The Transmitter Issue 3

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ISSUE33 ISSUE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 www.thetransmitter.co.uk www.thetransmitter.co.uk

RETURN OF THE SUNDAY LUNCH A run down of the best roasts in the area

A RIVER

RUNS UNDER IT Andrew Rumsey’s river music

RETURN

OF THE

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

GALLOPING GOURMET Nadia Sawalha is back in the kitchen

Local gifts galore!

KIDS COMPETITION INSIDE!

Who are The Bellydwellers?

ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008

CONTENTS 4 5 8 9 12 16 18 21 24 27 30 34 38 40 43 44 45 46 48 49

WELCOME A WORD FROM THE EDITORS WORD ON THE STREET BITS OF LOC AL NEWS AND GOSSIP THEN AND NOW PALACE PAST AND PRESENT LETTERS READERS BEING NICE TO US A RIVER RUNS UNDER IT REV ANDREW RUMSEY MOVES IT AND GROOVES IT RETURN OF THE GALLOPING GOURMET LOC AL GIRL NADIA SAWALHA COOKS FOR HER FAMILY A TALE OF TWO RESTAURANTS JUSTINE MAKES AN EXHIBITION OF HERSELF GIN AND TONIC PLEASE MICHAEL REVIEWS SOME XMAS PLONK RETURN OF THE SUNDAY LUNCH HOWARD MALE EATS HIS WAY ROUND CRYSTAL PALACE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING LIZ’S CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW TRANSMITTTER GIRLS AND BOYS PARTY IN LOC AL GEAR PALACE PATCH B AYWATCH PHILOSOPHY CORNER GUARANTEED TO GIVE YOU AN IDENTITY CRISIS THE BOOKSELLER JONATHAN’S BUMPER CHRISTMAS ROUNDUP THERE’S A WORLD OUT THERE HOWARD MALE TAKES THE CONFUSION OUT OF FUSION CATHY’S COLUMN STUFF FOR KIDS THE BELLYDWELLERS THE PARK GETS SOME NEW RESIDENTS WHATS ON THINGS TO DO AROUND HERE BUSINESS DIRECTORY CONTACT DETAILS FOR ALL THINGS LOC AL PARK LIFE PARK PICS - B AD READERS, DIRTY READERS!

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ABOUT US Editorial Editors Andy Pontin Sub Editor Jonathan Main, Regular Contributors Digging the Garden Sue Williams Digging the Music Howard Male Drinking the Beverages Michael Eyre Eating the Food Justine Crow Making the Food Nadia Sawalha Retail Therapy Liz Clamp Design & Production Art Director Nick Keeble Photography Smash Bang Wallop Printing AD Print Services Ltd Contact Advertising sales@thetransmitter.co.uk Listings listings@thetransmitter.co.uk Editorial editor@thetransmitter.co.uk

DISTRIBUTION

A large number of copies of The Transmitter are delivered door-to-door. We also distribute the magazine through a network of high street shops, cafés and local libraries that are kind enough to help us to get copies out to everyone.

We have arrangements with selected stockists to ensure high stock levels and these are listed below. You can be sure to get a copy from any of these nice folks.

STOCKISTS Crystal Palace Triangle Bookseller Crow Mediterranea Glitter & Twisted Bambino Coconut Trading Upper Norwood Library

50 Westow Street 21 Westow Street 25 Westow Street 32 Church Road 73 Church Road 39 Westow Hill

Penge Penge Library

186 Maple Road

East Dulwich Mrs Crow@the Market ED Warehouse Indoor Market Zenoria Street

SUBSCRIPTIONS

WELCOME From the Editor

So here it is...Merry...well, you get the idea.

The big buzz around The Transmitter offices this month was our capture of an actual celebrity in the wild - none other than the gorgeous and wonderful Nadia Sawalha.

The editorial team voted to lock her up and deny her human rights until she agreed to write a cookery column, but she is so lovely that she preempted thoughts on suitable forms of torture by offering to write one without being asked!

There’s lots to look forward to as we hurtle towards the festive season. We have a Festival of Fun in Crystal Palace on 29 November (fingers crossed on the weather everyone).

Then there’s all that christmas shopping you’ll be doing to support our wonderful local shops! For great gift ideas from deserving local causes (our shops!) see shopping feature on p26.

If fashion is your thing turn straight to our centre spread and see The Transmitter boys and girls, all bedecked in great togs with a local provenance.

This issue we have Rooks, Cooks and Books and stacks of food and drink to get you in the mood for xmas piggery. Nadia Sawalha bestows upon us her own recipe for meatballs, Howard Male eats his way around Crystal Palace and gives us the low down on Sunday lunches at the local eateries, Justine Crow compares and contrasts two of our ‘upmarket’ restaurants (ooh..be still my beating poshometer) and Michael Eyre takes us on a gin journey.

We’ve got philosophy, poetry and World Music for those of you who think you are slightly cleverer than average and a fantastic new regular strip The Bellydwellers!

And finally, a big heartfelt thank you to all the local businesses who have advertised with us, we really couldn’t do this without you.

If you would like to receive a posted copy of each issue of The Transmitter please write to us at the address below and enclose a cheque for £12.00 for the next 6 issues.

The Transmitter PO Box 53556 London SE19 2TL The Transmitter is published by Transmission Publishing Ltd Registered in England 6594132

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COVER Georgina gets into the spirit of Christmas.

Photography: Smash Bang Wallop

WORD ON THE STREET It’s XMAS Festival Time on The Crystal Palace Triangle!

Saturday 29 November Following the roaring success of the last ‘Triangle-fest’, Crystal Palace Festival will be happening on Saturday 29 November with all sorts of goings-on around the triangle including great food, music and a bit of shopping......

Haynes Lane Market

The Frost Fair Winter Market in Crystal Palace

On the Green

The Phoenix Community Centre 66 Westow Street Unique Christmas gifts at the Frost Fair’s Winter Market. More than 30 stalls selling handmade jewellery, fine ceramics and Christmas crafts.

There will also be festive food and a bar serving mulled wine and ale to start up the Christmas cheer!

Haynes Lane, off Westow Street Intriguing and curious stuff at a flea market the likes of which are hard find in London these days. Records, books, vintage clothes, antiques....

You name it; you’ll find it here.

Children’s events and activities on the green outside Sainsbury’s, Westow Street.

32 Church Road Vintage jewellery, leather goods, artworks, books, records, anything!

Free rocket rides for the under 5s outside Bambino!

Church Road Market

Music & Entertainment Antenna Studios

Contemporary group Rarescale are appearing at Antenna Studios.

The group consists of flutes, guitar and electronics. They have played all over the world - recently in Washington, New York and San Francisco (see What’s On for more

The Alma Garden Market The Alma Pub, 98 Church Road The Alma Garden Market has new covered stalls to keep away all that nasty December weather, so now you can browse and chat to warm, dry stallholders..so they are much more likely to give you a discount!

Great food, great crafts, great gifts..

Eat, drink, be merry & buy!

Patrick’s Bar 76 Westow Hill Patrick’s Bar will be playing host to up and coming indie band ‘ill-anoize’ about to tour Europe Open til 1am The Royal Albert 42 Westow Hill The Royal Albert will once again be hosting a band – early evening Westow House 79 Westow Hill Resident DJ Homar Rossi will be playing his usual eclectic mix of party classics. Open til 3am

Church Road Market

Free rocket rides outside Bambino

Los Toreros 19 Westow Street Palm reading during the day

The White Hart 96 Church Road In the afternoon the amazing South London Jazz Orchestra return to the White Hart. There will be a special artistic challenge for local artists in the garden to be announced separately. In the evening there’s a live performance from indie rock band The Spiral Late Licence open til 2am South London Jazz Orchestra revisit The White Hart

details)

The Alma 95 Church Road Live at the Alma, Steve Morrison’s Blues Abuse Music. The master of open chord tunings and bottleneck guitar. Late Licence.

The Cambridge Arms 2 Church Road Karaoke night at the Cambridge Arms – from 8 til late

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Library Joins in Festival Fun Upper Norwood Joint Library is taking part in the festival fun on 29 November. Staff have been promoting four books to suit different ages to try to get lots of people reading the same book. The scheme is called Crystal Palace Park and Read and it’s proving very popular. All the featured books have a competition to enter with cash prizes including £100 for the winner of the quiz for the book Something Might Happen by Julie Myerson. Deadlines for the quiz entries for the books Bridge to Terabithia, The Dirty South and Something Might Happen is 2.45pm 1pm That Pesky Rat show 2pm ‘Sir Joseph Paxton’ (aka John Greatrex) tells the story of Joseph and his amazing Crystal Palace 3pm Prizes for all the competitions After 3.30pm Alex Wheatle, author of The Dirty South will be talking about his life, answering questions and signing copies of his book.

Boris Cancels Tram Link It was Mayor’s Question Time in Bromley on Thursday evening. Cllr John Getgood (Penge and Cator) asked Boris Johnson why he was cancelling the Tram Link extension to Crystal Palace. He replied “There was never any funding for it.” The Transmitter travel editor’s response was “Oh...” readmyday.co.uk/JohnGetgood

It’s not a Green Thing Boris also said that he will do away with the extra congestion charge for gas-guzzlers, calling it “an attack on ordinary hard working families”. Our ordinary, hard working, gas-guzzling editor seems to be happy about that.

We Hart Vintage If you noticed a gorgeous 50s hat or two in amongst the sofas at the White Hart on Thursday 6 November, it was because Vintagehart opened up their little boutique to act as host for two websites keen to spread the vintage word. Qype.com (a usergenerated ratings and review site) and unchainedguide.com (champions of independent shops in London and New York) gathered together a group of fashion bloggers who spent the evening sipping fizz, tucking in to divine cakes, trying out some new looks, and listening (and occasionally dancing, oh yes) to the fabulous sounds of gramophone swing.

Cute party dresses, stylish jackets and sparkling accessories (including quirky vintage cufflinks) turned the White Hart’s Blue Room into a vintage boudoir for the evening.

DJ Nipper Berrigan 07989 558976 Cakes by Sarah Balfour 07989 571428 unchainedguide.com

Heard on the street.... pedestrian crossing on Church Road near the shops?

