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Barnet Museum & Local History Society (BMLHS)

Patron: MHC Russell Esq. DL FCT Charity reg. no.1169214; Founded 1927

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

for the 94[th] Year – 2021 (Financial Year 2020/21)

This report from is a summary of Society activities over the last twenty months or so (ie from March 2020).

The Museum closed its doors to the public in the face of the Covid pandemic on 9[th] March 2020. Our series of lectures was curtailed after just three talks. We opened again on 17[th] August 2021.

In the lockdown period the Museum moved its focus to:

maintaining our online presence (www.barnetmuseum.co.uk)
maintaining our social media presence www.facebook.com/barnetmuseum; and Twitter: @Museumbarnet and Instagram
online dissemination of local history articles and data including photographs;
issuing VE day and VJ day anniversary journals, authored by Jeff Gale;
occasional Zoom presentations;
promotion of other institutes offering online lectures etc;
responding to requests for information and enquiries;
creation of a 550-year anniversary Battle of Barnet calendar;
devising a Key Stage 2/3 education programme with lesson plans;
publishing two volumes of our annual Barnet History Journal and two books, “100 Years of the Chipping Barnet War Memorial” and “The Battle of Barnet – In Fact and Fiction”.

Claire El Arifi and Graham Willcocks have contributed greatly to managing our online activities.

We updated parts of our archive (when attendance to the Museum was possible) including additions to the Hadley Wood Archive.

All the while the Museum fabric was cared for including roofing works and regular and frequent attention to the Museum’s dehumidifiers.

Battle of Barnet

2021 saw the 550[th] Anniversary of the Battle of Barnet and a lot of Museum work centred around the commemoration. Events were affected by the lockdown, particularly the Medieval Festival which had to be postponed from June 2021 to September 2021. However the Museum was able to contribute to proceedings: the Battle of Barnet banners which were painted by the Museum were hung on the High Street lampposts from April 2021 to October 2021 to fit with the actual anniversary (April) and the Medieval Festival (September), instead of June to August as originally planned. As mentioned before, a souvenir 2021 calendar and a book on the Battle were also released.
Thanks to the generosity of the management and staff of the Spires Shopping Centre, the Museum has been able to open a unit in the Spires to promote its activities and explain the Battle of Barnet (especially the banners). The unit was visited by The (then) Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock in April 2021.
The Museum arranged for four paintings by local artist Keith West to be displayed at St John the Baptist Church (Barnet Church). This exhibition was opened on 11[th] September with a solemn service conducted by Rev Fr Tristan Chapman in a medieval style. This was followed by a procession to the opening of the Medieval Festival. The Medieval Festival itself (which was originated by, but now only tangentially involving, the Museum) was deemed a success with some 5000 visitors over the weekend.
The Museum received six arrowheads and the seal of the Earl of Warwick on long term loan from the British Museum; after a three-year negotiation (somewhat delayed by the lockdown) these important artefacts are now on display in Barnet Museum.
The Museum commissioned and advised on a play, “Fog of War”, which was written by a local playwright (James P Godwin), directed by a local resident (Siobhan Dunne) and performed by a local amateur dramatic company (The Bull Players).

Other Activities

The Museum is involved in an attempt to conserve and preserve “Chudys”, a small shop (no 54a) on Barnet High Street. Chudys has a near-complete timber-frame dating from 1360 (the exact date has been confirmed by Historic England dendrologists); this is the second oldest timber framed building in London.

Old photographs of Hadley, Hadley Wood and High Barnet have been exhibited in The Spires Shopping Centre by Barnet Museum. Actually it is an "old" new exhibition – the photographs were displayed in Hadley Highstone Memorial Hall in the 1990s. The photographs have been expertly reproduced and mounted and captioned by Rob Brimson, Lyn Brimson and Jane Downey. They are on 27 display boards donated to the Museum by Lyn Brimson.

The Physic Well has been reopened. It was opened on the third Saturday of September, October and will be on 20[th] November.

In early November, we were honoured to host a visit from Agnes Slocombe, who in 1997 became the first black Mayor of Barnet. She featured in our 2021 Barnet History Journal and is a life member of BMLHS.

Since reopening the Museum we have visited one school (Trent) to give a talk on the Battle of Barnet. The school also borrowed our Battle of Barnet Loanbox.

Our immediate plans include hosting two school visits, a visit from a Scout Troop and a talk to a Synagogue social club.

Volunteers will carry out a major exercise to repair and restore The Battle of Barnet banners, ready for hanging in 2022.

We are researching the prehistoric enclosure on Hadley Wood.

We are researching the history of Dyrham Park estate.

We have introduced “The Toybox” a loan/resource box of older toys (part of Key Stage 1/2 curriculum). This is for lending to schools and for visits to the Museum. It has been used successfully by one school (Church Hill) and will soon be visited by another (Christchurch).

The Museum now handles archive enquiries through our new Archivist, Hilary Harrison. Our photography expert, Graham Willcocks, has been analysing old photographs showing new aspects on social media, particularly our Facebook page: www.facebook/barnetmuseum.

We are looking at the position on various Covid restrictions before we attempt to relaunch our monthly lecture series. We are processing ideas for speakers and topics. We intend to return to the annual Gillian Gear Memorial Lecture; again, Covid concerns dominate our thinking at the moment.

The same applies to our Reminiscence Box (a package of handling objects that we take to Care Homes and Dementia Meetings/”Cafes”). Our stakeholders here are amongst the most vulnerable to Covid and therefore we have suspended the use of the box for the time being.

