And now the bra shop in Dartmouth Road has closed. Such a pity. Lovely lady who ran it and excellent service but no doubt a further victim of our economic woes. If she has moved elsewhere would love to know!

Oh what a disaster. Not many areas could claim a bra fitting shop , it was one up for SE 23

One wonders what retail establishments will survive in Dartmouth Rd.
I appreciate partly down to the economic turn down but cannot help thinking the rents are probably too high for the area.

Jane
I thought that it had closed down too but was delighted to see that The Fitting Studio has now reopened on the other side of Dartmouth Road, opposite boots.

http://www.thefittingstudio.co.uk/studio.php

I hope things go really well for them.

Satchers
Thanks - that's great news.
Jane

I share the view that it would be helpful for Ms Sutch to have a higher profile in the community so that we can get some idea of her role and that of her department,. and how it is intended to benefit Forest Hill. I do sympathise with her previous public floggings on this site, however the Council as a whole needs to address this issue and use the available communication media to tell us whats going on.

CHRISTMAS EVENTS
Saturday 6th December, 12-4pm - Forest Hill festive activities - including an appearance by Father Christmas and his REAL reindeer. Foresters Arms, Perry Vale.

Sunday 7th December, 3-6pm Tree Dressing Day at the Devonshire Road Nature reserve - make your own lanterns and paint glass lanterns for the procession of light. Make Green Man masks to take home and enjoy music and story telling.
?2 donation per person to cover costs. Please note that this event takes place during the hours of darkness. Come prepared with warm clothes and a torch. Contact devonshireroadnature@yahoo.co.uk

Friday 12th December, 5-7pm - Honor Oak Christmas celebrations - carols, switching on of Christmas lights, craft market. Opposite Honor Oak Park train station.

Sunday December 14th, 12-5pm - upstairs and downstairs at The HOB (opposite Forest Hill Station). Ceramics, photography, handmade retro toys, glass, textiles, handmade bags and more besides. Free entry.

Sun 14 Dec 3-6pm - Horniman Carols in the bandstand in the picturesque setting of these award-winning Gardens. Enjoy performances from the English Baroque Choir and the Crystal Palace Band, carols, hot-roasted chestnuts, toy stalls, hot and cold refreshments and free Santa's grotto. Free admission.

Michael.
I reckon that sarcasm is uncalled for - especially from someone in your position.
I'm sure Roz, like many of us, would like to know what plans the Council have for lasting improvements around here. For instance, about 10 years ago, Lewisham offered grants for people to enhance the visual appearance of the town centre by smartening-up building facades etc. I also wonder about other things the Council could do to encourage and help small businesses, such as a Business Rates revaluation or grant. I realise that may not be easy as it could involve the Valuations Office, but at least there should be some sort of initiative in that area (in my opinion as a small landlord).
The thing is that despite many questions, suggestions and criticisms being aimed by lots of people towards Lewisham via Julie Sutch, there is very little coming back to let us know what is being done.

Anotherjohn,

Wasn't meant to be sarcastic, just listing some of the forthcoming events that Julie Sutch, Lewisham Council, and others are organising in the area.

Yesterday, just before Roz made her posting, I came home to find a copy of Lewisham Life waiting for me. In addition I know that admin and Peter both get regular press releases from Lewisham. Often the information is not branded as Lewisham Council when it appears on the forum, website, newsletters, etc, but that does not mean you are not reading communications which originate from the Council.

I could not agree more that more needs to be done, and we need to see more of a difference being made. When a difference is made (i.e. improvement to shop front at the bakers on Dartmouth Road, daily rubbish collections from the high streets) it is usually fairly obvious that something has happened. What you do not see is the months of discussions and actions that go on prior to the situation changing. Whilst it would be nice to have direct involvement from Julie on this forum, I can see why see cannot give a public running commentry on every issue as this forum would no doubt demand.

I would prefer Julie to get on with improving the area rather than writing pointless responses to pointless posts. It is noticable how rarely our elected representatives, let alone council officials, post on issues of major concern - such as the pools or the railway. It is not that they do not have opinions, but I don't think they want to accept the grief they get when they do post. Veterans of the forum will remember the thread 'What has Councillor Whiting promised Roz' with various threats being made on a regular basis. It is no wonder that some people whose opinions we most want to hear are not willing to speak up on the forum. Freedom of Speech eating itself!

Let's not forget the Xmas Fair for St Georges's Church SE23, held at the church in Vancouver/Woolstone Road, between 11 and 3 on Saturday 6th December, and simultaneously, the Xmas Fair for Sydenham Gardens at Champion Hall Champion Rd.

There is also a carol concert at St. George's on Friday 19/12/08.

Merry Christmas

You have a point, Michael, but exactly how many meetings had Julie Sutch had with Forest Hill's civic society - the Forest Hill Society - in the, what, three years it's been going?

One, isn't it...last month or whatever?

Most of of the criticism on this forum has been entirely valid, and couldn't be categorised as over-zealous carping at all.

And I am a little concerned at the response to the new Forest Hill Society's chief at requests for a bit of feedback on the meeting with her. "Well, we have lots of meetings and stop nagging her" seems to be the response. I know we've been spoilt with having you regularly contributing to this forum, but there's nothing about this meeting on the FHsoc website either, as far as I can see. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

On a lighter note... the fitting room's new premises looks great.

And work is underway at the old Provender to convert to licensed premises. Fingers crossed there.

It isn't necessary for Ms Sutch and her colleagues to get bogged down in addressing individual postings but they/Lewisham do need to start telling people, and that means the general public, not just selected groups, what they are doing in relation to Forest Hill.
As a local and long standing resident I have to say I have absolutely no idea about the role or function of Ms Sutch's department and I think that is unacceptable from anyones point of view. I am not interested in how well or badly she does her job, or her personal strengths and weaknesses, I just want to know what Lewisham Council are actually achieving as a local authority on this point.

They should use this (free) forum and others, including the Lewisham website, for issuing briefings and updates.

Readers will probably be pleased to hear that I have written to her directly with some questions so hopefully I will be put out of my misery very soon.

Good luck getting a reply, Roz - I wrote to Julie Sutch a month ago and haven't heard anything from her...

Good luck getting a reply, Roz - I wrote to Julie Sutch a month ago and haven't heard anything from her...

Quite agree with Roz - the SNT, library manager and councillors all reply on this site. I'd have thought that it should be required reading as part of Ms. Sutch's job description!

Can't help feeling that this thread needs a new title. How about 'Hill'?
I mean....

There's no forest any more;
We're not really a town;
There's no obvious centre;
And precious little management....

....but we do still have a hill, don't we?

Roz - I seem to remember you saying you had attempted to get in touch with the Julie Sutch at the Town Centre Management? Did you receive a reply to your enquiries?

Actually, no, I haven't heard anything. I was going to chase up next week.