A view of St. Mary's Church, Kempley has been revealed this week which has not been seen in some fifty years as three Cyprus trees were felled. A planting of forty plus yew trees in the grounds of the historic church began on Monday, 15th January. All of these works are being carried out during the correct planting season and are being undertaken n readiness for Kempley Daffodil Weekend visitors on March 17th.

English Heritage contractors, John Limbrick and Ollie Cressey of Nature First Ltd, Gloucester, removed the three fifty foot cypress trees from the churchyard walkway. They are reshaping the existing yews and planting new eight foot English yews to recreate an arched walkway from the gate to the 11th century church doorway.

The final phase of clearing out weed trees from the roadside yew hedge, prior to in-fill planting with 35 more yews will begin during the following week. This replanting will be done by The Friends of Kempley Churches, using plants supplied at cost by Ross Garden Store, Ross on Wye. All of the work has been timed to avoid damaging the emerging daffodils.

Kempley Daffodil Weekend will take place on March 17th and 18th; at which time members of the Kempley community look forward to heralding in the Spring as a reward for such wintry effort. The Friends of Kempley, a registered charity that works with English Heritage and the Kempley PCC to maintain St Mary's and St Edward's Churches, will be holding their AGM at 2.00 pm on 20th January 2007, in Kempley Village Hall.

AGENDA

NOTICE is hereby given that a meeting of the

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE - TUESDAY, 23 JANUARY 2007

.

• APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
  To receive and accept any apologies for absence.
• DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS
  To receive any declarations of Councillors' interests, whether personal and/or prejudicial, In matters to be considered at this meeting.
• MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
  To sign the minutes if the meeting held on Tuesday, 27 November 2006.
• TOWN CLERK'S REPORT 5 BUDGET REPORT AND ACCOUNT BALANCES
  To receive the attached report and account balances.
• REQUESTS FOR GRANT AID 7 EMPLOYMENT ISSUES
  (i) Appraisal System.
  (ii) Employment of a Deputy Clerk.
• STANDING ORDERS

Signed

Town Clerk

With water levels on the River Wye dropping drastically by Sunday morning, I caught this swan climbing out of the water and onto the riverbank whilst enjoying a coffee at the White Lion, Wilton. (I was the one enjoying the coffee - not the swan.)

Ross return to winning ways

After an extended Christmas break, Ross returned to league action on Saturday against Ashley Down Old Boys and were looking to keep up the pressure on league leaders Kingswood by registering a convincing win. After heavy rain in the week conditions were heavy under foot and were compounded by a gusting wind that made things difficult for both sides throughout the game. Ashley Down won the toss and elected to play downhill with the wind at their backs. With conditions against them it was always going to be difficult for Ross to establish territorial control and throughout the half it was Ashley Down who dominated territory as they looked to establish what they hoped would be a winning lead by half time. Defensively, Ross have been strong all season, keeping their opponents to single figure scores in 7 out of their 10 league encounters. Even though Ashley Down had good field position for most of the first half, they were unable to break through a stubborn Ross defence, with the back row working tirelessly to prevent Ashley Down getting over the gainline. When Ross got their hands on the ball they always looked dangerous. After absorbing some early pressure Ross constructed the first attacking move of the game to open the scoring. After Matt Jones secured clean lineout ball, the Ross pack set up a driving maul sucking in the Ashley Down forwards. Simon Gwynne moved the ball to Chay Brine and quick hands from Adam Clements and Huw Bellamy put Chris Gage through a gap. He drew the fullback before putting winger Alistair Rees clear then cut inside the last defender before feeding Wayne Bishop to score a great try in the corner. This put Ross 5-0 up after quarter of an hour. Using the wind Ashley Down came straight back at Ross, working some good field positions and assisted by a raft of penalties conceded by Ross during the second quarter of the game. Initially, Ashley Down looked to take quick tap penalties as they looked for their first points but the Ross defence held firm, stopping them on the gainline and forcing them to revert back to kicking for field position. This only served to give possession back to Ross. After some strong running by Mike Davies, Dave Mince and Tara Barnett Ross forced a lineout on the Ashley Down 22 metre line. A clean take by Richard Russell set up another driving maul that took Ross to within 5 metres of the try line. First Wayne Williams made a lunge for the line then Matt Jones and Gavin Oates had a go. Although the defence held firm, Ashley Down had committed too many players to the ruck area. Simon Gwynne moved the ball to the right. gain quick hands from the back sent Wayne Bishop clear, feeding Hugh Bellamy to score. Chris Gage converted, giving Ross a 12-0 half-time lead.

With conditions in their favour Ross in the second half Ross looked for an early score to settle the match and it duly came through Gavin Oates. Nick Rawlings again found his lineout jumpers and the Ross pack set up another driving maul. As it progressed deep into the twenty two, Gavin Oates broke clear to crash over, giving Ross a 17-0 lead. Ross now rang the changes, bringing on Tim Hanks, Matt Redman and Andy Lovering and they continued to dominate territory and possession. It was not until the final 5 minutes of the game however that they added another score through Chris Gage. After some strong tackling in midfield by Matt Redman and Mike Davies, Ross turned over the ball. Tim Hanks drove it on. With the rest of the forwards delivering quality possession to Simon Gwynne, he moved the ball quickly right to Chris Gage, who cut inside the defence to score. He added the conversion, seeing Ross home by 24-0.

Ross have a friendly away to Greyhound, Hereford next Saturday, 20th January. Ross RFC would like to thank John Kyrle High School for the use of their pitch and facilities, thus ensuring the game to played despite severe flooding at the Sports Centre.

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.

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