International Women’s Day celebrates 100 years

Via a press release

On Tuesday 8 March the centenary of International Women’s Day will be celebrated worldwide with nearly 250 special events being held in the UK. So how will older women in Finchley be marking that Tuesday? Fifty women from North London University of the Third Age (U3A) gave some details of their plans for the day.

The women who took part in our brief survey are all over sixty, with some well into their eighties. Almost all of them have retired but you can forget any stereotypes of old women watching daytime TV and pottering around in their gardens.

North London U3A is about lifelong learning. On Tuesdays alone it has a programme of twelve different interest groups – including a science group meeting in Avenue House and a very popular country dancing session at the Finchley Progressive Synagogue. (If you looked into those venues on other days of the week, you would find U3A members engrossed in cryptic crosswords, bridge, jazz, history and more). You might also find a card-making group in the home of a member in Finchley or the film club getting together at the Phoenix.)

Most of our responses came from people who will be singing for pleasure on the morning of International Women’s Day. An impressive number of them will have a short breather after they have sung their last note and then take the bus to Finchley to country dance the afternoon away.

Those who spent their working lives as teachers begin again as students alongside people who were secretaries and administrators, social workers and advisers, press officers and journalists, dentists and nurses … They are all keen to expand their knowledge and learn new skills once they retire.

There’s not much evidence of older people slowing down. At least three of the country dancers are in their 80s and the majority are in their 70s. But it doesn’t stop there: people listed yoga, pilates, keep fit, swimming, running, walking, croquet and golf among their plans for the day. Nevertheless, some people will be spending part of that Tuesday in a hospital department for tests and treatment.

Whatever the ‘big society’ may mean, older women in north London are an active part of it. They volunteer regularly with community associations, groups for refugee and asylum seekers, literacy classes, reading to older people, on duty in community libraries and charity shops.

After all that, do they put their feet up? Well, only after their music practice, quilting class, lectures, committee meetings and concerts. And, of course, babysitting for their grandchildren or meeting their family for a meal together.

As one person wrote, ‘All in all there is little time for boredom!’ Some people will be at special events for International Women’s Day, but most of them couldn’t fit anything more into their normal Tuesday diary.

Avenue House Estate in Trouble!

By Janett Durant

For over six years the Avenue House Estate Trust has run the Mansion and Grounds in East End Road without any subsidy from Barnet Council, although we have received funds from the Lottery and other benefactors to pay for capital projects, such as new railings and pathways.

The cost of maintaining the Grounds – around £80,000 per year – has been and continues to be met from income received from room lettings and functions in the Mansion. Last year two of our charity tenants lost their funding and had to move out – as a result we lost £35,000 in annual income. Two further charity tenants now face the same situation. Additionally, the economic climate has reduced our income from bookings.

We have sought £50,000 from the Council to help see us through this lean period while we reposition our business. Unfortunately, we have been met with a blanket No!

The Council classes the grounds as “Public Open Space” but gives not a single penny from the rates towards their upkeep. They claim the grounds are private to the Trust and therefore the Trust must manage on its own.

Unless we receive an immediate £10,000 by early March and a further £20,000 by the end of that month we will have to consider the process of handing back the estate to the council.

We have been told by Barnet Council that the Mansion could then be boarded up, with minimal grounds maintenance, or the whole Estate even disposed of as a private school.

We need a breathing space and time to find new tenants and develop a new marketing strategy. To do this, we need to make up a shortfall of approx £6,000 per month between incomings and outgoings. We are planning to reduce outgoings where possible, and to utilise the grounds more to help generate income.

Can you help to re-establish the Friends group, or join our fundraising group? In addition, could you help to distribute newsletters in your area?.

If you and your family want to continue to enjoy the facilities of the Estate please help now as time is of the essence by donating to our bank.

Our bank details are on the home page at www.avenuehouse.org.uk , or send your cheque made payable to AHET to Avenue House, at the above address.

Mugging resulting in a broken hip and shoulder in N12

Police are appealing for witnesses after a robbery on Granville Road N12 on Monday February 14, 2011 at 18:40.

The victim, a 60 year old woman was walking along the road towards Ballards lane at 18:40 when a man approached her from across the road and shouted: “Give me the bag you bitch” and then grabbed the bag and pulled it towards himself.

He repeated his demand and pulled again hard causing the victim to fall to the flow breaking her left hip and left shoulder in the process.

The suspect has then managed to get possession of the bag and has made off towards the High Road.
The victim managed to get to a nearby establishment and called for police.

After being treated in hospital the victim told officers that the incident happened within seconds and she never saw he suspects face but knows him to be a black male with curly hair.

TDC Alan Horsfall said: “We urgently need the help of the public in identifying this character as he showed no regard for the victim causing her great pain and injury.

“A robbery is never acceptable, but when it is done with such violence that someone is seriously hurt, then it becomes imperative that the criminal is arrested, charged and prosecuted.

“Anyone who saw the incident or may have noticed someone acting suspiciously in the vicinity at around 6 to 7pm on Monday 14th is asked to come forward.”

Avenue House to close down?

You heard it here first!

We are in the possession of a document from Avenue house which quite clearly states:

“We have been told by Barnet Council that the Mansion could then be boarded up, with minimal ground maintenance, or the whole Estate even disposed of as a private school.”

