A group of young people from Ross and across the county of Herefordshire have produced their own hip hop CD using much of their own material under the guidance of Dubmerge, in conjunction with The Music Pool, and other organizations. The CD 'Grounded' was launched at the Y-Zone on 1st March and the young people are very proud of their product.

We spoke to one of the musicians, Dale Davidson who was really pleased when we told him that we wanted to put one of the tracks up on 'Wyenot News'. I think the term he actually used was 'Wicked!' The track we have chosen is 'Soldier' which is track 10 on the CD. Dale wrote the words to this song which he performed with Controversial Minds (and Bekki) and the music was written by Loughman and Knight.

We wish them every success with their future projects. Click here to listen to the track, 'Soldier'.

Saturday was a busy evening about town with the 'Stop the Traffik' concert at the Baptist Church, The Mayor's Charity Ball at the Chase, 'Jailbreak' and Eclipse at the Prince of Wales and the Zebras playing at the Barrel Inn. Tina and I spent the evening as guests of the Mayor at the Mayor's Charity Ball - and very nice it was too. Afterwards however, we did manage to get about a bit and catch the tail end of some of the other things going on. Tina went straight to the Barrel and I arrived there eventually via the Prince of Wales. That was not so that I could get an extra drink in on the sly - I just nipped in, took the photos and 'ran' as I had the car.

Not being at any one other event for long enough, I cannot comment on how well the music went but both gigs looked good at the time I was there and from experience of both bands, I know it would have been a great evening at the Prince and at the Barrel.

The photos below show the Zebras at the Barrel (top), Eclipse at the Prince of Wales (bottom).

This coming Saturday at the Prince, 'Andy M' will be playing (Andy Morse, not Andy Margrett). I shall try to cover that one for next week and then, the week after, the Zebras are at the Prince. That will be a leave the car at home job!

PC Wendy Powell will be taking to the road and joining the Herefordshire Mobile Library service to hold surgeries for local people in Goodrich and Llangrove next week.

The surgeries will take place in the mobile library van, which will call at Goodrich Castle between 10am and 10.30am and Llangrove Primary School between 2.30pm and 3.40pm on Tuesday, 3rd April.

All are welcome to drop by and discuss issues from the local community or to seek advice from their local policing team. No appointment is necessary.

Dave saw me taking a photo of the 'Stop the Traffik' musicians at Ross market on Thursday and said, 'I want to be on Wyenot'. So here he is - selling Mothers Day flowers after the event. As you can see, Dave has a busy life - all that reading the newspaper must be very stressful!

I don't know who Thirlwell's Coaches are but they must owe me a tenner for the ad!

Whilst on the subject of Dave . . .

Dave's boss was fed up with him constantly bragging that he knows everybody and one day decided to call his bluff. 'OK, Dave. You're always boasting that you know everybody. How about Robert Redford? I bet you don't know him!'

'No problem boss, Rob and I are old friends. Tell you what, why don't we go and see him?'

So Dave and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Robert Redford ’s door. When he answers, Robert seems really pleased. 'Dave! Great to see you! Come on in for a beer!'

Eventually they leave but although impressed, Dave’s boss was still sceptical. ''That one could have been a lucky coincidence,' he said. 'I bet you don't know George Bush.

'Know him!' replied Dave. George and I go back years. Tell you what. Let’s fly out to Washington and I'll prove it.'

At the White House, George Bush spots Dave. 'Dave, what a surprise,' he said. 'I was actually just on my way to a meeting but you and your friend come on in, we'll have a quick coffee and catch up.'

Dave's boss is very shaken by now but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds he said. 'The Pope. I bet you don't know the Pope'.

'Sure!' says Dave. 'I’ve known the Pope a very long time.' So off they fly to Rome.

When they arrive at Vatican Square, Dave and his boss are assembled with the masses and can't fight their way to the front. Dave says, 'Here boss, this will never work. I can’t catch the Pope’s eye. Tell you what, I know all the the security guards. You wait here and I'll get them to help me through and I’ll appear on the balcony in half an hour with the Pope.'

Dave disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican and appears as promised on the balcony, but looking down, he sees his boss on the floor. He is surrounded by paramedics. Dave rushes back down and, arriving at his boss’ side, asks, 'What happened boss?'

His boss looks up. His face is grey. 'Well,' he said. I was doing just fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and that bloke over there said to his mate, "Who’s that on the balcony with Dave?'

