A new beginning!

Open Day 3rd July 2016
We have been in our new Centre for 2 months and celebrated with an Open Day for neighbours, members and supporters.  The day was a great success with around 170 people through the doors.  A  variety of activities took place: following a nature trail, butterfly craft, sowing seeds (donated by Kew), investigating pond life.  There was a huge selection of delicious cakes and a wonderful vista through the doors onto the garden and the reserve.  The feedbackwas overwhelmingly ‘excellent’  with lots of visitors commenting on the warm and welcoming atmosphere.

butterfly1 nature_trail pond_life1 pond_life2

Centre OpeningAprThe E-Centre Opening 9th April 2016  The Centre was formally opened by Phil and Janet Hulme of the Hadley Trust. Trustees, volunteers and friends of Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice and Barnet Environment Centre, together with local residents and invited guests, attended to celebrate the future use of the building by both charities. The Friends of Barnet Environment Centre organised a self-guided walk around the nature reserve, a demonstration of pond-life and a “show and tell” of interesting wildlife objects. Read more on the Barnet Society’s website.

MADD12thApr16Make a Difference Day 12th March 2016: Mud field to wildlife garden. This “Make a Difference Day” was one of many sessions to transform the area immediately behind the Centre to make this into a garden to be enjoyed by school children, the families supported by Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice and other visitors. Volunteers from our charity and from Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice worked to scrub up brambles and undergrowth. Over the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd April we hired a digger and landscaped the garden and on the 4th we managed to prepare the ground and lay the turf that Noah’s Ark had been given by Thompsons of Enfield in an area next to the decking. The garden will have a large central picnic area, surrounded by a path that will be usable by children in wheelchairs, with beds around the edge and a wildflower mound at the far end. Work started on the path on the 6th April. The rush is on to get the garden area looking as good as possible!  We have made a list of wildlife-friendly plants and are asking for donations of plants or seeds from the list that are in your own garden. Please click here to see the list.