peckham_perkster

:-$ Is it possible to get a copy of the newsletter sent to me in Birmingham? I don't mind having someone's copy after they have finished with it, I am presuming it's a paper copy, I looked at the website but there was no mention of the article, though I was probably looking in the wrong place. This would be to read the article I hasten to add, not to admire photos of myself!:-S Thanks

Hello me again. Another update, and this time a quite impressive one. There Council had an underspend on the Cleaner, Greener, Safer fund last year of ?7k and the councillors have all agreed for this to be allocated to the Dulwich War Memorial! This will pay for a noticeboard by the memorial explaining the history of it and sorting out the railings and masonary. If I hear anymore then I will let you know. :):)

Just a quick update. Some clients from the Southwark Youth Offending Service have been doing some gardening work at the war memorial and have planted bulbs which should come up at the end of spring. They will return later this year to do some more planting and sowing of seeds so the area should really start looking full of life.

Hello, I'm down from Brum this weekend so I can go to the war memorial to observe the silence. I have just come on here to bump the thread in case anyone else would like to join us. This will be the first Remembrance Sunday since the renovation so is quite an important one for the memorial and the men it was built in memory of.

Thanks macroban! I'm coming down from Brum especially for it, I'm very excited about seeing what it looks like now it's had some work done :)

Hi Louisa, The works taking place are to restore the fabric of the memorial and flagpole so that it's in better structural and aesthetic condition. The surrounding area will have some landscaping and gardening done, as part of this the trees close by will be lopped back which will improve the area generally as it can be quite dark and gloomy on that corner. The Southwark Youth Offending Service are still looking to get involved by helping out with the planting and landscaping but what capacity this will take I'm unsure of and now I've moved I'm not as involved. The other person who could give some information is the local Councillor Lewis Robinson as he was the one who advised me to apply for the grant in the first place and at least he doesn't live in Birmingham!

Hello again, The work being carried out is by DBR and other companies using the 'Cleaner, Greener, Safer' community grant I secured through the council to rennovate the memorial. The work will hopefully be completed by September, just in time for the anniversary of the Battle of Highwood which is 15th September. The person overseeing the rennovation and funds being used is Andrea Allen from Southwark Council. We've suggested that we have some sort of 'official opening' and thought Sunday 14th September would be apt. Once we've come up with some loose plan I'll post it on the forum, obviously if anyone wants to get involved and has ideas then please share them. Louisa, that's the first I've heard about the memorial being relocated to the side building by the church. I know there was talk of moving it to the Highwood Barracks up the road but that wouldn't be for quite a few years and would mean the memorial was left outside at the front of the building. By the way, I've now moved to Birmingham so have been doing all of this remotely with Andrea! She's sent me a couple of pics of the work in progress but I hope you're all pleased with the work you've seen so far. :)

Hello again, Thanks for the link to the article Peckhamgatecrasher, I spoke to the Southwark News about this and let them know DBR were being approached to do some of the work so the journo must have followed this up. I am meeting up with the person responsible for the Reparation Programme on Thursday to go through the plan of action to get the project started. We are waiting to hear back from DBR about how much it's going to cost as there are various options on the work they can do but obviously don't want to blow the entire budget on the masonry work. I was intrigued to see the cap badge turn up, I hadn't even thought about possible uniforms and militaria associated with the Dulwich Volunteers. Sandperson - if you can dig up anything about the memorial according to the information available on this thread that would be great. I'm sure there probably isn't anything but you never know! That's all for now but I will be back very soon with news! See ya PP:)

I have a friend who has a flat there and they've been told that there may possibly be a wine bar downstairs. As it's flats I doubt they will be having too many food outlets or pubs so it doesn't upset the residents. What's not so good is the solicitors that's opened up across the road, the bright white light coming from their sign is really bright so I can imagine the people on the first couple of floors opposite aren't too chuffed.

