A hugely successful Open Evening complemented an induction fortnight for new students and parents hoping to gain a place at John Kyrle High School from September 2006.

Headteacher, Nigel Griffiths, said that he had never seen so many parents at the open mornings and Open Evening in the whole of his time at John Kyrle.

During the open mornings almost 100 parents spent up to three hours at the school visiting lessons, speaking to students and staff and generally savouring the atmosphere of the school. The Open Evening saw younger students and the Sixth Form acting as guides for parents and taking them to department areas to meet staff and other students. All parts of the school were on display with many opportunities for the younger students to participate in science experiments, key ring design, art, music, languages and sport.

Parents were issued with questionnaires at the end of the evening and feedback was extremely positive. The main suggestion as to how the Open Evening could be improved was the need for more pizzas!

Any parent wishing to make a further visit to the school is very welcome and should contact the Headteacher or Miss Williams, Assistant Headteacher and Head of Year 7 to make an appointment. .

Seven year 6 pupils at Gorsley Goffs have recently been elected Councillors after giving presentations to their peers - Rupert Bodger, Sam Burford and Jenny Probyn, Katie Donaldson, Nina Scholey, Tom Reeves and Josh Bailey.

The aim of the school council is to help create a caring atmosphere by sharing, guiding and respecting the children throughout the school.

Regular meetings are held with Head Teacher, Mr Richard Humphrey to discuss school issues and report back from talking to other children. This is a very important and effective way of tending to the needs of the children and of creating a happy school environment.

The Councillors have recently carried out a survey on how children get to school as part of the 'Safer Routes to School' initiative and soon, children from years 3, 4 and 5 will be joining the council.

A new outside classroom has been opened at Gorsley Goffs Primary School. Building of the new classroom began last summer and now the area requires just a few finishing touches before completion. The classroom is mainly for younger children, especially reception, to extend their learning and experiences through outdoor play activities but children of all ages are able to use it.

The room contains seating areas, a sand pit, an activity table, a percussion area, sound pipes, a water play area, playground markings and new play equipment. The building project was co-ordinated by reception teacher, Mrs Karen Cole and built by a team of parent volunteers and staff, with funding from the PTFA.

From Yorkshire

Dear Sirs,

Firstly we would like to congratulate the town of Ross-on-Wye for having the foresight to provide such an informative and easy to use web site. We discovered 'Wyenot.com' last year, whilst searching the internet for scenic places to visit in the South of England and my wife and I have taken both a spring break and more recently ten days touring the Wye Valley. Thanks to the information provided, which must surely be some of the best for any location in the country, we were able to enjoy scenic walks in the beautiful countryside, great food at a lovely Riverside pub, after which we were even able to join in with a Sunday night quiz. Our accommodation was easy to choose from the range of establishments advertised on the web site and we will certainly be returning again next year.

During our last few days in the area, we attended the fabulous Cancer Relief Charity Day that was held at Upton Bishop and being old Abba fans we really enjoyed the music of Mama Mia. Upon returning home we looked the event up on the weekly news and read that monies raised from this event were to be published shortly afterwards. As about 5,000 people attended and the event was in aid of a very worthy cause, we were interested to see just how much money such an event could raise in one day. We have not as yet been able to find this information, could you tell us where to look please?

Yours faithfully,

Mr. and Mrs. J Forster
Stocksbridge, S. Yorkshire

Reply

Thank you for your very kind comments! I am extremely pleased that you enjoyed your visits to the area and hope you will visit again in the near future.

Had Wyenot.com been provided by 'the town', I would whole heartedly agree with you on the matter of 'foresight'. However, Wyenot.com and Wyenot News are run by myself as an individual and getting 'the town' to support the venture in even the smallest of ways is not entirely dissimilar to trying to wring blood from the local sandstone upon which 'the town' is built. So far, support from 'the town' in terms of finance amounts to absolute zero. A few local businesses have supported me however by advertising and to those I am extremely grateful.

Regarding publishing the figures for money raised at the Upton Bishop Charity Day. I did say that I was going to publish the figures but as yet I do not know how much money was raised.
' We have not calculated the final figure after paying those who provided services yet,' I was told by the organizers, 'and we would not wish to disappoint the charity by giving an over estimate. We will let you know once this has been calculated.'
I would guess that the organizers have just forgotten to let me know the outcome. I can assure you however that this is not due to lack of reminding as I asked three times. As with most local events, once the promotion bit is out of the way and after the event it can be seen who deserves the Brownie points, people have a tendency to forget the finer detail. I do not intend to chase them any more as I do not have the time but if I ever do receive a final figure, you can rest assured that I will publish it.

A.J.W.

Not sure which region this one is from

On this page (http://www.wyenot.com/guestbook03.htm,) at the bottom of the page you`ve got a Patricia from America whose grand mother lived at Symonds Yat. My names Melvyn Jarrett and my family have lived in or around Symonds Yat for four hundred years and still do to this day give or take a bit.

My dad has got loads of historical photo`s of Symonds Yat. Have you got the second name of the grandmother as I'm sure I can help them. Also an email address or you can pass mine on if you can.

Thanks,
Mel

Reply

I am sorry, Mel but I can no longer find Patricia from America's email address. Maybe Patricia did not contact me directly. She may have filled in the automatic 'guestbook' form I once had on the web site before I discontinued it due to excess spam.

If you still view this web site regularly, Patricia, please contact me again and I will pass you over to Mel.

A.J.W.

From Scotland

Hi Alan,

I am the lady from Scotland who called you earlier with regards to information about the family name Assinder, My Grandmother was Florence Assinder and her father was from Monmouth and he had app. 10 brothers and sisters , could you forward my details to the person on your web site concerned.

Thanks,
Glynis

Reply

Glynis telephoned me originally, to put her in touch with a member of the 'Assinder' family who had previously written to Wyenot News. I have forwarded her email to the two 'Assinders' who so far written to me at Wyenot News following an initial request for information but I have also published it because there may be more searching 'Assinders' out there.

Also, publishing here proves that Wyenot News is pretty effective as a medium for finding people and other information. With back issues permanently on line it may take a time but eventually somebody will see your request for information.

A.J.W.

The tenth anniversary dinner for the National Association Decorative Fine Arts Society took place at the Chase Hotel on Monday 3rd October, almost ten years to the day since the inaugural meeting at the same venue on 2nd October 1995.

Pictured below cutting the anniversary cake are: Frances Clarke - Chairman of Ross DFAS, Nesta Waine - National Chairman NADFAS, Ikka Boyd - Founder Chairman Ross DFAS, and Vivien Barr - Area Chairman NADFAS.