Still Standing – Colindale’s Hidden Aircraft Factory - A guest film and blog by Mark Amies

Did you know that the worlds largest aircraft factory was situated in Colindale in 1918? It even had it's own railway service. This short film and blog by local industrial historian Mark Amies tells the story.

For the hundreds of people who pass by the Kwik Fit motorists’ centre on the A5 at Colindale, the building
is just another anonymous ‘tin shed’ , that could easily have been put up in the last forty years, but its past is far more interesting. This building is the last part of what was, in World War One, the World’s largest aircraft factory.

Colindale is a place that has seen great change, with the building of high density apartment complexes over the last decade, and it would seem this will continue for many more years. But back in the early 1900’s Colindale was just another part of semi-rural Middlesex. What we now know as the A5, the Edgware Road, the old Roman Road also known as Watling Street, was a semi-made highway, with tracks for the electric tram service. 

The industry that Colindale became known for in the following decades, first arrived with the building of Garstin’s leather goods factory, in 1901. Over the years the name of the company has been wrongly recorded as ‘Garston’s’, but as this link to the ever reliable Grace’s Guide will show,  it is how I have spelt it https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/A._Garstin_and_Co.

However it was the birth of aviation that was to change Colindale’s fortunes. The piece of land we now know as Grahame Park, was one of the UK’s very first aerodromes, developed by the pioneer, Claude Grahame-White from 1911. Given that the nearest area of note was Hendon, it is as ‘Hendon Aerodrome’, that it became known, but in essence it is Colindale. The site became an important venue for flyers, and really became the place to come to, if you were young, wealthy and ‘with it’. 

However the clouds of war were gathering, and a number of individuals, Grahame-White included, were aware that the aeroplane could be an important instrument of warfare, another was George Holt Thomas, whose family had associations with newspaper industry, and had been interested in aviation for a number of years.  He set up the rather grandly-titled Aircraft Manufacturing Company, also known as ‘Airco’, and around 1912, he decided to build a factory at Colindale beside the Edgware Road.  Holt Thomas had been very astute in his thinking, as the start of the Great War, two years later, would see Airco’s factory complex grow as the conflict wore on. If you want to get a feel for the size of the operation, basically its territory started at its main office block , which is now the Beis Yaakov Primary School, and ran northwards on both sides of the road up to where the current Mercedes-Benz showrooms are now.  The aerial image below taken by Airco shows how things were 100 years ago.

Airco was where the series of Geoffrey De Havilland-designed combat aircraft were made, starting with the DH2 and finishing with the DH10. These aircraft were amongst the most successful of the Allied aerial inventory, and a high attrition rate meant that Airco were, at their height, producing a finished aircraft every 45 minutes. 

Once World War One ended, Airco went into decline and was sold off to the mighty Birmingham Small Arms Company. The individual factory buildings were taken over by a variety of businesses over the following years, the largest going to General Motors to assemble trucks, and then their Frigidaire white goods.  As the decades passed the separate parts of this once might aeroplane complex were demolished and built over, but against all odds one survived….  

The building that is used by Kwik Fit was one of the very first erected by Airco. Its four sides are constructed from brick, and the twin-pitched roofs are held up by steel girders. To an untrained eye there is nothing remarkable about the building. This is down to the way the structure has been adapted over its lifespan, with the whitewashing of the brick ends, and the use of modern steel cladding over its frontage. Take a look at the image below, taken in the winter of 1917, to see how it was.

You can see the line of factory workers literally held in wooden pens, waiting for their trams, this being Annesley Avenue.  All the windows you can see were bricked in, but, today if you look carefully, it is possible to make out their shapes. 

Quite when Kwik Fit took over the building, I have no idea, but the years between that point and 1920, when Airco finished with it, had seen a number of tenants. One of the first appears to have been TF Bristow, who made soaps and beauty products, as shown in the invaluable Grace’s Guide - https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/T._F._Bristow_and_Co

There is a very good series of images to be seen on Historic England’s ‘Britain from Above’ web resource, which shows the factory building in the post-war years , and this particular one, when you zoom in , you can see the Bristow signage https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW024761

So, after the rest of the huge Airco complex has been swept away by modern developments, you would hope that this last element of North West London’s contribution to World War One industrial history would be valued. You would assume that it was listed by Historic England. Well, sadly you would assume wrongly, because it is not. 

A few months back I made an enquiry to Historic England about the Airco factory and this was the reply I got from their London and South East Regions Group Business Officer –

“The building is not nationally listed, but it may be offered some level of protection if the local planning authority adds it to a formally adopted list of local heritage assets. While local listing provides no additional planning controls, the fact that a building or site is on a local list means that its conservation as a heritage asset is an objective of the National Planning Policy Framework and a material consideration when determining the outcome of a planning application. Therefore I would advise you to contact Barnet Council’s Conservation Officer at planning.enquiry@barnet.gov.uk .

I draw your attention to our webpage where you can find further information on the designation of heritage assets, including listing (https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/hpg/heritage-assets/).”

So what do you think? I would hope that if you have got to this point in my article that you probably do care, and some of you may be outraged that the building is not listed. Less than ten years ago , the RAF Museum nearby worked with the developer of the Beaufort Park estate to physically deconstruct and rebuild the 1915 Grahame-White Watch Office building , on its site on the former RAF Hendon. That was important, so why isn’t the last element of Airco’s mighty aircraft complex equally deserving?

