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Interpretation
History
Buildings
Interior Plaster
Decor
Nature Trail
Gardens
Sensory Garden
Woodland
Ancient Trees
Meadows
Riverside
Wildlife
Golf Course
Brochures and Guides
Newsletters Archive
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Latest Newsletter
for July 2019 (click link) for reading on your pc.
Newsletters see
Events page for our old newsletters
links, as well as events for the coming months. This may be the last
newsletter for a while as the editor has retired. Thanks to Margaret
for many years of production of the newsletter and other volunteers for
helping with distribution. Currently events are only sensory garden
workdays but watch this space for any renewed events arrangements.
News:
Bird watching walk 10th November 2018,
list of
species seen or heard (click).
June 2018 - We
have published our History of BPP
as a pdf document. This will change and have new editions due to
corrections and additions but we hope this draft will interest you.
a link is on the history page.
Dec. 2017: The felling of trees in the park is scheduled to continue in
January, any
comments should be addressed to alison.taylor@lewisham.gov.uk the
project manager. The reason is stated as being to restore parkland
landscape but many of us feel that retaining trees to replace ones that
have or will die is more important that removal for purely cosmetic
reasons. Some removal is to make way for a rebuilt lake but others are
merely to remove golf course related planting in the past.
The
management of the Mansion on the short term lease to RJK properties is
now under Tim Wilson. Sydney Thornberry has left RJK properties.
Contact with the mansion can be via tim@beckenhamplace.org
(2017) Planning permission granted : with
both pro's and con's - expect to see some trees removed..... apparently
some trees in straight lines are wrong but 15,000 new trees in straight
lines are right!!
March 2017 Tree Planting: see Woodland
a
large number of saplings or 'whips' have been planted but often in
straight lines and places where they won't thrive in the longer term.
(Jan2017)
Environment
Agency flood alleviation scheme latest from the EA,
"Works
we’re proposing which would reduce the risk of flooding to Lewisham and
Catford. You may already be familiar with our proposals via
my colleague Richard Peddie, or following the public consultation that
we carried out in the summer of 2014, when the scheme was at an earlier
stage of development.
We
are now starting to undertake detailed design and there will be another
public consultation this summer when there will be a further
opportunity to see the latest proposals and influence the design.
The
reason for contacting you now is that contractors working on our behalf
will be at various sites close to the river Ravensbourne over the next
month to check ground conditions. Please see the attached
briefing notes for more information. One gives general
background about the scheme, and the other provides some details about
the ground investigation works."
2
file links here: Ground
Investigations Flood
Scheme overview
Mansion
Leaseholders:(Dec2016) Sydney
Thornbury is managing the Mansion for the next 22 months for RJK
Properties on lease from
Lewisham. Several improvements are underway in preparation
for
events and activities. Some refreshment facilities are
available
while work is underway. The old toilet block next to the mansion has
been reopened and cleaned up by Lewisham park management. Fuller info
in articles in the current newsletter.
The Friends Visitor
Centre continues to run on Sunday afternoons 1.30 to 3.30
A Planning
application for
Lottery bid related work(Dec2016) has been submitted on
Lewisham's
website and viewable at the planning offices in Catford. See this
link.
The consultation period is officially over but written comments may be
sent up until the application goes before the full council
(we believe). Consult Lewisham planning department if you wish to
comment.
Information received from Save
Beckenham 18 campaign: Lewisham have
organised and invited objectors to attend a 'Drop-in-Session
on Wednesday 25th January at
The Barn, Green Man, 355 Bromley Road, SE6 2RP. They have
advised the session that will be attended by Local Ward Councillors and
we assume members of the Regeneration scheme Gavin Plaskitt and Allison
Taylor.
The purpose of the meeting the Council advises is " enable the
councillors to be made aware of the concerns
of local residents before the application is considered by the Council
Planning Committee. This is an informal meeting and on the
basis this is not a formal meeting there will be no minutes of what is
said and what answers are given therefore your committee has genuine
concerns about its value.
We have made representation to Suzanne White based on the Council’s
advice about Planning Committees. Where they state that in respect of "When
would an application be referred to a planning committee" It
says "When three or more objections or petitions are received
or if an objection is received from an amenity society e.g.(Blackheath
Society, Telegraph Hill Society) then the application will
automatically be referred to planning committee.
It’s
important to us that we are given that formal Planning Committee at
which the public can be present and where there is an opportunity for
one objector to formally speak ( take a look at the council website).
Cyclocross Event
and Conservation.
Perhaps
a too hastily arranged event for cyclists who enjoy cross country
riding. This has raised concerns, not least from the Friends.
