The evening was introduced by Sam Brown in a lively and lighthearted fashion. He has been a member of OVFM since he was 14 and is now Vice-Chairman. It was topped and tailed by short humorous films by John Bunce. Reg Lancaster's film about Meersburg, by Lake Constance, took viewers up the steep road to the castle, with wonderful views across the lake. This was followed by a trip to the island in the lake where the butterfly house has 80 species of tropical butterflies. The film finished with a visit to the Zeppelin Museum in Meersburg. Basil Doody's 3-minutes was a funny fantasy about a man who discovered the secret of becoming invisible but ultimately fell off a ladder and then could not remember how to become visible again! The history of St Christopher's Bromley over 30 years since its foundation in 1984 was a fascinating and well put together collection of interviews and information by John and Ann Epton. The charity HospisCare South Bromley was started with a donation of £10,000 from the charity fund of the Mayor of Bromley, Joan Hatcher, during her year in office 1984-85. Lord Philip Harris also gave a lot of personal and financial support over the years, culminating in the building of Caritas House. However, the burden of annual running costs eventually became unaffordable and a partner was found in St Christopher's in Sydenham. Now, with significant fundraising programmes in place, the charity continues to flourish and offer excellent end of life hospice care for local residents. The second half of the evening was enhanced by a collection of Bromley's archive films digitised and put together in a photo album format by Footprint Productions. Scenes of Orpington from 1929 to 1950 included the wedding of Christine Spencer-May, daughter of the owner of the Commodore Cinema; Armistice Day parades; a rugby match between Orpington and Sevenoaks & Maidstone on Boxing Day 1929 at Westcombe Park, before it was sequestered by the government during WWII and subsequently became the playing fields for St Olave's School; a football match at Cray Valley Football Ground, the original home of Cray Wanderers Football Club; and the King's Jubilee parade down Orpington High Street in 1935. Other offerings included Mike Shaw's building a miniature Titanic, which took 6 years and his clever example of stop action to create a humorous 2 minute film; a fictional story, by Altrincham Moviemakers, of a henpecked husband, with a twist at the end; Pat Palmer's film 'Remembering' her father, Harry Gregory, a survivor of the two World Wars, with a backdrop of the Tower Hill ceramic poppies; Petts Wood in the 1960s (Colin Jones) and Charlie Casely's 'The Night the News was in Pink', about the production of the Financial Times. OVFM's film shows are a treat and well worth a viewing. There is a FREE show at All Saints on Friday 23 October 7pm - Out of Focus Film Evening (see under 'What's On') For more information about OVFM, visit the website.
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Greenwood Talks are organised by Green Street Green Village Society - the first one was on 17 April 2014 and the plan is to have 3-4 events each year. The admission cost is £2, including refreshments after each talk. Telephone: 01689 850 668 for tickets. NEXT ONE: TBA 26 February 2015 - 'The Darwin Family' We welcomed Barbara Stevens, our guest speaker at the Greenwood Community Centre. Barbara is a very well-known and respected speaker in our area. She has been a resident of Downe for 48 years and this time she spoke about Charles Darwin and other Downe dwellers. She gave us a potted history about Charles Darwin, his wife Emma (nee Wedgwood) and ten children, which is well documented, and suggested a visit to Down House was always worthwhile. Her talk was very informative, interspersed with her infectious laughter and her knowledge about various locations in Downe Village and who lived in the various properties was of particular interest. This was the third in a series of talks which I have recently arranged for the Village Society. It was a successful evening with nearly 60 people attending. I’m hoping to arrange more talks in the future – so watch this space…………… Alan Garelick - Events Manager, Greenwood Community Centre
22 March 2014 The Village Society now has a Social Calendar sub-committee, to organise a range of presentations to be held at The Greenwood Centre every 2-3 months. The first of these talks, 'Discovering Roman Bromley', will take place on Thursday 17 April at 8pm - you can indicate your intention to attend on Facebook. Dr Brian Philp is Director of ‘The Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit’ (KARU) and has been excavating Roman sites in Bromley and Kent for over five decades. He has lived in the Bromley area since childhood and moved to Green Street Green in 2012. He will be imparting his vast knowledge on Roman Bromley. Refreshments will be provided and tickets are £2, available from Alan Garelick - telephone: 01689 850 668. If you have ideas for future events, or have contacts who would be able to give an interesting presentation, please post information below or email us. 17 April 2014 - 'Discovering Roman Bromley' By 8pm there was standing room only at the Greenwood Community Centre, for the first 'Greenwood Talks' event, 'Discovering Roman Bromley'. Dr Brian Philp MBE spoke authoratively to a rapt audience about his historical excavations over the last five decades. He began with an explanation of the development of the Kent area since the ice age. There was a focus on Roman Britain, followed by the deterioration of our civilisation when the Anglo-Saxons settled here. Medieval Britain lost the advantages of Roman engineering and education which were not really matched until industrialisation in the 19th and 20th century. There have been many interesting archaeological discoveries in our local area over the last fifty years and Dr Philp was able to tell the stories of many of them, from his first-hand experience. He was instrumental in saving the Crofton Roman Villa from obliteration by the building of a car park. A commercial option would have cost £200,000 but Dr Philp and his team excavated the site and covered it under a metal-framed building for a mere £79,999! Another local area of great interest is in Keston, where the discovery of a Roman mausoleum in the grounds of a house owned by Bromley Council led to further discoveries of a Roman villa, a large timber building for storage, a smaller barn and an Anglo-Saxon dwelling. The discovery of a Roman bathhouse in Poverest Road led to excavations revealing an Anglo-Saxon burial ground close by. Dr Philp passed round an impressive flint tool over 100,000 years old, palm-sized but quite heavy and clearly manufactured by an ancient tribesman, despite years buried and smoothed by water. He also showed his first find, a large piece of Roman pottery which he discovered on a dig whilst still a schoolboy at Bromley Grammar School for Boys (in Hayes Lane and now a comprehensive). Finishing his talk, a series of slides showed the various sites during the excavations and the hour seemed over in the blink of an eye. Links to further information about local discoveries and places of interest to visit are listed below: Crofton Roman Villa Keston Roman Tombs Keston Roman Villa Poverest Roman Bathhouse LBB - Poverest Bathhouse Bromley Museum Kent Guided Tours by Dr Philp Council for Kent Archaeology Orpington & District Archaeological Society 2 May 2015 Abigail Sewell, only 9 years old, was crowned Green Street Green May Queen 2015 just after 3:30pm today on The Green. There was the traditional procession along the high street, led by a marching band - not the same one as last year. The retinue marched round the green before the Queen sat on her throne and last year's May Queen, Bethany Hose, placed the crown on Abigail's head. The Mayor, Councillor Julian Benington, congratulated all concerned, despite some technical hitches with the microphones. Unfortunately my camera memory was unable to capture the entire proceedings but the initial procession is available to view online here. Margot Rohan - Orpington Community Click here to view a video of the whole proceedings.
Local artist, Ken Newman, to have debut exhibition at Ripley Arts Centre in February 201521/12/2014
Ken alters his themes, as much of his work is bespoke. However his personal choice at the moment is exploring war and weapons, along with skulls and horror. He finds the colours and the technique required to be extremely interesting and this is aiding his development with shading. All his work is airbrushed, using acrylics, 2K basecoats and FX .
Despite being registered blind, at 55 years old, Ken is having fun experimenting with paints, colours and different media, including phone covers, fridges, guitars, yo yo's, ear defenders and many more. His motto is 'if it stands still and will fit through my door I will paint it'! A debut exhibition of Ken Newman's work will be displayed at Ripley Arts Centre, 24 Sundridge Avenue, Bromley BR1 2PX from 3-27 February 2015. Viewing will be by appointment only - Telephone: 020 8464 5816. Transport for London are currently implementing improvements for pedestrians and cyclists on the A21 by the Green Street Green roundabout, as confirmed in their email of 4 July. Full details about results from the original consultation and proposals can be found on the TfL website here. 9 March 2014 Spencer Harradine of Bromley Cyclists attended the Village Society committee meeting on 9 February and, since then, the space4cycling campaign has been gathering momentum ahead of local elections. For Chelsfield & Pratts Bottom ward a Green Street GreenWay has been conceived to link neighbourhoods and amenities along the A223 Sevenoaks Road between Green Street Green and Orpington High Streets by developing safer segregated space for pedestrians and cyclists alongside the increasingly busy road to encourage mode shift for journeys to local shops, schools, churches, doctors, dentists, stations, etc. With the imminent 50% expansion in parking at Orpington Station, and A21 Farnborough Way improvement works due for completion by June, the Green Street GreenWay is a timely proposal. At the Green Street Green Village Society Committee meeting on 10 March, the proposal will be discussed. The initial infographic is the diagram for the Green Street Greenway proposal to the left - click on it to enlarge) and below are links to further information: a) Area map b) Video of bicycle journey from Bromley Museum at The Priory to A21 Farnborough Way/Green Street Green roundabout: c) Janette Sadik-Khan: New York's streets? Not so mean any more d) In Portland Every Day is Walk & Bike to School Day! e) Cargo bikes in Copenhagen f) Cargo bikes in the US Richard Gibbons, a member of Bromley Cyclists and also a Green Street Green resident, is a strong proponent of this proposal, acting as a 'ward champion'. As Janette Sadik-Khan said in her talk (see (c) above): "… it's possible to change your streets quickly; it's not expensive; it can provide immediate benefits; it can be quite popular … you just need to re-imagine your streets; they're hidden in plain sight." Spencer is now focusing on proposals for Orpington High Street. Please post your comments about the concept below. The Greenwood Centre is currently being refurbished. The outside has been painted. The colour was intended to be a pastel/light greeny-yellow but the outcome appears rather brighter! Does it glow at night?