So here is where you stop being a passive reader of my words, and an active participant of local heritage. Contact Barnet Council’s Conservation Officer, and ask for the building to be treated as a local heritage asset. Go one step further, contact your local MP, and demand they take action. 

Your area’s local heritage is in your hands people, act now, or lose it.

Copyright , Mark Amies, December 2019  - All heritage images copyright Barnet Local Archives 

If you liked this, I did write similar articles in a blog I created a few years back –

https://pastrewind.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/colindale-from-high-flyers-to-high-rises-2/

https://pastrewind.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/colindales-forgotten-railway/

And I have included Airco in my book ‘London’s Industrial Past’ , which will be published by Amberley in April 2020 - https://www.waterstones.com/book/londons-industrial-past/mark-amies/9781445698021

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Mark Amies lives in Edgware and is a regular guest blogger at The Barnet Eye. He has several Twitter accounts, notably @YesteryearTweet  and @Time_Nw - Guest blogs are always welcome at The Barnet Eye.

The Teenies - The decade of stupidity

We entered the decade with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister. We leave it with Boris Johnson. As I write this, Robert Elms has announced that he's asking listeners to his BBC Radio London show to compile their songs of the decade. Lets start on a positive note and look at music. This has been great  this decade and we've seen a long awaited revival of live music. Check out my top ten tunes of the decade. Apart from Gabriella Cilmi and Bowie, I saw all of these songs performed live. That played a big role in my choice. The Bowie song is sadly the last classic he'll write. The best song from Blackstar



It is reassuring to know that great music is still being made.

Sadly there has been little else to commend the decade. This has been the decade of social media. The decade where we decided that the most important thing in the world was to insult and get angry with complete strangers. It was the decade when we learned the world was in a climate crisis and our very existence was threatened, but we chose to do nothing about it. It was a decade when we elected governments who believe that the way to deal with economic decline was to shrink the economy. This was the decade when we decided our greatest treasures, our elderly and vulnerable should be thrown to the wolves in the name of cost cutting. It was the decade where we decided that the way to deal with homelessness was to build luxury flats to sell to offshore investors. It was the decade where we decided that the answer to our obesity crisis was to cut school budgets, resulting in children being fed crisps and chocolates for lunch in unhealthy packed lunches rather than healthy, nutritionally balanced school meals. It is the decade where Presidents of the United States of America govern via Twitter, insult school age girls who dare to care about the planet and think the destruction of national parks is wise. I'm no Boris fan, but if you think logically about it, he's not Trump, he's not Kim Il Jong, he's not Putin, he's not Xi Jinping, he's not Bashar Al-Assad. Let's keep it all in proportion. I didn't vote for him, but I read yesterday that he's said he's not going to lift the foxhunting ban, so there may be a few mercy's granted. When I write this same blog at the end of the next decade, it will be interesting to see. Whether Boris will continue the stupidity of the last ten years or try an carve a new path, we will just have to wait and see.

As for sport, this was the decade when television really took over. Yesterday we had the first "Amazon Prime" boxing day. I believe this was ultimate folly. This will destroy football. Manchester United were playing Newcastle, a real juicy fixture, yet there were empty seats galore. Sadly it was the decade when Rugby decided to follow the same path. The money has destroyed the old football clubs. The greedy owners of the Man Uniteds and Arsenals thought that they were untouchable, decided to set up the Premier league to forever entrench their dominance. The teenies were the decade when the chickens came home to roost for them. Only Liverpool seemed to stay in touch with their fan base. My team, Manchester City are unrecognisable from the shambolic outfit that started the decade. In a mad world, they are a good team to support, but in truth, I'd go back to the 1970's where any team could win and any team could get relegated.

And then there is the London Borough of Barnet. If there is an epicentre of stupidity in local government the UK, it must surely be here. This has been the decade of Capita. Despite it being 100% clear that the outsourcing has miserably failed, the administration that brought it in was re-elected with a massive increase in the number of Councillors. Of course this was nothing to do with anything other than people seeing Labour as anti semitic and unelectable and deciding to kick the local party, quite rightly, square in the nuts. Of all the organisations which one could deem stupid, the Labour party in Barnet must surely ran very near the top. In three council elections in a row, and four general elections, they have run exactly the same campaign, with exactly the same result every time. In 1992, when they had Alan Williams, a sane, rational and effective leader, non aggression pacts were quietly agreed in key seats, resulting in the Tories being booted out of the council. At the election three weeks ago, Labour decided that it was more worthwhile flooding Finchley and Golders Green with activists, where they had no chance of winning, but could stop the Lib Dems ejecting Mike Freer, rather than throwing everything at Chipping where they probably would have won with an effective campaign. Sadly, I take no pleasure in admitting the Lib Dems played the same game. Boris had the brains to neuter the Brexit Party. I hope Nigel Farage enjoys his peerage. It didn't have to be like this. In the 2012 GLA elections, grassroots campaigners worked together to boot out Brian Coleman, a Tory with a 20,000 seat majority. Labour drew exactly the wrong conclusion, deciding that they won because people thought they were marvellous, than nurturing the fragile coalition of local groups that had turned out to help. Before the 2014 election, the four local bloggers attended a meeting with the local Labour bosses and trades unions to ask how we could help their campaign. We have a huge local readership and were expecting some sort of informal channel where we would be briefed on local campaign themes and events. We got asked if we could deliver leaflets. For the record, I was not a member of any party at the time. I let my membership of the Lib Dems lapse during the coalition years. I rejoined in 2015 after Camerons victory, having decided that local Labour were simply too stupid to bother to support. I believe that the local Tories are actually completely useless and are there for the taking, if the opposition ever gets its act together, but there is only a slightly better chance of that than Boris giving me a peerage.

