Ross-on-Wye Police are turning their attentions to the Ledbury Road and Walford Road in the town in a bid to reduce levels of speeding, following complaints from the local community. The new priority was agreed at the recent Ross area PACT meeting which was held on Thursday, 20th August, following face to face surveys, direct contact with the police and complaints sent to the local MP, Mr Paul Keetch.

Sergeant Neil Welding, who supervises the Local Policing Teams in Ross said, 'As you all know, the police in Ross follow the 'Educate, then Legislate' principle as being the fairest way to solve a particular problem. We want drivers in Ross to know that the 30mph limits along Ledbury Road and Walford Road are there for a reason - to keep road safety high and casualties low. If we allow people to drive above the limit, safety will fall and collisions and injuries will increase.

Local police officers, together with our colleagues from the Roads Policing Team in Hereford, will be paying close attention to these roads over the next couple of months. So please don't be surprised if you get a ticket when you exceed the speed limit on these roads - we did warn you.'

Customers were waiting on the doorstep on Monday morning when the shop on the corner of Church Street was transformed into a charity shop to raise funds for Help for Heroes. Iris Price and Joyce Thomas are running the shop for one week to raise funds for the charity which help soldiers injured in current conflicts.

They were inspired to help after reading in the Ross Gazette about the ball and auction which Charlotte Reynolds and Jes Teague are organizing in October. Joyce said: 'The charity Help for Heroes deserves all our support, Iris and I are pleased to contribute. We have enormous respect for Charlotte and Jess and everyone who has helped them, and wish them every success.'

The Mayor of Ross, Councillor John Edwards said: 'It is very appropriate that we do all we can to help our Heroes but we must remember the backroom hereos like Iris and Joyce who do so much to help others.'

Thank you to Jo Scrivin of the Ross Gazette for the words and photo and apologies to all concerned for my absence. I slipped up with my diary and missed the opening.

The Ross Special Crew set off on one of their Summer Trips to the Sealife Centre in Birmingham on a mission to find Nemo! The Crew searched high and low and on the way saw a huge variety of fish and sea creatures including stingrays, turtles, sharks and otters but caught barely a glimpse of the little Clown Fish. They had a 'whale' of a time and, as can be seen from the photographs, Nemo was 'behind you' all along!

The Ross Lions once again very kindly supported the Crew in funding their daytrips this Summer and without their generosity the children would not have enjoyed such a wonderful day. The Ross Special Crew is a group for children who live in and around Ross and who have disabilities and/or special needs. It offers daytrips during school holidays, support for their parents and, starting Autumn 2009, a Saturday Club. For further information please contact Jules on 01989 568941.

Everyone loves a mystery, and library readers are no exception, so this autumn Herefordshire Libraries has teamed up with a host of top authors to reveal the secrets behind crime writing and give budding authors the chance to write their own crime novel.

Following on from their sell-out evening with the Medieval Murderers in May, Ross Library starts the library’s crime season on 11th September at 7pm when bestselling authors Caro Peacock and Rebecca Tope reveal their secrets of successful crime writing. Rebecca Tope is the author of three popular murder mystery series, featuring Den Cooper, Devon police detective, Drew Slocombe, Undertaker, and Thea Osborne, house sitter in the Cotswolds. She’s also the "ghost writer" of the novels based on the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme.

Caro Peacock writes historical mysteries and is the author A Foreign Affair, A Dangerous Affair, Death of a Dancer, and Death at Dawn. She also writes as Gillian Linscott.

Tickets priced £3 are available from Ross Library: Tel. 01432 383280. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and buy signed books on the night.

The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has recently gained a new Finance and Administration Officer.

Sharon Seymour, joined the AONB Unit in July from a Company Finance role for a local Lydney firm. With a background in banking and finance, Sharon is keen to use her considerable organisational skills within the new job role .

'I am excited to be working for such a wonderful area', Sharon said ' I am also looking forward to working with the range of partners and local communities to further the aims of the unit.'

Sharon is no newcomer to the area. As a Forester born and bred she has worked within finance and administration roles in the Forest of Dean, Monmouth, Cardiff and Hereford before relocating to Monmouth nine years ago with her husband and sons.

Her knowledge and love of landscape and countryside will certainly stand her in good stead in her new job role and she relishes the new opportunities of getting to know the Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty and to pursue her hobbies of walking, cycling and swimming.

