Basketball star's sudden death
Hundreds pay tribute to sportsman, 15
by Victoria West
victoria.west@ccnltd.com
HUNDREDS of tributes have been sent to the devastated parents of a talented young Tring sportsman, who tragically died at his home after suffering a heart attack.
Nathan Douthwaite was just 15-years-old when he died from an unexplained heart attack on Friday, October 20.
The active teenager, who went to Tring School, had been fit and healthy up to a few days before his death when he had become ill with a virus.
But on the day of his death he had told his mum Susan he was feeling much better.
She later discovered him slumped in a chair at their home in Bulbourne Road and said it looked as if her son had just fallen asleep.
The family have decided they will celebrate Nathan's life with a special service at High Street Baptist Church in Tring, where Nathan was a youth group member, following his funeral at Amersham Crematorium.
Dad Keith said: “It was a fantastic 15 years. Obviously we will never get over it, but it is important that everybody who knew him remembers the good times and celebrates his time with us.”
Nathan, was a player for West Herts Warriors basketball club in the under-15s team and his coach Brian Flynn says he was one of their rising stars.
He said: “He was probably one of the best players in the county and maybe in the country.
“His team-mates are devastated but they have now said they are going to try and win the national trophy and dedicate it to him. They've said they're not going to wear the number five shirt again because that was always Nathan's number.”
Nathan first became interested in basketball when he was about eight-years-old. He started out playing for Tring and went on to represent the county and the East of England.
Susan said: “He was really fit. He never stopped from morning to night. He didn't eat things like sweets because he said they were bad for him.”
The family, including Nathan's twin brother Andrew and 17-year-old brother Matt, have received massive support from the local community.
They say tributes written in the guest book on the West Herts Warriors website have been a great comfort.
Keith said: “The tributes must run into hundreds. Our home is filled with cards and they keep coming everyday. It has helped us an awful lot to try and come to terms with it.
“He had a sudden heart attack. He was fit and he was healthy and he trained a lot. It was totally unexpected.”
On Tuesday pupils returned to Tring School to the sad news following the half term holiday. A book of remembrance has been placed in the school for pupils and staff to write down their thoughts of Nathan.
His Year 10 form tutor Martin Powell said: “Obviously everyone is very devastated - I think that is an understatement. His form mates are particularly upset but in many ways they are proud to have shared 15 years with Nathan. He was an outstanding student particularly in maths and science.”
Tring Reverend Frank Mercurio is visiting Tring School all this week to talk to pupils about Nathan.
Nathan's funeral will be at Amersham Crematorium on Saturday, November 11 at 10.15am followed by a celebration service.
That same day a basketball game will be dedicated to Nathan in a match between West Herts Warriors Div One V Reading at the Hertfordshire Sports Village, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield Business Park. Doors open at 6pm.
Young blood needed to help in Poppy Appeal
MORE volunteer collectors have come forward to boost poppy day appeals across Dacorum but there is still room for extra helpers, especially younger people.
Hemel Hempstead co-ordinator Sue Rose said: “We are delighted that six new recruits have come forward following advertising campaigns. Many of these are retired people but some are still working and are giving up time at weekends.
“We already have our boxes of poppies out in shops and offices and are collecting in shopping centres so the more people we have to help the better.
“Our oldest collector is Ken Blake, who at the age of 86 still goes out every day during the two weeks of collecting.”
Anyone who wants to help with the Royal British Legion collection in Hemel Hempstead can contact Sue on 01442 242389.
In Berkhamsted organiser Paul Phillips is also delighted that some new recruits have come forward.
He said: “We get help from Army and Air Training Corps cadets but we are always looking for more collectors.” People interested should ring 01442 86 3538.
A recent Gazette appeal for new helpers in Tring has resulted in two new recruits including one man whose father and grandfather were both servicemen.
Spokesman Pat Gray said: “We do need more volunteers. Many of our collectors are in their 70s and members are in their 80s and 90s.
“We do get help from ATC cadets at the weekend but we would love to hear from anyone, especially younger people.”
Pat can be contacted on 01442 826702.
New deal ends threat of walk out
A SETTLEMENT was made at a Pitstone engineering works after hundreds of employees threatened strike action.
Workers manned the picket lines at Goodrich Power Systems (formerly Lucas Aerospace) in September in a fight for higher pay.
Around 500 people work at the site and more than 200 members of the engineering union Amicus took part in the strike action.
Employees threatened to strike every month up until Christmas at the plant which produces power generators for commercial and defence aerospace use.
Workers have now been offered a two year deal with a four per cent rise in the first year and a rise in line with inflation in the second year.
The union had requested a five per cent rise in the first year with an inflation-linked rise in the second year.