“When are they going to put a

Those cars do about 50mph down there”

photo courtesy of unchainedguide.com

Open Studio Weekend, Coopers Yard On the weekend of 24 - 26 October an Open Studio took place at The Overspill in Coopers Yard, Crystal Palace, featuring the creative work of Tine Bladbjerg, Lene Bladbjerg and Catherine Shaw of Allbone and Trimit.

Catherine Shaw of Allbone and Trimit Tine Bladbjerg designs and makes exquisite jewellery, Lene Bladbjerg

puts her creativity onto her canvases with some startling results and Catherine Shaw makes bespoke sumptuous wedding dresses and cocktail frocks. Exhibiting along with them were Justine Smith, handbag designer extraordinaire and Rook’s Books with a display of beautiful leather bound books. Mulled wine was the order of the day to keep the cold out … served with Halloween Horrors. The whole weekend went down in great style and they would like to thank everyone who popped along Look out for their next Open Studio in May 2009.

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trading places Church Road just got even better!

Last issue we reported on two great new shops opening in what used to be the ‘wrong end’ of Church Road on the Crystal Palace Triangle. Here we are with another issue and another great new shop has opened bang in the middle of the place to shop for special gifts and fun stuff for your loved ones. myjumbie.com is an eclectic gallery specialist retailer of “unusual art and decorative gifts”..so if you have a taste for the unusual, go along and let Phil at myjumbie help you find that special gift.

Kurt’s Koffee Having had one badly made, mediocre espresso too many, Kurt Stewart decided to introduce the people of South East London to a gourmet espresso experience.

Combining knowledge and skills from previous careers as a chef and in coffee-roasting, and a keen desire to uphold fair-trade/organic principles Full Steam Espresso was born.

Kurt’s idea is to introduce a perfect espresso experience into everyday environments via the mean power of a 50cc 3 wheeler Piaggio ‘APE’!

Full Steam provides a “mobile gourmet hot drinks experience” catering for events where people care about quality, taste and the environmental credentials of their cup of coffee.

All tastes are covered: hot chocolate made of homemade organic chocolate sauce, teas, organic sodas, and fruit/veg juices.

If you want to try this great coffee, you can catch Kurt at his regular Saturday morning slot outside the West Dulwich branch of Oddbins in Rosendale Road. kurt@fullsteamespresso.com 07946 758295

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Then & Now

Interested in local history?

The Norwood Society www.norwoodsociety.co.uk Crystal Palace Community Association www.cpca.org.uk

Ghost Walk Walk in the ghostly footsteps of our ancestors on the anniversary of the fiery death of Screamin’ Alice !

Relive the horrors of Crystal Palace Past if you dare!

Sunday 30 November

Meet at Crystal Palace Train Station 7pm (Bring a torch.)

Further details: 020 8778 1865 and ask for John’s Great Treks

New HQ for rival mag Stylish and very informative South London magazine moves to new premises near Herne Hill station.

The boy has grown up...but Gipsy Hill’s architecture remains largely the same. The old police station on the right (see letters page) is now a house...the church tower is only for mega rich pop stars...and someone has built a lot of very tall buildings in the distance....

Did you know...

Charles Dickens wrote a goodly portion of David Copperfield sitting under a Maple tree on Beulah Hill.

The tree is still there.....

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LETTERS A Reader...

In Reading...

Dear Transmitter

Dear Transmitter

It was great to read Karen McLeod’s fine words in praise of Penge but she didn’t go far enough - or maybe she’s in fear of the crowds from elsewhere mobbing her favourite haunts. As a Pengite myself I reckon that the re-vamped Bridge House pub knocks spots off the Crystal Palace taverns for atmosphere, welcome and ambience (definitely worth a walk through the park for) and the new Blue Belle café on Maple Road not only makes the best coffee in South London but has occasional live music, art on the walls and home made cakes.

I would like to congratulate you on the new Transmitter, both the layout and the fantastic photography. I look forward to receiving each issue, as does my partner who lives in Reading!

By the way, we can read in Penge; how about distributing The Transmitter down here?

Lesley Reader Penge Dear Reader We have to agree about the Bridge House, we popped in the other day for an editorial meeting and thought we had been transported to London’s West End it was so pretentious nice.

It’s set the bar quite high for other local hostelries.

We would like to distribute door-todoor in Penge but at the moment boring old economics is preventing us.

For the time being you can pick up a copy from Penge Library. For other distribution information see p.4.

Originally from Sussex, I have lived in Gipsy Hill House for 2 years now in what was formerly the old Police Station, it has to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the area. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it one clear Spring morning in 2006.

By strange coincidence my parents neighbour who is now in his eighties once lived at no.40 Gipsy Hill and can remember as a boy walking past the police station with his friends and seeing the bars on the basement where the prisoners were kept.

Play defuncty music..

Dear Sir I wonder whether anyone recalls the reclusive old gentleman who made his home in his defunct Music Shop on Kirkdale, Sydenham, in the 1950s.

His shop windows were full of faded sheet music and he was thought to have been an organist who had performed at the former Crystal Palace. Does anyone remember his name, history and possibly his burial place?

Yours truly Miss S. Rowles Well, does anyone remember him?

I would love to know more about the history of this charming building and people’s memories from the time when it was the Police Station.

I attach two views from the top of the hill, looking down towards the City. It always cheers me up, on a sunny morning, to see St Paul’s and the City glinting in the sunlight over the leafy canopy as I head down towards the station.

Wendy Thanks for the encouragement Wendy, and thanks too for the pictures which we have included in our Then & Now column opposite.

Phantom bag snatcher caught red handed in Crystal Palace!

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LETTERS Intellectual weight gains support...

Dear Editor

Dear Editorial Team

Dear Editor

I just wanted to add my appreciation and thanks to the production team for providing us with The Transmitter, which has already proved to be both informative and entertaining. I’m particularly impressed this month to see the inclusion of topics to stimulate the higher regions of our minds – I’m referring of course to your poetry and philosophy corners. Is this a one-off, or would you consider including contributions from your readers in future editions? There may be some budding poets in Crystal Palace just dying to get published! Or, if not gifted in that particular art, perhaps you could invite readers to send in their favourite (shortish) poems?

You could be right in thinking that I have one or two in mind myself …

In any event, congratulations on a great little magazine and keep up the good work!

I was very taken with your magazine (for some reason I don’t recall receiving the first issue - was I too far outside your mysterious ‘triangle’?), and was delighted to see your inclusion of some ‘intellectual weight’. Please don’t be discouraged or let it go away!

Would you ever fabricate a letter just to fill a space in your magazine?

In that vein, and inspired by your last issue, I have penned a poem (attached) which you are perfectly entitled to roll up into a ball and throw into a passing wastepaper basket (assuming you even go so far as to print it out), but which you may also wish to consider using at some point. I realise that you are not in existence to field the assorted creative efforts of the local community, but every good magazine should have a handy space-filler up its sleeve. That’s my story anyway.

POETRY CORNER

Best wishes Eileen Withrington Crystal Palace

Dear Giles

Thanks for all the lovely praise, just the kind of thing we like to read with our morning cuppa. We will carry on with the higher region stimulation then.

Now you mention it, for some reason I don’t recall writing the first issue, maybe we have the same problem?

In for a penny in for a Króna (draws deep breath), yes please, everyone send in your poems, both self inflicted and/or chosen from the canon etc.

We’ll keep printing them until we can no longer bear Jonathan’s screaming.

Dear Anon No, we wouldn’t.

Crystal Palace Park Giles Cole Once these softly-spoken, snaking paths were the route we followed for Sunday walks, schoolboy constitutionals briskly led by a father figure, pipe clamped to jaw, determined to inject some suitable vigour into the lessonless day.

Now I walk them with the ghosts of half-remembered twelve-year-olds and my own two nimble children, who look away at the first suspicion of paternal reflection, half-listening, half-smiling, unwilling to believe

Dear Eileen

We are certain about the existence of budding poets in the palace, Jonathan reports that his bookshop is usually crawling with them on a weekend!

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Best wishes Giles Cole Sydenham

Anon

Regarding our “mysterious triangle”.. it’s the big triangular thing in Crystal Palace (not as big as the one in Bermuda though), you won’t miss it if you pop up here sometime.

We have added more pages this issue to fit in all the advertisements from those Estate Agents..Er Jonathan, can you get that ball you just threw in the wastepaper basket, I think we need it.

that these distant boys have any connection with them.

Meanwhile the glorious dinosaurs exude their usual disrespect for we poor, passing, warm-blooded souls.

And though they remain mere spectres of far more terrible creatures, they have a bite that stills us – that clenches time in cast-iron jaws – that then becomes the faintest of faint hundred-million-year-old smirks, as we amble away, oblivious, ice creams in our hands.

Royal Rook Book This year will see His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales celebrate his 60th birthday, but what do you get for the man who has it all? Having learned that a special edition of The Tales of Beatrix Potter had been gifted to The Queen Mother on the occasion of her fourth birthday in 1904, Beatrix Potter’s publisher, Frederick Warne, decided to go one better for Prince Charles’ birthday and present him with an exclusive edition of The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, who herself enjoys her centenary birthday celebration this year. Frederick

Warne’s Creative Director, Ronnie Fairweather, has commissioned specialist bookbinders, Rook’s Books of London, to create the surprise birthday gift. The beautiful handcrafted edition combines hand leatherwork and solid silver ornamentation to produce a stunning cover interpretation for this iconic and much loved storybook. “We’re absolutely delighted by the finished design,” commented Ms Fairweather.

“A beautiful piece of work which combines creativity and superb craftsmanship. As a champion and a great supporter of the skills

Jemima Puddle-Duck

of artisans and someone who appreciates the traditional crafts, we hope that Prince Charles will love his birthday present!”

The birthday gift is not quite one of a kind, however. A companion copy has been made which will be exhibited at Sotheby’s galleries in New York and then in London on 12 December before it is auctioned at Sotheby’s on 17 December, with a guide price of £3-5,000.

Proceeds from the sale will be donated to The Prince’s Trust for the promotion and support of traditional skills.

