2013 Annual ReportResidents Association Annual General Meeting

Monday 31 March 2014, 8.00pmHenrietta Barnett School Hall, Central Square

All residents welcome • Refreshments

This is my Annual Report for 2013 and the fifth Residents Association AGM which I will Chair on March 31. In retrospect it seems both a very long five years and to have just flown by. Shortly after I became Chairman in April

2009 I was interviewed by the Ham & High and reported as having said I considered my role as ‘keeping an eye on the Suburb’.

I am sure there are those among residents who would prefer their Chairman to take a more directive stance but, on balance, given the wide diversity of opinions within our community, I still prefer that view of my role to one which starts from the assumption that the RA can or should decide in advance what is best for the Suburb and its residents and go for it whatever others may wish.

In my statement written for the 2009 annual report I commented on the difficulty faced by the RA in learning what it is that Suburb residents want their RA to do. Over the past five years we have extended our methods of communication by offering

Open Meetings to discuss topics of current interest or concern, reviving new residents parties, introducing Suburb eNews to run alongside the continuing quarterly hard copies of Suburb News, using electronic communications to conduct surveys and to encourage more residents to let us know whether they are for or against specific activities by the RA and to further encourage those residents to participate actively by volunteering for specific activities. Via these means in the last year we have changed the style of the Summer Picnic, re-instated the New Year‘s Eve Fireworks and shortly will be offering what may be our first ever Toddlers Party. Catch them young!

Meanwhile as set out by those who Chair specific RA Committees or oversee the operation of particular functions, the range of our work is set out in this Report. The Suburb provides a unique environment which is not set in aspic but nevertheless retains its particular qualities over the years in ways which other residential areas have not. Most of the work of the RA which contributes to this is done via our Standing Committees to whose Chairmen and members I owe a debt of gratitude for their diligence and effectiveness.

Chairman’s Report

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Within the RA I also wish to thank and am very grateful for the support of my present and previous Vice Chairmen and Hon. Treasurers, as well as the other members of the RA Council individually and collectively, and those responsible for production of the much admired Suburb News, for the running of the Gallery and all those who contribute to and support in so many ways the efforts of the RA and other local bodies such as Fellowship and our relatively recent Garden Suburb Community Library.

It is always necessary to recognise that the Residents Association has virtually no powers apart from its credibility in making our case in the interests of residents, so I must also thank trustees and staff of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, our locally elected Ward Councillors and staff of the London Borough of Barnet with all of which the RA has inter-acted over this

period with the combined objective of the continuous maintenance of the Suburb in line with the principles set out by our founder Henrietta Barnett. Without their active support the Suburb would be a poorer place to live in. It is certainly not perfect. It does not and will not always speak with one voice; it has a far more culturally diverse population than in by-gone years. Nevertheless, it remains a place of which to be proud as I am sure on balance Dame Henrietta would be were she able to see the results of her vision one hundred plus years on.

Thank you and good luck for our collective future.

JANET ELLIOTT

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Financial Report for the year ended 31 December 2013

NOTE FROM THE TREASURERThe RA council again exercised strict financial controls over expenditure and ended the year with a small surplus after running a very successful

summer picnic and end of year fireworks. RA publications again made a surplus this year despite a small reduction in advertising revenue.

JEREMY CLYNES – Treasurer

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

INCOME 2013 (£) 2012 (£) Subscriptions 31,561 32,012 Donations 0 29Admin fee from Fellowship 1,409 1,455Bank interest 53 46Garden Suburb Gallery (deficit)/surplus (27) 128

Total 32,996 33,670

EXPENDITUREPrinting, stationery and communications 1,815 2,179Room & hall hire 716 2,598Honoraria 6,435 5,410Publications 4,701 668Events 8,908 4,248Suburb tree planting 3,400 3,250Sponsorship Proms at St Jude’s 2,750 2,750Notice boards 55 1,102Independent enquiry 0 1,919 Other expenditure 1,590 1,439Bank charges 52 18

Total 30,422 25,581

Surplus for the year 2,574 8,089

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2013 – 1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES: (a) The accounts have been prepared on an accrual basis. (b) Members’ subscriptions have been reconciled with the sums actually received during the year. 2. INTEREST: Interest has been received net of tax. 3. The Council, on advice, considers that tax liability will be immaterial.

