Welcome to the Barnet Eye advent Calendar. Every day during advent, we'll be giving you a little treat and also plugging a great local charity, so you can be entertained and then show your goodwill to all men!
How much do you know about our neighbourhood? Today we feature the first of two major plane crashes in our neighbourhood! Today our feature of interest is from Burnt Oak. Did you know that in 1948 an RAF plane crashed into a Trolley bus in Burnt Oak in 1948 - check out this coverage from 1948 Pathe News.
Today we feature a brilliant organisation which ha done sterling work in the Borough. http://www.nutmegcommunity.com/ is an organisation which works to help young people develop their full potential. Checkout this video highlighting some of the good work they do.
The Barnet Eye is proud to live in an area where there are so many talented young people. We fully support the work of Nutmeg to help these young people realise their potential. We hear so many negative things about young people today. What we don't hear so much about is the great things young people do, especially when they are given a fair chance. Nutmeg help young people have that chance and should be supported by everyone who cares about our community.
If you are interested in Burnt Oak and it's history, check out this out. It has been produced by Barnet Council and is a very interesting video. We've also added a collection of other great videos that feature Burnt Oak. We hope you enjoy them, it seems that the current and former residents of Burnt Oak love a bit of Burnt Oak history.
Barnet Council History of Burnt Oak Film
Another bit of Burnt Oak history you may enjoy is this short clip from The Professionals, speeding through Burnt Oak back in the 1970's
Going back to 1948, there was a tragedy in Burnt Oak, when a plane hit a trolleybus. This was recorded by Pathe News.
And finally, we have the latest Burnt Oak sensation, the Burnt oak Boogie, feeturing film from both 2022 and footage from back in the day.
IF you enjoyed the Burnt Oak Boogie, you can see the False Dots perform it live at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town on Weds 23rd November - Tickets in advance from here
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/559671
Many things have changed locally. The shops, the pubs even the churches have come and gone! Over the years, the local music scene has also changed. When I started my band, locally we had all manner of festivals that have long since disappeared. We also had a thriving culture of benefit gigs. Things seem very different now.
Lets start with a little picture of Station Road Mill Hill in 1995. If you click here, you'll see how it looks now!
What interested me is that every single business in this picture has been replaced. Thinks move on.
In 1994, Mill Hill lost a landmark. The Sacred Heart Church was redeveloped. My mum took this picture in the middle of the works
Another Mill Hill Landmark was the three Hammers. It was completely renovated about 20 years ago and has never been the same since. This was taken about 1995, when the main entrance was still opposite the bus stop
Then there is our local music culture. My band has played all sorts of weird and wonderful local gigs over the years. Here's a little tour of the best bits of memorabilia.
Back in 1984, my band, the False Dots had a residency at the Bald Faced Stag. One of the gigs we did, we did as a benefit for the Greenham Common protest. For many who know the Stag, this may seem a bit incongrous, but it was a great night.
A video was made and to our excitement, this was reviewed by the Edgware and Mill Hill Times. I was so thrilled, I saved it in my scrapbook.
Another regular gig of ours was the Grahame Park Festival. This was taken in 1984. We had a dep bassist. A friend of mine's Dad was the organiser, although I don't recall if I knew at the time. It was always fun. You can see half of me and my guitar!. In 1984, it was raining so was indoors.
In 1986 the weather was better and we played in the open air. I dug the white suit and the shades out! It was a glorious day as I recall.
We also did a free concert in Montrose Park in 1984. It was the fairwell gig for that line up. Three weeks later I suffered a burst ulcer and nearly died. The gig was fun though. The support band featured one Mr Steve Pankhurst, who went on to make millions as the founder of Friends Reunited and I still see at football at Hadley FC. I can't recall what the surprise or two were.
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The band played a lot of benefit gigs, in 1980, we played a CND benefit gig in 1980 at Harwood Hall in Mill Hill
Here's the letter of thanks we got!
But perhaps the biggest change in our locality was the coming of the M1. My Dad took this picture of the concrete being laid at the back of Millway in 1965
We live in an amazing borough. For some time, for some time I've been
meaning to do a little series on the good things. So all this week, I'll
be taking you on a little trip around the Borough, detailing some of
the things I like most in our neighbourhood.
Today we have a nice little video collection of pictures showing the evolution of Burnt Oak. The first is a selection of pictures.
The second is local residents talking about their experiences at the current time.
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Finally we have Burnt Oak's moment in the limelight. The hamster invasion of Burnt Oak from 1983!
Have you been wondering what our local twitterati are up to? Well here's the pick of this weeks tweeting.
1. Looks like the Harrow Police Station Easter party might be a good one! Only joking lads, I am sure the streets will be much safer in Burnt Oak with all of this safely locked up!
Welcome to the Barnet Eye advent Calendar. Every day during advent,
we'll be giving you a little treat and also plugging a great local
charity, so you can be entertained and then show your goodwill to all
men!
Today our featur of interest is Burnt Oak. Did you know that in 1948 an RAF plane crashed into a Trolley bus in Burnt Oak in 1948 - check out this coverage from 1948 Pathe News
Today we feature a brilliant organisation which ha done sterling work in the Borough. http://www.nutmegcommunity.com/ is an organisation which works to help young people develop their full potential. Checkout this video highlighting some of the good work they do.
