Children from Bridstow Primary School Garden Club had great fun growing, harvesting and eating their produce grown in the school garden, especially the fresh carrots. Some of the vegetables were taken to the harvest service held at Bridstow Church.

This is the first year the garden club have grown vegetables in their new school garden, which was made possible with help from many local companies including Gambers and Walford Timber. The school plan to increase the garden area, making two more raised beds.

Produce from this years harvest was sold to the staff and parents at the school. This money will be used in the spring to purchase seeds etc., so hopefully making the garden club self sustaining.

The school also has a wonderful wildlife area which has been supported by Ross Feeds and The Garden Store. The garden club are now busy planting up the containers at the school for winter colour and planting up baskets ready to sell on their stall at the schools Christmas fair on 30th November.

There were no sparks from fireworks on Monday 5th November but plenty of sparks from skipping ropes as children from Whitchurch School held a sponsored skip. Money was raised for the British Heart Foundation and school funds. A grand total of £650 was pledged.

Earlier in the term the school celebrated Harvest in St. Dubricius Church, where a collection of £131.00 was added to money raised earlier in the year for their link school St Mulumba in Uganda.

The School choir is in great demand for functions over the Christmas period and have now been invited to sing at the forthcoming opening of the new Children's Centre in Ross-on-Wye.

Preparations are well under way for Christmas and the school would like to welcome you to 'Carols around the Christmas Tree' and Christmas Fete at 5:30 pm on on Friday, 14th December.

Continued . . .

The unique building below is undoubtedly the star of Whitchurch School's regeneration project for the school grounds. It was designed and built by local company 'The Garden Escape' and is made of cedar wood around a curved steel frame provided by A. J Lowther. It is topped off with a stunning "living roof" of sedum grass edged with a copper band.

The shelter provides an exceptional outdoor learning environment, and a quiet area for chess or reading, whilst also providing a focal point for parents.

Whitchurch School would like to thank 'The Garden Escape', Andrew Nixon ( ANOB) and Linda Sinker (TP advisor) who have provided substantial funding for the project. For a prospectus or to arrange a visit please ring 01600 890751.

Due to the importance of finding Kate, this article has been added to every page of this week's news, after the initial publication date, in order to give the matter maximum exposure.

Police are growing increasingly concerned for the welfare of missing Forest of Dean woman Kathleen Prout.

The 55-year-old, known as Kate, has not been seen since she left her home address in Redmarley on Monday, 5th November.

Mrs Prout is white, 5ft 6 tall and of medium build. Described as having a pale complexion, she has blue eyes and red, shoulder-length straight hair. She was wearing jeans and a black v-neck top when she was last seen.

Members of the public are being urged to assist in the search for Kate by reporting any sightings of her straightaway.

If you think you may have seen her, please contact Gloucestershire Constabulary on 0845 090 1234, quoting incident number 229 of 10th November.

Girls from five of the county's secondary schools were put through their paces this week at a special day with Britain's number one downhill mountain biker, Tracy Moseley at a PGL Outdoor Activity Centre, Ross on Wye. The aim was to encourage 14 and 15 year old girls who don't currently get involved in any kind of sport to have a go at some alternative activities and develop a plan to get girls active in their own schools.

In spite of many initiatives aimed at encouraging healthy, active lifestyles, there is a 25 per cent dip in the number of girls participating in physical education and school sport when they reach the age of 14. To try and change this and encourage more girls to get involved in physical education and sport, Dame Kelly Holmes is piloting a Girls Active programme on behalf of the Youth Sport Trust and Norwich Union. Herefordshire has been unable to join this national programme because the county's average participation rates are too high, in spite of the dip with 14 year old girls.

As a result Colleen Mullarkey, representing the Whitecross Schools Sports Partnership decided to adapt the national programme to suit local circumstances. Girls from St Mary's RC High School, John Masefield High School, Aylestone High School, Kingstone High School and Whitecross Sports College signed up to attend a Girls Active day at PGL, Court Farm. Each school was invited to nominate eight girls; a mixture of those who were already actively involved in sports and those who weren't.

The day was supported by the Youth Sport Trust, Sporting Champions and the Big Lottery, with HALO Leisure, PGL and Dance Fest providing a range of activities which included body balance, combat, abseiling, zip wire and dance.

