As this year comes to a close, Hertford Town Council is delighted to share some of its highlights as it looks forward to the year ahead.
2024 has been a busy year for Hertford Town Council. The Council has held some amazing events both at Hertford Castle and in the town centre - our first Family Pride event, Harts Fest, Cars at the Castle, the Beer and World Food Festival, Teddy Bears’ Picnic, Rock at the Castle, Heritage Day as well as our Castle Tours and our ever-popular Easter, Summer and Christmas trails.
We’ve welcomed over 55,000 people through Hertford Castle’s gates to our events this year and in 2024, these community events raised over £1000 for the Mayor of Hertford’s charities - Hertford & District Guides and Citizens Advice East Herts; not including Rock at the Castle which raised £3886.67 for its chosen charity, which this year was Citizens Advice East Herts.
We held a very poignant Remembrance Day parade and got Christmas off to a fine start with our Christmas Market in the Castle grounds and a magical Gala, next to our beautiful Christmas tree in Salisbury Square; dressed so uniquely by the wonderful Yarnbombers! 2025 will be bigger and better, kicking off with our Dark Skies event in February and featuring our EcoFest in the Spring, as well as celebrating Rock at the Castle’s 20th anniversary!
This year, we have welcomed residents to our monthly ‘Meet the Councillor’ stall at Hertford Farmers Market and more recently hosted an Energy Hub with East Herts Council to encourage residents to improve their homes environmentally while saving money at the same time.
We have started gathering views on the priorities for residents and local businesses for the ‘Castle Plus’ Neighbourhood Planning process which is now underway and we are facilitating the establishment of a Community Steering Group to lead the development of the Plan.
We have engaged with residents on our Hertford2030 Environmental Sustainability Strategy through a survey and held meaningful discussions with local businesses at our regular Business Breakfasts - seeking their input into our Sustainable Tourism Strategy.
The Refill campaign has gone from strength to strength, we now have well over twenty places in Hertford where people can refill their water bottles – reducing plastic pollution on our streets and in the sea.
We have also started our Hertford Castle Greenspace Renewal project, working with partners to improve the Castle grounds – supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Our Town and Tourist Information Centre has hosted volunteer sessions for local charities this year and, as well as selling our popular 2025 Hertford calendar and a whole host of gifts and goodies, it has spread the word far and wide on the many events and activities across the community.
We are also working on a Communications Strategy to ensure that our residents and visitors know who we are, what we do and can better access us for support, whether that be regarding our allotments, our cemeteries or awarding grants to charities and local groups.
Chair of the Development and Leisure Committee, Councillor Ann Woodward commented: “What a wonderful year we have had! So many fond memories of residents and visitors enjoying our various events and it has been wonderful to speak to so many people via our stalls or through our surveys. We always want to hear from the Hertford community - to learn how we can work together to protect and promote Hertford as a very special, beautiful, place to live.”
The Hertford Town Council 2025 Events Programme is listed at www.hertford.gov.uk/events-listings/events-programme-2025