Apologies for the superfluous capitals but we wanted to publish it eactly as it is in the document.

The link above refers to our News Flash on the 8th February.

Charities – pouring good money after bad

One of the benefits of Governments and Councils no longer subsidising charities, is that good money may cease to follow bad management.

Like most people, I give to charity. But I have always refrained from giving money to charities that look like big business, have a poor management record, or are over secretive about their work.

I know that, nowadays, we are bombarded by requests for our money but the following should be born in mind.

• Unless you starve charities who pay large salaries and start supporting smaller charities in the same field, large salaries will continue to be paid. One of my charities helps black aids sufferers and other poor blacks in Johannesburg – and the charity is run by twenty well off middle class white women who all work for no salary and pay their own expenses. They do a lot of good work.
• Unless you examine how well the charity management is performing, and refuse them money until they improve, they will never improve. The trouble is, once the rot of bad management has set in it is almost impossible for that charity to be turned around and it is doomed to failure.
• Unless a charity is open to the public on issues of whether it is political, whether it pays large salaries, or doesn’t involve their contributors in any way, you will never know how efficient they are, whether they are doing a good job, or whether they are secretly political – to your opposition party!

Charities have either become “big business” with corporate mentalities, or they are full of people supporting their king-size egos.

If you start being a little picky about who you support you will improve this trend.

A quick email stating you are a potential doner but you would like the following questions answered.

1. What is the total salary bill of all the directors?
2. Are your charity meeting minutes published?
3. Do you support, or are you supported by, any political party.

might help you decide whether that charity is worth supporting. It doesn’t matter how much you might support the charities aims, unless you get them onto the straight and narrow, your hard earned money will continue to be wasted.

And, you need further information than just the salary. For example from Oxfam’s online report we learn their CEO gets £90,000+, at first glance this seems high but you have to take into consideration that Oxfam is a £300M company running in 80 countries. To me that seems fair, but I don’t support them for other reasons which I won’t go into here.

It’s a bit like politics really. If you don’t take an interest you get the sort of government that comes from a lack of interest. With charities, if you don’t take an interest, you can’t complain if you get a badly managed charity and your money disappears in an ever-increasing bucket.

March events now released

Pam, our events editor is now happy with March events and they can be seen by clicking the link called 3 Events at the top of this page.

Graffity Gerbal – a book review

By Pam Taylor

I was recently sent a copy of this book by Stockwell Book Publishers who thought we might be interested in doing a review as Angela lives in Barnet. This is the first time we have done a review and hope that it will be of interest to some Finchley parents.

It is a very engaging little book all about a gerbil who has a tummy ache after eating a whole grape (rather larger than a gerbil’s normal diet of seeds and nuts). This all leads to Graffiti going to hospital and what happens to him there. The moral for children reading this delightful book is that it is not as frightening visiting a hospital as children may imagine.

Angela Carter was born in London and, as a child, was both shy and friendly. As an adult she is gentle and learning life’s wonders all the time. She was inspired to write this book after working as a volunteer in a well known children’s hospital and seeing many children arriving in a frightened and confused state, and mostly leaving with a smile on their faces. This inspired her to write a book aimed at putting young children’s fears at bay when told they were having to go to the hospital.

This book is due to be published on 2nd March and will be priced at £2.50.

Finchley Pervert – women victims

Sexual offender used ‘Gumtree’ to lure victims.

On 18th February 2011, at Wood Green Crown Court, a male who used the recruiting Website ‘Gumtree’ to lure victims to meetings at Brent Cross shopping centre was sentenced to a community order of 3 years on the Sex Offenders Programme. He was also placed on the sexual offenders register for 5 years. The court heard how Mr Marios KLEOPAS aged 37 from North Finchley would contact women who had put their details on the recruiting website. He would tell them his name was ‘MARIOS’ and that he was looking for bar staff for a new bar he was opening at Brent Cross called ‘WHAT BAR’ This bar was fictitious and purely a means of luring the women to a meeting. He would then pretend to carry out and interview and in the course of the interview would ask the victim if they would like a cigarette to lure them to his car. Once the victim got in the car Kleopas would carry out an assault by sexually touching the women. A police investigation began when one of the women reported Kleopas and soon after other women were identified as victims by the police enquiry. Investigating officers examined CCTV evidence from the shopping centre and were able to identify the car Kleopas was using. It was through this that police were able to trace him. Kleopas was arrested and admitted meeting the women but denied he had touched them. Kleopas was charged with two offences of Sexual assault on women over 16. Throughout the case he denied the offences but was subsequently found guilty by the jury.

DC Simon North of Barnet CID said. “This man actively targeted vulnerable women who he believed would not report his assault to police. Soon after we began the investigation from the first complaint we discovered other victims and I am glad that we have stopped this man’s criminality. We are concerned that there may be other victims and I would urge anyone who has been the victim of this man, or any other sexual criminal to contact police. This conviction shows our resolve to support victims and bring sexual offenders to justice.”

Have your say about the Finchley Arrow

We have polled our “Keep in the Loop” list on a few questions on the Finchly Arrow and found the results so interesting that we have decided to extend the poll to all readers of the newspaper.

