Brockley street trees battling drought conditions

The ongoing hot, dry weather is killing Brockley's young street trees. Volunteers are needed to keep them alive. If you want to be responsible for watering a local tree, please email local group Street Trees for Living here.

To find out more about what's involved, click here.

Make like a tree

Parlez is the new restaurant opening on Coulgate Street. But they don't have anywhere to sit yet. They're want to work with charity London Reclaimed to turn a BC reader's tree into furniture:

Green is green: The Brockley Tree Fundraiser

Work by Isobel Kimberley will be shown during the event

We're organising a storytelling evening at Number 57 Loampit Hill to fundraise for the Brockley Society Tree Committee.

The event will feature ordinary people telling true stories. No notes, 5 mins. Must be your own story. Not compulsory to tell a story but you may find you want to...

Sunday 30th October 7pm Ticket price £15.

Includes Pintxo & Glass of wine from L’Oculto

Buy tickets at 57arts.co.uk

Also features Poet Bill Greenwell

There will also be an exhibition of tree drawings by Isobel Kimberley.

Sponsors needed for 20 more Brockley street trees

Due to high demand, the Brockley Street Trees project is extending its deadline to sponsor a tree until September 20th 2015, to raise money for a further 20 trees.

So far, Brockley residents have donated nearly £10,000 to support tree planting in the neighbourhood. That astonishing sum of money will pay for the planting and protection of 40 street trees by BrocSoc and Lewisham Council.

Residents can club together or sponsor a tree outright, giving them a say on what type of tree gets planted and where they go.

For details, click here.

Tree planters celebrate second birthday

The Brockley Street Trees project has celebrated the start of spring and the end of its second year by planting its 36th tree. The group is funded by donations from local residents and has planted new trees in streets across the conservation area:

The team explains:

With the dwindling funds available for Lewisham Council to replace and plant new street trees, local residents have been coming on board in ever greater numbers to purchase/part-fund new trees for their streets. This year, we have also been greatly helped by an extremely generous donor who has come forward.

All told, we are just completing the planting of 36 new street trees in and around the conservation area. This is an amazing achievement, and we are hopeful that we can continue this level of planting in the coming year. What is also evident is that the model is spreading out to other parts of the borough, including St Johns, Ladywell and Crofton Park.

Save Southwark Woods from the walking dead

Death's march upon the realms of the living continues. First Southwark Council tried to turn playing fields into graveyard. Now, after that plan fell through, they're eyeing up the woodlands of Camberwell Cemeteries as a possible resting place for more dead people.

A group called Save Southwark Woods is campaigning against the plans and will meet the Council on February 11th to discuss it. They write:

This is your chance to tell the council what you think of their plans to destroy the woods, fell more than 30 mature trees and make way for more than 2000 new burial plots. Come and protest the destruction of Camberwell Old and New Cemetery Woods to Southwark council and demand they are made into Nature Reserves, like Nunhead. View the council's plans from 2.00pm and Public Meeting from 7.00pm-8.30pm - see you there!

Like Thomas Wilson's dream of a Pyramid of Death at the summit of Primrose Hill, this scheme is a bad idea. The dead will have to head out of inner London or do the decent thing and get cremated.

Embaubled

Fintan spotted this tree in Hilly Fields

The Loyal Tannenbaums

The Brockley Cross Action Group is using Patchwork Present to organise a neighbourhood whip round to buy our own Christmas tree. So if a local tree would boost your festive spirits, click here to contribute what you can. Suzanne writes:

We'd like a big beautiful tree for Brockley this Christmas, and now that councils have stopped paying for Christmas trees we need a bit of help! Just contribute what you can afford and we can all enjoy a lovely tree in our town centre this Christmas. 

The Brockley Christmas Market is organised by the BXAG, a community group and registered charity, and run by unpaid volunteers. The Market is run as an independent event and receives no financial support or subsidy from Lewisham Council.

Broken Tree

Mindless vandals: Take 'terrencetrentderby', take 'kettle', but please for the love of god, leave the trees alone. With thanks to Fintan for this shot of self-defeating destruction in Hilly Fields.

Stillness falls

Jocelyn writes:

We are really gutted that the beautiful tree which used to greet residents of Stillness Road was chopped down without warning last week- would really like to know why and if it'll be replaced ... I have noticed a few others in the borough being lopped down - our neighbourhood and our air quality needs trees!

Faux Detective

We have a Sky-shaped blind spot in our pop-culture radar, so we don't really know what Alexandra means when she writes:

I spotted these 'tree decorations' in Hilly Fields this morning. I think that someone has been inspired by True Detective. Maybe McConaughey and Harrelson will turn up somewhere!

Trees: Re-use of the Fallen

October's storm left some spectacular tree wreckage on Hilly Fields, and the fallen giants now serve as makeshift climbing frames and Mecano sets

On the north side of the hill (left), the jagged stumps have been painted neon, while on the south side (right), someone has used broken branches to build tipis from that would shame the Wicker Man.