The Barnet Eye is proud to live in an area where there are so many talented young people. We fully support the work of Nutmeg to help these young people realise their potential. We hear so many negative things about young people today. What we don't hear so much about is the great things young people do, especially when they are given a fair chance. Nutmeg help young people have that chance and should be supported by everyone who cares about our community.
The Barnet Eye was most disturbed to read last week that the Council is selling the football pitches at Pavillion Way. What does not seem to have been mentioned to local members of the public is the fact that they can force the council to abandon the sale. You see there is a restrictive covenant on the Land in favour of Laings Land Limited. Laings were a large building company based for many years in Mill Hill. The Company were very progressively socially minded. They foresaw the day when a greedy council may try and cash in and sell the land, so they put a restrictive covenant in.
This covenant provides that the council cannot use the property except as sports pitches for use by the general public with ancillary changing rooms and parking and planted areas, all maintained at the Councils expense. Even more interesting is the fact that covenant is enforcable by all the individual owners of the housing estate to the south and east of the property.
Now has the council chosen to recognise the generosity of Laing's to the people of Burnt Oak and respect the wishes of their generous gift? Nope. Word reaches the Barnet Eye that a secret Council report has been published (which you are not allowed to see because it is "commercially sensitive") which contains advice for how the Council and property developers can get around the wishes of the benefactor.
We've been informed that there is an "Upper tribunal" that can release the covenant if it (i) Is obsolete or (ii) Impedes reasonable use of the land. Last time I looked, football was still our national sport and there is a shortage of facilities for sport in Barnet, so (i) is clearly invalid. As to (ii), the council are the ones trying to restrict the "reasonable use of the land". This is because the land is designated as sports facilities in an area that needs them. The council are trying to hoodwink the people out of their rightful inheritance, so that a few developers can line their pockets. It is quite frankly, disgusting.
I urge all owners of properties to the South and East of the site to inform the council that they wish to enforce the covenant. Furthermore, I ask them to insist the council fulfill their part of the bargain and maintain the covenant as agreed.
The Barnet Eye will be keeping a keen eye on this one. It is clear that the council cannot be trusted to look after the people of Barnet.
I have a question for you. How old do you think you will be when you die? Fifteen years ago, I never gave this question a thought. Then in 2000 my mother had a stroke. Prior to this, she'd been going on four cruises a year, having a career as a successful businesswoman. I'd pop round to see her, share a Guinness on her return and be regaled with tales of her trip up the Amazon, or round Australia or to Ephasus in the Med. When she was 75, she looked 60 and was enjoying her life. Then she had a stroke. In the space of two minutes she aged 30 years. When she was admitted to Barnet General hospital, I was shocked. They put her on the geriatric ward. I was enraged. How could they consider her a geriatric? Three weeks before she'd been sunning herself on a cruise, the life and soul of every party. Sadly, I found out she was in the right place. The four cruises a year became an annual pilgrimage to Lourdes with a disabled group. The chats over a pint of Guinness became a nightly occurrance. Failure to appear on time would lead to panicked phone calls. As she could no longer cook, lunch became meals on wheels. Although my mother had hundreds of thousands of pounds in the bank, she was totally dependent on other people for her existence.
So what has all of this got to do with Council Housing? She was wealthy, she could afford her care? Well there is one element of the equation that the Tory policy makers both locally and nationally seem to be unable to grasp. That is that the people who cared for my mother. The cleaners who mopped the ward at Barnet General hospital, the lady who delivered her meals on wheels, etc all have to live somewhere. Any of us can be struck down at any time. If you look the wrong way, when you cross the road - SPLAT - a life of reliance on carers. If you price accomodation out of the reach of ordinary people, then there will be no carers. There will be no cleaners. It is all very well saying that people should not have "a council house for life". What should they have? A sleeping bag and a pitch under Westminster Bridge. Of my siblings, I am unique. I am the only one never to live in Council accomodation. My parents moved from a Council House in Wise Lane to their own place in Millway in 1960, two years before I was born.
I was lucky to have a mother who understood economics and social justice. She viewed Burnt Oak Estate as a victory for humanity and human spirit. Working class people could live in a decent house, have a decent garden and could afford it. Green spaces were designed for children to play on. The residents worked in local factories such as Boosey & Hawkes, Van Den Plas and De Souters. Occasionally, some hapless local Conservative would make a snobbish comment about Burnt Oak and then spend fifteen minutes getting it in the neck, being told how estates like Burnt Oak were the lifeblood of Great Britain and the true source of our wealth. She would point out that money was ultimately made by people who got their hands dirty. They have the right to live in decent homes and have enough money to lead happy lives. Every change to council housing law under the Conservative Party has made this more difficult. The right to buy legislation, one of Thatchers most popular polices has resulted in estates like the Watling being transformed into cash cows for sleazy private landlords. The council tenants took advantage of the discounts, bought up, moved out and copped a huge profit (which I don't begrudge them). The houses were bought by landlords seeking maximum profit for minimum work. A trip around the Watling estate thirty years ago would reveal a well maintained area with youngsters playing on the greens outside their homes. Sadly, with every year, it appears more run down and shabby. My grandmother lived in Milling Road, Burnt Oak for twenty years, I was raised to be proud of that fact. I daresay that if she was alive today, there would be people on the right clamouring to sling her out of her home.
