Police have confirmed that the motor cyclist who died in a road traffic collision on the A49 near Much Birch, on Saturday 25th October 2008, was 36-year old Kevin Pearson, a soldier from 1 Battalion, The Green Howards. They have also named the car driver, who died in the collision as Kenneth (Ken) Boyd.

Ken was 90 years old and lived near Ross on Wye. His 87-year old wife was also injured in the crash and taken to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, where she was treated for fractures, cuts and bruises. Her condition continues to improve and she is likely to be transferred to a local hospital shortly.

The family of Ken Boyd have paid tribute to a man described as 'irrepressible.'

Ken Boyd was born in 1918 near the Indian city of Madras, the son of a Plymouth Brethren Minister. In 1932, after the death of his father, the family moved back to the UK and settled in Ayr, Scotland. Ken studied mechanical engineering and, just before the war, landed a job, in aero dynamics, with Fairey Aviation, in Middlesex, working on aircraft such as the Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber, the most important biplane of WWII.

During the war, Ken later joined the RAF and was eventually posted, in 1944, to 29 Squadron, West Malling, Kent, flying Mosquitos. His role at that time

was air reconnaissance, but also included chasing and shooting down V1 rockets before they hit the UK.

After the war, and a series of jobs around London, he moved to Ross in the 1960's to work with Rank Xerox in Mitcheldean. He worked for Rank until he retired, ending up as an engineering projects manager, and spending some of his career working in the USA and Canada, where he picked up a slight Canadian accent, which he never really lost.

In the 70's and 80's, he also helped his wife, Ann, run a holiday riding school near Ross, designed to help overseas riders brush up on their equine and English-speaking skills. In the 80's, they also ran the Humble Pie café in the Maltings at Ross.

A man of large stature (in every sense of the word, according to one of his daughters, Jane), he was a jolly giant of a man. Jane said, 'He had an indomitable nature and was always up for a challenge. He not only looked young for his age but was always young at heart, always happy and generous to a fault. He was irrepressible, being able to turn his hand to anything, like many of his generation, and had incredible strength for a man of his age. Even at 90 he had many interests, particularly sport, science and the Big Bang theory.'

In April 2008, the family held a party in honour of his 90th birthday. Family and friends all dressed up in Indian clothing and ate Indian food as a nod to his upbringing. Ken asked all his guests not to give him any gifts but instead to make donations to Drybrook Surgery in Gloucestershire. Such was the esteem in which he was held, the amount raised was just short of £500.

'He had a remarkable, varied and rich life,' said Jane, 'and we will miss him so very much. He was so much part of all our lives - a wonderful man!'

A private cremation is still to be arranged.

Congratulations to Roger and Helen Wynn of Wilton Court, Ross-on-Wye on receiving a Gold Award from Visit Wales. Wilton Court is one of only seven hotels to have been acknowledged with this prestigious accolade, which is awarded for outstanding quality, exceptional comfort and hospitality in the serviced accommodation sector in Wales.

The lovely part of this award is that there is no form of self entry. All businesses in the sector graded by Visit Wales are considered for inclusion and those who achieve a high score in their grading assessment are selected for 'Mystery Shopper' testing. They are also asked to demonstrate their commitment to training and accessibility.

Although Wilton Court is not in Wales, the hotel is approximately five miles away from the Welsh Border, therefore it made sense to be listed with Visit Wales.

Proprietor Roger Wynn was absolutely delighted with the award and said, 'To be judged amongst the best in Wales is an incredible honour. Our whole team works incredibly hard and I am thrilled for them that their dedication is recognized by a much coveted award. My wife, Helen and I would like to thank all our members of staff for their wonderful attention to the smallest of details and their enthusiasm for ensuring that we consistently exceed the expectations of our guests.'

Wyenot News went along to Wilton Court to talk to Helen and Roger about their award and you can see coverga eof this in this week's WNTV News programme.

In last week's issue of Wyenot News, we were pleased to publish the winners of the Flavours of Herefordshire Awards, in which The Bridge at Wilton was judged Restaurant of the Year, along with the 'Stewing Pot' Restaurant of Hereford. Due to timing of the awards, we were unable to take a photograph in time for last week's publication, but have made amends here.

The Bridge is going from strength to strength. This is the fourth time the restaurant has won in Flavours of Herefordshire and last year they were judged Top Restaurant in the West Midlands in the Heart of England Excellence in Tourism Awards. The hotel is now becoming widely known as the establishment for fine dining.

Proprietors, Jane and Mike Pritchard put the hotel's success down to the hard work of all of their staff, all of which make them very proud. Wyenot News went along to The Bridge to take the photographs below and to talk to Jane and Head Chef, James Arbourne about their success.

