If you are in the mood for some culture, then you are in luck. St Augustine’s is very excited to launch their first One Tree Hill Festival. Building on their reputation for high quality, professional performances and exhibitions, they hope this will become an annual event as a way of gathering together local creativity in SE23 with local artists, musicians and organisations bringing you a fantastic line up of events.

The festival kicks off on Friday, 18th May with a party at the Hop Scotch Café, a great way to meet festival contributors, local residents and artists.

The festival has a wonderful range of music from classical to jazz, folk, contemporary and musical theatre. They will be celebrating the spoken word with poetry and readings as well hosting an amazing children’s show presented by Pirate Productions who’s sell-out production of Cinderella ran at St Augustine’s earlier this year. There will also be a community art show, including a children’s painting competition which will run throughout the week. If that wasn’t enough, the festival will conclude with the Annual Spring Fair, community picnic and festival celebration service on the final weekend. For more information see www.augustineonetreehill.org.uk and the festival programme.

Programme

Friday, 18 May at 7:30pm. Launch party at Hopscotch Cafe, Honor Oak Park.

Saturday, 19 May at 11am & 2pm (£5, £3 concessions – under 4s free)
Pirate Productions Present: Jason Mavrick goes bananas! A fun show for age 5-11s
Jason, who has performed for Her Majesty the Queen and Madonna as well as being the former Children’s T.V Presenter of channel 5’s Havakazoo, presents a high energy all age family show of comedy, slow motion clowning, mime, incredible tricks with crystal balls, amazing juggling, robotic dancing, gentle audience participation and bananas!

Saturday, 19 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Entente Chorale: A singing celebration. Trade Winds welcome L’Air de Rien with special guests Raise The Roof Choir and Raise the Roof Singers.
L’Air de Rien led by their musical director Olivier Capmartin perform songs drawn from their musical heritage in the south west of France as well as Corsica, Spain, Sardinia, Africa and England while Trade Winds will be presenting their repertoire of international songs drawn from many cultures and genres. Special guests Raise The Roof Choir and Raise The Roof Singers will be joining together with L’Air de Rien for a grande finale, truly an evening not to be missed. Bon Sante.

Sunday, 20 May at 3.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Chamber Music Recital: Orlando Jopling and friends
Cellist and conductor Orlando Jopling is joined by Matthew Truscott, Ania Safonova, Dorothea Vogel of the Allegri Quartet and Becky Truscott to present a concert of chamber music including works by Bach and others. Orlando regularly conducts the English Chamber Orchestra and has been a guest performer with some of the UK’s finest orchestras, among them the Philharmonia and London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tuesday, 22 May at 7.30pm no pre sales – free entry with retiring collection
Fairlawn Singers present: Come and Sing! (clue in the title!)
The Fairlawn Singers invite you to join them for a fun sing along evening. Well known songs of all sorts are on the menu! With some special guest soloists and other surprises, this promises to be a great event. Come and Sing is led by the choir’s musical director, Alistair Digges, who plans to make the rafters ring at St Augustine’s. Come along and join the singing, or just to listen and enjoy.

Wednesday, 23 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Epiphanies with Patricia Doyle (Poems/Readings)
Patricia Doyle, a Brockley actress and director, is presenting a programme of prose and anecdotes taking the lid off a life in the Arts, with extracts from plays and books reflecting her theatrical experience and her life.

Thursday, 24 May at 7.30pm no pre sales – suggested donation £5 on entry
An Evening with Nunhead Community Choir and friends
The Nunhead Community Choir present an evening of accompanied and a cappella contemporary music, from artists such as Queen, Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan. They are joined by the jazz vocals of Konni Deppe accompanied by Martin Slade and ‘The Strum Pets’ – Dominic Spitzer and Corrie-Anne Burton, an acoustic dance/rock duo on guitar uke and mandolin

Friday, 25 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
Kaleidoscope: An evening of folk music & original songs
This energetic and colourful triple bill brings folk music and original songwriters to One Tree Hill. Acclaimed south London trio Shadrack Tye, all members of the same family, perform an eclectic and vibrant mix of original songs, folk and traditional music, and contemporary songs from different genre, combining rock and jazz inspired punchy rhythmic riffs and Innovative harmonies with skill and finesse. The Nunhead Folk Circle starring Emily Hall (violin, concertina), Datsun (banjolele, charango) and Matt Allin (guitar, melodeon) will perform original songs inspired by the folk music of Britain and Ireland and further afield. Finally, singer/songwriter Carollyn Eden is joined by Hannah Monaghan (cellist), Kate Jones (violinist) and Drew Stallcop(percussionist) performing a new set of her original songs in which she blends the influences of Celtic and English folk music with classical music in her own unique style.

Saturday, 26 May from 10am-4pm FREE
Spring Fair: stalls, craft, food, games, art, music…
A fun family event for all ages with community stalls, craft, plants, variety of foods, games, live music, community art show and judging of the junior art competition.

