Category: Art and Culture

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Art and Culture Community History Uncategorized

Ally Pally receives a £16.8 million pound boost

There’s new hope for regeneration of Alexandra Palace following news yesterday that the Heritage Lottery Fund is to back plans to bring new life to the site.

Image: Panhard - creative commons licence
Image: Panhard – creative commons licence

Ally Pally was one of six major schemes to be supported by the fund. The money means that plans to restore the BBC studios and its wonderful Victorian theatre will go ahead, beginning with an HLF funded project to develop the plans in more detail. There are also plans to digitise extensive archive material.

Ally Pally is often acknowledged as the birthplace of television. The first regular high definition TV pictures were beamed from the BBC studios in the south-east wing in November 1936. Later, Ally Pally became an early home of the Open University broadcasts.

The theatre, built in 1875, has in turn been a cinema, a home to Belgian refugees and a German internment camp. Following two fires, Ally Pally is said to be subject to a curse but successful lottery bid means that its fortunes are about to change.

For more about the regeneration plans, click here

 

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Art and Culture Bowes Park Community Food Health History Music Planning and open spaces Shops Southgate Uncategorized

That was April (and a bit of March) in Palmers Green –a round up of news and events

It was all rush rush rush in Palmers Green April.

Latest data published by the Office of the Rail Regulator revealed what we always knew – Palmers Green station is a tad busy. Roger Preston from FCC kindly furnished us with some additional data on some other stations on the Great Northern route. Some of them were even busier. But most were on the wider part of the route and all were interchanges. Looks like we are the busiest station that isn’t.

2013-04-10 10.30.36Palmers Green residents were distraught to be deprived of their burger fix in April when local Scottish brasserie MacDonald’s was closed for a number of days.  Meanwhile, the gym on Green Lanes suffered from water damage, also briefly closing Westlakes below.

There was much local debate over the suspended coffee scheme. Enfield Chase’s Karen Mercer, owner of My Coffee Stop on the platform, suggested that there might be better ways of helping the homeless than handing over money to Starbucks and other chains. The story was first covered in the local papers, and then went London-wide in the Londonist. In addition to running the coffee shop, Karen is the mastermind behind the Ideas Station, which provides training and support on social media. Sign up to her Facebook group to find out more.

Over in Westminster, our local MP David Burrowes campaigned for longer sentences for Chris Huhne and Vicky Price and opposed amendments to planning legislation which would have allowed individual councils to opt out of plans to relax controls on permitted development, in particular domestic extensions. However, Eric Pickles is understood to have given the red light to a compromise whereby neighbours are required to be consulted over extensions.

Mr Burrowes was back on Palmers Green’s streets in April opposing plans to open yet another betting shop, this time on the ground floor of Trios Banqueting Suite, an issue which is attracting attention on all sides of the political spectrum. Let’s hope the protest is successful in the way that it has been here in the past and more recently in Lewisham. Unfortunately fruit machines make huge amounts of money and betting shops and their ilk can move in because traditional shops are closing. If you don’t want them here, then that’s a big argument for making a resolution to use your local high street.

We unearthed a little more local history this month, including a fantastic piece of footage of a carnival in 1931 celebrating 50 years of Southgate as an independent borough from Edmonton, all shot in Palmers Green. We shone more light on the mysterious history of Truro House, Southgate Station turned 80, and we heard Chas n Dave sing about old Edmonton Green, and learned that the horsemeat scandal that rocked the country was nothing new – we had our own. Meanwhile, Grange Park was rocked by anarchist direct action, and a new local debating society was launched.

Grovelands centenary postcardAs we approach summer, the build-up is beginning for a number of local festivals. The first is next weekend when we celebrate 100 years since the opening of Grovelands Park. It looks set to be a fantastic event, with a pageant evoking the original opening ceremony, boats on the lake, music, food and a host of other activities. June 8-9 sees the return of Open Studios, now in its second year and bigger and even better than in 2012. June 15 is the date for this year’s annual Palmers Green Shopping Festival, organised by local businesses, and 1 September the Palmers Green Festival, with a week’s festival events building up to the big day. Meanwhile, Talkies continues at the Dugdale Centre, with its First Thursday series and some exciting additional events promised. More soon.

open gardenIf you are at a loose end this weekend, why not pop along to Arnos Park Lodge to view Elizabeth Dobbie’s beautiful gardens? The event is a fundraiser for Broomfield Park Conservatory, and there will be refreshments and the chance to buy plants from the local area. The entrance is beside 41 Brookdale N11, and the gardens are open from 2-5 on Sunday. You could perhaps combine it with a trip to see the new exhibitions by Reinhard Stammer, Marina Gruzer and Jasper Jones at the Space Art Gallery.

Finally, our thanks to Tony Ourris of Anthony Webb estate agents, who have kindly agreed to support this website. Thanks Tony!

And so we march on into Spring….

