The celebrity pub quiz returns to the Hob in Forest Hill on Thursday night from 9pm. This week’s comedy quizmaster is Paul T Eyres and entry is £2. To find out more, check www.edcomedy.com

Comedy Street is a night of sketches and improvisation at the London Theatre in New Cross on Thursday and Friday night. It’s free and starts at 8pm.

FRIDAY

Earl Green and The Right Time are the guests at the Sydenham blues club, at the Golden Lion pub. It starts at 9pm, entry is free and you can find out more at www.sydenhambluesclub.co.uk

SATURDAY

Blues Patrol take to the stage at the Golden Lion at 9pm for the latest Sydenham blues club night. It starts at 9pm, entry is free and you can find out more at www.sydenhambluesclub.co.uk

The Hob is putting on a craft and design fair on Saturday and Sunday from midday till 5pm. It coincides with the Havelock Walk open studio days just next door. There’ll be jewellery, ceramics, glassware, bags and textiles – and entry is free.

The Hob in Forest Hill also has stand-up comedy on Saturday night from Jason Redmond, Tom Price, Cal Wilson and Paul Sinha. Tickets are £9, or £6 for concessions, and the show gets under way at 9pm.

The Forest Hill choir, Trade Winds, and a guest choir from France will be performing together at St Augustine’s Church in Honor Oak Park on Saturday night from 7.30pm. It’s part of the One Tree Hill Festival and entry is £5.

At the London Theatre, Awkward is a new touring farce show about family secrets and illicit relationships. Described as dark and edgy, it’s suitable for adults only and is being performed on Saturday and Sunday night at 8pm. Tickets are £10 from 020 8694 1888.

SUNDAY

The Hob in Forest Hill presents a double bill of Edinburgh preview shows on Sunday night, with Pat Burtscher and sketch group Jigsaw. Tickets are £8, or £5 for concessions, and it starts at 7.30pm.

THE REST OF THE WEEK

The Hob in Forest Hill is the venue for the London heats of So You Think You’re Funny, starting on Monday night at 8pm. It’s the longest running comedy newcomer award in the country, and the finals are held every August during the Edinburgh fringe. Tickets are £5 from www.edcomedy.com

Lions and Donkeys is a first world war comedy set in the trenches on the Western Front. It’s billed as a well-written, poignant play about friendship, humanity and survival – and you can see it every night for a week, starting on Sunday night, at the London Theatre in New Cross. Performances start at 8pm, tickets are £10 and there’s more info online at www.thelondontheatre.com

Blackheath Art Society’s spring exhibition at the Blackheath Halls runs until the end of May. Twenty artists are taking part this year. It’s open daily from 10am till 5pm and entry is free. To find out more, visit www.blackheathartsociety.org.uk

The Brockley Jack has the world premiere of Summer – the debut play from Julia Stubbs Hughes, based on the novel by one of America’s greatest writers, Edith Wharton. It’s about a young woman’s dreams to escape her confined world. Performances run until the end of the month, from Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm, and tickets are £12, or £10 for concessions, from www.thesummerproject.co.uk

The Hither Green week runs from May 19 to 27. The opening celebrations on Saturday night include an arts, craft and food fayre, a bake-off and the seventies and eighties club night, Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet. The full programme can be found online at www.ourhithergreen.com.

The PureGold festival is a six-week long celebration of music created and performed at Goldsmiths, University of London until the end of June. Entry cost varies from one concert to the next, and details of all the performances can be found on the website – www.gold.ac.uk/puregold

The New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival has a screening of four short documentaries looking at the co-operative moment in Britain from the 1930s and 50s. It takes place at Sanford Housing Co-op from 6.30pm and entry is free.

Then, from 8pm in the same place is a documentary called Crisis of Civilisation, which looks at how ecological disaster, financial meltdown and food shortages are converging. All the details for the festival are online at www.freefilmfestivals.org

Blackheath Art Society’s spring exhibition opens at the Blackheath Halls and runs until the end of May. Twenty artists are taking part this year. It’s open daily from 10am till 5pm and entry is free. To find out more, visit www.blackheathartsociety.org.uk

LA Fitness in Sydenham is offering classes in Zumba – it’s a combination of dance and aerobics with musical styles from hip-hop to salsa, country to belly-dancing. It’s billed as an effective way of working out – and costs £7 per session, with discounts for members and for bulk bookings. It starts on Thursday from 7.15pm to 8.15pm and runs every Thursday for the rest of year, and you can book a place by calling 07501 023 010.

