As part of our occasional 'Local People' interviews, 'Wyenot News' would like to introduce you to Gareth Williams.

Gareth has lived in the area since he was four years old, beginning at Skenfrith. He has worked his way through the ranks of the television industry to make it as an Assistant Director, working in this role on iconic television series such as Dr. Who, popular soap, Hollyoaks and, more recently, 'Merlin.' Part of Merlin was filmed locally at Symonds Yat and the Forest of Dean.

Gareth grew up in the world of television as his father was a camera man, the head camera man for LWT and his mother was a make up designer, so a career in this field seemed a natural progression.

Being a director sounds very glamorous. It does have it's moments but it is very hard work as Gareth proved to a couple of friends who visited the set with him one day. However, he is delighted that a second series of Merlin has been confirmed and work on the series is due to start in the new Year.

Probably due to the nature of his work, Gareth is no TV fan. He spends his time off enjoying country pursuits and is just another one of the guys down the pub, enjoying a drink and spending time with his family. We met up with Gareth at the White Lion for our interview, which can be seen in this week's WNTV News programme.

Thanks for talking to us Gareth.

Local Councillors Phil Cutter, Chris Bartram and Derek Bedford, together with volunteers and organizations who have supported the Ross Wild Connections project were joined by Ross Walking For Health group, led by Malcolm Hill to launch the new Ross Wild Connections wildlife walk leaflet last Thursday morning.

Roger Beck chair of the Herefordshire Nature Trust said what a pleasure it had been seeing the project through from it's conception with the Ross environment group. He thanked those present for their support in the project. The project has been funded by Biffaward which is managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, which utilizes landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services and also by Defra's Sustainable Development Fund in the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Alongside producing the leaflet volunteers have been improving open spaces for wildlife around Ross in conjunction with Herefordshire Council. The leaflet is now available from the Tourist Information Centre, Libraries, and Ross Heritage Centre. Four new interpretation panels around the walk will complement the leaflet. The panels will tell people about the wildlife of Ross-on-Wye and will be installed in the spring. The route links the Town and Country Trail to the Riverbank making use of the tranquil alleys of Ross.

As some of you may have heard, occasionally, during periods of extreme local weather and flood, I get called by the BBC to act as a local 'Weather' Watcher' on BBC Hereford & Worcester's Breakfast Show - a show I never actually listen to because usually, I'm asleep at the time it goes out. I usually only get a day's notice prior to these broadcasts and as I don't particularly spend time monitoring the weather, until now I would rush out set up a thermometer and rain gag soon after receiving the call.

Whilst looking for something else last week, I saw an automatic weather station in a sale at Maplin's, Hereford. 'What a problem solver,' I thought and bought it. It is not fully set up at its final location yet but I have it working to a point. Higher accuracy will follow soon.

Coincidentally, The same day that I bought it, I received an email from Mike Gibson in Bromsash. Mike started monitoring the weather at his home just over a month ago. Originally he began monitoring purely to look into the feasibility of installing a small wind generator, but the bug took hold. Mike has become quite seriously interested in monitoring local weather. He has added a device to measure sunshine to his much more professional weather station than mine and his observations are now being uploaded to the web every 15 minutes.

Again, Mike's station is not yet fully set up in terms of location for his anemometer but with Bromsash being so close to Ross Town, his web site www.bromsash.com should give a good indication of local conditions for those interested in local weather, for whatever reason.

Local weather is really useful information for those interested in outdoor activities, so I shall find somewhere on 'Wyenot.com' to link permanently to Mike's on-line weather. Measurements for the BBC's on-line local weather for Ross are actually taken from a monitoring station near Bath, (Ross Weather Station, from which we obtain our weekly weather statistics, is currently manually operated) so live readings from Bromsash should be more accurate.

Another coincidence I discovered is that both Mike and I are licensed Radio Amateurs but neither of us are currently active in this field for the same reason - lack of time.

The Children's ward at the County Hospital, Hereford, struck it lucky when Ross Lions were given a pool table.

The pool table belonged to a London friend of Lion Nick Dale, and he asked Nick if the Ross Lions would like the table to do with as they wished. Nick immediately contacted the Children's Ward at the Hospital and asked them if they could find a use for a pool table.

The Sister of the Ward was delighted to accept the table, saying it would help to occupy the time of both young patients and their visiting siblings.

No time was lost in delivering it and the table was soon in the lounge of the Children's Ward. When Lion Andrew Middlecote was talking to the Ward Sister he learnt that they could do with more equipment to keep the children occupied. He brought this up at the next Lions meeting and a colleague said he could provide a Table Football game. Arrangements are being made to get it to the hospital.

The President of the Ross Lions Club, Keith Wilding, thanked his members for their quick action in delivering the equipment and said it was wonderful that friendships could provide so much to help others.

Two fund-raising events are being organized in January 2009 by Age Concern, Ross-on-Wye and District, so it is worth making a note in your diary.

There will be a Burns Supper at the Ryefield Centre on Saturday, 31st January at 7.00 for 7.30 pm. Ticket are priced £8 for adults and £4 for children of 15 and under. The haggis will be stabbed in time-honoured tradition, involving the Burns poem “Address to a Haggis”. However, on this occasion, the haggis gives “A Philosophical Reply”. Bring your own drink (squash etc. available) on the night.

At the Larruperz Centre on Friday, 23rd January a “Sit-down Ceilidh and Burns Nicht' will take place in the afternoon starting at 3pm and ending at 4.30. Tickets are £3 and those bought at least the day before guarantee a taste of haggis, tatties and neeps.

The timing gives a chance for our senior citizens to return home before teatime and the event is open to all ages. As there is to be a separate evening performance of the Eccentricity Youth Show, there will be 250 seats available so tell your friends!

