News, comment and features

A dozen dedicated volunteers braved the elements on Sunday morning to take part in the annual Ruth Winston sponsored walk.  Here you can see them all spruce before starting and somewhat bedraggled afterwards. And you won't see such an impressive daffodil even in Trent Park!.......

Yet more worrying data about the seriousness of the air pollution problem in London has recently been published, revealing the level of premature deaths that it leads to.  The signs of catastrophic climate change are increasingly evident - polar ice caps melting, ice shelfs collapsing, heatwaves in India, drought in Australia and California, flooding...  So the ideal time to relax regulations designed to discourage car use in London? Absolutely not.  But a proposal being.......

The Palmers Scream website has had a facelift and some interesting new material has appeared there, including a video of an interview with Palmers Green resident extraordinaire Ralph Hutchings.  The story he tells is one he's kept under wraps for thirty years. Ralph was one of the volunteers working with conservators after the first Broomfield House fire.  He and others removed the famous Lanscroon Murals for preservation. Behind the murals, buried in the bricks of the wall, they.......

Transport for London are proposing to introduce additional night bus services from September, including some which would provide new east-west connectivity between locations in north London.  The changes are planned so that travellers on Night Tube services will be able to travel on from tube stations to other destinations. Routes 34 (Walthamstow-Edmonton-Palmers Green-Whetstone-Barnet) and 123 (Ilford-Walthamstow-Tottenham-Wood Green) would both run at half-hourly intervals throughout.......

The completion of work to restore and refurbish the Minchenden Oak Garden was celebrated on Sunday when the Bishop of London presided at a Redication Ceremony. The Bishop of London and Rev. Hazel Miall listen to the Children's Voices of Enfield under the boughs of the Minchenden OakOver a hundred people attended the ceremony, at which the Rt Revd & Rt Hon.Richard Chartres KCVO DD FSA rededicated and blessed the garden.  An oak sapling grown from a Minchenden acorn was planted by the.......

Last year over 600 people visited All Saints, Edmonton, for a glorious week of poetry, music, theatre and a wide range of other events. They were there for the Lamb Festival, an arts festival celebrating the lives and legacies of Charles and Mary Lamb, and the success of that first festival left us in no doubt that there should be a second (and hopefully a third, a fourth, a…). The Lamb Festival 2015 will be held from Saturday 6th to Friday 12th June, and once again we’ve got a rich.......

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.......

This year's State of London Debate will be held at the O2 in Greenwich on 23rd June. his event happens just once a year and follows the publication of the Mayor's Annual Report.  It's the biggest live platform for Londoners to let the Mayor know exactly what they think.  Topics up for discussion include: Transport and environment Housing Policing and community saftety Growing London's economy Education Entry is free but tickets will probably go fast. More details on the.......

Between 14 and 25? Want to get hands-on experience in a working theatre? Then Young Creators could be for you - it's free. Young Creators is a professional development programme which offers young people vocational training and practical work experience in a variety of theatre skills. Course options: creative musicianship & vocal development | music technology, programming & recording | stage lighting | writing & devising | devising & performing | directing | choreography.......

Efforts are continuing to obtain the funds needed to restore Broomfield House.  In preparation for a probable public consultation exercise later in the year, a model of the house dating from 1951 (the model, that is - the house is rather older!) is to go on show.  It is hoped that a Conservation Management Plan for the whole of Broomfield Park, currently in development, will enable the Broomfield House Trust and Enfield Council to make a second, successful, bid for Heritage Lottery.......

In a letter published in last weekend's Observer, the Chairman of the Local Government Association makes a strong plea for the government to suspend its programme of reductions in funding of local government.  Councillor David Sparks writes that "Local authorities have made £20bn savings since 2010 following reductions in government funding of 40%. Councils have worked hard to shield residents from the impact. However, efficiencies cannot be remade or buildings resold. Further local.......

We've written before about how North London Samaritans would like to restore the "Tin Tabernacle" at Bowes Park and use it to run their live-saving services.  Now the insurance company Aviva has included it in the Aviva Community Fund.  You can register with the Community Fund and will be given ten votes to distribute as you choose between the 3000+ projects. Depending on how many votes it collects, the Shaftesbury Hall Refurbishment Project (to use its official title) could receive.......