Ten local ladies will stride their way around London by the light of the full moon, taking part in the 2005 Playtex Moonwalk on Saturday, June 18th 2005. The worlds only 'power walking' marathon is to take place in London's Hyde Park. The ladies will be striding out in decorated bras, helping to raise millions of pounds for breast cancer and cancer care. There will be thousands of people from around the country joining them to raise money and awareness for the cause, as well as get fit and have fun. Moonwalker, Denise Nicholls said, 'Taking on the challenge will be an unforgettable experience'.

Trying to raise sponsorship or thinking of ingenious ways of raising money can present a challenge in itself. Several successful events in aid of breast cancer and cancer cure have already taken place and on Saturday, 11th June, at the Barrel Inn, the ladies are holding 'A Moonwalk Disco'. Tickets, which include a prize draw, are £3.00 each and guests are requested to wear something pink!

If you would like further details on this event or you are unable to come along but would like to sponsor the team, please contact:- Denise Nicholls on: 07796 011727 or Tina Robertshaw on: 07905 806896.

Pictured below, at the Prince of Wales are moon walkers, Denise Nicholls, Tina Robertshaw, Claire White, Tracey Young, Elaine Vine, Karen Phelps, Jeanette Rush and Anita Ward at last Saturday's, around the pubs fund raising event. Irene Jones and Lenny Whitehouse also took part but were not there for the photograph. £300 was raised during the evening, making a total of £853 towards the cause so far.

There may not be an International Festival this year but Ross-on-Wye Unintentional Festival is set to go ahead as usual. The event will run from Friday, 12th August until Holiday Monday, 29th August starting with a launch party at the Eagle Inn on the Friday at which three local bands will be performing. At present nothing is scheduled for the following Saturday, but if and when some funding can be found, something will be arranged.

A youth workshop will be held on Sunday 14th August, either at the Youth Centre or the Church Hall. The workshop will be run by an experienced local organization called, 'Junk Percussion'. Junk Percussion have run many youth workshops before and encourage youngsters to develop musical and creative skills by first making their musical instruments and then performing with them. The resulting performance will be held at The Market House and will mark the official opening day of the festival.

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In complete contrast to the afternoon's events, on Sunday evening, accomplished honky-tonk pianist, Paddy Milner and his band will be performing an exclusive gig at the Wilton Court Hotel. A pig roast and dessert will be included in the price of the ticket, as well as possibly a drink on arrival. Ticket price and exact details are still to be finalized, but the evening promises to be a real musical treat. Paddy's original ear-catching style shows influences of jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and rock & roll and he has played with greats, such as Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music) and Jools Holland.

The following one and a half weeks will as usual bring a diverse range of musical events to the towns local public houses. These will range from Jazz through to Blues, possibly some classical & theatre events with some rock, pop and punk thrown in for good measure. The Ross Lions bandstand has been booked for the three day finale.

Festival organizer, Caz Holbrook said, 'All of this sounds very exciting and we hope that it can all go ahead. Unfortunately though this year, the Unintentional Festival is having real difficulty with funding. Creative Industries and Tourism Enterprise were the festival's main funding bodies last year but they no longer exist and alternative funding is having to be sought. Organizers are still waiting to hear from Arts Council England, Herefordshire Partnership and Joanies Trust. The festival is also in the process of becoming a registered charity this year. We appreciate that many of the International Festival Sponsors and supporters may feel like they have had their fingers burnt, but with the demise of the 'Main' festival, we feel that it is increasingly important for the Unintentional Festival to happen this year! We need approximately £12,500 for the festival to go ahead and, although this may sound like a lot of money, I would like to point out this amount was just over a third of the former 'main' festival director's wage. We don't take any money out of the festival apart from a small administration fee which doesn't even begin to cover the amount of time and effort put in by the organizers and volunteers, who put their time and devotion into the project because they love and care about music and about Ross.'

Wyenot News Comment: The whole Unintentional Festival last year, including the excellent three day finalé cost far less than the damp squib, 'Music to Fireworks' event, which took place on the last night of last year's International Festival. Ross Lions have been good enough to provide the town with a brand new bandstand, which is the ideal venue for what could now become a great event, so let's put it to good use! The Unintentional Festival started out small a few years ago and has remained popular ever since. It is organized by people who are not greedy and genuinely do know how to manage a small festival. Given the chance, it could now grow into a huge event, attracting lots of business to the town. All it needs is to be given the support it deserves.