News, comment and features

Talkies - the pop-up cinema with a difference - is expanding its reach to take in Winchmore Hill and is looking for volunteers in N21 to help choose films and find venues. Talkies Community Cinema showed its first film two years ago this month and has been attracting large audiences ever since.  Its events in Palmers Green (at the Fox, Baskervilles and the Intimate) and in Southgate (at St Monica's Parish Centre and at Christ Church) have frequently sold out.  it has also been showing.......

For the past couple of years every Friday evening has seen St Monica's Parish Centre on Cannon Hill transformed into "St Harmonica's Blues Club" - three hours of excellent music, swift service of very reasonably priced drinks, and a great sociable atmosphere.  Starting this month, the same venue will be open on Sunday evenings too for "Unplugged Sundays at St Monica's". The Sunday night gigs have been set up by Sharon Crowe and Colin Hook, the music loving team who run the Parish Centre.......

If you travel to Bowes Park station, walk up the stairs from the platform and turn right (towards Bounds Green), the first building you encounter when leaving the station is Shaftesbury Hall, a former chapel now known locally as the "Tin Tabernacle".  It's a rare survivor of a type of metal self-assembly church that sprang up the Victorian era, but is now in a state of disrepair.  Shaftesbury Hall aka the Tin TabernacleSince 1974 the Tin Tabernacle has belonged to North London.......

In the centenary year of the outbreak of World War One, the Friends of Broomfield Park are hoping that money will be made available for the restoration of the Park's Garden of Remembrance, which has fallen into serious disrepair. Remembrance Garden pond with fountain (1930s)The bid for money is a joint project by the Friends and Enfield Council.  At the request of the Friends the Council last month applied to the War Memorials Trust for a grant of up to £30,000 to restore the.......

Enfield Carers Centre is raising money for a Young Adult Carers Project to help 3000 young people in Enfield looking after someone in their family with an illness or disability. Help us raise funds by hosting a breakfast during 17-19th October. Invite your friends and family to enjoy a delicious breakfast and make a donation. Why not have a special theme to make your breakfast fun? Contact us and we can supply you with placemats, recipes, invitations and other publicity material for free!.......

The haunting Greek musical style Rembetika (the "Greek Blues") will be the theme of a trilogy of events - two concerts and a film - which will be raising money for the Leukaemia Cancer Society, starting this month.  And appropriately enough, given the large Greek-speaking presence in our area, the first two events in the Trilogy of the Greek Blues will be taking place locally. The Trilogy begins with Rembetika and Beyond - A Journey into the Greek Blues, a concert at the Millfield Theatre.......

Free Will Week 6-10 October 2014 North London Hospice is offering you the chance to make or amend a will for free, as long as you include a gift to North London Hospice. To take advantage of this offer you must: • Include a gift to North London Hospice in your Will • Complete a pledge form for North London Hospice records Contact Jennifer Sheehy, Legacy Campaign Manager on  for an information pack. Your gift will ensure North London.......

Despite being part of a big city, we're certainly not short of green space in Palmers Green and around.  Broomfield Park, Arnos Park and Grovelands Park immediately spring to mind, but the smaller patches of green are also very important.  Firs Farm Playing Fields is an excellent example of a smaller, but very attractive "green lung".  Like the bigger parks, it now has its own "Friends", a group being set up by local resident Toni Guiver.  The Friends of Firs Farm have their.......

The new Neighbourhood Watch that was set up to cover Park Avenue and New River Crescent was formally registered with ourwatch.org.uk in June.  It has its own Facebook page for communication between residents of these two streets. Pamela Ramatohul, the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator, is inviting anyone living in Park Avenue, New River Crescent or adjacent and neighbouring roads to join the Facebook Group.  You can go straight to the page by clicking here or type in 'Neighbourhood.......

This year's Autumn Shed at Chickenshed runs from 27th to 31st October and is suitable for 5 to 12-year olds (Year 1 and upwards).  The cost is £130 (50% discount for siblings).  Hours are 10am to 4pm. Participants at this week-long event will explore and develop a wide range of performance skills through workshops that involve drama, dance, singing and story-making. Parents and friends will be invited in on the final afternoon to see a performance. Everyone is welcome regardless.......

The latest addition to our Community Directory is the Enfield Veg Co, whose mission is to provide us with locally grown, super-fresh organic vegetables, which it delivers once a weed to four pick-up points, one of which is in Palmers Green - Baskerville's Tea Shop.  We'll let them introduce themselves. Introducing the Enfield Veg Co. Enfield Veg Co. is a local, organic veg bag delivery scheme run by Forty Hall Farm in north Enfield. The Farm is part of Capel Manor College. When you sign.......

Enfield Council has publlshed information about changes to how the Enfield Residents' Priority Fund (ERPF) will operate over the next year.  The criteria for assessing applications have changed and emphasis is being placed on tackling deprivation in the ward in question. During 2013/14 one of the most notable uses of the ERPF was to fund the erection of the new clock at Palmers Green Triangle.  If the "addressing deprivation" is to be more rigidly imposed in future, it seems unlikely.......