Even more sadly, none of the receipts from the sales was used for building new homes. As a result, we have a social housing crisis. On BBC London, we hear of councils "prioritising" certain professions. This is indicative of the snobbish Tory thinking. Cleaners and carers are bottom of the pile. It may amuse you to know that I was discussing the issue of getting a cleaner with a local Conservative (I've just opened a new studio complex and need one). His response "I know a lovely Polish girl, who will charge you next to nothing". I couldn't resist it. I asked what he thought about immigration policy "It's disgusting, I'm all for leaving the EU and stopping all this nonsense". That is the flaw in the UKIP/BNP argument. If we shut the borders and sling out the immigrants, the country would collapse.
The solution is simple. We need to protect council housing, stop the relentless march of London housing towards "luxury flats". Rather than compelling developers to provide "social housing" in developments, we should have a joined up policy, where we ensure that builders meet the requirements of existing local communities, rather than trying to attract people from far and wide to clog up "desirable areas". If there are 6,000 people on the Council waiting list, lets house them first in new housing. Once we've fixed our local problem, then we can start worrying about luxury flats for people moving from other parts of the country.
One day, you may be old and dependent on other people. If you need a nurse to wipe your bum or a lady to deliver your dinner and you've priced them all out of the neighbourhood, then please don't complain.I have one final question for you? Do you believe in ghosts? Sadly for
me, I'm forced to. You see every time I hear about another Tory attack
on Council Housing, I hear the screaming banshee of my mothers soul
screaming in my ear that I should get off my fat, lazy, pampered arse
and do something. That is why this blog supports council housing and
decent social housing for people at the bottom of societies ladder.
What do you do when London is ablaze with riots? You go to Burnt Oak. Well you do if you are me. Not the place, the West End show at the Leicester Square Theatre. The play is written by Laurence Lynch, ex resident of Burnt Oak and plumber to the stars. I've already chronicled how I know Laurence. Tonight I went to see his masterpiece. I didn't quite know what to expect, but from the first moments of it's opening, to the sounds of Wire's "I am the fly", I knew I would connect with the play.
The (anti) hero of the play, Nobby, reminds me of me in some ways as a youth. The play is sort of loosely set when I was a teenager in Burnt Oak. Like Nobby, at the time I was a trainee painter and decorator. Many aspects of the play spookily mirrored some of my own experiences, from the monster of a girlfriends father (I'm not refering to my father in law here, a long ago ex), to the references to drunken exploits in the Beehive. Whilst it had a special resonance for me, for those who weren't raised in the locality would still "get it".
I won't spoil the plot, other than to say the audience was engrossed for the full two hours. I went with Mrs T (Wife, not blogger) and two friends. They didn't have the same misspent youth as me, but were equally taken. The cast were all excellent, but special note must be made of Jason Wing as George. He is truly scary and really deserves a wider audience for his talents. I think Burnt Oak - Life and Death in London Town would translate to both the small and large screen.
I also managed to have a chat with the author, who was in attendance. I'm chuffed for him. It is a very powerful play, with lots of dark humour and the odd slapstick moment. He deserves to do well.
I must say that Soho was quiet and the journey home was peaceful and subdued. Life goes on.
Due to my holiday in France, work commitments and life, I completely missed the fact that there is a play on at the Leicester Square Theatre called (and about) Burnt Oak. Here is an interview with the playwrite Laurence Lynch on the Robert Elms show on BBC London 94.9.
I have booked tickets to see the show next week. I am really very excited about it and will write a review here. Laurence has a great story. He grew up in Burnt Oak, became a plumber, moved to Soho, became the plumber to the stars and one day showed a friend a play he'd written years before. They thought it was great, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.
There is a little bit more to Laurence's story. Back in 1979, there was a burgeoning music scene in the area. As any regular reader will know, my band - The False Dots - were one of many who took up Mark Perry's call to war to learn three chrods and form a band. At the time, one of my best friends was a schoolmate at Orange Hill, Joe Malone, one of a large family of Irish descent, who lived up the road. The three elder Malone brothers Twins Joe and Chris, with slightly younger brother Dale, also were in the process of forming a band. Joe shared my tastes in Punk rock. His favourite band was art punk outfit, Wire. Joe was higly influenced by a show we saw at the Jeanette Cochrane Theatre. Wire staged a show with four acts. Even more interestingly, they had no visible amplifiers. It is fair to say, Joe was pretty blown away by the gig and thought he'd seen the future of new wave music. The program for the show was more like a theatre show and had the acts summarised. Other arts were also featured. Joe took his ideas back to his band. The Malone brothers were the original customers of Mill Hill Music Complex. They were so paranoid that people would rip off their ideas, that everyone was soon banned from their rehearsals. My band, the False Dots liked visitors (especially female ones). Joe was so protective of his ideas that he even had a punch up with the lead singer of our band, Pete Conway, over who'd been the first person in Mill Hill to wear bondage trousers. Such things were highly important.
