Police are growing increasingly concerned for the welfare of an 81-year old man from Much Marcle who has been missing since yesterday (Tuesday, 8th January ).

Roland Ivor Williams left his home in Glebe Orchard at around 11.20am to go for his daily walk to Hellens Manor House, but failed to return. His family reported him missing in the afternoon and police began a search of the local area yesterday evening. The search is continuing today, with the use of the police helicopter and police dog handlers.

Mr Williams is described as white, around 5ft 6ins tall and of stocky build. He has short grey hair and was wearing a flat cap, a green cord jacket, brown cord trousers, brown boots and a walking stick. He has a support bandage on his left wrist. Police are keen to hear of any sightings of Mr Williams, who is described as being in poor health. It is not believed he has any of his medication with him.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact West Mercia Police on 08457 444888 quoting incident number 388-s of 8th January.

Police can confirm that the body of a man has been discovered in a pond at Much Marcle. The discovery was made at around 10.30am this morning by officers involved in the search for missing 81-year-old local man, Roland Ivor Williams. The body was subsequently recovered from a pond in the grounds of a house by fire brigade officers.

Mr Williams’ family has been notified of the discovery, although at this stage it cannot be confirmed that the body is that of the missing 81-year-old until formal identification has taken place. Officers will continue to conduct enquiries at the scene and prepare a report on the death for the Herefordshire Coroner.

In last week's issue of Wyenot News we announced the death of former Mayor of Ross, Mike Jennings.

Mr. Jennings had been ill for some time and retired from Ross Town Council early last year on health grounds.

It appears that Mr. Jennings was a private person, but as a councillor he endeavoured to have play facilities provided for the children of Ross-on-Wye to enjoy.

Mr. Jennings was also a keen member of the Betzdorf Twinning Association, visiting Germany often and playing host to German guests. It has been said that he contributed much to the growth of the association

Mr. Jennings funeral will take place at St. Mary's Church, Ross at 12 noon on Thursday, 10th January. Ross-on-Wye Mayor, the Reverend Derek Bedford will officiate at the service and Councillor Phil Cutter will talk of Mr. Jenning's work as a town councillor.

Our thoughts are with his family at this time.

Local residents in the Tudorville area of Ross-on-Wye are among the first to benefit from a hi-tech system to beat the burglars. They are being issued with special SmartWater kits - a liquid forensic coding system which, when applied to an item of value, provides both a deterrent to criminals and a valuable aid to police officers.

Thanks to its unique numbering system, property marked with SmartWater has its own 'forensic fingerprint', which is even more individual and robust than DNA and can be analysed and identified down to a billionth part. SmartWater can be simply dabbed into the nooks and crannies of valuable items, marking the object with its unique forensic code. Warning labels are then displayed in the resident's windows and doors to let the criminals know their houses are protected.

The Herefordshire Community Policing Board and Herefordshire Housing have provided funding to enable SmartWater kits to be distributed residents in Churchill Place, Tudor Rise and Woodedge in Ross-on-Wye. It follows a number of the houses in the area being targeted by burglars in recent months - now the residents have an additional layer of security.

Continued . . .

Such is the power of SmartWater's technology, a criminal would have to remove every speck of the solution from a stolen item before they would be safe from prosecution - a virtually impossible task.

This risk of being caught and convicted if found with 'SmartWatered' property, often long after the incident, is in itself a very powerful deterrent. Many commercial premises are also now employing SmartWater as part of their security measures, with special systems to spray intruders with the colourless solution should a break-in occur. Allied to this, Herefordshire Division's brand new custody suite at Leominster Police Station is fitted with SmartWater detection equipment and everyone entering is automatically scanned for traces. Should a positive 'hit' be made, the place where the SmartWater originated from can quickly be traced - leaving criminals having to answer some tough questions.

Herefordshire Division's Commander, Chief Superintendent Mark Turner and Herefordshire Housing Chief Executive Peter Brown joined members of the Local Policing Team in distributing SmartWater kits to residents today, meeting them face to face to explain the benefits. 'We are delighted to be able to join forces with Herefordshire Housing to offer the residents in the Woodedge area with SmartWater kits today,' said Chief Supt. Turner. 'We know that SmartWater is an extremely effective deterrent to crime. While the overall levels of burglaries do remain low in Herefordshire, our aim has always been to reduce the numbers even further as any burglary is one too many. The increasing use of SmartWater is a key component in this countywide campaign and I would urge all householders to get their property securely marked.'

