New home for youth
group
TRING’S teenagers
will have a new hang-out venue by Christmas if plans for Tring Youth Project to
move into Tring Community Centre go ahead.
Since the closure of High Street
based, Streets Cafe, during the summer because of funding problems, the popular
youth club has been left without a home.
The group is negotiating to move
into Herts County Council owned building, the Temperance Hall in Christchurch
Road, but have decided to move into the community centre in Silk Mill Way
temporarily.
Cllr Penny Hearn from Tring Youth Project, said: “We wanted to
stay at Streets Cafe until we had sorted out the Temperance Hall, but it didn’t
seem Dacorum Borough Council wanted to support us to stay there for the time
being.”
Streets Cafe, which was founded by Mrs Hearn, chief executive of DCVS
Mark Mitchell and June Street, former chief executive of DCVS, opened in 1996.
It offered a place where teenagers could meet their friends, surf the Internet,
play pool, use the PlayStation and watch Sky television.
Mrs Hearn said: “We
had operated Streets Cafe for a number of years, but we did it on a shoe string.
It wasn’t really possible for the project to carry on at Streets but we have
talked to the borough council again and we are looking at the community centre.
We are hoping it will be opened before Christmas.”
It will not be possible
for the youth project to run a cyber cafe from the community centre, but Mrs
Hearn said it will be used as a place where youngsters can meet up and have a
coffee.
Youth project organisers are still working with Herts County Council
to secure the Temperance Hall for the
future where the group would be able
to run a cyber cafe. There is also the possibility of the Tring branch of the
British Legion sharing the hall with the youth group.
The British Legion
moved out of its base in the Purple Room at Tring Community Centre earlier this
year.
Get your free walks
guide
THIS breathtaking
view is just one of the interesting places to see highlighted in a new Chilterns
guide.
Discover The Chilterns features almost 50 countryside attractions
dotted across the Chilterns including those at Berkhamsted, the Ashridge Estate,
Tring and Aldbury.
The colourful brochure published by the Chilterns
Conservation Board covers everything from historic houses to stunning woodlands,
great picnic sites and attractive villages.
Many of these attractions, which
are great for family days out, can be visited all year round and this time of
year is great for catching the Autumn colours of gold, red and orange in woods
and field.
Discover The Chilterns is on offer free of charge at information
centres, libraries, visitor attractions and council offices.
It can also be
ordered or downloaded from the Chilterns Area of Natural Beauty website at www.chilternsaonb.org
Live music and drink
applications
TWO applications to
sell alcohol at Tring Community Centre and Tring Corinthians Football Clubhouse
have been met with no objections from Tring Town Council.
Tring Community
Centre in Silk Mill Way has put forward a licensing application to allow
entertainment including live music, recorded music and dance from 9am to 10.30pm
Mondays to Thursdays, 9am to 11.30pm on Fridays, 10am until 11.30pm on
Saturdays and 10am to 10.30pm on Sundays.
The application includes the supply
of alcohol from midday to 10.30pm from
Sundays to Thursdays and until 11pm
on Fridays and Saturdays.
Tring Corinthians Football Club in Icknield Way
wants to open the club to members and guests from 9am to 11pm from Sundays to
Thursdays and 9am to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
The sale of alcohol will
start from 11am from Mondays to Saturdays and midday on Sundays.
Both
applications are due to be considered by Dacorum Borough Council’s licensing
board.
Take a floral church
trip
FLOWERS will
transform Tring’s St Peter and St Paul Church during their festival of flowers
and crafts this month.
Colourful flower displays and hand-made crafts will be
on show at the High
Street church from Friday, October 7 to Sunday, October
9.
During the festival, the church organ will provide background information
and there will be refreshments on offer.
Cash raised through the festival
will go towards repairs at St Cross Church in Wilstone.
The church will be
open from 10am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday and 1pm to 6pm on Sunday.
For
more information call Elizabeth Sims on 01442 822669.
School is a whole new
adventure
EXCITED pupils at a
Tring school could not wait to climb, swing and jump their way through a brand
new adventure trail.
Youngsters and staff at Bishop Wood School raised £2,500
in eight months towards the new playground equipment, with the rest of the bill
being covered by Tring based company Grass Roots. which provides employee
incentives for businesses.
School governor Jenny Scholes said: “The children
had a great afternoon and what they really enjoyed was having a huge play once
the trail had been officially opened.