Finally, a few words about the local blogosphere. The decade saw the Rise and Fall of the Barnet bloggers. At the end of 2009, there was myself, John Dix and Vicki Morris blogging, but not really working together. In 2010 Theresa Musgrove took my advice and started her own blog. In 2011 Derek Dishman joined in the fun. Between 2011 and 2016, we made quite a name for ourselves. Vicki moved out of Barnet and gradually the harmony and collaboration has dried up. There was virtually no blogging by the other bloggers about the election. John and Derek managed zero on the topic of the election and Theresa Musgrove managed one, supporting the Pyrrhic Labour campaign in Finchley and Golders Green that ensured a Tory victory.  I am loath to criticise my fellow bloggers, but it was yet another symptom of the general malaise that has desceneded over Barnet. Of course none of them may have been in the slightest bit interested in the outcome of the election, but we all have a platform. I did my bit on the blogging front, I believe that as I have a platform it should be used. I will say no more other than it is a fitting end to the decade of stupidity.

This year, we booked the Midland Hotel for the Barneteye awards before the election was on the horizon. When we found out that it was the day after, I had a huge dilemma, knowing that it would be completely overshadowed. Do I cancel or do we go ahead. As we celebrate our local hero's I decided that going ahead was the only decent thing to do. It was a great night. As I saw the amazing people we awarded, I realised that this is worth while.

I  hope and I pray that the next decade is better, I hope that as a race we grow up and start treating our planet as we should do. I will do my bit whether ten people or ten million read the blog. I'd like to think it is one thing I do ok, we'll that and write tunes! Here's one I co wrote, please have a listen, I think it's rather good

Am I the luckiest man alive?

Regular readers of this blog might think 'Oi Oi, he's been on the sherry a bit to much over Christmas' reading this. Those familiar with my blogs on my issues with dyslexia and cancer, those who have shared my despair at the lack of justice I see in society, those who see some of the rather nasty and at times deranged posts of people I've upset over the years, who still regularly snipe away. Having read these you may think 'what's he got to be happy about?'. But friends who know me know that I am an unrelenting optimist and if I count my blessings they outweigh the negatives, by a magnitude of a million. I have come to see dyslexia as a gift. Had I had a normal brain, I would probably, like my siblings, excelled at school, not felt the sense of alienation when I was 14 that made me embrace punk rock music. I would probably be a self satisfied, successful middle aged man, in a boring job, smugly counting the days down until I got my pension. I wouldn't be running a music studio and playing music in a rock and roll band. I may have had another 0 on the end of my bank balance, but I have no doubt I'd be less happy.

Then there is living with cancer. This was a massive change in my life and hangs over my head like the sword of Damocles. I have come to accept it as a massive wake up call. I am lucky in that I have few symptoms, apart from a need to use the toilet rather regularly. You may think this is simply superstitious claptrap, but I have come to view it as a gift from God, the lifestyle changes I've made have undoubtedly improved my general health and happiness. I was supremely lucky to have been diagnosed during a 'well man checkup'. Dr Cuttell at Mill Hill Surgery suggested an MOT when I went to get a football injury checked out. He said "we recommend that as you are around 50 years old we give you a once over'. That gave me the chance to keep an eye on the situation and take action when there were problems. If that is not lucky, I don't know what is. If I'd not twisted my knee and seen Dr Cuttell, who knows where I'd be now.

As for the dark moments, when I feel down over the lack of justice in our society. I often wish I didn't care, but I would never want to be someone who draws the curtains and forgets those on the margins. I try and do what I can, I could certainly do far more. But my volunteering with HCPT and The Passage has brought me into contact with some truly wonderful people. I have written before that real Superheroes don't wear capes and have special powers. They are simply ordinary people who do extraordinary things. The honour I have to have met so many, some through this blog is immense. My despair is always about the fact that I feel I constantly let them down, by not trying a little harder. It is another great gift to have been privileged to have met so many great people. Back in 2012, when we put 'A Tale of Two Barnets' together, the people we met and the stories we heard made me realise just how vital it is to get the messages across. This little interview, which we used an extract of in the film, with local activist Stan Davison was one such moment. Had we not made the film, this would be lost forever. Please watch this.



And then there are the detractors. A wise man once told me that if you've never made enemies and upset people, you have never done anything of note. He also said that if your detractors are people you'd cross the road to avoid, then you are doing something right. Napoleon once said “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” This is why I ignore them and simply let them get on with it. I have learned that nothing annoys them like being totally ignored. When I realised that simply blocking and ignoring social media detractors is far more pleasant than reading the codswallop they write, it was a moment of great liberation.

When I was a child, our teacher asked us to say what we wanted to be when we grew up. I was a rather useless student and didn't really understand the question. As my classmates said 'Doctor', 'Teacher', 'Soldier', 'Builder', etc, there was much hilarity when I said 'I want to have a dog and a pond'. The teacher said 'That's not a job! What job do you want to do?'. To much hilarity I then replied 'I don't want a job'. The teacher replied 'Well you are certainly going the right way about it'. Everyone laughed. These days, I have two dogs and two ponds. Sadly I have worked very hard throughout my life, but I am extremely lucky that in all of the jobs, I've made great friends. We go away every year with a group of them I met at SPL International (a large UK software company) 35 years ago. I only took the job to repay debts incurred by my Rock and Roll lifestyle, but I found that I was in a band of very special and lovely people. I also found the work really interesting. To my amazement, I had an aptitude for it. I only took the job as I had a crush on the girl on the training desk at Golders Green job centre and she fixed me up on an IT course and told me to come back when I was earning decent money.  If that wasn't lucky I don't know what is. I never took her up on the offer!