A total of 250 kits were distributed as part of the campaign in the Tudorville area, both to private houses and tenants in Herefordshire Housing accommodation. Police and Herefordshire Housing's Antisocial behaviour Officers and Housing Officers went door-to-door to offer advice on application techniques as well as providing demonstrations of how the system works. Herefordshire Housing Chief Executive Peter Brown said, 'We are keen to work with the Police to reduce crime and make homes safer for residents. Last year a number of our tenants' properties in Churchill Place, Ross, were burgled within the space of a week. We wanted to take preventative action and have been working closely with the Police to help provide our tenants with the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that their properties are protected. Issuing SmartWater kits provides an extra security measure for the home, and in view of the experiences at Churchill Place, we have today issued 99 kits to our tenants in the surrounding area.'

Further details of how to obtain SmartWater property marking kits are available from Local Policing Teams across Herefordshire. To find details of the Local Policing Team which covers your area, visit the Local Policing site at www.westmercia.police.uk. Simply input your postcode and full details, including contact telephone numbers and email addresses for your local officers will be displayed. SmartWater is supported across the whole West Mercia area and is being rolled across all divisions in the Force.

WYETOTS
Walford, Ross-on-Wye

Quality Childcare from birth to 11 years

Jo Gilmour Ofsted registered Childminder

Please call 01989 564173 or email jo@wyetots.co.uk for vacancies

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

Having spent most of the evening enjoying the wassail at Broome Farm, we were quite late arriving at the Prince of Wales on Saturday to watch brilliant local guitarist, Andy Margrett entertain. My camera was also cold after the wassail - hence the steamy top photograph.

Poor Andy had been suffering with the locally spreading lurgy on the evening, so it was a good job his friends were around to help. The evening turned into a kind of 'live karaoke' as Paul Randell, Jay and Tina helped him out with the vocals.

The performance for us proved to be a great end to what had been a fantastic Saturday evening and parts of both Jay's performance of 'Comfortably Numb' and Tina's performance of 'Summer of '69' can be seen in this week's WNTV News programme.

This coming Saturday the entertainment at the Prince of Wales will be provided by 'Silva'.

A planning application has been submitted to Herefordshire Council to convert the Vine Tree Inn on Walford Road into a private dwelling. If this is approved it will result in the permanent closure of the pub.

Local residents are being offered support by pub-campaigners CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), who are urgently investigating the circumstances, and have already stated that they have very grave misgivings about this proposal.

Mark Haslam of Herefordshire CAMRA states: 'It is clear that the Vine Tree plays an important role in the local community. The nearby Noah’s Ark doesn’t have the facilities nor the same atmosphere as the Vine Tree for many local people - it doesn’t do real ale or cider for a start. The next nearest viable pub for a lot of local people in Tudorville would be the Prince of Wales - almost a mile distant from the Vine Tree.

The Vine Tree has traded successfully under numerous landlords and landladies for around 170 years. It was previously run successfully by the Atherton family for 16 years, before they retired. It is the view of CAMRA that the pub should not be redeveloped due to one unsuccessful landlord and landlady. It deserves another chance to serve its community.

CAMRA further believes that it is the potential that is important here – what the pub can do, as much as what it is doing currently. We are aware of the problematic business situation the current owners are in, and it is obvious that the Vine Tree is crying out for some TLC and a little investment. Unfortunately, the current owners appear are not be in a position to do this, so we suggest that it should be sold to others who can.

The pub has only been on the market since August, 2007 and only with a small Derbyshire-based selling agent. More effort needs to be made to sell it as a pub before it becomes just another residential development opportunity.

CAMRA has no wish to make the current owners operate a business they have no wish to, but equally we have no wish to see a good pub lost – one that serves a growing community – for the sake of proper marketing.'

If you want to save the Vine Tree Inn as a pub, then you now need to express your views to the planning office in Hereford. Either write to: Planning Services, Herefordshire Council, PO Box 230, HEREFORD HR1 2ZB or alternatively e-mail your views to: dwthomas@herefordshire.gov.uk no later than the 18th January, 2008. Please quote planning reference number DCSE2007/3862 in any correspondence. The decision is likely to be made by the end of January.

Some of the elderly citizens of Ross have been treated to quite a few meals over the Christmas period, courtesy of Ross Rotary Club, the WRVS, and Ross Lions Club. The aim of these meals at this time of year is to give the people a chance to socialize with others, whilst enjoying a really good, hot dinner. The New Life Church in Ross hold a similar dinner each year, but decided that this time they would hold it after the season's celebrations had died down.

Many people turned up to enjoy the lunch, including Mrs. Mabel Blackwell who is 103 years old. Able Mabel, as she is affectionately known, will be 104 next month and leads a very full life. Tina asked what Mabel thought her secret of longevity is. 'Moderation in everything,' came the reply. After a brief chat with Mabel, 5 year old Ruth and one of the church's leaders, John Gasston, we were invited to stay and enjoy some lunch too. Thank you all for that. It was very good of you and we enjoyed it. Mabel can be seen in this week's WNTV News programme.

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