Bromley Council are putting forward for consideration a Dog Control Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) and Bromley residents are being asked to share their views. Find out more here.

Residents are encouraged to share their views in their online survey, with consultation formally closing on 31 May.

On Sunday 30 April 2023 from 2.30pm to 5pm (and also Sunday 18 June 2023), you’ll be able to visit Myra Bright’s garden at 37 Crescent Road, Beckenham BR3 6NF. Adults £4, children free.

Myra is opening her garden to the public through the National Garden Scheme (website www.ngs.org.uk), to raise money for nursing and healthcare charities. In this short article, Myra tells us about her garden and her first experience of opening it with NGS, last year. More information on visiting this garden and others can be found at the end of the article.

“We opened the garden with NGS for the first time in June 2022 and welcomed 160 visitors over the course of the afternoon, raising a very respectable amount for NGS’ beneficiary charities.  We served teas on the veranda and had a plant stall at the front.  I gathered friends to help take the money, serve tea and home-made cakes, and sell plants.  We were blessed with a sunny day and I loved that our visitors took such an interest in our garden. We enjoyed it so much that we are opening twice this year, on Sunday 30 April and Sunday 18 June.

Gardening for me was learnt by osmosis.  My mother and my aunts were keen gardeners with large gardens, which they opened regularly for the NGS.  At a young age I was coerced into weeding in the days running up to the garden being opened.  My mother was always discovering new and exciting plant nurseries and I enjoyed going with her to buy plants.  If there was an interesting church nearby to visit, her day was made! 

When we moved to Beckenham, in 2018, I had the exciting task of working with a blank canvas:  we’d inherited an overgrown, messy garden of about 50 by 60 feet, largely untouched for 30 years. My husband’s only stipulation was “no lawn” because he’d spent too many years mowing.

One day, while we walked through the gardens at Beckenham Place Park, I saw an area of planting designed like a pie chart and I had my eureka moment.  I just knew this should be the main design for my garden. We now have four triangular planting beds separated by gravel paths, with a stunning large blue pot in the middle.  The beds are filled with salvias, euphorbias, iris, peony, roses, knautia, seasonal bulbs and many “filler” plants, grown from seed in my potting shed. We were amazed at the speed with which everything grew.

We also put in climbing roses and a few mature trees, including a winter-flowering cherry and an Amelanchier, now in its spring bloom.

Our grandchildren love the garden and enjoy planting carrots, spinach and other vegetables. I’m keen to nurture a love of gardening in them. Our vegetable beds also have some tulips, grown for cutting, as I can’t bear to take tulips from the main garden!

Like my mother, I have become a plantaholic over the last few years, constantly trying to find unusual plants for our garden. I also still enjoy visiting the many small plant nurseries out there which have interesting plants and need our support.”

If you enjoy plants and gardens, we hope you’ll come along to 37 Crescent Road, Beckenham BR3 6NF on Sunday 30 April or Sunday 18 June, both 2.30pm to 5pm. Bring friends, enjoy the garden and treat yourself to tea and cake. Perhaps you’ll feel like making a purchase at our plant sale too. Booking isn’t essential, but to book online or find out more about NGS, use our website: www.ngs.org.uk. To find more gardens to visit, try the simple “Find a Garden” tool on the NGS website.

In Bromley we want to increase the number of women, or people with a cervix, attending their cervical screening test (smear test). We want to understand what is working well and what may need to improve.

If you live in Bromley, you are a woman or a person with a cervix and are aged 25 to 64, please complete our short survey which will take roughly 4-5 minutes. Your answers are anonymous and we will use the information we collect to review the services currently provided.

Please share your views by completing oursurvey before the 30 April 2023.

Would you like to help decorate Beckenham for the Coronation? St George’s Church are inviting the community to get involved.

Bromley Council have decided to remove all the cash parking meters in the Borough. Payment to park will need to be made by RINGO app, which is downloadable from the App Store on your smart phone.

This only applies to council parking machines and meters. In Beckenham the Odeon Carpark and Sainsbury’s car park will still take cash. And Waitrose and M&S offer free parking for their shoppers.

The change to RINGO will happen on Mon 20 March, Tues 21 March and Wed 22 March.

