Congratulations to Mike and Jane Pritchard and all of their staff at The Bridge at Wilton, for being voted Top Restaurant of the West Midlands. The Bridge scooped the gold award in the Taste of England category of the Tourism Awards 2007.

The Bridge at Wilton's restaurant had been assessed during the judging period by a series of 'Mystery Guests' and MIke and Jane realized that they were in the top three finalists when they were invited to attend the glittering awards ceremony for the West Midlands finals of the Excellence in Tourism Awards, which were held in the sumptuous surroundings of Birmingham Town Hall on Tuesday, 23rd October.

When asked how they felt about their award, Mike said, 'It was a real honour to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award. To win is huge recognition for our whole team. Everyone at the Bridge is working for the same goal and I truly believe that our restaurant¹s success is what this area needs.'

Continued . . .

The judges were very enthusiastic and said, 'We were bowled over by your restaurant and the food. The attention to detail was very good, you even went as far as cutting flowers from the garden that evening to put on the dining tables.'

At the ceremony, ITV's Sarah-Jane Mee emphasized the local focus of The Bridge, highlighting the judges tributes. 'The restaurant provides a Herefordshire menu with innovative and challenging recipes. The ethos is based on local. The Bridge has also won Flavours of Hereford for the last two years. Staff have a good knowledge of the area and local produce.'

Jane Lewis, Cultural Services Manager for Herefordshire Council, said, 'We are delighted for The Bridge. This is fantastic for them and the growing importance of Herefordshire produce, helping to put our area, and Ross-on-Wye in particular, on the map.'

The Excellence in Tourism Awards 2007 were organized by Tourism West Midlands. There are Gold, Silver and Highly Commended, winners. As the Gold winner, The Bridge automatically goes forward to represent the West Midlands region in the national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, which are being held in Liverpool, in April 2008. We wish them every success.

On top of all this excitement, The Bridge has also won an award for Outstanding Achievement in the Flavours of Herefordshire' awards.

Wyenot News is very sad to announce the untimely death of Mike Davies, a well known and much loved local triker who lived at Bridstow. Mike was very recently diagnosed as having lung cancer after visiting the doctor with a persistent headache, but otherwise displaying no symptoms. Just over four weeks later, Mike passed away peacefully at St. Michael's Hospice on Sunday, 28th October, aged 47.

Mike's wife, Theresa telephoned us on Tuesday to break the sad news. We could not believe it. Just a few weeks ago the couple had waved to us as they rode down Broad Street on their trike as they often did, rain or shine. The couple had been married for 25 years. Mike had many passions in his life, including car rallies and gardening but especially his trike, which is the mode of transport he has chosen to take him on his final journey.

Mike was a big man, with a big heart to match. He and Theresa and other members of the South West Trikers and Bikers organized rallies to help raise money to help small charities, in particular this year a boy they met called Jordan, who suffers from Proteus Syndrome. Jordan, who lives in Bexhill-on-Sea made a huge impact on Mike with his courage in dealing with his illness. I went to their rally at Symonds Yat in 2005 and Tina came with me to the 2006 event. We had a great time and were made to feel very welcome.

Mike had been known as being a 'bit of a rogue' in his time, but would always help people out when he could. For instance, Theresa told us of a time when Mike came across a family whose vehicle had broken down due to having too much oil in it and no petrol. The Mother-in-Law was giving the man some grief about this as they were on their way to a wedding in Leeds. Mike felt sorry for him and sorted out the oil problem, then drove to a garage to fetch petrol. The family tried to offer him some kind of reward, but Mike simply said, 'Nah. Just F--- off and enjoy your wedding.' Then continued on his way.

Continued . . .

We met Mike a few times and liked him a lot. He was a larger than life character with a big heart. Upon learning that he had only a short time left, Mike made all of his funeral arrangements, down to the last detail. He asked a friend to make him a coffin to be transported on his trike. There will be a procession of bikes and trikes to escort him on his journey this coming Friday, 2nd November to the Yew Tree at Cinderford where his funeral will take place at 3pm. All who knew Mike are welcome to attend. Please don't bring flowers. Mike wishes for donations to be made to their appeal for Jordan who one day wants to have a trike just like Mike's.

Mike will be missed very much by all of his family and friends but in particular his wife, Kay, Darren, Jenny, Tricia, 'Pud' Ashley, and Mexi and his seven grandchildren..

