Summer season of events keeps Hoddesdon thriving

Love Hoddesdon BID’s new manager Claire Bayless updates us on town centre news

As the new BID manager, I am really enjoying meeting so many new people who are bringing added value to everything Hoddesdon has to offer. I look forward to the next phase of showing what Love Hoddesdon can do for the businesses in our town centre.

Successful events

Over the last month we have seen two events in the town centre. Our first Windrush event was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush bringing migrants from the Caribbean to our shores and was a day filled with Caribbean-themed music, food and stalls. This was the first event of its kind in the town centre and was well-attended. The second was the annual Vintage Car Show held by Broxbourne Council in association with Love Hoddesdon. This is always popular and featured around 140 vehicles as well as vintage-themed stalls.

Outdoor Cinema

Tuesday 15th August

Our upcoming events include our first free outdoor cinema day in conjunction with Broxbourne Council on Tuesday 15th August. There will be three films shown during the day. Bring your own chairs or blankets to the High Street and watch Peter Rabbit 2 at 11am, Encanto at 1pm and The Greatest Showman at 3pm.

Rock Around the Clock Tower

Sunday 20th August

This event returns to our town for its third year and is always a popular one, bringing live music from some great local bands courtesy of The Hoddesdon Allstars. It raises money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Food and Drink Festival

Saturday 16th September

This event is also in its third year and we hope to fill the town with a range of food and drink stalls as well as some entertainment.

Networking Breakfasts

Every month we arrange a networking breakfast in one of our local restaurants or businesses. These have been growing in pop- ularity and we had 56 attendees at our last event. We arrange for a speaker to come along and have updates from local businesses and Love Hoddesdon itself. If you are interested in attending, email lovehoddesdon@outlook.com.

Photography Competition

At the beginning of July, we launched our first Love Hoddesdon Photography Competition. The brief is to show the very best of our High Street in three categories: Buildings, People and Hidden Secrets – the little details. Entry is free and closes on Friday 15th September. The winning pictures will be exhibited in Hoddesdon Library and there are cash prizes for the winners in all categories, for under-18s and over-18s. Full details of how to enter can be found at lovehoddesdon.co.uk.

A message from our Chair, Kevin Brooks

You only have to read the papers or watch the news to realise that life is difficult for many at the moment and that applies to businesses as well as individuals. Nevertheless, there are still opportunities to be seized and Love Hoddesdon’s role is to help local businesses do that. We obviously can’t tell people how to run their business but we can provide help in a number of ways. Prior to the pandemic we ran various training courses – free of charge to our members – and we are in the process of starting those again. We are also looking at ways of bringing more people into the town and the Events and Heritage Committees are discussing how that can be done in new and varying ways. Ultimately, our role is to help Hoddesdon businesses be more successful and that, in turn will help make our town vibrant. Equally, if we can help make the town more vibrant then that, in turn, will help make our businesses more successful. Finding the right blend is not always easy but we will find it.