Rock and Roll Stories #61 - Why I never wanted to be a rock lead guitarist

I have a confession to make. It is one that may sound strange, given that I've played guitar in Rock and Roll band for 47 years. I hate guitar solo's. Now for those of you who are not familiar with guitar playing, I don't mean riffs (repeated passages of sometimes intricate playing). I don't mind a little bit of noodling at the start of a song. But I find actual solo's mindnumbingly boring. I can tolerate four bars of soloing, but when it goes on for five minutes, it really bores me to distraction. I think that is why bands like The Ramones and Wire appealed to me. It also explains why I like Ska music. It is all meat and no gunge on the side. I appreciate well arranged songs, with catchy guitar lines, but when I get to the solo, forgive me if I switch off. I always felt embarrassed to admit this. If you are a guitarist, you are meant to get aroused over ten minutes of shredding by Yngwe Malmstein and his ten minutes with a million notes. Sorry, give me Pinhead by The Ramones anyday. 

I must admit that despite all of this, it took me nearly 40 years to have the strength to actually admit this in public. Now oddly, I don't mind proper instrumentals, if they have a theme and structure. I loved The Shadows early recordings and not just because Hank B. Marvin's son was in the band and invented the riff for The False Dots song "Not All She Seems". I have a similar aversion to all soloing. If you can't say something cool in four bars, don't bother.

Now the trouble was, that I have had some great guitarists in the band. Craig Withecombe, Bill Pithers and Fil Ross to name three. All of whom contributed massively to the band. All of whom played great solo's. I don't actually mind jamming along when they are doing it. But if I was a punter it would leave me cold. I believe every second of song should justify its existence. I just don't think solo's do. Captain Ubungus, an ex guitarist, loved solo's. He would spend hours explaining why the solo in Hotel California was the best solo ever, with it's 7 modal changes. I liked the song, but for me, my brain switches off after the fourth bar of the solo. Now this is not to say there are not great songs with solo's in. But personally, I always wish the solo was much shorter. 

An unfortunate by-product of this is that I've never bothered to learn to solo properly. This means that I would never get a job as a lead guitarist in a covers band. It is lucky that I don't want that gig. Anyway, this series is called Rock and Roll Stories. This may be the longest preamble to a story ever.

Back in the early days of the False Dots, in our very first iteration, we were all barely able to play. Pete Conway had the idea of getting in a lead guitarist who could actually play to augment the line up. It was agreed that I would play rythme and he would play lead. The guy was a Canadian called Wayne Kerr, would you believe. He claimed he was in the Sex Pistols film "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" playing an American roadie. We were 16, he was about 24 and turned up in full rock and roll attire. I took an instant dislike to him. He was arrogant, patronising and a complete W anchor". We played him 2 or 3 of our songs. He hated them. He then said "I will play you a proper song". He told us the chords and proceeded to play something with the chords of  "Ca plane por moi" with trite words about how the system screws you up. It was bad punk rock by numbers. The guys style was more Iron Maiden than Johnny Thunders, although he claimed to have jammed with the Heartbreakers. He was very keen to impress us, with tales of drugs and groupies. The more he went on, the more I disliked him. He pulled out a bag of cocaine and said "This will make us all play better". Before I could say anything, he said "Not you, you are no good, you are not in the band".

He had walked in, talked B@ll@cks for ten minutes, slagged off our songs and sacked me from my own band. Back in those days, I hadn't dealt with my anger management issues. I simply took off my guitar and hit him on the head with it, knocking him out. Pete Conway simply stood and stared, then said "That was proper punk rock Rog". The guy staggered to his feet and said "You are an animal, you just assaulted me, I'm going to call the Police". I replied "Yeah and tell them that you offered us all a line of coke, now F@ck off" which he did immediately. About 20 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. He was back. He was raging. He'd left his bag of cocaine behind. I told him to "f@ck off" again. He said "You took me by surprise, come outside and we can sort it out properly". I replied "Ok" to my huge surprise, he then ran away at top speed. I couldn't be bothered to chase him. 