FRIDAY

The Heaters are the guests at the Sydenham Blues Club, at the Golden Lion pub. The music starts at 9pm and entry is free.

The New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival has a screening of romantic comedy Coming to America, starring Eddie Murphy and made by the director of the Blues Brothers. It’s at the Deptford Lounge from 7.30pm and entry is free. Details of all the festival events are online at www.freefilmfestivals.org

Also tied in with the film festival is an all-night celebration of sci-fi at Release Nightclub on Lewisham Way. It starts with a screening at 8.30pm of the Joe Cornish sci-fi comedy Attack the Block – and then local DJs will play a mix of dub-step, hip-hop and grime until 6am. The whole night is free to enter – and doors open at 7.45pm.

The auditions for Forest Fest 2012 take place from 3.30pm to 7.30pm at Forest Hill school on Dacres Road. If you can sing, dance or act and would like to take part in this year’s event, call 020 8613 8485.

A beacon is being lit in Telegraph Hill Park to celebrate the Queen’s diamond jubilee. It’s one of 2012 beacons being lit all around the country – and it’s scheduled to take place at about 10pm. Entry is free.

Talented pianist Ben Waters – who’s been described by Jools Holland as one of his favourite piano players of all time – is playing the Blackheath Halls. Ben’s played with the likes of Ray Davies, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Shakin’ Stevens – and you can hear his work from 8pm. Tickets are £12, or £10 for concessions, from 020 8318 9758.

SATURDAY

There’s a bicycle-powered screening of the 2009 animated comedy “Up” in Telegraph Hill Park, with outstanding views over London. It gets under way at 8pm and you’re invited to bring a picnic and make an evening of it.

At the Blackheath Halls, ‘Big Goldilocks and the Three Bears Plus’ is a bizarre adaptation of the classic children’s tale being performed on Saturday afternoon from 3pm. It’s suitable for children aged four and above and tickets are £7 from 020 8318 9758.

Bad Hair Day take to the stage at the Sydenham Blues club in the Golden Lion. It starts at about nine. All the details are at www.sydenhambluesclub.co.uk.

SUNDAY

The New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival has a screening of Talked About Pink – it’s about the Rimmel lipstick of the same name, and wider issues about family and growing up. It’s on from 3pm till 5pm at St Paul’s House on Deptford High Street and includes refreshments and a discussion with the filmmaker. Entry is free but you’re advised to book in advance by emailing fleetingresonance@gmail.com

THE REST OF THE WEEK

Sydenham lawn tennis club is holding a free family open day on Monday for anyone interested in tennis, squash or croquet. It’s open from 11am to 2pm at the club on Lawrie Park Road – and it’s your chance to look around and try your hand at one of the sports on offer. All ages and abilities are welcome and there’s no need to book.

The Brockley Jack has the world premiere of Summer – the debut play from Julia Stubbs Hughes, based on the novel by one of America’s greatest writers, Edith Wharton. It’s about a young woman’s dreams to escape her confined world. Performances run until the end of the month, from Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm, and tickets are £12, or £10 for concessions, from www.thesummerproject.co.uk

The Broadway Theatre is the venue for a new play looking at the impact of police stop-and-search powers on young people. It’s a hard-hitting performance, running from Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm right up to the end of May. There will also be some matinee performances at 2pm and 4pm on certain days. Check the details at www.broadwaytheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 020 8690 0002. Tickets range from £11 to £14.50, or from £8 to £11 for concessions.

At The Hob in Forest Hill, the All New Stand-Up Show is back on Monday from 8pm. It’s your chance to see some established comedy acts trying out new material and tickets are £3. Then, on Thursday, it’s the celebrity pub quiz at The Hob from 9pm. Entry is £2 and details of both events can be found online at www.edcomedy.com

And finally, Lewisham Council is putting on an information session on Tuesday evening for anyone in the borough thinking about adoption. Experts will be on hand to answer questions and explain the adoption process. It’s free to attend and takes place at the civic suite in Catford from 7pm to 9pm on Tuesday. To book a place, email 0800 587 7392.

The CAB will run talks of up to two hours in groups of ten people, or perhaps a series of sessions if you have a number of people interested. You can choose to receive advice on a range of topics including: keeping track of your money, understanding fuel bills and how to decide upon a suitable mobile phone package.

