National Grid engineers will be working round the clock throughout the festive season to make sure families have a safe, warm and comfortable Christmas.

The festive season is a very busy time for National Grid. In the time it takes to cook a 12lb Christmas turkey, the company expects to receive over 1,000 calls to its freephone gas emergency service number.

Keeping gas flowing through the pipeline network is always a priority and never more so than on Christmas Day as we cook the festive feast and enjoy all the traditional seasonal activities.

Over the holiday period National Grid expects to take 117,000 calls nationally on the gas emergency freephone number – 0800 111 999.

So, while the nation is enjoying all the festive fun, here’s an idea of how busy our workforce will be:

In the time it takes to cook a 12lb stuffed Christmas turkey (3.5 hours) we’ll take 1,050 calls

Listening to the Queen’s Speech (10 minutes) – 50 calls

Attending a church service (1 hour) – 300 calls

Families sleeping off Christmas dinner (30 minutes) – 150 calls

Watching The Downton Abbey Christmas special (2 hours) – 600 calls

The chimes of Big Ben welcoming the New Year (30 seconds) – 2 calls

John Duckworth, head of network, said: “Our engineers play a vital role during the festive period in making sure homes, shops and business have a safe and reliable gas supply.”

“But it isn’t just about cooking the Christmas dinner, or enjoying a special TV programme, it’s also about ensuring people are kept safe and warm when the temperature drops.”

“Our staff will be ready to answer calls and deal with any gas related issues that might arise on Christmas Day just as they would on any other day of the year. For National Grid staff it’ll be business as usual”

National Grid manages the National Gas Emergency Service free phone line on behalf of the industry - call 0800 111 999 if you have a problem.

The Marks & Spencer Simply Food store planned for Berkhamsted is now not expected to open its doors until the spring of 2014.

The shop will be in the former Royal Mail sorting office, in the town’s High Street, after the firm signed a 20-year lease with the site’s new owner, Metric Property.

Metric has set aside £5m to convert the building. The site will include two other units new units that could be used as shops or a restaurant.

A retired teacher has launched a legal case after discovering her hip resurfacing implants could be poisoning her body.

Lottie Clarke was offered hip resurfacing as a less intrusive alternative to hip replacement in 2007.

All went well until last year when Lottie, of Corner Hall, Hemel Hempstead, noticed that one of her hips ‘clunked’ and the other sometimes hurt.

When she read articles about some hip resurfacing implants causing medical concerns, she began to worry.

”I wouldn’t have done anything but after reading about the faulty implants I went back to the hospital for a check up,” said the 63-year-old grandmother.

“They discovered that, as a result of the implants wearing away, I had dangerous levels of metal ions in my blood, a symptom of cobalt and chromium poisoning, which can cause cancers, kidney and liver failure and cobalt poisoning. I was terrified.”

Lottie researched the manufacturers of her implants and discovered that the regulatory body – the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency – had been aware of the high failure rate of some implants for several years and had failed to alert surgeons and patients.

Lottie decided she had to make a stand and instructed solicitors to investigate whether any action could be taken.

She said: “I am aiming to raise awareness of this as it could be a national scandal.

“Many of these faulty implants have been used in operations for people like me and they are living in blissful ignorance of the potential long term risks to their health.

“They probably don’t have any symptoms, but they should find out from the hospital where their operation took place if they’ve had metal on metal hip implants.

“It is vitally important that they ask to have their ion levels checked.”

The grandmother is now awaiting replacements of the faulty implants and will have to undergo two major operations.

The metal on the implants were originally predicted to last for 30 years or more, yet some patients are having to have them replaced within two to three years.

Jack Reacher

Werner Herzog is the villain! Werner Herzog is the villain! Werner Herzog is the villain!

Forgive my over-enthusiastic opening but it’s a massive deal and the main reason to see this decent enough adaptation of a successful airport novel character.

The inclusion of the acclaimed and crazy director of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, Wrath of God as a Gulag survivor with more than a few dark secrets is far more interesting a talking point than whether Tom Cruise is tall enough to play the title role.

That sort of sniping never befell Jack Nicholson playing against the original characterisation in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and is misplaced in a film that was never going to be more than an enjoyable espionage actioner – after all, the source material isn’t exactly Chekhov.

