We are sad to announce that we have had to agree to fell the large Willow tree in the play ground. It has come to the end of its life span. Tree experts have told us it’s dangerous to keep the current one there as the trunk is losing its strength.
Unfortunately we cannot have a dangerous tree in the play ground with so many children playing underneath it. They are incredibly tempting to climb and we just can’t risk anything happening to our younger community should sudden weaknesses arise in the future.
These trees only last for around 50-70 years, having a shorter life span than many trees, but the good news is they do grow quickly. FoSC plan to replace it with another Willow as soon as we can. They can grow 10 feet a year so within a short few seasons, we hope to have to soft shade covering us throughout the summer months again.
Be assured there are no plans to destroy any healthy trees and FoSC is constantly looking at the future conservation and planning of trees on the common.
The Willow tree currently standing in the Streatham Common Playground 11/12/17
Our friends at SCCOOP are holding the The Rookery Christmas Fair on Sunday 17th December between 11.30am to 4.00pm.
A chance to grab that last minute gift and knock back some mulled wine!
This year will feature over 40 stalls with local arts and crafts, gifts, hampers, home wares, clothing and treats. Hot and cold delicious food will be available, alongside soft drinks, a mulled wine stall and our on site Brewers, Inkspot, who will be serving their craft beers, ales and lagers.
New for this year will be the Marshmallow Toasting area and flame garden. Come along and warm your fingers whilst eating a gooey marshmallow treat!
The Big Top will be back with workshops to book on the day that will include woodland crafts, Christmas decorations and storytelling.
A beautiful Winter Wonderland Santa’s Grotto will be open from 11.30, with a donation of £3 per child. Each child will receive a gift from Father Christmas.
Musical entertainment will come from DJ Tony, alongside songs by Sing Out Streatham and a gorgeous Carols by Candlelight led by the Streatham Central Church.
As always, these events are manned by volunteers. If you could help out for all or just part of the day, SCCOOP would be most grateful. Please contact sarah.macadam@sccoop.org.uk
You are invited to the official Opening of the New Streatham Common Playground.
The Mayor Marcia Cameron will be opening the new playground at 10.00 am on Saturday 16th December 2017.
The Playground has been designed for children from toddlers to pre-teens. So please being your families along to enjoy the new facilities.
The Friends of Streatham Common’s volunteers working with Lambeth Council were integral in realising this project, with discussions starting way back in 2013!
FoSC commissioned LUC to put together draft plans [they had previously worked on the very successful Brockwell Park, and Horniman Museum playgrounds]. A cafe will follow soon, the idea being that the original scheme needed the playground to pay for its own repairs and upkeep.
Read the full summary of planning here in our newsletter back in August 2015.
We invite more parents to become FoSC members so you can play an important part in the future of the next generations education & enjoyment in of our shared green space, keeping it safe and sustainable for years to come.
We sold out the seats at our recent fun-draiser, the annual Christmas Pub quiz which took place on the 23rd November 2017. 64 seats sold and we couldn’t fit anymore in at the door on the night! The good natured crowd raised over £500 in ticket and raffle sales, with money most likey going to support the ancient Well in the Rookery Gardens.
The raffle saw prizes ranging from wine, hampers, brandy and the consolation prizes of day passes to the local gym…which strangely enough were not the most popular items. The Railway Pub were the perfect hosts and the quiz master set some incredibly difficult questions based on general knowledge, with some great outtakes from films to identify. 13 teams sweated it out for the prize-less gift of being the smartest arses in Streatham!
The event was organised with huge efforts by two of Friends of Streatham Common volunteers, Tracy Williamson and Camilla Ray. Thank you for coming and supporting our very important fundraising event, making it possible for future generations to enjoy our local treasures.
Representatives of Friends of Streatham Common attended the yearly wreath laying event at the Memorial on the corner of Albert Carr Gardens & Streatham Common North. Mike Robinson, the Chair of FoSC & Dom Leary of SCoop presented the wreath [see image] on Sunday 13th November 2017
Chair of the FoSC laying a wreath on behalf of our members 13th November 2017 [click to enlarge photo]
The memorial gardens next to the Common are part of our remit. All different societies, groups & communities around Streatham are invited to attend, as well as our local M.P Chuka Umunna. As always, it was well attended with all paying respects to those brave Streatham citizens who died in both World Wars.