Tickets for both events are available from the Shop Mobility/Book-Swap Shop near the bus station in Cantilupe Road, the Age Concern Office (0930 – 1230) next to Cornwalls Butcher in Broad Street, and the Larruperz Centre.

To find out more and/or to book tickets by phone, please contact Age Concern on 01989 763887 between 0930 and 1230 Monday to Friday. Full details including what happens at a Burns Supper, the menu, on-line booking etc. are on the Internet via this link – www.avrf23.dsl.pipex.com It is a fun website with interest for children and adults alike.

The Year Eight pupils of the John Kyrle High School have for many years participated in the Lions International Peace Poster Competition, producing up to 200 entries each year. In fact they have taken part so many times that the school decided to include it as part of the curriculum. Understanding that there is a cost to producing so many posters the Ross Lions Club voted to give a grant to the schools Art Department amounting to £250.

At a recent meeting the Ross Lions President, Keith Wilding, presented Head of Art, Neil Carroll, with the money and said he looked forward to many more years of co-operation between the school and the Lions Club.

Accepting the cheque, teacher Neil thanked the Lions for their generosity and said he enjoyed the schools participation in the Lions Peace Poster Competition as it gave the children something to think about and an opportunity to show what they thought about peace in the world.

The winner and runners up of the contest will be announced soon and the prizes will be presented at the schools Prize Giving Day on the 17th December.

Regular readers of Wyenot News and viewers of WNTV will probably be familiar by now with the name 'Lovell,' as this local family has featured in many of our programmes.

Our friend Roger lives in one of the oldest houses in Herefordshire and has occasionally interviewed musicians for us and even surprise interviewed ourselves on one occasion. Two of Roger's children, Clementine and Toby are very talented musicians and their performances at Broome Farm have regularly been shown on WNTV.

Clementine has a beautiful, operatic and folk singing voice and Toby has to be the best blues harp player in the country.

For those of you who don't know, Roger's father is Sir Bernard Lovell, world renowned astronomer and founder of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Cheshire.

Sir Bernard is now 95 years old and has endured many trials and tribulations over his creation, which recently made headline news when it was given a last minute reprieve from having Government funding cut. Sir Bernard's work was not only important to science, it was also important to the military.

A recent edition of the Manchester Evening News ran an extremely interesting article, written by Yakub Qureshi, 'The KGB Wanted Sir Bernard Lovell to Defect' The article can be read online and is very informative, revealing some of the difficulties that Sir Bernard has faced throughout his career.

This Christmas will see the 40th anniversary of Apollo 8, mankind's first close encounter with the moon. At the time of this first great expedition to an alien world, Sir Bernard, along with Sir Patrick Moore and James Burke provided the live commentary; Sir Patrick and James in the BBC studio and Sir Bernard, at Jodrell Bank, which was one of the tracking stations for this mission.

The cover CD of the November issue of BBC Sky at Night magazine, contains some great archive footage of Sir Bernard and Sir Patrick during this fantastic event. The magazine is worth buying for this alone!

On behalf of Ross-in-Bloom, I would like to thank everyone who supported the Markets held at the Market House on Friday 28th and Sunday 30th November. Special thanks go to all of those who braved the very cold winds to stand with your stalls until after lunch.

Macmillan held their annual draw during the afternoon in the Heritage Centre and I was delighted to be able to go along and pull out the winning tickets. It was my first real visit out since my hospital stay and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces. Special thanks should go to Lyn Tomlinson and the Mayor and Mayoress, John and Hannah Davies, who very kindly stepped in on each of the events to do my usual thanks on my behalf in person to stall holders. I was unfortunately not feeling up to coming out until later in the day. I hear they did sterling work though.

I have been told the Christmas Tree Festival was superb and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lyn and Sue Parker for hand making all the decorations from recycled materials and erecting the tree for Ross-in-Bloom. I understand over 20 hours of work were put into it. Anyone who didn't see it will find it has been transferred to the Heritage Centre until Christmas. Ross Garden Store certainly made sure we had a lovely tree to work on.

Finally, I would like to thank all of those who have helped by collecting Morrisons Vouchers for the John Kyrle School Garden Projects towards Britain in Bloom 2009. Mary Sinclair Powell tells me that nearly 1,200 have been collected so far and given to the school from our supporters alone. I believe they have over 9,000 altogether. If anyone finds they still have some lurking in their handbags, purses or pockets, Mary is still collecting them at the Heritage Centre, and we can still take them in the shop (Lucas Motorcycles). Mary will be delivering the final few to the school before they start their Christmas Break on 19th December. Mrs Gwinnett can then make the decision on what to spend them on at the start of the new term after Christmas.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Very Happy Christmas and a Blooming Good New Year. I will be back fighting fit - so beware!

Margaret Lucas

Chairman Ross-in-Bloom.

Welcome back Margaret!!

I took the two photographs below at Wilton, just before midday on Sunday morning. Over night the temperature had dropped to minus 4 degrees, which is not unheard of but still pretty cold for early December in this part of the country.

Cards for Good Causes 2008 has been up and running at Ross Heritage Centre for the last six weeks, selling a whole range of cards, wrapping paper, tags and gifts to raise money for various charities. If you haven't visited the shop yet, you'd better hurry as Cards for Good Causes closes at 4pm on Sunday, 14th December.

Joint Managers, Anne Jones and Mary Sinclair Powell, along with area manager Pauline Jenkins would like to thank everyone who has supported the shop this year. In particular, grateful thanks are sent to those who have volunteered to cover the shop by selling cards and making sure that everything has been kept clean and tidy and looking festive throughout the six weeks of trading.

Sales have gone very well again this year and it is hoped the cards will return in November 2009.

Opening hours of the Heritage Centre until Sunday will be 10.30am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 4pm daily.

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

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