Gavin Rookledge of Rook’s Books Gavin Rookledge

who designed and created the book lives and works in Crystal Palace.

Rook’s Books are one of the few remaining firms of truly traditional bookbinders and leatherworkers.

Watch this space for a future in-depth profile of Gavin and his hardworking team. We had better send our Crow to interview the Rook..an irresistible combination!

Rook’s Book

peterrabbit.com rooksbooks.com

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A RIVER RUNS UNDER IT

Jonathan Crow and Andrew Rumsey go with the flow

I was immediately taken by the variety of the architecture and the stunning panorama over London.

You felt at home in the community?

Yes, straightaway. The heart of being an Anglican vicar is what’s called ‘the cure of souls’, the ancient responsibility we are given in law for the spiritual care of each neighbourhood. How much longer we’ll retain it, I don’t know, but to me it’s a wonderful heritage - the principle that you are not just looking after a congregation of believers, but the soul of a place, including every shade of belief and non-belief. And I suppose we have stayed here because SE19 does have soul - in the concrete walkways of the Central Hill estate, the tatty grandeur of Crystal Palace Park and the elemental power of fire, water and wind that has shaped its history.

And the name of your band reflects this strong sense of a South London history and community.

A

fter working in Cambridge for several years, including a stint in the City Council Leisure department helping to run the Cambridge Folk Festival, Andrew Rumsey was ordained in 1997 and moved to Crystal Palace from the Metroland suburbs of Harrow & Wealdstone in late 2000.

He was inducted as Vicar of Christ Church Gipsy Hill in January 2001.

Last year he formed the rock - with a tinge of country and folk - band

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The Effras who play regularly at The White Hart and at many other venues along the course of the hidden river from which they take their name.

Yes - I suppose my band, The Effras, has grown indirectly out of all that, especially, as Down in the Effra, the song that got us started, arose from a conversation I had with the attendant at West Norwood Cemetery while we were waiting for the hearse to arrive. Apparently, in Victorian times, two coffins were found floating in the Thames which were found to have come from West Norwood cemetery. When they were brought back, however, it was found that the graves were undisturbed, and the coffins had subsided into the course of the lost River Effra, which flows underneath the cemetery. I love the idea that you could be buried in West Norwood and end up in the North Sea - and it was just asking to be written into a folk song.

So, tell us, what brought you here?

It must be fun.

My old Triumph Toledo, in the first instance. I’d seen an advert for the Gipsy Hill post in the Church Times and the first time I drove up Gipsy Hill was quite an epiphany, really.

Absolutely. We began performing last autumn, with a mini tour of every pub we could find along the course of the Effra and did a short session on the Robert Elms show

on BBC Radio London. One of the high points for me thus far was playing the recent Crystal Palace Triangle Festival. We were performing outside the Royal Albert on that glorious weekend that arrived as recompense for not having a summer. Singing songs about Norwood on a clear day overlooking London was just about as good as it gets, to my mind. We’re currently recording an album, likely to be called Live in Extraordinary Beauty after that unintentionally hilarious advertisement for the new flats being built on the roundabout as you enter Croydon from Thornton Heath. It should be ready by Christmas - but which year I’m not sure, as juggling jobs and hordes of children doesn’t leave us much spare time.

This time of year must keep you busy?

You can’t really be a vicar without loving Christmas, and so I’m looking forward to the festive season, for which Christ Church pulls out all the stops. For me the highlight is carol singing around the parish, which stretches from what was the old Crystal Palace roundabout down to Gipsy Road and up Salter’s Hill to Central & Westow Hills. This night makes sense of everything I do, and I think the most profound moment of my time here was some years ago singing ‘Silent Night’ on the spot where one of our neighbours had been murdered The Effras Andy Green slaps his Bass

a few weeks before. We’re currently knee deep in a project to turn our church hall (The Goodliffe Hall on Highland Road) into a centre for youth and community work, to try and grow the sense of belonging that is handed on a plate to someone like me, but far harder to find for many locals.

The Effras music can be found at http://blog.myspace.com/theeffras And on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ The-Effras/6578032529

The following Christmas services will be held at Christ Church, Gipsy Hill: Sunday 21 December 6.30pm Carols by Candlelight Weds 24 December 4pm Children’s Nativity Service, with tea afterwards.

Weds 24 December 11.30pm Midnight Mass

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Food and Drink

RETURN OF THE GALLOP LOCAL GIRL NADIA SAWALHA HAS BEEN AWAY ON A GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE. BUT HEY, IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK HOME..ISN’T IT?

Click!

The front door finally gives. At long last twelve weeks on the road comes to an end as me, my husband, two daughters, two step daughters, mother and mother-in-law all collapse on to the floor of our hallway. With Marrakech fresh in our hair, saffron in our suitcases, and the sounds of the souks ringing in our ears, at last we’ve come to the end of an epic journey that has quite literally taken me through some of the most professional kitchens across Europe.

You see we’ve just finished filming a new BBC Series called Eating in the Sun, in which I have been challenged to cook some of the most gorgeous and ambitious gourmet food in the world, for some of the most intimidating chefs in the universe!

As we all tumble into our home, skidding through a mountain of post, we head straight to the kettle for a sturdy cup of tea. Within minutes we are all around the kitchen table, looking a little bit furtive, and fidgeting with embarrassment as a curious silence descends upon us all.

Sipping our tea, the perceptible sounds of a gurgle, a glipple, a strange twisting squelching sound and a glurple all reveal the sad inevitable fact .....that we are all (all eight of us) ..... utterly utterly starving!

I hear a strange sound at the end of the table, what sounds like a gasp of air from my eldest step-daughter Isobel, but i put it down to good old-fashioned hunger pangs. Then my mother mouths something to Maddie (my 5 year old daughter), a long word, a word that makes Maddie nod vigorously, and makes Fleur’s (my other step-daughter’s) eyes quite literally look bigger than her stomach.

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Sheepishly, my husband pops out to fetch something, something not needed, and as he leaves the room he mutters a curious farewell ...something like “WheatBores” ...or “MeapLaws” - nothing that makes any sense, but that leaves everyone looking decidedly hungrier than they were before he left.

As a strange conspiracy of greedy silence grows around me, and all eyes sheepishly start to settle on me, a slow dawning realisation simultaneously overwhelms me.

Despite having become a culinary Cinderella for the past three

months, I am increasingly aware that my loving and adorable family - my precious little tribe who have each witnessed their poor mother, wife and daughter run ragged amongst the most famous kitchen stoves in the world .....bless them all, my nearest and dearest actually .... want ME .... to cook...... again!

Ten minutes later, I finally find myself understanding my husband’s strange and somewhat cowardly farewell - what he’d actually muttered, but didn’t have the guts to ask for, was, Meat Balls!

Here’s how I do them ...

Food and Drink

ING GOURMET THE RECIPE ingredients 500g/1lb 2oz top quality beef mince 1 bunch parsley, chopped Zest of a large lemon 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium onion, grated 50g/2ozs freshly grated Parmesan For the sauce: 3 tbsps olive oil 2 large tbsps tomato purée 2 tbsps water 500ml/18fl.oz bottle of passata Put all the ingredients into your favourite bowl. Now get mucky by thoroughly combining it all with your hands, then rolling the mixture into walnut-sized balls

If you are in a ‘cheffy’ mood, then gently fry these in a little oil and butter, turning them till they are browned all over Or, if you are in a ‘very busy, can’t be bothered’ mood, throw them into a hot oven - 200C Gas mark 6 for 10 mins, until brown, turning once for the sauce: In a frying pan, gently heat the olive oil then add the tomato purée and fry until the purée warms through and the smell changes to the smell of fried tomatoes.

Add a couple of tbsps of water, stir and then add the passata, bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer for 15 mins. Add the meatballs right at the end just to heat them through - any more cooking will toughen them.

Serve with rice or pasta, and sprinkle with grated parmesan freshly grated, to avoid the cries of ‘yuk! I can smell sick’ from the kids!

NADIA SAWALHA

Yum Yum!!

The editor’s children helped cook and then scoff Nadia’s meatballs.. empty plates all round, no moaning!

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Food and Drink

THE GREAT EXHIBITION IF YOU ARE A FOOD FAN, THERE’S A NEW KID ON THE BLOCK...

I ‘d missed the grand opening of The Exhibition Rooms because I was honing my eating skills in the heavenly swamps of Normandy all the summer, so back and still hungry, me and the bookseller only had to be slightly restrained as we galloped through the doors to be sat at a wobbly window table we’d had been offered on reserving.

No, they didn’t ask if we preferred wobbly or non-wobbly, but we quickly got the latter by way of the obliging waitress and we sat back evenly to survey our surroundings.

Hmmm. I like, I said. Especially the toothy modern chandelier and the vast circular table next to us. If I was rich (haha!) I’d book that table to myself and eat my way round the menu, sitting in a different chair for each course.

The space resisted pretence whilst offering us hints of our sorely missed eponymous edifice; it reminded me of those early great

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Chelsea grub stops like Parsons and the Great American Disaster (imagine getting away with that these days, complete with the sepia tint photos of catastrophes) and even though we have come a long way since those innovative days of mintballs beside the bashed silver cash register and steaks on wooden platters, the bookseller couldn’t resist ordering a burger.

Off a smart menu, just this side of refined, I went for sardines for starters which somebody with the patience of a saint had boned for my benefit, allowing me to gobble the rewarding fishy whole like Top Cat, tail and all. The bookseller had pan fried chicken livers on toasted brioche and having been scared witless by our glance at the drinks menu full of turbos and shooters and flatliners, like Daniel Day Lewis was mixing the cocktails in a butcher’s apron, we ended up with a palatable Thursday night white Rioja

poured into nice heavy glasses while me and the waitress conspiratorially compared notes on waiter’s friends, those talismanic bottle-openers - I still have mine from my five years on rollerskates, pinched from Cactus Charlie’s, Paris circa ’82.

And you thought I was entirely unqualified…..

Food and Drink

MY OLD JOANNA DON’T SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER THOUGH.

The bookseller’s burger arrived appropriately accompanied by a large sweet wally with chips that were as stout as a Dickensian jolly.

