Climb St Peter's on June 2nd

On Saturday, June 2nd, you will have a rare chance to climb St Peter's Church tower. The Wickham Road temple is hosting an open day as part of the Brockley Max Festival. They write:

Have you ever wondered what’s behind the big red doors of St Peter’s? Come join our Open Day to explore this beautiful church and learn more about its place in local history.

St Peter’s Open Day is on Saturday 2nd June from 12-5pm as part of the Brockley Max Festival.

We welcome everyone to come and enjoy its stained glass windows and mosaics and take a tour, including climbing to the top of the clock tower for spectacular views of Brockley and the city.

Guided tours of church will be taking place at 12:15, 13:30, 14:45 and 16:00. Each tour is limited to fifteen people. If you’d like to book your place on a tour, you can register your interest here.

Christmas at St Hilda's

St Hilda's Church is on Brockley Road in Crofton Park, just past the Brockley Jack

EU NX referendum debate, June 7th

If you're one of the 12% of people who are still waiting for the killer fact or argument to help you make up your mind which way to vote in the upcoming referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, then perhaps one of these crazy cats may persuade you.

Taking part in a referendum debate organised by the New Cross Road Baptist Church (466a New Cross Road, June 7th, 7.30pm) will be Labour Councillor Joe Dromey, Vicky Foxcroft MP, Paul Oakley (UKIP), John Hamilton (People Before Profit) and representatives from the Greens, LibDems and the Conservative Party.

If you can't make it down, don't worry, I'll be creating a thread next week on BC where we can all hash it out and come to a neat consensus about which way to vote.

Support St Hilda's roof appeal

Steven writes:

St Hilda’s Church in Crofton Park, has been trying to raise a fund of £542,000 to replace their roof for the last 17 years and now desperately needs help to fill the £98,000 gap.

St Hilda’s has a potential funder in place to pay for their roof restoration work, but they need to show evidence of the role they play in our community, and they really need local residents like us to send letters of support for the funding. The deadline for letters to be received is April 30th.

As well as being a Church, St Hilda’s is a vital community hub, serving people of all faiths and beliefs in Crofton Park, and I’m sure  you will have attended events there, such as children’s parties, play groups, pilates or yoga groups, Christmas / Easter parties / Croftfest etc, and so will value their presence in the community.

If you'd like to show your support for the church, please write a letter with your name and contact details, explaining why St Hilda's is important to you and your community. These letters should be posted in the green post box by "the Crucifix Door" and / or be emailed to church.admin@sainthildas.org.

Chips 4 Churches

Andrico writes:

On July 30th the Brockley's Rock will be putting on a fundraising Quiz night to raise money for the St Andrew's youth club, who sadly lost their funding from the council due to austerity cuts. It's been a fantastic summer for Brockley so far and while we've sponsored some great events, we're looking forward to finally putting on our own one.

For Everyman, A Religion

For Each A Road - In this case, New Cross Road, where the Jehovah's Witnesses are refurbishing Kingdom Hall

Juiced workers. Joy withheld.
Jesus wept. Judgement waits.

Brockley: Rise of the Wiccans

Dave Skylark: This was a revolution ignited with nothing more than a camera and some questions. Questions that led a man, once revered as a god among mortals, to cry and shit his pants. The end.
- The Interview

UK Census Data keeps on Tweeting interesting things about the area, including, most recently that there are 38 people in Brockley who identify as Jewish. The breakdown is as follows...

The Brockley Ward data covers 17,156 people and of the biggies, there are 7,860 Christians, 987 Muslims, 315 Hindus and 253 Buddhists. We also have 1 witch, 1 Animist, 9 Wiccans and 0 Scientologists.

In total, there are 6,054 people who identify as having no religion.

Full data set here.

Raise the Roof, November 15th

St Cyprian's development begins

Demolition work is imminent at St Cyprian's Church, by the junction of Adelaide Avenue and Brockley Road. The plan is to build a new mixed-use development, which will retain the Brockley Road-side facade but getting rid of the rest of the church, creating a restaurant and office at ground level and residential space above.

New restaurant space is welcome and this church has been a grim, brooding presence on the high street for a long time, but the architectural mash-up (below) the developers are going for is pretty unsastisfactory chimera, which belongs on this list. It's neither respectful of the building's character, nor bold modern architecture.

With thanks to Nick for the photo.

