About Me, About thebestof Hertford
I think that it’s quite important to tell you, the user of this website a little about me and the site that you are using.
Firstly that’s me at the bottom of the page, my name’s Robert Glover and I’m 28 and live a couple of miles away in Ware. I was born in Hertford in July 1982 and was one of the last babies to be born in Hertford County Hospital. I grew up in Molewood Road before moving into Bengeo when I was 6. I went to school at St Josephs in North Rd and stayed there until I was ready to leave and go to secondary school at Sele. After leaving Sele in ’99 I went to Hertford Regional College to study design before becoming an electrician. I stayed as an electrician until the beginning of 2010 when I decided to take thebestof Hertford on.
Why the change? Well it is quite a big change I can tell you! For a number of years I had been suffering with severe back problems which finally resulted in me having spine surgery in 2006, but this didn’t solve the problems and soon the pain slowly returned. I was advised by a professional to find a different vocation in life so I could get off the tools. This was how I came across thebestof Hertford.
What did I like about thebestof? Well even though it is a national company, each individual website is owned and run by local people, and many like myself are native to those towns. This is what makes thebestof work, it’s the individuals passion and commitment to their area that makes the service an integral part of the local community. Yes it is a nationwide network overseen by a head office in the midlands, but this is by no means a big faceless machine claiming to be local, the only face you see is mine! Why can’t such a creation work for a local area? Well there is no reason really, if the individual running the site is lively and has the areas best interests to heart then it can only do good to that particular locality.
My first reactions were – what a brilliant idea! This is a one stop shop for the whole of Hertford, events, information, businesses and this is what got me excited about the whole concept. But now a few months down the line I’ve been on a very tight learning curve and discovered what thebestof Hertford really is. For instance I’ve spent a lot of time chatting to local businesses both in and out of the town centre and listened to their issues about owning a local business. Parking, rates and general lack of footfall being the major issues for the town centre businesses, and the recession the reason for the other businesses run from industrial estates, homes and small offices. They are all local businesses and they are all going through the toughest times this country has seen for decades, but they are all doing a magnificent job in providing the residents of Hertford and beyond a friendly, loyal, good and unique service for whatever their chosen field.
Another example is the wealth of local events going on. I wasn't aware that there was so many until I started to recieve email after email asking if such and such event could be added. These events are most of the time organised by volunteers, people who want to put themselves out for their community. It's a really good thing that there are so many people like this in Hertford.
This is what I want to emulate to thebestof Hertford. I want to get people to see that they don’t need to shop out of town, or go to expensive theme parks for entertainment. I want them to see that Hertford offers so much in all aspects of life. It’s so important to emphasise this, whether you’ve lived your whole life in the town, just moved here (a warm welcome if you have) or like me are an expat. We have a responsibility to make this town a great place to live and work and shop, and hopefully an online presence like thebestof Hertford can help.
