Author: Suzanne Beard

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Ancient rituals at the orchard

Broomfield Community Orchard is inviting you come along, be merry, and make a right old racket tomorrow (Sunday 3 February) as part of the second annual Wassail.

According to Wikipedia, wassail is both an old English word meaning ‘be you healthy’, and the hot mulled cider drunk as part of wassailing, an ancient drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year.

The festivities will be presided over by Master of Ceremonies and accordian player Chris Turner who has requested that attendees come armed with a small bowl (or cup) to drink (and pour the rest over the tree roots) and something with which to make a noise, such as a whistle, horn, drums, tin cans, pots and pans.

The event kicks off at 2 –  but if you have time to spare and can  lend a hand with setting up, please pop along from 1.

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Second exhbition opens at new Southgate gallery

Tonight sees the opening of the second exhibition to be run at the new Space Art Gallery in Southgate.

This month the gallery features work by Polish artist Maciej Hoffman, and a group show by some fantastic local artists.

Hoffman was  born in Wroclaw but now lives and works in the UK. Sometimes it feels as if the work is painting itself, he says:

The subjects which interest me result from my experience, from everyday life, from the everyday problems, and the issues that puzzle us throughout the years, forming our way of looking at the world, changing us. My observations are directed to catch the moments of tension, drama, and the clashes in the everyday life.

The local artists exhibition includes work by Annabelle Dawson, Samantha Lesley, Helen M Ryan and Fionn Wilson.

If you cant make tonight’s opening event between 7 and 9, there are lots more opportunities to visit through February. The gallery is open Monday to Friday: 17:30-19:30, Saturdays from 12-16:00, and Sundays 12-16:00 and by appointment.

Twilight over St Paul’s by Helen M Ryan, reproduced by kind permission of Space Art Gallery and the artist

 

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Devastating news on Broomfield bid

The sad saga of Broomfield House looks set to continue following news this week that the Heritage Lottery Fund bid to restore the 16th century building has been turned down.

According to reports from Enfield Today this evening, the refusal was due to HLF’s concerns about the scale of the restoration project, the level of the grant which had been requested (£4.175 million), and the long-term sustainability of the project, combined with the sheer number of applications received in the current round.

The fear is that, without support from the fund, it will now be almost impossible for the restoration to proceed.  The question: what next for Palmers Green’s oldest building?

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History Palmers Green Uncategorized

The origins of Broomfield

One of the many varieties of brome grass Image: preferredseed.com

Broomfield House, Broomfield Park…but why “Broomfield”?

The origins of the name Broomfield was one of the subjects tackled by Peter Brown of Broomfield Museum Trust as part of his fascinating talk  at Trinity at Bowes last week.

The wife of Sir John Spencer, who owned Broomfield from 1599 to 1610 was born Alice Bromfield, but that doesn’t seem to have been it, he mused.

I mentioned Bromefield as a surname, but how do we explain it in Palmers Green? The answer is, I can’t!

There may have been a family called Broomfield in the area but we don’t know.

In a map from 1600 there are 9 Broomfields in the parish of Edmonton.

Is it to do with brome grass, which grows in woodlands, and has seed heads which bend over at the top? Horses eat brome grass but cows don’t touch it. Broomfield may have been land used for grazing horses.

But it also might be broom, of which there are 70 varieties.

It grows near the round pond. Some years ago, the Friends of Broomfield Park planted six broom bushes with the permission of Enfield Council.

If you sit on the Centenary Seat, you can enjoy the sun and, in the season, the glorious display of broom in front of you.

But I doubt if one person in a thousand thinks “Hmm … Broom … Broomfield!!!”

But that’s the connection.

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Community History Palmers Green Uncategorized

Broomfield House – decision expected soon

News is expected this week on the outcome of the four million pound bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore Broomfield House to its former glory.

The bid was submitted in October by Enfield Council, in partnership with the Broomfield House Trust and Friends of Broomfield Park, with the aim of returning the house as faithfully as possible to its nineteenth century appearance, without the mock Tudor facade which was added in the 1930s. Latest indications are that there may be just a few more nail-biting days before we know more on how the bid has been received.

For further information about the house and the bid visit www.broomfieldhouse.org.

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Community Palmers Green Planning and open spaces Uncategorized

Un’bird’en yourself!

Have you got an hour to spare on Saturday or Sunday?

This weekend people all over the uk will be taking part in the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. To get involved all you need to do is make a note of the largest number of each species you see at one time in the period of one hour, and report your findings to RSPB. Not birds on the wing, we hasten to add– that way madness lies – but just those you spot in your garden.

Secretly we suspect that birds rather look forward to the Birdwatch weekend each January. Maybe a little more bird food gets put out, though its something RSPB advises we should be doing all through the year.

Up in the Northern reaches of Palmers Green, our birds like the usual bread, cake, suet, dried fruit, the odd leftover potato and rice. They turn up their beaks at niger seeds, which we optimistically put out in the home of luring in some finches.  And they will only eat apples on sufferance. Maybe they go off them after the autumn glut.

The real mystery is what birds will turn up during the course of a year.  In our first year in PG, we didn’t see a single sparrow or starling, only a standard lineup of robins, blackbirds, crows, jays, pigeons and various types of tit.  But since then we have seen greater spotted woodpeckers, green woodpeckers, and, once, a redwing. We still haven’t seen any parakeets, though once they arrive we will probably loathe them.

What is the most obscure bird sighting you have had in Palmers Green? And did you take a photo?