The
intention to remove golf course trees to open the parkland vista as it
might have been in the 18th century seems illogical if its only to have
a muddy scar across it from such events. Among concerns are
that
now it will be used by other cyclists and walkers to make it a
permanent desire line. It may have damaged some ecological features
rare in Lewisham. Lewisham's own claim to conserve the
heritage
is undermined by intensive use events which are desired by the Council.
We hope to moderate the impact of events through discussion
on
forums which have been set up to address Events, Schools and Children,
Nature and History. The park can be enjoyed by
people but
its environment and biodiversity is delicately balanced. We urge park
users to keep to paths as much as possible and avoid trampling woodland
floor plants. Bluebells and other plants are being reduced
year
on year by increased footfall in woodland particularly.
Golf
Course, and toilets in the mansion are
officially closed from
the end of October 2016. Tennis
Courts will become unavailable at some time in the near future.
The visitor centre is to be kept open on sunday
afternoons as
usual. The toilet
block adjacent to the mansion has been reopened. See Sydney
Thornbury article in the newsletter for cafe facilities details.
Park
Lottery Bid, progress report in the newsletter.
The
stage 2 bid was approved in mid December, see the article in the
newsletter from Alison Taylor, Lewisham's Project Manager.
Golf Campaign
Closure
of the Golf Course proposed by the Lottery bid has prompted a Save
Beckehham 18 campaign to oppose closure. search
Google for
it,
there is an online petition, website, facebook and twitter presence.
Closure of the course would deny more than 500 park users access to
golf locally and this decision is based on the preference of about 60
people in a survey of people who dont use the park.
Lewisham Parks Forum a
group made up of representatives of park Friends groups, for
example
Friends of: Chinbrook Meadows, Ladywell Fields, Telegraph
Hill,
Blythe Hill Fields, Hilly Fields, Sydenham Wells, Home Park, Mayow Park
to mention a few. The Forum will address issues and problems
arising in park use and management. See the
Forum page and newsletters.
Sensory
Garden - Our
volunteer team regularly
undertake work once a month and often every 2 weeks in the growing
season. Sensory
Garden pdf A
leaflet explaining the uses
and design of the sensory garden. Volunteers welcome. currently on 2nd
saturday mornings 10am to 12noon.
Beckenham
Place Nature
Trail: the leaflet is on this link pdf
file and on our pamphlets page via 'Events' page, or use this easy to print file
for directions.
Also a .kml file
of waypoints which will work with smartphone, google earth
and tablet map and gps apps to show the
waypoints for the nature trail. Also, a .gpx file of the
route so that you technofiles can have all the electronic aids
available. I like the Maverick Android mapping app. Leaflets are still
available in the visitor centre. We are working on a version that wont
display upside down on a digital screen.
Park
Features:
About the Park (see
other pages for full history etc.)
The first
time
or occasional visitor to BPP may not appreciate its true extent. The
Park lies
on the Lewisham/Bromley border strictly speaking between Downham,
Bellingham,
Beckenham and Shortlands.
It
was acquired from
the Cator Estate by the LCC circa 1927, passed through the hands of the
GLC and
then on to the London Borough of Lewisham. A 'well kept secret' from
many
Londoners, the park has been thought of as a private golf course or
private
house and grounds as it is not widely publicised. It does lie on the
Green
Chain Walk and Capital Ring. A railway bisects the park and the only
routes
joining both parts are the bridge north of woodland called the Ash
Plantation
or by leaving and re-entering the park in the viscinity of Ravensbourne
Railway
Station or bridge near Beckenham Hill Station. Hence the railway
effectively
divides the park into West and East.
Beckenham
Place Park
is the surviving nucleus of what was once a large estate of park and
farm land.
The
history of the
park and its environs is extensive and is covered in other Friends
publications
and the About and History pages on this site. Information is available
in the
Friends of BPP Visitor Centre (see navigation hyperlink). Various
references to
Beckenham Place Park, The Cator family and the history are on the
internet and
other publications, all are subject to some correction as varioius
assumptions
have been made. We attempt to seek accuracy where possible. The best
references
have been written by Pat Manning and the late Eric Inman.
Even these are
updatable by more recent discoveries enabled by records appearing on
the
internet.
The
park's life as a
public recreation area began around 1927/29 when the park was purchased
by the
London County Council and London Borough of Lewisham to satisfy a need
for
public open space in the area as the large housing estates of
Bellingham and
Downham were being developed.
The
historic and
'listed' buildings in the park include The Mansion, The Stables and
Homesteads
(and Garden Cottage), Southend Lodge (gatehouse). See the About the
Park page
and other pages of this website for more information.
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