The Worshipful Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock, said: “I’m so proud of the performances and enthusiasm of everyone that took part. This was a borough-wide effort and a big success for Barnet. I will now be able to give £6,000 to Cherry Lodge Cancer Care and family support charity Home-Start Barnet. I’d like to thank everyone involved in our float’s creation and in the performances on the day. From start to finish everyone danced or walked with a smile and a real passion.”

Barnet was up against boroughs from across the capital to win its share of a pot of money made available for local charities. The challenge was to create a colourful and eye-catching float which paraded from Pall Mall to Whitehall to celebrate the big day in front of a worldwide TV audience of over 500 million viewers.

Barnet’s float had the theme of ‘Live Your Best Life,’ focusing on the importance of Well-being and mental health and living in the moment to make life more enjoyable. Big Ben was a stand-out feature of the float, representing time but also the importance of living in the present – not the past or future – to maintain good mental health. The display also featured a rainbow to celebrate the diversity, colour and dreams of the borough and of course a large sunshine.

Groups from across Barnet took part in the creation of the float and the performances on the day.

They included:

• The Bull Theatre, who built the float
• Ryan Mills from Brookwell Building Services
• The Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
• Fixation Theatre Children’s Youth Group
• The Saracens and the Saracens Sport Foundation
• Cherry Lodge Cancer Care for getting us the float from Artel Scaffolding
• London Borough of Barnet’s Positive Activities co-ordinator – Laura Davitt
• The Barnet Guild of Artists
• Nordic Walkers
• Elders Dance Companies
• Incognito Theatre Company
• Phil Stannard Associates for the sound system
• Iheart
• Middlesex university

You can read more about all the entries in the London New Year’s Day Parade – including Barnet’s entry – at lnydp.com/parade/lnydp-participants/External link.