Carnival Day, Friday's Solar Eclipse and Blues at The Farm

There were no announcements on British television before the event took place, which I had assumed there would be otherwise I would have run something myself last week but...

Friday, 1st August saw a 20% partial eclipse of the sun over England. The eclipse was a total in China and some other countries and with both astronomy and cosmology being my number one passtime, I both filmed and photographed the event from outside my house here in Ross.

At first, I took my camera to somewhere scenic to make the film, so that I could actually show the sun above the River Wye but I stupidly left my solar filter for the camera at home. I returned home but with little eclipse time left after arriving, and with increasing cloud cover building, I had no choice other than to grab a quick attempt to film outside my house, in the road.

The short sequence I shot can be seen in this week's WNTV News programme and one of the photos can be seen below. As this was a very topical event within the astronomy world, I also took the unusual step of uploading a short clip to YouTube. To my amazement, 'Science and Technology Honours' for the clip came flooding in, within just a matter of hours of the upload, they came in from all parts of the world - even those where the eclipse would have been seen as a total.

If you are into astronomy in any way, please enjoy the short film and for those who do not know, the Persieds (meteor shower) will peak just after midnight on the 12th August and there will be an 80% eclipse of the Moon on the 16th August. I shall try to capture both.

I do love people who think they are sending 'anonymous' emails!

They tend to be those who feel let down by something, maybe an event such as, just as an example: 'Jamstand', and then want to throw their toys out of the pram, without any comeback.

Here, at 'Wyenot News', I guess we do act somewhat 'unprofessionally' occasionally, throwing our own toys out of the pram. But we always at least have the courage to admit which pram they came from.

Anonymous emails always set me a challenge - finding out who sent them. There is nothing I enjoy more than a bit of a detective type challenge, so of course, at the arrival of the above email to the 'Wyenot News' office this morning, Tuesday, I put my Sherlock Holmes hat on and said, 'Tina! The game is afoot'. As you can see, the email was unsigned in a foiled attempt at anonymity.

It took me just 10 seconds to trace the sender to one:



and that Alex's IP address at the time of his sending the mail was 65.55.111.166.

I do quite agree with Alex Cooper's comment about our dog. 'Eric' is kind of 'hideous'. He suffers from doggie asthma and farts occasionally during 'Jamstand' team interviews but when he's asleep, we still love him.

Regarding the 'rubbish website that no one cares about'. Maybe some of our other readers would like to comment on this. If this is true, I will quite willingly close it down within a week and not bat an eyelid or lose even a wink of sleep.

Regarding Alex's opinion that 'Wyenot News' has 'the most monotonal anchorwoman in the world'. You are very welcome to your opinion there, Alex. I still love Tina though, whatever you may think of her or however her voice may sound to you.

Personally I think Tina's voice is fine and that it is I who has the 'train spotter' monotone voice. In my 'Holmes' type role, this points to the fact that the sender of the email is quite possibly tone deaf and that tone deafness must be quite a handicap for him. Other lines of enquiry point directly to the fact that the sender is a musician who did not get filmed at 'Jamstand'. (Or was he one of those I deleted to make way on my hard disc for the 'Funkosphere' performance?)

Our relationship (Tina and I that is) has far more to it actually than meets the public eye and whilst on this subject, maybe Alex's does too. Searching his email address on 'Facebook' reveals just one entry:

Does Alex dress as 'Lisa McMillan' when nobody is around, I wonder? Is Lisa using Alex's email address, or is this just a false 'Facebook' account which Alex uses to send anonymous mail via that particular social networking website? Who knows as any of them could fit the bill. If one clicks the 'view friends link' for Lisa, the message comes up, 'Lisa has no friends', so she has never made herself know to local people.

Well that's that off my chest. Please let us know if you do share Alex's (or Lisa's) point of view. Or even if you do not.

If the majority of readers feel the same way as Alex, I absolutely promise that I will switch 'Wyenot News, 'WNTV' and all of the back issues off by this time next week, relax a little and then just concentrate on the more anonymous money making, tourism side of 'Wyenot.com'.

Response to the above article has been flooding in all day today, both by telephone and by email. 100% of this has been positive response and people have been worried that I will switch off 'Wyenot News' and 'WNTV'.