The heating system has been replaced with a gas fan heater which is wall mounted, providing extra space at the back of the hall, from where the old radiators have been removed. Work is continuing... See photos below (click on images to enlarge): Peace and tranquillity came to our green once again today. Congratulations are due to Bromley Council and the local police who quickly negotiated with the travellers, who agreed to move on.
2nd Chelsfield Guides meet in the Brass Crosby Room at St Martin of Tours Church Chelsfield on Wednesday evenings, from 7.30pm until 9pm during term time.
We welcome new Guides from age 10 years and over. Our meetings are extremely varied with crafts, games and outings. Girls come from many different schools and therefore develop new friendships outside of the school environment. Subs are £20 per term. In the last year we have learned many skills and taken a number of badges. We have also had outings to the theatre, ice skating, bowling, abseiling, zip wire, archery and camp, to name but a few. In our meetings we have learnt cooking, flower arranging, manners and posture, dancing, sewing first aid, fire safety and made our own cosmetics. During the summer term we spend time at Cudham learning campfire cooking skills and having fun in the woods. If you think you would like to join Guides or try it out for an evening, please email [email protected] or ring Penny on 07711 989 958 or Liz on 07774 995 276. Guides will start in the autumn term on September 17th 2014 and we have places available to girls who wish to join us. You do not have to have been a Brownie to be a Guide. You are welcome to pop along on the 17th and try us out! Following a very positive meeting this afternoon with Councillor Keith Onslow and Paul Nevard (Bromley Highways Officer), the Chair, Bob Trott, and Centre Manager, Eddie Sims, the Society is looking forward to an acceptable solution to this situation. Discussions indicate that the Council are considering moving the crossing a little further down towards Waitrose, between the public conveniences and the hall but the effect on the frontage parking on the opposite side of the road, needs to be taken into account.
Subsequently (a number of years ago) the Council moved the pedestrian crossing from its former location, south of Worlds End Lane, to the present one and there has seemingly been no problem until now. The Council's contention that the dropped kerbs cannot be used for vehicle access will also impact on the properties opposite the Greenwood Centre that own the land between the buildings and the pavement, as this is also used for customer parking. In the recent past council officers have discussed the grass area in front of the Greenwood Centre, which gets churned up by cars entering the parking area, without any suggestion of illegality. The Village Association has existed since 1952, owning the Village Hall - including access to the small parking area. The Association eventually 'handed over' the public footpath area to the Council - some time in the 60s, we believe. Of course the Council do not want the expense of moving the pedestrian crossing - but that is what they will need to do. It seems incredible that responsible council officers agreed the resiting of the pedestrian crossing to its present position without considering the legality of using an existing vehicular access to properties
A Freedom of Information request is being submitted to Bromley Council, to discover exactly when the pedestrian crossing was relocated to outside the Greenwood Centre and what considerations were taken into account in the site assessment. However, if this was carried out prior to 1965, it would have been under the Orpington Urban District Council, which may cause some consternation for Bromley officers, and the information may no longer be available.
(If anyone has information regarding this issue - such as when the pedestrian crossing was moved, please add a comment.) Friday 16 May 2014 The AGM was well attended again this year - about 10% of members (60). There were no surprises, apart from the resignation of 3 long-serving committee members - Tony Bradley, the Chair for the last 10 years, Stan Mortimer and Barrie Newman. Tony has quickly passed on problems to the Council and ensured they were quickly rectified. He was instrumental in increasing the members group – from 40, when he took over, to over 600 today. He oversaw improvements and repairs and applications to the Lottery for grants. His chairmanship has greatly improved the running of the committee. Barrie has been a member of the committee for over 30 years. To mark the millennium, he organised the new clock outside the Centre and has diligently altered it for summertime annually. He has painted and decorated the Centre many times over the years. Stan has been involved with the Society committee since 1982 – he has a talent for making and repairing things and designed the village sign on the green. The meeting only lasted just over an hour, finishing with some questions from the floor about parking, the recent grass cutting problems (left too long and not cleared away) and concern about what is happening about the public conveniences (change of use application is taking a long time to be decided). Councillor Julian Grainger (Conservative now standing for UKIP) and retiring Councillor Russell Jackson provided some feedback. The three Conservative candidates who attended the meeting (Councillors Samaris Huntington-Thresher and Lydia Buttinger and Keith Onslow, who lives in Petts Wood) were not prepared to speak in public, to avoid any party political issues in the pre-election period. The full minutes can be downloaded here. |
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