The Friends of Hilly Fields

2 days until another Lazy Sunday Afternoon!
See you at 3pm.
Music from The Bleedin' Business
Charity donations to North London Hospice
Gratitude to James Hayward Estate Agents GP Garden Services The Old Enfield Charitable Trust

Please support this fabulous event by buying your tickets now!

Livestock Music

Support your local independent Music Festival

It is coming to that time of year when we are all looking forward to the Livestock Music Festival. This year however things could be very different.

As you may know, Livestock is a community based not-for-profit organisation. Everything we have done over the last 13 years or so has been done through the generosity of the people who have purchased tickets to our events and enabled us to build what we believe are not only the best music events in the local area, but events where people can come which are inclusive, and importantly accessible to families and the wider community. We do not receive any corporate sponsorship or other outside funding.

The independent live music sector is under extreme economic pressure and we unfortunately, like many others, are suffering under the pressures of spiralling costs and the cost-of-living crisis. Costs for much of the festival infrastructure, bands and other services we need to make great, safe and accessible events have gone up rapidly in the last few years in a climate where we have not been able to increase prices to our visitors to keep up with these changes. If we had matched increases in costs to increases in ticket prices a standard festival ticket would be over £40, it is currently £32.50.

This has brought us to a difficult juncture. We have a date coming soon where we must seriously consider the economic viability of the 2024 Festival, as ticket sales this year are not keeping up with usual trends and in fact are falling behind at an alarming rate. We appreciate this is not unique to us and we are aware of over 40 similar events which have already either gone out of business or been forced to postpone until next year. We appreciate that some of that may be due to us being forced to review our policies regarding alcohol due to safety and licensing concerns. But the potential shortfall is much greater than that. This has been compounded by two factors, the rain last year caused a significant financial loss on the day, coupled with slow sales this year we are in a precarious financial position.

We are reaching out to you to ask one thing.

If you are waiting to buy tickets to see what the weather or something else might be like later in the month, please consider buying now. If we do not reach a certain target in the next week, we will have a difficult decision to make.

We are working hard to bring the great event we know people want, hopefully we will see you all there on July 27th!

fans

https://buytickets.at/livestockmusic/1184062/r/fb-support

2 days to go!

THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON starting at 3pm,we'll be performing outdoor at .enfield

🎸See you all there🎸

🥁🥁🥁🥁 Drumroll please!
Here are the dates and bands for this year! Please save them in your diaries and fingers crossed for sunshine!
We still need volunteer stewards for the event days, so please get in touch if you can help, even if it's just a couple of hours.

A reminder that our AGM is tomorrow! 7.30pm St Luke's Church.
If you would like a copy of the agenda and constitution please send us a message.

Do you want to get more involved with our beautiful park?
We will be holding our Annual General Meeting on 17th April 2024, at 7.30pm, in St Luke's Church. It is open to all paid up members. Anyone wishing to join and pay on the night (£2 for individuals, £5 for families) should come at 7.15pm. We will be discussing a new constitution which will not have the need for payment going forward.

After we have our AGM, we will have a general meeting, open to all supporters/park users/friends etc starting approx. 8.15pm.

We would really love to have some new volunteers, especially if you are passionate about making sure the park is looked after, to report issues and help get them fixed. If this sounds like you or you would like to get involved in anything to do with Hilly Fields, including bandstand events, this is your opportunity to come and meet the team.
Send us a message if you have any questions!

Do you want to get more involved with our beautiful park?
We will be holding our Annual General Meeting on 17th April 2024, at 7.30pm, in St Luke's Church. It is open to all paid up members. Anyone wishing to join and pay on the night (£2 for individuals, £5 for families) should come at 7.15pm. We will be discussing a new constitution which will not have the need for payment going forward.

After we have our AGM, we will have a general meeting, open to all supporters/park users/friends etc starting approx. 8.15pm.

We would really love to have some new volunteers, especially if you are passionate about making sure the park is looked after, to report issues and help get them fixed. If this sounds like you or you would like to get involved in anything to do with Hilly Fields, including bandstand events, this is your opportunity to come and meet the team.
Send us a message if you have any questions!

Hello Hilly Fields Friends!
We have started planning our music events for 2024 and we need some help to make them happen...
Firstly, money... we know things are tight at the moment but if you are or know a business that would like to sponsor us please get in touch. Each event costs approx £1k to put on, so if we don't have that we can't go ahead. (Big thank you to James Hayward Estate Agents for being a sponsor again.)
Secondly, bands... any requests or recommendations?
Thirdly, volunteers... we need people on event days to ensure the events run safely. Please let us know if you are available to help.

