I meant to post this last night, but forgot!

I see that Freedom Church is making headlines once again, for all the wrong reasons. Over at HT an article states that they have been asked to leave Swansea University Campus, after blitzing it with leaflets, and holding religious services on site.

Not the first time their recruitment methods have been questioned. Anyone else remember the campaign which saw lollipops handed out to children outside the school gates? Tactics which at best could be described as showing a complete lack of judgement, at worst, rather sinister.

I also seem to recall being told that at one point in the not too distant past, a company whose staff consisted of  several leading lights within this church, had been given a contract to deliver sex education to pupils in some Herefordshire Schools. 

I have real concerns about this pay to pray organisation. 

How do others feel?

In 2020 central government are stopping funding to local authorities…so how are this LA's going to fund service? Where will the money come from? How many of them will go bang? & if that happens what then?…after Theresa May's pathetic attempt at Brexit?…you have to wonder at the governments thinking,behind cutting the local LA's funding too?!…will this be the straw that breaks the camels back?

It is probably fair to say that over the next eight days of the Three Choirs Festival, more people will admire the front elevation of Hereford’s 144-year-old City Library on Broad Street than at any other time of the year. This handsome Grade II-listed building, overlooking Cathedral Close, has just undergone a second emergency building operation. Two years ago it was dreaded asbestos removal. This time it is the steeply-pitched slate roof that needed fixing (‘joined-up-writing’ has never been practised at Plough Lane).

But when the huge and costly (probably no change out of 30K) scaffolding structure was removed just four days before the festival opened, keen-eyed conservationists noted that the 10 stone gargoyles which line the roof’s parapet had been left uncleaned and are seriously stained with grime and algae. The decorative friezes which run across the four-storey building’s main façade are also intricate and unusual. And filthy.

Using the existing scaffold platform, an extra two days expert water washing could have restored these unique carvings in time for the City Library’s 150th anniversary celebrations. That’s if Harry Bramer hasn’t sold it off as multi-storey car park.

As a frequent walker to town, I have noticed that, probably due to a wet spring and a magnificent summer, the hedgerows are more prolific than ever. Thus reducing a 5ft pavement to a little over 2 ft wide in places. This is extremely hazardous when meeting other pedestrians with pushchairs and children. Someone usually has to step into the road. I believe there is a local bye-law against allowing hedges to project beyond your boundary. I am afraid that this does not seem to be enforced.

Open Day - Herefordshire Light Infantry Museum

The Three Choirs Festival has begun in Hereford and is a week-long programme of choral and orchestral concerts, cathedral services, solo and chamber music recitals, masterclasses, talks, theatre, exhibitions and walks, rotating each summer between the beautiful English cathedral cities of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester. It is the oldest non-competitive classical music festival in the world, which celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2015.

At the heart of the modern festival are the large-scale evening concerts featuring the Three Choirs Festival Chorus and the Philharmonia Orchestra, which has been resident at the festival since 2012. The main festival’s packed schedule of daytime events is augmented by a community programme which varies slightly in style in each city.

The Three Choirs Festival is run by dedicated voluntary committees in Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester, supported by a small professional management team based at the Three Choirs Festival Association’s office in Gloucester.

The Three Choirs Festival, which was first held in 1715, is probably the oldest music festival in the world. The Festival is held in turn in one of the three cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester. This year the Festival takes place between 28 July and 4 August and, by rotation, it will be hosted by the cathedral and city of Hereford.

Click HERE for tickets and more details.

This is how High Town Hereford looks and this is the scene that visitors and tourists will remember about our city...

'Stop The Drop' they say, how about we start our own campaign called 'Rid The Trash' to encourage the council to start emptying the bins more often throughout the day, particularly at the weekends.  

Where has the pride in our beautiful city gone? 

ENFORCEMENT

We have wonderful community groups all volunteering their own time to clean up our city, but rather than cleaning up AFTER people have dropped the litter maybe we should concentrate efforts more towards encouraging the council to start issuing fines and using the CCTV facilities in order to catch these people. We are also in favour of 'Naming and Shaming' people who drop rubbish and litter.

A former Hereford trader has been jailed for 25 months after Herefordshire Council’s Trading Standards Officers seized a record haul of counterfeit tobacco

A former Hereford trader has been jailed for 25 months for selling illegal tobacco.

Hemin Jamal, 37, the former owner of the Hereford shops, Supersam on Eign Street and Mila on Belmont Road, pleaded guilty to eight offences in June, and was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Monday 23 July for selling illegal tobacco and for being in possession of a large amount of counterfeit tobacco products.

The case was taken to court by Herefordshire Council, after the illegal tobacco was discovered at Mr Jamal’s shop premises in November 2016, by the council’s trading standards team.

Officers seized a total of 360,000 illegal cigarettes and 25kg of fake hand rolling tobacco.  The fake and smuggled products were found hidden in containers hired by Mr Jamal and were concealed in instant barbecues in a bid to avoid detection.  The record haul equated to £130,000 in duty tax evasion.

Investigations unveiled that almost half of all customers entering the Supersam convenience store at Eign Street, were purchasing illegal tobacco products, which were retrieved from the flat above the shop by members of staff.

