Sunday service at St Michaels Church in Mill Hill to mark the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the RAF

My Fathers Squadron badge

This Sunday sees the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the RAF. It is no exaggeration to say that without the sacrifice and courage of the pilots of the RAF, the concept of free speech, democracy and equality would not exist today. The efforts of the few, as mentioned by Winston Churchill in his famous address to the houses of Parliament on 20 August 1940, where he said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" was the turning point in the second world war. 

Hendon is the spirtitual home of the RAF and has a long association with the service as well as the history of aviation as well as housing the amazing RAF museum.  I was rather surprised that the London Borough of Barnet had not planned a civic service to mark the event. My enquiries to various councillors were met with a response of "we are leaving it to the RAF museum to do all that" (click here for their events calendar). This is a matter that is close to my heart.

My father was a bomber pilot with no. 40 Squadron of the RAF. Bomber command suffered 55,000 casualaties during the second world war. For their efforts, they went unrecognised. My father died in 1987, without even receiving a campaign medal, despite flying 40 active service missions, being shot down, losing his best friend Spud Murphy (see below) rear gunner in the process.

I published my fathers war diary from 1944 several years ago to mark Remembrance Sunday. It is a remarkable document, mixing tragedy with moments of fun. Here is a short extract. Quite chilling really.

Mon 7th Bombed Padria Italy 9X500HE. Bombs fell right on Marshalling yards full of trucks (target). Jimmy Keily and crew missing. Arrived back at 06.00 slept all day 

Wed 9th - Went to Barletta. enjoying wine tasting almost as much as we bought. Blagged our way through the door. Soaked on the way back

Thurs 10th - Innoculations for Typhus today. testing aircraft 

Sun 13th - did two trips to Anzio - dropped 36 X 250lb HE bombs. Had bad weather freezing -29C Spud (rear gunner) had almost to be chiselled out of his box. Hope 36 X 250lb bombs did good work on the Jerries.

Thur 17th - Flying Kit stolen. 1 Blue Kit bag. 1 Leather helmet, 1 pr Gauntlets, 1 Suit, 1 pr shoes, 1 pr Sunglasses, 1 pr sick gloves. Bombed San Stefano. Had trouble all the way with 'B' but made grade OK. Brought back a perfect photo of Target.

Fri 18th - Went to flight and told 1-B had been repaired. Ken Lyon was blown up on take off in 'B' - the kite I had the previous night.

My father in flying suit

What is perhaps most poignant for me is the way that the tragic entries are interspersed with the tales of fun and frolics. The crews were quite clearly living under the  shadow of death, which could strike at almost any time.
Whilst my father was remarkable, he was just one of 125,000 airmen who served. Each was as remarkable in their own way. Recalling them, I realise we are all standing on the shoulders of giants.

I discussed the anniversary with Fr Steven Young at St Michael and All Angels church. I mentioned my Fathers service and how I'd like to see the anniversary marked in Mill Hill.  He kindly asked me to attend the Easter Sunday mass at St Michael & All Angels church and lead a prayer remembering the valour and sacrifice of the RAF. For me this is a great honour. The service will be held at 10am this Sunday.

At the moment, the issue of anti semitism is a hot topic. Without the sacrifices of the aircrew of the RAF, their would be no debate to be had. I sincerely hope that as many people as possible who wish to pay tribute to the RAF can come along. I believe that to build a better future, we need to have an appreciation of the past and the sacrifices of those that helped us build such a free and fair society.

The big Barnet Eye project for 2018!

I was interviewed by a national paper five years ago, in regards to why I write the Barnet Eye blog. As often happens, the quotes they attributed to me were the ones I felt least important. One question they asked and did not publish was "what do you hope to achieve?". Well I've had four years to think about it. Here are the answers!

I have four political goals and one person goal for the blog. The four political goals are as follows.

1. To Persuade the councillors running Barnet Council that they can run a better organisation if they listen to local people.
2. To persuade the councillors running Barnet Council that they will be better able to do their job if they do their homework and read the background paperwork.
3. To persuade the people of Barnet that they need to make their voices heard.
4. To make sure the people of Barnet value the fantastic things our Borough has to offer, so we don't easily give them up, when vested interests wave cash or use influence to try and take them away.


The personal goal is as follows.
1. To write an entertaining and informative blog, that I personally can be proud of.

