 7am. But now I start at 9am it’s pretty much impossible to get on. It comes from Sevenoaks — DH is but two stops from Blackfriars — so frighteningly overcrowded. Ok on the way home though around 5ish.
Incidentally I signed up to ‘streetcar’ last weekend. Amazing — can book by the hour — cars all over the place, and unlocked via iPhone. Lovin’ it as I cannot justify owning a car in London.
Yeah, overcrowding can be an issue. Depends on your timing; I go from Peckham Rye and the train that arrives 5 mins before mine is absolutely packed, but I always get a seat on mine.
Spring clouds
skip by in the blue sky
like lambs.
Spring showers
Drip on my new tie
Like jams (assorted).
St George — the developers doing the Camberwell Grove development — have sold all five of the houses that they have built. They are going to start building the rest of the terrace on Camberwell Grove after Easter.
Hello. I’m an occasional lurker on here but haven’t posted before. I’d like to join in the gardening project on Saturday, but can’t find any info about where exactly it is beyond ‘behind Camberwell Church Street’. And clues? Thanks
Hello Rhubarb, and welcome. I’ve just realised that the big image at the head of the post wasn’t visible, so I’ve changed that.
In case you still can’t see it, it says:
A Sex Garden sounds an excellent idea. Good idea, Rhubarb. Very springy!
Daffodils
turn the clouds’ grey light
bright yellow.
If you are walking down Camberwell Church Street from the Green KFC and Kimpton Road is on your left. The entrance to the estate is about 15 metres down the road on the right.
The gate may still be grey, they are repainting it at the moment.
See you on Saturday Rhubarb.
I had a look out for the garden, but couldn’t really tell where it was. Is it that strip right behind KFC?
Edit: the new climbing gear in Lucas Gardens looks good. All very clean-cut, mind.
I just spotted in Southwark Life that Chumleigh Gardens has had a big makeover and reopened with an array of children’s playthings. Please tell me it still has its charm, serenity and cupcakes?
So, Monkeycat, what do you have to say for yourself.
The papers are saying that mephedrone = meow meow = “MCat”.
And here you are talking about ‘gardening’, doubtless trying to entice young SE5 folk into your allotment of shame.
Got some ‘plant food’ for this garden? If so put me down for a bag. Thanks.
@Gabe: wouldn’t be much of a ‘secret’ garden if it were easy to find, would it?
@Gay Camberwell: Looks like they have a shiny new identity. New cafe will open “in the summer”.
@Gay Camberwell, it’s not the gardens at Chumleigh Gardens that have had a make over. The gardens are untouched. The new landscaping and play area is where there used to be a council depot on the north side of the alms houses. A new cafe will open in the north building of the alms houses opening onto the new play area, but probably not before the Autumn. This will actually be an improvement to the building as it is now as that northern wall is currently very ugly; the windows are uPVC and there are breeze blocks filling in the old door ways. Previously this wall was hidden by the depot, but now it’s exposed you can see how it would benefit from some work.
The playground and landscaping is obviously an improvement on the old depot, but it would be nice if the new grass mounds could have been part of a much larger play area as was originally the plan. The budget wasn’t very well handled and this resulted in significant changes. This playground and landscaping alone has cost £800,000 which puts into perspective the £4.5 million that there is currently available to spend on the masterplan for the rest of the park.
I really like the gardens part of Chumleigh Gardens. £800K for a playground. Wuh?
@Peter — ah yes, cunning.
There is a sign on one of the buildings in Ruskin Park predicting a cafe but the sign looks really old.
Anyone know if there is going to be one?
Would save us the hassle getting to PRP Cafe.
Meow.…
@Gay Camberwell re Chumleigh gardens. God forbid if these recent landscape developments are in any way a harbinger of what is going to happen to the park overall.
800k for the playground! (The old playground being left to disintegrate and fall apart as no one really used it) Great!!
Whats next hmmmm let me think.…how about a cafe?Yes I know there is one already,which is great,but lets have another one anyway.….
How about a water based nature reserve?
I know we used to have a canal, but that was filled in because of its misuse and the tragic deaths of local kids.
I am sure it will all be different,but if we have already spent close to a million quid on playgrounds,then there aint much left is there!!!
Southwark are classic on promises and then running out of cash to finish projects,like the Elmington Estate Project,that 5 yrs down the line,has resulted in a small number of new houses to be built around Edmund Street,but if you go and take a look,Edmund St has become a derilict wasteland,a graffitti artists dream,and drug dealer/prostitute hide out in the evenings..
So what which part of the park are they going to work on next?Any ideas?
.
@rodengland
You are right that it’s disgraceful the way the old playground was allowed to disintegrate. The new playground is not even a replacement as it is an enclosed playground designed for very young children, whereas the one on the other side of Wells Way was for older children.
The new cafe at Chumleigh Gardens will replace the current cafe. It’s actually more of a move as it’s only 20m away and will be run by the same people I believe.
I’d like to invite you and others to send comments on the new plans to the Friends of Burgess Park. We’re also having a consultation event with the designers on 6 April. There’s more information available here: http://www.friendsofburgesspark.org.uk/12.html
Unfortunately, the links to the new designs on Southwark Council’s website haven’t worked since their new website was launched in the last couple of days. We’ve asked Southwark Council to fix this. In the meantime if you email secretary (at) friendsofburgesspark.org.uk I can send you a pdf document with the latest plans.