Thanks to Transpontine, who did this first.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

From sudden cracks and fissures the sidewalks begin to bleed emerald, moss dribbles up the sheer sides of glass towers and the ghettoes are burning with orchids... The children are the first to embrace the jungle, shrieking in the low branches, with juice on their chins. After them come the derelicts, the criminals, the lovers. By dusk, deep in the October cold, the first few converts remove their clothing and go naked among the hanging gardens of Gotham.
- Swamp Thing

Plant trees in Blythe Hill Fields

Hilly Fields tree wreckage

Courtesy of Fred Pearce

Brockley is a Green Zone at the moment, with trees down all over SE4 as a result of this morning's storm. Fred sent us this photo of a fallen mature tree in Hilly Fields. Up to four Hilly Fields trees have been reported lost by BC readers today.

Lewisham Council also confirms that "Ladywell & Brockley Cemetery is closed today because of fallen and unsafe trees."

Storm disrupts Brockley transport services

@BBCLondonNews Tree down in Brockley. pic.twitter.com/6vvuZQE3iL
— Michelle Price (@michelleaprice) October 28, 2013

At least they're being realistic. National Rail Enquiries reports that due to this evening's anticipated storms, there will be no Overground services and possibly no Southeastern trains tomorrow morning before 9am. Southern is also expected to be operating a reduced timetable.

"After this, it is expected that a normal service will resume on all routes." Although of course, that normal service is likely to be playing catch-up for a long-time afterwards, as delayed commuters swamp the trains.

With thanks to Monkeyboy for the warning.

UPDATE (07.52): Southeastern are not currently able to run train services due to the risk of trees falling onto the railway lines, damage to equipment and localised flooding. Southeastern expect to run a reduced service later this morning, with many routes not starting until after 09:00.

UPDATE (08.13): John Higginson has tweeted this photo of a cherry tree, blown over in Manor Avenue.

UPDATE (08.18): The Old Kent Road is closed-off near Asda (reportedly due to wind blowing over a crane on a building site), which is bad news if you're trying to bus in.

UPDATE (09.25):

@BrockleyCentral Tree down outside Old Police Station. No trains until 10.15am & even that is an estimate... pic.twitter.com/Yf3ATFnYY9
— Laura Prior (@LauraPrior) October 28, 2013

Tree down

Lynn: Who’s upset you this time?
Alan: Just, people. I just hate the general public.
- I'm Alan Partridge

A newly-planted tree in Brockley Cross has been snapped in two. We must not let sub-human scum put us off tree-planting. More trees, not fewer.

UPDATE: As you can see from the comments section, there has been a spate of these attacks across the area. The Evil Dead had the right idea.

With thanks to Monkeyboy for the photo.

The Hilly Fields memorial tree

The Friends of Hilly Fields are raising money to pay for a memorial tree for former park keeper Keith Seabrook and anyone visiting tomorrow's Midsummer Fayre is welcome to donate. Rachel writes:

We had a few people wanting to contribute to the flowers, but didn't take them up on the offer, and thought it would be a longer lasting legacy to Keith to plant a tree.  There are envelopes in the Hilly Fields cafe for anyone who would like to donate - you can hand it to a member of staff.  We intend to plant the tree in November.

The tree will be the first that we plant as part of a bigger tree planting strategy to ensure a lasting tree legacy in the park. We'll have the outline of the tree strategy on our stall at the Midsummer Fayre. We'll also have our regular Hilly Fields Quiz (not sure how obtuse it will be this year, as I've not seen the questions, should I be worried), prizes donated by our park cafe, thanks to Ruth and Fred or a Hilly Fields mug.

Jubilee Tree for Hilly Fields

George: It never ends, this present stuff! Engagement present! Then they get married, you gonna have to get them something for that! Then the baby, there's another present. Then the baby starts getting their presents. I don't even like Drake.
- Seinfeld

Time for another Jubilee bauble. BrocSoc writes:

22 May - gather from 12.45pm at the cafe on Hilly Fields, where we will be planting the Jubilee Tree donated by the Tree Council at Hilly Fields. Meet at the café from 12.45pm.

Students from Prendergast school will come out at 1.15pm for the ceremony.  Several people from the Brockley 50+ Club, which meets at Brockley Social Club, will share some memories of the Coronation with us and then they and the students  will plant the tree.

This is a prestigious occasion for Brockley as there will be only 60 trees throughout the country to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. A digital record of all 60 plantings will be presented to Her Majesty in June. The tree itself will have a smart plaque which will be readable from smartphones.

Please do join us -- Brockley Society tree officers, Friends of Hilly Fields, Seniors, and Prendergast School students -- for this special occasion.

Conway bites dog

When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if Conway finishes a job satisfactorily, however small, that is news.

Still no sign of the new zebra crossings in Brockley Cross, but by god, that is a tree - and Conway has successfully planted it. Unless someone else did - and they probably did, but Conway dug the bloody hole, you can't take that away from them! And there's another one next to it too. Two trees in only two years.

Also on the subject of street trees, local group Brockley Street Trees reports that "thirteen new trees will be planted in the conservation area to replace many street trees removed last summer due to disease. These have all been match-funded with local residents contributing 50% of the cost, and Lewisham Council the other 50%."

In March, the group is also planting 70 metres of fruit hedge in Hilly Fields. If you'd like to join them, full details here. With thanks to Monkeyboy for the photo.