Spring Plant Sale

Got a garden or a window box? Need some new plants? Want to support a local charity? Well get down to Walworth Garden Farm in May, where a variety of bedding plants, herbs and small shrubs (all grown by trainees at the Farm itself) will be available to buy at great prices!

The Farm (located on the corner of Braganza Street and Manor Place) will be open every Saturday and Sunday in May, starting this week on the 2nd, with staff on hand to chat about the work of the Farm in general as well as to offer gardening tips and advice.

Happy planting!

Minutes - April 2009

Surrey Gardens TRA General Meeting
Minutes
14 April 2009

In attendance: Tony (Chair), Cath (Treasurer), Katy (Secretary), Marcus, Melissa, John, Mary

Apologies: Megan, Jo, Jenny, Andrew, Paul, Briony

1. Chair opened meeting

2. Chair’s report:

• Minutes of the last meeting have been circulated and are available on the TRA website, www.surreygardenstra.blogspot.com
• Tony reported that 26 visitors had been to the blog in the last month
• Tony reported back on his meeting (along with John) with the Cleaner, Greener, Safer Team (CGS). CGS felt the area proposed for funding - the cut through between Lorrimore Rd and Lorrimore Sq (opposite St Wilfrid's Church) - was a suitable place to propose improvements and helped make suggestions as to what these might be and how much it would cost (funding applied for: up to £35k). Tony confirmed that backing for the proposal had been received from the Sutherland Square RA in addition to Caroline Pidgeon, local Councillor and London Assembly Member
• Tony reported that he had received an e-mail from Sgt Julia Croft of the Newington Safer Neighbourhood Team with regards to potentially establishing a Neighbourhood Watch in the area. This is reported to be an effective deterrent against crime. Since there has been one break in and one act of vandalism in the area recently, the meeting agreed it would be a good idea for the TRA to also become a Neighbourhood Watch Group. Tony is to investigate further with Sgt Croft as to what exactly this might entail

2. Treasurer’s report:

• Cath confirmed that our insurance payment for the park in Lorrimore Square will soon be due. Tony agreed to follow up with Michael Maloney from Southwark Council to see if any progress has been made with regards to the TRA no longer having to cover this cost directly

3. Any other business:

• The meeting agreed that Cath should investigate the replacement/refurbishment of the notice boards, using the money the TRA received from the recent filming. Tony agreed to follow up with Michael Maloney on this issue in addition to the insurance
• Mary reported that she has become street rep for Food Up Front, a not-for-profit project in South London which encourages and supports people to grow food in whatever space they have available like front gardens, balconies and window sills. For more information call Mary on 07814681800. Notices on this issue will also soon be posted to both the website and the refurbished notice boards
• Meeting agreed the Summer Picnic will be held on Tuesday July 14th at 6pm

4. Next meeting – general meeting to be held in St Paul’s Church, Lorrimore Square at 7.30pm on 12th May. This meeting will be leafleted, and advertised on the TRA website – with e-mail and text reminders sent to those who have signed up for this.

5. Thanks from The Chair and close.

Our survey says...

Our survey conducted over Christmas revealed a clear favourite in terms of where respondents wanted the TRA to concentrate their efforts over the year ahead - improving the cut-through connecting Lorrimore Square to Lorrimore Road (including the small "lay-by" area right next to it).

Highlighted by residents as a generally grotty area with poor lighting, missing trees, broken/unsuitable paving and prone to flytipping - it's certainly a very deserving project for the TRA to take on.

A proposal has now been submitted to Cleaner, Greener, Safer at Southwark Council to fund the work - should the proposal be successful (results will be announced in around 6 - 8 weeks - fingers crossed...) we'll need your help, in consultation with the Council, to decide what improvements to make.

Currently the plan is to:

• Improve lighting


• Lay new paving


• Increase planting


• Add seating

But we're very much open to ideas, so please do get in touch!

Minutes - March 2009

Surrey Gardens TRA General Meeting
Minutes
10 March 2009

In attendance: Tony (Chair), Cath (Treasurer), John, Jenny

Apologies: Katy (Secretary), Megan, Jo

1. Chair opened meeting

2. Chair’s report:

• Minutes of the last meeting have been circulated and are available on the TRA website, http://www.surreygardenstra.blogspot.com/
• Following general dissatisfaction last meeting with the offer from The Bill of £350 to film in Lorrimore Sq and Road over three days, the Chair contacted both the Film Unit at Southwark Council and Talkback Thames in order to negotiate. Following this, a fee of £600 for the three days filming was agreed
• The Chair confirmed that a meeting has been set up with Cleaner, Greener, Safer to discuss plans for the areas which the TRA is seeking to secure funds to improve. This meeting will take place on Wednesday 11th March

3. Treasurer’s report:

• The Treasurer confirmed that the cheque had been received from Talkback Thames and has now been cashed

4. Jenny presented a number of ideas for the area linking Lorrimore Rd to Walworth Rd (The Eglington Court Cut Through), including a cycle path, seating, additional planting and new paving. The group discussed several additional ideas for the area linking Lorrimore Rd to Lorrimore Sq (The Lorrimore Cut Through and the Lorrimore Lay-by) including a cycle path, simple paving, additional planting, seating and good lighting.

5. Next meeting – general meeting to be held in St Paul’s Church, Lorrimore Square at 7.30pm on 14th April. This meeting will not be leafleted, but will be advertised on the TRA website – with e-mail and text reminders sent to those who have signed up for this.

