Simon Hooberman stood down from editing Topics earlier this year. It seemed appropriate to say thank you, look back over his long association with both Streatham and the SVPOA. His earliest memories of Streatham are as a nine year old boy, living briefly in Bed and Breakfast accommodation with his parents while they moved from one house to another. This meant they had to eat out every evening and found many a good meal in Streatham!
His secondary school was Battersea Grammar School. He first moved to live in The Vale in 1986 when he came to live in Greyhound Lane. He immersed himself in local life and was elected as a councillor for what was then Streatham South Ward in 1986. As well as being active on behalf of his constituents, he sat on a variety of council committees, including Public Services, Management Services, Construction Services and Police Monitoring Committees. When Lambeth Council was without a party in overall control, the parties rotated the role of committee chair. Simon had the dubious honour of having to chair a committee when over two hundred members of the public attended due to a controversial item on the agenda. At no notice the venue had to changed from a lowly committee room to the council chamber in the Town Hall. Keeping that meeting in order was an interesting task.
During Simon’s time serving as a councillor, he fostered a close working relationship with the SVPOA, which continued after he stood down from the council in 1998. When the association changed from being the Streatham Vale Property Owners Association, to become the Property Occupiers Association, Simon was able to become a member and joined the Environmental Committee. He was chair of that Committee for almost four years until he moved out of the area in December 2003. In recognition of the work he had done for the Association, he was made an honorary member of the Association, and was always available to assist with completion of the objectives he has instigated whilst working on the Environmental Committee.
When Geoffrey Cox stood down as Editor of Topics in 2022, Simon took on this task, and contributed many articles over the years. He still lives in Streatham and is a regular visitor to The Vale. He always attends Association functions and has for many years acted as “Town Crier” at the annual Horticultural Show in the Church Hall. Everyone can hear the announcements of Show and Raffle prize winners! It goes to show, you can take the man out of The Vale but you can’t take The Vale out of the man. We look forward to making more use of his announcing prowess.