The Ross support group for Macmillan needs the help of Ross & South Herefordshire people towards building the new Macmillan Renton cancer treatment unit at Hereford Hospital.

Macmillan Cancer Support and Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust have joined forces to provide a new £3.3m cancer treatment unit at Hereford County Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Support needs to raise at least £1.5m from the people of Herefordshire to make this happen.

Hereford needs a new, state of the art, chemotherapy unit for local people who need treatment for cancer. The current Charles Renton Unit needs to expand to meet the growing demand for chemotherapy from people in Herefordshire and Powys: the number of people with cancer is increasing, and changes in drugs and other treatments mean that more people can be treated closer to home. Cancer does not just affect the person being treated - it impacts upon their families, friends and those who are treating them. This is why Macmillan Cancer Support has made sure that, in addition to excellent treatment facilities for patients and staff, the little touches that make the difference have been included in the design of the new unit. Things such as comfortable chairs in the waiting room, a children's play area and somewhere to make a drink, will reduce the anxiety of people having treatment and also those who care about them.

Not everyone can have chemotherapy treatment in Hereford because of the nature of different cancers, but this new unit will make sure that no-one is turned away because of a lack of space. It will provide a relaxed, welcoming environment for people with cancer and the people who are looking after them, to make the journey through cancer treatment as stress-free as possible. For Ross people this will be of immense help, saving the long trip to Cheltenham.

During the next two years we are going all out to raise the first £750,000 so that the building can begin. It can't be done without the help of our whole community & we hope that as well as supporting events held by the support group, people will be willing to hold their own events & the money can be sent from Ross towards this Herefordshire project.

The local committee will be pleased to help in any way possible. With the support of the whole community we can make this happen & help to improve life for local people at a very difficult time.

Wyenot News Comment

Cancer is not one of those things which happens to somebody else!

Until recently, although I have always supported and tried to help Macmillan, thoughts of cancer were something I stored in the lesser used areas of my mind. Cancer was a disease which ageing relatives died of and younger members of other people's families suffered. Wrong! Cancer can happen to anybody, regardless of age, rank, political affiliation, religion or geographical location and I recently find myself very mindful of this fact.

The people at Cheltenham hospital who deal with cancer sufferers are lovely and the oncology unit is a remarkable place! Cheltenham however is an extremely time consuming and expensive place to get to from Herefordshire if one has to make regular visits.

My own son is due to start an intensive course of chemotherapy for up to eight months from today, Wednesday, 9th August. As you read this issue of Wyenot News we are probably in Cheltenham hospital. So far, following his initial operations in Hereford, I have taken him to the oncology unit in Cheltenham four times for various pre-treatment tests and safeguards for his future - which is virtually assured with the correct treatment.

Thirty years ago, my son's future would have been far from assured and had I suffered the same illness at the same age as Matt, you probably would not be reading this article. Money and time given by ordinary people have made this very positive change possible! Already though, as a whole family we are finding the travelling a real extra strain on top of dealing with the illness itself. Getting to bed late as life, work has to go on followed by getting up early to get to hospital is taking its toll.

Please do not think that I am asking for personal help here. I am not - together as a family and with friends we can cope and that is the very last thing on my mind. As soon as more types of cancer are treatable in Hereford though, an awful lot of future, local cancer sufferers and their families will be saved the extra stress caused by having to travel miles for treatment.

Macmillan - those ordinary people in the photo above, who are just like you and I - are a terrific, dedicated group of individuals who are trying desperately to help local cancer sufferers receive the treatment they need, a lot closer to home. They help sufferers and their relatives in many other ways also. Please try to give them all the support that you are able.

Thank you.

A new carpet and soft furnishings shop was opened in Brookend Street on Saturday 5th August, with champagne and nibbles being given to all who attended the opening. The Nesting Place is a family run business that supplies curtains both ready made and made to measure as well as a whole range of carpets and beautiful bed linen.

Proprietors Brian and Christine Allon have several years experience in the trade. Their other outlet, Kestrel Carpets has been running very successfully in Hereford for the last two and a half years and they are looking forward to welcoming new customers in Ross-on-Wye to The Nesting Place. Further information on The Nesting Place in the form of a full page about the new shop please click here.

Pictures left to right before the shop opened its doors to the public for the first time on Saturday morning are Christine, Brian, Sally-Anne and Kelly at The Nesting Place.

In the photograph below you will see a proud Daz Jenkins holding up his big catch of a barbel fish which was caught on the banks of the River Wye on Wednesday 2nd August. Apparently, the size of the fish, 10lb 8oz, is astounding given the current low water level of the Wye. Barbel are usually caught between June and October, preferring fast, streamy waters and are often described as being elusive and one of the toughest of the river species who put up a real fight. This particular fish was caught on a size 8 hair-rig with a strawberry boilie.