6. Thanks from The Chair and close.

Minutes - February 2009

Surrey Gardens TRA General Meeting
Minutes
23 February 2009

In attendance: Katy (Secretary), Tony (Chair), Aunelion, Alexandre, Cath (Treasurer), Charlotte (CGS), John, Jenny, Aziza (CGS), Alhaji (member), Grahame, Marcus (member), Megan, Jo, Paul, Andrew, Paul, Mary

Apologies: Melissa, Briony, Tricia

1. Chair opened meeting and introduced Cleaner, Greener Safer Team: Charlotte and Aziza. They explained their role and invited funding ideas for the CGS 2009/10 programme. Proposals must be put forward before 16th March for projects worth up to around £35,000.

Chair invited the CGS team to come and look at the areas which the TRA wish to improve – the cut through between Lorrimore Rd and Lorrimore Sq (opposite St Wilfrid's Church) plus the area (within the Penrose TRA) leading to Walworth road. To be arranged between Chair and Charlotte.

2. Minutes of last meeting approved. Proposed: Chair. Seconded: Marcus

3. Chair’s report:

• Chair and Treasurer met to complete forms concerned with securing Council funding from the TRA for 2009
• New blog up and running at www.surreygardenstra.blogspot.com. Chair has put up notices on waste management, Kennington Tube updates, grants to parks and asked members to write to him with suggestions for any other notices, not necessarily TRA related. Could just be about the area.

Jenny suggested the website be advertised on the new notice boards when these are up, to general agreement of meeting.

4. Treasurer’s report:

• Treasurer arranged for accounts to be audited
• Some discussion on the amount Talkback Thames should pay the TRA for use of and disruption to the area from 24-27 February. The suggested £350 was thought to be too little. The Chair agreed to negotiate on behalf of the meeting
• Audited accounts presented to meeting. These accounts were agreed. Proposed: Chair. Seconded: Megan.

5. Chair reported from the web survey, held since December 2008, on proposals for funds. Respondents voted (in order of popularity):

a) Improving cut through between Lorrimore Road/Sq
b) New Bins for Lorrimore Sq Park
c) Resurfacing tarmac in park
d) Collaboration with Penrose TRA for improvement of pass that leads to Walworth Road
e) Improvement to mosaic in park
f) Trees for Lorrimore Road

Mary suggested adding a cycle path to the cut through between Lorrimore Rd/Sq should we proceed to improve this area.

Agreed in meeting that we would submit a proposal to CGS to improve the area between Lorrimore Rd/Sq. At the same time, John agreed to submit a separate proposal with regards to the Penrose Area. Agreed that Chair will liaise with John to find a suitable date to meet with CGS to walk around these areas and suggest improvements/costing.

Katy suggested inviting ideas on our website for specific improvements. Marcus pointed out these would have to be made very quickly to meet the March 16th deadline.

6. John asked meeting if we would like a talk from the people who now police pollution in the area. It was suggested they could write something for our website to let local people know their contact details and general remit.

7. Next meeting – Committee meeting to be held in St Paul’s Church, Lorrimore Square at 7.30pm on 10th March. This meeting will not be leafleted, but will be advertised on the TRA website.8. Thanks from Chair and close.

What a load of rubbish...

We all know that the council take away our general household waste (see here for details on your collection day), but what about everything else?

Southwark has a number of different schemes to help you get rid of your rubbish

• Recycling: everyone can do their bit, whether it's through collections from your own front door or taking your bottles, clothes, paper and plastic to one of the local recycling centres. A full guide as to what you can or can't recycle is available here
• Garden waste: once you've spruced up your garden it can be a real pain to get rid of all your unwanted plants etc. Southwark collect garden waste once every two weeks. Find out how you can do it here and when your local collection day is here
• Large household items: there's no need to fly-tip! Not only does it make the area look ugly, it's completely unnecessary. Southwark will collect your large household items absolutely free of charge on a day that is convenient to you. All you have to do is set up an appointment - find out more here
• Almost everything else: if you have a car or access to a vehicle, you might consider taking your waste to the Household Waste Reuse and Recycling Centre, currently situated off Manor Place. They take pretty much everything here - all of the stuff listed above, in addition to batteries, aerosols, tyres and even oil

So there's no excuse really! If you see litter, dumped rubbish, dog mess or an area that you think needs cleaning you can contact the council using this online form.

Check before you travel!

As some of you may have noticed, the lifts at Kennington are about to be refurbished - great news in the long run, but potentially disruptive in the short term!

From the 20th January through to December 2009, TfL will operate a reduced lift service - closing one lift at a time in order to carry out the work that is required.

Those of you who had the misfortune of being caught up in the temporary closures of the station on a number of mornings just before Christmas will know that any reduction in service can result in fairly major problems!

If there should be a problem at Kennington, remember that the P5 bus route runs right through our area with local stops on Lorrimore Rd, Lorrimore Sq/Chapter Rd, Penrose St and Walworth Rd, leading north to the Elephant and Castle (where you can connect with the Bakerloo Line and Mainline Rail Services) and south to Brixton, Stockwell and beyond. Likewise, the 155, 133, 333 and 415 (amongst others - see map for full details) run up and down Kennington Park Road in both directions - providing other alternatives.

So - the best advice is, check before you travel. Tube status updates are available on the homepage of the blog (at the bottom) or direct from Transport for London.