Boho Boxmoor

Local Christmas fairs this November

Christmas has to cost a fortune, right? Wrong! Here's a list of local fairs and events where you can save money and pick up special gifts with a local twist.

Saturday 20 November, 2pm-6pm: Boxmoor Christmas Village at Boxmoor Hall. Local craftspeople will be selling their wares along with traders selling gifts, baby items, Christmas cards and decorations. Local artists will be holding a group signing, including Boxmoor's Jennifer Worth (Call the Midwife series). And look out for Frithsden wines. More info on the Christmas Village website.

Saturday 20 November, 11am - 2pm: John F Kennedy School's Christmas Market, Hollybush Lane, Hemel Hempstead. Christmas Market with lots of stalls selling a wide range of new gifts, some of them are handmade and personalised. Refreshments & hot food available. Free entry. See Facebook event for more info.

Thursday 25 November from 7pm: Southhill School's Christmas Shopping and Wellbeing event. Artists, crafts, gifts and pampering, all under one roof. Mulled wine and mince pies. Tickets £3 - get a free goody bag if you book in advance. Email sarah-pimm@gmail.com for tickets or ring the school office on 01442 402127.

Friday 26 November from 6.30pm: Tring Christmas Festival 2010. On the last Friday of every November, the market town of Tring holds its Christmas festival. The high street is closed to traffic, stalls line the street and the shops open until late. There are great local Christmas gifts, live entertainment and fairground rides. Visit the website.

Saturday 27 November, 10am-2pm, St John's Church Advent Fayre. Support your local church with this annual fundraising and community event. There will be crafts, local produce (I picked up lovely Boxmoor jam last year!), homemade cakes, calendars, cards, china and glass. Also toys and games for kids, plus refreshments. Venue: St John's Church and hall, Boxmoor, HP1 1JY. More Christmas events at St John's (pdf).

Saturday 27 November, 11.30am-1.30pm, Boxmoor Primary School's Christmas Fair. A chance to pick up lovely homemade cakes and for kids to meet Father Christmas (from 12pm). Chocolate tombola, raffle, Christmas refreshments and carols from the school choir. Join us for traditional Christmas fun. Venue: Boxmoor Primary School, Cowper Road, Boxmoor, HP1 1PF. Tel: 01442 402244.

Sunday 28 November, 10am-4pm, Boxmoor Craft Fair. Local artist Paula Watkins has revived what was once a traditional Boxmoor pre-Christmas event. Bring the whole family along for wonderful festive treats: there'll be Fair trade and designer presents, plus handmade and unique gifts. And take advantage of the 'make and take' room where children can create some gorgeous art. Entry £1, children free. Venue: St Mary & St Joseph's Parish Centre, St John's Road (next to Three Blackbirds); parking at rear or on St John's Road. Contact Paula Watkins via her website.

'I saw that Matt Baker in Pizza Express once...' - Hemel Hempstead celebrities

You wouldn't expect to find yourself celebrity spotting on a Sunday in Hemel Hempstead. That's why I sat through a whole meal at Hemel's Pizza Express today (24 October) with Matt Baker and his family at a nearby table, thinking only: "Blimey, doesn't that guy look like Matt Baker."

The one that got away. Turns out it was him: the Strictly Come Dancing celeb and presenter of Countryfile has lived in Tring with his young family since 2004.

This made me decide it's time to publish the Hemel Hempstead celebrities piece that's been kicking around my hard drive for about a year now. Too frothy for Boho Boxmoor? Not any more.

Strictly Come Dancing 2010 has been good for Hemel. In addition to Matt Baker, a second celebrity dancer, Goldie, is from the area (Bovingdon). Alas, Goldie was the first star to waltz off the show.

Another BBC star with rock-solid local connections is actress Claire Skinner, the long-suffering mum in Outnumbered. She was born and raised in Hemel Hempstead and went to Cavendish School. She now lives in north London (according to Wikipedia) with her husband Charles Palmer, a director who is the son of actor Geoffrey Palmer.

Bond actor Roger Moore lived in Tile Kiln Close, Leverstock Green, Hemel Hempstead in the 1960s.

Moving over to politics, Paul Boateng, Britain's first black Cabinet minister, attended Apsley Grammar School (now part of Longdean School).

