Tag: People and personalities

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Fiery exchanges as Labour and Conservative councillors clash over accuracy of list of green belt sites for housing around High Barnet

Barnet's Labour and Conservative councillors clash over accuracy of a list of green belt sites which could be designated for new housing around High Barnet

Concern about threats to the green belt and the loss of popular open spaces dominated a question-and-answer session held at the annual meeting of Barnet Residents Association.

Councillor Richard Barnes (Barnet Vale), who is chair of Barnet Council’s planning committee  – see above with association co-chair Ken Rowland (left) and Emma Morgan, membership secretary  –  set out the options following publication of a draft plan for London which is proposing the construction of up to 7,000 new homes on green belt land within the borough.

He ended up getting caught in crossfire between Labour and Conservatives councillors as they argued about the authenticity of a list of sites – including playing fields, golf courses and cemeteries – which could be redesignated as grey belt with potential for redevelopment for housing.

The list emerged earlier this month with Labour councillors accusing their opponents of political scaremongering whereas Conservative councillors hit back accusing the Labour-controlled council of not coming clean with residents about the potential loss of precious amenity land and much-appreciated green spaces.

The controversial list – the wording of which Councillor Barnes insisted was “misleading and inaccurate” – includes sites such as Ark Pioneer Academy playing fields, King George V playing fields, Quinta Open Space, Hendon and Finchley golf courses, cemetery land at Edgwarebury and Hendon, land north of Totteridge Common Road and Hadley Common Road.

Councillors Barnes said these sites and others were listed as being “suitable for grey belt designation” but this wording did not exist in any official document.

“This description is inaccurate and perhaps deliberately so for political effect. The list includes sites like cemeteries and playing fields which are never going to be redeveloped.”

But he did acknowledge that the sites were listed in a 400-page London green belt assessment which was published alongside the draft London plan – a plan that was out for consultation and which he thought would take at least two years to implement.

He was supported at the meeting by Councillor Emma Whysall (High Barnet, Labour) who deplored the scaremongering taking place on social media.

An important point of the whole exercise was that some green belt land might be downgraded to grey belt while other sites might be upgraded to merit full green belt protection.

She maintained that many of the sites which had been listed were more than likely to be included in the council’s plans for a possible regional park which could be created to include green belt land around Arkley and Mill Hill.

She and Councillor Barnes were challenged by Councillor James Esses (High Barnet, Conservative) who insisted the list was part of formal document published alongside the draft London plan.

He thought it was wrong to suggest the list was “not official” when it was in the current plan. As it was unlikely the London plan would be revised, the Conservatives had voted against it.

Councillor David Longstaff (Barnet Vale, Conservative) said that Labour councillors were in no position to challenge the wording of the London plan which was clear that 7,000 houses would have to be built on green belt land within the borough.

The ten-year target set by the Mayor of London was for Barnet to build 32,000 new houses – a target which Councillor Longstaff predicted would see an increase in the borough’s population of 310,000 ten years ago to 430,000 in ten years’ time.

“If people don’t start objecting now in a big way, this plan will be steamrollered through, and an awful lot of the new homes will be one- and two-bedroom flats instead of family homes.”

Councillor Barnes agreed that housing development was likely on some of what is now designated as green belt, such as land in Arkley along Rowley Lane, Arkley Lane, and Galley Lane, and land north and south of the Stirling Corner roundabout.

Gordon Massey, who leads for the residents’ association on planning, warned of the consequences that lay ahead if there was extensive redevelopment in Arkley, especially in view of the London plan acceptance of the need for blocks of flats as high as nine storeys.

He thought there were as many as four sites in Arkley which were vulnerable, posing the threat that tower block could be built there.

“I hope you are wrong,” replied Councillor Barnes. “We would not support tower blocks in Arkley. Green belt at the edge of the borough needs to be protected and I have not heard of any plans to develop that land.”

Earlier Mr Massey criticised the failure of the Deputy Mayor of London to publish his reasons for overturning Barnet Council’s rejection of a Transport for London plan to build high-rise flats on the car park at High Barnet tube station.

He thought the failure to release the official notification – which could trigger a possible legal challenge – was down to the developers getting “cold feet.”

Major housebuilders were pulling out of Greater London schemes because the Mayor of London’s targets for the construction of affordable homes made these schemes unviable.

One high point of the meeting was news from several members that residents of Sunset View and Hadley Grove have been successful in their bid at an auction to buy half of a one-acre copse alongside Christchurch Lane.

A plan to build a large house on the site was rejected by Barnet Council and the residents made a joint bid to purchase half the site to ensure it remained protected woodland.

In view an offer from the Woodland Trust to maintain the small deciduous wood, the residents are hoping that Barnet Council, which owns the other half acre, might release it to the Woodland Trust.

The meeting was told that formal consultations are about to start on establishing a 20mph zone in streets in and around Alston Road and Stapylton Road.

Councillor Whysall said the plan was to create a safer zone in the streets in an area bounded to the north and west of Wood Street, High Street Road and St Albans Road.  

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High Barnet to have two community-inspired public houses within 300 yards of each other and each run by local residents

High Barnet to have two community-inspired public houses within 300 yards of each other and each run by local residents

A second High Barnet public house, The Sebright Arms, in Alston Road, is getting a new lease of life after another successful community-inspired bid to take over the tenancy.

Two of the Sebright’s former regular customers, Lex Deak (above, left) and Ben Dillon, who live round the corner in Wentworth Road, are planning a major refurbishment to create a community pub with a family friendly atmosphere.

Three hundred yards away from the Sebright is The Black Horse which was re-opened only four months ago by three of its former regulars who all live close by.

The Sebright’s new tenants say they are confident that despite their proximity there will be plenty of opportunities for two community-driven public houses to prosper.

Over recent years five pubs have closed in surrounding streets and the message from the new teams running the Sebright and Black Horse seems to be that the pubs which will thrive in the future will be those which are orientated towards the needs of the community and local families.

High Barnet to have two community-inspired public houses within 300 yards of each other and each run by local residents

An artist’s impression – see above – shows the kind of make-over which is planned for the yard at the rear of the Sebright which will include a covered terrace, planted spaces, a large screen for summer nights and a safe play space.

“What we will be offering at the Sebright is a family-first community pub with a proper play area in sight of the grown-ups, the kind of facilities which will demonstrate how pubs can respond to the family life of today,” said Lex Deak.

“Publicans have to adapt by creating a community hub, offering refreshments from coffee in the morning to Sunday lunch, and a venue which welcomes and can host local groups and activities.

“Barnet has a rich history of pubs but there have been closures all around the Sebright and now in an age when people are more disconnected than before, we think it’s important to bring people together in a community hub.

With the Black Horse just down the road, there will be even more reason for people to come out and support their local pubs. We are close friends with the team at the Black Horse and they’ve been very helpful.”

Ben Dillon said he and Lex had fond memories of the community spirit which was generated by pubs like the Sebright and they wanted to reinvent that to create a friendly, family space.

“I’ve lived around here for 30 years and we both knew the Sebright of old.”

High Barnet to have two community-inspired public houses within 300 yards of each other and each run by local residents

The Sebright was one of three High Barnet pubs which the Hertford brewers McMullen sold to Punch Pubs and Co earlier this year and the new tenants have taken on an initial lease.

High Barnet to have two community-inspired public houses within 300 yards of each other and each run by local residents

After being closed for several days for redecoration and immediate repairs – including new lights installed by electrician Chaz Smith – the Sebright has re-opened for drinks and initial service while the two new tenants work up their plans for what will be a full redesign and refit starting early next year.

They are currently assessing community feedback, listening to what the locals say, as they prepare their plans. To read more about their vision for the future see:  www.thesebrightarms.co.uk

In the weeks before the new tenancy was agreed, nearby regular Chris Nightingale had been working with residents to get 70 signatures for an application to renew an asset of community value designation for the Sebright.

“We are delighted to hear that Ben and Lex are taking over and the Sebright is back in safe hands.

“The fact we got all the signatures we needed so quickly demonstrates the loyalty of the Sebright’s customers.”

The Sebright Arms in Alston Road Barnet taken over two local residents determined to create a family friendly community pub -- following close behind another community inspired re-opening of the neary Black Horse public house

An insight into the successful transformation of the Black Horse over the course of the summer was given to the annual meeting of Barnet Residents Association by Danny Daly, one of three directors of Barnet Community Pubs Ltd.

The newly formed company negotiated a fresh tenancy for the Black Horse with Star Pubs (part of the Heineken group) after it had been closed since the previous September.

Together with his two fellow directors, Simon Anderson and Martin Taylor, they completed a speedy refit of the pub in time to open in late June and take advantage of a summer of near unbroken sunshine and events such as England’s matches in the FIFA World Cup.

“We were mobbed during the World Cup, five deep at the bar, and followed that up with a celebration on the night of the partial eclipse when we bought in 50 pairs of special glasses.

“We are trying to do as many interesting community events as we can – we had a Dolly Parton night and have a wine and cheese evening planned for November. On one charity day we raised £6,000.”

Nearby pubs which closed over recent years included The Alexandra in Wood Street, The Albion in Union Street. The White Lion in St Albans Road and The King William IV and Crown and Anchor in Barnet High Street.

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Small stretch of Barnet Playing Fields at Underhill set aside for new Dollis Valley community orchard   

Small stretch of Barnet Playing Fields at Underhill set aside for new Dollis Valley community orchard   

Early next year volunteers aim to start planting what is destined to become a community orchard in Underhill situated in a corner of Barnet Playing Fields, between Ark Pioneer Academy and Grasvenor Avenue.

Along one side of the new orchard will be a freshly-seeded wildflower meadow – another of the initiatives backed by the Orchard Project which organised a display of apples and other fruit at the nearby Rainbow Centre.

Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson was shown the site of the new Dollis Valley Community Orchard by organiser Daniella Levene (above, far left) and Catherine Watling of the Friends of Underhill Green Spaces, who hope to help maintain the orchard.

There has been some mounting concern locally about the long-term future of Barnet Playing Fields in Barnt Lane, Underhill, following the publication of the London Plan and speculation that the status of Green Belt land could be downgraded to Grey Belt.

Barnet councillors for wards in and around High Barnet say they are keen to contradict misguided that claims that protected playing fields and open spaces along the Dollis Valley are at risk of being replaced with housing.

No final decisions had been taken about the future designation of local Green Belt land around High Barnet and whatever the eventual status there was no possibility of the council relinquishing community green spaces for housing.  

After being shown the site of the new community orchard, Mr Tomlinson said he looked forward to returning next February when volunteers hope to plant up to a dozen mixed fruit trees including apple, pear, quince and medlar.

“I am confident there is no chance that Barnet Playing Fields will be built on. Our green spaces are so important to the health and wellbeing of our residents.  We need to do all we can to enhance their protection.”

Small stretch of Barnet Playing Fields at Underhill set aside for new Dollis Valley community orchard   

Councillor Zahra Beg, the Mayor of Barnet – and an Underhill ward councillor – admired a display of autumn fruit. She was delighted to give her backing to the Orchard Project.

“I am proud to be here and support a new community orchard for Underhill.

“Local residents and children will want to see the planting of the fruit trees, and I am sure they will help take care of the wildflower meadow.” 

Small stretch of Barnet Playing Fields at Underhill set aside for new Dollis Valley community orchard   

Orchard Project communications manager Sarah Cossom – above, left with Rainbow Centre manager Sarah Snell – said the planting of a wildflower meadow was the first step in building up support and interest in developing a community orchard.

Spring flowers would help with pollination in the area and especially for the new fruit trees.

Small corner of Barnet Playing fields set aside for Dollis Valley community orchard at Underhill, an iniiative supported by Mayor of Barnet Councillor Zahra Beg and Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson

Daniella Levene, founder of the Community Harvesters project, was keen to show visitors a full range of the various varieties of apples, pears and other fruit which could be grown so easily in gardens at home.

She said that given warmer summers, pomegranate was one of the fruits which now fared well in the UK and could withstand prolonged dry weather.         

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New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

All the stresses and strains – and sometimes laughter – of everyday life in Barnet during the Second World War are captured in an imaginative and often poignant production at The Bull Theatre.

