I realize that this article should be placed on the 'News from around Herefordshire' page but I have put it up front because, although I don't know who he is, I feel this man is very familiar looking. This is possibly because I see thousands of local people in my news reporting role - most of whom I have a hard job placing if met the next day out of context. He is probably just one of those people with many look-alikes but you never know . . . maybe one of the Ross 'Wyenot News' readers might recognize him.

Police have released images of a man involved with an attempted robbery of a bank in Ledbury on Tuesday, 4th March. The images, taken from CCTV cameras were captured following the attempted robbery at the HSBC bank in Ledbury High Street.

At around 3.10pm a man walked into the branch and demanded money from the cashier. He was carrying what appeared to be a handgun, although this was not discharged and no-one was hurt. No money was handed over and the man left after a short time empty-handed.

The images were captured as the man left the bank and police are appealing for anyone who saw the offender leaving the area, or has information about his identity to come forward.

Detective Inspector Rich Rees, who is leading the investigation, said, 'We know that the town centre was relatively busy at the time of the attempted robbery and that the offender must have passed by people as he left the area. He would have made quite a distinctive sight as he made his way through the town and we would like to speak to anyone who saw this man that day or recognizes him from the images and description.'

The man is described white, aged in his mid to late 20s and of slim build. He was average height and had distinctive dark blonde or brown hair which may have been a wig as well as a black goatee-type beard which also may have been false or drawn on. He was wearing blue jeans and a dark coloured sports type jacket and Nike trainers.

He is known to have walked down Church Lane on his way to the bank and used the same route as he left the area. It is not known where he was headed after he reached the top of Church Lane however.

Police in South Worcestershire are investigating a similar robbery at a branch of Barclay's Bank in Worcester on Wednesday, 5th March. In that instance a similarly described man produced a small handgun at the Malvern Road branch in St John's and demanded money, leaving after a few minutes with a quantity of cash. A female cashier was treated at hospital for shock but there were no serious injuries.

'Clearly there are similarities in the two incidents and we are working closely with our colleagues on South Worcestershire Division on a number of lines of enquiry. However, we still retain an open mind as to whether the two offences are linked,' added Det Insp Rees.

Anybody with information about the man should contact Hereford CID on 08457 444888 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Were you the customer in the bank at the time of an attempted robbery?

Police investigating the robbery are trying to trace a female customer who was in the branch at the time. Detective Inspector Rich Rees, who is leading the investigation, said, 'We have so far been unable to trace this customer but it is clear she was in the bank for at least part of the time that the offender was there. The woman may not have even been aware that the robbery attempt was happening at the time, but we are keen to talk to her as she may have additional information which could help identify the offender.'

The village of Kempley and its surrounding countryside is beautiful to visit at this time of year, and particularly this weekend, when the wild daffodils - which are much prettier than the cultivated variety - will be at their best.

Six guided walks will be taking place to show how local people and countryside Agencies are protecting these important British habitats, the woodland, road verges and meadow including a 30 minute, easy, family Forestry Commission Trail. There will be 'Daff'n'Ride' disabled access bus tours of the area, an exhibition in St. Edward's Church and the English Heritage 12 century Church of St Mary's - and all with a nice cup of tea, home-made cake and plant and produce stall.

You also get to see this kind of spectacle on the walk . . . the fibreglass ewe.

A fantastic fund-raising event took place at the Prince of Wales on Saturday evening to raise money for M.E. The event was organized by Alan Meek whose daughter suffered from M.E from the age of twelve. She is now 16. For years the GMC refused to recognize M.E as a bone fide illness, however, it is now more widely recognized and lots of expensive research needs to be carried out to help sufferers of this condition.

To help raise money towards this cause, Alan is busy trying to raise the necessary funds to take part in this year's London Marathon and Saturday's event went a long way to helping him in his endeavour.

For a mere £10 entrance fee, those who attended were treated to a great performance by Controversial Minds, a young local band with loads of talent. They went down extremely well with the crowds. There was some great food laid on, followed by a fantastic performance by Johnny Cool and the Jiveoholics.

Everybody was having a brilliant time You can see some of the event in this week's WNTV News programme.

Jagged hands provided the entertainment at the Prince of Wales on Saturday. Kev and Mike play a great range of covers and include a good electric Irish folk selection in their set. I'm sorry we couldn't hang around on Saturday guys, we were up to our eyes in work, but we look forward to seeing you at the Prince of Wales again very soon.

