Local History

Residents are being invited to contribute ideas to a project to reopen a historic school building in Edmonton as a community hub which will provide training opportunities for young people in the borough.

Ahead of the opening of a museum in part of the historic mansion at its heart, projects to carry out further in-depth research into Trent Park's vital World War 2 intelligence-gathering role are already yielding results. In parallel, an interactive project to teach local children about the activities of the 'secret listeners' is being readied for roll-out across Enfield schools.

As part of ongoing restoration work at Southgate Station, a large roundel located above a sheltered seating area outside the station was recently renovated.

News about interactive sessions delving intoTrent Park's past being developed for local schools, plus a potted history of the mansion.

It was a day for celebrations in Southgate on Sunday, as people got together to mark the 90th anniversary of the first day of operation of the Piccadilly Line extension from Arnos Grove to Oakwood, and in particular the opening of Southgate Station. Naturally, there was a birthday cake, created by local shop Wiltons.

On Tuesday last week people gathered in the function room at the Fox to celebrate the awarding by Enfield Council of a Lifetime Achievement award to Roger Hallam, who until a couple of years ago lived in Burford Gardens, and before that in Old Park Road. Francis Sealey tells us why Roger was given the award.

If you worked, shopped, ate at or just visited the IKEA store in Edmonton (or was it in Tottenham?), you're invited to contribute towards one of the projects in the Untold Edmonton programme.

The Trent Park House Trust will be running an oral history project during 2023 and is keen to contact people with a personal connection to the house. The Trust is also recruiting volunteers to interview people and record their memories.

Have you ever wondered what exactly Chase Side in Southgate was the side of, or indeed what Southgate was the South Gate of? The Enfield Society is making available free of charge two books that tell the fascinating stories behind these two local names, and many more.

It's ten years this month since the Palmers Green Community website was revealed to the world (actually, to a handful of people in PG). How did it come about? What did it look like and report? What was in the first newsletter? What events were happening locally back then?

On Saturday Enfield Town's Culture Palace (located inside the Palace Gardens shopping centre) will be hosting a grand celebration of the stories of some of our borough's many communities. Stories of Enfield Celebration Day will consist of activities for people of all ages run by eight of the 13 community organisations who were awarded lottery funding to run projects under the banner of Stories of Enfield.

The Enfield Society has published two new local heritage walk booklets, for Southgate and Winchmore Hill, both produced with help from Southgate District Civic Voice.