I would like to thank you all for taking the time to contact me. Please do not worry - I shall not be switching 'Wyenot News' or 'WNTV' off. Had I thought that the anonymous email was the general opinion of our regular readers both locally and world wide, I would have given up with 'Wyenot' ages ago, and would certainly never have published the mail.

One thing I would like to point out. Nobody has mentioned this but I have noticed that there are several people going by the name of 'Alex Cooper' living in Ross and using 'Facebook'. I do know with absolute certainty which one sent us the mail. I would however like to make it absolutely clear though that I would hate any confusion to arise as a result of the above article. It is possible to have the name 'Alex Cooper, live in Ross and still be a nice person! I do not know the other 'Alex Coopers' but I am sure they are probably nice people. I know about them because they have 'Facebook' friends in common with both myself and Tina.

Thank you.

Alan

Following an approach from Jack Baldus, who organized the recent and very successful Music Festival which was held on the Ross Bandstand last weekend, the Ross Lions decided they would support the event because it involved so many young people who would otherwise not have an opportunity to display their talents to the public.

The Lions donated £400 towards the cost of putting on the show. Around 20 bands took part in the festival providing every sort of music you could think of and around 2000 young people attended the event.

On presenting the cheque to Jack, the Ross Lions President, Keith Wilding, said it was great to see young people organizing things for themselves so successfully. It would be an event to be remembered and the town would look forward to the next one.

Jack thanked the Ross Lions for their generosity and said he would soon be visiting the club to thank the members personally. He would explain to them how it came about and just what it meant to the young people.

Well done the young of Ross and District we are proud of you.

Alan,

I have been to Goodrich a few times - it is one of my favorite places to visit again and again. On my first visit in March 2000, I pointed my camera into the dark dungeon and took a picture. Just a point and shoot. I took another one just a few seconds after the first. The first picture had a mist in it similar to your unexplained photograph. Just like yours, the second had no mist or 'ghost.

I will have to find those old pictures to prove it. I remember showing my friends who joined me on that trip that I got a picture of something weird. They thought I was crazy. I'm glad to hear that you had a similar experience.

I love the Wyenot website!

Cheers,

Craig

Thank you for that, Craig. I look forward to seeing your image. You are the third person to have contacted me, having had a similar experience in the Castle and one person sent me their photo, which I published at the time. I did not notice the mist with my eyes at the time of taking my picture and discovered it only when looking at my photos later in the day. Nobody was smoking at the time and the photo below was taken and nobody was actually in the room at the time. I used a healthy zoom in on the area with a pro camera, so it is not condensing breath in the cold February air.

I have taken over 100,000 photos over the past eight years and only about half a dozen of them show something which I cannot unexplain. This is one of those. Another was taken by King Arthur's Cave. Oddly, somebody sent me an email about that one also this week, with a letter as well as their own photo. Unfortunately, I have mislaid their email amongst the many hundreds of emails I have received this week (mostly spam) and cannot find it in time to run it alongside your letter as I am fast approaching this week's deadline. Archive articles seem to go like that - I hear nothing about them for ages and forget about them, then I receive multiple responses within a short space of time.

Craig is referring to the photograph below, which I took whilst photographing Goodrich Castle back in February 2003. My image shows an unexplainable mist in the dungeon. The photos both before and after this frame were taken from the same place but are crystal clear. I did not suggest that I had captured a 'ghost' in the previous article - just that the mist was an unexplained phenomenon.

A prize bingo night was held at the Prince of Wales last Wednesday to raise further funds for Ross Town Carnival. This annual event was organized by Ross Lions Club and the function room was packed with around 120 people, many of them obviously regular bingo players. Apparently the event attracted three times the attendance of previous years and the whole evening had a great atmosphere.

The caller was local man John Fishpool who was deemed the best man for the job as he has been calling at bingo events for over forty years. The speed at which he called the numbers on Wednesday kept everybody on their toes and added to the general excitement.. John was assisted by Tessa Walton who sold tickets and checked the winning ones, ably aided by Jade Jones.