Pete was embarrassed. The guy was unquestionably a W anchor in every way. We actually did a version of his song with new lyrics "When Wayne Kerr came from Canada, He didn't know a F@ck, About British punk Rock, His Brain was truly stuck". In my mind, he was the exemplification of everything I hated about musicians before I discovered punk rock. But most of all, I hated the way that he thought that playing long boring solo's made him interesting. When I saw the Rock and Roll Swindle, I was not even sure if the annoying roadie was actually him. 

A couple of days after the 'incident', Wayne rang Pete. He told him that he was mates with Hells Angels and they were coming to murder me. Now normally, such a threat might be alarming, but Wayne was such a W Anchor that Pete just laughed and he put the phone down. Needless to say, I am still alive.

I'd like to think I've got better since then. A year after this incident Craig Withecombe joined the band. Craig was our age and a far better guitarist. Although Craig could be rather annoying at times, I never even remotely felt like thumping him or any of the other musicians who followed him. A few friends were present and witnessed the sorry incident. Word went around. Pete Conway would wind other guitarists up by saying to them "Rog is a $h1t guitarist, but if he thinks you can play better than him he'll clobber you". It took me a while to realise why most other guitarists I knew avoided me.

Now I am a grown up, I am not particularly proud of my behaviour and it could have caused a serious injury. No amount of such behaviour justifies violence. I was recounting the story to someone, and I said this. They said "If he walked in now, would you apologise?". I could give five reasons to say, no I wouldn't, but in truth I would. Violence is never the answer. 

On  that note, if you haven't, please have a look at our new video.

Bank fraud is running rife in Mill Hill, read this to protect yourself from bogus callers

 I have spoken to three people in Mill Hill who have been victims of bank fraud recently. In all cases, they have fallen victim to very plausable callers. Often, these have personal information from Bank staff, who have been paid by criminal gangs, which enables them to sound entirely trustworthy. The sad thing is that no one ever need fall victim to such a fraud. Any caller claiming to be from the bank, will not pressurise you into doing anything. If a bank identifies fraud and needs to contact you, they will have already put adequate precations in place and will only seek clarification. However most people do not know the correct procedure to ascertain whether a caller its genuine. It could not be easier. If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from the bank and asking you to do something, do not be fooled if they know your name, email or details. It is very easy to verify. Just follow this procedure.

1. Inform the caller, very politely that it is kind of them to ring, but you always verify callers from your bank, before you proceed.

2. Inform them that you are now going to hang up the call and call the National bank security hotline on 159. If you have not heard of this service, these are the details

159 is a secure, memorable UK hotline designed to combat bank fraud by connecting callers directly to their bank’s fraud prevention department. If you receive an unexpected or suspicious call about a financial matter, hanging up and calling 159 ensures you are talking to your real bank, not a scammer. 

Key Features and Details:

• Purpose: To prevent "impersonation scams" where criminals pose as bank staff, police, or official entities to steal money.
• How it Works: Upon dialing 159, an automated system asks which bank you want to connect to, then directly links you, preventing potential fraud.
• Availability: Supported by most major UK retail banks—including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, and Monzo via Stop Scams UK—covering over 99% of UK bank accounts.
• Security: It cannot be spoofed or impersonated by fraudsters, offering a safe alternative to calling a number provided by a potential scammer.
• Cost: Calls cost the same as a standard national rate call (often free if you have inclusive minutes).

There is more information at this website - stopscamsuk.org.uk/campaign/get-help-now/ 

• Any caller who attempts to discourage you from calling this number, is clearly not a genuine caller. Please share this information with all of your friends and family, especially elderly and vulnerable, who scammers particularly target. 

No one ever should be scammed. It is easy to use the service and scammers will generally abandon the call and move on to their next victim immediately. Oh, and it is a national service so you don't have to be a resident of Mill Hill to use it! Spread the word and keep us all safe.

