What the Friends of Broomfield Park have lined up for us in 2020 (click on the image for more details)
Friends of Broomfield Park are celebrating the end of an event-packed year for Palmers Green's favourite park, during which more than 13,000 people visited to take part in activities including music, theatre, dance, storytelling, well-being, apple tasting, food and much more. And 2019 saw many new people getting involved in running events and activities for their communities. The 2020 programme has already been announced - click on the pictures above for details - and note that it includes a repeat of the Palmers Scream - does this mean that the Witches of Winchmore have begun stirring again....?
Fun and games and... culture
The year's highlight was, of course, the annual Palmers Green Festival - a whole day with the park packed full of activities for all ages and all tastes. The best festival yet, according to some.
The Friends' Conservatory Group organised their usual programme of Sunday afternoon events - live music, art and craft workshops, plant sales, and more. Broomfield Community Orchard started the year with wassailing, celebrated the summer with a picnic, and ran its annual apple day event in the autumn (the wassailing evidently had the desired effect). Talkies Community Cinema held a family picnic in the dark and treated the kids to an open-air screening of the new version of The Jungle Book. St Harmonica's Blues Club organised four summer afternoon events at the bandstand, attracting huge audiences.
There were a couple of bold innovations. Park Life - a whole weekend of cultural activities for both mind and body (see the video above) - and Winter Tales, a magical after-dark story-telling perambulation around the park - see the video below.
Getting down to work
But 2019 hasn't all been just fun and games in the park. There have been several projects involving sheer hard work (and some fun) where the core of the Friends of Broomfield Park have been joined by the wider community - planting trees, clearing green algae from the boating pond, helping with the wildlife pond - but, above all, planting out the new Broomfield Wetlands - a scheme to help clean up streams and rivers, reduce flooding and diversify the park's flora and fauna. And volunteer efforts have been needed to smarten up the park's well named Long Border, which runs alongside a listed historic wall, but is simply too big for the depleted park gardeners to maintain.
Broomfield Wetlands
Read more about the Broomfield Wetlands on the FoBP website.
And winning awards
The Friends of Broomfield Park are no strangers to awards ceremonies, especially those organised by Enfield in Bloom - this year they won four prizes. There was also a Bee’s Needs Champion Award in recognition of work by FoBP supported by Enfield Council and Thames 21 in creating habitats and food for bees and other pollinators. Kim Lumley of FoBP was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation by R.E.A.C.H., a project to support excluded year 4's back into school. And FoBP were allocated a Lottery Community Award for their project Broomfield Park: Heart of the Community. The award has helped towards equipment and the costs of setting up new events in 2019, which will provide a foundation for 2020 and beyond.
Kim Lumley and Ivor Evans of FoBP receive the Bee’s Needs Champion Award from Lord Gardiner (DEFRA)
Read more about these and other awards on the FoBP website.
New volunteers always welcome!
Everything the Friends do involves volunteering. From chairing the committee down to scraping algae off the ponds, there is something that will suit everyone. The conservatory, orchard, wildlife pond, wetlands, Palmers Greenery café, the arts events and the special activities for kids are all run by volunteers - see this page for details.