A Nightingale Sang in Barnet: The Blitz and Beyond opened with a sell-out show for the first of four performances highlighting yet again the ability of the Blue Door Theatre Company to deliver original productions celebrating the town’s history and traditions.

Wartime comings and goings among the patrons and staff at the Barnet Odeon provide a constant thread around which there are scenes and story lines based on family memories and tales about the war years.

Seven members of the company wrote the script and based their contributions on their own research, aided by the recollections of local families.

The playwrights succeeded in bringing together what director Siobhan Dunne says is a patchwork quilt of human stories and dramatic events that occurred literally on their doorsteps in Barnet.

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

The Odeon cinema – now The Everyman – was chosen to frame the highs and lows for the townspeople of Barnet as they coped with air raid duties, bomb damage, food shortages and all the heightened security conditions that restricted day to day life.

All the action is rooted in and around the Barnet of the 1940s with storylines that highlight local street names and places – Wood Street, Union Street, Victoria Bakery, Sebright Road, Arkley, Trotters Bottom and so on – a litany of familiar points of reference. 

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

A focal point for the play is The Odeon’s bomb shelter which becomes a regular meeting place for cinema staff, patrons and local people – and a centre of intrigue involving numerous plot lines.

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

Two local wartime dealers in the black market, Ada and Benny Spratt (Janet Parker and Tony Nagle) incur the wrath of the Odeon’s manager Bill Pendleton (Steve Mays) when he finds them in the bomb shelter trying to sell eggs and two chickens to the assembled crowd.

Ada and Benny are undeterred and put up a spirited defence of the kind of action which was frowned upon during the war.

Much of the dialogue reveals the underlying fears within the community, such as the dread of hearing the hum of enemy planes overhead, receiving news of a death at the front, or the need to look out for suspicious behaviour and Fascist sympathisers.

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

Cinema usherette Ruby Wilson (Teresa Howell) doubles up as a secret listener at the wartime monitoring station at Arkley. After her shift at the Odeon, she cycles off for her hidden duties.

Interspersed between the family vignettes are renditions of much-loved wartime songs and tunes which are greeted with applause and whoops of delight especially for some of the sentimental numbers.

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

In a glimpse behind the scenes at The Odeon, ARP warden Gwen (Sarah Munford) builds up a friendship with cinema projectionist Danny (Chris Browning).

The Blitz and Beyond does not shy away from tacking potential conflicts facing Jewish refugees and Russian emigres.

The strains and stresses experienced by the Levin family provide a moving reminder of how lives had been upturned by the war – Avram Levin (Tim King), Chana Levin (Rafaella Golding) and Rivka Levin (Ann Moore).

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

Wartime romances are not forgotten. Alberto (Francesco Giacon) an Italian soldier from a prisoner of war camp at Trotters Bottom, has to say farewell to his sweetheart, recently widowed Rebecca (Brigid Hekster).

Local children have leading roles. Wartime restrictions on keeping pets imply that one’s boy dog is in danger of being put down.

A closing peacetime scene shows two local boys and a girl sitting at the top of King George’s Field gazing across towards the City of London musing on their futures, speculating on how they might be able to contribute to the post-war effort to rebuild the country. 

New production at The Bull Theatre portrays how townspeople of Barnet lived through air raids and survived wartime restrictions   

Threading the story together against a backdrop of an amazing collection of wartime photographs and some compelling clips from cinema newsreels is narrator (Tim King).

One of the film sequences is an account by William Boyes whose father, grandfather and great grandfather were solicitors at 20 Wood Street, Barnet.

He describes how his father – Edward Boyes – was standing in the doorway of 20 Wood Street when a stray bomb was dropped by a German plane on its home run.

Two houses on the opposite side of Wood Street were destroyed in the explosion. Edward Boyes was seriously injured, losing part of his lung, but his father Archie was safe inside the house.

He was unhurt and was photographed emerging into Wood Street holding the family pet’s budgie in its cage.

Blue Door's latest production at the Bull Theatre portrays how the townspeople of Barnet lived through the Second World War, survived air raids and maintained family life

The show’s finale provides Siobhan Dunne a chance to thank all those behind the scenes including her husband Nick Godwin who arranged the music.

Ms Dunne reminds the audience of Barnet’s good fortune in being able to deliver live theatre and she appeals for contributions towards an emergency appeal for £10,000 towards essential maintenance and running costs at The Bull Theatre. Nearly £3,000 has been raised so far.

For more details of the appeal and a donate button see: https://www.thebulltheatre.com/

A Nightingale Sang in Barnet: The Blitz and Beyond, at The Bull Theatre, High Street, Barnet, Friday 16 October, 7.30pm; Saturday 17 October, 2pm and 7.30pm,

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Landmark moment for recently opened Barnet secondary school which is celebrating pupils’ success in gaining places at leading universities

Landmark moment for recently opened Barnet secondary school which is celebrating pupils’ success in gaining places at leading universities

Ark Pioneer Academy, which was established in 2019, has achieved the all-important milestone of seeing a high proportion of its first intake of sixth formers going on to further study at some of the country’s top universities.

Since its opening on the site of what was previously Barnet Football Club’s stadium at Underhill, the school, which has over 1,100 pupils, has been consistently oversubscribed.

Landmark moment for Ark Pioneer Academy, new school built on site of Barnet Football Club, which is celebrating success of its first sixth formers moving on to top universities.

Principal Su Reddy – above with assistant principal and head of sixth form Tim Goundry – said she and her staff were delighted that the school had demonstrated a level achievement well above the national average.

“We are all so proud of our school community, seeing our first sixth formers moving on to excellent universities, apprenticeships and future pathways,” said Ms Reddy.

“We are a consistently oversubscribed, high performing school which sits in well within a borough with one of the highest performances in secondary education.”

Four of the outgoing sixth formers have accepted places at King’s College, London, three at University College London and at other universities including Durham, Exeter, Warwick, Southampton and the Royal Northern College of Music at Manchester.

Mr Goundry said Ark Pioneer was offering what is now their third yearly intake of 100 sixth formers a total of 18 A level subjects alongside BTEC diplomas in science or business.

A third of Ark’s sixth form students join from other schools around Barnet and Enfield and further afield.

Four of the students who went on to university secured a bursary to help with their living expenses, an award open to students across the network of Ark academies.

A recent innovation for the school is a partnership with Imperial College, London, under which 35 students are being mentored by academics from the college who will work with the pupils on personal research projects.

Another initiative is that Ark has become a local hub for hosting events organised by Oxford and Cambridge colleges help to prepare students for university interviews.

Ark Pioneer’s success with their first A-level and BTEC results – with grades ranging from a total 98.9% at A*-E up to 14.7% at A*-A – was praised by Councillor Josh Tapper of Underhill ward who said he was sure this local school would continue to go from strength to strength.

Ark Pioneer is holding a sixth form open evening on Thursday 22 October from 16.30 to 19.30.

Ms Reddy emphasised Ark’s commitment to developing strong links with the community.

Pupils and parents make donations towards the Chipping Barnet Food Bank and work with the First Give fund-raising project which recently helped raise money for the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice.

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Public are invited to see an exhibition of sculptures and paintings by a Barnet care home resident  

Public are invited to see an exhibition of sculptures and paintings by a Barnet care home resident  

Leaving behind her sculptures and paintings was quite a wrench for artist Joy Feld, so Carlton Court Care Home in Bells Hill, Barnet, came up with the idea of staging an exhibition of her work.

Joy, now 97, looked on with delight from her wheelchair as her family, fellow residents, friends and guests admired her African tribal heads, paintings and drawings.

Joy, who studied at Barnet College, became a member of the Barnet Guild of Artists and Finchley Arts Society.

The exhibition of her work, which is in the reception area of Carlton Court, is to continue until 25 October and is open to the public from 9am to 6pm.

Family members were full of praise for the care home’s initiative in offering to stage the exhibition.

Joy was smiling again after her disappointment at having to move into care eight weeks ago and leave behind at her house artwork from the last 40 years.

Public are invited to see an exhibition of sculptures and paintings by a Barnet care home resident  

At a ceremony celebrating the opening of her exhibition a manager at the home, Moses Barnabas (above, far left) said Joy had been an inspiration to residents and staff since her arrival.

The strength of her passion for art was remarkable, and it was a great privilege for the home to show her work and place it on public display.

Sara Hassell (above, second from left) congratulated Carlton Court for giving her mother the chance to exhibit her work and share her brilliance with her fellow residents and friends in Barnet.

“Mum has been her for eight weeks and it is wonderful for her family to be part of such a joyous event. We never thought we would see her smile again. Mum is so pleased that she hasn’t had to leave behind her art.”

Max Hassell (above, with Joy) said the family had done all they could to help organise the exhibition of his grandmother’s work, especially the sculptures of the heads of indigenous African tribes.

Joy, who completed an art foundation course in Belfast where she grew up, worked as a designer in Belfast and London for the textile and carpet manufacturer Cyril Lord.

After moving to Barnet almost 45 years ago, she started courses in watercolour and drawing at Barnet College in the 1980s, under the tutelage of Leonie Bunn and W Huntley.

She also did a sculpture course at Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute where her tutor was the late acclaimed sculptor, John Brown, of the Bow House Gallery in Barnet.

Joy’s limited edition bronze resin sculptures have been exhibited at the Cato Gallery in Hampstead and the Lucy Kemp Welch Gallery in Bushey.

She shared a studio with her great friend and fellow sculptor Richard Chapman of the Sheridan Russell Gallery exhibiting at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea.

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Walkers on Hadley Green shocked to see carcases of fish thought to have died through lack of oxygen in Brewery Pond

Walkers on Hadley Green shocked to see carcases of fish thought to have died through lack of oxygen in Brewery Pond

At least a dozen large fish had to be removed from Brewery Pond on Hadley Green after they were found floating on the surface having died most probably due to the summer drought and a prolonged lack of rainfall.

Brewery Pond’s water level is at an unprecedented low level and the fish – thought to be carp – are thought to have lacked sufficient oxygen.

Barnet Council has asked the Environment Agency, which is responsible for waterways and pollution, to remove the carcases and examine what might have caused their death.

Brewery Pond, which is filled by a spring, has not dried out entirely unlike the other ponds on Hadley Green which are filled by surface water.

Walkers on Hadley Green shocked to see carcases of fish thought to have died through lack of oxygen in Brewery Pond

Once the dead fish were seen floating on the surface, they were removed by nearby residents and anglers to await disposal.

David Chapman of Hadley Residents Association said Barnet Council’s greenspaces department had called in the Environment Agency to remove the dead fish and to look into what had happened.

“We knew there were some very large fish in the Brewery Pond and in all probability the cause is a lack of oxygen in the water.

“However, we would like the water to be checked out to see whether there is any underlying pollution or another cause.”

Mr Chapman said the Residents Association will see if it could help improve the quality of the water by the installation of a machine to aerate the water.

Walkers on Hadley Green shocked to see carcases of fish thought to have died through lack of oxygen in Brewery Pond

A large quantity of water was taken from the Brewery Pond by the London Fire Brigade in May last year when fighting a large fire nearby in Hollybush House, a large Georgian property which faces on to the green.

“Unfortunately, the level of water in the pond didn’t recover fully last winter and it has now fallen to an unprecedented level due to the summer drought and months without any significant rain.”

Carcases of fish awaiting disposal after being removed from Brewery Pond on Hadley Green after dying through lack of oxgen following drop in water lelvel due to summer drought

Another casualty of the drought is Joslin’s Pond – a favourite Hadley Green duck pond – which dried out completely during the summer and like other ponds on the green and Hadley Common is desperately in need of being replenished.

Water levels in wildlife ponds at Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road are lower than normal but are being topped up thanks to the installation of giant storage tank for water draining from the centre’s roof.

“Our ponds have dried up considerably, but we can pump in extra fresh water from our giant water butt, and it really has proved to be a wonderful resource,” said Dick Elms, vice chair of the Friends of Barnet Environment Centre.

