Hereford's New Foodie

🇵🇱 Uwaga! Ogłaszamy konkurs! Do wygrania przepyszne specjały kuchni Polska Street Food o wartości £25 !🇵🇱

We have teamed up with our Polish friends at Hereford's latest restaurant and takeaway Polska Street Food

(we've had many dishes already and can assure you the food is lush)🥙🌮🍕🍟🌭🌯🥖🍔

To be in with a chance of winning a superb selection of food from their fantastic menu all you have to do is follow these 3 simple steps...

👉 LIKE & SHARE Polska Street Food & Hereford Voice 
👉 Comment, telling us which dishes you would like to try
👉 Tag a friend who would enjoy some new style food 😜

A lucky winner will be selected at random on Tues 14 July 
(Entrants MUST at least 16 years of age)

☎️ 01432381200 - 'Just Eat' or visit their website HERE

Good Luck 👍
Competition / Giveaway T&C's

#HerefordVoice #hvcomps #Hereford #hfdcomps

Thousands of homeowners across the UK are set to receive vouchers of up to £5,000 for energy-saving home improvements as part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s proposed £2bn grant scheme in England.

The Green Homes Grant, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer today, will give hundreds of thousands of homeowners vouchers of up to £5,000 for energy-saving home improvements, a move which the Treasury hopes will help to support more than 100,000 jobs in the industry.

The Chancellor also revealed that the poorest homeowners could receive up to £10,000 as part of the plans.

Rishi Sunak set out a £2bn grant scheme in England for projects such as insulation as part of a wider £3bn plan to cut carbon emissions.

Under the Green Homes Grant, the government will pay at least two-thirds of the cost of home improvements that save energy, the Treasury said.

For example, a homeowner of a semi-detached or end-of-terrace house could install cavity wall and floor insulation for about £4,000 – the homeowner would pay £1,320 while the government would contribute £2,680.

The scheme will launch in September, with online applications for recommended energy efficiency measures, along with details of accredited local suppliers. Once one of these suppliers has provided a quote and the work is approved, the voucher is issued.

WIN a Sunday Roast for 2 People at The Den Hereford.

"It's what Sundays are all about" 

We have teamed up with our lovely friends at The Den to celebrate their reopening this coming weekend. 

To be in with a chance of winning a mouthwatering Sunday roast for two people on Sunday 12th July between 12-4pm (table has already been reserved) pop over to our Facebook page..

👉 LIKE & SHARE The Den & Hereford Voice FB Pages
👉 Leave a comment telling us your favourite veg or meat
👉 Tag a friend who would love a roast 😜

A lucky winner will be selected at random on Wed 8th July 
(Entrants MUST at least 16 years of age and available Sunday 12th July 2020)

Good Luck 👍
Competition / Giveaway T&C's 

#HerefordVoice #hvcomps #Hereford #hfdcomps

At approximately 11.30pm on Sunday night, Ledbury Fire Station attended a tree fire in #Eastnor near Eastnor Castle.

The tree was well alight when the crews arrived and unfortunately it was not possible to extinguish quickly. 

Great efforts were made by the crew from Ledbury and also by a crew from Upton Upon Severn Fire Station. The crews ran out hose approximately 120metres and used an appliance to shuttle water to and from the incident all through the night. Foam was also used to blanket the tree in great efforts to save it.

This once magnificent tree in question is a very well known and admired tree called #TheWhiteLeavedOak. We understand that this tree is visited by people from all over the world and plays a large part in the rituals of Druids. 

The White Leaved Oak is thought to be around 500 years old and is featured on many websites and books.

The cause of the fire is unknown, However please be careful when visiting the countryside, especially when visiting somewhere that is as sacred or precious to many people.

Tesco will be relaxing some of their social distancing measures from tomorrow.

The store will be removing the one way system in the aisles and all arrow floor stickers will be removed with some being replaced with occasional 'Keep Your Distance' stickers.

Tesco feel now is the time to improve the ease of shop across their stores and also remove the need for staff to what are sometimes, difficult conversations with customers. 

