Authors and readers: Jim Helmore, Chrissie Gittins, Meliz Manisoy, Julie Day, Lucy Mangan, Karen Wall and Alice

Sydenham locals turned out in their hundreds for Sydenham Library’s read-in on Saturday.  Sydenham Library is under threat of closure along with New Cross, Blackheath, Grove Park and Crofton Park in Lewisham.  Campaigners organised a celebration which included readings by local authors and members of the teenage reading group, a singing and music session for children, a visit from the Itinerant Poetry Librarian and an appearance by dub group Sly and Reggie performing their song ‘We Love Libraries’ from their Morris Minor.

Life peer and philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock lead the readings with extracts from David Lodge’s Deaf Sentence, while Guardian Columnist Lucy Mangan closed the read-in with an extract from her novel ‘The Reluctant Bride’.

Mangan said: “Libraries mean so much to so many people and to a sector of people that fly under politicians’ radars. That’s why it’s important to come along, raise awareness, make our feelings known to them, the big them.”

“There is enough money in this country … if it’s taken from the right people and political will is there to not deprive the already deprived institutions and communities further.”

Baroness Warnock said of the proposed closure: “Sydenham library is one of many under threat. It must be one of the most beautiful library buildings. In times of economic misery and unemployment we need more not less consolation from libraries, more access to newspapers, books and computers, more places to sit, research and make friends. It is barbarism to close it.”

Also participating in the read-ins were author and poet Chrissie Gittins who read her poem ‘Longing to be Heard’ which she penned in honour of Sydenham Library, authors of illustrated children’s books Jim Helmore and Karen Wall read their new book ‘Oh No Monster Tomato’, and local author Julie Day who read an extract from her novel ‘Rosie and the Sick School’.  Two members of the teenage reading group introduced as Alice and Meliz meet weekly at the library.  Together they read from Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman.

Making an appearance outside the library were middle-class dub group Sly and Reggie on their tour of Lewisham libraries under threat of closure. They sang their song ‘We Love Libraries’ from their Morris Minor with built-in sound system.

The event culminated in the cutting of a cake by Baroness Mary Warnock and a somewhat failed balloon release sabotaged by Saturday’s high winds.

Sydenham Library is a popular library with around 6,000 visitors each month.  A decision on the future of the library has been postponed until 17th February.  Lewisham Council is currently reviewing bids from independent groups to take over the library.

Anthony Scully, Chair of the Save Sydenham Library campaign said: “There has been an amazing turn out today which is a true reflection of the community’s strength of feeling for our library. There has been a real party atmosphere with food and drink being donated by well-wishers and local businesses.”

With regard to the future of the library, Mr. Scully said: “We feel that the building and library service should remain in the ownership of the council.  We would be happy for independent groups to come in and contribute to the running of the library, but to shift the building or services from the control of the council risks the library’s future should anything happen to the group that takes over the ownership”

The Crystal Palace Fire: The End of an Era

The Crystal Palace fire occurred on 30 Nov 1936. The “people’s palace” in Sydenham which had stood dominating the skyline of Upper Norwood for over eighty years as a beacon for culture and enlightenment and an emblem for Victorian invention and engineering was no more.

“A dramatic cliff of glass which had the quality of changing its colour with the changing of the weather or the time of day”, was how Alan R Warwick described Crystal Palace in The Phoenix Suburb. This otherworldly structure not only awed the local inhabitants of Norwood but also captured the imagination of the general population. Famous throughout the UK and visited by millions.

The “Crystal Palace”, as Punch dubbed it, was originally built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park. It was the brainchild of Joseph Paxton, Head Gardener to the Duke of Devonshire who had a passion for building giant conservatories, which he constructed on the grandest scale. It housed art and craft treasures from all over the world and the best of the Industrial Revolution’s new technology.

Open for only five months, it attracted 6 million visitors. Due to the great success of the exhibition, a newly formed Crystal Palace Company purchased the Palace and it was dismantled and re-erected at a new permanent location on the crest of Sydenham Hill, alongside what was to later become Crystal Palace Parade. Queen Victoria reopened it here on June 10th 1854.

