Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning says the latest employment figures for his constituency published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday show things are moving in the right direction.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in area has fallen in the past month by 100 and is 320 lower than for November 2011.

Mr Penning said: “I am delighted that the number of claimants is falling, this shows that the government is absolutely right to focus on the economy and jobs.

“Of course there is more to be done, but it is going in the right direction and I welcome initiatives at both the national and local levels to create jobs and get the economy going again.”

Police have issued a party season warning after two unrelated deaths in the last fortnight involving young men who are believed to have taken ecstasy.

The men were both aged just 21 and are both thought to have taken the drug in the county, although one of them lived in Aylesbury.

Assistant chief constable Jon Boutcher said: “Both deaths are subject to a coroner’s investigation and police inquiries are taking place.

“Results from toxicology and other tests are still awaited, so the cause of these tragic deaths have not been fully ascertained.

“However, we do have indications that they both took the drug MDMA and we want to remind the public of the inherent risks in taking illegal drugs, in particular at this time of year when people are out celebrating before Christmas.

“Our thoughts and sympathies are with the families of these two young men at this very difficult time.”

A self-confessed hoarder has made a book out of her postcard collection.

Mary Casserley, 45, will sign copies of Postcards of Berkhamsted 1902-1945 in Berkhamsted School’s Castle Street library from 2pm to 7pm today.

Her book includes people’s messages to each other on the back of the postcards, giving ‘tidbits’ of detail on the period’s social history.

The £20 book can also be bought, from today, at Berkhamsted’s The Way Inn bookshop and Waterstones.

Householders have until Monday to sign up to a scheme that will help them save money on their energy bills.

The collective energy buying scheme launched by Herts County Council last month works by combining the buying power of customers in the county with that of two million others from across the country.

There is no obligation to switch supplier, but each household has the potential to save up to £200 a year.

The council will be negotiating on behalf of customers to get the best deal, which will see energy suppliers invited to bid their lowest price.

Those signed up will have three weeks to decide whether to switch to the new low price or stay with their current supplier.

So far nearly 7,500 people nationwide have registered and the more that sign up the cheaper people’s bills could be.

To find out more visit www.hertsdirect.org/readytoswitch

Bereaved people are invited to write to their loved ones using a special Memorial Christmas Tree.

Customers of Co-operative Funeralcare in Hemel Hempstead will be sent paper baubles on which they can write messages in memory of people they have recently lost. The bespoke decorations will then be hung on Christmas trees in the funeral company’s Marlowes and Wood Lane branches.

Debbie Smith, funeral arranger at Marlowes, said: “Christmas can be a difficult time of year if you have lost someone close to you. One lady who used the service last year said the memorial tree is the equivalent of being able to send her husband a Christmas card.”

The two branches also invite clients to a Christmas memorial service at the Wood Lane centre on December 19 at 6.30pm.

It will feature candle-lit carols led by the Rev Garry Jenkins of Belmont Road Baptist Church, as well as mince pies, mulled wine and other refreshments. For more information visit the branches or call the Wood Lane centre on 01442 255689.

A dad is backing the X Factor charity single because it will help sick children.

Eddie Hodgson has downloaded James Arthur’s Impossible because proceeds are going to good cause Together For Short Lives.

The Tring father-of-three is dad to 12-year-old Jamie, who has a life-limiting illness. “It is a great cause. I have known about the charity for a long time,” said Eddie.

The single is expected to claim number one spot this weekend.

Dacorum Borough Council will be recycling Christmas trees on Sunday, January 6.

Collection points will be from 9.30am to 4pm at Water Lane car park, in Berkhamstead and Cupid Green depot in Hemel Hempstead and from 10.30am to 4.30pm at Tring Garden Centre, Bulbourne Road. Wood chippings will be available.

Parishioners have chosen the charities they will raise money for during the next year.

St Peter’s Church in High Street, Berkhamsted, raises cash for two good causes every year through a variety of events – the main one is its Petertide Fair in June.