Sue from Palmers Green

All through May Space Art Gallery Southgate presents work by Reinhard Stammer, Marina Gruzer and Jasper Jones

Friday 10 May Hill Street Blues Band and Blue Patch at St Harmonicas Blues Club

Saturday 11 May St Paul’s Church May Fair 11am-2pm

Tuesday 14 May Buskers Night at the Step, Myddleton Road

Thursday to Saturday 16-18 May St John’s Players present Hobsons Choice at the St John’s Hall

Friday 17 May St Harmonicas Blues Club

Saturday and Sunday 18-19 May Grovelands Park Festival

Thursday 23 May The New River – a Discover London talk by Peter Berthoud at the Step, Myddleton Road

Friday 24 May St Harmonics Blues Club

Sunday 26 May Plant swap at the Broomfield Conservatory 2.40 to 4.30

30 May to 1 June Acorn Theatre Group present Grease at the Intimate Theatre

Sunday 2 June Live celtic music from Maurice Judge at Broomfield Conservatory 2.30-4.30

Sunday 2 June New River Walk – Hertford to Enfield led by John Polley of the New River Action Group. More walks planned over the summer.

Saturday and Sunday 8-9 June Open Studios and Art Trail

Sunday 9 June Art workshop in Broomfield Conservatory

Saturday 15 June Palmers Green Shopping Festival

Sunday 1 September Palmers Green Community Festival

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Art and Culture Community Food Shops Wood Green

Have your cake and eat it

There is an opportunity to celebrate the highest of art forms – which, though I should not have to spell it out to you, is cake – at the Big Green Bookshop on Sunday.

The bookshop will be host to the Clandestine Cake Club, the idea to ‘Bake, eat and talk about CAKE. Arrive as strangers leave as friends’.  The theme will be “Sweet Reads” and you are invited to choose your favourite book, author or story book character, and bring along an appropriate cake.  Do you like Winnie the Pooh? Then bake a honey cake, and bring in along. Prefer Roald Dahl? Then it’s chocolate all the way…I have no idea what you should bring along if your favourite book is by Irvine Welsh but perhaps you had better just chose another favourite.

Remember to bring enough to share, and bring a container so you can take some cake away with you (if it doesn’t all get eaten). The event is from 2-4, and more details can be found on the Clandestine Cake Club website. www.clandestinecakeclub.co.uk

 Even if you don’t like cake, the bookshop has a great selection of books and is doing wonderful things for Wood Green and the surrounding community. Why not wander along soon anyway? http://www.biggreenbookshop.com/

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Art and Culture Community History Palmers Green Planning and open spaces Shops Southgate Uncategorized

Carnival day Palmers Green 1931

Huge thanks to Nick Cox who alerted us to this wonderful video of carnival day in Palmers Green in 1931.

Made by Camera Craft, the footage was found in a skip by You Tube user Andyvalve100, who we are trying to contact now. He says of this amazing find

The Southgate featured here is the London Suburb and indeed it was while working in the area a few years back that I found this film amongst things being thrown away in a company clearout.

In fact, as you will see, it is all shot in Palmers Green, and gives a wonderful impression of what it might have been like to walk along Palmers Green’s streets over 80 years ago, when many of the buildings were 20 or 30 years old, the streets bustled and the cinemas were still with us.

It shows a wonderful procession of local trades, businesses and groups: the fire brigade, soldiers, nurses, local hospital groups, marching bands, penny farthing riders, peace campaigners (‘truth is the first casualty of war’), polo players, life savers, and a group of ladies with placards showing the evolution of women’s rights. There also seem to be riders from a local hunt.

Among the businesses are Express Dairy, Stapleton and Sons, Northmet, Clayton Homes,  John Eaton, a 1903 Humber car advertising a local garage, and a float from the Cock Forge imagining its own past in 1732. The Easiest Way and Easy Money are showing at the cinema.

The date of the film is September 26 and celebrates the ‘jubilee’ but for the moment I am stumped as to what jubilee this is. George V’s diamond jubilee was in 1935. Does anyone know?

Betty Wright (then Walton) remembers the day well, because it was her fourth birthday – in fact, her birthday often seemed to coincide with annual civic events .

The film taken from there, showing the beginning of Alderman’s Hill…showed where my ‘best friend’ lived…at No 3, above an Estate Agents…her parents were the Care Takers.  It’s a pity the Town Hall wasn’t shown….or at least I didn’t see it.  I feel certain my elder sister and brothers would have been in the Parade…they would have been 14, 15 and 18.

I do remember each year on my birthday (just a co-incidence) the Southgate Fire Brigade gave a display in Broomfield Park (or may be in the grounds at the rear of the Town Hall where the fire station was).  They put on a display of a burning building,  and firemen running up ladders to ‘save’ people.  They also used hook ladders, which my brother excelled at.  Unfortunately, shortly after my son joined the brigade and had set his heart on ‘being as good as Uncle Jack’ with hook ladders…they were banned because of ….yes, you guessed, ‘health and safety’.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSH-R2fgiOk[/youtube]

Please show this film to your friends and relatives  – we would love to hear all your memories, of days like these, what life was like then, and Palmers Green’s people, shops and businesses.

