Events

Join us at Bruce Castle for morning tea and the opportunity to look at our collections and share stories. March's theme is music, so we'll be sharing objects and images from the collection that tell the exciting history of Haringey's music scene.

You’ll be able to chat and enjoy refreshments in a safe and welcoming environment.

You will also have exclusive access to the Museum's ground floor gallery spaces. 

Free, all welcome. Refreshments included.

Free, all welcome. Booking recommended. 

Join sculptor Al Johnson as she discusses the inspiration for and making of ‘Land of Laundries’, which will be on display in Bruce Castle Museum’s Compton Gallery for Women’s History Month.

Two Atkinson descendants - Ron Atkinson and Andy Thomas - will talk about these two immensely talented men who lived and worked in Church Road, Tottenham, at the turn of the 20th Century.

Ron will provide further fascinating insights into the life and work of the world-renowned luthier, William Senior, while Andy will look, in detail, at William Junior's young life and his immense contribution to local history through the medium of his many magnificent images of Edwardian Tottenham.

Doors open at 12pm for a 12.15pm start.

Free, all welcome. Refreshments included.

Modern gadgets can be a bit of a challenge for some of us, for all their usefulness. Those we used in the past were often so much more simple and trustworthy. The telephone, firmly fixed to the wall so it was never lost and never ran out of charge like those all-singing, all-dancing mobiles.

The history of our local communities can be read in our buildings, the different styles of architecture and the stories they tell. Some may still be with us, others vanished with changing fashions. The handsome Wood Green Empire and the Tottenham Palace are evidence of past entertainment pleasures – music hall, theatre, bingo and cinema. The 1930s Muswell Hill Odeon, on the other hand, with its beautiful Art Deco architecture, still survives.

Special Local History Activity for Dementia Action Week 

Not only is it Dementia Action Week from 13-19 May, but this month also marks Local and Community History Month!

To celebrate these two occasions, we've put together a hands on activity exploring the diverse and exciting history of the borough of Haringey, all inspired by the collections at Bruce Castle Museum & Archive.

You’ll be able to chat and enjoy refreshments in a safe and welcoming environment.

For any queries, please email us at museum.services@haringey.gov.uk

Come along on a walk with curator Deborah Hedgecock on International Museums Day as she explores around the Bruce Castle Museum area – from Church Lane and Prospect Place to Birkbeck Road and Bruce Castle Road. Drawing on the collections and stories from the archives and collections at Bruce Castle, you can discover more about the lives of those who resided or worked here, and who tested and pushed boundaries to achieve the remarkable and the unexpected.

Meet: Under the clocktower at Bruce Castle at 10.15am for 10.30am start

Ends: Warmington House, Tottenham High Road

Free, booking recommended.

Join Annabel Gee for a special edition of Curator’s Pick to mark Local and Community History Month.

Using objects, images and stories from the Museum & Archive collections, this talk will explore moments of radical change and reform through Haringey’s long and significant postal heritage. From Bruce Castle resident Rowland Hill’s invention of the Penny Post, to recent strikes by the Communication Workers Union, much of what shapes Haringey today can be told through the lens of its postal history.

Sunday 26 May, 10.30am

Take a walk with Carol Hebbs of Tottenham Heritage Walks as she guides you up Tottenham High Road recalling the sights and sounds of music from our youth. Across the generations, the High Road has seen music venues that were the place to be and hear your favourite stars of the day. Which record shop did you frequent and flick through the vinyl? What stories do you have? Share, listen and explore the musical parade along the High Road through the ages.

Free

Dress for the weather and wear appropriate shoes for walking.

Head down to Bruce Castle Courtyard for an afternoon of outdoor play. Try giant chess, have a go at hopscotch, play a game of dominoes or get busy building with blocks. 

Suitable for families with children aged 3 to 8 years old.

Please note: all activities are weather dependent.  

Head down to Bruce Castle Courtyard for an afternoon of outdoor play. Try giant chess, have a go at hopscotch, play a game of dominoes or get busy building with blocks. 

Suitable for families with children aged 3 to 8 years old.

Please note: all activities are weather dependent.  

Join us at Bruce Castle for morning tea and the opportunity to look at our collections and share stories. 

June's theme is: Parks & Gardens. This session will include a short, wheelchair friendly tree trail walk in Bruce Castle Park (weather permitting).

For access information, click here.

For any queries, please email museum.services@haringey.gov.uk

22 June is Windrush Day, and Windrush has its own London Transport rail line to celebrate, recognising the contribution immigrants made to the country. It doesn’t go through Haringey, but we have our Weaver and Suffragette lines. Weaver, from Liverpool Street to Enfield/Cheshunt/Chingford, acknowledges the immigrant French silk weavers and the Jewish ‘rag trade’. It brought migrants from the East End to Tottenham and provided residents with the easiest route to the Essex seaside.

Meet: Outside Costa Coffee, 261 Tottenham High Road, N15 4RR

Beautiful flowers, plants and bold colours inspired the exquisite fabric designs and artwork of internationally-renowned Althea McNish. She also loved creating her own special garden at 142 West Green Road in Tottenham.

Why not join local artist Siân Dorman and get hands on and creative just like Althea and make your own floral designs and flowers – out of recycled plastic! No previous art experience necessary – just a love for being creative and trying something new!

Since the 19th century, Haringey’s fields and woods have been steadily covered in bricks and concrete. But through foresight and community action, some green spaces have survived. Tottenham Marshes to the east and Highgate Woods to the west edge a borough with parks, greens, allotments and commons poking holes in our urban jungle. Today, children play in the parks, walkers patrol the larger areas, with runners and cyclists weaving round them, football and tennis players find their places and for fitness there are the outdoor gyms.

Location: All Good Bookshop, 35 Turnpike Lane, N8 0EP

Free, all welcome. No booking required!

Help us make community-designed decorations for South Asian Heritage Month in Turnpike Lane!

Throughout South Asia, trucks, buses and rickshaws are decorated with metal sheets, embossed with iconic South Asian designs and painted in bright colours. Truck art has come to tell the story of the trucker, their lovers and hometowns.

Free, all welcome. Booking required.

Location: Orange Cafe, N8 0PR

Through the medium of printmaking, for South Asian Heritage Month you are invited to explore with printmaker Sunbul Akhtar (@nightpress) what your identity means to you through your living/working space in Haringey. The prints you produce will be used by Sunbul to decorate a storytelling chair. The chair will be used for future storytelling events in the community.

In the workshop you will:

Free, all welcome. Booking required.

Location: Orange Cafe, N8 0PR

Through the medium of printmaking, for South Asian Heritage Month you are invited to explore with printmaker Sunbul Akhtar (@nightpress) what your identity means to you through your living/working space in Haringey. The prints you produce will be used by Sunbul to decorate a storytelling chair. The chair will be used for future storytelling events in the community.

In the workshop you will: