Chener Books

[NewWave]

This has really upset me.

He was a lovely man who introduced me to authors I would not have otherwise have discovered.

so very sad so soon after his retirement.

He will be missed

[savvygirl]

What a lovely man he was and it's so sad to hear that he has passed away. He loved to have a chat and I remember him talking to me about the back room, which at the time was an empty space. I suggested an area with children's books which I believe he did do. That's what was so nice about John, he really did talk to people and would discuss and share ideas he had for the shop. Another was that he wanted to hang trailing ivy above the window and I took him in a root of that. It didn't work!

I hope Chener Books continues in tribute to him. I for one will continue to support it as there's something very special about a bookshop.

A silver birch might be a nice tree to plant in John's memory. Perhaps a reminder of his lovely silver hair.

[Sue]

NewWave Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> This has really upset me.

> He was a lovely man who introduced me to authors I

> would not have otherwise have discovered.

> so very sad so soon after his retirement.

> He will be missed

Even worse, he hadn't originally been planning to retire until next year I think.

[mikeb]

I only found out last week with the latest Dulwich Diverter. I will miss John's laconic contributions to the forum. Over the years, we discussed many points about Dulwich geology, geography and history and I am sad that he will not able to answer my future questions as he did so generously in the past. John seemed to have an endless supply of obscure documents, maps and photos about the area that he loved to share.

May he rest in peace and I hope his family are comforted to know what an impact he had on the local community.

[rch]

John and I were working on quite a lot of community projects together, which is why I was in the loop. I was trying to talk him into becoming the chair of a proper East Dulwich community group, which residents have never been able to permanently pull off (the East Dulwich Society was a bit of a red herring). One of our campaigns was to convince the council to turn the (now empty) council property at 22 Lordship Lane into a community hub with a community meeting room, a basic police office, and a council housing office so that residents wouldn't have to traipse all the way to Peckham on the appalling bus services.

As noted above, he was planning to retire, whereupon he'd have more time to commit to community work... he was already cutting back his hours, handing over to Miranda. Miranda has now taken over the shop completely, so I hope all of you will introduce yourselves to her and give her your support. (Apologies for naming names in public, but I really appreciate what she's doing and genuinely want to help.)

A silver birch tree, to match John's hair, would be an amusing tribute... but a lot of people are allergic to Birches, so they tend not to be used as high footfall shopping parade trees. Part of me is thinking of planting a Foxglove (Paulownia) as we did for the round bench memorial for Mark Evison in Dulwich Village, but this tree was recently murdered by the salting of the pavement during the cold winter, so we need to think about it.

Unfortunately, this treepit isn't on the current tree planting list, but I'm not sure why not, so I'm having to bug the tree officer to get it agreed before we can choose a species.

Will keep updating!

[savvygirl]

I hadn't heard of a Paulownia tree but have looked it up on the web and see that it is a most attractive looking tree. It appears to be fast growing and has beautiful clusters of lilac foxglove-like flowers in the Spring. I think this tree would be a very fitting tribute to John and a bit different from the usual plane trees and sycamores. John was pretty unique and something a little bit different and special would be ideal.

[Applespider]

I think a tree is a lovely way to remember John. I am another who he touched with interesting maps online and book suggestions in the shop.

My first tree suggestions would be to ask if he had any favourites?

Secondly, how about a tree traditionally used to make paper? A mulberry perhaps?

There is an Oriental plane tree which is known as a Chenar tree - not quite the same as the tree would be slightly different from the London planes?

[vortexwraith]

Dear All,

John Kennedy?s family are now very pleased to confirm that, as announced earlier in the year, Chener Books will be continuing to trade under new ownership from Saturday 20th October 2018. We are very grateful to the new owner to have been able to complete this transition and carry out John?s wishes of keeping this local institution going on into the future.

John?s family have been sincerely touched by the kind messages of condolence from recent and long-standing customers and wish to thank everyone for their messages of support and sharing their stories and memories of John.

Similar to something John might have said about local history, just because something is written down or published doesn?t mean it happened as someone said, or when they claimed it did. There will be a banner up in the shop as evidence to confirm this milestone at our 40th year, so please feel free to pop in during the week to see for yourselves, say hello and congratulate the new owner. We wish her many years of successful bookselling.

John?s family

(via the younger John Kennedy)

[vortexwraith]

(Accidental duplicate of previous post now deleted)