I am afraid that, due to an unforeseen event, we have had to spend a lot of time in Hereford this week when we should have been prepping news and so we are limiting this week's news to just the important stuff, on as few pages as possible. (I made most of the astronomy article up before the event occurred.)

Although I filmed some good stuff for the WNTV News programme, we have not had time to put a programme together this week, so we will include the footage in next week's programme. This includes some great medieval music, played specially for WNTV at Goodrich Castle, Tim, the coracle maker and his 'hang drum', a Ross winning Gold interview and the Trikers and Bikers raising money for the Air Ambulance.

The reason for such a limited edition and no TV is that Tina's son, Russell broke his leg on Saturday whilst playing rugby, and had to have an operation on Tuesday. We have been back and forth to the hospital and so have kind of 'taken a sicky' ourselves because we are worn out.

Things will be back to normal next week. Sorry if your story has been left out - we will run it next week.

Congratulations to Ross-in-Bloom whose efforts this year were rewarded with the Gold award in the Heart of England in Bloom competition. The committee, along with representatives of the entering neighbourhoods travelled to Burton-upon- Trent last Thursday where they were given the good news. Not only did Ross-in-Bloom achieve Gold, they were also awarded a Certificate of Merit for the promotion of Neighbourhoods into the Royal Horticultural Society Neighbourhood Awards Campaign.

The local neighbourhoods themselves also did well and were awarded as follows:

Garden of Remembrance - Merit Award and a Certificate of merit.
Goodrich Court - Merit Award.
John Kyrle High School - Improvement Award.
Ross Court - Outstanding Award.
Tudorville Allotments - Merit Award.

Margaret Lucas, Chairman of Ross-in-Bloom is absolutely delighted with the results and would like to thank everybody who helped to achieve this excellent accolade for the town.

Ross-in-Bloom is self-supporting and without sponsorship they would be unable to enter the Heart of England Campaign every year. The judges remarked on the high quality of planting in the private as well as the public areas of the town they were taken to see. Lyn Tomlinson (Vice Chair/PR), who escorted the judges on their visit to Ross, had been delighted to be able to tell them the majority of plants in the private sectors of the town had come from Ross Nurseries and Garden Centres. A special remark was made in the judge's Comments book of the sponsorship being excellent this year. Many local businesses supported the event this year, including the Royal Hotel and in particular Ross Garden Store, who not only gave help and advice to people, but also offered special deals to anybody entering the local competitions.

Their help has also been in many other ways including supplying prizes for the children's and other competitions. 'We are always grateful for all the help we can get towards the Heart of England in Bloom Campaigns', Margaret Lucas told us. 'However Ross Garden Store this year have excelled themselves with all the help and support they have given. We are extremely grateful to them, especially with their sponsorship for advertising and other articles in the local press. I have met a lot of local prize winners this year who have told me they got their plants from the Garden Store. We would not have achieved our award without them and I would like to publicly thank them for all of their hard work and generosity.'

Herefordshire Council are another group that need the thanks of the town for helping to gain the award. Not only did they plant up all the beds they were on hand at all times to make sure everything was in tip top condition for the Heart of England in Bloom judges visits. The Royal Hotel is not to be forgotten either. They supplied publicity banners for the town for judging day as well as a very delicious lunch for the judges. Again the banners are something that Ross-in-Bloom is unable to afford without help and chef's luncheon menu went down very well. The judges especially mentioned the banners and by providing all of these the whole town, including visitors, were made fully aware of the special day for the town that entry into the Heart of England in Bloom brings. They were also able to promote all the in bloom organizations associated with this type of event.

All of the above go greatly towards the Community Section of the award and, as in the past, Ross has done really well in this area. Designer Flowers in High Street were very generous in providing buttonholes for the judges for their visit. The Market Stalls, the dressing up, the people in the streets wishing them good morning all help towards showing that Ross is a super place to live and work as well as visit.

Ross-in-Bloom also like to think that the friendliness of all working together is the main backbone of such a prestigious event - and indeed this is what the judges remarked upon in their comments. They were delighted that the whole town knew about the visit on the day. The public and press meeting at the riverside with the Mayor and Mayoress, with the talks by Jessica Blake (Wildlife Trust) on the progress on the riverside project and Dr Keith Ray (County Archaeologist) on the Roman Dig also went down very well as part of Community Involvement and got a very special mention. In one way or another everyone who helped on the day got commented on and helped towards this very special achievement.

Of course, there would not have been a portfolio of the year's events and work without the help of BBC Hereford and Worcester, Xytron Data Retrieval and Peter Bell - all of Hereford - who came to the rescue at the eleventh hour. This portfolio shows the judges everything that has been going on for the past twelve months, as they cannot possibly see everything in the town in just two and a half hours. Thanks go to all of them.

