Welcome to our Autumn newsletter – we have plenty to celebrate and look forward to in Autumn at Hornsey Vale.
“Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower” – Albert Camus.
Keep reading to find out about what’s coming up in November, meet our trustee Diarmid, hear all about Apple day 2026, and find the details for our upcoming green Christmas Fair.
You can browse our full timetable here: What’s on at Hornsey Vale Community Centre
Green Christmas Fair – 29th November 2026 – Save the date!
We’ve been holding Green Christmas Fairs for many years at Hornsey Vale Community Centre and after a break last year, we are delighted to be holding this event again.
Our aim once again is to celebrate Christmas in a less commercial, more local, ethical and sustainable way. We are also keen to support local creative people and to raise awareness about environmental issues, local and global. We usually have a wide product price range, offering something for every purse.
This year the fair will run on Sunday 29th November from 2pm – 6pm. We can’t wait to see you there!
Are you a local maker or small business? Registration is still open to stallholders, with a few tables left. We are looking for producers who subscribe to our values: locally sourced or produced, fair trade and chemical- and plastic-free or recycled materials. We want to attract makers who have a passion for their craft and are making or would like to make a living from this.
All proceeds will go towards our rear garden fundraiser – we are planning to transform our rear outside area into a garden and seating area, hoping to provide a much needed outdoor space for locals and groups to grow flowers, vegetables and herbs.
This year we want to promote quality, diversity of products and price points so will be carefully selecting makers to reflect this.
Contact me at info@hornseyvale.org by 4th November at the latest to register your interest. We will then be in touch firm up bookings and provide further details of the event.
Apple Day 2026
We’ve just celebrated the arrival of autumn with the wonderful Apple Day event on Sunday 18th October, which brought around 300 local people into our main hall to taste the many varieties of apples kindly supplied to us by Blackmoor estate.
People also enjoyed glasses of fresh cider and apple juice and delicious cakes baked by our volunteers, while the craft and storytelling sessions were a big hit with the children, and we sold many bags of fresh Russets and Coxes from our busy market stall . The proceeds from the event will all go towards running Hornsey Vale.
A fascinating fact: did you know that there are said to be more than two thousand varieties of English apple? And you can’t buy most of them in the supermarkets.
Hornsey Vale would like to thank everyone who worked hard to make Apple Day so enjoyable. We’re already talking about how to make the event even better next year!
To see some pictures from the day, click here!
Meet Diarmid O’Sullivan- Trustee
Diarmid has been a trustee at Hornsey Vale for a year now and he also volunteers as a washer-up at our Soup Café on Mondays and our monthly Lunch Club.
Diarmid was born over the hill in Stroud Green and he grew up in Crouch End before spending some years abroad as a journalist. Since moving back to the area more than twenty years ago, Diarmid has worked for campaigning organisations.
“I’ve spent a lot of my career going to conferences and talking in pretty abstract terms about how to make the world better,” says Diarmid. “Hornsey Vale feels like a more down-to-earth and practical way to contribute to society. And you meet so many friendly people!”
Apart from helping out at Hornsey Vale, Diarmid enjoys cycling with a local group in his spare time and singing with an English folk choir. To get in closer touch with the other part of his heritage, he’s also learning to speak Irish.
(Photo credit: Priscilla Hon)
Singing for Haringey Mums: Find Your Voice, Find Your Village
Join Maria for a friendly community singing project celebrating joy, connection and wellbeing. Across four sessions between November 2026 and March 2027, taking place in community centres across Haringey, women of all ages and backgrounds are invited to come together through singing, with or without children. Babies and pre-schoolers are warmly welcome!
The first session takes place at Hornsey Vale Community Centre on Wednesday 11th November, 10:30 am–12 noon. No singing experience is needed — we sing for connection, not perfection! Enjoy easy-to-learn songs inspired by musical traditions from around the world in a relaxed, welcoming space to unwind, meet other women and feel uplifted. We’ll finish with tea, cake and a chance to connect with other mums. The project will culminate in a special International Women’s Day celebration on 8 March 2027, bringing the community together to celebrate what they’ve created.
Come and find your voice, share something joyful and discover your village through singing together!
Email Maria at woodgreensings@gmail.com to book your FREE place.
More info about the project: Haringey Unearthed – Meet the awardees
Solar panel update
Regular readers and users of the centre will know we had our solar panels installed over the summer. We are happy to report that the system has been working perfectly, and that 80% of the centre’s electricity has been direct from the panels rather than drawing from the grid. The batteries store energy generated during the daytime to cover our evening usage. We are able to monitor this using the online dashboard created especially for us by Synth, you can check out our performance and pictures of the installation on our Solar power page.
The installation was carried out by Synth Solar, we asked project manager Sam to tell us a little bit more about Synth: “Synth Solar design, install, and manage commercial solar and battery systems across the UK, with a focus on using technology to deliver an excellent customer experience and ensure the equipment delivers the promised returns for the lifetime of the system.
Synth are MCS certified, NAPIT approved, HIES Consumer Code compliant, have received over 50 five-star (5.0★) customer reviews, and were named Octopus Energy’s Most Innovative Business for 2025. Check out some of the online tools Synth have built, and previous installs they’ve completed, on their website: www.synth.solar“
Hirer spotlight –
West Haringey Seniors Exercise takes place in the gym at Hornsey Vale Community Centre each Tuesday at 2.30pm. For only £3.50 a class, participants are taken through a circuit of activities, from cardio to flexibility and strength training, by trainer Jeff Hurrell, who specialises in later life training.
Still going strong after many years at the centre, the group was recently awarded funding from the National Lottery Community fund. You can read more about the group here.
Want to get involved?
Hornsey Vale still has space on the management committee for new Trustees, or if you are interested in joining one of our sub-committees (volunteer, maintenance, fundraising and events), please contact Laura at info@hornseyvale.org for more details.
We are also looking for more volunteers with a hobby or expertise which they could draw on to run events and activities, for example sewing, singing or languages. We offer Tempo time credits for volunteering. For details, please see the Volunteering page.
What’s On at Hornsey Vale
You can browse our full timetable here: What’s on at Hornsey Vale Community Centre
Browse our newsletter archive
We have uploaded (much of!) our newsletter archive to our website: click through to browse.
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Booking our spaces
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© 2026 Hornsey Vale Community Association. All rights reserved.
Hornsey Vale Community Association is a registered charity (1011127) and is a company limited by guarantee (02629468).
Our address is 60 Mayfield Rd, London N8 9LP. Tel: 020 8348 4612