Chairman W.P. Higman

170 Burbage Road

SE21 7AG

Tel: 0171-274 6921

Vice Chairman Adrian Hill

4 Stradella Road

SE24 9HA

Tel: 0171-274 4838

Secretary Patrick Spencer

7 Pond Cottages

College Road

SE217LE

Tel: 0181-693 2043

Treasurer Russell Lloyd

138 Woodwarde Road

SE22 SUR

Tel: 0181-693 2452

Joint Membership Secretaries Robin and Wilfrid Taylor

30 Walkerscroft Mead

SE21 SLJ

Tel: 0181-670 0890

Editor Brian McConnell

9 Frank Dixon Way

SE217ET

Tel & Fax: 0181-693 4423

Advertising Manager Tel & Fax: 0181-693 4423

(Temporarily)

Newsletter 120 Spring 1999

Contents

What's On ...... 2

A.G.M.... .. 5

Chairman's Report . 7

Wildlife . . . . . 13

Trees 16

Dulwich Park 17

Dulwich Picture Gallery . 22

Planning (Woodyard) . 25

Local History

Letters

....... 27

..... 36

Registered under the Charities Act 1960

Reg. No. 234192

Registered with the Civic Trust

Typeset by ST&T Publishing Ltd, London- 0171-274 9573 Printed by Olivers Printers, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

Saturday, March 6:

March 1999 Dulwich Orchestral Society at St John's, Goose Green, East Dulwich. Mozart's Concerto for flute and harp, Haydn's Symphony No 3, Delius' Petite Suite for Orchestra, Saint-Saens' Marceau de Concert (Op 154). 7.45 p.m.

Thursday, March 11: DDAFAS lecture on John Singer Sargent: His Portrait, a sequel to the October-January Tate exhibition, by Shirley Turner, NADFAS lecturer.,:.

Saturday, March 13: South London Botanical Institute Open Day on "What are plants? How do they work?" at 323 Norwood Road, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thursday, March 18: Dulwich Society Wildlife Committee lecture on Hedgehogs by Dr Pat Morris, senior zoology lecturer, Royal Holloway College, and until recently chairman of the Mammal Society, 8 p.m. St Barnabas Centre, Calton Avenue, SE21.

Sunday, March 21: Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery - Tea 4 p.m., Stephen Skinner, clarinet, and Emily Segal, piano. Brahms' Sonata in F Minor, music by Finzi and Messager. Old Library, Dulwich College. Friends £6, Students £3, Others £8.

Saturday, March 27: Lambeth Orchestra, All Saints Church, Rosendale Road, SE21. Bruch, Schumann, soloists Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow (pianos). 7.30 p.m. Admission £7, concessions £6, children £2.

Thursday, April 8:

2

April DDAFAS lecture on A Sense Of Order: The Source Of Design In Islamic Art by Mary Graham, V&A lecturer.~-

Thursday, April 15:

Thursday, April 22:

Wednesday, May 5:

Thursday, May 13:

Saturday, May 15 -Sunday, May 23:

Sunday, May 23:

Thursday, July 1:

Dulwich Society Gardens Group annual lecture on "Trees and shrubs for the smaller garden" by Archie Skinner, MBE, AHRHS, Head Gardener, Sheffield Parle St Barnabas Centre, Calton Avenue, 7.45 for 8 p.m. Admission Free.

Dulwich Society Annual General Meeting. See panel on Page 5 for details.

May Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery. Katya Apekisheva, young Russian pianist, performs a varied programme including music by Chopin, Old Library, Dulwich College, 7.30 p.m. for 8 p.m. Friends £6, Students, £3, Others £8.

DDAFAS lecture on Rediscovery Of Ancient Egypt: The Rosetta Stone, prologue to the British Museum exhibition, June to October, 1999, by Nicole Douek, freelance lecturer.

Dulwich Festival. Please see local announcements for details of location of events and times.

Dulwich Society Tree Walk in Dulwich Park, led by Mark Pearson, arboriculturist for Southwark Parks. Meet 2 p.m College Road Gate. Adults and children welcome.

July Advance notice Dulwich Society Garden Group private

visit to Sutton Place, near Guildford, Surrey.

,:- Dulwich Decorative & Fine Arts Society lectures are usually held at 8 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Sixth Form Lecture Theatre, James Allen's Girls' School, East Dulwich Grove. Coffee and biscuits at 7.30 p.m.

3

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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Notice is hereby given that the 36th Annual General Meeting of the Dulwich Society will be held at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, 1999, at St Barnabas Church Centre, Calton Avenue, Dulwich, SE21.

AGENDA

1. Minutes of the 35th Annual General Meeting held on April 16, 1998, to be Approved.

2. Chairman's Report. 3. Secretary's Report. 4. Treasurer's Report and presentation of accounts

for 1998. 5. Appointment of Honorary Auditor. 6. Reports from Sub-Committee Chairmen. 7. Elections for 1999-2000:

President, Vice-Presidents, Officers, Executive Committee.

8. Any other business.

Note: Nominations for election as an Officer or Member of the Executive Committee must be submitted in writing to the Secretary by two (2) members not later than fourteen (14) days before April 22 and must be endorsed by the candidate in writing, (Rule 9).

Patrick Spencer Hon Secretary

7 Pond Cottages College Road

London,SE21

5

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REPRESENTING THE INTERESTS OF ALL We regard it as an important part of the Dulwich Society's responsibility to take up local amenity issues on behalf of residents, and to assist where they may find it difficult to obtain reliable information or to resolve problems satisfactorily.