Fingers crossed 🤞🤞for all 4 events this year, 2018 was the last time we managed it!

👏👏👏

On Sunday the 2023 penultimate community litterpicking occurred in Hilly Fields and the local area and 10 large sacks of rubbish were collected.

Next April we are 5 and in this time the last year has seen a phenomenal rise in dumping. There are so many reasons as to why this is occurring, but in my humble opinion residents have to take responsibility and stop treating Enfield as a large bin. From bags of household rubbish to mounds of unwanted furniture we are starting to live in an unsightly neighbourhood.

This team of Earth Angels continue to do their bit not only one Sunday a month but every single day. These people deserve the loudest of cheers for the hundreds of hours volunteering they undertake trying to keep EN2 beautiful and safe from those who have no respect for our community and open spaces.

Thank you for all you do. 🙏🏻

Wow wow wow what an amazing afternoon yesterday! Thank you all for coming!
Thank you to The Vipers! A genuine dream come true to see them on our bandstand.

As always thank you to our sponsors:
James Hayward Estate Agents GP Garden Services Localgiving PPL PRS Ltd People's Postcode Lottery

Also thank you to James at Chase Pest Control for dealing with a wasps nest at the last minute!

Roll on next year! If you want to be involved in volunteering get in touch.
We also need more sponsors, we don't have enough money to run 4 events yet. So if you would like to be a sponsor we'd love to hear from you.

THIS SUNDAY!! 3PM!! 🎤🎵🎶🌞🌞🌞🎤🎵🎶
We are finally welcoming THE VIPERS to our beautiful bandstand, only been waiting a year!!
will be shaking buckets and having a raffle.
As always thanks to our sponsors:





See you there!

3 weeks until our next event! 10th September. We are really looking forward to finally welcoming The Vipers to our bandstand.
HOWEVER... we are very short on helpers for the day... please get touch if you are able to spare some time for stewarding duties. We cannot safely go ahead without some more people helping.

It's been a couple of weeks since we enjoyed The Gregory gang on our beautiful bandstand. We would like to thank our sponsors, without whom the events would not be possible...
James Hayward Estate Agents
GP Garden Services
PPL PRS Ltd
Localgiving
People's Postcode Lottery

Well done to Age UK Enfield for raising £665! Thank you to all those that donated.
Look forward to seeing you all again on 10th September.

THIS SUNDAY! The weather is not looking great, but we won't let a few showers stop us, so please don't let them stop you! Just bring a brolly and dance in the rain. We've worked so hard to have the events this year please come and support.
If it looks really bad weather we will have to cancel 😢. A decision will be made on Sunday morning.



Thank you sponsors:

TONIGHT!! Please come and sign up to help us with the events. Just drop in anytime between 7 and 9, Rose & Crown.

Want to see some music on our beautiful bandstand this year?
We need volunteer stewards! We have been working hard on the council paperwork and we are pleased to say it looks like we can go ahead with 2 events this year! (Subject to enough stewards!)
So add 23rd July and 10th September to your diaries.
In order for these events to be successful and safe we need a group of volunteers to help steward the events. The more we have the shorter the shifts can be!
We are holding a drop-in session at the Rose & Crown on Tuesday 27th June from 7pm – 9pm. Come along and meet some of the team, have a drink and find out more. We would love to see you. If you can’t make it but would like to know more, please get in touch.

Want to see some music on our beautiful bandstand this year?
We need volunteer stewards! We have been working hard on the council paperwork and we are pleased to say it looks like we can go ahead with 2 events this year! (Subject to enough stewards!)
So add 23rd July and 10th September to your diaries.
In order for these events to be successful and safe we need a group of volunteers to help steward the events. The more we have the shorter the shifts can be!
We are holding a drop-in session at the Rose & Crown on Tuesday 27th June from 7pm – 9pm. Come along and meet some of the team, have a drink and find out more. We would love to see you. If you can’t make it but would like to know more, please get in touch.

Reminder! Our AGM is this Wednesday, 17th May, 7.30pm, St Luke's Church, Phipps Hatch Lane.
It is open to all paid up members. Anyone wishing to join and pay on the night (£2 for individuals, £5 for families) should come at 7.15pm. We are looking for a new Chair and Vice Chair, but anyone wanting to join as a trustee/committee member should come along to find out more.
After we have our AGM, we will have a general meeting, open to all supporters starting approx. 8.15pm. If you would like to get involved in anything to do with Hilly Fields, including bandstand events, this is your opportunity to come and meet the team.
Send us a message or email if you would like to see the agenda, or have any questions.
Thank you!

