News from The Barnet Society

An award-winning engineer in the development of offshore wind technologies, visiting professor Emily Spearman – who grew up in High Barnet – returned to Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School to present prizes at the annual celebration of excellence.

A bumper summer crop of pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce is another illustration of the continuing success of GROW, the school and community farm which has been created on a six-acre field next to The Totteridge Academy in Barnet Lane.

A mass protest against plans for five high-rise blocks of flats on the car park at High Barnet tube station attracted over 250 residents who were greeted with toots of support from the horns of passing motorists.

Barnet’s Crown Post Office, which is about to become a franchise operation, will move across the High Street at some point in November to new premises in a former toy shop.

A massive crane has been brought in by contractors to help install scaffolding and internal braces to stabilise the walls of a large Georgian house on Hadley Green which was gutted in a disastrous fire over the May bank holiday.

An application has been made to the High Court to challenge the go ahead for a travellers’ caravan site on a field in Green Belt land off Mays Lane, Barnet, on the grounds that the decision was inaccurate.

A little over a year after being elected Labour MP for Chipping Barnet, Dan Tomlinson has been promoted to become a junior minister at the Treasury. In a reshuffle announced by the Prime Minister on the day MPs returned to Westminster, Mr Tomlinson was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

Community groups are presenting a united front in objecting to Transport for London’s planning application to build five high-rise blocks of flats on a car park and strip of land alongside the London Underground station for High Barnet.

Members of Barnet Guild of Artists are preparing for their 74th annual show in October – in what might become their final year in their unique and much-loved art studio.

A bumper crop of apples and plums is being collected for foodbanks across the London Borough of Barnet by volunteer fruit pickers from Barnet Community Harvesters who save and redistribute surplus produce. Despite record summer temperatures and a prolonged drought, many trees have been fruiting far better than expected.

A familiar face in Barnet High Street, Pragna Raghwani, who is store director at Specsavers, has raised well over £1,000 for the international medical health charity Sightsavers.

Overwhelming local opposition is emerging to Transport for London’s latest application to build five high-rise blocks of flats on a car park and land alongside High Barnet tube station.

Some of High Barnet’s much-loved mature trees have faced a sustained summer assault at the hands of the chain saws of tree surgeons.

A three-week closure of Wood Street, High Barnet – resulting in widespread rush hour traffic disruption and a lengthy diversion for three bus routes – is an illustration of why there is likely to be strong support for Barnet Council’s plan to force utility companies to speed up their work.

A long-established footpath under the main railway line at New Barnet faces an uncertain future after being deemed unsafe during redevelopment of the former gas works site off Victoria Road.

Graffiti vandal “Morty” who has sprayed a tag on countless doors, walls and hoardings might be about to be unmasked after a two-month spree of damage to premises in and around Barnet.

High Barnet’s much appreciated free book shop has re-opened in The Spires shopping centre after being without a home since the spring – and has launched a fresh appeal for donations of books and bookshelves.

A mass protest is being organised by residents of Mays Lane and surrounding roads in opposition to the introduction of a new and additional controlled parking zone which is being proposed by Barnet Council. A campaign to force the council to abandon the idea was launched at a public meeting attended by around 170 residents.

Dory’s, High Barnet’s celebrated family run cafe which provided refreshments and a warm welcome for generations of satisfied customers, has closed for business after the retirement of its proprietors Guiliano Cardosi and Angela Casali.

Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, which provides palliative care for over 350 children from its base in Byng Road, Barnet, depends on a continuous programme of fund raising together with community financial support from across north London and parts of south Hertfordshire.