He reckoned all was exactly as it should be. My pollack was filling, if a shade shy, but then it is hardly the most pretentious creature in the sea and it did come glamorously cloaked in scallopy clams (as opposed to clammy scallops).

However, I could write an entire review about the green beans which were so were buttery and garlicky and crisp that my teeth squeaked with happiness.

ideal Thursday night kind of place where you could come and get an immaculately executed meal without having to put on your best trousers. To me it felt like a restaurant waiting for a cinema.

Soon (after an indecently short period of digestion), I found myself

wondering how Joanna’s, the restaurant that began it all for the lucky folk of Upper Norwood, compared to its new neighbour. The last time we’d eaten there was for the bookshop Christmas dinner several years ago and as I recall, though the food was fine, we felt a bit like a herd of cattle in party hats.

We had a red dessert wine that to our philistine palates tasted weirdly like a white one but I was childishly thrilled by my trifle because it was served in a Martini glass. The bookseller commented as he scraped his plate, that the Exhibition Rooms filled a gap, both metaphorically as well as gastronomically and that it was the

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Food and Drink There was nothing else for it, in the name of thorough research, we just had to book a table.

We were swept in with utter professionalism and allowed to flutter into our seats like Wildean butterflies. Immediately, I realised that if things got really tough at the bookshop, I could be forced to resurrect my waiter’s friend but I’d never, ever have the guts to wait at table here.

With Frank Sinatra doing his signature smoothness amidst the clink of glass and china, I was taken aback by just how wealthy my fellow diners appeared to be, evidenced by the number of whole lobsters being delicately dismantled at the busy tables all around us, and the private dining carriage behind us seemed breathily exclusive. Crisis? What crisis! In the distance, a chef did something dramatic with his blowy-blowy thing and we admired the classy art on the walls. But the menu, lobster aside, respectfully acknowledged the credit crunch with some plain talking; Shetland mussels, chicken liver parfait, cream of mushroom soup, belly of pork, chicken kiev, fish pie, confit of duck, battered haddock, Gloucester Old Spot Sausages – it read like a lesson in modesty.

First I had the potted prawns, which were a tiny bit too modest, though

zesty, and I found myself pining for the sexy crust of butter that you usually get with pottedness. The bookseller had chicken satay that he hoovered up faster than share prices were dropping on the hang seng. Then something very strange happened and the bookseller became the girl and I became the boy and I had an Aberdeen Angus steak with béarnaise, and though it was cooked perfectly ‘rare’ and I secretly wished I’d abandoned decorum and asked for it ‘bleu’, I ate up every morsel and even licked the smear of blood on the plate. Meanwhile, the bookseller went girly surf to my turf and was provoking my very best snorty chortles with his effort to battle the whole cracked crab that was swimming in sauce and wore a mohican of crispy noodles. It looked like Titeuf, the cheeky French cartoon kid. He got through several finger-bowls – now there’s posh – and it took him about a week, but it was bloody delicious.

He is still finding bits of it behind his ears.

For pudding I had a naughty vanilla cream with plummy prune thingys drowning under something dangerously syrupy and my girlfriend morphed back into the boy again by ordering a straight forward plate of cheese that featured morbier and a laid back camembert. We decided however, not to test our Editor’s goodwill by ordering dessert wine. It was

20

not for lowly shopkeepers like ourselves. A half bottle of Pouillyfumé would have to suffice.

We exited stage left as smugly stuffed and entertained as we ever did swanning out of Joe Allen’s or Orsos in the ‘90s. Then it struck me, if their new neighbour is a Thursday evening at the pictures, Joanna’s is Friday night at the theatre.

God, I love this job.

JUSTINE CROW www.joannas.uk.com www.theexhibitionrooms.com

Food and Drink

XMAS PLONK!

IN THIS ALMOST EMPTY GIN PALACE......

This month, my tall friend Harvey & I decided that we would enter into the wonderful world of gin.

There soon approaches a very well known midwinter Pagan festival that lends itself perfectly to the partaking of this rather fabulous beverage, which can be consumed in any number of ways. We decided to keep it as simple as we could, so armed with a reasonable amount of Fever Tree tonic water and a bottle of Noilly Prat vermouth, we set about our task with no small amount of gusto.

Tanqueray Widely available. £15.49 Oddbins, for example.

fruits, peppery celery, strong Juniper flavour. In short, a lovely big G&T with a strong, long finish. A classic.

With Fever Tree we had what could only be described as the most satisfying G&T going. Citrus

Tanqueray & Noilly Prat (Gibsons onion) Delightfully bright, sharp and peppery to start with, a rapid smoothing out in the middle, coming to a rather abrupt finish.

Pleasant, but not quite hitting it.

Classic

a zingy and vibrant, life affirming Martini. A ‘must have at least one before you die’ drink. Stunning.

Martin Millers Available at Oddbins & Waitrose £18.99.

With the tonic, it produced a good easy drinking, light, refreshing G&T. It was thought that the two of them ended up fighting each other, the tonic outweighing the gin, producing a drink that was nowhere near as great as the sum of its parts.

Strangely disappointing.

Martin Millers & Noilly Prat (olive) Woo Hoo! Yes, I will have another.

Strong floral smells, fresh grassy meadow with subtle citrus and fresh cucumber flavours, producing

Stunning

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Food and Drink Blackwoods Vintage Available at thedrinkshop £18.99. whiskyexchange £17.99. Oddbins £15.99 Teaming this up with Fever Tree produced an agreeably creamy drink. Laced with lime and angelica with a beautiful round and peppery finish. Described by a close friend as ‘almost a health drink’. Not in a bad way, I hasten to add.

Blackwoods Vintage & Noilly Prat (Gibsons onion) Possibly the most apt Martini for this time of year as one is instantly assailed by warm autumnal smells and tastes.

Encompassing sweet spice, nutmeg, mint and a touch of liquorice hinting at more savoury things to come.

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Whitley Neill Available at Oddbins £18.49 What we have here is a G&T that is right in your face. It is big and blunt. Great swathes of juniper envelope you. It’s as up front as your teenage son asking you for money. This is a stonking piece of work that will put you right back on your feet.

Whitley Neill & Noilly Prat (olive) More bigness, possibly due to the Cape gooseberry and Boabab botanicals.

Sizeable hints of juniper and white pepper. A bold and ‘four square’ Martini.

One that would not be out of place in a smoky nightclub situation. Fabulous.

Autumnal

Fabulous

Till next time.

If you are remotely interested. michael@virtualvintners.co.uk

Laters!

Michael

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Food and Drink

THE RETURN OF THE TRADITIONAL Forget all the all-you-can-eat Indian buffets and greasy spoon fry-ups - Howard Male discovers that you can’t walk ten yards in Crystal Palace these days without stumbling across a pub, cafe or restaurant which serves a traditional Sunday lunch.

“Ah, Bisto!” is a TV advertising refrain known to millions of Brits of a certain age, and for me it invites the response, “Ah, Yorkshire Pudding!” And the evidence is all around Crystal Palace that I’m not alone in this nostalgic yearning for the Sunday meal the whole family used to once sit down to.You’ve only got to stroll around the Crystal Palace triangle on a Sunday to realise you are spoilt for choice when it comes to having roast beef, lamb, pork or chicken set before you with the accompanying three veg and puffy portion of that legendary savoury pudding.

But before we get any further I should warn fellow Yorkshire pudding fans not to start salivating too much. To put it bluntly, if you think you’re going to be getting anything like the Platonic perfection of your mother’s weekly masterpiece of years gone by, you can forget it.

That crispy, brown, undulating landscape that always seemed to be trying to escape the confines of its rectangular oven tray, is clearly something that’s only possible to magicup in a domestic kitchen, and certainly doesn’t stand the test of time that the midday until 5pm service of the average restaurant or pub would require of it. And ideally that cream-thick batter should be poured into a smoking-hot pan of the meat’s juices in order to maximise flavour, lightness and texture.

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But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some extremely good value Sunday lunches to be had around these parts. In the triangle alone, half a dozen venues - including even the

Spanish establishment, Los Toreros - give a perfectly acceptable version of the meal with ‘all the trimmings,’ as they say, at a very good price.

First stop - the relatively new Exhibition Rooms on Westow Hill. For some reason (presumably fashion) the Yorkshire pudding was perched precariously on top of the extremely generous portion of slightly pink beef (my wife went for the pork which came with perfectly crisped crackling) and there was plenty of the richly flavoured gravy to get soaked up by the side dishes of flavoursome roast potatoes and elegantly thin shards of roast carrot and parsnip. The chocolate fondant dessert was rich but not too sweet, and without a doubt the best dessert I had during this survey.

Food and Drink

SUNDAY LUNCH! Next up was the Westow House pub on Westow Hill.

Another saucer-sized homemade Yorkshire pudding with what looked like about a quarter of a cow’s worth of meat sat next to it.

This was what I found most surprising about this survey - every single pub, cafe or restaurant served up very generous portions of meat. This time my wife had the ‘chump’ of lamb which was almost as thick as it was wide and was also delicious. One let down here - which I should add was a frequent problem - was the horseradish sauce. A good horseradish sauce should make your nose tingle, just as its Japanese equivalent, wasabi mustard, does. Most of the sauces I sampled were simply vinegary straight-from-the-jar impostors with little or no kick.

Then it was time to check out the bargain-basement end of things. The Royal Albert, also on Westow Hill, offers a generous plate of food for a fiver, the crispiest roast potatoes on the block, tender beef, good horseradish sauce, and a pint of London Pride to wash it all down with. This is where the OAPs all seem to come for their Sunday feast, so it can be pleasingly invigorating to feel like the youngest person in the room for once. But if you

prefer to wash down your roast beef with tea rather than beer, just over the road is

The Little Palace Café which, in these money-conscious times, has their lunch for five pence cheaper than the Royal Albert.

But I have to say, the meat was tougher and the gravy a little watery.

So, having slummed it for a

couple of Sundays it was now time to go upmarket again.