This note is about securing properly accountable administration on the Dulwich Estate. The Estate Office will soon be issuing a revised version of the Scheme of Management, affecting all freehold properties and incorporating all amendments agreed by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in 1998. This is conse­quently a suitable occasion to review the way in which residents should expect to obtain effective responses to difficulties they may encounter with the way in which

the Estate is managed. The Dulwich Society is addressing this note in the first place to its members,

with whom we are most easily able to communicate. As the largest amenity society in Dulwich we have a membership of about 1,000. It still troubles us that this represents only about 20 per cent of households on the Dulwich Estate. We recognize entirely that people join an organisation only if they see that it is in their interest to do so, and in view of this that we ought to explain our role clear­ly. We are therefore also sending copies of this note to all the local residents' asso­

ciations we can identify on the Estate.

Local Residents' Associations We know that there are over thirty of these, and are currently bringing our

records of their Chairmen and Secretaries up to date. The Dulwich Estate Office also maintains its own list of the residents' associations which it recognises, in its capacity as landlord and manager of the Estate. However, it is concerned principally with residents' associations in blocks of flats or on private residential estates, to which it may be statutorily accountable for maintenance and management charges. It is less directly concerned with associations of residents who live in the older houses on the Estate, in public roads adopted by local

authorities.

The Dulwich Society's role We are not restricted by any recognition criteria which the Dulwich Estate

Office may apply to local residents' associations (we understand it requires that at least 75 per cent of the residents on a private estate must be members).

7

This Society is prepared to communicate with any group which represents the amenity interests of individual residents.

The Advisory Committee Clause 16(b) of the Scheme, which requires this to exist, remains unchanged

in the revised Scheme, but the Estate Trustees have now given some important written undertakings as to their accountability to residents, which are tied to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal's decision to allow the Scheme to be revised.

Meetings The Scheme obliges the Managers of the Scheme only to convene an Advisory

Committee meeting twice a year. The Dulwich Estate has now agreed in writing to hold at least three meetings a year and that "it is open to any member of the Committee to invite the Chairman to call a further meeting or meetings." Meetings this year have been set for 23 February, 15 June and 16 November.

Composition and procedures Clause 16(b) is thin on detail. It lays down only that the Advisory Committee

is to be a consultative committee, that it shall consist of not less than 8 persons of whom half shall be representatives of the Managers and that the other half shall be "representatives of and nominated by such residents' or amenity societies as the Managers consider appropriate, the number of representatives of each such society being determined by the Managers".

Chairman There are no requirements for a Chairman of the Advisory Committee.

The Deputy Chairman of the Estate Trustees (who is prospectively the next Chairman of their Board) has by convention chaired all meetings. Until the end of 1998 this has been Andrew Joanes: he is now succeeded by Gerald Bowden.

Members

8

Currently these are:

Estate Trustees

G.F. Bowden W.P. Fraser

Nominating body (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) (Co-optative member)

R.G. Gray A.R. Davis R.T. Monteith Mrs H.M. 0. Rankine

Residents

(Alleyn's School) (Dulwich Almshouse Charity) (Co-optative member) (James Allen's Girls' School)

John Sharp (Chairman of the D.R.A.) John Tudor (Committee member of the D.R.A.) Bill Higman (Chairman of the Dulwich Society) Adrian Hill (Vice-Chairman of the Dulwich Society) Nicholas Merriman (Chairman of the D.V.P.S.) Andrew Rutherford (Vice-Chairman of the D.V.P.S.)

Because of its size and diversity the Dulwich Society can deal with a more extensive range of detailed matters than the other two Societies. It is fair to say that all members who represent residents at the Advisory Committee take very similar, usually unanimous, views of residents' interests and are prepared to present these vigorously. We have differed from the Dulwich Residents' Association's view that the Scheme of Management should be wound up altogether, but this issue does not affect our common approach to representing

residents' interests on the Advisory Committee.

Representations on behalf of residents 1. Clause 16(b)(iii) provides that "the Managers shall have regard to any

representations made to them by the members of the Advisory Committee. In their undertakings the Estate Trustees now recognize this to mean that the Managers must give written responses with reasons if these representations are

not accepted and implemented.

2. Representations may relate to decisions made on individual applications made and notices served under the Scheme, which consequently provides an opportunity for them to be reviewed without the cumbersome and expensive necessity of taking the Managers to arbitration under Clause 17.

3. Under the Scheme representations may also be made in the Advisory Committee on matters "otherwise concerning the amenities of the Estate", which provides wide scope for raising a range of matters concerning the Dulwich

Estate's general administration.

9

Disclosure and publicity Under standing arrangements, members of the Advisory Committee may

exercise a discretion as to how much information they make public relating to Scheme decisions, to representations made on behalf of residents, and to reasons given for not accepting a representation or a request that a decision should be reconsidered.

The discretion which the Dulwich Society will exercise over making informa­tion generally available depends on its importance, on any need to respect commercial confidentiality, and on the privacy which a resident who is primarily affected by a decision of the Managers may wish to retain.

Private residential estates The Dulwich Estate's authority to regulate and maintain private residential

areas on the Dulwich Estate, under Clause 9 of the Scheme, is based on the obligations which were originally contained in tenants' leases. These continue to be part of ~esidents' freehold title to their properties. The Estate's powers, how­ever, to oblige someone to pay management charges who has bought a property from an enfranchised freeholder, depend entirely on Clause 9 of the Scheme and the exercise of these powers is consequently a topic which may properly be r~ised at the Advisory Committee.

The Estate has recently declared that it treats freeholders and leaseholders alike for th.e purpose of its administration. Consequently any rights which a tenant may exercise under a lease, or by reason of the Landlord and Tenant Acts, should in principle also be available to freeholders. Issues should be raised either direct with the Dulwich Estate Office or, if that approach has not been satisfactory, should be raised .on their behalf at a meeting of the Scheme of Management Advisory Comm1tte. The Dulwich Society is fully prepared to consider taking up such matters on behalf of residents.

Financial accountability The Dulwich Estate has now agreed to provide detailed Scheme management

accounts: which will enable freeholders and residents' members of the Advisory Commm1ttee to make comparisons of income and expenditure, both with budgeted figures and with figures for previous periods of time. We undertake to review Scheme management accounts closely and to draw any unusual items to the attention of residents.