But the majority accepted the improved offer when they were balloted on Wednesday, October 18.
Couple who set up ‘well run' brothel win fight to keep cash
A HUSBAND and wife who ran an upmarket brothel in Ivinghoe have had their confiscation orders slashed by more than £100,000 at London's Criminal Appeal Court.
Sandra Morphy, 53, and Gerald Davidson, 61, were each ordered to pay £142,186 or face three years in jail in default, but last week it was cut to £24,030.
In February 2000 Mrs Morphy was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years at Aylesbury Crown Court.
She had pleaded guilty to two counts of keeping a disorderly house - between January 1998 and April 1999, and between October and November 1999 - at her home: Briar Bush House, Ivinghoe, Bucks.
Mr Davidson also received an eight-month jail term, after admitting the second count.
The confiscation order challenge was referred to the Appeal Court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Mr Justice Grigson, sitting with Lord Justice Richards and Sir John Blofeld last Thursday said that although the premises were described as a ‘disorderly house', it was a discrete and well run organisation, in which the prostitutes were entirely volunteers.
They paid the couple £30 a day, while the evidence suggested the prostitutes charged between £40 and £100 for their services, money which clients paid directly to the sex workers.
The Crown Court judge found the couple ‘controlled' the activities of the prostitutes, concluding the ‘benefit' obtained amounted to all sums paid - rather than the £30 a day.
In slashing the orders Mr Justice Grigson said: “As it seems to us, there has been a confusion between control and benefit.”
He said there might well have been evidence to enable the judge to make the control finding, but he did not direct himself to that issue.
“In our judgement, the way he calculated the benefit obtained was flawed,” he said.
Jamie's set for award of courage
THE TRING mum of terminally ill Jamie Hodgson has nominated her son for a prestigious national magazine award.
Christine Hodgson has put forward brave six-year-old Jamie for the Woman's Own Children of Courage Awards.
Since being born 10 weeks premature in 2000 Jamie has faced a tough fight to survive.
He suffered two massive cardiac arrests and organ failure at six months old because of a blockage in his pulmonary vein and doctors did not think he would survive.
The Children of Courage Awards, which have honoured hundreds of Britain's most amazing children over the last 33 years, are held annually and this year's winners will be announced in November.
Today Jamie, who attends Dundale School four days a week, suffers from congenital heart disease, only one of his lungs functions properly and he has to use nebulisers to keep his airways open.
Mrs Hodgson, of Meadow Close, said: “He has been through so much even in the first year of his life and he has fought so hard to be with us.
“When he arrived at hospital after the cardiac arrests he was dead. Anyone in my opinion who can fight back against that sort of thing deserves to be rewarded.
This year's awards are to be held on December 14 and will include a visit to Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street, before a special ceremony at Westminister Abbey, lunch with some well-known celebrities and a meet with Father Christmas.
Restaurant boss fined for fly-tip shame
by Victoria West
victoria.west@ccnltd.com
A FORMER Tring restaurant owner who failed to ensure his rubbish was disposed of properly has been fined £1,000 by Hemel Hempstead magistrates.
Sacks and boxes of rubbish illegally dumped at the National Trust's historic Pitstone windmill were traced to the former Thai Valley restaurant.
The owner Abjal Hussain, of Dallow Road, Luton pleaded guilty to failing in his ‘duty of care' under the Environment Protection Act 1990 to take all reasonable measures to ensure that the waste was not fly-tipped, and not checking that the waste carrier was registered to carry waste with the Environment Agency.
An enforcement officer from the Waste Partnership for Bucks found the rubbish in a car park at the windmill on June 21, 2005 and traced it back to the restaurant.
Last week magistrates heard that Hussain, aged 37, had employed a casual ‘man with a van' to remove the rubbish, building up at the restaurant.
He failed to make any checks into the man's identity or his waste carrier registration.
Magistrates decided that the fact that business waste was involved was an aggravating feature of the case, together with the location of the dumping.
They gave Hussain credit for his early guilty plea, but told him that he would have faced a much higher fine were it not for his extremely limited means.
He was also ordered to pay the full prosecution costs of £1,053 on top of the fine.
Cllr Michael Edmonds, AVDC cabinet member for housing, environment and health, said: “The magistrates quite rightly viewed this as a very serious offence, which is reflected in the size of the fine.
“This prosecution sends out a strong message - not only to fly-tippers - but to the people who blindly get rid of their waste without consideration for the way in which it's disposed and the damage it does to our environment.
“This district council spends a great deal of its funds on making Aylesbury Vale a great place to live and work.
“The message is clear - we will prosecute litter louts and environmental criminals.”
The case was prosecuted by Dacorum Borough Council working with the Waste Partnership for Bucks.