Please go to the poll, it doesn’t ask you for your name or contact details, or indeed any personal information so your identity will not be revealed. We hope you will fill it in without holding back so we will see where we are going wrong and where we are going right. One of the questions is whether you feel we should become political.

Most of the “Keep in the loop” members have said No, probably because they fear my politics may not be the same as theirs! I don’t mind stating that my views are not Statist, (believes the government should rule economics and people’s lives) nor are they Centrist. (believes Government should rule economics but not people’s lives) but I am a pure Libertarian, (believe the Government should not rule economics or people’s lives). This definitely makes me anti-Labour, Anti-Conservative and anti-Liberal Democrat. There is no real party for me so I tend to vote for any party for taking us out of the European Union as this is just another layer of Government as far as I am concerned.

Please go to the poll website and fill in the short six question poll so we can get an idea of what you want from us. I will publish the joint findings of the “Keep in the loop” and this poll which closes in twenty days when the poll will be deleted.

The History of Finchley (17)

By Stewart Wild

The diagrammatic map that features the London Underground system – the famous “tube” – is not just familiar to every Londoner, but famous throughout the world. It has iconic status and is featured on all manner of merchandise, including, a couple of years ago, a British first-class postage stamp. What few Londoners know, however, is that its designer, Henry Charles Beck (1902-1974), better known as Harry Beck, lived in Finchley N3 for much of his life.

Beck worked at London Transport’s headquarters as an engineering draughtsman and amused himself in his spare time by drawing better versions of the tube map, which until then had been laid out geographically, more like a road map. This meant that central London stations were too crowded together and suburban ones were too spaced out.

In 1931 Beck submitted a startling new full-colour map design to Managing Director Frank Pick with lines drawn at angles of 45 and 90 degrees only. Some people claim that he got his idea from electrical wiring diagrams, but this has been denied. Although not accurate geographically, the new format was clearly easier to understand and use. Passengers were delighted and after a successful trial run in 1932, London Underground distributed a million copies of the new map in 1933.

Harry Beck lived at 60 Courthouse Gardens from 1936 until 1960, and used to walk to Finchley (Church End) station to go to work, initially by LNER steam train. A blue commemorative plaque was placed on this house by the Finchley Society on 19 June 2003. The station’s name was changed to Finchley Central in April 1940 with the arrival of electrification and Northern Line tube trains, and a memorial plaque to his achievements can be seen on the southbound platform, alongside a copy of his original 1933 design. Beck went on to design many more transport system maps, including two unsuccessful versions for the Paris Métro. (to be continued)

There is an exhibition on Harry Beck at the Church Farmhouse Museum in Hendon, probably the last exhibition at the museum before the Council forces it to close.

The charity dance of the year

We oldies often moan about the “yoof” of today, but every now and again something happens which makes us wonder.

The following video has so many London girls in it that surely one, at least, comes from Finchley. If there is, and you read this, contact the editor and he’ll bung a few quid in to your charity.

I have been told that these are girls from all the London Theatres who rehearsed in their own time to put on this extravaganza out in the cold, in London’s Piccadilly Circus at 9am on 20th of April 2009. A flash mob of 100 girls lose their coats and dance the morning blues away to a pleased crowd. Filmed by pure chance and in colour. The Beyoncé song they chose was excellent and really adds excitement to the whole show.

Enjoy!

Recipe of the month

By Pam Taylor

Slow-Cooked Root Vegetable Soup (completely fat-free)

Serves 6

225g peeled carrots, sliced
225g peeled celeriac, cut into 5cm pieces
225g trimmed & washed leeks, halved and cut into 5cm lengths
225g peeled swede cut into 5cm pieces
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1.5 litres made up vegetable stock
3 bay leaves
Salt & black pepper

To serve: Fat-free Greek yoghurt and a few fresh chives, snipped

Pre-heat oven to 275C/140C/Gas 1.

Place everything into a lidded, flame-proof casserole dish (3.5 litres) and bring it up to a gentle simmer, then put the lid on, place it into the lowest part of the oven and leave it there for 3 hours.

Remove the bay leaves and process or liquidise the soup in several batches, then gently reheat.

I found this soup was quite bland , so I spiced it up quite a bit by adding some cumin and coriander powder, Peri-Peri (Tabasco could be used at a pinch), smoked paprika. The amounts you add will depend on your personal taste and you may decide to add some quite different spices or herbs. My husband, Andrew, was brought up in Africa and tends to overdo the Peri Peri!

Serve soup in bowls with a teaspoon of Greek yoghurt swirled into each and garnished with fresh chives.

Crime Maps January 2011 Update

From Met Police Crime Mapping updates

The MPS Crime mapping website has been updated with the latest monthly data so you can see how crime affected your area.

We’ll keep you informed and these will be published as soon as they come in.

Andrew Ampers Taylor

Barnet Council wins against the little people

There is a beautiful detached house at the top of Courthouse Gardens very close to West Finchley station. It is not only pretty but sits in so well within the local neighbourhood. For the last five years the local residents have been battling to prevent a property developer pulling down the house and building six flats in its place.

When the developer first put in his plans to build eight flats, the Council Planning Officers recommended them for approval – a decision which clearly showed their ignorance of this part of West Finchley.