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With a rapidly approaching deadline for bids, Quinta Village Green residents step up their campaign to take over derelict youth club

With a rapidly approaching deadline for bids, Quinta Village Green residents step up their campaign to take over derelict youth club

A packed meeting at Underhill gave enthusiastic support to a community bid to purchase the derelict former Quinta Youth Club in Mays Lane which is being sold off by Barnet Council.

Fears that the building might go to the highest bidder because of the council’s dire financial position led to a last-minute appeal to local residents to demonstrate the strength of their campaign to secure a new combined community hub and youth centre.

Gina Theodorou, chair of the Quinta Village Green Residents Association, made a passionate plea to the neighbourhood to demonstrate to councillors why the council should respect the wishes of those who lived in Underhill.

Provision of services and support for young people was lower in the Underhill area than in the rest of the Borough of Barnet and the meeting was adamant the former youth club, which the community built in the mid-1960s, should be returned and redeveloped for their benefit.

With a rapidly approaching deadline for bids, Quinta Village Green residents step up their campaign to take over derelict youth club

Leaders and representatives of other groups and organisations from in and around High Barnet lined up to give their backing to what they agreed was a well resourced and imaginative bid to buy back a building on which the council has placed a £300,000 valuation.

“Of course, there are other bidders, and we know there is a major risk that another group or organisation might try to outbid us, but Barnet Council should realise this is the preferred scheme of those who live in Underhill,” said Ms Theodorou.

Quinta Village Green Residents Association has campaigned long and hard for the restoration or replacement of the former youth club and secured a six-month pause in the sale of the building after they succeeded in persuading the council to declare it an asset of community value.

With a rapidly approaching deadline for bids, Quinta Village Green residents step up their campaign to take over derelict youth club

Plans and artists’ impressions of the proposed community hub were presented to the meeting by architect Simon Kaufman – with the help of his daughter Ana.

With a rapidly approaching deadline for bids, Quinta Village Green residents step up their campaign to take over derelict youth club

A preferred option was for the new hub to have a central corridor with a sports hall on one side and activity rooms on the other with a new community café looking out on to Quinta Village Green.

All the rooms would have sliding walls offering flexible space for different activities together with plenty of storage space.

A single storey building was proposed but if there was sufficient funding there could be an upper floor.

Full advantage would be taken of their site in the Green Belt with community gardens and perhaps an orchard alongside the building.

Along the Mays Lane frontage there would be 19 parking spaces, including accessible spaces for wheelchairs, plus 40 cycle spaces as the new hub could become a stopping off point for cyclists along the Dollis Valley green walk.

Ms Theodorou stressed the importance of residents expressing their support before the deadline for bids on 23 October – even the smallest donation would help https://gofund.me/70e0fe9c2 as would responses to their community survey https://forms.gle/Ynmib6DYGKxCTcoD7

Two charities – Hadley Trust and Common Nature – have told the residents association that financial assistance might well be available towards the purchase and reconstruction if the local community unites around the plan and succeeds with its bid.

Quinta Village Green residents step up campaign to take over derelict yourh club as deadline approaches for bids to Barnet Council

Among those attending the meeting – see above, from left to right – were Underhill Councillor Josh Tapper, Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson, Gina Theodorou, and Julian Desborough, trustee of the Hope Corner Community Centre which was re-opened as part of the Dollis Valley regeneration.

Mr Desborough said the 12,500 residents of the Underhill ward were in desperate need of more community space and services for young people. What was so important about the Quinta project was that, unlike Hope Corner, it was in the middle of an open space in the Green Belt.

His plea for more services and activities for Underhill’s youngsters was reinforced by Amber Jones of the Young Barnet Foundation.

Out of 223 organisations offering services for young people across the borough, there were less than 20 in the north of the area and only four in Underhill.

Andy Rimmer, vicar of Christ Church, Barnet, added his support for Ms Theodorou’s argument that Underhill was in desperate need of a safe space for young people and a centre offering warm surroundings for the elderly in winter.

Among those to be canvassed later this month for ideas for a youth centre will be students at Totteridge Academy – an initiative welcomed by Eve Rogers, managing director of Grow, the academy’s school farm.

After the meeting, both the Chipping Barnet MP and Underhill councillor, stressed the importance of the council considering all the bids free of political interference.

Dan Tomlinson said that nonetheless he hoped the council would “consider very carefully the strength” of the Quinta community bid.

“We have to bring the derelict youth club back into use and bring it back in a way which serves the local community.  There is a massive need for space which helps provide activities for young people.”

Josh Tapper insisted that as a Barnet councillor he could not take a position and had to remain neutral during the bidding process, but he had been anxious to attend the meeting and listen to the case being put forward by the community.   

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“Welcome to High Barnet” declares a brightly coloured mural which it is hoped will provide an eye-catching greeting for visitors

“Welcome to High Barnet” declares a brightly coloured mural which it is hoped will provide an eye-catching greeting for visitors

A large mural painted by students at Barnet and Southgate College – which features iconic images of the town – will welcome visitors to High Barnet once a site has been agreed.

Chipping Barnet Town Team decided to commission a welcoming mural as a way of building up the appeal and attraction of the town centre while also strengthening local identity.

Barnet College was keen to get involved in a project which the town team hopes will be the first of other initiatives to engage local students in the life and history of Chipping Barnet.

“What the project has been all about is helping students build up their relationship with Barnet and engage with the town’s rich history,” said Isabella Tessier, acting art and design course leader, at the unveiling of the mural.

It reflects Barnet’s role in the Wars of the Roses – a feature which will connect with medieval banners on display in the High Street each summer – and depicts well known buildings such as the Everyman cinema and Barnet Parish Church.

For the students, it was their first chance to engage in the production and painting of a mural.

“Welcome to High Barnet” declares a brightly coloured mural which it is hoped will provide an eye-catching greeting for visitors

They were guided in their work by two professional street artists – see above Julian Phethean (left) and James Titchner – from the community arts company Positive Arts.

They were as excited as the students at the official unveiling because it was the first time four separate panels had been lined up together and they could all see the finished mural.

“It has all been so rewarding. The students really enjoyed painting the mural, working collaboratively in this way.”

The mural is in weather-proof paint and will be finished off with a lacquer to protect the colours.

“Welcome to High Barnet” declares a brightly coloured mural which it is hoped will provide an eye-catching greeting for visitors

One possible site for the mural is the wall of The Corner Café alongside the Chipping Close car park in St Albans Road, just before the junction with the High Street.

This is the location preferred by the Town Team as it would be a dramatic position at the one of the main approach points to the High Street – a site which has yet to be agreed with the owners of the building and would require planning approval.

An alternative location is at the front of the courtyard outside the main entrance to the Barnet and Southgate College.

“Welcome to High Barnet” declares a brightly coloured mural which it is hoped will provide an eye-catching greeting for visitors

Eamonn Rafferty, secretary to the Town Team, said he and his colleagues were amazed to see what the students had been produced.

“We hope it is going to be the first of more collaborations with the college” – a hope endorsed by Gail Laser, founder of Love Barnet.

She was sure a welcoming mural would be appreciated by people walking or driving into Barnet and would be a reminder to the students themselves of their contribution helping to strengthen the appeal of the town.

Mural painted by students at Barnet and Southgate College will welcome visitors to Barnet once a site agreed for its location

For Barnet Vale Councillor, Sue Baker, attending the mural unveiling was a welcome return to the college where she had been a teacher, lecturer and curriculum manager.

“A project like this provides students with direct involvement with the community. Residents and local groups can see the students gaining an understanding of the historical and cultural life of Chipping Barnet.

“The teachers have said how much the students got immersed in their project and with the help of Barnet Museum, took an interest in local history.”

Chipping Barnet Town Team contributed, with Barnet College, to the cost of the mural and the team will be seeking further sponsorship from businesses in the area to help with installation costs.

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Community offer to assist after four e-bike vandals chased on golf course and photographed by a dog walker

Community offer to assist after four e-bike vandals chased on golf course and photographed by a dog walker

After four youngsters on e-bikes and e-scooters caused fresh damage to greens at the Shire London golf course, a group of High Banet residents are hoping to discuss with the club’s management ways to prevent further vandalism.

Dog walkers and other locals are anxious to preserve uninterrupted access to a perimeter path around the 27-hole course which is set in 220 acres of Green Belt land just north of the Barnet boundary.

Nearby residents are seeking a meeting with the club’s director Tony Menai after contacting neighbourhood police officers to pass on information from dog walkers who witnessed the latest incursion.

Community offer to assist after four e-bike vandals chased on golf course and photographed by a dog walker

Four youngsters wearing balaclavas, riding three e-bikes and an e-scooter, were seen speeding across the greens, leaving deep cuts in the turf.

Two members of the staff drove round the course to try to stop them.

“Their bikes were reaching speeds in excess of 40mph, and we were unable to catch them,” said Mr Menai.

Later, when the youngsters were seen stationary on the perimeter path, they were confronted by a woman walking her dog.

She took close-up photographs of them –without their balaclavas – in the hope this might deter them.

Community offer to assist after four e-bike vandals chased on golf course and photographed by a dog walker

Regular dog walker Chris Nightingale is helping to organise a community response in the hope of co-operating with the golf club to come up with a joint solution to curb vandalism while maintaining access to the path.

A meeting attended by dog walkers and local residents agreed to write to the club seeking a meeting and inform Hertfordshire County Council which is the footpaths authority for the golf course site.

“We should be able to work together,” said Mr Nightingale who has been discussing what to do following complaints after access to the golf course path was blocked by eight-foot-deep trenches in a bid to thwart the e-bikes.

“We have informed neighbourhood police officers about what has been happened in the latest incident and told them that we have photographs and two witnesses.

“We fear that if the youngsters go onto the course again it might lead to an horrific accident. It is only too easy to imagine one of them falling off while golf club vehicles are in hot pursuit.”

Mr Nightingale’s initiative is aimed at defusing a rapid deterioration in relations between the golf club and local walkers who enjoy using a permissive path which was agreed when the golf course, designed by Steve Ballesteros, was granted planning permission in the early 1990s.

After the first incursion by e-bikes the club dug eight-foot trenches at the boundary between the golf course and Byng Road playing fields to prevent e-bikes entering the site.

Community offer to assist after four e-bike vandals chased on golf course and photographed by a dog walker

Club director Mr Menai said that a wooden pallet was placed across the trench, and this provided access for another incursion by e-bikes riders.

“The damage which they are causing is devastating. This cannot continue any more as it is having a serious impact on our business.

“We also have a legal responsibility and duty of care to our members, staff and visitors from dangerous situations caused by kids wearing balaclava and riding illegal e-bikes.

“Over the years we have continually had kids draw phallic symbols on the greens with sticks, stealing flags and tee markers, and throwing them into the lakes around the course.

“We have also had dogs off their leads attacking swans and killing cygnets.

“Surely the question should be how can we protect the golf club and the wildlife from this nonsense? How can we as a community stop these abuses and protect what is a haven for wildlife?”

Community offer to assist after four e-bike vandals chased on golf course and photographed by a dog walker

Dog walkers and others also have complaints. They claim that fallen trees and trenches are being used to block the perimeter path.

Mr Nightingale said he hoped a meeting with Mr Menai would be a chance to explain that the community wanted to work together with the club.

“I am sure that neither of us would want to return to the bad old days of the early 2000s when we were having to contact Hertfordshire County Council frequently about lorry movements and blockages to the perimeter path.

“Our hope is that by meeting Mr Menai we can resolve these issues in a spirit of helping each other.”

Photos of e-bike damage to golf course greens courtesty Shire London Golf Club

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E-bike vandalism at Shire golf course leads to closure of entry points to a popular footpath upsetting local dog walkers

E-bike vandalism at Shire golf course leads to closure of entry points to a popular footpath upsetting local dog walkers

Turf on three of the greens at the Shire London Golf Club off St Albans Road has been churned up and damaged by youngsters riding e-bikes on recent evenings.

To prevent further vandalism, several access points to the public footpath around the perimeter of the golf course have been closed off including two well-frequented entry points from the Byng Road playing fields.

Walkers and dogs on leads are still welcome to use the perimeter path around the course but Tony Menai, director of Shire London, told the Barnet Society that malicious damage to the greens was proving costly to repair and could not be tolerated.

