Did you know that all the following sites are part of our area and are constantly vandalised or used as rubbish dumps?

As a result of close co-operation between our Association and Haringey Council, lots of improvements have been made to all our green sites in the last few years. We are in regular touch with the Council and alert them to problems as they arise.

If you identify any other litter hotspots, or wish to report on the ones below, please contact our chairman John Hajdu by email at hajdu.clarion@talk.21.com.

Newly discovered lower garden on Muswell Hill

We have discovered this unused and overgrown garden and have persuaded the authorities to start working on this site on a long-term basis. The work includes coppicing of the area, cutting back the weeds and brambles, re-defining the pathway, turning the soil and clearing the rubbish. This is a long-term project and the work is monitored by our association on a regular basis.

Historical information for Grove Lodge Gardens (as it was named then):

Black and white photos of the park on Muswell Hill, as it was in 1945 and in 1949, are shown below. The park is included in a book Beauty and the Borough by Councillor Frederick Cleary, published in 1949 to display the efforts made by the Hornsey Borough Council to restore public amenities in the borough after the War.

The first of the two pictures shows what was then part of the Grove Lodge Estate. The author and the Town Clerk managed to buy the land for the Council and the second picture shows how they turned it into a little park. The author says "Grove Lodge Gardens, Muswell Hill today. The fence has gone, revealing the full beauty of very fine trees. The opportunities and
the natural beauty of the site have been well used by intelligent planning and artistic garden designing."

Grove Lodge Estate in 1945 - Muswell Hill   Transformed into Grove Lodge Gardens in 1949 - Muswell Hill

The garden as it looked in 2002

Work started on the pathway in February 2005 with some digging The path begins to re-emerge in March 2005 Finished project on Muswell Hill - April 2005 (2 views below) More planting will follow. March 2006 - Finger posts in heritage style have been erected in the garden - which has had its historical name re-instated - Grove Lodge Gardens

Muswell Hill flower beds at The Green Man

On 27th July and 12th October, 2002, Haringey's Neighbourhood Manager West, Haringey Council workers and members of the MHFGA spent some hours clearing weeds and assisting with the planting of ivy and shrubs on the three beds by The Green Man (now re-named The Hill) Spring 2003: A new waste bin was installed in the flower bed next to the bench. Winter 2004: The beds were further maintained and more ivy was planted.

Pictures of the beds before work was done Winter 2001

Muswell Hill flower beds at The Green Man (2 views) after work was done in October 2002 March 15th 2003: See lower picture The cordylines are growing and despite graffiti on the wall, the ivy is starting to spread. But some of the plants have disappeared.

Muswell Hill flower beds at The Green Man August 2004 improvements. As a result of our Association's continued involvement, more works to the gardens have been done by Haringey. Trellis has been added to the graffiti wall and the bench has been re-painted. The ivy should grow through to the front very soon. (Check back to the 2001 shots above) December 2006: New planting has been done in the main bed as shown below:

Rubbish and graffiti on Parkland Walk under The Green Man (now renamed The Hill)

2006: Work is ongoing to get rid of rubbish and remove graffiti. The tunnel interior walls have been painted green.

Spring 2002 January 2008 wall re-painted and lighting improved

The new centrepiece on the roundabout by St. James's Church in Muswell Hill

May 2002   March 15th 2003: see below The cordyline in the centre went missing for a while and has now been replaced with a small palm. Two new advertising signs were added. Spring 2004: The signs are gone for the moment as Haringey Council considers the sponsorship scheme for flowerbeds in the surrounding area.

St. James's flower bed outside St. James's Church, Muswell Hill.

Spring 2002

March 2003: The bed has been replanted and covered with bark.

Flower beds on the corner of Fortis Green Road and Muswell Hill Broadway

Spring 2002

May 2002: The same flowerbed - improved.

Newly planted flower beds by the Odeon Cinema

May 2002

Princes Garden on the corner of Princes Avenue and Fortis Green Road

Spring 2002: Before work was done

March 15th 2003: Improvements The Princes Garden revamped. A new fence, improved paving, a new centre tree and new walling that reflects the Edwardian style. An enormous improvement! Spring 2004: More improvements: one of the telecom boxes has been dismantled and the graffiti and fly posting has been removed from the other as a result of work done by volunteers from our association. See below:

Flower bed on the corner of Fortis Green and Fortis Green Road

After improvements 2002 - new planting

Midhurst Green on the corner of Midhurst Avenue and Fortis Green (2 views)

Further work was undertaken in Sping 2006.

Winter 2001 - before work was done

Spring 2002 - After improvements

Eastern Green on the corner of Eastern Road and Fortis Green

Spring 2002

Twyford Green

A lot of work was done on this green in Spring 2006; new benches and trees were added plus the clearance of rubbish.

Spring 2002

Diary of a hotspot

Garage block by the entrance to Alexandra Park on Dukes Avenue

15th March 2003: This site is used to dump beds, fridges and rubbish. It is also a graffiti hotspot.   2nd April 2003: Within two weeks of this picture being posted, the wall has been cleaned of graffiti and paint. 1st May 2003: Graffiti was added but the fridges and rubbish are being collected. 5th September 2003: The wall is now beige. There is no rubbish and entry to the site is restricted by a chord barrier. 20th September 2003: A huge purple graffiti 'tag' has been added. 1st November 2003: The purple graffiti was cleaned off but then someone added silver metallic spray paint squiggles. 4th December 2003: A new black graffiti tag has been sprayed on the wall. But the area is still clear of dumped rubbish. 16th January 2004: The black graffiti has gone but rubbish is beginning to build up again. 7th March 2004: The rubbish is being cleared but the silver graffiti remains. 18th April 2004: More graffiti has been sprayed on, in black this time. 1st August 2004: The wall has been cleaned again and painted beige. January 2005: Since August a few small graffiti tags have been added and then removed. It stayed clean for a while. There is now one silly face tag. March 2005: More graffiti has been added to the wall. September 2005: Even more graffiti added but the rubbish problem seems to have abated for the moment. March 2006: The wall was re-painted beige but within days it was vandalised again with new graffiti. July 2006: The wall was painted beige and by mid August is still clean. There has been no dumping recently. August - September 2006: During August the wall stayed clean but as soon as the kids went back to school the graffiti tags returned. This may be just a coincidence. November 2006: The wall has been repainted beige. January 2008: After a year of graffiti the wall is now clean and beige again. Rubbish is not appearing. February 2009: After various graffiti incidents the wall was becoming unsightly but it has now been repainted pale grey. The adjoinng house has been renovated and the fencing and wall replaced alongide the garage area. New shingle has been laid in front of the garages.