ebra news 15m05 web

East Barnet Residents' Association Newsletter May 2015

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Incorporating Friends of Oak Hill Park

Chairman's Message EBRA Spring Newsletter Apologies that this newsletter is somewhat later than usual, but to compensate it has more pages, filled with lots of local information. Russell Lane I was delighted to see the fruition of a long campaign by local residents including our very own Sue Scott and Brian Don, to prevent the Council turning the Ancient Wood in Russell Lane into just another traffic island. Back in 2012 we raised the alert with local residents about an unnoticed pledge in a Conservative election leaflet from the Brunswick Park by-election, following the sad and untimely death of Cllr Lynne Hillan, of a previously unannounced scheme to lay down three wide strips of concrete over the Woodland to make extra pedestrian crossings. Armed with the information we circulated widely in the area, the Council was flooded with emails and letters and the scheme brought to a halt. The then Chairman of the Area Committee praised us for our campaign. The story later in the newsletter showing how the Council has now formally recognised the historic value of the Woodland has finally, hopefully, seen plans to just treat it as another traffic island put to rest. Although we weren't formally notified of the event (our invitation from Cllr Rutter must have got lost in the post!) it was great to see founder member Dr Gillian Gear BEM as a guest of honour at the unveiling with the other VIPs.

Church Farm The swimming pool at Church Farm is a well loved local facility, however it is no secret that the Council has long struggled to be able to afford to fund and provide on the Church Farm site the standard of leisure facilities that people now expect. Dr Gillian Gear has written a wonderful article on the history of the pool. The situation we face is that the Council seems pretty set to move the pool to a larger (better?) facility elsewhere - most likely in Cat Hill or New Barnet. Should it be our position to fight such a move as we wish to preserve the location, or should we be happy to see a bigger and better leisure facility on a site with less constraints? Please let us know your views. There are already local people with strong views organising on this but we'd like to hear what you think too.


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Dates For Your Diary: East Barnet Residents' Association AGM: Wednesday 17th June at 7:30pm in the Jackson Room at Brookside Methodist Church, 2 Cat Hill, EN4 8JB East Barnet Festival: Friday - Sunday 3rd - 5th July, full details on eastbarnetfestival.org.uk East Barnet Residents' Association all-members meeting: Tuesday 8th September at 7:30pm in

the Jackson Room at Brookside Methodist Church, 2 Cat Hill, EN4 8JB

WalkSafe N14 I have been keeping a close eye on a wide series of proposals generated via a one off petition in the Osidge area (roads bounded by Osidge Lane, Hampden Way, Summit Way and Chase Side). The proposals (not all specified in the original petition) varied from a small road safety scheme with flashing signs covering the rear entrance to Osidge School and an 'advisory' 20mph zone time limited to when kids were travelling to and from school to a larger 24 hour a day legally enforceable 'statutory' 20mph zone that could be enforced with fines and points.

We made strong representations to a rather shambolic Council meeting that we were content to see the first option of a small scheme go ahead but if the Council were to propose the second option they should first give local people much fuller information and the chance to give their

views on the particular aspect of a legally binding 20mph zone. After three months of uncertainty (where the Council was unable to publish the minutes of the meeting and they seemed unsure what was actually decided - yes you couldn't make it up!) the minutes were recently published showing the smaller scheme was approved, as I had thought. People have differing views on such proposals for our roads and we don't purport to represent 'everyone' in some simplistic way but I and EBRA will always stand up firmly for local people if the Council seeks to bring in proposals that could have a big impact without the proper consent of those affected. Congratulations I'd like on behalf of EBRA to congratulate all the candidates who stood for Chipping Barnet in the General Election. It's a great public duty to take part in the democratic process and sometimes a thankless task, especially if your party doesn't really stand much of a chance of victory. As most of you will know by now our previous MP, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers was re-elected and following the national result is continuing in her role as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. EBRA AGM 7:30pm on 17th June We shall be holding our AGM on Wednesday 17th June this year at Brookside Methodist Church Hall. Please let our secretary, Rob White, know if you have any topics you would like to discuss there.

Daniel Hope

STOP PRESS - we've just heard about TFL's plans to run Night Tubes on Friday and Saturday nights on the Piccadilly and Victoria lines from September. To help connect with the tube, route 307 Night Bus (Barnet to Brimsdown) would run every 30 minutes all night on Friday and Saturday too. What do you

think? More details and consultation at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/night-bus-review

http://www.eastbarnetfestival.org.uk/

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/night-bus-review


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EBRA Officers Chairman Daniel Hope Vice-Chairman George Irons

Hon. Secretary Rob White Hon. Treasurer Wendy Alcock

Newsletter Distribution Yvonne Ward

Committee Members Alan Kelley, Christine Shields, James Bradshaw, Pauline Coakley Webb, Peter Robinson,

