Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
How did you spend your teenage years in Harringay?
I didn't grow up in Harringay but I know there are a fair few people on the site that did so I've got a question for you .How did you spend your teenage years in Harringay?
Let me explain. As soon as your parents give the green light to let you go out alone with your mates, you start devising with your pals a series of places where you can meet, hang out and where you are 'allowed' in.
These change from generation to generation of course, but I was wondering if any folk on the site whose child/teen years were spent in Harringay can tell us where the places you would meet were, the places you would sit and gossip were and the places you could go to socialise (legit or not!), they may no longer be there but that doesn't matter (quite the opposite actually, since we are trying to find these 'lost places'
To give you an idea what I mean, take a look at this picture from the sixties and notice Flower's comments underneath: At last I'm seeing a photo of the "Umbrella" which everyone knew as a meeting place in the 50s.
...and also what I want to know is what happened next...where did you go and what did you do?
There is a purpose to this. I want to map some significant landmarks that are significant because of what they mean to local people. My first would be the Umbrella at Turnpike Lane, please give some more and why. These can be from any era but please do mention what years we are talking about. Plus if anyone would be willing to talk to me personally about these places and their memories at these places if possible, let me know either in the thread or privately if you prefer.
To inspire you further, check out Les and his mates on scooters back in the early 60s
Warning: any disparaging comments about teenagers will be removed to the Meldrews :)
Let me explain. As soon as your parents give the green light to let you go out alone with your mates, you start devising with your pals a series of places where you can meet, hang out and where you are 'allowed' in.
These change from generation to generation of course, but I was wondering if any folk on the site whose child/teen years were spent in Harringay can tell us where the places you would meet were, the places you would sit and gossip were and the places you could go to socialise (legit or not!), they may no longer be there but that doesn't matter (quite the opposite actually, since we are trying to find these 'lost places'
To give you an idea what I mean, take a look at this picture from the sixties and notice Flower's comments underneath: At last I'm seeing a photo of the "Umbrella" which everyone knew as a meeting place in the 50s.
...and also what I want to know is what happened next...where did you go and what did you do?
There is a purpose to this. I want to map some significant landmarks that are significant because of what they mean to local people. My first would be the Umbrella at Turnpike Lane, please give some more and why. These can be from any era but please do mention what years we are talking about. Plus if anyone would be willing to talk to me personally about these places and their memories at these places if possible, let me know either in the thread or privately if you prefer.
To inspire you further, check out Les and his mates on scooters back in the early 60s
Warning: any disparaging comments about teenagers will be removed to the Meldrews :)
Tags for Forum Posts: history, history of harringay, teenagers
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Katey on
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Didn't grow up in Harringay itself - more the Wood Green area, but a big hangout for many teenagers from all over the borough in the late 70's/early 80's was Durnsford Swimming Pool (now the Sunshine Garden Centre) ...I love the garden centre, but to me and I'm sure many others of my era that site will always provoke strong memories of hours spent just hanging out poolside, eyeing the kids from other schools suspiciously, frying in the sun, eating tons of Paynes Poppets, and freezing to bits in the bitterly cold unheated water and not caring.
Hundreds of kids came from all around the area to spend day after day at Durnsford, all just hanging out during the school summer holidays ...hardly a parent in sight! The place was huge - as well as the large concrete poolside area on which we spent hours lying around chatting, there were two large raised 'balconied' areas at either end ...and the stinky toilets and lousy changing rooms didn't matter a jot to us. The place was always packed on hot days - and those were the years of 'proper' summers.
The concrete diving platforms were instant status-providers at Durnsford - if you were talented/crazy enough to launch yourself off the top platform you achieved instant super-cool-ness! ...can't remember how high that top platform actually was, but it certainly looked a long way down the one time I ventured up there!
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Permalink Reply by Steve Dunkley on
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when i was a lad i used meet with my mates on my local estate, tiverton.i used to hang around the local car park some time we would go down to wood berry down estate and get in to fights with some lads there. wed get the older lads lchasing us all over the place , but it wasent all fun some days go down to the offy to earn aa bit of money selling pop bottles, but also wed go down to the tottenham high road after school to meet girls at the norick club we used to listen to danchall music there it was a lot of fun any body else have any fond memories
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