There will be plenty to do for everyone this summer at Ross Heritage Centre. Pupils from John Kyrle High School in Ross will be exhibiting some of the GCSE and A Level Artwork in their annual exhibition which began on Monday, 9th July and will run until Thursday, 2nd August. Their work is always to a very high standard and the exhibition is staged as part of their involvement in the Heart of England in Bloom Campaign.

Events at the centre will be held throughout the summer holidays and will cater for children of all ages. As part of Ross Carnival Week, the Ross Craft Team will be hosting a workshop on Making Forts and Fairy Castles on Tuesday, 31st July from 11 am until 3 pm

On Tuesday, 7th August the Hereford Educational Team will be making Saggy Raggy Dragons. There will also be a story time and the chance to see the dragons of the Market House dungeons. This activity will be taking place from 10 am until 12:30 pm

On Thursday, 9th August, Maureen Webb of Furze Pig Hedgehog Rescue will be visiting the Heritage Centre to make everyone aware of how they can help hedgehogs. The hedgehog is the symbol of Ross and the Craft Team will also be on hand with hedgehog activities from 11 am until 3 pm Ross Craft Team will be at Ross Heritage Centre again on Tuesday, 14th August to make kites from 11 am until 3 pm

The Hereford Team will return on Thursday, 23rd August with a Wondrous Weaving workshop from 10 am until 12:30 pm and those taking part will have the chance to learn how to make a piece of woven material.

All children's activities are free and anyone who wishes to take part should drop into the centre during the advertised times. Children taking part must be accompanied by adults.

The Market House Heritage Centre is open from Monday to Saturday, 10 am until 5 pm, Sunday 10:30 am until 4 pm but closed for lunch every day between 1 pm and 1:30 pm For further information please contact Mary Sinclair Powell at the Market House Heritage Centre, Ross-on-Wye, telephone 01432 260673 or email herefordmuseums@herefordshire.gov.uk.

Ex-pat, Sean Prosser, who is a regular reader of 'Wyenot News' in Australia recently wrote, sending these photos of his daughter, Ruby Audrey Prosser, who was born on Monday, 21st May.

Sean's family, who live in Ross-on-Wye have not had much in the way of photo’s as 'Ali does not use email much any more', so Sean asked me to post a photo here as the family regularly read WNN.

Sean said, 'Maybe the one with Ethan is better as Dad and Ali would not have seen how much he has grown for a while. This picture was taken at their Grandmothers house last week, so Ruby is about five weeks old. Thanks Alan and I still visit the site each week for my local gossip and I thank you for your constant hard work.'

No problem, Sean and congratulations to you all in Penrith! I was tempted to run the pictures of Ruby and Ethan upside down!

The Heart of England in Bloom Judges, supported by the Heart of England Tourist Board, will be visiting Ross-on-Wye for their annual judging next week. They will arrive in the town at approximately 2:15 pm on Tuesday 17th July and will drive around the town looking at how clean and tidy the streets are and how beautiful the floral displays look before going onto the Garden of Remembrance at 5:15 pm

Everybody is asked to make sure the town is clean and litter free at all times but this day is extra special as it is the one event that can give Ross full tourism publicity in all the brochures that go out world wide in the coming year.

'We all need to put Ross back on the tourism map and by making an extra special effort to show off Ross on the 17th, we can go a long way towards doing this.' said Margaret Lucas, Chairman of Ross-in-Bloom. 'Unfortunately we were unable to enter last year due to lack of volunteers, but I am hoping this year we will make up for this with lots of good publicity.'

Mary Sinclair Powell is running a Charities and Crafts Market that day in the Market Place. There will be stalls raising money for local and national charities between 10 am and 4 pm. The judges will be able to see how the community pulls together for events such as these when they visit the market and look at the John Kyrle High School Exhibition in the Heritage Centre. They will also be able to see the children's tray gardens that were made last week.

The Prospect this year is once again hosting the photo call. Everyone in the community is invited to the Prospect to welcome the judges between 3:30 pm and 4 pm. This year's theme is Red White and Blue.