Anybody who would like to attend Mike's funeral or would like to be part of the procession through to Cinderford is welcome to contact Theresa on 01989 564829.

This coming Saturday evening in Ross should definitely be a good one! The annual Ross Lions' Firework Display will be taking place at the Chase Hotel with the bonfire being lit at 7:00 pm and the firework display beginning at 7:30 PM All of the usual attractions will be there, including a pig roast and barbecue and light sticks will be available so why not bring the family along for a great night out whilst supporting Ross Lions? (Please do not bring any sparklers.)

If, like me, you like Pink Floyd, after the fireworks, local band, 'Totem Pole' will be performing in the function room at the Prince of Wales immediately afterwards and their set will include the whole of Floyd's, 'Dark Side of the Moon'.

Pink Floyd have been my all time favourite band since their first single in the late '60s with the late Syd Barrett, 'Arnold Layne' and I'm really looking forward to seeing Totem Pole's version of 'Dark Side' for the second time. Their performance at the bandstand last August was nothing short of brilliant! If you would like a preview of what is in store on Saturday at the Prince, I filmed the whole bandstand performance. Although my sound was picked up from on stage through the band's monitors, so it is not the best sound recording, it is worth watching and can be found on the 'WNTV Video' page of 'Wyenot News'.

That film shows Liam Lee Hynes on bass. Following Liam's successful audition to play professionally with Nicole Russo, which begins with a premier performance at the Camden Town Roundhouse soon, Ben Johnson will be taking his place on Saturday evening, joining Jack Baldus on Keyboards, Tony Johnson on drums, Crack Downs on sax and Tom Lee Hynes on guitar and lead vocals. Ben is also a brilliant bassist and will fit in with the rest of the band nicely.

Tina and I look forward to seeing you at one or both of these events.

The Ladies Skittle league in Ross was stunned by the sudden death of Dora Gwilliam, Captain of the Larks Skittles Team.

Dora has been Captain of our skittle team for well over 30 years, she actually started playing 47 years ago with her friend Ann Davies at the tender age of 17 (old enough to go into a pub, but not to drink!) at the Barrel in Ross with the Barrel Birds.

I myself have been playing skittles with Dora for over 40 years. She had a wonderful sense of fun and was always laughing and joking, she always sat ‘on the line’, and chivvied her team on with the words ‘now make it count’.

The Gwilliams were a skittles family and her husband Gordon played for Tudor United for many years until forced to give it up by illness, her daughter Suzanne played in our team The Larks until she had a family, and Dora’s son Steven plays for the Bowling Club.

Dora moved to Ross with her parents Mr & Mrs Brannan, her sister Val, and brother John. Her parents ran the Saracen’s Head Pub in High Street for many years - which is now the Chinese Herbal shop next to Pig’s Alley.

Dora will be remembered by many for the way she looked after and nursed her husband Gordon through Multiple Sclerosis and from her various jobs from working in Bryan & Sprakes, running Springfield stores for some years, working in the Maltings Bakery and recently as a Cook at Ross Court, a job I know she really enjoyed.

Dora is survived by her son Steven, daughter Suzanne, and her adored grandchildren, 'her boys', Louis, Ryan and Ben Dora was a well loved, liked and respected lady, and will be sadly missed by family, friends and all who knew her.

PAUL AND STEVE RANDELL
GENERAL BUILDERS

Extensions - Renovations - Brickwork
Stonework - Floor Laying - Roofing

Telephone Paul on 01989 564112
Mobile 07812 564112
Steve on 07971 535064

GLYN AND WAYNE WILLIAMS

FOR ALL YOUR PLUMBING NEEDS

Reasonable rates

Telephone: 01989 564041
Mobile: 07800 518353

The absolute deadline for Wyenot News stories and other items is 12:00, midday on Tuesday, for inclusion in the following day's edition.

PLEASE NOTE HOWEVER: This is an absolute deadline and not the time I am asking for articles to be sent in. Mondays and Tuesdays here at 'Wyenot News' are Hell with by far, the most events I cover occurring at the weekend. The photography that the public sees happening is only one tiny part of the whole picture (please excuse the pun) of running this weekly news publication and the bits of prep that people do not see, are actually the most time consuming part of getting the story out.

If at all possible, please send your story in as early as you can, rather than wait until the very last minute, so that I can have at least a fighting chance of getting to bed before 3:00 am every Tuesday and Wednesday morning after what has lately become two 18 hour working days on the trot.

Thank you very much for your understanding and help.

Alan

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