flanter

This is great. The changes to Champion hill have added up to ten minutes to my journey to work and now the inspired and ill thought out changes to the end of Court Lane adds another ten minutes. That's twenty minutes of my car sitting there burning fossils, can't afford an electric, would love one, can't take a bus (genetic reasons) and cycle when I can.

Just added eight minutes to my fifteen minute commute. That's eight minutes with the engine running so my carbon footprint is 50% up this morning. I cannot see who this is helping. And I do need to take a car most days.

Just to update all those of you who helped us find a new venue with your kind thoughts and ideas. We've settled at the Copleston Centre in Copleston Road SE15. We have managed to keep all of the groups going on the same days and times to minimise disruption to artist's routines. We had our first session yesterday and the cool of the church was a definite bonus. It's not technically Dulwich any more but we know lots of artists who live around the Bellenden Road area so we're hopeful we'll pick up some new members to make up for the inevitable loss of those who will no longer be able to walk to us. If you like drawing or painting and haven't for a while, why not join us? our website is www.dulwichartgroup.co.uk

Thanks for the suggestion dontpanic, certainly will have a look at the Peckham Liberal Club.

Anyone see the front page of the South London Press? Journalist Jack Griffith spotted this thread and wrote a story about us. Sorry Vik, they call it a sea scout hut too...

Thanks Bawdy-nan, we're looking at the Francis Peek centre next week, didn't know about the upstairs room at the library but will enquire. Yes, good heating is essential, some models are pretty robust, others are thin skinned and sensitive to draughts.

Hi RCH, yes, it might be good to have a chat some time. We're just artists discovering the complexities of gaining access to the resources of the community/establishment. Not sure why independent artists always seem to get the fuzzy end of the lollipop, we got unceremoniously kicked out of the Calton Centre four years ago, with almost no notice at all. They said they were refurbishing the building but they opened a similar style local authority art class in the same room two weeks later. So I guess we're used to it. I can't quite see why decisions that are made that disrupt our activities have to be kept from us until the last moment, when they can do us real damage. We're nice people after all. Haven't tried Bellenden Scout Hut, anyone got contact details? Yes, I have tried google.

What *we* need is a purpose built arts centre...(can dream) When we were driving around looking for new premises it was amazing how quickly things don't feel 'local'. The Scout Hut feels local to Dulwich and East Dulwich but you only have to go half a mile in any direction and it feels like you're somewhere else. We have quite a few artists who walk and others who take trains and buses and some who drive. The Scout Hut has parking, is on a bus route and around the corner from a couple of railway stations, which makes the location ideal for us. The Dulwich Hospital site would indeed be ideal as would the Fred Francis Centre. Can you make it happen RCH? Bawdy-nan you clearly know which levers to pull, very impressive.

They've actually been pretty good at sharing up until now, reasonable rates, flexible, excellent facilities manager, which makes the suddenness of this all the more inexplicable.

Regarding asking them if they have other spaces available, I can only speak for the Dulwich art Group but they (JAGS)say that they have nothing for us. It's odd really because as we built up the membership of our groups we sought repeated assurances that they would find us another space when the time came for redevelopment. They always told us that whatever happened they would make sure we had a place to be. Feels a bit shabby to us. Thank you to those who are suggesting alternative locations by private message.

JAGS are finally building their new music school and so are kicking out all the groups that use the Old Scout Hut in Greendale. We were given 11 weeks notice, and are hastily looking for a home for the four groups we run each week. Finding somewhere is hard, is anyone else affected by this? We would be prepared to share resources in the search for new premises. simon

I'll try again