The Herne Hill Forum have reported this morning that 2,332 children from 8 schools alongside local residents all came together to set what they believe is a new world record last week for the world’s most contributions to a colouring by numbers challenge.

With a reservation, helpfully added by Rachel in the second comment below this post: She warns that it’s “very important to note that we have not yet had confirmation from the Guinness Book that we have broken the record.  They have to go through footage and other stringent protocols before they deem the record actually broken.  This could take a couple of months. So let’s keep hoping.”

Previous record holders in Mexico achieved 1,119 participants across 3 days, Herne Hill kids and residents have doubled this to 2,332 in just two days. Herne Hill’s long, dark and grotty underpass between between Station Square and Milkwood Road will be transformed in the coming weeks with the painting.

The Forum’s full report is here.

And here is a photo of Mark Rylance persuading his dog to make a contribution.

Yesterday saw a major event in Herne Hill’s modern history: hundreds of people, many of them schoolchildren, mobilised to colour in the the Station Underpass mural, which will be installed in the next week or two.

It was also an attempt to break the Guinness world record for the most people involved in a ‘colouring in by numbers’ event.

A wonderful day, which saw our community uniting in a friendly lively atmosphere to create something worthwhile and lasting.

Congratulations to the Herne Hill Forum for their outstanding organisation of a complex event, and of course to artist Victor Szepessy.

And thanks to the Mayors of both Lambeth and Southwark for their attendance, and also to Sir Mark Rylance to coming along with his two small dogs.

Our friends in the Herne Hill Welcomes Refugees project (HHWR), who are working energetically  to welcome a Syrian refugee family into our community, are organising a

Community Fundraising Evening

next Saturday 7th July

7 – 9:30pm.

at St. Paul’s Church Hall, next to the church on Herne Hill Road.

Tickets are just £10 at the door, to include a glass of wine and Syrian snack, and there are fantastic raffle prizes donated by generous local businesses.

For catering purposes, please send them a RSVP  to: hhwelcomesrefugees@gmail.com . Ignore the deadline in the invitation, there are still some tickets available.

On Wednesday 13th June at 7.45pm, local Herne Hill resident and internationally published author Louise Candlish will be reading from one of this year’s critically acclaimed new crime thrillers, Our House, with Q&As and a signing.

Kicking off a brief series of bookish events at Park’s Edge Bar & Kitchen, the modern British eatery on the edge of Brockwell Park, the event will be Louise’s first appearance on home turf to talk about her new bestseller.

Our House is set in a suburban landscape that appears to be not dissimilar from the leafy enclaves of Dulwich, Herne Hill, West Norwood and others.

For further information, contact the restaurant: Tel: 020 8671 0306 or email the venue.

“The Honourable Member for Norwood” is the subject of a talk by Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, on Saturday 9 June, at 7:45pm at the Baptist Church, Half Moon Lane.

Helen Hayes, our Member of Parliament, will be giving the 2018 Thomas Lynn Bristowe Memorial Lecture. She will speak about being an MP for this constituency in the early 21st century, contrasted with Thomas Bristowe’s experience as the very first MP for the 19th century Norwood Division.

The Thomas Lynn Bristowe Memorial Lectures commemorate the vital role of Thomas Bristowe in establishing Brockwell Park as the important public asset that we know and cherish today. In the 1880s, the huge Blades Blackburn estate at Herne Hill was put up for sale for housing. Local MP Thomas Bristowe led a campaign to buy it as a public park, and even guaranteed the money needed to secure its purchase. In 1891 his campaign was successful; Brockwell Park was created. But tragically he died during the opening ceremony at Brockwell Hall on 6 June 1892, aged just 59.

Organised jointly by the Herne Hill Society and Brockwell Park Community Partners, the talk is on Saturday 9 June at 7:45pm at the Baptist Church, Half Moon Lane. There is no charge and no ticket is needed.

Hundreds of Herne Hill residents were very concerned to learn of Network Rail’s plan to demolish the Flower Lady shop and to replace it with an electricity sub-station to service the refurbished shops (see our earlier post on 19 May below).

But, thanks to a swiftly-organised and very well-supported campaign, Network Rail have had second thoughts. It remains to be seen where the sub-station will be built.

Elaine  is naturally delighted at the outcome, and we have given Network Rail a little pat on the back for listening to the community (by contrast with some other bodies, closer to home, who have brushed aside community concerns over the Carnegie and the Brockwell Park music festival).

However, as the Herne Hill Society are pointing out in their latest newsletter, this issue has highlighted the desirability of seeking protection for Station Square by designating it as a Conservation Area, which is what the Herne Hill Society and the Herne Hill Forum are now pushing for.

The Head of Conservation at Lambeth has received a formal Members’ request via Cllr Becca Thackray to expedite an extension to Brockwell Park Conservation Area to include Station Square.

For more details of this new campaign, see the Herne Hill Society’s blog.

Possibly not all neighbours have heard the very surprising news that Network Rail are proposing to repossess and demolish The Flower Lady’s flower shop next to the station to make way for an electricity substation – having, at this late stage, discovered that they need such a thing to provide power for the renovated shops in Station Square!

They told us on Friday that they were going to have to serve notice on Elaine, and have made suggestions about her moving to one of the new units when they become available.

There are numerous issues here. It may be enough to say at this stage that the news has caused great anger across the community. Our newly-elected councillors are already on the case, and the Herne Hill Society has issued a  vigourous statement which can be seen on the Society’s blog here.

In response, Network Rail have come back with the following statement:

“We are currently looking carefully at suggestions made at a meeting with our tenant last week, as well as reviewing other options that were previously considered.

We are doing this as quickly as possible in order to be in a position to update our tenant.

We are committed to delivering the refurbished units at Railton Road as soon as possible and will continue to update local politicians as well as the Herne Hill Forum and Herne Hill Society.”

La lutte continue …!

We’ll refrain from our own comment, but gladly point readers to the lively postscript filed by  Jason Cobb at Brixton Blog, who followed Friday’s count at the Oval.

He reserves a controversial paragraph for the complications of Herne Hill Ward.

You’ll need to excuse his sometimes spikey language.

Here it is.

That’s enough politics for now.

People who follow such things will undoubtedly know the results of yesterday’s elections already. The campaigning  in Herne Hill was particularly lively, wasn’t it? And the results were unusually close.

For the record, here are the figures: