Creativity and community

A few of the things that count in my life

I was struck this morning, as I walked the dog through the rain, by this particular sight in my home town.

This image contains a lot of what makes Hitchin the town that it is and the things that bring me joy.

History and music

Firstly, the Cabbies’ Shelter is a piece of the town’s history that was purchased by my clarinet teacher and his wife. John and Patsy Myatt were stalwarts of our community and John was a very fine clarinettist. Thanks to him, I passed my Grade 8 exam with distinction in 1979, and he opened my eyes to many new musical experiences: he was also the driving force behind North Herts Wind Band, which is where I started as a clarinettist and moved to saxophone. During one memorable rehearsal, not long after I’d first picked up a sax at the age of 16, John asked the sax section to play a particular section of a piece we were working on. Immediately afterwards, he commented that I had “found my instrument”. I really had, and every time I pass the Cabbies’ Shelter (which moved to the town square many years after John and Patsy had originally saved it) I think of him and give a little thank you.

Art

Adorning the side of the Cabbies’ Shelter right now is one of the boards that make up the Hitchin Winter Art Trail that is part of this year’s Hitchin Winter Festival. I’m currently Chair of Hitchin Creative, which worked together with Visit Hitchin to put the trail together. This board in particular is interesting, as it shows a scene painted by internationally-acclaimed artist (and good friend) James Willis.

Community

That’s good enough, but what you may not be able to see is the skilled repair done to the board about 9/10ths of the way down James’s art work. The board was damaged at some point on Thursday evening and by Friday, it had been repaired by one of the very accomplished Visit Hitchin Town Rangers team.

Christmas

I unashamedly love Christmas and our town Christmas Tree is another demonstration of the great work done by Visit Hitchin: the lights switch-on ceremony a couple of weeks ago brought hundreds of people into the town.

There’s so much about Hitchin that is creative and the community often comes together in surprising and delightful ways. Just behind the tree, you can see the currently unadorned flagpole, which was erected in honour of Keith Hoskins, who was our first Town Centre Manager. He passed the baton a few years ago to our very own Tom Hary - the work that both men have done goes a long way to bringing people together to make Hitchin the twentieth happiest place to live in the UK!