We understand that other measures will also be relaxed similar to that now in place at the Ledbury store, where door staff will no longer be restricting customer numbers entering the store, customers will also need to clean their own shopping trolleys.

B&Q have also removed the need to have a trolley when entering their store in Hereford and customers are also required to clean their own trolley, if one is required. Sanitisers and cloths will still be provided.

Herefordshire Council have made a u-turn from last week when they reintroduced parking charges only offering a free 30 minute window as we reported in this article however, today there is some better news for local businesses as the council have now completely lifted the charges altogether for the best part of a month to help businesses recover from the Covid-19 lockdown.

Parking charges lifted temporarily in town and city car parks to support business

To support local business during this particularly difficult time and encourage people to visit their high street rather than shop on-line, Herefordshire Council is offering free parking on street and in council car parks* from Saturday 27 June until Friday 24 July 2020.

Cllr John Harrington, Cabinet member for infrastructure and transport explains:

Quote

“After listening to the concerns expressed by parish and town councils, by ward members and particularly those from businesses and Hereford BID, I’ve taken the decision to reintroduce free parking for four weeks, to help give retailers and the hospitality trade a much needed boost at this critical time.

“We hope to be able to follow this with a scheme later in the year with incentives to encourage people to stay for longer for less money, encouraging them to spend more time supporting our retail and hospitality outlets, particularly our independent businesses.

“Like every other council across the country we have parking charges for several good reasons. Charges help us to encourage people to travel in a different way, by walking or cycling for example. For those that want to or must drive, varying those charges allows us to encourage shoppers and other visitors to park outside the urban centres by charging them less for staying longer, whilst those that want to park right in the centres are expected to pay more. Charges keep spaces turning over especially in the City and town centres.

“Ideally we would love people to really think about travelling a different way in town, especially when you consider for example that over 50% of the residents of Hereford travel less than two miles to shop or commute to work. We have all been encouraged by the boost in walking and cycling lockdown brought and we intend to support those ambitions in any way we can whilst recognising some folks must travel in by car.      

“Herefordshire Council has made a commitment to support local business, encourage people to visit our historic city and market towns, and buy locally. After years of austerity and with challenging financial times ahead we cannot afford to provide free parking forever as we use this income to subsidise public transport and school buses. So, in the longer term we will be looking at other ways to encourage people to safely visit our wonderful city and historic market towns. There is an opportunity to look to do things in a different way while supporting local business.”

Resident parking and other restrictions will be enforced.

*Excludes Friar St Military Club car park, at their request

Hereford FC is delighted to announce that popular local restaurant The Beefy Boys, will be the home short sponsor for the upcoming 2020/21 season.

Lee Symonds of The Beefy Boys said, 

Quote

“We were delighted with how our first season’s sponsorship with Hereford FC went so we are delighted to be the home short sponsors for the upcoming season.”

Hereford FC General Manager, James Watts said: “

Quote

It is fantastic news that we have secured The Beefy Boys for the upcoming season with Hereford FC. We will continue to look at ways to progress the partnership this season as we know a lot of our supporters are regular visitors to the restaurant”.

Local people from Herefordshire and the rest of the UK can now travel freely to and from Wales as the lockdown measures that were introduced in March are lifted from today 6th July 2020.

The Welsh government had imposed a "stay local" requirement which advised people to remain within five miles of their home.

Visitor attractions can open and it will pave the way for the tourism sector to begin re-opening from July 11, providing conditions allow.

Families will be reunited as people from two households are now able to form one extended household.

Herefordshire Council have fast-tracked a 7 day order to close the Old Bridge to northbound traffic by converting the road to a pedestrian and cyclist only route. Buses will still be able to use the route. 

These decisions have been made behind closed doors as it's a seven day order there is no public consultation required, is this transparent enough❓

There are many concerns by local businesses about a huge potential loss of trade. We understand that traders were notified on June 20 with the consultation ending on June 23

People living south of Hereford will be most inconvenienced by these changes, If you needed to drive into the city centre your main route would be to drive to the Steels roundabout northbound to then come back southbound to gain access into Broad St and King St. Motorists could attempt to turn right into St. Nicholas St but that junction at best only allows one or two vehicles to cross before the lights change.

