Increasingly often I log in to find something wonderful is posted on the comments section on the website or on the facebook page.
One such recent post was from Carole Benson nee Rabbie who with her Mum, Dad and brother Harold lived in Hedge Lane from 1939 to 1961. These are her memories from the time.
It was a nice place to live growing up in the 40s, 50s and 60s — very neat, “waspy”, middle class, leafy, suburban neighborhood of well-kept front and back gardens, pretty, well maintained parks, lovely old growth trees, an allotment where you could get a very very small bit of land to grow your own vegetables.
Tatum park near the Cambridge Roundabout that had a playground with swings, two slides, and a roundabout and “the field”, a block away from my house — both on Hedge Lane. Broomfield Park on Alderman’s Hill Southgate was magnificent. Our annual school sports day took place there.
Copyright unattributed
The United Dairies and Express dairies delivered our milk (choice of pasteurized, sterilized or Jersey with cream at the top) to our doorstep year round on weekdays, and later bread and eggs. Got free milk each day in school plus artificial orange juice and Radio Malt for our vitamins. We were healthy considering.Walked 20 minutes from my house on corner of Connaught Gardens, to Hazelwood Lane Infants and Primary School — and later on took the bus from the corner on Green Lanes to Glendale Grammar in Wood Green.
During the war, the council gave us concrete and corrugated iron and helped us to make an Anderson bomb shelter in our back garden. It was creepy, smelly, musty, full of spiders and mice and terrifying to sleep in it as a child so my mother took me (my brother wasn’t born till after the war as Daddy was posted to Aldershot and other barracks around the country and was away for 5 years, with hardly any leaves) to family in Edgeware and other relatives much of the time when the bombing was bad. (No homes were bombed near mine but there were some direct hits to factories in the neighborhood.) our garden lawn was never the same after they dug up the shelter. The concrete was left behind and we couldn’t afford to get a digger in to remove it.
There was a prisoner of war internment camp nearby (i don’t remember exactly where) and the prisoners could be seen doing road repairs and manual labour. One family facing us were Italians and were met with suspicion and were ostracized by most of the fearful neighbors.
Food and everything such as shoes, clothes, linens, were on ration and very scarce. Sainsbury’s for cheese and bacon, sliced from slabs and a butcher with cheap cuts, including rabbit, a decent baker with great doughnuts and a Fishmonger frequently sold out so you had to be in the queue when they opened to be sure to get your supplies. (When you had enough coupons or money.)
Nice department store near The Triangle, Evans & Davies”. a drapery shop near Fox Lane, with a wire to convey invoices and money across the ceiling in a pod to the cashier’s kiosk) and Etam’s, i remember, for stockings and undies.
Hardly anyone had a car. Petrol was scarce. Everywhere was walking uphill and downhill. The family doctor Seifert whose home and office were next door was the only person i knew personally who had a car.
The local policemen were nice to kids, i recall. I don’t remember hearing about any crime in our neighborhood growing up.
We were required to take in lodgers in our spare room for the war effort. We had a nice refugee Jewish family (the father was a psychiatrist who was obliged to work as an orderly in a local mental hospital) from Czechoslovakia for a year or so and a after that a Welsh schoolteacher who took me with her to school when i was 3 so i learned to read at that age. We were lucky. Keeping warm was a challenge in the winter. Coal was on ration and virtually unobtainable, wood was impossible to get so we used coke which was cheap and inefficient. One hot bath a week in a freezing bathroom had to suffice.
After the war when my Dad came home from fighting for King and Country, my Dad drove his own London taxi, so we could go to Westcliff or Brighton for the day and have peppermint rock and prawns, cockles and mussels and jellied eels and fish and chips when the weather was nice. We were lucky.
Loved the three movie houses in Palmers Green. There were 2 near The Triangle –the Palmadium was the big one. There was another one The Capitol, in Winchmore Hill where i took my younger brother Harold to see The Ten Commandments. Mummy preferred American musicals to British movies but i loved them all. Went nearly every Thursday, rain or shine. Sat in the one and nines if we were flush.
