niki_nje

Hello all! I'm on the look out for local crafty people, whether that is handmade, baking or food skills to sell at a local fair (Anerley Town Hall, SE20 8BD) on the 5th December. We would like to have a selection of crafty people, food and craft workshops, maybe a raffle. If you could help with any of this, please get in contact, and let me know what you sell! Also looking for volunteers to help make decorations/run a raffle/help set up the hall on the day, you don't have to be a seller to get involved and please pass this on to others who might be interested. Thanks! Niki

This may be sacrilege but I was wondering firstly how "East Dulwich" this forum is? I.e. how many far a reach does the forum have? I'm sure bordering Peckham people must be here. This leads to my second question which is, are there any other forums as good as this one for "local" i.e. just outside of ED areas? Although I live near Goose Green I wouldn't mind travelling a little to find good stuff in other areas, and I wonder if it is all captured here, does that make sense>

Otta, I used to tutor a boy in Crystal Palace, the money was good or I wouldn't have travelled all that way! It is over 40 minutes though still (I'm also 12 minutes from triangle). I will learn to drive my fianc?'s car, then it's only 15 minutes. I couldn't live near my parents anyway, not because of gentrification but because there are no jobs, I understand the reality, but I didn't expect to be priced out within 5 years of this area (well 2 in the end) who does? I moved from Camberwell to the Peckham border as the rent was relatively cheap and the area a bit nicer. If I had known I would have rented in Crystal Palace from the start (although true to a poster earlier, this used to be more expensive!). 5 years is the longest I have lived anywhere since leaving home (as I had to move around for jobs) and I thought I had found somewhere I really liked and wanted to settle. Hopefully we can come back one day, or maybe I'll live Anerley and not want to leave, who knows! Miga, I do agree, but when will it end?! And what will happen then? Will prices fall or just stop? I can't see how it can keep going on like this, but I also don't see how it will end. njc97 you have hit the nail on the head there, I am a normal person, not particularly well off and what I meant by 'gentrification' was simply a nice place with things to do (which is how everyone seems to use the word these days). Somewhere I will be happy, and that could be down to community too - that's part of what I loved about East Dulwich and Peckham. I think people are reacting to the word "gentrification" rather than realising I am just sad about having to move into a not so nice area because it is all I can afford!! Peckham has loads of green space as miga says above and lots of creativity which has inspired me too. Anerley doesn't (yet) have that vibe.

Louisa I'm very sorry to hear that about your family but I am not the cause of gentrification, I am also a victim being a millennial affected by all the crazy house prices. I have to work in London as there are no jobs for me elsewhere (meaning I can't live near my Mum either). If I could wish for anything it would be to live in a half decent area (not super trendy, or posh) affording a house and not spending my entire salary on living. Unfortunately that isn't the case so I have to deal with what I've got, including wishing the boring/cheap area I'm buying into will improve.

Miga I agree, but where are the young people supposed to go? Renting is one thing but for buying young people are priced out of most of the 'trendy' areas. I am one of the 'young people' by the way!! A couple of my much better off friends have bought in Brixton which isn't too bad, but they are on double my salary and not representative of the majority. With all the rent increases I don't know how people my age and younger will be able to afford anywhere vaguely central in future, after all commonly my friends pay around ?700 rent for a room a month in a reasonable area in zone 2/3 (although most North Londoners are zone 5), and that is cheap! Thanks Jeremy! Otta, which route are you using exactly, by public transport it will take 45 minutes or 30 min cycle ride, so no it isn't 15 minutes away. Also why do you feel the need to tell me about "reality" - I'm living it, dealing with it, that's my point. Blame the game not the player ;-)

Idealism is all well and good (especially if you already own) but unfortunately that isn't the reality. I'm making this move pragmatically rather than because I want to. With the deposit we have now we could have afforded to settle in Peckham/ED but two years ago that dream was shattered when prices doubled. I was and am still pretty devastated to have to move away from my friends and my home of five years (where I imagined having children) and we are buying partially as we can't afford to risk the rent increases. The area we have moved to really isn't that nice at the moment so yes I'd like 'gentrification' (which was said tongue in cheek anyway) because it would be nice to live in an area with things to do, places to eat, rather than settling for the idea of moving out of London or earning more and upgrading. What's wrong with wanting to live in a nice place? Yes gentrification ruined my previous dreams but could help transform and fulfill what I want in my new area.

