Bare Bones Theatre are on tour again, opening at The Savoy Monmouth on Friday, 22nd June with "Faith Healer" by Brian Friel.

This three hander chronicles the life of Frank Hardy, an itinerant faith healer who, with his wife and his manager, practices his trade, 'one night only', in the remote villages of Wales and Scotland. He believes that the Celtic temperament is more receptive to his trade. However, since he is perpetually tortured by doubts about his own powers, his life is blighted by constant bitterness and resentment. When even the effect of drink is failing to numb his anguish, he returns to his native Ireland. Perhaps here he will find peace. But will he?

Brian Friel is widely considered to be one of the greatest living playwrights in the English language and "Faith Healer" is acknowledged to be his masterwork.

For details of performances, please see the 'What's On?' page of Wyenot News.

Just a quick reminder of a few events happening this week. This evening at The White Lion there is an open music session taking place which will be led by John Edwards. Whether you like to play along or just listen, you will be very welcome.

On Saturday evening there are two events. The first is being held at The Old Court Hotel, Whitchurch and begins at 7:30 PM The music is provided by 'Dog Nozzle' and fancy dress is optional.

At The Prince of Wales, popular duo 'Little Sister' will be performing their good range of cover songs.

On Sunday a group of students from John Kyrle High School will be raising money for their Uganda fund by spending the day car washing. If you would like your car washed, take it to the car park at Ross labels on Sunday between 8:00 am and 6:00 PM, where you can have the job done for £5.00. You can earn some brownie points by telling 'er (or 'im) indoors that you did it yourself and your money will go towards helping the Kisiki College in Uganda.

For details of other events in and around Ross-on-Wye, please visit the 'What's On' page of Wyenot.com.

(Please note that this week's news prep has taken a long while and the What's On page is running behind time but will be updated fully by Wednesday evening.)

A former X-Factor finalist has joined forces with three other young talented singers to form a group that will start a UK tour in June. Classically trained singer James Wisker, aged 19, from Ross-on-Wye was described as "a young Michael Ball" by Simon Cowell as he left the television show and now he is setting out to prove Simon Cowell right by singing songs from major musicals with his newly-formed group.

Back to Broadway kick off their UK tour with a launch concert close to James' home at Blakes, Monmouth on Saturday June 30.

Alongside him will be Steve Liddle, who at just 19 has already starred as Chino in West Side Story, featured on BBC Radio 4 and has directed shows for one of the country's leading youth theatre groups. Charlotte Hill, aged 20, has sung in Godspell, West Side Story and Les Miserables in university productions and cabaret. Jessica Ball, 19, has performed with the National Youth Musical Theatre and X-entricity Youth Theatre.

Their show will include songs from Les Miserables, the Lion King, Wicked and many more shows that have been hits on Broadway and in the West End.

Said James Wisker: "Of course I was disappointed when I left X-Factor but I saw it as just the start of my career and to have encouragement from someone like Simon Cowell was fantastic. There is a huge audience for musical theatre and all four members of Back to Broadway love the music and want to bring a fresh, new and exciting element to it.

We are younger than most of the other groups touring the UK with musical theatre shows and we hope that means we can bring more energy to the songs and bring out some excitement without changing the music, which gets more popular every year. The show includes lighting and effects to add a modern element and some drama for the audience."

Back to Broadway have bookings taking them through to May next year. The group have been rehearsing every week but could not start touring until Charlotte finished her degree at Bristol University. The group have agreed to raise money for the registered charity Children with Leukaemia at all their shows and have produced a demo CD and intend to launch a first commercial CD later this year.

For further information see www.backtobroadway.co.uk. Box office 01600 719401.

Directors, staff and volunteers at EnviroAbility were shocked when General Manager Dennis Humble announced that he would be moving to a new job in July. Dennis's inspirational leadership led to the setting up of Ryefield Projects 14 years ago, from which EnviroAbility has evolved. Its original objective, which remains unchanged today, was to provide opportunities for users of the Ryefield Day Centre to employ their skills and energy for the benefit of the community. The group and their work have been recognized by numerous awards, the most prominent being the Beacon Award, known as the charity equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

Driven on by Dennis's boundless enthusiasm and energy, there are now numerous projects that are being very successfully run in partnership with the Council and other local and commercial organizations. The Book Swap shop in Cantilupe Road gives people the facility to exchange books once no longer wanted; Green Nappies encourages the use of real cotton nappies to reduce landfill and provide a far more healthy option for babies; printer cartridges, paper, clothes and redundant computers can be recycled at the EnviroAbility recycling site in Station Road and the ReBox Project, through its familiar local kerbside collections is recycling thousands of tonnes of glass, paper and cans that would otherwise go to landfill. New projects are planned. The next to launch is Shop Mobility, a service that will assist people with mobility problems to get around the streets of Ross so they can do their shopping, go for a trip by the river front, and perhaps have a meal.

Paying tribute to Dennis for his tremendous work for EnviroAbility and the greater community of Ross, Chairman of EnviroAbility Trustees, Antony Lowther, promised him that, whilst he was going to be a hard act to follow, the Board, staff and volunteers of EnviroAbility were going to redouble their efforts to ensure that what Dennis had done so much to create would continue in the future. To which Dennis replied "Of course you will, because I'll be checking up on you!"

In typical modest style Dennis has declined an EnviroAbility farewell party but agreed to attend a function to launch the Shop Mobility Scheme. This will be held on June 29th at the Prince of Wales, details available from the Ryefield Centre. Antony added, "Please carry on contacting EnviroAbility as before and ask for Martin, or if you would like to find out more about EnviroAbility's work please go to: www.enviroability.org.uk."

The newly finished pergola at The White Lion, Wilton was the venue for Luggs and Kathrine's evening reception on their wedding day, Friday 18th May. Around 120 guests attended the party, dancing the night away in this lovely new facility and a brilliant time was had by all.

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