'Wyenot News' carried a report in October of last year of the presentation, by the Ross Lions, of a Braille machine to a group called Bartimaeus. Members of this organization who live in Ross have spent the last six months living in Bangalore, India, where this machine has been put to great use.

Reg Ansell and his wife Veronica from Ross have reported back to the Lions on their sojourn to India where they spent six months teaching the local blind how to read Braille and use the machine which types Braille. As Reg says in his report 'To work for the blind is a humbling experience and certainly makes you 'count your blessings'.

Living in fairly primitive conditions they often thought of 'home' with its western comforts and conveniences. Many of their students sleep on a mat, in a bare concrete box-like room, 'bath' from a pot of cold water, and feed on rice three times a day if they are lucky.

Bartimaeus was set up by people from different countries to help the blind in India who are treated like lepers and who are a shame on their families and communities. The aim is to get these people onto the first rungs of a ladder towards some degree of independence and quality of living. Just recently the organization has bought a small three roomed building and turned it into a hostel. Now some of the students, although they still sleep on a concrete floor, have mattresses, and they live in clean and hygienic conditions with regular food. All a step in the right direction.

Reg and his wife took the Braille machine to Bangalore with the hope that they could approach local businesses and organizations in the town to assist in the purchase of more of the machines. The picture below shows two blind persons in one of the classes run by the organization, one reading from a Braille book whilst the other is using the machine donated by the Ross Lions.

'It is reports like this which make being a Lion really worthwhile'.

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

This is just another story about local mindless imbeciles causing us more stress. Tina's son, Mike had his moped stolen from the road outside our house during the early hours of Thursday morning. I know. I have told him dozens of times not to park it in the road, but then, I'm just a sad, 54 year old man who forgot that 18 year olds know everything.

In order to travel to his place of work, in Whitchurch, Mike needed the moped so, to save him from not being able work - knowing from experience that we would never see the machine in one piece again, I ended up having to get him a new bike.

My good friends at Lucas Motorcyles were extremely helpful here and gave me an extremely good deal on a virtually new machine but even so, the episode cost me over £700. Thank you for your help, Gordon, Margaret and Neil! Of course, although it was insured to the legal minimum requirement, Mike had not insured the original for 'fire and theft'.

Mike's bike was discovered the following Friday morning dumped in the River Wye. Of course, it was beyond repair.

To those who stole it: I hope your little bit of fun, joy-riding was worth the money I had to fork out on your behalf. I heard you taking it. It was at around 3.00am. I just did not realize when I heard the sounds outside that Mike's bike was out on the road, and so I ignored you. I shall not make the same mistake twice!

Our weekly WNTV News programme has proved to be very popular - especially since we embedded it on the front page of the weekly news - with an average over the past three weeks of 1,500 viewers per week and this figure increasing rapidly. The weekly programme is also having the side effect of making Tina quite well known, with people she doesn't know recognizing her in the street.

I am still getting the same problem though of people asking, 'can you send me a DVD of everything you filmed of us?' and expecting it for the price of a blank DVD.

I would love to be able to do this but it is not that simple. I do generally take a lot more footage than I actually use, so that I can extract the good bits but I don't often even watch it - other than a very quick 'fast forward' in my production software, to get to the bit I need to extract. It is not like recording a TV programme - making a DVD of one particular event takes about three times as long as watching the footage in real time, and ties my main computer up for this length of time. I do not keep the footage on my camera but I do archive it - it is stored on several 400 gig hard drives - and I will make DVDs for people if they really, really, really, really want me to, but I cannot do it for the price of a blank DVD, I'm afraid as I cannot afford the time involved.

The best (cheapest) way of getting hold of a high quality copy of your footage is to buy the weekly news programme on DVD. I have already produced this for WNTV itself and for the Heritage Centre copy, and so all I have to do is run off another copy. This still takes time - writing the extra copy - but nowhere near as much as setting out a whole individual event onto DVD, and so I am able to produce these for £5.00 per issue plus postage.

I am not desperate to sell them. Like when people ask me if they can buy prints - selling prints is actually more of a pain in the bum job to me than it is a profitable exercise - I do it just to help rather than to make money. All I am asking is that, if you want a copy of yourself on DVD, I would rather you just bought the whole news programme than have to spend hours and hours sorting out individual footage. If you still do really, really, really want the whole of your event on DVD, I am afraid that there is a minimum charge of £25.00 to cover the work involved.

