Category: Ariston Site

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The Pioneer Club: 0 to 100 in one venue

Tucked away in the middle of Bernards Heath is the Pioneer club, a youth and community charity offering a safe haven for skate, music, dance and the arts. As well as housing the UK’s oldest indoor skatepark, the Club is an iconic music venue for legends past and future.

The team are hosting events for ages 0 up, and offer venue hire too for bingo nights, birthday parties and more. The new cafe offers a warm space for guardians wanting to grab a hot cuppa and clear the inbox while waiting for skate lessons to end.

Find out more about the PJ parties, Indie nights and Xmas Specials taking place in your community before Christmas : https://www.pioneerclub.co.uk/pioneer-events

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Water test on Heath ‘bog’

Regular users of the lower field will have noticed that the bog in the south eastern corner continued to grow this summer despite months of record low rainfall. FoBH took it upon themselves to conduct a water test in an attempt to identify the source of the water.

The results have been reassuring. The water is remarkably clean, with good ratings for inland water. This rules out the feared possibility of a burst waste pipe. Affinity were contacted regarding water pipe leaks in the area, but maintained there are none. Another mystery then, what is the source of this water if rainfall and burst pipes can be ruled out?

An old well on the heath?

FoBH member, Mandy, found a map from 1965 which shows an old well in that corner of the heath. This implies the source is a natural spring. Can anyone else assist with this mystery, please?

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FoBH cleans up graffiti

A great example of how your membership looks after our green spaces.

The WWII water tank near the old fire station was vandalised over the summer. Sadly, two fine oaks in a heath clearing nearby were also graffitied with lightening bolts over the summer.

Both of these have now been cleaned by FoBH volunteers. Huge thanks to our local members looking out for their local space. As you can see from the pictures below, the work took extensive scrubbing!

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Drilling and scrub removal update

As reported in April, there have been on-going investigations into the soil conditions on the old orchard and Ariston site areas on Bernards Heath. We believe these are linked to a long-expected planning application. Do contact us if you have any concerns.

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Drilling in the old orchard

It appears that the old orchard (the bottom, sloping field which boarders Shepards close and Heathlands school) will soon be fenced off. FOBH understand that this is to allow drilling on the site to check the soil ahead of a planning application for the site.

It is believed that there will be a planning application for up to 50 houses lodged on the site soon. For our latest information, check out our AGM minutes.

Drilling sites marked out on old orchard
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2025 AGM Minutes

The Friends of Bernards Heath held their 2025 AGM on Saturday the 1st of February at the Jolly Sailor. Many thanks to patron Paul for hosting us, and to all who attended. Please find the minutes below and contact us with any queries.

Topics addressed included:

  • Update on the possible development on the heath
  • possible changes to the Pioneer Club
  • review of FOBH activities: playground developments, picnic celebrations, maintenance…
  • a look ahead to 2025
FoBH 01FEB25 AGM minutesDownload
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Autumn Action Day 2017

Well done, and thank you, to everyone who helped with our action day on Sunday, 19th November. 

Litter and dumping of various items is a constant problem on the Heath, particularly around seating areas and on the sides of Harpenden Road.  We do our best to keep it clear and keep the Heath a welcoming area for public use.

Action days are not restricted to litter picking, and some of us worked on cleaning out the old water tank close to the old Judo Club.The tank was constructed during WW2 for a supply of water in the event of fire, but has since become a container for rubbish and leaves.  We made a start on cleaning it out last November and this was the second attempt.

A determined effort revealed that much more rubbish, especially rubble, had been dumped than realised, probably to a depth of nearly 10 inches (25 cm) in one area. More work is needed.

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The Lower Heath – what’s happening now?

We were very grateful to everyone who contacted the press and their local Councillors when we got the shock news, only a week ahead of the Cabinet Panel meeting on 9 December, that Hertfordshire County Council (“HCC”) was going back on its previous decision in 2014 to support discussions with the District Council to transfer the Lower Heath to them.

Continue reading “The Lower Heath – what’s happening now?”