10

Payment of the Scheme Management charge This will in future be levied annually, instead of quinquennially. The Dulwich

Estate has agreed that the basis of apportionment will be kept under continuing review by an independently appointed surveyor approved by representatives of the residents. The Dulwich Estate has accepted our nomination of Messrs. Gerald Eve for this purpose. The basis of apportionment for years after 31 March 1997 has not yet been decided.

Other matters raised at the last Advisory Committee meeting on 10 November 1998

Cost of the Scheme of Management Review The Dulwich Estate has spent over £300,000 on this (largely on fees for legal representation at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal). It has confirmed that it will not seek to recover any of this from enfranchised freeholders.

College Road Review The Dulwich Estate has formed a working party to review every aspect of

mattaining College Road, and charging its upkeep to residents, including exami­nation of the legal question whether they are required to use toll-gate revenues for this purpose. This is likely to take some time.

11

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12

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ESTATE AGENTS & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Assoc. of Residential Letting Agents

WE'LL GATHER DATA IN THE SPRING Due to increasing absences from his Dulwich base sightings of birds by the star recorder have notably reduced away from the woods where the London Wildlife Trust observe. Nevertheless a limited autumn migration of swallow (29), skylark (4), meadow pipit (254, including maximum day count of 66), yellow wagtail (3), willow warbler (1), chiffchaff (4), linnet (ten), and siskin (1). Restless song thrushes (14) early on October 2 could have been of Continental origin. A week later the first redwings arrived heralding what could prove to be a normal winter resident population (50-100) scattered around gardens and playing fields. Greenfinches and sparrows give an impression of decline but without figures for earlier years when they were taken for granted no conclusion can be formed. It would be interesting if members will advise any strong opinion against or in support of this matter.

From time to time woodcock take up winter residence in our woods, and on one occasion stayed to nest. One reported late last year may have been a bird of passage but please advise any sighting. There has been a third sighting, independent of earlier ones and in a new area, of a nutcracker, a bird in distinc­tive plumage and of a size of a jay, a bird with which it is known to keep company.

With this Newsletter comes the start of spring migration. For eight weeks birds in numbers will be around, many to fly ove1~ others to rest and feed, a relative few to stay and nest. Half an hour either side of sunrise and set are good times to watch the skies above Dulwich, its woods, allotments, playing fields, gardens, rooftops. Of course a glance out of the window any time of day may find one of these 'little brown jobs' flitting about the fruit trees and rose bushes. Have binoculars at the ready and a field guide in support.

Even 1,000 members of the Dulwich Society cannot hope to report more than a fraction of the life that burgeons but that fraction is worthy of attention. Frogs, newts and hopefully toads active by and in ponds, hedgehogs, butterflies, the black or black and orange bees emerging from their earth volcanoes, wasps are always worth reporting. As indeed is the uninvited guest in the flower bed and the flora in our hedges, fields and brickwork.

Finally, a Dulwich resident notes that the squirrels in Ruskin Park markedly outnumber those in Peckham Rye, per acre, and asks the reason. Do you know? Answers on postcards please. No prizes.

13

Please help to record the flora and fauna of our area. Expert knowledge not essential. The green forms in the inset to this Newsletter will hopefully assist. Further details with the forms.

AND HEDGEHOGS ...

Don Freshwater Recorder

Wildlife Committee

As a boy Pat Morris would spend many a carefree hour chasing rabbits. Seeking his quarry beneath piles of dry brushwood, he would often find a hedgehog there instead. So when, as a university student, he learned that very few studies had ever been done on this fascinating, popular native mammal, he realised that here was his ideal Ph.D. topic.

Dr Morris, now senior zoology lecturer at Royal Holloway College, London University, and until recently chairman of the Mammal Societty, is one of Britain's leading experts on hedgehogs. Despite watching and chronicling the lives of these much loved but secretive creatures, he confesses that some aspects of their behaviour still puzzle him.

Why, for instance, do they sometimes start frothing at the mouth covering their spines with saliva (especially when they've recently been chewing on leather)? Is this where James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd and Scottish poet, found the beautiful lines:

Their discords sting through Burns and Moore Like hedgehogs dressed in lace.

Why are they so acccident prone? - Not just through crossing roads but as a result of falling into everything from drains to swimming pools.? And why do the prolonged and drastic body temperatures that drop necessarily for hibernation not appear to wipe out a hedgehog's memory?

Many questions about hedgehogs and their lifestyles Pat Morris can answer with certainty. Come along to St Barnabas Centre, Calton Avenue, at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, to learn more about everyone's ideal nocturnal garden visitor.

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Angela Wilkes Secretary

Wildlife Committee

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PRICE LIST Minimum Charge 2 miles or under £2.50 Price per mile ( or part of) over 2 miles £1.10 Bridge Money £1.00 Wait & Return (minimum) £3.50 Wating Time (per hour) £8.00

Notes Mileage charged from pick-up point to destination Half Fare return charge on wait & return journeys Animals carried at driver's discretion Bridge Money paid for crossing the water The first 10 minutes waiting time is free Prices will differ only at Christmas & New Year

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15

WHERE CATTLE SAFELY GRAZED The open green space which runs up from Gipsy Hill roundabout between Dulwich Wood Avenue and Gipsy Hill has various names - Bell Meadow, Paxton Greeen, Long Meadow or French's Field. This is because of French's Dairy which once existed in Gipsy Hill. The elegant dairy building still exists on the east side of Gipsy Hill. Local people remember the old woman who used to bring her cows down every day to graze.

For the last three years we have been working to make this meadow more interesting and environmentally friendly in spite of drought and vandalism. Twenty trees have survived, twelve holm oaks, two white bark birches, two silver pendant limes, two beeches, two wych elms (which are less prone to Dutch elm disease than the ordinary English elm), two Turkish oaks, one deodar cedar, one blue Atlas cedar, one Scots pine, one silver maple, one variegated tulip tree, one snake-bark maple, one downy black poplar, one balsam poplar, and one catalpa. These make a very interesting and varied collection of trees - almost a little arboretum.

