Michelle Powles, from 'Touch of Class' hairdressers in Coughton decided to celebrate her 40th birthday recently by raising money for both Macmillan Cancer Support and the British Heart Foundation. She raised the money in memory of her parents. £1,010 was raised and on Thursday, 17th August, Michelle handed a cheque for £505 to each of the charities at Ross Market.

Michelle would like to thank her family, friends and customers of her hairdressing business for raising the money and giving her 'the best birthday present she could have wished for'.

Pictured below, Michelle hands £505 to Marion Contreras of the Ross Macmillan Committee (left) and £510 to Carol Hughes, Chairman of Ross and South Herefordshire branch of the British Heart Foundation (right).

Confirmation has been received that the new Children's Centre for Ross will be sited at the Ryefield Centre and plans for necessary alterations to the building will be on public display soon.

A team from Herefordshire EYDCP Childcare Services are meeting with groups and individuals asking for ideas and suggestions for services to be offered, and Liz Davies would love to hear from, and talk to, anybody with an interest in the centre.

Dennis Humble of the Ryefield Centre said 'We are pleased to welcome the development of this fantastic facility within our multi-use building, and we look forward to being involved in developing services for the families in and around Ross'.

Many children's groups already use the building to hold regular meetings, including a post natal group, NCT, Jumpstart, childminders, Homestart, The Toy Library and, of course, Green Nappies. As well as holding a regular 'Young Mum's' group at The Ryefield Centre, Jumpstart has been running a pilot soft play scheme for the Children's Centre at The Lea during the summer term.

Pam Stevenson of Jumpstart said "We are very excited to be working with the Childcare Services on this initiative. The scheme running at The Lea, with support from local Health Visitors, has been a great success, one on which we hope to build."

This is a good example of how services could be rolled out into the rural areas from a centre in Ross. This is a very exciting time for the families of Ross-on-Wye and any interested parties are invited to contact either The Ryefield Centre or Liz Davies or Lea Abbott at the Herefordshire EYDCP Childcare Services in Hereford on 01432 260891.

Following last week's letter from Phil Wheeldon asking for information on the memorial at Backney to 'H.E. August 5th. 1904,' I would like to thank Nigel Heins, News Editor of the Hereford Times, who wrote in with the following information.

'I used to jog past the memorial when I lived in Ross and researched the background. H. E. was the Reverend Helier Evans, vicar of nearby Brampton Abbotts, who died saving the life of his son who got into trouble in the Wye during a swimming session. The son lived to a ripe old age. I wrote a feature on the tragedy at the time of the anniversary which appeared in my Flashback series in the Hereford Times.'

Nigel did also kindly provide a copy of his Hereford Times article but unfortunately, for technical reasons to do with image resolution, I was unable to reproduce it here. Maybe I will be able to at a later date.

A freak storm hit as Pastor John Lewis (top right) and workers from Gorsley Baptist Chapel, on the borders of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, helped to erect a giant Big Top seating 1,200 people for Gorsley's big event - the Chapel's annual Christian Festival held over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

The Festival, now in its 27th year, attracts over 6,000 people, opening on Thursday 24th August and running until the Monday evening. 15,000 invitations have gone out to homes in surrounding villages with many more people expected to travel in from further afield. International American Evangelist Louis Giglio will feature, along with one of the UK's most dynamic speakers, the Bishop of Bristol, Mike Hill.

Minister of Gorsley Baptist Church, John Lewis who is leading the event, said, 'The Church in the UK has gone to sleep, in spite of this, people are still searching for answers to the 'Bigger' questions of life, and have major concerns for their families. Our hope is that ordinary people, who don't go to church, will come and discover the real Jesus who can provide the answers and transform their lives.'

The event has developed from the unique Flower Festival, displaying Bible texts in floral arrangements, with this year's theme being 'Fresh strength for life's journey'.

Mike Hill, Bishop of Bristol, says, 'Gorsley is a unique church which is bucking the trend of decline in rural area's. I hope people will come and see what God is doing there'. Gorsley Chapel literally overflows out of its main building into a series of marquees, with adjacent fields used to provide camping facilities for visitors who come from all over the country, as well as overseas.

Teens and children are catered for alongside the main event with the Gorsley Youth Fest 06, featuring live bands, the Viz A Viz Theatre Company and other attractions.

Gorsley publican Geoff Byrne, of the Roadmaker Inn, is getting behind the chapel's work, saying 'We have spent long hours during the dry summer watering our flowers so that visitors will enjoy coming here too - the chapel's a great place and the message that goes out from there can really help people!'

Jacqueline's NiteSpot will be open on Friday and Saturday night until 3am.

JD's bar is also open Sunday night until late.

Jacqueline's Cafe will also be open every day from 10:00 am serving All Day Breakfasts, Home-made Dishes and Snacks etc.

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.