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At 2.30 on Sunday 12th March, people will come together to sing Happy Birthday to Southgate Station, marking 90 years, less one day, since its first day in passenger operation in 1933. (Perhaps if there are enough people, they could join hands, form a circle and dance around the station, wouldn't that be fun!?)

The sing-a-long comes just over half way through a day of celebration in the area around Southgate Station, which will start at 11am and continue until 5pm - see the complete schedule below. The events are being organised jointly by Southgate District Civic Voice, Enfield Council and Transport for London. The most interesting are likely to the behind-the-scenes tours of the station (booking essential) and an exhibition of historic images at the Southgate Club in Chase Side.

Like many other 1930s suburban underground stations, Southgate was designed by the architect Charles Holden. It's an example of an architectural style known as Streamline Moderne and uses materials and techniques that were new at the time. As Jane Maggs points out in an article in the March issue of Enfield Dispatch, to the residents of Southgate the strikingly different station must have seemed like an extra-terrestial craft landed in their country village (don't miss the cover photo in the Dispatch). It still retains its ability to startle - I remember being taken aback when I first glimpsed Southgate Station from the top deck of a 121 bus some 35 years ago.