
Barnet High Street was lined with well-wishers cheering on the 30 classic cars that made their way to the market and bandstand to take part in the fourth annual show held by the Barnet Classic Car Club.

Barnet High Street was lined with well-wishers cheering on the 30 classic cars that made their way to the market and bandstand to take part in the fourth annual show held by the Barnet Classic Car Club.

A posse of Barnet police officers was on hand when members of the Medieval Siege Society gave a gunnery demonstration in support of Barnet’s first medieval festival.

Providing period cars featured in the hit television series, The Crown – being filmed at Elstree Film Studios, Borehamwood – is just one of the many commissions for a Barnet supplier of vehicles for film and television productions.

An 18-year struggle by a group of “ageing, stubborn but steadfast” women reached its grand finale with glasses of champagne and canapes all round to celebrate the opening in High Barnet of the UK’s first co-housing project for seniors.
Continue reading Success for “stubborn but steadfast” women pioneers

Barnet’s first medieval festival is to be held at the Old Courthouse Recreation Ground at the rear of Barnet Museum on Sunday 11 June.

A blood-sucking leech, a dragon fly nymph, a baby newt and a back-swimmer water boatman were just some of the aquatic fauna on display for children visiting Barnet Environment Centre’s spring open day.

After almost a decade spent planning, campaigning and fund-raising, the Bishop of Stepney, the Right Reverend Adrian Newman, led the celebrations to mark the completion of a £1.3 million drop-in and activity centre at Christ Church, in St Albans Road, Barnet.

On his first visit to Barnet, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was on the warpath at the 1471 Battle of Barnet – five centuries later his namesake was back in the town joining the fight to preserve Barnet’s historic legacy.

Three Barnet war memorials – at Arkley, East Barnet and Monken Hadley Common – have been given the added protection of listed building status after a review conducted by Historic England.

Transport for London is facing concerted opposition to a proposed reduction from 15 minutes to 20 minutes in the frequency of the 384 bus from Quinta Drive, Barnet, to Cockfosters.

Helen Giles, who has wide experience as a museum curator and consultant for numerous heritage projects, has been appointed project co-ordinator for the programme to promote and explain the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

Preserving two massive jaw bones from a ninety-foot-long blue whale is just one of the challenges facing the new owners of Barnet’s historic Whalebones House, one of the town’s oldest residences surrounded by woods and fields that are now threatened with redevelopment.
Continue reading Wanted: Advice on protecting Barnet’s whalebones

A two-hour session of play and activities once a month at the Sense Touch Base, just off Barnet High Street, is a lifeline for children who are often isolated at home caring for sick or disabled parents.

Another of Barnet’s historic public houses, the White Lion in St Albans Road, has closed, and local residents fear that it might be converted into flats or even demolished to make way for a new housing development.

Chipping Barnet library will operate on a partial self-service basis during April and May before closing again on Monday 5 June for extensive internal construction work over the summer months to convert some of the building into commercial office space.

Barnet’s WEA* is launching its first-ever one-day Summer Saturday courses in May, 2017.;They are being held at the recently-opened Hope Corner Community Centre in Mays Lane (185 Mays Lane, EN5 2DY)

Celebrations for the Queen’s Sapphire Jubilee, marking her 65 years on the throne, brought back fond memories for former Buckingham Palace pastry chef, George O’Connor, who lives in sheltered housing in Barnet.

A ready supply of lively and forthright questions kept the politics and views of the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers firmly under the spotlight at her annual question and answer session with members of the Barnet Society and other local associations.

The job of promoting and explaining the Battle of Barnet of 1471 is to be undertaken by a project co-ordinator whose appointment has been made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

After years of uncertainty answers have finally been found to questions about the identity and motives of an early pioneer in the continuing task of defending the footpaths and green spaces that mean so much to members of the Barnet Society.

After what for her personally – and for the rest of the country – has been a momentous political year, the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers, will be the guest of the Barnet Society at our annual question and answer session at 3pm on Friday 20 January.

Two sculptures by the noted Barnet sculptor John Brown are due to appear in Steven Spielberg’s most recent science fiction adventure, Ready Player One, which is being filmed in Birmingham and at the Warner Studios in Leavesden.

There has been another indication of the growing commercial interest in, and rising value of Barnet’s Green Belt land – just as Arkley residents step up their campaign against local farmland being developed as a natural burial site.

Outraged Barnet book lovers staged a mass read-in outside the closed front doors of Chipping Barnet Library to demonstrate their dismay and anger at the downgrading of a much-loved community asset.

The Barnet Society is taking full advantage of an opportunity to influence the re-drafting of the London Plan by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan – and local residents are being urged to add their voice to the case we are making.

If residents are prepared to back a mass campaign of objection, the Barnet Society believes there might still be a chance to limit, if not prevent, the downgrading of Chipping Barnet Library.
Continue reading Can planning objections save Chipping Barnet Library?

A grant of almost £100,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of promoting and celebrating the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Barnet Council is being urged by the Barnet Society to postpone the two-month temporary closure of Chipping Barnet Library planned to take effect as from Monday 5 December in order to allow time for further consultation on the building alterations and redundancies that have been proposed.

“Well-behaved dogs welcome” is the message that dog lovers are hoping they will hear from more and more of the cafes, restaurants and public houses along the High Street in High Barnet.

When a group of 26 women move into their new homes in Union Street, Barnet, at the end of November they will be making a small, but truly historic contribution towards alleviating the country’s chronic housing shortage.
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