* Whether you celebrate it or not, the sentiment on my part remains the same.

Peter put a call out for a report on Saturday’s Oxjam takeover, and, as I was (to an extent) involved in the organisation, I volunteered to provide the backstage gossip.

The background to the event is that Oxfam put out a call to hold fundraising takeover events throughout the UK – in effect a DIY version of the Camden Crawl. Huge props go to Michael Armstrong, Camberwell local, who seized the challenge with both hands, and put in an incredible amount of work to make it all happen. There were a number of hurdles along the way – the sad demise of the Sun and Doves which was to be one of the main hubs, the emergency works at the Bear – but the final product was, even if I say it from an insider’s view – pretty impressive.

There were seven venues involved – The Phoenix, The Joiners Arms, The Tiger, The Crooked Well, The Grand Union, The Recreation Ground and the mysterious Club Couture. Early signs were good – apparently Camberwell had the most presales on tickets of any Oxjam event ever.…pats on the back all round.

I was venue managing the Crooked Well, so didn’t make it to the Phoenix or the Joiners, but in general, Camberwell was pretty comprehensively taken over. The Tiger was rammed with sweaty hipsters, the Crooked Well had a baying audience for our male burlesque performers, and the Recreation Ground (hosting an eclectic mix of stand up and DJs), had more people there than I’ve ever seen in their current incarnation. And Club Couture – the talking point of the day was how desperate everyone was to see inside…

Too many acts, too little time to talk about them all, but as an event, I think a real local success. With a financial hat on, most of the venues involved (and even those that weren’t) were, I imagine, feeling a healthy glow from their tills. And, while trying not to sound too twee, it was an impressive display of community spirit – the result was due entirely to the generosity of people giving their time for free, from sound technicians to all of the performers, to ticket sellers and the core production team. Lots of them, obviously, looking to do their bit for charidee, but there was also a real aim to provide a showcase for Camberwell. One to add to the annual events calendar, I would have thought.

More pictures of Oxjam Camberwell on Flickr.

The library plans were a bit of a shock. Gone are the plans to bring over the Bermondsy Spa pavilion and instead a new 1980’s style angular red and black shed is proposed to occupy the site. It will sit at a jaunty angle producing corners of unused wasted space around the triangle structure; also almost all the trees will need to be chopped down to accommodate it.  Attached are a couple of renders of the plans by Cazenove Architects.

Next were plans for the Elmington plots. There wasn’t much detail about these but the council are also planning to knock down or refurbish allot more buildings in this area as soon as the Elmington project is finished. The current proposal is mostly 3/4 story terraces following the street layout and with more walkways and cycle-ways. At present it is planned that Edmund Street will have parking on both sides, this will obviously narrow the road so it isn’t good news for cyclists that use that route into London.

Both Maudsley and Kings have building projects on the go. The Maudsley is going to start a new training centre on Grove Lane later this year and due to be finished by 2013. Plans look good from the renders and model (photo attached). Education consultants were also the event to talk about the plans to redevelop the schools in the area including St. Michael & All Angels and Highshore School on Wyndham Road.

Finally the council are getting peoples emails because I think they are planning an event to discuss the road layout around the green. Oh and there was a band playing jolly music. I will update the Camberwell development map with more information on these new projects.

The London Open House website contains details of the buildings open across London. In Camberwell we have various buildings open including the 3 Acorns retro eco-home on Coleman Road, an innovative remodelling of a home to provide full disabled access  at 49 Camberwell Grove, a innovative new home at 5 Grace’s Mews, the new developments at Cambridge House, the Fabrik development on Coldharbour Lane and the pavillion and surrounding grounds at the Temple Bowling Club.

Other events taking place this weekend include the Harvest Festival on Sunday at Myatts Fields Park where everyone is invited to a vegetarian feast at 1pm followed by music and dancing around the bandstand.

And on Camberwell Green on Sunday is the Tropical Garden Fiesta celebrating Latin American music, dance and food

Meet local councillors and learn about plans for your area, such as: Improved homes; New library and resource centre; Burgess Park transformation; Street improvement schemes.

Also it’s the College of Arts MA show next week; find out more at MA Digital Arts or MA Fine Art, which has an impressive list of events.