Tracy spent time with all the girls, helping them handle their fears and encouraging them to have a go at trying some of the more challenging activities. While the girls were getting active, the teachers who attended with them were briefed on how the girls could use the day to bring about changes in their own school.

Colleen Mullarkey, Partnership Development Manager of Whitecross school sports partnership, said, 'It was a great day and the girls were absolutely fantastic. It was really difficult for many of them to participate at first - they felt self-conscious and lacked the confidence to have a go. But with help from Tracy and the rest of the team, they participated in all the activities. The girls will now become Girls Active champions for their schools. They have to work with their friends to find out why they don't participate in activities at the moment so that the school can try to change this. For example, traditional sports don't suit everyone and schools might want to consider offering alternative activities to encourage participation.'

The action plans put together by the girls will be monitored by their schools and the Whitecross Schools Sport Partnership to see if the scheme has been successful.

Ross Shopmobility is planning a number of visits to local residential homes to explain the services on offer and to demonstrate the motor scooters available. Residents will have the opportunity to meet members of the Shopmobility team, ask questions about the service and try out some of the scooters and for themselves.

As well as daily short term loans, it may be possible to deliver vehicles for longer loan periods to anyone who may not be able to access the Shopmobility premises.

Shopmobility is located in the Scout and Guide Headquarters, in Red Meadow car park, along side the Ross swimming pool and operates Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00 am until 4.00pm.

EnviroAbility, the local charity that manages Ross Shopmobility, hopes that these visits will extend the opportunities and benefits provided by the scheme to more groups in the local area.

Ross Shopmobility can be contacted by telephone on 01989 763388 or by e mail at shopmobility@btconnect.com. Victoria or Ivan will pleased to answer your call.

After taking the first half to find their feet, Ross upped the tempo in the second half and left Bishopston in their wake as they cruised to a 31-13 victory in the Gloucester Division 1 fixture.

Both teams had lost the previous week and it showed, as both Ross and Bishopston were very tentative in the early exchanges. There were too many errors and neither team were able to establish a platform. However, after fifteen minutes it was Bishopston who came to life. They secured quality lineout ball 35 metres out and moved the ball quickly left. Their No 13 got over the gainline before offloading to the fullback. A try saving tackle by Chay Brine saved a certain try, but quick recycled ball saw the prop crash over. This was converted to put Bishopston 7-0 up.

Ross responded almost immediately. Good work from Ashley Nelms and Matt Jones set up quick ball. Chay Brine fed Adam Clements. He offloaded back to Chay, whose inside pass with the try line begging, fell just short of Huw Bellamy. However, this ushered in a period of territory and possession for Ross and as the front row began to dominate the scrums, Ross opened their account.

A dominant scrum 10 yards out was secured. Captain, Tim Hanks broke off the back, popping the ball to scrum half Simon Gwynne. He drew the opposition 10 before popping the ball to Chay Brine who coasted over to score under the posts. Chris Gage converted to put Ross level 7-7.

Ross continued to dominate the forward exchanges and after some strong work from Dave Mince and Matt Redman, fellow prop Wayne Williams crashed through the defence to score. Chris Gage again converted giving Ross a 14-7 lead. With half-time approaching, indiscipline in the Ross ranks gave Bishopston an easy penalty to leave the half time score at 14-10.

The second half saw Ross continue to dominate the proceedings and from another dominant scrum, Ross increased their lead. Once again Ross attacked the blind side from a scrum. Tim Hanks fed Simon Gwynne who put Chris Gage through a gap. He drew his defender and popped the ball to Wayne Bishop. Wayne moved the ball back inside to Simon Gwynne, who raced the final 25 yards to score, putting Ross 19-10 up.

Once again, Ross indiscipline led to a Bishopston penalty and with 20 minutes remaining the score was 19-13. However, once again the Ross pack increased the tempo and Bishopston were not able to respond. Two further tries from Chay Brine and Gavin Oates sealed an excellent 31-13 victory.

The Seven Seas Fish Bar Ross man of the match was Dave Mince.

Ross take a break from league action next week, but are at home against Tewkesbury on Saturday 24th November. Kick off is at 2.30pm.

Ross-on-Wye Weather Station is located by the tennis courts and bowling green at 'Crossfields' and is one of the important stations around the country which regularly sends data to the Meteorological Office. This is why Ross-on-Wye is sometimes mentioned on the BBC weather reports. It is currently still a manually monitored station and readings are taken twice per day by husband and wife team, June and Rex Swallow.

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