The band has been the thing that has driven me. I formed it in 1979 with a school friend. The need for rehearsal space was what made me start Mill Hill Music Complex studios. I was lucky to have a Father who owned a garage and had spare space that we turned into a rehearsal space. Also through the band I met my amazing wife. She turned up at a gig at The Three Hammers in 1985 and the rest is history. That was lucky beyond belief. In fact I've been blessed with amazing friends all through my life. Sadly many are not around anymore, but without their support and help, the band wouldn't have been able to function. Emil Bryden, a friend I made as he used railway land adjacent to my Fathers garage to repair coaches, would lend us his VW camper van. Dermot Fanning passed his driving test at 18 and would drive Emils van all over London, packed with gear and people.

Then there are the amazing people who played in the band. There are too many to list, but without Paul Hircombe I have no doubt that the band couldn't have existed. Paul passed away in 2012 but his support got me through some really dark times. With the studios, Ernie Ferebee, a coach driver for Emil Bryden became my studio partner in 1994. His support and help was invaluable. Sadly he died of Pancreatic cancer aged 52 in 2001. I still miss Ernie, but feel he's still there routing for us. Fil Ross, Tony Cavaye and Darren O'Reilly stepped up and filled the breach. Having such great people is luck beyond comprehension.

They say you make your own luck. I don't believe this. How can work deliver you amazing friends? How can work make you see why catastrophic setbacks are actually huge blessings in disguise? Perhaps the luckiest break of all was being born of my Father Lawrence Tichborne. Sadly I didn't really appreciate this until long after he had passed away. He was an Aussie from the outback of Australia. He taught me to always make the best of everything and always take opportunities. He was a man of deep faith. He told me that when he was in his Wellington, being shot down over Ploesti in Rumania, he had a moment of absolute clarity. Although it seemed like death was seconds away, he said that he felt close to God, but knew that it would all be alright. He prayed that he would see his three score and ten years out and committed that if he survived he would make the best of his life. I didn't realise, when he told me the full story, that he was in his 70th year and I'd never see him again. It took me years to come to terms with what I saw as his very cruel and early death. But eventually I realised that his time had come and he'd lived a full and happy life. If I dropped dead as I completed the final letter of this blog, I wouldn't complain. My 57 years have been amazing. Back in 1979, I wrote a song with Pete Conway called "Live fast, die young". The song started as a celebration of nihilist, drug addled, youthful stupidity. By the time we finished it, the song was a celebration of how much fun you could have if you knew where to draw the line. We couldn't write a song we felt was dishonest, so it ended up being a critique on the stupidity of those such as Sid Vicious, who really threw it all away for a quick fix. Writing the song made me realise that life is to be enjoyed but not abused.

I will leave. you with a little ditty from the band. One I rather like. This is dedicated to all of my friends. It contains a few images I rather like of Mill Hill. Special thanks to Allen, Graham and Fil, The False Dots.

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Merry Christmas to all our readers

I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Peaceful new year.  If there is one message we should take away from Christmas, whatever your faith or perspective. Whoever Jesus was or wasn't, whether he was a man, a God or a figment of someones imagination. The biblical story tells us that he was the son of refugees, his parents weren't married when he was conceived. He was born in a barn. despite all of this, we all know who he was. My reading of his philosophy was that he believed in forgiveness, justice, community and standing up for what is right. These things should be universal, regardless of faith, colour or location.  We will soon embark on a new decade. I sincerely hope it is better for the citizens of our planet than the previous one. My hope is that it will be the decade when humanity finally grows up and starts behaving as custodians of such a beautiful planet should. I'm guessing that if you read my blog you might well agree.

Don't despair and keep watching the skies. Here's the best Xmas song of all, played the best way possible, just for you

Christmas Eve - The Barnet Eye Xmas message

This is the eleventh Xmas Eve message that I've written. I will continue the tradition started last year of posting an extract from my blog of ten years ago, just to remind us what stays the same and what changes. I was quite shocked to see the news I reported. I must confess I totally forgot this story.

This blog has won a huge victory for the commuters of Mill Hil. First Capital Connect are offering 5 days free travel to all holders of season tickets of 1 month or longer. 

The full story of the First Capital Connect  compensation is reported in the Mill Hill and Edgware Times here. This blog has been relentlessly campaigning for decent compensation for Thameslink customers since the start of disruption. It seems that First Capital connect have finally realised that it's good for a business to look after it's customers.We've had more hits on this theme than any other issue since the blog started.

Wow. I'd completely forgotten that First Capital Connect had given Season Ticket Holders five days free travel. Having had a nightmare on the service recently, I wonder if there is any chance this will ever be repeated. It certainly should have after the chaos of the new timetable last year. Some things change. We're on our third different Prime minister since that was written. We are headed for the exit of the EU. My mother always used to say "Thank the Lord for small mercies" and the one small mercy is that we're not talking about Brexit anymore. 

