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Saving fish in a nutshell
THOUSANDS of terrified fish trying to escape hungry predators suffocated inside a pipe, which feeds water from Marsworth Reservoir to the Grand Union Canal, experts say.
About 10,000 fish were discovered dead over a 50 metre stretch of the Grand Union Canal at Startops End near Tring last November.
Environment Agency experts believe the young bream swam into the pipe to seek refuge from predators like pike and fish-eating birds such as herons and cormorants.
It is thought the fish slowly used up all of the oxygen in the water inside the pipe, which keeps the canal topped up with water during low rainfall.
Chris Mitchell from the Environmental Agency said: “The fish would have been breathing the oxygen and because there is no plant life to inject oxygen back into the pipe they would have suffocated.”
To combat the problem, special under-water islands will be created in the reservoir. Coconut shells planted with reeds and suspended in the water will create a haven where fish can hide from predators.
Mr Mitchell said: “They have been used elsewhere to improve water quality but in this case it is an area for providing a refuge for fish to swim into.”
Experts think that the shoal of bream swam into the water pipe because low water levels meant they could not get to reef beds at the edge of the reservoir.
During the same month last year another 700 fish were found dead in the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal at Tring and in August hundreds of fish were found dead in the canal at Berkhamsted. Tests are still ongoing to find out the causes of these fish deaths.
Power to the pupils
THE DEMOCRATIC process was in full swing at Tring School, when pupils voted for who should represent them on the town’s youth council.
Voting at Tring School | Real polling booths borrowed from Dacorum Borough Council and voting slips were used so that youngsters could experience how real elections work.
Pupils filed into the school hall on Thursday, February 23 to vote for who should form the new members of Tring Youth Town Council.
Assistant head teacher Andrew Dobberson said: “This is a good way to address active citizenship in the school, but most importantly for the students to put something back into the community where they live. It gives them a say in what happens in Tring.
“It gives them the opportunity to do something positive and gives them the skills they will need when they go into the world of work.”
Teachers hope that by encouraging pupils to vote in school elections now they will be more likely to vote in national and local government elections when they turn 18.
Mr Dobberson said: “It gives them the chance to take part in a proper election, showing them it is fun and they are empowered to do something in the community.”
The pupils elected to Tring Youth Town Council are: Year Seven students Amber Cave and William Heap, Year Eight students Henry Hammett and Jessica Howell, Year Nine student Daniel Barnes and Year Ten students Clare Dussek and Tom Hudson.
Their first meeting will be held today (Wednesday,) in the Council Chamber, The Market House, Tring.
Opening of town’s museum is delayed
But new plans include more space and installing solar panels
THE OPENING of a museum in Tring, dedicated to the town’s history, has been put on hold until full funding is secured for the project.
The Tring and District Local History and Museum Society signed the lease for their museum based in Brook Street last week, but will not be opening the doors until they have got all of the cash needed for refurbishment works.
Chairman of the history and museum society Tim Amsden said: “We are preparing bids for external funding, including the Heritage Lottery Fund and others.
“We have approached them and several other bodies who make grants in the area. At the same time we are raising funds locally in every way we can think of.
“It has become apparent to us that we have to cost the whole thing and then go to funders and get what we can.”
Initial plans were for the museum to be opened and then works done in stages as funds trickled in.
Planning permission to restore the buildings front gables, make internal alterations and install a solar panel on the roof was granted by Dacorum Borough Council last month (February).
The building’s lease agreement with Tring Town Council means rent will now have to be paid by the museum and history society.
Mr Amsden said: “They are both quite significant hurdles to have crossed and it will be a big boost to our members’ morale.”
The group was formed 12 years ago with dreams of opening a museum to tell the story of the town’s history. Volunteers had hoped it would be up and running by September last year.
They need to raise at least £80,000 to open the museum. The group has £60,000
saved, but half of that will be invested to ensure a long term income to sustain the project.
Mr Amsden said: “The stage we have reached in terms of the lease and the town council’s support and the amount of money we have got means we are in such a strong position compared to other towns which might have a museum as a pipe dream.
“We have come this far, we have got no intention of going back.”
Installing a solar panel means that once the museum is up and running the society will be able to slash its electricity bills.
Mr Amsden said: “It will generate electricity as long as there is daylight and if it generates more than it is using, then the electricity metre runs backwards.
“It is extremely hard to say if it will generate all of the electricity for the museum, but it is quite a big roof and it is facing south, which is ideal. It will help keep our bills down.”
There are also plans to glaze the whole of the front porch, which will increase the gallery size by at least 30 per cent.
Mr Amsden said: “What we hope is we will secure the funds we need to do the restoration and when the museum is up and running and we have good visitor numbers we can go back to funders to say we want to glaze the area.
“Then we will stand a better chance of securing funds.”
Scouts’ pasta night
FIRST Tring Scout Group is one step closer to getting its leaky scout hut roof replaced.
A successful fund-raising night at the town’s Italian restaurant Forno Vivo and a generous donation from Tring Rotary Club has bumped the fund up to almost £32,000.
The scout group needs £91,000 to do the massive roofing job.