Let's not forget that the George Canning was also the pub that gave the largest contribution to the wreath that I proudly placed at the memorial. I look forward to going in and thanking them myself. :)

Hello everyone and especially Greg who I met on Sunday and had a good chat with. :) First of all the wreath, if anyone can get up there to look at it before it starts wilting please do as it's really beautiful John Allan Flowers did a really good job and I was very proud to put it alongside the other 2 wreaths, one from the Army Cadets and one from the local councillors. There were a few of us gathered there on the day including the local councillor, Lewis Robinson, and Martin who works for the Southwark Youth Offending Team and is who I report to for the Reparation Scheme. There was also a journalist from 'Southwark News' so make sure you get a copy of the next edition as there will be a piece about the memorial and possibly a photo of us there. We had no idea the Army Cadets were coming down as I vaguely knew they were in the area but wasn't sure exactly where their base was. We were all quite touched by them marching down and it made it all the more special with the memorial having the military in attendance, it also meant that the two minutes silence was properly marked with the cadets being ordered to "remove headress" for the two minutes as we were beginning to wonder how we would time it properly! Afterwards Greg invited us to the barracks where he showed me the book about High Wood and photocopied the piece of information about the battle. Along with Martin we then chatted about the rennovations we were looking to do for the memorial and their idea to move it to the barracks. We were all agreed that it would still be a good idea to carry out the work as planned but maybe not carry out the extensive repairs as planned in case the memorial is moved in the near future. So we will be still be using the money to clear up the area and do some planting around it as well as clean up the memorial and carry out any necessary repairs. At this point as well we are hoping that we can get the Army Cadet Force involved in some way as we don't want to miss the opportunity and also it would be disrespectful considering all the work they do during the year to keep it maintained. We were really excited by this prospect and this also means that hopefully we can get cracking as soon as possible to get this done. As Greg has said above they are looking to move the memorial to the barracks which I believe is a good idea as it would be properly looked after and maintained and then we would not have to worry about the memory of the men who served ever being forgotten. I asked Greg to look at the forum, especially as I knew there had been a lot of postings about who the memorial was for and how the Dulwich Volunteer Battalion were involved. Greg clarified the history of this which is that the Dulwich Volunteer Battalion was a group of local men who were either too old, too young or unfit to join the armed forces and fight for their country. As posted before there were indeed a sort of precursor to the 'Dads Army' during the second world war but as well as this would have trained and worked with young men able to go to war so they were ready once they joined the Surrey Rifles. The memorial is from them in memory of their comrades who did fight and as Greg rightly pointed out they would have known a lot of them personally from working with them before they went to the front line so it was a very poignant memorial for them. I know that the Army Cadets come down every year but for me Remembrance Sunday was made extra special having them there.

Tomorrow I will be picking up the wreath and going to observe the 2 minutes silence at 11am along with a few other people. If anyone wants to join us then feel free.

I apologise in advance for the many exclamation marks you're about to see but I know writing in capitals is not the done thing on this forum... That's amazing!!! I have to say I have been really touched by the goodwill, interest and help offered for getting the renovation work done!! I want to reiterate the thanks as written above to everyone who donated to the wreath and I shall make sure John Allan flowers know how grateful we are for them making up the difference for this as well. Well...that's all for now, if there are any other updates then I shall let you know. perks :):):)

Hi WickedStepmother (somehow I don't think you are) Any information or leads you have would be great. One of my close friends works at the Horniman so I will ask her the best contact there in case they do have anything, you never know, I did note that the second smaller building was opened by a Mrs. Horniman and I think the family paid for that one to be built so something may exist in their records. The wreath ordered will have red flowers and green foliage, I asked that the flowers not be roses and that they use seasonal foliage like ivy if possible, just so it looks more befitting for the occasion. The florists were really helpful and as written above any donations can be made by going into the florist and asking to pay some off or 'PM' (private message) me to arrange something. :)

I decided to move forward on this as I didn't want the good will that has been shown to be lost, we've had a very kind donation of ?20 from a collection that was made at the George Canning pub from a book sale they had there recently. I have contacted John Alan florists and ordered a wreath of red flowers and foliage which will cost ?40, I know other people have said they would like to contribute to the cost of this and so if you want to pay off any of the remaining ?20 then you can either contact me by PM to arrange something or pop into John Alan and pay something towards the cost, ask for the 'Dulwich Volunteer Wreath' order and they will then take your contribution off the bill, I'm going in next week to pay the rest off, probably on Thursday or Friday. I will be picking up the wreath on Remembrance Sunday and will go up to the memorial to lay it down in time for the 2 minutes silence at 11.00am. If anyone wants to come and join me then feel free, afterwards if anyone fancies it we could go for a drink as mentioned before it will probably be quite cold so we may need something to warm us up. Out of courtesy I will contact the pastor at the Deeper Life church to let him know that there may be a few people up there doing this as no doubt they will have a service happening about the same time.