Budgens to close after 25 years
BUDGENS, the only supermarket in Tring’s town centre is set to shut after more than 25 years in the town. The store’s doors will be closed for the final time on Saturday, October 22.
The move comes after store bosses failed to reach an agreement to renew the lease at its shopping base in Dolphin Square. The 18 staff working at the store will be left jobless unless they transfer to other Budgens supermarkets, of which, the nearest are in Wendover, Aylesbury and Amersham.
Budgens stores were taken over by the Musgrave Group, Ireland’s largest wholesaler, in 2002. The group announced last year it was looking for independent retailers to take over ownership of all Budgens stores.
Corporate communications director Rod Alexander said: “The trading conditions at Tring coupled with our inability to reach any acceptable agreement with the landlords regarding the renewal of the lease, are such that we believe it would not be possible for an independent retailer to create a viable business from the site.
“We believe the overheads for the independent retailer of operating the store would outweigh its sale potential. It is always sad to close a store and we should like to thank all our staff and customers for their loyalty and support over the years and we wish them well for the future.”
Property firm move up market
NASH Partnership could be the latest estate agents to move into Tring High Street.
The property company, which already has shops in Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted, has put forward plans to move into Clement House at 23 High Street.
The building, which is now vacant, was used as offices for a chartered surveyor.
Daniel Nash from Nash Partnership said: “It is a place we have had earmarked now for some time as part of our expansion. We have found premises which we think are ideally suited to what we are trying to achieve. I have always either lived in Tring or very close to Tring so it makes perfect sense. This is one of a number of sites that we have earmarked to move into in the future, but it is very early days.
At a Tring Town Council meeting on Monday, councillors had no objections to the change of use application put forward by Nash Partnership. The application is currently under consideration by Dacorum Borough Council.
Dorothy to delight with display
spectacular flower displays are to be part of a blooming good night out in aid of the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home.
Neil Gurney and his alter ego, Dorothy, will be the stars of this fundraising night and Dorothy’s Floral Delights will include an evening of flower demonstrations and entertaining anecdotes.
Dorothy, who is famous for her amazing demonstrations, will be giving away one of her displays to a lucky audience member in a raffle.
The evening is at The Court Theatre, Tring on Wednesday, October 5 and starts at 7.30pm and tickets cost £10.
To buy tickets call the hospice shop on 01442 891006 or their office on 01442 890222 or email jnewton@irhh.org
Lifelong gardener digs deep for double victory
GARDEN enthusiasts all over Tring held their breath as Antiques Roadshow star John Bly visited gardens to judge them for this year’s Tring Town Council Best Gardens Competition.
Green fingered Mick Surridge beat his neighbours to bag the Eight Acres Cup for the ninth time. He was also awarded the overall Urban District Council Best Garden Cup by Tring Mayor Mike James at a Tring Town Council meeting on Monday, September 19.
This is the first time Mick has won the overall garden cup. He said: “Winning the cup was quite a surprise, because I have seen some of the gardens around the town and was quite surprised to be chosen.”
Mick, aged 59, has been gardening since he was a teenager when he helped his dad on Sundays to do the digging and planting.
Harry Anderton won the Trevor Marwood Small Gardens Cup for his garden in Friars Walk. Trevor Marwood, a long standing town councillor who passed away last year, introduced the cup to Tring Town Council because he wanted people with small gardens to be represented.
This year Mr James had asked Tring councillors to nominate attractive gardens in their wards, which were then judged by John Bly.
Council force call to keep phone box
A BT phonebox that was facing the axe has been saved by Tring Town Council who argued that it is vital to the town.
The phone kiosk in Manor Road had been listed for the chop as part of BT’s realignment scheme, but councillors decided to use a special veto power to ban the phone from being scrapped.
They were able to stop the phone kiosk, which was installed in 1987, from being removed under the special power because there is no other public phone within 100 metres.
BT wanted to get rid of the phone because they said it was not being used enough.
In a letter to Tring Town Council BT said that the cost of providing the phone is almost three times more that the revenue they make.