“We have eyewitness accounts of how three e-bikes ridden by sixteen and seventeen-year-olds wearing balaclavas have been speeding around the greens purposely cutting deep tracks.

“The Police have advised us that the only way to prevent e-bikes and other vehicles getting on to the course is to close off and secure all the unofficial access points along St Albans Road and along the boundary hedge with Byng Road playing fields.

“People are welcome to walk around the course. They should use the main entrance on St Albans Road and keep their dogs on a lead.”

E-bike vandalism at Shire golf course leads to closure of entry points to a popular footpath upsetting local dog walkers

Geoff Arnett, who walks his dog across the playing fields and who has regularly used one of the access points to the golf course perimeter path, described his shock and outrage at seeing that two eight-foot-deep trenches had been dug across the two access points.

He acknowledged the challenge facing the golf course management over malicious damage but was disappointed there had been no warning, explanation or any kind of consultation.

“The footpath beside the golf course provides a lovely walk to a bluebell wood near Trotters Bottom and a route further on towards St Albans Road and the Green Dragon public house.

“For years now, dog walkers and other people have accessed the footpath from Byng Road playing fields and it can’t be right to deprive us all of access from roads like Byng Road or Cavendish Road.

“It is no answer to say we should access the footpath by the Shire main entrance on the St Albans Road – that’s a mile away and would mean going along a busy main road.”

Access points on Byng Road playing fields to popular path around Shire London golf course blocked off to dog walkers after e-bike vandals damage turf of greens

Mr Arnett said that if unauthorised vehicular access was the problem, a solution might be to provide a kissing gate or stile so that there was access for pedestrians but not for vehicles.

“It is the responsibility of Shire London to secure the golf course and, at the same time, allow access to the footpath.”

In response to complaints about the closure of the playing fields’ access to the footpath, the Barnet Society has notified Barnet Councillors, the Ramblers Association and Hertfordshire County Council’s footpaths department as the golf course is over the Barnet boundary into Hertsmere.

E-bike vandalism at Shire golf course leads to closure of entry points to a popular footpath upsetting local dog walkers

Tony Menai said the damage to the greens caused by the e-bikes was the most persistent and most serious since the club was established in 1994.

“We have been so tolerant over the years and recognise that kids will be kids. There has been vandalism and damage in the past but our success as a club depends on the quality of our 18 green course and our nine academy greens.

“If the greens are going to get churned up like this, it will put the Shire out of business.”

E-bike vandalism at Shire golf course leads to closure of entry points to a popular footpath upsetting local dog walkers

Chris Nightingale, another regular dog walker, promised to look into it further with Hertsmere Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

“One of the conditions of planning permission for the course is that the owners should maintain a public path around the perimeter, from the St Albans Road entrance round to another St Albans Road entry point closer to the Green Dragon.

“Residents in the roads around Byng Road and further afield have always accessed that perimeter path from the Byng Road playing fields and those two entry points should not have been blocked off without at least some consultation with those living in the neighbourhood.”

Photos of e-bike damage to the golf course greens courtesy of Shire London Golf Club

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Importance of first aid training emphasised by Mayor of Barnet who praises St John Ambulance at their open day in Underhill

Importance of first aid training emphasised by Mayor of Barnet who praises St John Ambulance at their open day in Underhill

Mayor of Barnet Councillor Zahra Beg joined in a training session for skills in first aid when she visited an open day held at the Underhill headquarters of Barnet St John Ambulance.

Eha, a St John Cadet (see above), helped to provide practice during a session on how to treat a patient who has been choking and needs airway to be cleared – a task which the mayor set about with great enthusiasm.

“Learning first aid is so important, and it so encouraging to see at first hand the fantastic work done by St John Ambulance,” said councillor Beg.

“St John volunteers are part of the community, they live in our community, and they are all so well trained and they are all so keen to share that knowledge and expertise with local residents.”

Eha’s mother, Eva, who is a St John Youth Leader and First Aider, said her daughter was delighted to help at the training sessions which were held as part of St John’s Save a Life September campaign.

Importance of first aid training emphasised by Mayor of Barnet who praises St John Ambulance at their open day in Underhill

Councillor Beg was welcomed at the headquarters in Priory Grove, off Westcombe Drive, Underhill, by Sam McCully, the Barnet Network Lead and the Community Lead Winnie Bacon (see above).

Barnet St John Ambulance is made up of 64 volunteers – adults and cadets, plus Fellowship members who support the charitable work of St John – and Winnie Bacon said the aim of the open day was to provide lessons in basic life support and to underline the importance of learning first aid to save lives.

“By offering training in key first aid skills we hope we can give people the confidence to step in if an emergency ever happens and perhaps save a life.”

Importance of first aid training emphasised by Mayor of Barnet who praises St John Ambulance at their open day in Underhill

Emergency Responder Robert Bacon and First Aider Johnny Newport (see above) gave a demonstration of how to get a casualty into the recovery position after checking first for a response and whether the patient was breathing.

Johnny, who is studying medicine at Cambridge University, joined St John Ambulance five months ago.

“One of the other medical students at Cambridge introduced me to their work. I’m now one of the logistics officers for our first aid society at university so it’s great to have the chance to support my local St John Ambulance here in Barnet.

“Since being a volunteer with St John, the more I have realised how important it is to understand life-saving routines.”

Importance of first aid training emphasised by Mayor of Barnet who praises St John Ambulance at their open day in Underhill

Sam McCully showed visitors the equipment which is installed in one of the large St John Ambulance mobile treatment centres, four of which were purchased to support the London Olympic Games.

Barnet’s mobile centre is used to support major events across the country and in recent weeks went to the Notting Hill Carnival and then the Great North Run.

Volunteers take a smaller community support unit to local events. They will be attending the annual Barnet Christmas fayre in December.

Mayor of Barnet Councillor Zahra Beg joins St John Ambulance voluntees at Underhill hq and praises their work on training first aid and helping save lives

The Barnet headquarters, which is the centre for St John Ambulance across the borough, was opened by the late Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in 1990.  The Duke of Westminster, President of the London District of St John, laid the foundation stone in 1989.

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Imminent sale of abandoned and derelict former Quinta Youth Club has added urgency to fund raising for new community hub in Mays Lane  

Imminent sale of abandoned and derelict former Quinta Youth Club has added urgency to fund raising for new community hub in Mays Lane  

With a rapidly approaching deadline of mid-October, a fund-raising campaign has taken on new urgency as Mays Lane residents prepare their community bid to take over the derelict former Quinta Youth Club.

Their target is to raise £10,00 in small donations to demonstrate to Barnet Council and potential charity donors the strength of local support for a new community hub.

At the latest count just over 80 people have donated nearly £2,500 towards the £10,000 target.

“What Barnet Council and our charity supporters need to see is evidence that we have real community backing with local people prepared to make a contribution,” said Gina Theodorou (see above), who is chair of the Quinta Village Green Residents Association.

Imminent sale of abandoned and derelict former Quinta Youth Club has added urgency to fund raising for new community hub in Mays Lane  

Quinta Youth Club, which was originally constructed by the Underhill community, and which has been derelict for the last 20 years, is to be sold by Barnet Council for £300,000.

Two charities – Hadley Trust and Common Nature – have told the residents’ association that financial assistance might well be available towards the purchase and reconstruction of the youth club if the local community unites around the plan and succeeds with its bid.

Barnet Council has been forced to wait until 17 October before selling the property after a successful application for the building to be nominated as an asset of community value gave the community six months to prepare their application.

“We are not the only bidder and there is fierce competition, but we are the community which the building was originally created to serve,” said Ms Theodorou.

“We walk past it every day, and we believe the people who live here should be the ones who decide what happens at Quinta.

“The number of people who give towards our fundraiser – https://gofund.me/70e0fe9c2 matters more than the total.

“Even £5 or £10 from someone locally adds another person to the evidence that the residents want to see the building brought back into use.”

Imminent sale of abandoned and derelict former Quinta Youth Club has added urgency to fund raising for new community hub in Mays Lane  

Quinta Village Green, now established as a community interest company, has commissioned feasibility work on developing a single-storey community hub with the option of first floor accommodation.

A community survey  https://forms.gle/Ynmib6DYGKxCTcoD7 is underway to reveal local needs and has already had around130 responses.

Ms Theodorou says they would welcome more responses from local young people, and they hope to run a focus group with students at Totteridge Academy to get their ideas.

“We want Quinta to help address the lack of youth provision in the north of the borough identified in Barnet’s own youth strategy work while still remaining a multi-generational hub.”

Possible options include a café looking out on to Quinta Village Green (registered as a public open space), rooms for local charities and organisations, and space for activities for teenagers.

Architectural options are being developed by architect Simon Kaufman and chartered surveyors Graham + Sibbald are carrying out cost assessment.

Much of the professional consultancy work has been funded by the Hadley Trust which has written to the council confirming serious interest in supporting the purchase of the former clubhouse.

Imminent sale of abandoned and derelict former Quinta Youth Club has added urgency to fund raising for new community hub in Mays Lane  

Ms Theodorou says the trust’s support has made an enormous difference.

In a statement, the founders of the trust, Sir Philip and Lady Hulme, say the proposed Quinta community hub is one of the more promising local projects they have seen.

“It is locally led and we have been greatly impressed by their professionalism, enthusiasm and commitment.

“We have funded the professional feasibility work and, subject to a satisfactory outcome and our normal due diligence, we expect to go on supporting the acquisition and development of the building.

“Projects like this are strongest when funders and the local community come together, and we would encourage others to join us.”

A second charity, Common Nature, has also written to the council confirming possible support through a community land purchase facility, co-invested with the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

To promote the plans for the Quinta community hub a “vision and stakeholder” night is to be held on Wednesday 30 September at 7pm at the clubhouse of the East Barnet Old Grammarians. The aim is to build up support before the bid goes to Barnet Council.   

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quinta-help-us-bring-it-back-vision-evening-tickets-2001273193996?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Former customers make renewed bid to safeguard the future of former Builders Arms pub in New Barnet which is now up for sale

Former customers make renewed bid to safeguard the future of former Builders Arms pub in New Barnet which is now up for sale

With continuing uncertainty about the fate of the Builders Arms – although it is now under offer – a group of former regulars have nominated the vacant New Barnet pub to be declared an asset of community value.

In the immediate aftermath of its closure in mid-April a petition was launched in the hope of collecting sufficient support for an ACV application but this stalled due to the difficulty in finding a community group to make the nomination.

Greg Allam (above), who once worked behind the bar at the Builders Arms, is lead organiser of a renewed bid to safeguard the future of the former Greene King pub which is now on the market for £595,000.

The aim is to secure as much protection for as long as possible to see if there is a chance of a new owner or tenant coming forward to re-open the pub.

Mr Allam submitted the application for an ACV to Barnet Council in the name of an unincorporated organisation which requires the backing of 21 individuals whose names and addresses are on the electoral roll.

Greene King put the Builders Arms on the market soon after it ceased trading along with another 300 of its tenanted and managed pubs. It paid £920,000 for the pub in 2008.

Prospects might seem bleak at present given the number of pub closures across the country, but the Builders Arms is well placed in Albert Road to benefit from the completion of the massive Park Quarter development on the site of the former New Barnet gas works.

Former customers make renewed bid to safeguard the future of former Builders Arms pub in New Barnet which is now up for sale

Fairview Homes are building eleven high-rise blocks of flats which will offer 420 new homes.

Disruption in Albert Road caused by construction work, which began in 2024, proved too much for the Builders Arms’ landlady Silva.

Trade was so badly affected that she did not renew her tenancy as she could not afford to wait for the completion of the Park Quarter estate.

Supporters of the ACV nomination believe completion of the flats will offer a fresh opportunity for a new owner to come forward.

ACV protection allows a community organisation to make an expression of interest as a potential bidder.

This would trigger a six-month moratorium preventing the sale of the asset on the open market.

ACV status has to be taken into consideration by local councils and inspectors and could be a factor in refusing planning permission for a change of use or demolition.

