There seems to be a little bit more going on in Ross this week. On Thursday evening an 'Open Art Surgery' will be taking place at Nature's Choice restaurant in Broad Street from 7:30pm. The event is being organized by Nik Thiessen and is open to anybody who would like to go along and play some acoustic music, read out poetry, tell a story or simply go along and watch the proceedings. Entrance is £3.

At The Millennium Hall, Upton Bishop on Saturday evening, The Penyard Singers will be putting on 'Over HIll and Over Dale' a concert of songs inspired by William Shakespeare. The concert begins at 7:30pm.

Saturday evenings entertainment at The Prince of Wales will be provided by brilliant guitarist and friend Will Killeen. We are really looking forward to this one. Will's performance will start at 9pm. Hope to see you there.

If you are looking for something for the kids to do this weekend, why not book them a place on 'Wild Inspiration,' a free family activity day which is being organized by Wildplay. The event will take place between 2pm and 4pm at White Rocks, The Doward Nature Reserve. The activities, designed for children aged between 5 and 12 years include: Look Closer at Bugs and Beasties and Create a Creature. Children must be accompanied by an adult. If you would like to take your child or children along, be sure to book in advance by telephoning Jo Polack on 01432 356872 or by email at: wildplay@herefordshirewt.co.uk.

On Monday, 15th October, Ross Library is hosting 'Heartstart' an introduction into life saving techniques, by Jeremy Beavan. The session runs between 9:30 and 11:30am. For further information on this event, please contact Jeremy on 07792 881072.

That just about wraps it up for this week. In next week's issue find out where to go and watch The Zebras playing their brilliant range of cover songs.

Have a good week!

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Ross-in-Bloom held its Annual Presentation Evening on Sunday last at the Phoenix Theatre. Nearly 60 winners with their guests, together with Ross-in-Bloom members and others who had helped to achieve Silver Gilt in the Heart of England in Bloom competition, spent a very enjoyable evening remembering what a mixed year this one had been.

Margaret Lucas, Chairman of Ross-in-Bloom, opened the evening by welcoming everyone before she handed over the reigns to Mary Sinclair Powell. Mary then outlined what had happened during the year. With the weather being so bad she had stopped and restarted judging many times, but finally managed to get her team of judges up and running. However, final judging was still taking place up to the beginning of last week. This year over 800 awards have been given out across the 26 categories of judging, some of which have already been published.

Continued . . .

Some of the guests on the evening were aware that they had received an award while others were surprised on the evening. Pictured above, the main surprise of the night was the major Community Spirit Award which was given to Peggy Luker this year. Jo Ashman of Halcyon Daze, who had recently emigrated to Australia, sponsored this award. However, she did not go without choosing the recipient herself and Mary read out the citation on her behalf.

Peggy has worked very hard for this town for many years - more than anyone would care to remember. Even though she has now retired from teaching she has worked tirelessly behind the scenes in many capacities, including the church, Merton House and St Michael's Hospice. She is also a regular judge for Ross-in-Bloom having been responsible for the co-ordination of the Retirement awards for the past 4 years. Peggy was Mayoress three times to Mary Dew's Mayorship and worked a lot with her on various projects.

Margaret Lucas presented the award on Jo's behalf. 'Peggy has done a lot for this town, very much as a bridesmaid but now she is the bride,' she said. 'It is an honour to present this award to such a stalwart and hard working member of the town. Ross could do with a lot more like her'.

Peggy was also presented with a bouquet of flowers from everybody as a thank you. Flowers were presented to Sue Parker who, as a member of the team, has done sterling work behind the scenes throughout the year and also as an early 'big' birthday gift. Peggy then thanked Margaret for all her hard work through the year with a bouquet of flowers.

Ross-in-Bloom is self-supporting and a raffle on the evening raised money to pay for the hire of the Phoenix Theatre. Ross-in-Bloom are very grateful that the Phoenix is able to provide them with a venue for this main event in their year. Anyone who was due to receive an award on the night but were unable to attend will be sent their certificates in the post.

The Ross in Bloom AGM will be held on Wednesday, 14th November. Everyone who would like to help next year is asked to come along with suggestions on how the town can win Gold for 2008. The AGM will take place in the Heritage Centre at 7pm for 7.30pm. The colour scheme for 2008 is all the flame colours - reds, yellows and oranges.

At a meeting of Ross Town Council on Monday evening, Councillor John Edwards gave a report on a meeting between the Finance and Administration Committee and Mr. Tony Featherstone, Herefordshire Council's official for sporting activities regarding the current state of Ross Sports Centre.

Issues regarding the Sports Centre have become a long running saga, but it was felt that the venue had deteriorated to such an extent that it was no longer 'fit for purpose.' A growing number of people consider it to be a disgrace; shabby, dirty, badly run and without sufficient changing rooms to provide proper facilities for the sports teams using the grounds. Instead of being a hive of activity to encourage sporting activities, it has now become a deterrent and many sports people have transferred to centres in neighbouring districts. Parents are also taking their children elsewhere to find decent training facilities.

In a lengthy presentation, Mr. Featherstone outlined the complicated structure of the grounds and sports centre which are owned by Herefordshire Council with leases to different clubs and an independent management company employed to run the actual centre itself. Mr. Featherstone made it clear that Herefordshire Council would encourage the running of the Sports Centre to be handed over to an independent body in Ross, provided that it was properly constituted and included representatives with status and management experience.

At the same time, Mr. Featherstone explained how the funding of the new all weather pitch at the John Kyrle High School had been obtained, including a substantial grant from the Persimmon Group who are managing the Tanyard Lane housing development as well as an additional grant from the government body who finance sports facilities. He noted that there were long term plans to develop more sporting activities on land adjoining the school.

Councillor Edward's said that in his opinion, the Committee should be empowered to arrange a meeting with representatives of all users of the Sports Centre, as well as other interested parties with Town Councillors to discuss the possibility of the formation of a Ross Sports Council. This would be an 'umbrella' organization that would be responsible for co-ordinating all of the town's sporting activities, including the management of the Sports Centre at Wilton. It was also his opinion that the development of facilities around John Kyrle High School should be open to all residents, as well as the school when these facilities have been financed by public funds.

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