Kitto Road Folk

At the Hill Station Cafe on Kitto Road SE14 Hannah Elizabeth Young and George McNaughton Ellis are hosting a monthly 'Folk Sessions on the Hill'. Next one is on Sunday 19th March 2023 from 6 pm onwards. First time I went along a few months ago it was quite quiet, but it has quickly grown into a very popular night. The February event was packed, with lots of great performers - format is basically an open mic with a wide range of acoustic song styles.

 They are also taking part in the free folk festival that is happening on the afternoon of March 25th as part of the Telegraph Hill Festival, in the churchyard of St Catherine's next door to the Hill Station.

Down the road at Skehans there's lots of live music too including Irish sessions, a songwriters circle and live folk music on Sunday nights. Last weekend (Saturday 25th Feb) there was a different flavour with 

Dacre Morris and Greenwich Morris Men starting their tour of local pubs at Skehans, with dancing on the pavement outside - before heading off to do similar at the Golden Anchor, the Pyrotechnists Arms and the Old Nun's Head.

 

Plague of Toads on Telegraph Hill?

Walking up Kitto Road SE14 last night, alongside Telegraph Hill upper park, I saw a toad. Then a few metres along another one, and then another. In fact I saw five toads in procession all on the pavement heading up hill in the direction of St Catherine's hurch, where people were queuing to watch the community production of West Side Story. Whether the toads were Sondheim fans or just migrating from one pond to another I cannot say. There is of course a big pond in the lower park, but they would have to make a perilous road crossing to get there. According to Froglife: 'Common Toads are very particular about where they breed and often migrate back to their ancestral breeding ponds each year. They follow the same route, regardless of what gets in their way, which sometimes leads to them crossing roads'. In some parts of the country volunteers have arranged toad patrols to help them cross the road, and I gather that this has sometimes happened here on Kitto Road.

Must admit I did post on twitter that they were frogs, but people there were quick to correct me so unless some amphibian expert tells me otherwise I am going with the Common Toad.

(Just to be clear I love toads and frogs, the reference to 'plague' was a biblical allusion as they were churchbound, not a negative comment!)