Last autumn the Society made a grant to the Trust For Urban Ecology to plant three stretches of country hedge on the boundary where there are gaps between the trees. They were planted in December by a group of trainees to a very high standard and include hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, field maple, wild rose, old man's beard and honeysuckle. We will look after them until they are big enough to be trimmed by machine.

We have also asked Southwark Council who are responsible for the area to cease mowing regularly round the trees. The grass will in future be mown only twice a year except for a single track round the periphery. We hope to encourage the growth of wild flowers and may in due course scatter some seed.

Finally, the Society gave four benches for installation in Dulwich Village and the two old ones which are no longer necessary have now been installed by the gates into Bell Meadow, so that visitors can sit and admire the burgeoning wood­land. At present it is used mostly by dog walkers. If there are any members of the Society living nearby who would like to keep an eye on the trees and hedges, please get in touch with me.

16

Stella Benwell Chairman, Trees Committee

Tel: 0181-693 1447

SO RIGHT (AND SO WRONG) AT THE FAYRE The Dulwich Society, led by Bill Higman, the chairman, has secured a scaling down of proposals for the annual Dulwich Fayre in Dulwich Park on June 12 and 13 this year. The Society recognizes the necessity to attract users to the Park and has encouraged Southwark Council to reduce events to a level which the infra­structure of Dulwich Park can more easily sustain without lasting damage. Some of the paths and horse-rides were still (in January this year) showing the impact from unsupervised heavy vehicles last year.

Agreement had been reached that there would be no damage to trees or flowerbeds and no encroachment on the Park's permanent amenities (such as building a marquee over the tennis courts, as was done last year). We should be particularly upset over any damage to the new playground facilities to which local residents have contributed.

There will be effective restrictions on unauthorized vehicles in the Park and closer supervision of the routes taken by those which are considered necessary. There will be measures to collect rubbish more frequently during the show and to clear it all immediately afterwards. (Last year it was not touched for several days).

Park fences will not be used to display banner advertisements for future events unrelated to Dulwich Parle

This had all been agreed by January 15, but a number of quite extraordinary measures were still being announced. A Southwark Council brochure Events '99, printed much earlier but which does not appear to have been widely distributed in Dulwich, announced for the first time that an admission fee would be charged to go into the Parle The Society has asked that this proposal is checked with the Borough Solicitor that the Council has authority to do so.

Clause 48 of the 1885 Metropolitan Board of Works Act indicates that Dulwich Park was given "for the perpetual use thereof by the public for exercise and recreation." The Society would also wish to have considered whether legally all the proceeds of any entrance fee would have to be given to the Parle Since, however, the Fayre depends on private sponsorships, investments, sales, &c, such an arrangement would be difficult if not impossible to achieve.

There is another stumbling block. The Metropolitan Board of Works (Various Powers) Act of 1885 granted Dulwich College land to the local authority to "create Dulwich Park providing that no music shall be played thereon." And the Society has a copy of a letter written by the clerk of the authority warning that it

17

18

1 j

\\

I

had no power even to hire bandsmen to play at the opening ceremony. (See opposite page). Yet classical and pop music are planned for the Dulwich Fayre.

Whatever had beeen agreed, Southwark Council called a "public meeting" at the Crown and Greyhound, Dulwich Village, on Monday, January 25, to discuss the "Dulwich Show, 12/13 June, 1999." The eight-page agenda from Southwark Leisure included 52 separate items of entertainments and attractions for the two-day progamme of family entertainment. A copy of this agenda with maps suggesting a gross over-use of the Park is available to members of the Society on application. A head count suggested that there were between 25 and 30 people present, including Council officials, representatives of the Dulwich Society, Dulwich Village Preservation Society and Friends of Dulwich Parle Seven residents and two police officers, an inspector and sergeant, were there at the personal invitation of the Editor of this Newsletter. Abysmal attendance was due to the fact that the only notice of the meeting was limited to a news story in a local "freebie' weekly which is seldom delivered until days after publication if at all.

Of Dulwich's elected councillors, one "could not attend" and two said they "not been informed". The announcement at the meeting that the Fayre would have to attract 16,000 to "break even" and 25,000 to produce a comfortable profit prompted the police to announce later that they would muster 21 officers (three sergeants and eighteen constables) to police the event.

Consultation remains a thorny and controversial subject. The Council claims that 3,000 suggestion forms were circulated as long ago as just after Christmas but the Society has been unable to confirm that many were delivered in Dulwich. The Council in the agenda reported that 362 feedback forms had been received commenting on public wishes that 19 per cent wanted less trade stands, ten per cent more open spaces, 22 wanted wandering entertainments, five no events at all, 41 no motor show, 28 no equine event, six better food provision, 30 more children's entertainments, 18 for a main arena and 16 for a concert arena.

The agenda responded with 26 food outlets, a champagne marquee and beer garden and a cider bar. Announcement of a "concert bowl," by definition a permanent structure which would require excavation, was later amended after the meeting to a stage which could be dismantled after the event. Suggestions that a famous orchestra and three famous singers all named would appear could not be confirmed by their agents.

19

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Whatever emerges from the event, Bill Higman has secured this assurance from Kevin Brown, Southwark Council's Events Manager:

"The entire planning of the 1999 Dulwich Show is committed to ensuring that no lasting damage is caused as a result of the activities of this event taking place or related infrastucture that is brought in specially for the occasion. We have made a number of changes to the programme and format of the show so that this aim can be achieved.

"We will be making every effort to ensure no damage is caused to the amenities within the park. We hope to ensure that all members of this [Leisure] Department are committed to having the park in pristine condition both prior, during and after this year's event."