The Banks and phon companies participating in the 159 scheme are:

• Bank of Ireland UK
• Bank of Scotland
• Barclays
• Cater Allen Private Bank
• Chase
• Co-operative Bank
• Danske Bank
• First Direct
• Halifax
• HSBC
• Lloyds
• Metro Bank
• Modulr
• Monzo
• Nationwide Building Society
• NatWest
• Revolut
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Santander
• Spring
• Starling Bank
• Tide
• True Potential
• TSB
• Ulster Bank
• Virgin Money
• Zempler Bank

The telephone companies involved in 159 are:

• BT (including EE and Plusnet)
• Gamma
• O2 (including giffgaff)
• Sky
• Three
• Vodafone
• TalkTalk
• Virgin Media

The road may be rough, but don't you ever, ever give up

The best things in life do not come easy, and the path is not straight. I have made the mistake in my life of taking things for granted when they came easily, not appreciating the moment and not being thankful for my blessings. However when things are difficult, when you take a few knocks to get there but eventually reach the promised land, it is sweet and hopefully you can appreciate it in a way that you never would have, had it turned up on a plate. 

Life is a funny old thing. When I was about 23/24 years old I had a bit of an existensial crisis. From the age of sixteen, my sole aim in life was to have a successful band. In 1986, I put together what I believed was the perfect version of the band. We recruited a singer who was brilliant. He was one of the few male singers who could give Freddy Mercury a run for his money. We had a brass section and I had a plan. The only real problem was that the new singer had other ideas. He had a completely different view of what a band was, what the point of being in a band was and what the point of writing songs was. He renamed the band, with the support of other members. I acquiesced. I didn't agree, but to me the principle of democracy in a band was important. He then engineered the sacking of our drummer. I was horrified. We had a couple of gigs to fulfil. I acquisced again, to my eternal shame. The only good thing was that it meant I had a valid reason for not including the gigs and that line up in the story of The False Dots or our gig list. 

I found myself at the start of 1987 in a very difficult situation. I didn't want to be in the band, but we also were all partners in the studios. I made the decision to restart the False Dots from where we'd left off when Allen Ashley left at the end of 1985. But in truth, the events of 1986 had doused the fire in my belly to play. The worst thing of all was that I had self doubt about what I was doing and why. It took me a decade and a half to get over that as a musician. One of the 'ideas' the new singer had was that we play covers and earn money. I don't mind doing one or two, especially at gigs where you are booked to do more than one set, but a whole set of covers? The singer was good at band politics. He suggested that each member chose a song. I can't recall all of them. His choice was Fame by David Bowie. He'd managed to choose a Bowie song I couldn't stand. Quite a feat. My choice was 'Save Me' By Eritha Franklin, using the arrangement by Aussie band The Saints. One of our sax players chose Low Rider by War and the other, to my great delight chose "Take it Easy" by Prince Buster. The last gig we did was in September 1986 at The Edgware Services club, the singer playing drums. For me, it was a horrific abomination of a gig. We had lost the essence of what made us the False Dots. We were just a very average covers band churning out laboured renditions of other peoples music. The audience seemed to like it and the singer took it as an enorsement of his ideas. 

There was one highlight in the set. When we played Take it Easy by Prince Buster, everyone got up and danced. The band had a few songs with a ska/reggae flavour, which we'd written, but this was actually diffierent. It worked. We all loved the song, apart from the singer, who really wanted to do pop and rock. But a seed had been planted. I loved ska music, The Specials are one of my all time favourite bands, but until we had a band with brass and keyboards, I always felt we couldn't do it justice. As we performed that one number and the club started skanking, I realised that if we wanted to do covers this was the way to go. The singer disagreed and said "Ska isn't even proper reggae". That was the end of our musical association. The bassplayer and sax player had an extended holiday lined up in India and it all just sort of faded away. 

Fast forward to 2021, the country is in lockdown. Our drummer has just lost his son. Allen Ashley, our singer has taken a sabbatical from performing and rehearsing, due to covid. But we are musicians and as it's our job, we get back on the case. The trouble is, there are only three of us. Graham on drums (who had been sacked by the vocalist in 1986 and returned to The False Dots in 1987), Fil Ross on bass and myself on Guitar and vocals, as Allen couldn't attend. I hadn't sung with the band since 1983. I had decided that we needed 'better singers'. But our mission was to get Graham out of the house and playing, to try and distract him from the tragedy. My biggest issue as a singer (apart from having a very average voice and a limited tone) was that I found I couldn't really sing and play together. But I had no choice. We had a couple of old songs I could manage. So I decided to write songs for myself, my own range and in my own style. What came out was a set of songs that sounded a bit like Madness would if Ian Dury was their singer (and they didn't have horns or keyboards). I wrote the lyrics to be as funny as possible, to try and get a smile from Graham. When we started, it was just a jam, with no purpose. Just musicians playing for the joy of it and for our own entertainment. 

