The waxing of Mischa Kopec took place at the Prince of Wales on Friday evening and lots of his friends turned up to witness this sponsored event. There were lots of laughs while Mischa nervously awaited his moment as Charlotte Smith of C.S Bliss warmed up the wax. Friend Dale Davidson and another pal stood nearby, armed with ice packs, in case they were needed.

I must say that Mischa took it like a man. He didn't need the ice packs and when the waxing was over I asked him how he felt, now that it was done. Mischa told me he felt good and when I thanked him for his fund-raising effort he said, 'Well, it was for a mate.'

The 'mate' he mentioned is Dean Fulford. Dean was tragically killed in an accident on the A40 on 20th August last year, just one week before his 17th birthday. Dean's friends were shattered by his death and wanted him to be remembered. It was decided to raise money for a memorial bench at the Skate Park, where Dean spent much of his free time. Alan's daughter, Sarah and I informed Dean's father of our fund raising plans and he agreed that Dean would have found the whole thing very amusing.

I would like to thank the following people for their help with this event: Mischa, for being brave / stupid enough to volunteer, Mischa's doctor, for telling him his rear end was too hairy, Sarah Wood, for suggesting Mischa have it waxed to raise money for Dean's bench, Charlotte Smith for performing the waxing without hurting Mischa too much (after all it was his birthday), Jay and Amanda Hill for allowing us to use the function room (thanks for the ice packs Amanda), Alan for filming and photographing the event, everybody who donated money towards the bench and last, but by no means least, 'Held By The Code' the fantastic rock band who provided the entertainment. They turned up for the gig not knowing just how much they were going to get paid, and their set of rock covers and original material was absolutely brilliant.

To the nice group of old friends from MX who turned up, thank you for coming. It was nice to see you all again. You can see how the event went in this week's WNTV News programme.

Thousands of people in Herefordshire are engaged in fighting BT's proposals to axe 111 public telephone boxes across the county. Telecommunications giant BT wants to remove nearly one in three kiosks in Herefordshire because they do not make enough money, but communities have hit back in force and say the pay phones are needed in an emergency.

Herefordshire Council has published its first notification on its web site for local people to assess and comment on before the consultation ends on 26 September. The council has received thousands of emails, comments and letters concerning 92 separate pay phones However, there are a further 18 phone boxes, in and around Ross-on-Wye that are not 'spoken for' by anyone, which means they almost certainly will go, and of the 92 phones the public has commented on, five of those are not considered essential (although in two cases local people wanted the empty shell to remain because it looked nice). One telephone box has already been taken away from the village of Monkland near Leominster without any public consultation.

The result is that communities are now concentrating on fighting for 87 kiosks to be saved. The main concern is that if they go there may be no way for people to contact help in an emergency. The findings from the consultation so far are that:

· In more than two out of three cases, it is the lack of a dependable mobile telecommunications signal that worries people most.
· In 22 communities, the fact that the telephone boxes are depended on by elderly or vulnerable people is a concern;
· In five cases the pay phones are used regularly by children attending a nearby school to contact their parents;
· In another five communities the objection was that the phones were used by people who simply could not afford to pay for a land line;
· In 21 localities the kiosks are regarded as essential for the tourism industry as the service was used by walkers and other visitors;
· In six cases the phones were reported to be out of order and in a poor state of repair, but were still needed by the community.

Many people said their telephone kiosks had proved their worth in the past during power cuts, flooding or severe snowfalls. 'The main reason BT give for wanting to scrap pay phones is that people now rely more on their mobile phones,' said the leader of Herefordshire Council, Roger Phillips, 'but in the majority of cases where telephone kiosks are under threat, the mobile telecommunications coverage is poor or non-existent. People are telling us that the phones are vital lifelines in their communities and without them, lives could be lost in an emergency.'

The full details of the pay phones under threat, and the reasons why people feel they should be saved, are available on the Herefordshire Council web site on: http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/council_gov_democracy/news/35747.asp.

Further responses are invited either on those telephone boxes for which Herefordshire Council has not yet received any comments to date or on those for which comments have been received.

Contact Anthony Bush, parish liaison and rural services officer at Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, PO Box 4, Hereford HR4 0XH, or email abush@herefordshire.gov.uk.

Local band, Double Barrel gave a brilliant performance at the White Lion, Wilton on Sunday and soon had everybody dancing to some great music. The pub, the pergola and the garden were packed with people enjoying some first class entertainment by this excellent trio.

The band played something for everybody, including lots of old favourites from the 60's and 70's as well as more recent numbers, but the one song that impressed people most was their unaccompanied rendition of 'Nowhere Man', which more than proved their vocal ability. I hope that Jacqui and Dave book them in again soon so that those of you who missed it get a chance to see them.

Thanks for a great night, Jacqui and Dave. My legs were dropping off by the end of the night, but it was well worth it.

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