In view of the above mentioned "public meeting" the Edito1~ at the request of neighbours and Society members, canvassed all members whose properties abut or adjoin the Park and would be affected by the Fayre. Not one had been given notice of the meeting.

WHEN VOICES OF CHILDREN ARE HEARD If you have managed to get to Dulwich Park recently in all the bad weather we have been having you will have realised that the first phase of the playground is unofficially open! The fenced-in dog-free areas and the safety surfacing are complete and the new equipment is in. The toddler activity centre and rockers will be installed in the next month (February). Six new trees and 2,000 bulbs have been planted in the enclosed grass and drainage problems are being addressed.

The official opening will be during the Easter Holidays with lots of entertain­ment and will be publicised nearer the time.

Dulwich Park Friends are now beginning to raise funds for Phase Two of the playground aimed at ages ten and upwards. We have been asked to do a presen­tation to Southwark Council Regeneration and Environment Committee to secure funding towards the project. We will also be approaching Grant Trusts, Large Companies and Local Businesses for help.

The designs have not been finalised so this is the chance for local children ten and over to say what they would like to see in the playground and we will be asking children to fill in questionnaires for us.

If you are interested in any way or have some comments please contact Emily Montague on 0171-501 9120 or Jane Mines on 0181-761 3883. Alternatively you can write to Dulwich Park Friends, PO Box 16860, London, SE21 7ZQ.

20

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Approved by the Institute of Chartered Accountants for investment advice and registered Auditors

Have been Honorary Auditors of the Dulwic::h Society from its inception in 1967

21

INSIDE STORY: A WARDEN'S VIEW "Two parsons, please!"

The tone that was almost peremptory one sometimes unfortunately mistakes for rudeness. Briefly stationed at the ticket desk, I hesitated - is there a special rate for clergy? - fortunately recovering in time not to be unnerved by the growing queue. Who has not occasionally been confused by the vagaries of the English language where clerks are pronounced 'darks' and Hurts 'harts'?

'Two persons? Certainly, madam.' And any discourtesy far from their minds, the two German ladies docilely joined the second queue, waiting inside England's oldest and loveliest public gallery for admission to the latest special exhibition.

A second queue? In Dulwich Picture Gallery? Well, yes. Dulwich Picture Gallery, just as it was closing for 16 months' worth of renovations, was suddenly very much on the international art map. Two years ago it was the spectacularly successful exhibition of Dutch Flower Painting that pulled hitherto unknown crowds to Dulwich.

In 1998 there were three extraordinarily successful exhibitions: Dr Cecilia Powell's beguiling view of "Italy In The Age of Turner" followed by Paula Rego's interpretation of the 19th century Portuguse novel "The Sin Of Father Amaro" and then, finally, the blockbuster one-man show, "Pieter de Hooch."

I joined the warding staff on a casual/temporary basis after the Dutch flower show and my innocence in the realm of crowd control was good humouredly derided by my colleagues. At Marina Warner's exhibition, for instance, when every oddball in the capital descended on her vision of "The Inner Eye" with esoteric text books on the occult to rustle through - a bit like those purists who used to arrive at "St Matthew Passion" every year with the full score and a pencil, feverishly scribbling notes in the margin at the slightest deviation from the "Urtext" -Allan K would say, "You think this is crowded? You should have been here for the Dutch Flower Show. "

Then the Gallery featured "Italy In The Age Of Turner" and here as the focal poini was 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: Italy" probably the best Turner in the world. Dr Powell's premise was that once Napoleon had been satisfactorily humbled at Waterloo, English artists, besotted with the romance of antiquity, swarmed into Italy to picture rustic peasants going about their daily lives and their vaguely disquieting religious rituals amidst the ruins of ancient Rome. In 1816 Byron settled there and the following year began writing "Childe Harold's

22

Pilgrimage IV." By 1818 when the complete "Childe Harold" appeared in print there was a copy clutched to every English breast.

The visitors to Dulwich this time were, like Dr Powell's chosen artists, pre­dominantly romantics, swarming into the gallery much as the English tourists had in Italy. "I'd love to go to Pompeii." sighed a visitor in front of a charming water colour by Hannah Palmer. 'Have you been?' Her companion peered owlishly over his spectacles. 'No,' he said, very seriously, "But I've seen the film.'

But we warders are an unromantic lot. We had a job to do, watching that the numerous visitors kept their distance. 'You think this is busy," snorted Monty, 'Huh!, It's nothing like the Dutch Flower Painting.'

Paula Rego's fans were different again. They were a no nonsense lot: arch feminists in hand weaves and leather boots and art students with sketch-books and fixed ideas about Art. They queued outside with their well-thumbed text books and, once inside, gazed long and reverentially at Rego's fierce women and pathetic priests - hopefully more impressed with the artist's extraordinary techiniques than with the subject matter. ('Oh, Paula,' pleaded one breathless student in the visitors' book, 'Please be my teacher!')

'You weren't here for the Dutch Flower Painting, were you?' said Brian. 'The queues for that went right out to the gate.'

And Paula Rego had barely dusted down her spectacular skirts before the Pieter de Hooch exhibition. De Hooch (1629-after 1683) waited until September 1998 for his first ever one-man exhibition and he had it here in Dulwich. De Hooch was responsible for the queue patiently inching its way forward from the traffic roundabout in the village. He was responsible for the chagrin to the local ladies-who-lunch and the local business people who found the pub and restaurants packed out every lunch time with more cosmopolitan diners than our quiet and leafy village has probably ever seen. Dutch Flower Painting nothing. Thanks to De Hooch those Dulwich residents who were decidedly put out at having to queue for 'Our Own Gallery' sometimes, alas, went off in a pet with­out waiting to see what all the fuss was about. Which was a shame, because if they had only thought to join the Friends of the Gallery for very modest sub­scription they could, together with a companion, have by-passed the queue. And, what's more, they could have done it as many times as they wished, absolutely free.

