10 Facts you never new about the London Borough of Barnet

Regular readers will know that this blog is keen on lists and trivia. Every Saturday, we publish a Saturday list, which is a list of exciting and informative trivia that has caught the Barnet Eye !!!

As they say, imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so we were chuffed to see that the Barnet Times have ncked the idea and printed their very own trivia list today. It is Ten Things you didn't know about Barnet. Oddly enough I knew most of them, but it is a good list and hats off to the local rag for something entertaining! Here is the link

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/10969103.Ten_things_you_didn_t_know_about_Barnet___/?ref=var_0

Not to be outdone, we thought we'd share our list with you. How many of these interesting facts did you know.

1. There is a huge underground reservoir in Mill Hill, on the west side of The Ridgway, running parallel to Milespit Hill.

2. The London University Observatory was donated by famous comedian and amatuer astronomer Will Hay. Mr hay also discovered the White Spot on Saturn.

3. Billy Fury is buried in Mill Hill Cemetary.

4. Brit Award winner Kate Nash once performed a gig at the Mill Hill Sports Club (now demolished) to raise funds for MacMillan Cancer Research.

5. The National Institute for Medical Research was used as a location for a Batman film.

6. An episode of the seminal 1960's TV series Budgie was filmed in Mill Hill Broadway.

7. Hendon Cemetary has been used as a location for filming Eastenders.

8. Modestep, who supported The Prodigy at the O2 for New Years Eve come from Edgware and started their career rehearsing at Mill Hill Music Complex, Mill Hill.

9. Church Farmhouse Museum, closed by the Council, is the oldest dwelling in Hendon.

10. Sri Lanka once played Hendon & Edgware cricket club at Mill Hill Park.

------

There are a few other facts about Barnet which aren't so amusing.

1. The current Conservative adminstration have spent over £82 million pounds of your money on the One Barnet program, although this wasn't in their election manifesto.

2. The One Barnet program has resulted in 300 jobs being lost in Barnet, although this wasn't in their election manifesto.

3. Barnet Council Conservatives outsourced parking control shortly after the Tories won the 2012 election, although this wasn't in their election manifesto. The number of parking fines and successful parking appeals has since hit record highs.

4. The Barnet Council Conservatives have imposed a huge CPZ on Mill Hill for Saracens Rugby club, despite denying this would happen during the planning hearings for the stadium. During every game dozens of local residents are getting parking tickets. Needless to say, this wasn't in their election manifesto.

5 Barnet Conservatives hiked parking charges across the Borough after the 2012 Council election. They abolished cash pay and display parking. Needless to say, this wasn't in their election manifesto

6. The first decision the Conservatives took after winning the 2010 Council election was to vote for big rises in their own allowances, although this wasn't in their election manifesto.

7. Barnet Council set up a private company called Your Choice Barnet, to run adult social care. This company had no proper business plan, and within a year had to impose harsh service cuts and get a £1 million baleout from the Taxpayer. Needless to say this wasn't in their election manifesto.

8. Shortly after the 2010 Council Elections, Barnet Council announced a strategic library review. This resulted in the closure of Friern Barnet library. The building sat empty for six months, until squatters from Occupy reopened it as the Peoples library. When it was opened up, squatters found the council had left the central heating on at full pelt, costing taxpayers thousands. The Library closure programs wasn't in their election manifesto.

9. Following an investigation by bloggers (including this blog), Barnet Council were exposed as breaking their own rules and employing Metpro, an unlicensed security company. It subsequently turned out that the company was being paid 30% over market rate, needless to say this wasn't in their election manifesto either.

10. Barnet Councils own risk register shows that the quality of life of Barnet residents is seriously at risk from the Barnet Tory Council policies. We will be very interested to see if that makes it into the manifesto for this May's Council election.

Every single one of these scandals has been documented in detail in the blogs of Barnet. These Stories have all been highlighted on the blogs long before the Barnet Times picked them up. Lets hope that now they've started copying our popular feature on lists, they also start covering these stories in the detail they deserve.