Two artists, who have experienced well-being and peace of mind from participating in art, are Steve Richards and David Swinnerton. They and their artist friends, such as a Stitchcraft group, wish to share this experience with you!

An Art Exhibition will be held in Hereford from Sunday, 21st August until Saturday, 27th August. This will take place at Mind, Heffernan House, 130 - 132 Widemarsh Street and opening times are 1 - 3 pm weekends, and 1 - 4 pm weekdays.

A percentage of all proceeds will be donated to Mind, to further the help and support they offer to people in our community with mental health issues.

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The above article arrived late but, due to the date of the event, needed to be in this week's issue of Wyenot News, so it has been added after the initial publication date of Issue Number 57.

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The final concert of the inaugural Ross Live! Festival provided a fitting climax in the superb setting of St Mary's Church, Ross-on-Wye on Saturday night, with a large and appreciative audience enjoying an uplifting programme of 18th century works by Bach and Mozart performed on authentic period instruments by the young and enthusiastic members of the Musical and Amicable Society Baroque Orchestra.

The first half consisted of three of Bach's popular Brandenburg Concertos. These were not written as a unified set, but sent as a speculative job application to the Margrave of Brandenburg displaying the breadth and variety of Bach's compositional techniques. The concert began with a lively performance of the Fourth Concerto in which Christiane Gagelmann excelled in the fiendishly difficult violin solos of the outer movements, ably complemented by the recorders of Joel Raymond and Frances Norbury. This was followed by a more sober and finely balanced rendition of the deliciously mellow Sixth Concerto for two solo violas, two violas da gamba, cello and continuo. Finally we were treated to the sparkling effervescence of the famous Third Concerto, featuring three each of violins, violas and cellos, plus continuo, and allowing every individual to shine in soloistic interludes. Throughout the ensemble played with exemplary skill and vigour under the calm authority of their director, Martin Perkins, on the harpsichord.

In the second half, the ensemble was joined by three accomplished vocal soloists for Mozart's rarely performed one-act pastoral parody, Bastien and Bastienne, written when he was only 12, in a simple but inventive staging by Ann Allen which made effective use of the space within the church. Katharine Hawnt, soprano, was a delightful shepherdess in her Little-Bo-Peep costume and with her voice having noticeably developed since her Galatea in last year's International Festival. Christian Sturm, tenor, entered into the part of her faithless swain with energy and a clear tone, whereas the bass William Burn, who also translated the spoken dialogue into English, provided comic humour as the magician who finally reunites the lovers. A slight and inconsequential piece maybe, but one which provided first-class entertainment in the hands of these highly skilled performers.

The photographs below were taken during the dress rehearsal on Saturday. Coverage of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas can be seen on the next page.