Broome Farm must surely be one of the nicest, most friendly place in the whole of Herefordshire. The weekend of music, completed by market in the barn on Sunday fully lived up to the high standards we have come to expect at the award winning cider farm.

I covered the whole weekend (without a drop of cider passing my lips) and Tina came along for the Saturday evening. We both had a wonderful time. The Friday evening started with a folk / blues set performed by Toby and others of the regular Broome farm musicians after which Jessie Morgan had the audience spellbound with her beautiful voice. Jessie is the daughter of Mary Hopkin, whom most of you will remember for her '70s hit single, written by Paul McCartney, 'Those Were The Days'. Mary's voice must have been passed on genetically to Jessie - who also performed a great rock set on the Saturday with her band, 'Flick of the Wrist'.

Saturday actually started out with more blues, performed by Toby and a different set of local musicians, followed by the great 'Funkosphere'. For those who are planning to attend this month's 'Jamstand' festival at the bandstand (I hope all of you with at least a dozen friends each!) Jack Baldus and 'Funkosphere' performed brilliantly at the Farm, giving a preview of what we have to look forward to at the festival. They will most definitely be asked to perform again at the Farm!

Enough said here. This week's WNTV programme is something of a Broome Farm Weekend Special. Watch it and you will see what a great time we all had! I sincerely hope a few more people from Ross attend the next cider and music weekend. Although attendance was good over the weekend, the audience was made up of surprisingly few local people. It is very sad when local people do not support local events.

Police are appealing for witnesses or information following a three-vehicle collision on the A49 at Much Birch where the driver of one vehicle failed to stop after the crash.

The incident happened at 4.05pm on Saturday, 5th July 2008, when a silver Renault Taxi, an orange Suzuki Vitara and an unknown red car were travelling south in line on the A49 towards Ross at Much Birch.

As the two lead vehicles were braking, a collision occurred involving the rear red vehicle, which then left the scene in an unknown direction. The collision occurred whilst the A49 was still closed further south following the fatal crash at Peterstow. The driver of the Renault taxi was later taken to hospital by a friend with minor whiplash injuries. No one else was reported injured.

Police are keen to trace the driver of the red vehicle involved and would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the collision at Much Birch. Similarly, they would also like to speak to anyone who has seen a red car that has sustained front-end damage over the last weekend. Anyone with information should contact PC Bob Conway of the Roads Policing Team at Hereford Police Station on 08457 444888.

The campaign to save Herefordshire's rural telephone boxes gathers pace as communities now identify 77 they say must be saved, out of 111 under threat of closure by telecommunications giant BT.

After lobbying the telecommunications regulator Ofcom, Herefordshire Council has secured a further stay of execution from BT, which has agreed a second deadline for consultation - back from 18 July to Friday 26 September. This is because BT was late in posting notification of the consultation in kiosks that could be closed.

The council has posted on its web site a list of the pay phones under threat. The web site address is: www.herefordshire.gov.uk

Having written to all parish councils, the council says that many communities are worried that if the telephones are scrapped, there will be no emergency lifeline available as mobile telecommunications coverage is limited.

'It is good news that BT has accepted that its consultation got off to a shaky start and extended the deadline by over two months,' said Anthony Bush, parish liaison and rural services officer. 'But with it comes a risk of complacency. I would urge people please to check the council's website now to see whether their local kiosk is at risk and let us have your views straight away. The council will be making a submission to save our pay phones in time for the new deadline.'

Herefordshire Council says it still has three main concerns about BT's consultation:

1. BT has provided no evidence to show how telephone kiosks are used in emergencies, they have said only that they are not used sufficiently for them to be profitable. The service obligation with the regulator means that BT cannot use money as a reason for closure.

2. BT needs to undertake a survey of mobile phone coverage in Herefordshire as part of their evidence supporting any proposals for pay phone closure, as this issue is crucial to Bt's obligation to maintain this line of communication in the event of an emergency.

3. BT has failed to present options for local people to consider - other than closure. Communities need to be allowed to put forward other ideas that might result in the telephone boxes becoming more viable.

People concerned about losing their local pay phone can contact Anthony Bush on 01432 260611; or email: abush@herefordshire.gov.uk or write to him at Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, PO Box 4, Hereford, HR4 0XH.

Herefordshire Council's contractors Amey Wye Valley will be carrying out work to rebuild damaged parapets on Mordiford Bridge, Mordiford, on four Sundays in August. Mordiford Bridge, is one of the oldest in the county and is a scheduled ancient monument. Permission has been obtained from English Heritage to carry out the work which involves taking down the upstream parapet and rebuilding it. The work will involve four road closures on the B4224 on August 3, 10, 17 and 24 as the width of the lane will have to be reduced to protect workers.

Councillor Brian Wilcox, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for highways and transportation, said, 'These essential bridge repairs necessitate the closure of the road for several days. We are proposing to carry out the work on four consecutive Sundays, thus keeping disruption to a minimum by keeping it open throughout for the other six days a week, when it is needed most.