McDonalds on Denmark Hill want to open 24 hours at weekends. I know that in the past the area outside McDonalds has been marked as one with a high incidence of crime, so I hope that’s taken into account when the planning decision’s being made.

Last weekend I went to the new bar where Funky Munky used to be, which is currently nameless (well, I know what the name is but I’m going to let the owners unveil it when they’re ready; suffice it to say, you’ll never guess what it is). It’s bright and spacious and has a fantastic range of beers; they offer the new 1/3 pint measure so you can experiment many different beers without getting too hammered.

It’s not officially opened yet but I’m already optimistic that this is going to be a great addition to the area; finally a place which serves more than the standard choices provided elsewhere (to be fair, The Phoenix has a pretty decent selection too).

I really, really hope they keep the NEVER GIVE UP sign.

Update: More stuff! Saturday is the Brunswick Park fete, from 12–4 in Brunswick Park (obviously). And at 9am on Sunday the Bikes for Books team departs from Camberwell for a ride to Burwash, some 50+ miles away.

I’m out all day, so please take an extra person along to compensate for my absence.

The biggest event is the Camberwell Arts Festival which starts tomorrow (Saturday 18 June 2011) with a full week long programme of events — more information on the Arts Festival website.

And tomorrow there is also the Myatt’s Fields Park Midsummer Fair — from 1pm onwards there will be music, dancing, stalls and food and drink in the park. In addition there will be cake baking competition for all you budding Camberwell cooks (adults and children) — see programme and entry details

Further information on the Myatt’s Fields Park website or local Vassall View website

And starting on Saturday is Bike Week — the UK’s annual celebration of cycling. There are events on throughout London — see the main website for details. Local London Cycling Campaign groups Lambeth Cyclists and Southwark Cyclists have events on including one -the Incredible edible Lambeth ride looking at local food growing– departing from Myatt’s Fields Park on Sunday at 1pm.

First and most obviously there’s to be a by-election in Brunswick Park ward
after councillor John Friary resigned over some quite disturbing allegations. Allegations which the local Lib Dems seized on shamelessly, distributing a quite nasty attack leaflet which they obviously knew would be contentious as their name appeared on it only in the tiniest lettering possible. I think it should be borne in mind that Mr Friary is innocent until proven guilty, and capitalising on the allegations is quite revolting. Kate Heywood definitely won’t be getting my vote.

Lots going on in terms of regeneration. NickW has put together this fantastic map of developments in SE5 in the next five years, which is great work. I didn’t know about many things, but the big project over in Myatt’s Fields was a real surprise. The plans to develop Burgess Park have been approved, and there’s more good news as Camberwell Baths are due to reopen on February 28th.

As some of you have already seen, Southwark Council have proposed relocating an 8,000 square foot prefabricated building, currently in Bermondsey, to the plaza in front of the Magistrates Court. This would involve removing some of the trees and part of the orchard that’s down there. The Camberwell Society have responded, saying that the idea is good but the building far too large for the available space.

Their full response is in the latest Camberwell Quarterly, which also has a nice article on the fire that all-but destroyed Denmark Hill station 30 years ago, and another on the Camberwell House Asylum (which later became the registry office, and is soon to become student accommodation).

On the subject of history, I bought myself a copy of the new book Camberwell Through Time, which shows historical photos of local spots compared to their modern-day appearances. Really interesting, and I recommend you pick a copy up yourselves.

I could write more, but I won’t. Don’t forget, volunteers are very welcome.

Walking around the area today there werent a great number of posters up giving details of New Years Eve events in Camberwell pubs so I turned to online searching

I found
The Sun and Doves has the South London Jazz Orchestra and a DJ

The Cambria Arms is having a glamorous Blond or Bond party over two floors — tickets are £5 available from the bar

Planet Nollywood has Chilean music and entertainment

The Recreation Ground and Tiger both have DJs.

Other Camberwell pubs such as Amarylis, the Bear, Black Sheep, Fox on the Hill, George Canning, Grand Union, Hermits Cave, Hoopers, Joiners Arms, Old Dispensary, Petit Parisien, Phoenix and Union Tavern (all located around Camberwell Green/ New Road/ Denmark Hill) as far as I know dont have special events on but will be open as usual to see in 2011. If you know of any other events please post below.

I hope we have a happy Camberwell new year!