Probe into fish deaths

TESTS are still being carried out into what caused the death of thousands of fish in Tring at the end of last November.
Environment Agency officers began tests after around 10,000 young dead fish were discovered in a 50 metre stretch of the Startops End reservoir on November 29.
Dan Taylor, a spokesman for the EA said: “The lab results are still not back as yet. Though we did do some analysis of the site at the time. We did some basic checks for oxygen levels, PH levels and took sediment samples to see if they contained any trace elements of pollutants, but none contained anything unusual.”
The incident at Startops End was the third mass fish death incident in the area in less than six months.
In August an unknown pollutant was blamed for causing the deaths of thousands of fish in the Grand Union canal near Berkhamsted and around 700 fish were discovered floating in the canal in Tring, probably due to a natural build up of blue green algae. One possibility the EA are considering is that the recent fish deaths were caused by a lack of oxygen.
Mr Taylor said: “The number of fish involved is due to it being just after the spawning season and the vast majority of these fish were juveniles.They are much more susceptible to pollutants or any change in the water.
“It could be due to the fish actually being present in the out flow pipe and being trapped in a small place using up the oxygen.”
The EA hope to have the final test results within a week.

Hopes for two shops in Budgens

Bosses hint at arrival of two national retailers

TRING is set to gain two
new separate stores to replace the old Budgens supermarket
if crucial talks between companies to seal the deal go to plan.
Bosses at the Lear Group, the head leaseholder of the site, have said they hope to announce the names of two retailers moving into the site in the coming months.
Estates Director for the Lear Group, Andrew Smith, said they are very near to agreeing the deal on the site, which has remained empty and boarded up since Budgens moved out in October.
He said: “We hope to be able to announce two national retailers moving into the centre within two months.
“We hope one will be a food retailer.
“The intention was always to get another food store in there because that is what the town needs.
“These deals take some time, but we are hopeful that within the next couple of months we can announce something.”
The news will come as a relief to elderly and disabled people in the town who have struggled to get to Tesco, based just outside the town centre, or who have been paying extra for food goods sold at local small shops.
Feelings are so strong in the town that long-term volunteer for the elderly and disabled, Pat Gray collected around 600 signatures last month in a campaign to help ensure a food store will replace Budgens.
When the Dolphin Square supermarket closed last year, 18 staff had to find new jobs or transfer to other Budgens stores outside of the town.
In December spokesman Lisa Duffey from clothes store Mackays confirmed they had shown interest in the Budgens site and the company had advertised in the Gazette for staff to work in their new shop opening in Tring.
Last month Tring town councillors, John Allan, Nick Hollinghurst and Penny Hearn along with the Tring Town Council clerk Susan Johnson met with Alan Gater, head of property and assets management at Dacorum Borough Council and Cllr Ian Reay, portfolio holder for planning and regeneration, to discuss the Budgens site.
The view that the site should remain as a food outlet was strongly expressed by Tring’s councillors.
Once new tenants have been found by the Lear Group, the ground leaseholders Dacorum Borough Council, will have to give their seal of approval.
Cllr Allan said: “Tring Town Council is delighted that there will be a food store and another retail presence.
“It is very good news for Tring, and a good result for the strong lobbying by the council.”

Hairdressers’ charity jump

TWO daredevil Tring hairdressers have raised almost £2,000 for charity through a fundraising parachute jump for the local hospice.
Owner of hairdressers Vanity Fayre, Mandy James and trainee hairdresser Claire Blackburn dived from a plane at 13,000 feet to raise cash for the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home.
Mandy, who opened Vanity Fayre more than 20-years-ago, said: “It was absolutely amazing for both of us. It is just the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life, apart from having children.”
The daring duo did their charity jump on the same day that the Buncefield Oil Depot exploded on Sunday, December 11. They took off from Northampton and got a bird’s eye view of the flames and rising smoke plume.
The bulk of the fundraising cash has come from customers at Vanity Fayre. Mandy said: “A big thanks to them for giving us all of the money for the hospice. It is a marvellous charity.”
Mandy’s mother was nursed by the hospice so the parachute jump was her way of giving back to the Tring-based charity.

Ice maiden Courtney

A TALENTED Tring ice skater has been highly commended at a national sports award ceremony after being nominated by her grandad.
Courtney Gowers, 14, of Buckingham Road, has been figure-skating since she was nine and trains for four hours four times a week, often starting at 6am, when most girls her age are still tucked up in bed.
Courtney - a Tring School pupil - was commended for her dedication to the sport in the female Student of the Year category at The Daily Telegraph School Sport Matters awards.
Her mum, Jill, said: “We are very proud of her. She was very surprised. Her grandad nominated her about a year ago without us knowing.”
During the star-studded ceremony at the House of Commons in London, Courtney, right, was presented with a framed certificate and rubbed shoulders with a whole host of sporting household names including, olympic gold medallist
Darren Campbell and retired footballer Alan Smith.
Jill said: “She is very dedicated and that is what she got the award for. She is very committed to it and skates before school and at weekends.”
Courtney took her grandad, Jack Brinded, along for the special
ceremony held last month.
Jill said that staff at Tring School had encouraged Courtney to pursue the sport and helped her catch up on work, when she had to miss school for national competitions.
Jill said: “She does a sport that the school doesn’t have a facility for, but they let her train and enter competitions, which is a credit to the school staff.
“It is down to people like the headmistress that she can do it.
“She has kept up her studies well.
“We had emphasised from the beginning that she had to do well at school, because if her grades started to slip she wouldn’t be able to do the competitions,” she added.

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