Wednesday September 23 at 8pm : Babur ? Indian with a touch of class
119 Brockley Rise SE23 1JP 8291 2400 (look for the tiger above the door!)

Don?t forget to book for the forthcoming get-together at Babur ? an exceptional Indian restaurant celebrating a remarkable 24 years in Forest Hill. It is more expensive than our previous haunts, but we believe you will not be disappointed. They have a lively website: http://www.babur.info and reviews on the internet f you want to find out more.


Saturday October 24 at lunchtime : The Dartmouth Arms : Croydon Canal Celebrations - 7 Dartmouth Road SE23 3HN 8488 3117

Two hundred years ago, on 27th October 1809, the Croydon Canal was formally opened. Barges could carry coal, building materials, food and other supplies between London and Croydon, by way of Forest Hill and Sydenham.

The Croydon Canal was the beginning of a process that over the next 90 years would transform our area from a few isolated, sparsely populated hamlets, largely dependant on farming, into the inner London suburb we know today.

To celebrate the opening, the proprietors of the Croydon Canal Company, their guests, the navvies who built it and others assembled at Sydenham before embarking to Croydon on ?handsomely decorated? barges. On their arrival they walked to a nearby pub where speeches were made and they enjoyed ?a very splendid dinner?.

Our plans to celebrate the bicentenary of the opening differ slightly from the original celebrations. We will walk in the opposite direction, to Forest Hill. There will be no speeches, but there will be a talk on the history of the canal and instead of dinner we will be having lunch.

Celebration Timetable

11.00 a.m. Our bi-centennial walk begins outside Sydenham Station, Station Approach, following a brief introduction to the subject by Steve Grindlay. We follow the route of the canal along Silverdale to Dacres Wood Nature Reserve where Steve will talk about the remains of the canal. We then cross the railway line by the footbridge and walk along Sydenham Park Road to Albion Villas Road and the Millennium Green from where we can access the footpath alongside the canal/railway line as far as Forest Hill Station and cross the road to Havelock Walk. From Havelock Walk we return to London Road by way of David?s Road and then to the Hob Public House for a slide show and talk by Steve (at approx 12.30 p.m).

Lunch will be available at the Dartmouth Arms from approx 1.15 pm. This is a Club 49 event (an amalgamation of Forest Hill Society?s 23 Club and Sydenham Society?s Club 26) and, as this is likely to be popular, you will need to reserve your place with the Dartmouth Arms (tel: 8448 3117) before 23 October.