Tina worked as manager of a haberdashery stall in Gloucester Indoor Market, I was working in desktop publishing and PC support for Ecclesiastical Insurance Office. We both hated our jobs with a vengeance but in those days, we enjoyed the luxury of leisure time and during the evenings and weekends, we used to play music together.

I miss going to the live music Sunday evenings at the Rosswyn and it's nice that Jay and Amanda have taken over the role of a Saturday at the Prince of Wales. Much as I enjoy the work, 'Wyenot News' has literally taken over my life and I don't get the time to play any more, other than at home as a de-stressing therapy. Saturday evenings [whenever there is not something else to cover for the news] have become our one night per week of relaxation though and we enjoy the live music very much.

Well done Vanessa Brann, Kelsey Smith and Jess Mutton, three Cross Country Runners from John Kyrle High School who made it to the finals of the English Schools Athletics Association Cross Country Championships.

Vanessa and Kelsey ran in the Intermediate Race (year 10&11) and Jess in the Senior Girls. All three girls ran very well and gave good accounts of themselves.

This is a major achievement in itself, to have the opportunity to take part in a National Final.

The Championships were held at Temple Newsam, Leeds on Saturday, 24th March 2007.

It was a long day for the girls as they all had to leave Ross at approximately 5.30am in order to join the Hereford & Worcester Team Coach at Nunnery Wood before commencing their journey to Leeds.

Vanessa has taken part in two National Finals in the past two weeks. On Saturday, 10th March she took part in the English National Cross Country Championships, held at Herringdon Country Park, Sunderland.

Vanessa ran in the under 15 girls 4,000 metres race and came 44th, with a time of 18.36 minutes. This puts her in the top 50 in England for this age group.

In a match where periods of pressure led to both teams making mistakes, a 20-15 win against Upton-upon-Severn for the home team saw Ross gain a place in the semi-finals of the North Midlands cup.

After a dominating start from Ross RFC, the opposition edged back into the game but Ross kept their nerve to finally win the match and secure their place in the semi-finals. Ross started well and after a few phases of pressure they went 3-0 up through a penalty from Chris Gage. Now on-top, Ross stepped-up a level and a good run from Huw Bellamy forced a lineout. There was some great lineout work from Ashleigh Nelmes, which continued throughout the match and kept the pressure on Upton until a penalty saw Prop, Tara Barnett tap-and-go and push over for a try. At 8-0 up, Ross continued to dominate and after thirty minutes they increased their lead through a try by Mike Davies which, added to by a conversion from Chris Gage, took Ross to a convincing 15-0 lead. A missed penalty kick gave Upton their chance to get back into the game, although they did not capitalize on Ross' mistakes and after missing a penalty of their own, they had a player sin-binned. This left them 15-0 down and only fourteen players at half-time.

As Upton kicked off the second-half, Ross flanker Gavin Oates was replaced by Dave Mince, providing some experience to the pack. Upton soon began to show how they had made their way to the quarter finals and after some continued pressure they scored a try, giving them their first points of the game. They failed to put over the conversion, however, leaving the home team with a 15-5 lead. Ross made two changes, bringing on substitutes Craig Creed and Joe Gittings-Jones in a bid to get back their control over the game. After some great attack play from Chay Bryne, Matt Redmund soon went over for Ross' third try; although another missed conversion resulted in only a 20-5 lead for Ross despite having had many chances to get further ahead. Additional errors from the home team led to Upton-upon-Severn scoring a try and after securing a conversion and a further penalty, Ross were left hoping that their previous mistakes would not come back to haunt them in the final stages of the game. As full-time drew closer, Upton continued to pressurize and tempers began to flare on both teams, although Ross managed to keep their cool long enough to secure a 20-15 victory and a place in the semi-finals of the cup.

Ross are back in league action next weekend away to Dursley, in a top of the table clash.

Ross 2nds revisited Newent on Saturday and came away with a 19 points to 3 victory. Tries came from Tony Clements, Andy Bevan and Andy Lovering. The first score went to Newent, putting Ross 3 points down. However, with good all round performances from Richard Russell, Paul Hayward, Matt Winstanley and Mick Pollock with solid back up from the rest of the team, Ross came away with a good victory. Choosing the Man of the Match was difficult as there were many fine performances with pivotal roles played by Craig Powell and Andy Bevan amongst others. Eventually, however, the award went to Matt Winstanley for an outstanding game.

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.

DO YOU HAVE A STORY FOR WYENOT NEWS?

If you have a local news item or story you can submit it here
or call Alan or Tina on 01989 763217

Wyenot News, 1, Hillview Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. HR9 7EY

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

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