Lee Green Lives is the campaign group that’s grown out of the Local Assembly decision to make the state of the Leegate Centre one of our priority issues.

The group will be holding its first meeting this Wednesday, 24th March, at 7.30pm at the New Testament Church of God on Lee High Road.

Everyone’s invited to come along and discuss how we can work together to breathe life into the Centre and develop a community vision for the longer term.   We’ve drafted a constitution for the new group (which was discussed at the last assembly meeting on 19th January and will be put forward for adoption on the meeting on Wednesday) and we’re also looking for people to join the group’s committee.

We’ll also be updating everyone on what’s happened so far:

• The launch of our online survey at www.tinyurl.com/leegate – also available in hard copy to collect from retailers in the centre in coming weeks.
• The appointment of our new Town Centre Manager
• The owners’ offer of an empty unit rent-free to house our new youth group and other community activities

We’ll also have a speaker from the Meanwhile Project, a national project to encourage interim use of empty commercial premises.

Everyone in Lee Green Ward should have received a flyer about this in the past week or so.  It promises to be a positive evening, I hope as many local people as possible will be able to make it.

We’ve been busy reporting pot holes since the big freeze, but the biggest one we’ve found is in Northbrook Road, where the whole carriageway seems to have given way outside number 23.

The Council tell us their contractors went out to repair it last Thursday, but as they started to dig, even more of the road collapsed.  A detailed investigation is now promised, and repairs will be undertaken once this is complete.

If anyone has any ideas what’s caused this, or knows of a bigger pothole in Lee Green, do let us know!

Spring appears to be creeping round the corner slowly, and people are getting back into their gardens following our freezing winter.  The garden waste drop-off point at the junction between Riddons Road and Mayeswood Road in Grove Park is re-opening this Saturday.

Between 9am and noon every Saturday between this Saturday (20th March) until 28th November, you can take along garden waste in plastic or reusable bags. Flowers and plants, grass clippings, hedge trimmings, leaves, and twigs and branches up to four inches in diameter will all be accepted.

Alternative drop off points are available at Girton Road Car Park, Sydenham; Kitto Road, outside Orange Café, Telegraph Hill and Laurence House Car Park, Catford.

The service is free, but residents should bring along proof of address and ID, otherwise they may be refused access to the service.

Supermarket Shakespeare is coming back to Lee Green Sainsbury’s for the third year.  Previous performances have attracted rave reviews.

This year’s performances at Lee Green are at the following times:

Tuesday 20th April 7pm
Wednesday 21st April 7pm
Thursday 22nd April 7pm
Friday 23rd April 7pm
Saturday 24th 12pm & 6pm
Sunday 25th 12pm & 3pm

There are also performances at Forest Hill, New Cross and Lewisham Sainsbury’s – details on the Teatro Vivo website.

You can also watch a trailer here.

I spent the weekend in Birmingham at Lib Dem Spring Conference.  My partner’s originally from Moseley, so no opportunity is ever missed to take a trip up to England’s second city (more trees than Paris, more canals than Venice, I’m reliably informed).  However, lovely as the canals and trees are, the highlight of the weekend was Nick Clegg’s speech. See for yourself:

Back in November, I gave a plug to the Memories of St Winifred’s book that’s been published by former staff and pupils at the two St Winifred’s schools in Lee Green.

The editorial team tell me that responses have been healthy and the book is selling well.  However, there are still some copies left.  If you’d like to get your hands on one, email roseanngibbs {at} onetel(.)com