I am quite a prolific writer, so within no time at all we had a set of ska influenced songs. In June 2022, we did a short set at The Mill Hill Music Festival of the new material. To my complete surprise, the audience loved it. In September that year, we ventured back into Camden Town, for the first time in a decade and played The Dublin Castle with this new set. I loved it, but in truth something was missing. Every time I thought back to that gig in Edgware, I thought of "Take it Easy" and everyone skanking. It sounded so much better with some brass. In September 2023, I asked Tom Hammond, who is an amazing trumpet player, to play a few notes on some recordings we were doing. He fitted in immediately and was the missing link. It felt like the band was complete. 

Anyway, fast forward to now. I have always felt a debt of gratitude to those musicians who influenced me and made my life worth living. That experience of playing Take it Easy planted a seed that has grown into what The False Dots are today. We do original material, with the odd cover thrown in. But I feel I owe Prince Buster something. I mentioned this to Lee Thompson, sax player of Madness and a good mate. Lee, like me, loves Prince Buster. The first single by Madness was The Prince, a tribute penned by Lee to the great man. I jokingly suggested to Lee that he get up with us and do Take it Easy when we perform at The London International Ska Festival. To my surprise, he was well up for the idea. Even better, Boz Boorer of The Polecats/Morrisey fame also decided to join in the fun! 

So, if you are coming to see the band at The London International Ska Festival, you should be in for a treat. Lee has also asked to do "Free Love" by Prince Buster, so it should be quite a show!

The middle eight in "Take it Easy" has the line "The road may be rough, but don't you ever ever give up". I suppose it could be the anthem of the False Dots. If I have one regret in my life, it is that I didn't have the faith in myself in 1979, when I had the energy and drive, to do what I've really known all my life. I wanted to play in a band that sounded like a mash up of The Specials, Madness and Ian Dury and that although my vocal style and talents are limited, they are perfect for such a sound. And when it comes down to it, they are the music I love. Being 63 years old and living the dream is a good thing. Don't let life pass you by. Don't give up on your dreams because of a few bumps on the road. If someone is walking the same path as you, it doesn't mean they have the same destination, so believe in yourself. 

The False Dots will be playing our brand new single Big Hairy Spider at the gig, which I think exemplifies everything good in our music. And if you love a bit of Hanna-Barbara cartoon animation, you will love the video!

The Sunday Reflection #79 - Liars beware!

 It can be so tempting, can't it? You hate someone's guts. You are talking to a mutual friend. The subject of your ire comes up. Why not tell a little porkie pie, to cast them in a bad light. That way your friend will see the error of their ways, cut off ties and then you won't have to hear how marvellous he is anymore. After all he's a despicable chap and thoroughly deserves universal dislike. It's bad enough when it is Fred down the pub. What about when the two antagonists are leaders of countries? Remember the second gulf war? Remember Saddam Hussein, his weapons of mass destruction, his threats to the UK? I believed Tony Blair at the time. It seemed to me that it was absurd that the Prime Minister of the UK, a Labour Prime Minister, would make up a pack of lies. But that is exactly what he did. 

Now we have Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump. We have a war with Iran, which the UK is half in and half out of. Donald Trumps counter Terrrorism chief Joe Kent quit this week. The reason? Because he believes the President of the USA told a stack of lies to justify the war on Iran. Joe Kent is not a lilly livered liberal. He is one of the most right wing, hawkish figures around Trump. Yet when it comes down to it, he could not tolerate being part of a government that mislead the American people. Here we have Sir Keir Starmer. I had believed Starmer to be a basically decent individual. Then he appointed Mandelson to be the Ambassador to Donald Trump. I thought the appointment was a highly dodgy move at the time. Can you guess what year I wrote this line in a blog? " The sad truth is that Labour lost the trust of its own members and the public through the lies and poor conduct of Blair and Mandelson." 