Back over the road at the long established Joanna’s (30 years to be precise) the waiters and waitresses are smartly uniformed, the walls sombrely oak-panelled, and the tables stiffly covered in white linen. It was here that we had our best Yorkshire pudding (although still not up to mum’s standard, needless to say) and the only flaw in the meal was the cinnamon-doused sticks of roast carrot which, while being sweetly delicious on their own, didn’t really complement the rest of the roast. Dessert

25

came in the shape of the wittily named Chocolate Nemesis which was, indeed, a challenge to the chocaholic in me, although the accompanying ball of vanilla ice cream helped me win the battle.

Round the corner on Westow Street, we get to Los Toreros.

Obviously we had our doubts about how a Spanish restaurant would tackle this oh so English of dishes, but we needn’t have worried. They were wise enough not to add any kind of Spanish twist, unless you call enriching their excellent gravy with red wine, a Spanish twist. Full marks too for a horseradish sauce that delivered. The only letdown was the Yorkshire pudding which was distressingly small.

Further round the triangle, the trendy(ish) White Hart’s Yorkshire pudding was the only one we sampled that had retained some of its crispiness despite the fact that the whole meal was sitting in a veritable swamp of gravy.

But, as ever, the meat portion was generous.

My only criticism would be that it seemed an odd decision to include an overgenerous dessertspoon of horseradish/ mint sauce as a part of the meal itself, rather than leave it as a side dish so the diner can choose whether or not to indulge. But the creamy leeks were a nice touch.

Finally, we had to stray just outside the triangle to check out The Mansion pub on Gipsy Road as we’d heard such good things about its food.

Their pudding was large enough to look like it might bite back, and came with ‘Ruby Red Roast Beef’ which turned out to not be as viscerally scary as its alliterative menu description suggested. It was merely slightly pink in the middle and juicily succulent. Cauliflower cheese and emeraldgreen spinach made their first appearance in our Sunday lunch odyssey, and both made a welcome change to the ubiquitous carrots and cabbage. Also

top marks for the Mansion’s horseradish sauce which was the nearest to the home-grown, home-made dynamite I grew up with.

“Ah, horseradish sauce!”

HOWARD MALE

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Shopping

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Shopping

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Shopping

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From left to right: Georgina wears dress from Vien, Jess wears dress from Vintagehart.

Reece wears jacket by Simon Carter. Hannah wears dress by Nocturne from Eclipse.

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The girls wear accessories from Vien and Vintagehart. Set champagne bottles from Bambino, baubles from Glitter & Twisted. Hair & make up by Heather at Fortyseven.

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What is there in the Norwood garden to cheer up the dark December days?

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Gardening

BOTANY BAY...

In order to produce fruit the holly must have both male and female plants and the berries are produced in Autumn. There are plenty of attractive variegated hollies and the leaves of this plant range from spiny-toothed to a smooth ‘normal’ leaf.

The season of “mists and

In colder climes bay can be susceptible to strong chilly winds but in temperate Norwood it thrives.

The shrub has narrow, aromatic, dark green leaves - great for the Boeuf Bourgignon - and clusters of greeny, yellow flowers in Spring.

There is a Laurus nobilis “Aurea” with golden yellow foliage but this is less commonly seen.

mellow fruitfulness” is over and Christmas draws near. What is there in the Norwood garden to cheer up dark December days?

There are in fact a host of splendid shrubs which really come into their own in late autumn. With the herbaceous border down to ground level and the deciduous trees stripped bare there is a golden opportunity for evergreen plants to shine.

Fatsia japonica or the more commonly termed Castor Oil Plant is a cracking example – it’s the plant that keeps on giving.

It is fully hardy in our temperate South London climate and can be grown in full sun or light dappled shade. It has a striking architectural appearance with shiny large-toothed dark green leaves. In Autumn Fatsia produces spheres of creamy white flowers and crazy long-stalked ‘branches’.

These are followed by small black fruits – not edible! This shrub does not require pruning and can be grown in almost any soil. As with most plants a yearly mulch will keep the Fatsia glossy and vigorous.

No Christmas gardening column would be complete without the versatile and festive holly (Ilex).

There are over 400 species of evergreen and deciduous shrubs and trees in this genus and they can be used for hedging, screening or specimens not to mention the Yuletide mantelpiece!

raised screen to sub-divide the garden; it is well known in its standard form in the ‘Clapham’ terracotta pot outside the front door or, if left, it can reach full tree status. In the darkest days of winter it retains its good looks and can be pruned whenever necessary.

Come Christmas Day, all of these plants will provide you with festive, ecologically-friendly foliage to decorate hearth and home.

Ilex x altaclerensis “Golden King” is a good-looking plant which can grow to 70 feet in the right conditions and makes a great screen with its shiny yellow and green leaves and bright red fruit.

Ilex aquifolium “Handsworth New Silver” is another gorgeous plant. Reaching a height of 25 feet it has mid-green spiny leaves with creamy margins and produces rich red berries. For those of an artistic bent hollies can be trimmed and topiaried to suit your purpose and as hedging

I love this shrub... it makes for great security.

My final plant for this festive issue of The Transmitter is the Laurus nobilis or Bay Tree. I love this shrub for its willingness to adapt to almost any garden requirement. It can be used to create a

Season’s Greetings.

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37

Philosophy

PHILOSOPHY CORNER PERSONAL IDENTITY

You are excited. You are going on holiday to Australia and for the first time you are travelling using one of the new matter transporters they have installed at Heathrow ‘Airport’.

Like everyone else, you have heard a lot about the huge investment that governments and NGOs around the globe have made in this new technology, in a co-ordinated effort to cut carbon emissions by switching commercial airlines from moving people from place to place by aeroplane to using the newly developed Transmat technology.

“Keep your hands to your side and close your eyes” says a voice from inside the cubicle, but you can see the words are actually being spoken by the uniformed blonde outside.

You do as instructed and after a moment you hear a hiss and then your stomach feels as if you have just been dropped three or four feet in a lift, very quickly!

You open your eyes and a brunette wearing what is now a familiar uniform is signalling for you to step out of the cubicle. For a moment you think that there has been a

There has been a slight technical probl Although you have several friends who have travelled by Transmat and assured you that it was all fine, you are still a little nervous about it.

You arrive at Heathrow, check your baggage in and order a coffee while waiting in the departure lounge.

So far everything is just the same as it was on your regular flights to Europe when you worked for a fashion magazine. They even still call the journeys ‘flights’.

Your ‘flight’ is called from Gate 14 and you walk towards it with the other passengers. A uniformed steward checks everyone’s departure tickets and sends them in groups of three through a glass door, through which you can see what look like three big glass shower cubicles standing in a row, with two more uniformed stewards helping people to enter them.

When your turn comes you step into one of the cubicles as asked.

Inside the cubicle, as the curved glass door closes you are reminded of the shower you had this morning.

38

problem and look worriedly at the steward, but when you hear her say “Welcome to Australia!” in a strong Australian accent, your mood changes to happy surprise.

Over the next few years you enjoy several more trips abroad, always travelling by Transmat and each time being impressed by the speed and ease of the process, which also becomes cheaper each year.

You read somewhere that the term Transmat is technically a misnomer, according to geeks who want to split hairs, because although early versions of the system transported the actual matter that made up your body across short distances, the engineers found that this process became slower (and more expensive due to the increased energy required) over larger distances.

The way all Transmats work now is that a scanner reads the exact configuration of every single particle in your body and, instead of beaming these very particles (as per Star Trek), to Australia or wherever, the system

now simply reconstructs the exact same configuration in the destination cubicle from identical local particles, which are indistinguishable from the original particles at a subatomic level anyway.

Five years have whizzed by and you are going back to Australia to meet with some friends you met on your first trip.

You arrive at Heathrow, go through the normal checks and step once again into one of the glass cubicles.

“Keep your hands to your side and close your eyes, have a nice trip”

have a slight hitch so there is no need to be concerned. “ The image of you waving flicks off.

“A steward asked you to wave at a camera at Sydney airport so you could see that everything went ok that end. You won’t notice anything unusual at that end and we will write to you and let you know what happened on your return from your holiday. The scanner here for some reason did not complete its cycle, it just needs a tweak from the engineers and you will be able to re-enter the cubicle and finish

lem, nothing for you to worry about... says a voice from inside the cubicle.

You hear a hiss and your stomach feels ‘the drop’ as you now know it is called. A voice says ‘please could you step out of the cubicle’ and, on opening your eyes, you see the same English steward that helped you in. “ I’m afraid that there has been a slight hitch, could you come to a waiting area while we sort things out, I’m very sorry” she says.

You are escorted you to a room containing several comfortable looking armchairs and a large projection screen, a bit like a home cinema. After a minute a woman wearing a business suit enters and sits next to you.

“There has been a slight technical problem, nothing for you to worry about, in fact the trip itself went perfectly normally. She points a remote control at the screen which flickers to life and shows to your surprise an image of yourself, grinning inanely and waving at the camera.

“You arrived safely in Sydney as expected, it is only this end that we

things off. Please wait here in the meantime and help yourself to complimentary tea and coffee, it should only take a few minutes.”

The woman leaves with a smile and a uniformed security guard enters in her place, standing by the door. A cold sweat forms as the reality dawns on you that this woman expects you to go back into the cubicle and have your body destroyed in a few minutes, after a complimentary coffee. Looking as casually as you can manage towards the security guard, you notice his holstered gun...

Most people know who they are until dementia sets in or they die.

The issue of who you are is rarely called into question (except when you try to withdraw a small amount of your own money from the bank).

But in extreme or imaginary cases, an answer to the question: “What does it take for the same person to exist at different moments?” is less clear.

Continued on p42

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Books

the bookseller I have been a bookseller for twenty-five years

(count ‘em!), the last eleven and a half of them as the co-owner of The Bookseller Crow. During these last years, since the abolition of the netbook agreement, the book world has seen probably more change than in the preceding two hundred and fifty years.

Somewhere along the line books became commodities, less something that an author created out of need and inspiration and more a project assembled by a publishing house with two eyes on the supermarket aisle.

Which I guess is a long-winded way of saying; look out folks there’s a lot of crap out there. But you knew that already, right? And hopefully you also know that you won’t find much of it at The Bookseller Crow.

We like to think that we separate the wheat from the chaff as it were.

We only keep the good stuff. And we handpick it, while central office isn’t looking.