The presence of a large number of residents at the subsequent Council Planning Committee Meeting ensured that the plans were carefully scrutinised and the Councillors voted against their Officers’ recommendations. Local residents were determined to save 1 Courthouse Gardens and a 5-year battle began. Our West Finchley Councillors have been vociferous in supporting the campaign along with MP Mike Freer.

Over 100 local residents have written letters of objection to the Council and to the Inspectorate at each stage of the process, and have attended each of the Council Planning Committee Meetings in large numbers. In response, the Councillors continued to vote against the recommendation of their Officers who (residents felt) were particularly obstructive at the last meeting. In fact, the last Inspector commented on the “somewhat clumsily worded” Council report which might have given her the grounds to dismiss the last appeal.

At a residents’ meeting in the Gordon Road Scout Hall in April last year (forty attending) it was decided to form a residents’ association and the West Finchley Residents Association (WFRA) was duly formed.

There have been FOUR appeals to date and the last one reads:

I allow the appeal, and grant planning permission for demolition of existing building and erection of a part single, part two storey building plus rooms in the roof space, comprising six residential units.

So it now appears to be a “done deal” and the WFRA have lost. The next step of taking the appeal to the High Court would result in huge costs.

All the residents can now do is to memorise the conditions laid down by the Planning Inspectorate on how the building should be done, and keep a firm eye on the builders when they start work. In this case, the Planning Inspectorate will have the free services of over a hundred residents to police the building or the flats.

Peter Pickering of the Finchley Society says:

“It is a depressing result. But Inspectors’ decisions can be challenged only in the High Court, and this seems to me to be (with one exception) a well reasoned and balanced letter; the Inspector has covered our arguments, as well as the narrower grounds of the refusal, and has done what she can to weaken the precedent effect. There was a recent case in Wentworth Avenue where the decision letter was much less good, and we sought advice on the possibility of a High Court challenge, and were advised that there was no hope. The exception, to which I referred above, is the argument that this proposal could contribute to an objective of PPS3, to wit the creation of a mixed community. I believe that this is a misreading of the intent of this provision of PPS3, which was, I think, aimed against the creation of new large upper class ‘gated’ developments, or acres of unrelieved ‘social housing’, not to encourage the disturbance of currently harmonious areas.

The Inspector turned down the appellants’ request for costs against the Council, accepting that the Councillors had reasonable grounds for coming to their decision to refuse the application (even though she did not agree with it), that they were fully entitled to go against the advice of their officers, and that they were not unduly swayed by the local opposition.”

I am sure that there was no hidden agenda with the council over this sorry state of affairs.

Crime Prevention Team working with local schools.

The Metropolitan Police Service has been working with local schools in Barnet to educate students on the issues of violent extremism.

Police educating year ten pupils in the school classroom

An example school, in year ten at St. James’ High School, Barnet were involved in a tabletop exercise designed to give members of the community an insight into the decision making process undertaken during a counter terrorism operation. The exercise is aimed to give pupils a better understanding of counter terrorism procedures, and why the police have to make decisions in order to protect the public. It also demonstrates how agencies and communities can work together to defeat terrorism.

The day involved the pupils being given information about a terrorist incident in a fictional town via an interactive DVD briefing. The pupils react to the briefing by making decisions on the information they are given.

The Met’s Prevent team, who deal with issues regarding violent extremism, were aided by local schools officers, who worked closely with the pupils

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

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Tell your friends about easyfundraising by email, Facebook and twitter and earn extra entries into the draw – click here to find out more or log in to www.easyfundraising.org.uk/finchleyarrow and visit the Tell a Friend page for more details.

If you haven’t used easyfundraising yet, register for free today at www.easyfundraising.org.uk/finchleyarrow and you’ll receive one entry into the draw.

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Throughout February House of Fraser are increasing their donations to 3.5% and don’t forget that if you spend over £50 there’s free delivery too

This competition runs from 1st – 28th February 2011. Click here to find out more

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An affray in Finchley

Alvaro Vilhete, (born 31st March 1990), is charged with affray in Finchley and due to appear at Hendon Magistrates Court on the 18th February 2011.

More news after the court appearance on 18th but this is all we are permitted to publish until after the case.

A twitter FLASH from a Twitcher

By Don Pepper

As I was walking past Long lanes pastures today (Sunday 13th Feb) I saw six waxwings. they were flitting between the pastures and the trees next to the North Circular.

There has been an influx of waxwings this year with several hundred birds visiting throughout the south east. They are still very uncommon however and warrant a space on Bird-line (a phone number for rarities used by twitchers),

I had seen a volunteer working on the site and literally ran to inform him of the find. We had a chat but unfortunately when I returned to the spot, I couldn’t see them. Despite this, it is still worth looking there over the next few days as they could return. Another place to look for them is College Farm, East end Road where a single bird was seen last March. As waxwings can return to the same spot, one could be seen this year.

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

Please place the following correction in the “Arrow” when you can:

CORRECTION: In part 15 of “The History of Finchley” (November 2010) I referred to “La Délivrance” statue at Henly’s Corner, and said that in August 1987 the “Evening Standard” had revealed that the model for the statue was Louise Curson, by 1987 aged 82.  It seems however that this elderly lady may have become confused about events in her teenage years and I am indebted to Peter Pickering of the Finchley Society for the following additional information which results from a most informative talk given to Finchley Society members in November 2007.

