The children at Ross Pre-school Playgroup can be seen below enjoying and celebrating the Chinese New Year on Wednesday 1st February.

Ross Pre-school Playgroup is a non profit making registered nursery for children, from two to five years of age. These children are encouraged to enjoy themselves and achieve by experienced and caring staff, with a varied activity programme and Foundation Stage Curriculum.

The Treasurer, Iris Price said, 'In order to ensure the continuation of this important service for the children and families of Ross-on-Wye, the Trustees are organizing fund-raising events and making every effort to increase the number of children on the register.'

Mrs. Joyce Thomas, President and founder of the playgroup said, 'We have survived thirty five years as a great playgroup with high standards and an enviable reputation. I am very proud and grateful to the many people who continue to make Ross Pre-school Playgroup one of the best in the county. Unfortunately we have seen good voluntary playgroups come and go. We ourselves are experiencing a difficult financial time but I am confident that with the goodwill of organizations and fund-raising and the good people of Ross-on-Wye, we will continue to have a playgroup of which we are justifiably proud'.

To find out more about Ross Pre-school Playgroup, please contact Pauline Williams on 01989 562435.

Sleeping Beauty, that age old favourite fairy story enjoyed by millions of people world wide, was not on the agenda at John Kyrle High School from Wednesday 1st February until Saturday 4th February. The tale of Sleeping Beauty as seen through the eyes of the spell casting, very flatulent fairy 'Goody' was however. This production was put on by the school in order to help raise funds for the South Africa Tour 2006.

The set was spread over the whole of the main hall and the excellent lighting and sound created a really dramatic atmosphere, in particular during the 'Forest' scenes.

The humour in this great production had a strong Monty Python flavour, mixed with a little Black Adder and the very able cast soon had everybody laughing. Apart from the main characters, Beauty, King, Queen, Fairy etc. there were lots of cleverly arranged groups. There were minstrels, accompanied by a very punky guitarist, courtiers, court dancers and wolves, but of all these, I think my favourite group was the Thorns, who grew up around the castle, spikily twisting around Beauty's mother to the sound of 'God Save The Queen' by the Sex Pistols.

The 'orchestra' was made up of just four musicians (photo next week) who all performed brilliantly, and as well as taking part in the acting, many pupils were also involved in the stage management and choreography. Pupils, staff and parents all worked very hard together to make this production the great show that it was.

Tina Jones

'We cannot change the fact that their child will die, but we can promise that they will not have to face that death alone.'

Those are words from the brochure of Acorns, local children's hospices, who have recently had to shut down four beds in each hospice - twelve beds in total, leaving only eighteen remaining due to lack of funds.

To help raise funds for Acorns, with hospices covering seven counties, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire, golf clubs are uniting to raise money for the good cause.

South Herefordshire Golf Club are asking a minimum donation of £1.00 per player (Ladies, Seniors, Juniors and Club) during March and April from those playing Monthly Medal, Stableford or any other similar competitions to help the children's charity. A similar request has been sent to two hundred other Golf Clubs within the seven counties in a hope to raise between £5,000 and £10,000 for the cause.

Pictured below, launching the fund-raising effort at South Herefordshire Golf Club on Wednesday last, 1st February are Leo Tarrant, Golf Pro, Mayor of Ross, Gordon Lucas, Presenter of BBC Hereford and Worcester's Breakfast Show, Howard Bentham and Hugh Elliott - Captain of South Herefordshire Golf Club.

I am sure that whether you play golf or not, any donation to Acorns would be very welcome at their shop in Gloucester Road. Please try to help this worthy cause.