Archived Articles January to December 2016

What future for café gardens? 12

Jan 03, 2016 High Street The Spires
The Spires’ upgrade could result in the loss of the Coffee Bean’s garden seating area
A guarded welcome has been given by the Barnet Society to plans for a £7 million upgrade for the Spires…

New environment centre almost completed 1

Jan 03, 2016 General News
The new centre nears completion
Finishing touches are being added to the newly built, eco-friendly Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road,…

107 bus route under threat 1

Jan 08, 2016 Services
The 107 bus route is currently under threat from closure
The future operation of the 107 bus service, which has stops in High Barnet on its route between Edgware and…

Former choristers pay tribute to Barnet church organist and choirmaster 2

Jan 13, 2016 General News
Terence Atkins with choristers
Maintaining the great musical tradition of Barnet parish church has been the outstanding achievement of…

Signatures by the hundred in support of junior doctors

Jan 13, 2016 Services
Junior doctors Emily Vaughan and Rithesh Veettil rallying support outside the Spires shopping centre
Junior doctors from Barnet Hospital spent their strike day collecting signatures in support of the British…

BT finally to honour promise? 7

Jan 20, 2016 Broadband
Boring picture - perhaps.  But not for residents waiting for improved broadband
One by one, High Barnet is being provided with the additional telephone cabinets that are needed to supply…

The end of Friends Reunited 6

Jan 21, 2016 General News
Steve and Julie Pankhurst
The sun sets on the Barnet inspired networking site. Friends Reunited, the social networking website created…

Sky reports Barnet's broadband fiasco

Jan 25, 2016 Broadband
Sky News’ senior correspondent Ian Woods (left) interviews Ken Rowland, organiser of fibre4barnet, together with cameraman Tom Radburn
High Barnet’s dire broadband service was highlighted by Sky News when it featured a campaign by a cross-party…

New site of Battle of Barnet? 2

Feb 01, 2016 Barnet History
The hunt is on: Sam Wilson (right) project supervisor for the Battle of Barnet archaeological investigation with metal detecting volunteer, Eric Weinrabe at work in fields off Kitts End Lane last autumn
Farmland to the west of Wrotham Park, alongside Kitts End Lane and the St Albans Road, is emerging as a…

MP steps up fight to save Whalebones 3

Feb 01, 2016 Planning
Peter Mason, who will be 80 in April, has run a small holding on farmland at Whalebones since 1962
Opposition is mounting to the possibility that 14 acres of woods and farmland at Whalebones, between Wood…

Right-to-buy almshouses put to rest 5

Feb 08, 2016 Barnet History
Simon Smith, clerk to the visitors (trustees) of the Jesus Hospital Charity
A question mark hanging over the future ownership of Barnet’s many historic almshouses has finally been…

Arkley residents against Elmbank project 17

Feb 09, 2016 Planning
Serena Rushton of Stop the Over Development of Arkley outside the Elmbank site on Barnet Road
SODA – Stop the Over Development of Arkley – is a new campaign group established by local residents to…

QE Girls “alive with the sound of music!” 5

Feb 13, 2016 General News
Jennifer Ford, head of drama at Queen Elizabeth’s Girl School, with Frankie Stanley (centre) who took lead role as Maria, and Melissa Dieter as Captain Von Trapp
Seventy pupils spent six months preparing and rehearsing for a spectacular production of The Sound of Music…

Barnet Blue Badge fraud

Feb 23, 2016 Services
Blue Badge Fraud in Barnet is going unchecked
Barnet a hot spot for lost and stolen disabled badges...but a woeful response. More blue disabled badges were…

Woodland project helps vulnerable children 2

Feb 26, 2016 General News
Deputy head Kim Price and assistant head teacher Kevin Mathews at the Pavilion Study Centre
A woodland project at Barnet’s centre for vulnerable and excluded school children is hoping to qualify for a…

Go ahead for 114 homes on Elmbank 2

Feb 26, 2016 Planning
Embank development to go ahead
Planning approval has finally been given for the demolition of one of High Barnet’s worst eyesores, the…

