Charlton House

Can you donate food for Charlton Toy Library’s Christmas hampers?

Neil Clasper

Can you help Charlton Toy Library with a donation to its Christmas Food Hampers scheme?

It’s that time of year again! We are proud to announce we will be providing our annual Christmas Food Hampers and presents to some of our Outreach families, but we NEED YOUR HELP! We rely on your donations. Please help us make a family’s Christmas this year. People can bring the donations either to the Charlton Toy Library (Tuesday/Thursday/Friday between 9:30-12:30) or to the Office at Charlton House (Monday to Friday between 10 am to 4 pm).

Charlton Toy Library is a Registered Charity set up in 1982, and can be found at Charlton House, Charlton Rd, London SE7 8RE. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

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How was 2018’s Horn Fair at Charlton House?

Lara Ruffle Coles

Charlton House Horn Fair 2018

The Charlton Champion is grateful to LARA RUFFLE COLES for sending us her photos, videos and observations from Sunday’s Horn Fair event at Charlton House:

Even though the grey and rainy weather may have stopped some from venturing outside, this year’s Horn Fair at Charlton House was lively and entertaining – if not as bustling as 2017.

My favourite element of the day was the live music from the Royal Air Force Cadets, The Friends’ Musick and the Horn Fair Players. The music generated a very warm and inviting atmosphere, and it was wonderful to hear the music floating around the house as you moved from room to room.

The range of stalls was more arts and crafts than food, this was a bit disappointing as last year there were more food stalls including a really good quality smoked salmon stall selling sandwiches. Only chocolate, honey, coffee and Caribbean food was on offer, and The Giggly Pig Company had already packed up when I arrived at peak eating time just before 2pm. We couldn’t find Wandercrust Pizza, unfortunately; the tea rooms were open, but I would have liked to scoff down a few slices of pizza!

If you ventured outside, visitors were able to have a good nosy round the newly reopened Summer House. The main room and undercroft (also a WWII air raid shelter) could be viewed, and panels were on display detailing the recent refurbishment.

This year’s theme was the hundred year anniversary of Charlton House opening as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) hospital – which felt a little odd given the Horn Fair’s previous reputation as a bawdy and debauched affair! It might have better to focus on the upcoming Armistice centenary as a whole, and the VAD theme didn’t feel very present as you moved from room to room. The theme also seemed at odds with the commercial aspects of the event.

However, balancing the commercial and educational parts of any charitable organisation is always tricky, and is something that the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust – only established four years ago – is still working on.

More importantly, we should all be supporting events like the Horn Fair as they allow charities to keep beautiful and historically vital buildings like Charlton House open for all of us to enjoy. Roll on 2019!

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What’s happening at Charlton House’s Horn Fair 2018 this Sunday

Neil Clasper1 Comment

There’s a World War I flavour to this year’s Horn Fair, taking place this Sunday, 14th October, as Charlton House marks 100 years since it opened as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Hospital in 1918.

As well as children’s activities themed around Charlton House’s role in the recuperation of WWI soldiers, there’ll be an opportunity to make Venetian masks, meet Charlton House’s beekeepers, plus a wide variety of food and market stall, music, and a range of talks.  The Tea Rooms will be serving “some interesting recipes from World War I”.

Outside the house, there will also be an opportunity to see inside the Summer House, and from 12.30pm to visit St. Luke’s Church over the road.

See Charlton House’s website for the full details, or download the Horn Fair 2018 programme here.

Read The Charlton Champion‘s history of Charlton’s Horn Fair here.

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A sneak peek into Charlton House’s Summer House before Open House weekend

Neil Clasper2 Comments

Charlton House Summer House - September 2018-14-1

Charlton’s architecturally significant Summer House will be open for visitors to look around this weekend as part of Open House London. The Charlton Champion is grateful to the Charlton House team for letting us in for a look around in advance, and the opportunity to take a few pictures of the refurbishment in progress.