Talk on bird theft
TRING'S Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum will hold a talk in December on how museum experts unravelled a 40-year-old fraud by one of Britain's top bird collectors.
Using historical reconstruction and modern techniques Robert Prys-Jones, head of the museum's bird group and his colleagues, discovered a legacy of lies, theft and deceit.
The Gazette reported last year that as many as 5,000 bird specimens collected by Richard Meinertzhagen may be fraudulent.
The work replaced lost specimens and led to the rediscovery of the forest owlet alive 113 years after it was last recorded.
A talk will be held on Thursday, December 14 from 7pm to 8pm and costs £2. For details call 020 7942 6163.
The Gazette's going underground
A COPY of The Gazette newspaper has been buried in a time capsule at Tring Library along with other important items representing the town.
The library in the High Street, which opened in 1985, has been closed since September for refurbishment.
In this period staff have been collecting things for the time capsule, which was buried in the library's old under-floor safe and then concreted over.
The capsule includes 20 pictures of the town painted by children from Bishop Wood School.
Claire Barraclough, Dacorum District librarian, said: “We thought this was an ideal opportunity to preserve a little bit of Tring Library for future generations.
“As well as the children's lovely pictures, which show everything from the canal to the church, we have also included a medal and certificate from our summer reading scheme, a baby rhyme time certificate, a copy of the local paper and other information about Hertfordshire libraries.”
The library is due to reopen its doors in December and work is reportedly ahead of schedule.
Changes to the site include the redecoration of the facility, new shelving, separate and increased IT facilities, more public floor space, extra books and a new counter and inquiry desk.
Currently a mobile library is being parked alongside the building and is available to borrowers from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 4pm on Saturdays to get books out.
Mugging in High Street
A GANG of youths attacked a man walking through an alleyway in Tring last week.
The 19-year-old man from Bedfordshire was punched and kneed in the head by the gang on Tuesday, October 24 at about 10pm.
The man had been walking through an alleyway, off the High Street, between two banks, when he was jumped by the gang of between 10 and 12 youths.
After the attack the youths made off, but three of them then returned and searched the victim's pockets, taking his mobile phone, before leaving towards the High Street.
Detective sergeant Ian Siggery said: “This was a seemingly unprovoked attack by a group of young people on a man. It is very unusual for the Tring area and I appeal for any witnesses to contact us.”
If you have any information about the attack please contact the Western Area Crime Unit on 01923 472490, or call the non-emergency number on 0800 3300 222.
Buy gifts for a good cause
PICK up some early Christmas gifts and help good causes at charity stalls in Dolphin Square, Tring this month.
Local charities will be selling gifts, Christmas cards and puddings and general bric-a-brac on Friday, November 3 and 10.
The stalls events, which are organised by Community Action Dacorum, will be in Dolphin Square on both days from 9am to early afternoon.
Last year 12 charities holding charity stalls in Tring raised a total of £1,800.
Vandals post lit rocket in letter box
by Victoria West
victoria.west@ccnltd.com
A TRING newsagent says he is lucky to be alive after becoming the victim of a dangerous firework stunt during the weekend.
Vandals launched a lit rocket through the letter box of the Chiltern Way Newsagents on Saturday evening.
Owner Bob Gagjee, who has run the shop for more than 15 years, says this is the most dangerous prank in a string of attacks on his shop.
He says every year in the run up to Halloween and Bonfire Night his store is often targeted by teenage tearaways.
On Saturday evening at around 8.30pm after Mr Gagjee had closed the shop and gone to his home above the store a gang of youths shoved the ignited fire rocket through the letter-box.
Mr Gagjee said: “I have had a nasty experience. I'm lucky to be alive.
“I could smell the gunpowder and the shop was full of smoke. My first reaction was it's another Halloween, here we go.”
Luckily the fire rocket failed to set anything alight in the shop but Mr Gagjee says it could have had devastating results.
He said:“It exploded in the shop and the store alarm went off.
“It is a handful of kids who have no concept for anybody but themselves.”
Now Mr Gagjee is considering investing in CCTV cameras and metal shutters for the front of his store to deter vandals.
He said: “It is worrying and it is dangerous. I could be dead.
“It may be games for them but it is lives at stake. It is just a handful of rotten apples.”
Community Inspector Barbra Campbell said: “We would advise people to be vigilant and secure their letter-boxes outside of the times the post is delivered, especially at this time of year. The Youth Crime Liaison officer will be visiting surrounding schools to remind young people of the dangers of mishandling fireworks, not only to property and other people, but also for their own personal safety.
“We would also remind shopkeepers to abide by the law when selling fireworks.”
