New Year, New Life

By jenpedler

Flaking cockerel

This rather striking sculpture is outside the former Ashmount Primary School on Hornsey Lane. The school was closed in 2012 and pupils moved to a new school building nearby. The site was then supposed to be sold for redevelopment by a housing association but in the meantime the DfE gave permission for a free school to open on the site. This proved controversial as many people thought the area more in need of affordable housing than more school places. While all that debate was going on it got squatted and there was another row about the cost of eviction. It's standing empty now, although there are apparently 24-hour guardians on site.
The latest development seems to be a compromise; half the site will be used for housing and the other half for the school (which seems scheduled to open in temporary accommodation there this September).

It was odd standing outside the empty building today as this is the school my daughter went to twenty or so years ago. It made me feel quite old. (Perhaps I am quite old?)

I wonder what will become of the cockerel when the site is redeveloped. It has been a feature of Hornsey Lane for as long as I can remember and it will be odd when/if it's no longer there.

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