'The colour scheme this year reflects the 50th anniversary of the Queen's visit to Ross in 1957, as well as her 80th birthday last year and her Diamond Wedding in November' explained Margaret. 'I am hoping all the shops and other premises in the town will be showing the colours either in flowers or bunting or even both. Perhaps everyone could wear colourful clothes in these colours for the day as well. We need to put on a festive air to show we all work together as a community. Lets fly the flag for Ross and lift us away from the dreadful weather we have been having lately.'

The window displays will be judged between 15th July and 5th August this year, to enhance the town for Carnival week as well as the Judging visit. Forms to take part in the History Trail are now available from the Library, Lucas Motorcycles, the TIC and the Heritage Centre. Entry is free and there will be some small prizes available for those who bring the most interesting and informative projects back.

The results of the in Bloom campaign will be announced at a special awards ceremony in Cheltenham in September. The in Bloom judges were in town last week when they visited Ross Court, Dean Hill Gardens and Tudorville Cemetery. They seemed very impressed with what they saw between the showers and gave some superb recommendations on how each of the areas could be improved. Again the results for this campaign will be declared in Cheltenham.

'They left the town saying how clean and tidy the town looked and hoped that we had better weather when the main judges returned next week' said Margaret. 'They wished us good luck but unfortunately didn't give us any hints on how we would fare despite the bribery of offers of warming coffee!'

Lucie Allen will be 21 on Wednesday and began her celebrations early with a party at Ross Rowing Club on Saturday, 7th July.

The early celebration was due to the fact that Lucie will be in Spain on her birthday, looking for accommodation as she intends to study there next year.

Lots of Lucie's friends were at the party to help her celebrate, not getting to bed much before 4:00 am on Sunday morning.

We would have loved to have stayed for longer, Lucie, but as you know, Tina had an AFD to contend with the next day.

We wish you all the best.

With the much nicer weather we had over the weekend, quite a few people strolled down to the river side on Sunday to listen to Tewkesbury Town Band. The band set up the opposite way round to usual, which seemed to make for a better atmosphere, with listeners sitting closer together.

As usual, I was unable to stay long but what I heard sounded good. I filmed one of the band's tunes but due to the manic weekend, have not had chance to process it yet. I shall do so later in the week and run it directly from the 'Wyenot News' pages on 'You Tube'. I use 'You Tube' to stream video, by the way because it is convenient and saves me clogging up the Wyenot server. I tend to put the video on there as soon as I process it, so if you see me filming early in the week and do not want to wait for the Wednesday publication date, you may just find the film on the 'You Tube Channel' in advance.

Sue and James Howard were married at Ross-on-Wye Registry Office on Saturday, 7th July.

The bride and her matron of honour arrived at the registry office in a beautiful, white Limousine.

The wedding ceremony was followed by a reception at the Prince of Wales and a party for friends in the evening.

Time is running out for community groups to access cash in Ross on Wye and the surrounding HR9 area as the Community Pride Funding scheme enters its final year. Grants of up to £600 are available for projects that benefit the local community.

For example, the grant could be used to improve a local community facility such as a village hall, or buy a new piece of equipment for a sports team. So far Community Pride funding has supported more than 30 local organizations for projects which include picnic benches for Upton Bishop Millennium Hall, play equipment for Walford Playgroup, upgraded IT equipment for Ross Community Resource Centre, new football kit for Ross FC and tourist information maps for Weston Under Penyard Parish Council.

The scheme offers an easy and straightforward application process for groups who have a written constitution and are able to demonstrate value for money. Funded by Advantage West Midlands Market Towns Initiative via the Ross Area Partnership, Community Pride comes to an end in March 2008 and all projects must be finished and grants claimed by this date.

Herefordshire Council is urging groups to come forward and talk to staff about their projects to make sure that the pot of cash is spent. Further details are available from Helen Tong on 01432 260753.

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

There is no charge for publishing either news items or What's On Events
This is a Free Service for the local community!

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.