An open letter to Enfield Councillors: a little kindness

Dear Councillors

Last summer I wrote to the Mayor about Southgate Town Hall about Betty Wright (nee Walton) a lady who had written to me via the Palmers Green Jewel in the North website with a unique connection with the Town Hall. She was born there in 1927 and lived there until she married in 1951 – her father was fireman and Mace bearer and she had many happy memories from that time. I believe George Walton may appear in one of the pictures in your Enfield history display upstairs at the Dugdale Centre.

Cllr Cranfield kindly sent my letter on to a number of other colleagues on Enfield Council, saying at the time that she felt that it was a reasonable request. But despite having sent various reminders to the Mayor’s office and others, I have never had any kind of response or acknowledgment.

I fully understand that Enfield has some very serious issues to deal with and this was never going to be a number one priority. However, while press this year and last indicated that Town Hall had been sold, I understand now from the local papers that in fact the sale was only completed very recently indeed.

I had originally requested that you give Palmers Greeners one last opportunity to view their town hall before it goes into private hands. I am no longer asking this, though of course, given Palmers Green Jewel in the North’s emphasis on history and people and valuing the local area, I would love it to happen.

But it seems to me that you or Council staff might still be in a position to use your good offices to grant Betty Wright and her surviving siblings the opportunity to view her old home once more before the work begins in earnest.

It is something she would dearly love to happen. Amidst all the business and complexities and difficulties of Council life, it would be an act of kindness on your part, which I hope you will be in a position to agree to or facilitate.

With kind regards

Sue Beard

Palmers Green Jewel in the North