It is fair to say that the rest of us were intrigued. Joe had a reputation. He was highly unpredicatable and was given to grand gestures. When playing for the Orange Hill School football team, he once ran the entire length of the pitch and banged a superb goal into his own net, in protest at the atrocious performance of his team mates. Even the name of the band was secret. We christened them "The Mojes" a sort of bastardised anagram of Jo Ma and the name stuck. In 1980 I organised a series of gigs at the Harwood Hall in Mill Hill. As Joe was a mate, I asked him if they fancied playing. Joe said "Yes". I was quite excited. I asked what the Band is called "We'll tell you on the night". I explained to Joe that it didn't work like that. We had to let people know who was playing etc.
One of the people Joe had recruited was none other than Laurence Lynch. Like all other members of the band, he was sworn to secrecy. I knew Laurence's sister Barbara (Babs). It is fair to say, I thought she was lovely. We used to all meet on the 113 bus back from gigs at the Marquee. I was intrigued to find out what the Mojes were up to, but even Babs was in the dark.
The Mojes took the show extremely seriously. Demand after demand came in. No recordings, no photos, no videos, their own sound man, an intro tape, to be played, no one in the dressing room before they plated, so they could prepare. Eventually Joe relented and announced the name of the band - Kabuki - this is the Japanese word for a form of dance drama. Had anyone else in the world come up with the name, I'd have sniggered, but as I said, the Mojes had an aura.
On the day of the show, five local bands assembled in Harwood Hall. A mate of mine, Dermot Fanning, had agreed to DJ. He just loved playing records. Kabuki were on third out of five bands. I'd been rather keen to make sure that as headliners, we didn't directly follow them, as I thought they may be good. I'd been intrigued by the whole secrecy thing, as had everyone else. The hall was packed.
When time came for them to emerge, their plan went into action. Every light in the building was turned off. 130 people stood in darkness. Then the sounds of Opera singer John McCormack, eerily ghosted over the PA as we all stood in the dark. In this day and age, this probably doesn't sound that unusual, but in 1980, local bands just stood their, picked their nose and played badly. As the tape finished, a couple of ultra bright spotlights clicked on and their stood the Moje brothers band with Laurence, in what can be best described as crusader style outfits. As I recall brilliant white with red crosses painted on them (not in a BNP sort of sense), it reminded me of a bleeding red cross. The band was absoletly brilliant. The whole audience just stood and stared for the whole show, not knowing what to make of it. At the end they got a raptuos response.
I was really pleased for them. I've always been supportive of my mates bands, and thought they were destined for great things. At the end, none of them wanted to discuss it, they packed up and left. A couple of days later, I saw Joe. I told him the show was brilliant. He was infuriated. "No it wasn't, I knew we weren't ready, we should never have done it there". As far as he was concerned, it was terrible. It later transpired that as he'd gone on Dermot had said about the intro tape "That's John McCormack isn't it". Joe had replied "Yes". Dermot had then said "Yes, that's my Dad's favourate opera singer". Dermot said Joe seemed gutted.
I think that is probably the last time I saw Laurence. I can't remember if Kabuki knocked it on the head immediately or where they went from there. I still see the Malones up the road. I should say that all of this is my personal memories of the time. At the time I knew Joe far better than the rest of the band, I'm sure that they all had a big say in it, it was a band not his project - Please don't take this as a definitive history of their band. As we were all banned from the rehearsals, I guess we'll never know. It would probably make a great follow up play. All I can say is that I'm really chuffed that Laurence has gone on to get his play staged in such a prestigious venue.
Recently there has been lots of bad news happening in Burnt Oak. Murders, stabbings, brothels etc. I am chuffed that this play has come out now. It is a great reminder that the vast majority of people in Burnt Oak are decent people who just want to get on with their lives. The snooty members of Barnet Council etc look down their noses at the estate. As my grandparents lived at 55 Milling Road for most of their married lives, I hate such snobs. It was great hearing two Burnt Oak boys - Laurence and Robert Elms - discussing the estate on BBC London 94.9 in such warm positive terms. I just hope that in 30 years time we're talking about a new generation of people who've used their positive experiences on the estate to do great things.
So just how bad are things in The London Borough of Barnet?
... And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Then we have the childrens service. In Burnt Oak, which has some of the worst deprivation and social problems in London, we see Barnet shutting the youth centre to save cash.
Environment
.... And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
We have the Brent Cross Gassification plant as part of a development for thousands of people in rabbit hutch flats. We have the Pinkham Way nature reserve threatened by plans for an incinerator and Council depot for waste trucks. We have wanton destruction of green belt sites and conservation areas, with Barnet Council taking no enforcement action.
Social Division.
... And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell:
In Barnet we have three nations - the ruling elite. They get paid mega salaries (Nick Walkley CEO on > £200 K), insulated from all financial shocks. Then you have the ordinary working people trying to get by, paying ever higher taxes for ever less services. Lastly you have a burgeoning underclass. This is the city of nations, where people get stabbed and no one cares or stories like this - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/20/trafficked-girl-court-fight
Injustice.
... Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
We have the likes of Councillor Brian Coleman, who earns over £115,000 per year for a string of non jobs, yet lives in a home owned by the Methodist Church, designed for people on limited incomes.
