Barnet Council’s latest cost-cutting proposal is to end the long-standing practice of locking up gates to parks, gardens and car parks at nightfall.
Continue reading Security to be withdrawn from some parks & gardens
Staff and sales assistants at the Spires shopping centre are keen to publicise the location of a defibrillator that has been installed at the High Street entrance with the help of a £500 donation from the Barnet Residents Association.
Resident guardians who have had temporary homes in the former Marie Foster Centre in Wood Street, Barnet, are moving out following the approval of plans to build a 100-room care home on the site.
Continue reading Demolition to start soon at Marie Foster site
Plans are afoot – if funding can be obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund – to re-start an archaeological investigation in a renewed attempt to find the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet.
Continue reading Bid to resume Battle of Barnet archaeological dig
On 29 March the UK is likely to withdraw from the EU. What impact will this have on High Barnet, New Barnet, Arkley, Underhill and other parts of our Borough?
David and Tyler Bone are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the family’s fruit and vegetable stall at Barnet Market.
Continue reading Fourth-generation family pitch at Barnet Market
Trustees for the fields around Whalebones, where just over 150 new homes are planned, say they believe the wishes of the former owner, the late Gwyneth Cowing, will be honoured.
Continue reading Trustees plan lasting memorial to Barnet philanthropist
Barnet sculptor John Somerville, who has captured the image of countless rock stars and writers, is facing what he says is a daunting challenge.
For our spring public forum, the Barnet Society has arranged for an expert panel to answer questions of local interest on key issues such as the future of education and training, prospects for local employment, plans for new housing and future safeguards for the Green Belt.
Chipping Barnet foodbank is currently experiencing a spike in demand following the introduction of universal credit which is resulting in some social security claimants finding themselves caught out by the loss of previous benefits.
Well over £1,200 has been donated already by well-wishers towards the cost of a memorial to the 17-year-old tabby Millie who made friends with countless admirers at the Spires shopping centre.
Continue reading Plans for memorial to Millie, High Barnet’s feline celebrity
From its new call centre at Bowes Park, volunteers from the North London Samaritans are stepping up their efforts to reach out to help anyone troubled by personal or emotional problems and to advise those most at risk of suicide.
Continue reading Samaritans reaching out to prevent suicidal thoughts
Every Sunday this winter St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale, becomes a night shelter for the homeless – “our contribution to helping the weakest”, says the Vicar, the Reverend Tristan Chapman.
Continue reading Full house at Barnet homeless night shelter
Gary Murphy, landlord at one of High Barnet’s highly-rated real ale pubs, the Mitre, is preparing for the next round of an ongoing campaign to force the pub owners to give publicans of tied houses a fairer deal on rents and the price and choice of beers.
Continue reading Campaigning to save traditional public houses
Barnet Band, originally the High Barnet Foresters’ Brass Band, which started performing in 1889 – with just 15 instruments that had cost £42 – is about to reach its 130th anniversary.
Continue reading Barnet Band celebrates its transformation from brass to wind
Chipping Barnet Residents Forum has been given an assurance that Barnet Council will take action to remove up to three homeless men who bed down each night in alcoves and under bay windows outside Chipping Barnet Library in Stapylton Road.
Continue reading Barnet Councillors’ pledge to tackle rough sleepers and street drinkers
“Don’t be mean, keep Barnet clean” is the message on posters which have been appearing outside parks and on street signs around Barnet in a do-it-yourself campaign by local youngsters.
Customers and friends have been paying tribute to High Barnet’s popular milkman, Tam Hughes, whose franchise with Milk and More was terminated at short notice after he had been delivering milk for over 30 years. A collection to say “thank you” has already raised £220 among former customers in Byng Road and Wentworth Road.
Continue reading Farewell to Tam the Milkman – end of an era
Earthworks remodelling Barnet golf course For some weeks past a constant stream of tipper lorries has been unloading top-soil and sub-soil at the northern end of the Old Fold Manor Golf Club, Hadley Green, where extensive landscaping of the golf course is about to start.
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice is rapidly reaching completion in the grounds of the nature reserve maintained by Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road, Barnet.
Continue reading State-of-the-art care promised at children’s hospice
“Come on you Bricks” is now rivalling the Barnet football chant of “Up the Bees” as supporters of Hadley Football Club promote their much-improved recent performances and refurbished football ground.
Many of the Royal Mail post boxes around Barnet, Potters Bar and Brookmans Park have been decorated for Christmas with a seasonal display of knitted animals in order to raise money for the RSCPA rescue centre at Southridge.
Continue reading Posting a letter helps animal rescue centre
Barnet’s annual Christmas fayre broke with tradition this year. Instead of being opened by the Mayor of Barnet, the ceremony was conducted by the “Lord Mayor of London, Councillor Richard Whittington” – star of the Christmas pantomime at the The Bull Theatre.
Efforts are underway to identify and map the many alleyways and footpaths that add so much to the local landscape and help make High Barnet such an attractive place to live.
Barnet’s historic wellhouse, which houses one of the best-preserved medicinal wells in the country, has been restored to its full mock-Tudor glory.
A strong local cast from around Barnet, including former pupils at the Suzi Earnshaw Theatre School, will be appearing in Dick Whittington, this year’s Christmas pantomime at the Bull Theatre.
After having moved from site to site in recent years, Barnet Market has returned to the bandstand area beside Waitrose, at the rear of the Spires shopping centre, and traders hope that finally this will become their settled home.
Plans for a 100-bed Premier Inn on the site of Barnet Market were approved by a clear majority at a meeting of Barnet Council’s planning committee despite the continued, forthright opposition of residents in the adjoining Chipping Close.
Continue reading Premier Inn approved: will it help town centre?
Gail Laser, founder of Love Barnet, has won national recognition for the decade she has spent working tirelessly to improve trading conditions in Barnet High Street.
St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale, is launching an appeal to find out more about the families and relatives of the 29 men whose names are commemorated on a First World War plaque about which little is known.
Continue reading Looking for answers – The Great War casualties
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