News from The Barnet Society

Local musicians young and old are to have pride of place at the final concert of this year's High Barnet Chamber Music Festival and their event is in memory of a celebrated local music teacher, the late Jean Middlemiss.

All that appears to remain of a secret wartime listening post at Arkley is a dilapidated Nissen hut in Rowley Lane which nearby residents fear might be demolished to make way for new housing.

After publicity by the Barnet Society, the organisers of the Barnet Classic Car Club have tracked down an example of the elusive Arkley sports car which will be on display at the club's annual show on Sunday 14 May on the top deck of the car park at The Spires shopping centre.

Bell ringers at the parish churches of High Barnet and Monken Hadley -- which have both been strengthened recently by new recruits -- rang peals of bells over the holiday weekend to proclaim the Coronation of King Charles III.

Coronation quiches seemed to be outnumbered by sponge cakes, all decorated imaginatively with flags and other royal regalia, at many of the street parties which were held in and around High Barnet to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III.

High Barnet's historic alms houses have set an example to the town, with homes for elderly residents bedecked with bunting and regal floral displays to mark the Coronation of King Charles III.

Barnet's classic car owners are revving up for their tenth annual show and are on the look-out for a sports car enthusiast who might own one of the rare 1970s Barnet-made sports cars, the Arkley SS.

While there might be uncertainty about the future of The Spires shopping centre, independent traders in High Barnet are showing once again that the High Street can be reinvigorated and present appealing options for shoppers.

High Barnet's magnificent pink marble drinking fountain, now in full working order, is once again the centre of attraction at the top end of the High Street, welcoming walkers, and visitors to the delights of Hadley Green.

The Barnet Society’s Planning & Environment Committee has studied closely the latest design proposals exhibited at The Spires on 12 & 15 April. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to revitalise our town centre, but it risks being wasted. Frankly, we’re disappointed.

Local authority cutbacks across North London and Hertfordshire are reinforcing the need for strong and effective civic organisations -- and have provided the impetus for a close working relationship between the Barnet Society and the Enfield Society.

When the owners of The Spires shopping centre unveiled revised plans to redevelop much of their High Barnet site with blocks of flats up to six storeys high, there was a barrage of challenging, even hostile questions. Householders in adjoining streets feared their homes would get less daylight and be overlooked.

A chorus of "Restore the 84" was the chant of 40 or so angry passengers who assembled at the bus terminus at The Spires, High Barnet, to campaign for the restoration of the 84 bus service between New Barnet and Potters Bar.

A group of High Barnet retailers are demonstrating yet again the ability of the High Street to reinvent itself. A ground-breaking zero waste shop, Kronos and Rhea, which was forced to close last year, is now about to become a boutique for three traders who have combined forces to re-open the empty premises.

A year after the death of a Barnet author of children's stories, her first book - Odd Fox Out - has been published by her husband Tony Barnes and its publication was celebrated with a launch party at Waterstones book shop in The Spires.

After consultations with nearby residents, neighbouring organisations and other users of Byng Road playing fields, an application has now been submitted for planning permission for a new two-storey clubhouse for Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Club.

Yet another revised scheme to build houses and flats on the woods and farmland at Whalebones in Wood Street, High Barnet, has been shown to local residents at a public exhibition held by the estate's trustees and their developers Hill Residential.

Irving Wardle, one of the most distinguished theatre critics of his generation, who in recent years appeared in several theatrical productions at The Bull Theatre in High Barnet, has died at the age of 93.

Enjoy a glass of locally brewed craft beer or real ale for a final few afternoons and evenings at the Urban Alchemy bar in the Chipping Work Shop in Barnet High Street before its last day of trading on Sunday 26 March.

Developing Barnet as "a borough of fun" is the objective of Barnet Council and to help achieve this there are to be increases in the number of people who are allowed to attend events in some of the borough's 200 parks and open spaces.