Rosina Down, Sue Scott, Sussanne Hassel

President Rev. James Mustard Vice-President Pat Gladwin

Our point of contact is the website: eastbar.net

Osidge Library Evening Talks

All talks start at 6:30 pm 16th June - Nordic Noir Talk 21st July - Jonathan Supran Author Talk 4th August - Follow the Pymmes Brook Trail - A Slideshow by Mike Gee 18th August - The work of Barnet Museum 15th September - The Kings of the Kingdom of Northumbria - A Talk by Edoardo Albert 20th October - Shereen Pandit - Black History Month Talk 17th November - Colin Barratt - A Brief History of New Southgate For more details contact Osidge Library 0208 359 3920 Some of Talks will take place on the 1st Floor which is only accessible by stairs

Anti-Social

We often receive complaints about litter and dogs' mess in the park, on pavements and back alleys. Obviously our members wouldn't be responsible for such anti-social behaviour, but if you can think of a way to safely persuade those who do cause this nuisance to stop, please let us know!

Thank you, Rob White

Brunswick Park Health Centre 'Team Health Care Practice' had considerable experience of working closely with the 'Osidge Medical Practice' for a number of years, particularly during the time when the Health Centre was closed following the fire there in January 2010. The two practices have now agreed to combine in order to become one larger practice located in the Health Centre, with effect from 1st July. The new merged practice will be called Brunswick Park Medical Practice, and patient records will automatically transfer to the new facility on 1st July. You will still be able to see your normal doctor, but you will also have access to all the doctors and team members. If you are affected and have any comments or concerns, please let us or your current practice know.


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A Piece of History

Local History

Smart Water The mayor of London announced in March that almost half a million homes in London's biggest burglary hot spots are to be issued free 'smart water' kits to help reduce the 74,000 burglaries which take place in the capital each year. Smart Water kits allow householders to mark high value items with a unique 'DNA' liquid so officers can trace the items if they’re stolen, and link suspects to crime scenes. We will of course let you know when we discover how and when these kits will be distributed.

East Barnet Health Centre

Following the closure in June last year to remove asbestos from the building, the East Barnet Health Centre is now being completely refurbished and should hopefully be re-opened in October. We are keeping an eye on progress.

When the old Post Office on the corner of Jackson Road was being converted into the new Costa Coffee,

Roger Aitken posted this photo on Twitter. It shows that the shop used to be run by "T. Bailey Provision Merchant".

Does anyone know when this was, or have any information about the shop?

Our Chairman discovered a marvellous resource for local history at the Institute of Historical Research website www.british-history.ac.uk On the website is a digitised version of "A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 2" originally published by Victoria County History, London, in 1908. There is a vast amount of detail about the area (including the Church, Littlegrove, Osidge and Monkfrith etc) at this page: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol2/pp337-342 Beware - you may spend a considerable time exploring these texts and elsewhere on the site!

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol2/pp337-342


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Relocation of Church Farm Leisure Centre

The councillors in East Barnet Ward have called for local residents to be fully consulted over plans to close Church Farm leisure centre and open a new facility in either East Barnet or New Barnet. One of the proposals is to close the ageing Church Farm site and re-provide swimming and leisure at either the site currently occupied by Danegrove Playing Fields in East Barnet Village or at Victoria Recreation Ground in New Barnet. There are arguments in favour of both sites, with Danegrove being in a good location and large enough to include the expanded facilities needed, while Victoria Recreation Ground has good bus links and is due to experience much-needed regeneration in the next few years. Cllr Philip Cohen said: “The current leisure contract expires in 2017 so it is important that the council gets this decision right. Both proposed sites have their merits although they will also generate additional traffic. That's why I want the residents fully involved - they should be given the chance to air their views at public meetings.”

Monkfrith School Expansion As presented by the head teacher at our members' meeting in February, the planning application to expand Monkfrith School was submitted, reference 15/01725/FUL

You can view the details on the Council's website (short link http://goo.gl/MyjoRH )

West Road Housing Plans

We are waiting to hear when the latest (amended fourth) planning application to build a terrace of five 3-bedroom houses on the old allotments tucked behind West Walk, Upside Gardens, and Woodfield Drive will be decided. If it is approved by the Council planners, then the residents are poised to obtain an injunction forbidding the developers from using the alleys behind those roads as access to the land. We will let you know how this progresses.

Rob White

If you have a view or a preference, or if you feel you may be affected by either of the proposed

sites, please let your local councillors know - contact details are on the back of this newsletter.