I fell asleep yesterday evening and had a bizarre dream that I'd awoken in hospital in a coma after 40 years. The nurse told me that Margaret Thatcher was no longer Prime Minister, I asked how she'd got on. At that moment the dog woke me up. I was a tad disturbed and thought "How could I possibly have forgotten John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson?". As I thought about this, I realised that if I possibly could erase all memory of the lot of them, I'd be very tempted. Between the lot of them, so little of real value added to the UK. I thought I'd see if I could find one positive thing to say about any of them. John Major? Decent enough bloke and wasn't Margaret Thatcher. Tony Blair Ended the civil war in Northern Ireland. Gordon Brown? Saved the UK's banking industry. David Cameron? Ended discrimination in marriage. Theresa May? Erm..... Any help here team? Boris Johnson? Isn't Theresa May and ended the interminable conversations about #Brexit. 

I feel really bad as I genuinely couldn't think of anything at all positive to say about Theresa May's term. It will perhaps be interesting to see what I write in ten years when I revisit this blog (assuming I'm still around and blogging). I hope I can be a bit nicer about her.

I started the day with a six mile walk around Mill Hill and Totteridge. I got up at 6am and took the doggies for a long and winding route up to Totteridge long ponds and back. I wanted to see the transition from Dark to light.  Here's a few of the sights I saw on the way.

Scroll through to see the walk.

View this post on Instagram

Nothing beats a good early morning walk around #MillHill and Totteridge!

A post shared by Roger Tichborne (@rogtex) on Dec 24, 2019 at 1:15am PST

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 It is amazing how light changes the world. Let some into your life!

I couldn't finish without a mention of one of my heroes who passed away. Dr John, the Night Tripper.  If you listen to one tune today, listen to this. Have a peaceful and wonderful Xmas.





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Time for Football to Excommunicate the Racists

This weekend, I was delighted to enjoy Manchester City beat Leicester City in the Premiership. The goals were scored by Riad Mahrez, an Egyptian, Ilkay Gundogan, a German of Turkish heritage and Gabriel Jesus, a Brazilian. All are players I am delighted play for my club and all are absolutelely at the top of the game. City fans are lucky that the owners largesse allows the club to acquire such players. I remember the dark years, decades without a trophy. I recall the immense performances of Yaya Toure to being home the FA cup. A special moment, it was the first visit of myself and my then eight year old son to Wembley. Yaya was a legend. I could go on. What do all of these players have in common apart from being brilliant footballers? Sadly, they are all people who racists have a problem with. Personally I don't get racism. As a musician, a music lover and a football lover, I see the amazing contribution of people of every race and culture. There would be no rock and roll music without the black blues musicians of the USA, no Ska or Reggae without Jamaicans. A world without Jimi Hendrix? No thanks mate. In my own band, we've had three amazing singers who are black. Vanessa Sagoe, Tony Robotham and Connie Abbe are not only friends, but absolutely brilliant musicians who I consider it humbling to have played alongside. Connie sung Spotlight, a song used by Manchester City FC for their website goal of the month show.

A couple of weeks ago, during the Manchester Derby, a City fan racially abused Fred, a United player, making monkey gestures. The idiot has been arrested. I've no idea what goes through the mind of such a complete twat, but I was disgusted. Whilst I find it hard to lose to United, this sickened me. When this idiot did what he did, he not only insulted Fred. He insulted every one of the amazing black players to grace the City shirt ever. Would he have done that if Vincent Kompany was standing next to him? I very much doubt it.

To me, the answer is simple. As a Roman Catholic, I am aware of the process of excommunication of people who commit heresy. Whilst this process has not always been applied sensibly, the concept that you are slung out for ever and that's it mate is one that should be applied to these idiots. Clubs should formally announce that anyone who acts in a racist manner in the stadium has been excommunicated and is no longer a fan of the club. They should lose their season ticket, right to enter the stadium and the right to call themselves a fan. Name and shame them. Get the club captain to publicly sack them as a supporter. I've no idea whether it would change their mind, but it would make people think. I don't want to be associated with such people in any way. The damage they can do is beyond comprehension. What if non white players start boycotting clubs which tolerate racist behaviour? What if teams stop playing at grounds where there is a problem? On BBC Radio London this morning a Spurs fan called Gerald called in. He rightly said that there were 60,000 people at the ground who didn't shout racist abuse. If those 60,000 knew that the one or two idiots would have dire consequences, I believe that they would do something about it. Clubs should ask supporters to inform stewards of such behaviour. Who is more important in the scheme of things, the players or the (probably) drunken moron shouting abuse.

There should be not only zero tolerance, but an active programme to destroy the whole concept that racism  can exist on the terrace. If a lone idiot starts shouting racist abuse or making gestures, and the fans around him do not report him, ban them from the ground for the rest of the season. The clubs know who bought the tickets, so if those people know that they too will be sanctioned, they will soon realise that it is not big and not clever. Generally people don't go to games on their own. They know the season ticket holders around them. It is only when all are aware of the consequences that the problem will be addressed. Peer pressure will be the ultimate killer of such behaviour, but it will only be when people start being banned from grounds for tolerating it that anything will be done.

I'll leave you with Spotlight, featuring Connie Abbe and The False Dots. I believe that we should stand by our friends. Anyone who racially insults anyone, insults all and I for one won't stand for people insulting friends like Connie.



This has to end

The tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet - 22/12/2019

An interesting week of tweets in the London Borough of Barnet. Here's our selection of the best.

