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Sub Committees & Groups Membership
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Monday, March 03, 2008 AGM 2008 45th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Society to be held on Tuesday, 29th April, 2008 (8.00 p.m.) at St.Barnabas Centre, Calton Avenue, S.E.21. A G E N D A 1. Introduction and welcome by our President (His Honour Michael Rich QC). 2. Apologies for absence. 3. Minutes of 44th AGM held on 27th March, 2007 to be approved (available at the Meeting and, as notified in the Spring Newsletter, available on our web-site and from Hon.Secretary). 4. Matters arising from the Minutes not covered by this Agenda. 5. Highlights of the Reports from Officers and Sub-Committees for 2007. (Reports available prior to meeting on web-site or from Hon.Secretary). Opportunity for questions. 6. Presentation of Accounts and Report for 2007 by the Hon.Treasurer (Russell Lloyd ACA) and their adoption. 7.Appointment of Hon. Auditor. 8. Elections for the year 2008/2009:- (a) Officers Chairman Hon.Secretary Hon.Treasurer (b) Executive Committee (c) Honorary Officers 9. Any other business. Wine etc. will be available with the opportunity of meeting fellow members. ----------DULWICH SOCIETY MINUTES OF THE 44th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE DULWICH SOCIETY held on Tuesday,27th March 2007 at St.Barnabas Centre, SE 21. Advisory Committee under the Scheme of Management: We are the only amenity society represented and meet 3 times a year with an equal number of Trustees of the Dulwich Estate,and is a means of discussing items and exerting pressure to safeguard and enhance amenities; the Estate is required to give a reasoned response to matters raised and we welcome suggestions to consider from members.
Executive Committee: Wilf Taylor Brian Green Alastair Hanton David Roberts Stella Benwell Angela Wilkes John Ward Pat Reynolds Bill Higman Kenneth Wolfe
Chairman’s Report on 2007 for the AGM – 29 April 2008 HON-SECRETARY'S REPORT ON 2007 FOR AGM ON 29th APRIL 2008 The Executive Committee met each month apart from August. ------------------------------------------------ Membership Secretary's Report for 2007 ----------------------------------------- ANNUAL REPORT FROM THE TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT COMMITTEE FOR THE SOCIETY’S AGM ON APRIL 29 2008 The year 2007-2008 has been a successful and interesting one for members of the Traffic and Transport Committee. The Committee has continued to build on progress made during 2006-2007 on local road safety, reduction of traffic congestion, improvement of conditions for walking and cycling and better public transport. Members of DGG (Dulwich Going Greener) are now kept up to date with information circulated to the Traffic and Transport Committee and an invitation has been extended to them to attend our meetings. The most important new project, which encompasses all of the above, has been the decision to produce a Community Travel Plan for Dulwich, and a great deal of time has been spent on this during the year. The aim is to make Dulwich public space quieter, cleaner, greener, safer and healthier for leisure, shopping, play and non-motorised as well as motorised travel. It is hoped that eventually a reduction in motorised travel will be achieved which will reduce noise, pollution and danger. Listed below are actions taken, or subjects considered, in relation to a Community Travel Plan for Dulwich : - Several members have walked together along certain roads in Dulwich to gain first hand experience of traffic conditions at specific times of the day. - An Open Meeting was held in October with Lynn Sloman, a well respected expert on the problems associated with transport and traffic. - Information on Car Clubs/Car Sharing Schemes has been considered and it is hoped that further discussions on this subject will take place with Southwark Council and local representatives. - Travel Demand Management, Green Shopping, Walking Buses, School Travel Plans, Protected Cycle Networks, Streetscapes/Infrastructure are all recognised as playing an important part in the Plan. Additional activities have included : - Submitting two bids to the 2007-2008 Cleaner Greener Saver scheme – one of which was successful. Putting together a list of possible bids for the CGS scheme for 2008-2009. - Putting together a list of possible bids to be made by Southwark via the Dulwich Community Council for funds for the implementation within Southwark of the Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy. - Liaising with TfL representatives over tightening up the junction of Gallery Road and Alleyn Park with the South Circular to make it safer. - Supporting residents of Court Lane in their request to Southwark Council seeking an alteration to the Junction where Court Lane meets Lordship Lane, and for greater safety for pedestrians crossing from the Court Lane park gates to Eynella Road. - Continued support for the work of the Herne Hill Forum on measures to improve the junction at Herne Hill and to regenerate the area. - Liaising