Pieter De Hooch was a world class exhiibiton. It was mind-blowing. It's not just, I think, that I had the opportunity of seeing it in peace, before the public

23

arrived. It was because De Hooch's work exemplifies peace. Not quite the serenity that Vermeer gives us, where clearly wealthy people clad in luscious fabrics are portrayed in perfect settings and where shafts of sun highlight the polished wood and leather of perfect homes.

Pieter De Hooch holds out to us the possibility of a peace achievable by all of us. He gives us "Seated Couple with a Standing Woman in a Garden," where in the back yard of a small brick house (a bit like mine) a couple are seated at a simple table. You look at it and think 'That could be my house and my garden I could have a little table like that, just there by the fence. And a bench like that by the back wall and I have a water butt too, a bit like that, and I could live like this, contentedly, in this perfect quiet.. .. ' And, as we are all perfectly capable of being art critics, Pieter de Hooch is as great as Johannes Vermeer. And you saw it here first.

And, after its renovation, in September 2000, Dulwich Plcture Gallery will host another great exhibition by another fine 17th century Dutch artist, Gerard Dou. The crowds will return, I promise, so become a Friend of Dulwich Plcture Gallery. You have been warned.

Oh, and meanwhile, clergy are full price. Priscilla Waugh

Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery Annual membership is £15 single, £20 for two members at the same address from David Parry, 6 Alleyn Road, SE21 SAL. Tel: 0181-670 3992.

24

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BEST OF BUILDING As part of this year's Dulwich Festival to be held in May, the Dulwich Society is to organize an exhibition entitled "Contemporary Architecture in Dulwich in the 1990s" at Dulwich Library. The aim of the exhibition will be to show the best examples of the different types of building projects that have been carried out over the last few years on the Estate.

The exhibition will include new houses, refurbishments, extensions, conserva­tories, loft conversions, new work at the schools, shop fronts, hard standings and streetscape improvements.

A preliminary selection of projects to display has been made and, we hope, if their schemes are selected for display, members will be supportive in allowing us to show photogaphs and/or drawings.

The exibition will cover both completed and proposed projects and will show how, over the last few years the Society, in conjunction with the Estates Governors, has helped in raising standards of development to push forward the Society's aim of encouraging improvements in the environment of the Dulwich Estate over the long term.

Ian Mclnnes Chairman

Planning and Architecture Group

THE WOODYARD PLANS Bill Higman, chairman of the Dulwich Society, has written to Robert Adam, Dip! Arch (PCL), RIBA, FRSA, architect to Wates, the builders, thanking them for copies of plans to develop the Woodyard site off College Road. "We are very glad that you have offered to discuss your planning application with us and welcome the opportunity to do so.

"We regard the Woodyard site as particularly sensitive in its amenity impact on the Dulwich conservation area, affecting as it does the character both of Dulwich Village and Dulwich Parle You may be aware of the history of earlier planning applications by the Dulwich Estate, which have failed primarily because they would overcrowd the site. Together with the owners of houses which adjoin the park, we have had several careful discussions with representatives of Southwark Council and English Heritage and appear to be in virtually complete agreement that some limited residential development would be appropriate.

25

"Density and intrusion on the character of the area are likely to continue to be the principal reasons for objections, rather than the quality and design of buildings you propose, over which we recognise that you seek to exercise par­

ticular care." The Society hopes to arrange a meeting with Mr Adam which will include

interested parties from the Society's executive committee and planning and

architecture group.

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A BARD IN LOVE The recently released award-winning film, Shakespeare In Love, is a delightfully amusing romp through the Golden Age of the English theatre in the best "cany­on" tradition. Its writers and directors have used all the licence needed for the unlikely plot because of the lack of real evidence that exists covering Shakespeare's London career. The other controversy that has raged for 150 years is whether the modestly educated grammar schoolboy could deliver such a volume of magnificent prose and poetry.

The very lack of evidence has allowed scholars of the early theatre to offer their own theories as to whether Shakespeare did or did not write all the works attributed to him or whether some were the work of Marlowe, Bacon and others.

The film dwells for the first time on the character of Edward Alleyn, a lead­ing actor and contemporary of Shakespeare, and Alleyn's father-in-law, Philip Henslowe, an impoverished impresario and owner of the Rose Theatre on Bankside, Southwark. The film depicts Alleyn as a forceful and magnetic person­ality and helps to unmask some of the enigmatic qualities which have made it difficult to reconcile the actor with that of a benefactor who might or might not have been the proprietor of one or more of Bankside's famous brothels. Henslowe by contrast is depicted as being the kind of theatre manager who pulled himself up by his braces and was undoubtedly the coiner of the expression, "It will be all right on the night."

The papers of Edward Alleyn, held at Dulwich College, have provided a valu­able archive of source material for research into the Elizabethan theatrical world. and obliquely of Shakespeare himself. Obliquely because no connection is to be found in the archives linking Alleyn and Shakespeare. This absence of hard evidence persuaded a nineteenth century literary writer to make up to eighteen forgeries in the Alleyn papers to support his arguments.

While carrying out research for an unrelated topic of local history involving late 18th century London directories I chanced upon an entry in several editions of The Ambulator. This referred to an anecdote about the Alleyn/Shakespeare connection and traced it back to an article in the 1770 edition of the Annual Register. The Register was published from 17 57 and contained a miscellany of interesting articles designed to appeal to the middle-class intelligentsia that were beginning to populate London's newly built squares and who patronized the theatre which Garrick then dominated with his rediscovery of Shakespeare's plays.