Abbots Site to be Used as Waste Depot

Barnet Council is proposing to redevelop the Abbots Depot Site between Oakleigh Road South and the railway line to create a new base for its refuse and recycling collection vehicles. This new depot would consist of parking areas for collection vehicles and staff, a vehicle workshop, a bulking area for recyclable materials, and a winter gritting compound. In an effort to minimise the impact of lorry traffic using this depot, it was also proposed to buy the lease of the neighbouring Winters skip depot to eliminate those lorries form the road. It wasn't clear what the Council would use the Winters space for. We are waiting to hear the outcome. This is of course outside the EBRA area, but any increase in traffic to and from New Southgate could have an impact on our residents.

http://goo.gl/MyjoRH


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Church Farm Swimming Pool

The Background Story by Dr Gillian Gear, founder EBRA member and historian

In view of the recent feasibility study to provide a new swimming pool to replace the pool that has been at Church Farm I thought it might be of interest to fill in some of the background story of how the pool came about, its early use and its community use. My interest in local history was initially stimulated in the late 1970s by the site at Church Farm which local people told me had been a school for naughty boys but 'not criminal boys'. There was always an emphasis on the latter point. Since then my files of information have increased to extend over some considerable shelf space, have been a basis for a Barnet Museum Bulletin, an MA thesis and a PhD and various articles. But now I go back to the story of the Church Farm Swimming Pool: The Boys’ Farm Home was established in 1860 to provide a home and training for vulnerable boys. The founders were ambitious for the boys they took in and in many ways were ahead of the philosophy of social care for their time. As well as training and

education they were concerned with the health and physical welfare of the boys and that is where the swimming pool came in. I have a number of Annual Reports for the home and that for 1905 was the first to the building of a swimming bath at Church Farm: Swimming Bath – After mature consideration in the spring of the year the Committee decided to build a Swimming Bath at Church Farm. Sir Charles Nicholson very kindly prepared the plans and specifications, and saw that the work was satisfactorily done. It was completed by the end of June and formally opened on July 8th. An excellent swimming display was arranged by Mr L Klaftenberger and Mr E Cope. Exhibitions of fast and fancy swimming were given by Mr Klaftenberger (Amateur S.C.100 and 220 yards International Champion of Sweden, 1898), Mr f.w. Moses and Mr E. Cope. Exhibitions of Diving and Life Saving were given by members of the Brookfield Park Swimming Club, Life Saving Society, and Mr F. Richardson, Secretary of the Bloomfield Park Swimming Club. The Committee tender these gentlemen their hearty thanks, and hope that it may be possible to arrange a similar exhibition during the coming year. Mr E. Cope very kindly presented a silver-mounted swimming belt to be held by the champion boy swimmer and Church Farm for the ensuing year. No fewer than 50 boys learned to swim during the season. Next to learning to swim the most noticeable feature of the new exercise was the growth of those boys who practised swimming daily. The Committee beg to thank one of their number, Mr. J.H. Hale who kindly gave £100 towards the cost of the bath. The practice of having swimming events continued and it became the practice for members of the church congregation to gather around the pool after the Sunday service and to throw in coins into the pool for the boys to retrieve. The Boys’ Farm Home had been established in the countryside to enable boys, who invariably had


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come from towns, to learn country skills in the hope that in the future they would not return to the less salubrious towns where they may have been more easily led astray. Times were changing however and the impact of the Great Northern Railway on the area around the farm resulted in a new town - New Barnet - and in the 1930s the development of large tracts of land for housing turned a country village into a London suburb. Much of the redevelopment was undertaken by Ideal Homesteads, who had been established in 1929. They purchased two nearby farms, Russells Farm and Gallants Farms first and then turned their sights on the land occupied by the Boys’ Farm Home. The Trustees of the home decided to accept an offer from Ideal Homesteads and in 1938 the 120 boys moved to Court Lees, in Godstone in Surrey. The East Barnet UDC and Ideal Homesteads had been discussing the location of a school in Russell Lane where the firm had started to build bungalows and were reluctant to do as the Council wanted and in the event it was the bungalows that were built. However an arrangement was made between the Council and Ideal Homesteads whereby the buildings used by the farm school on the brow of the hill were given to the local council for community use. The foundations had been laid for

nearby Church Hill School at this stage but the outbreak of war put a stop to the actual building of the school and the 1926 buildings at Church Farm provided a school to serve the growing community until Church Hill School was opened. Some of the other buildings were used for civil defence purposes and other community purposes. The swimming pool was found to need some attention and the local papers of 1938 explained that work needed to be done before they could be made available for local community usage. Local schools and youth groups made use of the rather chilly opportunities the open air provided. The pool remained uncovered until 1973 at which time local people were invited to book group usage and five local young mums did that and booked the pool on Sunday mornings for two hours and formed the Sunday Swimming Group. That club continued to operate until just a couple of years ago. This is a historically important site – which was part of the manor transferred in 1005 to the Abbot of St Albans and the site chosen by him to build the parish church of St Mary and form the important focus for the Manor of Chipping and East Barnet.