Brian Coleman. One of the four horsemen of the Crapocalypse that has hit Barnet. The man who ripped out the road humps, so mototorists could get from Barnet to Burnt Oak 30 seconds quicker and seeing Barnet topping the road accident tables in London. The End of Civilisation part 1.
Councillor Robert Ramsbottom, the second horseman. The man responsible for transforming Barnet into a cultural wilderness. We judge great civilisations by their arts, by their crafts, by their legacy. Sheepsjacksie wants to shut libraries, cut funding for the arts depot and get rid of reference sections in the remaining libraries because some of the richer members of society have google on their Iphone.
Nick Walkley, CEO of Barnet Council (AKA Non Stick Nick) - the Third Horseman. The patron Saint of the cult of One Barnet. Mr Walkley IS THE STORY in Barnet. He's bigger than all the councillors, he's bigger than all the officers, in fact he is a towering presence, ushering in a brave new era. HE's the guy who signs off on all the One Barnet projects and he's the man who stays as Council Leaders pass through. With a click of his fingers, he could have called time on OneBarnet, but despite all the RED ink on all of the reports us bloggers continually report, Saint Nick believes.
Mike Freer MP - The Fourth Horseman. St Michael was converted to the beauty of Privatisation on a plane to Boston as part of the BT Vital Vision program. The Barnet Eye first exposed this in October 2008 and recently a few other bloggers finally caught on as to whats been going on recently - http://barneteye.blogspot.com/search?q=BT+vital+Vision - this was where all the trouble started.
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
I suspect that if this lot have their way, the First angel won't bother with Barnet. There won't be any trees or any green grass left.
(Note : For those of you who don't have a background in scriptures, the bits in italics are from the Book of Revelations, which Christians believe describes the Apocalypse).
Readers of this blog will be aware of the terrible news affecting Burnt Oak this week. One horrific murder and another stabbing are the top stories on the Edgware Times website. As if Burnt Oak hasn't suffered enough, Barnet Council are finishing the job. They really don't care about this area, one of the most deprived in Barnet.
This report - http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=10506 - details how Barnet Council are withdrawing Youth Services from Burnt Oak, as well as Hendon Youth base and Dollis Valley Rainbow Youth Centre. How on earth can anyone think this is a sensible policy, in light of the social problems exposed this week. The purpose? To save £1.65 million. To quote the report :-
Phase one of the Youth Offer project involved restructuring the service and
implementing a new service model bringing together funding streams, resources and
expertise of six youth support services; making the required savings and ensuring
that greater joined up working would reduce the risk of the most vulnerable young
people being adversely affected by the cuts.
The Youth Offer project has enabled savings of £1.65m in 2011/12 in accordance
with the medium term financial strategy.
The aim of the project is as follows:-
The new service: Youth Support Service aims to target provision and support across all services for young people and families, to those who are most vulnerable and at greatest risk of disengagement (e.g. involvement in crime, poor school attendance, unemployment, lack of qualifications or aspirations) and poor outcomes.
So hands up then . Who thinks shutting a youth centre in Burnt Oak in times of great financial hardship will achieve these aims? Well if you want to know, it says on the front page :-
Contact for further information:
Andrew Charlwood, Overview & Scrutiny Manager, Corporate Governance Directorate
020 8359 2014, andrew.charlwood@barnet.gov.uk
And who issued the report :-
Nandu Valji, Project Manager
Claire Johnston, One Barnet Programme Manager
If you wonder what all the fuss is about in Barnet when we talk about OneBarnet - read this bit of bolloxspeak - it's the conclusion of a report saying "Lets shut down a major part of the Borough's Youth service provision"
6. Conclusion
The project has performed against the objectives set out and agreed in the PID.Relevant project management documents (Business Case, Project Initiation Document (PID) and Project Plans) were in place, kept up to date and utilised throughout the project lifecycle. Any outstanding items have been identified and agreed between the project team and service lead and subsequently handed across to the service to deliver as business as usual.
It really is a shameful document. Just to remind you where the priorities in Barnet lie, when it comes to saving money. They shut Childrens centres, but the pay CEO Nick Walkley over £200,000 per annum and the contractor Andrew Travers, who is his deputy £14,000 a month. Can you guess how many senior officers are on over £100,000 a year? Let me tell you - enough to sack half of them all and save all these front line services. Guess how many senior officers have had a pay cut in these "difficult times" when we are "all in it together". This is why some of us write blogs in Barnet.
A recent article in the Daily Express, which featured an interview with Rolf Harris, mentioned the famous Hamster invasion of Burnt Oak. The story made national news with ITN covering the story. Sightseers came from far and wide. Some of them with ill intent. One came armed with an airgun and accidentally shot Burnt Oak Labour Councillor Jim Brophy (which made me reflect on the possibility of letting a few Hamsters loose in Totteridge). Enjoy
For a pleb, I'm rather lucky. I've met two Prime Ministers out on the campaign trail!
Only one was actually Prime Minister, my meeting with Lady Thatcher in 1974 (documented elsewhere in this blog) walking home from School occurred when she was merely MP for Finchley.