with TfL over the phasing of traffic lights at the junction of College Road and the South Circular. - Due to the magnificent efforts of the late David Hollis, and more recently those of Isaac Marks, there is an improved train service of four trains an hour on the West Dulwich line. - Involvement with an open meeting to discuss the Red Post Hill Bridge closure. As always, we welcome new members onto our Committee. --------------------------------------- Annual Report for 2007 of the Planning and Architecture Group of the Dulwich Society Over the year, architect David Roberts, architect Oliver Probyn and Group secretary Jean Howell have on a monthly basis appraised, on behalf of the Dulwich Society, applications for external alterations to residential property covered by the Dulwich Estate’s Scheme of Management stating either no objection or an objection with a reason. These applications are assessed in the first instance against the Dulwich Estate’s published guidelines in 14 categories; tree works, boundary works to walls, hedges, fences, railings and gates, conservatories, hard standing in front gardens, loft conversions, external repairs and redecorations, replacement roofs, chimneys and re-pointing, satellite dish aerials, change of use where certain businesses are to be run from home, shop fronts, garden structures and solar energy panels. Neighbours of proposed alterations sometimes flag up concerns with the Group. The most popular applications to create extra space within the home are either a rear extensions or a loft conversion with a dormer at the rear and rooflights to the side. There has been a tendency for some applications to seek to make rear extensions ever taller and ever wider. Where this is considered inappropriate relative to the size of the original house an objection is made by the Group for referral to the Dulwich Estate’s committee for a decision. The need to allow buildings to adapt to changing lifestyle is acknowledged by the Group and where there is no negative impact on the adjoining owners and the size is proportionate there is less likelihood of an objection. Appropriate growth and change is seen by the Group as positive in giving new and better use of homes in Dulwich. For example, the application to the Dulwich Estate for a large rear extension at 21 Frank Dixon Way ( this and adjoining houses, originally one room deep, have very wide long plots ) was revised three times before the Dulwich Estate granted a license, with the Group raising no objection. However, Southwark Council’s planning department refused the final revision. The planning officer is reported as saying, by way of explanation for the refusal, “…but your extension is larger than my flat!” The owners of the house have appealed the Council’s decision and the Group have sent a letter to the Planning Inspectorate setting out their reasons for not objecting to the proposed single storey rear extension. The new house going up next to 37 College Road is believed to be the last replacement house within the village following destruction of the previous house on this site in the Second World War by bomb damage. Unusually, as can be seen at present, it is of steel frame construction. The high quality of design of this house by architects Knox Bhavan is novel in other respects which will reveal themselves over the coming year. Renewal of the derelict listed garden wall along Red Post Hill adjoining Lyndenhurst, 19 Village Way : The Group, local residents, Peter Flaherty and Simon Pimblett along with Councillors, Toby Eckersley, Nick Vineall and Robin Crookshank Hilton have continued to press for the full and proper re-instatement of this listed 18th century wall. At the request of Southwark Council, the Dulwich Society made an application in October 2007 for Listed Building Consent for the reconstruction of the wall. The application was based on a Consultant Structural Engineer’s detailed report commissioned by Southwark Council Enforcement Section. Listed Building Consent was granted in December 2007. The purpose of the consent is so that Southwark Council can serve a Section 215 notice on the current owner, Hausman Hughes to put into good order this derelict wall. While there can be a legal challenge, the bottom line is that if the wall is not re-instated the Council can do the work itself and take legal action to recover its costs from the owner. The Dulwich Society is awaiting confirmation that the Section 215 notice has been served. Optimistically, once this legal process has started it could mean that the wall will have been re-built or is being worked on by this time next year. The Weather Vane has finally been erected on the Tollgate on College Road. The weathervane was originally designed as part of the Tollgate by architect Don Adie of Turney Road. However, it was not erected when the Tollgate was built due to lack of permission by the Dulwich Estate. The current chief executive of the Dulwich Estate, John Major agreed that the weathervane, which depicts the Dulwich Estate coat of arms, would be erected by the Estate, if it could be found. Thanks