We are leaving East Dulwich after five years in a similar situation (absolutely gutted, priced out two years ago before we managed to scrape our deposit together). Priced out of Forest Hill about 9 months ago. We have finally bought in Anerley. We looked in Crystal Palace, which is becoming very nice, however you pay for the postcode! We are 12 minutes from the triangle but our place costs a third less than some only a 7 minute walk away which are Crystal Palace postcode. Apparently a micro-brewery has opened in Anerley which my other half is very excited about! So hopefully the gentrification is upon us!

There is a new shop down Bellenden road called "Quaint and Belle" which has a random assortment of gifts, some hand made jewellery and other things for the home. I also sell my own handmade jewellery but don't sell somewhere physical in East Dulwich although I live here! I sell online but could do free pickup and I also can make custom items on request: trainstopjewellery.etsy.com

R Gutsell on the large charity debate, there are disadvantages to large charities but there also can be huge advantages! British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK give money towards scientific research in academic labs, smaller charities cannot afford this. A lab bench even before the cost of wages is on average ?150,000 per year due to costs of reagents and rent etc so smaller charities really cannoy scratch the surface. One thing people complain about with small charities is advertising, but they make more money doing this than they waste otherwise why would they do it?! People often need to be prompted/reminded to donate to charity and that is what the advertising is for. I've worked with large and small charities, and sometimes seeing the waste of money/resources of some small charities I think they would be better off teaming up to pool their resources. On the other hand there are very good valid small charities which do get neglected and whose visions are not covered by the large charities, but my point is that it isn't as simple as "big charity = bad and wasteful" and "small charity = good and efficient"

Main problem is, you have to walk a lot further from the pub to the platform now, boooooo!

Yes, please be careful about "rescuing" any cat on the street!! Those station cats have been there a while, there is a little elderly cat that lives down the street from us which people keep calling the RSPCA about, she is just old and doddery which is obvious to me but obviously not to everyone. It is really upsetting the owners! I did once see a fairly young cat on the street (about 6 months ago) but I knocked on the nearest house and they said he was being let out for the first time (so I was right about the age!) but he was ok to be out and about. If they are very little kittens they shouldn't be outside, but if you can, check if anyone knows who they belong to. If they are dirty like the ones mentioned above, it is a little more obvious! What is going to happen to the abandoned kittens?

I would say it is a massive shame, but everything I bought from there died really easily and all their plants always had diseases! I stopped buying from there after a while as I suspected all the diseases I was getting in my garden on my plants came from that place. Does anyone know of a good undiseased garden centre?

I am allergic to Lush unfortunately. I go in there and sneeze my head off! I am always worried that my skin will react to the overly perfumed products! i used to love bodyshop, but as a teenager, so I associate it with that time and buy more "grown up" cosmetics now.

I'd like to know who's selfish parents ran up a credit card bill for their kids as mine certainly didn't!! They went to uni on grants to make their lives better for themselves and us. They help us out in a situation now that they couldn't predict. That's life though people. Anyway so when Is M&S happening?

What a middle class theft!! I had a friend who had a tree stolen from his garden and I had one of my window boxes pinched. What is the world coming too?!

where should it be put instead?

caro ed, I hope you wer ebeing ironic about nitpicking there ;-p Yes thanks for the great forum!

hear hear Buccaneer! The clear up shows community spirit, and part of community is helping those in need. The rioters haven't broken that community spirit, and this shows them and hopefully shames them into seeing that the people in the clear up are the better people, happier and likely to have a better life in the long term for it.

Damian H, it is a shame the police didn't show, I hear this kind of thing about the police a lot. The one time I had dealings with the police they were superb. I used to live by Ruskin park and my housemate was attacked when she was cycling home. About 12 kids surrounded her, tried to grab her bag and one punched her in the face but she cycled through and got home. I told her to call the police when she got back, my boyfriend told us not to bother as "they won't do anything anyway". I insisted however, saying that those kids could attack someone else and after ringing (the local number rather than 999!) they turned up about 2 minutes after the phone call (much to our surprise). They went back to the area just in time to catch these kids mugging someone else, taking his wallet, and saved the poor chap!

I don't think they care about the shops they trash. They smashed up a hairdresser's shop in Brixton for no reason. And the buses have had nothing to steal. I think if the butchers did get looted perhaps we would know it was ED residents rather than kids, after their tasty steaks for dinner!

Wow, everyone here tonight needs to get shorter horses.

I had a window box stolen last year, I was very cross but did chuckle a bit that it must have been a middle class thief! It was so annoying as it was part of a set of 3, 2 larger and 1 small. The remaining large and small look very stupid (at least if they had stolen the small, the two large would still look nice). They have now been resigned to the back garden!