The other meeting occurred in 1979. James Callaghan was Prime Minister and he was on the campaign trail. I was pondering this visit and how times have changed. At the time, Hendon North was a safe Tory seat, with John Gorst as MP (would Brown bother with a safe Tory seat today). There are many parallels between 1979 and today. Callaghan and Brown were both not elected, they took over from people who had won three elections each (Wilson and Blair). They had both been involved in Labour governments which had huge fiscal crises (IMF Bailout and the Credit Crunch). They had both been viewed as good chancellors by the nation. They both were accident prone (Callaghan "Crisis, what crisis?". Brown - Bigotgate).
Having said that, there are differences. Callaghan was generally liked in the country. He wasn't seen as the problem. Most people preferred Callaghan to Thatcher personally at the time. He was a warm character, often called "Sunny Jim". They were just sick of the Labour government. The Liberals were seen as a minor irrelevence. They were expecting to get a dozen or so MP's and their only real hope of power was to hold the balance of power and force the introduction of PR, propping up a minority government. Today the Lib Dems are poised to get the largest number of seats since the second world war. Whilst Thatcher was a hard right Tory with a clear agenda and presented a clear change from Callaghans government, nobody really seems to know what David Cameron stands for (least of all himself).
Anyway, I was in the sixth form common room at Orange Hill Senior High School when someone said "Jim Callaghan is visiting the Labour hall in Burnt Oak to make a speech at midday". Myself, Boz Boorer, Phil Bloomberg and a few others immediately trudged off down. It's fair to say that some of us were more motivated by a desire to get on telly than any deeply held political views. As it turned out, the Prime Minister turned up an hour late. He was given a raptuous ovation for five minutes, then said "thanks for your support. I can tell you that we are going to win" and then left again. Outside a line of dignitaries was formed to shake hands, but we all pushed in front. The Prime Minister said as he shook hands "Thanks for all your hard work". I replied "my pleasure". We were given a roll of Labour stickers, which we went out and plastered the common room with. Phil Bloomberg then suggested we go out canvassing. We made our way up to the Stonegrove Estate and the first door Phil knocked on, when asked if he was voting Labour, replied "No mate, I'm National Front". At this Phil punched him in the face. A year or so later I was in a pub in Dean Street, The Sound and Vision, that had a video jukebox - probably the first in the country. They had "John, I'm only dancing" by the Polecats on - the band in which Phil Bloomberg played bass. As they were mates, I played the track. One of my mates, who was in a hard core, very political punk band said "Why are you playing this. I can't stand this sort of music". I relayed the Phil Bloomberg canvassing story and he said "Sorry mate, I stand corrected".
Times change. I'm pleased to say that I've not resorted to such measures in my campaign for the Lib Dems.
I wanted to show my appreciation for the efforts my beloved has put in for me recently. I am not the easiest of people to live with with. I'm moody, I take her for granted. We have three school age children and I have to juggle running three businesses (employing 9 people), playing football twice a week, playing guitar in a rock and roll band, writing a blog, standing for Barnet Council, being the trustee of a charity and setting up a youth music project for disaffected youngsters. My daughter is a national swimming champion so has to be taken to the pool and picked up eleven times a week (usually at ungodly hours).My son plays for an under 10 team (as well as the school team) and also needs carting around.
So whats all this got to do with Burnt Oak? Well as I said, I felt the need to show my appreciation. I wanted to cook her a rather nice meal. Now you may think that as there is a M&S at the end of my road in Mill Hill, it would be a simple matter of buying a few tasty dishes and bunging them in the oven for 10 minutes. A nice posh bunch of flowers and viola ! Instant appreciation. Oh yeah? Where's the effort and appreciation in that. Nope, if I want to show I care, a trip to Burnt Oak is order of the day. My wife doesn't eat meat, but loves fish. Whilst M&S does a great line in pre wrapped, pre packed fish, there are two fantastic fishmongers in Burnt Oak (three on a Saturday with the van at the Market). Sadly there isn't one in Mill Hill. A quick perusal of the items on sale and three beautifully fresh sea bass were selected. All for £5. Then next door to the greengrocer. Again, whilst M&S does fantastic pre prepared vegetables, they don't do what I needed. I wanted fresh Okra (ladiesfingers). These require a trip to Burnt Oak. An Aubergene and a lemon were also procured. £2.65 for the lot.
Having obtained all of the necessary ingredients, over the road to the flower shop. Now despite my artistic pretensions, I'm not much of a whizz on the old flower arrangements. For this, I turn to my middle daughter. She's the artist of the family. Sure, in Mill Hill you go in and you say "I'd like a nice bunch of flowers for the wife" and they say "that will be £50" and you get a magnificent spray. In the flower shop in Burnt Oak, you pick the individual flowers out of the buckets and they wrap them up for you. My daughter ensured I had a bunch far prettier and far superior to anything I could procure elsewhere, all perfectly blended to my wife's personal taste in colours.