Saturday, 26 May at 7.30pm (£5, £3 concessions)
The Hills are Alive! featuring All Souls Orchestra & West end singers
Noel Tredinnick and the All Souls Orchestra present an evening of musical theatre classics and toe tapping orchestral favourites. Enjoy the delights of Broadway show music, offset with 2 of J S Bach’s most popular Brandenburg Concertos – No. 2 and No. 4. Back by popular demand after their autumn concert at St Augustine’s last year, Noel brings his wonderful wit and charm to entertain and lead us through another uplifting musical journey. He will also be joined from London’s West End stage by David Erik, Kelly Rainham and Lisa Olsworth-Peter promising an evening full of excitement and energy!

Sunday, 27 May at 10.30am FREE
Festival Service to celebrate St Augustine’s
An opportunity to celebrate and give thanks for the local community and the life of St Augustines. Come and join us in worship as we are joined by guest musicians from the festival.

Sunday, 27 May from Noon-2pm FREE
Community Picnic (bring a rug and your favourite food!)
Enjoy the beauty of One Tree Hill by picnicking in the grounds of St Augustine’s. Bring your hampers and rugs to enjoy with old friends and make new ones!

Sunday, 27 May at 3pm (£10, £5 concessions – all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the Children’s Society.)
Orchestral Concert by members of the European Doctors Orchestra, conducted by Rupert Bond.
The European Doctors Orchestra will perform a concert conducted by Rupert Bond with pieces by Haydn: Symphony No. 101 ‘The Clock’, Bach: Double Violin Concerto [soloists Helena and Richard Gullan], Mozart: Overture ‘The Magic Flute’ and Schubert: ‘Unfinished’ Symphony.

Booking and Tickets

All ticketed events can be booked online or purchased on the door on a first come first served basis, subject to availability. For more information visit their website www.augustineonetreehill.org.uk or call the parish office on (020) 8699 0172.

While all food outlets in Lewisham are now issued with a Food Hygiene Rating from 1 to 5, with 5 being awarded to the most hygienic premises, they do not have to display the results. If you see a business without a hygiene rating sticker or certificate, you can check the Food Standards Agency website before deciding whether you want to eat or buy food from there without knowing the hygiene standards.

Under the scheme, members of the public can report food outlets that they consider are not up to acceptable hygiene standards, businesses can find out what they can do if they’re not happy with their rating and can also get advice from the Council’s Food Safety Team about how to improve their hygiene and standards.

Members of the public can also contact the Council’s Food Safety Team for information and advice.

All businesses that sell or prepare food for public use have been rated. This includes takeaways, cafés, pubs, restaurants, canteens, and some retail shops that sell food.

So if you fancy going along and getting involved it would be lovely to meet you! Hopefully they’ll see you soon. Their next meeting is Tuesday, 14 May 2012.

For more details:
1) search for ‘Honor Oak Knit Night’ on Facebook, and join the group
2) Follow @gemski_lou on twitter
3) Email gem_hanford@yahoo.co.uk

On Sunday May 13th, St Augustine’s One Tree Hill hosts a concert of choral music by Johannes Brahms and by his contemporaries and the earlier composers who inspired him.

Hidden Voices is a repeat of a concert which recently sold out at St George’s Bloomsbury and is the first appearance in South-East London of Londinium, a chamber choir praised for its innovative programming and fine clear sound. Londinium is conducted by Andrew Griffiths, a Sydenham resident who has a growing reputation as an opera and choral conductor, and is a founder member of award-winning consort Stile Antico.

The concert is part of the increasingly extensive arts programme at St Augustine’s, in which the vicar Rev. Ed Olsworth-Peters and his team are keen to reflect our very creative local community. Proceeds will support the St Augustine’s Living Heritage Fund, as considerable funds are still needed for necessary structural repairs to this lovely local landmark.

The concert is a prelude to the first One Tree Hill Festival, to be held at the church from 18 to 27 May, including a range of musical and theatrical events, and the church’s spring fair and patronal festival.

In this concert, Londinium explores Brahms’s little known unaccompanied choral works, including the exquisite, elusive Fünf Gesänge (op. 104) and the virtuosic Fest und Gedenksprüche – alongside music from Brahms’ personal library by Renaissance composers Eccard and Schütz and works by his close friend Robert Schumann and his contemporary Peter Cornelius. Londinium will also perform a new work by Timothy Burke, Distanz und ein bestimmtes Licht (“Distance and a Certain Light”), written for this programme.

Full programme details and tickets sales are available online at Londinium’s website.

The church is on the slopes of One Tree Hill, close to Honor Oak Park station. The concert will finish soon after 8pm. Refreshments will be served.

While she did not win, she said: "I was honoured to be nominated again. It is a great surprise as I was nominated last year, but obviously there is a lot more that I have done."

Among her recent achievements, Councillor Wise is responsible for the vastly improved kerbside recycling facilities recently introduced by Lewisham.