They are currently booking for talks in January, so if you would like more information please contact Carole Adams on ceo.lewishamcab@fsmail.net or call 07785 461101.

More information on recycling in Lewisham

http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/recycling
Estates Recycling Update
Twitter: @envirolewisham

Friends of Mayow Park, in partnership with the London Orchard Project will be planting a new community orchard in Sydenham on Saturday 28th January between 12 and 3pm and they are looking for volunteers on the day to dig and plant ten fruit trees and a fruiting hedgerow.

Volunteers are also key to the longer term success of the project and by becoming an orchard carer, training will be provided for you to look after the trees in their first two years of growth.

Finally, any individual or a groups can sponsor a tree by making a contribution of around £50. Sponsors can opt to have their names listed on the park’s notice board, by agreement with the Council and also appear on the Friends blog.

If you would like any more information on the event how to become a sponsor, please email friendsofmayowpark@ymail.com

If you’d like to become a guest editor and perhaps tell people about some hidden gems where you live, visit In My Area to find out more, or email a short biography and photo to web.communications@lewisham.gov.uk along with your five selections.

Jean has stuck to the idea of social cohesion and at any given time in the evenings or lazy days she is usually out tending the gardens, surrounded by a group of children digging, planting, weeding, and even eating. They grow seasonal fruit.

The idea of community food growing gardens is to build stronger communities, and comes about as part of Capital Growth, who want to have 2012 community food growing areas by the year 2012. It’s aim to teach about growing traditional foods.

It has been determined that gardening is very good for the mind. Also local to us, Sydenham Garden caters for people who are in need of peaceful therapy. What could be better than gardening to soothe the mind?

The green in the middle of the small flats on Hazel Grove Estate, on the Burghill Road side, was just a grass patch with not much happening, but after Lewisham Homes gave the green a facelift, it has been completely transformed; there are benches and tables, logs to clamber on, and a basket ball pitch for the children and young adults.

It is a nice area now, children playing out, mothers out watching and chatting, people walking their dogs, and everybody knows each other, in these times it is good to have somewhere nice to sit and chill.
The day I visited it was quiet, I sat at a bench listening to the birds, it was very peaceful.

The community growing garden is abundant, there are pak choi,courgettes, tomatoes, pumpkins, green beans and quite recently, strawberries. The residents are encouraged to help themselves to food and I’m pleased to say that people are respectful, there has been no vandalism. I believe that is because nearly everybody in that community helped build the garden and it would almost be destroying themselves to ruin it. There is still respect in the community.

Sometimes people complain all the fruit has gone, but that means the children are eating fresh fruit and enjoying it. Not all city children are indoors on computers and scared of life. A lot of children are out and happy growing and eating there own fruit.

If you are interested in starting your own community food growing garden, visit Capital Growth or call 020 7837 1228.

Well, when I say exciting, what I actually mean is pretty dull, until it comes to turning everything
on, so I haven’t bothered with any pictures of plugs going into sockets. Instead, we have the almost
finished article; behold the magnificence…

1: It does look a bit like a bird’s nest under there, but time was pressing and we wanted to know if it
would all work; this stuff is like Xmas lights, leave it in a box for a while and there’s no guarantee
that it will still be OK when you take it out.

2: Still a few tools and cables laying about, but it’s looking like a radio station now.

3: This is the brains of the outfit, a powerful piece of software that can access any one of the
thousands of tracks in our database, in seconds. We can also play CDs and, coming soon, good old
vinyl records.

4: And this is the sharp end of the studio, the mixing console, now with CD players, keyboard
control for the computer and a microphone, so we don’t have to shout.

Here’s the low down on the kit we use (unless you’re a techy geek, you’ll probably want to skim this
bit).

Mixer: Like tulips, windmills and mice that go clip clippity clop on the stairs, this D&R Airmix
hails from Holland and, despite being at least 20 years old, has served us well; we’ve actually got
two, but the other needs some work and will eventually be the basis of a training and production
studio.

Each slider controls a separate sound source; on the left is where the music comes in, including
three inputs from the computer and a fader for each of the CD players. On the right are controls for
four mics and incoming telephone calls, but don’t phone us yet, the line hasn’t been installed.

Playout System: Computerised audio playout is the standard in today’s radio industry and we’re no
exception. There are many systems available, but we’ve been using ZaraRadio since day one, first
as downloadable freeware, now upgraded to the paid for ‘Pro’ version.