Anyway, a dish was served up of Baked sea bass, spiced tomato and okra and fried aubergene and mushroom (in my very own sauce). The flowers have pride of place on our dining room table. Whilst shops such as M&S are superb and I'm glad to have one in Mill Hill, if you love food and you love cooking and you are serious about it, Burnt Oak is a goldmine. All of the shops are run by small traders, who work their nuts off for a living. People get on with their business and get on with each other. When I was a kid in the 1960's it was a white working class enclave. Places such as the Annunciation Church social club was the centre of the Irish Catholic community. Watling boys club hosted boxing and football. Stars such as Spurs Steve Perryman started their career there. Sadly both of these have long gone. Watling FC continues (my son plays football for them) at the Burnt Oak lesuire centre, but the clubhouse is derelict. Pavillion Way playing fields lay derelict and the market is on it's last legs. Why does this matter? What do youngsters do when they are bored, skint and demotivated? Well, everyone is different but some drift down the wrong path in life.
Burnt Oak has changed, but it is the most vibrant and edgy high street in the Borough. It has the best selection of small shops and the best selection people (it probably has the most culturally diverse make up of anywhere in Barnet) . It makes me sick to the core how Barnet Council neglects this community. My advice to anyone living in Mill Hill, who is struggling to make ends meet on a budget. Check out the shops in Burnt Oak. If you like fresh food you'll be amazed at what you can get there.
We have a Mill Hill Preservation Society, a fine organisation dedicated to keeping Mill Hill a green, pleasant, leafy town. We need a Burnt Oak preservation society as well. This should have a very different mission. To protect and develop facilities such as Pavillion way, Watling Boys club and the other facilities. Most of all it needs to preserve the community spirit in Burnt Oak.
As regular readers of this blog will know, we like something different at the weekend. Have you ever wondered what Hell is really like? We have the vision of Dante's inferno style of hell, the fire and brimstone vision such as proclaimed by tub thumping preachers. Being a good Catholic boy, it is quite noticable how we never much hear about hell in the pulpit these days. In the good old days of the sixties and seventies, when I was a youngster, we'd be scared to death with images of Satan and Hell.
Sometime in the late 1970's or early 1980's, I was having a beer with my Uncle Jim. He was a real larger than life character, a WWII veteran of D-Day, a father of 10 children and owner of local building firm. He was one of the world leading armchair philosophers and like all of the Fanning family, a great raconteur. He could conjour up vivid visions with his words, and make some of the most seemingly trivial incidents seem to be world changing events of monumental proportions. He used to brew his own beer and for a skint teenager was a great source of an evenings entertainment.
One evening as we chatted (well he chatted and we all listened), he announced. "You know all of these stories of hell and fire are rubbish. Hell isn't like that at all". I asked curiously "How do you know". He replied "Because I've seen hell and it isn't hot and crowded, quite the opposite". I was intrigued. Did this happen on the beaches at D-Day? No he replied, it happened on a dark, cold, foggy night in Burnt Oak during the blackout. Jim explained that he was back from the front on leave and he'd arranged to meet up with a few mates for a beer. One thing had lead to another and a little pub crawl had occurred. At chucking out time, Jim merrily toddled off into the smoggy, dank night air. After a short while walking, he realised that he'd taken a wrong turn or two and was completely lost. Nothing moved, no lights were on, he could hardly see five yards. One hour turned into two, two into three, three into four. Cold set in, fingers, ears, toes. There was not a soul on the street. Every house looked forebidding and alien. The mixture of disorientation, cold, dark, loneliness and tiredness started to play tricks on his mind. What if he'd died at the front and imagined everything since. What if he was in purgatory or even worse hell? He knew Burnt Oak like the back of his hand, but everywhere looked alien. What if there wasn't a home? What if he was to spend an eternity wandering lost around the streets of Burnt Oak, looking for home, looking for family, looking for friends. He said as he trudged, feeling ever more miserable, he realised Hell wasn't a place of fire and swrming crowds, it was a cold lonely place with no home, no family and no friends. Somewhere where you were isolated from the things you loved forever, trudging searching in the dark and the cold. Exhausted he stopped and sat down, distraught at this awful realisation. Then in the distance he hear a noise and realised that it was something moving on the local railway line. Overjoyed he knew that if he headed in that direction, he could find his way home. The trainline was located and soon the welcoming door of 55 Milling Road, had been located. As he entered the door, his father (my Grandad) asked "Where've you been, the pub shut hours ago?" Jim replied "I got lost in the fog and dark". Grandad replied "You stupid bugger". He then made him a cup of tea and they chatted for a while by the fire. Jim tld me that after the cold, dark outside, a warm fire and a mug of tea with the family seemed like heaven.
Jim told me that the feeling of being lost, lonely and cold was one he never ever wanted to experience again. You may wonder what brought this to mind? Well I was thinking about the situation in Haiti with the Earthquake and someone describing it as hell on Earth. At our Church this evening, they had a collection for the appeal and I was pleased to see a whole selection of notes of different colours. As we had a sermon asking us to think of the victims I thought of Uncle Jim, who died many years ago and his experience of hell in Burnt Oak. That is what the people of Haiti are feeling, bit they aren't drunks in the smog. Their local town really has changed. Their homes have gone, whole neighbourhoods of families and friends have been wiped out. For many, they will be cold for days, months or even years. If Hell is as Jim said being "cold, lonely, lost, hungry, thirsty and without a home, a friend or a family" then the least we can do is spare a little of our cash to change the bits of that we can change, such as the cold, hunger and thirst. That is why I stuck every spare penny I had in my wallet in the collection for DEC. I just wish I we could fix the things money can't solve as well.