Gillian Gear


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Fire Safety

The London Fire Brigade has been contacting Neighbourhood Watch and other organisations to raise awareness of high risk households. They are concerned that there can be an increased risk of a fire starting or, should a fire happen, increased likelihood of the fire causing an injury or fatality. They know that combinations of risk factors significantly increase the risk, and so their working definition of a high risk individual is any person within a household who exhibits three or more of the following six risk factors:

Live alone Have a disability (physical or self-declared mental

health or learning disability issues)

Live in social housing (social landlord or local authority)

Any person over 60 years of age A single parent (with a child under 15) A smoker

The Fire Brigade's aim is to perform more home fire safety checks and supplying/installing smoke alarms where deemed necessary, free of charge. Where persons are found to be hard of hearing or visually impaired, they also offer to adapt this service to incorporate suitable detection systems. To make a referral, all the London Fire Brigade needs is for contact to be made on the Freephone number 08000 28 44 28 and pass the relevant name address and contact details of the "high risk individual/household" to the call operator. To track the success of this campaign, please confirm to the call operator that there is a reference/partnership detail link to the referral which is "BARNET P1 10"

EBRA President

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Congratulations to our President of East Barnet Residents' Association, the

Reverend James Mustard, Rector of East Barnet, who is now also the

assistant Dean of Barnet

STOP PRESS

Phone Mast Rejected

We have just heard the news that the Council planners have rejected the proposed phone mast on the footpath to Oakleigh Park Station. The proposal to erect a 15 metre (50 foot) high tower received more than 60 objections on the Council's website, and the planners have ruled that its "height, size, siting and design, would be incongruous and unduly obtrusive in the street scene, causing significant harm to the character and appearance of the area". We shall of course watch for any revised proposals…


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I enclose £____ for ____ years' subscription to the East Barnet Residents' Association (£2 per year per household)

Name: Address:

Phone:

Email:

Please send cash / cheques (payable to "EBRA") to Rob White, 16 Woodfield Drive, East Barnet, EN4 8PA May 2015

New Members

We always welcome new members - the more members we represent, the more compelling our voice. So if your friends and neighbours are not yet members, please urge them to join up. Membership is still only a nominal £2 per household per year to help cover some of our costs, and we welcome payments for up to five

years at a time. Perhaps you could pass them this newsletter when you have finished with it, so they can use the tear-off slip below. Or to join online by credit or debit card, please recommend they visit eastbar.net/subscribe or contact me if they would prefer to make a mobile payment or direct bank transfer. Thank you for your support!

Rob White

Russell Lane Preservation Scheme

We were pleased to see the Mayor of Barnet unveiling the information board in Russell Lane on Saturday 28th February. In the photo, left to right, are Councillor Lisa Rutter, local historian and author John Heathfield, Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers, Mayor of Barnet Hugh Rayner, and Barnet Museum Archivist and one of the founders of the EBRA Dr Gillian Gear BEM. Congratulations to the team, in particular Sue Scott and Brian Don, on getting the preservation scheme to this stage, we hope their aim for more trees to be planted succeeds and the historic "Lovers' Lane" can be restored to some degree.

http://eastbar.net/subscribe/


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Chas R Lowe Estates are proud to sponsor the East Barnet Residents' Association newsletters.

Our Local Ward Councillors

Brunswick Park Ward – Surgeries at Osidge Library, Brunswick Park Road, N11 1EU (see times below)

Andreas Ioannidis (Labour) [email protected]

Kathy Levine (Labour) [email protected]

1st Saturday every month, 2.30pm - 3:30pm: (NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY) 2nd, 4th & 5th Saturday every month 10:30am - 12 noon: (NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY) 3rd Tuesday every month 5-30pm - 6:30pm: (BY APPOINTMENT)

Lisa Rutter (Conservative) [email protected]

Every Saturday between 3pm - 4pm (NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY)

East Barnet Ward

Rebecca Challice (Labour) [email protected]

Philip Cohen (Labour) [email protected]

Laurie Williams (Labour) [email protected]

Surgeries: Every first and third Saturday of the month from 10.30 - 12 noon at New Barnet Community Centre, 48/50 Victoria Road, EN4 9PF Every second and fourth Saturday of the month from 10.30 - 12 noon at East Barnet Library, 85 Brookhill Road, East Barnet, EN4 8SG

Elizabeth Laurence We were sad to learn that Elizabeth Laurence passed away aged 55 in January after a long illness. Elizabeth held many roles in Chipping Barnet Conservative Association. She was Chairman of the CBCA from 1994 to 1996, and Hon. Vice President from 1996 to 2015. She chaired Osidge Branch in Brunswick Park Ward for many years and was then made President of Osidge Branch. Elizabeth was also active in wider communal affairs - she served as a School Governor in Church Hill and Osidge Schools for about ten years each, and volunteered at the Chicken Shed Theatre Company for several years.

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