Harringay hosts Dutch team with a 'Walking Dinner'

Shefik Mehmet, chair of the Harringay Traders, briefs the Dutch group before taking them on one of his famed "Walking Dinners"

Today I was part of a small group who hosted a national team of twenty five Dutch politicians and senior public service officials on a visit to Harringay.

The Dutch team were interested in approaches being used outside Holland that may help them develop their own ways of encouraging more collaboration between government and residents. 

I was asked to take part to outline how Harringay Online works, how it's involved local people and what it's achieved. The group also heard from Cllr Zena Brabazon and Ian Seagrave about the collaboration between the Council, traders and residents' groups to develop of our high street after the tough times of the late nineties. Cllr Brabazon showed that she's a natural born performer!

Alongside Zena, Shefik Mehmet was, as always, the the other star of the show. He led the group on what's fast becoming one of his legendary 'walking dinners' along Green Lanes, during which they were entertained with Harringay stories and fed with delicacies from the Baklava stores, borek from Yarsir Halim and Turkish tea from Devran.