Next Committee Meeting

Tuesday 14th September
6.30pm

The New 'Downhills Park Cafe' on the Old Bowling Green

"His ability to put a smile on your face just by being himself"



"David will be greatly missed by everyone. It was great to have a chairman who had so much passion and determination for Downhills Park. Thank you to all of those that attended his funeral and sent flowers and condolences to the Macdonald family. Friends of Downhills and the Macdonald family will be commemorating David's tremendous contribution to Downhills Park and the Friends Group by a memorial bench within the park. A memorial fund has been set up".
Veronica Bailey, Joint Secretary Friends of Downhills Park

A brief summary of David's achievements as chair of Friends of Downhills Park
by Chris Currie Joint Secretary Friends of Downhills Park

David was a member of the Friends of Downhills Park from 2001, and very active on the subcommittee set up (in early 2002 I think) to organize the 2003 centenary celebrations in the park, which were a great success; he manned the Friends' stall through much of the day. I think he may already have succeeded Rob Rosenthal as chairman and secretary of The Friends by then; if not, he certainly did soon after.

He was a very conscientious chairman, very efficient at minutes and managing the paperwork, full of humour, and very hospitable - in the early years committee meetings often had to be held in members' houses, especially at David's at 306 Philip Lane, facing the giant murals of Dan Dare characters and spaceships that he'd painted.

But he was also tireless at maintaining contact with a succession of officials in Haringey Council's Parks department, not taking silence or no for an answer, and at liaising with the BTCV staff who have done so much for Harigney's green spaces and wildlife over the years.

He also helped to organise, and always took the lead in, practical work in the park, happily getting his hands dirty - tree planting, bulb planting, shrub planting, helping with sculptural installations, and more. Sometimes he did these tasks alone, or with at most one helper. He would always turn out to help setting up and manning stalls at the annual Art in the Park in summer.

Despite many setbacks (such as the sad loss of the Bowling Club), he never gave up, and in his time the Friends have had many successes in getting improvements to the park and its facilities: new paths in the park, a wildlife meadow, the pedestrian traffic lights between Downhills Park and Lordship Rec, the Green Flag, the steps at the north end between the park and Midnight Alley, the completion of the decayed lime avenue in the southern part of the park, the Philip lane entrance, revived herbaceous borders full of glorious colour and variety near the Keston Road entrance, the reinstallation of the lost pond as a new wildlife pond, bird and bat boxes in the woods, and finally the new cafe which has been built and is almost ready to open.

The pond was particularly close to David's heart - he was not only a great gardener but very knowledgeable about the park's wildlife - and it was wonderful that he lived to see it completed.




David Macdonald. A Tribute.


David was born in Tottenham on the 21st of February 1942, in the middle of the Second World War. His father George was serving in the Home Guard after suffering shell shock fighting in France in the First World War, and His mother Lavinia was the manageress of the Lyons Tea shop in Stamford Hill.

His only sibling Philip was born 6 years later, with Downs Syndrome and sadly only lived to be 24. They shared a house with another family on Philip Lane and lived there until he was 10.

David attended Downhill’s school from the age of 4 to 16 and spent his entire life living in the same part of Tottenham. When the family eventually needed more space they made the long journey to their new home 7 doors down on the other side of the road. Again they shared the much bigger house with another family and eventually David bought the house himself.

When David left school aged 16 he went to the city employment office and they arranged an interview for him with the Club & Institute Unions Head Office. He started working there as a Junior Clerk. David would spend his entire working life at the C.I.U, moving up through different jobs until he was made the Convalescent Homes Secretary, in charge of running the unions 4 Convalescent Homes around the UK. David was a keen photographer and the C.I.U allowed him opportunities to practice his hobby by taking photographs for the annual calendar (some of which are still in use today) and the Club Journal Magazine.

One of the C.I.U Convalescent Homes was in Langland Bay near the Mumbles in Wales, which is where he met Gillian, who was working as a cook in the home. They married in 1983 in Wales and Gillian moved down to London to live with David and his parents in Tottenham.

Their fist child Barry was born in 1984 and was followed by Huw in 1987 and Scott in 1988. The local area was very important to him and he decided to raise his family in the same house where he lived with his parents and to send all 3 of his children to the same school he had gone to. Gillian found work as a childminder, this also allowed her to raise her own children at home. They all lived three generations together until his parents passed away. His mother in 1986 and his father now known as “Pop” in 1988.

David was always keen on education and took evening classes after leaving school to learn French, photography, English Literature, Botany, Zoology and Human Biology for a number of years. In 1980 he decided to start an Open University Degree and eventually finished with an Honours Degree in Social Sciences. He was always keen on learning and when his kids thought he was playing with them in the garden, he was really educating them about different breeds of butterfly or the process of how all the seeds and bulbs became plants.

David pursued many hobbies through his life and has a house covered in oil paintings and photographs, as well as a mural he painted in his living room of his favourite childhood comic “Dan Dare”. His garden was a big point of pride and he spent hours front and back making sure everything was watered and weeded and as it should be. He took great concern that he had enough bird boxes and nuts in his bird feeder for all of the different breeds that visited his garden. David was a big fan of nature and liked the fact he lived in Tottenham with its inner city conveniences, but then also had Railway Fields, lots of big parks and Tottenham marshes and Lea Valley Park all on his doorstep.

A keen spurs fan he started going to games with his school friends in 1959, and continued to go to White Hart Lane until he became too ill. He worked as a steward with his good friend Alan Robinson for a few years at the club, when the job was more about watching the game than seating people! He shared 2 season tickets with his 3 friends Dave Gray, Roger Maddock and Colin Southgate who he had known since being a small child at Downhill’s Infants. He also always maintained a strong interest in Surrey County Cricket Club, that was started by his father taking him to his first game aged 2 years old at the Oval.

In 2001 David joined the Friends of Downhill’s Park Group and eventually took over as chairman, and spent his spare time helping to raise funds for projects such as tree and bulb planting, new steps and railings, bat boxes, a new wildlife pond, a café that is about to open and new oak trees that are soon to be planted. They also have an annual Art in The Park event for local families. He took great pride in his local park and even while he was ill, he was still answering emails, attending meetings when he could and chasing people trying to secure grants for the café and oak trees he wanted. He had played there as a child, and then played football there as an adult, and took his own children to the park to ride bikes and play football, He saw it as an important resource for the whole community to use.


David was offered early retirement from work when he was 62, which he took and proceeded to book dream holidays to the Pyramids in Egypt, a cruise of the Caribbean from Miami and holidays in Europe for him and Gillian. His early retirement also allowed him to focus on his “real” jobs of watching cricket & football, his garden and being chairman of Downhill’s Friends.

The final chapter in David’s life was the news of Scott, his youngest son that he and his girlfriend Alisha are expecting their first child to be born in January, David’s first grandchild.

Finally the family would like to finish with a note from one of David’s close friends, that he wrote in his condolence card, that was amazingly comforting at such a difficult time…

No words can convey how I feel right now,
How you and the boys must feel,
But in two years time you will all be able to think back,
To think of Dave,
With a smile on your face,
For me that will be his legacy,
His ability to put a smile on your face just by being himself.
I and countless others lives have been made all the richer for having known him.
For Me, I was so lucky to have had such a good friend in life.
God Bless Him.