The judges visited the town on two separate occasions - once at the beginning of July to visit the neighbourhoods and in the middle of July the whole town. On each visit the weather was kind and this obviously helped towards all of these excellent accolades. All of the Neighbourhoods did exceptionally well - particularly those that had entered for the first time. Nerves at Burton were very much to the fore but they soon turned to excitement as each individual award was announced. All in all it was an excellent day in which all the delegates could share, which is also good for the town. Those that could, met on the day after the presentation to celebrate together at the Market House.

'We like to think that we are all working together for the town, regardless of whether it is a small area or the whole of the town. I would like to once again congratulate all my fellow in bloomers in the neighbourhoods and I do hope we will be able to all work together for the coming year to succeed with such high standards once again in 2009,' Margaret added. "We will shortly be having our annual meeting with the Council regarding next years colours and we hope to announce what they will be at our Annual General Meeting in October. Thank you again to everyone who helped this year - no matter how large or small their contribution.'

Marking for In Bloom Awards is as follows: Gold is 85% and above for villages, towns etc. - Outstanding 85% and above, Merit 50% to 84% and Improvement up to 50% for Neighbourhoods. All winners receive a certificate to show their achievements each year. All of the above awards contributed to the 26 achieved in Herefordshire in Bloom - the best results for the county ever.

Public meetings are taking place across Herefordshire in a bid to fight off plans to close 20 post offices in the county. Herefordshire Council arranged the meetings after a seminar at council headquarters in Hereford on Wednesday, 3rd September, when representatives from Post Office Limited heard a barrage of criticism from local people over their closure plans.

A well attended meeting at Pembridge Village Hall in the north of the county on Friday, 12th September agreed that the loss of their post office would hit the most vulnerable in the community and there are further meetings taking place this week. They are: Lower Eggleton, at Yarkhill Parish Hall, on Wednesday, 17th September; Lyonshall's Royal George Hotel on Thursday, 18th September; Tudorville Youth Centre on Friday, 19th September and another at Cradley next week is yet to be finalized.

Herefordshire Council says the local rural way of life is under attack after learning that the county faces the closure of 20 post offices, which were confirmed in an announcement by Post Office Limited last month. Of these, nine will be replaced by a limited 'outreach' service. Herefordshire is the most sparsely populated county in the West Midlands and has been hit harder than any other part of the region by the closure programme, particularly in the north of the county.

The 20 post offices earmarked for closure are: Almeley, Bishops Frome, Bishops Wood at Ross on Wye, Brampton Bryan, Brampton Road at Hereford, Brockhampton near Fownhope, Cradley, Dorstone, Edwin Ralph, Llangrove at Ross on Wye, Lower Eggleton, Lyonshall, Pembridge, Redhill at Hereford, Rushall, Sutton St Nicholas, Tudorville at Ross on Wye, Upper Sapey, Whitney on Wye and Wigmore. Post Office Limited are intending to partly replace 9 of these post offices with 'outreach' facilities, meaning they will be closed and replaced by a very limited mobile service in car parks, petrol stations, village halls or local pubs. These are: Almeley, Bishops Frome, Cradley, Dorstone, Lower Eggleton, Pembridge, Upper Sapey, Whitney on Wye and Wigmore.

In a detailed submission to the Department of Trade and Industry, Herefordshire Council has previously argued that closure plans would see the marginalization and exclusion of thousands of vulnerable people, such as older people, low-income families or those without a car, who rely on their local post office. 'Post offices are very often village stores too, and are at the heart of village life, especially in the more remote areas of the county,' said Councillor Blackshaw, cabinet member for economic regeneration. 'Herefordshire has a rapidly growing population of frail, older people who depend on their local shop and post office and their quality of life and ability to be independent will be compromised severely if these closures go ahead.' The post office consultation ends on Tuesday, 7th October.

Herefordshire Council is fighting on two fronts to safeguard the rural way of life. It is also battling to save around 100 telephone kiosks threatened with the axe by telecommunications giant BT. The council is asking parish councils and local people to write in and voice their concerns and ideas on how the council can work with them and their local MPs to protect village post office services and telephone boxes. They can write to: Anthony Bush, parish liaison and rural services officer, Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, Hereford HR4 0XH, or e-mail abush@herefordshire.gov.uk.

A great weekend of entertainment took place at Goodrich castle to draw people's attention to the AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) 'Overlooking the Wye' scheme.

We went along to the Castle for several hours on Saturday and enjoyed filming the event for WNTV. A band of medieval musicians specially performed 'The Horses' Brawl' for the WNTV News, and Tim, the coracle maker played a haunting melody for us on his 'hang', a drum from Switzerland, which sounds just 'out of this world'.

Meanwhile, on another field, somewhere in Ross-on-Wye, Tina's son Russell was playing rugby and broke his leg, resulting in trips to Hereford when we should have been prepping news, so showing the footage has had to be delayed until next week's TV programme.

There are a few photos with captions below, for now though.

The Ross Country Music Festival is always a great event and this year was no exception. Attendance was higher than ever, with many people travelling to Ross-on-Wye to enjoy a brilliant weekend of live country music.