I have never been more disillusioned with Politics than I am currently.It is clear that we need a new broom, but I personally feel that neither Reform or The Greens are the answer. I run a business and I have adult children trying to make their way in the world. I could not be more depressed at what the future seems to offer them. You may conclude that I believe that liars are in the ascendency right now. In the UK, this process started with the Blair government and its spin. In the US, Trump has turbocharged the concept of lying in office. The result? Petrol is 20p more a gallon than it was three weeks ago. The world is lurching towards recession as a result. Everything we consume relies on oil products to reach our front door. If that cost rises, there is less money for everything else, hence recession. The one saving grace is that it is Spring, so our energy usage is getting lower.

In the USA there will be Mid Term elections this year. American voters are notoriously fickle. As energy prices rise and the knock on inflation takes hold, they will conclude that the Big Orange Fibber in the White House is not what they thought he was. If I was a Republican right now, I'd be worried. Trump controls both houses currently. This is likely to change and his powers will be reigned in. 

My Father once told me that if you lie, it comes back to bite you. I believe this. It never happens immediately, but the truth will always come out in the end. It his hard to have faith in too much right now, but I have faith in that. 

Have a great weekend!

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Friday Fun and local gig round up

 As is the tradition on Barnet blogs, we start with a joke! 

"Why did Spartacus smile when the lion ate his wife?"

"He was Gladiator!"

Boom Boom!

There was some big local music news this week! Mill Hill Band, The False Dots released their brand new single and video. Check it out, it's called Big Hairy Spider and the video harks back to the Halcyon days of Scooby Doo!

And on to the weeks local gigs! Follow Barnet Music for all the latest updates!

Friday 20th

La Lluna Whetstone 6.30 - Jonathon Black Byrd (Solo Flamenco Guitar)

Butchers Arms 9pm – Midnight AWOL (Rock Covers)

Maddens 9pm – The Drivers

Barrington 8.30pm – midnight Neils Karaoke

Saturday 21st

East Barnet RB Legion 8.30pm – 11.30pm Dr Realgood (Covers)

Lord Kitchener 8.30 pm - late Karaoke with Johnno

Butchers Arms 9pm – 11.30pm Horizon (Rock covers and original)

Sunday 22nd

Kings Head 2pm – 4pm Jamie Whelligan (Solo artist - Free)

Ye Olde Monken Holt 7pm – 9pm Creekside (Americana)

Butchers 8.30 – 11.30pm Butchers Arms Jam Electric/Blues/Rock (Full backline available)

Monday 23rd

Ye Olde Mitre Inn, High Street 8pm – 11pm (stables room) Barnet Acoustics Session

Tuesday 24th

The Bull Theatre £5 Acapella & Accoustic Speakeasy 14+ further details from Nikki or Tim 07754067594 07956875758

Wednesday 25th

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 11pm Open Mic Night

Thursday 26th

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 10.30pm Irish Session

Friday 27th

Lord Kitch 8.30pm – late Ela

The Elephant Inn 9pm – 11.30pm Velvetronic (Covers 70`s to present)

Barrington Bar 8.30 pm - midnight Karaoke with Johnno

It seems that Elon Musk and X have decided that I am a Bot!

 Sometimes you just have to laugh. The world just becomes more ridiculous every day. When Elon Musk took Twitter over, many of my mates left. They decided that the new ultra libertarian ethos was not for them. It has seemed that all moderation has gone out of the window. Overt racism, Islamophobia and Misogyny is fine. I have thought several times about abandoning the platform. Before the Musk era, most of my tweets would get hundreds, if not thousands of views, now most get a couple of dozen. I rarely post, however I have taken the view that some readers of The Barnet Eye and some of my mates are still on it, so I persisted. I used to actively promote the platform, I did a feature every Sunday called "The tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet", which was a round up of the best tweets from local tweeters. I uncovered many gems and made a few friends as a result. It ended in October 2023, not because of any ideological fall out. It was simply because there was not enough interesting posts from local tweeters to make it worthwhile. The local tweeters had voted with their feet. Finding ten posts a week that were worth highlighting was almost impossible. 

