This afternoon’s Palmers Green Community News included a link to this film from the Talkies 2015 short film festival Here. It is filmed from inside Annita’s cafe on Platform 1. And it is a beautiful and moving thing.
There is also the latest on the plans to make Palmers Green more green and cycle friendly, with the usual controversy and comment, and coverage of the wonderful, Palmers Green Festival. If you arent already on the mailing list, why not sign up?
One of the most positive things about Palmers Green is the number of people who are prepared to put time into the community and making it better for all.
One such person is Annita Correia, who runs Palmers Green’s popular station café. Designer and former teacher Annita has in the past run the popular Waiting Room Café, which did lovely food and hosted many local events, including blues nights and craft events.
Annita now runs the recently refurbished station kiosk, whose cornbread muffins with cheese and chilli have brightened many of my mornings, and whose wonderful range of art cards have saved me from not a few last minute birthday panics. You can buy great coffee, tasty snacks and tickets for Talkies in the kiosk, and it’s a great place to meet people and find out what is going on in the area. Annita’s latest project is to revive Palmers Green’s Sunday market – and this one is a real act of love.
The old market had been ailing for some time, and ground to a halt just before Christmas. So why revive it now?
“When I moved to Palmers Green, the market was the source of my livelihood – I designed fabric and clothing. People had put a lot of work into it, and it was a positive thing for the area. To have seen it go down hill was really upsetting.”
Annita is convinced that Palmers Green should be able to sustain a market of this kind, but that it has to have local support.
“A local market is a great opportunity for people in Palmers Green to have access to products not on the high street, a chance for entrepreneurs to get a first stab at setting up new businesses, hopefully also a way of drawing more people into Palmers Green on a Sunday – we have kept the prices low – pitches will be £20 (£10 for arts and crafts)”.
The roster for the first market includes South London’s Norbiton Cheeses, Essex artisan bakers Brownbread, Brockman’s Farm Produce, Brian and Natasha’s Fresh Fish. Gringostiv’s Cut Flowers and Plants, and Karl Wager of St. Albans with his handmade Furniture from reclaimed and drift wood.
Annita’s ambitions are simple:
“To get the market up and running again, hopefully bigger and better than before, and attract new traders. I am keen for the market to have a buzz, and to develop a reputation for supplying products which are well made and affordable.”
Neighbours, if that is something you would like to see in Palmers Green, you know what you have to do.