Remember fabulous Victory Party on Huxley Place (where some of my relatives lived) and other celebrations in Palmers Green. Tea and buttered toasted tea cakes in Lyon’s tea shop on the Triangle with Wall’s ice-cream wrapped in paper in a cone was next to heaven. Of course, going up West to Lyon’s Corner House at Marble Arch for a knicker-bocker glory really was heaven.
Don’t remember much about going to pubs as i was too young. Remember sitting outside with a lemonade while the grown up Mums chain smoked and chugged a port and lemon.
If you remember Carol, she’d love to hear from you – especially her friend Valerie Rowe (born Knight).
And so, we have made it to 2014. The New Year lies before us, full of unknown things and hopeful resolutions.
But before we move on proper, one last look at some of the things we covered on this website in 2013, including one or two stories you might have missed…
January
2013 kicked off with Betty Wright nee Walton’s amazing story of how she and her brothers and sisters grew up in Southgate Town Hall in the years leading up to and including the war – her father had been a fire officer and the Councils official mace bearer. Sadly letters to local councillors and Mayor Anwar suggesting that Enfield Council open the Town Hall to local people one last time before the developers moved in, and in particular to enable Betty and her family to see the place where she was born, were simply ignored.
Graham Dalling at work image This is local London
We heard the tale of Dr Alex Comfort, writer of the Joy of Sex and expert on ageing, who also grew up in Palmers Green, and lost fingers in a childhood experiment with fireworks. Sadly, we also learned of the death of much loved local author, historian and Enfield Archivist Graham Dalling, who once worked in the Town Hall.
Myddleton Road apparently became flesh and started tweeting about its unloved state and Enfield Council put on display a rare Constable drawing from its archives.
Space Art Gallery, a pop up venue on Southgate High Street, opened its second exhibition with work by Polish artist Maciej Hoffman. Wood Green’s Banksy was chipped and shipped to a US auction house, then withdrawn from sale at the 11th hour after a vociferous campaign, only to be put up for auction again later in the year. New artwork appeared in its stead, and in proof that you couldn’t make it up, we heard Poundland declare that they were fans of Banksy’s. Who knew? In the local corridors of power (also known as Enfield Council), Bush Hill Tory Councillor Chris Joannides hit the national press after being suspended from the party for making inappropriate remarks on Facebook.
There was news that PG could become better connected (though there could be disruption ahead for our neighbours in the south) – London First published its report on Cross Rail 2, this time linking North to South, and calling at Ally Pally. Still on transport, the third exhibition at Space Art Gallery featured 100 paintings of London Underground stations by Ross Ashmore. Broomfield Community Orchard embarked enthusiastically on the ancient ritual of wassailing.
March
Southgate underground station celebrated its 80th birthday and we looked at the story of its opening. We also learned about a wartime horsemeat scandal at Southgate Town Hall. A new local debating group was formed, and we heard Chas and Dave sing the praises of the long gone Empire in Edmonton. (There is a rumour that Chas and Dave first met in Palmers Green – does anyone know if it’s true?). There were long queues outside Palmers Green’s flagship branch of Laiki bank, as Greece announced a bank levy, but relief as it was later announced that UK customers would mostly be exempt.
April
Poor old soul – Truro house in a state of dilapidation May 2012
Palmers Green residents were distraught to be deprived of their burger fix when local Scottish brasserie MacDonald’s was closed for a number of days.
May
May saw the launch of a new website bringing together local community groups, news and activities for the whole area. Designed and managed by webmaster Basil Clarke, Palmers Green Community is an excellent source of news about local groups and issues, and includes a forum and an excellent ‘what’s on’ section. It’s a brilliant addition to Palmers Green life – please sign up and get involved!
The Thatched Cottage in 1903, image by kind permission of Enfield Local Studies and Archive
The Centenary Festival, a great programme and the kind weather brought thousands to Grovelands Park to celebrate over two days. We uncovered the story of a past Palmers Green tourist attraction – the flower bedecked Thatched House that once stood on the site of Westlakes and was famed for miles around.
June
Cameras were rolling again in June as the BBC made a pilot episode of a new drama called Family. Locations included the Fox and a house in Selbourne Road. Our neighbouring site Bowes and Bounds Connected told an amazing tale of the kinky cobbler of Myddleton Road, one of my favourite posts of the year.