As for coverage of the music. When we first arrived, I spoke to a different person to the usual helpful man about photographing the evening, he spoke to another 'jobsworth' and in the end, the trouble I would have had to go to, to photograph the evening was just not worth the hassle so I did not bother to take a single shot. Having covered Monmouth festival on Wyenot News for at least the past four years, if that is the way of the future, I shall not bother again.

As it happens, we did stay for a while afterwards to listen but, to be honest, had I been in my own car, feeling absolutely shattered after a long day at a couple of shop openings followed by Ross Carnival, I would have gone straight home. Unlike the great evening last Saturday, I found the first band on the finale night at Monmouth were not exactly my cup of tea - they were a little like watching paint dry. I kept quiet however for the sake of the rest of the party. I like and can listen to most types of good music but when the second band came on stage, after the first two songs I thought, 'Oh no - I can't stand this poop for the rest of the evening' so I made the excuse that I was going off to get a cup of tea and a burger. Monmouth Festival Finale night, without fail, always used to be fantastic but these days, it seems that the great Monmouth musicians; The Mighty Pledge, Martinez brothers, Blethyn, Rick and Dick etc., who started the event in the first place and always made the finale night such a memorable occasion no longer get to perform at it.

Anyway, whilst I was sitting alone, eating and slurping in a quietish corner away from the crowd and the noise and thinking that I was the strange one for not enjoying it, Paul and Ali appeared. Turned out that they had been feeling the same. To cut a long story short, it also turned out that every member of our party had been enduring the 'music' for the sake of the others. Once this had been firmly established, we all left and adjourned to the Nag's Head, where we had a great time and enjoyed the rest of our Saturday night.

There was a karaoke evening going on in the Nag's Head, at which Leon and Tina performed, let's just say an 'interesting' version of 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath. Above is this issue's 'Embarrassing Photo of the Week'. Paul, who was driving, Matt who can't drink alcohol at the moment and I were stone cold sober (if that's the correct expression to use on an evening that actually made Hell seem like a relatively cool place to visit) so it was an especially interesting and amusing performance to the three of us.

As a former Ross and district (Goodrich) resident and former business man in Ross ( my ex wife and I founded Meaders Restaurant) I am pleased to have discovered your web site.

I am in the process of writing my memoirs and I am trying to obtain a copy or borrow a copy of Fred Druce's book "The Light of their Days" (Country life Around Ross 1870-1940) published by Bosbury Press Ltd. If anyone can help I would be most grateful. Apparently the chapter on Tradesmen, Craftsmen & Servants shows a picture of my great grandfather John and my grandfather George working on a wagon.

In hopeful anticipation,

John Reece

If you are able to help John with a copy of Fred Druce's book, please email and I will put you in touch.

Hi there my name is Laura Howells I am just emailing to say thank you for the Blues Brother tickets. It was a lovely surprise to find that I had actually won something.

Kind Regards

Laura

PS Maybe I will see you down there!

Many thanks for the tickets to the Rat Pack concert. We are always in Ross for the Regatta so the concert will be a great finish to the weekend!

Thank you.

Jan Brown
Islington London

Thank you to Laura and Jan above. No problem. I hope all who won the tickets enjoy the concerts! All being well I shall pop along before one of each concert to take some photos. Although all three concerts look to be good events, the music is not really my personal taste - I'm more a 'Syd Barratt' to 'Wish You Were Here' era Pink Floyd fan (though my son is slowly converting me to like Metallica - love their version of 'Whiskey in the Jar')! I also have a lot of other things to cover that particular weekend, so I may not be able to stay all through. All the same, I hope those who do like that music enjoy themselves very much!

Alan

Ross-on-Wye Weather Station is located by the tennis courts and bowling green at 'Crossfields' and is one of the important stations around the country which regularly sends data to the Meteorological Office. This is why Ross-on-Wye is sometimes mentioned on the BBC weather reports. It is currently still a manually monitored station and readings are taken twice per day by husband and wife team, June and Rex Swallow.

If you have a local news item or story of local interest which you would like to appear on Wyenot News you are very welcome to submit it by email, telephone or by post.

Please advise as early as possible if you would like me to photograph your local event so that I can put it in my diary. This service is offered strictly on a first come, first served basis.

Many Wyenot News photographs appear in various local newspapers and magazines. This does not imply that Wyenot News or any other part of this web site belongs to those publications. Wyenot News is a totally independent news magazine.

Contacting Wyenot News:

Email: please click here.

Telephone: 01989 763217 - Mobile: 0779 683 4077

Postal address: Wyenot News, 1, Hillview Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. HR9 7EY

Although it is fine to submit if you are submitting an event taking place in a pub / shop / restaurant etc., please make sure that your story does have real news value and is not simply an advertisement for your business. It would be unfair to those who support Wyenot.com and Wyenot News by advertising to publish blatant advertisements disguised as editorial material.