Hadley Wood News June/July 2017

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”The Original Garden Maintenance Company” Est in 1974,
The ENGLISH GARDEN Company Ltd. has been caring for trees
and gardens in North London and Home Counties for four decades;
we were the first and remain the leaders. Calling on a regular set
day and time, we never miss, no matter the weather; we have
helped transform our client’s gardens into some of the finest in the UK. Our bespoke
vehicles allow us to bring the garden centre to your door, providing our clients with all year round colour and the
latest varieties in bedding, plants, and garden materials. Don’t just take our word for it; see what our customers
have to say: “English Garden Company offers a highly professional, friendly, reliable and efficient service. They have
maintained our garden for many years - visitors always comment on how lovely it looks and we take immense pleasure from
it. EGC are always willing to help and nothing is too much trouble for them. I have no hesitation in highly recommending
them. “Mrs. W – Hadley Wood
office@englishgc.co.uk 01707 645069 www.englishgardencompany.co.uk
Over 100 Hadley Wood residents gathered at the station on a warm and sunny Friday 26th May for the
official opening of the accessible step free entrance to the northbound platform. In his very entertaining
opening speech, Will Pike, a wheelchair user owing to the 2008 terrorist attack at the Taj Mahal hotel in
Mumbai and now a disability campaigner for the charity Inclusion Barnet, spoke passionately about the
impact of initiatives of this sort on
people’s lives.
He was preceded by GTR’s
Programme Manager and prime
mover in this project, Andrew
Sidgwick, and by Chair of the Rail
User Group Francesca Caine, their
speeches punctuated by the
occasional train, each heralded by
Will waving a flag. (George Ste-
phenson would have approved).
Francesca thanked the several repre-
sentatives of GTR present for their
great help in providing not only the
new entrance, the first on this route
within Greater London, but also the
many other improvements made to
our station through collaboration
with the Rail User Group.
Complimentary refreshments were
provided and Thymari opened its
doors for everyone to sit, eat and
relax. Raffle prizes generously
provided by all our local businesses were awarded, the proceeds going to Inclusion Barnet, the local deaf
and disabled people’s organisation which works towards a more accessible society for all.
The construction of this step free entrance and other improvements to the station were the result of hard
work by the Rail User Group, great leadership by Francesca Caine and strong support from residents.
Hopefully a foretaste of things to come.
Rod Armstrong
Assisted Travel. Need assistance now to travel by train to or from Hadley Wood?
Telephone GTR’s helpline 0800 058 2844 or telephone 0800 975 1052
giving as much notice as possible
Hadley Wood Station’s new accessible Step Free entrance
Opening ceremony.

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St Martha’s School has announced it will become Mount House
School, from September 2017. Matthew Burke will continue as Head
of the School supported by the Senior Management Team.
Mount House School will be led by a new company formed by a team of
experienced education professionals and backed by Albion Ventures.
The School will have a new Executive Principal, Toby Mullins, who has
over 20 years’ school leadership experience who will be the School’s
strategic lead.
Since the amalgamation of the Sisters of St Martha with the Sisters of
Charity of St Jeanne Antide in 2015, it was agreed the Sisters could no
longer retain the trusteeship of St Martha’s School. In considering a
number of potential buyers, the Sisters selected the group backed by
Albion Ventures to establish Mount House School.
As the School will no longer be owned by the Sisters of St Martha, it
will be renamed, the name Mount House coming from the historic house
on the site. It will retain its ethos and will continue to welcome pupils
from all religious backgrounds, as well as those who are not religious,
as St Martha’s always has.
More families will now be able to benefit from a Mount House School
education as coeducation will be introduced from September 2018. There is growing interest in coeducation
locally and nationally and parents are increasingly seeking a School that can serve both their sons and their
daughters. The move to coeducation will be phased in gradually over five years and every year group will
have both boys and girls by September 2022.
Investment in facilities will begin over the summer to create an enhanced learning environment, benefitting
all the pupils and staff. Over the course of the next year there will also be significant investment in the
school’s sporting provision.
One of the primary aims for the new School will be to build on St Martha’s much-valued ethos and
atmosphere and to sustain it for the future. The School will continue to value every pupil as an individual;
discovering and nurturing distinct talents within a friendly, supportive environment. Mount House School
will provide outstanding teaching and learning, innovative sports provision, and an extensive co-curricular
programme as part of an excellent, caring and well-rounded education.
Matthew Burke, Head, and Toby Mullins, Executive Principal, will be happy to answer further questions you
may have regarding the future plans for the School. Please contact them via the Head’s PA, Mrs Marianne
Naismith, on headspa@saint-marthas.org.uk to make an appointment.
There will be a School Open Day on Saturday 30th
September at 10am and all prospective families are warm-
ly welcomed to see the School and meet the Mount House School team.

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Station Cuttings: Step Free✓2018 Service?
Two key railway items to report this time: usage of
the new step free entrance; and Phase 2 of GTR’s
2018 Timetable Consultation.
We were delighted by the turn-out for the opening
ceremony for our new entrance. The event also
raised £735 for the local accessibility charity
Inclusion Barnet. Huge thanks to the Event
Committee of Gill Henley, Lisbeth Wirth,
Kate Ferguson and Jenny Shearsby and all their
helpers. Grateful thanks too to every single one of
our local businesses for their generous raffle prizes
and to The Little Flower House and Wyevale for
providing lovely flower tubs and hanging baskets
which continue to adorn our station. They are
looked after by our new Train Dispatchers, Sally,
Ryan and Earl, along with an unexpected addition:
the handsome station cat!
The entrance is in increasing use but the RUG’s
work is not yet done. We are in active discussions
with GTR about permanent signage, better lighting
in the lane to Crescent West, and effective briefing
of their staff at Potters Bar, on trains and in the
Assisted Travel team.
Please tell everyone you know who may find the new
amenity beneficial – not just those with mobility
issues but with bags, buggies and bikes too. And at
last you can invite Great Aunt Ida to visit again!
How to use it?
You’ll find information on our website on the new
Step Free Travel page.
Will people be able to board a train in a
wheelchair?
Yes, using GTR’s Assisted Travel scheme
(see banner on page 2) to arrange use of the staff-
operated train-to-platform ramp.
How can people arrive at Hadley Wood from the
North?
Continue to use GTR’s Assisted Travel scheme
(see banner) to arrange suitable assistance, eg a
complimentary cab from Potters Bar.
What if people want to go into London?
To quote GTR’s poster: “Passengers requiring step
free access wishing to travel southbound from
Hadley Wood (ie towards London) are welcome to
travel from platform 4 to Potters Bar, in order to
change to a southbound service. This routing only
applies to passengers requiring step free access and
making southbound journeys from Hadley Wood,
and does not permit exiting the station at Potters
Bar.” And our very own Gill Henley has also
produced a circulatory timetable which is available
from the ticket office or the RUG website and is
displayed at the entrance on Platform 4.
Turning to the service itself, in May, RUG represent-
atives were invited to meet GTR’s Head of Strategic
Planning, Phil Hutchinson. He told us that, thanks to
the RUG’s tremendous response to the Phase 1
consultation, GTR’s timetable team have proposed to
the DfT the full 4 trains per hour off-peak service for
Hadley Wood. As announced at the opening
ceremony, the date of the next RUG meeting has
been moved to 11th
July to enable Phil to come
back to Hadley Wood to explain and discuss the
proposals as ratified by the DfT. These were
published on their website at the end of June when
Phase 2 of the official consultation began. Please
come along on the 11th
to demonstrate to GTR the
strength of support for our train service. After that,
we shall also need to send them our individual and
collective responses to the actual proposals by 27th
July - even if you find them satisfactory!
Francesca Caine
Chair, Hadley Wood Rail User Group
www.hadleywood.org.uk/railway
SAVE THE
DATE:
SATURDAY MORNING
7th
OCTOBER 2017
Michael Portillo
will unveil the RUG’s plaque
to
Sir Nigel Gresley
on the station forecourt
RAIL USER GROUP -
CHANGE OF DATE:
11 JULY 2017
Hadley Wood RUG Meeting
with GTR’s Head of Strategic
Planning on Tuesday 11 July at
8.00-9.00 pm at St Paul’s
Church, Crescent East
to discuss GTR’s latest 2018
Timetable Proposals
followed at 9.00-9.30pm by
RUG Business Meeting

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The St Paul’s Church Father’s Day
Dog Show
On a beautiful but extremely hot Sunday after-
noon, the trees of St Paul’s large garden
provided a very welcome cool arena for the
neighbourhood dogs to show off their charms.
Rupert, ably assisted by Ozlem, Laura and
Stacey from Wood Street Veterinary practice
in Cockfosters, watched as small medium and
large dogs of assorted colours and shapes were
paraded around, each trying to catch the
judge’s eye. The judges considered and
deliberated and eventually the rosettes were
handed out - which the very proud owners
were prepared to wear even if their canine
friend rejected the honour.
Waggiest tail went to Meko in Camlet Way,
Most appealing eyes to Betty, a stunning win
by the Staton family, Most handsome male to newcomer Chewie of the
Mangan family, Prettiest female to Amber from Arkley, Best veteran to
Bruno Brin whose owner fraternised with the judges, best puppy to Har-
ry who is a recent member of the Ward family and Best trick went to
Poppy from the Politzer family from Barnet.
There were no major scuffles and indeed hardly a bark was heard! Too
hot or perhaps it showed the quality of dog one gets in Hadley Wood;
respectable, charming and well mannered!!
The overall ‘Hadley Wood Hound of 2017’ went to ‘Lexi’ belonging to
the proud owners, Karen and Jon, with their children Amy, Chloe and
Isabel. (See above). Once the categories were completed attention was
turned to cups of tea, glasses of cool drinks and delicious home made
cakes by Sally team - perhaps next year it was suggested we should
have a Pimm’s tent! Refreshments were all consumed either under the
shade of the trees or in the cool of the church where each windowsill has
a flower arrangement in a copper dog bowl surrounded by dog biscuits!
Hillary welcomed the neighbours and friends who had gathered for this
happy occasion explaining why the church had put on this event. Rupert
thanked the helpers and everyone for coming and promised to put a date
in the diary for next year. Do join us in 2018. (Pictures P.6)
History of Hadley
Wood – poster and
slide show
A large poster describing
the history of Hadley
Wood has been produced
and is on display at the
Hadley Wood Association
Centre (size: 625 x
880mm landscape). It has
been compiled by John
Leatherdale and printed by Clive Coote and a limited number is being
sold at £25 each to raise funds for the Hadley Wood Association.
John has also compiled a pictorial slide show, based on the talk he
gave in St Paul’s Church last October entitled An illustrated history of
Hadley Wood, the story of a development that nearly failed.
This can be found on the Hadley Wood Association website under
‘New Gallery’.
Copies can be obtained from johnleatherdale@gmail.com.

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.St Paul’s Church Hadley Wood’s Dog Show

