News from The Barnet Society

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.

Urgently needed repairs to the historic 140-year-old organ at Barnet parish church are due to start later this year following Barnet Council's decision to make a grant of £83,000 to meet half the cost of the work.

A line-up of Lotus sports cars is to be a highlight at this year's Barnet Classic Car Club's annual show and already the promise to give Lotus pride of place is reviving interest in Barnet's link to one of the legendary marques of the British car industry.

Heartwood Collection, a hospitality group which runs upmarket inns and restaurants across southern England, has bought The Prince of Wales public house in East Barnet and is promising a "multi-million-pound" refurbishment.

A dog show with fun events -- and all comers are welcome -- is to be one of the highlights of a revived Arkley village fayre to be held on the village field at Brickfield Lane, Arkley, on Saturday 18 May.

Yet more of High Barnet's dwindling stock of light industrial and commercial workspaces might be converted into residential development if Barnet Council grants planning permission.

A ten-year campaign to prevent new housing on farmland at Whalebones in Wood Street, High Barnet, ended in defeat despite stark warnings about the loss of a nature-rich habitat in a much-prize conservation area.

A controversial scheme to build eleven blocks of flats to provide 420 homes on the former gas works site in New Barnet has finally won planning approval after years of heated debate.

Associate organist Jonathan Gregory has spent months organising what he hopes will be a unique event at Barnet parish church -- a concert to celebrate the strength of Anglo-Japanese cultural relationships.

There is news of a possible reprieve for the now-closed Prince of Wales -- the last public house in East Barnet village which was registered as an asset of community value at the end of last month in an attempt to safeguard its future.