Category: Palmers Green

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Art and Culture Community Music Palmers Green Sport

Get ready for the Palmers Green Festival!

The Palmers Green Festival is just a week away and the festival website is now live for you to plan your day.

Running from 12-7 on Sunday 2 September in Broomfield Park, the festival aims to offer something for everyone – food, music, dancing, crafts……. and our very own community games.

The aim of the Community Games is to bring the inspiration of London 2012 to Palmers Green –activities will include a chance to climb the world’s tallest climbing wall, 7 hours of nonstop dancing and dance lessons, children’s 5 a side football, girls rugby, tennis lessons and bowls. Many of the local sports groups will be welcoming new members – there is more information on how to get involved on the website.

If you don’t fancy getting hot and sweaty, there will be music from 20 performers during the day, including rock, folk, indie, Americana, rap and hard groove. Live performances will also be streamed on Tropical FM at http://www.tropicalfm.com/ (so being on holiday is no excuse!).

Funds raised by the festival will go to the on-going work of the Friends of Broomfield House and the new Improvement Opportunity Fund, which aims to help local people develop projects which will benefit the community (see last week’s post).

The organising committee have put a huge amount of work into the event. All they need now is for you to go along and make it all worthwhile!

Visit the Palmers Green Festival Website at http://www.palmersgreenfestival.org.uk.

 

Categories
Art and Culture Community Music Palmers Green Sport

Palmers Green festival celebrates a new beginning

The sun may have taken an age to come, but it feels like time for a party. 

The Palmers Green Festival is just two weeks away, and this year is set to be the biggest and best event ever. Set in the historic Broomfield Park on Sunday 2 September, this year will feature community games, a top London DJ, 70 stalls, over 20 performers on stage at the bandstand and , more.

The festival promises to not only be a fantastic day out, but a launch pad for new activity aimed at improving life in Palmers Green. Half the proceeds are to go towards setting up a new Improvement Opportunity Fund – anyone with an interest in the local area will be able to apply for funding to assist with a project idea to improve the community. It could be anything from setting up a Credit Union, a community internet Radio station, improving a local green space or help buying equipment to set up a local sports club. There will also be ongoing support for successful applicants from community Mentors. The aim is, for a small amount of money, to see the largest possible impact on our community. More details will be available on the new festival website, coming very soon.

The event runs from 12 til 7. The full festival programme can be downloaded here http://www.palmersgreenfestival.info/PGFestival/2012_stalls_files/PGF%20Program%20A5%2024pp%20mail%20AS%20PRINTED.pdf

The festival team are already thinking about 2013 so if you are inspired by this year’s festival and want to make it even better next year, why not send your ideas to info@palmersgreenunited.co.uk.

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Art and Culture Palmers Green Southgate Uncategorized

More about Warren

Raith Avenue Southgate – childhool home of Warren Mitchell

Following last week’s article on Warren Mitchell (Improbably famous in Palmers Green # 2 Alf Garnett),  we have managed to piece together a little more information on Mitchell’s childhood and schooldays in the area.

Though born in Stoke Newington, Mitchell grew up in Southgate. The family moved to Raith Avenue sometime in the 1930s, presumably into a newly built home – all the houses on the north side of the road date from then.

Mitchell reminisced about his schooldays at Bowes School and Southgate Country School in an article about inspirational teachers in the Times Higher Educational Supplement in 2008

My teachers were all marvelous. But the one I remember with great affection was a tyrant called Mr Sinden. When we went into his class aged nine or 10 he said to us: “You’ll all be taking the scholarship exam next June and you will all pass; I have never had a failure. Heaven help any one of you here who jeopardises my record.”

He then hounded us for the whole year, the net result being that we all passed the scholarship exam. I realised that the man loved us and intended that we should have a good start in life.

He repeated the story to Jonathan Sale of the Independent in Feb 2000 and went on to recount  memories of Southgate County School in Fox Lane.

I enjoyed my time at Southgate County School. The Blitz was on; it was exciting and there was not too much bombing around us…I was a pretty naughty boy. They used to say “you’ll never get anywhere” and then I would come top. This upset staff. The headmaster once said he was unable to congratulate me as he should do in the case of someone who came first because of …and then there was an asterisk referring to my 31 detentions that term.”

