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
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
Favourite building: Lord Leighton’s house – ‘when you walk in it’s a transplanted Moorish temple in gorgeous vivid turquoise….”
Least favourite building: Archway Tower ‘protruding like a rotten tooth’.
Favourite Open Space: Waterlow Park
Favourite Watering Hole: The Clissold Arms in Fortis Green “Where the Davies brothers played their first gigs…the Landlord has done a terrific job in turning the front of the pub into a Kinks room.”
Favourite London book: Angel Pavement by J B Priestley.
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.”
The Pinkham Way Alliance has called for local residents to rally round amid fears that plans to build a giant waste incinerator may be pushed ahead, despite widespread objections from local people.
A recent hearing of the North London Waste Plan (NLWP) was suspended. We also recently reported on an application to Haringey Council to get part of the Pinkham Way site (formerly Friern Barnet sewage works) registered as a town or village green.
Now is not the time to be complacent, say the Alliance.
“We don’t yet know whether the suspension of the North London Waste Plan (NLWP) hearing will just delay it until autumn, or lead to the plan being thrown out,” said Bidesh Sarkar, Chair of the Alliance in a recent communication to supporters. “However, either of these outcomes signal what is now a very dangerous period for our campaign”.
“There’s now a real risk that the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) will try to push forward the planning application for a massive facility at Pinkham Way regardless of the waste plan. If this happens, it is likely to be soon.”
The NLWA owns the Pinkham Way site, and has been forging ahead with a multi-billion pound procurement process for dealing with waste in north London, now at an advanced stage.
“If the procurement is stopped, it’ll be hugely problematic for the authority.”
The Alliance has drawn attention to the importance of the site in terms of biodiversity, as well as the health risks, odour and noise associated with locating the plant in a densely populated area.
Haringey Council has stated that the planning application is ‘on hold’ until after the inspector’s final hearing for the NLWP. The Alliance is seeking to establish that this is the case and is taking legal advice. However, this is costing money and the Alliance is seeking donations
The next fundraising event will be on Sunday 8 July, at St Andrew’s Church on Alexandra Park Road at 4pm when the Galitzin Chamber Ensemble will perform famous works by Strauss and Kodaly and Schubert’s Trout Quintet. The concert will feature pianist Sam Haywood, who was a finalist aged 13 on BBC Young Musician of the Year and has since gone on to an international career. Tickets are £10 and can be booked on the events section of the Pinkham Way Alliance website.
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.
Joe Studman in action
“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
There really can have been few festivals that have been put on with such energy, commitment, joy and sense of fun and heritage as Winchmore Hill’s N21 Festival. The tireless organising committee put on a programme of 120 events in the course of a single week, including talks, films, exhibitions, parades and classes.
History boards put up all over Winchmore Hill for the N21 festival
I have attended just a few, but all have been wonderful, warm and fascinating, including Graham Dalling’s talk on Southgate before the first world war, Joe Studman‘s entertaining exploration of the Dark Side of Winchmore Hill (perhaps I will stay down here where its safe in PG) and a wonderful show of films about the area. Many are being repeated in the coming weeks having sold out. Check N21.net for more details.
The festival ends tomorrow, with the Winchmore Hill Fancy Fair. The day will start at 10 O’clock with a grand opening, with the Mayor of Enfield, David Burrowes MP and some of Winchmore Hill’s 98 and 100-year-old residents. There will be stalls, performances, a chill out zone and children’s area, and much more. See the Fancy Fair section of the N21 site for more details.