Image: Dan Maier
Open Studios weekend saw the Creative Network team get last minute access to the old Blockbusters building in Southgate and use it to stunning effect. This year, thanks to an Arts Council grant, the weekend also included a number of free workshops, alongside the opportunity to view work by over 30 artists, designers and crafts people. A second craft fair in November was packed out and full of excellent work.
July
In July a few lucky ticket holders got an opportunity to travel the whole of the Piccadilly Line from Cockfosters to Edgware on a 1938 vintage train as part of London Underground’s 150th anniversary celebrations. By then we were in the grip of a summer heat wave, but learned that it was far from as hot as PG has ever got according to voodooskies.com. In August 2003, the temperature reached 100 degrees. The coldest temperature recorded was just 17 degrees on January 12, 1987.
Enfield Council consulted on plans to ‘open up the park’ and build a new school on an unused Thames Water site adjacent to Grovelands park, splitting opinion in the area, given the love of the park and the desperate need for school places in the area. Meanwhile Alexandra Park celebrated its 150th birthday.
Image by kind permission of Leithcote, Creative Commons
We investigated Palmers Green’s strong connections with the suffragettes and the Pankhurst family, including a riot in Palmers Green Triangle. Good thing then that July also saw news that spitting would be banned across Enfield.
August saw our neighbours in Winchmore Hill out on the Green again for the Summer Art Exhibition including work by some of the area’s most interesting artists, photographers, sculptors, ceramicists and jewellers. There was a UFO sighting in Enfield and we explored the story of how one man’s unofficial green belt policy shaped the future of Palmers Green
September
September’s Palmers Green Festival in Broomfield Park was the biggest and best for many years, and the park was positively buzzing. The Palmers Green Tales project – recording memories of local residents – was launched at Ruth Winston House as part of the festival, and Southgate Photographic society produced and excellent video showing how familiar views in PG had changed during the last 100 years. We also revisited the story of the Cuffley airship, and a world war one dog fight which was witnessed by thousands of people in North London’s skies.
October
And so the nights began to draw in. In October, a worrying PG betting shop shortage was averted with the news of the opening of another bookies; people danced in the streets. We investigated some of Enfield ghosts but found that although the borough has more than its fair share, PG itself just isn’t that spooky. Unless you know different.
Joe Studman launched the first local history course for 30 years at the Dugdale Centre, accompanied by six themed walks. The course was so successful that it will run again in April – book your place now, it’s selling fast. Palmers Green Triangle’s underground toilets were sealed off and the clutter in the triangle removed though there is still no news about how long we will have to wait for more substantial improvements to the area and the reinstatement of our lost tree. We told the story of the terrible night in 1941 when the Princes Dance Hall was bombed with great loss of life. Betty Walton’s father was one of the first on the scene.
November
In November, the library was closed for the first part of the changes to the Town Hall area, and hoardings were put up around the Town Hall itself. But on the upside, we had our first real Christmas tree in many a year.
On the subject of Talkies, it would have been difficult to mention all the great events that the Talkies team has run in the last 12 months; the programme has been varied and interesting and is becoming an indispensable part of PG’s social glue. As has Palmers Green Life, the new monthly magazine set up by Anthony Webb estate agents, featuring history, people, local groups and events. PG has needed something like this for years and now we have it.
Finally, a thanks to everyone who has been so kind about this website and the articles we have provided for Palmers Green Life. We had more than 10,000 individual visitors to the site this year, ad 34,000 ‘hits’ which is gobsmacking. I hope that you enjoyed what you read. If, perchance, you would like to contribute an article to the site, please do get in touch.
Watch the news any day of the week and you will be reminded of how lucky we are to have lived our lives in peacetime. But many Palmers Green residents still remember a time of air raids and blazing fires, and daily encounters with the fragility of life.
At the start of the Second World War, the German Luftwaffe had predominantly targeted strategic sites – airfields, munitions factories and so on – but in autumn 1940 all that changed, bringing the period we now know as the Blitz. Between September and May 1941 there were 129 large scale raids on the UK, of which 71 were targeted on London. More than a million houses were destroyed in the capital alone and there were huge numbers of civilian casualties. By the middle of the war, more civilian women and children had been killed than soldiers.