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Remembered
Freda Jerwood passed away peacefully at home on 28 May. She
reached the great age of 97 and had lived in Hadley Wood since
1960 when she and her husband, Arthur, moved into her mother-in
-law's house along with their three daughters, Valerie, Susan and
Carol. Freda was born in Guelph, Ontario and lived in Canada for
the first 12 years of her life. Her parents had emigrated in 1919,
but returned to England in 1932. On leaving school, she trained as
a secretary and during the war years she worked for the Ministry of
Health. She married Arthur in 1949 having met on a tennis court
at Alexandra Park; she and Arthur were both keen tennis players
and played competitively for the teams at Hadley Wood Lawn
Tennis Club in the 60s and 70s. In later years Freda took up golf
and played at Old Fold Manor.
Freda embraced all that Hadley Wood had to offer and was a founder member of Hadley Wood WI in 1960
becoming its President in the early days. Her organisational skills were soon utilised on various local and
County committees over many years; she was a most efficient and innovative Home Craft Secretary en-
couraging and guiding less gifted members into taking part in County competitions. She attended nu-
merous classes on upholstery, flower-arranging, lampshades, dress-making and soft toys. Freda was also very
skilled at staging and presenting exhibits and shared her knowledge and skills with others.
Freda worked hard for charity, supporting not only the WI fund-raising events, but also the NSPCC and
RNLI with door to door collections and summer lunches in the garden, coffee mornings and bridge drives.
She opened her beautiful garden to raise money for the NSPCC and latterly in 2010 for Ovarian Cancer
Action. She also supported the WRVS by delivering meals on wheels in Barnet for the elderly well into her
seventies, but decided to call it quits when a lot of her clients were younger than she was!
Freda was member of the Hadley Wood Association, the Horticultural Society and the Theatre Club; she
made friends easily wherever she went, and she was a loyal and kind friend to many. She was devoted to her
family and took an interest in the many things they did throughout her life. She had a great sense of humour
and could laugh at herself and with others. She will be sadly missed by all who knew her.
Margaret Floyd
It is with deep regret, we report the death of Margaret Floyd on the 22nd
April
2017 after a prolonged illness.
Margaret, Tony and their three children came to Hadley Wood in 1971. During
the past forty years, Margaret played a prominent part in the life of Hadley
Wood, being a member of the Association, the Tennis and Bridge Clubs and
the Hadley Wood Golf Club.
She was an active member of the Women’s Institute and was President from
2001 for three years.
Margaret will be sadly missed by her many friends who, we are sure, will
cherish memories of her infectious humour and remember their friend whose
love of life was indomitable.
HADLEY WOOD
SECURITY SERVICE
CONTACT
Caroline at
hadleywoodsecurity@hotmail.co.uk
or pick up a leaflet
from Londis

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Spring Clean up
Hadley Wood’s green spaces and (some) streets are looking a
lot better following the Great Clean Up day on May 20th
.
Thanks to the efforts of local residents Dawn Wellings,
Lisbeth Wirth, Hannah Destro and Alexandra Whiter, a large
group of supporters turned up on the day armed with black
sacks and litter pickers. The Rev. Rupert Mackay, Chairman
of the Hadley Wood Association presided and no less than
three policemen from the Cockfosters and Southgate Safe
Neighbourhood team dropped by in support. The area around
the Hadley Wood Association building and tennis courts, the
car park, the path over the railway bridge down to Bartrams
Lane field, Bartrams Lane itself and the Crescent were all
cleaned up. More than 30 black bags were filled with rubbish.
Well deserved refreshments followed afterwards in the HWA Centre. Many thanks from us all.
DORCHENA
INTERIORS
ITALIAN
DESIGNER
KITCHENS,
BEDROOMS
& BATHROOMS
Tel: 01707 663 738
www.dorchenainteriors.co.uk

