Catford Construction

Construction and redevelopment within Catford has enabled the town to flourish and create an influx of residents.
Also existing buildings hold stong architectural themes which create a destinction about Catford as a whole. The Broadway Theatre which was constucted with th influences of art deco. The Eros House was created using the 'brutalist' form of architecture. The features of brutalist architechture include the use of raw concrete as the main fetures of the construction form.

Abolition 200

A REMEMBRANCE conference titled 'Abolition 200' will be taking place at the Civic Suite, Lewisham Town Hall, Catford; this Sunday to commemorate the abolition of slavery over 200 years ago.
The conference will also be the launch of the five-year plan for the entire Lewisham borough.

The talk will begin at 10.15am and finish at 5.00pm and a buffet lunch will be provided.

Information and contact details can be seen here

Anorexia kills Catford Resident

CATFORD resident, Dawn Christopher died from serve anorexia, after being called 'fat' at school 30 years ago. She was taken to hospital where it was found that she had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 11.

Her mother, Jean Christopher spoke about her daughter, "conquering her demons", after succeeding to beat anorexia, but the eating disorder later returned.
Jean Christopher also mentioned that her daughter was called fat by a girl at school when she was aged 12 or 13.

Anorexia or Anorexia nervosais an eating disorder in which person chooses deliberately not to eat, so they can loose weight. It is said that at least 1 on 200 people suffer from Anorexia

The story can be seen here ,

Catford News

A DENTIST at a Catford dentistry, has been sacked and jailed for a year after it emerged that he scammed almost £41,000 out of the NHS, using his manager's details.

The full story can be read here .

Catford Broadway Shows

The Broadway Theatre will be presenting a tribute to the rock legend. Jimi Hendrix , tickets are still avalable and the tribute show will end this Saturday 24th March.

Cats & Dogs

Catford having its very own stadium creates greater distinction for the town throughout Lewisham. The stadium was previously used for greyhound racing however it is currently closed.

The stadium has been through quite a bit, including a fire which almost devastated the entire stadium grounds and scandals galore have surrounded the stadium. With this the owners Wembely decided to shut the grounds permanently.

Though during its heyday between 1993 and 2003, the stadium and the sport brought extreme success for Catford.

Dog racing track on a whole are seen to be in decline, but football though and currently only takes place at four sites throughout London; Crayford, Wimbledon, Walthamstow and Romford.

Catford Cimena

The ABC cinema in Catford has been under speculation for some time now after there have been disputes as to how it will be used. The cinema has been closed down for years now, and is owned by (United Church of the Kingdom of God) UCKG and is proposed to be used as a worship centre by the church. However residents have said they wish the building to be restored to a cinema. Residents including, local filmmaker Joe Grossi have even seen it as an "embarassment" that Catford doesn't have its own Cinema. Great amounts of public transport routes and links and a having a high percentage of families in the town, gives Catford the suitable and ideal place for a cinema.
It though can be said that this is an ideal location for UCKG to create a new base for itself. Not only will the building be used for worship services, but also there will be training centre which will provide sevices and facilities in such subjects as IT and English.

UCKG also have these facilities in other locations such as at Finsbury Park and Croyden.

Catford Environment

We’ve all heard about the different factors that have negative effects on our environment like car exhust fumes, excessive packing on food and other items. But do we think about the effects that these things could be having in our very own areas.

Living in Catford, it is a peacful and somewhat clean environment. This Lewisham borough has been voted one of the cleanests boroughs in London. But does this affect the way we treat our local area?

In Catford, green bins for separating the paper, plastics, cans and other recyclables are alined outside the houses, which shows that the neighbourhoods do apply the measures that are said to help and slow the effects of environmental damage; also after being said to be the second cleanest borough in London

Catford has many transport links to both neighbouring and distant towns such as Lewisham, New Cross, Peckham, Woolwich and Bromley. These towns can be reached with the services of local buses. Also with two night buses running through Catford this provides a 24-hour transport service throughout the town. Also Catford having its own bus garage, buses can be seen to run in their hundreds through Catford.