Though, as with many parts of north London, Palmers Green saw its fair share of enemy action, the area suffered fewer hits than some of its neighbours nearer the Lea Valley.
But there was one terrible night that will never be forgotten by those who lived here through the war. Betty Wright’s father, Station Officer George Walton was one of the senior firemen based at Southgate Town Hall. Recalls Betty, Dad spent many many nights fighting the London Blitz, sometimes not coming home for three or four days….exhausted, dirty and hungry.”
An awful scene greeted him on the night of 5 March 1941 on Green Lanes, not far from the present day junction with the North Circular.
“One night in March 1941, the Dance Hall (held in the Princes Hall above Pitman’s College) in Green Lanes, Palmers Green was bombed. A German bomber ‘plane was overhead…and tragically his bomb carriage was blown off, so all the bombs came down together in Palmers Green.
One of my brothers returning from work was on a trolley bus, and he got off the bus one stop before his usual stop: the Town Hall. This action saved his life because immediately after he left the trolley bus, it was blown up. He never knew what made him get off before his usual stop. My brother arrived home covered in a white dust, and suffering from shock said “Pass me a clothes brush….I am in a mess”.
The Fire Brigade were there in seconds, and my Dad was one of the first on the scene. He came back with some horrific stories. He got on a double decker bus and it was as though everyone was standing or sitting exactly as they were before the bombs fell. People were still standing reading their newspapers, or sitting down….waiting for their bus stop. However, everyone was dead….killed by the blast.
Another brother was home on leave from the Royal Marines, he went down to see what was happening and came back later….filthy dirty and very tired…after helping as many of the injured he could. He said he would never forget the terrible scenes he had seen. There so many people who had lost their limbs.
A girl I was at school with (she would have been three years older than me) was in the Dance Hall and she lost a leg. I experienced many air raids in Palmers Green, but this was the worst.”
Mrs Wyn Whiddington was inside the dance hall, and later gave her account of the evening to the BBC project, the People’s War.
“The dance hall was packed, filling the upstairs of the building. Absolutely packed out. My friends and I sat out because we couldn’t do that dance. Everyone was dancing on the floor at the time.
There was a big draught of wind, you don’t hear anything. That was when the bomb dropped. Everything went dark. We had to be pulled out of the rubble. The whole floor was gone, empty, not a soul on it. Nobody.
Also a bus was hit outside as well at the same time. It was like daylight, the fire was so bright in the blackout.”
Though there were many injured, there were only 2 fatalities inside the dance hall. Sadly, it was a very different story outside. 41 people had been killed on the passing bus caught in the blast.
There is still a reminder of the terrible events of that night. 14 properties were destroyed and a further 17 had to be demolished. Of these, Barclays bank on the corner of Green Lanes and Sidney Road (141-143 Green Lanes), directly opposite the blast, was never rebuilt. The site is now used as a forecourt by Chiswick Tyres.
Kevin O’Neill of Southgate Photographic Society produced the revealing succession of pictures below, taking an original picture of the aftermath of the bombing (supplied by kind permission of Enfield Local Studies and Archive), and the former location of the dance hall, then combining the two to show where in incident took place in relation to our modern streets. See the full slideshow produced by SPA, in which old Palmers Green transforms to the new, by clicking here
Betty Wright would love to hear from anyone who remembers her family, the Waltons, who lived in a flat in Palmers Green Town Hall for over 50 years. If you would like to get in touch, please contact palmersgreenn13@btopenword.com and we will pass your email on.
Are you interested in sharing your memories of the area? Palmers Green Tales is a new project about the people of Palmers Green, their lives, their memories, and their everyday experiences. More news soon, but if you would like to contact us in the meantime, please email palmersgreenn13@btopenworld.com
David Hebden lives in New Zealand now, but is keen to find out more about the history of his family in the area. Can you help ?
I was born in 1941 at Lyndhurst Road Wood Green. One of my uncles Jim Hebden was Gardner/ caretaker in the late 1940s early 1950s. In 1952 at the age of 11my family moved to New Zealand.
I can remember many visits to [Broomfield Park] to visit my uncle and his family. I have memories of the house they lived in which was within the park and of a sundial.
Do you have any photos of the house he would have lived in or photos of the park at that time?
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/
