While we admire and support the Christmas campaigns that we see pop up in December, we also know that help is urgently needed all year round, each and every year. As some people pack away after the festive break, we are still here.
Our support is not limited to a food package, but it leaps beyond - we form connections, we listen and respond to everyone who steps through our doors. We open up a warm, safe, environment which aims to feel like a home away from home.
For us to continue to thrive and grow, and keep supporting as many people as possible, we are asking you to become a Friend of Cooking Champions. Even a donation of just £5-10 per month can make a HUGE impact on the lives of those who come through our doors.
Pop to our People's Fundraising page to donate, and we promise to keep you updated with how your support is making a difference. Thank you, we appreciate you! Team Cooking Champions
The appeal by the Friends of Broomfield Park for donations to help restore three of the park's borders has got off to a great start. Only four days after sending out their first email asking for donations, enough money had flowed in for the Friends to start work on one of the borders this autumn. However, the volunteers are still £1000 short of the amount they need to complete the project.
Broomfield Conservatory has now reopened to the public. Visiting hours are 2.30 to 4.30 on Wednesdays and Sundays. On Sunday 5th September there will be a sale of house plants to raise funds for the upkeep of the Conservatory.
This photo/music project featuring beautiful photographs taken in Broomfield Park was created by Annemarie Fearnley and Jonathan Wober during lockdown and included in Tower Theatre's 'Love (and Survival) in the Time of Covid' festival.
Two years ago Palmers Green resident Joseph, then aged 14, wrote a highly personal and persuasive letter to his local councillors suggesting that young people would greatly benefit from a skate park in Broomfield Park. A group of local parents have now begun a campaign to fulfil Joseph's vision and have launched an online petition. Friends of Broomfield Park have said that they would welcome a feasibility study and more detailed proposals and will be interested to hear what their members and other local residents think about the idea.
When at the end of 2020 Friends of Broomfield Park announced the launch of their Tree Project, they were surprised (and delighted) when individuals and businesses offered to donate trees for planting in the park. Obviously, they didn't turn down the offers and are now seeking further donations so that they can make their planting plans even more ambitious and turn Palmers Green even greener.
Gardener Vic Black writes that people have told her that at one time there were up to 12 gardeners tending to the flowerbeds in Broomfield Park. More recently, however, there has been no brigade of park staff to keep the beds in check, so many were sadly reclaimed by the weeds. And that would probably still be the case, if the Friends of Broomfield Park had not stepped in...
Vic Black, one of the volunteers who have been maintaining and replanting the historic long border in Broomfield Park, is a qualified gardener and is available for work redesigning or just tending gardens in the Palmers Green/Bounds Green area.
An award of £748,000 from the Mayor of London plus £425,000 from the Forestry Commission will enable Enfield Council and Thames21 to start work this autumn on creating a large new woodland area in the north west of the borough. The new trees - up to 100,000 in total over a three-year period - will play an important part in Enfield's plans to achieve 'net zero carbon' by 2040 while providing a major new public utility. The project will also allow the council to progress its long-term scheme for a walking and cycling route across the entire width of the borough.
Hopefully, it won't be too long before the general public can again visit our mini-Kew Gardens. But in the meantime, a flavour of Broomfield Conservatory's interior has been created outside for all to see.
The new wetlands in Broomfield Park have been shortlisted for an award by susdrain, a 'community' which supports the delivery and maintenance of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS).
In this video Louise Dennis takes us on a tour of Firs Farm - the wetlands, the ancient hedgerow and the Spinney, explaining their function and their importance.