1. This diagram fascinated me. I knew Mill Hill was the highest place with a London postcode, but it is interesting to see how it compares to the rest of the Thameslink line

Gradient - RollerCoaster pic.twitter.com/gFE589iGi0

— Robin Morel (@13milepost) December 22, 2019

2. A lovely piece of local history

On leaving Parliament, William Wilberforce retired to an estate at Highwood Hill & paid to build a chapel nearby, now St Paul's, Mill Hill, as the parish church was not close & was difficult to reach during winter floods.
Image: 'Proclaiming Liberty' window (2012) in St Paul's pic.twitter.com/IEtk9OBUc1

— Anglican Church SPb (@anglicanspb) July 30, 2019

3. Some very worrying news locally this week

Organised crime in leafy Mill Hill - BBC News - 'Organised crime' probe over Elstree and Barnet deaths https://t.co/P4MxVjrHhf

— Richie (@richiepaulo) December 22, 2019

4. Congratulations to Fleur Lewis of Barnet Copthall Swimming club

Link to press article in Local newspaper.https://t.co/xX9P4Rt63G

— Barnet Copthall (@BarnetCopthall) December 18, 2019

5. Do you support local libraries? Action is needed! If you have a few pounds to spare, please contribute

You've donated over £1500 towards our £30k target to complete the library. Average donation was £46.26. There are over 16,000 homes in Cricklewood. If every household gave just £2.00, we'd be fully funded. Please give. https://t.co/xvWB2kgJ7U

— Cricklewood Library (@CrklwdLibrary) December 21, 2019

6. Good to see churches working together in Cricklewood

A team effort and grateful that as churches we stand together. Want to know more? Come to our carols and readings Sunday evening, you would be welcome https://t.co/E1ic3T5FiE

— St Peters Cricklewood (@StPetersNW2) December 21, 2019

7. I remember this well. A great tweet

Promotion for the Royal Air Force Museum at Colindale in the 1970 Royal Air Force Yearbook.

The museum opened in November 1972. pic.twitter.com/jDuNlHcyKJ

— NW London TimeMachine (@time_nw) December 21, 2019

8.Nice tweet from Colindale Police, but are they a tad confused? I thought the bunnies were for Easter?

Colindale NPT would like to thank the Living Way Ministry on the Grahame Park Estate for their Christmas Party and all the Rabbits for the children. pic.twitter.com/mK8B96ThZK

— Colindale Police (@MPSColindale) December 21, 2019

9. A sad sight

And so it goes 💔#RIP #BarnetCopthall #Barnet @Sw_EngDiving @Sport_England @JMNSwimmer @jackrbuckner @tphollingsworth @BarnetCouncil @BarnetCopthall @LondonSport @LondonSwimming @TomDaley1994 @MayorofLondon @SadiqKhan @InsideMillHill
“Merry Christmas everyone” 💔 pic.twitter.com/BzW9WN8Giu

— NorthLondonAquatics (@Save_Diving_Ldn) December 18, 2019

10. A drum kit is for life, not just for Xmas

Another happy customer! A drum kit is for life, not just Christmas. Not all are in such a magnificent setting pic.twitter.com/5aHGkBXoex

— MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) December 20, 2019

That's all folks!

The Saturday List #245 - My ten favourite things about Xmas

As it's the last list before Christmas, I thought I'd compile a list of my top ten Christmas presents. When I was a child, Xmas was a magical time. There was a routine. We'd awake at about four AM and find that Father Christmas had been. We'd remove some big socks from Dads draw and leave them at the end of the bed. There would be a tangerine, a few nuts and a couple of small presents in them. There would also be a large present under the bed. The house would smell of turkey, as my mum would put it in the oven before she went to bed. As one of six children, until I was four or five,
we'd all be around. We'd go to the 11am mass at the Sacred Heart, then come home for the mother of all feasts. My dad did not believe in doing things by half. No expense was spared. As my brothers and sisters started to get married, they would split xmas's between parents. As kids arrived, the numbers would expand and contract.

I do love old family pictures of Xmas, this was 1975
Love how miserable all the kids look! pic.twitter.com/rCKNxGRYn7

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) December 21, 2019

Sometime around 1972, we had one Christmas where there were 24 of us, three generations. It was all down hill from there. By 1980, I celebrated Christmas on my own. My parents had taken my sister to Florida, I refused to go, preferring to go to gigs and hang out with my mates. We had a party and the house got trashed and all of my mums jewellery got nicked. To my surprise, my parents were not overly upset. On Christmas day, I stayed in bed until 5pm then cooked a turkey, all my mates came over and I declared it the best Christmas ever. Fast forward fifteen years to 1995. My Dad had died, I was with my wife Clare and we had Maddie, a two month old baby. I cooked a dinner for us, my mum, Clare's parents, Clare's sister and my sister Caro and her husband and my Godson Alexander, who was about four. Clare's mums friend, Aunty Jo also came along. It was joyous. I think that the first Christmas with your first child is somehow special. Maddie didn't do too much at the time, but she was so damn cute! So cut forward to 2019. My mum, Clare's Mum and Dad and Aunty Jo are all long gone. Maddie is 24 and we also have Lizzie who is 22 and Matt who is 19. For Christmas this year, we will have Clare's sisters and partners and possibly some waifs and strays courtesy of the kids ( I hope so, I love a full house).

Our routine is pretty set. We will go to the 5pm Childrens mass at The Sacred Heart, then for a meal with my sister Caroline and her family. We'll then go for something to eat at one of the restaurants in the Broadway. Then home to exchange presents with them. After that, Caro will head back to Essex for her Christmas. On Xmas day, I'll get up at 8am, put some loud punk rock on the turntable and prepare lunch. At around 12.30 the first guests will arrive, at which time the Xmas music goes on. Once dinner is served, that will be my work done.

