A new environment centre marks the first part of plans for a bigger health service at the Noah’s Ark Children’s hospice. 

The new E-Centre on Byng Road, High Barnet, opened to the public last weekend, and hopes it will host workshops and classes for children.

However, the next stage of construction on the site will be to build the new hospice facility but only when enough money has been raised.

Noah’s Ark chief executive Ru Watkins said: “Our charity was created by the community to provide better care to our local families. We continue to thrive thanks to the community’s hard work and generosity. And we urge our supporters to keep finding new ways to help us, as volunteers or fundraisers.”

A group of volunteers from Noah’s Ark and the Friends of Barnet Countryside, recently spent time creating a community garden, to make way for a wheelchair-friendly path.

Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, was also at the opening and said: “The charity does incredible work, in and outside my constituency, to help families who need it most. Many Barnet children benefited from events and classes at the old Countryside Centre but it was getting increasingly dilapidated. It is great that these environmental education programmes will carry on in this excellent new building.”