Now of course, a blogger cannot change anything, a blogger can only write a blog and hope that other people connect with it, enough to do something about the points raised. This blog has a track record of extraordinary success in doing this. One of the things which historically has been a strength is the guest blogs we publish. These always reach a wide audience. I have some excellent ones coming up, so watch this sI also produced two films (A Tale of Two Barnets and Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble) both of which gained national TV coverage and both packed the Phoenix cinema. I am starting work on a new project,to coincide with our tenth anniversary next year. This will catalog ten years of Barnet blogging. This film will be rather different to the last two. They were made for a specific goal, in a campaign. The new film will be a different beast, a far more thoughtful and less polemic film.

I really want to show more of what is good in Barnet. It would be great to get some proper interviews with the local politicians, but I really don't think most really 'get' what the blog is about. However most of it wont be about politics, most will simply be about what a great place we've got and the people who make it so good. That is the plan, it should be done by next May!

Here's a just few things I'd like to feature, although this will no doubt change as the project evolves.

Saracens, the best rugby club in Europe and a huge asset.
Mill Hill Music Complex, North West Londons leading music studios.
The University of London Observatory.
The Chandos Arms, Colindale, finalist for UK community pub of the year.
Thameslink and The Northern Line
Barnet museum and The RAF museum
The Arts Depot
The Bull Theatre
St Paul's Church and the Wilberforce legacy

I'd also like to look back on a few changes.
The closure of Church Farmhouse museum
Parking Issues
The Railway hotel in Edgware
Redevelopments in Colindale and Brent Cross
The Torrington

And finally, a look at various subcultures in our midst. Sound good?

RAF museum gets £500K from Barnet Council and Brian Coleman loses the plot!

One of the real jewels in the crown of our Borough is The RAF museum in Hendon. I am rather biased as my father was an RAF bomber pilot. The museum houses the last intact example of a Wellington bomber, of the type flown by my Dad. Visits are always something of a pilgrimage for me.

Having said that, the museum is not stuck in the past. It has hosted concerts for the Mill Hill Music Festival and staged 'An evening with Sylvia Anderson' event which was a truly memorable event.

All of my children benefitted from this world class facility on our doorstep. Barnet Council has a history of destroying such assets, with the closure of Church Farmhouse museum.

I was therefore very pleased to see that Barnet Council has given the museum a £500,000 grant to assist with its development. This was announced in a tweet by the deputy Leader of Barnet Council Dan Thomas.

'Last night, @BarnetCouncil ARG committee recommended £500k be awarded to @RAFMUSEUM to go towards its exciting centenary redevelopment.'

Imagine my surprise and disgust when I saw that disgraced, convicted Criminal and former colleague of Dan Thomas, Brian Coleman weighed in, with a tweet in reply making sarcastic comments in relation to how the deal may have been struck.

'@RAFMUSEUM @BarnetCouncil I am sure this has nothing to do with (masonic) lobbying  between certain Trustees and certain Cllr's'

My guess is that Coleman, who is a well known Rotarian is probably smarting as his own efforts to get cash for his own pet projects was not met with quite so much generosity.

Coleman clearly has no grounds to post such a bitchy tweet, as he knows full well how to report any underhand dealings or shenanigans. He has cleverly constructed  his barbed message to inflict the maximum damage on the reputations of the trustees and his former colleagues, in a manner that is unlikely to have any legal comeback.

For the record I am not a Mason or in any way associated with the museum. I simply find Brian Colemans comments sickening. I sincerely hope that his fellow local Rotarians will finally see through this horrible little man and recognise just how damaging he is to their reputation.

It is a very good thing that the Council has chosen to support such an important cultural site in the Borough. Brian Coleman received sums far in excess of £500,000 in the course of his spectacularly unsuccessful political career. Unlike that cash, this will bring enjoyment to tens of thousands of residents of the Borough. When will this awful man finally get the hint and put a sock in it?