History of the Memorial site
The memorial site, once part of the Manor of Tooting Bec was, on its enclosure, subsequently occupied by a large house called ‘Colbrands’, which dated back to the early 15th century. The house was later in the hands of Sir Richard Sackville, a distinguished lawyer and cousin to Anne Boleyn, second queen to Henry VIII of England. By 1695 the house, which had been rebuilt and renamed Streatham House, had passed to Elizabeth Howland and her husband the Marquess of Tavistock.
In 1700 the Marquess became the Duke of Bedford and the estate passed through successive dukes until 1805 when it was sold to Lord Deerhurst, who demolished the old house and built a new villa called Coventry Hall. In 1819 part of the estate was bought by the Rector of Streatham and other trustees of the local war memorial committee. The site was then laid out as a war memorial garden, transferred to London County Council in 1922, and then passed to the care of Lambeth Borough Council in 1971.
At the heart of the gardens is an attractive war memorial commemorating the dead of two world wars, which is adorned by bronze wreaths and attractive low edge railings. On top of the memorial is a bronze statue of a soldier sculpted by Alfred T. Loft in 1921. The gardens also contain a contemporary sculpture in the form of a single obelisk and plinth, which commemorates people of all races, faiths and nationalities living or who have lived in Streatham and have been affected by violent conflicts or wars wherever they have occurred.
In 1922 General Sir Charles Munro unveiled the War memorial in the grounds of The Chimes manor house (now Albert Carr Gardens) to honour Streatham’s 720 men from Streatham whom had died in the war. Streatham civilians were injured and died as well, as the worst Zeppelin attacks of the war fell on Streatham and south London.
The Chimes suffered flying bomb damage in 1944 and was subsequently demolished. Replaced by Albert Carr Gardens, [then part of Wandsworth Borough Council], which was built in the 1950s.
The Common itself was bombed during WWII. Two V1’s hit the area. One on the lower part of the Common where allotments stood. The second hit the Woods next to Covington Way where houses were detroyed by the blast. The Common on the south Side also had temporary housing to shelter locals who had lost their homes during the war. They remained in place until the 1950’s
This interesting You tube video of scenes collated by the late Mayor of Lambeth, Cllr Mark Bennett shows the extensive bomb devastation Streatham suffered during WWII. There is also a ‘Bomb’map where you can see how the Streatham Common area was targeted during WWII.
News just in about the nature of the works being undertaken in the woodland by SCCoop and the London Wildlife Trust as part of the Great North Wood project.
The project is now up and running with a dedicated team and project manager, Andrew Wright. You can find out more about the project here, and sign up for their newsletter too http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/great-north-wood .
You will remember that one of the plans was to fence off an area of the woodland to allow the severely eroded soil level to regenerate. The fencing will help this by discouraging pedestrian traffic allowing vegetation to build up and replenish the soil level. There may even be the opportunity for some woodland planting! Well the first stage of the project is underway. The attached diagram shows the location of the area to be fenced off. As you can see the area is adjacent to the ride. It has an approx. 180m circumference. The reason this area was chosen is that the tree canopy above is still fairly thin and will allow light into the site and also that there exists at least some soil presence. The fencing is sensitive – chestnut paling with sturdy stakes and was delivered today.
SCCoop and LWT held an information drop-in session on 18th October to present some of the planned works and although numbers were low, people understand the reasons for the work.
The work is planned for 20th, 21st and 23rd November this will be led by LWT and SCCoop so do please come along if you can!
FoSC Volunteer John Rhodes organises the hugely successful ‘Scruffs’ Dog show and now for the last 2 years, the Doggy Splash Day.
Splash Day is held at the end of the season before the pond is cleared for the winter months. Its sole aim is to raise funding for the Childrens Paddling Pool to reopen in the summer months since no other public funding is available. Over 200 dogs paid to come and splash in the pool and the weather was fine dry and warm. There was much excitement with dogs finding their inner Baywatch poses and being head over heels in love with their city beach. We hope this will be a regular fixture on the Calendar – and of course our furry friends insist we do it all over again next year.
Doggy Splash Day was a great success and raised £1379. 77 from selling cakes, jams, raffle, tombola and entrance money.
People were so generous that there are still items to sell which were donated to the tombola which did not get included. Over November and December John will be selling these at a Bric-a Brac / Bring and Buy stall in the grounds of the Rookery Cafe every morning from 9-12.
John has created Calendars and Christmas cards of the two events to sell on the stall as well. As always John is a shining example of how our volunteers are key to the Commons success at ensuring the community is well served by our beautiful space. We do need help though so these events will carry on. John would very much welcome any help to sell in the mornings so John can focus on pushing the target from the potential of collecting £1500 towards the £2000 mark.