Herts Police are appealing for witnesses to the attack, if you saw anyone acting suspiciously in the area around the time of the incident call the non-emergency number on 0845 3300 222.
Death was natural
A TRING man who was found lying dead behind his bedroom door died of natural causes, an inquest heard last week.
Allan Glaister, 61, of Station Road, was found lying on his bedroom floor on August 27 this year.
In Hatfield last Wednesday, an inquest heard how a postmortem examination of Mr Glaister showed he died of heart failure caused by 'hypertension', or high-blood pressure.
Deputy Coroner Mr David Pidgeon said: “Quite simply, I record a verdict of natural causes.”
Doctor voices concerns over decision to close day hospital
GPs angry at not being consulted over cuts
by Georgia Anderson
georgia.anderson@ccnltd.com
‘The overwhelming majority of GPs are extremely angry at this turn of events'
HEALTH bosses have admitted they did not consult GPs before making the decision to cut health services for the elderly.
The Gazette's sister paper The HeraldExpress reported last week that the Hemel Hempstead Day Hospital was due to close at the end of October, severing access to a one-stop shop for therapy and treatment used by hundreds of elderly residents.
Some of the services offered by the day hospital are now likely to come from family doctors, who are outraged the decision was made without their consultation.
The Trust that axed the funding for the day hospitals had not even informed GPs officially of the closures, despite the increased workload that some fear it will place on them.
Dr Tony Hall-Jones, a GP at The New Surgery in Tring said: “Previously GPs have been given some warning of the changes in service delivery but none of the GPs in this locality had any inkling that this closure was on the radar.
“The Trust managers responsible apparently did not see themselves as being under any obligation to consult with GPs, so this was not done.
“We are trying to reassure patients that they will still receive the same sort of service but it is unfair to raise their expectations.”
A spokesman for West Herts PCT, the trust that has axed the day hospital's funding, said: “We did not consult with GPs about the reprovision of the day hospital service because services are not closing, only part of the ward where they are provided.
“The services will continue to be provided either on the same hospital site, closer to the patient in the community or in their own homes.
“We were waiting until we had full and complete information before we wrote to GPs informing them of the changes rather than sending it out to them in a fragmented way.
“Unfortunately obtaining the information we require has taken longer than anticipated and this is why the delay in informing GPs has occurred.”
Dr Hall-Jones said: “There is a disturbing trend developing within our health service locally and it is one of contempt for the most vulnerable in our society.
“Community staff are stretched to the limit and I don't see how we can replace some of the day hospital's services.”
This week it was confirmed that the day hospital at Watford General Hospital would also be shut down at the end of the month.
West Herts PCT states it does not anticipate increased workloads for GPs, as physiotherapists, district nurses, occupational therapists from adult care services and emergency care practitioners are the ones picking up the day hospital's patients.
Dr Hall-Jones said: “It is utterly ridiculous to make a decision like this without working together with the community.
“The increased commitment it will demand from carers looking after patients at home may leave them over-worked.
“Patients who require other day hospital services that we may not be able to provide, such as blood transfusions, will have to join the long outpatients list at the hospital and wait even longer.
“It will be a short-term gain financially, but a long-term loss.
“Patients have been put behind the wishes of the accountants and the overwhelming majority of GPs are extremely angry at this turn of events.”
Family's thanks for passer-by who tried to help
Police caledl for help after a Hemel Hempstead man died while cycling near Long Marston last Thursday.
He was 75-year-old Ronald Cole of Tile Kiln Lane, Leverstock Green.
The incident was at 12.15pm on the Tring Road between Gubblecote and Long Marston when Mr Cole was cycling with two friends. A post mortem was held on Monday and yesterday Mr Cole's family were still awaiting the coroner's report.
Police are trying to ascertain whether Mr Cole died of natural causes.
Mr Cole's son Simon said: “My father was an experienced cyclist and there was no accident.” The rider behind had told him Mr Cole had not braked, but appeared to suddenly fall sideways.
It is understood the three cyclists were riding in line when Mr Cole appears to have fallen suddenly from his machine.
A silver Seat Toledo travelling in the opposite direction stopped and the female driver was uninjured.
Mr Cole was taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital but subsequently died.
The Tring Road was closed at both ends at the time of the incident, and reopened shortly after 3.30pm.
Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Lee Bruzas from the Area Road Policing Unit on 01923 472380.
Mr Cole's wife Pamela was too upset this week to talk about the event.
Simon said: “Several people at the scene tried to help my father. We don't know who they were and are trying to find out through the police, we would like to thank them very sincerely.”
Mr Cole leaves his wife, sons Simon and Daren and grandchildren Jade, Zak and Luke,
The funeral will be held on Friday (November 3) at the West Herts Crematorium, Garston, at 4pm.
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