Ross Live! is again bringing a concert to St Mary's on Palm Sunday, 16th March. This year we are departing from the Passion format, mainly because the Hereford Cathedral choir perform J S Bach's St John and St Matthew on the Tuesday of Holy Week in alternate years, and we performed two of the shorter not-by-J S Bach Passions in 2006 and 2007. So this year, we have chosen two Bach cantatas.

The first, Himmelskoenig sei willkommen (King of Heaven be welcome) was composed for Palm Sunday 1714 when Bach was at Weimar. The words, which are preceded by a short Sinfonia, are a devotional poem set into three choruses with tenor, bass and contralto arias. This is followed by the better-known Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ lay in the bonds of death) which was composed for Easter 1708. This piece again starts with a little Sinfonia, followed by seven verses including three choruses, and arias for soprano, contralto and tenor. A luscious violin obbligato interweaves with the tenor solo in Verse III.

The second half of the concert consists of the wonderful Stabat Mater by Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725). This is a setting of the 13th Century poem Stabat Mater dolorosa by which many composers, ranging from Palestrina to Poulenc have been inspired. It describes Christ's Mother grieving at the foot of the Cross. As with the better-known Pergolesi version which we performed in 2006, it has soprano and alto arias and duets. It is a haunting piece which is being sung by soprano Clementine Lovell and mezzo soprano Polly May. Clementine, whose parents live at Peterstow, gave a recital there last summer and is making her first

appearance for Ross Live!. Polly first came to Ross as a memorable Sorceress in our 2006 production of Dido and Aeneas and will be returning in August as Mrs Noye in Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde. She has made several appearances with Hereford Choral Society and was the contralto soloist in Ross Choral Society's Messiah in December 2006. Our soloists in the Bach cantatas are young singers from the Birmingham Conservatoire, William Helliwell tenor and Andrew Fellowes bass. The orchestra, consisting of strings, recorder, harpsichord and chamber organ will be the Musical and Amicable Society Baroque Orchestra directed from the harpsichord by Martin Perkins and the choir is the Ross-on-Wye Baroque Singers directed by David Backhouse.

Thanks to generous sponsorship by the Alan Cadbury Charitable Foundation, we are able to price all tickets at £12. All seats are unreserved and tickets are now on sale at The Tourist information Centre, Swan House, telephone 01989 562768 and at The County Collection, 1 Market Place telephone 01989 563883. As with all Ross Live! concerts, two schoolchildren of 16 and under are free accompanied by a ticket holder. Please note that the concert starts at 6.30pm and not the usual 7.30.

WYETOTS
Walford, Ross-on-Wye

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

PAUL AND STEVE RANDELL
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Ross Heritage Centre was packed with children on Tuesday, where a 'Make hearts for St. Valentine's Day' activity session was going on. Karen Meiklejohn of The Green Eyed Monster Company showed the children how to go about making some heart shapes from willow, which were then prettily decorated with all kinds of materials. The children all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and will probably return to the Heritage Centre again on Friday, where they will get the opportunity to make gifts for Mothers' Day.

The photographs below show just a couple of the many activities on offer in Symonds Yat East. This beautiful part of Herefordshire has much to offer those looking for a great day out or a nice long holiday. Why not take a relaxing trip along the River Wye aboard one of the Kingfisher Cruisers, or, if you prefer to stay really active, there is canoeing, abseiling, caving and rock climbing available with Wyedean Canoe and Adventure Centre.

Once you've worked up an appetite, why not call into Rose Cottage Tea Garden, the Royal Lodge or Saracen's Head Inn for some great food and drink? These also offer great accommodation for you and your family, along with the Garth Cottage and The Rock B & B, which is just up the road at Symonds Yat Rock.

Wyenot News visited Symonds Yat Rock last weekend in the hope of catching a glimpse of one of the Peregrine Falcons. Alas, it was not to be. However, we did catch sight of some deer and many wild birds flitting about.

We have visited Symonds Yat many times and you can see some film of a couple of our visits in this week's WNTV News programme.

Ross-on-Wye Town Plan Steering Group, also known as Rowtop recently invited Ross residents to put forward their views on how the town could be improved. They were particularly interested to heaer what teh young people of the town had to say. Stage one, 'Defining the Issues' is now complete and the emerging themes from the consultation which will form the basis for the next stage are as follows, although not in order of importance:

AFFORDABLE HOUSING - The need for more low cost housing in Ross.

TRANSPORT - The need for better parking facilities, improvements in public transport services and a look at how traffic congestion in the town could be eased. Better walking and cycling routes.

DISORDER - Anti-social behaviour, particularly vandalism and irresponsible driving. Policing.

THE APPEARANCE OF THE TOWN - The town centre and shops. The shabby or garish appearance of some of the shops. A review of signage. Too many charity shops and estate agents

LITTER, WASTE AND RECYCLING - The amount of litter in and around the town, dog mess, chewing gum. Requests for more recycling and longer opening hours at the refuse collection site.