HONORARY ACCOUNTANT’S REPORTI have examined the accounts prepared by the council for the year ended 31 December 2013. This examination comprised a review of the accounting records kept by the Association and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes a consideration of any unusual items or discrepancies in the accounts and seeking explanations from the Council concerning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

CURRENT ASSETS 2013 (£) 2012 (£)

Cash at bank and in hand 8,235 10,228Balance on deposit 83,604 77,701Stock held at Gallery 405 442Debtors 3,903 3,606Share in Orchard Housing Society 1 1

Total 96,148 91,978

Less current liabilities (23,486) (16,890)

Net current assets 72,662 75,088

REPRESENTED BYAccumulated fund brought forward 48,505 40,416Surplus for the year 2,574 8,089Tony Mandelson Memorial Fund 95 95Dr Joy Edelman Legacy 1,488 1,488Centenary fund 20,000 25,000

Total 72,662 75,088

COLLECTION FOR FELLOWSHIPReceipts 12,087 12,560Less RA costs (1,409) (1,456)

Total 10,678 11,104

GARDEN SUBURB GALLERYIncome 4,536 10,253Expenditure (4,563) (10,125)

Surplus/(Deficit) for the year (27) 128

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would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts. On the basis of my examination I have concluded that the accounts have been extracted correctly from the accounting records and are sufficiently supported by underlying documents and explanations provided to me by the council.

PR HARTLEY – Chartered Accountant PO Box 27075, London N2 0FZ

ALLOTMENTS

After a very wet spring, with some plots looking more like paddy fields, the sun finally arrived and we had a fairly good late season.

Personally, our ‘pimientos de Padrón’ (small Spanish peppers)

were wonderful, and we were eating them till October!

In July all the plots were judged for the Phyllis Young Memorial Trophy by Gill Read (last year’s winner), Claire Calman (Chairman of the Trust’s Estates Committee) and myself. The winners of the trophy were Richard and Sheila Bury, who live in the Orchard and have a plot on Orchard North; second Grant Cathro and Ivor King of Bigsite and third Philip Harlow of Creswick Walk.

We were all very impressed by the variety and abundance on some allotments.

After six years as Chariman, I am retiring in the spring. A new chairman will be elected from within the Allotment Committee.

Carlos and I are not giving up our own allotment which we both enjoy.

Finally, we have a few vacancies on some sites. Anybody who is interested please contact the site secretaries (in the RA handbook), the Trust or the new Chairman.

PIA DURAN – Chairman

Committee Reports for 2013

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CONSAM

Probably the most significant single issue dealt with by Consam this year was the signage for the new CPZs. Despite getting prior agreement from Barnet regarding the positioning and height of the poles

before they were put in place, the subsequent installation was not as planned. I’m very grateful to members Jonathan Seres and Jeremy Clynes for their efforts negotiating with the council to re-install the offending posts to plan. I’d also like to thank our ward councillors who consistently backed up our argument. In 2014 we are going carry out a survey of the Suburb to address any existing posts that don’t meet the design guidelines.

The Meadway pergola has now been fully restored and the gates at Hampstead Way repaired. Consam member Rosalind Josephs has maintained constant pressure on Barnet to carry out the works to a high standard.

David Lewis, Max Petersen, Jonathan Rowley and Geoffrey Spyer continue to give up their time serving on the Trust’s PPC and Barnet’s CAAC committees. This is vital work giving the RA a real voice on planning applications on the Suburb.

Consam have made a number of representations to Barnet. There have been successful objections (notably the proposed apartment building in Temple Fortune Lane) and unsuccessful ones (particularly The Glentree site, 698 Finchley Road). Others will be decided in the New Year (Reynolds Close screening).

JOHN SELLS – Chairman

and handing out voting cards. It is also responsible for ordering and handing round refreshments, as soon as the serious business is over. At this stage, the AGM is transformed into a popular social event.

The Michael Rowley Memorial Lecture on 11 May in the Friends’ Meeting House attracted a smaller attendance than in previous years. Rupa Huq of Kingston University chose as her title ‘Making Sense of the Suburb’. The lecture took the form of a conversation with Kingston’s Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing, Vesna Goldsworthy, Alan Walker and the audience.

The Events Committee displays posters of local activities on the RA’s 60 Notice Boards, situated all over the Suburb. It also prepares the quarterly schedule of events, featured on the What’s On page of Suburb News.

DAVID LITTAUR – Chairman

GARDEN SUBURB GALLERY

2013 has been a relatively quiet year for the Gallery with fewer special exhibitions. We have seen a steady sale of Suburb cards and books as well as pictures by local artists and must thank the volunteers

who have kept this community facility open through the year. This started with a successful show of work by Alfred Lester and culminated in Gift Time at the Gallery, a show which raised money for the North London Hospice.

