April

The spirit of the Easter holidays was felt at Longhope Church which hosted its first Easter Bonnet Competition.

The competition saw 33 adults and children who had entered gather on Easter Sunday at the church, who led a parade around the churchyard, with Berry, a miniature pony who donned his own Easter bonnet, at the front of the pack.

The participants ranged from 18 months old to 93 years old, and saw Matilda winning in the children’s category, whilst Mrs Beryl Griffiths won the adult side of the competition.

Councillor Jane Roberts announced she would be stepping down as Ross town councillor.

Mrs Roberts had spent 16 years as town councillor of Ross and had spent the last 4 years of her time there as Mayor.

Jane Roberts was awarded the British Empire Medal for her work for the local community, notably with her work with the Ross-on-Wye Community Development Trust, which she still chairs, over the covid pandemic.

May

A touching tribute to a late beloved member of the local community, David Reeves, via a tractor procession throughout the lanes of Herefordshire.

David had planned out a route for the convoy that would mirror the routes he had taken many times throughout his life, and crowds gathered as 75 tractors made their way from Callow Farm in Walford to Treworgan Farm in Llangrove.

The day also saw a communal barbecue and a charity raffle for St. Michael Hospice and Walford Church, both charities receiving half each of the £6,500 total that was raised and was a fitting tribute to a much loved community figure.

A charity riding group got the green-light for a modern riding therapy facility which will include a 30m x 60m indoor riding arena, a hydraulic rider hoist, 15 stables and a mechanical therapy horse room.

The new Herefordshire Riding for the Disabled Association Centre will be built between Llangrove and Whitchurch, and will allow the RDA to not just allow their already over 100 weekly customers to enjoy an improved centre, but also gives the RDA room to expand their base and extend their work to weekends too.

June

An almost explosive start to the month as a live World War 2 bomb that was found in a man’s skip sent Ross-on-Wye into high alert.

Thai Hayward found the bomb concealed in a plastic bag and picked it up before he released what it was and reported the rusted bomb to the police.

Police hastily evacuated the street that it was found on before bringing in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who disposed of the live device.

In bad news for Ross residents, HSBC closed its branch in the town as part of a wider national strategy that saw 114 branches close around the country.

Over the past five years, the bank stated that physical branch visits fell by 65 percent as customers increasingly migrate to digital methods for their banking needs.

The closure means that Ross residents must travel to Hereford or Gloucester to physically bank with HSBC, however the bank has claimed that their new UK strategy will include more community pop-ups, self-service machines and the use of the Post Office network to physically bank locally, although the closures mark a larger trend of local high streets losing more major and important services.