Cruise is brilliant as a man on the trail of a deadly sniper. The supporting cast including Richard Jenkins and Brits Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo are solid and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie does a good job of keeping action and plot on track but it never really goes anywhere surprising.

Parental Guidance

Only the heaviest turkey hangover will cause you to end up leaving the warm comfort of Only Fools and Horses reruns and end up enduring this ‘comedy’ that is about as formulaic as you can get in terms of plot and jokes.

Billy Crystal and Bette Midler are looking after their drandkids, and the generation gap is huge. Cue huge hilarity and misunderstanding before ultimate bonding and acceptance. Yawn and so what? Pass me that tin of Roses and put on Eric and Ernie.

It’s silver anniversary year for the famous Pepper Show – and you could be on stage to help celebrate this remarkable milestone.

New adult singers are being sought for this summer’s shows, and auditions are planned for January so you can show what you can do.

The 25th Pepper Show, scheduled for a string of performances in July, will be the latest instalment in a West Herts institution.

It all started back in 1988 when a group of people decided to produce a fundraising event to raise money for local hospice care across the Chilterns.

The event was a performance of iconic Beatles’ album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Pepper was up and running.

The Pepper Foundation became a registered charity in 1994, named after the first fundraising concert.

Today it provides funds for The Pepper Children’s Nurses managed by Iain Rennie Grove House Hospice Care, a six-strong nursing team which cares for more than 40 children in the Herts and Bucks area, all of whom have life threatening or life limiting illnesses.

The nursing and family support teams also provide vital support and counselling for other family members.

The nurses provide much needed professional and loving home care on a 24 hour, 365 days of the year on-call basis, at absolutely no cost to patients or their families.

If you’d like to audition for the show, the person to contact is producer Linda Horsfall on 01442 865972.

Controversial plans to open a lapdancing club in the heart of Hemel Hempstead town centre have come under further fire this week.

The Gazette reported last week that town MP Mike Penning was planning to object to the proposal because of the inappropriate site.

And his objections are echoed by the Rev Vindra Maraj-Ogden of Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church, who said: “We are deeply concerned by these plans.

“We believe that all people are made in the image of God and we object to any business that profits from degrading and objectifying both women and men.

“Should the licence be granted, we hope that the establishment’s staff will receive high levels of support and protection from harm.”

After 8 Entertainment Ltd already runs a lapdancing club in Luton and has applied for the licence to open a ‘sexual entertainment’ venue open from 8pm until 6am in the morning on Fridays, Saturdays and bank holidays.

It’s the second application of this kind this year after Images nightclub in the Old Town had a licence granted to open an ‘upmarket’ basement gentlemen’s club.

Others who have reservations include Angela Irving from Bennetts End, who said: “It’s a bad place to have it.

“It will only attract more problems with alcohol. If it’s open until 6am there will be normal people wanting to go to work with drunks staggering everywhere.”

Howard Hyames, who runs the temporary Christmas shop next door to the proposed venue, had a more pragmatic view.

He said: “It’s not the right kind of town for this sort of thing, but then again there are lot of empty shops around so if it’s a good money maker, good luck to them but I don’t think it’ll work.”

A decision on the application will be made in the new year.

More than a quarter of people have been prevented from seeing loved ones this festive season because of the high price of fuel, reveals new research from Green Flag Breakdown.

This is an increase of six per cent or 2.66 million people in just 12 months.

Those driving to visit friends and family this Christmas faced an average bill of £48 on fuel, travelling for an average of nearly three hours.

Increases in public transport fares over the last year combined with reduced services have also prevented people travelling to see loved ones this Christmas.

Major engineering works scheduled over the festive season by a number of rail operators didn’t help, and limited availability of public transport meant 13 per cent of people saw fewer friends and family over the festive season than they would have liked, while 15 per cent were deterred by high travel costs.

Green Flag’s Miranda Schunke said: “Christmas is traditionally a time for seeing friends and family, but the high cost of transportation will keep some loved ones apart this year.

“While the 3p petrol duty rise scheduled for 2013 has been scrapped, we still see many drivers struggling to afford to fill their tanks and reducing the number of journeys they take.

