For most people, the letters AGM rarely bring about a raised heart rate, but how wrong you would be to say this of the Camberwell Society’s annual general meeting on 30 April. This year’s meeting will feature a panel discussion of those who make our lives better by taking care of the parks and shared green spaces of Camberwell. The panel will be chaired by Ben Moxham who, with Sophy Tayler of SE5 Forum, runs the Trees and Green Spaces Group.
You may well have been on a tree walk or the Myatt’s Fields mulberry picnic and concert last summer. Perhaps you have attended one of their community meetings on topics such as green corridors and tree planting regimes. If that isn’t enough, they also helped organise the Earth Hour Concert. I thoroughly enjoyed the candlelit musical homage to John Ruskin at St Giles Church. The backlighting of the Ruskin stained glass window with the Alpine inspired music, interspersed
From the editor with Andrew Hill’s fascinating glimpses of Ruskin’s life, were unforgettable. If that didn’t put the green into Camberwell, then you will no doubt want to add to your diary Sunday 1 June, which is the Society’s Open Gardens event. The cakes are unrivalled, as are the teas, conversations and opportunities to glimpse the private gardens of Camberwell residents. You will also be able to have guided tours of the vineyard and the lavender f ields – and the six tonnes of coffee grounds that have been turned into compost. We are planning a tree pit planting morning.
If you would like to be involved as an opener, helping with cakes, donating plants for the plant stall or planting up tree pits, please email opengardens@camberwellsociety. org.uk. The Society has funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund to produce a secondary schools’ resource on how enslavement has influenced all our histories. It is based on original research on the impact of enslavement in Camberwell, published in CQ and inspired by local artist Sokari Douglas Camp’s sculpture, titled All the world is now richer.