Particular thanks are due to our chairman for holding the fort while I was indisposed and to Peter Falk, who was Fellowship’s treasurer, for his tireless enthusiasm and assistance during the year.

RICHARD WAKEFIELD

EVENTS

Planning for an expanded Summer Picnic started early in the year with the formation of a designated subcommittee. Council had endorsed a proposal that an increase in the scale of this event would compensate for

disappointment over the cancellation of the Fireworks Display on New Year’s Eve 2012/13. Following intensive planning by a hard-working and dedicated subcommittee, which held about 20 meetings, the Fun Day Picnic took place on Central Square on 23 June.

A large crowd of adults and children attended this hugely enjoyable event. Several hundred picnickers delighted in the astonishing feats of a juggler and a magician. A galaxy of amusements for the children included mini-roundabouts, free donkey rides, face-painting, Punch & Judy and Fizzie Lizzie, the clown and entertainer. There was a dramatic play-reading of A Tale of Two Cities and the Youth Music Centre and a jazz quartet from the Guildhall School of Music played during the afternoon. 24 Organisations manned tables and the Police Cadets were in attendance. Many of the participating Suburb residents later sent messages of praise on the unqualified success of the Fun Day Picnic.

The AGM, courtesy of The Henrietta Barnett School, took place in the school’s hall on 21 March. It falls to the Events Committee to make all the arrangements for this important meeting. These include the provision of a sound engineer and equipment, to ensure that all speakers at the top table and in the body of the hall are clearly heard, notwithstanding a difficult acoustic. The Committee supervises the seating arrangements and provides for the appropriate furniture for checking attendees

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LITTER TEAM

Whilst Barnet Council is cleaning the streets on a regular basis, there are times in-between when litter is to be found especially along hedges at junctions where there are no houses. Litter pickers are not expected

to go out of their way but perhaps a little further than just outside their own properties. Hopefully with the extended CPZ in place and less commuter traffic, there should be an improvement in the amount of litter produced.

The problem now is not knowing who is still on the list of litter pickers. It is important to be informed if a resident is no longer picking up litter for whatever reason in order that the grabbers can be returned for future use.

ROSALIND JOSEPHS

MEMBERSHIP

As always the Residents Association is grateful to the around 2,000 households which support our activities be they long-standing or new residents. Without their support and the income generated we would be

unable to continue to provide a service for all residents in line with the objectives set out for us by Dame Henrietta Barnett in the first decade of the 20th century. Although our work is undertaken by volunteers like myself, nevertheless some income is essential if the membership and other services we provide are to be efficiently organised and delivered. Principally the objectives of the RA require us to work to help preserve the physical

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ambience of Hampstead Garden Suburb which covers both the built environment of our world-renowned Conservation area and the green environment from both of which we all benefit.

Since 2012 we have re-introduced the occasional early evening party for new residents. Attendance is not huge but they remain pleasant occasions for newcomers to meet fellow residents in addition to their immediate neighbours. We have plans to continue and we hope develop this part of our offering further in 2014.

Our contacts with both members and other residents are by post, telephone, and increasingly via email. These are all used both to sort out any issues which require contact and to provide a database via which we can maintain our approximately monthly eNews sent to those of you who let us have your email addresses. It does however help if members also help us keep the list up-to-date by letting us know when your email address changes.

We still rely on volunteers for delivery of the annual suburb directory, a once a year operation which for the majority of volunteers involves a maximum of one or two half days with many having rounds which occupy only an hour or two. I welcome calls from those who have not taken part in recent years, who are willing to join the team. For this and other Membership purposes, please contact me on ramembershipsec@hgs.org.uk or by telephone to 020 8455 2191.

Finally once again may I say thank you to Steve Morris who continues to maintain both the HGS website and the hgslists, and to Jeremy Clynes our Hon. Treasurer for his support and expertise in helping me cope with the introduction of the new database for keeping membership records which was introduced in the middle of 2013.