Historian Martin Bolton stated that the statue was begun in 1914 and that Louise Curson, born in 1905, could not have been the model as she was only nine at the time, and living in London.  The distinguished French sculptor, Emile Guillaume (1867-1942), probably used a French model for the project, which could well have been inspired by Marianne, the symbol of the French Revolution in 1792.

“La Délivrance” was actually the name of the raised sword and appears as such on the hilt of our Finchley statue, and on commemorative medals and other statues made from the same clay model.  The special significance of deliverance for the French was that in 1871 Paris had been besieged by the Germans and they feared a repeat in 1914, from which the victory at the first Battle of the Marne saved them.

I am pleased to set the record straight.

Stewart Wild

[Ed: Thanks for the update and I have also included it at the end of the November article.]

Clubs, societies and their websites.

Computer Corner

Running the local community newspaper, I often come across club secretaries who aren’t too happy at changing their website information because their web designer takes too long to carry out requests. There is a way but it entails a little computer savvy, but the webmaster still retains control of the structure.

This is particularly helpful if the web designer uses Dreamweaver or similar software that doesn’t update the site but totally overwrites the site. This precludes others making amendments as the amendments would be lost immediately the web designer runs Dreamweaver again.

The first stage is for the webmaster to create an additional web directory that Dreamweaver does not touch. Then the webmaster needs to create SHTML files for every HTML file which might need updating.

The next stage it to move all the copy in the HTML file to the SHTML file, and place a link into the HTML file to collect the data from the SHTML file each time the HTML file is activated.

That is all the webmaster needs to do to take all the pressure off his shoulders.

However, there are technical things the club or society needs to do but I am sure they will have a technical person somewhere in their membership who will help. I will itemise the things to do below.

You don’t need to understand what I have written below as your technical member will make sense of it, and your webmaster will certainly.

First of all, two pieces of software are needed.

• An editor to make it easy to write HTML code.
• A program to send the files you edit up to the website.

There are many editors for HTML but Kompozer is a free editor which I use, and is available for The Mac, Linux, Windows. There are also FileZilla, a program also available on Windows, Mac and Linux, which will send your documents up to the website effortlessly.

However, the great thing about Kompozer is that you only need one program to both edit your pages, and then send them up via FTP. Your web-designer will help you set it up. As it is free and on all platforms it will take him seconds to download the software and tell you what to do

We run our Website this way. Our web-designer, Howard, is the CEO for a technical company and although he helps the Finchley Arrow free of charge, he doesn’t have a lot of free time. He uses Dreamweaver and I was using Quanta Plus for editing, and FileZilla for sending the SHTML files up, but now I will use Kompozer for both.

If any club secretary is still hesitant, it might help if I mention it takes me around five minutes to fire up the program, make any changes, and post them up to the website – providing the amendment is small of course. If you have to make an urgent change, how long would it be before you get your website changed? Remember, your website is the window to your world.

 

Finchley house burgled

We have just received a hand delivered letter stating that a house, close to West Finchley station, has been burgled very recently. Watch this space as we will write an article shortly on preventive measures you can take.

Is Avenue House closing down?

Yesterday I got a call from Mike Langton, a press officer for Barnet Council, saying I would have the full details by the end of yesterday. I also got a call from Janett Durrant of Avenue House promising me information after their board meeting yesterday.

I didn’t receive anything from the Council yesterday, and from Avenue House, I received an email saying would I hold up any more articles until they could put together some information for me. Naturally I told her I couldn’t do this.

This morning I received the following from an unnamed council spokesman via Mike Langton at the Barnet Council Press Office: “The Council is the Corporate Trustee of The Avenue House Estate, the freeholder of the property. Avenue House Estate Trust (AHET) hold a 125 year lease of the property expiring in the year 2127. AHET are entirely responsible for the management of the estate, principally Avenue House, its outbuildings, The Bothy and the grounds, which have full public access. “The council is therefore merely a trustee of the property and has to accord with the terms of the trust. As far as the council is aware there are no plans to dispose of the property.”

This, unfortunately opens up more questions than it answers as, essentially, this doesn’t explain why the council, and the trust, have been so secretive. One such question is, what would happen if the Avenue House Estate Trust ran out of funds and had to liquidate, and is this likely?

I asked our Arrow Historian, Stewart Wild, what he thought about this new development. He said: “Whatever the future of Avenue House, it is essential that the house and grounds remain freely available and in public ownership. This is because, under the terms of his will, local benefactor and former MP Henry ‘Inky’ Stephens, whose home this was from 1874 until 1918, left his estate on his death “to the people of Finchley”, and as such we believe it should under no circumstances be sold by the Council or anyone else into private ownership.”

Andrew Ampers Taylor.

NEWS FLASH: Avenue House to close down?

New information coming in is that the situation is indeed serious with threatened closure at end of this month when the building and grounds could be closed to the public.

I have contacted the Barnet Council Press Office, and also Avenue House but have been met with a wall of silence. We will keep you informed if they contact us about the situation.