Anyway, forgive me my reminiscences, I get all misty at this time of the year. Now to the list. The things I like most about Christmas

1. Having the family around.
This is always a joy, we make a point of catching up. This year my sister Val is over from the States, which is great.

2. Listening to Punk rock on Xmas morning.
This is a tradition all of my own. It is the one time of the year that I will play the Vibrators, Heartbreakers, Ramones, MC5, Buzzcocks and no one moans! Luckily the neighbours are deaf.


3. Christmas Eve Mass.
When I was a teenager, I hated religion and religious ceremonies. Now I enjoy the tradition, the hymns and the chance to say hi to members of the community.

4. The smell of Turkey and ham roasting in the oven.
This is the real smell of Christmas for me. It is a special smell and takes me back in time. When people say "We're having beef because we prefer the taste to turkey" I think "fool! you just don't get it.

5. Setting fire to the Christmas pudding.
For reasons I don't understand, we were never allowed to refer to Xmas pud as figgy pudding. As my Dad was a pyromaniac, he would always make sure that there was a good flame on the pud as it was piped out. Often he'd burn off his eyebrows in the process.

6. Walking to the Adam and Eve on boxing day for a pint.
We always have a pint at the Adam and Eve on Boxing day before lunch. We take the doggies for a walkie, have a pint of Buttcombe bitter and then walk home. If it's a fine day, it is a great way to walk off a few pounds.

7. Pigs in Blankets.
We love our pigs in blankets. We only eat them at Christmas, but they are yummy!

8. Dr Who
It has become a tradition that we watch Dr Who in the evening. We have friends who turn up to join us. When Matt was younger, he'd get very cross with all the chit-chat disturbing his concentration. Now he doesn't really even bother watching it. His sisters still tease him about when he cried when Christopher Ecclestone died and was regenerated. We don't watch the Queens speech, Dr Who does for us.

9. The Pogues/Pogue Traders Xmas gig
For me, the official start of Xmas is now the Pogues Xmas gig. As they have now stopped playing, we've transferred our allegiance to the Pogue Traders, the official tribute act. We are seeing them tonight at the Dublin Castle. The season has started late this year

The Pogue Traders at @DublinCastle - -Ace pic.twitter.com/FHqvfOyyvo

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) December 15, 2017

10. And finally...…. I like the fact that the days have started getting longer, even if you hardly notice it! I always used to make a point of walking to the Ridgeway to watch the sun rise over the Totteridge valley on Xmas day with our old dog Bruce. Now all of the best views are blocked, but if you get onto the footpath across the Valley it is well worth it. Watching the sun set over the Mill Field can also be amazing. Logistically it is hard to get there on Christmas day for sunset, but if we time it right we might get there on the way back from the Adam and Eve.

The Mill Field, one of my favourite spots in Mill Hill pic.twitter.com/ClAm6phnqq

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) February 27, 2016

That's all folks!

Murder in Mill Hill, a rotten end to a rotten year locally

Normally we have a Friday joke, but it would seem horribly inappropriate. Today did not start well. At 8am the radio sprung into life. The headline story was that someone has been murdered at Scratchwoods open space. If it had not been raining, I would have been heading up there on a normal Friday morning to walk the dogs. I've been running a threevyear campaign to clean the area up and address anti social behaviour. I've been supported by Hale Tory Councillor Laithe Jajeh, who got much of the flytipping and dumped rubbish cleared and is working on other improvements.

@Barnetcouncil dumped art Scratchwoods pic.twitter.com/YUb9AoizbO

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) March 25, 2016

@BarnetCouncil when did Scratchwoods become a Motorbike trail park? https://t.co/BwFCDy1eqp pic.twitter.com/rQtykq0mdb

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) January 8, 2017

Scratchwoods is an amazing local asset. I normally walk once or twice a week around the space. It drives me absolutely mad to see the way selfish residents leave their litter on the grass, when they could walk fifteen feet to the nearest rubbish bin.

There is a very pleasant cafe where you can have a drink or a meal which is worth a visit on a day more pleasant than today.

I don't want to speculate about whether the murder was related to the sexual activities, drug taking or even dog walking that happens at the park. As it is set away from any populated areas, there are all manner of the things happening which are less common in other local parks.  I do hope that anyone who saw anything comes forward and ensures that the police resolve the matter quickly.

It seems to me that this murder has been a rotten end to a rotten year in Mill Hill. The passing by Sadiq Khan of the Pentavia Retail Park Scheme will ensure that Mill Hill will have a major eyesore for the foreseeable future, blighting the skyline. Residents of the Ridgeway have had to endure terrible disruption from the Barratts development at the NIMR. The Thameslink service seems to get no better. The local Mill Hill neighbourhood forum lost it's designation and therefore the local neighbourhood plan was not completed. Shops lie empty in the Broadway, some including the old bank sites have stood empty for a considerable time. We lost Leyla's, a long standing restaurant as well as Hee's Chinese takeaway, which was a cornerstone of our family's dining habits.

Lets hope that the maniac is swiftly caught and that in 2020 we see a better year for Mill Hill.

Why are Thameslink so completely incompetent?