“With public transport costs also rising, many families are faced with tough choices for their Christmas spending, whether to focus on presents and entertainment or choose to travel.”

A woman who had a heart transplant earlier this year is backing a national campaign to change the UK’s law on organ transplantation.

Campaigners want new rules that will see people having to opt out of, rather than into, being on the organ donor register.

Caroline Woodrow, 44, who grew up in Tring and now lives in Paris, had a heart transplant in April under the French ‘presumed consent’ system after being diagnosed with dilated cardiomypathy – a thickening of the left ventricle.

She had to wait just three days for a suitable heart to be found after being placed on the waiting list.

Caroline, who has been living in Paris on and off for the last seven years while her mother still lives in Station Road, Tring, was fitted with a defibrillator and put on a regime of heart drugs after being diagnosed with the heart condition in 2010.

Doctors told her that she could need a transplant in three, five or 10 years time, but in March her defibrillator went off and over the next three weeks her condition rapidly deteriorated. The damage to her heart was so severe that it was only working at 10 per cent capacity and Caroline urgently needed a heart transplant.

She was placed on the transplant list on Thursday, April 12 and a match was found by the Sunday.

Back in the UK, her uncle Brian Woodrow, who lives in Beds, is campaigning for a change to the law.

Caroline said: “I know my uncle has long thought that our law in the UK needs changing, and I am right behind him on this because I believe they would not have found me a heart in time in the UK.”

In France the law states that everybody is assumed to be willing to be an organ donor unless they opt out, which can be done by registering refusal officially with the government or by telling immediate family members.

Speaking about the UK system, Caroline said: “In my opinion, it is only laziness that stops people registering as a donor, although I know they put a form in with passport renewals/driving licences now, but these forms just get thrown away.

“I feel if people had to opt out then, if they had very strong views about it, as everybody has the right to, they will be motivated to go online, register and tick a box saying no.

“It is so much easier when you don’t actually have to do anything, but if your beliefs are that strong then you will act.

“I have read that 90 per cent of the British public would say yes, but only 30 per cent are actually registered donors. This must change if we are to save lives.

“I can never thank enough the person – or the family – who gave me their heart, but having gone through this experience I want other people to realise what good they can do by just saying yes.”

Up to 34 million people in the UK are risking death with the mistaken belief that the main symptom of meningitis is a rash.

As the country finds itself in the peak season for this devastating disease, national charity the Meningitis Trust, is campaigning to stop this deadly misconception.

Over 70 per cent of people immediately think of a rash when identifying meningitis. Believing the rash is the only symptom will cost lives the charity says; as the rash that does not fade under pressure (a sign of blood poisoning) will not always appear. If it does it can be one of the last symptoms to be displayed, often too late.

Trust chief executive Sue Davie said: “By thinking meningitis is just a rash people are risking their own and their loved ones lives. You don’t get a second chance with meningitis so identifying it correctly is vital.

“It is important to know and recognise the other signs and symptoms and get medical help immediately. Symptoms can appear quickly and rapid deterioration is a sign of a medical emergency.”

Meningitis can start with ‘flu like’ symptoms. Those to look out for are a fever, headache, vomiting and muscle pain. Other symptoms can include drowsiness, confusion, pale blotchy skin, stiff neck, dislike of bright lights and seizures. In babies, symptoms can include being floppy and unresponsive, dislike of being handled, rapid breathing, a moaning cry and a bulging fontanelle (soft spot on the top of the head).

The Trust is urging everyone to make themselves aware of all the symptoms. You can download one of its free smart phone apps at www.meningitisapp.co.uk, visit www.meningitis-trust.org for information or call its freephone 24-hour nurse-led helpline on 0808 80 10 388 to request a free signs and symptoms card.

Politicians say new signs and lights at a pub would harm an important part of the High Street – but they like its plan for a new beer garden.

Berkhamsted’s The Goat wants to install a fence and gates in a disused area next to the building.

Benches now blocking three of the property’s 11 parking spaces would be moved to the new patio.

But Laurence Handy, chairman of the Berkhamsted Town Council planning committee, said the pub’s plans for signs and lighting would damage the Conservation Area.