Goldsmiths to transform St James Hatcham church as next wave of New Cross redevelopment begins

For a while, we've been alluding to the fact that Goldsmiths would be stepping up its plans to invest in its campus, which occupies much of central New Cross.

The redevelopment programme is not only a priority for Goldsmiths, but for local residents, who want the empty high street properties brought back into use. BC is on the Council of Goldsmiths and we're really excited by what's coming, which will add a lot more to the area than just new retail units.

Following the recent opening of a new music studio on New Cross Road, Goldsmiths says:

Goldsmiths, University of London has unveiled a number of building projects which will transform their single-campus site in the heart of New Cross.

The announcement comes as contractors begin work on the first of these developments – interior re-design of St James Hatcham, a 19th century church building bought by the College in 2011.

An impression of the new interior of St James Hatcham church

The development will see the building transform into a space that can be used flexibly for teaching, exhibitions, performances and studios.

The Hatcham project forms just one part of a wider vision set out in the College’s updated Masterplan – of a flexible, sustainable campus with visibility of key activities and function set within an identifiable and coherent public realm. The plan has been drawn up by architects McAslan and the Estates team in consultation with staff, students and the wider College community. It is in the final stages of development as the College continues conversations with Lewisham Council on the overall scheme.

A number of key projects have already begun, including:

o   Renewal of the flagship Richard Hoggart Building on Lewisham Way, including a new bright and welcoming entrance and the opening up and landscaping of the forecourt to provide social seating and performance space

o   New Music studios at 286 New Cross Road which provide a creative space for research, performance and recording where musicians, both Goldsmiths students and members of the public, can make professional-level recordings using state-of-the-art equipment.‌

o   The installation of a new café in the Rutherford Building which houses the library and computer laboratories.

The College has significantly increased its investment in the estate in recent years – spending £5m last year, almost four times more than previous years. This investment is set to continue with the following plans in the pipeline:

o   The creation of a new art gallery on campus, using the water tanks in the former Laurie Grove baths. The College will be launching a design competition next week.

o   Continuing our strategy of disposing of outlying properties to enable us to concentrate on our on-campus developments and to review our accommodation strategy with a view to accommodating more on campus in the longer term.

o   Repairs to the front elevation of the Deptford Town Hall Building, following recent repair works to the rear of the building, and continuation of the works to the nearby shops to make them safe

o   Facilitating a variety of ‘pop-up’ projects in the shops on New Cross Roads, following the success of the recent New Cross Records pop-up shop.

Zoom nurseries opening in Brockley

After being thwarted in the past, 0-5years nursery operator Zoom has finally found a site in Brockley - the former Welsh church on Lewisham Way. The nursery will open in September and is currently advertising places.

Smoke-free Tabs take on beer-free icon

Ed writes:

The new owners of the old snooker hall on Lewisham High Street have been holding open days for the public all week. I went last night and it was really interesting - you get a hard hat tour of the building, complete with torch and leaky roof, and there's a display of what they hope to do to it. They say:

"The building dates from 1910 at the height of the Temperance Movement and was listed Grade ll in 2008 ... The new owner, the Tabernacle Church (The Tab), has served in Lewisham for well over 50 years ... The proposals on display are for the renovation of this derelict building with a view to breathing life back into it for it to serve as a church, community centre and conference centre [and cafe by the look of the plans]."

Loads of remodelling work will go on inside, but the outside will remain the same, but smarter. Our guide told us work will start "as soon as we have planning permission". She also said all the money needed ("millions") has been raised.

The next and last open day is this Saturday 18 Jan 12-5pm. The website, due to be live in a week or so I was told, is here: http://thetabandcommunity.org/

Tower-ring internal

The bells of St Peter's church on Wickham Road recently began to ring again, after a long absence. The engineer working for the Church of England, who led the restoration project, Danijel Pavlic, rebuilt the clock and bells mechanism, originally built by Smith and Sons of Clerkenwell. He explains:

"What was initially an idea of converting the 19th century mechanism to electrical power ended up as an effort to keep the mechanism genuine and, of course, operated by human power only. That will put the St. Peter's Church tower on the map as a valuable cultural heritage protecting probably the last hand-wound clock and bells mechanism in London."

So far, only 40 visitors have had the chance to see the  mechanism during a guided tours of the tower, but Danijel will be holding more open days soon and would love to host Brockley residents who are interested in the project. More information here.