Renewed bid to get vacant Builders Arms pub New Barnet declared an asset of community value to give added protection.

If the Builders Arms is not sold off and re-opened, there might be support for a community-owned pub in New Barnet, perhaps specialising in craft beers.

In recent years several vacant pubs in and around High Barnet have been protected by ACV nominations.

When in early 2024 the Stonegate group announced the closure of the Prince of Wales – the one and only pub in East Barnet village – a petition was launched attracting 2,000 signatures.

An ACV nomination was approved within weeks – a safeguard which in the event was not needed because new owners took on the property and refurbished the premises.

More recently ACV protection strengthened the hand of three former regulars of the Black Horse in High Barnet who succeeded in securing a one-year tenancy for a new community-led business, Barnet Community Pubs Ltd.

The Black Horse re-opened in late June after its sudden closure in September 2025.    

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Baking Christmas cakes for QE Girls’ 75th anniversary in 1963 – just one of the memories of guest speaker at school’s awards evening

Baking Christmas cakes for QE Girls’ 75th anniversary in 1963 – just one of the memories of guest speaker at school’s awards evening

Prizes at the annual celebration of excellence at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, Barnet, were presented by a former pupil who was later awarded an MBE for her contribution towards supporting young people.

Alison Mihail, who lived in New Barnet, passed the 11-plus exam in 1957 to gain a place at what was then Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School for Girls.

She followed her father Ronald Orton, who studied at QE Boys when classes were still being held at the Tudor Hall in Wood Street, and who went on to become clerk to the trustees for the two QE schools.

Ms Stephanie Rodgers (above, right), newly appointed interim headteacher at QE Girls, welcomed Ms Mihail who inspired the assembled students with an amusing account of her time at the school.

Her aim was to encourage students to take advantage of challenges and opportunities whenever they occurred.

The only mention about herself which she had found in QE Girls’ records was for 1963 when she was commended for decorating Christmas cakes baked by the pupils to celebrate the school’s 75th anniversary.

Cookery, then included in QE’s domestic science classes, was one of the skills which changed the course of her life.

After leaving QE in 1964, she did her teacher training at Bath University and became a home economics teacher.

Home economics – now rebranded once again as food technology – was a subject taught to boys and girls and included instruction in cooking, cleaning, laundry and other household chores.

During the covid lockdown – when Ms Mihail was on Facebook – she recognised boys and girls whom she had taught at her first school in the 1970s. She reminded them she was the teacher who showed them how to bake a Victoria sponge sandwich cake.

Being awarded the MBE for her voluntary work with the Prince’s Trust (now the King’s Trust) was “absolutely brilliant” but being told on Facebook by five boys that in the 1970s she was their “best ever teacher” was perhaps the biggest reward of her career – and a valuable reminder for the pupils of today that going through life “you don’t forget people” you knew and worked with.

Perhaps the biggest event during her time at QE was a visit by the late Queen Elizabeth in November 1957.

“QE Girls was the first state school she visited after becoming Queen. She was 31 years old, and she came into our classroom, 3B, where Miss Bradshaw was telling us all about Egyptian hieroglyphics.

“The Queen was wearing a wine-red velvet waistcoat…and I remember her beautiful skin.”

On her return visit to the school, Miss Mihail said she had walked along one corridor and noticed that the parquet flooring was just same as in the 1960s, as were the tiles on the wall.”

After 11 years as deputy head of a secondary school at Aylesbury, she enrolled in 1996 as a volunteer with the Prince’s Trust (now the King’s Trust) which helps young people build confidence, develop essential work skills, and find jobs or start a business.

Looking back on the great job satisfaction of 30 years with the trust – work for which she was awarded an MBE in 2015 for her outstanding contribution to young people in the Thames Valley area – she said was proud to have contributed to their extensive fund raising.

She had helped to raise £3 million, which had gone towards supporting 3,000 young people.

Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School awards at annual celebration of excellent presented by former pupil awarded the MBE for her contribution to helping young people

Miss Mihail said she had been asked to give the prizes at the celebration of excellence after being approached at a QE old girls’ lunch earlier this year by Violet Walker, the outgoing headteacher, who retired at the end of the summer term.

See above, from left to right, Violet Walker, Alison Mihail, and the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Zahra Beg.     

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Pumpkins a plenty ripening for harvesting at autumn open day at school and community farm at Totteridge Academy

Pumpkins a plenty ripening for harvesting at autumn open day at school and community farm at Totteridge Academy

Hundreds of pumpkins and squashes have been ripening in the autumn sunshine ready for Pumpkin Time on Saturday 24 October at Grow, the school and community farm alongside Totteridge Academy.

Tickets for the event – which are now on sale – include a serving of pumpkin soup, a farm tour and children’s activities.

Grow fund raiser Lucy Gray – seen above surveying the crop – was full of praise for volunteers at the farm who continued watering the various plots throughout the summer heatwaves and drought.

“Thanks to their efforts – and they came as early as seven o’clock in the morning to avoid the heat – we do have a great crop coming along to harvest later in the autumn.

“Some of the pumpkins and squashes are perhaps slightly smaller than last year, and there seem to be slightly fewer, but there will be plenty for our Pumpkin Time event.”

Pumpkins a plenty ripening for harvesting at autumn open day at school and community farm at Totteridge Academy

Lucy and Grow’s marketing lead Tara Rudd welcomed visitors to the latest of Grow’s summer Pick Your Own Flowers events.

They have proved highly successful with families allowed to walk through the farm and choose their flowers.

Pumpkins ripening at Grow school and community farm at Totterdige Academy ready for Pumpkin Time event on Saturday 24 October.

Two first-time visitors were amazed by the range of flowers ready for picking.

“We read about the flower picking online…and we hope to be back for the pumpkins.”

Grow, which was established in partnership with Totteridge Academy, produce fruit and vegetables for the school as well as for sale to the community from a stall just off Barnet Lane.

Tickets for the Pumpkin Time event on Saturday 24 October: www.wearegrow.org/events

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Dame Theresa Villiers withdraws from political life to return to an academic career of university teaching and research

Dame Theresa Villiers decides not to stand again as a Conservative candidate for Chipping Barnet to focus instead on an academic career

Former Chipping Barnet Conservative MP Dame Theresa Villiers has decided to leave the political fray of competitive politics to focus instead on an academic career undertaking advanced postgraduate research at University College London.

She has told members of her local Conservative Party that she will not be putting her name forward as a candidate at the next general election.

Despite her defeat in 2024 when the Chipping Barnet constituency elected Labour MP Dan Tomlinson, Dame Theresa remained active in the politics of the Barnet area.

She campaigned on behalf of the Conservative candidates in recent council elections, attended numerous political events, and appeared to have left open the possibility of standing again.

Her decision to focus and writing and her academic career of university teaching and research has disappointed many of her admirers.

Posts on social media expressed regret at her withdrawal from local politics.

She was described as having been “a great local MP” who had every chance of being elected once gain. Well-wishers said they hope she enjoys academic life.

In her statement she said after careful reflection she had decided not to put her name forward when Chipping Barnet Conservatives start the process in a few weeks’ time of selecting a new parliamentary candidate. Nor would she apply to stand in any other constituency.

“I believe the Conservatives have a great chance of regaining Chipping Barnet, but it is time to hand over to someone new to tackle that challenge.”

Dame Theresa, who was made Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle last December, said she was grateful to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch for having included her in the Conservative candidates list.

“I strongly back Kemi’s leadership. I will continue to campaign energetically for the Conservative cause, in Barnet and beyond.”

During her two decades as an MP at Westminster – after previously serving for six years as a Member of the European Parliament – Dame Theresa was frequently in the national news.

Her roles as a cabinet minister included nearly four years as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. She became a leading and much-quoted supporter of Brexit.

She thanked Chipping Barnet Conservatives for having chosen her as candidate in five successive general elections.

“I feel immensely proud to have been given the opportunity to serve the community in which I live as its MP.

“Now I will be focussing on the writing and academic career – university teaching and research – to which I have returned after my stint in elected office.

“I am delighted to say that this will include research for an MPhil/PhD at University College London in October.”

Image: Dame Theresa Villiers’ Facebook page

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New kitchen installed at the Black Horse as High Barnet’s community-led pub continues to strengthen its neighbourhood support and appeal

New kitchen installed at the Black Horse as High Barnet’s community-led pub continues to strengthen its neighbourhood support and appeal

After its re-opening as a community-led public house, High Barnet’s historic hostelry the Black Horse is now being fitted out with an up-to-date kitchen – the latest investment by the three regulars who set up a new company to take on the tenancy.

Since customers were welcomed back at the end of June following a lengthy closure, the Black Horse has gone from strength to strength demonstrating the depth of local support with an impressive record of well-attended charity fund raisers and events.

Prospects looked bleak last September when the premises closed unexpectedly.

Fearing the worst nearby residents succeeded in getting the pub listed as an asset of community value, but working behind the scenes, without any fanfare, were three former regular customers.

They established Barnet Community Pubs Ltd and succeeded in negotiating a year’s tenancy with Star Pubs, part of the Heineken Group, with a pledge to ensure that once again the pub would renew its links with the local community.

After what the trio describe as an incredibly busy summer, and on one occasion nearly running out of beer, they felt confident to take the next step.

They have made what they say is a “big investment” in fitting out the pub with an up-to-date kitchen.

Taking pride of place is a large new rotisserie.

Newly-appointed head chef Karl Omell was on hand to help with the installation – see above, from left to right, Martin Taylor, director who handles finances for Barnet Community Pubs, plumber Paul Kelly, James Rix and Karl Omell.

New kitchen installed in Black Horse as High Brnet's community led pub celebrates an incredibly busy first two months in business

Work repairing and stabilising the front wall of the pub has taken longer than expected but should be completed by the end of September when the scaffolding will be removed.

Within a few days of re-opening, to reinforce their commitment to the community, the pub staged an all-day music event, “Hall of Sound”, in memory of the late Graeme Hall who had previously performed at local Open Mic events.

During the day there were performances from 17 acts, mainly duets, attracting well over 1,000 people, raising £6,000 shared between Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, Cherry Lodge Cancer Care and Foodbank Aid, the charity of Graeme Hall’s wife.

Joint organiser of the event was Ken Rowland of Barnet Residents Association which had backed the campaign to secure protection for the Black Horse through registration as an asset of community value.

“The three directors of Barnet Community Pubs proved within a matter of weeks that, as they predicted, there is really strong local support for a community-led pub like the Black Horse,” said Mr Rowland.

“From what we hear they had something of a David and Goliath contest with Star Pubs to secure the tenancy.

 “There were six other bids but clearly the local effort to secure ACV recognition backed by a 4,000 strong petition was a great help and we are all so proud of how it has turned out.”

Mr Taylor said that he and his two fellow directors Simon Anderson and Danny Daly had been heartened by all the support they had received from the community.

“We have had regulars coming here for 25 years of more who told us they are delighted to be back in the Black Horse.  They had never seen the pub so busy or so friendly.

“We are taking every opportunity to connect with the area.

“We are sponsoring Hadley Football Club and from September we will be opening in the daytime as a community space where people can work on their on laptops with WIFI, just another example of the contribution we can make.”

For the night of the total eclipse of the sun, the pub bought in 100 special spectacles. “We are so lucky because the pub garden faces south and there must have been 400 or so enjoying the event with everyone sharing their glasses.”

A charity fund-raiser in August with events for children had raised £1,800 for the Hospice of St Francis charity at Barnet Hospital.

With space in the pub for up to 150 people for special occasions they were already booking in events with plans for a charity quiz night; a Halloween night event for children on 31 October; and a black-tie casino night on 7 November in aid of Noah’s Ark.

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Concern over added pressure which new housing developments in Barnet area will place on already busy GP surgeries

Concern over added pressure which new housing developments in Barnet area will place on already busy GP surgeries

New housing developments around High Barnet and New Barnet are likely to lead to an increase of well over 2,000 in the local population but residents’ groups say there is no sign of health authorities delivering on promises to boost capacity at already over-stretched doctors’ surgeries.

Of the five GP practices within a two-kilometre radius, three already have fewer doctors than recommended by the British Medical Association.