Maybe it's something in the water, but we seem to be spoilt for sports stars: Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson was born in Hemel. And, intriguingly, his brother Andrew was the second person ever to be voted off Big Brother - in the very first series back in 2000.

Footballer Theo Walcott lives with his family in the Hemel Hempstead area, as does former Chelsea player Michael Duberry. Gazza's got connections with the area, and so does former football 'hard man' turned actor, Vinnie Jones, who's from Redbourn.

And golfer Luke Donald, who recently played for Europe in the Ryder Cup, was born in Hemel though he now lives in the USA.

Here are a couple more surprising local stars:

Dave Vanian - real name David Letts - the lead singer of The Damned, was born and lived in Chaulden. And finally Guy Burgess, one of the notorious Cambridge spies who defected to Russia, was a student at Lockers Park School. 

If you know of any other local celebrities, or can give additions or corrections to the ones above, please use the comments box below.

Honey, there's a bee swarm in our garden!

What do you do when a swarm of bees lands in your garden? If you're my husband, you Google 'bee swarm - what to do' and wait for a solution to pop up.

This is exactly what happened to us back in June: My husband rang me at work and was mid-sentence about his computer woes, when suddenly he said, "My God, there are thousands of bees out there!" The bees were buzzing around our small garden and starting to congregate under our rose bush.

He turned to the recalcitrant computer, typed in the search terms above, and was put onto the British Beekeepers' Association. From there he found the Hertfordshire Beekeepers website, and then the local West Herts beekeeper who deals with bee swarms. Result!

He rang the number listed and was told someone would be around that day to take the swarm away. Less than two hours later, a bloke turned up, togged himself up, and took our bees off in a special container. He left just a few mournful bees buzzing around which he said he'd return for the following day. If only every transaction were this efficient.

 

CyberMummy 2010: From Boxmoor mum to blogger mums in one easy train ride

On Saturday 3 July, duty dictated that I get youngest child off to drama lesson at 9am, then both kids to swimming at 11am, before hot-footing it over to the school summer fair (for which I was meant to bake cakes - oops!). Instead I side-stepped it all by handing the children over to my husband and catching a quiet, air-conditioned train that swept me directly from Boxmoor to Earl's Court and the CyberMummy 2010 blogging conference.

Binned there, done that: Boxmoor Litter Pick

By VICTORIA SORZANO Thanks to everyone who came out to the Keep Boxmoor Tidy community litter pick on Sunday 6 June. And community event it was - without much advance information on who'd turn up, at the starting time of 11am there was a sudden tide of families, all heading towards the tables we had set up on the Moor.

Emma Simpson from Boxmoor Directory and I were kept busy for a good hour, handing out tabards, bags and litter-picking sticks to people, young and old, who'd turned out - more than 80 at the final count. 

Boxmoor's big fat tidy up: Sunday 6 June

By VICTORIA SORZANO The Boxmoor Litter Pick is finally arranged. For those of you who've been concerned about the litter problem on Blackbirds Moor, now's the chance to meet up, exchange views and information, and pick up a bit of litter while you're at it.

The 'Keep Boxmoor Tidy' litter pick will be held on Sunday 6 June at 11am on Blackbirds Moor, meeting outside the Boxmoor Cricket Club pavilion. The Cricket Club has kindly given us the use of their pavilion for hand-washing, toilets, and those all-essential cups of tea. The litter pick will aim to cover not just the Moor, but the streets of what estate agents call 'Boxmoor village'. (*If you'd like to tidy your own street, see below.)

The event is part The Big Tidy Up, a national campaign, which has supplied tabards, bags and posters. (See our listing on their website here.) Dacorum Borough Council are supplying litter-picking sticks and additional bags, and will dispose of the litter we collect. You will need to bring your own gloves.

The number of bags of litter collected will be logged on The Big Tidy Up's website, and goes towards a national total. Our Tidy Up could even be eligible for an award.

This event is tied to the Keep Boxmoor Tidy Facebook group, which has over 700 members. It was set up in April by Richard Grayson in response to extreme levels of litter left on the Moor during the Easter holidays. 

It is supported by the Boxmoor Directory, which is running a separate 'Bin a Bag for a Better Boxmoor' campaign (find out more on Facebook), the Boxmoor Cricket Club and Hemel in Transition. It's hoped that this can become an annual event which will raise awareness about our litter problem and the community's desire to keep Boxmoor beautiful.