Categories
Art and Culture Bowes Park History Palmers Green Uncategorized

The truth about Truro

One of the most frequent enquiries we get on this website and in search engine referrals is about Truro House. Not everyone knows its name. Sometimes its the ‘old house on the corner’ or ‘old house opposite the Town Hall’. It seems like Truro house has always invited curiosity.

Friend of this website Betty Wright lived in the Town Hall from 1926 to the 1950s and has kindly sent us this press cutting from 1974. Back then Truro House, given that it was built around 1850 or 60, was not much older, relatively speaking, than many of our own houses today – just over 100 years. Even then it seems to have been a bit of a mystery.

IMG_0065[1]

We seem to know the following. It stands on  the site of the Kings Arms pub – Oakthorpe Lane was once Kings Arms Lane.

Peter Brown of the Broomfield Museum Trust also tells us in his fascinating leaflet on Truro House that the land was once owned by Thomas Wilde (1782-1858) first Baron Truro who  lived at Bowes Manor and was Lord Chancellor from 1850-1852. The estate was then purchased by Alderman Thomas, and there was a Truro Cottage on the site in 1867’s ordnance survey site. However, neither Wilde nor Sidney appear to have lived there and it seems like the house may have been rebuilt or remodeled around 1890 when it was occupied by Frederick Colliver, a stock jobber, and his family.

From 1898 it was owned by the Davis family: Miss Charlotte Davis lived there from 1936 to her death in 1995 with her French housekeeper, Mlle Florence Zanotti. Peter tells us that while she was there, she allowed the Southgate Civic Trust Trees Group to inject the eleven elms which stood in the garden to try and save them from Dutch Elm disease – unfortunately without success. She also sold part of the land for the building of Honeysuckle House.

I have heard people say that Miss Davis liked to keep herself to herself, but I would love to hear from people who knew her. Graham Dalling used to tell the story of how, when the Enfield Local Studies Team were based in Palmers Green Library, he and David Pam went knocking on the door, only to be sent away with a flea in their ear.

The fate and more recent goings on in the house remain a bit of a mystery. Is it occupied? Currently there seems to be a small enclosure and the vegetation seems a bit more under control than usual, but perhaps that’s just the recent bad weather.

Perhaps most interesting is the call from writer of the 1974 article, one ‘Fuimus’ to consider the status of the house in the borough, a call which could have been made yesterday and has so far been unheeded. It and the Town Hall are the only buildings with open space fronting the New River, which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year, but which we hardly seem to make anything of in Palmers Green.

Truro House is a beautiful and sizeable  but not large building, with mature trees which have a tree preservation order. The gardens could be a wonderful public space, and the building may have potential as a community meeting place. I am just saying.

truro house

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Art and Culture

Papadopoulos & Sons – guerrilla marketing Greek-style

What would you do if you were suddenly plunged into financial ruin?

There can be few of us who havent stopped to consider that thought over the last couple of years, and particularly those who have been affected by the recent problems in Cyprus. Its also theme of a new film, due to be screened at Cineworld later this week.

4Marcus Markou’s Papadopoulos & Sons tells the story of a self-made Greek immigrant millionaire who reluctantly re-unites with his estranged freewheeling brother to re-open the abandoned fish and chip shop they shared in their youth. It’s strictly ‘feel-good’, the premise, ‘only when you lose everything do you find it all’.

Markou has self financed and self distributed the film, which is being shown in selected cinemas for just one week.  After that, unless it’s very successful, you may have lost your chance.

Industry insiders have described the strategy as mad, but you can help provide them wrong, says Markou: the secret is guerilla marketing, Greek style.

For every Greek in the UK – just the title Papadopoulos & Sons – makes this film an event. I’m not saying that this film only appeals to Greek immigrants and their handsome offspring. Far from it. This is a fairy tale with universal family values and a feel good factor. But whilst the film can and does appeal to non-Greeks for the purpose of my cinema release I am exclusively targeting their joy. It’s our film. It’s about us. It’s our big moment on the big screen – with a lovely story, some wonderful music, some excellent performances. It’s our event.

The call has gone out to all the Greeks I know. And I have asked them to forward the rallying call to all the Greeks they know. The marketing strategy is simple. Greeks know Greeks. We will be targeting Greek churches and community halls, Greek businesses, Greek Facebook groups and anything Greek.

To book tickets for the Enfield showing at Cineworld this Friday 5 April – including a pre  screening Q&A with Markou about the film – click here http://www.cineworld.co.uk/whatson/6158?cinema=22&date=all. And tell all your friends.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83J2uhKjOxE[/youtube]