A local charity is making a serious bid to have a Christmas Number 1 single with Electric Umbrella’s release of ‘Christmas as a Punk’. Electric Umbrella brings adults with learning disabilities together with professional musicians. It has weekly meetings at the Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead, and was co-founded by Pepper veteran Tom Billington. ‘Christmas […]
Events have overtaken one of our main news stories in the winter issues of Berkhamsted Living and Hemel Hempstead Living. Alongside an article about the campaign for a new hospital to serve Dacorum, we used a picture (by kind permission of footballtripper.com) of Vicarage Road on a matchday, to highlight the absurdity of relying entirely […]
Berkhamsted took its place at the centre of 1066 anniversary events this year. William the Conqueror returned to Berkhamsted Castle, almost exactly 950 years after his first visit. In 1066, probably in early December, William received the surrender of the native Saxons here. On 14 October, the anniversary of Hastings, a bronze bust of the […]
Champneys’ Hike, Bike & Trike Challenge on 8 October raised £100,000 for BBC Children in Need and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. In persistent morning drizzle, Matt Baker (Countryfile, The One Show) led off the 10-mile challenge. The course involved a bike or trike for two miles followed by a six-mile hike before cycling another two […]
The Hospice of St Francis has been judged ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). In an inspection report issued by the independent regulator this week it won the top rating in four out of the five inspection areas – for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led, and it was judged ‘Good’ for being safe. […]
As the Olympic Games in Rio get ever closer, the Marlowes shopping centre in Hemel Hempstead opens its own summer of sport. Every Tuesday throughout August between 11am and 4pm, you’ll find fun things to do with the kids at the Marlowes: 2 August Official opening ceremony with Peacock stilt-walkers welcoming visitors to the centre. […]
Sportspace will stage Hemel Hempstead’s first ever Triathlon on Sunday 2 October. The Hemel Hempstead Triathlon will combine a 400m swim (16 lengths of the outdoor pool), an 8km cycle-ride and a 5km run. It is open to anyone, and the distances have been carefully chosen to encourage people who are new to the sport. […]
About 80 schoolchildren from St Mary’s Northchurch, St Thomas More and Westfield set the highest commercial standards in the Young Enterprise Fiver Challenge competition this summer. Given £5 a head to create a money-spinner in just a month, budding entrepreneurs from Years 5 and 6 succeeded spectacularly. As sole traders or in groups of up […]
Tring artist Sheila de Rosa’s participation in Bucks Open Studios this year (11-26 June) is a profoundly personal view of the conflict in Syria. Her exhibition Spent, displayed in the corridors of the Akeman Business Park in Tring, uses spent matches to represent the nearly 2,000 days since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in […]
The Royal British Legion is urgently looking for an organiser in Berkhamsted to coordinate this year’s Poppy Appeal. Keith Bayliss has stepped down after overseeing a campaign last year in which the town raised over £25,000 for the Appeal. Although November is still six months away, Poppy Appeal organisers are urgently looking for help with […]
Sunday 15 May is the date of this year’s Ashridge Spring Plant Fair. It starts at 11am, but the thousands of plants donated by nurseries and gardens attract what seem like thousands of visitors, so you may be well advised to get there early. Pass the time by climbing the monument, perhaps… The following weekend, […]
The Queen will visit Berkhamsted on Friday 6 May. According to the Buckingham Palace website the Queen will visit Berkhamsted School ‘on the occasion of the 475th anniversary of its foundation’. This will be the first ever visit by a reigning monarch to Berkhamsted School, which has enjoyed the patronage of kings and queens as […]