Picture : The long gone Burnt Oak cinema. A landmark from a time gone by
The initiative - called ‘Free after Three’ – will give residents free parking on all council pay and display machines and in all council car parks. It will run from Monday 7 December to Sunday 3 January 2010.
Sadly there was a little piece of smallprint that many people missed
Other parking restrictions, such as single and double yellow lines, and residents’ parking zones, will still apply.
As a result of this, many traders in Burnt Oak found that their customers cars were ticketed by traffic wardens when various restrictions in the area kicked in at 5.30pm. The one group who were fully aware of this were the wardens who turned up en mass at 5.30 and issued stacks of tickets. Parking restrictions and yellow lines were originally brought in to keep the traffic flowing and stop dangerous parking. Now it is a cash cow for local authorities. Barnets Conservative administration makes a song and dance of its "motorist friendly" policy. By this they mean removing road humps on side roads. When it comes to milking motorists for every last penny, they are decidedly unfriendly. Barnet make more in parking fees and fines than any other Borough. Like many people in Barnet, I have to pay for a parking permit. For the privelidge of the right to park outside my house between 10am and 11am, I pay for an annual permit. I pay the same as other residents where the restriction applies between 9am and 5pm. In effect I pay for a parking regulation scheme for Marks and Spencers car park overspill in Mill Hill Broadway. I accept that Barnet Council has to regulate it's parking, but it seems to me that the very last consideration in all of this is the motorist. I wonder how much grit the £3.5 raised by these dodgy schemes would buy. I think we'd find it easier to stomach if we knew that the money was put back into roads. Given the number of pot holes in Barnets streets it is clear that this is the last thing they'd actually spend the money on.
If you were the leader of Barnet Council and you decided to start a program called Leader Listens and you promoted this as a chance for regular people to engage directly with the council leader, and you only had to fit around one visit a month in, would you bother to turn up? Well it seems that if the meeting is in Burnt Oak and your name is Mike Freer, the answer is clearly NO. You send your bagman - Matthew Offord - (check Leader Listens for full details and video of this charade).
Now as the scheme is Mike Freer's baby, you think he'd be able to plan the meetings so that he could be there. The sessions aren't called Leader and Deputy Listen. They are not called "A bloke from the Council Listens" they are not even called "Leader Listens if he can be bothered to turn up". The sessions are quite clearly called "Leader Listens". Now if I'd put off a hot date or given up a pre Christmas night out with the boys to engage with Council Leader Mike Freer and he sent a lackey along, I'd feel pretty cheated. You see if the Leader is there, you know he's heard what you have to say. If you tell Deputy Dawg what is troubling you, our great leader can say "Oh, Matthew in the middle was very naughty and forgot to tell me".
So what is it about Burnt Oak which means that Mike can't be bothered to go? I put this question to the Burnt Oak Society of Jedi Knights and after 3 days meditation on this issue they suggested the following possible options:-
a) Mike Freer is a snob and wouldn't be seen dead in a working class area such as Burnt Oak. b) Mike Freer got a better offer and went somewhere else c) Matthew Offord did the session as Burnt Oak is in the constituency he's standing in for Parliament.
So lets explore these options.
a) Well if this is true it's terrible. The voters of Burnt Oak deserve the same treatment as everyone else.
b) There is no mention in the minutes of an apology from Freer, so we can assume he either hadn't had a better offer or he is too bad mannered to offer an apology. Not the standard of behaviour we'd like from a council leader.
c) It seems to me that Freer and Offord have form on this. I attended the Mill Hill Leader listens session (again in Hendon Constituency). Offord took this session as well. If Offord and Freer are divvying up the sessions according to who's constituency they are in, I'd say that could be an abuse of public funds to gain an electoral advantage. Candidates are not allowed to abuse their position to gain an unfair advantage. As opposition councillors candidates are excluded from these meetings on the grounds that the purpose is engagement with the Council leader, use of the forum for party political advantage would clearly be deemed "out of order".
The only way to clear this up is for Mike Freer to post an explanation as to why Offord took the Burnt Oak and Mill Hill Sessions and he took the Finchley and Golders Green sessions (in his constituency).
The only crumb of comfort I would take from this, if I were an opposition candidate is that from what I saw of Offord at the Mill Hill Leader Listens session, he is completely useless.
I raised 3 points with him
1) The fact that the council had failed to chop down a tree on their property which was damaging my mothers flat. A week later they dispatched a team and chopped the wrong tree down.
2) Illegal turns onto Mill Hill Broadway from Goodwyn Avenue. Offord confirmed that this had been monitored and that 300 offences a day were occurring. I asked what he intended to do and he said nothing. I asked if this would change if someone got run over. He said "It might then".
3) Improvements to Bunns Lane Car Park. Offord said he would investigate this and report back to me. I'm still waiting. It must be a very thorough investigation, having taken over a year.
So there you go. If you live in Hendon Constituency, you don't get the Leader Mike Freer - he can't be bothered. You get Captain Useless - Matthew Offord. I just hope that the voters in Finchley, Golders Green and Hendon see through this charade.
Harrow MPS
Layla
Evening Standard
Donald Lyven
Londonist
NorthWest LondonACF
Ruby Barker
MillHillMusicComplex