“It was really good and there were a
fair few parents and grandparents who turned up for the opening.”
Each class
at the school, in Frogmore Street, held fundraising events to raise cash during
the summer term including apple bobbing, non-uniform days, throwing the wellies
contest and sweet casino. In July, the school held a fun run day, which raised
£1,195 towards the new equipment.
Grass Roots founder, David Evans was at the
grand opening of the adventure trail on Wednesday, September 28, where he cut
the ribbon to allow youngsters to try out the new play area.
The new
adventure trail is part of a range of improvements that have been made to the
school since March,
including new fencing around the school, new benches and
a willow
tunnel for pupils.
Calls grow for Dolphin Square site to be kept
as foodstore
Fears for pensioners as supermarket
closes
FEARS that
pensioners in parts of Tring will find it almost impossible to do their food
shopping are growing as the closure of Budgens draws nearer.
Calls for the
Dolphin Square site to be kept for a small supermarket and not used for housing
or office developments have come from local councillors and community figures in
the town, amid fears that pensioners without transport will be left stranded
once Budgens closes later this month.
Pat Gray, a former Tring Town
Councillor, says it is essential for the site to be maintained as a retail food
store. She said: “The location means that it is accessible to many elderly
people who are unable to get on or get a bus to Tesco, which is on the edge of
town.”
Budgens, the only supermarket in Tring’s town centre is to shut its
doors for the last time on Saturday, October 22 after more than 25 years in the
town.
The move comes after store bosses failed to reach an agreement to renew
their lease at their shopping base in Dolphin Square. 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.
Dacorum
Borough Councillor Derek Townsend said:
“It is going to have a dramatic
effect on Tring.
“Budgens is used by old age pensioners in that
locality.
“Old people go there to do their shopping, they’re not going to be
able to walk up to Tesco.
“At the end of the day the square was developed
around Budgens.
“I’m desperately hoping someone, somewhere will find another
store to go in there.
“It is a terrible blow. It is a sad day for Tring to
lose its major store in the centre of town.”
Mrs Gray, the chairman of Access
for Tring - a group that campaigns for facilities for people with disabilities,
said: “Strong resistance must be made to stop flats or offices taking over the
site.
“We must not lose more fabric of the town, enough stores have folded
because of outside influences and this sight is one of the most important for
the viability of the town.”
Tring Conservatives think it is the perfect
location for a mixture of small food and other shops, as well as some low cost
housing for
single people and young couples.
Cllr Penny Hearn has
forwarded a letter to Dacorum Borough Council - the freeholder of Dolphin Square
- with the suggestions.
The letter also calls for a free bus shuttle service
to run from the centre of Tring to Tesco.
Row over station’s ‘green belt’ car
park
A PLAN by rail
chiefs to get permission to keep a temporary car park at Tring Station has been
called a 'damn insult' by planning chiefs.
The 200 space car park was built
without planning
permission on green belt land in 2003 because the existing
car park was needed for machinery and works as part of improvements to the West
Coast Mainline.
The car park was granted temporary retrospective permission
until the works were completed but rail bosses say they now want to keep it
permanently, claiming there is a need for the additional parking.
Speaking on
behalf of the Department of Transport John Lipman said the improvement works had
increased the popularity of the station and there was a genuine need for the
extra spaces the temporary car park provides.
He added that extending the
existing car park, which holds around 160 cars, would mean creating an
additional deck and would prove too costly.
However councillor Derek Townsend
was not impressed with the application.
He said he was 'shocked' on
discovering the car park had been built on green belt land in an area of
outstanding natural beauty without planning consent.
He added that at the
time of the temporary application in 2003 he doubted the rail authorities had
any plans to restore the land once the time limit was reached.
“I think it
is a damn insult myself,” he said at a meeting of the development control
committee last Thursday evening.
“Revert that field back to green belt where
it belongs,” he added.
Councillor Richard Roberts said the committee did not
like dealing with retrospective planning applications.
“I am surprised the
Department of Transport has the nerve to come here and suggest it should be made
permanent.
Councillors agreed to refuse the application.
Police step up hunt for business
conman
THIS is the man
police want to speak to about a string of
deceptions which have left Dacorum
businesses hundreds of pounds out of pocket.
On each occasion staff at shops,
pubs and restaurants have been conned into handing over cash for products which
they are told have been ordered by their manager. The goods then never
materialise.