JANET ELLIOTT – Membership Secretary

ROADS & TRAFFIC

As forecast in last year’s Annual Report Barnet Council acted during 2013 to extend parking restrictions deep into the Suburb’s oldest residential areas by establishing a new controlled parking zone last October. The

new Garden Suburb CPZ adjoins the pre-existing Temple Fortune and Golders Green zones and has resulted in a more or less contiguous set of parking controls affecting almost the entire locality between North End Road and Temple Fortune Hill. Some residents may find it surprising that it has been considered necessary to introduce parking restrictions so far away from the centres for which they were ostensibly first created but the knock-on effect of displacing traffic, particularly from roads around railway stations, means that many residents in the centre of the Suburb now find themselves being forced to buy permits and to comply with a complex set of regulations simply to park in their own roads. Early indications are that traffic from the new CPZ is being displaced yet deeper into roads that had never previously experienced parking congestion and further extensions, rule changes, costs and restrictions should be anticipated by those living in the newly affected areas.

Transport for London’s use of CCTV enforcement in the Market Place continued throughout 2013 with many residents and visitors receiving parking tickets for stopping in the poorly marked loading bay on the north side. However after years of lobbying by the RA, TfL finally agreed to add carriageway markings to the bay which much enhances its visibility. Since starting our campaign against TfL’s Market Place enforcement practices in 2006 the RA has

PUBLICATIONS

Christmas saw the appearance of the twenty-sixth edition of Suburb eNews, which helps to promote activities and events in the Suburb. All RA members will receive this if they have

provided us with their email address. Please let us know if you are not receiving it and would like to do so.

Suburb News continues to provide residents with a quality local newspaper four times a year. It is distributed free of charge throughout the Suburb by a team of over one hundred volunteers co-ordinated by Lorna Page and this year we held a party for them to thank them for their hard work. Suburb News is still looking for someone to take over the advertising brief from Richard Wakefield, who celebrated 30 years of producing the paper since its first issue in July 1983.

The Suburb Directory appeared late this year for a number of reasons but with a much-enlarged Discount Scheme. Thanks to the efforts of Charles Gale there are now 27 participating shops and businesses involved. This is nearly double last year’s total for the scheme which started in 2007.

Suburb News and the Suburb Directory again covered the costs of production through their advertising revenue. Copies of both publications are available online on the website created and maintained by Steve Morris at www.hgs.org.uk.

TERRY BROOKS – Chairman

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Finally we would remind members that the R&T Committee is always available to help with parking or traffic tickets issued by Barnet, TfL or any other authority.

GARY SHAW – Chairman

TREES & OPEN SPACES

After many years of very active membership, Eva Jacobs has left the Committee and her roles as Secretary and as our representative on English Heritage’s Kenwood Landscape Forum. She will be much missed.

Maria Schlatter has taken on those roles.

Monitoring the Suburb to identify problems to do with trees, grass verges, hedges and benches continued, with individual members of the committee covering the various areas. Our aim is to visit all roads paying particular attention to gaps in the original planting of street trees. The RA has again agreed to match Barnet’s spend on replacing missing trees; however the combined amount is, once more, not quite enough to fill all the gaps and we are in the process of working with Barnet to finalise the list of trees which they will be ordering for their 2013/14 planting.

We oppose vigorously any applications to fell a healthy tree which we believe makes a significant contribution to its surroundings and were pleased to be successful with two of the magnificent old hedgerow oaks which were retained when the Suburb was planned – one on the Asmuns Place Allotments and the other in Corringham Road by the corner with Rotherwick Road. We believe it important to focus on the key significant trees and continue to work with the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust in their project to survey and create a

been instrumental in helping several hundred residents and visitors recover fines or have their parking tickets cancelled. During this period the RA has made representations on behalf of residents at several dozen Parking and Traffic Appeals hearings and we have succeeded on several occasions in having CCTV enforcement suspended in the Market Place for a period of time. In 2008 we persuaded TfL to remove the south side loading bay and now with the improved visibility of the north side bay having been achieved this long campaign may be brought to a close. Members are reminded though that the CCTV camera may be used to enforce all manner of parking contraventions, some justifiable, some not. Sadly it is as well to assume that we are being watched in the Market Place at all times.

The Henlys Corner scheme is now two years old and although generally working well there are some indications that traffic patterns may have changed enough to cause congestion westbound in the evening rush hour. On some nights traffic trails back all the way from the junction through Falloden Way as far as the Market Place. It is not clear why there is now a greater frequency of congestion than before but the Roads & Traffic Committee will continue to monitor the situation.

Happily the Suburb’s traffic accident rate remains low and serious accidents are very uncommon. Concerns about speed of traffic are often raised with the Committee and there may be some exceptional cases where controls of one sort or another are required. However we would urge residents to remember that no traffic measure stands in isolation and wherever a change is made unanticipated effects are felt elsewhere. Widespread reductions in speed limits would have almost no impact on safety but they would cause inconvenience and delay, especially to our own residents who are the most frequent users of our roads.

