Bridstow Primary School was bustling with activity on Friday evening as visitors flocked to their Christmas fair, where there was plenty going on - stalls selling a wide range of Christmas gifts. Well known children's author, Shoo Rayner was also at the fair, signing his books for the younger visitors.

Whilst looking for presents, visitors to the fair enjoyed a lovely performance of Christmas music by two of the school's pupils - Rachel Kennedy with the popular carol The Holly and the Ivy on the 'cello, and George Swattridge with a nice performance of Hark the Herald Angels Sing on alto sax.

More of this story can be watched in this week's WNTV News.

Father Christmas dropped in at Ross Victorian Arcade recently with Mrs Christmas and one of his helpers to check on the arrangements for his visits to Ross-on-Wye which will be starting soon.

He is looking forward to meeting lots of children and will be at the Ross Victorian Arcade on December 8th,15th, 22nd and 24th.

If you would like to come and see him, call in at the Victorian Arcade in Gloucester Road to find out more.

The cost will be £3 per child, which includes a small gift and all proceeds raised from the children meeting Santa will go to Macmillan Cancer Support.

The family of a man who died in a collision on the A49 near Hereford last week have described him as, 'the most kind and considerate person they have ever known'.

Peter Antonio McCutcheon, from Hereford, died on Thursday, November 29 when his Honda Civic car was in collision with a lorry on the A49 at Callow Hill. He was 26.

Born while his family was stationed in Germany, Peter moved back to England at an early age, first to Colchester and then to Hereford, where he was educated at St Francis Xavier Primary School and then St Mary’s High School. After leaving school, he took an apprenticeship as a builder before beginning work for racehorse trainer Venetia Williams as a groom, joining his father Peter who was the yard foreman. While there he also took training to become a jockey through the Prince’s Trust, having discovered a love for riding horses. After three years at the racing yard, Peter moved on to work alongside his father once more at EFM Construction in Hereford.

Continued . . .

In a statement, Peter’s family described him as a loving son, brother, grandson and nephew who would spend all of his time making sure all around him were okay. His loss is a source of deep sorrow to his family. His father Peter (Sr) said, 'Peter was the most kind, considerate and helpful person our family has ever known. As a father I was proud of my son in every way imaginable. He was and remains my best friend and a wonderful son. Nothing can remove him from my heart.'

Peter’s mother, Filomena McCutcheon, added, 'Peter was my rock, standing by me through good times and bad. He put himself in a position to always make my life as sweet as he possibly could. He is in my heart for ever more.'

Peter was elder brother to David, Suzanne and Joanne who describe him as the 'perfect big bro' and their best friend. 'Words can never express how much pain and sorrow our family is going through at this time,' they said. 'To us and the many other people who knew him, Peter was and still is a very special individual. He was the most caring, loving and thoughtful person we have known. He made friends wherever he was and we know he will be missed by many people. We could not have wished for a better brother and we will always be proud of him.'

For the past eight months, Peter had found happiness with his girlfriend Kayleigh Barnes and the pair were planning a long and happy future together. In her own statement, Kayleigh said, 'Nothing will ever describe this agonizing pain that we all feel. Peter was the most perfect person I had ever met, loving kind and gentle, always making sure that everyone was okay. None of us can imagine life without him. Peter was my life, my world, my everything.'

Final arrangements for Peter’s funeral are still being made - for further details please contact SA Evans Funeral Directors in Hereford on 01432 273736.

An appeal for witnesses following Peter's death

Police are appealing for witnesses to the collision on the A49 at the top of the Callow Hill near Hereford in which Peter McCutcheon died.

The collision happened at 7.10pm on Thursday, 29th November 29 and involved a black Honda Civic, Type R headed towards Ross-on-Wye and a Daf articulated lorry headed in the other direction. Both vehicles were extensively damaged and the road was blocked. All three emergency services attended the scene and road remained closed until around 3am with diversions put in place.

Peter, driver of the Honda car suffered serious head injuries and died at the scene. The lorry driver sustained shock but did not require any hospital treatment.

A post mortem was expected to take place today, as we go to press, with an inquest likely to be opened and adjourned by the Herefordshire Coroner later today.

Police would like to hear from anyone who may have witnessed the collision or saw the vehicles travelling along the A49 beforehand. Anyone with information should contact PC Paul Turner at Hereford Police Station quoting incident number 579-s of November 29.

A n urgent carnival appeal - can you help?

To a ll at Wyenot News,

Firstly, a big thank you for all of your help and publicity for the Carnival. We are very grateful for your help. We know you do a lot for the town and do not always receive any thanks for it.

Can we put out an appeal through Wyenot News for help with the Carnival? We desperately need some more committee members. Our Treasurer has called it a day and needs replacing as soon as possible as we are already taking bookings for next year and need cheques signed.

We have struggled for a while without a secretary and would love somebody to help. I use one fingered typing and it takes a very long while to write a letter.

If anyone is interested in helping to keep the town carnival going, please write to the Carnival Chairman at 11, Three Crosses Close, Ross-on-Wye, HR9 7EZ or telephone Mel on 07896 562403.

Thank you.

Mel Hodges

Greetings from The Netherlands

Just a few lines from Holland (yes your are read that far...) to let you know how wonderful I find your efforts serving the community of Ross with your written news, your beautiful photo's, and now WNTV!

We have been visiting the UK and Herefordshire in particular, for more than 33 years now (we were invited to spend our honeymoon in Kington in 1974 and travelled from The Netherlands with boat and trains, joined by a Kington plumber Ivor Williams who was a guest at our wedding. We spent our honeymoon in the B&B of Bill and Vera Jones.

We try to come to Herefordshire a few times a year and normally stay at King's Caple and do our shopping and dining in Ross . We read your news every week - keep up the good work!

Kind regards,

Rinus Jansen

Thank you, Rinus. It is nice to know that we have regular readers in The Netherlands and Tina and I are pleased to know you enjoy reading / viewing. It is always good when readers take the time and trouble to let us know who they are.

Although WNTV is not new to Wyenot News, Tina presenting it is, and last week's programme was a 'last minute' idea, rushed together very hurriedly. This week, we took a bit more time to think about it and so I hope that the programme looks a little more professional.

I am not sure at the moment whether we can make WNTV a weekly feature as preparing the footage and the programme is an extremely time consuming business but we certainly intend to 'have a go'. Personally, I enjoy TV filming far more than I do ordinary photography work - which I actually do not enjoy that much except when photographing wildlife.

Thank you for taking an interest and I hope you enjoy your next visit.

Alan

Are you looking for somewhere to enjoy a Christmas Meal with your family or for somewhere to hold your annual company Christmas Dinner?

Over the coming weeks, Wyenot News will be making menus from local restaurants available to view on-line or print.

Click the links below to view menus available so far in a separate window (close window when finished). Links are placed in order of when received. This article will be repeated with a different 'Winter' photo weekly until Christmas:

[White Lion Christmas Menu] *** [Orles Barn Christmas Menu] *** [Royal Lodge Symonds Yat East]

[The Royal Hotel, Ross-on-Wye] *** [Nature's Choice] *** [The Hope & Anchor] *** [The Prince of Wales]

[The Old Court]

If you advertise with Wyenot.com and would like your restaurant's Christmas menu available to view on-line here, please post a copy to: Wyenot News, 1, Hillview Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. HR9 7EY.

This is a free service - available ONLY to restaurants / pub owners who currently
support 'Wyenot News' by advertising!
(I have had others who do not support Wyenot sending in their Christmas menus. I am sorry but . . . )

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.