Neighbours Jayne Bond and Stuart O’Neil have also written to Dacorum Borough Council, recommending it reject the plans.

The signs are ‘overbearing and imposing’ and the lights ‘excessive and too bright’, and they are there now without permission, they say.

Children can now benefit from an interactive online lesson that has been launched to teach them how to use sign language.

Monkey Manor has been created by Digital Giving for the national deaf healthcare charity, SignHealth as part of its annual fundraiser, sign2sing. It can be accessed via www.sign2sing.org.uk.

Steve Powell, chief executive at SignHealth, explained: “sign2sing is our world record breaking attempt for the most people signing and singing a song at the same time and takes place on February 6.

“This year we wanted to increase deaf awareness among the younger generation and believe Monkey Manor does this in a fun and engaging way.”

Monkey Manor features the children’s book character Olli the monkey, who loves to use sign language and goes to school at the Manor.

Steve continued: “Children can play on the interactive website and join Olli in his classroom to learn how to fingerspell the alphabet. They can hear the sign2sing song in his music room.

“It’s a great way for youngsters to learn about sign language and research has shown that when hearing children learn to sign their confidence, self-esteem, self expression and communication skills all improve.”

Teachers can register for the record breaking attempt and download digital resources, which include a free whiteboard app.

Steve said: “It’s the first time, as far as we’re aware, that sign language has been animated in the UK, so it’s been a real challenge for Digital Giving to get the signs to be accurate and clear, but we have ended up with a truly unique and fun tool to engage hearing and deaf audiences.”

sign2sing is SignHealth’s world record breaking attempt for the most people signing and singing a song at the same time while also raising money for the charity from a suggested £1 donation from everyone taking part.

The project is in its third year and the current record is 114,277. So far more than 850 schools have signed up to join in with the event.

Schools wishing to take part are invited to register their interest via www.sign2sing.org.uk.

The project is also promoted on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sign2sing and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sign2sing.

Firefighters were called to a garage blaze in the early hours of Christmas morning.

Crews from Tring, Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead went to the fire at Church Lane, Hastoe, near Tring, just after midnight.

When they arrived the detached garage was well alight. Firefighters used two hose reels and breathing apparatus to extinguish the blaze.

The fire was out just before 1am and crews spent around 20 minutes dampening down the area.

Police are treating the fire as suspicious and are currently investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det Con Geoff Smith on 01442 271056, quoting reference URN 15 of 25/12/12.

Prickly police supremo David Lloyd is getting fed up with answering questions about his commitment to the new job.

The Hemel Hempstead branch of UKIP is calling on Hertfordshire’s new crime czar to resign from the two councillor posts he continues to hold after being elected as the county’s police and crime commissioner.

“He should resign as a Hertfordshire county councillor and a Dacorum borough councillor,” said Noel Swinford, UKIP’s branch press officer in Hemel Hempstead.

“He should be a full-time police and crime commissioner because you can’t have three jobs.”

The UKIP branch has lodged a Freedom of Information request with the PCC’s office, asking it to “account for this behaviour”.

Mr Swinford reckons UKIP would do a “better job” of representing the people in Councillor Lloyd’s wards if he were to resign and force by-elections.

But Mr Lloyd, who said he was “getting fed up” with people raising the issue, insisted that his holding two council seats at the same time as being a PCC has been independently evaluated and cleared.

And he reckons that being a councillor at the same time as being PCC actually helps him do a better job.

“My job is to bring people together,” he said

“It is easier for me as a county councillor to arrange meetings with people in the council than it would be if I was trying to do it as PCC.”

Mr Lloyd, who lives in Flamstead, urged voters to judge him on his record after his first term as PCC, and he is confident that people will have been impressed when the job next comes up for election.

He added that he has employed a deputy with specialist knowledge of issues in order to help bring crime down in Hertfordshire.

Hemel Hempstead played a starring role in BBC children’s drama Mr Stink, which aired twice over the Christmas period.

In the television adaptation of David Walliams’ children’s novel, Hugh Bonneville’s character Mr Stink was seen admiring the views in Gadebridge Park as well as making drinks in a Marlowes coffee shop.

