We think that Rickmansworth’s ‘Worth it’

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Last Monday night was our monthly Chamber of Commerce meeting, where a group of dedicated local people from Rickmansworth businesses get together to discuss our wonderful community and what we can do to improve the town for our companies and our customers who live locally.

Firstly I would like to say how tremendously hard Nina Hosking (Chairman) & Martin Vintner-Jackson (Vice Chairman) work on our behalf and if you are a local business in Rickmansworth then you really should join the RCC and you can find out how by contacting Ian Bonnick the membership secretary:

membership@rickmansworthchamberofcommerce.org.uk or take a look at the website:

Firstly I would like to say that we are really grateful to the Chamber, to Veolia Water and Rickmansworth School for all the hard work they have put into making the hanging baskets for the Town Centre.   Secondly I would like to say that the Chamber has been trying to organise many things which, traditionally, should be organised by the Parish Council, only Rickmansworth doesn’t have one of those (!!) and so this has become quite an issue, and is something that I hope you may be able to help with:-

It appears that in the region of £660,000 is collected in ‘special expenses’ from the unparished areas of Three Rivers – this includes Eastbury, Moor Park, Rickmansworth, Rickmansworth West, through to Maple Cross and Heronsgate.  Of This amount £385,000 was spent on parks & gardens in these areas – however, residents in the unparished areas have no say on how this money is spent as we have no parish/town council.

The Chamber in the past has inherited the unenviable task of collecting money to purchase maintain, install and dismantle the Christmas lights, however because of the recent changes in the Codes of Practice and Health & Safety requirements, the Chamber can no longer afford to do this.

Now, this year, it will not have passed you by that it is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  Because there is no support for the Jubilee for any area in Three Rivers, the Chamber is trying to raise the money to decorate Rickmansworth High Street with flags – thus meaning our fund raising for Christmas lights will be further stunted.  Nina is lobbying the ward Councillors for Rickmansworth; Cllr Paula Hiscock and Cllr David Sansom, who are doing all they can to try and help secure funds for both decoration for the Jubilee and for the Christmas lights, however, there is no dedicated fund in Three Rivers for this – so don’t hold your breath.  If you feel strongly that Rickmansworth should have these niceties as do other ‘parished’ areas such as Chorleywood, Croxley Green or Sarratt, then you can contact your councillors and let them know.

If you feel that you would like to ‘have your say’ in the future of your town, then Cllr Paula Hiscock and Cllr David Sansom would be really pleased to hear from you.  The intention is to form a Neighbourhood Forum in response to the recent passing of the Localism Bill, but 21 residents or people who work in Rickmansworth are needed to form this Forum – so please do contact them.

You can contact Cllr Hiscock as follows:

01923 510045

paula.hiscocks@threerivers.gov.uk

and Cllr Sansom

01924 336475

david.sansom@threerivers.gov.uk

All you need do is drop them a quick line asking what is being organised for the decoration of the town for the coming Jubilee & Olympic festivities and why did we not have any Christmas Lights in the town, when our nearby towns were all shining brightly over the holiday season..  Thank you.

So what is being planned for Rickmansworth over the coming months?

Well firstly we have the proposal of the ‘Rickmansworth’ It’ brand & logo and Martin kindly explained the story behind the new imagery:

The word ‘worth’ has intrinsic value to us both emotionally & physically; we have it in our town name and we also feel that the town is ‘worth’ promoting because it is such a lovely place to live!  We have a famous lion statue in our Council Gardens and our association with the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (depicted by the Star) and finally we have the Swans at the Aquadrome (forming their bond for life) , so we feel very strongly that this is a great new and contemporary logo for us!

(Please let us know what you think by posting in the comment box below)….

The logo & brand will be unveiled at the Rickmansworth Canal Festival which takes place on May 21st & 22nd, and where we have “The Little Fox Market” taking over the organisation of the Chamber’s marquee this year, meaning that there will be arts & crafts galore, so make sure you put the date in your diary.

Following on from the Canal Festival we are asking any local residents to post their Jubilee Party Celebrations onto the Chamber Facebook Page:  click on the logo above or go to www.facebook.com/rickmansworthchamberofcommerce and finally we have the Starlight Evening on the last Friday in November, but we will post more information regarding this nearer the time.