Places and Spaces
Most public buildings and shops in West Norwood are anchored on either side of Norwood Road and Knights Hill, which runs north-south through the town.
West Norwood is well served for parks and open spaces with Norwood Park and Brockwell Park which is only a short walk outside the town centre area. The Cemetery has 45 acres (18.2 hectares) of green space in the centre of the town. There are tennis courts, a recreation ground and a small wood beside Knights Hill. Peabody Hill Wood is an area of outstanding importance recognised by English Nature.
Education is a major service industry in West Norwood, which has several private sector and local authority primary schools. A number of local parents are promoting the foundation of Elmgreen School as a new non-faith secondary school, with funding from the government, which opened in September 2007.
West Norwood is also home to L'Arche Lambeth, a L'Arche Community founded in 1977 by Therese Vanier. The Community provides 5 residential care homes and 5 day provision workshops for adults with learning disabilities, and is part of the International Federation of L'Arche.
There are churches of many denominations, including the Anglican parishes of All Saints and St Luke's, the Catholic parish of St Matthew's, the Chatsworth Baptist Church, and the Roupell Methodist Church, as well as several newly arrived faith groups that follow the evangelical or charismatic tradition. In 2000, All Saints Church, home of the Lambeth Orchestra, burned down, but it re-opened on the same site in 2006 thanks to the sustained work of parishioners and the local community. The longest serving member of the clergy is Provost John Devane, parish priest at St Matthew's, West Norwood, since May 1970, who retired in September 2007.
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