BROMLEY: FRIENDS OF SOUTH HILL WOOD & KINGSWOOD GLEN

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I had an email from Susie asking me if I would be prepared to photograph the 15th anniversary celebration event of the Friends of South Hill Wood and Kingswood Glen. It was one of those happy moments where someone googled “Bromley photographer”, found me, and found me free for their special event. After a few emails we had a cost fixed (favourable to support a local Bromley volunteer group) and I was firmly booked.

Map of South Hill Wood and information from the Bromley Friends Forum website

Latesh from local shop Loco Honest Food Company brought cheeses from the Snowdonia Cheese Co.

There is something about the voluntary sector in Britain that you have to love. People from a variety of walks of life – two actually professionals within forestry, but all sorts of others – keen and warm and having fun. We do amateur well in this country. Local businesses had helped out with food and drink, there were experts on hand to talk about bats and arthropods, wine and beer and nibbles were all well organised. As a local photographer in Bromley, I am so glad to have been a part of that.

In some ways, of course, the voluntary sector is taking up the slack in areas where central or local government sometimes used to have and perhaps ought to have a larger role. As it is, we have to be glad of all support from government agencies and representatives. Woodland conservation in Bromley does benefit from some lottery funding, and the anniversary event was honoured by the presence of Councillor Jonathan Andrews, the Deputy Mayor of Bromley.

You can’t have a birthday and no cake! The Deputy Mayor cuts the cake, alongside Councillors Will Rowlands, Portfolio Holder for the Environment, and Gemma Turrell, Shortlands and Park Langley ward, plus members of the Friends’ team. 

The trickiest part of the day, photographically, was the cake cutting. It was partly my fault; I thought that a crowd would gather round behind as a backdrop. In the event, there were few behind them, so a very bright area beyond the shade of the (deeply green) gazebo. Faces were heavily shaded with green light predominating on top. I exposed for the faces, sadly consigning the background to be fairly burnt out and giving myself some work to do in post-processing. You live and learn!

Although cheese, wine and cake may be important, it was the guided tour around the wood which was the heart of the afternoon. Pherenice, Ishpi and Rachel guided us around and gave us an introduction to the management of an urban woodland. 

Local naturalist Spider shows off some giant millipedes to a young visitor…

…and we all got to meet Natasha, the Mexican red-legged tarantula.

No Friends volunteers group can exist, let along function, without a committee. It was good to meet and learn from David, Pherenice, Rachel, Susie, Lara and Patrick.

The removal of invasive species is a constant chore in woodland management. Plants like Japanese Knotweed, Sycamore and Cherry Laurel (shown here being waved by Pherenice during the tour) out-compete native species and effectively reduce species diversity in woodland. Many (like Snowberries and Rhododendrons) are garden plants which can look lovely if they stay in the right context… but don’t.

The London Borough of Bromley is rich in woods and trees, with six or seven areas of woodland which are larger than South Hill Wood. But the preservaton of this little patch of ancient wood, and the neighbouring, even smaller, Kingswood Glen is an important work done with love. Woods are places of biodiversity, cleaning the air, helping control water run-off, providing habitats for wildlife, contexts for community connection and space for recreation. It’s a fool who doesn’t value the small woods of our city, and of the London Borough of Bromley.

I’m glad to have met the Friends of South Hill Wood, and I hope our paths cross again.

The Photography: This was one of those events where there was no obvious secure place for my camera bag apart from my car. This kind of situation dictates lens choice: one body with the 24-70, the other with the 70-200. I only popped back to the car once – to pick up an SB910 flash for the indoor group shots (see pic of the committee above).

Every time I get involved in photographing a Bromley-based event as a local photographer, I feel glad we moved here. After a year and a bit, I feel as if there really are some links into the community, and photographic work of every kind is flowing in almost daily.

Photos © copyright Andrew King