Additional cycles routes and reduced speed limits are welcome but are these changes going to cause more traffic mayhem particularly if the Greyfriars bridge becomes blocked?

The measures in Hereford are shown on the attached map and comprise:
- 20mph zones
- On street cycle lanes
- Footway widening
- Extension to the city centre timed closure
- Closure of the old Wye Bridge to all but buses and cycles

The measures are temporary and although they have a maximum period of 18 months, they will be monitored and retained only for as long as necessary. If a measure is felt to be suitable for retention in the long term, a fully TRO process with consultation will be required.

I have not fished the lake for probably nearly 30 years. I have started fishing again. Are there any fish left in them?

Harveys and Benson for Beds enter into Administration.

Harveys goes into administration with 240 jobs lost and branches under threat. 

Bensons for Beds, which is owned by Harveys' owners Blue Group, will see around 50 of its outlets close, leaving between 150 and 175 open.

Blue Group formally appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator on Tuesday.

The move leaves the future of Harveys hanging in the balance, with PwC looking for buyers for the business and its three manufacturing plants. Harveys is not currently taking any new orders but will honour existing ones, according to its website

Harvey’s have had financial trouble for the past 12 months and have been seeking a new buyer. Most stores were due to re-open today, with staff spending the past two days cleaning showrooms.

The two furniture retailers operate from 269 stores across the UK and employs 2700 in total, 700 of which are directly employed at Harvey’s.

Both Bensons for Beds and Harvey’s also had a change of hands last November, when former parent company Blue Group was sold off by Steinhoff to Alteri Investors for an undisclosed sum.

Alteri Investors, which owns Blue Group, has decided to restructure the business so that Bensons will become a standalone business. Bensons is the second largest bed retailer in the UK behind Dreams in terms of market share.

Military charity support move to new distribution hub 

An essential role for Herefordshire Council during the Covid-19 response has been to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to staff carrying out critical business.

Since the start of the pandemic, the council has been sourcing, buying, distributing and storing PPE stock for non-NHS settings across the county. Many care providers have had difficulty accessing PPE due to high national demand, so the council has also provided free PPE to these sites. Since early April the Council has provided care providers with over 6 million pieces of PPE including over 1.2 million surgical face masks.

As we prepare to live with the long-term impact of Covid-19, the council has created a new Herefordshire PPE hub with support from Operation RE:ACT, Team Rubicon UK’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Nigel Jones, the team leader for RE-ACT and his amazing team of volunteers gave up their own time to help the council pack, load and relocate around 25 pallets of vital PPE to a new, secure location.

Alistair Neill, Herefordshire Council’s Chief Executive, said:

Quote

“Sourcing and distributing PPE remains of the highest priority to ensure the safety of council and care provider as they carry out their essential duties. We set up a temporary distribution hub for PPE in the first week of lockdown, and our new PPE hub will enable us to continue our supply in the longer term. I would like to thank the Operation RE:ACT team who gave up their time to assist with moving PPE stock to our new, secure centre.”

Herefordshire Council and Operation RE:ACT were also assisted by:

• Eagle Plant Hire Hereford, who provided the Council free use of a self-drive Manitou fork lift; this was expertly driven by Cllr Jim Kenyon.
• DLT Training Ltd Bridgend in South Wales, who provided the Council with a large van and volunteer driver;
• Total Produce Foodservice Hereford who provided the Council with a large van and another volunteer driver;
• Herefordshire Council’s library service who filled up with PPE and drove the library van between the old and new PPE sites.

We do not publish national news articles very often and would prefer to keep our network for Herefordshire however, because of all the hard work already done in trying to contain the virus and the dedication from the NHS and other key workers, we felt compelled to post this article because if people continue to ignore the guidelines we may end up with a second wave.

We have all seen the pictures of thousands of people flocking to the beaches this week across the UK during this period of hot weather. Bournemouth beach was a classic example and a major incident was declared yesterday after thousands ignored health advice, with widespread anti-social behaviour, gridlocked roads and huge crowds on the hottest day of the year.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Elwood said 500,000 visitors were in Dorset yesterday – almost as many people as living in the county.