In 1866 the first Crystal Palace fire destroyed the north wing and transept. As the Crystal Palace Company was underinsured the north transept was never rebuilt and the building was unsymmetrical from then on. The night the Palace burnt down with the second Crystal Palace fire was a more spectacular event than could ever have been dreamt up by the Palace trustees. The irony was not lost on them or many of the national newspapers. The Palace’s swansong brought the largest crowd ever to assemble at the top of Anerley Hill. The event was deeply ingrained on the memories of Londoners with crowds thronging to investigate the red glowing sky and witness the collapse of their “Palace”.

Crystal Palace fire – time line

At approximately 7.25 pm on 30th November 1936 a staff fireman noticed a flame at the rear of the staff offices. Three staff firemen began fighting it but with no dividing walls to resist it and fanned by a strong northwest wind the fire spread rapidly. The Palace had been almost empty at the time apart from the Crystal Palace Orchestra rehearsing in the nearby Garden Hall. BH Matthews later said that the band didn’t take much notice when told there was a fire in the Palace. They soon fled after a staff member ran in crying, “Run for your lives! The Palace is blazing!” Thick smoke was by then bellowing out of the main door and glass was raining down “like red hot treacle”, according to Dorothy Crump of Sydenham.

At 7:59 the Penge Brigade received the call and got reinforcements from Beckenham Fire Brigade. West Norwood Fire Station received a street alarm call from Farquhar Road at 8.00pm and New Cross Fire Station received a call at 8.02pm. The call to West Norwood brought the whole of the London Fire Brigade into action.

The crowd of spectators gathering around the Crystal Palace soon grew to enormous proportions. The police estimated 100,000 people watched the fire. This caused inevitable delays. Seven hundred and forty-nine police were kept busy controlling the milling crowds. The BBC Radio News contained the first reports of the fire at 9 o’clock. This had brought many people rushing to the scene. Others had seen the glare of the fire, which lit up the sky like an exaggerated sunset and were mesmerised.

The whole of the Crystal Palace area was ankle deep in inter-woven fire hoses, and within an hour of the arrival of the first Penge fireman, over 70 pumps and other appliances crewed by over 400 fire-fighters were at work. Every available fire appliance from the London Fire Brigade had been summoned, totalling 90 engines and 500 firemen. According to some reports, the flames reached 300 feet. The glare could be seen from Brighton and by ships on the English Channel. Hills for miles around were packed with people watching the blaze. The rich could charter private aeroplanes from Croydon Aerodrome at £1 per trip to get a spectacular view over the fire. Motorcars were also arriving from the West End filled with the more well heeled who had finished watching the evening performances at the London shows.

For an eyewitness account read Ken Gibbons, Memories of the Crystal Palace Fire on Dulwich On View:

The sight of molten glass bubbling and squeeking down Annerley[sic] Hill’s gutters and the police pushing the crowds back out of harm’s way will always be with me. (K. Gibbons)

The Crystal Palace fire raged until midnight. Of serious concern to the residents of Anerley Hill was the safety of the 275-foot south tower. Not only did it have vast densely populated streets in its shadow but also the top of the tower held approximately twelve thousand gallons of water. Residents of nearby homes were evacuated in fear of it collapsing. Luckily, the London Fire Brigade managed to stop the fire some 15 feet from the tower.

The next day all that remained were the two water towers blackened with smoke and a few hundred feet of the nave to the north. About two hundred of seven hundred Palace employees received their notice the morning after the fire. Some were re-employed to clear the debris. Six years later the towers were demolished as they were thought to be an easy navigation point for German bombers. Explosives felled the North Tower and the South Tower was dismantled brick by brick due to the proximity to housing. Metal from the towers was sold off to the German manufacturers Krupp who later became involved with making bombs for the German war-machine. Therefore, some of the metal from the Palace may well have returned during the war!

ITN’s excellent coverage for 70th Anniversary with interviews(video)

Although there were a number of conspiracy theories as to the cause of the fire, the most logical seems to be explained as an electrical fault. The floor of the structure was made up of thick planks of wood with half-inch gaps to aid under floor heating. The floorboards themselves were extremely dry due to the constant exposure to the under floor heating. Many people felt that the poorly insulated wiring short-circuiting and creating sparks that fell onto the dry timber framing and accumulated dust in the centre of the building could have been the cause of the fire breaking out.

Causes of the Crystal Palace fire

As regards the cause of the Crystal Palace fire – this is unknown. However, there are a number of theories that bear credence – accident is a possibility, and some that do not – such as wanton arson by person or persons unknown for various reasons.

There was no enquiry into the cause of the fire because it was literally the wrong side of the road.