For further information about the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty contact 01600 710844 or email information@wyevalleyaonb.org.uk

With harvest time upon us and hay lorries and potato trailers becoming a common sight, Police in South Herefordshire are distributing vehicle and trailer advice to farms around Ross-on-Wye in a bid to reduce any inappropriate and illegal use of such equipment. The issue was raised at a PACT meeting in Ross that took place on Tuesday, 18th August and will be one of the main priorities for the Ross Rural Local Policing Team for the next couple of months.

PC Wendy Powell and her CSO colleagues, Lisa Austin and Paul Leighton, will be circulating to all farms in the area a document drawn up by the Nation Farmers Union (NFU) and police, giving sensible advice about driving agricultural vehicles on roads and showing consideration to other road users, particularly when driving a slow vehicle with a queue of cars behind. There are nine areas detailing how to reduce congestion and increase safety:

· Do not hold up a long queue of traffic. If you are driving a large or slow vehicle on a narrow or winding road, or if there is a lot of traffic travelling in the other direction, pull over where possible and safe to allow following vehicles to pass.
· Wherever possible, avoid using the roads at peak times to reduce congestion.
· Where fitted, keep lights and mirrors clean and in proper working order.
· Amber beacons are mandatory on agricultural vehicles on dual carriageways. Please use them on all roads and ensure when fitting them that they can be seen from all sides, if possible. Otherwise, consider fitting extra beacons to vehicles/trailers.
· Used dipped headlights, where fitted, to warn other road users of a slow moving vehicle.
· Consider the use of netting or sheeting to secure a load, where the construction of the vehicle / trailer does not accomplish this.
· Consider placing advanced warning signs at road crossing points or where your vehicles are being used to warn other motorists, especially at peak times. Remember that Highways Agency or local authority permission may be required for some signs to be placed.
· Please clear mud and any other material deposited by vehicles from the road, especially at farm / field access points where the deposits are heaviest.

Sergeant Neil Welding, Local Policing Sergeant at Ross Police Station said, 'As many of you will know, we operate an 'Educate, then Legislate' policy in Ross now, which works well. We are circulating the information advice to farms as part of the education process. We hope that this will have the desired effect and that those who drive farm vehicles on the road will do so sensibly and safely. However having had the warning, our patrols will deal robustly with those who continue to deliberately flout the law.'

Herefordshire Council is starting to take delivery of wheeled bins ready for the new recycling service which starts on 2nd November. Bins are being manufactured at the rate of 2,500 per day and being delivered to a Hereford depot from where they will be sent out to county households. The bins, either a 240-litre or 120-litre, will arrive at county properties during September and October but residents are asked not to use them until the new collection service starts in November. Please continue with the current plastic sack or blue box system in the meantime.

Councillor John Jarvis said, 'Seventy thousand bins are being delivered to households throughout the county ready for the new recycling service. Our contractors, Focsa want to ensure as many households as possible have a wheeled bin before the scheme starts on 2nd November and they need this two month period so they can ensure every part of the county is covered. We have also offered people a choice of bin sizes and this means some people may get their bins before neighbours, depending on the type of bin requested.

An information pack will be delivered with each wheeled bin which not only explains how the service works but also includes the new collection calendar as well as a sticker to place on your bin. People should check this pack carefully as their collection day and time may change. I would urge residents to continue using the existing plastic sack system for recycling in the meantime as these will continue to be collected as normal until the new scheme starts. At the moment, we have a recycling rate of 34 per cent and we want this to continue rising so I would urge residents to carry on sorting their recyclables until November.

When the wheeled bin system comes into operation, people will be able to recycle glass for the first time from their kerbside and they will also be able to place all of their recyclable materials into one container. By making recycling easier, we are hoping our recycling rates will continue to rise and we can meet the government target of 40 per cent by 2010.'

Any residents who have received a letter saying they are not to have a wheeled bin should wait for their clear plastic sacks to be delivered. An information pack will be delivered with the sacks and people should check this as their collection day and time may change. All residents will keep their weekly plastic sack collection for any domestic refuse that cannot be recycled and a six months supply of bags will be delivered to every household in the county. A roll of black bags will be provided free of charge and any further bags can be purchased from shops.

