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'Duck pond' in Finsbury Park

CookieCookie
edited September 2011 in Local discussion
Just spent a lovely afternoon having lunch with my Sister , at a pub out in the middle of nowhere in the Essex Countryside. The weather was just beautiful. It reminded me of those seemingly endless childhood sunny days when our parents used to take us to FP. If we were lucky, we would be allowed to go on a large motorised boat that would take us twice around the 'duck pond' (as we called it) for 6d. Is there still a boat doing such trips?
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    edited 5:12PM
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  • CookieCookie
    edited 5:12PM
    I suppose 'Elf and Safety' stuck their oar in (excuse the pun) What a shame as it was so popular with all the kids in the area, and a real treat. There used to be an old refreshment room just opposite which only opened in the summer months, and only, if I remember right at weekends. They served glass bottles of cola, fizzy orange, and lemonade from trestle tables. It was as basic as they come. We thought that it was posh because the bottles of pop came with not 1 but 2 paper straws!!
    The straws used to collapse before you finished your drink, but Hey, we thought that we were the bees knees.
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  • JakJak
    edited September 2011
    Sick squid for half an hour in a boat you have to row yourself !!!
    Crikey.

    I remember the long hot summers hanging out at the FP adventure playground (when it had the zip line) in the late 70's & early 80's......
    No H&S in them days.
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  • taff bachtaff bach
    edited 5:12PM
    I'm sure that they'd throw in a rat if you asked.
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  • CookieCookie
    edited 5:12PM
    @ jak, adventure playground? Crikey,you haven't lived! Note the old FP. we never had health and safety as kids!!! The playground that we used to use in FP had those fabulous rocking horses that used to throw you off if you went too mad. A roundabout consisting of ropes that you used to run round whilst holding the ropes to the point where you were lifted off the ground, and swings where you tried to go over the top. There was also a sand pit, which had a huge semi circular ladder that we could climb and fall off, big time. Oh such happy days. Does FP have anything like this anymore? Somehow I doubt it
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  • JakJak
    edited 5:12PM
    @ Cookie...
    Yeah , I'm referring to the adventure playground that once existed down at the entrance by Lidl (used to be the City Pram & Toy Company - got my 1st bike there).
    The adventure playground was next to the 'ordinary' playground that had the climbing frames and super swings that we all used to launch ourselves off of.
    Do you remember the viewing platform that once stood inside the park at the Oxford Road entrance ? It's gone now - I wonder what happened to it.......
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  • ADGSADGS
    edited 5:12PM
    So there used to be one supervised motorboat on the lake, right? And now there's a plethora of boats where people with no training, quite possibly a little tipsy, row themselves? And yet this change can still somehow be blamed on 'Elf & Safety'. Right.
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  • nortonnorton
    edited 5:12PM
    Yep, I can remember the Motor boat, been in it many times. And the band stand which stood I think in the area between the caf'e and the hole in the ground, and you could hire deckchairs for a few pence to listen to the music. And if you didn't fancy that you could wander over to the putting green, or have a look at the model village.
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  • CookieCookie
    edited 5:12PM
    @ norton, you remember the model village too? It was one of my favourite parts of the park. It always looked as if it needed sprucing up, but I loved it because it always had lots of sparrows using it as a home.
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  • CookieCookie
    edited 5:12PM
    @ Jak. The City Pram + Toy company! Now there is a blast from the past!
    My Dad bought me the game 'Mousetrap' from that shop when it first came out. Where was the Oxford road entrance? The only other entrance that we used, took us over a bridge with wooden panels each side, which we accessed down a side street. As you got to the bridge, on the right hand side, was a white Art Deco building that was something to do with films. as you crossed the bridge ( over railway lines) into the park, there was tennis courts to the left. This path took you to the duck pond. Is this the entrance?
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  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif
    edited 5:12PM
    @Cookie - What you describe is the Oxford Road entrance. The art deco building is still there. What was its connection to film? The tennis courts have moved down the hill. Sounds as if you have moved away to another part of the world - when did you live in SG?
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  • CookieCookie
    edited 5:12PM
    @ krappyrubsnif, thank you for claryfying that for me. I am not absolutely sure exactly what they did in that Art deco building, and the name that I knew in the 60's eludes me. I remember seeing as a child what appeared to be discarded pieces of cine film in bins outside the place. This is rather vague, and a long shot, but I remember seeing one of Gerry Andersons Puppet series, possibly Fireball XL5, which showed at the end of the credits that the film was processed in a studio of the same name. I don't know, but I have always wondered whether it was this place! If so, then I should have raided the bins and collected what would now be very collectable stuff!! You are partly right, I do not live in another part of the world, but I do live in another part of the country. I was born in Fonthill road( literally, no hospital births then) in 1956. Stroud Green Road was my Mum's shopping 'centre' and the best bit for me was that there was a fabulous toy shop about half way up towards the Stapleton. You can take the woman out of N4, but you cannot take N4 out of the woman.
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    edited 5:12PM
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  • JakJak
    edited September 2011
    @ Cookie...

    [as you crossed the bridge ( over railway lines) into the park, there was tennis courts to the left. This path took you to the duck pond. Is this the entrance? ]

    Yes , that's the place , I thought is went through Oxford road !
    I've just checked on Google street maps - it IS Oxford Road , an annexe of the Oxford Road that junctions Upper Tollington Park.

    When I was a kid the white building (which is now a college) was a clothes factory..... I think . . . . .
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  • JefkeVanHoornzehoutJefkeVanHoornzehout
    The white building on the north side of Oxford Road just before the entrance to the park used to be Kay Laboratories. They processed film for the film industry and were bought by MGM.
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  • R&JR&J
    Last time I went near the duck pond there was a manky film of green algae all over it.
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  • ChangN4N6ChangN4N6
    Jump in Ronnie it's lovely! Chang
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    edited May 2013
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