Next year, the group will raise cash for Home-Start Dacorum, which supports families in the borough, and Maji Mazuri, which helps deprived communities in poverty-stricken Kenya.

Petertide chairman Pru Murray said: “I’m hoping that the people of Berkhamsted will continue to support our Petertide events and give generously in 2013 to help improve the lives of people in our own community and overseas.”

For more information, visit www.petertidefair.org.uk

Bus company Arriva has recorded a festive song designed to get people moving to the sounds of the road.

The firm is hoping Jingle Bus, which features a range of horns, bells and engines, will bring the Christmas spirit on board its buses.

Now Arriva is inviting customers to create their own bus musical masterpieces to be in the running to win £500 in shopping vouchers.

Download bus sounds and find out more at www.arrivabus.co.uk/jinglebus

It’s time to start getting fit for next year’s charity challenges as Hope 4 Children begins its application process for sporty people to take part in RideLondon 100 and the Brighton Marathon.

The Hemel Hempstead-based charity has a few spaces available for supporters who would like to raise funds to help poverty-stricken children around the world.

Ride London 100 next August sees thousands of cyclists ride through the capital, where roads will be closed for the event, and out into the Surrey countryside.

It aims to be the largest charity fund-raising cycle race in the world.

For runners, there is still time to register with Hope 4 Children to run the Brighton marathon on Sunday, April 8.

If you’d like to know more, contact Rachel Simkin on rs@hope4c.org or call 01442 234561.

One of the founding members of Transition Town Berkhamsted says building a multi-storey car park there will play a part in ‘threatening the survival of the human race’.

Dacorum Borough Council is planning a new £3m three-floor facility in its Lower Kings Road area to help solve the spaces shortage for shoppers and workers.

But Bruce Nixon, 79, said: “Surely it is madness to propose a multi-storey car park when climate change is threatening the survival of the human race?”

He said the cash should instead go towards ‘helping us kick our addiction to cars,’ for instance by creating cycle paths between Berkhamsted and nearby towns.

Mr Nixon, of the town’s Castle Hill Avenue, said: “When we build car parks, there’s more congestion, more pollution of the air and more ill health.”

Mr Nixon, author of A Better World is Possible, said driving cars causes ill health by making us lazy and polluting our air.

He said: “It sounds extreme, but creatures have been annihilated by changes in the earth throughout history and it could happen to us.”

A law firm is hosting a Great Charity Bake Off in the week before Christmas to raise funds for Keech Hospice Care.

Staff at Pictons in High Street, Tring, will be baking goodies and paying to taste sweet delights made by colleagues as they support the good cause.

Council bosses have pledged to track down a little girl whose letter to Santa was delivered to their offices.

A Dacorum Borough Council pre-paid envelope was used to write to ‘Santa at Dacourm Borough Council’ and is signed by ‘Emily’.

Chief executive Danny Zammit said: “We will forward the letter to Santa at the correct address but would like to include a return address so that Emily gets a reply.”

If you know the letter’s author call 01442 228440.

“My dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. Well, I can honestly say I’ve told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it...’

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, kicks off the prequel trilogy to The Lord Of The Rings.

Some might say that turning a slight volume like The Hobbit into three whole films is gratuitous and money-grabbing but after witnessing the wealth of quality additional lore and fascinating back stories of Middle Earth that director Peter Jackson has introduced, the naysayers may come to realise that this is rather a reason to rejoice in all things fantasy.

So get your hairy feet ready for some seriously engrossing questing as everyone’s fav wizard Gandalf The Grey (Ian McKellen) manages to entice young hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) to join a company of dwarves on a mission to reclaim their mountain city and horde of gold which has been taken by an evil dragon named Smaug.

Sounds like a suicide mission but the ‘plan’ is for Bilbo to be their burglar and sneak into the mountain.

The dwarfish crew are made up of Fili, Kili; Oin, Gloin; Dwalin, Balin; Bifur, Bofur, Bombur; Dori, Nori, Ori; and the leader of the company, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard ‘Spooks’ Armitage).

