Park of the week

37. O R Tambo Recreation Ground

When we visited this park in Muswell Hill in January, it was called Albert Road Recreation Ground. In February, it was renamed O R Tambo Recreation Ground, in memory of Oliver Reginald Tambo, leader of the African National Congress during the apartheid years in South Africa. He lived in exile in Haringey for over twenty years, settling with his family in Muswell Hill and visiting the park regularly. South Africa had given Haringey a statue of Tambo in 2019, unveiled on what would have been his 102nd birthday by his daughter Nomatemba “Thembi” Tambo, South African High Commissioner to the UK. The statue stands in the park.

A century ago, the park was an area of land with a brook running through it (you’ll no doubt be sorry to see that I don’t know which one – but perhaps it was the Muswell Stream). The land around it was developed in the early twentieth century for housing and in 1925, the park changed from an informal open space to a formal recreation ground. It is designated Metropolitan Open Land and is also a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, because of its areas of rough grassland, birch woodland, mature oak trees and relics of ancient hedgerows. It was first awarded the Green Flag Award in 2006 and kept it ever since.

The park has a large open field, bowling green and pavilion, basketball and football pitches, tennis courts, table-tennis tables, a multi-use games area and a children’s playground. There is a café and also public toilets, locked when the café is closed. There are rose beds, shrubs, deciduous and coniferous trees, and a nature area with a pond. The park has footpaths and places to sit. There is no car park but it’s possible to park on the surrounding streets.

Access is from an entrance on Albert Road, two on Durnsford Road and two on Bidwell Gardens.

Judith Field
 

O.R. Tambo Recreation Ground, Albert Road, New Southgate N22 7XL