Maybe Bournemouth council should take some responsibility here for not putting social distancing measures in place...But people should equally be responsible for their own actions.

This was Bournemouth Beach yesterday

Photo courtesy of The Telegraph - Bournemouth Beach

We should look at other countries to see how they are creating safer beach environments for the public. 

This is a brilliant example of how they should apply social distancing at Jesolo Beach in Italy

Photo courtesy os Skyline Webcams - Jesolo Beach Italy

View the LIVE Jesolo Beach webcam here

It can't be that difficult surely.. your thoughts?

In the governments final daily briefing broadcast yesterday chief Medical Office Chris Whitty reminds us..

Quote

"The advice to stay at 2m if you can do, still remains. It is a 1m plus rule and it is with mitigating conditions which people must take seriously"

Boris Johnson announced social distancing rules will be eased, allowing pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers to open from 4 July in England.

The prime minister said people should remain two metres apart where possible, but that a "one metre plus" rule would follow.

A very small fraction of our population are temperamentally drawn to what seems like a noble cause and are dangerously susceptible and vulnerable to ideological possession. For these people, mostly with Far Left leanings, they’ve convinced themselves that any oppression, real or imagined, is the direct result of an oppressive patriarchy which they’re intent upon destroying.

And so, once these slavish ideologues settle upon their latest noble cause their hierarchy create an ideology, they hoover up their temperamentally drawn followers to the chosen noble cause and they take control of all media language that demands that any objection to the cause is heresy, racist and are the thoughts of bigoted cruel and insensitives who have an inability to display empathy and are in some way are cruel or even evil.

Rather like the era of Joseph Goebells where you identify a threat, terrify the people and convince the masses that they’re being threatened, they begin to purge the noise of opposition and the relevance of any dissenters, thus creating two groups. One which is good and one which is bad. Because of noble causes that the Far Left are drawn toward, ideologies are formed and as is always the case with the Far Left, they become tyrannical.

And noble causes are good. There’s nothing wrong with a noble cause. The problem with them is the ideology that accompanies them. Whether it’s Women Equal Pay, Brexit, Transgender issues, Climate Change and Black Lives Matter, every single one of them evolves into tyranny to exclude any voices that disagree with the narrative that everything is the fault of an oppressive patriarchy.

When do we know when an ideology has become tyrannical and its slavish followers have become irrationally possessed by their ideas? When we are all expected to do and say things that publicly demonstrate just how ashamed we all are of ourselves, our gender, our ethnicity,sexuality and what we all really think but dare not say because we don’t want to be labelled in some negative way.

The sports hall at Hereford Leisure Centre is used to seeing groups of people come together to get active, but recently it has welcomed a new type of team which has been flexing its muscles and pulling together for an entirely different reason.

Hereford Leisure Centre may be currently closed to the public but for the past 3 months it has played an essential role as the Emergency Delivery Hub for the County.  The large space in the sports hall and good road access meant it was ideally positioned to receive and distribute supplies, with the centre able to adapt at short notice to its new community role.

Matt Smith, Hereford Leisure Centre Manager said,

Quote

“Herefordshire Council worked with Halo staff to set up the centre to first distribute food  to people who needed to isolate due to being at high risk of Covid 19; to then becoming the distribution hub for essential PPE to care providers across the County.”

Cllr David Hitchiner, Leader of Herefordshire Council, said

Quote

“We are incredibly grateful to the Halo team for supporting the Council in its emergency response to Covid 19 in making sure food reached people who needed it and our care homes and care providers had essential personal protection equipment” he continued “the Halo team where incredibly accommodating and their input invaluable with their community ethos evident in the support they gave at this challenging time”

Matt went on to say,

Quote

“Halo is a charity and social enterprise so it was important to us to play our part and to support our partners in the Council. Until the space is able to safely welcome back our customers, it was great to see it being used for such an important community service”

High School fundraising in memory of Kieran Joyce has so far reached £7,650 and the just giving page will still be open for a couple more weeks, you can donate HERE

Kieran Joyce was 15 when he died in September last year from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. 

