27th October 2013 - Volunteers adding autumn colour to the station garden

The garden on the platform at Highams Park Station received an autumn makeover recently from volunteer residents. This monthly gardening club is organised by The Highams Park Society to tend the garden. This month, in addition to a general tidy up and prune, some colourful planting was performed (plants paid for by the rail operator). Since the pictures were taken more of the new plants have come into flower.

The garden has been a feature at the station for about 100 years and used to be looked after by the station master. In those days, the different stations participated in competitions to see who had the best garden. Our garden is now an unusual feature on the rail network.

The gardening club meets on the platform at 10am - Noon on the second Saturday of every month (excluding Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb) and if you'd like to drop in for half an hour to help you'd be made very welcome.
 

15th July 2013 - Surprise presence at Highams Park Day 2013 ...

Highams Park Day took place on Saturday (13th July) on Vincent Green and there was a surprise presence... Sunshine !
Those who attended the two previous years will remember that on those occasions the event had an unwelcome, water based theme :-)

The event was well attended by visitors and stall holders, and people even sat on the ground to watch the entertainment without any risk of floating away. The Forum entertained the children with face painting and drawing, and visitors were asked to write their ideas about Highams Park on a large map. There were lots of good suggestions but one that stood out, with virtually every visitor supporting it, was the idea of creating a café with toilets in the park beside the lake.

We learned one other thing: If you keep referring to the creation of a large painting as "Doing a Muriel" you pretty soon forget what the correct word is. Apparently Michelangelo was good at Muriels.

Roger Torode did an excellent job photographing the event and his 92 photos can be seen in the following link. The first batch of photos were taken during the setting up, before the public arrived, in case you were wondering why there was no one there !
Link: Highams Park Day 2013 92 photos

And not content with stills, Malcolm Shykles was out with his video camera and edited together this short sequence of the day:
Link: Highams Park Day 2013 - Video
 

14th March 2013 - Virtual Tour of the station

Whilst looking for something else, we found an interesting feature buried in the bowels of the National Rail website. The words "Virtual Tour" (our words) in the headline above probably oversells it a bit, but its interesting nevertheless. If you click on the link below it takes you to a simple diagram of Highams Park Station (plan view). If you then slowly move the mouse pointer over the diagram, a series of photographs appear showing the view at the current location of the mouse pointer. Someone went to a lot of trouble, even photographing each vending machine individually.

We were amused to find our little booking office area referred to as the "Concourse".

Our only disappointment was that the station garden was not included for some reason. This unusual feature (maintained by the Highams Park Society) is a hidden gem. If you'd like to see a photo of the garden, scroll down this "Seen locally" page to the 14th April 2012 entry or scroll up to the 27th October 2013 entry.

Link: Station Interactive Plan
If the link is broken for some reason, try Googling "Highams Park Station Plan" to find it.
 

12th November 2012 - Misty autumn in the forest by the lake

Oona Kelly captured this atmospheric autumn scene. The location is the forest by the lake near Forest Glade and the weak sun is playing on the morning mist.

23rd July 2012 - Olympic Opening Ceremony Rehearsal

Some Highams Park residents were lucky in Waltham Forest council's draw to win tickets to the Technical Rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. This took place on the evening of Monday 23rd July, just 5 days prior to the live opening ceremony on the Friday. They were among the first members of the public to witness the performance and were asked to keep it a secret until the Friday. It was a magical evening.

Here are five photos which give a feel for the event:

14th July 2012 - Highams Park Day 2012

The Forum display at Highams Park Day told the story of some famous Elizabethans that lived in and around Highams Park over 400 years ago. These were "Highams Park's Elizabethan Celebrities".

Displays told their stories and their close connections to Elizabeth I. Maps showed where they lived, relating the locations to modern day Highams Park. Mary Dunhill put in a huge amount of effort to prepare the display and to dress a number of Forum members in appropriate garb to represent the different celebrities. Henry VIII was also there (Elizabeth's father) to make sure no one got out of line. The display was very well received by visitors.

22nd June 2012 - Giraffe in Nightingale Avenue

A green giraffe looking over the wall of a front garden in Nightingale Avenue.

5th June 2012 - Jubilee weather for ducks

Even the ducks sought higher ground (apparently) during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend. This scene captured on a roof in Abbotts Crescent.

14th April 2012 - Station garden gets a spring makeover

The garden on the platform at Highams Park Station received a spring makeover this morning from volunteer residents. This monthly gardening club is organised by The Highams Park Society to tend the garden.

The garden has been a feature at the station for about 100 years and used to be looked after by the station master. In those days, the different stations participated in competitions to see who had the best garden. The efforts this morning have created some room for new plants which will shortly be added to bring additional colour and interest.

The gardening club meets on the platform at 10am - Noon on the second Saturday of every month (excluding Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb) and if you'd like to drop in for half an hour to help you'd be made very welcome.

21st February 2012 - Olympic flagpole at the Library

Our local library has grown a flagpole. It is understood that this has been paid for by some Olympic monies and is one of a number of new flagpoles installed at public buildings throughout the borough.

4th January 2012 - New Year Firework Display in the park

Roger Torode captured these two photos at the Fireworks in the Park event on 2nd January 2012.

This free event, organised by LBWF, ran from 4pm to 8pm with Fireworks at 6pm. It took place in the park beside the lake. The fireworks lasted for a continuous 30 minutes, synchronised to music from the movies. Everyone we spoke to was very impressed, both with the display and the organisation. The combination of the early start and the bank holiday meant that many young family groups were able to be present and there were lots of smiling faces.

The event was part of LBWF's "Big 6", a series of events to celebrate the Olympic year.