Local residents are invited to get involved with Community Roadwatch in Beckenham. CCARA Chair, Cllr Chloe-Jane Ross is reinvigorating our local road watch and the team will be going out next week. If you are keen to get involved as a CCARA Community Roadwatch volunteer please get in contact by email to chloe@coperscope.org.uk

Community Roadwatch is a road safety initiative which aims to reduce speeding in residential areas. Community Roadwatch gives local residents the opportunity to work side by side with their local police teams, and use speed detection equipment to identify speeding vehicles in their communities. Warning letters will be issued where appropriate, and the information can help to inform the future activity of local police teams.

Bromley Council are consulting on charging more Council tax on empty homes to try and encourage owners to bring them back into use for housing.

Beckenham has quite a few of long empty residential buildings, some of which are not being well maintained and are causing issues for neighbouring residents (anti-social behaviour, untidy site, fire). We think this is a good idea. You can have your say by completing the consultation that ends on 4 Jan 2023 at the link below.

https://www.bromley.gov.uk/empty-properties/empty-homes-premium-unoccupied-dwellings

The service will be held between 10.30 and 11.30 at the Beckenham War Memorial on Sunday 13 November.

The roundabout will be closed during the service.

Our Association will be laying a wreath.

Well done St George’s Church and all your sewing volunteers for this beautiful tribute for Remembrance Sunday.

The Beckenham Green Friends are applying for £20,000 from the Platinum Jubilee Parks Fund to; replant the brick planters facing the High Street, create signs for the different plants and trees on the green, make a small woodland walk along the boundary with the church, and get storage and equipment for the Green Friends/community groups.

They need the support of 100 local people, find out more and pledge your support (no money, only support) at the link below.

https://daftjb5jlno.typeform.com/to/Z7LN7AV8

Come along and raise your concerns with the panel of Councillors representing the wards of Beckenham Town & Copers Cope, Clock House, Kelsey & Eden and Penge & Cator Ward

Success for CCARA Chair and local Cllr Chloe-Jane Ross!

After 18 months of campaigning Southeastern have agreed to restore the Beckenham Junction to Blackfriars service that was cancelled during the pandemic.

Worried that Southeastern would quietly drop the Blackfriars service which it cancelled during the pandemic, Chloe-Jane started the campaign to save it some 18 months ago. She set up an on-line petition calling for the restoration of this service, it grew to over two thousand signatures and highlighted the overwhelming support for the restoration of this service. She has been meeting with Southeastern regularly to make the case for the service on behalf of local people.

After months of lobbying Southeastern, other Councillors, the local MP, London Assembly members and anyone that would listen, it’s brilliant to report that the new timetable from 11 Dec 2022 includes 5 trains in the morning from Beckenham Junction to Blackfriars and 2 back in the evening.

Chloe-Jane said: “Beckenham is an excellent transport hub, and this is one of the reasons that people choose to set up home here. I’m delighted to have been able to make a strong case to Southeastern (with a 2000+ petition, thank you) and they’ve listened to us. The return of this service will make a huge difference to many commuters.”

“I’ve had regular meetings with Southeastern and was presented with different statistics being used to assess use of the service. But what these stats didn’t show was the different choices commuters were making in the absence of the Blackfriars service. Southeastern’s data did not show the true demand for the service, and in the end the Head of Operations agreed with me on this.”

“This has been a brilliant community campaign, thank you to everyone that supported it”.

South East London (SEL) Integrated Care System are seeking to recruit public members to join the Engagement Assurance Committee to fill the a vacancy in Bromley. The individuals appointed will have an important role in contributing to provide assurance on engagement in projects and programmes which are carried out on behalf of the system across south east London. Find out more at: https://letstalkhealthandcareselondon.org/seleac

The Copers Cope Area Residents’ Association and West Beckenham Residents’ Association pays tribute and thanks to the remarkable life and service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We send our condolences to the those she loved and those that loved her.

Information about mourning arrangements, floral tributes and book of condolence can be found at https://www.royal.uk/mourning-and-condolence-arrangements-royal-residences

An online Book of Condolence for those who wish to leave messages is available on the Royal website: https://www.royal.uk/send-message-condolence.

Every day in the UK, 350 people have a stroke or heart attack that could have been prevented. 6 million people in the UK have high blood pressure and don’t know it. Could you help us find them? During Know Your Numbers week there will be free blood pressure checks across Bromley. Find your nearest one or visit a local pharmacy. For more information, visit www.bromley.gov.uk/bloodpressure