I have written previously about Roger Deakin author of Waterlog (Vintage £7.99) and last years favourite Wildwood (Penguin £8.99). Now his literary executors have edited Notes From Walnut Tree Farm (Hamish Hamilton £20.00) an anthology taken from notebooks that he kept over the last six years of his life. And very good it is too. And while we are on the subject of cool dead blokes there is a new anthology of reviews and journalism from John Peel The Olivetti Chronicles (Bantam £20.00) – subtitled, three decades of life and music. Smart. And incidentally those of you who remember The Perfumed Garden (yes you, you know who you are) might well

40

like to know that there is a bumper omnibus edition of Gilbert Shelton’s The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (Knockabout £20.00) featuring ‘every story rolled into one bumper package’. So that’s the Boxing Day flashback sorted, then.

Look out folks there’s a lot of crap out there...

Meanwhile sticking to my theme, the Humph also passed-away this year and can be remembered in Humphrey Lyttelton Last Chorus (JR Books £18.99), described as an autobiographical medley, it is an anthology of personal writings spanning his whole fascinating career, from son of an Eton house master through to his role as chairman of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

Also related, is Lyttelton’s Britain (Preface Publishing £14.99), a users guide to the British Isles as

written by Clue scriptwriter Iain Pattinson and impossible to read without the voice of Humph twinkling in the background.

A couple of years ago Mark Crick entertained us – who can forget Harold Pinter’s Cheese on Toast, or Irvine Welsh’s chocolate cake - with Kafka’s Soup (Granta £8.99) A Complete History of World Literature in 17 recipes (Granta £8.99).

Now some of the world’s greatest writers have turned their hand, with the author’s help, to DIY in Sartre’s Sink (Granta £10.99) wherein Ernest Hemingway hangs wallpaper, Emily Bronte bleeds a radiator and Hunter S Thompson puts up a fence. Great stuff and the perfect present for the literary stocking.

At last! Cheeta aged seventy-six and ‘ by some distance the oldest chimp ever recorded’ has written his autobiography, cunningly entitled Me Cheeta The Autobiography (Fourth Estate £16.99). It tells the true life story of a chimp plucked from millions of hopefuls in the jungles of Liberia to costar with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan in ten Tarzan

Books movies and later, Doctor Dolittle with the ‘appalling’ Rex Harrison (described with a very rude word).

Well aware that no animal has ever been successfully sued for libel, Cheeta spills the beans in fine style; funny moving and searingly honest (well, all right, downright filthy) Me Cheeta has rightly been acclaimed as the greatest celebrity biography of out time. It is also one of the funniest books of the year.

Over the past two years we have

been a busy boy for a footballer who first laced his boots in 1954.

There is The Bumper Book (Titan Books £12.99) and The Best of the 1980s (with an introduction

by Gary Lineker – photographed in a Foxes away kit!) (Titan Books £9.99) and even Roy of the Rovers a biography by Mick Collins (Aurum Press £14.99).

Moomin books for younger readers too!) by Tove Jansson (Drawn and Quarterly £12.99), originally published in the late 50s and early 60s in the London Evening News, has now been published. The first two volumes are deservedly among our bestselling books of recent years and Tove Jansson’s grown-up stories collected in The Winter Book and The Summer Book (Sort of Books £6.99 each) are very popular too.

sold so many copies of Wall and Piece, (Century £12.99) by the artist Banksy that I’m prepared to bet that there isn’t a house, or more particularly a teen-age bedroom in South London that doesn’t own a copy. Now his dealer has assembled a companion volume Outsiders (Century £14.99) sub-titled Art by People it is a collection of works by artists, who like Banksy (did), work outside the traditional art establishment, and as such should become another firm favourite with teenage south London. If that interests you, you might also want to check out Blek le Rat Getting Through the Walls (Thames and Hudson £11.95) the French Banksy and acknowledged by him as a major influence on his style.

Speaking of teenagers, our own one has a serious Moomin habit. Luckily the third volume of the comic strip for older readers (there are

It is not possible to revisit Snoopy, Charlie Brown and friends without succumbing to the genius of their world.

From big kids to little kids; the season (as we like to say) has plenty of spiffing picture books for children this year.

Another great cartoon strip project is Charles M Shulz’s Complete Peanuts series, published in two volume boxed-sets (Fantagraphics £29.99) of which there are five so far, the most recent covering the years 1967-1970. It is not possible to revisit Snoopy, Charlie Brown and friends without succumbing to the genius of their world.

Meanwhile, Roy of the Rovers has

Allan Ahlberg is a genius and is forgiven for borrowing from Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon (Harpercollins US £9.99), to create, with Bruce Ingham, The Pencil (Walker Books £10.99), the story of a lonely pencil that draws, first a boy called Banjo, and then a dog named Bruce and then a cat named Mildred - can you guess what happens next? - before eventually a whole family. And then he draws a rubber and that’s where the trouble begins.

Brian Wildsmith’s Favourite Fables (Oxford £14.99) were first

41

Books published in the 1960s and now the five tales from La Fontaine are published in one omnibus volume showcasing his absolutely beautiful illustrations that somehow always remind me of Sunday School, but in a good way.

Another book from a similar time is the acknowledged modern classic, The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr now celebrating its 40th anniversary with a pop-up edition (Harpercollins £14.99).

I’m betting that he still drinks all of daddy’s beer.

brilliant books one and all and not a supermarket turkey in sight playful weirdness is the Terrible Trolls (Campbell Books £9.99)

by Delphine Durand. What child on Christmas morning is not going to want a book with scratch and sniff armpits? (I did say it was French.)

Zoo-ology (Egmont £12.99) by French author Joelle Jolivet is a big book in every sense. Large in size it is a beautifully illustrated guide to more than 350 species of animal grouped thematically by size, feathers, spots, stripes and friendliness to mankind. Truly a book to get lost in.

Another French book of fantastic,

And finally, the cookbook of the year is not Jamie Oliver, it’s not Gordon Ramsay, it’s not the pneumatic Nigella and not even the Big Fat Duck Book by Heston Bloomingridiculous (Bloomsbury £100) it’s Alice Waters’ Art of Simple Food (Michael Joseph £25.00) Californian, chilled, and just right for the top of the hill.

So there you have it; brilliant books one and all and not a supermarket turkey in sight.

Jonathan Main

PERSONAL IDENTITY Continued from p39

The English philosopher, John Locke (1632 – 1704) thought that personal identity depended on consciousness and not the body (he had an example in which a Prince’s mind enters the body of a cobbler and yet remains a prince despite looking to everyone else as if he was a cobbler). Nowadays, a very popular line of thought is to take personal identity to consist in psychological continuity, rather than needing to have the same body and intuitively this line of thought is very compelling. I suspect that a lot of people would accept the Transmat as a form of transport if it were available (and cheap) even if at the other end their body was changed; imagine if it was offered as a painless form of cosmetic surgery and you could get out the other end with slightly bigger boobs or a slightly smaller nose. Great holiday!

The trouble caused by our story is that both the persons at the end are psychologically continuous with the person at the start of the story.

You are now apparently two people, and that doesn’t seem right.

Some people will want to introduce ‘souls’ here (the idea being that it is only you if the body has your ‘soul’). but ‘souls’ don’t stand up very well to philosophical examination - most arguments to support the idea tend to lapse into incoherence. Philosophical arguments for souls are like veterans of the Great War; old, weak and few.

Further reading: Reasons and Persons, Derek Parfit (Oxford Paperbacks) Available at Bookseller Crow and good bookshops.

Further watching Memento The Prestige

booksellercrow.com

Seth Brundle

42

Music

THERE’S A WORLD OUT THERE! MIX IT UP! SAYS HOWARD MALE AS HE DISCUSSES FOUR OF THE MOST ECLECTIC WORLD MUSIC NEW RELEASES Several world music journalists I am aware of have a purist’s attitude towards what they dismissively call fusion, as if the very word fusion has a negative connotation. Yet every great musical genre and style has originated from the mixing of other styles, so I think there’s something suspiciously colonial about the mentality of those that think, for example, that only the purist form of African roots music is The Real Thing.

Then there’s the excellent justreleased The Vodoun Effect

by Orchestre PolyRythmo de Cotonou (Analogue Africa) although it’s somewhat misleading to call this a new release. The 14 tracks from this West African band were chosen from some 500 songs they recorded between 1970 and 1983, which puts the procrastinationproves-genius attitude of most UK and US bands to shame with their one-album-every-five-years efforts.

But one of the pleasures of this genre which isn’t really a genre, is hearing how producers and musicians find new ways of bringing together traditional paste job. Page actually went out to Ethiopia and collaborated with some of the country’s finest musicians in order to bring his vision of a new music to fruition.

Another act that like to mix and match all kinds of musical influences is Mali’s Amadou & Mariam. Their new album Welcome to Mali (Because Music) is rockier

and modern styles in order to give them a new contemporary resonance. One of my favourite albums of the year is A Town Called Addis (pun presumably intended) by Dub Colossus (Real World).

Their founding member, ex-Transglobal Underground’s Nick Page, has combined his love of 1970’s dub reggae with a more recently discovered passion for Ethiopian funk. The result is a sublime, almost cinematic at times, journey into a new sonic landscape. But this isn’t just the usual studio cut &

energetic, raw and funky This is energetic, raw and funky music that moves off in yet another interesting direction each time you think you’ve got it pinned down. It also shows that genre-hopping experimentation is nothing new.Finally, let’s get away from Africa by nipping over to Marseilles for Home Sweet Home (Le Chant du Monde), Moussu T e lei Jovents’ third and possibly best album. If you like your quirky acoustic reggae folk music with a spring in its step, this Mediterranean-saturated music is for you.

If you’re not won over on a first listen, then check your pulse.

Howard Male

than their last international success, the Grammy and MOBO awardnominated Dimanche a Bamako but it’s also clearly influenced by reggae, disco and even electronica.

43

My Survey As some of you may know I have done a survey on kids favorite books and films.

Fashion Competition Two Christmas Crackers Why did Scrooge keep his money in the freezer?

Because he wanted Cold Hard Cash.

What weighs six tons and wears glass slippers?

