Virtual Norwood's 10th Anniversary is on Sunday 15th June 2008

Is anyone interested in doing something to mark the occasion?

sounds great!!

Sure, what did you have in mind James?

Well, all suggestions are welcome and I'm sure someone could be more creative than me but I was thinking about having a social event where we meet at somewhere like Lorenzo's and everyone has a pizza and a drink or two.

If we need to organise a deposit for something then we can do that using PayPal - if we don't get enough support then a refund can be processed without too much trouble.

I'm thinking we should keep it simple so we don't have a heathrow-esque calamity to mark the day.

I suppose we could do the other usual things like press releases and photo-calls but we've always tried to work on things in a collaborative way so it makes sense to see what everyone else would like to see and do.

Maybe we could raise some funds to sponsor an animal at the London Zoo or something... I wonder whether they still do tours for "corporate" sponsors?

Lorenzo would be a great venue as they are one of the few restaurants who have been around longer than the forum !

Or how about a history Palace Walk then a meal at Lorenzo ?

Dazza

A meal in Lorenzo's sounds a great idea.

Or a picnic in the park? Followed by drinks at Bridge House?

Sundays lend themselves to picnics, preparation wise. Guess the weather is the great unknown factor though (even in June!).

Or maybe a barbe in the park...if thats allowed I'm not sure

A picnic or BBQ in the park sounds good. Less formal, and it may be easier to circulate and get to know your neighbours that way! (speaking as someone who has yet to attend a social gathering! ).

It is. I checked with the park rangers and as long as you don't burn the grass and clear up after yourself then it's fine.

Done it a few times

You know, the 15th is Fathers' Day this year. Is there a risk that all the fathers amongst VNers will be forced to stay in and play with their new golf tees/ road atlases instead?
To encourage them out, we could have a themed event and use all the awful typecasting Fathers Day cards to fuel the barbecue.

we can postpone by one week then to allow eevryone to come along?

What about the new petting Zoo at Crystal Paalce - Thats more local and shows support for the area

I think Lorenzos would be better than the park as with anything outdoors you need a plan b as it's bound to rain on the actual weekend. If there were lots of us we could hire out the upstairs bit too. I'm also in favour of raising money for something local - I think that's a great idea.

can we sponsor the library?

Lorenzo's gets my vote - a place with heart and a true CP institution.

The zoo is a very good thing, but it is not a charity - it is a part of a tuition paying college.

Better if we raise funds for something that is reliant on charitable funds. The park itself does qualify, if I'm not mistaken.

I've always wanted to coordinate an addition to the Dino group - a life-sized Moa on the island that is now inhabited by swans. Apparently something like that was originally planned, but they ran out of money at the time. I spoke to one of the guys here at the Natural History Museum who would be good at that kind of thing and he thinks it'd be great, and feasible.

Now, however, I'm changing my mind. Perhaps a larger-than-life statue of James would be the way to go!

That's a good point - my experience of Capel Manor suggests that they will be funded more than adequately for their management of the farm. We would also have to consider ongoing payments rather than a one-off gift, to sponsor an animal.

I like the idea of helping the library, very much. There was something in the Palace magazine about the woeful state of some of children's resources; it would be gratifying to be able to buy some new things to make a difference, and help demonstrate local commitment to the library at the same time.
But that idea might have the same problem - it's not a charity.

I notice that the Crystal Palace Bowl is looking for financial help.

Hehe, our very own Jebediah Springfield. We could add it to our collection of headless statues

A simple way of working out the charitable aspects could be to donate it to our local Rotary Club, since they will do the hard work on deliberating on the worthy causes. They support our local community by organising things such as a Christmas Party for the elderly but also consider other projects such as Demelza House etc.

