The Lee Manor Society Autumn Tree Walk will be on Saturday October 5, 2024. The walk will start at 11am at the Lee Green crossroads by the history panel. We will be looking at autumn colour in the wide variety of species in the Burnt Ash Road tree avenue, including our recent plantings, and other local streets. Time permitting, we will walk into Manor House Gardens with its wealth of historic trees, many dating back 250 years to the original planting when today’s public park was the private garden of the Lucas and Baring families. No advance registration needed – all welcome. Just turn up!
September 16th would have been Ralph’s 77th birthday. This is the tribute Charles Batchelor wrote for the most recent Annual Review.
Ralph took over as chairman of the Society in 2015 but had been a long-time supporter before becoming deputy chairman in 2004. Ralph brought an efficiency to the Society’s affairs, handling contentious issues with tact and moderation. Ralph found time for Society matters between globetrotting for his training consultancy serving the international pharmaceutical industry. Ralph led the Society’s involvement in the lengthy discussions about refurbishment of the Manor House and its library from 2002. Ralph’s management of our annual Plant Mart turned it into a substantial money-raiser for the Society while in his spare time he ran the community garden in Micheldever Road and organised environmental work in the Hither Green railway triangle. Ralph had a close interest in the history of Lee which he shared through talks to the Society and other groups. He also handled discussions with the local Rotary Club, the business support group, that jointly funded the installation of a table and benches in Manor House Gardens. Ralph enjoyed the support of his family in these endeavours with daughters Sophie and Harriet baking cakes for the Plant Mart and his wife Julia providing delicious snacks after Society meetings at their home in Micheldever Road. Ralph is sadly missed.
We will also post notices of upcoming meetings and events, as well as the minutes of previous meetings and other important documents including the Annual Review.
We welcome interesting articles about the Lee Manor area, especially anything relating to its history.
The Society is very grateful to Tom Bilson who created the website and took many of the photos.
The Planning Inspectorate has turned down an appeal by the owners of the Lee Centre, Oakhurst Guardian Ltd, against the decision of Lewisham Council to refuse permission for change of use. The owners wanted it changed from “community use” to “nursery use! – and also wanted to make internal changes to the building.
The Inspector Hannah Guest said “The local community are already experiencing a lack of space for use by community groups and soon there will be a further significant reduction in the provision of this type of space. The appeal proposal would therefore have an appreciable detrimental effect on the range of community facilities available in the local area.
“While there is also a large demand for nursery places in the surrounding area, as nurseries are defined as a Class E use under the Use Class Order, finding an alternative building for this use is likely to be easier than finding an alternative building for an unfettered community use. I am therefore of the view that the benefit of providing a nursery in the appeal property would not outweigh the harm arising from the loss of the existing space available for use by community groups and, thus would not justify allowing the appeal.”