It was the most successful Bingo event held by the Carnival Committee and a total of £484 was raised. This included the profits from the raffle which provided many prizes donated by supporters. Spokesman, Lion Bernard Fowkes, said that the atmosphere was electric but with a good humour and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

At the end of the evening, Chairman of the Carnival Committee, Mel Hodges, thanked the Prince of Wales management for allowing the use of the pub to hold the event, the Lions for their part in organizing it, in particular Andy Middlecote and Nick Dale, members of the Carnival Committee for organizing the raffle and helping on the day, John Fishpool and his assistants and, of course, those who had attended to make it such a success.

Mel then said he hoped a big crowd would turn out on Carnival Day to make it an equal success.

Simon Lyddon is a vet at Archenfield Veterinary Surgery in Ross-on-Wye and plans to undertake the Three Peaks Challenge, on the 12th August, with his brother Edward and friend Simon Blakebrough to raise money for Winston’s Wish, the charity for bereaved children.

The challenge involves hiking up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon, and although the 21 miles of hiking and 500 miles of driving in 24 hours will be a challenge, every step will benefit a child who is rebuilding their life after the death of a parent or sibling.

The Lyddon brothers, who enjoy hiking, were encouraged to undertake the challenge by their sister, Emma Snelling, who lost her husband Jason ('J') last year, leaving her with their three-year-old twins, Harry and Rosie. 'Fortunately the family have been able to rally round with lots of support. In many similar situations such direct help is not always possible,' said Simon Lyddon, who added how proud they were of their sister for coping so well and being so strong, especially with the twins.

Simon also stated that the family had been inspirational with the organization of the challenge. 'I would particularly like to say a very special thank you to our father, Brigadier Peter Lyddon, who is so kindly going to do the 500 miles of driving during the challenge,' said Simon.

Community and Events fundraiser at Winston’s Wish, Louise Handy, said,: 'Around 13,000 young people a year are supported by the charity but there are still many more who need our support and advice. Winston’s Wish is the longest established and largest bereavement service in the UK and provides the widest range of services.' Brothers Simon and Edward Lyddon and friend Simon Blakebrough can be sponsored by visiting www.justgiving.com/jasonsnelling

From the autumn of 2009, not only will Herefordshire residents KEEP their weekly plastic sack rubbish collection, the kerbside recycling service will be also be extended to service nearly every property.

Recyclable rubbish will be collected every fortnight and can be mixed together in a wheeled bin that will be provided free of charge to each household. In this bin people will be able to put plastic, cans, paper, cardboard and, for the first time, glass. Glass makes up a significant percentage of recycling that is currently not collected.

The reason the council has to move to wheeled bins is that plastic sacks are clearly not safe when collecting glass and by using a bin we will save the production of 2.25 million bags every year. Of course there are some properties that simply could not use wheeled bins and the council will continue to collect recycling from these households in a plastic bag. However, this will be a very small minority of properties and it is expected that the vast majority will use the wheeled bin.

Councillor John Jarvis, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for the environment and strategic housing, said, 'We will also make sure we help anyone who has difficulty in presenting their rubbish and recycling at the kerbside. In these cases we will agree with each resident a place from which our staff will collect their rubbish and recycling to make sure they have the chance to participate in this really important area of our work.

We are not proposing to bring in any draconian measures to force people to recycle. Rather we are seeking to make it as simple and easy as possible. If, however, we do not achieve our recycling targets - 40 per cent rising to 50 per cent in a few years - then we will, as a county, face very heavy penalties indeed. So it is vital we have your support as we roll out this new service in the autumn of next year.'

Ross-on-Wye Police are appealing for witnesses to an alleged assault of two members of staff of Ye Hostelrie by a male customer at 9:20pm on Sunday, 27th July. One man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and is currently on police bail whilst further enquiries are carried out.

Police are anxious to speak to customers who were at the premises but who were not spoken to by the attending officers at the time that may have witnessed what went on.

Any customer who was at the scene is asked to contact PC Mike Evans at Ross Police Station on 08457 444888 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

NICK KISS & SON
PLASTERERS AND GENERAL BUILDERS

All types of plastering work undertaken
Clean and Tidy - Free Quotes

Telephone: 01989 763441
Mobile: 07810 174670

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

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

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 NEWS items - a small discretionary charge may be made to cover travel expenses for photographic coverage of events

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