Category: Community

A tale or two of Palmers Green

Post author By Suzanne Beard
Post date April 9, 2014
2 Comments on A tale or two of Palmers Green

There’s a rare chance to see some old Palmers Green footage this evening at the quarterly meeting of the Fox Lane and District Residents Association.

Jenny Bourke from the Palmers Green Tales oral history project team will be showing some films of old Palmers Green and explaining more about the project, which aims to capture the memories of local people.

The evening will begin with normal FLDRA business at 7.45pm in Burford Church Hall (entrance in Burford Gardens). If you are not a member of FLDRA and care about your local area, why not pop in and join?

Community Green Palmers Green Palmers Green Planning and open spaces

Enfield wins “mini-Holland” cycling bid

Post author By Suzanne Beard
Post date March 10, 2014
1 Comment on Enfield wins “mini-Holland” cycling bid

Could it be ‘all change’ for Palmers Green?

Enfield is one of three outer London Boroughs to be awarded money as part of the ‘mini Holland’ cycling initiative, it was announced at a special press conference this morning.

Enfield described its mini-Holland bid submitted in December “as the centrepiece of the ‘Going Full Cycle’ vision for Enfield and a new integrated strategy for cycling, developed on Dutch principles and focusing on cycle safety, health, access to schools, social inclusion and access to employment.” Though much of the focus is on Enfield Town and Edmonton, Enfield’s proposals include a safe and continuous cycle lane to be provided along the A105 (Green Lanes) from Enfield Town to Palmers Green, linking into Haringey’s Quietway network – a change that means remodeling of main junctions.

Meanwhile, Palmers Green residents are also due to be consulted later this month on plans for the centre of Palmers Green between Bourne Hill and Broomfield Lane. A mobile consultation space will be stationed on Alderman’s Hill between 21 and 24 March, in which you will be invited to place cards on a 3D model of Palmers Green town centre constructed by pupils of St Anne’s High School. A flyer is being delivered to inform residents and invite them to take part.

For more information, visit the Palmers Green Community website.

Art and Culture Community Enfield History Palmers Green Southgate

Vane search ended

The Weld Chapel, demolished to make way for Christ Church Southgate. Image (c) Enfield Local Studies Archive

A little bit of Palmers Green and Southgate’s history has reemerged in Sundridge Hertfordshire.

In our section on this website titled survivals, oddities and curiosities we told of the story of the weather vane which sat on a garage in the north circular road, on the site of McIntoshes old forge. The weather vane had originally graced the Weld chapel (built 1615) . The chapel was demolished in 1862 to make way for Christ Church, Southgate, and the vane had sat atop one of the Walker family’s barns until it was brought back to the forge in the 1920s.

Stephens Engineering moved to the forge site in 1968 and remained there for forty years before relocating five years ago. There were fears that the vane had been lost.

Not so. Engineer Bill Stephens has now restored and repainted it, and it now sits atop his new premises in Thundridge Business park. Bill welcomes anyone who would like to see it to pop along. More information about the story of the vane here.

Art and Culture Community Food Palmers Green

Bim’s and Baskervilles provide home comforts on BBC 1

Post author By Suzanne Beard
Post date February 23, 2014
No Comments on Bim’s and Baskervilles provide home comforts on BBC 1

Palmers Green institutions Bim’s Kitchen and Baskervilles feature on James Martin’s Home Comforts on BBC1 tomorrow afternoon (Monday) at 3.45.

The programme focuses on small artisan producers who make their products from home. Bim’s Kitchen were filmed just before Christmas, making their award winning African Baobab Chilli Jam, before decamping with the film crew to Baskervilles tea room, who stock their products, for a tasting with some customers.

We haven’t seen a preview,” says Nicola Adedeji, who runs Bim’s Kitchen as a family business with husband James (Bim), “It will be interesting to see which bits of a whole day of filming they use in the 3 min film…!”

If you havent yet tried Bim’s Kitchen’s products, there is rather a treat in store for you. My bap at the Palmers Green festival is still fresh in my mind.

Bim’s use ingredients native to or commonly used in Africa like baobab fruit, cashew nuts, alligator pepper, cubeb and hibiscus flowers amongst others, to make easy-to-use sauces and condiments. Reading through the mouth watering recipes on their website this evening has made me a tad unsatisfied with our choice of tea, and Baskervilles closed an hour ago. Boo. But they are open again tomorrow. Hurrah!

Community Palmers Green Southgate

Who is he?

Does anyone recognise this smiling local dignitary?

Jane Lloyd contacted us recently in the hope that someone in the area can provide information on the portrait, which she found in one of her family albums.

His name may have been Gibbs or Hole and it seems possible that he was a mayor or councillor of Southgate between the wars. Says Jane, it says Palmers Green on the back of the photo (and Camera Craft PG on the front) but there is no further information, and she is not aware of any particular family connection with the area. Unless you know differently….

Art and Culture Community Enfield Green Palmers Green History Palmers Green Planning and open spaces

This is the sound of the suburbs

Post author By Suzanne Beard
Post date January 28, 2014
No Comments on This is the sound of the suburbs

What does Palmers Green sound like?

One answer is contained in a new sound map produced by a fascinating London website, London Sound Survey. The map pays tribute to Beck’s iconic map of the underground, but instead of tube lines, the focus is on waterways, or more accurately, the sounds around London’s Waterways, including the New River at Palmers Green, and at other sites as the 400 year old man-made water course makes its way into the city.

In the Palmers Green recording, taken at the New River by Oakthorpe Road in September 2011, you can hear traffic, children playing outside the mosque, birdsong, airplane drone, and in a back garden a mastiff begins barking.

Elsewhere on the site there is a two-minute recording of Green Lanes at Palmers Green – mostly traffic, speech and the obligatory car horn. The sounds are somehow soothing, and make you wonder what Palmers Green might sound like in 50 years time and how strange the sounds might be to our descendents.

The map is part of a much wider website dealing with sound in the capital – now and in the past. There are some wonderful things contained therein and I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

One to explore