The Olympic site has today confirmed that the torch will be leaving Southgate College at 3.58.
As previously reported, it will then be heading past Southgate underground station before turning down The Bourne and into Palmers Green. So we should be seeing it a little while after 4.
If you cant quite make it in person, you can see the relay live at http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/video/live.html
Are you ready for Wednesday? The Olympic torch relay will be in Palmers Green in just a few days!
The relay is due to start from the roundabout at the junction of Waterfall Road and Oakleigh Park Road at 3.16pm, before heading up Waterfall Road to Southgate Green. From Southgate Green it will go up the High Street. At Southgate Underground Station, it will turn into The Bourne passing the entrance to Grovelands Park and on into Bourne Hill, turning onto Green Lanes at St John’s Church and heading on up to Winchmore Hill Broadway. After the Ridgway, it will turn into Church Street and on into Edmonton, Tottenham, and Hornsey. The day finishes with an evening celebration at Alexandra Palace.
The Barnet/Enfield/Harringey section is one of the last before the Olympic opening ceremony on the 27 July. In all, 24 runners will carry the torch on the Enfield stretch of the route, aged from 13 to 81. Runners include commonwealth 800 metres finalist Darren St Claire and Jack Otter of Chase Side Enfield, who was seriously wounded in Afganistan in 2009, and lost both legs and an arm.
The youngest on the Enfield section will be Lauren Englefield 13, James Horrex, 14 and Palmers Green student Katka Pikhartova 14. The oldest will be Alzheimer’s campaigner and local althlete Derek Wood 81. You can see nominations for the amazing and inspirational people who will be Olympic torch bearers at http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/torchbearers/ . There are also further details of the route and live updates on the main Olympic site.
St John’s church will be offering refreshments in the afternoon, on a day which at last looks like it could be a scorcher!
Lost for something to do this weekend? A reminder that this Sunday 22 July Joe Studman of www.jaywalks.co.uk will be leading a walk around our streets to search for signs of the lost hamlet of Palmers Green and trace its development from village to Edwardian suburb. The walk will begin at Palmers Green station at 2.30pm.
Tickets are £3 or £2 for concessions but we have two free tickets to give away. To enter, just answer this simple question, the answer to which can be found on this site.
What is the name of the pub which once stood on the site of Truro House?
The winner will be randomly selected from correct entries on Thursday 19 July at 5 pm. To enter, email palmersgreenn13@btinternet.com
For more information about the walk, please visit www.jaywalks.co.uk
Back to Zero front man and local lad Brian Kotz this week joined the ranks of the capital’s listed Londoners.
The feature, on Robert Elms’ popular show on BBC London, invites London’s celebrities and personalities to answer 15 questions about their favourite buildings, open spaces, shops and drinking holes as well as talking about their lives and concocting their ideal London day out.
Osidge born Kotz spoke of his early memories of Southgate, and Southgate Underground station in particular. The station was designed by Charles Holden and opened in 1933. “I can imagine when it was built – Southgate was mostly fields at that point – it must have looked like something had arrived from outer space. And for me, it was a kind of space portal..! I knew that half an hour away was where I wanted to work, be, see bands play….and its a beautiful building.”
Kotz’s first escape into the wider world was in 1975 when the Record Mirror advertised for young people to take part in a new pop quiz, Pop Quest. Run by Yorkshire TV, the show featured teams from different regions of Britain in a knock out contest. Kotz’s encylopeadic memory, honed through years of radio listening and access to his older brother’s record collection, helped secure success for the Thames team. After Pop Quest Kotz went on to win Quiz Kid on Radio 1, which was in its final year of being presented by Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman.
In 1979 with the coming of the mod revival, he became a performer himself. “Your side of heaven” was Back to Zero’s only single release, but is now regarded as a cult classic. Since then, Kotz has continued to make guest appearances and sung with a number of bands, as well as becoming a regular on the London music scene as a performer, DJ, gig goer, collector and enthusiast – not just music but (as the son of a blue badge guide who grew up surrounded by his father’s books about the capital), anything London related.
In June he walked 149 miles from London to Utrecht to raise money for the Oncology Department of the Diakonessenhuis in Utrecht, in memory of his friend Michel Terstegen, who ran Da Capo records in the city. The walk was also in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Ward at UCH.
Kotz responses to the ‘famous 15 questions included
The interview can be heard on BBC iplayer until Sunday at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00vhct3.
Donations are still open following the London to Utrecht walk
The new community cafe for Broomfield Park could be open by the end of the year, according to the Palmers Greenery team.
The new cafe will be in the Doll’s House toilets immediately to the west of the boating lake. Over 150 people have already signed up as volunteers to help get the cafe up and running, and £35,000 has been secured from the Council for start-up, refurbishment, stock and volunteer training.
As the site is a park asset, the Council needs to progress the next steps, but the aim is to open before the end of 2012. Meanwhile the priority is building awareness and support says Sarah Cotton from the Palmers Greenery volunteers.
On Friday 27th July there will be a gathering of volunteers and well wishers for a group photo for the media at 2pm at the Palmers Greenery site. All are welcome, and its hoped that people will come along with a picnic and make an afternoon of it, weather permitting. There will also be a Palmers Greenery stand at the Palmers Green Festival on 2 September, and a Facebook page has been set up for the latest news .
“This is an exciting initiative that will be great for Broomfield Park and the wider Palmers Green area, but will depend on as many people as possible getting involved. We would love it if you were able to join us on the 27th or at the festival.”
For more information visit www.friendsofbroomfieldpark.org
It’s strange to think that just over 100 years ago Palmers Green amounted to not much more than a pub, a post office, some big houses and a few modest cottages. On Sunday 22 July Joe Studman of www.jaywalks.co.uk will be leading a walk around our streets to search for signs of the lost hamlet of Palmers Green and trace its development from village to Edwardian suburb.
“We’ll be trying to peel off the layers to reveal Palmers Green’s growth during the 20th century.” says Joe.
The walk will be paying special attention to ‘reading, ritin’ and rithmatic’” – a concept which may have been born here in Palmers Green, thanks to the charismatic high living Alderman of London, Sir William Curtis MP who lived at Cullands Grove (now the Lakes Estate).
Joe – from Winchmore Hill but born within the sound of Bow Bells – is a qualified City of London Guide and also guides for The National Trust and English Heritage. His tours are intended to entertain as well as inform, as those who came on his (sell out) walks last week as part of the N21 Festival will attest.
The walk on the 22nd will begin at Palmers Green station at 2.30pm. Tickets are £3 or £2 for concessions and can be purchased from Joe direct.
Joe will also be leading a walk around Southgate on Sunday 19 August and repeating his recent Winchmore Hill walks in the coming weeks for those who weren’t able to come along in June. He also leads a range of walks in the City of London. For more information, visit www.jaywalks.co.uk