If you are a local business and would be willing to sponsor refreshments, please get in touch (use the email me link, left). If you'd like to add any comments or suggestions, particularly about which areas the litter pick should cover, please use the comments area at the bottom of this page, or visit the Boho Boxmoor Facebook page.

* If you wish to tidy your own street as part of the litter pick, you can turn up at 11am to collect equipment, and return with your bag(s) by 1pm. We'll dispose of the litter and also log what you've collected as part of our total.

Bitter over litter: Messy Moor has locals fuming

The weekend of 17-18 April was the time I officially became middle aged. On my way to take my daughter to a Saturday morning class, I passed a litter-strewn Blackbirds Moor (pictured).

Here we go again. Every spring, when the weather turns fine and the kids are on holiday, this happens. Teenagers meet in the Moor, and while it's lovely to see them enjoying themselves outdoors, what they leave behind is not so wonderful - plastic bottles, cans, paper, food wrappers. It's no exaggeration to say that it can look like the aftermath of a music concert. 

This year, thanks in part to the magic of Facebook, I discovered that I wasn't alone in my annoyance. When I logged on that evening, I saw that half of Boxmoor was hopping mad about it. So, my local friends had become all middle aged too!

One friend, Harriet, wrote on her Facebook page: "I'm VERY cross that all I can see is a sea of litter on the moor opposite my house. My husband and a fellow neighbour spent over 1 1/2 hours of their precious time this morning, clearing all of the rubbish this morning."

Another friend, Simon, wrote: "Shame we can't leave it over the week, I bet they wouldn't want to go down there if its full of rubbish. Might make them realise then?"

Richard Grayson, who's running for MP in Hemel Hempstead, set up a Facebook group called Keep Boxmoor Tidy - Spread the Photos that weekend. Within hours it had more than 100 members. 

"Litter on Blackbirds Moor and the cricket pitch in Boxmoor is an absolute disgrace," wrote Richard. "I hope that those who are doing it just haven't thought about the mess they leave and if they can see what a state the place gets in, they might just stop." 

Richard's big idea is to get people to post pictures of the litter, so we can all see the extent of the problem. At the time of writing, the group has more than 600 members. Some local businesses (and websites!) would kill for that sort of following.

Richard has also written to the local secondary schools, and I'm organising a community litter pick - ideally a family event, with children as well as parents mucking in (date tbc). The Hemel Hempstead Gazette picked up the issue, with a story in the Wednesday 20 April edition.The Box Moor Trust, Boxmoor Cricket Club, local police and Dacorum Borough Council were holding a meeting last week on the issue.

Will all of this solve the perennial problem of the litter on Blackbirds Moor? Hard to say. But our young people should know they're a valuable part of the community and we've all got a shared responsibility to care for Boxmoor's wonderful green spaces. Now that I've got that off my chest, it's a cup of cocoa and an early bedtime for me.

This article appears in the May edition of the Boxmoor Directory. If you'd like to comment on this story, please use the space below.  Everyone is invited to join the Keep Boxmoor Tidy Facebook group. 

Photo © Richard Grayson.

What's On - Easter weekend and beyond

If you're staying put over Easter, there are loads of activities for families locally over the Bank Holiday weekend and during the school holidays. Here are a few highlights:

Ashridge Estate's annual Easter Egg Trail, Saturday 3 to Monday 5 April, 12pm-4pm: Follow a choice of trails through the woodland, answering questions and learning more about the creatures who live there as you go. There's a reward at the end.  £2 per person. Starts from the visitor centre. No booking required.

The Roald Dahl Museum, Friday 2 April to Monday 5 April: This wonderful small museum has an Easter trail/quiz throughout the Easter weekend. Follow a trail of Roald Dahl clues around the museum, find the right answers and earn a chocolate treat. For more info on this and other holiday activities, including chocolate decorating, storytelling and crafts, click here.

At Waddesdon Manor in Bucks, the National Trust and Cadbury are teaming up to provide an Easter weekend to remember. There will be a range of activities for families in the gardens and grounds, including face painting and storytelling throughout the Easter weekend, from Good Friday to Easter Monday, as well as Easter Trails. The fun starts at 10am each day; trails cost £2.50 per person in addition to normal admission charges. Find out more here.

At Mead Open Farm this Easter, you can visit the lamb nursery and feed the lambs - plus their new 'Digger World' is now open. Find out more here.

