News from The Barnet Society

Winter tree planting is well underway -- and volunteers will be busy in the next few weeks on Barnet Hill and at other sites across the Borough of Barnet. Robin Bishop, who leads for the Barnet Society on environmental issues, is arranging for 120 hawthorn saplings to be planted on Barnet Hill.

A renewed attempt to get planning approval for an additional storey to be added to two blocks of flats in Alston Road, Barnet, has again been rejected on the grounds that the enlarged buildings would be out of keeping with the neighbourhood.

Instead of a traditional corner shop, Chesterfield Parade in Bells Hill, now hosts a specialist shop selling what the proprietor believes is the widest range of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free produce and products available in High Barnet. Metin Sus opened his business Natural Wholefoods in mid-December.

Cyclists heading out of London have always enjoyed the challenge of riding up Barnet Hill -- and a survey carried out exactly 100 years ago showed there was even greater enthusiasm for tackling the climb back in the 1920s.

Anyone walking along the footpath at the junction of Alston Road and Carnarvon Road should make the effort to search out a fascinating trail of 21 illustrations by a celebrated pavement artist who was brought up in Barnet and whose miniature paintings on blobs of chewing gum have gained international recognition.

Recent years have seen a wave of roof extensions across Barnet, usually providing extra space for existing homes. Richard Court in Alston Road (above) exemplifies a new variant of Permitted Development introduced by the government last year.

Plans to build four chalet-style houses on the site of a former stables and paddock have been been rejected by a planning inspector because of the impact they would have on the woodland and fields south of Arkley, across the Dollis Valley towards Totteridge.

Staff at the Rainbow Centre on the Dollis Valley estate are busy preparing food parcels, seasonal hampers and presents for needy families in what might be the food bank's last Christmas in their current premises in Dollis Valley Drive.

Festive lighting around the bandstand at The Spires shopping centre is not just a celebration of Christmas and the New Year but also a more personal reminder for friends and supporters of the Barnet charity Cherry Lodge Cancer Care.

An appeal has been launched for the renovation of Monken Hadley's historic church house which will involve reconstructing and modernising the interior so that it can be used for a wider range of community events.

After it was closed and boarded up ten years ago, the dis-used Tudor Park Pavilion is at last edging closer to the day when it could provide Barnet Vale with a much-needed amenity space and leisure facility.

Unlike the experience of many local communities that were forced to cancel festive events, the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre went ahead as planned and was well supported given the showery Sunday weather. Over eighty stalls filled the High Street, The Spires shopping centre, Barnet College courtyard and other locations in and around the town centre.

"We are back on the map at last" was the cry that went up at the unveiling of three roadside signs declaring "Welcome to Arkley Village".

Plans are afoot to upgrade Barnet Council's free-to-use tennis courts -- which include six courts just off Mays Lane and others at Tudor Park Sports Ground, Victoria Recreation Ground, and Oak Hill Park -- and then introduce a booking system and charges for playing tennis.

Rehearsals are well underway for the children's show at the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 5 December -- a welcome return after the loss last year of the town's festivities due to the Covid.19 lockdown restrictions.

Campaigners against high-rise blocks of flats being built on tube station car parks -- including High Barnet, Finchley Central, Cockfosters and Arnos Grove -- staged a spirited protest during the last question time session for the Mayor of London at City Hall.

With the return of many more passengers on the London Underground, the book-swap bookshelf at High Barnet tube station is proving so popular it has almost run out of books.

An ancient ditch in the woods along the northern boundary of Monken Hadley Common has been reinstated after the area was cleared of builders' rubble that had been dumped on the land.

A hand-coloured tribute from a six-year-old Barnet schoolgirl was added to the wreaths of poppies laid around the war memorial at Barnet Parish Church during the Remembrance Sunday Service. Eloise Weekes-Eden, a pupil at Underhill School, drew and coloured her own contribution for the Act of Remembrance and placed it at the base of the memorial.

Ambitious plans to develop and expand the twice weekly Barnet Market have been given the go ahead by BYM Capital, the new owners of The Spires shopping centre.