The Guardian’s ‘Let’s move to…’ on Bounds Green is published this very day: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/dec/13/lets-move-bounds-green-north-london.
Category: Community
The sad loss of Nelson Mandela this week took me back to student days, the boycotting of Barclay’s bank, and concerts and campaigns all over the country in support of the ANC’s struggle.
I was interested therefore to see the excellent piece by Richard McKeever of Bowes and Bounds Connected on the day that Nelson Mandela came to Alexandra Park, not long after his release in 1990. Mandela had come visit life long friend and fellow campaigner Oliver Tambo at his house in Alexandra Park Road – Tambo had spent 30 years in exile in the UK, from 1960 to 1990, and had recently suffered a stroke.
It wasn’t, however, Mandela’s first visit to the area. A self-confessed Anglophile, Mandela had stayed with Tambo during a ten night ‘underground visit’ in 1962.
The area’s connections with the anti-apartheid movement go much deeper however. The presence of Tambo and fellow campaigners Yusuf Dadoo and Vella Pillay, all living in Haringey, meant strong links with the ANC at a time when they were still regarded by some as a terrorist organisation.
African Sounds, the first Nelson Mandela birthday concert, took place at Alexandra Palace in 1983. Headlined by Hugh Masekela, it was attended by one Jerry Dammers who at that time had never heard of Mandela. The chants of “Free Nelson Mandela” from the crowd inspired him to write the Specials song of the same name, and go on to form Artists Against Apartheid with Tambo’s son Dali. Together with the Anti Apartheid Movement, Artists Against Apartheid organised the 70th birthday concert at Wembley which was broadcast all over the world and lead in no small measure to Mandela’s final release.
Tambo died in 1993 and a memorial was erected in the Albert Road Rec in 2007 – Mandela sent a message care of his daughter Zenani, who attended the unveiling.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/vzzy7KZAxtU[/youtube]
The Guardian is calling for insider info on the delights of Bounds Green for it’s ‘Let’s Move To…’ feature in Weekend magazine.
You will have to move fast though. The deadline is today (and be careful what you say or you may never get a table in the Ranelagh again…). Email lets.move@guardian.co.uk.
PG next?
The Christmas lights are on and the festivities are drawing near with unstoppable inevitability. Why not ease yourself into the festivities with a a lovely day out on Sunday at the Open Studios Autumn art and craft fair at St Monica’s Parish Centre?
30 designers will be selling their wares directly to the public from 10-6. Forget Christmas gifts, I am going to buy something for myself!
And if you cant wait til tomorrow, you can get a sneak preview of artists work by popping into Anthony Webb estate agents this afternoon.
And this year, Palmers Green’s tree is real.
So why call this site Palmers Green Jewel in the North?
Perhaps, I sometimes ponder, it should have been called something different. I don’t believe that in every respect PG is a jewel of course (though I don’t see why we shouldn’t love it anyway).
The truth is, I chose the name for two reasons.
First of all, after novelist Paul Scott, who lived in Palmers Green when he was growing up. Scott was born at 130 Fox Lane; his writing career began at 63 Bourne Hill, where the family moved in 1939, having rallied after a period of financial difficulty. Scott took the themes of his childhood – class, financial precariousness, and the feelings of being an outsider they caused – and relocated them to India, to the fictional town of Mayapore and the last days of the Raj for his 1966 novel Jewel in the Crown, the first of the Raj Quartet.
But there is another reason, and perhaps this is the most important but personal one.
It was October when we first arrived in PG. The nights were drawing in. Many was (and is) the time I nearly collided with a tree, walking along looking at all the beautiful stained and coloured glass, shining out of cosy interiors in the falling dusk. I was giddied by the colours, shapes and the sheer variety of designs, and the fact that, one hundred years after they were installed, so much of it is still here.
Soppy I know. Not everything in Palmers Green is a jewel but just maybe these are ours.
So here is an idea. Could we create an online gallery of the stained and coloured glass in the area, so that we could all look at them without walking into trees.
If you would be interested in contributing pictures, please email me at palmersgreenn13@btinternet.com or get in touch via the Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PalmersGreen.