NEWS

Tony from Wood Green needed help when his car broke down outside Margot Bakery and EEVRA N2 residents came to help on Tuesday 10 February 2026. Please see below the thanks sent to a Brackenbury Road resident: I just want to thank you again with all my heart for your kindness on Tuesday night when I was flustered and shocked that my car had become dangerously paralysed in the middle of that busy road. It was so good of you to drive me home afterwards. The next day I thought I’d had enough of RAC and my garage simply collected it and tell me the battery is fine and just needed charging. If you know any of the other so kind people who immediately came to my assistance please convey my deep gratitude to them too. It was truly heartening to experience such immediate intelligent concern for a neighbour/stranger. I was touched that people recognised I was in shock and couldn’t think straight - you and they did my thinking for me. With warmest wishes and thanks again, Tony Stadlen

EEVRA N2 will arrange an inaugural meeting in the first half of 2026. We need our members and residents to create a strong collective voice that will bring effective influence of the organisations and groups that affect our community. The more members we have the more effective we are as we become a legitimate voice for consultation on major projects and improvements.

Please come - date and venue to be advised.

Adoption of Manor Park - As at 5 March 2026 Friends of Manor Park have adopted Manor Park. This formalises the resident’s use and maintenance of our community pocket park and provides significant and multi dimensional benefits from improved physical and mental well being plus enhanced community cohesion. There are plans to improve the planters and planting, lighting, signage and verges. Let us know how you use Manor Park or how you would like to use it - see our Contact Us page.

Are you interested in Hedgehogs? The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) campaigns to raise awareness of the practical steps that can be taken to help reverse the decline of Hedgehogs in the wild and in cities, improve their welfare and safeguard the future of this much-loved animal. They fund research that provides important new insights into the conservation and welfare of Hedgehogs which are vulnerable to extinction in Britain due to habitat loss, development, roads and garden hazards. There are now thought to be fewer than one million hedgehogs left.
Hedgehogs have declined between 30-75% since 2000 in rural areas. However city dwelling hedgehogs appear to be recovering after a long period of decline and we can help by making our back garden accessible and traversible by creating a Hedgehog Highway; just making a 13cm x 13cm hole at ground level on both sides of your garden will enable Hedgehogs to search for safe places to create their nests, find food and mates. They can travel up to 2km per night and are slugs and snails worst enemy! The BHPS website has hints and tips how to create the Hedgehog Highway, what to feed them and how to build a Hedgehog feeding station. Talk to your neighbours and see where highways can be created. Let the BHPS know as they are mapping the routes across the country.

The Archer January 2026 No 381

Neighbours get together to form powerful voice

Community volunteers in one part of East Finchley have formed a new grassroots residents’ association to give locals a collective voice that works with Barnet Council to solve problems, enhance quality of life for all, improve public spaces and champion the area’s future. The East End Village Resident’s Association (EEVRA) is starting with a few pilot streets west of the Northern line tracks between Church Lane, Hamilton Road and East End Road but has ambitions to represent a much wider area by the end of 2026.

Joint Chairs Nikki Austen and James Masters said the aim of the association was to turn “chat into change” and neighbourlyness into real opportunity.

“There’s no shortage of brilliant clubs, project and events in East Finchley, yet there hasnt been an active, formal resident’s association for quite some time. EEVRA aims to fill the gap” they said. “What began as a few small Whatsapp groups during lock down has grown into a strong neighbourhood network, keeping residents informed, connected, and ready to help each other.”

They said the network proved its worth last year when plans were put forward by Places for Barnet, a partnership between Barnet Council and developer the Kuropatwa Group, to build private housing on a green space and car park in Manor Park Road, in the heart of the EEVRA area.

Nikki and James said: “The community responded. Questions were raised about how public land, used daily by locals, could be earmarked for development, particularly after planning inspectors had already judged the sites allocation “not justified” and removed it from the Local Plan.”

“A parallel challenge was supported at Park House on the High Road, the site of Monkey Puzzle Nursery. Out of this moment came a consensus: the neighbourhood needed a formal body to coordinate, communicate and ensure its voice was heard. Creating something more formal seemed the natural next step.” As we reported last month, Places for Barnet have put both the Manor Park Road and Park House developments on hold in response to the level of local feedback they received to their plans.

EEVRA’s first project in 2026 is to form Friends of Manor Park, a community effort to care for the open space while the Council decides its future. A detailed 60 page proposal is already with Councillor and Officers, with a meeting due imminently.

The Association is finalising its Constitution, forming a Committee, and preparing for an inaugural meeting this month, where residents will be invited to join, share ideas and vote in the Committee. Residents can get in touch at: hello@eevra.org.uk

The group has taken its name from the East End Village area marked on historical maps from the 1800s after Finchely Common was divided into parcels including: East End, Hog Market (now Market Place) and Dirt House (now Cherry Tree Wood). The extension of the Northern Line in 1939 separated East End from what most call the Old Village. Their mascot is Eevie the Elephant, inspired by the famous Lord George Sanger’s circus, which wintered in the area at Park Farm. In its heyday in the late 1890s and early 1900s, giraffs, bears, big cats and elephants could be seen parading up East End Road.

The much anticipated EEVRA prize draw took place 18 December 2025. Thank you for your support and helping EEVRA to raise much needed funds. Please contribute using our GoFundMe EEVRA page https://www.gofundme.com/f/EEVRA

The EEVRA Valentine’s Day nominate a neighbour/local business for the Jennie Mann flower award took place Saturday 14 February. Winners of five, beautiful EEVRA bags of daffodil bulbs are: Patricia - the longest standing resident on Brackenbury Road and who has a wealth of local knowledge and an immense capacity for kindness. She loves her garden so the Jenni Mann award will make her smile. Darren - a resident on Manor Park Road (MPR) who cleans and sweeps MPR, takes in parcels, shares words of love and wisdom without embarrassment. Thank you Darren. Toni - a Sedgmere Road resident for her tireless volunteering for The Archers and our community. A massive thank you for the generous donation of your time. Indu - a Bracknbury Road resident who has walked a neighbour’s dog each weekend for 7 years - such kindness so thank you Indu. Howard - who monitors the Bishop Douglass children as they leave the school and at the local shop. He is friendly, approachable and a gentleman who loves the kids and they love him. His gentle approach connects residents to the school and ensures everyone is respectful. Thank you Howard.