As you may be aware, National Champions, Ross Phoenix Majorettes have been desperately trying to raise funds to finance their trip to the European Championships to be held in Italy later this year. Wyenot News decided to try to help this cause by holding a raffle for local businesses to take part in. The prize on offer was a one year's free advertising page on Wyenot.com for two businesses.

These advertising pages have been very successful for those who have taken them up and all of those who advertised with us last year, without exception renewed for 2005. Last week, Chris Constable of 'No. 11 B & B' in Wye Street advertised his new business. Within the first few minutes of the advertisement going on-line he had a booking, with a second one arriving soon afterwards.

Ross Carnival Committee very kindly allowed us to hold the draw on Carnival day, with Ross-on-Wye Mayor, Gordon Lucas drawing the tickets. The winning tickets were held by The White House Guest House in Wye Street, who already have an advertising page with us and were about to approach us regarding a separate advertisement, and Lorraine's Hairdressers in Brookend Street.

The total raised by this raffle was the sum of £149.00, which will be presented to Ross Phoenix Majorettes on Wednesday 10th August.

We would like to thank all of the businesses who bought tickets in support of this event by name and they are as follows:

Easter & Steele, In The Pink, Club Sport, Andy Gibbs Antiques, Caramc, Lorraine's Hairdressers, Lucas Motorcycles, The General Tool Store, The Market Garden, David Christopher, Jewellers, Seven Seas Chip Shop, Nature's Choice, Ideal Carpets, Madame Butterfly, Gary Partridge, Builder, Chris Constable of No. 11, Party Plan-It, Flint & Cook, Williams, Parry & Richards, Balfour News, The Flower House, The Card Shop, Callwoods the Butchers, Annie's Restaurant, Parkfields Gallery, The Wildlife Trading Post, Bazaar, Infinity, Oates & Sons, Clothing, Crowsfeet, Wye Electrics, Richard Butlers, The Ark, The Ross Gazette, Priory Coffee Shop, The Golden Crust, Paul Eacock of Tae Kwon Do, Geof Jones Architect, C.J's Carpet Cleaning, Spar, Diva, Market House Antiques, The Wine Rack, Parker's Hardware, Fritz Fryer, The King Charles, Ross Health & Fitness Centre, Nick Taylor, Kei Flooring and The White House.

Three local ladies from the Local MS Society, Mandy, Sue and Rebecca (pictured below) will be diving with sharks to raise money for treatment of Multiple Scleroses. The event will take place at the Blue Planet Aquarium, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire on Wednesday, 31st August with a shark weighing in at 26 stone (364 pounds).

Below, the three ladies can be seen in the stocks, practising 'getting wet' on Carnival Day in Ross-on-Wye. Unfortunately for them, it took four buckets of water to get the photograph right, although I have a little confession to make. The first shot came out just fine.

The Ross Lions Annual Duck Race took place on Saturday. All ducks were launched from the Hope & Anchor and cost £1 each. The purchaser of the winning duck, first past the finishing line by the Carnival Field, won a prize of £150, second £100 and third, £50.

Pictured below, the winning ducks can be seen being collected by a canoeist from Ross Sea Cadets

As part of the 'Ross Live' festival events, local band 'Trilemma' led a free, day workshop on Sunday 7th August for any local aspiring musicians, songwriters and vocalists to develop new skills and to rehearse a music showcase for the evening at The Larruperz Centre.

The workshop was led by Tom Richardson, lead guitarist, Andy Herbert, bass guitarist and Hannah Bengough-Smith, rhythm guitarist & vocalist all of the band 'Trilemma', who are local professional musicians. They worked with a group of young musicians who came along to the workshop with guitars and bass. Unfortunately, no vocalists turned up! The day consisted of splitting in to groups and working with each leader on various skills and techniques for performance, including lead and rhythm guitar techniques, bass riffs, music/song writing and composition, improvisation, sound engineering / mixing and set-ups, percussion and then working together as a team of musicians to listen to each other and play as a group and preparing for the final showcase.

The evening then included an opening set from Trilemma who play a mix of blues, rock, jazz and popular covers as well as a wide selection of original material. The final showcase performed to an invited audience, included an original acoustic piece written that day by Ryan, in which all members joined in to develop the arrangement, then a piece written by bassist Sarah with accompaniment by the rest of the group mainly fronted by Arthur, and a solo lead guitar piece inspired and developed by talented young guitarist Tom.

The group then performed together a cover arrangement of House of The Rising Sun and Tom & Sarah did an instrumental version of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers 'Californication'.

Trilemma finished with several more tracks, including covers by The Rolling Stones, Alanis Morrisette, Eric Clapton, Stereophonics and more, they then invited all the participants back to have an improvised jamming session to some 12 bar blues.

The evening was well received by both the audience and participants alike, with the group of young musicians having developed and learnt new skills and experiences, which has enthused them to continue with their music and develop their existing abilities further.

Trilemma are available for band workshops and tuition on a regular basis as well as gigging for weddings, parties, functions, pubs and all other occasions. For more information, please contact Goodrich Music on 01600 890502, 01600 890735 or 07773 428984. Trilemma will be releasing their new album of original material later this year.

The results for the Odd Competition for Ross Carnival this year are as follows:
First Walk A: Liam & James Davies, Court Road
First Walk B: Hannah & Grace Poole, Beech Close
Second Walk A: The Bryant Family, Brampton Road
Second Walk B: Mrs C Marshall, Brampton Close

Runners up:
The Haggett Family, Orchid Close
Daniel, John & Georgia Pearce, Middleton Avenue
Paula Evans, Mayhill Road
Laura & Robert Fitton, Kings Caple
The Hardwick Family, New Street

The main winners received money as prizes, whilst the runners up received items donated by Mary Powell of the Heritage Centre. Prizes for all of the above can be collected from the Market House Heritage Centre from this weekend.

There were 300 entries over the two walks. Thanks go to everyone who took part and the Heritage Centre for organizing the competition. Thanks also go to those shopkeepers who participated. Unfortunately some of the shops did not have their sticker in their windows on Saturday 30th, the first day of the competition. To make it fair for all entrants, those shops were eliminated from the marking whether they had taken part later in the week or not. No answers from those shops were taken into account.

In the Ross-in-Bloom History Quiz, there were five entry forms returned. Vicki and Ryan Page were the lucky winners and received a prize of a Craft Kit from Coleman's of Ross in High Street.

The Carnival Committee would like to thank everyone who took part in the competitions this year and the sponsors of the prizes for them. Roll on next year. We are planning already. The answers for the Odd Object are on display in the Heritage Centre until the end of the school holidays.

Carnival Committee 2005