Long-standing Save New Barnet campaigner, John Dix –above – says assurances given by developers when recent planning applications were approved have turned out to be misleading and so far, have not been honoured.

Despite the absence of any plans to expand GP practices, developers are continuing to claim that these five local surgeries are accepting new patients indicating that there is “some spare capacity in the local area”.

Concern over added pressure which new housing developments in Barnet area will place on already busy GP surgeries

Mr Dix told the Barnet Society that these assurances are not supported by the latest Barnet-area statistics from the General Practice Workforce for the ratio of patients per doctor.

A failure to get meaningful replies from the integrated care board for north Lonon highlighted what he believes is the failure of the health authorities to address the extra demand being placed on doctors’ surgeries by the scale of housing redevelopment underway in High Banet and New Barnet.   

When permission was given for nearly 500 new flats which are being built on the site of New Barnet’s former gas works, local residents were led to believe that there were proposals to merge three nearby doctors’ surgeries to create a combined practice to be housed at the East Barnet Health Centre.

Concern over the extra demand which will be placed on doctors' surgeries in High Barnet and New Barnet as a result of new housing developments adding over 2,000 to local population.

To his consternation Mr Dix has discovered that the original proposal to increase the number of doctors and enlarge East Barnet Health Centre – at an estimated cost of £1.4 million – appears to have been shelved.

He has now been told by the integrated care board that it disputes whether there was ever a proposal to merge The Addington and The Village surgeries with the practice at the East Barnet Health Centre.

“Apparently the developers Fairview did offer some of the retail space in the Park Quarter development for a new GP surgery, but this was considered unsuitable and the board said it did not get the money it needed to enlarge the East Barnet Health Centre.

“So, the net outcome is that we are going to have 486 new flats at Park Quarter   and no additional GP services for 1,000-plus new residents.”

Mr Dix said the GP shortfall had been acknowledged by Berkeley Homes when it obtained planning approval for 80 new homes next to Park Quarter on the site of the former gasometer.

“Berkeley Homes’ consultants recommended that Barnet Council should undertake measures to increase GP capacity through the use of community infrastructure levy money, but again there is no sign that any action is being taken.”

The GP shortfall in New Barnet is likely to be mirrored in High Barnet where major housing developments could add nearly 600 new homes – 145 in Moxon Street; 115 at Whalebones in Wood Street; and 328 at High Barnet tube station.

There is still the possibility of a High Court challenge to the decision by the Deputy Mayor of London to approve the construction of five blocks of flats on the station car park and adjoining land, but Mr Dix says consultants for Transport for London relied on the same assurances given by other developers.

A consultants’ report for TfL’s subsidiary, Places for London, said there were “five GP surgeries within 2 kilometres of the site, all of which are accepting new patients”, and that any increase in demand could be offset through financial contributions from Barnet Council’s income from the community infrastructure levy.

Mr Dix believes the failure of the integrated care board and Barnet Council to address the local GP shortfall results from their concentration of resources into the provision of primary care facilities for major housing developments at Brent Cross and Colindale.

“Unfortunately, the health authorities and the council are failing to look at the bigger picture and recognise that all the infill developments around High Barnet and New Barnet are having a significant cumulative impact on already over-stretched GP services.

“To be fair, the integrated care board insists it continues to keep local primary care capacity under review and remains interested in exploring future opportunities to expand services at East Board Health Centre should funding become available.

“The new draft London Plan says we need to build 32,730 new homes in Barnet so there is real concern that the health infrastructure, including hospital beds, will not be in place to meet the demand.”

General Practice Workforce statistics published in June indicate the strain current demand is placing on GP services at the five surgeries which the developers have referred to in their planning applications:

(The British Medical Association recommendation is 1 full-time equivalent qualified GP per 1,800 patients.)

The Old Court House Surgery, Wood Street – 10,239 patients; 5.2 full-time equivalent qualified doctors; 4.2 qualified doctors; ratio of patients to qualified GP, 2,420.  

Longrove Surgery, Vale Drive Primary Care Centre – 17,186 patients; 11.5 full-time equivalent qualified doctors; 9.5 qualified doctors; ratio of patients to qualified GP, 1,793.

The Village Surgery, New Barnet – 6,339 patients; 3.1 full-time equivalent qualified doctors; 3.1 qualified doctors; ratio of patients to qualified GP, 2,016.

Addington Medical Centre, New Barnet – 9,806 patients; 3.4 full-time equivalent qualified doctors; 3.4 qualified doctors; ratio of patients to qualified GP, 2842.

East Barnet Health Centre – 11,290 patients; 7.1 full-time equivalent qualified doctors; 6 qualified doctors; ratio of patients to qualified GP, 1,859.

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Spring water continues to flow without interruption at Barnet’s historic Physic Well despite summer months with no rain

Spring water continues to flow without interruption at Barnet’s historic Physic Well despite summer months with no rain

While many natural ponds around the town have dried out due to the prolonged drought and successive heatwaves, the water level at High Barnet’s historic Physic Well has remained constant.

When visitors descended the wellhouse steps at the monthly open day, they were shown the two tanks filled by mineral water from a spring which was first mentioned in a Tudor guidebook in the late 16th century.

In almost 20 years since Barnet Museum first started campaigning to get the wellhouse restored and re-opened, volunteers – including Bob Langley above – say the water level has rarely ever changed.

Occasionally during exceptionally wet weather the well tanks overflow a little, but otherwise the water level always remains at a constant depth.

All around High Barnet numerous ponds filled by surface water have dried out.

Spring water continues to flow without interruption at Barnet’s historic Physic Well despite summer months with no rain

Joslin’s Pond on Hadley Green, where generations of children have fed the ducks, has been reduced to an expanse of mud with the duck house beached in the middle.

Hadley Green’s largest pond, Brewery Pond, next to site of the former Hadley Brewery, is filled by a spring and although the water level is much lower than usual it provides a refuge for ducks and other wildlife.

Spring water continues to flow without interruption at Barnet’s historic Physic Well despite summer months with no rain

After re-opening in 2018 following repairs, Barnet Physic Well, famous for its chalybeate spring water, has become a popular attraction on its monthly open days on Saturday afternoons between February and November.

Once fashionable to drink the water was sold in London and attracted gentry to Barnet because it was said to have healing and other medicinal qualities.

The well’s most famous visitor – and consumer – was the renowned diarist Samuel Pepys who after lunch at the Red Lion in 1664, continued to the well “and there I drunk three glasses and went and walked and came back and drunk two more”.

Spring water continues to flow without interruption at Barnet’s historic Physic Well despite summer months with no rain

Among the open day visitors were Eamonn Brady who as a child lived opposite in Well Road and who had never been inside the well house or seen what the well looked like.

“When I was a child in the 1960s the wellhouse was always padlocked.

“We used to play football on the green outside so what went on inside the well house was always mystery” said Mr Brady – above second from right with well guide Charlie, second from the left.

“Soon after we moved from Well Road to Potters Bar, so I never got the chance to look inside. As you can imagine this was something I had to put right.”

Mr Brady was fascinated to descend into the well chamber and learn more about its history.

He recalled a family story about how his grandma and aunt, who lived next door in Well Road, saying that one night they separately saw a black shadow cross the landing of their houses.

“They both described an old-fashioned man with a hat on, and we have always wondered whether it was the ghost of Samuel Pepys.”

Spring water continues to flow without interruption at Barnet’s historic Physic Well despite summer months with no rain

Open days at the Physic Well are always a moment of great pride for Mike Jordan who led the campaign to get the well house restored and re-opened.

Mr Jordan – seen here with a mural celebrating Barnet history which was donated by Waterstones bookshop – was chairman of trustees at Barnet Museum for 14 years and on retirement was appointed president.

For many years the Physic Well, which is in Well Approach, a short walk from Barnet Hospital, was in such a sorry state that the building was placed on Historic England’s at-risk register.

The well house was constructed in 1937 to protect the dis-used well and its spring. Restoring the building to its full mock-Tudor glory and making it safe for visitors cost £150,000. It is now in the care of Barnet Museum.

“My main commitment nowadays is the well,” said Mr Jordan.

“When we open the doors on a Saturday afternoon every month, we are always so pleased to welcome visitors to what is one of the best-preserved medicinal wells in the country.

“We spent so much time with Barnet Council and Historic England rescuing the wellhouse the sense of achievement is really gratifying. If I leave anything to Barnet, it is helping to preserve the Physic Well for the future.”

Spring water continues to flow without interruption at Barnet’s historic Physic Well despite summer months with no rain

Five heatwaves and two months without rain has dried out the ponds on Hadley Green except for the Brewery Pond which is fed by a spring and is next to the site of the former brewery which had its own artesian well.

Hadley Brewery, opened in around 1700, was demolished in 1978.

Unlike the duck house on Joslin’s Pond, which is beached on the mud, the duck house at the Brewery Pond is still afloat – the duck houses were purchased in 2018 by Keith Chapman of Hadley Residents Association.

Joslin’s Pond was named after William Joslin, who lived in one of the Georgian cottages next to the green and who in the 1880s ran a nearby bakery.

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Family stories of life in Barnet during Second World War brought back to life in autumn production at The Bull Theatre

Family stories of life in Barnet during Second World War brought back to life in autumn production at The Bull Theatre

Cast members are going through their storylines before rehearsals start in September at The Bull Theatre for a new play which aims to portray the life and times of the townspeople of Barnet during the Second World War.

Much of the action revolves around the wartime comings and goings at Barnet Odeon (now the Everyman) – both in the cinema and a bomb shelter where patrons and staff gathered during air raids.

In mid-October the Blue Door Theatre Company will be staging four performances at The Bull of A Nightingale Sang in Barnet – all about the blitz and beyond.

Director Siobhan Dunne, see above right with cast members Val Golding (far left) and Jan Parker, said they hoped to capture the drama and uncertainty of wartime in Barnet.

“We have five writers working on the play and some of the scenes are based on verbatim stories of family memories and others are imagined scenarios.

“But because we are portraying wartime experiences not all the story lines have a resolution so that adds to the drama and poignancy of the production.”

Jan Parker has the role of Mrs Sprat who is a wartime dealer in the black market and operates with her son.

“Mrs Sprat is the brains behind her black-market business swapping and selling things like eggs for cigarettes or whatever.

“We see her selling a chicken in the bomb shelter – the very kind of activity frowned upon during the war.”

By contrast Val Golding’s role as Mrs Leonard is a reminder of the legacy of the First World War.  Her husband was killed at the Somme, and she is very upset by the renewed outbreak of war across Europe.

Ms Dunne said they had all jumped at the chance to build a production around Barnet in the 1940s and extend Blue Door’s well-earned reputation for delivering sell-out shows that celebrate the town’s history.

There will be four performances – Thursday 15 October, 7.30pm; Friday 16 October, 7.30pm; Saturday 17 October, 2pm and 7.30pm. Tickets at £19 plus booking fee now available via www.thebulltheatre.com

Drama portraying life and times of townspeople of Barnet during Second World War to start rehearsals at The Bull theatre in September

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Fund raising campaign for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice backed by Barnet councillors and a deputy mayor of London

Fund raising campaign for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice backed by Barnet councillors and a deputy mayor of London

A time capsule was buried in the grounds of Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice in Byng Road, Barnet, as part of the celebrations to mark its 20th anniversary.

Twenty messages from children and families supported by the hospice were placed in the capsule to help commemorate its work.

High Barnet’s two councillors and a deputy mayor of London attended the event to help launch the annual campaign, From That Moment, to raise £1 million towards the hospice’s running costs.

See above, from left to right, Philip Roethenbaugh, Noah’s Ark director of fund raising and communications, Councillor James Esses, Sophie Andrews, Noah’s Ark chief executive, Joanna McCartney, Deputy Mayor of London for Children and Families, and Councillor Emma Whysall.

Noah’s Ark’s operating costs exceed £7 million a year.

The From That Moment fund-raising campaign will run from 1 September to 12 October with match-funding partners ensuring that every donation – up to £500,000 – will be doubled in value.

Groups and organisations are being encouraged to think of fund-raising ideas and organise events.