The hour-long programme, which also starred Britain’s Got Talent’s prize pooch Pudsey, Johnny Vegas and Sheridan Smith, was shown on BBC1 on Sunday, December 23 and Boxing Day.

Travellers faced train trouble after they were left unable to buy a ticket at Berkhamsted station.

Both ticket machines were out of service and no-one was manning the ticket desk so travellers were forced to get on trains without tickets on Thursday.

Tim Shaw was trying to get home to London after spending Christmas with his family in Berkhamsted.

He said: “I tried every option to buy a ticket but it was just a pain. I had loads of bags with me and I just wanted to get home.

“I have family in Berkhamsted and I don’t visit them as much as I would like to purely because I can’t bear the train journey. It should only be a thirty minute journey but it’s always such a nightmare because the trains are so bad.”

Train operator London Midland apologised for any inconvenience caused.

A spokesman said “If passengers can’t buy a ticket at the station they should purchase a ticket from the conductor on-board. If this isn’t possible and travelling to Euston, they should purchase on arrival. In this case passengers should speak to a member of staff and tell them what station they have travelled from.”

Dog rescuers travelled to Wales before Christmas to save eight pets and returned home to discover another furry friend had been abandoned at its doors.

The Chilterns Dog Rescue Society is full to the brim with pets that are being prepared for new homes.

Of the eight dogs rescued, which would have been destroyed otherwise, one had to be put down despite the best efforts of a vet.

On Christmas Eve the centre, in Chivery, near Tring, took in a black and white springer spaniel that had been tied to a fence close by for rescue centre workers to find.

Sara Muncke, from the centre, said: “Someone must have been in a very desperate situation to abandon her like this. The dog was in a very traumatised state and difficult to approach because she was so frightened. However, she has begun to settle down now she feels safe and secure and will remain with us for a month, after which we will be able to consider re-homing her.”

To find out more about dogs needing homes visit www.chilternsdogrescue.org.uk

A new rare Siberian tiger is in quarantine at Whipsnade Zoo and is almost ready to be seen by the public.

The male tiger, called Botzman, is from Russia and has to go through a standard period of isolation before joining its female companion at the Tiger Falls enclosure.

Whipsnade Zoo expects to be able to issue pictures after Botzman completes his quarantine but at the moment a double mesh on his part of the enclosure makes it difficult to take photos and for visitors to get a good look.

Siberian tigers, also called Amur tigers, are seriously endangered in the wild with as few as 150-200 left in the Russian far east.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), of which Whipsnade is part, is an international conservation charity involved in Amur tiger conservation in the Russian Far East since 1995. ZSL’s Amur tiger project is focused on population monitoring, anti-poaching efforts, and increasing education and awareness.

A fire that started on November 10 is still burning.

But the blaze on the border of Hemel Hempstead and St Albans, which forced the closure of roads as smoke made driving dangerous, is now under control.

It is not known how the fire at the recycling centre in Appspond Lane, Potters Crouch, started among the massive pile of wood waste that could be seen from the M1.

Herts Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Jo Brown said: “The fire is still burning but is very much under control and it has been left to the site staff to monitor on a continuing basis. Fire and rescue visit the site at least once a day to liaise with site staff and ensure the fire is progressing as expected.”

The formal application to open a new primary school in Hemel Hempstead has been submitted to education chiefs.

West Herts Community Free Schools Trust wants to open the school in 2014 on the site of Jupiter Drive Primary, which closed in 2007 due to falling pupil numbers.

But now the town is running out of space for little ones and Herts County Council, which was behind the school closure five years ago, is supporting the latest proposal.

The new school would take in two forms at reception level and more pupils would be accepted as that first year group progresses up the school, becoming full in 2020.

Highfield’s Jupiter Drive Primary was one of three schools to be closed in Hemel Hempstead but since then millions have been spent expanding other schools to meet a rising demand. The Department for Education is expected to make a decision next summer.

Dacorum Borough Council has come up with an innovative way of ensuring that residents won’t be left down in the dumps over the winter months.

Homeowners can find out about changes to bin collections by signing up for free waste text alerts which will help to avoid confusion over times and dates.

To join the scheme, simply text the words DBC waste, followed by your house number and postcode, to 60777.