The choir of Hereford Cathedral Junior School will sing Choral Evensong at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on Wednesday, 22 November.

The music will be conducted by Head of Music, Jon Weller, and will be accompanied on the organ by John Challenger, an ex-pupil of the school and the current organ scholar at St George's.

Over the past four years, the choir of HCJS has sung evensongs in Hereford Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey. Later this year they will spend five days in Edinburgh, singing at both St Mary's Cathedral and St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile.

This month's trip to Windsor will be part of a two day trip that has captured the pupils' enthusiasm.

On their return, the HCJS Choir are due to sing at the turning on of the Christmas lights in both Hereford and Ross-on-Wye.

Pictured left is John Challenger, who will be accompanying the choir (below) on organ at Windsor Castle.

During World War II, many people were evacuated to Ross-on-Wye, including schools and individuals. One lesser know group who arrived in 1939 were the Chelsea Pensioners. They came to stay in the safety of Rudhall Manor and Moraston House.

Until recently there has been little mention of their visit other than the odd letter or small report in the local papers. Gordon Amand has a collection of photographs of their stay, which he has put together for an exhibition at Ross Heritage Centre.

Together with some memorabilia of items used during the war, the photographs give a wonderful insight into the lives of the Chelsea Pensioners whilst they were guests of the town. There is a memorial to those who died whilst they were in Ross in St Mary's Churchyard, which is always acknowledged at this time of the year on Remembrance Day.

This year being the 60th anniversary since they finally left, in 1946, as well as the month of Remembrance for those who fell in war, it was deemed a very appropriate time to display this collection.

King Charles II founded the Royal Hospital in Chelsea over 300 years ago in 1682. Sir Christopher Wren designed it in line with a similar idea of a hospital for veterans founded by King Louis XIV in 1670 in France. Over 25000 veterans of the British Army have lived there since the Battle of Tangier in 1662, causing it to be enlarged and improved many times. They have fought in virtually every land campaign undertaken by the British Army since then.

Today the Royal Hospital is the largest ex-Service home in the United Kingdom with residents aged between 65 years until well into their 90's. The hospital provides a real home for veterans, together with a sense of belonging, which reflects their military values.

The exhibition will be at the Heritage Centre from 13th November until 4th December. Opening times are 10.30am to 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Closed on Monday. For further details telephone 01432 260675 during opening hours.

Once upon a time… as the story begins, The Courtyard - Herefordshire's Centre For The Arts - teamed up with Herefordshire Libraries, to put together a special project that would enable children from all over the county to explore the importance of reading, and the magic of imagination!

By creating a flexible, portable, yet inspirational setting, The Courtyard is able to 'tour' local community venues (such as libraries), and create the perfect atmosphere for storytelling, small-scale performances and reading. Welcome To Your Brain is the end result! This fantastic story comes from writer Therese Collins who took her inspiration for the story from the young people of Herefordshire, who also influenced the design of the piece.

Josh Finds himself locked in a library after dark amongst strange creatures drawn from the shelves, all desperate to feed a weird and wonderful machine.

The aim of the project is to reach out to those aged under 12 to enable them to feel confident in a library environment, as well as encouraging them to pick up a book and get lost in their imaginations! The Courtyard also hopes to build invaluable relationships with the regional libraries, which, in turn, will help to promote children's literature as a genre.

Welcome To Your Brain was a great success when it was performed at The Courtyard last month and the residents of Ross-on-Wye now have the chance to see it performed locally.

There will be two special performances at Ross Library on Saturday 18 November at 10.30am and 2pm. Tickets cost £1.00 and are available from Ross Library, Cantilupe Road, Ross-on-Wye. Telephone: 01432 383280.

Places are limited, so book your tickets now!

Congratulations to John and Hilary Draper of Broome Farm at Peterstow. Due to their hard work on the premises, their natural ability to make guests feel welcome and comfortable, whilst providing them with excellent cuisine in their Cider Press restaurant, John and Hilary have been upgraded to a four diamond award by the Heart of England Tourism Board. We wish them continued success.

Pictured below is the intimate dining room at Broome Farm.

U3A is an international organization, the University of the third Age and is made up of unique groups of people who hold monthly meetings to learn and share in the knowledge of a wide variety of subjects. These subjects include languages, wildlife, creativity, the arts and many other interesting topics.

U3A welcomes new members to join them. The only criteria for membership is that you are not in full time, gainful employment and that you have an interest or subject that you are willing to share with others.

The next general meeting of U3A will be held at the Larruperz Centre on Monday 20 November at 2.30 pm when Mr David Hill will give a talk on 'Hidden Signs in Herefordshire'.

Prospective members are welcome to attend and further details can be obtained from the membership Secretary, Mrs. Stephens by telephoning 01989 763166.

Happy Birthday

to

'Groovy Chick', Amy King!

who was 11 years old on

Monday, 6th November

Viewer figures for October 2006 are virtually double those during the same month in 2005. Monthly viewer figures doubling annually has been a trend since the very beginnings of Wyenot.com.

On the average day in October, 1,166 people viewed 4,275 pages of the web site. Not bad for the onset of the winter months! The tourist season has continued long after the August bank holiday this year. The most visited pages were the 'Home' page, followed by 'Wyenot News' followed by 'Accommodation'.

The most amusing 'Google' search string which brought a visitor to Wyenot this month was, 'what is eggs made out of'. This sent them to the page about Alan Ross, a local person who describes himself as a 'good all round egg musician and metal worker'. I am guessing by the grammar that English was not the native language of the person searching.

Are you looking for somewhere to enjoy a Christmas Meal with your family or for somewhere to hold your annual company Christmas Dinner?

Over the coming weeks, Wyenot News will be making menus from local restaurants available to view on-line or print.

Click the links below to view menus available so far in a separate window (close window when finished). Links are placed in order of when received. This article will be repeated with a different 'Winter' photo weekly until Christmas:

[White Lion Christmas Menu] * [The Bridge at Wilton Christmas Menu]

[Pengethley Manor Menu - 'Murder at the Manor' 8th December]

[The Castle Lodge Hotel] * [The Chasedale Hotel] * [Wilton Court Mulberry Restaurant]

[The Saracen's Head] * [The King's Head] * [The Prince of Wales]

If you advertise with Wyenot.com and would like your restaurant's Christmas menu available to view on-line here, please post a copy to:
Wyenot News, 1, Hillview Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. HR9 7EY.

This is a free service - available only to restaurants / pubs which are currently advertised on Wyenot.com!

If you would like to order prints from Wyenot News photographs, please click here.

Prints are only available for photographs taken by Wyenot News (Not of those which have been sent in by readers).

Prints of 'people' photographs are only available to those directly involved in the news event covered. i.e. I do not sell prints of people to the general public.

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.