News from The Barnet Society

Barnet Museum is staging a display of instruments and memorabilia belonging to Barnet Band, thought to be the oldest musical group in the London Borough of Barnet, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

Local historians are busy researching the lives of Barnet men who lost their lives in the First World War.  The aim is to compile as many life histories as possible in support of a special exhibition which is being organised by Barnet Museum to commemorate the centenary of the Great War.

After collecting High Barnet’s rainfall figures since the 1980s, a Barnet family can say without hesitation that this winter has been the wettest locally for at least thirty years.

Hopes have been dashed of getting approval for an early start to an archaeological excavation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.   An application for funding has been rejected by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A controversial plan to demolish the twin spires to provide a new entrance to the Spires shopping centre has been dropped after overwhelming opposition from Barnet residents and shoppers.

Two designs for a new High Street entrance to the Spires shopping centre – one of which would be without the two original spires of Barnet Methodist Church – are now on public display and open for consultation. But Barnet residents have only a matter of days to give their reaction.

A long-awaited meeting between Theresa Villiers MP and senior executives of British Telecom has still left unanswered many of the questions about when – or if ever – many High Barnet residents will be offered a superfast broadband connection.

Barnet has probably more to thank the politicians and planners of the 1930s and 1940s for than any other town in north London. With protected Green Belt land on three sides, the High Barnet of today is blessed with some unrivalled countryside on our door-step.

Members will recall that a previous update on 11th September 2013 referred to the closure of the Totteridge Village/Lime Grove footpath in the summer of that year without any notice showing an alternative route back to the footpath.

A final decision is expected by the end of January on the extent of financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of an archaeological excavation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

A planning inspector has ordered that unauthorised timber cladding must be removed from the frontage of retail premises in the heart of the High Barnet conservation area. An appeal by Mr G. Cramer, owner of 1 Church Passage, has been rejected and Barnet Council has won official backing for an enforcement notice requiring its removal.

Is Barnet in danger of losing another historic link with the past?  The well house protecting the town’s famous physic well is looking decidedly the worse for wear.  Masonry is falling away, one of the walls is disfigured by graffiti and there is not even a sign or notice to say that this is the well

Like much of the south-east of England, Chipping Barnet is seeing a rapid rise in home extensions and offices being converted into flats.  An easing of planning restrictions has given home-owners and property developers greater freedom.  But are large home extensions an intrusion for neighbours?

Ronnie Biggs, who spent the final years of his life at the Carlton Court Care Home in Bells Hill Barnet, has died at the age of 84.

Local residents who are against plans for tree-felling and landfill on the site of Old Fold Manor Golf Club off Hadley Green have been promised the support of the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers.

After sustained pressure from local traders and community groups, Barnet Council has agreed to provide a sizeable number of free spaces for car parking close to the High Barnet town centre. Moxon Street car park, which has 64 spaces, is now available for up to an hour of free parking.

All the fun of the fair filled the High Street for the annual Barnet Christmas Fair, which many judged was the most ambitious and best supported since the event was first held twenty years ago.

Transport for London say its decision to allow Asda supermarkets to use High Barnet tube station for its click-and-collect collection service will not cause unnecessary congestion in the station approach road and car park.

A planning inspector has now been appointed to consider the objections made by the Barnet Society and other local groups to the installation of unauthorised timber cladding above retail premises in Church Passage, in the heart of the High Barnet conservation area.

Rambles Round Barnet 2 went on sale for the first time at the Christmas Fair on Sunday 1st December 2013.