Cinder-elephant.

Bored with clothes that don’t suit you?

Want your own cutting edge style?

Then design your own t-shirt on piece of A4 paper and send it to: Cathy’s column, The Transmitter PO Box 53556 London SE19 2TL The winner will get their t-shirt design shown in the next issue plus their t-shirt will be made and sent to them so please write your home address on the other side of the A4.

The top 5 books series: 1. Harry Potter (J K Rowling) 2. A Series of Unfortunate Events (Daniel Handler) 3. Knife Edge (Malorie Blackman) 4. Shrinking violet (Jean Ure) 5. My Scary Fairy Godmother (Rose Impey) The top 5 film franchises: 1. Toy story 2. High school musical 3. Harry Potter 4. Pirates of the Caribbean.

5. Sponge Bob Square Pants

The Winner!

A Diamond lost in Crystal Palace by Zoe Whorms aged 7.

Illustrations by Alex Milway.

Last week we were walking back from the library with my cousin when I saw some posters. They were in the shops of la Bruschetta, the Post Office, Woolworths and on the lampposts by Sainsburys, everywhere. I kept on stopping to read them. They were about a lost cat called Diamond.

The next day me and my mum went to the park the posters were on every tree trunk. I

44

was looking down all of the paths. Mum said “You’ll never find her, cats go missing all the time.” When we were at the park mum and me zoomed off on our bikes. Suddenly I head a “miaow”. I stopped and looked everywhere then I saw a cat! I ran back to the tree and looked at the posters. It was the same cat! Black and white with no collar, with three black legs and one white! So I ran back as fast as I could and called to the cat “Diamond, Diamond.” It came up closer and closer. Then I saw my mum cycling back to me.

She phoned the owner from the number on the poster. The owner said bring it round to Fox Hill so we put it in the basket on my bike. When we got there The owner was so happy she was crying with joy. As a reward they gave me a diamond.

I Couldn’t believe it and thanked them very much. Mum and me laughed all the way home.

November 1936...

...fire rages as the palace is reduced to ashes.

Meanwhile...

...on the other side of the galaxy...

...an audacious escape plan is being realised.

Seventy Years On...

...It’s night-time In The Park.

A Mysterious ball of light appears on Dino Island...

...and explodes!

Two small figures emerge from the resulting vortex.

Nick Keeble

Some of the old residents are gone forever...

...but now Dino Island has some new tenants!

To be continued...

What’s On

WHAT’s ON Pubs/Clubs/Music The Alma 95 Church Road, Crystal Palace 020 8653 3223 myspace.com/thealmapub

Saturday 29 November Live at the Alma, Steve Morrison’s Blues Abuse Music. The master of open chord tunings and bottleneck guitar. Late License Antenna Studios Haynes Lane, Crystal Palace 020 8653 5200 antennastudios.co.uk Saturday 29 November Rarescale contemporary music group; unusual flutes, guitar and electronics rarescale.org myspace.com/rarescale

Friday 19 December DHFC, Edgar Kail Way (next to Sainsbury’s), off Dog Kennel Hill, East Dulwich,SE22 8BD Chris Wood (Support Kevin Sheils and Hamish Meaney, plus Big Chill DJs Folk2Future) followed by GOOSE CHRISTMAS PARTY! Real ales, late bar More information and advance tickets via thegooseisout.com, £9/8 or on the door (if available) £10/9. Door 7pm

Your event not listed?

Tell us about forthcoming events in January/February/March (next issue out mid January) e-mail: listings@thetransmitter.co.uk

Westow House 79 Westow Hill, Crystal Palace 020 8670 0654 Saturday 29 November Resident DJ Homar Rossi will be playing his usual eclectic mix of party classics. Open until 3am

The White Hart 96 Church Road, Crystal Palace 020 8771 9389 Saturday 29 November In the afternoon the amazing South London Jazz Orchestra return to the White Hart. There will be a special artistic challenge for local artists in the garden to be announced separately.

In the evening - indie rock band The Spiral Late Licence open until 2am

Black Sheep 23 Westow Hill, Crystal Palace 0871 223 7176 Salsa night every Wednesday The Cambridge Arms 2 Church Road, Crystal Palace 020 8670 9426 Saturday 29 November Karaoke night at the Cambridge Arms – from 8pm until late The Gipsy Hill Tavern 79 Gipsy Hill 020 8761 6533 gipsyhillcomedy.co.uk The Goose is Out! 020 8693 1316 thegooseisout.com

Friday 28 November Matt Milton And The Kittiwakes plus Big Chill DJs Folk2Future Hoopers Bar, Ivanhoe Road (behind Dog Kennel Hill), SE5 8DH Real ales, food available DJ 8pm, live music 9pm More info via thegooseisout.com

46

South London Jazz Orchestra

What’s On Community

Other

Phoenix Centre 66 Westow Street 020 8771 6023 Saturday 29 November

Dulwich Decorative & Fine Arts Society (DDFAS)

Frost Fair 11.00am - 5.00pm Sunday 7 December Antiques & Collectables Fayre

Sydenham Library 210 Sydenham Road 020 8778 7563 Upper Norwood Joint Library 020 8670 2551 39-41 Westow Hill

Opening times: Mon 10-7 Tues, Thurs & Fri 9-7, Sat 9-5 Library closed Tuesday 23 December to Friday 2nd January.

Saturday 29 November

1pm That Pesky Rat show 2pm ‘Sir Joseph Paxton’ (aka John Greatrex) tells the story of Joseph and his amazing Crystal Palace 2.45pm Deadlines for the quiz entries for the books 3pm Prizes for all the competitions After 3.30pm Alex Wheatle, author of The Dirty South will be talking about his life as an author, answering questions and signing copies of his book.

6th form lecture theatre, James Allen’s Girls’ School, 144 East Dulwich Grove

Monthly illustrated lectures Refreshments at 7.30pm for 8pm start.

Free to DDFAS members; visitors £7; students £1.

Thursday 11 December

Glory To The New Born King: Depictions Of The Nativity In European Art James Lindow has a PhD in Renaissance Art from the Royal College of Art and the V&A and is author of many articles and a highly acclaimed book, The Renaissance Palace in Florence.

Thursday 8 January Rebels And Martyrs – The Image Of The Artist In The 19th Century Tracing the development of this archetype from the birth of Romanticism through to the early 20th century. Lois Oliver is co-author of the National Gallery exhibition catalogue Rebels and Martyrs (2006).

The Secret Retreat 020 8671 7779 thesecretretreat.co.uk The White House, Norwood Grove

Saturday 6 December Winter Yoga – 11.15am - 4.15pm Tuesday 16 December Meditation – 7.30pm - 10.30pm

South London Theatre 2a Norwood High Street, West Norwood 020 8670 3474 Christmas Show

Grimm Tales

Friday 12 December 7.30pm Saturday 13 December 2.30pm Saturday 13 December 7.30pm Tuesday 16 December 7.30pm Wednesday 17 December 7.30pm Thursday 18 December 7.30pm Friday 19 December 7.30pm Saturday 20 December 2.30pm Saturday 20 December 7.30pm

Car Boot

Saturday 13 December

Santa’s Grotto and other events More info call 020 8670 2551

The Salvation Army, 58 Westow Street, Crystal Palace

21 November South London Fellowship Band 7.45p.m. Free entry 22 November Coffee Morning 10am -12.30pm 21 December Music, Carols & Readings for Christmas 6.00pm 24 December Coffee and Mince Pies 11pm Candlelight Carol Service 11.30pm

Norwood Park Wildlife Team

welcomes volunteers every Saturday between 1pm and 4pm to help create a perfect piece of countryside. The project is at the bottom end of Norwood Park alongside the railway line - accessed from Salters Hill or Finch Avenue.

CAR BOOT

SALE!!

Every Sunday, from 6.00 am, Selhurst Park (Crystal Palace Football ground) car park.

Buyers entrance fee £1.00 before 8.00am, 50p after 8.00 am.

Sellers: Trailers £5.00 Cars £10.00,Vans £15.00

47

Business Directory

Art & Ents Blockbusters 020 8653 9908 62Westow Street Crystal Palace Museum 020 8676 0700 Anerley Hill Dulwich Picture Gallery 020 8693 5254 Gallery Road, Dulwich Horniman Museum 020 8669 1872 100 London Road South London Theatre 020 8670 3474 2a Norwood High Street

Handy list for your needs...

NOT LISTED? If your local business is not listed here, email: listings@thetransmitter.co.uk

For a more comprehensive listing of local business services: crystalpalacelocal.co.uk

Cars (Taxis) Borough Cars 020 8776 5555 25 Anerley Road Crystal Cars 020 8771 9682 122 Church Road Eagle Cars

020 8670 9000

13 Crystal Palace Parade London Cars 020 8778 3000 1 Station Approach

Community Crystal Palace Park 020 8778 9496 Phoenix Centre 020 8771 6023 66 Westow Street Upper Norwood Library 020 8670 2551 Westow Hill

Creative Antenna Studios 020 8653 5200 Bowyers Yard, Haynes Lane Arcade78 07813 985970 Degas Guruve 07960 998012 Grange Road Fairplay Designs 07970 605361 14 Paddock Gardens Fourth Passenger Video production 020 8670 3689 Pylon Design Consultants 020 8771 3400 91 Church Road Words and Pictures 020 8653 5203 25-27 Westow Street

48

Feeling Poorly?