LEISURE, SPORT AND SOCIAL FACILITIES - Facilities for young people, improvement of sports and leisure facilities. Facilities for migrant workers.

PLANNING - Not enough attention given to the infrastructure of the town when planning decisions for more housing are agreed.

TOURISM - How the town could be more welcoming to visitors, especially coaches visiting on Sundays when very few shops etc. are open

MORE EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE TOWN COUNCIL AND VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

FLOODING - Are all the flooding issues relevant to Ross being addressed?

AMENITIES - The improvement of toilet facilities in the town.

EMPLOYMENT - The need for greater employment opportunities in Ross.

STRUCTURE OF PARISH BOUNDARIES IN THE ROSS CONURBATION

SCHOOL PROVISION WITHIN THE TOWN

THE PROMOTION OF LOCAL, FAIRTRADE AND OTHER FORMS OF ETHICAL TRADING.

The next stage for the group is to suggest ways forward on these issues. They will be publishing an Options Report in June and consulting widely on this over the summer and autumn months. Make good use of the chance to make your views known

The final three schools responding to the Ross Lions offer to 'donate something to each school sending in a wish list' had their wishes granted recently. The schools were each visited by the Ross Lions' President, Lion Keith Wilding and the Community Services Chairman, Lion Mel Middlecote, and each was presented with the items they had requested.

On behalf of St Joseph's R.C. Primary School the Acting Head, Mrs B Davies, accepted a cheque for £400 to pay for an Oven/Grill and Hob plus 2 digital cameras. The presentation was made in front of the school children who showed their appreciation. Mrs Davies thanked the Lions for their generosity and said great use would be made of the equipment.

Headmaster, Mr S L Roberts B.A., of Walford County Primary School, gratefully accepted a cheque for £572.00, which was required to pay for 7 class sets of Stereo Radio Cassette Recorders and CD Players, along with six headphones per set. These were intended to mainly teach literacy skills but would be used throughout the curriculum. Mr Roberts invited the Lions to visit the school to share in one of the sessions where the equipment was used so that they could show their gratitude and acknowledge the generosity of the Ross Lions.

Finally the Lions visited Goodrich CE (VC) Primary School to present a cheque for £350. The Headteacher, Mr Tony Griffiths, accepting it said it was for the purchase of a special mini drum kit. The peripatetic percussion teacher has to work in the main hall during dinner time and this special drum kit allowed pupils to practice whilst other young pupils were able to eat in peace. Mr Griffiths thanked the Ross Lion President for his clubs very generous gift which would also allow additional percussion at the regular concerts etc. the Goodrich School takes pride in producing.

Ross Lions President, Lion Keith Wilding, said how much he had enjoyed visiting all seven schools and said one of the aims of the Lions was to help young people get the best out of life and it gave him great pleasure to hand over the money. He said the amount donated to all schools totalled over £3,000 and it was a very worthwhile cause.

Ross came up against a rejuvenated Bream outfit, fighting a relegation battle and came off second best in all aspects of the game last Saturday. The League table had indicated this was a game Ross could win, thus cementing their top five position in the league. However local derby matches rarely take account of league positions, and in this instance it was Bream who looked like a team pushing for promotion not fighting relegation.

From the kick off it was Bream who looked the more urgent side, both in defence and attack. They protected their ball in all phases of play and after an early attacking lineout, opened the scoring with a try in the corner. Soon after came an almost identical score and with Bream 12-0 ahead with less than ten minutes on the clock, it looked ominous for what up to then had been an off colour Ross fifteen. Somehow though, Ross did tighten up their defence and began to develop both territory and possession for the next twenty minutes. A score then could have put a different complexion on the game, however the Bream defence held firm and with the half coming to a close, Bream dealt the killer blow by scoring and converting another try leaving them 19-0 up at half time.

Ross did work hard in the second half, however they were never going to turn around a 19 point deficit. Bream added another two tries and a penalty and closed the game out, denying Ross any score at all. The disappointment was tangible in the Ross dressing after the game, with players and coaches knowing this was an opportunity missed.

Ross now need to pick themselves up in time for two home games on the 23rd against Brockworth and next Saturday, 16th against Southmead. Kick off is at 2:30pm.

The Walford timber man off the match was Andy Hunt, who tackled tirelessly in a losing cause.

On Saturday Ross seconds visited Ledbury 3rds at Ledbury with a thrilling 40 points to 7 victory.

There were two tries from Colin Dixon, and two each from Andy Bevan, Chris Price and Chris Davies. Craig Powell converted 5 times.

Once again there was an all round solid performances from Chris Price, Paul Hayward, Richard Russell, Tony Clements and Andy Lovering, with pivotal roles from Craig Powell and Gareth Holdsworth.

The Walford Timber man of the match was jointly awarded to Russell Walker and Mick Pollock for their hard works in defence and attack.

We would also like to mention first tries for the club from Chris Price and Chris Davies.

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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