In the following photograph are: Robert Watts, Jane Pritchard, (Proprietor) Deiniol Pritchard, Ashley Kibble, Chris Poulter, Jody Edmonds, Samantha Lee, Chris Kear, Jude Harrington, Sam North and Head Chef, James Arbourne.

I have had to change the layout of the WNTV HOME PAGE this week. Back WNTV news programmes and other special one-off programmes and video clips will now open in a small second window. It is still possible to save programmes you might like to keep to your computer, and if you do wish to keep a programme, I would advise doing this at the earliest opportunity. Through storage space necessity on the web server, I have started keeping only 6 back issues of WNTV NEWS available for watching on-line.

Back programmes are still available to watch at the Heritage Centre, although, due to network problems caused by my main computer here, I have not had chance to make the past six available. I am working on getting this sorted this week.

The reason for making the change is the new Microsoft operating system, Windows Vista. I hate it with a passion! It has caused me nothing but problems and the original WNTV page layout did not work properly under that operating system. Will somebody please tell Microsoft, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'!

Anyway, I hope the new page works for everybody. I still have to add lots of the old video clips to the page - the redesign takes a lot more setting up than the old one, and so I just have not had time to add all archive material to the new page yet. I will get around to doing so as soon as possible.

Alan

Canon Paul, parish priest of St. Frances of Rome has now retired after 22 years of priestly service to the Catholic community of Ross-on-Wye.

On Saturday October 25th - the Feast day of the English and Welsh Martyrs, a celebration Mass was offered at St. Frances of Rome church in the presence of a large congregation to mark the Canon's retirement. The Archbishop of Cardiff, Peter Smith was the chief celebrant, during which he gave a moving homily and thanked Canon Paul for the devoted service he had given to the church in Herefordshire and South Wales throughout his 62 years as an active priest. Other priests at the service were Fr. Cenydd from Our Lady's at Hereford, Fr. Slater from Leominster and Fr. Richard Simons from Ledbury and Ross.

After the service everyone went to the Millennium Hall at Upton Bishop and enjoyed a delicious hot meal organized by the parishioners in memory of this special occasion. Mrs Therese Warwick, secretary of the parish council gave a vote of thanks and made a presentation on behalf of the parish.

The new parish priest at St. Frances of Rome is Fr. Richard Simons - a Benedictine monk from Belmont Abbey near Hereford. Fr. Richard is also the parish priest of the Most Holy Trinity church in Ledbury.

Police investigating a fatal road traffic collision near Bewdley last month are continuing to search for a vital witness.

Pedestrian Harold Neale, aged 68, from Oldbury, West Midlands, died in hospital following a collision with a silver Ford Fiesta. The collision happened near the Royal Foresters pub on the A456 at Rock at about 7.30pm on Friday, 10th October, however despite extensive appeals and anniversary checks at the scene a fortnight later, when 200 motorists were spoken to by officers, police have been unable to trace a woman who was driving directly behind the Fiesta in the direction of Kidderminster when the collision occurred. The woman pulled over in a bus stop and got out of her vehicle, but seeing that other people were assisting Mr Neale she then continued on her journey.

PC Paul Bosley of the North Worcestershire Road Policing Unit said, 'We very much would like to speak to this woman as we believe she has vital information about the collision. As she has not come forward, we believe she probably does not live in the Wyre Forest but instead may possibly come from Leominster, Tenbury Wells, Cleobury Mortimer, Ludlow or any of the surrounding areas.'

PC Bosley added that a reconstruction was carried out at the scene on the evening of Monday, 3rd November, by officers from the Collision Investigation Unit at West Mercia Constabulary's headquarters.

The woman or anybody else with information that can help are asked to contact PC Bosley on 0300 333 3000.

Ross Lions are holding their biggest fund raising event of the year this coming Saturday, 8th November. The Lions' annual bonfire and fireworks night is being held, as usual in the grounds of the Chase Hotel and the gates will open at 6pm.

They event will begin with Ross Cubs Torchlight Parade and lighting of the bonfire at 7:00pm and the fireworks display will start at 7:30pm.

Food and drinks, including a bar will be available all evening and a bouncy castle will be on site for those young children who may not be so interested in the fireworks.

Ross Lions support many local charities and individuals with monies raised from this fantastic event, so why not go along and join in the fun? Tickets are £4 per adult and £2 per child.

It is not unknown for the staff at EDMO to raise money for a good cause and last Friday, they all dressed in pink to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. Some simply donned a pink t shirt or sweater whilst others went that little bit further by dressing as pink fairies or stunning super models.

The fund raising staff in this photograph are: Linda Schofield, Ben Sayce, Toby Bourne, Marilyn Howells, Laura Huffer, Kate Handley, Ray Marchant, Nicky Knight, Paul Greenhill, Steve Lance and John Parsons. £68 was raised for the charity during the course of the morning. Well done guys!

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.