Group scout leader Ian Hines said: “If we can get halfway to £44,500 we should be able to borrow the other half from The Scout Association.
“We are going for grants from Awards For All and other charity trusts. Hopefully we can get to that halfway mark. It has been going on so long we really want to get it done.”
During the Forno Vivo evening on February 26, students from Tring’s Arts Educational School entertained the packed-out restaurant with singing performances. It is estimated that £2,500 has been raised from the evening.
The scout hut is a hub of activity for more than 200 scouts, brownies and guides from the area.
Tring Rotary Club presented Mr Hines with £1,000 during a special dinner at the Rose and Crown last month. Mr Hines said: “We had a phone call some weeks ago that they wished to make a substantial donation.”
At the moment the roof leaks during heavy rain and buckets have to be used to catch drips.
Mr Hines said: “If we don’t have it done it will fall into disrepair and then we won’t be able to provide scouting and guiding for youngsters here.”
Fly-fishing lessons reel in cash
A FUN ‘school dinners’ evening held at Tring School has raised more than £3,000 for Friends of Tring Church Heritage.
The charity, which is dedicated to helping preserve Tring’s St Peter and St Paul Church, held the special fund-raising evening in the school’s dining hall.
Guest enjoyed patés, coq au vin, a variety of cheeses and delicious puddings cooked by eight local chefs and washed down with a
selection of fine wines at the event held in February.
During the evening there was an auction, where guests bid for prizes including, fly-fishing lessons, a French dinner for six, a chauffeur trip and help at home with gardening and computing.
Chairman of trustees Grahame Senior said the whole evening had been a tremendous success. “People were very generous when it came to the auction,” he said.
The school dinners night raised £3,572 for FOTCH, a group that has already done plenty in ensuring the town’s central church is preserved for future generations.
In recent years the church clock face has been re-gilded and protective stainless steal guards provided for the stained-glass windows and the porch roof has been repaired.
Better than eBay!
A MAN who is trying to sell his home on eBay has had an offer made on the property after his story appeared in The Gazette.
Martin Elmes, 43, took the unusual step of auctioning his home online after estate agents failed to attract a buyer for the three-bedroom static home in Beech Park, Wigginton, which had been on the market for three months at £58,000.
A 10-day listing on the website failed to return any bids but when his story appeared in The Gazette in January, several people contacted the newsdesk saying they were interested.
A couple have now made a £45,000 offer for the property which Martin is mulling over.
“I have got a couple interested in buying the home as a result of the story appearing in The Gazette,” Martin said.
PC Tom takes to the streets
TRING’S newest police officer is fresh out of training college and armed with lots of new ideas for beating crime.
PC Tom Evans, pictured, has been out on the beat meeting people and getting to know organisations and councillors in the town. He has been appointed ward constable to replace PC Steve May, who moved to Hemel Hempstead Police Station.
A keen rugby player, PC Evans, said: “This is my first position. I have been relishing the opportunity to get out there and meet the community. It has been going well.”
PC Evans, 25, studied criminology at university before training to be a police officer. He said: “It is something I have always wanted to do.”
So far PC Evans has been impressed with the town. He said: “I’m getting to know the job as a community officer. There is not much crime here. It is a good little town. I feel very positive about it.
“There is the opportunity to do some good stuff here with problem solving issues. If there is an area where there has been a number of incidents it could mean trying to deal with that by taking away the problem. It could be with youth, car crime or anything like that.”
Fair Trade fortnight
MAKE Fair Trade Your Habit is the theme of this year’s Fair Trade Fortnight, which kicked off on Monday (March 6), starting a whole host of events across Dacorum to raise awareness of how Fair Trade products guarantee a better deal for people in Third World countries.
Michael Demidecki from Tring Justice and Peace Corpus Christi Catholic Group, has launched a Fair Trade competition in memory of his wife. The Margaret Demidecki Fair Trade Award 2006 is inviting schools and youth groups in Tring and surrounding villages to create a presentation, which sends out the Fair Trade message.
The best entry from primary school aged children wins £250 with the same to the best secondary school aged entry.
It will be judged by the Tring Justice and Peace Corpus Christi Catholic Church and the winners announced in April.
Margaret, died suddenly from a heart attack in December last year. Michael said: “She was, like me, active in promoting Fair Trade in Tring. It is a way of getting children involved and learning about Fair Trade.”
The group is hoping that Tring will officially become a Fair Trade town later this year.
Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted are also working towards Fair Trade status.
There will be special tastings at Tesco, Jarman Park on Wednesday, March 8 and Thursday, March 9 from 10am to 2pm and at Sainsbury’s in Apsley on Saturday, March 18 from 10am to 2pm.
Spring and summer clothes, foods, crafts and paper goods will be on sale during a Fair Trade Morning at the Court House, High Street, Berkhamsted on Saturday, March 11 from 9am to noon.
A Fair Trade market selling Oxfam Fair Trade foods, Palestinian handicrafts and African goods will be in Marlowes Shopping Centre opposite Littlewoods on Saturday, March 11 from 9am to 5.30pm.
For details visit www.dacorumfairtrade.org.uk
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