Clubs and Community: Young budding engineers impress judges at tournament

The latest news from clubs and community groups in your area.
Kings Langley Choir.Kings Langley Choir.
Kings Langley Choir.

Dance class for charity

On Saturday, April 18, the Ashley Green Memorial Hall will be hosting a Zumba class in aid of Hope For Children, the Hemel Hempstead based charity. The class will be run by the charity’s office manager, Caroline Lee, who is a qualified personal trainer. On the class, Caroline said: “Zumba is pretty much the most awesome workout ever! It is extremely popular

worldwide, taking place in over 180 countries with over 15 million people dancing to some amazing Latin American beats! “What better way to raise money for this fantastic charity than to join us for a fab Zumba party? Shrug off those weekday stresses, wiggle like no one is watching and shake it like you just don’t care!”

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For more information, call Caroline on 01442 234561 or e-mail her at [email protected].

Budding engineers impress at Technology Tournament

Over 115 budding engineers from local schools competed at the annual Rotary Technology Tournament held last Thursday at Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted. Their task was to build an electrically driven cable car to transport a model of a ShelterBox, the box of survival essentials sent to help families survive after disasters, to a “stranded family” across a crocodile-infested river.

The task took a great deal of skill, ingenuity and teamwork, since the aspiring engineers were put into teams of four. The teams had to produce a portfolio of their design work then build, test and show the river-crossing credentials of their machines for the judges as well as guests like the Mayor and Mayoress of Dacorum; Councillor Allan Lawson and Mrs Wendy Lawson; the Mayor of Berkhamsted; Councillor Peter Matthews and the Mayor of Tring, Councillor Stephen Hearn.

The event, organised by the Rotary clubs of Berkhamsted Bulbourne and Hemel Hempstead, is now in its 22nd year and has three age groups, difficulty increasing with age. Ten schools entered teams in each age group and the winners were: John F Kennedy School for the Foundation and advamced levels and Hemel Hempstead School for the Intermediate level.

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The winning teams’ shields were presented by the Mayor of Dacorum. FFEI, the local printing company, sponsored the event. Their Managing Director, Andy Cook, said of the event: “We are proud to be involved with the Rotary Technology Tournament. Technology and innovation are at the heart of what we do and events like this play an important role in encouraging young people into a career in technology.”

President of Berkhamsted Bulbourne Rotary Club, Rob Ferneyhough, said: “ This has been another highly successful Technology Tournament. I have been impressed by the levels of ingenuity and enthusiasm shown by all the participants and congratulate the winning teams on their success.”

Kings Langley Choir goes from strength to strength

Kings Langley Community Choir has begun the year as they mean to go on, winning top honours at the Watford Festival, in the Open Choirs section.

The event took place at Haberdasher’s Aske’s Boys’ School on March 22 and the choir began their performance with Adele’s Rolling In The Deep, which, with 40 voices on stage and an arrangement by Musical Director Ben Crawley, sounded nothing short of epic. At points there were eight-part harmonies and the sound pulsed through the room. Their second performance was slower, an otherworldly interpretation of Watford group The Staves’ Wisely And Slow, again arranged by Ben Crawley.

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The adjudicator, Tim Blinko, Professor of Music at Hertfordshire University, awarded them an Honours award and first place in their category.

They are now looking forward to the two international festivals they have been invited to in May. First up is Voices Now, at the Roundhouse in London between the 8th and 10th of May, followed by the London Sangerstevne between the 15th and 17th of May. After these events, the choir will sing at the Houses of Parliament, thanks to an invitation from the Rt. Hon. Mike Penning MP. This is nothing new for the choir, who performed to MP’s last year as they became the first choir ever to appear in the Palace of Westminster.

For more information on the choir go to www.kingslangleychoir.co.uk

Gaddesden Gallop fun run ‘s fifth year

The fifth annual Gaddesden Gallop fun run is to be held on Sunday, May 3. The event is held in the village of Little Gaddesden, near Berkhamsted, and is scheduled to start at 10:30am from the village playing fields.

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Runners choose between the 5k or 10k runs, both of which take place off road through Little Gaddesden and the surrounding countryside. The run is very safe for children and would be a fabulous family day out.

Advanced entry:

Adult 10K & 5K - £15

Under 18 10K & 5K - £5

Register on the Day

Adults 10K & 5K - £20

Under 18 10K & 5K - £10

Pre-registration closes on April 24.

On site there is parking, toilets and refreshments.

For an application form, please contact [email protected].

Roman coin hoard speaker at Berkhamsted society

The Berkhamsted and District Archaeological Society welcomed Dr Sam Moorhead, FSA, from the Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure at the British Museum to speak about “The Frome Hoard of 52,501 Roman Coins”.

The hoard, found by a metal detectorist near the Somerset town of Frome in 2010, was the largest single pot hoard ever found in Britain, weighing over 160kg.

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The coins range from AD 253 to around AD290 and are mainly of the Usurper emperors of the Gallic Empire. Some of the later coins were in the middle of the pot and earlier coins at the top, leading many to conclude that the pot had been filled all at once from separate bags. These were mainly of the usurper emperor in Britain, Carausius, AD 286-293.

There are currently over 800 coins of Carrasius and conservation is still ongoing, but the collection is already the largest group ever found in Britain.

The hoard was valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee at the British Museum for £320,250, though the conservation costs for cleaning and separating the coins are currently in excess of £120,000.