Hopefully all members and supporters will have received their monthly enewsletter this morning and heard the news … and not just about this site!
You will have seen that the Forest Hill Society has stepped in to take responsibility for the mural under the bridge on the South Circular at Forest Hill Station. It was a wonderful addition to the area which was originally funded by the community in 2018, but has fallen into a sad state of disrepair. We had bid for funds via the NCIL programme from Lewisham in 2025 to repaint it, but we were not successful. Instead, we’re reaching out to the community again so we can take care of this ourselves.
We’ve raised over £800 of our £2500 target in just a few hours which is AMAZING!
Thank you all so much for your support so far, and if you have not seen it yet, check out the crowdfunder below, and please don’t forget to share it with friends and neighbours. Hopefully we will have a welcoming sight again in time for summer.
This is really amazing and heart-warming. We’ve already exceeded £2000 - which is 80% of our total, and that is just since Sunday. Thank you all so much.
It was exactly 1 week ago that our call first went out to the SE23 community and members of the Forest Hill Society. In just that time we have reached £2450 of our £2500 target.
This is truly amazing. It is great to know that we can go straight into planning for the work with confidence and the support of so many people. Look out for news on the date so you can come along to spectate.
Now that we are SO close, we are considering adding a small ‘stretch’ target to £3000 to add extra funds to try to deal with the leaking guttering above the mural, and maybe find other ways to protect the work from the elements. As always, we appreciate all those who have shared the link to their friends, families and neighbours, and especially to all those who’ve ben able to chip in - whether it is £1 or £100.
And we’re there! Thank you to everyone who has donated and made this possible.
As you see, the stretch target has been added to see if we can do even more, and also build some reserves to pay for upkeep and cleaning on a more regular basis.
However, it is great to know for certain that this is going ahead thanks to you all
Yesterday we hit even the stretch target. Thank you so much!
We’ve raised over £3000 in just 20 days, which is astonishing, but will make a great difference to the area.
Work will get underway shortly and we’ll keep you updated here and on foresthillsociety.com with the dates and photos of the work.
As we mentioned on the crowdfunding site, we are also going to produce a special edition newsletter which will include the names of donors. If you donated anonymously, feel free to drop us a message here (or via our website) and we can add you to that list.
I saw in the FHSoc newsletter that a crowdsourced effort may be involved to clean the wall before the mural is re-painted. Is there any scope for getting a jet wash involved? I would have thought the motor mechanic just to the left of the bridge might be willing to offer power and water to have the immediate viscinity of his workshop beautified like that.
Great - do you have access to a jet wash? I know someone who recently bought one, who may be up for lending it to a good cause like this. What happened about the repair to the gutter by the way? It would be amazing if the overflow from that could be curtailed such that the image doesn’t deteriorate again.
I own an older one that might be enough, but if we can get more volunteers with other tools, that might help. I still need to speak to the garage to see if we can get access to water and power though
To be honest, from the low key way this part was done I’m not sure a time lapse would have really captured it. Still a bummer though. Hopefully the end result puts smiles on faces.
I just realised, of course, that this was not the “painting” process at all, but simply the cleaning of the wall in anticipation of the painting.
What a difference it makes!
Hopefully, once it is repainted and we get some of the detail back on the lettering and the Walrus, we will be able to keep it cleaned and visible for longer and avoid such a lot of build-up.
I’m about to update all the crowdfunding supporters as well, but other than a protective varnish, the mural repainting is complete! Check out this beautiful sight
