Bernard Taglivini performed twice at Ross Library on Thursday, 11th May. During the morning a visually impaired audience and during the afternoon, to children from St. Joseph's Primary School. This was part of the Persula Foundation National Storytelling Tour. The Foundation is a charitable trust providing support to a whole host of charities using music in their work and they aim to provide free events for blind, visually impaired or disabled people across the UK.

Bernard's acting skills are internationally renowned. His work spans panto to Shakespeare and he has appeared in a number of West End musicals including Jesus Christ Superstar, Blood Brothers, Les Miserables and Oliver. He formed Multi-Story, a theatrical theatre company, in 1995, which has toured all over the UK and as far afield as Canada, performing his own songs, stories and poems which are mixed with traditional and contemporary tales from around the world to create a unique and entertaining show.

Bernard works with all age groups, performing and giving workshops to school children, drama students, student teachers, the blind, physically disabled and the elderly. Ruth Walker, Libraries Promotions Co-ordinator at West Berkshire's Newbury Library said, 'It is quite a coup for us to be able to offer visually impaired people a chance to enjoy Bernard's talents free of charge. He has rave reviews wherever he performs and we are sure that he will be extremely well received in Newbury.'

Bernard has notched up well over 350 performances since his first National Storytelling Tour in 1998 and hasn't run out of stories yet!

Bernard is pictured below at Ross Library with children from St. Joseph's Primary School.

Churches Together in Ross-on-Wye are working with Money Box Credit Union and Ross Area Regeneration Partnership to promote the Credit Union service in the town. 'Money Box' offers safe savings and low cost loans for members. The service includes small loans with no minimum amount, for any purpose.

Run by members, for members, Money Box offers a fair deal and keeps money in the local community. Money Box Credit Union began in Leominster in 1997 and expanded to accept members from across the County last year. It relies on volunteers to run the service and to promote it locally. All volunteers receive full training.

A launch meeting was hosted by the Town Council and Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday 7th February at 7pm, at the Corn Exchange in Ross-on-Wye. The aim was to explain how Money Box works and to form a local committee for the Ross-on-Wye area. Churches are backing the scheme because it offers a fair and affordable alternative to expensive door-to-door lenders and loan sharks for low-income households in Ross-on-Wye.

By joining and using 'Money Box' for regular saving and borrowing, people from all walks of life can get a fair deal and avoid problem debt. Money Box welcomes members who want to manage their money better, whatever their age, employment or financial circumstances. All members pay the same low interest rate on loans, and the same dividend on their savings, whether they are an unemployed single parent, a pensioner or a wealthy company director.

Ross residents can already join the Credit Union and make payments at the Swan House Council office. They can access the service via the website, www.moneyboxcu.org.uk or by standing order.

Leaflets with the 'pink piggybank' logo are available in many locations in the town. Ross Labels has also taken a lead, joining employers including Herefordshire Council in offering a payroll deduction service for staff who want to save with Money Box. Money Box will be working with the Chamber of Commerce to promote this service to other employers in the town.

Staff at the Re-box organization in Ross have been celebrating after being named as one of the best suppliers of aluminium cans for recycling in the country.

ReBox has been awarded a Certificate of Excellence by Novelis Recycling in recognition of the consistently high quality of aluminium used beverage cans supplied by the company for recycling.

World-wide Novelis recycles over 30 billion cans every year, in the UK the company operates Europe¹s only aluminium can recycling plant, at Warrington, Cheshire. The Certificate of Excellence is presented by Novelis Recycling to suppliers who consistently provide good quality material. The award system is part of the company¹s ongoing drive to raise awareness of the importance of quality issues. The presence of contaminants such as glass, steel, paper or plastic can disrupt the recycling process, and also pose a health and safety risk.

Dennis Humble of EnviroAbility said: 'Some awards are given for awards sake; the value of this recognition increases when you consider there were only three Certificates of Excellence given out in Great Britain last year. Locally we know the work of our volunteers is extremely valued, its good to see yet again their quality work has received another national recognition.'

Novelis Recycling Business Development Executive, Robbie Davies said: 'EnviroAbility must be congratulated for their aluminium recycling efforts and particularly their achievement in maintaining excellent quality standards. It is encouraging to receive constantly good quality cans and also help support such a worthwhile scheme'.

I missed this article last week, so it is reproduced here from the Ross Gazette, with kind permission. Thank you for sending it over and saving me the typing time!

Well done to Ross Rockets, who have won the Herefordshire Girls Football League. Out of 14 games played, they lost only one and four of the team have been selected for the Herefordshire School of Excellence. These are Amy Robertshaw, Beccie Plumb, Dannie Ward and Morgan Baynham-Williams. The girls went on to play in the Herefordshire Girls Cup Final which was played in Hereford on Sunday 14th May.

Pictured with Coach, Jackie Baynham are Morgan (Captain), Amie, Danny, Kaylee, Eleanor, Beccie, Alison, Kelly, Bethany and Rosie. The girls presented coach, Jackie Baynham with a bouquet of flowers before training on Thursday.

On Saturday Ross 1st X1 travelled to Shobden and was disappointed with a thunderstorm forcing the game to be abandoned with Ross 38 for 0 off 8 overs. Next week Ross are at home to Marden in the league, play to start 2.00pm

On Sunday Ross played host to BBC National Orchestra of Wales under better conditions than those experienced the previous day.

Ross were put in to bat and lost Andrew Stacey early on for 1. He was soon followed by young Bruno Warwick for 2. Ross then started to keep their wickets intact and started to accelerate, with A Backhouse 19, Andy Bevan 90, Graham Howls 60 not out and Luke Gray 30.

Ross finished their allotted overs with 216 for 6.

During the tea interval, the opening of the Ross pavilion was enjoyed by all who attended.

In reply BBC now batted very well with Ross's own Seb Warwick and his fellow opener Alyn Williams scoring the bulk of their runs. Seb Warwick in fact hit an unbeaten ton and then decided to retire to the delight of the fielding side. His fellow opener Williams hit an unbeaten 88.

The Ross bowling, Alec Backhouse took 5 for 35 to put Ross in with a chance and Andy Bevan with a run out thanks to a good take by Bruno Warwick behind the stumps, who kept well throughout the innings. The comeback came too late however and BBC NOW reached their target, with 8 overs to spare.

Next Sunday Ross are at home against Penny-darren. Play to start 2.30pm.

A grand reopening of Ross Cricket Pavilion took place midway through play on Sunday, 14th May. The pavilion, which was originally built in 1887 has been lovingly restored by volunteers over the past year.

Pictured below at the opening, left to right are Julie Blackhouse, Therese Warwick, Joyce Thomas, a trustee, Nick Tregaskes, Rex Rolf, Steve Williams, Andrew Bevan, Steve Earl, Stuart Mair, Peter Wight, Mayor of Ross-on-Wye, Phil Cutter, who is a trustee and Chris Dirkin.