A graphic illustration at just how crap Barnet Council are at Town Planning

Guess what? Did you know that The London Borough of Barnet has one of the worlds finest museums located within it's boundaries. People travel from all around the world to visit it? I am of course talking about the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon. And guess what happens when Tourists try and visit? They find it rather difficult, because there is no direct train service from London to the Museum. Now you may say "Well you can't just put a Train line in because there's a museum there". Nope, quite agree, but if there is one running along the back of it, how hard is it to add a Station. Are yes you say, but isn't that a bit OTT just for one of the worlds finest museums (well actually you probably wouldn't, but you know what I mean). Well if you've just built a new Town centre next to at and you have a large school and a college next door to it as well, becomes a bit of a compelling case. Here's a map to illustrate the point :-

Just in case you think there's not enough room in the cutting, here's Mill Hill Broadway, a mile and a bit up the road.

How thick do you have to be to not realise that all of the new flats in the developments on the site of the old RAF camp would be worth far more if there was a station with a link to the City right on the doorstep? I think that a visit to the RAF museum, to learn about the brave heroes who saved the country from a bunch of slobbering Nazis should be a compulsory trip for all Londoners, given that London took the worst of the Blitz. I also think that if they visited by train it would be cleaner, greener and healthier.

Sadly with a numpty like Brian Coleman in charge of Transport in Barnet, there is as much chance of that as there is of me becoming the next Pope.

Great Train Journeys of the World

I read with interest Dave Hills blog this week about going on a nostalgic tube journey on an old Red tube train. Generally I don't do nostalgia, but reading Dave Hill's article reminded me of all sorts of long buried memories. One of my greatest regrets as a father is that I can't take my children on the greatest train ride of them all. When I was a little kid, the biggest treat was when my mum used to take us home on the "big train" from St Pancras to Mill Hill Broadway.

In the 60's & 70's this journey was usually on a clanky old diesel railbus. These were bright blue with a yellow front. I'd drag my mum to the very front of the train. If you were lucky, the driver would not put the blinds down and you could see the oncoming tracks. The highlight was the stretch between Kentish Town and West Hampstead. On this stretch you go through the Belsize tunnel. We'd always play the game of "who can see the end of the tunnel first". The tunnel is over a mile long and the journey through would seem to take about 10 minutes, with the end emerging through a misty haze after about 8 minutes. On one rather spooky journey, the lights were off all of the way, so it was like a scary fairground ride. I always imagined that zombies and monsters inhabited the tunnel, why I really don't know. Another bit of the journey which I used to like was the section between Hendon and Mill Hill, just before Aerodrome road. Here the line branches off, goes under a rail flyover and has a steep bank to one side that for a few weeks a year is covered in the most glorious wild flowers. In the early days of my life in the 60's, you would emerge from this to see Hendon RAF base on your right, with all manner of the latest military planes. To a young boy, this truly was the worlds greatest train ride. These days you get a glimpse of the RAF Museum at Hendon and then a lovely view of Grahame Park estate.

I vividly remember one day, when we arrived at St Pancras and my mum excitedly announced that she had a special treat. Rather than the rickety old diesel railcar, we were going on a "proper train" with an engine & carriages. It was an express, first stop Mill Hill. It was one of the old style rail carriages with compartments. The carriages then were maroon and the engine was green. The seats had a sort of tartan pattern. I imagined that the train had specially been brought down from Scotland to ferry us to Mill Hill. I asked my mum why it was first stop Mill Hill. She said "because we live there". After that I always thought British Rail was a rather marvellous and caring organisation.

These days, when I take the Thameslink, I don't have the same magical feeling. Whilst I'm rather pleased to seethe train come, it really isn't the same. Is it just because I'm a world weary adult? Having said that, I did make a magical rail journey a few years ago. I was in Stratford and my sister had just had her youngest son and was in the Royal Free. I took the North London Line from Stratford to Hampstead Heath. It was a sunny/cloudy winters afternoon and the sun was just setting. There is a section of the North London line which is raised above street level and I was treated to the most magnificent views of London bathed in the most glourious evening sun. I didn't have my camera, but I've vowed to repeat the journey one day and record it for posterity. How I'd arrange the weather, I don't know. As a lover of craggy urban scene's that is, to my mind one of the worlds greatest train journeys.

One thing which I thought was quite interesting was the lack of pictures of the smelly old diesel railbuses at St Pancras when I was looking for a picture. I guess that people don't hold them in the same affection that I do. I suppose they don't fit in with modern image of Eurostars and champagne bars, which seems to have taken over the St Pancras experience. Personally, I think I preferred it when you could get a pint of real ale in the Shires pub as you waited for you train home.