Updates for ‘Rambles Round Barnet' 31st May 2016

Mar 01, 2016 Rambles
Part 1 Walk 3 Section 2: Trotters Bottom to Saffron Green 31st May 2016

Blue plaque for hospice pioneer

Mar 08, 2016 General News
Aubrey Rose outside Monkenholt once the home of Dame Cicely Saunders
A campaign is being launched to persuade English Heritage to award one of its renowned blue plaques to the…

A chance to see – but not to taste 2

Mar 08, 2016 Barnet History
Barnet’s physic well looking worse for wear, rotting timber supports and graffiti on the walls
Barnet’s historic physic well, visited by Samuel Pepys, will be open to the public on Saturday 19 March…

Affordable workshops a priority for Brake Shear House site 2

Mar 10, 2016 Planning
With  planning permission, demolition of the Brake Shear House complex could start by the end of the year
A joint approach is being made by local groups to try to ensure that the new office block to be built as part…

Day centre 40th anniversary

Mar 21, 2016 General News
From L to R: Maura Howells, Brigid Horgan, the day centre organiser, Daphne Korner and Molly Stebbings
Chipping Barnet’s popular day centre for the elderly – with a waiting list for places – celebrates its 40th…

A peep inside physic well

Mar 21, 2016 Barnet History
Visitors queuing to descend the original steps to see the tanks of mineral spring water
Visitors queued up for opening time at Barnet’s historic well house – not for a drink, but a rare chance to…

Another historic building to be converted for housing 9

Mar 21, 2016 Planning
The Cruciform building at the NIMR
Barratt London have released the first details of their plans to build up to 450 homes in and around the site…

Search for Battle of Barnet chapel

Apr 01, 2016 Barnet History
Dominic Barker, of the University of Southampton, at work with his magnetometer in Wrotham Park. Sam Wilson (right) is the archaeologist leading the Battle of Barnet survey and excavation.
A series of test pits are to be dug on land inside Wrotham Park as part of an investigation to locate the…

Bulldozers move in at Elmbank

Apr 05, 2016 Planning
Derelict nurses’ home at Elmbank now being demolished
Work has finally started at the Elmbank site, opposite the Arkley public house, to demolish derelict nurses’…

Threat to Whalebones receding?

Apr 05, 2016 Planning
Blue-whale jaw bones dating from the 1930s stand at the Wood Street entrance to the Whalebones estate
Any planning application to build houses on the 14 acres of woods and farmland at Whalebones – between Wood…

Barnet still a cut above

Apr 08, 2016 High Street The Spires
Barnet remains top spot for a hair cut
Barnet is living up to its fame in Cockney rhyming slang: a survey shows there are more hairdressing salons…

Environment centre red-scissor opening

Apr 11, 2016 General News
The new Barnet environment centre at the Byng Road nature reserve
Schools in and around Barnet are already queuing up for their pupils to visit the Byng Road nature reserve…

Barnet’s love of poetry 1

Apr 17, 2016 General News
Michael King, a founder member of the Group, to his right is Anita Butler, and to his left Jane Strange
Celebrations surrounding the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death gave an added impetus to the…

Barnet’s artists publicise work

Apr 18, 2016 General News
Andy Dalton, from York, demonstrates techniques for producing relief mono prints at a workshop
Local residents will get more opportunities to view the work of members of the Barnet Guild of Artists if…

Threat to our green landscape 8

Apr 19, 2016 Planning
King George V Playing Field – the Council believe, a 'low quality, low value' link in the Dollis Brook green chain
A lot of new housing is coming to Barnet over the next few years. In the Council’s Housing Strategy 2015-25,…

Community action spruces up Church Passage bench 2

Apr 22, 2016 General News
Derek Epstein (left) of the Barnet Society and Gordon Massey, chairman of the Barnet Residents Association, hard at work washing clean the Church Passage bench.
Three volunteers spent the morning washing down and scrubbing clean the long, architecturally-designed teak…

Queen’s birthday beacon at Monken Hadley

Apr 22, 2016 General News
The beacon-lighting team, L to R, Sebastian Evans, Bill Morris, Mathew Lloyd-Winder and Quentin Carruthers
High Barnet’s claim to be the highest spot between London and York meant it was ideally situated to take part…

Bench done. Now tackle the graffiti!

