Welcome to our first newsletter for 2025. We hope that despite all that is happening in the world your own 2025 has got off to a wonderful beginning. We are starting to see early signs of spring which is always, we feel, a sign of positivity. If you pass by the centre regularly you may remember that each spring our ‘tyre garden’ along Mayfield Road comes alive with a beautiful display of bulbs: please keep an eye out for this welcome colour in the coming months.
In this newsletter we introduce our plans for 2025, share news of new sessions and acoustic improvements at Hornsey Vale, and pay tribute to Dennis Bury, a much-loved HVCA volunteer.
Sharing our Plans—for all generations
Hornsey Vale Community Association was established in 1991, and we’re proud to be going strong in 2025 with the refreshed Mission to provide a welcoming, accessible and valued space supporting local participation, social cohesion and wellbeing.
We enter 2025 with a renewed focus on this fundamental mission.
Those of you who attended our 2024 AGM will have heard chair Debra Mendes state that the Board would like to reduce its focus on venue hire and further enhance its charitable and community projects, addressing need across all stages of life. Our initial plans have a triple focus.
The first strand of our plan concentrates on Seniors, building on the success of existing activities such as the monthly Lunch Club and the weekly Soup Café, launched in autumn 2023. The new initiative, to be known as Ageing Well, will extend our current offer to include new weekly activities such as drop-in social, singing, crafts and physical sessions interleaved with external speakers and facilitators. We are also working to develop activities for people with neurological conditions, specifically Parkinson’s, and their partners/carers, with a proposal for a regular physical activity, such as tailored dance or exercise sessions, followed by an opportunity for socialising and information exchange with invited speakers.
The second strand of our plan is to introduce a focus on Youth, in particular Teens and young adults, for whom provision of services in the area is limited outside of paid, private classes and groups. HVCA has reserved time slots, previously set aside for private parties, to enable varied youth sessions such as crafts, cookery, sports, mental/physical health and other talks, employment information, board games, music and dance, financial management workshops. We are working with other local charitable organisations to develop a fulfilling youth programme, aiming to develop happy, resilient, well-rounded adults.
Thirdly, we hope to further the social cohesion element of our Mission by running intergenerational events and projects, which bring together families, teens and seniors, or seniors and pre-schoolers, for instance. We firmly believe Hornsey Vale should be for everyone!
Attendees at our AGM made some great suggestions in respect of all these proposals: dominoes and chess, intergeneration sewing skills workshops, a film club, singalong sessions and bingo, a board games club, film production club.
We have been successful in securing some initial funding from Hornsey Parochial Charities to extend our services for seniors, and we will be seeking further funding in support of the Youth offer and to cover the costs of specialists required to cater to the needs of, initially, the Parkinson’s group.
We look forward to sharing more as these plans progress and will share further via our newsletters and website. Thank you for being on this journey with us.
Green Christmas Fair 2024
Thank you for all who attended our Green Christmas Fair in December. Once again, it was a pleasure to browse a great variety of stalls selling hand-made cards, ceramics, wreaths, toys, books, soaps, candles and more. Our café volunteers were kept busy making mugs of tea and mulled wine, and they completely sold out of home-made cakes. Big and small folk alike had fun with our craft tables, and we know many of you took advantage of purchasing a Christmas tree from Sean O’Hara’s charity stall in our courtyard. Proceeds from the fair have gone towards our Main Hall acoustic fund (more below).
Photos from the day here.
Lunch Club
Did you attend our 2024 Christmas Lunch Club? Take a peek at some images of the day here.
Lunch Club is back up and running for 2025 and now it’s even easier to book and pay in advance now: go to the Lunch Club page on our website and click the purple Book Now button.
Dennis Bury: a tribute
The Hornsey Vale community was saddened to learn of the passing of former volunteer and Trustee Dennis Bury on 28 December 2024. Volunteer and former trustee Lynne Brackley shares this tribute to a much-loved volunteer, neighbour and community member. Read more.
