In this week's edition of 'Wyenot News' are free downloadable full size aerial images covering virtually every house in Ross Town from the air. Preparing the downloads has literally taken me five full days and nights but it has been a fascinating and enjoyable task, locating the houses of people I know and other landmarks.

I am pretty sure that I have covered just about every house in Ross but if I have missed yours it is not missed deliberately, please email and I will try to locate it for another time. I actually took 294 photos of Ross and the surrounding area during the flight so the chances are I will have it covered in one of them. I will publish the villages of Goodrich, Upton Bishop and Linton next week or the week after - depending on time available. I did not cover every house in these areas but I have the main areas and some good shots of Goodrich Castle and Kerne Bridge.

The full size aerial photographs can be downloaded from pages 4 to 7 of this week's news by clicking the small guide images.

If you missed last week's news, until I got the real camera out just before reaching Ross, I filmed the flight from Staverton to Ross with a video camera.

Please enjoy the photos and help out by telling others where they can 'download their house' so that more local people discover 'Wyenot News'.

A celebratory tea party for the 10th Anniversary of Ross Heritage Centre was held for invited guests on Tuesday, 17th April. During a short 'thank you' speech, Mary Sinclair Powell, Senior Heritage Assistant, gave a brief history of Ross Heritage Centre and thanked all of those present for their support for the Centre. In particular, she thanked the Heritage Centre Staff.

Those who attended the afternoon enjoyed tea, coffee and a specially baked 10th Birthday cake, which was cut by Mary and her predecessor, Mr. Ian Standing.

The inaugural Lions 'Ross Round' Charity Walk, with the Acorns Children's Hospice being the major benefactor, turned out to be very successful event. On a most beautiful day over 50 walkers with lots of dogs participated. They came from all three counties, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Even some of the dogs obtained sponsorship.

Initially it looks as if in excess of £1000 has been raised, but until the money is collected and submitted the actual amount will remain a mystery. Who knows? It could be much more.

Jan and her young dog, both of whom did the seven miles stretch, raised £105. Ten year old David raised £7.50. Lion Bernard Fowkes, with two daughters and four grandchildren and two dogs, attempted to complete the whole eighteen miles; unfortunately, three of the grandchildren and one dog retired after 11 miles. Despite a couple of deviations the remaining four and the dog managed to finish the course, raising in excess of £300 between them.

This goes to show that it is not the amount of sponsorship that counts, everything, both small and large, makes a grand total. The scenery throughout was superb, with the river, valleys and hills, making it a joy to walk, although a number had blisters and aching limbs at the end. The amount of wild life seen was also fantastic, including a grass snake, sand martins, and herons as well as the more common sightings.

What a wonderful day, and way, to raise funds for such a worthy cause. The Ross Lions organizers can only comment that the event turned out to be an unqualified success and would like to thank all the walkers, all the Lions and friends of Lions who turned out to help run it and especially Debbie Griffiths and her driver from Age Concern, who provided and manned the minibus all day, transporting walkers to and from various points on the walk.

All in all a wonderful day and one which the Ross Lions would like to repeat in future years.

Police in Ross-on-Wye are investigating a number of thefts from vehicles in the local area. In each case windows of the vehicles have been smashed to gain entry and valuables taken from inside. A rucksack was removed from under a seat in a silver Seat Alhambra parked in the lay-by next to the swing bridge at Foy, some time between 2.30pm and 4.10pm on Monday, 9th April. The rucksack was later found discarded a short distance away but a digital camera and hair straighteners had been removed.

Elsewhere, a Kenwood radio cassette player worth around £100 was stolen from a blue VW Golf parked on the Ashburton Industrial Estate in Ross-on-Wye. The theft happened sometime between 1pm on Monday, 9th April and 2pm on Tuesday, 10th April.

Finally, a CD player and several CDs were stolen from a blue Peugeot 106 in Crockers Ash, Whitchurch. The break-in happened some time between 10pm on Tuesday, 10th April and 8am the next day.

Police are reminding motorists of the need to ensure valuables are removed from vehicles when they are left unattended, even for short periods. Anything left on display could prove a tempting target for an opportunistic thief who will take just a few seconds to smash a window and take what they want. CD players/stereos are also vulnerable to being stolen and police advise fitting models that have removable fascias or other security devices which make them much less likely to be stolen.

Anyone who saw suspicious activity around any of the vehicles is asked to contact Ross-on-Wye Police Station on 08457 444888, quoting refs: 321-s-100407, 27-n-110407 and 410-s-090407.

As a free additional benefit to those local businesses supporting Wyenot.com, every week Wyenot News chooses one local business at random to feature in the current issue of the weekly on-line news magazine.

The Barrel Bar is situated on the site of an old 17th century brewery and has been providing ales through many generations right up to the present day. The bar has recently undergone major refurbishment and redecoration and has become a very popular, fun bar. Manager Sam Pearce and her friendly staff try to ensure that all users of the pub, whether locals or visitors enjoy their evening there. . . .

For further information, click here to go to the Barrel page on Wyenot.com.

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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.