to detective work by Don Adie and the Dulwich Estate it was found in the care of Terry Kent, the former design and technology master at Dulwich College, where it was made by the boys of Dulwich College as a metalwork project some 12 years ago. Road Bridge North Dulwich Station : Agreement has been reached that the original brick recessed brick panels that formed part of the parapet wall to the bridge are to be re-instated as part of the re-building process that is underway thanks to representations by Don Adie and chair of the Traffic and Transport sub-committee, Alistair Hanson. The Statue of Edward Alleyn : The removal of the boy and his concealment in the bushes during December 2007 has led to a decision by the Dulwich Society executive committee to re-instate the boy with a large baseplate securely fixed to the stone plinth. The preparation for this work is being undertaken with the assistance of the sculptress, Louise Simson and the AB Fine Art foundry in Poplar who cast the two statues. Report by David Roberts -------------------------------------------------------- DULWICH SOCIETY WILDLIFE COMMITTEE REPORT for 2007 The committee has been very active, not only in fighting to preserve existing wildlife habitats locally in the face of increased “garden-grabbing” development pressures and the demands of insurance companies handling householders’ subsidence damage claims, but members have also worked to provide some brand-new places to attract and sustain our Dulwich birds, mammals, amphibians and insects. The committee have also continued and enhanced the vital monitoring and education initiatives started in previous years. (I) Success story of the year must be the £8,000 grant awarded as a result of the committee’s application to Southwark Council’s Cleaner, Greener, Safer scheme for the planting and development of a new Woodland Walk on the outer edges of Belair Park - supported by the Trees Committee and by the Friends of Belair Park. Work on this will be carried out by Walworth Garden Farm, under the guidance of Southwark’s ecology officer Jon Best and Dulwich Society members. It will focus particularly on providing owl and bat havens - the council’s first bat walk revealed three species of bat using the park to hunt insects (two kinds of pipistrelles and a Daubenton’s) and the area is part of a chain of habitats used by these fascinating, yet endangered tiny mammals, which includes Dulwich Upper, Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Woods and the golf course. The Dulwich Society is also supporting the scheme financially and work is due to start in April, 2008. (2) Birdlife monitoring continues: the 2007 Spring bird count in Dulwich Park showed increased numbers of small birds - especially blue tits, blackbirds and green finches - attributable, the recorders believe, to the improved management of the park’s “woodland edge”-style perimeter. Committee member Dave Clark, water bird recorder for Dulwich Park, now has his own British Trust for Ornithology recording grid for Dulwich, and will be monitoring this detailed area for the next four years. So, if you spot a crossbill or other unusual sighting on your patch, or have a nesting , migrant or feeding anecdote, e-mail dave@mailbox.co.uk, and you will be helping build the new national birdlife atlas upon which researchers base estimates of how well, or badly, individual bird species are faring. Dr Peter Roseveare continues to be our Wildlife Recorder and has contributed much to our knowledge and has written articles in the Newsletters. (3) We continue to support the Trees Committee in the battle to keep Dulwich green and leafy. One mature tree was, sadly, lost as a result of a household insurance claim which affected trees bordering the Alleyn’s school sports fields. But, after considerable effort by both Wildlife and Trees committees and Southwark’s trees officers, a compromise was eventually reached which granted a reprieve - via pruning rather than removal - for two other trees on site. They are the subject of tree preservation orders. (4) Members took part in bat-surveying, tree-tagging and a one-day workshop at The Horniman Museum. Work is ongoing in Sydenham Hill Woods and some 53 trees, mainly oaks along Cox’s Walk, have been identified as roosting, or potential roosting sites for bats. One species (brown long-eared) has been recorded for the first time in Dulwich, using the disused old railways tunnel. (5) Members also attended bumble bee conservation workshops at Mark Carlton’s wildflower garden in Penge, organised by a new charity, Buglife. (www.buglife.org.uk). (6) Newsletter articles during the year focused on foxes, bumble bees, wood pigeons and house sparrows and took Society members’ “problems” and queries as their basis. (7) Education initiatives have included birdlife fact sheets for teachers visiting the Francis Peek Centre in Dulwich Park with school parties, a bird display board and a new wildlife recording book for sightings. (8) Although most of the committee’s work has centred upon encouraging the watching and enjoyment of wildlife in Dulwich, they