St Peter's - Keep your heads ringing

The St Peter's bells are back - and so is the clock tower open day. Dave writes:

After years of silence, St. Peter's hand-wound Victorian clock, built by Smiths of Clarkenwell, who also created the clock of the Houses of Parliament, chimes again!

Whilst the clock was silent there have been many requests by the local community to hear the bells - hoping to give Brockley a village-feel. Now they are sounding again there have been mixed reviews, but St. Peter's is committed to working with the community, celebrating and looking after its heritage. Residents will be comforted to know that the chimes will only sound between 9am and 9pm. If there are any queries then we would love to hear from people! Please email the Church office on office@stpetersbrockley.org.uk.

Or, why not come to St. Peter's Open day, Saturday 28th September, where you can climb the historic clock tower for yourself! You can have a guided tour through all the mechanisms and the different rooms that make up the clock tower by the engineer who has been working to repair it. Finally, you can climb to the very top of the Tower that overlooks London where you will find spectacular 360° views - great for photographers! There will also be lots going on including car washing, tours of the stain glass windows and refreshments.

Time: 10am - 5pm
Location: St. Peter's Church, Wickham Road
Website: www.stpetersbrockley.org.uk

Musings of Chancel

On the Brockley forum, JCambridge has raised an issue which we'd never heard about before and deserves wider attention:

We are currently buying a property in Brockley and have been informed by our Solicitor it is in an area that potentially be subject to Chancel Repair Liability. This is where a local church can force you to pay for repairs, however you have to pay full a full search to find out what church it relates to and whether you are indeed liable. 

Has anyone paid for a search and what was the findings? It usually relates to Medieval Churches and having researched I suspect it could relate to the Premonstratensian Abbey in Brockley that was once on the site of the current St Peters church. 

Greenspaces: St Paul's Churchyard

Sitting just off Deptford High Street, St Paul's church is an 18th century, Baroque masterpiece. The churchyard itself is a walled garden and a retreat from the throng of market day, with low Portland Stone walls that offer a good place to sunbathe.

The gardens look like an isometric video game, with pristine benches, gravestones, lampposts, flowerbeds and square hedges dotted around as if they've been generated at random - an island of twee in Deptford's sea of grit.

This has been added to the Greenspaces map - our guide to local parks and open spaces.

Brockley Welsh church for sale

Another local oddity looks like it will bite the dust. The Presbyterian Church of Wales on Lewisham Way is up for sale for £1.5 million.

The advert notes that:

A pre-application submission has been lodged for a change of use to Residential based upon a scheme comprising five no. 4-storey, 4-bedroom houses arranged in a terrace. Each house is allocated 2 parking spaces and has a rear garden of approximately 8m in length. The total estimated Gross Internal Area of the scheme is 9,600 sq feet.

With thanks to Pam.

Brockley Grove mural

We're grateful to Transpontine for letting us reproduce one of his photos of an excellent mural in Brockley Grove. He says:

This mural is outside Crofton Park Baptist Church in Brockley Grove SE4. I am guessing that it was painted as part of the commemorations for the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act in 2007, as it is themed around slavery.

Click here for the full article.

Gracechurch

Bart: So Homer, you saw the big cheese? What'd he look like? 
Homer: Perfect teeth. Nice smell. A class act, all the way. 
- The Simpsons, Homer the Heretic

Gracechurch is a new fundamentalist church in Brockley that believes The Bible is the inerrant word of the big cheese. Simon Abrams writes:

We are a group of people who have been attending churches in Dulwich, Camberwell and central London but all live locally. We meet in Crossways Academy and just wanted to let people know that we are here.

We come from a range of backgrounds including postmen, plumbers, bankers people in IT and consultancy. We are mixed ethnically and are probably a fair reflection of Brockley.

Church spire horror benefit concert tonight

St Augustine's urgently needs your help to prevent scenes like this happening again.

Philippa writes:

You may know that St. Augustine's church, One Tree Hill, is falling down and has been promised Heritage Lottery funding but only if a certain sum is raised by the end of March. Various fund raising events have taken place and another is happening tomorrow night.

A concert of music specially selected for an evening in early spring will be performed by professional musicians, Benjamin Nabarro (violin) and Fiona Dalzell (piano).

The music is Beethoven's Spring Sonata, a Prokofiev sonata and after the interval, Faure's A Major Sonata and Ravel's Tzigane. It takes place tonight, 23rd March at 7.30pm.

 Tickets at the door are £10 for adults and £5 concessions. All monies raised are to be used for the repair fund.