The Society Garden Party was held at Ian and Lucy Johnston’s home in Wood Street in September 2021; the event was held in very good weather. A combination of sandwiches, delicious cake, tea and Pimms was again in evidence; and a quiz by Ann Vinall rounded off matters. The event was organised by Tricia Lucas. The Trustees thank her and all the members who made cakes and helped with serving.

The Museum is regaining its momentum after lockdown vis-a-vis governance and staffing – we have managed well thus far but we always want to strengthen our volunteer cadre.

Barnet Museum and Local History Society welcomes new members, currently we have approximately 300 members, of whom about 70 are life members.

The Trustees in 2020/21 were: John Hall (Chairman), Terence Atkins (Deputy Chairman), Carla Herrmann (Secretary), Mike Noronha, Dennis Bird, Mike Jordan, Guy Wheatcroft and Scott Harrison. Carla Herrmann resigned from the Trustees at the end of FY 2020/21. Esme Smith and Rebecca Smith have been added to the Trustees; Rebecca will be Secretary from January 2022. We are working on reorganising the internal Management Committee.

Ian Johnston is stepping down as Honorary President of BMLHS; he is succeeded by Mike Jordan. We thank Ian and wish him all the best, he will be a hard act to follow but he is still one of our Honorary Vice Presidents. Mike Jordan, we are sure, will be a very capable successor.

Treasurer’s Report

The Lockdown and the end of the main work of the Battle of Barnet National Heritage Fund project resulted in a reduction in turnover of the Museum. Receipts were down from £21.5K last year to £16.1K. Payments reduced from £34.1K to £20K.
Costs increased in line with inflation in telecoms/internet, security, insurance, rates (rebated by 80%) and utilities. We negotiated a three-year electricity supply agreement through the Museums Energy Basket Facility just before the sudden huge rise in wholesale prices in late Summer.
The Hadley Trust donated an annual grant of £10K to BMLHS. We are, as ever, most grateful.
Waterstones now owes BMLHS £2.1K for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 calendars.
Barnet Council refunded £1K of legal fees re: The Physic Well.
Our Sales receipts rose in slightly in 2020/21. Our Cost of Sales rose substantially as we printed and published three books. We also distributed the 2021 calendar free to members.
The Museum now has a debit card reader in response to the decreased use of cash during and after the Lockdown.
The Treasurer should like to thank Barbara Farnley who has managed the cash and banking activities and Irene Nichols who has recast the shop and retail activity even through the Lockdown.

John Hall Chairman of Trustees 8[th] November 2021

Trustee Scott Harrison examines the weather-beaten banner of the Duke of Exeter

Former Mayor of Barnet Agnes Slocombe visits Barnet Museum

Barnet Museum’s publication “Battle of Barnet – In Fact and Fiction”

	Barnet Museum & Local History Society	Barnet Museum & Local History Society	Barnet Museum & Local History Society	1169214	CC16a
	For the period from	Period start date 01-Jul-20	To	Period end date 30-Jun-21

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 2,034 735 2,334 1,000 10,000 16,103 - - - 16,103 4,860 181 2,186 1,513 1,669 1,037 - 6,007 - 1,112 998 19,563 - - - 19,563 - 3,460 - 59,169 55,709	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £ 2,034 735 2,334 1,000 10,000 - - - 16,103 - - - 16,103 4,860 181 2,186 1,513 1,669 1,037 - 6,007 - 1,112 998 19,563 - - - 19,563 - 3,460	Last year to the nearest £
BMLHS Subs	2,034		-	2,034	178
DONATIONS	735			735	1,307
SALES	2,334			2,334	2,098
RECEIPTS	1,000			1,000	969
GRANTS	10,000			10,000	10,000
BATTLE GRANTS				-	6,474
MISC(Interest)				-	520
				-	-
*Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	16,103			16,103	21,546
			- - -
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-			-
	-			-	-
*Sub total*	-			-	-
*Total receipts* A3 Payments
			-	16,103	21,546

UTIL	4,860		-	4,860	5,429
PHYS WELL	181			181	1,378
COMMS	2,186			2,186	1,678
SECURITY	1,513			1,513	1,142
INSURANCE	1,669			1,669	1,608
ADMIN,MAINT,STORAGE	1,037			1,037	1,462
COLLECTION	-			-	456
COST OF SALES	6,007			6,007	2,518
MARKETING	-			-	137
BMLHS	1,112			1,112	4,193
BATTLE PROJECT SPEND	998			998	14,133
**Sub total **	19,563			19,563	34,134

A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
	-		- - -	-
	-			-
**Sub total **	-			-	-
*Total payments* *Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end*
			-	19,563	34,134

	- 3,460	-	-	- 3,460	- 12,588
	-	-	- -	-	-
	59,169	-		59,169	-
	55,709	-	-	55,709	- 12,588

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

09/11/2021

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories B1 Cash funds	Cash at Bank Deposit Accounts Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Cash in Hand	Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 168 5,921 49,620 55,709 OK Fund to which asset belongs	Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - Cost (optional)	Endowment funds to nearest £
				-
				-
				-
				-
				OK
				Current value (optional)
B2 Assets retained for the charity’s own use	31 Wood Street	Long lease	-	-
	The PhysicWell	Long Lease	-	-
	The Collection		-	-

Note to The Accounts:

The pandemic Lockdowns which took place across the Financial Year contributed to a reduction of turnover. Subscriptions were, in the main, not collected as the Museum took note of the potential hardship of members. There was an increase in costs of sales as the Museum published a number of items in the FY.

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	Signature		Print Name		Date of approval
	M A Noronha		M A NORONHA		30-Sep-21

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)