Local rock band, the Dandelion Killers have just finished recording a new track, 'Fire When Ready', which will be on their forthcoming EP, due to be released in October. The track can be heard by clicking the link above.

As I have mentioned before, the Dandelion Killers are a local band who are going to go far and they are currently recording at Rockfield Studios. Further news on this recording will be published at the end of October.

Pictured below, the band can be seen performing a few weeks ago at the Barrel Inn, Brookend Street.

What a confounded nuisance! Saturday evening found me feeling quite unwell due to the current cold bug which is hitting Ross this autumn, so Tina and I stayed at home, missing our usual Saturday evening tour of what was going on in town. We were actually in bed and asleep before midnight - first time in, I cannot remember how long!

Before we went to bed, I called Paul Randell. 'Hi Paul, would you mind taking a photo for 'Wyenot News' at The Prince of that dashed good band, 'The Blast'?

Paul kindly obliged but did not have the best camera available. He used a pocket digital, so what you see below it is definitely not his best photo. Actually, I have seen a lot of Paul's photos and he is a great photographer - the blurriness is genuine equipment failure. Most of those pocket digitals do not have the flash power or speed to cope with large, dark areas.

According to Paul, 'The Blast' were a brilliant band, playing a mixture of rock and punk music, so we missed a good night out. Paul, of 'The Zebras' is actually very critical of all musicians (in a positive way), so for him to visit my house the following morning, telling me how brilliant they were and how much he and Ali enjoyed the evening, they must have been!

Sorry we missed a great night. We will hopefully be back on track this coming weekend for the great female band, 'Underwired', who will be playing the Prince and the week after, the 13th, for the great Will Killeen. We will cover 'The Blast' at their next gig in Ross.

Tina has caught my illness now and we are both working on this week's news, feeling like death warmed up. Still, at least she can't say I never give her anything.

The night sky on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week afforded a brilliant view of the pre and post harvest moon. The full harvest moon atctually occurred early on Wednesday morning. The harvest moon is renowned for its brightness, which allows harvesting by moonlight. On Wednesday evening, the post harvest moon provided enough light to take the bottom photo totally unaided by tripod or time exposure.

Due to lack of time to set it up, I took the top two photos on Thursday and Friday evenings, without the aid of a telescope but the third one down, I took during the post harvest moon of September 2003, using a 4 megapixel Nikon pocket digital (which by comparison to my carrent cameras is a piece of poop) held to the eyepiece of a 6 inch Newtonian reflector telescope, hence the image being upside down. In approximately the seven o'clock position on that photo, Mare Humboldtianum is just visible. Mare Humboldtianum is actually located on the far side of the moon and its edge is only visible from Earth during the early stages of the post harvest moon before it disappears into the lunar night.

NOTICE is hereby given that a meeting of the FULL COUNCIL will be held on
MONDAY, 8 OCTOBER at 7.00pm in the Council Chamber, The Corn Exchange, High Street, Ross-on-Wye.

Items to be discussed are detailed below and members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting.

Prior to the meeting there will be a 15 minute public session, when members of the public can ask questions of councillors

AGENDA

Signed

Town Clerk

A blue and white Suzuki GSXR 1000 motorbike has been stolen from a shed at an address in Walford Road, Ross-on-Wye.

The motorcycle was taken from the shed some time between Saturday, 15th and Sunday, 23rd September. The shed had been entered and a padlock and chain securing the bike were removed. The motorbike, worth around £5,500, is registered GX03ZGP and police are keen to trace anyone who has seen it in recent days or knows of a similar machine being offered for sale.

Anyone with information should contact the Hereford Public Service Desk on 08457 444888, quoting ref: 318-s-230907.

A new law came into force on Monday, 1st October 2007, making it illegal to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to persons under the age of 18 years. The law has been introduced in the hope that children will be deterred and protected from becoming regular smokers whilst making it easier for retailers to establish children's ages when they attempt to purchase cigarettes.

Young people aged between 18 and 19 years will probably find that they are asked for identification more frequently. Currently acceptable forms of ID are a passport, a photo driving licence or a proof of age card bearing the PASS hologram only. Retailers will be required to display a sign which clearly states the new age restrictions. Failure to so so could result in a fine of up to £1,000. Selling tobacco to under 18's can result in a fine of up to £2,500. Trading Standards Services across the UK are responsible for enforcing the laws relating to age restricted products, including tobacco.

Mike Pigrem, Herefordshire Council's Trading Standards Manager said, 'We believe that raising the age limit to 18 is important in protecting the health and well-being of young people and should deter them from buying cigarettes. We will also be checking retailers to make sure they are aware of the new requirements and are complying with them. Trading Standards Services can provide free advice and information to retailers to make sure that we are all doing our bit to prevent young people becoming smokers. Smoking is the single biggest cause of illness and death, killing 86,500 people in England annually. It also costs the NHS between £1.4 to £1.7 billion to treat smoking related illness. Someone who starts smoking at 15 is three times more likely to die from cancer due to smoking than someone who starts smoking in their mid 20s.'

Trading Standards Health Spokesman Iain Baddeley said, 'Trading Standards do a lot of education work with retailers to help them understand the problems of selling tobacco and other age restricted products to children. We have found that through test purchasing exercises, there are still a high number of retailers who persist in selling cigarettes to children aged 14 and under. Often they argue they find it hard to tell someone's age, which is why we tell them they must insist on seeing photo identification and to adopt the "Challenge 21" initiative that encourages retailers to seek proof of age from anybody who appears to be under the age of 21. We believe that raising the age limit to 18, combined with stronger penalties against shopkeepers who repeatedly make underage sales, would make it more difficult for young people to regularly get their hands on cigarettes.'

If retailers would like help in explaining what the new law will mean or they would like a free retail notice, they should contact their local trading standards office on 01432 261761.

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