Ross-in-Bloom were fortunate to receive a grant from Ross Area Partnership in 2007 for their 'History of Ross' project and over 200 photographs and adverts were received by the group for their campaign. All donated items were copied, laminated and distributed around the shops where they were put on display so that local people and visitors to the town could learn of the history of each particular shop. Following that initial success there have been many donations made since, with new material being added to the collection on a monthly basis. Copies of the pictures donated - plus many more - are in folders loaned to the Heritage Centre for family research as well as general interest.

Margaret Lucas, Chairman of Ross-in-Bloom is delighted with the response, in particulart with the way the collection has grown since the initial appeal. She said, 'When we thought up the idea of showing off the history of the town in this way we didn't know there was so much material available. The collection has grown and grown and is ideal as part of the Heart of England in Bloom entry theme, 'Know Your Roots.' This theme will continue into next year and as the project is still growing we are able to use this to show different things to the judges when they come to Ross.'

Ross-in-Bloom are pleased to announce that the Heritage Centre have given them some exhibition space to display some of the photographs. 'When we heard there was to be an exhibition celebrating the life of Woolworths in Ross, I offered the Heritage Centre some of the material to use to complement this' added Margaret. 'Some of the photographs etc. of Woolworths' neighbours through the decades will be on display until the end of September. If anyone goes along and has a look at the exhibition, they will also be able to look through the large folders we have. Who knows, there could be even more material to donate to add to it. I would like to thank the Heritage Centre staff for the opportunity to display this project as an exhibition and hope we will be able to do so again in the near future.'

The exhibition will be running alongside the Woolworths exhibition until Sunday, 27th September. If anyone does have any new material for the collection they can contact Margaret at her shop, Lucas Motorcycles, in Brookend Street. Originals are not kept, they are copied and returned to the owner as soon as possible for safe keeping.

Some of Herefordshire's young people who were at risk of leaving school with no qualifications or career prospects will be continuing their education or taking up employment thanks to the success of a scheme run by Herefordshire Council.

The Live and Learn programme was launched last year to help the five percent of Herefordshire's young people in years 10 and 11 who are at risk of dropping out of traditional education every year. Reasons for this vary, but can include difficulties at home, problems with peers at school or difficulty relating the school environment to future careers and work. The programme makes arrangements for pupils to spend some time out of school working on practical, work based activities in colleges and work places, to encourage them back into learning. Altogether, eighty-four young people completed the programme in 2009. Around fifty of these will start September in further education, studying a variety of courses with the remainder taking up employment or training opportunities in industry.

Courses on offer include construction, engineering, childcare, land based studies, hairdressing, health and safety and much more. Taste for Adventure, Keith St. Peters Hair Academy and Motov8 (a motor vehicle training centre offering practical experience with bicycles, cars and motorbikes) are some of the partners involved. Lydia Dyer, Live and Learn co-ordinator at Herefordshire Council said, 'We're delighted that this scheme has been such a great success. By participating in practical work-related activities in a real working environment, pupils have been able to relate their school work to the world of work which has boosted their confidence and motivation.Eighty-four of the county's children, some who were at risk of exclusion, have now settled back into education or training and are doing really well. We've monitored the programme very carefully and put in more support for students to try and reduce the drop-out rate which was small, but of concern. Every single young person matters to us and we want to make sure each individual gets the best possible start in life.'

The programme, which will continue again this year, is financed by the European Social Fund.

Herefordshire Council's community protection team has been issued with new powers to help achieve its aim of maintaining Herefordshire as a place of outstanding natural beauty. The team, which was set up to deal with concerns from members of the public about problems of littering and fly tipping in the county has already achieved many successes through prosecutions. However, some people are still ignoring the friendly warnings and advice. So it has been decided to give the team new powers to help get the message home.

The new powers mean people can be issued with fixed penalty notices for offences such as nuisance parking, abandoning a vehicle, dropping litter, posting graffiti, fly posting and failing to control dogs. Councillor John Jarvis, 'This team is already making a big impact in the county by tackling these offences which cause a significant blight to the county and have a serious effect on the lives of many residents who love the beauty of Herefordshire's countryside and do not want it spoilt by litter or clutter.

