On Christmas Day we received a lovely comment on the site from Betty Wright nee Walton, who told us that she was born in the Town Hall and lived there for the first 24 years of her life!
Southgate Town Hall from the New River December 2012 Image Sue Beard
I was born in the Town Hall on 26th September 1927, and lived there with my parents and four brothers and two sisters until 1951. Dad was in the Southgate Fire Brigade (2nd Officer George Walton) so was my brother Jack. Dad was also the Mace Bearer for the Mayor of Southgate. We had a wonderful life in the Town Hall, being the envy of all our friends because of the space we had to ‘play in’…..yes, even the Mayors Parlour ! I am very glad it has been cleaned and updated and is being made use of, instead of just falling apart with age and neglect. I hope I have the opportunity to see it in all it’s glory one day.
We asked her if she could tell us more, and thankfully she has been kind enough to do so. Betty writes absolutely beautifully, so we will just reprint her email in full.
We lived in the basement of the Town Hall, which sounds pretty horrific, but believe me it was kept spotless and highly polished, thanks to our Mum. We had a large living room in the front, a kitchen, bathroom, two toilets, a washing room where Mum had her washing machine (a real luxury in those days) and eventually four bedrooms. Rather crowded by today’s standards but we considered ourselves well off.
We had the run of the New River Bank……my youngest sister and I actually played in a converted fever ambulance…..dating back probably 50 years.We made curtains and made it look like a caravan…..oh what wonderful days they were.
During the War, our parents wanted my sister and I to be evacuated, but I begged not to be sent away…….it was much more exciting with everything going on in the Town Hall. I remember people coming to view bodies of people killed in air raids (the mortuary was behind the Town Hall, next to the Fire Station). I used to charge my friends a halfpenny to look through the mortuary window which was frosted, but you could see the outline of a ‘body’…..and red rubber gloves on the windowsill which were much more scary !
I went to St Angela’s Convent, purely because it was across the road, and Mum would know we were alright after an air raid. I remember the bombs which dropped in Green Lanes (a bomb carriage was blown off and all the bombs came down in one go), and Pitman’s College was hit and one of my friends killed and another lost a leg. The station on Alderman’s Hill was also bombed.
The house on the corner of Oakthorpe Road was hit by a bomb (where our Doctor lived)….and I remember going to view the damage to hear someone say “Oh that was meant for the Town Hall”.
In one of the statements I read on ‘your site’ someone saying “The Town Hall is in the grounds of the Library”……..believe me, the Library came very much later….I was about 13…when I applied to join the Library. I was asked my name and address and of course said Town Hall, Palmers Green, N.13 to which the assistant said “Oh don’t be so silly, I mean your address….not the address of the library” !!! I was nasty enough to enjoy insisting that the Town Hall WAS my address.
Another time I was stopped in the street and asked for my Identity card and when I produced it to the policeman he said “Oh are you a refugee?”. So my address caused quite a lot of queries.
What a wonderful story – I hope that Betty will tell us more about her memories of the area. Meanwhile, Betty wonders if there are still people who remember the Waltons and the wonderful parties in the Town Hall. If you do, or know someone who might, please get in touch!
Palmers Green born author of Joy of Sex Dr Alex Comfort was the subject of a Radio 3’s Sunday Feature in December.
Presented by author Matthew Sweet, Stop Calling Me Dr Sex tells the story of Comfort’s remarkable career, and his ultimate sorrow that his rich range of work – including poetry, broadcasting, political activism and pioneering work in the study of old age – were forever overshadowed by a book he had dashed off in just a few days. Published in 1972, The Joy of Sex had sold 12 million copies worldwide by the time of his death.
At the beginning of the documentary, Comfort’s son Nicholas tells the story of a formative event in Comfort’s childhood, when young Alex lost the use of all but the thumb of his left hand following a schoolboy experiment in his back garden in Palmers Green.
It happened in the spring of 1935, he told presenter Matthew Sweet….
It was the weekend of King George V’s Silver Jubilee and my grandmother had grounded [Comfort] from going to the cinema. He and a school friend stayed home and started making fireworks in the greenhouse that was attached to the back of the house…..
Their first effort produced a large crater in the lawn and my grandmother then sent his friend home. Dad, being a persevering type, kept going and he was working on getting everything into the tube when there was a stray spark and the whole lot went up, including the greenhouse.
The explosion basically destroyed his left hand. He was obviously in a lot of pain and while they were waiting for an ambulance he actually rang his friend to say ‘please dont do this experiment, because the same thing might happen to you’.
Fortunately they got him into hospital and found an extremely accomplished surgeon, a man called Twistington Higgins, who managed to reconstruct enough of his left hand that he still had a workable thumb.