Two events aimed at individuals offering support are Step-tember by walking, running, cycling or swimming 90 miles in September or by taking part in the Walking 9-5 Challenge aimed at step-counting in businesses.

Time capsule buried at Noah's Ark Children's Hospice to celebrate 20th anniversary and start of new fund raising campaign.

Councillor Whysall (Labour) – above, far right, who has been a High Barnet ward councillor since 2022, said her visit and tour of Noah’s Ark had been an opportunity to see its inspirational work.

“We are so lucky to have such an amazing centre in the heart of our community for 20 years – let us hope that Noah’s Ark continues to prosper with the support of the community for another 20 years.”

Councillor Esses (Conservative), who was elected in the May council elections, said his wish was that no child ever needed hospice care.

“For those children that do and end up at Noah’s Ark, I know they are in a truly special place; filled with warmth, care, compassion, and even laughter and joy.

“So much has been achieved in the first 20 years of Noah’s Ark and it is a privilege to join them to celebrate this milestone.

“I have no doubt that they will go from strength to strength in the next 20 years.”

The importance of fund raising was stressed by chief executive Sophie Andrews who explained that for the last four years Noah’s Ark had relied on incredible support from the community during the autumn fund raising appeal.

Children’s hospices are under increasing financial pressure as demand for services continues to grow.

Two thirds of children’s hospices in England ended the year operating at a deficit and Noah’s Ark relies on voluntary donations for 76 per cent of its income.

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Dollis Valley redevelopment delayed yet again after Barnet Council loses out on £58 million Greater London housing grant

Dollis Valley redevelopment delayed yet again after Barnet Council loses out on £58 million Greater London housing grant

Barnet Council has had to abandon an immediate go ahead for the final stage of the Dollis Valley redevelopment following the sudden withdrawal of a £58.85 million grant from the Greater London Authority for building new affordable homes.

A council cabinet decision two weeks ago to proceed with the construction of 208 new homes – despite protests from some of the residents – has been called in for further discussion.

As a result, the council has failed to meet the GLA’s deadline of July 31 for approving the project.

Conservative councillors demanded that the cabinet’s decision should be called in – and therefore postponed – because of their concerns about the financial viability of the scheme and the lack of adequate consultation with residents.

Council officials will now have to draw up fresh proposals for the completion of what has become the Brook Valley Gardens estate.

Vacant blocks of flats and maisonettes – see above – have been awaiting demolition for the last three years and this fresh postponement is only the latest setback in a long, drawn-out saga.

Dollis Valley redevelopment delayed yet again after Barnet Council loses out on £58 million Greater London housing grant

A group of Brook Valley Gardens residents – where 60 per cent of the 400 homes are privately owned – have fought a sustained campaign against the council’s decision to finish off the estate with 208 affordable homes.

They say this would result in the estate having 60 per cent of homes for social rent which they argue is a breach of the undertakings they were given when they bought their homes and were told it would be 60 per cent privately owned.

Under the scheme approved by the cabinet on July 21 the council said it had reached an agreement with developers Vistry to construct 208 affordable homes which would be managed for the council by Barnet Homes.

To qualify for access to £58.85 million of GLA affordable housing grant the scheme had to be approved by July 31.

In confirming the funding was no longer available, the GLA said there was no longer “sufficient certainty” the grant conditions could be met and there were other schemes around London which could qualify.   

Barnet Council has to abandon immediate completion of Dollis Valley redeveopment following withdrawal of GLA affordable housing grant of £58 million in another setback to troubled scheme.

Demolition of the block of flats and maisonettes deemed unfit for occupation and a start on the construction of the new homes was due to begin in September.  

When approving this plan two weeks ago, the cabinet meeting acknowledged the “potential guilt” felt by some councillors for letting down the private owners.

What cabinet members and council officials had not taken into account was the determination of the private residents’ group to press for the decision to be called in.

Once this action was taken by Conservative councillors, council officials were no longer in a position to give the guarantees which were needed by the GLA over access to the £58.85 million grant.

A full report on the setback is to be considered by the council’s call-in sub-committee on Tuesday 4 August.

Residents who have been consulted by the Dollis Valley Partnership Board have welcomed the news that the grant is “no longer available” and say it has strengthened their argument for the council to start again and undertake meaningful discussions with them.

Among the financial issues facing the call-in sub-committee will be the demand for more information about the council’s contribution to finishing off the Dollis Valley estate – said to be another £40 million.

Unless the deal with Vistry can be renegotiated, the council might be left with no other option but to demolish the vacant blocks and clear the site with the hope that conditions in the housing market might improve or that the site can be sold to a private developer.

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Appeal to Barnet residents to train as volunteer advisers for local drop-in sessions held by Citizens Advice Barnet

Citizens Advice Barnet launches recruitment campaign for residents to train as voluntees for drop-in advice sessions at Chipping Barnet Library and St James Church, New Barnet

Citizens Advice Barnet has launched a recruitment campaign for new volunteers and is keen to appoint new advisers for its two local drop-in advice sessions at Chipping Barnet Library in Stapylton Road and at Jim’s Café at St James Church, New Barnet.

No previous experience is required, and new recruits are offered full training as volunteer advisers.

Citizens Advice Barnet is undertaking its biggest recruitment drive and is aiming to recruit 25 people into its advice services team who hold advice sessions across the borough – see above stall run by Mallika and Samuel.

The two local sessions are held every other week with the next drop-in at Chipping Barnet Library on Tuesday 11 August (10am to 1pm) and at Jim’s Café, St James Church, New Barnet, on Wednesday 12 August (9.30am to 12.30pm).

All volunteers will be given full training to equip them to give high-quality advice on a range of problems.

Due to the extensive training needed, the minimum commitment for the role is two working days a week for at least nine months.

Nadya Bari, head of advice services, says that many more people need advice than they are able to help and to address this Citizens Advice Barnet has launched its biggest recruitment drive.

Benefits from volunteering include gaining “nationally recognised, sought after training”, being part of a welcoming and supportive team, and securing life skills and hand-on experience.

Volunteers who later move on to other occupations and employment said they learned so much about advice work and the privilege of being part of an organisation dedicated to helping people.

To find out more information and apply to volunteer, visit: https://barnetcab.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/

Or volunteer@barnetcab.org.uk

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New play at The Bull Theatre aims to celebrate life and times of townspeople of Barnet during the Second World War

New play at The Bull Theatre aims to celebrate life and times of townspeople of Barnet during the Second World War

Wartime comings and goings among patrons and staff at Barnet Odeon contribute to storylines in the latest production by the Blue Door Theatre Company to be staged at The Bull Theatre in October.

A Nightingale Sang in Barnet – all about the blitz and beyond – is based on memories and tales about life in Barnet in the 1940s during World War II.

Barnet Odeon – now the Everyman – opened in 1935 and the cinema became a popular venue during the war years.

The newly built picture house and a dusty, makeshift air raid shelter are two of the settings for what director Siobhan Dunne says will be backdrops allowing the cast to weave “a rich tapestry of verbatim stories and imagined events”.

New play at The Bull Theatre aims to celebrate life and times of townspeople of Barnet during the Second World War

For at least four members of the Blue Door company, the new production is a personal affair as they have family stories of life in Barnet during the Second World War.

They aim to recreate a Barnet where some say they continued to hear the nightingale sing when life in the town was “ruled by the skies, the sirens, the thrum and the silence”.

Ms Dunne said they had all jumped at the chance to build a production around Barnet of the 1940s and extend Blue Door’s well-earned reputation for delivering sell-out shows that reflect the town’s history.

“We visit the newly built Odeon. A flickering projector mirroring the heartbeats of people who work and visit the picture house of dreams.

“A magic lantern bringing light to break the shadows, respite for all the strangers brought together as a family in a dusty, makeshift shelter.” 

Writing what is billed as a “fascinating and moving production full of war time drama and classic songs” has been a team effort by Sarah Munford, Hannah Gerolemou, Rafaela Golding, Claire Fisher, Dominique Carruthers-Reeve, Francesco Giacon and Brigid Hekster.

Music has been arranged by Nick Godwin.

There will be four performances – Thursday 15 October, 7.30pm; Friday 16 October, 7.30pm; Saturday 17 October, 2pm and 7.30pm. Tickets at £19 plus booking fee now available via www.thebulltheatre.com

New play at The Bull Theatre aims to celebrate life and times of townspeople of Barnet during the Second World War

A photograph from the Barnet Museum collection shows a children’s street party in Crescent Road, New Barnet, celebrating Victory in Europe Day on 8 May 1945.

What would they have eaten is the question which was posed when the photograph was reproduced in the museum’s 2018 calendar.

“There would have probably been a lot of sandwiches and at least one ‘eggless’ fruit cake since eggs were rationed.

“It is likely that hoarded tinned fruit and similar treasures would also have appeared at this party.

“Certainly, the happy young mothers portrayed would have pooled their rations and exercised a great deal of ingenuity to make a treat that the children would remember for a very long time.”

Barnet Museum’s photograph of Barnet Odeon – see above – is dated 1937. The cinema was opened on 15 May 1935 before an audience of 1,110, including the architect, Edgar Simmons.

Its façade is an example of Art Deco architecture, and it was awarded Grade II listing in 1989.

There were four local cinemas in the 1940s and 1950s – the Odeon; Cinema Palace which opened in Barnet High Street in 1912 and was later known as the Barnet Cinema and then the Gaumont; New Barnet Kinema in Lytton Road which later became the Regal; and the Dominion, opened in 1938 in East Barnet village to come the Essoldo in 1950.

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Spare land around New Barnet bowling green becomes a community garden under Barnet Council scheme to take advantage of under-used space 

Spare land around New Barnet bowling green becomes a community garden under Barnet Council scheme to take advantage of under-used space 

A new community garden has been established in New Barnet through a partnership between a church and a bowls club.

A blessing to celebrate the opening of the garden at the East Barnet Valley Bowls Club was conducted by the Reverend Sharon Ejinkonye, the newly installed vicar at St James Church, New Barnet.

Produce from the garden will be offered to needy residents visiting Jim’s Café, a Wednesday morning community advice centre and coffee morning organised by the church.

The partnership came about because the bowls club, next to Victoria Recreation Ground, New Barnet, had spare land and the church was looking for a new site for its community garden.

Spare land around New Barnet bowling green becomes a community garden under Barnet Council scheme to take advantage of under-used space 

In her blessing to celebrate the opening of the new garden, Sharon thanked Barnet Council and the bowls club for sharing their vision and creating a space where they could work together nourishing plants and vegetables.

Spare land around New Barnet bowling green becomes a community garden under Barnet Council scheme to take advantage of under-used space 

Jeremy Alford – see above with Sharon – who helped co-ordinate the development of the new garden said it was a replacement for a previous community garden in the former St James vicarage.

“When we lost that garden at the old vicarage, we realised the bowls club had spare land on an ideal site where we could work together and we have now adopted the space.”

A garden shed purchased with a grant from the National Gardens Scheme was moved successfully from the vicarage to the bowls club.

Every Tuesday morning volunteers care for the garden which was developed with raised beds and stocked with the help of grants from the Faiths Forum for London and the National City Park Foundation.

East Barnet Valley Bowls Club hosts community garden for St James Church New Barnet taking advantage of spare land for new community initiative

Bowls club secretary David Mulford – see above with Sharon – said it was the ideal solution to use their vacant garden to host a community garden for the church.

An extra bonus was that following the reseeding of the club’s green, there was plenty of surplus soil to build up the new beds for the garden.

Work started developing the garden last November and despite the summer drought, they are hoping for a good crop of vegetables, including tomatoes, runner beans, sweet corn, garlic and other crops.

Now that the community garden is a visible presence in Victoria Recreation Ground, the bowls club and church are hoping users and visitors to the park and leisure centre will get involved.

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First summer pick your own flowers day at Grow, Totteridge Academy school farm, where monster crop of pumpkins is under cultivation

First summer pick your own flowers day at Grow, Totteridge Academy school farm, where monster crop of pumpkins is under cultivation

A bumper crop of 1,000 or more pumpkins is expected at Grow, the school farm at The Totteridge Academy, where volunteers are having to water the crops to cope with the drought during the summer holidays.

