Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Ladder Input to Finsbury Park Improvements
The local Ladder residents' group was recently asked to make suggestions for spending £10,000 on regenerating Mackenzie Gardens in Finsbury Park*. The money comes from the Environmental Impact Fund which is funded by income generated by park events.
A number of good suggestions were made. One was to use the money to help create a quiet area in the park, absent of the normal park traffic.
I was pleased when this idea got support. So it was suggested, I think by the Haringey parks team, that the 'Ladder funds' are spent on statement entrance gates for the Mackenzie Gardens.
I suggested that Tottenham-based Metalcraft who I visited some years back be approached to make the gates and I'm delighted to report that a gate for the cafe end of the Gardens is now being made by them.
As part of the wider improvements project for the Park, the Mackenzie Gardens are currently being revamped, apparently using the Victorian planting scheme as a design guide. I was told last night that they're about half way through.
We're hoping that the new round of funding will allow the manufacture of a gate for the other end.
It's nice to see this tangible benefit from the concerts at last.
*The HoL platform is currently experiencing problems with adding and displaying images. I'd tried to add my photo of the Gardens from 2008. But no joy. You can see it on Wikipedia from when I revamped the article on the park back in 2008.
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, finsbury park concerts
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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When I heard that these gardens were to be enhanced with "statement entrance gates" I immediately suggested proper gates with a proper statement such as "GARTENARBEIT MACKENZIE FREI". My suggestion has not found favour with the HP or FP gatekeepers, nor will they include exit gates. I've always liked these gardens but I wouldn't want to be stuck there.
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Permalink Reply by kotkas on
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That gate is hideous. The park is such a hodge podge of random interventions, the product of numerous below-average minds at the council trying to come up with something. All signage, gates, fencing, paving, landscaping, public areas are all from various eras, in various states of disrepair.
London is home to the best architectural/creative talent in the world, yet that gate appears to have been randomly generated in the Word Art feature on Microsoft Word.
The individuals responsible for the park need to have a good look at themselves. If I were a moderately gifted photographer I'd do a visual audit of the park to showcase how on the verge of it's 150-year anniversary it's aged as well as someone that's gone through multiple desperate rounds of dodgy plastic surgery - from victorian times until today... rant over...
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Permalink Reply by JHauptman on
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What's interesting here is the relationship between already budgeted for projects with funding 'awarded' to local groups through a grant. The budget in question has been moved/removed from the Council website, though is still visible in cache.
Providing a quiet area in the park becomes erecting an arch that was previously already in the park's budget. The Boathouse gets a grant after funds were already budgeted for repairs. Furtherfield 'wins' funding (for the app that's already been signed off and budgeted for) etc etc.
It's a relatively zero-sum game, given the ruling regarding funds earned/spent in the park.
But it does appear that the most prominent additions to the park and its surroundings are a number of powerful Gaslights.
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