Also having two railway stations, providing transport links from Kent up to Central London, there are various ways that one can get in and around the town.

Though this is beneficial for City workers, students and West end shoppers who use the transport available to travel from the urban situation of Catford, the transporting will have various effects on the environment. Air quality can be said to be affected to a great amount.

People, People, People

People from all over Catford and beyond have come together for years and optimistically will do so for years to come, for the annual and culturally diverse event, People's Day . This event takes place in Mountsfield Park and has all the colour, music and food to rival that of the Notting Hill carneval (ok maybe we still have just a little way to go).

The event though lasts for a day and brings together people from all walks of life and cultures to enjoy the diversity that is on show during the event. Music from local schools and performers.

People's Day takes place in July every year and this year will it will be taking place on 14th July.

Famous Cats

Though it may be hard to fathom celerities have had their start from Catford, Spike Milligan a comedian and writer was brought up in Catford. His work includes descriptions of Catford and while he was alive made time to visit his family who still reside within the town.

The are photographer Anthony Jones also lives in the area. Famed for his incredible black and white imagery of the 'urban environment'. His photographs also include work of art deco images, which have been on display in the V&A, the National Portrait Gallery and in many photography magazines.

Gabrielle the multi-million selling artist is said to have been brought up in Catford and last but not least, yours truly. I currently resides in Catford and am in the process of making my mark through writing and creating. It can be said that Catford has brought out creative individuals with skills in literacy and performing.





Source: Wikipedia

Lights, Camera, Broadway

"If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere..." no not New York this time, not even to the West end stages but still with the spirit of broadway in the heart of Catford, The Broadway Theatre is the centre stage for various performances and acts from numerous genres.

Musical artists, performers and thespians have all graced the stage and hundreds of films greaced the screens in the theatre which was established in the early 1930's, originally for use as a film theatre. The theatre was also set up initially to be a memorial for the many people that lost their lives serving in the First World War.

The construction and appearnace of the theatre has an art deco influence.

Catty Gash!!!

One of the secondary schools in Catford is the newly reformed Catford High School School, formaly Catford Girls Secondary School a.k.a Catty Gash!!! (For those who don't know gash means girl)

This secondary school was founded in 1955 and was one of the first comrehensive schools, which includes over 900 students both girls and boys. The school has been a mixed school only last year September (2006) and currently only the year seven students are a mixture of both boys and girls. This will carry on through the years until the students reach year 11.

The school has changed quite a lot since my days there, the fact that it is now a mixed school opens more opporunites for studying at secondary schools for the boys in the area. Its been said that this may be a distraction to the girls who study at the school and likewise the boys.

The performance in the students GCSE levels at the school has increased over the years and the school has also joined with Deptford Green, Adey & Stanhope and Crofton Park in bring post-16 students together into the new sixth form college Crossways sixth form College.

The sixth form is poular amoung the Catford High school students and includes a wide range of subjects that the students can pick from for futher and specialied studies and prepares the students for higher studies. Crossways has also brought attention from prestigious universities such as Oxford, Imperial and Kings College to the students.

Origionally set up to encourage more students to stay on in post-16 education, the sixth form has accomplished what it set about to do and in the first year allone exceeded its intake of first year students by over 100 students.

Catford!!!!

Hello from Catford!!! this sub-urban town in South East London is said to have been in existence since the early 18th century. Named after the notion that wild cats would cross rivers, close around the area and today the emphasis still stands today as a large cat is on display, placed on the sign post to the Catford market.

Catford, home to thousands of families and individuals from all walks of life, all of whom come together to make the town rich and full of diversity.

The Town Hall for the Lewisham borough is located in Catford, not far from the market and Broadway Theatre. Also the Catford Music hall.

Bridget Prentice is our local MP, where she represents Lewshiam East.

But there's more to Catford than just the feline-inspired title, as you will see in this blog...