There is plenty to do in Ross-on-Wye this coming Sunday! In town, Arts Day, will be taking place at Ross Market between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm but don't forget to come down to Rock on Wye and the Lions Fun Day on Sunday, 28 August 2005 at the Bandstand and Carolyn Simmons Gardens!

From 11:00 am at the Carolyn Simmons Gardens, Riverside: there will be entertainment for all the family, including a bouncy castle, crazy golf and mega slide. Food and drink will be served on site, thanks to the Riverside Inn, the Hope & Anchor and Ross Lions Club.

There will be a sensational line up of bands on stage from 3:00 pm. Some up and coming and some old favourites will be taking part on the day. The line-up includes: Sons of the Delta, Common Orange, Mars Bonfire, The Alienz, The Dandy Lion Killers and Shoobop. The headliners are the fantastic Mighty Pledge, a Monmouth based lively soul band with a new line up.

As an added attraction, the Lions Fun Day will be running alongside the musical and other events. Ross Town Entertainments Committee are grateful to all who have supported this day of entertainment, including: Ross Town Council, The Hope & Anchor, The Riverside Inn, The Whitehouse Bed and Breakfast, The Mighty 8 Pool and Sports Club, Ross Lions Club and Mr Paul Truman. Many thanks also to all of those who have helped to put this event together. A special thanks goes to Caz Holbrook for all her sterling efforts and organization.

If you would like to book a stall at a cost of £20 per day, you can do this by contacting Jay on 07812 135498.

Come to Ross-on-Wye for the weekend, come on down and have a great day! [Accommodation] [Pubs] [Shops]

Events taking place on Holiday Monday:

Border Counties Vintage Club Birthday Bash
Vintage Vehicle Road Run from The Crown, Whitchurch at 10.30 Bank Holiday Monday, finishing at the Yew Tree, Peterstow and passing through Walford and Ross-on-Wye on the way. All the vehicles will be on display at the Yew Tree, fifty six to date.

The Lea Show
Traditional country fete for all the family at the Lea, Ross-on-Wye.

Ross Regatta
Annual rowing regatta at Ross Rowing Club.

This summer's outstanding results for sixth formers at John Kyrle have surpassed all expectations. A record 100% student pass rate for the Upper Sixth saw A - B grades at 40% with nearly 70% at A - C. Value Added measures which look at student performance against nationally set targets saw an average improvement of over half a grade per student. The school has surpassed national results and its previous best performances.

Headteacher, Nigel Griffiths, paid tribute to his students and staff saying he was delighted that their hard work has paid off. He put much of the success down to the school employing excellent subject specialists in all areas. He also pointed to the fact that the school offers continuity of education from 11 - 18 and, therefore, teachers know their students' strengths and those areas requiring a focus during sixth form study. 'Our classes are relatively small in all subjects and we offer excellent individually focused teaching for our own students and the increasing numbers joining us from other schools', said Mr Griffiths.

These results augur well for the years ahead at John Kyrle. Students in the current Year 12 have obtained exceptional AS results and from September students will be taught in the new £500 000 Sixth Form Centre recently completed at the school.

Notable individual successes were, Head Boy, Ross Bennett, with 4 A grades, including Further Maths, Johnny Lamb with 3 Grade As and Charlotte Hill, with 2 As and a B, Kayleigh Dade with 2 As and a B, and Vanessa Ball with an A and 2 Bs.

Head of Sixth Form, David Boyd, was equally delighted with the overall results which meant that his students are now able to begin their chosen courses in the universities and colleges of their choice from October. He said that students will be travelling across the country from John Kyrle: to Imperial College, London (Ross Bennett, Maths), Cardiff, (Ana Moreas, Business Management), Oxford, ( Ben Jefferies, Mechanical Engineering), Leeds (Johnny Lamb, Management), Southampton (James Lambert-Smith, Geology), Queen Mary's, London (Jenny Dunn, Politics), UWE Bristol (Charlotte Hill, English Literature). There were notable successes in Music, too, with Chris Petrie heading to the Royal Welsh College of Music, Nessa Ball to Royal Holloway and Tom Henesey to Liverpool, all to read Music.

At AS Level there were outstanding performances from Duncan Alston, who is on course for 5 Grade As, and who has achieved 100% in six of his modules. Nicky Raine did very well, with 4 grade As, whilst Simon Hill, Chris Mason and Abi Williams also achieved at the highest levels.

Whilst individual successes abound, the school highlighted two of its students for particular merit. Helen Boughen who gained grades A, B and C at AS has returned to school following diagnosis of a malignant tumour behind her eye; these results complement the Diana Princess of Wales memorial prize which Helen received on account of her bravery last year. Stuart Parry who gained grades BCC at A2 despite missing much of his GCSE years due to leukaemia. Mr Griffiths said the school is very proud of these students who both set such a positive example of how to overcome adversity.

Ofsted has praised A Level teaching at the school and Mr Griffiths was pleased results continue to confirm this judgement. He intends to submit the results to the Specialist Schools Trust as the school will be reapplying for Technology College status next year. 'Our Product Design and Food Technology results were all at grades A or B. Moreover, in other subjects seen as increasingly difficult the school has performed exceptionally well with 80% of all grades for Maths and 50% for Physics being at A or B'.

A party of fourteen, including six people from Ross-on-Wye and six pupils from The Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School, set off on Sunday 21st August to travel to Kampala in Uganda, where they will work on the school buildings and prepare the grounds ready for the official opening on Saturday 27th August.

John and Sue Gasston, who have lived in Ross for eight years, have been fund-raising to build the New Rock Foundation School in one of the poorer suburbs of Kampala since their first visit to the country in 2001. In less than four years, two large brick buildings have been erected, holding nine classrooms. The number of children getting an education at the school has risen from ninety to two hundred and fifty.

Pictured below, party members, John, Anwen, Lloyd, Rich, Anwen, Becky, Rich, Sue, Jill, Jo, Janet, Sue, Anna and Georgie, ready to board the bus in Ledbury Road to take them to the airport.

One of the longest serving shop keepers in Ross-on-Wye retired on Saturday 20th August. After forty one years of running his successful hairdressing salon, René has decided to call it a day and enjoy his free time playing golf, drinking wine and travelling. First of all he is planning a visit to Australia and New Zealand.

René came from Bavaria, Germany, to Worcester in order to learn English, whilst on a twelve month work permit. He started work in Ross at 15 Broad Street, moving to George Place in 1967, and finally settling at the bottom of Broad Street, where he ran his business until last Saturday. René's Broad Street premises are now being taken over by Worthington Woodpower.

A special cricket match was held at Goodrich Cricket Club on Sunday, 21st August, in memory of Matthew Beddard, who died of a brain tumour earlier this year. On the day, a bench was donated to the club by Matthew's close friends at John Kyrle High School. A couple of Matt's friends had their hair straightened to raise money, half of which was donated to Brain Tumour Research and the other half used to purchase the bench.

Melanie and Tony Beddard, Matthew's parents, would like to thank all who attended and those who donated food, making the day such a brilliant success.