Last night I had arranged to meet friends for a Christmas get together at The Barcelona Tapas bar in Aldgate at 5.30. The Barcelona is a great little place to while away an evening. As they were showing the El Classico match, it was an even better excuse. As I always do, on such days, I checked the times of trains. It seemed that the 16.50 from Mill Hill was the best option. As I always do, when I travel I checked the Thameslink travel information site a couple of times before I left. This told me that the train was two minutes late, not a big issue. It takes me five minutes to walk from my house to the station, so this was at 16.44. I arrived at the station with a minute to spare only to see that the train had been cancelled. I am sure you could imagine my frustration. Even more frustrating was the fact that the following train, the 17.05 was showing simply as delayed. The information website was now giving no information at all for the individual services. A rather bland message stating that there were signalling issues in Croydon was all that we had to go on.

It seems like every time I travel this happens. Especially frustrating when the train went fast through the station almost bang on time. What’s the excuse this time @TLRailUK ???? pic.twitter.com/lS7I9RDPhv

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) December 18, 2019

Now I completely understand that equipment fails, that things go wrong, that when signals fail, problems escalate. I worked in IT for a long time, supporting super resilient systems for banks and ATM's so I understand the technicalities of all this. I would expect that signalling systems should have redundancy, dual power supplies, back up power systems, but that sometimes it still goes wrong. These would be under the control of Network Rail. What is under the control of Thameslink is the relationship with the individual passenger. There are three ways that Thameslink can manage this. The first is through their IT systems, the station notice boards and the website. These completely failed to give any useful information. The second is through the station staff. At Mill Hill yesterday, there were no announcements. The PA system at Mill Hill is pretty useless. The station is next to the M1, there is a background ambient noise of 70-80 decibels most of the time. If you are not right by the speakers, you can't hear a thing. Yesterday that didn't really matter as there were no announcements. Had I been appraised of the situation, that I would end up being nearly an hour late, I would have taken the Northern Line.

The third way Thameslink can manage the relationship is via the train driver. Eventually a Brighton fast service stopped at Mill Hill. The driver took pity on us poor mugs and let us on the train. It wasn't busy. He told us that if it ever moved, it would most likely be 'fast' to St Pancras. This worked for me. He then told us that he'd spoken to the signal man and because of the signal failure, trains were backed up all the way to Hendon. He said the train wouldn't move until Hendon was clear, for the simple reason that if it had to be cancelled, it would be better to cancel it at Mill Hill so we could take buses to the tube station. He said he'd keep us informed. By this time it was around 17.15.  I now had a valued judgement to make. Do I stay on the train or do I get the bus to Burnt Oak. I decided to stay on the train. He then said that we'd proceed to Hendon. After a short wait at Hendon, he said we'd travel fast to St Pancras.

In the meantime, Robin Morel of Network Rail had spied my tweet and taken pity on me, explaining the sittuation. Robin is one of the good guys.

Loss of signalling East Croydon to Norwood jcn , split service now in operation St Pancras low level / Kentish Town / West Hampstead Thameslink being used to turn South to North 🚦⚡️

— Robin Morel (@13milepost) December 18, 2019

Eventually I reached Farringdon at around ten to six, and got to the Barcelona at about five past six, over half an hour late.  I'd exchanged messages with my friends, explaining my lateness.

I've no idea whether Thameslink read blogs or care what the passenger experience really is. They should. They failed miserably in communicating with passengers in two out of three of the methods at hand. I would say the driver did an excellent job. What is the point having a travel website if it tells you nothing when you most need it. What is the point having a speaker system on Mill Hill if you can't hear it because of the motorway and it isn't used to keep passengers informed. It is clear that when it comes to managing passenger expectations of making journeys and keeping them informed of problems, Thameslink are completely incompetent. People need to know how late they will be. If they are meeting friends of have appointments, then they need to make sure that the people they are seeing know what is going on. No one on a Thameslink train is simply riding for the fun of sitting on a train. They are trying to get from A to B in a timely fashion. If Thameslink can't deliver this, they should at least be able to tell people what is going on. As soon as it was clear that there was major disruption, Thameslink should have told everyone at Mill Hill that it would be quicker to get a bus to Burnt Oak and get the tube. Generally a bus and tube to Kings Cross is 20 mins longer than a Thameslink Train journey, so as soon as it is clear that this is the quicker option, or is likely to be, we should be told. I've been told that the signal staff would know this almost immediately, as they understand the knock on effects. They do not see it as their role to communicate this to passengers. Drivers, who have 800 passengers in the train behind them, generally know the implications. They do their best. What Thameslink should be doing is ensuring that passengers are informed as soon as possible.

As for the Thameslink Twitter feed. They tweeted a link to a page that wasn't working, Simply unbelieveable really.

Did @TLRailUK realise they tweeted a link to a website not working’ page yesterday when they had disruption yesterday? pic.twitter.com/Z6n4SOuviw

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) December 19, 2019

If I was Boris Johnson (perish the thought), or our newly re-elected MP Matthew Offord, I would put getting these rail companies to do their job as a top priority. I have no doubt that a majority of Mill Hill Broadway commuters are Conservative voters in good jobs in central London. It was beyond my comprehension that Labour did not make the awful service a key issue in the local campaign. Offord has done nothing in almost a decade about the appalling service. Offord has made a big deal of the provision of step free access at Mill Hill,  a campaign which he only got involved with when it was clear that it was in the bag. It is beyond my comprehension that he doesn't care about the daily experience of his core voters. It also baffles me that so many are just fine with that.

Sadly, as he got an even bigger majority this time, I doubt he'll be doing anything any time soon. Sadly, we will be living with this completely inept service for a long time to come.