Lewisham Council has submitted a bid for £100,000 funding to improve Forest Hill, Kirkdale and Sydenham High Streets by building a Town Team to market the centre and fight our corner for improvements. Our pilot has five key objectives.

• to test a coherent approach to High Street development in an area of urban sprawl where one neighbourhood merges into another.
• to increase the sustainability of the High Street through layering uses (multiple uses in one unit).
• to build on the existing blending of retail and community use to enhance the High Street as a Hub Street and destination.
• to create a fit and agile High Street that can successfully adapt to changing needs.
• to harness and build on our strong, active citizenship to enhance the High Street

One aim of the Portas Pilots is to increase community involvement in the Town Centre, turning it into a hub where people want to come and spend time. You can show your support by liking the video on YouTube. (Click this link)

The first round of 12 Portas Pilots will be announced in May, with bidding for a second round due by 30 June.

On Friday 23rd of March at 7.30pm, locally based professional musicians Benjamin Nabarro (violin) and Fiona Dalzell (piano) will be performing a fitting selection of celebrated sonatas from Beethoven, Prokofiev, Faure and Ravel, perfect for an early Spring evening. All proceeds will go to the restoration fund and it is a wonderful opportunity to hear two outstanding musicians in remarkable surroundings. What better way to celebrate the return of Spring to One-Tree Hill and to help preserve this remarkable church for future generations? For further information and tickets (£10 Adults, £5 Children, concessions) please visit St Augustine’s website (augustineonetreehill.org.uk) or TicketSource. Wine will be available!

The tower and north aisle were added by the Victorians some time after the church’s original consecration in 1874 and remained in constant use until the church was closed in 2001. The doors were reopened in 2003, since when very substantial underpinning and stonework repairs have been started. The works so far have been funded by selling off the hall, legacies from parishioners and donations, but there are still plenty of repairs to be done. The current repairs are expected to cost in excess of £300,000.

£180,000 has been promised by the Heritage Lottery Fund, but will only be released if the amount can be matched by local fund-raising initiatives. Approximately £100,000 has been raised so far, leaving £80,000 to be raised by the end of March. This is a big ask, but not beyond the reach of local residents who would be appalled if this building were to be shut up and left to crumble with its instability possibly affecting access to parts of One-Tree Hill.

The church is also fast becoming a hub for local artists and musicians with a One Tree Hill festival planned for May and a possible international chamber music series in the pipeline for next season. It is in the interests of the whole community, whether church goers or not, to pull together to rescue this wonderful building.

If you would like to simply make a donation to the refurbishment campaign, then please visit their JustGiving page

All supporters are invited to the Sydenham Arts Festival’s Annual General Meeting which will be held on Monday 20 February at Here For Good, 17 Sydenham Road, SE26 5EX at 7.30pm. Go along and find out what is being planned for 2012! There are plenty of opportunities for local residents to get involved and members of the Management Committee and the Visual Arts Trail will be happy to talk to you about these at the end of the meeting.

If you are unable to attend the AGM but would like to be involved please contact the Festival Administrator at OperationsSAF@gmail.com

Concerned local residents have formed an action group to help renovate an outdoor centre in Wales used by schools from south east London. The centre, affectionately known as ‘Aber’ by the thousands of children and teachers who have been there, is on the southern edge of Snowdonia National Park and used to belong to Forest Hill School.

Graham Agnew, former Forest Hill School Head, is leading the ‘Aber Action Team’ alongside another former Head, Peter Walsh. Graham said “’Aber’ is a part of the fabric of Forest Hill’s community, it’s an amazing place to teach and offers a wonderful, inspirational setting for children”, he adds “unfortunately, the centre is showing signs of many years of use and is in desperate need of a facelift.”

The residential adventure centre is now part of locally based charity, Widehorizons, which aims to enable all children, regardless of financial circumstances, to have the opportunity to experience adventure. Alex Brooks-Johnson, Widehorizons’ Director of Fundraising and Marketing said, “We believe that adventure is a fundamental part of a child’s development and the learning that happens in an inspirational setting can stay with you forever.” He continued, “’Aber’ is in need of refurbishment to maintain its impact for future generations and we can’t thank Graham and his team enough for getting this initiative off the ground.”

Widehorizons are hoping to get the Forest Hill community more involved with the centre, which was part of Lewisham’s education service until 2004 when it was taken over by the charity. Widehorizons receives no government funding and relies on the support of the public to fund its work. They hope that they can build on the existing local passion for the centre and establish a long lasting support group for the centre and plan to hold an information evening in Forest Hill in the summer.

The Aber Action Team, which also includes several members of the Widehorizons Trustees, intends to spend a week at the centre from 27th February where they will be decorating and undertaking repairs. If you would like to help the team in any way, you can donate at AberActionTeam on Virgin Money Giving or contact the charity directly on (020) 8850 1581.