My experience of organising things like Virtual Norwood Monopoly is that when it comes down to actually doing something the participation levels are considerably lower than the number of people that express an interest. Therefore, we should consider making plans that are realistic. It's quite easy to arrange a picnic/bbq in the park among friends but if the weather isn't any good we will need a Plan B, and if the weather is in-between it will be difficult to for people to know what is actually happening - with friends you can ring around and rearrange things more easily. If we did a pub/bar/restaurant thing during the day we could start out there and weather permitting go to the park to see the petting zoo and dinosaurs etc. It's unfortunate that the day clashes with Father's Day.

I'd actually thought the sculpture would include a head, or maybe even be JUST a head, set to stare back at Joey Paxton, since that's most of what we see of James! (presumably) that's the source for his inspiration, insight and inthusiasm for Virtual Norwood*. However, if he tells us otherwise, that the lower half is even better, then who's to argue? There are those empty plinths up on the Terrace....

*VN having created a sense of community almost to rival the influence of the Park in modern times, you see.

Here's how I would imagine it would look...
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/The_Telltale_Head

More info on Jebediah Obadiah Zachariah Jedediah Springfield...
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Jebediah_Springfield

I think this is a great idea! although I dont know if I would be able to make it as sunday is my training day for the london bikeathon. but I will see what I can do once something has been decided!

I think fundraising for a charity like Demelza House is a brilliant idea! I am part of a Torvill and Dean forum (british ice dancing legends) and they have just staretd doing a tour of the country and as a thank you we are donating money to Demelza House because Jayne Torvill is a vice president there. It has got us all working together and we have raised over £600 already (in less than a week!)
Maybe we should do that because it could bring us together as a community!

Have we got any update on this?

Yes, I've been checking a few things out and will be posting further details later this week.

Today is Virtual Norwood's 10th Anniversary!

Thank you to everyone for all your support over the years, and more recently.

The interest and involvement of our community has been instrumental in our success.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to our volunteer moderators, who have worked very hard to keep the forum running smoothly, and helped me to advance the way our site is managed. Thank you to Lucy, Andyb, Cha003, Gekko, Nick and Weeble.

Long may it continue

Congratulations and thanks to James and The Moderators, and to all VNers. Crystal Palace would be a lesser place to live in without you.

Thanks James. It's been a pleasure and congratulations on the 10th Anniversary. Looking forwards to celebrating on Tuesday!

An article about Virtual Norwood's 10th Anniversary appeared in the Streatham Guardian on 29th May 2008.

You can download a PDF of the story from here...
http://www.virtualnorwood.com/pdf/streatha...ian20080529.pdf
(PDF, 2.4MB)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Many congratulations.

Good article in the Streatham Guardian.

congratulations indeed

May we add thanks and congratulations from the Spoons? And yes, great article!

Found this so people know what to bring you tomorrow night, James:


Traditional 10th anniversary presents have a theme of aluminium and tin.

A contemporary or modern 10th anniversary present has a theme of diamond jewellery.

The flowers associated with the 10th anniversary are daffodils.

The gemstone list shows black onyx.

Nice article!

Liz29, your phone kindness is commemorated!

Looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow.

James, I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to finish the granite bust - some slow deliveries from the quarry, problems with the stonecarving chainsaws and dynamite, the usual....

Tsk, you've had 10 years to plan for this

By the way, if anyone approaches me with a bunch of daffies I'll be wary of a dirty-den-esque ending

Ice would be nice (though unlikely)

Hello! Very much looking forward to this evening. VN was important to Gekko and I when we first moved to the area and didn't know a soul. We've had more than our fair share of great recommendations via this site and continue to do so.
CP seems very buzzy at the moment - markets, fair on saturday, Radio 1 roadshow (ok that last bits a lie and I'm showing my age)

Belated happy tenth birthday.

Long may VN flourish.

As a one-year old upper Norwooder (if that is the right phrase), it's helped make my great trek south (EC1 to SE19 in one leap forward) a step I have never regretted.

To all you hard working people who keep VN going, a chorus of "for you're jolly good fellows".