FRIENDS OF PRIORY PARK

preserving  and  protecting  our park

 

Autumn/Winter 2006 Newsletter

 

Skatepark Decision

At a Friends of Priory Park committee meeting with Brian Haley Lead member for the Environmfent (Haringey Council) in August, he made the announcement that the council had decided that a permanent skatepark was inappropriate for Priory Park, especially as there are 3 others currently in use in the borough, one very close at Alexandra Park. The announcement was of course a great relief to the committee and doubtless to the many residents and park users who opposed the scheme. The committee has pushed for a permanent covered and manned skatepark to be erected in this part of Haringey but has been told there are at present no funds for a scheme of this magnitude. However it’s proposed that the mobile skatepark will be used on a more regular basis especially in the holidays and at weekends. The committee considered this to be a sensible compromise.Thanks to all those who supported us in this fight and wrote letters on our behalf.

 

 

Catherine Perry’s Farewell

To the Friends of Priory Park

 

My role with BTCV as West Haringey Heritage Project Officer has come to an end. It was a Heritage Lottery Fund funded position which covered September 2004 to October 2006.

 

The role was to focus on the local history and heritage of West Haringey through a series of walks & talks, community events and school activities. Thanks to the incredible support from local people, council officers and volunteers many projects in the role have been a success. The Hornsey Historical Society in particular has helped me enormously through their research on local history and their unending advice and friendly support – I urge you all to join!

Of course particular thanks also to the Friends of Priory Park for your help in supporting me in my role. I hope in turn I have been able to contribute in some way to this lovely park’s activities.

 

I have worked a number of times in Priory Park over the past couple of years. There has been the bulb planting each year with Rokesly Junior School. Last year I was helped out by over 90 children and we planted daffs and crocus near the café and close to the ever present (except when it is nicked) Green Flag. The parks department - Tony, Sue, Brian and crew - has always helped me, especially by making the former bowling pavilion usable for project bases and storing things like bulbs and art equipment.

 

In July 2005 I got together with the New River Action Group and local artist/photographer Lucy Brown to hold a New River Day in the park. Albert Pinching of the Hornsey Historical Society led a guided walk to over 60 people on where the river used to flow. It’s hard to imagine now, but the river did cross the high street three times and people would sit in the Three Compasses pub garden for a spot of fishing, relaxing on their trip ‘out to the country’ from the smog filled streets of London. In  fact there is a current photographic exhibition of the New River taken by Lucy currently on display at the former Pump House near the new development of flats at the eastern end of the high street, and also in the new café in Finsbury Park (the images will be up until Sunday 22nd October at Finsbury Park and for an additional week at the Pumphouse, till 31st October).

 

At the beginning of my post I agreed with Tony Healey (Priory Park Manager) that I would help develop a heritage trail for Priory Park which would enhance the Green Flag application. Working with Vic MacRae and delving into the archives of Bruce Castle Museum and the Hornsey Historical Society, the trail was eventually put together and is standing on 4 separate boards around the park. I hope that a few folk take a bit of pleasure in reading them and learning about the park’s history and also how it fits in with the general development of Hornsey in the nineteenth century.

 

My work in the park hit the dizzy heights of celebrity and television fame when Michael Aspel took time out of filming for the Antiques Roadshow this June and came to open the trail. The Friends, led by Fran Shepherd,  put together a brilliant exhibition to celebrate the 80th birthday of the park (combining nicely with the octogenarian-ism of the park’s most ardent protector, Vic) and I had great fun handing out/eating the Dunns made 80th birthday cake to passers by,  fresh from their delight/disappointment at the Antiques Roadshow valuation tables.

Moving On

I shall be still in the borough with BTCV, funded by a grant from the Parks Department, as a Green Community Outreach project officer though moving my focus to the east of Haringey. Though the history and heritage of a park will always be a prime concern to me in understanding an area, my new role will focus too on practical conservation in Haringey’s green spaces.

 

I feel very lucky to have worked in Priory Park and with the Friends – it is such a well used and kept park. From the work of the Friends of Priory Park and grounds team there I have seen what can be done in other parks across the borough. From what I have learnt here I hope I can help sow some seeds of success elsewhere.

 

Despite my new focus, please still feel free to contact me for advice, for example on event organisation and funding streams.

 

Cath – Haringey Community Project Officer, 07764 655724 c.perry@btcv.org.uk

BTCV is the UK's largest practical conservation charity, working with more than 130,000 volunteers every year to help people bring about positive environmental change www.btcv.org