News from The Barnet Society

A lifetime’s fascination with the work of the prominent early Baroque painter Caravaggio has led to an unexpected twist in the career of High Barnet painter and art lecturer Keith West.

Yet another smiling recipient...but the days are numbered at High Barnet’s free book shop which is desperately looking for new premises as it is under notice to leave The Spires shopping centre.

Chipping Barnet constituents filled most of the pews in St John the Baptist’s Church on Thursday evening, 20 March 2025, to tell Transport for London (TfL) what they thought about their proposal to build 300 flats next to High Barnet Station. After a passionate and occasionally acrimonious meeting, the TfL team will have no illusions about local opposition to their development. But the audience were also left in no doubt that – barring unforeseen constructional challenges or political events – we have little chance of securing more than a few tweaks to the design of the buildings or their outdoor spaces.

A small village community of flats and bungalows established by two Holocaust survivors has provided a home over the decades for hundreds of students from all over the world – an achievement celebrated with a visit by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou.

Arkley’s much admired volunteer litter picker is having to admit defeat when confronted with an abandoned ULEZ camera pole which was left lying on the grass verge after being cut down during a wave of sabotage.

Motorists and bus passengers are facing severe disruption for the rest of March because of the closure for sewer repairs of Barnet Road, Arkley – the main road from High Barnet towards Arkley and Borehamwood.

Leaflets promoting Bring Barnet Back are being distributed across the town as the campaign hots up to persuade Barnet Council to approve plans for a new football stadium at Underhill.

Preparations are well underway for the most ambitious programme so far for the popular summer season of concerts beside Jack’s Lake at Monken Hadley Common. Since the festival was launched in 2021, there has been ever growing support for the open-air musical evenings which are held in a woodland glade beside the lake.

A guided tour of New Barnet’s much-cherished community garden by Wendy Alcock, founder of the Incredible Edible campaign, was a highlight of the group’s annual seed swap at St John’s United Reformed Church.

Claire Fisher’s first play – Mary Livingstone, I Presume? – tickles the audience with a joyous array of gossip and small talk between the Hadley Green gentry of yesteryear, their servants and the townspeople of Barnet. The Bull Theatre was packed with highly appreciative audiences for the latest production by the Blue Door Theatre Company.

This is the new front page of the Barnet Society's website -- a long-planned upgrade of our online presence. We have made it easier to use with improved access and simpler procedures for new members joining the society.

Barnet and Southgate College students on creative and media production courses can now gain hands-on experience in tv, sound and animation at the Studio, a new multi-media production facility at the college's Barnet campus.

High Barnet is at a crossroads over future developments. Members of the Barnet Society are about to get an opportunity to debate key issues and hear the views of the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson.

If Transport for London gets the go ahead to build four high-rise blocks of flats alongside Barnet Hill, they will transform the approach to the town from Underhill. Plans for redeveloping the land around High Barnet tube station to provide 300 homes have now been updated.

Restoring the 140-year-old organ at Barnet parish church is proving a massive task -- well over 2,000 organ pipes are having to be individually cleaned and if necessary repaired before they can all be re-assembled.

Barnet Football Club has completed another stage in its attempt to gain approval from Barnet Council for the construction of a 7,000-seat stadium on playing fields at Underhill.

Concern about possible harm to great crested newts and bats is on the agenda at a public inquiry which is hearing an attempt to overturn the refusal to grant planning permission for two travellers' caravans in a field off Mays Lane, Barnet. Someline goes here.

After months of uncertainty a deal has finally been agreed: High Barnet's historic Tudor Hall in the middle of the Barnet College campus has been saved for community use. A bid by the trustees of Barnet Museum has been accepted by the board of governors of Barnet and Southgate College.

Barnet Council is to take on the task of helping to promote and support arts and cultural events across the borough -- a role previously performed by a network of volunteers. An online guide is to be published by the council listing a wide range of arts, leisure and sports events.

Answering questions from Barnet Friends of the Earth was a chance for the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson to say more about his plans to encourage initiatives such as helping to finance the installation of solar panels on community buildings.