David Smith of The Finchley Society says; “This is quite alarming news as all our archives are at Avenue house. Then there is the Stephens Ink museum on the premises. And, Spike Milligan statue committee will not be able to put his statue in the grounds if they are closed to the public.”

There is a rumour, and we stress it is just a rumour, that there is a possibility that a school is interested in acquiring the premises and land.

 

 

This is the website for old Back Numbers of Finchley Arrow articles.

Once you have finished looking at previous articles, click the Finchley Arrow logo to the left to return to the Finchley Arrow Newspaper website.

“At the end of day…”

…we were bowled over by last night’s event at Finchley Bowling Club

Article by Pam Taylor – photos by Andrew Taylor

Finchley Bowling Club dinner and caberet

The dining area was jam packed with about 70 people and we had a most enjoyable three course meal. After the main course the cabaret started with Sally Ann Triplett, star of stage, TV and radio who entertained us wonderfully singing nearly a dozen songs from some of the shows in which she has starred. Further information on Sally Ann Triplett on Wikipedia. She was admirably accompanied on the piano by Lee Ormsby who surprised us later in the evening when he sang a medley from “Phantom of the Opera” – his voice was so beautiful I could have listened to him for ever.

Stage star; Sally Ann Triplett

Future star of stage musicals; Danny Lane

Lee Ormsby who surprised us all

We were invited to this event by one of the committee members, Eddie Lane, and the second singer of the evening was his son, Danny, who sang four songs from Chicago, Follies, South Pacific and Les Miserables. He is only 16, has a lovely voice and is very self-assured. This guy is definitely heading for a star-studded future.

Willie Nelson, aka Sam McKeown, Finchley's country singer

Sandra Papier who sang from "Oliver"

Sam McKeown entertained us with an excellent rendering of Willie Nelson’s country song called “Me and Paul” and was followed by the lovely Sandra Papier (grandmother to Danny) whose “As long as he needs me” I found quite emotional.

There was a raffle and then Ron Raymond, their Vice President, announced it was Hilary’s swan song and thanked her for all the work she has done over the years for the club. She received a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Hilary then thanked everyone and especially some of the ladies for all their help over the years.

I do hope this is repeated next year and that Eddie invites us again.

A day bowling last summer at the club

Finally, the Finchley Bowls club bowling green on a summer’s day.

Editorial Meeting tomorrow

Our next editorial meeting is tomorrow (Sunday) at The Dignity public house for an 11:05am start. Lasts less than an hour and we drink tea and coffee there and the staff are happy to make it for us.

Come along if:

You want to see who we are
You have an idea for a feature
You want to write a “one off” article
You actually want to join us

Resident Wins Court Battle Over Police

By Ayisha Khan

A Finchley resident has won an appeal against the police after the court overturned a ruling that he had been driving whilst using a mobile phone.

The restaurant owner, 29, appealed last month against Harrow Crown Court’s decision to uphold the police report that claimed he had been using the phone whilst stuck in slow-moving traffic in North Finchley last year.

The man had made a previous appeal against a police decision to charge him with usage of a handheld device whilst driving, an offence which he denies. His appeal was turned down.

The police officer who charged him gave evidence at a hearing claiming he had observed the man using his mobile phone for half a minute whilst he was driving in the opposite direction. The officer then pulled him over immediately.

However, the man refuted the accusation, stating that the police car had been stationary on the same side of the road in front of his own vehicle and the officer had issued some standard checks before handing him a £1,000 fine and 3 points on his licence.

The court originally ruled in favour of the police officer’s testimony, increased the fine and retained the licence points. However, the man called for police CCTV evidence to be shown, on the basis of which the court then overturned its decision, revoked the penalties and awarded full damage costs .

The police were not available to comment on this case and it is unclear at this point whether any disciplinary action is to be taken for the officer’s conduct.

DP&DRA – An AGM with a difference

by Pam Taylor

Dollis Park & District Residents Association AGM was held on 3 February 2011

The Chairman, Mike Walsh, welcomed all those present. This was followed by a very interesting and entertaining talk on ‘Fabulous Finchley‘ by Paul Baker of Barnet Walks. Firstly, he spoke about Henry Charles Stephens (known as Inky), the son of Dr Henry Stephens (the inventor of modern ink). Inky moved to Avenue House in 1874 and became MP for the Hornsey and Finchley area in 1877. His second famous person was Richard Cromwell, the son of Oliver Cromwell, who lived in the area which is now Cromwell Close from 1683-1700.

Paul then moved on to two infamous inhabitants of Finchley: Lord George Sanger who was the most important man in circus history during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Paul told how Lord Sanger was bludgeoned to death by one of his workers who was suspected of stealing and sacked. The second infamous person was William Whiteley (of Whitely Stores in Queensway) who lived in Manor Farm, Finchley between 1880 and 1900. Apparently he lived with a shop girl who was described as his housekeeper. Whitely was stabbed to death by one of his “housekeeper’s” illegitimate sons, Horace Rayner. Rayner got off scot free after a huge campaign on his behalf and a signed petition which was presented to William Gladstone.