Whereas I wasted half a year looking at Twitter pre Musk, now I rarely check it out, except when researching blogs or checking news stories. A cursory glance in the morning and a visit to post when I write a blog. There are still a couple of interesting posters, who I do try and keep up with, but it used to be dozens. In short, it is no longer something I have any real interest in, but while there are a few people on who are worth supporting, I would have stayed. However it seems Elon Musk had other ideas. Yesterday, I received this message from X.COM

It seems I am not an 'authentic poster', whatever that means. After 15 years on the platform, I have been deemed 'an imposter'. It states that I had been reported. I was bemused. Why? The only reasonable conclusion as to why this should come now, out of the blue, was as a result of the Guest blog I posted on Monday about the Edgware Redevelopment. I genuinely cannot think of, or see a reason why anything else would upset anyone enough to report my account, let alone make up a truly ridiculous complaint. However, there is a lot of money to be made by property developers from such schemes. They have paid media consultants, who are savvy with the art of drive by shootings on X.com of pesky bloggers. Now of course, it could be a disaffected ex girlfriend from 50 years ago, someone who hates my band or someone who disliked Country Joe McDonald (the things I've posted recently). There is a local convicted paedophile with a long standing grudge against me, after his activities were exposed, who may well have stuck his oar in. That would not surprise me either. I don't know. They don't give you any clues. 

Do I care? Not really. It has sort of made a decision for me. However, if my suspicions are true, then it is something that needs dealing with. I have appealed. Any vaguely sentient being would see that my account is not a Bot and is authentic. 

Anyway, if you are a Twitter friend and have had a look at the blog as I've not posted, here is the reason why. 

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Creative Opps presents Co:Lab with Arts Against Knives

A Collective Exhibition on Inclusion, Creativity & Community Power

Date: 20.03.2025

Time: 6:30–9:00 PM

Location: Arts Against Knives, 162 High Rd, London N2 9AS

Creative Opps is proud to present Co:Lab, a new exhibition created in partnership with Arts Against Knives and developed by young creatives from the Creative Opps Membership Programme. Bringing together nine emerging artists from across the UK, Co:Lab explores what inclusion means in today’s creative landscape — and how creativity can challenge the barriers shaping access to the arts.

Co:Lab is both an artistic and activist project. Through visual art, film, sound, writing, installation, participatory works, and interactive digital experiences, these early-career artists — many showing work publicly for the first time — offer deeply personal and politically engaged reflections on belonging, identity, community, and creative empowerment.

About Co:Lab

Co:Lab emerged from the Creative Opps Membership Programme, of which they are a part of, where young people from underrepresented and marginalised backgrounds explored their creative practices while building community, confidence and leadership. The exhibition is a culmination of this shared work: a space where disabled, neurodivergent, racialised, working-class and otherwise excluded voices are centred, nurtured and made visible.

In Partnership with Arts Against Knives

Co:Lab is delivered in collaboration with Arts Against Knives (AAK), who are providing exhibition space and supporting the involvement of young people from their community programmes. AAK’s participants will gain hands-on experience across curation, installation, production and marketing, ensuring that the exhibition creates opportunities beyond the exhibiting artists themselves.

Exhibited Work

Co:Lab will feature nine artists working across disciplines, including:

● Interactive digital installations exploring hybrid identity

● Moving-image pieces rooted in lived experience and archive transformation

● Sound and composition projects with collaborative and accessible elements

● Sculpture, mixed media and visual art examining belonging and cultural heritage

● A collective zine featuring submissions from Creative Opps and AAK communities

→ Support the Exhibition

This exhibition is made possible in part through funding from FundAction, whose support enables Co:Lab to be delivered with care, accessibility and integrity. Additional contributions will help us further resource:

● Production and material costs

● Travel and accessibility provision

● Youth training, skills development and community involvement

● Exhibition documentation

● Future Exhibitions

Your support ensures that young people can create, exhibit and lead on their own terms.

→ Attend Co:Lab

Sign up to be notified when tickets go live.

Register interest: Click here docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGEMsgGp8gSGO_k2x2FpnrHo5U7LVK3gTiNIvpvtsElTILow/viewform

→ Partner With Us

We welcome collaborations with organisations committed to youth voice, access and social impact.

About Creative Opps

Creative Opps CIO was established in 2020 to give young people who have faced socio-economic disadvantage access to the tools, networks and experience needed to independently achieve their ambitions. We deliver user-led programmes from mentoring to work placements and leadership opportunities.

