Brilliant sunshine and crystal blue skies put some added sparkle into the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre which filled the High Street with a wide variety of stalls and plenty of seasonal cheer.
High Street packed for Christmas Fayre
Tag: People and personalities
Milly the cat puts road safety first
In the feline appreciation stakes there is currently no contest in determining High Barnet’s most sociable – and safety conscious – cat.
A misty Easter Sunday morning, just north of Barnet
A print of Graham Turner’s celebrated painting of a young Richard III looking apprehensively across towards the Lancastrian army at the 1471 Battle of Barnet, is to go on display at Barnet Museum to help promote the current archaeological survey to determine the precise site of the battlefield.
Continue reading A misty Easter Sunday morning, just north of Barnet
Russian spy’s poisoning and Barnet Hospital
The tenth anniversary of the poisoning with radioactive polonium of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko brings back memories for an ex-Barnet journalist who reported on the role of Barnet Hospital in the story surrounding one of London’s most alarming assassinations.
Continue reading Russian spy’s poisoning and Barnet Hospital
Appeal for amateur footballers
A football team for former East Barnet grammar school boys that has expanded over the last sixty years to become a community-based amateur football club, has been celebrating the performance of its top players.
Barnet’s artists publicise work
Local residents will get more opportunities to view the work of members of the Barnet Guild of Artists if arrangements can be made to increase the number of public displays of their paintings and other art forms.
Barnet’s love of poetry
Celebrations surrounding the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death gave an added impetus to the monthly gathering of the Barnet Poetry Group when members spent an April Saturday afternoon discussing the playwright’s many soliloquies and speeches.
Blue plaque for hospice pioneer
A campaign is being launched to persuade English Heritage to award one of its renowned blue plaques to the Hadley Green home of the late Dame Cicely Saunders, the Barnet-born founder of the hospice movement.
The end of Friends Reunited
The sun sets on the Barnet inspired networking site. Friends Reunited, the social networking website created in the back bedroom of a semi-detached house in Barnet, has finally closed down after being left with only “a handful” of active members.
Former choristers pay tribute to Barnet church organist and choirmaster
Maintaining the great musical tradition of Barnet parish church has been the outstanding achievement of Terence Atkins, its organist and choirmaster for the last 40 years.
Continue reading Former choristers pay tribute to Barnet church organist and choirmaster
Concert rounds off 2015 at QE Girls
A seasonal concert that drew on the great range of musical talents at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, Barnet, rounded off the year, and also the first term of the new headteacher Mrs Violet Walker.
Hadley Green oak tree for former MP
An oak tree in memory of the former Chipping Barnet MP Sir Sydney Chapman has been planted on Hadley Green, beside the road that bears his name.
Death of historian who championed Barnet Museum
Dr Gillian Gear, who fought a heroic battle to save and maintain Barnet Museum when Barnet Council withdrew its financial support, has died after undergoing treatment for some weeks at Watford General Hospital.
Continue reading Death of historian who championed Barnet Museum
Barnet Market’s longest-running stall
“Pineapples, two for a pound!” – father and son David and Tyler Bone have both been shouting out prices for fruit and vegetables at Barnet Market since before they were ten, and together they are carrying on a tradition that was started by David’s father Albert in the 1950s.
Da Capo Concert Band
Rehearsals have begun at the Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist for the first of this year’s concerts by the Da Capo Concert Band which was established in 1997 for amateur adult musicians in north London and Hertfordshire.
Dr Gear invested with the Order of the British Empire
Dr Gillian Gear, Barnet Museum’s archivist, was invested with the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony at the Tower of London last November.
Continue reading Dr Gear invested with the Order of the British Empire
Barnet’s Old MacDonald’s Farm
For the last 50 years Barnet children have needed to go no further than Wood Street to catch a glimpse of a scene that brings to life that much-loved nursery rhyme “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.
Former Barnet MP dies
Family, friends and constituents have been paying tribute to Sir Sydney Chapman, the former Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet for just over a quarter of a century, who died in early October.
His funeral was held (22.10.2014) at St Mary’s Church, Lower Heyford, Oxfordshire, where he had lived for some years since his retirement from politics.
The bees knees
Honey from hives at Friern Barnet allotments scooped the top prize at the 100th annual show of Barnet District Beekeepers Association.
Four candles please
“Four candles please” – a regular request at Bargain Buys
Bargain Buys is High Barnet’s answer to the decline of the High Street.
The busy bees of Barnet
Barnet’s bee population – and the borough’s beekeepers – are in very good shape thanks to the enthusiasm and good husbandry of the Barnet District Beekeepers Association.
Milestone for the almshouses
Descendants of the family that established the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes, which are tucked away at the end of Leecroft Road, have unveiled a commemorative stone to mark their centenary.
The generosity of Barnet’s benefactors
Tucked away at the end of Leecroft Road, unseen by many local residents, are the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes, which celebrate their centenary this July. Barnet’s charitable housing for the poor and elderly has a long and distinguished history, and a special place in the local townscape.
Barnet Museum’s garden party brings history to life
Two local history projects connecting Barnet’s past to the present day have been officially unveiled at Barnet Museum as part of its annual Tea in the Park celebration in Courthouse Gardens.
Continue reading Barnet Museum’s garden party brings history to life
Where have all the butchers gone?
Just imagine the bustle and activity of 1898 when such was the competition in the High Street of Barnet that shoppers had the choice of eleven butchers, including one pork butcher and two poultry dealers! Today only one shop remains, the Butcher’s Hook.
Dory’s cafe: a Barnet institution
When customer satisfaction is the only protection against the tsunami of change that is sweeping through so many of Britain’s high streets, few Barnet traders can match the long-standing loyalty of local residents for the refreshments served at Dory’s cafe, still going strong and now in the hands of the third generation of an Italian family.
Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs dies
Ronnie Biggs, who spent the final years of his life at the Carlton Court Care Home in Bells Hill Barnet, has died at the age of 84.
He was released from jail on parole in 2009, shortly before his 80th birthday, after completing a third of the 30-year sentence that was imposed after the Great Train Robbery in August 1963.
Know any famous people born in Barnet’s maternity hospital?
For well over 60 years the Victoria Maternity Hospital served the people of the Barnets, but today there is scant recognition of the vital role it once played in the area.
Continue reading Know any famous people born in Barnet’s maternity hospital?
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