Parks & Open Space

This was the scene in Arnos Park on Wednesday when the Pymmes Brook burst its banks and inundated part of the park, as captured by "Bob" and uploaded to his Vimeo channel. {vimeo}137419296{/vimeo} Reducing or preventing this sort of flash flooding is what Thames 21/Love the Lea are working so hard on.  They are deliberately slowing down streams by planting vegetation and creating soakaways.  Among the problems that they face, however, are misplumbed houses where waste that should go.......

As we confidently forecast in the weekly newsletter, last Sunday was hot and sunny and people turned out in droves to listen to the Broomfield Blues in Broomfield Park.  They also stopped by at the Community Orchard to admire the wildflowers, see how the apples were coming on, drink home-made apple wine and observe the insects in their bug hotel, the Bugsingham Palace.  A few visitors even tried their hand at croquet on the former bowling green.  And there were chilli plants on.......

The Friends of Firs Farm have provided a copy of a document setting out the proposals for the creation of a wetlands area in the park.  The detailed information in the document is the subject of a consultation exercise in which Enfield Council are seeking the views of people living near the playing fields and park. The wetlands project is being funded by Enfield Council, Thames Water, the Environment Agency and the GLA.  It will achieve a whole range of objectives, including.......

It's just after a year since the Palmers Greenery Community Cafe opened in Broomfield Park - but work on this imaginative project goes back much longer.  It has transformed an abandoned toilet building into a top destination for visitors to the park. This video tells the story so far: {youtube}https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n11o-kfFgdQ{/youtube} Just one of many videos about local people that you can watch on www.palmersgreentales.com. At the moment the Greenery is open on Saturdays,.......

Breaking with their tradition of running photographic competitions over the winter, the Friends of Broomfield Park have announced that this year the competition will take place during the summer. Prizes will be awarded in two categories:  Adults and Under 16s.  You can enter up to three pictures, which must be taken "of the Park or in the Park" between 1st June and the closing date for entries, which is 22nd August. All entries will be displayed on the Friends of Broomfield Park.......

Following lobbying by friends of parks groups and submission of public petitions, Enfield Council has modified the decision it took in 2014 to cease locking all parks overnight.  The new policy is to completely cease locking those parks where only some entrances have been locked, but to continue to completely lock parks where the practice has been to lock all entrances overnight. Broomfield Park will be locked overnight (photo by Belinda Robinson from the FoBP Facebook page)Now that there.......

The mysterious "Palmers Scream" scroll, discovered in Southgate Town Hall, says that "Broomfield should be a happy place. All effort should be taken to bring joy and merriment to its grasses throughout the year, for each smile reduces the power of the witches as they sleep."  One group of people who are rising to the challenge of "bringing joy and merriment to its grasses" are the Friends of Broomfield Park, who this year are extending the season of summer free musical events to take in.......

Photographs of two beautiful plants that are flowering now in Broomfield Conservatory. On the left, an Epiphyllum. Below, a Gloriosa Vine. The Conservatory is open on Wednesdays and Sundays from 2.30 to 4.30pm.  (Please note, it will not be open on 3rd and 10th June because of work to install the former toilet railings from the Triangle.) Iqbal from the Friends of Broomfield Park's Conservatory Group comments:  "Gloriosa superba is the national flower.......

If you're a regular visitor to Broomfield Park, you're probably familiar with the pair of Egyptian Geese that were frequently seen there.  Sad to say, there is now only one of these good-looking birds. Egyptian geese in Broomfield Park during February 2013The death of one of the Egyptian Geese was noted by Derek Honnor of the Friends of Broomfield Park.  Derek posts a monthly report on bird sightings in the Park, which you can find on noticeboards and also on the Friends of Broomfield.......

How well do you know your birds and birdsong?  Les Edwins of the Friends of Firs Farm is also a local RSBP representative and is organising a bird survey in Firs Farm this month. It will require early morning visits to Firs Farm between 5 and 6 am to identify birds by sight or sound and recording when they were seen and whereabouts in the park they were. If you have don't mind the early start and are interested in helping with this, please get in touch to find out more and the proposed.......

Within a few days of the news that the Friends of Broomfield Park had succeeded in a bid for Enfield Residents Priority Fund money for the Conservatory railings, the energetic park protectors were again celebrating - this time for being awarded a further £5000 from the fund to help create a wildlife pond. Artists' imprssion of the Conservatory Railings projectAnd last week the Friends also got the go-ahead from Enfield Council for an extension of the wildflower meadow on the Aldermans Hill.......

The Friends of Firs Farm Park are celebrating the success of their campaign to revitalise this large green space on the Winchmore Hill/Edmonton borders.  The Firs Farm Wetlands scheme gathered the highest number of votes from members of the public among the projects shortlisted for money from the Mayor of London's Big Green Fund II. As the result of a vigorous campaign by the Friends , the project received more than 2000 votes and has been awarded the highest amount available - £175,000........