ated her 70th Birthday in September. She was presented with flowers and a cake at the 10am Mass on 26 September (at which she presided) and the service was followed by some celebratory glasses of fizz in the churchyard!
St John's and St Clement’s School report on the bug hotel they are making for St John’s churchyard. A child in year 4 writes: "This is a picture of the bug hotel that we have been busy making at lunch times for the church. We have been sawing willow from our willow dome and using fallen branches from the London Planes in Goose Green. We have also been drilling holes in some Cedar. We are hoping the hotel will be ready for delivery by half-term."
ack footballer to represent England at any level when, in 1971 at the age of 15, he played for England schoolboys against Northern Ireland. Born in Nigeria, Odeje moved to England as a child and was already on Charlton’s books when The Daily Mirror reported that the 5ft 9in. striker played for South East London secondary school at Peckham. In 1974 he signed for non-league side Dulwich Hamlet and after his football career ended became a teacher. Today Odeje has his own soccer academy encouraging the next generation.
Una Maud Victoria Marson (1905-1965) was a Jamaican feminist, activist and writer who became the first black woman to be employed by the BBC. She first came to London in 1932 and stayed at the home of Dr Harold Moody (see below) writing for the League of Coloured Peoples journal, campaigning against the racist and sexist attitudes she found in the UK. In 1941, she was hired by the BBC to produce the radio series ‘Calling the West Indies’. 
Revd Thomas Kwame Brem Wilson (1865-1929) helped establish the first black Pentecostal church in England - in Sumner Road, Peckham. Wilson, a businessman and schoolmaster, was born into a wealthy family in the Gold Coast (today’s Ghana) and came to Britain in 1901. His diaries describe a developing involvement in the Pentecostal Church. By 1906 he was preaching in London streets and in local halls. Wilson led the church until his death in Dulwich Hospital in April 1929. He is buried in Nunhead.
Dr Harold Moody (1882-1947) was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and came to London to study medicine at King’s College, London. He started his own medical practice in Peckham in February 1913 and became a respected and popular GP.
the violin prodigy, played Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No 9 at its premiere in 1803 with the maestro at the keyboard. Originally Beethoven named the piece the Bridgetower Sonata but after an argument, he rededicated it to Rodolphe Kreutzer. Bridgetower’s mother was German but he was born in Poland where his father, who probably originated from Barbados, was a valet in the household of Prince Esterházy (Haydn’s employer). Bridgetower senior took his son, aged seven, on a Mozart-style tour of Europe and in London, the boy became a protégé of the Prince of Wales and a first violinist in the Prince's private orchestra. By 1820 Bridgetower had stopped performing in public though he continued teaching, writing and visiting friends. He died on 29 February 1860 at Victory Cottages, Peckham, a small row of eight cottages on Bedford Street, now called Sandison Road - and at that date in our parish. (Today Jack Jones House stands on the site.)
over medium-high heat. Place the pasta in the water and cook until al dente. Drain. Re-heat the sauce as needed, then add the drained pasta to the sauce. Toss gently together to combine.Friends of the Earth Green Jobs Summit
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has promised to create 17,000 green jobs in London over the next 10 years. So how do we make sure that our city has the skilled workforce for the number of jobs needed to take on the climate crisis?Join us from 6.30 pm to 8.15 pm on Thursday 7 October at the London Green Jobs Summit to discuss the challenges and opportunities for green jobs in the capital.
The summit will bring skills providers, decision-makers, trade unions and businesses together with residents from across the city to create a shared vision for green jobs in London.
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If you would like to attend please follow the link here.
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of loved ones and planted over the past year.
e central feature of the garden. The Rosemary plants are interspersed amongst existing rose bushes. A Myrtle shrub with scented leaves, gifted by Kate Lake, is planted close to the entrance to the Goose Green Centre.
church office wall to provide autumn colour and berries;
Clare and Robert Brown: Wheat that growth green…It was an interesting experiment growing wheat in our allotment on One Tree Hill. We have a sunny south-facing half plot with fairly rich soil at the bottom of the site and sowed two rows of about 4m each which we later thinned out. As you can see it has come up pretty well, despite the cold wet weather we had earlier in the year. Our neighbour at the allotments, a real old-timer, was intrigued by the crop; he had never seen anyone growing wheat before!
A child in year 5 writes "Here is the wheat. It was cut down during the holidays and we have now bundled it together and have given it to Revd Gill ready in time for the harvest services."
Born a Crime is a book written by the famous South African comedian Trevor Noah (host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah). Yes, this book is funny, but it also offers the reader much more. Trevor Noah offers the reader more of an understanding of what it was like to be Black or “coloured” during apartheid in South Africa. This book’s premise is about a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man trying to find himself in a world where he was not allowed to even exist (Penguin Random House, n.d.).
The way ahead, approaching death from spreading lung cancer, has become more difficult. In the morning I cannot get out of bed without swallowing pain killers, but the pain killers must not be swallowed on an empty stomach. Revd Anne brings me bacon sandwiches to eat in bed, so that I can swallow the painkillers, so that I can get out of bed. Then I can be cautiously normal until my day ends at 8:00 pm.
ent history, we have moved from churchyard burial, to cemetery burial, then cremation, as urban space became more limited. I grew up with the environmentalists in the 1960s. Now we have become the ecology or eco movement. St John’s is looking to become an eco-church. Using fossil fuel-fired furnaces to incinerate bodies is not compatible with being an eco-church.
On the day after the funeral, my body, dressed in natural fibers, will leave the church in a biodegradable coffin made from native softwoods for my last journey on earth. A small group of family members supported by Raymond and Gill will travel with the hearse to Barton. They will lower my coffin into a double depth grave leaving room for Anne to join me later. The grave is in one of the meadows which will be cut but once a year. The grave will be marked by an incised oak plaque lying flat on the ground so the mower can pass over it.