The Alleyn piece in 1770 reads as follows: "Anecdote Of Shakespeare, never

27

printed in his works. Edward Alleyn, the Garrick of Shakespeare's time, had been on the most friendly footing with our poet as well as Ben Johnson (sic). They used frequently to spend their evenings together at the sign of the Globe, somewhere near Blackfriars, where the play-house then was.The world need not be told that the convivial hours of such a trium-virate must be pleasing as well as profitable, and may freely be said to breach pleasures as might bear the reflections of morn­ing. In consequence of one of these meetings, the following letter was written by G. Peel (1557-96), a Fellow Of Christ Church College, Oxford, and a dramatic poet who belonged to the club, to one Made, (probably Christopher Marlowe (1564-93) also spelled Marley and Marlin) an intimate of his.

'"Friend Made, I never longed for thy company more than last night. We were all very merry at the Globe. when Ned Alleyn did not scruple to affirme pleasantly to my friend, Will [Shakespeare] that he had stolen his speech about the qualities of an actor's excellence in Hamlet hys Tragedye from conversations manyfold which had passed between them. and opynions given by Alleyn touchynge the subjecte - Shakespeare did not take this talke in good forte; but Johnson put an end to the strife with wittilye remarkinge, "This affair meeteth no contention. You stole it from Ned, no doubte, do not marvel: Have you not seen him all tymes

out of number.' 'Believe me most syncerely, Yours G. Peel."'

The article goes on to say that, "As Mr Alleyn is at present little known in the theatrical world, though we need not subjoin any testimony to his merit than the above compliment from such a judge as Ben Johnson, we shall however beg to leave to add (by way of shewing, it was no friendly partiality) the opinions of two gentlemen, whose established literary characters are too well known to doubtt their complementary at the expense of their genius and sincerity.

"Dr Fuller (1608-61) in his Worthies (1662) says that 'Alleyn made any part especially a magnetic one, became him and Burbage. The best actors of our time' and adding, "What plays were ever so pleasing as when their parts had the greatest part.' - and in the Chronicle we find once more joining Alleyn with Burbage in the following ... , 'They were two such actors, as no age must ever look

nor see the like.' Brian Green

28

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29

DULWICH ESTATE ACCOUNTS Accounts for the year ended 31 March 1998 were approved by the Board of Trustees on 11 July 1998 but were not available until October, which was too late for these comments to be included in the Winter Newsletter. They now relate to a period which ended nearly a year ago.

Assets of the Estate During the year the value of the Estate's assets increased by over £15 million, to £65 million. This was £10 million higher than they were in 1995 before a £20 million capital distribution was made to the beneficiaries.

History In 1975, shortly after the Scheme of Management came into effect, the declared value of the Estate's assets was just £584,791. By 1995 this had multiplied over 90 times to £54,721,169, by considerably more than the rate of

inflation. The 1967 Leasehold Reform Act (which obliged the Estate to sell freeholds

to residents) was regarded by the Estates Governors at the time as a species of expropriation, but the subsequent increase in the value of the Estate's assets has resulted primarily from investment of property sale proceeds in stock exchange

securities. Until 1997 the Estate's securities were declared in the published accounts at a

"book" value related to cost, instead of at their generally higher market value. The Estate's freeholds were not shown in the accounts at all until 1978, when they were valued at £5,600,000. This figure was subsequently reduced by the sale of freeholds until 1981, when the remaining properties were revalued for the first

time.

So over twenty years the effect of these changes was as follows: 1975 1985 1995

Total assets 556,355 21,909,355 54,721,169

Freehold properties NIL 9,384,370 19,614,256

Investments 482,600 11,481,192 32,584,802

Other 73,755 1,043,793 2,522,111

and annually since then:

1996 1997 1998

Total Assets 45,219,705 50,753,859 65,025,840

Freehold properties 22,194,596 22,909,650 27,527,346

Investments 22,305,351 27,046,315 36,614,898

Other 719,758 797,894 883,596

30

As a result of recent Charity Commission guidelines charities are now under pressure to re-examine and define the reasons why they need to retain reserves. One reason which the Charity Commission may accept is that the increased capital value continues to represent the "permanent endowment fund" of the Estate. The Trustees, however, may find it difficult to convince their beneficiaries and the Commissioners that by retaining such a large part of the increased asset value they are putting this to the most appropriate beneficial use.

Income and distribution to beneficiaries

1995 1996 1997 1998 Estate Income 4,361,129 3,670,313 3,601,980 4,223,244

of which: properties 1,769,513 2,033,635 2,132,032 2,458,809 investments 2,184,545 1,167,311 971,547 1,299,027 tollgate 243,853 241,758 273,647 296,790

,,. charges & fees 110,915 175,623 178,671 168,618 other receipts 52,303 51,986 46,083

,,. shown in the accounts as a deduction from management expenditure.

Income distribution 2,005,273 1,154,415 1,315,750 2,050,433 Proportion of income ( % ) 45.98 31.45 36.53 48.54

distributed Return on assets (%) 3.66 2.55 2.59 3.15

to the beneficiaries

The £2 million in Estate income available for distribution to the beneficiaries in 1998 was a substantial £750,000 (56 per cent) increase over the previous year, but represented little more than a return towards the 1995 level of distribution. The 3.15 % return on the value of the Estate's assets was actually lower than in 1995.

Estate expenditure has been high, both in relation to the value of assets managed and in relation to the income distributed to beneficiaries.

1995 1996 1997 1998 Total expenditure 2,193,594 2,415,938 2,124,971 2,030,555

of which: staff and office costs 1,082,130 928,634 916,455 919,012

31

professional charges''· 330,206 576,231 362,546 300,633

maintenance expenditure 651,534 776,320 704,386 712,342

tollgate costs 129,724 134,753 141,584 98,568

''·[of which investment management fees] [76,058] [34,875] [41,808] [54,040]

Some reduction in staff costs has been made in recent years. Professional

charges and maintenance expenditure are, however, both understated since these are shown in the accounts net of amounts recovered from residents. It would be more informative to set out gross expenditure, offset by sums recovered, than to show "management charges" made to residents, for instance, without showing the

expenditure to which the charges relate. Investments are managed by Barings, (whose management fees have been

indicated separately). Over the 15 years until 1997 the annual sums distributed to beneficiaries were consistently less than net income derived from these invest­ments. All Estate expenditure relates to managing either the properties of the Estate or the affairs of the Charity. To put this another way from the viewpoint of the beneficiaries, the Trustees were actually managing the properties of the

Charity during this period at a loss.

