The sun shone on Palmers Green Festival on Sunday, and the local community turned up in huge numbers to enjoy this annual event in Broomfield Park.

Festival founder Phillip Chard said, “The Festival has continued to grow year on year, and demonstrates that local people want to get together and celebrate our diverse community. We estimate that approaching 10,000 people came out to enjoy themselves. There was something for everyone – from entertainment for children to a new project aimed at the older members of our community. And in addition to the established Dance Zone and Bandstand performances, we had an additional stage on the old bowling green this year. Music on the Green, organised by local musician & promoter Lester Clayton, showcased local musical talent and that was also a huge success.”

Another feature of this year’s Festival was the Community Friendship Zone aiming to involve older people in community activities. Organised in conjunction with the Ruth Winston Centre in Palmers Green, the zone featured exercise demonstrations which had the crowd joining in taster sessions for Yoga, Pilates, Arm Chair exercise and Tai Chi along with Enfield Community Singers showing the power of music and song.

Ruth Winston Centre Manager, Yvonne Quigley, felt the day had been “a huge success”. She explained, that the Community Friendship Zone had been “a wonderful place for people to come and gather information and advice from a number of organisations in the borough and hopefully solved some of their needs and those of their loved ones. The Community Friendship Zone was an excellent opportunity for us to work together to break isolation and engage with the older community in the hope of encouraging them to join in an activity or group across the borough and seek the companionship they need. We look forward to carrying on our work throughout the year together on many projects”.

The Festival would not have been possible without the huge team of volunteers who turned out on the day. One volunteer from Palmers Green, Amrit Sagoo, said, “I volunteered at this superbly organised event, right down to the softly shining sun! It was good to part of it but more than that to give something back even if only my time to a place where I’ve lived for almost 12 years. A big well done and thank you to all those involved.”

There were 100 stalls spread around Broomfield Park providing superb international cuisine, a huge variety of active community groups as well as many local traders. Stacey Chapman from Enfield Community Acupuncture was very enthusiastic, “a fabulous day, such a great turnout. Just wish I’d had more of a chance to see the rest of the Festival. Thanks to all the volunteers who did such an amazing job! We’ll be back next year!”

Palmers Green Festival will be back next year – and aims again to provide a great community event.

• Keep in touch on the Festival website

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