In 1936 Crystal Palace Parade was split in two by the line down the centre of the road. The Railway Station side (where the houses now are) was (and still is) Southwark and in London and the park side was Kent. The rule then was that any fire in London that required more than a certain number of pumps (the correct term for fire engines) had a public enquiry. But for any fire in Kent (parkside of the road) there had to be a death as a result of the fire for there to be an enquiry. There were no known deaths as a result of the fire. A few injuries but no deaths.

As for the insurance, the building was massively under insured because (like today it was very expensive and earned no money – it was a precaution. As the Crystal Palace Trustees were very short of money, insurance was not kept up to the correct value. There were individual aspects within the building that were insured to the correct level like for instance the equipment kept by J.Lyons & Co caterers and the huge organ. They got their correct payout.(Melvyn Harrison)

Thus the largest peacetime fire Britain had ever seen signalled the end for Paxton’s Palace.

Whatever happens with the current development of the Park we will never quite see the scale and grandeur of what went before.

The Crystal Palace fire is still firmly embedded in the minds of the eye-witness who where there.

The Government says Lewisham Council must cut £60million from its budget over the next 3 years. One of Lewisham’s proposals is to close 5 local libraries, including Sydenham. The 5 libraries have been targeted because the buildings are in a poor condition and the Council can cut staff.

Library cuts would save the Council £850,000. Some 17,000 people have signed petitions against possible library closures in  Sydenham, New Cross, Crofton Park, Grove Park and Blackheath Village. The council will decide on the libraries’ fate in November.

Councillor Liam Curran presented a 3,700 signature document in support of Sydenham library at Thursday‘s council meeting.

Sign the petition to save Sydenham Library:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savesydenhamlibrary/

Join the facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=157578124257377&ref=ts

The first ever Sydenham Arts Festival takes place from 3rd to 12th July 2009 and promises a host of vibrant events – with something for everyone. The ten day festival will include drama, dance, music and poetry performances, film screenings, celebrity book-signings, workshops and family-friendly activities. Preparations are currently underway for more than forty events taking place in galleries, schools, shops, churches, community centres, libraries, cafes and parks within the Sydenham area.
In addition to encouraging arts groups and organisations to forge new partnerships, the festival will provide local residents from all walks of life, backgrounds and ages with the opportunity to celebrate and participate in an exciting and culturally diverse programme.

Levi Roots

Levi Roots, the man behind the popular Reggae Reggae Sauce, has been announced as part of the line up. Levi gained widespread fame after appearing on the UK television programme Dragon’s Den in 2007, seeking funding for his Reggae Reggae Sauce – a jerk barbecue sauce made to his grandmother’s “secret recipe”. On Saturday 4th July, the pavement outside Kirkdale Bookshop will be
transformed into a beach, complete with deckchairs and palm trees. Between 12pm – 2pm, Levi will be signing copies of his Reggae Reggae Sauce Cookbook (HarperCollins £15.99) at the Kirkdale Bookshop.

Highlights of the festival include:

The Street Party (July 4th): This will include an urban outdoor beach, street dancers, a barbershop quartet, a launderette theatre performance and buskers along the whole length of Sydenham High Street.

Flamenco Dance Workshop (5th July): A glimpse of the rhythms & passion of flamenco through an introduction to palmas (percussive clapping) & dance, this workshop, accompanied by live guitar, will finish with a short performance by members of Viva Flamenco.

Free Film Show: The Bride of Frankenstein (7th July) An exciting programme of short films made by local film-makers will be followed by a rare screening of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) starring Sydenham’s own Elsa Lanchester and Lewisham-born Boris Karloff! The programme will be introduced by locally-based author, journalist and BBC presenter, Matthew Sweet

Picnic in the Park (12th July) a fun-packed family event in Mayow Park which includes dance, theatre, live music performances, poetry & visual arts.

London Bubble’s Mystery Show (10th July) in Sydenham Wells Park. The first in a new season of open-air ‘Fan Made Theatre’, the public are invited to purchase a stake (which includes ticket price) and then vote on which show they’d like to see.
Picnic in the Park (12th July) a fun-packed family event in Mayow Park which includes dance, theatre, live music performances, poetry & visual arts. The festival, a ‘celebration of artistic excellence in the local area’ is the brainchild of local resident Jonathan Kaufman, and was inspired by the sell-out run of the Midsummer Night’s Dream he produced and directed and the Independent Booksellers’ Week held at Kirkdale Bookshop both which took place in Sydenham in 2008. Jonathan said: “Sydenham was ready for something new and exciting, and we wanted to create a
festival which would prove to the rest of London that Sydenham is more than just another London suburb. It’s a chance for all local people to connect and share the arts.”

