Bruce Castle Museum & Archive
Saturday 14 May, 10.30am – 4.45pm
Doors open 10.15am
Bringing Heritage Assets to Life: Tottenham Hotspur, Community & Memory 10.50am
Sian Allpress has spent 3 years studying football and heritage within the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation Collection for her PhD (Doctoral partnership: University of Hertfordshire, the Sporting Heritage Network, & Tottenham Hotspur Foundation). Hear more about Sian’s research and findings from the THF Collection and collections held at Bruce Castle – from everyday ephemera and invoices of the early1900s to glorious community get-togethers for the Tottenham Charity Cup in 1927.
Reconstructing London’s ‘lost’ hospitals: The case of Northumberland House Mental Hospital (1829-1954) 11.25am
Visual artist Donna Fitzgerald reveals poignant photographs and stories about Northumberland House in Harringay and how these will feature in a mutli-media performance later in 2022 at Bruce Castle about one of the Hospital’s most well-known patients, Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot (whose husband was poet T.S Eliot). Do you have images or memories of what the old hospital site was like to be added as a record for the Museum’s own archive and/or inclusion in this Arts Council funded project’s show? Let us know!
Writing Black London: History, Art & Culture in over 120 places … & Haringey 12.00pm
A call-out from author and walk guide Avril Nanton – get your bearings, revise your history, and be inspired by this new book launched in 2021, co-authored with Jody Burton! Avril will highlight those places worth visiting and revisiting in our borough – and other parts of London – to help us explore the lives and work of some remarkable individuals who have made London the truly global, modern city it is today. www.avrilswalksandtalks.co.uk
Tottenham High Street Heritage Action Zone: Celebrating the Past, Looking Towards the Future 12.35pm
The Tottenham High Street Heritage Action Zone aims to rediscover the heritage and historic vitality of the high street, through physical improvements to buildings, cultural activities, training and guidance, and community engagement. Find out more from Camilla Gersh, Haringey Council’s Project Officer for the programme, as she introduces some of the initiatives under way in the Bruce Grove Conservation Area.
Lunch Break 1.10 – 2pm During the break …. Why not …. Come and see two short films: Tottenham Hidden History’s ‘Lie in the Dark and Listen’ (14 mins) and from Bruce Castle Museum & Archive ‘Welcome to Citizenship’
a 1961 enterprising new venture in civic education for 21-year-olds at Wood Green Civic Centre (25 mins). Or for those wanting to stretch their legs whilst taking in a bit of history or reconnect with the area, team up with Carol Hebbs of Tottenham Heritage Walks for a short guided walk – Bruce Grove to the High Road as part of the Hi CULTURE! programme: www.brucecastle.org.
Greenspace Protectors, Champions and Partners: The Rise of the Friends of Parks Movement 2.00 pm
Everyone rightly values our local public green spaces. Over the last 25 years communities have got involved in their promotion, maintenance and management. The rise of the inspirational movement of ‘Friends Groups’ – currently around 55 in Haringey, 900 across London & over 7,000 across the UK – has enabled park lovers make a real difference in the protection, animation, improvement and sense of community ‘ownership’ of their local sites. How has this movement developed? What have been the successes and challenges? What does the future hold? Find out from Dave Morris of the Haringey Friends of Parks Forum (www.haringeyfriendsofparks.org.uk) – and get information on how you can get involved.
Doing Global History in Local Archives: The Gestetner Story 2.35pm
Discover how the Gestetner machine technology of cyclostyle printing and duplicating played a crucial role in the underground print production during the Indian emergency of 1975- 77. The potential of the Tottenham-made office duplicator was quickly seized upon by grass-roots activists, resistance movements and radical publishing and printing across the world, from zines to Samizdat.
Pragya Dhital (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Queen Mary University of London), discusses the story behind the current exhibition she has curated ‘Crafting Subversion: Resistance and underground publishing in India’ at The Brunei Gallery, SOAS, drawing on Bruce Castle Museum’s Gestetner archives. www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/crafting-subversions
3.10pm – 3.30pm Tea Break
Once Upon a Time in Crouch End 3.30pm
Local historian, author and U3A Local History group convenor John Hinshelwood shares how over 6 months – from October 2019 to March 2020 – Crouch End U3A and Hornsey Historical joined forces, tasked to investigate stories and photographs from 1860-1980 about local people, transport and buildings for two exhibitions. But their exhibitions for the summer of 2020 did not happen as planned – due to Covid. Here’s what happened next and how they came together to create ‘Once upon a Time ..’ at the Art House Cinema.
A Terrace Through Time 4.05pm
Prospect Place – a small terrace of 10 delightful Grade-2 listed cottages in Tottenham, not far from Bruce Castle, celebrates a remarkable 200 years of their existence in 2022. The history of the houses is strongly linked to many traditions associated with Tottenham. Over the centuries this group of cottages continues to inspire artists to capture their charm, and the community to protect their unique pastoral heritage. From a Barber-Surgeon to an eminent Quaker, to a local Historian to a Climate Change activist – the terrace has been home to individuals as unique as itself! Go back in time with Ashley Grey – local resident, campaigner & keen amateur sleuth – who has dug into the archive at Bruce Castle to uncover more on these characters and their relationship with the area.
4.40pm Programme Ends