May 03, 2016 High Street The Spires
The bench before and after
“The boys dun good” was the general consensus of passers-by as three High Barnet seniors spent 16 man hours…

New academy school plans on display 18

May 08, 2016 Planning
The dis-used stadium fenced off and awaiting approval to become the site of super-sized new academy school
After a year’s delay, and a dearth of information, public exhibitions are finally being arranged to allow…

Critical times for building in Barnet 3

May 09, 2016 Planning
Visualisation of the proposed Brake Shear House development
The combination of planning relaxations, housing demand, property prices and uncertainty as to Council…

Was Kitts End closest to the Battle of Barnet? 2

May 12, 2016 Barnet History
Undaunted by a downpour from left to right, Kirsty Johnstone, Susan Gough and Gabriella Widman
A survey to assess the size and shape of the lost hamlet of Kitts End could assist the ongoing archaeological…

Arkley farmland - a site for natural burials? 1

May 13, 2016 General News
The proposed natural burial ground north east of Barnet Gate Lane and north west of Mays Lane
An environmentally-friendly natural burial ground might be developed on farmland backing on to Barnet Gate…

Staggered start times at massive new school 11

May 19, 2016 Planning
A response to plans for the Ark Academy School will be prepared by Robin Bishop (left), who leads the Barnet Society’s planning and environment team, and Peter Bradburn, who advises on transport issues
The Ark Academy network says it intends to work with planners at Barnet Council to try to meet local…

Appeal for amateur footballers

May 19, 2016 General News
East Barnet Old Grammarians
A football team for former East Barnet grammar school boys that has expanded over the last sixty years to…

A new nature reserve for Barnet? 5

May 23, 2016 General News
Rosie Inman-Cook, manager of the Natural Death Centre, points to where the first burials would take place
A 50-acre green space, open to the public from dawn to dusk, would be one of the suggested benefits of the…

Russian spy’s poisoning and Barnet Hospital

May 31, 2016 General News
Peter Stebbings with newspaper cuttings of the death of Alexander Litvinenko’s after radioactive poisoning.
The tenth anniversary of the poisoning with radioactive polonium of the former Russian spy Alexander…

High Barnet’s CPZ to double in size? 15

Jun 01, 2016 Road Improvements
Map of proposed new Controlled Parking Zone
Residents are being consulted about the possibility of a massive extension to High Barnet’s controlled…

Still no news on major fashion store for Spires

Jun 06, 2016 High Street The Spires
The Spires - latest perspective
A final go-ahead for construction work on a £7 million upgrade for the Spires shopping centre continues to…

New plans for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice

Jun 08, 2016 Planning
Architect Barnaby Johnstone (left) with trustee Mary O’Toole and the charity’s chief executive Ru Watkins
A radical redesign has been unveiled of the proposed new Noah’s Ark children’s hospice to be built at the…

Elmbank development: a challenge 1

Jun 10, 2016 Planning
Shawn Moore, construction director, at the Elmbank housing development, says the steep gradient of the site, looking across Dollis Valley, presents quite a challenge
Building houses and apartment blocks along a narrow, sloping 3.9-acre site, where the land falls sharply by…

A misty Easter Sunday morning, just north of Barnet

Jun 13, 2016 General News
Medieval military artist Graham Turner with his painting Challenge in the Mist. From left to right, Mike Noronha, curator, Barnet Museum; Graham Turner; and Fiona Jones who is leading the museum’s bid for financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
A print of Graham Turner’s celebrated painting of a young Richard III looking apprehensively across towards…

Ark say extra school places needed 1

Jun 16, 2016 Planning
Proposed south facing car park of the Ark Pioneer Academy school
Planners and consultants representing the proposed Ark Pioneer Academy to be built on the site of the former…

Parking wars returns 2

Jun 25, 2016 High Street The Spires
Dominic Littlewood, presenter of Dom on the Spot, interviews Dave Williams who had been fined £55
High Barnet’s notoriety as a hot spot for parking fines is to be featured yet again on national television.…