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database of significant trees, other than street trees, in the Suburb. It is likely to be another couple of years before this project is completed and will then then add weight to future opposition to applications (usually by an insurance company) for removal of trees highlighted as significant by the survey.

We continue to play an active part in the management both of Hampstead Heath, with a representative on the Hampstead Heath Consultative Committee, and of Kenwood, as a member of English Heritage’s Kenwood Landscape Forum.

The Bigwood Action Days were continued during the year with three Saturday morning sessions in the spring and another three in the autumn. A grant from the Forestry Commission enabled us to plant 55 oak saplings in two of the glades cleared in previous years, and produce an updated Big Wood History & Nature Trail leaflet about

Chairman ................................. Janet Elliott

Vice Chairman .................... Jonathan Seres

Hon Secretary ............................................

Hon Treasurer ...................... Jeremy Clynes

Secretary ..................... Rosemary Goldstein

Peter Beesley........................................2013

Douglas Blausten .................................2013

Tony Brand ..........................................2012

Terry Brooks .........................................2011

Alan Brudney .......................................2013

Charles Gale ........................................2012

Tony Ghilchik .......................................2012

Colin Gregory ......................................2012

Stephanie Hurst ...................................2011

Brian Ingram ........................................2013

Rosalind Josephs ..................................2011

David Lewis MBE .................................2012

David Littaur ........................................2013

Max Petersen .......................................2012

John Sells .............................................2012

Gary Shaw ...........................................2011

William Sowerbutts ..............................2010

Ann Spencer* ......................................2010

Rev Dr Ian Tutton** ..............................2009

Richard Wakefield ................................2011

Richard Wiseman** ..............................2009

*co-opted during 2013

**resigned during 2013

Officers and Council 2013-14

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the wood. We plan to continue the Action Day sessions during 2014. Come and join the enthusiastic group of residents, including families, young children and a few dogs, for an enjoyable community experience.

As a small group, the committee likes to act as an enabler to help and encourage specific action groups to undertake various projects in the Suburb along the lines of our Bigwood Working Group. Progress during the year has been slow, but continues in three areas: with the group of mothers working to renew the toddlers’ playground at the western end of Northway Gardens; with a group working to replan and manage the flower beds in Central Square, and with trying to set up a group to replan and manage the flower beds in Northway Gardens. New volunteers to the groups are welcomed.

TONY GHILCHIK – Chairman

The 102nd AGM of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Residents Association will take place in the Henrietta Barnett School Hall, Central Square, NW11 on Monday 31 March 2014 and will start at 8.00pm.

The business of the meeting will be:

1. To receive apologies for absence

2. To approve the minutes of the last AGM

3. To receive and approve the annual report and accounts for 2013

4. To elect officers and Council members for 2014/15

5. To consider the suggested annual subscription for the membership year 2015. No change is recommended

6. To appoint an honorary accountant

7. To appoint Honorary Life Members

8. To present Alexander Stuart Gray awards for 2013

9. Any other business

The following have been nominated by the Council as officers for 2014/15:

Chairman ............................Jonathan Seres

Vice Chairman ..................... Max Petersen

Hon Secretary ...........................Gary Shaw

Hon Treasurer ......................Jeremy Clynes

The following member, co-opted in 2013, is nominated for election to council:

................................................Ann Spencer

Notice Of Annual General Meeting Monday 31 March 2014

The following have been nominated for election to council:

........................................ Jeremy Hershkorn

..............................................David B Lewis

..........................................Amanda Reuben

.............................................Paul Wenham

The following members of Council have resigned, retire or retire by rotation:

Those marked * offer themselves for re-election.

................................................Terry Brooks*

.......................................... Stephanie Hurst*

...........................................Rosalind Joseph*

...........................................Will Sowerbutts*

........................................ Rev Dr Ian Tutton

....................................... Richard Wakefield*

.........................................Richard Wiseman

Any member may propose members (who have been in membership for at least two years, any preceding membership as an Associate member included) for officer posts and for Council vacancies.

Nominations must be in writing, have the consent of those being nominated and be signed by a proposer and a seconder who are members of the Association.

They should be received by the Secretary, Rosemary Goldstein, 1a Church Mount N2 0RW by 21 March 2014.

After formal business there can be a general discussion and questions from the floor following which we hope you will stay for refreshments.

JANET ELLIOTT – Chairman