The Saturday List #109 - The Barnet Eye Annual Community Award winners 2016

Every year at this time, we announce the annual Barnet Eye awards. We ask for citations from blog readers and we choose a few of our own! Last night we held our annual party and blog awards at the Midland Hotel in Hendon. Here are the winners. This is a very good list this year.

1. Barnet Lifetime community campaigner award
Winner - John Burgess - Barnet Unison Branch secretary
Nominated by Tirza Waisel (Barnet Alliance for Public Services)
Citation - John has worked tirelessly for decades to ensure that his members and the general public of Barnet get a fair deal and the highest quality of pulic service. John is respected by all. He is a fearless campaigner and has fought, at great cost to his own health, to ensure that public services are protected from the ravages of austerity.
The Barnet Eye adds - John is currently involved in a battle with his own union and was on BBC Radio 4 this morning taalking about the Unisongate scandal, which has seen alleged malpractice in a union election exposed by a tape of paid union officials allegedly discussing how to assist the incumbent leader in the election.



2. Barnet Eye Pub of the Year
Winner - The Midland Hotel
Nominated by Mr Graham Ramsey
Citation - "John the guvnor has made the Midland the pub for live music in Hendon. It is  a proper community pub and the beer is good."
The Barnet Eye adds -  John has supported us ever since he took over in helping keep a thriving music scene in the Borough of Barnet.

3. Barnet Person of the Year.
Winner - Calvin Casino.
Nominated by Julia Hines/Theresa Musgrove
Citation - "Calvin was the young autistic man who was refused access to the tube network when Barnet Council illegally cancelled his Freedom pass. He told his story to the local blogs and it was soon revealed that hundreds of disabled people were affected. As a result of his actions, this scndal was exposed and the freedom passes were reinstated"
Barnet Eye adds "Calvins action in alerting us to the scandal was perhaps the single most important event in Barnet this year. Our campaign, and the work done by Theresa at the Broken Barnet blog to expose the full depths of the scandal meant that we were able to undo the damage inflicted by thoughtless officials. I was going to originally nominate Theresa for her work, but she insisted Calvin get the awards and Julia backed this up. Well done to all, you are all community champions to me.


4. Barnet Charity of the Year
Winner - Homeless action Barnet  (HAB).
Nominated by The Barnet Eye
Citation - "Who would ever thought a rich Borough like Barnet would even need a homeless day centre? The work of HAB with the local churches to run night shelters for homeless people is something that on these cold winter nights is invaluable for the weakest members of our society. This is  charity we should all support and we should all be working to ensure it isn't needed in future".

5. Barnet Campaign of the year.
Winner - Barnet Housing Action
Nominated by The Barnet Eye
Citation - This campaign is perhaps the biggest issue in Barnet right now. Their twitter feed says "Fighting social cleansing, gentrification,rent hikes & evictions https://barnethousingactiongroup.wordpress.com/  Petitions: see @OurWestHendon & @SweetsWayN20" the West Hendon petition got 150,000 signatures and the council still ignored it. As they said last night accepting  the award "Barretts could make £3billion out of West Hendon and yet there are children who have never lived in a secure household being evicted". Who else could we possibly award this to?

Alan Warner

 6.  Barnet Musician of the Year
Winner  - Alan Warner
Nominated by  The Barnet Eye
Citation -  "Alan is an icon to people in Barnet. He was the lead guitarist in the Foundations, writing some of their greatest hits. He was in supergroup Pluto. He ran "Lane Studios", where Top Ten band recorded their first single (as did my band The False Dots). He has been a stalwart of the Mill Hill Music Festival for many years and despite health issues this year has still played all around London, the South East and even in Spain. A true legend. We hope to have him at the Mill Hill Music Festival this year".



7. Barnet Event of the Year.
Winner - The Finchley Literary Festival
Nominated by Allen Ashley
Citation - "It just gets better and betetr every year.  A festival for grown ups and a key part of Barnets cultural calendar"

Allen Ashley with FInchley Lit Fest Award

8.  Barnet Teacher of the Year.
Winner - Allen Ashley
Nominated by Rosie Canning
Citation - "Allen runs writing classes all around Barnet and his work at festivals, editing and writing marks him out as an exceptional charicter who we are lucky to have"
The Barnet Eye adds "I've known Allen since 1985. We've written songs together and of course I know that he's a teacher, but to me that was 'just his job'. To get such an endorsement from Rosie, who I respect and admire, makes me realise just how lucky I've been to work with Allen. Check out his work".