Each brings a certain trait to the party but mostly this is the Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin show – but watch out for a sneaky little scene-stealing guy named Gollum (Andy Serkis).

Jackson is obviously delighted to be back in Middle Earth and he unleashes some ravishing shots of the sweeping landscapes for the party to trek through and cranks up some exciting battles.

In short – although it feels odd saying that as The Hobbit is almost three hours long – this is business as usual for Tolkien fans, replete with the added benefits of phantom menace ‘we know where this is leading’ in jokes and fantastic plot developing hints at the rise of evil which we won’t see pay off until the Lord of The Rings proper.

Baddies take the form of dim-but-dangerous trolls, slimy goblins (led by the hideously deformed Goblin King in the shape of Barry Humphries) and some very nasty orcs.

The plot takes a while to get going but if you’re a Tolkien lover this won’t be a problem. Deeply cynical cinemagoers might quibble at the amount of exposition but even my youngest son James, aged 12, was rapt throughout, so I think Hobbit will be an acid test of where you are a true Lord of The Rings fan or not.

Epic fantasy doesn’t come any better, Harry Potter and Twilight are mere by-products, The Hobbit is the welcome return of the king!

An ambitious plan to restore Hemel Hempstead’s faded Water Gardens has been given a £170,000 shot in the arm.

Dacorum Borough Council officials announced this morning that the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund have agreed initial funding for the scheme, which aims to restore the landmark town centre feature.

This week’s cash confirmation means the council will now have the money to put together a detailed bid for lottery money and apply for a full grant at a later date.

Designed and built in 1962 by leading 20th century architect Geoffrey Jellicoe, the Water Gardens are protected by Grade II listing but are badly in need of a facelift.

Councillor Terry Douris, the borough’s portfolio holder for planning and regeneration, said “The importance of the Water Gardens to Hemel Hempstead Town Centre cannot be overstated. We’re working hard to regenerate and revitalise the town centre as a destination of choice for residents, businesses and visitors. The Water Gardens are central to that work and restoring them to their former glory will provide a catalyst for the town’s wider regeneration.”

Read more about the project in Wednesday’s Gazette.

A car flipped onto its roof causing rush hour delays in Hemel Hempstead this morning, Monday.

Police were called to Red Lion Lane in Water End at 7.44am and a blue Peugeot 206 coupe was recovered one hour later.

Nobody was injured in the accident, and it is believed that the traffic delays have now cleared.

A clutch of 13 rare black and white banknotes, produced in the 19th century when Hemel Hempstead produced its own money, sold for nearly £4000 at an auction on Friday.

One note alone – an 1855 fiver emblazoned with the words ‘Hemel-Hempsted Bank’ with its value underprinted in blue – sold for £650, in line with pre-sale estimates.

An 1855 £10 note issued by the same bank five days earlier on December 14,1855 etched £560 at the sale at specialist auctioneer Spink.

Altogether the 13 Hemel notes, sold by Jersey-based property tycoon David Kirch,75, fetched £3,790.

In Victorian times it wasn’t uncommon for local banks to issue their own currency, but the money was only ever used in the immediate vicinity.

The bank was founded in 1811 by local businessman named Harry Grover and in 1839 it was taken over by William Smith and Edmund Fearnley-Whittingstall, the great great great grandfather of TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Edmund’s handwritten signature appears in the bottom right hand corner of one of the notes.

Even though the bank went bust in 1856, two years before the Gazette began publishing, Edmund lived in style and comfort.

According to 1851 census figures his Langleybury House household included Berkhamsted-born wife Mary and no fewer than 10 live-in servants – including two ladies’ maids,a cook, a kitchen maid, two housemaids, a laundry maid, a butler,a footman and a groom.

Also living on the estate were a gardener,a gamekeeper, a needlewoman and a coachman.

Festive revellers are being warned not to risk their lives by taking drugs.

The police warning comes following the deaths of two 21-year-old men - one from Watford and the other from Aylesbury - who are thought to have taken ecstasy, also known as MDMA.

