Saturday's overnight temperature was minus four degrees centigrade (according to my thermometer) and, although I did not get out of bed particularly early on Sunday morning, I managed to catch these photos of the frosty riverbank when I dropped Tina at work. The daytime on Sunday, at 8 degrees, was beautiful and sunny and the frost on the riverside bushes thawed within 10 minutes of my taking the photos. Sunny, frosty mornings are my favourite kind.

There is a very short sequence of film of the frost, and a kingfisher I caught on this week's WNTV News programme.

This week's photo from Mike is of a yellow wagtail. Mike said, 'So you think your cold! No wag left in its tail as it has all gone to its foot. A Yellow wagtail on an icy Cannop ponds'.

A new policy on tackling bullying amongst children and young people is being launched by Herefordshire Council at an anti bullying conference on Friday, 22nd February. The conference takes place at the Chase Hotel, Ross on Wye from 9am to 3pm and is aimed at schools, police, social care teams, health services and others who work with children and young people

Keynote speaker is Michele Elliott, founder and executive director of Kidscape, a national charity established to prevent bullying and child abuse. Michele will address Herefordshire just two weeks after receiving an OBE for her services to children.

Students from Wyebridge Sports College will perform a short piece of drama they have developed and school representatives from the primary and secondary sector will talk about how they tackle bullying.

The new policy being launched is aimed at professionals working with children and young people in a number of settings including schools, nurseries and youth clubs. It raises awareness of different bullying issues, including cyber bullying, and provides advice on how to deal with them.

The local authority has been working with schools for some time to help them tackle bullying. A Herefordshire youth survey undertaken last year found that 24 percent of young people say they have been bullied in the last 12 months, most of them at school or college. Just over half of those bullied asked for help, mostly from a teacher, with 39 percent saying this resulted in the bulling stopping.

'Bullying creates misery and attacks lifestyles, health and personal development,' said Councillor Jenny Hyde, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People. 'It is the responsibility of all of us to make sure our children do not have to live in fear of others. 'Bullying is a problem nationally, but locally we need to understand what bullying is from a young person's perspective, and work together to tackle it.

I was saddened to learn that 24 percent of young people surveyed in the county said they had been bullied in the last 12 months, yet nearly half of them didn't ask for help. We need to change this by making sure adults working with children and young people understand how to tackle bullying and are able to give our young people the trust and confidence they need to approach adults for help.'

The new anti-bullying policy will be distributed to schools and organizations working with young people. It will also be available on the council's website www.herefordshire.gov.uk.

Locals in the Tudorville area of ross are celebrating today after Herefordshire planners announced that they had refused planning permission to convert the Vine Tree Inn into a residential development. The ground for refusal was that the pub continues to fulfil an important community function.

Herefordshire CAMRA supported a locals' campaign to save the 165-year old Walford Road pub, one of only two in Tudorville. Over 60 local people wrote objecting to the proposal, including a number of publicans. One letter, from the previous owners, explained that they had successfully traded at the Vine Tree for over 15 years, and they did not believe that it could not be viable again.

In a detailed report to planners, CAMRA provided evidence to suggest that it had not been marketed properly as a pub on the licensed property market - it had neither been marketed for anywhere near long enough nor at anything approaching a realistic asking price.

Mark Haslam of Herefordshire CAMRA states: 'It is great news for the pub-goers of Ross that this development scheme has been thwarted. However, it disturbs CAMRA that the truth was an early victim in this case: on the 17th January the owners went on record in the local press saying that they had no intention of closing the pub despite their application for conversion. This was totally at odds with what they had informed Herefordshire planners in documents supporting their application. Planners urgently sought clarification from them, and they were forced to concede in writing that their statement in the press was untrue. Perhaps this lie was intended to put off locals from objecting to this scheme? This is cynical stuff, but thankfully it has backfired on them.'

CAMRA believes the owners will shut the pub in the coming weeks. However, the campaign is not over - and CAMRA will support the locals in fighting any appeal that might be lodged.

The Ross Committee for Macmillan Cancer Support held its AGM at the Conservative Club on Monday 18th February. The chairman was delighted to report on an outstanding year of fund raising. The money raised was due to the incredible generosity of local residents together with donations from businesses and institutions. A total of £37,832.00 was sent to the Renton Appeal Fund.

The committee wanted its thanks to go to Wyenot News and the local press for their help in keeping the public informed of the appeal's progress. And also to The Conservative Club for providing a meeting room which means no charity money is spent on a venue for committee meetings.

The chairman hoped that local people would continue to give their support and she reminded the meeting that all the money raised locally remains in Herefordshire.

In the photograph below are: Marcia Gwynne, Joyce Thomas MBE-DL, Pauline McRae, Ron Davies, Peter Rowland, Gussie Stephens, Fay Lerego, Sandra Harnwell, Vicky Drake and Brian McRae.

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