News from The Barnet Society

The Totteridge Academy has been voted the top secondary school of the year by the prestigious Times Educational Supplement in recognition of the leaps the school has made in improving the progress made by its pupils.

There could hardly have been a more enthusiastic celebration of the Barnet Vale community and its determination to secure the refurbishment of their historic former cricket pavilion. During an eventful day hundreds of residents and families packed the Tudor Park sports ground to enjoy the first-ever Barnet Vale festival.

After standing empty for the last two years one of High Barnet's iconic High Street buildings has a new owner who has plans to convert the premises into a Costa coffeehouse.

As the annual Barnet Medieval Festival continues to grow in popularity, so does the number of local children who get dressed for the occasion in full military attire ready for battlefield duty or in other medieval costumes. Owen’s outfit was put together by his mother Marika.

A medieval fashion show with displays of 15th century attire was just one of the innovations on the opening day of the Barnet Medieval Festival at Byng Road playing fields. Re-enactors paraded in clothes worn by peasants, middling sorts such as farmers and merchants, and the nobility.

An hourly bus service to reconnect High Barnet with Potters Bar might be up and running by September following a decision by Hertsmere Borough Council to provide funding for the route.

Preparations are well underway for the annual Barnet Medieval Festival over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 10-11 -- and among the innovations this year will be a medieval fashion show displaying the costumes and attire of nobility and royal courtiers.

After months of deadlock and mounting frustration among protestors, a government minister has finally stepped in to try to broker an agreement to reinstate the missing link in the 84 bus route between New Barnet and Potters Bar.

A review to be conducted by the Metropolitan Police might lead to a reprieve for High Barnet police station which was closed to the public some years ago and which is among several police stations said to be surplus to requirements.

High Barnet publican Veronica McGowan has played a leading role in the selection of the London finalist for the Rose of Tralee International Festival which is to be held in County Kerry in August.

A second block of flats -- next to a seven-storey block which has already received planning permission -- could add to the transformation which is taking place in Moxon Street, High Barnet, where industrial workshops and warehouses are being replaced with residential and other new development.

Pride of place among a record turn out of over 100 classic and vintage cars that filled the upper deck of The Spires' car park was a 1980s version of the Arkley sports car.

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.