When we last looked inside the Summer House it still had its public toilets in situ (albeit unused for some time); now with the toilets, internal walls and an amount of asbestos removed – plus new clear windows letting the light in – it’s easier to imagine the space in use for events. Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust (RGHT) is still looking for ideas for future use of the Summer House that will balance its aims of historical interpretation, community use, and revenue generation – if you’ve got any ideas, get in touch with the team.

As you can see from the pictures below, the refurbishment is still underway; amongst other work to be done we were told that stone flagstones will be put down soon and, pending the reconnection of the electricity supply, temporary lighting put in to light the building up at night.

Charlton House Summer House - September 2018-13-5Charlton House Summer House - September 2018-12-4Charlton House Summer House - September 2018-10-2

We were also able to have a look in the Summer House’s undercroft, the basement space which saw use as an air raid shelter in WWII. We were told this won’t be open this weekend, but RGHT hope to use for future special events, including possibly the Horn Fair.

Charlton House Summer House - September 2018-9-6Charlton House Summer House - September 2018-8The undercroft space - formerly an air raid shelter - below Charlton's Summer House

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Horn Fair 2018: Charlton House needs you

Neil Clasper

Charlton House

Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust is looking for people to get involved with this year’s Horn Fair – taking place on Sunday 14th October, which will be themed around the 100-year anniversary of Charlton House opening as a World War I voluntary aid detachment hospital in 1918.

You can get in touch with the trust by email at office[@]rght.org.uk or by telephone on 020 8856 3951.

 
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Greenwich Dance moves to Charlton House

Neil Clasper

Charlton House

Local charity Greenwich Dance has announced its relocation to Charlton House. The organisation had been working from offices in Woolwich’s Royal Arsenal after moving out of  Greenwich Borough Hall, its home for 25 years, earlier this year.

“Greenwich Dance and Greenwich Heritage Trust announce a new affiliation which has resulted in a brand new home for Greenwich Dance within Charlton House, the historic Jacobean country house in Charlton, South East London.

The affiliation offers Greenwich Dance good office space in addition to access to beautiful spaces for class, projects and performance which include The Old Library and The Charlton Assembly Rooms as well as the grounds and gardens. Greenwich Dance and Greenwich Heritage Trust plan to develop the affiliation further to create more opportunities for dance to animate Charlton House and for joint approaches to outreach. It will enable Greenwich Dance to re-launch its popular morning classes for professional dancers as well as bringing its over 60’s performance company Dancing To The Music of Time to Charlton which had previously been accommodated by Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre at the Tramshed in Woolwich.

The move marks the beginning of a new way of working for Greenwich Dance where classes, courses, projects and performance making will be sited across the borough and the proximity of other like-minded organisations based at Charlton House offers potential for exciting new collaborations and partnerships.

Speaking about the collaboration, Chief Executive Officer, Melanie Precious said: “We are thrilled to have a new home at Charlton House. It’s a beautiful setting in which to base an organisation such as Greenwich Dance which has creativity and the community at its heart. Charlton House is well positioned for our new operational model, we feel as is if forgotten areas of the borough are now within easy reach. We are also hugely excited at the possibility of bringing both the community and professional dancers to Charlton House to enjoy dance within its beautiful rooms and glorious gardens.

We very much look forward to working with the Greenwich Heritage Trust and other residents here to create brand new programmes to keep Greenwich dancing.”

Find out more about Greenwich Dance at their website, on Twitter, and Facebook.

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Community Fun Day and Dog Show at Charlton House this Sunday

Neil Clasper

Charlton Park Community Fun Day July 2018

Charlton Park Dog Show July 2018

Global Fusion Music And Arts and Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust are running a Community Fun Day and Dog Show this Sunday, July 22nd, in the grounds of Charlton House. Themed ‘A focus on youth‘, the event takes place 12-5pm with the dog show at 2pm. Admission is free.

The Charlton Champion provides news and information about issues and events in London SE7.
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