The man struck three times in Berkhamsted and Tring on the same
day on Friday, July 8 and carried out a further two cons in Hemel Hempstead on
Thursday, September 1.
The conman is believed to have been involved in 16
other similar scams across Hertfordshire since June.
One of the two
businesses targeted in Berkhamsted was The Block - a coffee shop - where the con
artist told staff he was delivering a fridge freezer and asked to speak to the
manager.
When told the manager was not in the man pretended to use his mobile
phone to get managerial confirmation and told staff they should pay him from the
till.
He made off with £200.
A second incident took place at Fancy That, a
gift shop in Tring, less than an hour later when the same man entered the shop
claiming to be delivering shelves.
On this occasion staff handed him
£150.
On September 1 the same man struck twice in Hemel Hempstead. The first
offence took place at the Clipso hair salon in Bridge Street when the man
entered and told staff he was delivering some carpet and that the manager had
agreed to pay £230.
The shop worker became suspicious and called her
manager, causing the offender to the leave the shop and make off in an unknown
direction.
The second incident happened at The Rose and Crown in the High
Street, just 20 minutes later when the offender entered the pub and said that he
had been asked by the manager to fit a new carpet and needed paying before he
could start.
A bar worker handed over £70 but the man left the pub without
returning.
The man is described as white, approximately 5ft 10ins tall with
dark hair and a hoarse voice.
He is usually clean shaven although sometimes
has facial stubble and tends to wear sports or casual
clothes.
Anyone recognising
the man or with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the eastern
area crimedesk on 01992 533 002 and quote reference 224.
Alternatively you
can call Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.
Trickster’s
toll
Award on cards
for
company
A TRING based
greeting cards company has won a national business award.
House of Cards, on
the High Street, won The Best Greeting Card Small Multiple Retailer at The
Greeting Card Retail Awards.
The award ceremony at The Savoy Hotel in London,
was hosted in July by Progressive Greetings - a greeting card trade
publication.
House of Card owners, Miles Robinson and Nigel Willamson have
five branches and their award is proudly displayed in the shop window of the
Tring store.
Miles and Nigel said: “We were thrilled to receive this award
and would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of our members of our staff
who made this possible.”
Balloons
to inflate
laptop
fund
A BALLOON race with
£50 up for grabs will be part of the fun during the annual Long Marston School
Autumn Fair on Saturday, October 8.
Other attractions include children’s
games, bric-a-brac stalls and a raffle. Refreshments and home-made cakes will
also be on offer.
The fair starts at 2pm and tickets for the balloon race are
on sale at Long Marston School and Wilstone and Long Marston Village
Shops.
Cash raised from the day will go towards funds to set up a laptop
computer suite at the school, costing £20,000.
Cutting the rug at the
village
hall
PROFESSIONAL dancers
will be on hand to give tips during an evening of dancing being held at Wilstone
Village Hall.
Waltzes, quick-steps, foxtrots, cha-cha-chas and jives will all
be on the menu on Saturday, October 15.
Everyone is welcome and there will be
a bar serving
refreshments throughout the evening, as well as non-stop music
and an exhibition of period court dancing.
Tickets cost £6 and are available
from Margaret Buchi on 01442 890599.
PCSO will support
team
Town to lose
officer in
reshuffle
TRING will have one
less community police officer from November when one of the team’s officers
joins the Metropolitan Police Service.
Herts Police has decided not to
replace the officer because overall Dacorum has one too many community
officers.
Under Herts Police, Dacorum should have 18 community officers
spread across the borough, but at the moment there are 19. When the Tring
officer leaves the numbers will be brought to the correct level.
Also in
November another Tring community officer will be retiring. His position will be
replaced to make sure community officer levels are maintained.
Police
community support officers will work alongside Tring’s three community officers
and the community sergeant for Tring and Berkhamsted, Mike
Saunders.
Community officers deal with day-to-day local issues, such as
nuisance behaviour.
A new PCSO is due to start in the town at the end of
October. The town will also continue to be covered by the intervention team, who
respond to 999 calls and are based mainly at Hemel Hempstead Police
Station.
During the weekend (October 1 and 2) there were 22 reported
incidents in Tring, where people called 999 or the non-emergency number. This is
compared to 200 reported incidents in Hemel Hempstead during the weekend and 23
incidents in Berkhamsted.
During September there were about 350 incidents
reported for Tring, whereas Hemel Hempstead had more than 3,000 and Berkhamsted
had about 415 incidents reported.