The Scheme of Management One consequence of the Dulwich Estate's high expenditure is that it has been placed under increasing pressure to recover more of this expenditure by way ·of charges to residents. This was the primary reason for amending the Scheme of Management. Unfortunately, management charges levied as a percentage of expenditure contain insufficient inducement for managers to control recoverable expenditure. Such control can be exercised only

by effective monitoring of management accounts. At the Scheme Advisory Committee the Amenity Societies have now agreed

with the Estate Trustees a format whereby detailed categories of expenditure may be compared half-yearly with budgets, and with figures for preceding periods. This will at least be easier now that charges are assessed annually instead of

quinquennially.

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Freemasonry, the organisation to which all freemasons belong, admits adherents of all faiths and is based on fundamentals of religion common to all men, to inculcate a morality based principally on benevolence. Dulwich has five masonic lodges - the Old Alleynian for Old Boys of Dulwich College - Shackleton was a founder member in 1920; Edward Alleyn Lodge, for old boys of Alleyn's School; Alleyn Lodge, which used to meet first at the Half Moon Hotel, Herne Hill, later at the Crown and Greyhound in the Village and now in Clerkemuell; Dulwich Park Lodge which meets at Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, Ho/born; and the Dulwich Lodge the story of which is told here by Charles D. Smith.

AFTER SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS Fremasonry is suffering unjustly from very bad publicity at the moment - in fact for the last ten years at least. In order to counter this in some small way if you would like to learn more please telephone the number given below. Your questions will be answered open and honestly. In return we would ask you to consider this question: If freemasons are corrupt and always favour their own regardless of merit, then why are they not all rich and powerful?

Freemasons are just an ordinary cross-section of men from all walks of life, who enjoy others' company and never discuss religion or politics when together. We are just ordinary men who do like to do good raising money for hundreds of good causes, both Masonic and non-Masonic. And we do such work in private and without publicity.

This is the story of the Dulwich Lodge. In 1924, Dulwich Villagers would have been aware of such notable national and international events as the death of Lenin, the police sanctioned trials for the safety of buses with roofs. Bread cost 8112d (3112 new pence) a loaf. The "Chariots of Fire" Olympics took place and Johnny Weismuller won three Olympic gold medals and went on to become "Me Tarzan - You, Jane." Mussolini rose to power in Italy.

In Dulwich a group of like minded men who were all resident or working in connection with the area and all members of various masonic lodges decided to petition the united Grand Lodge of England to sanction a Warrant to form a Masonic Lodge in Dulwich. A warrant was duly granted and at a ceremony held at Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, on Tuesday, July 1, 1924 at five o'clock in the evening Dulwich Lodge was duly consecrated by the Grand Secretary. Immediately after the Consecration the installation of the first Master of Dulwich Lodge took place. The attendance of at least 25 Brethren is recorded, but it is

34

almost certain that many more did in fact witness this most important first meet­ing. The antecedents of the Dulwich Lodge go back a long way. From the records it would appear that the family tree from which Dulwich sprung was from one or the other or both of two lodges founded around 1765 and associated with the county of Middlesex, which subsequently produced a Lodge in Camberwell, in which parish and later borough Dulwich was situated. This Camberwell Lodge produced a number of founder members for the Dulwich Lodge.

During the 1920s the Lodge, set up to meet five times a year, had to hold up to three more a year to accomoodate new members. From 1924 to 1946, one hundred men from all walks of life joined Dulwich. Between 1967 and 1998 some 40 men joined, a good many of whom are active in the Lodge today.

Lodge records highlight the changes in occupation as well as indicating the style of address and status of those seeking to join the Dulwich Lodge: Master Baker, Insurance Agent, Gentleman, Gentleman's Outfitter, Master at Arms, Instrument Manfuacturer, Baby Carriage Manufacturer, Master Butcher. Why not

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CROSS ABOUT THE SOUTH CIRCULAR Mr Hanton (Page 35, Newsletter 119) appears to approve of the pedestrian crossing which is situated about ten yards to the west of the existing traffic lights at the above cross-roads, though he admits that there has been trouble with the settings of the traffic lights. There still is.

Take the case (very common at certain hours) of three or four vehicles travelling south from the Village direction and wanting to turn right at Dulwich Common. The leading car (assuming there is no oncoming traffic from opposite) turns right, passes the cross roads light which is of course at red (holding back the traffic on Dulwich Common) but is stopped ten yards further on by the pedestrian crossing light which is also automatically set at red. The other two or three cars behind, also wishing to turn right, are held up in the middle of the cross roads. This obstruction is quite pointless because, unless a pedestrian has activated the pedestrian crossing lights by pressing the control button, the pedestrian signal (a red standing man) is also at red. The result is that in these conditions neither motorists nor pedestrians can move, since the pedestrian crossing lights are red in all directions.

What is the solution apart from reverting to the perfectly satisfactory previous installation? Surely it is that the pedestrian crossing lights should show green to allow vehicles to pass and red to stop pedestrians at all times unless the signals are reversed (red to stop vehicles, green to allow pedestrians to cross) by activation of the pedestrian control button. This would permit right turning vehicles from the Village direction to proceed without obstruction, as they do at any other light­controlled cross-roads, unless there is a pedestrian actually waiting to cross. (Much the same happens to left-turning vehicles coming from the other end of College Road, but the problem is much less apparent as well as less frequent, because a vehicle turning left at cross-roads causes less obstruction than one turning right.)

This is not the only lunacy associated with the Red Route. I will save the next one for your next issue.

36

Michael V. Carey 2 Frank Dixon Way

SE21 7BB

l