Minutes:
Sydenham Arts – Jonathan Kaufman and Pat Trembath told the assembly that there is a brochure and a flyer available for people to take. The Festival is now in its fourth year and it has been generously supported by the assembly. The Festival is a Community Arts Festival which started off in Kirkdale Bookshop, as it has grown the horizons have broadened and bigger names have been invited.
The Festival starts on 1st July in Home Park with a family fun day from 1pm – 6pm.
On Saturday 14 July there is a word explosion, this is being headed by Roger McGough.
Overall there will be 50 events over two weeks and from the 3 – 8 July there will be a performance of the Jungle Book at Albion Millennium Green.
Jonathan stated how much the festival relies on it’s volunteers and if anyone is interested in volunteering do speak to the Volunteers Manager Tom.
Forest Hill Pools – Cllr Best stated that she hoped that everyone had received the flyer providing the latest news about the Pools. It is hoped that the Pools will open at the end of July. Fusion will be doing the final fit out once Wilmott Dixon have handed the site over to them, this will happen shortly. The official opening will be on Saturday 22 September, we are working with Horniman Museum and Sydenham School.
Carolyn Unstead Head of Sydenham School told the Assembly that also on the 22 September, but after the Pools opening Sydenham School will be celebrating its 95 birthday, it has been on site since 1917 and there will be lots of activities with ex staff invited along. The programme is still being finalised and there will also be activities for more mature people.
Lewisham and the Olympics – Cllr Best stated that on Monday 23 July the Olympic Torch will be in Lewisham. It will set off from the Laban building of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Creekside and will Pass many local landmarks including the new Deptford Lounge, the Stephen Lawrence Centre, Lewisham’s clock tower and the Broadway Theatre. It will arrive at Crystal Palace at about 10.30.
Sydenham and Forest Hill Youth Forum (SFHYF) – Melissa Knight stated that SFHYF is a collective of professionals that meet regularly to discuss ways to improve services for young people. One of the things that they want to do is to ask local people to give a small donation of £2 per month or what they can. This money will form a pot of funding that will be spent on community projects that benefit all ages within the local area. They also want local residents to help decide on the funding and where the money gets spent. The website catalogues what is happening for youth within the local area and people can add what their organisation is doing, there is a web tool to help people through the process. Email Melissa at mel@sfhyouthforum.org.uk for more details. The project is now in its fourth year and that £2 per month can really help.
Girton Road Car Park – Car Boot Sale – The next one will be on Sunday 18 July, hopefully more people will come along this time.
Friends of Sydenham Community Library – Anthony Scully stated that there is a ‘Friends’ meeting on at the Library on 19 June from 7.30 – 9pm, if you are interested in being a ‘Friend’ then please come along.
Wells Park Youth Club – Visiting the site with the Mayor of Lewisham tomorrow, also seeking volunteers for the management committee. The centre will be on three floors and will focus on teamwork, trust and friendship. Activities will include cinema, football, a skatepark and a climbing wall.
Empty Shops Group - Louise Brooks hosted an empty shops group at Grow Mayow Community Garden on Tuesday 12 June. The rough aims at this stage were:
- To identify and engage
landlords.
- To come up with a range of ideas to bring empty ideas into use
from temporary arts related projects to initiatives that will
encourage new businesses to take up the empty units.
- To explore incentives or penalties to encourage landlords to use empty units as meanwhile spaces.
By the end of the meeting we had agreed to:
- Start to approach local landlords with a pilot project in mind
- Meet with the following groups who specialise in using empty shops for 'meanwhile uses': Meanwhile Space and Spacemakers who both consult on using the spaces and have a database of contacts who might want to use the space, and Space Hive which is a crowd funding site for community projects.
We are interested in speaking with people who might want to use an empty shop for a community or arts project, or for commercial purposes. We are also very keen to speak with landlords.
The next meeting takes place on 18 July. If anyone wants to get involved they can speak with Louise Brooks at louise@bakelondon.co.uk.