also sought the help of the Metropolitan Police’s wildlife crime unit and the RSPCA in investigating inappropriate methods of keeping wildlife off property. Both organisations visited the householder and were able to give advice. TREES COMMITTEE REPORT FOR 2007 Subsidence claims continue to be the most serious threat to trees in Dulwich. We have lost a chestnut and an ash along College Road and other trees are threatened. We continue to attend the Estates Governors’ tree surveys and defend these trees wherever possible. The trees map has continued to sell well and we have now reprinted it. It is given free to all new members. We have also reprinted a nature trail for Dulwich Park, which is available free at the café. We had a well-attended walk in Sydenham Wells Park in May, led by our excellent guide, Hetta Jones, and an outing to Wakehurst Place on a beautiful day in November. We have planted three more trees in Long Meadow, a dawn redwood and two coral bark willows. There are now 15 trees and a long stretch of hedgerow planted by us and doing well. STELLA BENWELL, CHAIR, TREES COMMITTEE ------------------------------- Dulwich Society Garden Group Annual Report 2007 We have had a rather disappointing year. Our first event, a lecture by Ann Bird, President of the Royal National Rose Society, who was a most interesting and entertaining speaker, attracted less than half our usual audience. And numbers were well down on previous years for most of our garden openings. During the summer months we visited fifteen local gardens as well as the garden of the South London Botanical Institute. We are most grateful for all the hard work that was put into preparing these gardens for our visit and also for the excellent hospitality that we received. The weather was not always on our side.. Two of the visits were held in heavy rain, but even when the weather was good, visitor numbers were down. We think this is due to the substantially increased number of other garden openings – under the ‘Yellow Book’ scheme or in support of charities or the Dulwich Festival. When our group first started, there were no other garden openings. In June we had a most enjoyable visit to West Dean Gardens, near Chichester. The returning coach was packed with specimens purchased by members of the group. We also held a competition for a small flower arrangement, which was won by Sylvia Daniel with a display of Crocosmia. We also organised a ‘Plant Swap’ tent for the ‘Green Fair’ in Dulwich Park and donated our takings of £103 to the ‘Friends of the Park’. The Group currently has 260 members and we would like to have more. All members of the Dulwich Society are welcome to join. There is no charge. Just let John Ward have your name and address (Email: jjbwrd@btopenworld.com or telephone 0207 274 5172) and in April you will be sent a list of invitations to next summer’s events. We are also always looking for new gardens for our members to visit. If you have, or know of an interesting garden (it doesn’t have to be big), or if a small group in one road would like to open their gardens together and raise money for charity, please contact John Ward. We are very pleased that Josephine Lock has joined our committee. Thanks are due to all committee members, as well as to those who deliver the invitations for our garden visits. Without their hard work these events could not have taken place. We are also grateful to our members for their support. JBW/ 14 12 07 ---------------------------------- ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCAL HISTORY SUB-COMMITTEE FOR 2007 The summer walk was organised and led by Brian Green with information on trees along the way from Dr.Peter Roseveare and Stella Benwell. It was unfortunately a very wet evening but about 20 people walked from the pond on the corner of College Road, through the Dulwich College sports fields adjacent to the Golf course and up to the top of Grange Lane. On October 12th a coachload of members enjoyed a very interesting visit to the Society of Antiquaries, thanks to Bernard Nurse, who was until very recently the Librarian of the Society. Bernard was also co-curator of the exhibition at theadjacent Royal Academy celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the Society. After showing us the main rooms and library of the Society, Bernard accompanied us to the exhibition and kindly answered our questions about the exhibits. In November the committee, in association with the Dulwich Players, organised a very successful evening of readings from literature referring to Dulwich in fact and fiction. This entertainment was attended by about 60 people. Brian Green has discovered that the humps he has been investigating on the site opposite the Horniman Museum were constructed as part of a children’s play area. The Dulwich Post Office cart is nearing the end of restoration due to the meticulous work of Graham Nash and Willis Walker; we still have to decide on its protection, particularly if displayed in such a prominent position at the forecourt of the Village Post Office. # posted by The Dulwich Society @ 4:16 PM |
