N21 Article - June 2009

This last month has been full of local fetes and celebrations. I have been on what you could call a ‘fete crawl’, with schools and churches ensuring that a weekend does not go by in the Summer when you can’t buy a cake, eat a bbq’d burger, shoot for goal, hook the duck, bash the rat or have a lucky dip. I took a risk at our local school fete by volunteering to have wet sponges thrown at me. With the expenses scandals fresh in people’s minds there was enthusiasm to give me a soaking. The Friends committee spotted the fundraising potential and doubled the price for a go!

Last month I managed to finally see off the 30s much to the delight of my wife and children who now enjoy the limited rebuttal I have to the charge of getting old! More significantly Hazelwood School is 100 years old and it was excellent to attend a recent event where many of their alumni returned to the school. What interested me was that I recognised many of the ex pupils as active members of our community. It seems that in places like N21, once you move here you find it hard to leave!

Another school which celebrated a significant anniversary was St Paul’s CE Primary School. 150 years ago the foundation stone was laid in what is now the church car park. Over the years it has moved to Ringwood Way and become a 2 form entry school with excellent standards – although I am probably a little biased as a Parent Governor!

Last month I enjoyed attending an assembly at St Paul’s to tell the children that their school shared the same 150th birthday with Big Ben. For you to see Big Ben you will need to do more than see it on News at Ten, because it is of course the name of the bell rather than the clock tower. You can see it for yourself by booking a tour with my office and climbing the 330 steps. It is worth the climb because you will see and hear the 13.7 tonnes of bell cast in Whitechapel and learn about its history. The bell was named after either Sir Benjamin Hall, who was the clerk of works with reputedly a large stomach, or Ben Caunt a well known prize fighter! Apart from the odd interruption due to snow, birds or maintenance Big Ben has chimed out the famous Westminster chimes from Handel’s Messiah at the quarter hour mark for 150 years. You may have also heard the chimes closer to home in N11 with a local ice cream van using the tune to bring in customers! What is not so well known is that there are words that go along with the chimes… “All through this hour Lord be my guide, And by thy power no foot shall slide”. These wonderful words chime out to Westminster and courtesy of the BBC worldwide. As Parliament considers how to reform itself following the expenses scandals it would do well to remember these words as the best guide.