News from The Barnet Society

A renewed attempt to replace a much-loathed eyesore in Union Street, High Barnet, with new housing is finally holding out the prospect of succeeding.

Years spent walking the dog on Hadley Green and in Hadley Woods and King George's Field was the inspiration for director and writer Paul Morrison whose new film 23 Walks, starring Alison Steadman, is to have its UK premiere at Barnet Everyman cinema.

Paintings and drawings on display in the Spires shopping centre are the work of Barnet children who have been isolating at home during the virus pandemic - and some of whom are still too anxious to return to school.

A community garden in New Barnet where passers-by can help themselves to vegetables, fruit and herbs is the first of what might become several similar ventures if the self-help group Incredible Edible Barnet can find sufficient volunteers.

Volunteers are getting prepared for a High Barnet litter pick on the last Sunday in September.

Plans to build a line of tower blocks on the former gas works site at New Barnet were roundly condemned when Barnet Council's planning committee unanimously rejected an application for almost twice as many flats as previously agreed.

A newly formed team of volunteers has started picking and collecting surplus fruit across the Borough of Barnet so that unwanted produce can be diverted to food banks and distributed by other organisations helping the needy. Barnet Community Harvesters has been established by Daniella Levene.

Kenneth Grahame's classic children's story The Wind in the Willows is to be performed live in the open air at East Barnet - a rare chance for a family outing for theatre lovers who have missed out on so much during the many months of lockdown.

The Barnet Society’s 75th birthday in May 2020 is a timely moment to celebrate the local Green Belt that was the original reason for our existence. Our founding in 1945 was prompted by the threat to build on the green space that surrounds Chipping Barnet on three sides.

The Barnet Society’s 75th birthday in 2020 was a timely moment to celebrate, in three recent Website articles, the local Green Belt that was the original reason for our existence.

Since 2013 the Barnet Society has submitted responses to the following London Assembly (LA), Mayor of London (MoL) & Transport for London (TfL) public consultations.

Past, present and future work in and around Chipping Barnet - a talk to Barnet U3A on 6 August 2020 by Robin Bishop, Chair of the Society. Click on the link below to view Robin's presentation. 200806_BSoc_ppt.pdf

Passers-by and property owners within High Barnet's conservation areas are being urged to be on the lookout for thieves stripping lead from old and historic buildings. The Old Court House Surgery in Wood Street is the latest to be targeted.Lead flashing and gutters have been stripped from a rear roof of the surgery.

When my beer supplies dried up during lockdown, I was delighted to discover – by way of The Wilds Café – Urban Alchemy Brewing, a newly formed brewery based in York Road.

Since 2016 the Barnet Society has submitted responses to the following London Borough of Barnet (LBB) public consultations.

Brake Shear House, one of the last of the many small factories and workshops that were once dotted around High Barnet, is currently being demolished to make way for a new development of flats and houses on a site just off the High Street.

Residents are being asked in an online survey whether more roads should be included within the Barnet Hospital controlled parking zone and whether pay and display parking should be allowed in those streets where parking is currently restricted to residents only.

An online directory of shops in Barnet High Street -- together with listings for other traders and businesses in and around the town centre -- has been launched on the Love Barnet website.

Separate cycle lanes up and down Barnet Hill - an ambition ridiculed for so long by Barnet councillors - may have become a step closer as a result of the government's decision to pump £2 billion into schemes to encourage cycling and walking as a way of fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Enjoy five short walks in our local countryside recommended by Owen Jones. In May the Barnet Society celebrated its 75th birthday. Since our founding in 1945 was prompted by the threat to build on the green space that surrounds Chipping Barnet on three sides, it also seems appropriate to celebrate that countryside.