They said the payphone is sometimes vandalised - in February the kiosk was broken and glass smashed and in April the phone was out of service for a week due to a robbery.
Since January this year 999 calls have been made from the phone once a month, but all of these have been hoax calls.
17 homes close to the payphone objected to plans to axe the phone.
BT has decided to keep the phone for now, but will continue to monitor its usage and will review the situation again at a later date.
Ofcom, the regulator for UK communications industries, is reviewing the veto power because BT says it is unfair.
Ofcom is considering making the veto only available to county councils who will consult other local councils for their views. If their proposals go ahead the required distance between phone boxes will be increased from 100 meters to 400 meters.
At a Tring Town Council meeting on Monday, September 9, Cllr Lloyd Harris said: “I’m very happy to see the pay phone will not be moved, however they are going to keep it under review and if the rules change in their favour I’m sure this issue will come up again. BT still says it is under used and suffers vandalism. People should use it in a responsible manner.”
Bowled over
TRING Park Cricket Club was congratulated on its achievements during the 2005 season by Tring Town Council during a meeting on Monday, September 19.
The club won the Home Counties Premier Division II league and secured promotion.
Town mayor Mike James said: “The town takes tremendous pride in the club’s achievements and wishes it continued success both on and off the field.”
Road-kill comes back to life in a new exhibition in Tring museum
It’s dead, but is it art?
ROAD-KILL is the theme of an exhibition in Tring which sends out a striking message for motorists to be more careful on our roads.
A squirrel, a rabbit and a mouse are just a few of the animals that have been
immortalised in glass or porcelain by artist June Kingsbury after she
found them dead at the roadside.
Only The Moveable Things will be on display at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Akeman Street until Sunday, October 2.
June, who is studying for a masters degree in ceramics and glass, has walked the same three mile route in Hambleden Valley, near High Wycombe for a year, collecting dead animals along the way.
She uses the animals to make life-like moulds.
Once these have set the animals are burnt out and the moulds along with the left-over bones are used to make a cast in glass or ceramic.
June said: “It is not something I have seen done
before.
“It is very personal.
“Once they are in glass or ceramic it transforms them. By casting dead animals in glass you take away all the deadness, there is no blood, no fur, no feathers or pecked-at corpse.”
June takes a backpack everywhere she goes so that she can pick up any dead animals she finds.
The mother of three said: “It did surprise my children, because I have some of the animals in my freezer.”
This is the first time that June’s work has been displayed in a museum and she hopes to be able to display her work elsewhere.
She said: “When you first see them it is slightly surprising even slightly shocking
but once you get past that you can see it is quite beautiful.”
Included in the exhibition is a Bengal cat called Molly, which belonged to one of June’s fellow students.
June was asked to immortalise the cat, which had to be put down, after becoming ill shortly after Christmas last year.
The cat will return home to its family once the exhibition is finished.
Magician hit by passenger
A Professional magician was attacked by a drunken man he was driving home.
Billy Morgan had met up with James Read in The Greyhound Pub in Wigginton, near Tring but in the car Read, 18, suddenly punched Mr Morgan on the left side of the face, St Albans Crown Court heard on Thursday.
Prosecutor David Chrimes said they got out of the car and Mr Morgan was punched again. Read then picked up a beer glass he had brought with him and hit his victim below the left ear.
He fell to the floor and Read kicked him three or four times to the head and body.
Mr Morgan was treated for cuts and a lump to the head.
Read, a driver of heavy machinery, of Council Cottages, Chesham Road, Wigginton appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm on June 26 this year.
Defence barrister Edward Haughey said Read could not remember the evening.
In the past there had been an altercation between his best friend and Mr Morgan.
He said Read played an important role in caring for his disabled older sister.
Judge Findlay Baker QC passed a 36 week young offender sentence suspended for two years, ordered him to do 100 hours unpaid work and abide by an 8pm-5am curfew for four months.
Read must also pay £750 compensation and £100 costs.