The 2017 Scruffs Dog show was a record breaker with 185 dogs. The show was opened by the Mayor of Lambeth (Marcia Cameron) Who stayed to present some of the Rosettes. Esteemed Judges were the CEO from PAT DOGs Deborah Dow, Harry Kinnard from Battersea Dogs & Cats home [where many of the commons regular four legged friends originate from], and three judges from the local vets. [photos to follow soon]
There are still some souvenir programmes for sale at £2.00.
John wants to send a massive “thank you” to all the volunteers on the two days as without them the shows could not go on.
Whilst enjoying our beautiful Autumn out on the common, you cant help but notice that many of the Oaks are very misshapen. There is a reason for this and the answer can be found in an article written in our Common Knowledge Newsletter of December 2009 by Peter Newmark.
Perhaps you have noticed that for the past two years there have been many horribly deformed acorns on the Common’s oak trees – or, to be more specific, the pendunculate oaks. At first, generally in August, greenish protuberances appear on the acorns. They then turn reddish and eventually become brown and woody, by which time they have taken over the whole acorn. The deformation is known as a knopper gall. But what causes the gall?
The answer is a minute gall wasp that lays its eggs in the acorn. When the grubs hatch from the eggs they secrete chemicals that cause the gall to grow. The gall encloses the grub providing food and protection. Eventually the grubs pupate into adult wasps.
Strangely, all these adults are females. They make their way to turkey oak trees, which co-exist in our woodlands with the more frequent pendunculate oaks. In the spring, the females lay their eggs on the catkins of the turkey oaks. Both males and females hatch from these eggs. After mating, the females lay their eggs in the pendunculate oaks’ acorns, and the cycle begins again.
Knopper galls were first found in the UK in the 1960s and became widespread in the 1980s. In some years they are found on almost every acorn, while in other years they are hardly evident. At first there was concern that the result would be decreased fertility of the oak trees, but this seems not to be the case.
How do the squirrels and jays that store very large numbers of acorns for the winter cope with the knopper gall? They avoid acorns with the galls. So in bad years – like this one – most of their acorns come from turkey oaks and other species that do not suffer from galls. As a result there will be more turkey oaks, because the spread of oak trees is largely the result of growth from acorns that have been buried and forgotten. With more turkey oaks there are more possibilities for the gall wasp to successfully continue its life cycle. So, like it or not, knopper galls are here to stay.
To receive current editions of the Common Knowledge Newsletter – become a member today. For as little as £6 per year and you will be helping support the FoSC’s volunteer work
As the Common becomes more popular as a place to rest & play, more work is needed to keep it safe. We cannot do it alone.
As an example – the woods & upper common grasslands need help. These areas support a huge amount of flora & fauna and need continued care. As we are not able to cover it with funding, the Streatham Common Cooperative [SCCOOP] have been organising volunteer days. This happens on a weekly basis, mainly on Tuesday & Thursdays but the odd Saturday too. See what you can offer us. spare hands never go to waste. Its good fun and a great way of meeting people, in addition to directly helping your community.
For further information on how to help on the nature front – contact mered.jones@sccoop.org.uk at SCCOOP
Mered has been instrumental in raising funding from other areas outside of the public purse…The Bags of Help initiative from Tescos, recently awarded SCcoop [Streatham Common Cooperative – Woodland Wildlife & Water Project] an award of £1,000.00 which will be paid upon satisfactory completion of due diligence. Every penny counts as they say!
If getting your hands dirty isn’t your thing – there are many other ways to support FoSC.
We are always looking for people with bright ideas to help with events, organising and stewarding, and also looking at how we can find funding to sustain the Common into the future. Is there an idea that needs looking at? Are you able to create a plan that can add value to the Common and the community? We need you!!
The pool up on the top of Streatham Common is drained at the end of each season, but on the very last day – the dogs get to play! Bring your dogs.
Hot on the heels of Scruffs, our dog loving community have one more treat for you all. Its great fun for both pups and humans, and a great chance to make new acquaintances and see your furbags rediscover their silly side.
The kids have had their fun for the summer…now its our furry kids turn!
12 noon to 5pm – at the paddling pool at the top of the common.
Stalls and raffle to raise funds to help SCCOOP keep the paddling pool open next year.
This event is organised entirely by volunteers – give as much support as you can. Even if you dont have a dog, come and join in the fun!
News just in about the nature of the works being undertaken in the woodland by 