Our big Christmas present this month was news, via North London Newspapers, that plans for a major waste incinerator plant at Pinkham Way had been shelved due to lower waste projections. However, we aren’t out of the woods, or the North London Waste Authority aren’t out of ours….there are still plans to use the site for delivery, sorting and transferring waste, and the withdrawal for plans for Pinkham Way is still dependent on a scheme at Advent Way, Edmonton receiving planning permission.
Winchmore Hill’s St Nicholas Fair was a huge success, with real snow, horse and carriage rides and a petting zoo including a porcupine (which are much bigger than you might imagine!). Meanwhile the N21 Festival inspired book, Journey Through Winchmore Hill Past and Present sold out within a week. No plans for reprinting I am afraid, so if you’ve got one, you already have a collector’s item.
Palmers Green’s Aroma Patisserie was named the best independent bakery in London as part of the ITV series Britain’s Best Bakery. Unsurprisingly their speciality bake as part of the competition was Baklava, but we also recommend the lovely kolouri, slightly honey flavoured with sesame seeds and lovely just served warm with butter. The kindly Aroma folk will also gently correct your accent for you without laughing if you aren’t sure how to pronounce the names of any of their produce. You can view some of the series here https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/britain-s-best-bakery/series-1/episode-10.
The cash mob mania grows. Pioneered in the area by Bowes and Bounds Connected and the folks over at Haringey Online, cash bearing mobs hit the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green in December, and up in Enfield, Karen Mercer of My Coffee Shop got the north of the borough to develop a veritable mobbing habit. She gave a terrific interview about Enfield’s ‘shock cash mobs’ on BBC News back in November – if you missed it, click here.
In another part of the woods, audio recordings were found of the Wall Family of New Southgate celebrating Christmas, with the earliest from 1904. More soberingly, we also reported on the food bank set up by Palmers Green United Reformed Church as part of the Trussell Trust. We may all be feeling the pinch but life is getting very tough indeed for some of our neighbours. Please give what you can.
And finally, Susana Buuron became the 100th person to ‘like’ Palmers Green Jewel in the North on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/#!/PalmersGreen). Thanks Susana!
And thank you so much too, to everyone who has visited the site this year, sent in pictures and ideas, and given so much encouragement and support. We felt Palmers Green deserved a website to celebrate what makes it special. Not something commercial but something that celebrates our history, community, and people. Its been great, a lot of fun and we have met some fantastic people.
And so on into 2013…! Happy New Year, and don’t forget to send me your contributions.
Sue from PG
ps nearly forgot, a final reminder about Floating Lanterns in Broomfield Park tomorrow Sunday 30th December, from 2 to 3.30. Come and float your home made boats, and find out more about coming events and plans for the house and park. Floating lanterns pic by kind permission of Hugh Humphrey
There’s nothing like a spooky tale or two at Christmas, and Joe Studman will have a few to tell on his Darker Side of Winchmore Hill walk on Saturday 22 December, including stories of old railway workers, black dogs and sinister doings in the woods.
The walk starts from Winchmore Hill Station at 7.30. Tickets are £5 a head from Hunter’s newsagents on Winchmore Hill Green, or direct from Joe on the night.
But two lucky winners can go along free by answering this simple question:
By what name is Elizabeth Sawyer, who was born in Winchmore Hill in the seventeenth century, better known?
As ever, the answer could be on this website. Entries by 5 pm on Wednesday 19 December to palmersgreenn13@btinternet.com
People turned out in their hundreds this weekend for Winchmore Hill’s first ever St Nicholas Fair.
The Green was transformed into a winter wonderland, with attractions including horse and carriage rides, storytelling, a petting zoo with a porcupine, music, dancing, food and drink, and the grand arrival of St Nicholas himself on horseback strewing the way with chocolate coins.
“ We’re really pleased that everyone came out on Saturday” said organisers Ann Humphrey and Zoe Ryder.
“Our events this year have been all about bringing the community together, and to see everyone meeting up with old friends, the children having fun and enjoying some food and drink, it’s just brilliant !”
Planning is getting underway for the 2013 Palmers Green and Open Studios and Art Trail weekend following the resounding success of this year’s event.
The event will run over the weekend of 8-9 June, and will involve designers, artists and artisans from all over N13, N14 and N21.
The Open Studios team is inviting applications from local creatives who would be interested in taking part. You dont need to have your own studio space to get involved – alternative spaces such as shop windows will be available to to exhibit (so if you are a local shop or business with a window to the world, the organisers would like to hear from you too).
“It would be particularly nice to attract some sculptors – we didnt have any last year”, says organiser Dan Meier.
The weekend is a rare opportunity to put the community in touch with artists, see how they work and buy direct from them. Twenty-eight artists and businesses took part last year, with an art trail around the area with participating businesses, and local eateries running ‘art trail’ menus.
