News from The Barnet Society

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Earthworks remodelling Barnet golf course For some weeks past a constant stream of tipper lorries has been unloading top-soil and sub-soil at the northern end of the Old Fold Manor Golf Club, Hadley Green, where extensive landscaping of the golf course is about to start.

Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice is rapidly reaching completion in the grounds of the nature reserve maintained by Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road, Barnet. Next April, staff and support workers hope to move into what is promised will be a state-of-the-art children’s hospice serving north London and Hertsmere. The official opening is provisionally timed for July.

 “Come on you Bricks” is now rivalling the Barnet football chant of “Up the Bees” as supporters of Hadley Football Club promote their much-improved recent performances and refurbished football ground. Hadley FC – which is even older than Barnet Football Club – plays at Brickfield Lane, Arkley, hence their nickname “The Bricks”.

Many of the Royal Mail post boxes around Barnet, Potters Bar and Brookmans Park have been decorated for Christmas with a seasonal display of knitted animals in order to raise money for the RSCPA rescue centre at Southridge.

Barnet’s annual Christmas fayre broke with tradition this year. Instead of being opened by the Mayor of Barnet, the ceremony was conducted by the “Lord Mayor of London, Councillor Richard Whittington” – star of the Christmas pantomime at the The Bull Theatre.

Efforts are underway to identify and map the many alleyways and footpaths that add so much to the local landscape and help make High Barnet such an attractive place to live.

Barnet’s historic wellhouse, which houses one of the best-preserved medicinal wells in the country, has been restored to its full mock-Tudor glory.

A strong local cast from around Barnet, including former pupils at the Suzi Earnshaw Theatre School, will be appearing in Dick Whittington, this year’s Christmas pantomime at the Bull Theatre. Councillor David Longstaff, actor, High Barnet councillor and former Mayor of Barnet, will be taking on the part of the dame.

After having moved from site to site in recent years, Barnet Market has returned to the bandstand area beside Waitrose, at the rear of the Spires shopping centre, and traders hope that finally this will become their settled home.

Plans for a 100-bed Premier Inn on the site of Barnet Market were approved by a clear majority at a meeting of Barnet Council’s planning committee despite the continued, forthright opposition of residents in the adjoining Chipping Close.