Barnet Society criticisms of Ark Pioneer Academy 2

Jun 27, 2016 Planning
View of Ark courtyard - the only playground currently proposed for 600 primary pupils
While we welcome educational use of the site, particularly if coupled with community access to the Academy’s…

Spires upgrade a Brexit casualty? 11

Jul 05, 2016 High Street The Spires
The Spires - the latest proposal
An announcement that had been expected in early June about a go-ahead for the Spires shopping centre…

Insight into lost hamlet of Kitts End

Jul 11, 2016 General News
Barnet Museum volunteers Margaret Luck (left) and Pat Alison examine pottery and masonry fragments
Fragments of pottery and tiles found during an excavation of land within Wrotham Park has confirmed that the…

Classic cars never lose their appeal

Jul 11, 2016 General News
Andy Banks's Westfield; Jayne Evans's Rover MPI Cooper; T and H Motor's Bentley
Support for Barnet Market’s annual classic car show has proved so strong that it has become a showcase event…

Furniture designs go on show

Jul 11, 2016 General News
Each surface of Richard Warmisham’s bureau de l’agent has a story tell
After a career switch from his previous job as a political researcher, an aspiring High Barnet furniture and…

H&M fashion store to open in spring 2017 6

Jul 27, 2016 High Street The Spires
A two-storey H&M fashion store due to open in spring 2017
After mounting concern about the recent loss of leading retailers, High Barnet’s shopping centre has received…

Harbour scenes capture attention at artists’ exhibition

Jul 28, 2016 General News
Nichola Peasnell, chair of the Barnet Guild of Artists (left), shows the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers an oil painting, Staithes Sunrise, chosen as the poster illustration for the Guild’s 68th annual exhibition
Well over 300 members, friends and supporters attended the preview of the Barnet Guild of Artists’ 68th…

Virgin Media to offer ultra fast broadband 4

Aug 10, 2016 Broadband
Usain Bolt in the latest Virgin Media advertising
Virgin Media hopes to be able to offer its ultrafast broadband network to 40,000 homes and businesses across…

Retired teachers help students to graduate

Aug 11, 2016 General News
TalentEd has yet to finalise plans but hopes to support Totteridge Academy's Year 10 students next year
Nine pupils from Totteridge Academy have been awarded special commendations by the educational charity…

Ground-breaking housing for women 1

Aug 22, 2016 General News
Scaffolding in Union Street is about to be removed
After months of construction work, the last remaining scaffolding and hoardings are about to be removed from…

Milly the cat puts road safety first 6

Sep 02, 2016 General News
Paula Gabb proud owner of Milly, the feisty feline
In the feline appreciation stakes there is currently no contest in determining High Barnet’s most sociable –…

Residents revolt over super-size school 10

Sep 06, 2016 General News
Unanimous show of hands residents decide Underhill is an inappropriate site for a school of 2,000 pupils
After facing a barrage of complaints and criticism over proposal to build a new school for almost 2,000…

Medieval finds excite Battle of Barnet military archaeologists

Sep 16, 2016 Barnet History
Sam Wilson, military archaeologist, shows Dorothy Cohen, the medieval penny that was found with metal detectors in the latest search of a likely site of the Battle of Barnet
After an extensive search with metal detectors a highly-experienced team of military archaeologists has…

Barnet’s two oldest shops 6

Sep 16, 2016 High Street The Spires
Peter Wanders is celebrating thirty years trading at his shoe shop
Years of friendly rivalry over which shop in Barnet High Street has the longest record of continuous service…

Dom puts Barnet’s parking wars on the spot! 2

Sep 21, 2016 High Street The Spires
Dom with a recently fined motorist on the High Street
The Barnet Society’s long-running campaign to try to secure a short period of free parking at the 63 parking…

Green fingers for schoolchildren

Maria Wright helps her son Derek with the new greenhouse at the Pavilion study centre
In a first for schools in the London Borough of Barnet, the Pavilion study centre in Meadway, High Barnet, is…

Bird watchers and nature lovers fight burial ground plan 9

Oct 06, 2016 Planning
Dog walker Lisa Young with birdwatcher David Martens both oppose the campaign for a natural burial ground
Local residents, bird watchers and nature lovers are joining forces to step up their campaign against plans…