Paul told us about some of the many comedians who have lived in the Finchley area. Eric Morecombe lived at 85 Thornton Park 1956-61; Spike Milligan at 127 Holden Road, Woodside Park 1955-74, who was the founder of the Finchley Society; Peter Sellers at 83 Oakeley Avenue 1958-9 who sold his house to Alfred Marks.

Members at the AGM

Police Sergeant Alison Preece introduced herself and two PCs, Paul Brown and Colin Barker and talked about the problems with burgaries, the numbers of which did come down last month. There is a 24 hour service at Colindale Police Station and she gave two contact numbers for the Safer Neighbourhood team: 020 8733 5598 and mobile 07920 233740.

She warned that people are knocking on doors saying that they have a relative in hospital and asking for £20 for a taxi. There are also bogus builders telling vulnerable people that they need work done to their roof. In fact, one person paid £10,000 to them. The good news is that there are hardly any street robberies in the area.

There are going to be Safer Neighbourhood cost cutting changes which will probably involve less PCSOs and a merger with East Finchley, the Garden Suburb and perhaps one other district, but they do not know when this will happen. She gave the Colindale main switchboard number: 0300 123 1212.

There was a presentation by Katy Hobson, Deputy Head of St Mary’s School on the school travel plan and the local community. Katie is one of those people who is full of energy and only sees the positive side. She described how they formulated their current travel plan and review which were sent to Barnet Council in November 2010 and approved at the end of the year.

She went on to list the major concerns which included the extra traffic in the area, dangerous roads, crossings, poorly lit areas, various ways of travel to the school and relationships between the school and local residents.

Her talk continued on what they are trying to achieve and their targets, what they have done since October 2010 which involved electing children to be Modeshifters and Junior road Safety Officers, implementing a one-way system from Dollis Park into Lyndhurst Gardens at the beginning and end of the school day, purchasing a bike and scooter rack, purchasing high visibility jackets, carrying out cycling training, organising Road Safety Awareness, re-implementing a “walk once a week” scheme. Katy also listed what is left to be done and what they still want to achieve which included writing to Neil Richardson, Highways Manager, regarding gritting, zig zag lines outside school, speed signage on Dollis Park to name but a few.

They also want to organise more cycle training, maintain supervision levels of school traffic, lead more school trips using public transport, purchase pedometers and set walking challenges. Her talk ended with the request for people to attend their next travel plan meeting on Monday, 14 February at 9:15 am.

This was followed by a presentation by Julian Larkin, MD of C&G Properties on plans for the development of Winston House. He explained that they had, after earlier consultations with the residents association, removed the gym from the proposal and replaced it with three residential units.

The parking has been increased and they have cut back some of the upper storey of the hotel. He showed many diagrams which included the size of the hotel and its impact on Dollis Park, the landscaping of the scheme and what it would look like in Regents Park Road. They have reduced the size of the hotel and increased the total number of hotel and residential parking places to 166. There were many extremely difficult questions during and after his presentation but they were, on the whole openly acknowledged and answered to most people’s satisfaction.

There was then a presentation on the petition to amend the CPZ in upper Dollis Park from Tim Bizley who is a Dollis Park resident. They canvassed 38 people, of which 34 were in favour, 3 were not and 1 was indifferent. They have 51 signatures. This was presented to Councillor Graham Old who said that he would certainly look into this. There was considerable discussion.

There were four councillors at the meeting, two from West Finchley and two from Finchley Church End who spoke, and fielded questions in the following order. Ross Houston of N12 and Jim Tierney of N3, both Socialist councillors in West Finchley. Then there were Gramham Old of N2 and Daniel Thomas of NW4, both Conservative councillors of Finchley Church End.

The business of the meeting took part at the end with lightning efficiency, the minutes of the previous AGM were agreed and the officers relected in no time at all. This is the sort of AGM I really enjoy.

Google Mail – why it is a great email client

If you already use GMail, watch this training video: http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/enterprisetraining/gapps/user/olap/myi/myi.html

If you use hotmail or Yahoo mail or any of the other Internet mail clients, watch this information video: http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/enterprisetraining/gapps/user/olap/myi/myi.html

GMail really comes into its own if you have a thousand emails a day. I have a hundred a day and it is still terrific.

A colleague has ten a day and he still swears by it.

If you only have one a day, then maybe you don’t need it.

How much does a black cab cost?

There’s an interesting website where you can enter the proposed journey and the time you intend to make it, and it comes up with the cost, and a full breakdown of how it arrived at that cost. In fact you can work out travel costs anywhere in the world with thie following link:

Go to http://www.worldtaximeter.com/london

I have shown, below, the cost of booking a taxi by telephone around lunchtime, between Trafalgar Square and Finchley Central station.

Kazuba help usher in environmentally friendly age for gardeners in Finchley

Chemical portaloos shunned in favour of cost effective Kazubaloo

 

Joel, Michael and James of Kazuba UK in front of the Kazubaloo at Gordon Road Allotments

 

When Finchley Horticultural Society learnt in 2008 that the council would no longer pay for toilets on leased sites such as the Gordon Road Allotments, they were faced with a problem – how to find an alternative that was not only cost effective but also environmentally kind too? Kazuba and their eco loo seemed the perfect solution.

