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 not-for-profit Palmers Greenery Community Café in Broomfield Park is now in its tenth year and its unique business model not only provides visitors with healthy and ethically produced (but still affordable) food and drinks, but also brings a whole range of other benefits to the park and local community. Just quite how much social impact it has is the subject of a newly published report.
Palmers Green Action Team have announced the dates of two more markets in Devonshire Square, one of them a replacement for the cancelled Summer Market.
On 16th September a fully marshalled bike ride at a leisurely pace will take participants around some of the more interesting architectural sites in Enfield and Haringey.
Congratulations to David Williamson (Friends of Broomfield Park), Clare Donovan (Cooking Champions), Cara McDonald (Tatty Bits) and the very many more people who worked hard to make the 2023 Palmers Green Festival such a success.
Francis Sealey, chair of Enfield Climate Action Forum (EnCAF), explains the background to the first Palmers Green 'Local Community Hub' - an afternoon and evening event in November bringing communities together to discuss the things that concern them, such as air pollution, social isolation, food insecurity and other issues both big and small.
What delights can we look forward to at the first Palmers Green Festival since 2019, which will be held on Sunday coming, when the forecast is warm but not too hot, sunny but with some cloud, and not too windy?
As always, there will be live music and a DJ at the Bandstand during Sunday's Palmers Green Festival. This year the music stage is being organised by Clare Donovan of the wonderful food charity Cooking Champions that is doing so much to feed hungry residents and to revive the once widespread art of home cooking.
Today, between 10am and 8pm, there will be fun for the whole family in the borough's 'hinterlands' - along the Lea Navigation towpath. Explore an area that was once an important part of London's industry and a transport artery. It's still both of these to an extent, but it's also taken on a vital role in providing a cooling and calming strip bisecting the capital's ever hotter 'heat island'. All free, courtesy of the Canal and Rivers Trust and Enfield Climate Action Forum.
The already hugely impressive Friends of Broomfield Park have ambitions to 'move up to the next level'. They're looking for new people to help them do so. Might you, or anyone you know, help shape the Friends' future?
The Family Bike Club are off to market on Sunday - join them on a leafy ride to Forty Hall. And find out about their ambitious plans for electrification and how you can help.
I hope all readers have the first Sunday in September ringed in red on their calendar and are eagerly awaiting the return of the Palmers Green Festival.