The Year 2004 for most of us brought both good and bad times. For me personally, one of the bad times was the dreadful reorganization of Royal Mail in March. I resigned the position I had taken on with Royal Mail, whilst building Wyenot.com, which, up until that point had actually provided me with some of the happiest days of my working life. Nine months later, I still miss the early morning solitude that the job provided in both town and rural surroundings.

On the happy side, I made many new and good friends during 2004 as a direct result of maintaining this web site. Some of these friends have become a large and very important part of my life - Kevin, Tina, Dave, Jules, Martin, Amy, Helen, Andy, Terrence and all the staff at the Hope & Anchor. Four of those mentioned actually relocated to Ross-on-Wye from other parts of the country as a result of discovering the town on this web site and have introduced themselves to me at the supermarket whilst shopping or in the street. I have also renewed many old friendships as a result of the 'Potters Bar Reunion,' which proved to be a success beyond my wildest dreams. Whilst organizing it, I was worried that nobody would turn up but as it turned out, people were arriving before the doors were officially opened.

Ross-on-Wye itself has seen the usual winter floods . . .

No doubt there will be bad times locally during 2005. I have noticed a huge decline in community spirit over the past year with events, such as Gala Day having been cancelled. The day on which it was to be held was actually saved in the end by a small group of individuals who were willing to give up some of their time and provide an alternative on this occasion, but whatever happened to the annual pancake races and 'It's a Knockout,' to name but two events? Ross-on-Wye can only be what you make it. It is not always somebody else's job - sometimes it is yours!

With the winter solstice passed, the days are now growing longer and we can look forward to the spring of 2005. Instead of sitting back and complaining that 'Nothing ever goes on in Ross-on-Wye' or 'the anonymous 'they' didn't organize that right', why not join in in some small way and try to make the coming new year a Happy and Prosperous one for the town as a whole? Everybody will benefit in the long run if you do!

Now Ross-on-Wye and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere can look forward to the coming Spring of 2005 . . .

Alan and Tina at WYENOT.COM

would like to wish all in

Ross-on-Wye

and all of those world wide who regularly view this web site a

HAPPY and PROSPEROUS 2005!