Eve Rogers, the newly-appointed managing director of the farm – see above – surveyed the crop in one of several large plots devoted to pumpkins.

The aim is to have them all ready to harvest in time for Grow’s Pumpkin Time celebration on Saturday 24 October – just one of several summer events being held at the farm.

“Given the length of the drought, our volunteer watering teams have been tremendous.

“They start at 7am and we could not have survived without them as there is no irrigation system for the farm and the watering has to be done by hand.”

First summer pick your own flowers day at Grow, Totteridge Academy school farm, where monster crop of pumpkins is under cultivation

Already looking like a possible prize winner for the largest pumpkin is a rapidly maturing squash which has been grown by one of the families benefiting from Grow’s popular community programme supporting low-income families with no outdoor space.

“This amazing pumpkin has been grown by a grow-cook-share family and children who come every week to look after vegetables in their raised bed,” said Eve.

Grow supports families living below the poverty line with a project helping them to grow, cook and share their own produce.

First summer pick your own flowers day at Grow, Totteridge Academy school farm, where monster crop of pumpkins is under cultivation

The farm’s first Pick Your Own Flowers event proved highly successful with families allowed to walk through the farm and choose their flowers.

First summer pick your own flowers day at Grow, Totteridge Academy school farm, where monster crop of pumpkins is under cultivation

Three more are planned for the rest of the summer – on Saturday 8 August, Saturday 5 September and Saturday 19 September.

First summer pick your own flowers day at Grow, Totteridge Academy school farm, where monster crop of pumpkins is under cultivation

A new event in Grow’s summer calendar are weekends for volunteering when parents and children can visit the farm and help with the cultivation – starting on Sunday 23 August.

At the first of this summer’s Pick Your Own events a stream of visitors left the farm in Barnet Lane with bunches of flowers and vegetables.

First summer pick your own flowers day at Grow, Totteridge Academy school farm, where monster crop of pumpkins is under cultivation

“Here I am coming away with two wonderful bunches of the freshest possible flowers,” said Jo, see above left, with Grow Farm trustee Sam.

“Totteridge Academy cannot be praised enough for encouraging what is a great initiative – a school farm supported by the local community.”

Grown, school farm at Totteridge Academy holds its first pick your own flowers event and prepares for a monster harvest of pumpkins

Another happy purchaser was Robert with a bag of tomatoes and another of new potatoes.

“I have an allotment myself and I now have allotment envy seeing what wonderful fruit and vegetables are being produced here by Grow.

“I have to admit I am jealous just looking around the farm at all their crops. It is an amazing achievement by the Totteridge Academy pupils, parents and volunteers.”

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New museum at Trent Park reveals wartime espionage secrets of fashionable country house which once entertained London high society

New museum at Trent Park reveals wartime espionage secrets of fashionable country house which once entertained London high society

A decade long campaign to get Trent Park House open to the public was celebrated with the official opening of the House of Secrets, a new museum within the house which reveals the secrets of espionage during World War II.

Actress and comedian Helen Lederer – above – sat at the listening station in the basement where her grandfather listened in to the conversations of top German generals to gather information for the British war effort.

Over 80 German generals were held at the former stately house as prisoners of war.

During the 1920s and 1930s Trent Park was visited regularly by British Prime Ministers and royalty who were the guests of Sir Philip Sassoon, one of the wealthiest men in the country.

For several years the fate of the house and grounds – on the border between Enfield and Barnet – hung in the balance after it was vacated by Middlesex University and purchased by the Berkeley Group which obtained planning permission in 2017 to build 262 houses and flats on the site.

A campaign to preserve the house and open it for public benefit had already been launched in 2014 by Enfield councillor Jason Charalambous.

A trust was formed to establish a museum at the house, which had witnessed so many pivotal events and which had made such a significant contribution to wartime espionage and deception.

New museum at Trent Park reveals wartime espionage secrets of fashionable country house which once entertained London high society

For Mr Charalambous – above – founding trustee and chair, the official opening of the Trent Park House of Secrets was a magnificent illustration of what could be achieved by a campaign which drew widespread support across Enfield, Barnet and further afield.

“It is truly heart warming to see the museum take shape and for Trent Park House to be restored and accessible to the public – our vision of a decade ago has finally become a reality.”

He said negotiations with the Berkeley Group were tough to start with but had ended really well and there was now a “wonderful partnership” of which the developers could be proud.

New museum at Trent Park reveals wartime espionage secrets of fashionable country house which once entertained London high society

The shell of Trent Park House was restored by the Berkeley Group, and the upper floors are being converted into 17 apartments.

The has museum has taken over both the ground floor, which has been refitted to recreate Sir Philip Sassoon’s grand state receptions room, and the basement, where there has been a painstaking reconstruction of the concealed wartime listening rooms.

“Secret listeners”, many of whom were German-speaking Jewish refugees, recorded conversations between captured German officers and produced crucial intelligence for the Allies.

Helen Lederer’s Czechoslovakian grandfather Ernst spent the First World War in the trenches alongside German and Italian soldiers.

He sent his son to England and arrived himself in 1939 with his wife and daughter following on of the last trains out of Czechoslovakia.

He was recruited by the British Intelligence Corps and posted to Trent Park. Among his tasks was to act as a stool pigeon, to mix among the German generals and manipulate their conversations to tease out information.

New museum at Trent Park reveals wartime espionage secrets of fashionable country house which once entertained London high society

Ms Lederer – see above with Dr Giuseppe Albano, museum director and trustee Francesca Mendes – said returning to the house for the opening, and sitting where her grandfather listened in to conversations, had brought her out in goose pimples once again.

Ernst took the secret that he was a secret listener to the grave. To imagine how he must have felt listening in to conversations of the captive German generals was “as important and it was humbling”.

New museum at Trent Park reveals wartime espionage secrets of fashionable country house which once entertained London high society

The recreated listening rooms, which are on either side of the basement, were linked to a complex network of miniaturised bugging devices, hidden in every corner including walls, light fittings, plant pots, window ledges, the billiard table and even garden benches.

The German generals held as prisoners of war were encouraged to relax in relative comfort, unaware the site was bugged, and their conversations were providing intelligence.

Under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Kendrick, the secret listeners gained critical information from a conversation between a Luftwaffe pilot and a U-boat petty officer about how German Enigma cipher machines coded instructions to U-boats at sea.

In March 1943 a whisphered conversation between two generals, Ludwig Cruwell and Wilhelm von Thoma, revealed that German scientists were developing weapons which could travel “15 km into the stratosphere”. British scientific intelligence staff realised the Germans were developing ballist weapons, V! and V2 rockets.

New museum at Trent Park reveals wartime espionage secrets of fashionable country house which once entertained London high society

The state rooms on the ground floor have been restored to their 1930s opulence, with artwork and furnishing belonging to the Sassoon banking family which has been returned for the first time since 1939.

During the 1930s Trent Park became one of the most fashionable houses of the era with Edward VIII and Winston Churchill among those entertained at weekends with artists, writers and entertainers including Rex Whistler, George Bernard Shaw, Noel Coward, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire.

The original Trent Park House, with a landscape modelled by Humphry Repton, passed to the Bevan family, who remodelled it into a Victorian mansion.

The house was bought by Sir Edward Sassoon, whose son Philip inherited it in 1912 and remodelled it on the lines of an early Georgian country house.

After Philip died in June 1939, the house was requisitioned the following September and became a site used for holding prisoners of war including high-ranking Germans, of whom more than 100 passed through the house.

David Cholmondeley, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley – the great-nephew of Sir Philip – is co-chair of the museum trust.

He said that after a decade of fundraising and restoration work, the trustees were thrilled that the extraordinary stories of Trent Park House could be revealed and inspire and inform future generations.

Museum director Dr Guiseppe Albano (above) said he hoped the opening of the house to the public (from Tuesday 21 July) would prove especially popular in the local community and become an attractive and interesting visit for local schools and history groups.

For more information: enquiries@trentparkhouse.org.uk

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A well-attended open-air service in Ravenscroft Park was held by Christ Church, Barnet, to reach out to the community     

A well-attended open-air service in Ravenscroft Park was held by Christ Church, Barnet, to reach out to the community     

Ravenscroft Park was the setting for an outdoor service held by Christ Church, Barnet, allowing the congregation and passersby to take advantage of a sunny Sunday morning.

“Church in the Park” was the first service of its kind organised by Christ Church as part of its ongoing commitment to reach out to the community.

Worshippers were invited to stay on for a picnic lunch under the shade of the park’s mature trees – and an ice cream van was on hand as well.

A well-attended open-air service in Ravenscroft Park was held by Christ Church, Barnet, to reach out to the community     

Andy Rimmer, the Christ Church vicar, said it was the first time they had organised an open-air service.

They were determined to take advantage of the exceptional summer weather.

Open-air service held by Christ Church Barnet in Ravenscroft Park takes advantage of exceptional summe weather

“Our ‘Church in the Park’ event builds on our church in the community programme.”

In recent years Christ Church has organised well attended Christmas carol concerts in Ravenscroft Park.  

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Another accolade for staff at Chipping Barnet Foodbank as key campaigner receives top award for work combatting low pay

Another accolade for staff at Chipping Barnet Foodbank as key campaigner receives top award for work combatting low pay

Pioneering work on behalf of the low paid by Bob Bevil, who is a lead campaigner for Chipping Barnet Foodbank, has won national recognition.

He was presented with a Living Wage Champion of the Year Award at the annual awards ceremony held by the Living Wage Foundation.

Mr Bevil (centre) is seen above with Matthew Bolton (left), chief executive and lead organiser of Citizens UK, and Bruce Daisley, host of the awards.

The award recognised his role in campaigning to encourage the London Borough of Barnet to become an accredited real living wage employer which means Barnet Council now pays more an hour than the legal minimum under the government’s national living wage.

The higher rates will benefit hundreds of sub-contracted professionals across the borough, especially essential care workers.

His next challenge is to help step up the campaign to persuade Barnet’s largest employer, the Royal Free Foundation Trust, to follow the borough council’s example and provide an increase in the pay of hospital workers across the borough.

The legal minimum wage, known as the national living wage, is £12.71 per hour, whereas the real living wage, as calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, is £13.45 per hour across the UK and £14.80 per hour in London.

Nearly 17,000 accredited employers across the country pay higher rates on a voluntary basis.

Chipping Barnet Foodbank, through the advocacy of Bob Bevil, is at the forefront of campaigning across the borough to try to reduce dependency on foodbanks by increasing the wage rates of low-paid workers.

After he was presented with his award, Mr Bevil said the accreditation of Barnet Council as a real living wage employer had provided a big economic boost for the borough and they were hoping to persuade the Royal Free Trust, the borough’s largest employer to follow suit.

Another accolade for staff at Chipping Barnet Foodbank as key campaigner receives top award for work combatting low pay

There was recognition at the awards ceremony that demand for emergency food parcels has increased because of the cost-of-living crisis.

Poor wage levels were largely responsible which was why the progress being made in Barnet was so important in a borough with “very few” accredited real living wage employers in the borough.

Graham Griffiths, director of the Living Wage Foundation, congratulated Mr Bevil and the living wage campaign team in Barnet for helping to transform the lives of local employees.

A full-time worker paid the £13.45 real living wage receives £1,400 in additional wages each year compared to those on the legal minimum and for a full-time worker in London this figure rises to over £4,000 a year.

Since it began 25 years ago, the real living wage has secured over £4.1 billion of pay rises for low paid workers which had made a “profound difference” to millions of people.

Award for Beb Bevil, who is advocacy and campaigning lead for Chipping Barnet Foodbank for his work combatting low pay -- his award is for living wage champion of the year

Chipping Barnet Foodbank – one of over 20 across the borough – helped to organise an all-day conference in 2024 to discuss concern about the levels of malnutrition among local people seeking support.

Mr Bevil – seen above with foodbank manager Victoria Miller and the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson – joined other speakers in arguing that assisting those on low incomes was the only way to improve the life of those whose food intake was insufficient to meet the needs for normal health.