*Topic change* I just took this survey to help you make voting decisions based on policies:
http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/
Very interesting. I’m mostly Green, apparently, although Lib Dem on democracy and immigration and Conservative on welfare(!).
I think everyone should have a go at it; don’t feel any obligation to share your results afterwards, although it would be interesting.
Solid Green all the way.
Peter
http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/survey/results/4BAA94BBF2A76
Green…But I knew that already
Alan Dale — I think a cafe for Ruskin Park is still an ongoing project…but if you want to find out more then here are the details…
Tel: 020 7733 5018
Email: friendsofruskinpark@googlemail.com
Don’t forget, garden day today from 2pm.
Got cakes.
I’m three parts green one part Labour. What a dilemma.
yay for cakes. cakes good. i like cakes.
(as long as at least some are vegan?)
i’ll pop over definitely not sure i’ll stay for the duration though
x
You’ll stay just enough time to eat some cakes, right?
always
I’ve come across some interesting information about Val Shawcross, who represents Southwark and Lambeth on the London Assembly.
Val Shawcross became a fan of the the Cinema for Camberwell Green Facebook page very soon after the page was set up. A few day’s later she quietly stopped being a fan without any explanation. First she thought a community and cultural facility would be a good thing for Camberwell, then she didn’t. Now I think I know why.
On the register of member’s interests on the London Assembly website, Val Shawcross is listed as having office space at the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s premises near Brick Layers Arms. More info here: http://www.london.gov.uk/profile/valerie-shawcross/register-of-interests
We don’t know the details of Val Shawcross’s agreement with the RCCG, but there is certainly the potential to influence politicians through the provision (or subsequent removal) of free or cheap office space. This is why this information is required on the declaration of interests.
Val Shawcross has also spoken openly of how the Pastor at the same RCCG church has been an ‘inspiration’ to her in this interview: http://www.wera.org.uk/wera_asks/vshawcross.html
Evidently Val Shawcross has a very close relationship with the RCCG. There is nothing inappropriate about this and it has been declared. However, this link and its potential influence on other members of the local Labour Party in relation to the Camberwell Village Hall needs to be kept in mind. The RCCG are not only very wealthy, they are also well connected.
maybe they’re not aware of just how discriminating & everything-phobic the teachings of the rccg are.
if they are, then that’s extremely worrying.
There’s a discussion to be had among the Labour group about this whole faith / vote issue but it’s not an easy one to hold.
It’s part of a discussion we all, our society, need to have about faith and how it affects us in general. It’s a discussion this country has always been terrible at beginning.
Had some fun at The Sun and Doves last night: http://bit.ly/bwobcv
There was cake.
mark, eurgh! :S :S :S
or why oh why oh why?
what was the occasion & who’s the guy on the right end?
It’s just politics Lili.
I’m one of the people who set up the Fair Pint Campaign along with half a dozen others.
In the pic Nicky is my business partner and Steve is ex licensee of The George Canning up Grove Lane. We are half of Fair Pint’s origins. http://www.fairpint.org.uk
Mandelson was here for personal reasons and we had a brief discussion with him directly whereas previously we’ve only met his policy advisers. It was a good opportunity to bring him up to speed on what’s happening with the pub industry.
i know it is, mark, ‘eurgh’ was just my grownup response
xxx
Good work, Mark. The Prince of Darkness would survive the bomb. He would make an excellent, quintessentially English prime minister, a fixer, a trickster, a modern day Disraeli.
Old Lord Bragg was funny on Radio 4 yesterday. They were talking about Ur.
Melvyn was saying things like, “Ur… er… earliest civilisation… er… urban… er… urgent… er… er…” and you could hear him think as the dons rambled on, “Urrgh!”
So you are in good company, Lil.
But I’m afraid that when it comes to politicking, which is what the game is these days, Mandelson is The Man.
I wish I’d known Mandelson was there yesterday; I’d have asked him about this piece of shit:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/extremeinternetl
Southwark News reports on distasteful political manoeuvring amongst local councillors as they defect from one party to another in hope of staying in power. http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/00,news,18938,440,00.htm
There was another defection a few months ago when Peckham ward Councillor Olajumoke Oyewunmi defected to the Lib Dems reportedly because she hated being in opposition and losing. After all, why go to the trouble of trying to win political arguments when you can just defect? http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/00,news,16707,185,00.htm
Add to this unpleasant mix the ousting of John Friary in Camberwell Green and you have a local political environment as unappealing as anything Mandelson has been involved in.
Olajumoke Oyewunmi — Peckham’s glorious answer to Clay Davis from The Wire. I suspect Mandelson will defect to the Conservative party in some capacity after the election. Not that he felt the need to be elected or anything.
Whilst the skimmers in the city have gamed the taxpayer for a trillion pounds of bailout money — and counting — our politicians have so far managed to frame the election around who is the toughest on plant food. And who can keep the straightest face lying about the insolvency of the global banking system. Even the deficit, by contrast, is a drop in the ocean. G20 simultaneous devaluing of all currencies in 2 years, anyone?
I’ll vote of course, but over in the Westminster village the red, blue and yellow charade is an anachronism.