Main Hall acoustic project
The HVCA Trustees are excited to share the news that we will be installing acoustic panels in our Main Hall in mid-April 2025. We know the acoustics in this space are not ideal for many of the activities we currently hold in there, and for activities we’d like to run or to host.
We wish to thank everyone who supported our fundraising efforts by direct donation, or by attending our Apple Day, Clothes Swap, Green Christmas Fair and Craft Afternoons in 2024, which raised over £2,800 towards this significant project. This pot has been supplemented by existing funding from the Rank Foundation and HSBC. The halls will be closed for two days while installation takes place, and those affected have already been contacted. We look forward to welcoming you to a ‘new’ Main Hall in the summer term.
Coming up at Hornsey Vale
Every Monday in term time: Community Soup Cafe
Weds 5 March – Lunch Club
Sun 30 March – Free Craft Afternoon, 2-4pm
Weds 2 April – Lunch Club
Sun 27 April – Free Craft Afternoon, 2-4pm
Weds 7 May – Lunch Club
New year, new classes!
We’re pleased to be welcoming a number of new groups and classes to Hornsey Vale this year (and it’s only February!).
We are soon to welcome Brent Irish Advisory Service (BIAS) as they expand their Active Ageing programme and Welfare Advisory Service to Haringey. BIAS was established in 1978 to promote opportunity, social integration, independence and equality in the Irish (and honorary Irish!), community. Keep an eye on our website for details.
Highwave Karate Club, offering traditional Japanese Shotokan style karate, has started on Fridays in the Small Hall, 6.30-7.30pm. Contact Mimae Parker at HKC@fazenet.com or call 07958 392 949.
Caroline Boyce School of Irish Dancing comes to the Main Hall on Saturdays, offering Irish Dancing classes for children aged 4-17. Contact Caroline at carolineboyce11@hotmail.com
New yoga and pilates sessions:
Tuesday drop-in Pilates Beth Heslin has added a Tuesday evening drop-in pilates session at 6.30-7.30pm.
Sunday morning yoga Rae Fooks is now offering two Sunday morning yoga sessions. 9.30-10.30am: energising hour-long flowing movement practice; 11am-12pm: a relaxing blend of gentle poses in the Yin and Restorative yoga styles. Book here: Bookings – Yoga with Rae
Timetable Highlights
All our yoga and pilates sessions at Hornsey Vale.
Speech and Language Therapy for children. Nikki Rockell works from Hornsey Vale on Wednesdays and Fridays. Nikki welcomes enquiries from parents concerned about their child’s speech and/or language development: call her on 07479283625 or email nikki.forwardtherapy@gmail.com
Zumbini with Sabrina. Music & Movement classes for 0 to 4 year olds: dance, explore and learn through music. Term time only. Contact Sabrina: sabrinazigzumbini@gmail.com; 07859 911 366. Instagram
Candy’s Dance Stars Fridays 2-3pm. Dance class for over 50s. We do ballroom, line dancing, Latin mix for Over 50s. Fun and friendly for an affordable £5! Drop-ins welcome. See our timetable for more info.
Community Shout-out
Haringey Council Active Wellbeing: visit the Haringey Council website for free and affordable ways to keep fit and look after your mental and physical health and wellbeing.
Haringey Over 50s Forum: information, support and activities in our community. Check out their website (https://ho50s.org.uk), email info@ho50s.org.uk or phone 07915 477 009.
Hornsey Pensioners Action Group: Guest speakers give talks on relevant topics such as housing, health, energy, security, public transport and more. Visit their website (https://www.hornseypensionersactiongroup.org), or email hornseypensioners.ag@outlook.com, or phone 07757 634 405.
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
We partner with booking platform Sharesy to make the room booking process simple and smooth. Visit the Sharesy site to find out more about our spaces, prices and availability.
© 2025 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
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