At it’s most basic level, it’s just a glorified jukebox, giving almost instant access to any of the
tracks in our database, currently numbering around 3000 and growing; delve deeper and it’s an
extremely powerful tool, enabling (amongst other things) full shows to be loaded in advance, songs
to be ‘chained’ together and played continuously, or even full 24/7 automation, where it will either
dip into the database at random, or play pre selected playlists.

From a practical point of view, we don’t have to store big piles of CDs (although we still seem to

have collected quite a few) and presenters can prepare their shows at home, bring them in on a USB
stick and load them onto the system in seconds.

CD Players: A pair of Numark MP102 decks, featuring variable pitch control, infinitely adjustable
cueing and MP3 capability. They take up more space than the more commonplace dual decks, but
the big advantage is, if one breaks, you don’t have to send both to the mender.

Limiter: Mounted above the CDs is a Cloud CX335 Compressor/Limiter. Essentially, this little
gizmo equalises the level of each sound source, so that it all arrives at your ears at (more or less) the
same volume. Unfortunately, it’s not foolproof, so if you hear someone playing very quiet music, or
it’s horrendously distorted, feel free to email the studio and tell the presenter they are being a clot!

Microphones: One for the presenter and three for guests, we’re using Audio Technica AT2035s.
They have adjustable noise filtering and are mounted in shock resistant cages; the counter-sprung
arms ensure that the mic can always be set in the right place.

Fiddly bits: Each of our guests can have the use of a set of AKG headphones, controlled via a
Behringer distribution amplifier, giving each user their own volume control. We’re currently using a
pair of basic studio monitor speakers (due to be replaced soon) and we’re now telling the time using
a radio signal controlled clock, so there’s no excuse for getting it wrong!

And that’s just about it; it all seems to work and I got some pleasant noises from it, so I guess
it’s OK (you’ll notice I’m not being over enthusiastic, that usually puts an irreversible curse on
everything).

I’ll put up more pictures when everything is complete and tidied but, until then, all that remains is
to thank our technical suppliers Broadcast Warehouse, Digital Village and Canford Audio, while
special thanks go to James and Michael from Taylor Building, for the excellent job on the furniture.

Finally, thank you for reading and we hope you enjoy listening; if you want to know any more
about our new facilities, get in touch via email, text, Twitter or Facebook and we’ll do our best to
help.

(Don’t forget to pop back for the P.S., coming soon)

The first thing to point out is that you can buy studio furniture, both off the shelf and built to order, but it costs literally thousands of pounds, which is money we just don’t have; so the object of the exercise was to make something that works as well and looks as good, but for an affordable price.

The plan was to use the frames from office desks as the base of the structure, partly because they are self supporting, fairly rigid and the right height, but mainly because they’re ready made, which would save a lot of time.

They also needed to take a fair bit of weight, not just because of the equipment, but also because the tops would be 38mm kitchen work surfaces, which are not exactly light; this material was chosen for it’s wide range of available finishes (we opted for a sort of black marble effect) and it’s hard wearing nature, important when you don’t want to be replacing it for a good while.

While you’re looking at the pretty pictures, see if you can name the hit recording artist for each song featured in the captions… answers at the end (and no scrolling down for a sneaky peek!).

I didn’t bother with any pictures of me wielding the hoover afterwards, they aren’t very interesting and it does nothing for my street cred!

Next time, we fit all the electrics and see if we can get some noise out of it all…………

Pop Quiz
notsineP eC eC 9, smailliW ydnA 8, redrO weN 7, nospmiS & drofhsA 6, yelserP sivlE 5, redliuB ehT boB 4, 2U 3, dlonrA PP 2, maJ 1.

Ian studies progress in one of our new studios!

Well, the adventure begins… again!

After over six months without a home and several weeks of delicate negotiations, we finally got the
keys to our palatial new studio complex.

From the outside, looking in.

Sadly, there’s nothing in the safe.

If we leave the mixers long enough, they may start to breed…

Tuesday 14th June

Had our first presenters meeting at the new studio tonight, which was the first time most of them
had seen our new home; all very positive and there was a definite feeling that this was the start of a
new and exciting chapter in the life of SCR.

Earlier, I met with James Taylor to thrash out the dimensions and construction of our purpose built
console; he says he can get it done in a day (and he should know) all we have to do is source the
materials.

Getting this studio together will be an epic task, but confidence reigns supreme!!

Next time, I hope to post some pictures of people using actual tools, so keep checking back, if that’s
your thing.

Sainty