Mr Jamal owned both shops for over a year, until new owners took over both premises in February 2017.

Marc Willimont, Head of Development Management and Regulation, said:

Quote

 

“The sale of illegal tobacco severely damages honest local businesses, as well as costing the tax payer £2 billion nationally.

“We will continue to work in partnership with the Police to clamp down on this organised criminal activity.

“This sentence sends out a strong message to others who may be selling or could be considering selling illegal tobacco, that the trade will not be tolerated, and if caught legal action may be taken against you.”

 

If anyone has any information regarding the sale of illegal tobacco within Herefordshire, please contact trading standards on 01432 261761.

Plans have been submitted to build a single three storey residential building containing 6 no. 2 bedroom apartments, together with associated infrastructure and access, new car parking, bin and cycle storage facilities and landscaped amenity space.

The will be parking facilities for 12 cars, 2 disabled bays and also space provided for 18 bikes

Planning Application P182431/F

College park has been cordoned off by police this morning after the body of a 17 yr old was discovered this morning.

Update.old school lane at the end of kingswaY by railway bridge has been cordoned off inc part of playing field.

Plans have been submitted to convert the upper floors of Steamer Trading cookshop in Commercial Street into

10 no. flats.
The shop on ground floor will remain.

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/info/200142/planning_services/planning_application_search/details?id=182521&search-term=registered in the last 7 days&
search-service=recent&search-source=items&search-item=registered in the last 7 days

A planning application has been received to erect a commemorative statue of Lance Corporal Allan Leonard Lewis VC 
in Garrick Lane on the Old Market site next to Wildwood restaurant.

Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet is due to consider reports and recommendations regarding the Hereford Transport Package.

This will include considering a preferred route for the bypass at a meeting on Friday 27 July 2018 at 10am.

In advance of this, the council’s General Scrutiny Committee has called in the decision for pre-decision scrutiny; and will consider the issue on Wednesday 18 July 2018 at 10am.

Both these meetings will be held in public at the Shire Hall in Hereford, and anyone is able to attend to observe the proceedings. Members of the public will be able to ask questions in advance of these meetings and the audio of the meetings will also be broadcast live. Details of how to submit a question and how to attend or listen to the meetings online are available on the council’s website

These meetings follow Cabinet approval of a short list of route options for the bypass in January this year which was the subject of public consultation in February and March. The reports detailing the results of the public consultation and the technical work undertaken to assess the options will be included within the agenda papers for the meetings. The agenda papers for the first of these meetings, General Scrutiny Committee, will be published on the council’s website on the evening of Tuesday 10 July 2018.

The council is ensuring that potentially affected residents and landowners are made aware of these meetings and how to access the agenda papers and reports.

Plans for a new multi story car park on the Country bus station site in Commercial Road look to have been scrapped.

https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50026347&Opt=0

Ladies and Gentlemen,  ( Copied from SSAFA Herefordshire circulation to its members)

The annual event in memory of Violette Szabo GC will be held in Womelow this coming Sunday, 24 June. Many of you will be aware of the bravery in World War 2 of this remarkable young lady. She volunteered to join the SOE to work behind enemy lines, was parachuted into France in 1944 but was captured later that year. She was exceuted in Ravensbrusk concentration camp in February 1945, aged just 23. She was awareded a posthumous GC for her bravery.

She had family connections to Wormelow, and a small museum has been set up there in her memory. Every year near her birthday there is an event in the village, attended by civic dignitaries and members of the public, to commemorate her life and work. 

This year the event will meet at The Park, Wormelow (opposite the garage next to the Tump Inn) at 13.30. Their will be a small parade of RBL banners etc which will move off to the Musem nearby at 13.40. 

All are welcome to attend this event, which clearly has strong military and local connections. 

Herefordshire Councils planning committee has approved the Southern Link Road (SLR) planning application today, Monday 6 June 2016.

I ain't no 'toker'. Wouldn't know where to buy it, how much to pay for it or what form of Cannabis to use but, since I've become older, wiser and more tolerant to change and different lifestyles, I've come to the conclusion that making Cannabis a controlled drug, in this day and age is a pointless exercise and all we are doing is criminalizing a group of good people who simply like to have a puff of Marry Joanne and howl with laughter at the moon.

Times have changed and legislation should be for the people, by the people and for the benefit of the people and I no longer see any sense in a young man or woman getting a criminal record for using a natural herb and being hamstrung for the rest of their lives because of a criminal conviction or a Caution for what is essentially a peaceful activity.

In these times of stretched and strained resources, little public funding and a vast amount of Cannabis readily available to millions of young people, what's the point spending huge sums of money to recover a few ounces of Cannabis each week and be fully cognizant that three or four kilos of Cannabis have got through the net and are out there in Hereford undetected by the Police and other investigative agencies.

The whole Cannabis thing is a nonsense and its time for our society to accept that Cannabis is as much a part of our society as tobacco and alcohol but much, much less dangerous and problematic.

Course, there are dangers and problem areas. Any fool can see them. But, accepting that since the Misuse of Drugs Act was introduced in 1971, nothing as come close to ridding our culture of Cannabis and indeed many other natural drugs so i say lets grasp the stinging nettle, use some common sense and make Cannabis legal.