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

John Kyrle music teacher, Deb Blake presented a check for £800 to Macmillan Patron, Joyce Thomas MBE on Friday. The money, which will go towards the new Charles Renton unit for Herefordshire cancer sufferers was raised during the school's production of Handel's Messiah, which took place in December.

In the picture Jess Baily, Hannah Bird, Mark Alston, Olivia Bell, Georgia Gooch, Daniel Mace and Josh Bengough-Smith from the Messiah production can be seen with Deb Blake and Joyce Thomas during the presentation.

December House in Ross-on-Wye

Sir,

Following my appeal about information on December House in Copse Cross Street, I would like to thank everyone who gave information which I could pass on to my researcher. The information received was very informative and your readers may like to read some of it for themselves (in no particular date order). More often than not research information that comes through pleas such as this gets forgotten and it is nice to share it with so many people who have shown an interest. . .

• It was Somerville Nursing Home in 1946/1947. A maternity nursing home, many people called in to say they had relatives who had been confined there or they themselves had been born there. Dr Jones Roberts seems to have been the main doctor for confinements at this time.
• It was called Ivy House at one time. During World War II the army billeted different regiments there - including the Americans. It seems one person was shot and killed there but this was kept very quiet - but there may be some information in past Ross Gazettes.
• During or after the war it was used as a children's home. Run by the County Council.
• Its last use before it became December House it was a Magistrates Court. Many people remember it as that whether as a police official or as someone who was sent there before the bench. The board for the court with the Magistrates Crest is now in the Heritage Centre itself. Local artist Mr Milligan of the Man of Ross Inn painted it.
• There is quite a good account of it as the Magistrates Court in the book 'Herefordshire Magistrates' available at Ross Library.
• At one time it was called Copse House and there is allegedly a tunnel running from there to the churchyard from this time - this however cannot now be proved unless anyone can come forward as having seen the tunnel.
• As Ivy House in the 1930's it is believed to have been empty. No information goes back further than this.
• After the war it was used in turn as a registrars office, temporary police station after what had been known as the old rectory was demolished before the new station was built in Old Maid's Walk, and some people remember going there to collect their National Insurance papers when they started working.
• When it was used by the American soldiers, one person remembers as a small boy going to what he recalls as Copse House and getting extra sweets - quite a coup in the days of rationing.
• Between 1968 and 1970 one floor was occupied by the headmaster and secretary of Ross Primary School when it was evacuated during the Easter holidays when the building in Cantilupe Road was found to be unsafe. The school later became Ashfield Park, with the main school being demolished and the library being built on the site. If anyone does have other memories they are more than welcome to drop them in to add to the file - particularly those for pre-war. Someone called in to say they thought it was originally Chepstow House. This was in fact where the Rosswyn is now and when the dispensary and clinic moved to Old Maid's Walk, the name of the house was taken with it.

Thank you all.

Mary Sinclair Powell

The state of the police force in Ross On Wye.

Dear Alan,

Is it any wonder the police are so ineffectual in this town when they are to busy chasing parking issues? Here’s my point in example

During the summer holidays my sons being 9 and 10 at that time were threatened and chased by a large group of much older boys wielding knifes. They only managed to escape them by running into the Hope and Anchor pub and asking the landlord for help, which I am most happy to say he did.

Despite the fact that these youths are known to the police, have they been questioned? No, indeed it took the police 5 months for them to arrange an interview for my boys in their dedicated child video unit and building with their dedicated staff in Hereford.

What has happened since?Well, not much from the police but more from the same bunch of youths. This time fortunately there were no knifes involved, but still my boys and two others got battered and bruised with sticks and stones.

This time, after recounting the experience we had last time and the time it took with the parents of the other two boys, we managed to get an interview scheduled in 3 weeks time only to have it cancelled one hour before, just as we are picking the kids up from school to take them there. They were eventually interviewed the old fashion way at the local police station but nothing has been done about it and never will.

The police have admitted knowing who these boys are. It’s basically too much work for them. They would rather fill their quotas elsewhere, which brings me to the second part of the example.

