Sydenham Artisan Market - 2nd Saturday of the month

[Tim Lund]

[youtubes]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ8fpRMZ75k[/youtubes]

Dance: Maiden Castle
Tune: The British Grenadiers.

[Tim Lund]

Just a reminder - and what else to look forward to!

[Chris Best]

As well as the market it is also the 48th birthday of Kirkdale Bookshop - with 10% of everything (with a few exceptions).

Pop Up Poetry will on offer from 11am - 4pm along with cakes on the lawn.

The morris dancers will be performing on the hour at 1,2,3 and 4pm - this group are not to be missed!

The banner is on the railing outside Pedder - and once we have a date from Skanska we will have lamp post banners in the high street. So why not support our market traders and linger while having some hot food - the high street now has a rich range of shops with very few vacant. Plus the planning application has now been submitted for 22a - 24 Sydenham Road - a scheme that I think will be a great addition to the high street.

[stuart]

Happy 48th birthday Geraldine. Sydenham's greatest treasure!

Stuart

[stuart]

And here is Bedlam in Sydenham (Venner Square Style)

[Nigel]

Three highlights for me today :
The Bedlam Morris - great stomping fun I thought - Mr Neel's excellent Himalayan Chicken ( free range from Billings , vegetables from Fresh and Fruity ) and Mina's home made pickle - fenugreek and mango to be precise .
All in all a very agreeable afternoon and well done everyone involved .
A very good evening
Nigel

[Chris Best]

Reminder that tomorrow is 2nd Saturday of the month so it's market day! We have a new food trader selling macaroni with different flavoured toppings including cheese, Neel is back with his Nepalese food plus a return for our tasty Arabic/Mediterrean trader - so a good choice of hot food. As usual we welcome local resident Jayne selling her beautiful hand made jewellery, Uche selling a range of crafts and Jozen is returning with "light and bubbly". Plenty more and our High Street Happening this month is the showing of Till the Boys Come Home in collaboration with Sydenham Arts. Starting at 10.30 at Here For Good with some classic songs on the hour from 1 - 4pm. Come and join in.

Look out for our new lamp post banners that Skanska are planning to put up first thing.

[Chris Best]

Just looking at the list of market stalls booked for next Saturday 13th - excited to see that Angie and her Christmas trees will be joined by a return of our wonderful Vietnamese food stall and Caribbean Burrito's on Queensthorpe Square. On Venner Square we have the return of Mac 'N' Cheese - very tasty hot food plus Jayne with her fashion jewellery, Lucy with her home made greeting cards, Uche with wonderful Christmas gifts, Frances with Aloe Vera & Health products, Emma with handy crafts, Philip with some fabulous photographs, Michelle with children's craft kits, Katie and our Young Mayor's Team with Christmas Decorations, Janet with home made furnishings, Jade with haberdashery, Christine with vintage and Judy with cards and photos. We can still find space for some more food products including another hot food offering on Venner.

Alongside the market we have a fabulous line up of entertainment starting with Peter Ceasar on keyboards on Venner Square. Children's craft starts at The Sydenham Centre at noon with a really great afternoon including choirs, bands, dance, drumming - line up to follow - ending with carols and lighting up the Christmas Tree.

[alywin]

Glad to hear it - sounds good. Perhaps this month there will be a board or something at Q'thorpe linking it to Venner, and vice versa? Last month, I had no idea whether there was anything on at Q'thorpe at all and, being pushed for time, didn't bother going down that far.

[leenewham]

It might be better if the traders all get together and publicise the market themselves, supported by SEE3. It would free see3 up to concentrate on other things and promotions may feel less corporate and be more innovative and quicker to happen.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1585140 ... pe=regular

Others seem good at doing it (as above), Feast are brilliant at it, I think see3 supporting the market traders to create the sort of space that they think is best suited for them makes a lot of sense.

Perhaps it's worth investing in some festoon lights as it gets dark early and it's nearly Christmas:
http://www.festive-lights.com/commercia ... on-lights/

With bunting for Summer.

[Rachael]

I think that's a good idea, Lee. The market needs some branding of its own now.

Forest Hill Food Market did brilliant promotional fliers. It was an adaptation of the Underground orange line, tweaked each month according to the season. The best part about it (apart from the fact it was a strong and easily recognisable image) was that the fliers listed all the traders so you knew in advance what to expect and could plan accordingly. If you want to tempt me to make a trip down to Sydenham for the market, you're much more likely to succeed if I know what's there.

[Tim Lund]

Hear, hear, Lee & Rachael!

[Pally]

Hear, hear, Lee & Rachael!

Hear hear indeed!

[broken_shaman]

Traders in Honor Oak recently got together and organised a market (HopFest). It's just a few stalls at the end of a side street. But I have been to both the dates they organised and both have been very well supported by the local community.

They also brought in things like a bouncy castle, face-painting and a santa's grotto, combined with promotions, events and workshops in shops in the high street.

[leenewham]

Totally agree Shaman.

Bouncy castles and making it into an event and making it feel like a special occasion is a very good idea.

[Chris Best]

We are taking a look at the budget to see what we can afford in 2015 - the issue is economics in that the income comes from the hire of the market stalls at £35 - so if all 20 are let we have an income of £700 per month. However, we have not been running at capacity and have been focussing on Venner Square which holds 14 market stalls. Out of this the main cost is setting up the stalls (Josh and his team are looking to increase the charge in 2015), the cost of the Market Licensing officer who is on site for a few hours issuing the casual trading licence, checking on the set up as it is on a public highway and the links to the power supply etc as well as the admin cost for the booking and marketing. We have managed to break even but extra costs of hiring bouncy castles, running workshops has to be considered. So if anyone is willing to provide some time to run workshops that would be great. The oft quoted Feast have a good team of volunteers and the community have really got behind the market spaces - some of which are on private land that does not have the requirements as public land. In Sydenham we have the potential to use Station Approach as well as Venner and Queensthorpe Squares. Great ideas - more volunteers are needed to get out and about getting a diverse range of market traders that will bring more footfall in 2015.

[Bunty]

It would be great to see station approach and space used. Such as shame on the hoof is now only rail side. The little square is crying out for some tables, chairs etc.

[Rachael]

Popped out to the market today. Bought a Christmas tree and some little presents. All very nice, but not much to tempt me back on a regular basis. Does the market have an identity beyond 'artisan'?

Also went to TSR Marketplace to pick up my custom made wreath - it's spectacular!

[Pally]

I have to agree about the "tempting" back. Got a few little bits and bobs. Music provided by singer when I was there was great.

[alywin]

So, I struggled towards Sydenham in yesterday morning's bad weather. It was only when I was most of the way along Venner Road when it occurred to me to look up, and I realised that there was no sign of any stalls at the Square. It was the second Saturday - so what happened?