News from The Barnet Society

Record hot weather in late April coincided with the earliest reported sightings of swifts who are considered by far High Barnet’s most popular avian visitors each summer.

After being unable to play at home last year because crows had dug holes in their green, the East Barnet Valley Bowls Club is holding open days at weekends during the coming months in a bid to boost their membership.

A decade long association as a volunteer at the Rainbow Centre, the community hub for the Dollis Valley estate, has been rewarded with a Barnet Council “Inspiration All” award for Patricia Gay in recognition of her dedication and support.

Pioneering work by Chipping Barnet Foodbank is highlighting Barnet Council's shortcomings in tackling hardship resulting from food shortages and inadequate advice for needy families.

Barnet residents should know by late February the full extent of the expenditure cuts which will have to be imposed by the borough council to reduce a looming budget deficit which could still top £50million.

Whitings Hill Primary School is among the recent beneficiaries of a borough-wide Digital Inclusion project to repurpose surplus computer chrome books and laptops for use in schools across Barnet.  Such is the shortage computer hardware that in some schools two or even three pupils have to share a keyboard and computer screen when completing online class

Barnet Football Club has chosen a new site within the Green Belt at Underhill for a proposed £14 million new football stadium.

An exceptionally long festive decoration extending over 14 separate windowpanes at the Mama Fifi restaurant has won High Barnet's competition for the most imaginative Christmas window presentation. Proprietor Ali Karakas (see above) commissioned the mural even before he knew there was going to be a competition.

Behind an unassuming front door just off Barnet High Street is the hustle and bustle of a café which for the last 70 years has been producing a constant supply of full English breakfasts, hot meals, snacks, sandwiches and an endless supply of teas and coffees.

Higher charges for car parking and residential parking permits have been announced by Barnet Council and will apply as from the start of the New Year.  Future increases will be far greater if the council goes ahead with a wide-ranging policy review designed to drive down car use across the borough.

Events surrounding the history of a house on Hadley Green which for a few years was the home of the Victorian explorer Dr David Livingstone is the inspiration for a new play to be performed by a High Barnet drama group.

A 90-year-old cast iron framework which used to house a gasometer is to be demolished as part of a Berkeley Homes development in the northern half of the former gas works site in New Barnet.

A 12-acre field off Galley Lane will be the setting next June for what seems likely to be the largest medieval camp and re-enactment site staged by the town since the start of the recent run of events to commemorate the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Braving the rain, the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou, opened the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre, cutting a red ribbon stretched across the High Street. He congratulated the organisers on continuing to stage an event which had always been a traditional and popular curtain raiser to the town’s Christmas festivities.

Barnet's credentials as a green borough have been strengthened enormously by the dedication of volunteers who maintain the seven-and-a-half-acre nature reserve and environment centre off Byng Road. Councillor Tony Vourou, Mayor of Barnet, paid tribute to their work at an event to celebrate the centre’s 50th anniversary.

A small industrial estate behind hoardings and cafes at Pricklers Hill on the Great North Road will be replaced by a new self-storage facility if Barnet Council gives planning approval.

"Where will all the cars go?" was the first question asked by many local residents attending the first exhibition of the latest plans to build blocks of flats over the car park and self-storage container yard at High Barnet tube station.

After Christmas markets in late November were disrupted by snow, rain and wind, organisers are hoping for better weather on Sunday 1 December for the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre.

Visiting Arkley Christmas bazaar was a chance for the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson to get into the seasonal spirit and make his acquaintance with Santa Clause. Santa (Ellis Rich) welcomed the MP into his grotto and gave him a present for his eight-month-old son.

After its opening at Underhill six years ago, Ark Pioneer Academy now has its first sixth-form pupils who were introduced to representatives of the High Barnet community. A-level political students had the chance to put questions to the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson after he toured the school and saw classes in progress.