The team is out and about, tackling hot spots on a daily basis, and has warned many people about their actions which damage the whole county's reputation not just among residents but can also deter visitors which are so crucial to the Herefordshire economy. Members of the public have told us they want these offences to be tackled and we are also committed to improve the public's perception of levels of antisocial behaviour. These new powers will enable us to act efficiently when officers see offences committed by issuing fixed penalty notices. These will not be issued on the spot, but posted to them to ensure names and addresses are correct and check for previous offences. We will still seek to prosecute where more serious offences are committed or if we are aware of persistent offenders and anyone issued with a fixed penalty notice also has the right to be dealt with by a court instead. If the fixed penalty notice is paid within 21 days, no further action will be taken and it will not result in a record of criminal conviction being made against the person concerned.'

The twelve offences that can be dealt with by Fixed Penalty Notices are:

· Nuisance parking - £100 (£60 if paid within 10 days)
· Abandoning a vehicle - £200 (£120 if paid within 10 days)
· Littering - £80 (£50 if paid within 10 days)
· Unauthorized distribution of literature on designated land - £80 (£50 if paid within 10 days)
· Failure to produce a waste transfer note - £300 (£180 if paid within 10 days)
· Failure to produce waste carrier registration documents - £300 (£180 if paid within 10 days)
· Waste receptacles - £100 (£60 if paid within 10 days)
· Dog control orders - £80 (£50 if paid within 10 days)
· Graffiti and fly posting - £80 (£50 if paid within 10 days)
· Noise from premises (domestic) - £80 (£50 if paid within 10 days)
· Noise from premises (licensed) - £500
· Failure to nominate key-holder (within an alarm notification area) - £80 (£50 if paid within 10 days)
· Dog fouling on designated land - £50

You have been warned!

Hereford Police are appealing for information following the unusual theft of a hay turner from a farm in Dinedor, to the south of the city. The theft occurred between 8.30pm on Friday, 21st and 8am on Saturday, 22nd August, when thieves stole the insecure red-coloured Vicon 360 hay turner from outside farm buildings, some half a mile from the farmhouse.

The hay turner, valued at £3,000 is about 5 years old and non-motorised, hitching to the rear of a tractor in operation. It is believed the machine was loaded on to a trailer or craned onto a lorry using a hi-ab.

Police would like to hear from anyone who knows the current whereabouts of the hay turner or has other information to offer about the theft. Anyone with information should call Lisa Hewitt in the Public Service Desk at Hereford Police Station on 0300 333 3000 or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Jobcentre Plus, in partnership with Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire are working together to co-ordinate Jobs Fair Extra, which will take place at the Shire Hall in Hereford on Thursday, 17th September between 10am and 3pm. The fair has been organized to provide help, support and advice for people who are unemployed by way of job search tips, help with completing application forms and advice on improving interview techniques. The event will also give job seekers the chance to apply for current vacancies in the county.

Richard Griffiths from Jobcentre Plus said, 'We are really pleased to be working with the council and the primary care trust to bring this important event to local job seekers Obviously, when people lose their job it is a real worry. At Jobcentre Plus we want to make it as easy as possible for people to find a new job quickly and claim any benefits they may be entitled to.'

Jobs Fair Extra will be attended by local employers with job opportunities in a range of sectors including retail, customer service, clerical, manufacturing and care. Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire will also be providing informal advice workshops throughout the day, where job seekers can pick up essential tips on how to complete application forms and improve interview techniques.

Sheila Thompson of Herefordshire Council said, 'This event is a valuable opportunity for people to get help and advice, all in one location, about job vacancies and support that is available to them whilst they are looking for work. In today's economic climate, identifying where there are vacancies is only the first hurdle for job seekers There is significantly more competition for jobs, which means that people are taking longer to find work, so the council and the primary care trust are committed to offering as much support as we can to unemployed people during this time. Attendees at the September event will not only be able to improve the quality of their applications in the future, but they can also explore routes that they may not have previously considered, such as apprenticeships, updating their qualifications or becoming self-employed.'

In addition, there will be information stands run by organizations such as Jobcentre Plus, Citizens Advice Bureau, Connexions, Tribal Resourcing and Riverside Training. Attendees will be able to obtain guidance on training for a new career, improving their CV and dealing with debt and benefits issues.

Anyone unable to attend the event can call the Jobcentre Plus hotline 0845 6060 234. To make a benefit claim, people should call Jobcentre Plus on 0800 055 66 88.