Values: Inclusivity, Diversity, Youth Leadership, Reflection, Innovation, Social Impact

Find Out More creativeopps.org/event/colab-a-collective-exhibition-on-inclusion/

About Arts Against Knives

Arts Against Knives creates safe, creative spaces that support young people most at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. Through tailored creative training and holistic support, AAK empowers young people to design hopeful futures and influence real systems change.

Art Against Knives was the Barneteye Charity of the year in 2015 and we still support their work!

Guest Blog - Mill Hill's Railway Cottages - By Chris The MillHillian

Older residents of Mill Hill will recall Station Road in Mill Hill, before the M1 was built. There were buildings on both sides of the road and where the M1 is now, there were what were Midland Railway Cottages, These old railway cottages were built by the Midland Railway Company to house staff. They were demolished to make way for the M1 Motorway. They were inhabited by railway workers up until they demolished around 1964. The Mill Hill Historical society tweeted these pictures.

Some images of Midland Cottages. once on Station Road, Mill Hill where the M1 is now. They were built to house workers on the London Midland and Scottish Railway line which came to Mill Hill in 1868. pic.twitter.com/vuatEzQOoY

— Mill Hill Hist Soc (@MHHistSoc) January 25, 2019

A glimpse can be found in old pictures as well as a 60’s film called Hand in Hand. I was fascinated to discover these plan drawings of the cottages. I thought Mill Hillians may be interested to see them! 

These old drawings were held in the storage of the planning offices in Barnet when I discovered them. whilst searching for another old property in the same road.  I took a picture to show my Dad. I had forgotten about them until I recently discovered my old photos. The road has changed beyond all recognition. After the drawings got put on microfiche most were destroyed but some still exist in the London Metropolitan Archives including drawings of the Railway Hotel in Edgware.

If anyone has a picture of the station entrance by the bus terminus in Station Road it would be great to see it. I recall walking from our house in Langley Park through the station under the old subway and into station Road to catch the 240 bus to St Vincent’s School. The subway was a wet brick tunnel with poor lighting and when the express passed over it rumbled like an earthquake it was bricked up when a new one was built so it’s lying there like a time warp. We would occasionally bump into old Paddy the porter who was a grumpy old thing who seemed to think the subway was only there for the convenience of the rail passengers.
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Guest Blogs are always welcome at The Barnet Eye.

Guest Blog - The One Promise Barnet Council Won’t Make About Edgware’s Transport Hub - by Anuta Zack

 

The One Promise Barnet Council Won’t Make About Edgware’s Transport Hub

Barnet Council says safety is a priority.

So residents asked for a very simple reassurance.

Before demolishing Edgware’s transport hub — the bus station, the garage, the interchange used by thousands of passengers every day — confirm that the replacement infrastructure can actually be built safely. Not eventually. Not theoretically. Actually. It sounds like the easiest promise in the world to make. And yet Barnet Labour Council refuses to make it.

Planning Is Complicated. This Question Isn’t.

Planning debates are usually complicated.  People argue about density, housing numbers, transport capacity, retail space, sunlight, wind, viability and a hundred other things. The Broadwalk redevelopment proposal has triggered all of those debates. Reasonable people can disagree about them. But sometimes a planning question is extremely simple. Before demolishing Edgware’s transport hub, can the council demonstrate that the replacement they are proposing can actually be built safely? Not after demolition. Not “once the details are worked out”. Before. And yet that simple reassurance has not been given.

One Sentence Could Settle This

In meetings and conversations councillors and officers say what you would expect. Safety matters. Standards will be high. Nothing unsafe would ever be built. All comforting words. But words cost nothing. If safety really is the priority, the obvious step would be to put the principle into writing as a planning safeguard: 

Nothing is demolished until regulators confirm the replacement transport infrastructure can be built safely. One sentence. Thirty seconds of drafting. Problem solved. So why hasn’t it happened?

A Project With No Real Precedent

The replacement being proposed is extraordinary. It involves placing roughly 200 electric buses in a large underground depot, with high-density residential towers directly above it. Supporters call this innovation. Another word might be experiment. Electric bus depots exist, of course. But they are generally surface-level facilities serving operational sites. They are not large subterranean garages with thousands of residents living directly above them.

