be careful when Walking towards Honor oak park

[Babaloo]

This morning around about 10am. My fiance was walking towards the station (one tree hill way) when he saw a young man wearing a grey hoodie ( will get better description off him tonight) jumped out of one tree hill gate with a kitchen knife infront of another man. He asked the man for his phone, then when he didn't give it to him, just punched him and ran off up one tree hill. My fiance called the police and helped the victim.

I'm not trying to scare anyone, I just wanted to spread the news. So if anyone is walking down or up honor oak park road, please be careful.

Ps I don't know if this related to the phone snatching that occurred down forest hill road towards canonbie but if it is please keep your eye out for any strange behaviour and report to the police.

[Babaloo]

The description of the attacker. White, brown hair, 5ft 9, medium build with a stubbly beard.

[ralee]

My boyfriend and I walk that way often and I have always been wary of that opening path that cuts through up to the church. My advice is to walk on the other side of the road when walking down past st Augustines church grounds, I have seen a few women do so. Unfortunately the walk up forest hill road to honor oak park station has been a mugging hot spot for the past few months, so keep valuables hidden, especially mobiles.

[ladywotlunches]

Sorry to hear about this. This route would perhaps benefit from a regular bus route from P Rye to the station - 63 extension perhaps? :))

[languagelounger]

It would be a lot safer if they would open the gate on Brenchley Gardens, which is opposite the top of Kelvington Road, so that people could walk through the cemetery (which is a lot more open than One Tree Hill at that point) and then through Honor Oak Rec.

There could be a path created across the land that they have just cleared (where criminal waste dumping had been taking place) so that South Nunheaders could walk on the flat all the way to HOP station and take advantage of the East London Line.

Even without the mugger/flasher risk of walking through One Tree Hill, it is so steep that it's simply impassable for many people - anyone except the totally fit and unencumbered. Try it with a pushchair or arthritis.

It is supposed to be top of the local authority, London Assembly and govt agenda to increase use of public transport and walking for fitness so please, why can't this really simple thing be done, to make the East London Line accessible to a couple of thousand people living in South Nunhead (or are we calling it Nunhead Heights now?). This would of course also make the delights of South Nunhead accessible to the currently deprived residents of SE22/3.

[betsy555]

Absolutley agree , i live on brenchley gardens , and the walk through to station is sooo quick , and i only wish they could open gates , i walk my dog there at 6.30 am so the gates this side are open its just on the other side . seems soooo stupid . and the p12 is as rare as hens teeth !

[languagelounger]

Last night three P12s went down HOP, but only one of them came back....the '20:30' arrived at 21:00. I wonder what the record is for waiting for the P12? (I can offer 47 mins in freezing, driving, sleeting rain.)

[east-of-the-Rye]

yes, opening the gate opposite Kelvington Road would be good. unfortunately there isn't a lot of "joined up thinking" (apologies for jargon) at Southwark Council - I wrote to the manager of Camberwell New Cemetery asking that the gates on both sides be opened at the advertised times (after an annoying experience of walking across the cemetery then finding the gates closed.) Her response was, that she'd try and make sure they are always open on time, but her job is to run a cemetery, not provide access to the station etc. which is fair enough for her, but doesn't help, e.g reduce overcrowding on the P12

[henryb]

What and making sure the cemetery is actually open to the public isn't part of the job of running a cemetery? Do you have copy of the response?

I presume taking kick backs to turn a blind to people dumping toxic waste is on the job description though.

[east-of-the-Rye]

here's the response (and to be fair, she doesn't actually say it's only her job to run the cemetery, I suppose that's the impression I got!) Also, I'm fairly certain that she was not manager when the dumping took place - wasn't it the cemetery manager himself who let it take place?

4/6/09

"Thank you for your comments and concerns regarding the opening of gates within Camberwell New Cemetery.

I apologise for the inconvenience caused in finding one of the accesses still locked at 8.30 and can only suggest on this occasion the gate mentioned was the last place to be opened that day or that there were other emergencies on site that needed to be attended too, prior to full access being made available.

The main Cemetery gate is currently opened to allow staff access from 7.30am Monday to Friday. Between this time and 8.30am all buildings and adjoining gates are normally opened for visitors to the Cemetery. Our opening and closing times will be amended shortly to convey this message.

Although you use the Cemetery as a cut through route on your way to work, I unfortunately cannot guarantee that this gate will be opened every morning at the exact time and would like to suggest that you use one of the alternative routes, a public foot path between the Cemetery and the Crematorium which can be accessed from Brockley Way and will take you into the park where you can cross through without any problems or One Tree Hill is also a public access from Brenchley Gardens over to Honor Oak.

Once again I apologise for the inconvenience caused and if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Avril Kirby

Cemetery and Crematorium Manager

Camberwell New Cemetery, Brenchley Gardens

Forest Hill, SE23 3RD

Telephone No 020 7639 3121"

Maybe we should start a new thread to see if there is any support for trying to get better access through the cemetery?