Previously, the allotment had been provided with a portable chemical toilet every month, but at a cost of £1650 per year this was no longer feasible. Confronted with this dilemma they formed a small working party to investigate their options and settled on the Kazubaloo – for them the most environmentally friendly, accessible and cost effective solution.

The Kazubaloo is a waterless toilet system that requires no electricity, chemicals or mains sewage connection.  Instead, it harnesses wind and solar power to dehydrate and evaporate waste into a safe and odourless material that can be added to the compost heap.  The design of Kazuba’s KL2 prm cabin meant that the loo would also be accessible to elderly and disabled  plotholders, as well as families with young children.  This was exactly what allotment members were looking for.

Andrew Brown, from Finchley Horticultural Society, says “we rejected a mains sewer system because of the high costs and also dismissed the cess pit and septic tank drainage options as we thought the Environment Agency wouldn’t grant permission. After lots of research, it was clear that a composting [SP] toilet was the best option – and that’s when we got in touch with Kazuba. The company were a pleasure to deal with and everyone’s very pleased with the results!”

Helped by National Lottery funding, the loo came into use in August 2009.  Other allotments in London have taken the group’s lead and also installed Kazubaloos – in East Finchley alone five loos are in operation.

Kazuba’s Managing Director James Young explains “the facility that we installed is known as the KL2 prm and based on its current usage at the site, it’ll only take five to six years to recoup its cost – after that, the allotment will actually be saving money by not using a chemical portaloo. Generally, portaloos are not only expensive but also not very environmentally friendly and we’re delighted the society realised this and came to us as an alternative.”

For more information about Kazuba, please visit www.kazuba.co.uk

Letter to the Editor – Winston House

Dear Editor,

Just to let you know that the application for the development at Winston House was submitted on Friday.

There are copies of the application plus supporting documents (such as the travel report) at Winston House reception available to residents if you want to take a look.

The MD of C&G Properties and the Architect will be speaking at the residents association AGM this Thursday evening 3rd February. There will be an opportunity to ask them questions.

I’ll update you with further news as it comes in unless you let me know otherwise.

Kind regard

Stuart
Dollis Park Residents Association

WiFi in Finchley

Just a short note to say we have reinstated the list of premises where you can use a notebook computer or a smartphone for free wifi.

Check out 0 WiFi above for details. Please let us know if you discover any other venues, or when any of the venues cease to offer their customers this service.

Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice thanks its volunteers for their exceptional support

Last Thursday (27 January) Noah’s Ark held its annual Volunteer Thank You evening at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley.

The event, attended by over 90 volunteers and supporters, was an opportunity for Noah’s Ark to publicly reward and recognise their commitment and enthusiasm.

Over the past few years the number and diversity of volunteers has been steadily growing. Currently Noah’s Ark has over 100 active volunteers including teenagers, families and pensioners.

Founded in 1999, Noah’s Ark helps life-limited children and their families living in the communities of Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and Camden through the provision of its community outreach services.

Gill Dodge, Chief Executive said: “Most people think a hospice service is about death and dying, but in fact it’s about life and living. Many of our families have many years together and our job is to help them make the most of that. That’s where these volunteers are so wonderful as they really make a difference to people in their own communities. They are exceptional”.

Ark Volunteere

In 2010 a total of 7,000 hours of time was given by fundraising, administrative and family support volunteers saving the charity an estimated £60,000. One volunteer was recognised for giving up 550 hours of her time, the equivalent of 70 days worth of a full-time member of staff. [Ed: As most readers know, it is information like this which really warms my heart!]

She added: “We are putting a lot into developing our volunteers as we recognise how important they are to the charity. We now have a Volunteer Development Manager and funding to expand the volunteer programme”.

Chris Clark, from Enfield, has been volunteering for Noah’s Ark for almost 4 years. She became involved with the charity during her time as Chairman of her local Rotary Club. She said: “We were lucky enough to have four healthy children and when someone from the charity came to speak to our club about the hospice I knew I had to help out.

“You’re not expected to do lots and lots, just as much as you would like. I’m amazed I did 40 hours last year – I’ll be looking to do even more this year!”

John Robinson, from Potters Bar, also gave 40 hours of his time last year as a Family Day volunteer. John became involved with the charity through his love for Barnet FC who are long-standing supporters of Noah’s Ark.

During her presentation Gill Dodge announced that the charity had raised a staggering £1.2m in 2010, double the amount raised in 2009.

Ms Dodge stressed that 2011 ‘starts from zero’ again. The launch of an organisation appeal (to include funding to build a hospice on the site in Byng Road, Barnet) presents the next major challenge.

New Metropolitan Crime Map

The new Crime mapping comes live today. Type in West Finchley and you get the overal crimes in the area. 92 in November and 88 in December – much more than Finchley Church End which is 60 in November and 62 in December.

If you type in Finchley Church End you, unfortunately, get Hendon Church End. I have let them know about this so I guess it will eventually be fixed.

If you live in Finchley Church End, then you need to just type in Finchley.  Then press the – button,  top left, once to get the overall figures . However, if you know the postcode of the area you want to examine, you can just type that in.

If you want to see a complete breakdown of the crimes, click on the “Text button along the top of your screen towards the right and a screen will open giving you a lot of useful information.

The website to go to is http://maps.met.police.uk/