In the UK there are no clear precedents for dense housing built above a major underground electric bus depot. Internationally, the picture does not look much different. Electric bus depots can be found, but they are overwhelmingly ground-level facilities, not dense residential developments constructed over large subterranean fleets of electric buses. There are reasons why developments like this are rare. Large concentrations of electric vehicles introduce a known risk: lithium-ion battery fires and thermal runaway.

These incidents are uncommon, but when they occur they behave very differently from conventional fires. They burn hotter, they can reignite and they are notoriously difficult to control in enclosed spaces.  None of this proves the project cannot be engineered safely. But it does raise an obvious question.

If this really is pioneering infrastructure, shouldn’t the safety case be proven before demolishing the infrastructure that already exists?

After Grenfell, That Should Not Need Explaining

Britain has already learned what happens when safety assumptions run ahead of certainty. The Grenfell Tower fire showed what can happen when risks are treated as details that will somehow be resolved later. Edgware residents are not asking for impossible guarantees. They are asking for something much simpler. Before dismantling a transport hub that thousands of people rely on every day, confirm that the replacement can actually be built safely. That should be the starting point of any responsible planning decision.

Transparency Has Been Equally Enlightening

The same pattern appears when residents ask for basic transparency. Barnet has already sent documents to the Mayor of London as part of the Stage 2 planning process. Those documents underpin a decision that could permanently reshape Edgware’s transport infrastructure. Residents asked to inspect them. The council replied that it will consider the request in 20 days. The Mayor has 14 days to decide. In other words, the decision may be taken before residents are allowed to see the documents that informed it. If that sounds like transparency, it is a rather unusual version of it.

The Point of No Return

Large redevelopment projects rely on a simple fact. Once existing infrastructure is demolished, the pressure to complete whatever replaces it becomes overwhelming. At that point there is no going back. The town has already lost what it had. Which is exactly why the safeguard residents asked for matters so much. If the replacement infrastructure really can be built safely, confirming that before demolition should be straightforward. If it cannot yet be demonstrated, demolishing the transport hub first would leave Edgware taking a very large gamble indeed.

A Very Simple Question

Planning arguments about density and design will continue. But this issue is not complicated. Before demolishing infrastructure used by thousands of people every day, demonstrate that the infrastructure promised in its place can actually be built safely. At present that has not been done.  The London Fire Brigade has already raised concerns. There are currently no established building regulations for a development of this type.

Yet demolition of the existing transport hub is still on the table. Residents asked for one simple safeguard: do not demolish the hub until a safe, approved replacement is actually possible. It should have been the easiest promise in the world to make. The fact that Barnet Council still refuses to make it should worry anyone who assumes that common sense still plays some role in planning decisions. And it raises one final, uncomfortable question. If the replacement cannot yet be shown to be safely buildable, why is destroying the existing transport hub even being discussed?

Please sign the petition to stop it being demolished.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-edgware-s-bus-station-and-bus-garage-from-being-demolished

The FALSE DOTS ARE PROUD TO RELEASE OUR NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO - BIG HAIRY SPIDER - WHERE SKA MEETS SCOOBY DOO MEETS HAMMER HORROR MEETS BENNY HILL!

 Today is a massive day for The False Dots. We release our brand new single and video - Big Hairy Spider

We have made an amazing video to accompany the launch. The single tells the story of a terrible nightmare I had, many years ago, about a lovely girl who lived up my road. The song sat in my lyrics tin for over 46 years, because my former songwriting partner deemed it "stupid". However, the time is ripe for the world to hear it. I have always loved cartoons and so we decided to animate the video. The product is a mash up of Scooby Doo style animation, a Hammer Horror story with a splash of Benny Hill thrown in to an up beat Ska / punk tune. We think you will love it! Have a look.

The False Dots are on a mission to entertain and have fun. If we can put a smile on your face, we will. 

The band are officially launching the single today at London's finest grassroots music venue (Sunday 15th March), the Dublin Castle. Why not come along - Full Details Here. 

You can hear the single on Spotify here.

Please support artists and musicians. If you like this, tell your friends about it!