Willows Farm Village is running Easter events until 18 April, including something called Captain Chicken's Egg Dogde, where you fire, dodge and catch foam balls fired from egg cannons. Plus bunny hunts, egg hunts, children's shows and more. Willows Farm Village at Easter.

The Boxmoor Trust has a mini-beastly Easter in store, with a family activity day on Thursday 8 April. There will be two 2-hour sessions (10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm) where children can get outdoors and learn more about their local natural environment. Adult supervision required. £2 suggested donation per child. Starts from Boxmoor Trust's Old Barn, off London Road, Hemel Hempstead. Booking required - ring 01442 253300. www.boxmoortrust.org

The Paper Trail in Apsley has free family fun days and drop-in arts and crafts sessions running throughout the holidays. These are well worth trying - click here for more info.

Reader's Review: My Green Lunch Box

Home-worker PIA HARTNELL recommends online sandwich service MY GREEN LUNCH BOX:

"I think you should all know about this fab website called My Green Lunch Box, which was recently launched covering Hemel Hempstead and Watford: www.myglb.co.uk

"All you have to do is register, order your sandwiches, salad, fruit, drink, snack etc. before 11am and it will be delivered to you by 1pm. The food is delicious and you can even make up your own specific combination (today we had a white baguette with chicken breast, spinach and avocado)!

"We really want it to succeed because we want to keep ordering from them, so why not try it and spread the word to friends and colleagues? They give you a free lunch if a recommended colleague or friend orders within a week."

Mum of two Pia Hartnell runs the recruitment firm Integrity Personel Ltd, based in Boxmoor. You can also find Pia on the Boho Network and on the Boho Boxmoor group on Facebook. Photo courtesy My Green Lunch Box.

A nutritionist's guide to shaking off the winter blues

First there was Christmas, then the snow. Many of us can't escape the seasonal sluggishness, but thankfully help is at hand. Boxmoor nutritionist Alyson Carter has some advice to get us started. Instead of 'eat, drink and be merry', think 'drink, eat (healthily) and be active'...

DRINK: Increase your fluid intake
If you've kept up your drinking since Christmas, in all likelihood you are dehydrated. Alcohol makes you visit the toilet more often and when your organs get deprived of water they take their water supply from elsewhere, including brain cells – hence the overall sluggish feeling!

The obvious remedy is to load up on liquids. Make it part of your routine to drink lots of water – eight glasses per day – in the form of cold water and herbal teas.  You can buy some very good ‘detox’ teas in supermarkets, which normally contain cumin, coriander and fennel, all of which work together to aid digestion and cleanse the intestines.

Also try juices - freshly squeezed juices help to ensure that you are still packed with vitamins. Vegetable juices are best as they are an excellent aid in calming your stomach and cleansing the system.

EAT: Enjoy more healthy foods
Avoid unrefined ‘white’ pastas, breads and pastas – these will block up your system and make you feel sluggish.  Choose whole unrefined ‘brown’ versions instead so wholemeal bread, brown rice and wholegrain pasta.

Avoid processed foods – ready meals, crisps, cakes, biscuits as again these are full of salt, sugar or fat, most of the time all three, and these will not aid your body’s recovery. Instead eat lots of fruit and vegetables especially apples and green vegetables as both these have a high fibre content, essential for cleansing the body. Also try to limit chocolate. Although it can give an immediate boost, the long-term effect may make you feel sluggish and tired.

So eat regular meals and snacks to keep your ‘blood sugar’ even as this will enable you to maintain your energy levels throughout the day. Try to avoid sugary cereals for breakfast and eat porridge or eggs on toast instead as these will really set you up for the day.

BE ACTIVE: Increase your level of exercise
Physical activity is also important as a means to provide energy to the whole body. It gets the blood supply moving round the system which will help you feel revived and ready to go. So think about the following:
- Stretching for 2-3 minutes will loosen muscles, ease joints and allow blood to flow easily round the body.
- Using the stairs instead of the lift, increasing walking speed and gently jogging on the spot will also help get the blood flowing.
- There is no need to break into a sweat - as little as 2-3 minutes of increased activity can make a difference.

Alyson Carter at Nutrition 4 Life is a nutritionist practicing in Boxmoor. You can contact her to arrange a consultation on 0781 698 1858 or email nutrition4L@aol.com.