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Barnet Museum – An UpdateAt our meeting with the Borough in August we were told that the Libraries Department would be stepping back from negotiations and that the Properties Department would be working on the preparation of a lease of 31 Wood Street to the Society. Whilst the lease is being prepared the Council are continuing to pay the Museum’s utility bills and have recently paid to have the leak in the roof repaired. We have asked for a 99 year lease at a peppercorn rent but we have not received any indication of the conditions the Borough are proposing to put forward.Meanwhile we continue to see an increased number of visitors to the Museum and donations from Members and casual visitors have greatly increased. Plainly the Museum is well-loved and strongly rooted in this community and we are very grateful for such magnificent support. We are already planning ahead. We intend to celebrate the Olympics with a display of ‘Barnet Achievements’ which will include both sporting and non-sporting trophies. We hope to be working with Barnet College Tourism students on marketing the Museum to all sectors of the public. We aim to develop the website further and to use it to provide family history information and to sell our books and photographs. We plan to update our backroom technology and also to provide a wireless network to enable researchers to use their own laptops in the Museum. Transport for London have agreed that once we have a lease of the building they will rename our nearest bus stop ‘Barnet Museum’. Annual Subscriptions The subscriptions for 2012 were agreed at £12 for individuals, £15 for a family and £200 for life-membership. Constitutional Changes At the AGM Members were asked to vote on the constitutional changes which will become necessary when under the new Charity Commission grades of charitable status are introduced. It was agreed that when the new legislation on a new system of charitable status is in place we would re-register as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. This would provide the Trustees with limited liability protection. It was also agreed that in order to clarify the charitable status of both the Museum and the Society both names should be combined in a new title ‘Barnet Museum and Local History Society’. This will made it clear that Museum and Society are one entity. Pick & Mix Courses As a fund-raising initiative we have produced an experimental programme of talks for small groups on a wide range of topics. These will take place at the Museum on Monday mornings [10.00am – 12.00 noon] from February to June 2012. They will cost £5 each or £12 for 3 talks. Advance booking is required and a list of courses has been distributed. You can download a copy here. Acquisitions The ‘Armada Chest’ previously owned by St Mary’s Church, Monken Hadley has been cleaned up and is now on display at the Museum. Other notable new acquisitions were an 1870’s mangle, received from Edgware Abbey, and a christening robe. Battle of Barnet Project We are hoping that this will go forward in 2012. The University of Huddersfield, Glen Foard and the Battlefields Trust have applied for a grant to excavate three possible battlefield sites near Barnet in the hope of finally identifying the exact location of the battle.. Lord Byng will need to give permission for the dig on Wrotham Park land. If the site of the battle is located and remains are discovered that show Barnet was the first site in England where cannon was used, Barnet will become very significant to Military Historians. We already hold two verified and dated cannon balls in the Museum and have been asked to provide additional exhibition space for any ‘finds ’. This would considerably raise our importance as a significant museum and could attract a level of funding that could enable us to provide the extension we so badly need. Opening Hours The Museum will now be open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons 2.30 - 4.30 Saturday 10.30 - 4.00 and Sunday 2.00 - 4.00 The Museum has a vast collection that it has taken more than eighty years to accumulate but it is far more than just a place to visit and enjoy. It provides an outreach service to schools, societies and researchers. It undertakes local history research and produces a wide range of publications from substantial books to occasional papers, newsletters and and bulletins. The Society has a programme of monthly lectures at Church House Barnet - see list below and volunteers go out to lecture to other groups. The area covered by the Society is: Chipping Barnet, East Barnet, New Barnet, West Barnet, Cockfosters, Arkley, Hadley, Whetstone and Totteridge. |
Barnet and District Local History Society Lectures 2012
All lectures will be held in Church House, Wood Street, Barnet (opposite the Museum) on MONDAY afternoons at 3.00 pm.
Monday 9 January – The Life and Times of Octavia Hill – Pamela Wright
Monday 13 February – Agincourt – Professor Anne Curry
Monday 12 March – The Story of the Bow House – Pauline Brown
Monday 16 April – People Linked with Nicholls Farm – Dr Gillian Gear
Monday 14 May – The Steam Engine at Wrotham Park - Nigel Picken & Brian James Strong
Monday 11 June – Ice Wells fit for a Metropolis: London’s Commercial Ice Trade - Malcolm Tucker
Monday 10 September – Saxon London – Robin Densem
Monday 8 October – Edith Cavell: An Extraordinary Woman – Lucy Johnston
AGM
Wednesday 21 November 8.00 pm. At Church House.
Outings (dates to be finalised)
April/ May - Wrotham Park
September – Wrest Park
Garden Party
Sunday 19 August