This evening I was given a fine by the police for calling the traffic warden a bastard last Thursday, (mighty quick when it’s easy, aren’t they?) as this is supposed to be an offence on the grounds that bastard is a swear word. Now the last time I looked in the English Dictionary, the word bastard was in it with a given meaning of A bastard is an illegitimate child, and the word is also used as a derogatory term for an unpleasant person. Which I believe he is, as I had been painting the doors to my house which were still wet and obviously couldn’t be closed with a paint brush in one hand and a pot of paint in the other and the inevitable splashes of paint all over my clothes and this warden unless I moved it immediately was going ticket my car, meaning another 60 quid ticket or move the car and leave all the doors to the house open. I chose the latter. I’ve had so many whilst re-building the house after the fire 2 years ago. Incidently, after having been dragged to the police station for my statement I learnt an interesting fact. The parking in Wye Street, being on a 4 hour limit is supposed to be checked at the 2 hour mark. It isn’t. I can categorically state this as I have spent the best part of the last 4 years building and then rebuilding this house and I’ve seen them go up the road in the morning and 4 and ½ hours later come back again.

I’m not sure if this is illegal or corrupt and whether or not the police are supporting these practices but it sure seems that way to me at the moment. So, what's another 80 quid? That’s nothing to what this place has cost me. Perhaps I’ll buy the local police station a dictionary as well. They obviously need one.

Nic.

NOTICE is hereby given that a meeting of the
AMENITIES COMMITTEE will be held on
Wednesday, 19 March 2008 at 7.00pm in the Corn Exchange.

Discussion items are detailed below and
members of the public are welcome to attend

AGENDA

.

• APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
  To receive and accept any apologies for absence
• DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
  To receive any members' declarations of interests on agenda items
• MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
  To receive and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 4 January 2008
  (Circulated with Full Council papers)
• MATTERS ARISING FROM THOSE MINUTES NOT FORMING
  AN AGENDA ITEM
  
• BUDGET REPORT
• TUDORVILLE CEMETERY
• TUDORVILLE ALLOTMENTS
• DEANHILL PARK
• ST. MARY'S CHURCHYARD
• BANDSTAND
• SKATEBOARD PARK
  
• STREET CLEANSING
• CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
• WEATHER STATION
• CORRESPONDENCE
• ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA

Signed

Town Clerk

Members of the Southern Area Planning Subcommittee are to have a site visit before making a decision on plans for alterations and refurbishment to a retail unit at 27 Brookend Street, Ross-on-Wye and the erection of nine apartments. The site visit was agreed at their meeting on Wednesday, 5th March.

The site is located in the Ross-on-Wye conservation area, the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the central shopping area as shown in the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan 2007.

This scheme proposes the demolition of the nursery and shop units and replacing them with a terrace of nine apartments. The café shop front is to be replaced by a Victorian style shop front. It will be a car free development with storage provided for 13 bicycles.

Ross Town Council was concerned over the lack of provision for parking and wanted affordable housing included.

A petition with 12 signatures from the residents of Wallace Court, Station Street, Ross-on-Wye was received objecting to the application. They felt the scheme was over development of the site and were concerned over the access and exit from the site.

The site is located in a flood risk area but the application came with a flood risk assessment which the Environment Agency considers acceptable subject to conditions.

Ross-in-Bloom would like to remind gardeners that the colours for 2008 are all the flame colours - reds, yellows and oranges.

Margaret Lucas, Chairman, said, 'These colours will give the town a real boost and a splash of colour throughout the whole of the summer. We are hoping to have one basket or bed - one colour again this year. Not only do they give a huge impact, the Heart of England in Bloom judges love to see this. I would like to encourage everybody to join in this year, after the doom and gloom of last years very wet summer. The town needs to have a boost and this is the one way we can achieve it. A colour scheme such as this also gives the town a uniqueness for visitors to remember where they have been for their holidays and day trips - away from the sameness of all other towns'.

It is hoped the judges will be able to return to the town in July as usual - not just to visit. The local judging will be taking place as usual this year during June, July and August. All roads, streets and cul-de-sacs will be visited as usual with three visits being made to determine winners for the season.

Ross-in-Bloom are looking for people with cars who will be able to help with these visits. Please contact Mary or Margaret (Lucas Motorcycles) if you would like to offer your services and to get full details. This takes up a tremendous amount of time for one person and Mary finds now that the competitions are getting bigger and better, she needs more help if she is to be able to continue for the years to come. Volunteers will be trained this year to work for next.

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