Staff at Ross Library are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the library being on its current site and to help them to celebrate, best selling novelist, Phil Rickman agreed to go along on Friday evening to give a talk about his work.

Tina spoke to Mr. Rickman about his books. He has written eighteen of them so far, many of the stories being based in this area.

You can hear what he had to say in this week's WNTV News programme. Unfortunately, the photograph that was intended to go with this article, of Phil Rickman and Ross Library staff was accidentally deleted and we apologize for this.

John Kyrle High School sixth former, Alex Naylor returned to his former primary school at Goodrich on Friday to give a performance of 'Any Dream Will Do,' at Goodrich School's assembly.

The song is from the musical, Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat, which was recently staged at the John Kyrle High School. Alex was accompanied on clarinet by Jessica Saxon Macrostie. (Pictured left).

Also in the assembly, Goodrich School's netball team were presented with medals for winning the netball section of the local Inter-Schools Sports Tournament, which took place at Ashfield Park Primary School.

Goodrich beat Ashfield in the semi finals and Gorsley Goffs in the finals.

In the photograph below are the Goodrich School netball champions. They are:

Ellie Roper, Ellie Lancaster, Effie Seal, Becky Swithenbank, Kayah Worrall, Jack Whittaker (absent) and Rhys Owen.

In the subsequent photographs are Brampton Abbotts School football team, who came first in the sports tournament and their hockey team who came second.

Well done to you all.

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

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Thank you to Dennis Morgan for sending in this photograph asking for identification. Dennis wrote: 'Hi Alan, This photograph was taken at Hope & Anchor car park on 17th March 2008. As I am unable to find in my bird book, perhaps someone might be able to identify the species.'

I am glad you sent this one in, Dennis. I have two really good bird books but have not yet had chance to look it up as your picture arrived during the really busy news prep time. As you can see, there is a lot of news in this issue and we are currently seriously struggling to meet the deadline.

The reason I am glad is that I saw this bird myself, close up from my boat, late last year but, as usually happens, it hid as soon as I tried to point the camera at it. When I saw it, it was a little down stream from the Hope and on the opposite bank. Close up, it is nothing short of huge and I struggled when looking in the book to identify it. Although filming wildlife is my hobby - birds in particular, as with dogs - I am no expert on makes and models - I still have to look 'em up myself in most cases.

I hope that somebody can identify the bird so I can go straight to the right page in the book.

The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund (RWAF) raised concerns last week over the unsatisfactory hutches being sold by many high street pet retailers, alongside smaller pet stores, leading to pet rabbits living in cramped conditions. According to a recent RSPCA survey carried out in the South and South West, inspectors found that well over half of the rabbits they visited did not have adequate hutches, and 70% did not have access to a run. RWAF Welfare Executive, Jo Edgar said, 'We are appalled at these figures, especially in light of the Animal Welfare Act which came into being last year. The act states that all pet owners have a duty of care for their animals and yet these statistics clearly show that it is simply being ignored.'

The RWAF is calling for all manufacturers to build bigger hutches and recommend that hutches should be constructed no less than 6ft x 2ft x 2ft and should either be supplied with a run or regular access to an exercise area should be available.

Earlier this year, supermarket giant, Tesco, withdrew their starter hutches from sale from all branches due to pressure from RWAF members. RWAF Veterinary Executive, Judith Brown said, 'We simply couldn’t believe how tiny these hutches were. They were totally unsuitable for rabbits. Rabbits need exercise and lots of it. If you think of how they live in the wild, you will understand that they need plenty of space in which to run around. It is unacceptable to house a rabbit in a tiny hutch. We were delighted that Tesco acknowledged our concerns.'

Many of the RWAF members, including Patron, Ingrid Tarrant, have rabbits that live indoors with their owners just like dogs and cats. They can be housetrained and can make superb indoor companions. If you would like to know more, please visit the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund website: www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk. For further information about the Animal Welfare Bill, contact the RWAF: email: hq@rabbitwelfare.co.uk or telephone: 0870 046 5249.

Herefordshire motorists will face new parking systems as new regulations come into force on 31st March 2008. One of the major changes is the ability to issue lower penalties for less serious parking offences. As an example, a car parked in a goods vehicle only loading bay, which might mean an HGV having to double park to unload, will pay a higher penalty (£70) than someone who parks for longer than the permitted time (£50). There is no change to the existing discount period of 14 days during which the charge payable is reduced by 50 per cent. The Traffic Management Act 2004 also makes it clear that councils should not set targets for the number of tickets issued and that wheel clamping is only used against persistent offenders.

Councillor Brian Wilcox, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for highways and transportation, said, 'As we do not set targets for tickets issued or use wheel clamping, then we are already delivering what is seen as good practice. Under the new regulations, councils also have to make it clearer as to how a motorist can appeal but as we already include an information sheet with every Penalty Charge Notice issued so, again, we are already doing this'.

From 31st March, Herefordshire Council is also to publish its protocols which make up the authority's Parking Policy. These relate to enforcement on the streets and in car parks and how the council deals with appeals and representations. It will make it easier for the motorist to find out how to avoid getting a parking ticket and, if they do, then the way appeals are dealt with is clearly explained. These protocols will be on the website and available to read in all the INFO shops.

One major change that Herefordshire will be adopting is the ability to issue a Penalty Charge Notice by post if a motorist prevents it being issued at the scene by driving away. However, strict controls are in place as to the evidence that has to be provided by the Civil Enforcement Officers (previously known as Parking Attendants) before this can happen.

From Wyenot News experience Herefordshire Council's protocol to deal with appeals against parking tickets is that the customer is always wrong. They will still have to pay the fine - whatever the circumstances were at the time of the 'offence' being committed. This does not only apply to Herefordshire Council, it applies to most local councils as parking fines earn billions of pounds in revenue.

A Wyenot News observation is that in every Herefordshire town except for Ross-on-Wye, parking is free on Sundays and on Bank Holidays. In Ross one has to pay the normal weekday rate. I do realize that the wardens are not usually about on Sundays but they do occasionally make a call. One Sunday morning a few years ago they made such a Sunday visit and booked all cars belonging to the people in the Somerfield car park on Sunday morning - most of whom were in Henry Street Church at the time.

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