News from The Barnet Society

Up to three free books can be taken on any one visit to a new charity shop established in The Spires shopping centre by Global Education Trust Bookshops. All the unwanted books have been donated and would otherwise have been pulped or gone to landfill.

Cyclists needing an emergency repair -- or perhaps to pump up a tyre -- can now take advantage of instant bike repair stands which have been installed by Barnet Council, including one outside the police station in Barnet High Street. So far three have been erected.

Three evening concerts are to be held this summer in a woodland glade beside Jack's Lake -- a chance to enjoy classical music in the open air while celebrating the popularity and appeal of Monken Hadley Common.

Barnet Museum is to take another step in its bid to try to convert the historic Tudor Hall into a national centre for explaining and commemorating the Wars of the Roses and the role of the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Barnet Medieval Festival, which was due to take place over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 8 and 9, has had to be postponed because the Byng Road playing fields have become too waterlogged due to recent heavy rains.

Eleven Lotus Cars were lined up on the top deck of The Spires car park for the ninth Barnet Classic Car Show in tribute to automotive engineer Colin Chapman who lived in New Barnet when he designed the famous Lotus Seven.

Highlight of the revived Arkley community fair was an all-comers dog show which resulted in two surprise winners -- a blind dog and a rescue dog took the rosettes for best in show.

A 24-year-old history of art graduate has taken on the tenancy of one of High Barnet's notable public houses -- Ye Olde Monken Holt which is at the Hadley Green end of the High Street.

High Barnet's historic Tudor Hall has been declared an asset of community value -- a safeguard which gives the town six months to see whether the building can be secured for public use.

Banners around the town are promoting the annual Barnet Classic Car Show on Sunday 19 May -- and what promises to be an engaging weekend starts on Saturday afternoon with the return of Arkley community fayre at Brickfield Lane. Both events break new ground.

Beating the Bounds of the parish of Chipping Barnet -- an ancient custom first recorded in Barnet in 1658 -- was re-enacted on May bank holiday Monday for the first time for nearly 30 years.

Rehearsals are well underway for a concert to be held at Monken Hadley Church on Thursday 6 June to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The finale there will be a ceremonial lighting of the beacon at the top of the church tower.

Retails experts say high streets must diversify to survive and Barnet High Street is no exception: a former hardware shop has been transformed into a tuition centre for mathematics.

Volunteer working parties make their contribution towards assisting Barnet Council with the task of maintaining Hadley Green, clearing litter, and helping to reduce pollution in the five historic ponds and ditches that add to the character of a much-cherished green open space.

Barnet Parish Church held a day-long series of events for the official launch of a fund-raising appeal for urgent repairs to its much admired 140-year-old church organ -- said to be the "beating heart" of the High Barnet community.

A scheme to expand the accident and emergency department at Barnet Hospital should be completed by January next year including improvements for treating children and for patients arriving by ambulance. Planning approval has been given for the expansion. Work has already started.

Victoria Miller, manager of Chipping Barnet Foodbank and winner of one of Barnet's 2024 Civic Awards, is celebrating another success -- confirmation that her team of volunteers are making progress in their ambition to reduce people's dependency on food banks.

Once again competing for attention well above the hustle and bustle of the High Street are the heraldic banners and coats of arms of the royalty and noblemen whose troops fought at the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

A group of residents in Arkley have purchased an installed a wall-mounted defibrillator for use in any medical emergency that might occur within their own community or wider neighbourhood. Defibrillators in some locations are often not available in the evening or at weekends when public buildings are closed.

In a futuristic world which has been depleted of natural resources and ravaged by brutal capitalism, High Barnet becomes a strategic focal point for a desperate struggle with big business as the town still has the cleanest air between London and York.