Most organizations working for the community were represented at St. Mary's Parish Church for the Civic Service, led by Rev. John B. Hunnisett, which took place on Sunday, 17th September. The Mayor, Councillor Phil Cutter was present, accompanied by Mayoress, Chris Cutter and councillors from other towns. Bible readings were read by Councillor Mike Jennings and Town Clerk, Denise Mason. Councillor Jenny Hyde read 'If' by Rudyard Kipling.

Prior to the service, councillors and dignitaries from other towns formed a procession, which was met at the church by representatives of Ross Army and Sea Cadets. A buffet lunch was held at Ross Bowling Club after the service.

I am afraid that yet again, this week's edition of Wyenot News has been rather rushed together and jammed onto two pages when I should perhaps have used more. My apologies for this. My regular days in Cheltenham General Hospital with Matt fall on a Tuesday every other week and, as this usually my main news prep layout day for the Wednesday publication deadline, it makes preparing the news a little difficult. Although I tried to get as much as possible done before bed on Monday, there are certain things I cannot do until the very last moment as the data is not available. Today in Cheltenham was a particularly long day as the hospital was very busy and we caught the rush hour when returning to Ross, so I did not get back to my office until 8:00 pm.

What has this got to do with Wetherspoon's? Here is a tale of utter stupidity which took place at Wetherspoon's in Cheltenham. This week, Matt had to be in hospital for a pre-treatment blood test at 9:00 am and so he stayed with his friend in Cheltenham and I drove in to meet him after dropping Tina at work at 10.00.

Matt will be 21 years old on 16th October and his friend is of a similar age. On Monday evening they went to Wetherspoons. His friend ordered a drink and a meal and paid his money. Matt cannot drink alcohol at the moment due to his treatment and so he tried to order a cola and a meal. The barmaid served Matt's friend, no problem but refused to serve Matt, insisting that he was under age - even though all he asked for was a cola! Despite the fact that he was not attempting to drink alcohol anyway, Matt produced his Herefordshire Council issued photo ID card. He was told by the the barmaid that Herefordshire ID does not count in Gloucestershire and she still would not allow him to buy a cola because he could not prove that he was over 18 years of age. The barmaid then called over a second barmaid, who backed up her colleague's ruling.

Matt's friend then asked why she had not asked for his ID as, if anything, he looks younger than Matt. He was told that, he is a regular customer and that she knew he was old enough, having seen his ID in the past. Matt's frind explained that he had never had to produce ID in Wetherspoon's before and asked for his money back as he had gone in with Matt and did not wish to dine alone. The two barmaids refused, saying that he had already ordered his meal and so he had to either walk out with no refund or stay and eat the meal. They said that Matt was welcome to stay and watch his friend eat, but that he was not allowed to buy anything himself - not even cola.

Being of a quiet disposition, the boys did as they were told, Matt watched his friend eat and then they both left, never to darken the doorstep of Wetherspoon's in Cheltenham again.

I thought I would pass that little tale of stupidity on, just in case any readers ever find themselves in a similar situation. My own thoughts on the matter are that perhaps Moulder and Scully ought to investigate this as an X File. Maybe there is a wormhole on the Herefordshire / Gloucestershire border which can make the age printed on an official photo ID card invalid if crossing from one county to the other at 40 mph on a number 38 bus. Or maybe the C6H12O6 (sugar) content in Wetherspoon's cola is just plain dangerous to the health of those under the age of 21 and the barmaids don't like Matt's friend.

Ross-on-Wye Freemasons, Vitruvian Lodge organised a Midsummer Charity Luncheon for over 100 members and guests to raise money for the Acorns Trust, which included a Grand Draw and auction. They raised £1,750 on the day. The Luncheon was considered to be an outstanding success. Those who attended were entertained following the meal by rousing music from Lydbrook Brass Band.

Cliff McCloskey, Master of Vitruvian Lodge thanked everybody concerned for their wonderful support for such a good cause.

During the presentation of the cheque, Fran Winterbourn, Community Fundraiser for Acorns said, 'A great big thank you for all the tremendous ongoing support given to Acorns by members of Vitruvian Lodge. £1750 will make such a difference to the children we care for and families we support'.

Pictured below, left to right are Peter Farrington, Fundraising Organiser for the lodge, Fran Winterbourn, and Cliff McCloskey.

Ross-in-Bloom are delighted one of their recent appeals for help has been resolved by Andy Middlecote and Herefordshire Council. During the early summer an appeal went out for litter picking graspers for a group of ramblers, 'The Wombles' who are led by Lesley Ward, to obtain pickers for them to take out on their walks to collect litter around the footpaths along the riverside and beyond. Andy recently delivered six such pickers for them to use, with the compliments of Herefordshire Council. Ross-in-Bloom and Lesley are very grateful for this very generous gift and the group will soon be setting out to help to keep the area clean and tidy, whilst they are getting exercise and enjoying the countryside.

Herefordshire Council have a group called "Street Scene" who is very keen to help other such groups. Anybody can telephone their hotline number on 01432 261800 to get information on this service. They can provide litter pickers, collecting bags and jackets for participants to use. They can also arrange for the collection of the filled bags from locations where litter can be stored. If you would like to take up this activity, please contact "Street Scene" direct or contact Ross-in-Bloom for further information.

The new school year began just over a week ago and both Llangrove and Whitchurch Primary schools welcomed new children and new teachers.

At Llangrove Primary, Mr. Andrew Best joined as the school's new Head Teacher. Andrew, who was Deputy Head at a large primary school in Northampton, has taken over from the late Mrs. Price, who sadly passed away in July.

Below, Mr. Best can be seen with the new 2006 reception class and Assistant Headteachers, Lara Waller and Sarah Dean. The children new to school are Anna Hitchin, Alastair Green, Samuel Owen-Finnigan, Ellie Hickton, Ryan Meredith and Bayley Davies.

At Whitchurch Primary School, two new teachers joined the staff. In the bottom photo, Mrs. Wood (left) and Miss Bethune can be seen with the new reception class, Michael Jode, Alex McNamara, Elliot Gooch, Joseph Preddy, Zarith Croft, Sydnee Cooke, Freya Biddlecombe, Roslyn Braun and Henrik Croft.

'Jono and Victoria, the new owners of the Old Court Hotel at Symonds Yat West were recently invited to the Whitchurch Primary School Summer Concert and felt they would like to help raise money towards the fabulous school's projects. On a hot and sunny 30th July they held a free Summer Garden Party at which four bands performed in the hotel gardens. Hundreds of people attended the event and helped to raise £448.00 for Whitchurch Primary School.

'We asked our customers to donate to the school instead of charging for tickets,' said Victoria. 'We are thrilled with the amount we raised on the day'.

The new school council has been elected and will be asking the children what they would like to buy with the money.

Jono and Victoria will be holding another musical event for Harvest Festival which will be held inside on Saturday October 7th from 7:00 pm and will raise money for the local church. They also intend to hold another concert in aid of Whitchurch School next summer. Details of both of these events are available on the What's On? page.

Pictured below are two groups of children with Victoria and Jono. Above are Alex McNamara, Rhodri Evans, Emily Ward, Alex Pickett, Emily Andrews and Sam Robins. Below: Martin Johnson, Connor Slater, Deumonte Saniukaite, Alex McNamara, Emily Andrews, Benjamin Lerigo, Sam Robins and Lowri Scrivens

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