The bustle of Barnet 120 years ago 8

Oct 13, 2016 Barnet History
Church Passage before the library was built
A unique, almost-forgotten tape recording gives a fascinating eye-witness account of every-day life in Barnet…

Leading the way in housing for older women 1

Oct 18, 2016 General News
Maria Brenton, consultant to the Union Street co-housing project, with new resident Janet Wood.
When a group of 26 women move into their new homes in Union Street, Barnet, at the end of November they will…

Opposition to Ark Academy 1

Oct 27, 2016 Planning
The former Barnet Football Club stadium at Underhill
The Barnet Society has joined other local organisations and groups – together with many nearby residents – in…

Bats’ at risk in New Barnet

Nov 01, 2016 Planning
Victoria Recreation Ground, is to be transformed by a new leisure centre and floodlit tennis courts
Bats, owls, wrens and hedgehogs are among the species that nearby residents fear might be disturbed or even…

Dog frendly shops needed 2

Nov 01, 2016 General News
Jessica Vamathevan and Ralphie at Café Nero
“Well-behaved dogs welcome” is the message that dog lovers are hoping they will hear from more and more of…

Junction change confusion 14

Nov 08, 2016 Road Improvements
Junction at Wood Street and High Street
A traffic management experiment at the junction of Wood Street and Barnet High Street is causing a headache…

More trees strengthen High Barnet’s welcome 2

Robin Bishop beside the green space in front of the Old Red Lion public house where two additional trees would complete the row of trees that line Barnet Hill
Completing the majestic row of Norway Maple and London Plane trees that line Barnet Hill – and provide such a…

Chipping Barnet Library closure 21

Nov 22, 2016 General News
Chipping Barnet Library
Barnet Council is being urged by the Barnet Society to postpone the two-month temporary closure of Chipping…

Lottery win for Battle of Barnet

Nov 29, 2016 General News
Hadley Highstone is the sole local reminder of the Battle of Barnet
A grant of almost £100,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of promoting and…

Can planning objections save Chipping Barnet Library? 10

Nov 29, 2016 General News
Residents and library users have until Thursday 15 December to register their objections
If residents are prepared to back a mass campaign of objection, the Barnet Society believes there might still…

Tell Sadiq Khan our priorities

Dec 02, 2016 General News
Sadiq Khan - preparing a plan for London
The Barnet Society is taking full advantage of an opportunity to influence the re-drafting of the London Plan…

High Street packed for Christmas Fayre

Dec 04, 2016 High Street The Spires
 Councillor David Longstaff, Mayor of Barnet, opening Barnet Christmas Fayre. From left to right, Councillor Longstaff, Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers, the Mayoress of Barnet Gillian Griffiths, Councillor Lisa Rutter
Brilliant sunshine and crystal blue skies put some added sparkle into the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre which…

Outrage at library closure 3

Dec 06, 2016 General News
The read in at Chipping Barnet library in the hope of changing the Councils decision to remove this facility
Outraged Barnet book lovers staged a mass read-in outside the closed front doors of Chipping Barnet Library…

Green Belt prices soar 1

Dec 12, 2016 General News
Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, with fellow Arkley residents to re-launch the Arkley Protection Group. From the left to right, Mrs Villiers, David Press, Simon Ross and Sasha Capocci
There has been another indication of the growing commercial interest in, and rising value of Barnet’s Green…

Extra seating in Roman Catholic church

Construction underway of a 100-seat extension to Barnet’s Roman Catholic Church
As work continues constructing an extension to the Roman Catholic church in Union Street, Barnet, mass and…

Barnet Museum’s future assured

Dec 16, 2016 Barnet History
Barnet Museum's future is assured
After years of uncertainty about its future, Barnet Museum is finally being promised security of tenure – a…

BBC4 joins hunt for Barnet battle site

Dec 21, 2016 Barnet History
Dr Alice Roberts presents the BBC4 program 'Digging for Britain'
Two promising pointers towards locating the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet were examined in the…

Red Lion closing for re-launch 3

The Red Lion Public House
High Barnet’s landmark public house, the Red Lion at the top of Barnet Hill, will be closed for most of…