Illuminated Tree Outside The Broadwalk, Edgware, Middlesex

This illuminated tree livens up and lightens up the dark nights outside The Broadwalk, indoor shopping centre at Edgware, Middlesex, right beside the Edgware train station and bus garage.

When you venture outside the shopping mall and supermarket, you'll find lots more choice of things to do and places to eat up and down the main road, Station Road: The public library, Izgara Turkish food, Orli, Halal food, Kosher food, Polish food, Nando's chicken, a coffee shop and many more.

Edgware Library
I grew up in Edgware, living near the public library. Once I was doing my homework in the library when a boyfriend phoned me. In those days you did not pay by the minute. One old Penny in the box and you could talk indefinitely. So our German au pair girl, Hannelore, ran down to the library to fetch me back to answer the phone whilst the boy of the moment was still hanging on.

Spelling of Edgware
Note that there is no E in the middle of Edgware, only one E at the start and another at the end. Maybe back int he mists of time there was an e as in edge, but over time people got tired. Or perhaps the nam e was established in the middle ages when spelling was a free for all, before the dictionary established set spelling.

Origin of the Name Edgware
OK - I had to look it up in Wikipedia which says:
Edgware is a Saxon name meaning Ecgi's weir. Ecgi was a Saxon and the weir relates to a pond where Ecgi's people caught fish. Goodness, I associate Edgware with being the end of the Edgware Road which was an old Roman road, dead straight from the centre of London, leading north.

Railway Tavern, Edgware
Alas the old Railway tavern, a grand Victorian mock Tudor building is still boarded up, waiting for help (financial help, loving help). It's been siting there for years, empty. Every now and then a sign goes up praising redevelopment. One day. Meanwhile, let's cheer ourselves up thinking of the illuminated tree outside The Broadwalk.

Getting There
If you are driving, it's hard to find a free parking place and you risk getting fined in streets around the main road. However, behind the bus garage is a big public car park. It was free on Sundays last time I parked in Edgware (and went into London on the Northern line). I suggest you look up car parking and the latest car parks and times and charges if you plan to drive and stop there.

Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright, November 2016.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Tree lit for Charity in Hatch End - and more lights

This year the shopkeepers have not funded an illuminated Christmas tree in the centre of Hatch End but you can see an illuminated tree in a road by the park opposite the station in Park View road.

Cross over the road from the station to the Morrisons side. Walk towards the shops. On the first corner is Impeccables. A small poster about it is in the B & K deli bar and restaurant window in the parade before you reach Tesco.

 Turn back towards Impeccables and that is St Anselm's street you walk along. At the far end turn left into Park View. From the corner you can see the tree across the road.

The tree is lit to raise money for a charity and you can read about it in the illuminated sign under the tree.

Photographs copyright Angela Lansbury.

The tree is equally impressive seen by day. As you can see from the photo, it is more than twice the height of the houses. A nearby tree is pretty impressive, too. 

The dead end road you were facing at the corner has an over grown sign about allotments.

Back in the high street, passing Impeccables clothing shop, you can stop for food at B and K for take away or sit down turkey or salt beef sandwich. Take another look at the poster. The tree for charity is over forty foot high. Even if you are six foot tall, and your rooms are eight foot high with a two foot space between for wiring and what have you, forty feet is about four storeys high, and most houses in the area are two storeys with a roof space. So forty foot is four storeys high and taller than most houses in the street.

What about the charity? You can expand my photo of the poster to read it. It is raising funds for research into the cause of brain tumours. The lights are in memory of 27 year old Darren Walker who died age 27 in 2013. The poster mentions that volunteers work for nothing to help raise money for Ali's Dream, founded in memory of Ali Phelan who died before her 8th birthday, and the charity was launched in 2001 by her family. The poster ends on a happier note, hoping you enjoy the lights and wishing you a merry Christmas.

You could mull over this whilst you sit in B and K. Or, if you've given all your spare change to charity, continue on for a £1 sandwich from Tesco. Maybe buy a gift in St Luke's charity shop which has plenty of bargains for under £5. Or relax in style at one of Hatch End's half a dozen quick bite places, such as jolly La Dolce Vita Italian cafe. Across the side road is Genuine Cakes which offers a free cake with coffee on Thursdays. Or Fellini caffe on the opposite corner. For breakfast or lunch or evening, the Prosecco and Pizza place. Or back towards Hatch End station, more shops, plus the pub, Wetherspoons, which has its own smaller tree outside.

The site alisdream tells you how to donate as well as buy Christmas cards or sell them for the charity.

http://alisdream.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.