As they have done so well this year with their fund-raising in the Birches area, Chris and Peter Dowsett thought they would round off with a raffle with one of their famous 4kg (8 1/2lbs) home-made, marzipanned, iced and decorated Christmas cakes as first prize.

Lots of additional prizes were donated to make the event into a grand draw, which took place on December 23rd where the Macmillan County Organizer, Peter Rowland made the draw at Wormelow Post Office and Stores.

'As ever, Chris and Peter have made a tremendous effort and on this occasion raised over £500, which will all go towards the Macmillan-Renton appeal,' said Peter Rowland.

Chris and Peter would like to extend their thanks to all the people who donated prizes and bought tickets, and especially to Tena and Steve Gilbert for offering the facilities of their village shop for selling tickets and making the draw.

Happy new year to you all!

This warning comes from West Mercia Constabulary.

Motorists who have been lucky enough to receive a satellite navigation system for Christmas - or are taking advantage of the New Year sales to buy one - are being advised to make sure they think about their car security at the same time.

Sat nav systems (and especially the portable varieties) are prime targets for criminals who will think nothing of smashing a window to make a grab for valuables left in an unattended vehicle. What is more, the whole theft could be over in just a few seconds.

Already there have been several such incidents across the county since Christmas, with cars broken into in Hereford City centre car parks and at Holmer. In each case sat nav systems, which had been left in unattended cars, were stolen.

'Criminals who target vehicles tend to be opportunistic in nature,' said PC Charles Naylor, Herefordshire Division's Crime Risk Manager. 'If they can see CDs or a satellite navigation system on the dashboard or expensive stereos still in place, they are much more likely to strike and your valuables can be gone in a matter of seconds.'

But it doesn't have to be like that. You can significantly reduce the chance of your vehicle being targeted by taking a few simple precautions.

• Disconnect and remove your sat nav every time you leave your car.
• Remove any suction mounting fittings and erase marks from the screen.
• Don't store sat navs in glove compartments - thieves may be watching you.
• Postcode mark the equipment with an ultraviolet marker and keep a note of the serial number in a safe place.
• Park in a well-lit, busy area or a secure car park.

A bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, this one.

At some time between 10:00 pm on Saturday, 6th January and 10:45 am on Sunday, 7th January, somebody threw a sandstone rock through my car window. A Garmin satellite navigation device was stolen from the car, which was parked in the drive of my Hillview Road home at the time (drive entrance on Three Crosses Road).

One of my neighbours heard a group of youths making a lot of vocal noise in the street at around 1:30 am on the Sunday and I am guessing that this was deliberate, to mask the sound of the breaking glass. Unfortunately, although we were up at that time as I had been taking photos until 10:00 and needed to relax before bed. I was playing my guitar in the living room and we had a tumble drier running in the kitchen and had shut the door to escape the droning motor noise. This also, through pure bad luck, shuts out all sound from the area where my car was parked.

If you have any information about this incident, or if you hear of anybody offering a Garmin sat nav for sale locally, would you please call me on 01989 763217 or contact PC2211, Terry at Ross Police Station on 08457 444888 Ext 4417.

Unfortunately, I do not know the exact model of Garmin sat nav taken as I used it often but never really studied it that closely. The annual map update is due however so when you turn it on, it pops up a message to this effect. And, of course my home address and family locations in Essex are programmed into the 'favourite locations' section. This might help with identification.

The cost to myself caused by this incident is £60.00 excess on the windscreen insurance, £200 for the sat nav device because it is not worth losing my NCD over plus a great deal of inconvenience with business and family hospital appointments, for which I need the car.

Let's look on the bright side: at least one member of the local IQ Zero Brigade (a relatively small percentage of the Ross-on-Wye population as a whole) will have made twenty or thirty quid out of it! And if he/she gets caught, they might even end up becoming a 'man of letters', gaining the professional qualification: ASBO. I believe that most teams recruiting for an armed blag or major drug import require a minimum educational standard from applicants of at least two ASBOs and a suspended sentence these days.

Simon Ellis enjoys his work with the waste management team from the Ryefield Centre so much that he organized a New Year party for his colleagues, which was held at The Prince of Wales on Saturday 6th January. Simon can be seen in the photograph below with some of his friends and DJs Julian and John of Wyenet Disco, who provided their entertainment for the evening.

In the photograph from left to right are David, Simon, Mark, Andrew, DJ John, Jenny and DJ Julian.

In 2007 the Lions Clubs International celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the Peace Poster Competition. In the meantime the John Kyrle High School took part in the 2006 contest with around 160 pupils from year 8 submitting entries. The contest is part of the schools curriculum and, with the aid of the Ross-on-Wye Lions club, they have taken part now for several years, competing against more than 300,000 young people from all over the world, every year.

The entries were judged in November by four judges, including artists Steven Outram from Lydbrook and David Ochiltree from Gloucester as well as non-artists, Councillor Joyce Thomas and Ross Lions president, Brian Goodfellow. All said the turnout was fantastic and the standard was excellent.

After much deliberation a short list was selected. The winner was picked by vote and 13 year old Nathan Shipton of St. Weonard's was the eventual winner. The next two posters came so close that it was decided to make them joint second with no third place. In joint second place were 12 year old Caroline Hartland of Much Birch and 12 year old Julia Ormerod of Wormelow. At the John Kyrle High School Annual Prize Giving Ceremony on the 20th December 2006 the president of the Ross Lions Club, Brian Goodfellow presented the winner with a cash prize of £30, a beautiful plaque and a certificate. The winners of joint second place were each presented with a cash prize of £20 plus a certificate.

The winning poster then went on to the second round of the contest, which took place at Frome in Somerset. Unfortunately, Caerphilly won this round so the Ross entry did not proceed any further. The Caerphilly entry now goes on to the national round in London and should it win, would then go on to the international finals in New York at the United Nations Buildings. Whoever wins the final gets an all paid for trip to New York which includes parents. The Ross Lions and the John Kyrle High School wish them the best of luck.

After the presentation to the winners of the Peace Poster Competition the Ross Lions president, Brian Goodfellow, presented a cheque for £250 to the Head of Art, Neil Carroll. This money is to be spent on materials for the Arts Department.

Thank you to Mike for sending in the two beautiful photographs below. Referring to the top photo of Forest of Dean deer, Mike said, 'I got this today, I have been looking for the large deer since mid November. They were about 150 metres away and I was in the middle of a firebreak when they came to the edge of it. I sat straight down when I saw them in the wet grass and managed to ease the camera out of my backpack, set it up on the tripod and photographed them for about fifteen minutes before they and some does moved off.'

The bottom photograph is of a pair of coots, bathing in a Forest of Dean lake.

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

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.