Students at Weobley High School started the 7-11 challenge to get active and raise money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

George West the PE teacher at Weobley High School wrote to us today to express his sincere thanks below. 

Quote

 

"We have received messages of good luck and encouragement from over 10 professional athlete and had members of the public that never knew Kieran join in the 7-11 challenge.

We have posted these updates and videos on our PE Facebook Page

It would be great if you could thank the Herefordshire public for their generosity from the entire Weobley community as their money will help screen many young people in Herefordshire and pick up and undetected heart conditions.

This will hopefully stop another community having the tragic loss that we suffered when Kieran died last September. Kieran hated losing and he would see this as a massive win for the C.R.Y charity".

 

Kind regards 
George West 
PE Teacher Weobley High School

Herefordshire tourism project awarded £440,000 of Marches LEP funding

A major campaign to help Herefordshire's tourism and visitor economy recover from the devastating impact of the coronavirus lockdown and February’s flooding has been awarded £440,000 by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership

The money will help launch a co-ordinated drive to promote the county as a fantastic, safe destination for day trips and also staycations if the lockdown restrictions ease sufficiently.

It is part of a £1.6million package of funding agreed by the Marches LEP across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to support businesses hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis and earlier flooding.

Herefordshire Business Board and Herefordshire Council are behind the plan to promote the county’s huge range of tourism attractions, retail and leisure opportunities to both local and national markets.

Their plan includes developing a new destination website supported by a smartphone app and local and national marketing and PR campaigns to attract day trippers and families and couples seeking staycations as soon as it is safe to do so.

Mandy Thorn MBE DL, chair of the Marches LEP, said the partnership was delighted to support the initiative.

Quote

“The tourism and visitor economy has been particularly hard hit by the double impact of the lockdown and floods and large numbers of businesses have suffered as a result through no fault of their own. This sector is so important to Herefordshire and it is vital we get it back on its feet as quickly as possible.”

Frank Myers MBE, chair of Herefordshire Business Board, said the plan would help support the tourism, hospitality, leisure and cultural economy as well as parts of the local retail and manufacturing sectors.

Quote

 

“We have examined the detailed evidence of how the county has been affected by both these events and believe this sector urgently requires action to support its soonest-possible recovery.

“This campaign will allow the county to safely encourage day visits and take advantage of the anticipated peak in the staycation domestic visitor market in the summer and autumn as and when lockdown restrictions are lifted.

“This support will also have a significant impact on all related supply chain businesses such as food and drink producers, wider retail, hotels and visitor attraction suppliers.

“The key challenge will be to deliver this initiative with urgency in order to rescue as much of the 2020 season as we can.”

 

Councillor Ellie Chowns, cabinet member for environment, economy and skills, said:

Quote

 

“Covid-19 has had a huge impact on our local economy, as it has throughout the nation, and in Herefordshire this has compounded the damage inflicted by the flooding events earlier this year. It is vital that we all do everything in our power to support the recovery of our visitor economy as soon as possible, so it is fantastic news that the Local Enterprise Partnership are providing this funding. The boost will be particularly welcome for the tourism, hospitality, leisure and culture sectors, as well as elements of the retail sector. These seasonal businesses are currently losing trade as we enter their peak season.

“Herefordshire is a perfect destination for anybody looking for an outstanding natural environment and wildlife, beautiful open spaces, and wide ranging outdoor activities. Hereford and our market towns are also ideal for those in search of vibrant rural centres of culture, with opportunities ranging from the majesty of Hereford Cathedral, home of the world famous Mappa Mundi, and boutique shopping experiences, to the incredible variety of high quality, locally sourced food and drink that is available across the county. With excellent transport links, Herefordshire is perfect for day-trippers from outside and within the county.

“We are delighted that this funding boost will provide support during such a difficult time, and encourage everybody to find out more about what makes Herefordshire a world class visitor destination by heading to the visitherefordshire.co.ukwebsite.”

 

The majority of the LEP funding has come from loan repayments from previous job-creating investment projects the partnership has supported.