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My name is Silviu Vulc and I am a resident here
in Hadley Wood. I am a boxing coach original-
ly from Deva in Romania. I will be starting
weekly boxing classes on Sundays at 10am at
the One-to-One Fitness Centre starting from Au-
gust and will be available for private lessons.
My background is that I am a former Romanian
Olympic Boxing Team Coach.
I spent my early career boxing in Romania
before moving to Russia to train Mixed Martial
Arts with the Red Devil Sport Club. My team
mates were Fedor and Alexander Emelianko
(two big names in the sport of MMA).
I spent three years there, training and fighting
Mixed Martial Arts. After this I returned to
Romania having earlier taken some boys from
the local orphanage in my home town and
taught them boxing for free. I took them to fight
with the Olympic Team when I took up a post as
Boxing Trainer for the Romanian Olympic
Team in Bucharest. In fact one of my students was the only person to ever defeat the now WBC World
Champion Anthony Joshua.
Over the years I have spent most of my time and energy coaching others in boxing and MMA around the
world including time spent in Russia, Romania and England. I held the position of head boxing Coach at
Phuket Top Team in Thailand and am now Head Boxing Coach at the London Fight Factory in Old Street
teaching lawyers, businessmen, actors, amateurs and professionals the art of Boxing.
I have videos on youtube. If you would like to see what I do, go to youtube silviu vulc - Yahoo Video
Search results. Call me on 07795 909848 or email me vulcsilviu459@gmail.com
Assisted Travel. Need assistance now to travel by train to or from
Hadley Wood?
Telephone GTR’s helpline 0800 058 2844 or telephone 0800 975 1052
New Books
On the Toss of a Coin
(by Michael Wise)
Michael Wise FDS,RCS is a specialist in both oral
surgery and restorative dentistry. He has now
retired following a very distinguished career. ‘On the
Toss of a Coin’ describes his journey following a
very serious acute illness, from admission to the
UCH Intensive Care unit, then the Royal Free Renal
unit through to his eventual recovery.
The story starts in January 2009 when Michael, a fit
active and healthy working man quite suddenly
developed severe septicaemia and toxic shock.
Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at UCH he spent
ten days in an induced coma receiving respiratory
support and drug treatment to correct his low blood
pressure. He survived this stage though at the price
of total kidney failure. He recounts his progress
through dialysis to kidney transplantation. The book
is full of interest and humour. His insights into
current medical care, the importance of support from
friends and family as well as the details of dialysis,
renal transplantation and kidney donation would be
of great interest to anyone facing a similar challenge
as a patient or family member. The book should be
mandatory reading for anyone deciding to practice
doctoring, nursing or running a hospital.
Or even politicians.
For more information go to www.michaelwise.co.uk
Beyond the Rainbow
(by Aubrey Rose)
Aubrey Rose OBE, CBE. celebrated his 90th
birthday
last year. Lawyer, author, human rights activist, past
Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Racial
Equality and environmentalist, this is his most
recent book. Beyond the Rainbow is an account of
his experience with the world of the spirit. Following
the death of his son the book recounts his visits to
well- known healers and the help this gave him. He
himself has also been a healer. The author clearly
recognizes that for many people the issue of spiritual
phenomena is challenging but he describes his
experiences calmly and clearly.
For those interested in his approach to loss and
healing this book written by a highly-respected local
man would be a good starting point.
Published by Lennard Publishing (07803-155475)
Price £12.50

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Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor
Although not a local resident I discovered Hadley Wood’s
meadows back in 2008 and have since walked around them a few
times each year to enjoy the birds, plants and other aspects of
Natural History. I am particularly interested in butterflies which I
watch and record. I am not an expert entomologist, just a member
of the Herts and Middx branch of Butterfly Conservation. Your
fields are an especial delight at this time of year and by
midsummer even more so when several species can be seen
fluttering about among the grasses and along the hedgelines
nectaring on the flowering brambles, Knapweed, ragwort etc.
Altogether I have seen 24 different species in Hadley Wood’s
little haven, which is an excellent total and very cheering when
moths, butterflies and bees are in overall decline in many areas. It
just shows what a decent habitat can do! Among my records of
sightings are Marbled Whites, Ringlets, Peacocks, Purple Hair-
streaks, Painted Ladies Small Coppers and Common Blues
though Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns are more common.
Also the beautiful Cinnabar daytime moths whose eggs are laid
on Ragwort. Thank you so much Hadley Wood for your lovely
meadows.
Best Wishes
Diane Andrews.

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