The festival, organized by Colin Gray, raises money to help St. Michael's Hospice, a vital local charity that provides care for life limited adults. After the 2008 festival was over, Colin was delighted to be able to present St. Michael's with a cheque for a staggering £4,060. Well done to everybody who helped to raise this fantastic sum.

The Country Music Festival 2009 will take place as usual at Ross Rowing Club from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th July and confirmed artistes to date are as follows: Dave Sheriff, Kalibre, (my cousins will be pleased), Rough Diamond, Terry Maher, Dean Austin and C and B Country Road Show. Further acts will be published as soon as details are confirmed.

Weekend camping will be available as will Western stalls, hot and cold food, bar marquee and as ever a great atmosphere. For further information please contact Colin Gray on 07790341703 or 01989 567995.

Ross Cider Festival

Dear Tina and Alan,

Firstly we'd like to thank you for making our last evening at Broome Farm a hugely enjoyable and memorable one. For us it was the perfect ending to a wonderful holiday. The main reason we've fallen in love with the place is the people, and that includes the both of you. There aren't many places I can think of that feel so comfortable and welcoming as this little farm on the outskirts of Ross. I do hope you enjoyed the rest of the festival, by the looks of it you did (I caught with all the action as usual on the ever reliable Wyenot News).

We left the farmhouse around midday after purchasing large amounts of Mike's cider and having a last little drink with some of the festival-goers to say goodbye. We also managed to track down all the people attached to Mike (quite a few) and said our goodbyes. Every single one of them was genuinely sad we had to leave. It was a nice touch. Arrived home around midnight still smiling...

I am very impressed by today's Wyenot News Alan, you've taken some great pictures of the area. It's a bit weird seeing all these familiar beauty spots flooded, places Annika and I has visited not too long ago - White Lion embankment, Symonds Yat East, Kerne Bridge. At least your place is safely out of the water's reach.

I also had to giggle when I read last weeks news with all the pictures of the festival, the memories came flooding (excuse the pun) back. I was actually surprised I was standing up straight during the interview with Tina after all the cider I'd had! But you captured the atmosphere very well indeed and I'm glad you took some time off to have a well deserved break and a few drinks.

It would be lovely to meet up again next time we're over. It's been a pleasure getting to know the both of you and we're grateful for the special mention on Wyenot. The work the both of you must put in this site must be immense`, just like your personalities. Take care and I'll be in touch again soon.

All the best,

Annika and Chris

Thank you very much Annika and Chris.

It was very nice to meet you for a second time at the event and we have sent a personal reply, but have published your letter to show just how much the people at Broome Farm and Ross Cider are liked by everybody who meets them at their fantastic events. It is nice people like you who make these events, and make publishing 'Wyenot News' and 'WNTV' worthwhile.

Kington Tramway

I have discovered by chance an article in Issue 181 about a restored tram that had been used on the Kington Tramway. It was discovered on a tip in 1963 by Mr Cyril Wright Meredith - a descendant of the firm of ironmasters who built the original tramway.

I have been researching the history of early British military aviation and a Cyril Wright Meredith gained a pilots licence in 1912 whilst serving with the Territorial Army. He came from Kington and his father was an iron founder. He was born in 1890 and by 1963 would have been 73.

It is possible that he discovered the derelict tram but is more likely to have been a younger relative. Can you tell me anything about the gentleman who discovered the tram, and if you have any information about the early aviator in whom I am particularly interested?

Very many thanks for any information you can provide.

With best regards from Michael Dunn

I would like to be able to help but I am afraid that in this case, all I did was edit a news item which had been sent in. I know nothing about this tramway or the people involved personally. Maybe a reader will be able to help? If so, please write in and I will put you in touch with Michael Dunn.

Hi,

Discovered your excellent website by chance! I am researching the family of one Michael Martyn Williams who resided at Bridstow briefly C1860. I have the birth cert for a son b. 31st March 1860 who would presumably have been baptised at St Bridgets.

I would like to see a copy of the parish register and am wondering if you may have any idea where it is currently located?

Looking forward to hearing from you and keep up the good work.

Best regards,

Mike.

Similarly, if anybody is able to help Mike, please write in and I will put you in touch.

You need a section on walks around Ross-on-Wye with strategically located pubs!

No, I do not actually as I already know exactly where the pubs are and how to walk between them. I suspect in reality that it is you who requires this information to be published. Most of this is in fact already on 'Wyenot', if you take a glance around the massive amount of information I have gathered together in one place, for those interested in Ross and the local area. All you have to do is read it and use a little brain power to work out a route between the establishments. The pubs are here, the maps are here and there is lots more information on just about everything Ross related if you follow the links from the home page.

It has been 3 years since the last Potters Bar Reunion Party,

so we have decided to hold another.

All who remember the Potters Bar
and those who would just like an evening of great '70s music

are Invited to come along on

Saturday 22nd November at 8.00pm

to the The Original Potters Bar
(Now the Hope & Anchor Conservotary)

Original Juke Box Records! - Football Table! - Meet Old Friends!
Bring all your old photographs!

Please invite your friends!

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

What's On Events - see page for details

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.