News from The Barnet Society

Barnet Hospital’s first nurses’ home, now used for offices, is celebrating the 90th anniversary of its opening – just as work is underway to provide new accommodation for key nursing staff.

Plans for a spring clean-up of litter has attracted hundreds of promises of support after mother-of-three Nanna Blomquist launched a Green Beings High Barnet community organisation to campaign for greater environmental awareness.

Barnet Council’s latest cost-cutting proposal is to end the long-standing practice of locking up gates to parks, gardens and car parks at nightfall. Abandoning this safeguard – which was introduced to prevent anti-social behaviour and vandalism – could eventually save the council £75,000 a year.

Staff and sales assistants at the Spires shopping centre are keen to publicise the location of a defibrillator that has been installed at the High Street entrance with the help of a £500 donation from the Barnet Residents Association.

Resident guardians who have had temporary homes in the former Marie Foster Centre in Wood Street, Barnet, are moving out following the approval of plans to build a 100-room care home on the site.

Plans are afoot – if funding can be obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund – to re-start an archaeological investigation in a renewed attempt to find the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

On 29 March the UK is likely to withdraw from the EU. What impact will this have on High Barnet, New Barnet, Arkley, Underhill and other parts of our Borough?

David and Tyler Bone are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the family’s fruit and vegetable stall at Barnet Market.

Trustees for the fields around Whalebones, where just over 150 new homes are planned, say they believe the wishes of the former owner, the late Gwyneth Cowing, will be honoured.

Barnet sculptor John Somerville, who has captured the image of countless rock stars and writers, is facing what he says is a daunting challenge. He has been commissioned to reproduce the likeness of Millie the Waitrose cat whose death in late January sparked a wave of online tributes to High Barnet’s feline celebrity.

For our spring public forum, the Barnet Society has arranged for an expert panel to answer questions of local interest on key issues such as the future of education and training, prospects for local employment, plans for new housing and future safeguards for the Green Belt.

Chipping Barnet foodbank is currently experiencing a spike in demand following the introduction of universal credit which is resulting in some social security claimants finding themselves caught out by the loss of previous benefits.

Well over £1,200 has been donated already by well-wishers towards the cost of a memorial to the 17-year-old tabby Millie who made friends with countless admirers at the Spires shopping centre.

From its new call centre at Bowes Park, volunteers from the North London Samaritans are stepping up their efforts to reach out to help anyone troubled by personal or emotional problems and to advise those most at risk of suicide.

Every Sunday this winter St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale, becomes a night shelter for the homeless – “our contribution to helping the weakest”, says the Vicar, the Reverend Tristan Chapman.

Gary Murphy, landlord at one of High Barnet’s highly-rated real ale pubs, the Mitre, is preparing for the next round of an ongoing campaign to force the pub owners to give publicans of tied houses a fairer deal on rents and the price and choice of beers.

Barnet Band, originally the High Barnet Foresters’ Brass Band, which started performing in 1889 – with just 15 instruments that had cost £42 – is about to reach its 130th anniversary. A special concert is to be held on Saturday 2 February at St James Church, New Barnet, to mark the occasion.

Chipping Barnet Residents Forum has been given an assurance that Barnet Council will take action to remove up to three homeless men who bed down each night in alcoves and under bay windows outside Chipping Barnet Library in Stapylton Road.

“Don’t be mean, keep Barnet clean” is the message on posters which have been appearing outside parks and on street signs around Barnet in a do-it-yourself campaign by local youngsters. Members of a church children’s club have been producing the posters under the direction on their leader Gill Cunnington.

Customers and friends have been paying tribute to High Barnet’s popular milkman, Tam Hughes, whose franchise with Milk and More was terminated at short notice after he had been delivering milk for over 30 years. A collection to say “thank you” has already raised £220 among former customers in Byng Road and Wentworth Road.