Assistant Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said: “Hertfordshire Constabulary would like to remind the public of the inherent risks in taking illegal drugs, in particular at this time of year when people are out celebrating before Christmas.”

So now we know why the Pope is suddenly tweeting away like crazy, and other bigwigs in back to front collars are eagerly embracing social media in a bid to reach out to a cyber congregation – it’s because the ranks of the godless are on the rise, and how.

If you’ve been taking an interest in the detailed results of last year’s census, you’ll know that one of the standout statistics is the plunge in the number of people describing themselves as Christians.

And more alarming to those who have a belief in a higher being is that the number of people who baldly state that they have no religion at all is increasing at an even faster rate, so it’s not as if some other band of God-botherers has a better deal on at the moment and is headhunting the holy.

The figures are no surprise to me, I just think that these days people are prepared to be more honest about where they stand.

In the days when you could be hung, drawn and quartered, or at the very least excommunicated, for eating fish on a Friday or taking the name of the Lord in vain, people played along and if they weren’t entirely convinced by all the bells and whistles they knew it was best to keep it to themselves.

Now they have no hesitation in saying that, while they might not have looked into the subject quite as deeply as God-denier in chief Richard Dawkins, they reckon it’s all a load of nonsense.

That’s fair enough, but I do wish they wouldn’t be so two-faced about it.

Over the next few days there will be much santimonious sentiment being spread around – Christmas is, after all, first and foremost a Christian festival of observance and even if you don’t go to church just singing along with the carols links you in with centuries of religious observance.

It’s not so much the case these days at the start of life, with baptism more of an option rather than a necessity, but churches are still considered to be a key ingredient of any self-respecting wedding or funeral, even if participants living or dead would never usually consider attending a service.

And you can be sure that parents who wouldn’t know an apse from their elbow will have been pleased as punch if their little angel had been picked to be Mary. Joseph or even one of the Three Wise Men at the school nativity play.

If you believe, more power to your elbow – but if you don’t, you shouldn’t cherry pick from the church.

A student got her kit off for a calendar to raise awareness and cash after her grandmother suffered a stroke.

Jayme-Lee Pablos came up with the fundraising idea that will benefit The Stroke Association after her 74-year-old Nan Angie Bass fell ill.

“I just wanted to raise awareness about people that have had strokes. My Nan had a stroke last month and none of the family really knew much about it,” said Jayme-Lee, who lives in Pimlico, just outside Hemel Hempstead.

The 24-year-old psychology student had no trouble persuading her girlfriends to get involved and the 11 pals – Aimee Rogers, Danielle Wakefield, Kelly Keen, Holly Brannen, Nikki Jeeves, Claire Simpson, Claire Crassweller, Hannah Freeman, Clare Hennicke, Jennifer Chalk and Leanne Collier, all from Hemel Hempstead and Abbots Langley, stripped off for local photographer Gavin Nichol, who gave his time for free. Jayme-Lee said: “They were so enthusiastic there was no convincing needed.

“I put a Facebook status up saying I was thinking about doing the calendar, let me know if you are interested and the response was amazing. Within two hours I had all my girls, I had the photographer and the location.

“I couldn’t have done this without everyone’s help.”

Thankfully grandmother Angie, who lives with 84-year-old husband Jack, is making a speedy recovery at their home in Leighton Buzzard.

But what do they think about their grand-daughter baring all? “They are really proud of me,” said Jayme-Lee. “They see it is for a good cause and they can see the funny side of it.”

The grandparents have even put a thank you message on Facebook at www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152274406035391

Each month of the calendar has a different theme, from new year fitness to November remembrance, with December being a group shot of all the girls in Santa hats and tinsel protecting their modesty.

Already more than 200 copies of the calendar, costing £10 each, have been pre-ordered and cash has also been donated to the stroke charity through Jayme-Lee’s Justgiving site at www.justgiving.com/Jayme-Lee-Pablos

To order a copy of the calendar email missmonroe1956@hotmail.com