'I would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused on what is a well used route but the bridge has been damaged by vehicles knocking it and we have to carry out this essential work before it gets any worse, thereby substantially reducing the potential for a far more disruptive emergency closure.'

Further to the success of the last ten years, the Art Department at the John Kyrle High School are joining forces with Ross in Bloom for their annual exhibition at Ross Heritage Centre.

Chairman, Mrs. Margaret Lucas, Lyn Tomlinson and Mary Sinclair Powell went along to the school last week to look at the examination art work last week and choose the exhibits. Mrs. Lucas said, 'Once again we were very impressed with the high quality of work. The students have done exceedingly well and we had a very difficult decision on what to choose for the exhibition.'

The Heart of England in Bloom judges are visiting Ross on Tuesday, 22nd July and part of their visit is to see what the students have done and how they have linked in with Ross-in-Bloom this year. The 2008 Britain in Bloom Theme is 'Know your Roots' and the ladies, armed with this in mind, selected items to suit this theme.

Lyn told us 'The theme this year covers all aspects of Roots from mankind to flora and fauna. We have been able to link everything this year with the theme - including last years History Project that covers the development of the town. We think it is wonderful that the Roman Remains came to light in time for their visit. You can't get back to our Roots more than that really and truly.'

The Art exhibition will be in the Market House Heritage Centre from Tuesday, 8th to Thursday, 31st July and can be seen during opening hours of 10am to 5pm, 10.30am to 4pm on Sundays.

On judging day on the 22nd, there will be a Charities and Crafts Market at the Market House and anybody who visits the Market will get the opportunity to see examples of the huge amount of talent there is in Ross from the students at John Kyrle High School.

Ross country Music Festival begins on Friday evening and a great weekend of entertainment has been lined up for this increasingly popular event. I met two of my cousins and their husbands at last years event and they tell me that they have been to nearly all of the Ross Country festivals, enjoying them more each time.

The festival runs until Sunday and some of the artistes you can look forward to performing are Dave Sherrif, Travis Logan, Terry Maher, Royston Jones, Nashville Special, Penny Short, Country Disco, John Mc Cane and the last of the Breed, with plenty of line dancing amongst other things going on. For further information about this great weekend, contact Colin Gray on 01989 567885.

Jack Baldus and the rest of the Jamstand Team are holding a fund-raising event at the Riverside Inn on Friday evening, giving people a taste of what's in store for them on Saturday, 26th July. This is a free event, however there will be buckets for collecting donations which will help towards the cost of staging the concert, all of which will be gratefully received.

On Saturday evening, funky band SOFA will be performing at the White Lion Inn at Wilton. I always enjoy this band and their performance on Saturday will begin at 8pm.

Don't forget that on Sunday afternoon the Forest of Dean brass band will be performing on the Bandstand as park of the Bands in the Park series, provided for you by Ross Town Council.

Whatever you decide to do, have a great weekend.

NOTICE is hereby given that a meeting of the FULL COUNCIL
will be held on MONDAY, 9 JUNE 2008 at 7.00pm
in the Council Chamber, The Corn Exchange, High Street, Ross-on-Wye.

Items to be discussed are detailed below and members of the public are welcome to attend the
meeting. There is a 15 minute session prior to the start of the meeting when members
of the public will have the opportunity to put questions to councillors

Prior to the meeting members will be addressed by
Ms A Taylor, Community Safety and Drugs Partnership

AGENDA

Signed

Town Clerk

There was delight on the riverbank at Henley this week when two members of Ross Rowing Club won their way through to the last 12 for the Temple Challenge Cup for student eights in the world's best-known regatta..

Club members Rhiannon Jones coxing for Reading University VIII steered and motivated her crew of students through the quarter finals of the Temple Challenge Cup and Tom Booth, currently rowing at bow for Manchester University powered to victory in the first round of the same event.

Rhiannon's crew triumphed over A A S R Skoll of Amsterdam by two and a half lengths and Tom's defeated Durham University 'B' by one and a half lengths.

The Ross contingent of supporters kept the bus waiting patiently until 6 o'clock for Rhiannon's race and shouted encouragement and advice as she came past them about 1000 yards down the 2330 yard straight course. At this point she was a length down . The PA system monitored the race and silence reigned as the gap narrowed and narrowed until Reading pushed through to win convincingly. Pandemonium broke out and family and friends headed West in the lovely evening as happy as if they'd won it themselves.

Both crews then advanced to the next days racing where they faced even stiffer opposition. Tom's Manchester crew lost to Durham "A" by 1 ½ lengths and Rhiannon's reading crew were vanquished by Williams College, USA by 2 ¾ lengths.

Club Captain Ian Howell said, 'I'm so pleased, not only for Tom and Rhiannon but also for the message it gives today's young members. It shows that they can move on from the excellent grounding they receive at Ross and continue their progress in the sport. They are both excellent ambassadors for Ross and we are proud of their achievements.'

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