Thank you to Richard McKeever of Bowes and Bounds Green Connected and Joe Studman for the additional information and links. 

 

 

 

 

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Community History Palmers Green Planning and open spaces Uncategorized

We must save the Woodman!

The Woodman – under threat

The excellent Woodman pub on Bourne Hill is under threat  of closure from Marston’s breweries.

The Woodman is the oldest pub in Palmers Green and one of the last remnants of a more rural age in the area. The building dates from 1727 and ale has been sold at the Woodman for nearly 150 years.

The pub still retains its old world atmosphere, has a cheery welcome from a committed staff and does delicious food – the generous Sunday lunches are particularly recommended. In winter, there are cosy fires. In summer you can sit out in the shady garden under the trees.

Enfield community group Love your doorstep have set up a petition to show the community’s displeasure  at the threat to a local community pub. Please sign  – and make sure you go the Woodman soon.

http://www.petitiononline.co.uk/petition/save-the-woodman-pub/4556

Categories
Art and Culture Music Palmers Green

Improbably famous in Palmers Green #1: David Bowie

Bowie: Nice wig! (Image: bowiewonderworld.com)

In November 1968, a 21 year old David Bowie appeared at the Intimate Theatre Palmers Green in a mime improv production called Pierrot in Turquoise.

At the time Bowie had only released one album as a solo artist and was still 8 months away from the breakthrough single Space Oddity. (Laughing Gnome had been released in 1967, but  would not be a hit until 1973).

Devised by dancer and coreographer Lindsay Kemp, who was to radically influence Bowie’s approach to performance, the five songs featured in the production were all written by Bowie. The four nights at Palmers Green appear to have been the last time the production was performed live.  However, the production was filmed in 1970 by Scottish TV as Pierrot in Turquoise/The Looking Glass Murders.

The website IMDb.com gives the plot synopsis of the TV version thus

 “Pierrot is a freaky mime who ventures into a mirror where he falls in love and rolls around with the equally grotesque Columbine. But when Columbine beds black stallion (in half-assless spandex) Harlequin, Pierrot’s jealousy takes over and drives him to murder. Cloud (Bowie) watches over the proceedings from his perch (on a ladder!) and narrates in song.”

Comments IMDB contributor Vinnie Rattolle:

 “Weird” doesn’t begin to describe this one. It begins and ends with a man playing piano, but no sound is emitted. The sparse production doesn’t betray its theatrical roots — there’s a grand total of two sets and they make no attempt to disguise the fact they’re thrown together on stages. While I’ve never found mimes as unsettling as most, the trio in this film are REALLY creepy. And although it has a short running time of 26 minutes, it’s so tediously strange and surreal that it felt like it was three hours long.”

Judge for yourself! You can view a clip here.

Did you see Pierrot in Turquoise in Palmers Green? Tell us more!

For further information about David Bowie’s early performances, visit http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/tours/tour58.htm

 

Categories
Community Palmers Green Planning and open spaces Uncategorized

Broomfield Park cafe by the end of the year?

The new community cafe for Broomfield Park could be open by the end of the year, according to the Palmers Greenery team.

The new cafe will be in the Doll’s House toilets immediately to the west of the boating lake. Over 150 people have already signed up as volunteers to help get the cafe up and running, and £35,000 has been secured from the Council for start-up, refurbishment, stock and volunteer training.

As the site is a park asset, the Council needs to progress the next steps, but the aim is to open before the end of 2012. Meanwhile the priority is building awareness and support says Sarah Cotton from the Palmers Greenery volunteers.  

On Friday 27th July there will be a gathering of volunteers and well wishers for a group photo for the media at 2pm at the Palmers Greenery site. All are welcome, and its hoped that people will come along with a picnic and make an afternoon of it, weather permitting.  There will also be a Palmers Greenery stand at the Palmers Green Festival on 2 September, and a Facebook page has been set up for the latest news .

“This is an exciting initiative that will be great for Broomfield Park and the wider Palmers Green area, but will depend on as many people as possible getting involved. We would love it if you were able to join us on the 27th or at the festival.”

For more information visit www.friendsofbroomfieldpark.org