Chemists Fairways Drug Store 020 8761 1017 11 Westow Hill Hamlet Pharmacy 020 8778 7529 45 Anerley Road Makepeace Pharmacy 020 8778 8657 264 Kirkdale Perfucare 020 8669 3172 136 Kirkdale Sefgrove Chemist 020 8670 5198 3-5 Westow Hill

Doctors Lordship Lane Surgery 020 8693 2912 417 Lordship Lane

Dentists Bandlish Surgery 020 8670 2296 5 Gipsy Hill CP Dental Practice 020 8761 6252 88 Westow Hill

Opticians Crystal Eye Centre 020 8766 7476 20 Westow Hill

Food & Drink

Cafes Alistairs 020 8771 3729 3 Westow Street Blackbird Bakery

Westow Street Blue Mountain Café 128 Gipsy Hill Café Nero 10 Westow Hill Café Sol 020 8771 4078 61 Westow Street La Bruschetta 020 8771 7478 52 Westow Street Little Palace Café 020 8670 0123 49 Westow Hill The Café 34 Westow Hill

Afro-Caribbean

Italian/Pizza

Island Fusion 020 8761 5544 57b Westow Hill The Spirited Palace 020 8768 0609 105 Church Road

Il Ponte 020 8761 3371 66 Westow Hill Lorenzo’s 020 8761 7485 48 Westow Hill

Chinese/Oriental

Napoli Pizza 020 8776 5969 96 Anerley Road

Blue Orchid 020 8771 3673 5 Westow Street Chi Oriental 020 8761 6186 14 Westow Hill Edo 020 8670 8900 18 Westow Hill Miss Haung 020 8771 8169 10 Church Road New Chong Kee’s 020 8778 2797 23 Anerley Road Nim’s Kitchen 020 8766 8820 7 Westow Hill Noodle Time 020 8653 3012 3-7 Church Road Shanghai Wok 020 8771 6212 72 Church Road South East 020 8670 6222 26 Westow Hill Tamnag Thai 020 8761 5959 50-54 Westow Hill

Indian Gurkha Cottage 020 8771 7372 17 Westow Street Golden Tiger 020 8670 3212 78 Westow Hill

The Bridge House Tavern 0871 917 0007 2 High Street Penge

Indian Dining Club 020 8670 7588 244 Gypsy Road Indian Post Tandoori 020 8670 5079 79a Gipsy Hill

The Mansion 020 8761 9016 255 Gipsy Road The Rosendale 020 8670 0812 65 Rosendale Road Westow House 020 8670 0654 79 Westow Hill The White Hart 0871 971 4084

96 Church Road

Mehfil 020 8771 6898 107 Church Road Palace Spice 020 8655 7140 36 Westow Hill Shelina Tandoori 020 8771 7900 62 Church Road Viva Goa 020 8761 1515 24 Westow Hill

Gastro Pubs

Pizza Express 020 8670 1786 70 Westow Hill Pizza Fresco 020 8761 1761 64 Westow Street That’s Amore 020 8291 2901 124 Kirkdale

Modern European Domali Café 020 8768 0096 38 Westow Street Joanna’s 020 8670 4052 56 Westow Hill Mediterranea 020 8771 7327 21 Westow Street Numidie 020 8766 6166 48 Westow Hill The Exhibition Rooms 020 8761 1175 69-71 Westow Hill

Spanish/Portuguese A Torre Restaurant 020 8653 9895 19 Westow Street Los Toreros 020 8771 0087 35 Westow Street

Legal/Professional Amphlett Lissimore 020 8771 5254 80/86 Westow Street Begg, Williamson & Co 020 8771 3644 24 Church Road

Business Advice Business Doctor 0800 756 6467 Laurence Chandler Assoc 020 8390 8888 91 Church Road P&A 0208 776 9500 Regent House Business Ctr

Suite 210, 291 Kirkdale

Business Directory Horticulture

Health & Beauty

Beauty

Therapies & such

Beauty by Renata Brown 020 8771 5062 77 Church Street Crystal Nails 020 8670 3221 28 Westow Hill

Acupuncture

Northwood Clinic 020 8653 5646 36 Westow Street Mother Earth 020 8768 0620 42 Westow Street

Hairdressing Afro & European 07980 510973 78 Westow Street Faith Salon 020 86593492 48 Anerley Hill Feathers 0774 8908587 40 Westow Hill Fortyseven 020 8771 7170 47a Westow Street Friends 07980 510973 78 Westow Street Hair by Jay Michaels 020 8771 7440 30 Westow Street

Tracey Goulding 10 Westow Street 020 8771 9050

Edward James Florist 020 8670 2453 19 Crystal Palace Parade

Herbal/Chinese

Gregory Leeson Assoc 020 8768 5669

Natural Way 020 8761 0666 35 Westow Hill Planta Health Shop 020 8761 3114 32 Westow Hill

Hypnotherapy Diana Penny 020 8767 0791 Natalie Swanson 07901 883531 10 Westow Street

Life Coaching The Transformation Team 020 8767 0791

Physio/Osteo Crystal Palace Osteopathic Practice 020 8771 9050 10 Westow Street Crystal Palace Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Centre 020 8778 9050 Jubilee Stand, CP Park Crystal Palace Back & Neck Pain Clinic 020 8653 5058 32 Westow Hill

Kreative Lynk 020 8771 9572 16a Church Road

Massage

Mario and Bambos 020 8653 1599 63 Westow Street

The Massage Practice 07815 742266 6a Mowbray Road

Outback Hair Salon 020 8676 9593 2 Station Approach Way Ahead 020 8653 7342 43 Westow Street World of Hair 020 8778 5538 275 Kirkdale Zorkot Barber 020 8916 1000 22 Church Road Willie Smarts 020 8670 9798 1 Westow Hill

WRONG DETAILS? Whilst we try to ensure that details in the business directory are correct at time of going to print, we still mess up!

Please tell us about any errors or omissions: listings@thetransmitter.co.uk

AFS Tree Surgery 020 8653 0513 108 Church Road

Yoga/Pilates The Secret Retreat 020 8671 7779 The White House, Norwood Grove

Plews 020 8289 8086 Stem Flowers 020 8761 1248 Sue Williams Gardens 07801 219157 The Secret Garden 020 8771 8200 Coxwell Road The London Log co.

0208-3144592 07970-695930

General Services

Decorating Chester Voisey 07870 758 766

Dry Cleaners Cleaning Touch 020 8659 6265 173 Kirkdale Kirkdale Express 020 8921 6688 155 Kirkdale Palace Dry Cleaners 020 8653 0446 101 Church Road Silk Route 020 8670 8221 77 Westow Hill

Locksmiths Topy Key Cutters 020 8670 1778 38 Westow Hill

Home improvement

Crystal Palace Triathletes 020 8659 8091

Art with Glass 020 8771 6845 Haynes Lane Atamer Carpentry 020 8653 8090 Burton Neale 0007733 018858 Floorzone 020 8676 8333 244-246 Kirkdale Montrose Building 020 8768 1878 Plumbing Services 07941 42159 SDB Fencing 020 8771 3722

Gymophobics 020 8778 8111 10 Station Approach L A Fitness 020 8778 9818 291 Kirkdale National Sports Centre 020 8778 0131 Ledrington Road Sydenham Tennis Club 020 8778 4217 Springfield Road

Antique Fireplace Restoration Service 020 8771 9708 59 Westow Street Palace Fires 020 8771 8311 109 Church Road P.J Wright & sons 020 8771 9708 59 Westow Street

London Sheds 07830 324841

Sports & Fitness

Dulwich Physio 020 8693 9930 163 Crystal Palace Road

Fireplaces

Gifts Shopping

Antiques & such Art Deco Store 020 82916116 98 Kirkdale Bambino 020 865 39250 32 Church Road Crystal Palace Antiques 020 8480 7042 Jasper Road II Restauro 020 8771 4240 76 Church Road Lawrences 020 8766 6886 54 Westow Hill

Books The Lane Books Haynes Lane Market Kirkdale Bookshop 020 877 84701 272 Kirkdale Bookseller Crow 020 8771 8831 50 Westow Street

Fashion

Coconut Trading 020 8771 0700 73-75 Church Road Glitter & Twisted 020 8771 9493 25 Westow Street Myjumbie 020 8133 7080 83 Church Road Smash Bang Wallop 020 8771 5517 85 Church Road

Hardware Hollybush Stores 020 8653 1258 24-28 Westow Street Macdonalds Store 020 8670 0696 57 Westow Hill

Pets Crystal Palace Aquarium 020 8771 1349 54 Westow Street 4 Paws 'n' Claws Dog & Cat Grooming 0208 776 9248 49 Anerley Road

Allbone & Trimit 07764 196284 4 Coopers Yard Chutzpah 07958 910939 D’Solos 020 8653 7585 27 Church Road Grand Bay Boutique 020 8653 9347 23 Westow Street Merlin Shoes 020 8771 5194 44 Westow Street Next Address 020 8771 1884 76 Westow Street South of the River 020 8653 1669 56 Westow Street Spotrusherz Fashion 020 8771 1879 45 Westow Street Vintagehart 07982 184657 07949 552629 96 Church Road

49

NEW CREATIVE WORKSPACE Group studio in secure & heated building in Crystal Palace!

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Kitchens Bathrooms plumbing & tiling

For all your requirements and a complete service Call Ian 07941 421 594 or Steve 07725 951 957 FULLY INSURED

The London Log Co Hardwood, Seasoned

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50

Park Life

Park Life Readers photos taken in Crystal Palace Park

Last issue, we asked you to send in your shots of anything or anyone park related. Almost none of you did, but here’s one from someone who could actually be bothered...Jeez, keep it clean though folks!!!. this is a family magazine....

e-mail your Park Life pics to parklife@thetransmitter.co.uk

AFTER THE FIGHT

by Simon Sharville http://economycustard.wordpress.com 51

age 1

Bespoke wig design & Hair replacement service Chemotherapy Trichotillomania Male pattern hairloss Female pattern Hairloss Alopecia

Bespoke, sumptuous dresses that are as special as the celebration…

• Classic cocktail frocks for all occasions

We have helped people with these conditions using the best materials and natural hair to achieve the appearance they desire. Our work has been featured on BBC TV.

• Wedding dresses in glorious colours that will be long remembered Call Catherine Shaw

UNRIVALLED IN QUALITY SERVICE AND PRICE

fortyseven Heather Morris

London-south fortyseven 47a Westow Street Crystal Palace SE19 3RW 020 8771 7170 www.fortysevenhair.co.uk

London-Central Heather Morris @ The Hair Clinic John Bell & Croydon 50-54 Wigmore Street, W1 020 7935 9200 www.the-hair-clinic.co.uk

THE OVERSPILL 4 COOPERS YARD CRYSTAL PALACE LONDON SE19 1TN TEL: 07764 196 284

www.allboneandtrimit.co.uk