May 2021
When the Boar’s Head was a pub in Piccotts End it was indeed our local. These days you have to go a bit further to find one that’s worthy of the name. My favourite is the Crown & Sceptre at Briden’s Camp and I’ll often call by for a pint of IPA…
April 2021
How’s your weight? Lockdown has had at least one beneficial effect for me. I’ve been doing a lot more walking and have a lost a few pounds as a result. I’ve never covered so many miles, traipsing along the picturesque towpaths of the Grand Union Canal…
April 2021
Last month’s AGM sparked a wave of ideas to celebrate a return to the good life this summer. With lockdown restrictions due to end in June, residents attending the zoom meeting discussed a range of social event suggestions together with issues like the Dacorum development plan, broadband and traffic speeds.
An exciting season of social events is on the cards, including some novel ideas like a harvest festival and a scarecrow festival.
March 2021
The residents’ association AGM will be held virtually on Thursday 25th March. It will be a zoom event hosted by PERA’s chairman David Stanier. Topics on the agenda include broadband issues, the Dacorum strategic plan, social events and security matters. If you would like to take part, please email David stanierdavid@gmail.com and he will send you the link.
March 2021
Fed up with snail-slow broadband speeds, a village resident is leading a campaign to crowd fund a high speed fibre connection. Riverbank IT expert John McDermott (pictured) has been working with BT’s Open Reach, the service provider, to cost up the scheme.
He says: ‘With so many more people working from home as a result of the pandemic having a good broadband speed is essential.
‘Installing fibre would cost about £225,000 but with government subsidies the figure comes down to about £22,000 or £165 per household.’
March 2021
Villagers haven been warned to watch out for strange markings that might be a signal to dog-snatchers. There have been a spate of thefts during the pandemic and one trick used by culprits is to leave a mark in bright coloured paint on a tree or bush outside a house where there is a dog.
February 2021
New streets lights have been installed in the village but they are not to everyone’s liking. The low energy LED lights are meant to be more environmentally friendly than the old halogen variety. However one resident says they are much brighter than the old ones and are staying on longer.
‘I do hope they eventually go out, as they have stayed on all night since they changed them,’ said Carly Smith at the Boar’s Head. ‘Not good for light pollution and the wildlife.
‘I have to say prefer the old ones.’
February 2021
Once upon a time Hemel Old Town was bustling with people and alive with shops selling everything from fruit and veg to furniture. Today it’s a ghost town, empty, desolate and looking like something out of The War of the Worlds or The Day of the Triffids. But on our daily walk this week I espied a glimmer of light. Up ahead was a colourful stall displaying apples, oranges, carrots and tomatoes to name a few.
February 2021
A plan for 400 houses on the other side of the Leighton Buzzard Road has been received by Dacorum Council. Documents lodged with the planning dept show a large development between Galley Hill and the Pumping Station.
Residents Association secretary Michael Nidd says the plan is not a planning application but a ‘scoping document’ to test the temperature. In other words, how will the council and local residents react to it.
‘It’s currently grazing land, and would, if granted, further encircle Piccotts End,’ said Mr Nidd. ‘It’s a stinker.’
January 2021
New arrivals in Piccotts End are never more welcome than when they come in a little bundle of joy! So we offer our warmest congratulations to Kate and Ian Keevil of Wall Cottage, proud parents of baby Phoebe. She was born in October and her mum has already labelled her ‘a little rascal’! We believe she is the first village baby in at least a decade. At last some cheering news on these grey days of lockdown.