We have a new tree 🌳! We hope this will grow into a mighty oak and be enjoyed by many future generations.
Thanks to the councillors and others for coming along to help.
If we (eventually!) have a dry spell, feel free to water it using the pipe at the side.

A King Oak tree is being planted by the ward councillors in Hilly Fields tomorrow (Friday 5th May) at 12.30pm, to celebrate the King's coronation. All welcome to join.

Update... Change of date for AGM
We are still working hard behind the scenes trying to get risk assessments and documents completed. As time moves along it is looking increasingly like a June event will not be possible. Fingers crossed for July 🤞🤞.

We need to delay our AGM by a couple of weeks. Our AGM will now be held on 17th May, 7.30pm, St Luke’s Church, Phipps Hatch Lane, EN2 0HL. It is open to all paid up members. Anyone wishing to join and pay on the night (£2 for individuals, £5 for families) should come at 7.15pm. We are looking for a new Chair and Vice Chair, but anyone wanting to join as a trustee/committee member should come along to find out more.
After we have our AGM, we will have a general meeting, open to all supporters starting approx. 8.15pm. If you would like to get involved in anything to do with Hilly Fields, including bandstand events, this is your opportunity to come and meet the team.
Feel free to send us a message or email if you have any questions.
Thank you!

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS!!
The good news is Cllr Chinelo Anyanwu is supporting us to move forward with the risk assessment and licencing. Hopefully we will be able to bring you events later in the year, but there is still a long way to go! We do know that we will need more marshalls/stewards, so please think about whether this would be something you can help with, and look out for a future post.
The bad (and sad) news is that our Chair, Tony Claydon, and Vice chair, Dave Watson, have decided to step down at our AGM in April. This is an immense loss to the group. Tony was a founding member of Friends of Hilly Fields and was instrumental in restoring the bandstand when the council wanted to demolish it in 1997. We thank them for all their hard work and providing a great legacy that we hope to continue.
Our AGM will be held on 26th April, 7.30pm, St Luke’s Church, Phipps Hatch Lane, EN2 0HL. It is open to all paid up members. Anyone wishing to join and pay on the night (£2 for individuals, £5 for families) should come at 7.15pm. We are obviously looking for a new Chair and Vice Chair, but anyone wanting to join as a trustee/committee member should come along to find out more.
After we have our AGM, we will have a general meeting, open to all supporters starting approx. 8.15pm. If you would like to get involved in anything to do with Hilly Fields, including bandstand events, this is your opportunity to come and meet the team.
Feel free to send us a message or email if you have any questions.
Thank you!

Update on this year’s events

Unfortunately, we have some bad news. We were hoping to have an event for the Coronation weekend but we have had to make the decision to not go ahead.

We have spent the last 2 months trying to satisfactorily complete the new licencing requirements from the council. Progress has been made towards implementing this higher level of documentation but we unfortunately do not believe we will have time to fulfil to the requisite level by May.

We are a small group of volunteers who run these events for the community. We need to ensure the event is safe for the volunteers and attendees, and the requirements to achieve this have increased.

We hope you understand that this is not a decision we have taken lightly. At this moment we cannot say with any certainty that there will be any events this year or going forward. We will continue to try as we love bringing the community together in our fabulous park.

EVENT NEWS!
In order to put on our fabulous events this year we are having to go through some legal documents from the council. We are looking for a volunteer with legal experience to help us navigate the documents, as they have become more complex and are a big barrier to us actually going ahead this year.
Please message if you can help.
Thank you and fingers crossed 🤞🤞🤞

REMINDER! The Friends of Hilly Fields are having a meeting TONIGHT 18th January, 7pm, St Luke's Church.
We would love some more people to join us! We are a small group and we are looking for people to help with improving the park. Many hands make light work!
For example, if you would like to see the pathways fixed or the wetlands improved, we need people to get involved.
We will also be planning our events for this year. To ensure these can go ahead safely we need more people to be marshalls on the day. If you can volunteer on event days we would love to hear from you. 😊

If anyone finds a pair of brown glasses in Hilly Fields, please get in touch. Lost on Sunday somewhere along the bottom path.

The Friends of Hilly Fields are having a meeting next Wednesday 18th January, 7pm, St Luke's Church.
We would love some more people to join us! We are a small group and we are looking for people to help with improving the park. Many hands make light work!
For example, if you would like to see the pathways fixed or the wetlands improved, we need people to get involved.
We will also be planning our events for this year. To ensure these can go ahead safely we need more people to be marshalls on the day. If you can volunteer on event days we would love to hear from you. 😊

Thank you to all those that joined us on Sunday, it was a fantastic afternoon. And thank you to those that DID take your rubbish home.
Unfortunately not everyone did...