Ticket prices will suit all budgets and many events will be free.

For full festival programme listings please visit: www.sydenhamartsfestival.com
For further information, images or to interview Jonathan Kaufman, contact Jenni Asiama
or Jillisa Carty at the A.M.A Consultancy on 020 8778 8824 or (e) info@theamaconsultancy.com

The Box Office for the festival will open on 26th of May.

The sensational young Serbian cellist Maja Bogdanovich makes her British debut at the opening concert of the Sydenham International Music Festival this year, bringing her immense musical talent and much glamour besides. Fresh from her acclaimed debut recital at the Carnegie Hall, New York, Maja Bogdanovich will play the virtuosic and dramatic Shostakovich Cello Concerto.

“I have for a long time now, wanted to programme the Shostakovich Cello Concerto and last year on holiday in the south of France, I heard the sensational young Serbian cellist Maja Bogdanovich. Bringing her immense musical talent, and much glamour besides, to the Sydenham International Music Festival this year became a ‘must do’. She opens the festival on 24th May”, comments organiser and conductor Robert Trory. “Other festival favourites, and favourites of mine, return – the Endellion String Quartet, the Fidelio Piano Quartet and Florilegium. The Dolphin Pub continues to be an unbelievably popular venue and both those concerts are now sold out”.

The Festival also sees the return to Sydenham of the prize-winning virtuoso Russian violinist Sergey Dogadin who will perform the Beethoven Concerto. Sergey has already established a special place in the hearts of the Sydenham audiences, many of whom will remember his first visit at the age of fifteen. Now twenty years old, his international career is flourishing and his first recital CD has been issued and will be available to purchase at the concert.

Other festival favourites return and special attention is given in the programming to the four major centenaries being celebrated this year – those of Handel, Purcell, Haydn and Mendelssohn.

The usual mix of great music, popular venues and internationally renowned ensembles is offered and no price increases since last year!

The Festival has been fortunate in keeping on board their sponsors. Property World is sponsoring the Dolphin concerts and the Lucille Graham Trust once again are the sponsors of the Children’s Concert. Additionally, Antoinette Costume Hire of 134 Kirkdale, are sponsors of the children’s Fancy Dress Competition at the Children’s Concert. Above all, without the continuing funding from the London Borough of Lewisham, the festival would not take place.

For a complete list of concerts and details please visit www.sydenhammusic.net or pick up a brochure from Lewisham libraries or the Kirkdale Bookshop, which is also the Box Office. Tel: 8778 4701.

This year’s sponsored St Christopher’s sponsored Fun Walk takes place on Sunday 31 May in and around Keston Common. This is great event for families and friends of all ages – so please get together and help us to raise our target of £200,000 to fund more specialist support and training for care homes.

St Christopher’s wants to enable more people in our community to die in a dignified and calm way with the skilled care and support they deserve. Many care home residents are rushed to hospital as they approach the end of their lives – and can end up dying in Accident and Emergency. This is not necessary and not what most people or their families would want if they had a choice.More training and support for care homes could change this.

You can choose to walk three, five, eight or eleven miles starting out from the Greyhound pub at Keston Common near Bromley.

By asking family, friends and colleagues for sponsorship, you’ll be raising money for St Christopher’s every step of the way.

Our Fun Walk promises to be an exciting and exhilarating day out with food and entertainment at the start, finish and half-way points.Remember there are trophies for the teams and individuals raising the most money, the best fancy dress costume and the oldest and youngest walkers.

How to register

St Christopher’s is looking forward to welcoming around 3,000 walkers so please encourage your friends, families and work colleagues to sign up as soon as possible.

This year we are delighted to offer all walkers who pledge to raise over £50 a free t-shirt. This offer is available on a first come, first served basis.

If you are over 18, you can sign-up online and get your unique walker’s number at www.stchristophers.org.uk/funwalk

If you are under 18 entry forms can be downloaded from www.stchristophers.org.uk/funwalk or are available from St Christopher’s shops or by ringing the Fun Walk hotline on 020 8768 4577.

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