Thanks. Alan

GLYN AND WAYNE WILLIAMS

FOR ALL YOUR PLUMBING NEEDS

Reasonable rates

Telephone: 01989 564041
Mobile: 07800 518353

Mayor of Ross, Councillor Derek Bedford held a 'Golf Day' at Ross Golf Course on Thursday to raise money for his chosen charity, Ross Educational Foundation. Approximately £500 was raised on the day, which is a good sum of money towards this good cause.

I would like to make an apology here. I had promised to go along and cover the event both for 'Wyenot News' and for the Town Council but things happened that day at home (Mike's bike was stolen) and to be absolutely honest, I completely forgot about it and replaced his bike then went to Hereford to restock my thawed freezer at the time it was taking place. (It has just been one of those awful weeks!)

Luckily, Nigel Gibbs took his camera along and came to the rescue with the photographs below. Thank you, Nigel.

Dave and Jacqui Newman would like to welcome you to the White Lion 16th Century Riverside Inn. Situated right on the banks of the River Wye at Ross, the White Lion is a picturesque local inn with an interesting history and is noted for its spectacular river views. The White Lion has long been a favourite place to relax by both local people and tourists alike.

The White Lion's extensive and picturesque gardens reach right down to the river's edge and are a wonderful place to enjoy views of the river. It is a great spot to watch the local otters, nesting swans and other wildlife.

Accommodation

Log Fire

Old Gaol Restaurant

Meals served every lunch time
and evening in the bar and restaurant

CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2008

If you are 30 or over there is a good chance that you will recall at least several evenings spent at Brockhampton Court Hotel when you were younger. If you are younger or have not heard you will almost certainly not have to ask too many Hereford people before you get a story or three. Stories of much joy, merriment and even occasionally a little mischief.

From 18th Birthdays to Pyjama parties and weddings 'Brock' saw them all. For many years now however the doors have been closed to these parties and the building has operated as a retirement home, but not on Saturday, 10th May.

Through the incredible generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Christopher Allen, the owners of Brockhampton Court, St Mary's School Fownhope is being allowed to host a ball at this very special and nostalgic venue. All proceeds will go to Fownhope primary School and St. Michael's Hospice - so double benefits have a good time and do some fundraising.

The event starts at 8pm on Saturday, 10th May 2008 and guests will be greeted in the hall with champagne reception before moving to the ballroom and marquee. During the evening food will be served and a charity auction will take place. Music will be from a local live band and disco, and of course there will be a well stocked bar. This is a one-off opportunity and tickets are limited, so don't delay in booking. If you have made other plans then you had best change them - you will not get a second chance to come to this event. Call Wye Marketing for more details and tickets on 0844 9670225 or e-mail - mayball@wye-marketing.com

'WYENOT NEWS' NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!

WHY NOT SUPPORT 'WYENOT NEWS' WHILE
GETTING YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS FOUND BY ADVERTISING ON THESE NEWS PAGES?

AD THIS SIZE - £40 PER MONTH FRONT PAGE - £30 PER MONTH OTHER PAGES

BUSINESS CARD SIZE TEXT - £10.00 PER MONTH

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Why go just local when you can get 'Googled' and reach the whole world for a fraction of the cost here?

(Fee payable in advance. Minimum 3 months. Page placement dependent on amount of news during any one week.)

The absolute deadline for Wyenot News stories and other items is 12:00, midday on Tuesday, for inclusion in the following day's edition.

PLEASE NOTE HOWEVER: This is an absolute deadline and not the time I am asking for articles to be sent in. Mondays and Tuesdays here at 'Wyenot News' are Hell with by far, the most events I cover occurring at the weekend. The photography that the public sees happening is only one tiny part of the whole picture (please excuse the pun) of running this weekly news publication and the bits of prep that people do not see, are actually the most time consuming part of getting the story out.

If at all possible, please send your story in as early as you can, rather than wait until the very last minute, so that I can have at least a fighting chance of getting to bed before 3:00 am every Tuesday and Wednesday morning after what has lately become two 18 hour working days on the trot.

Thank you very much for your understanding and help.

Alan

DO YOU HAVE A STORY FOR WYENOT NEWS?

If you have a local news item or story you can submit it here
or call Alan or Tina on 01989 763217

There is no charge for publishing either news items or What's On Events
This is a Free Service for the local community!

Wyenot News, 1, Hillview Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. HR9 7EY

If you would like to order prints from Wyenot News photographs, please click here.

Prints are only available for photographs taken by Wyenot News (Not of those which have been sent in by readers).

Prints of 'people' photographs are only available to those directly involved in the news event covered. i.e. I do not sell prints of people to the general public.