Folk I encounter on my peregrinations across High Town, sometimes stop me and ask: ‘Vicar – how did you come to be de-frocked?’ Oftentimes, this question is posed in Polish.

I usually explain to them that I am bound by the terms of a Gagging Order signed by the then-Bishop of Hereford, The Right Rev Greville Chasuble, save to say it was a very minor misdemeanour, of no great import, involving a) an amateur abseiling session down the cathedral tower to raise funds for a hedgehog sanctuary at Tillington; and b) my total absentmindedness in forgetting to put on any underpants that morning.

It was the graphic telephoto images, broadcast that evening on Midlands Today (which then went viral), which sealed my fate – and caused irreparable damage to the BBC’s Birmingham switchboard. But all that – as the former Mrs Membridge-Tinninges so aptly reminds me, in her annual Christmas card from Antibes – is now in the past.

As Christ himself put it (in his sermon on the steps of Aldi’s Tel Aviv branch, I think it was): “We should always turn the other cheek - after first checking that a) we are wearing underpants and b) there are no BBC Midlands cameramen lurking nearby”. A happy Hallowe'en to you all.               

E. Membridge-Tinninges (Rev – defrocked)

Two men have now been charged with attempted murder & robbery following an incident at Addison Court, Hereford on Friday.
Chaise Healy aged 32 has been chraged with attemted murder & robbery.
Edgaras  Arlauskas aged 33 has been charged with attempted murder, robbery & possesion of a knife.
Both are to appear at Kidderminster magistrates court today.

Police have closed off Moor Walk between Penhaligan Way and Widemarsh Common due to an incident earlier this morning.
Social media reports of a person pulling a knife on people along the line down to Asda and also of an arrest.
 

Learn to Line Dance with Step-In-Time Line Dancing Herefordshire.

Qualified BWDA & UKDC Instructor.

Modern line dance classes in Hereford and Leominster. The venues are Fridays - Saxon Hall Hereford and Mondays - Lion Ballroom Leominster.

All classes run from 8pm-10pm and cost £5. Beginner level dances are taught in the first hour with improver / intermediate levels from 9pm-10pm.

We dance to all types of music from Country to Pop, Latin to Irish and anything in between. 

All levels and abilities are accommodated. No previous dance experience is necessary. We even cater for those of you with 2 left feet - yes you can still dance!

If you have not danced for a few years (or more) why not come back, refresh the steps and learn some new dances. 

If you have never danced before, come along and see what you're missing out on.

Open to all ages - children to be accompanied by an adult.

No booking required, just turn up and have fun.

See attached poster for more details.

Advertisement - penguins - Revised Oct 18 double-sided.pdf

The river Wye in Hereford is very high and fast flowing this morning. If this rainfall continues for a few more days we may see the river burst its banks. 

I spoke with my daughter this morning and she tells me the both river bridges in Brecon are closed.

A fantastic photograph of the Left Bank and De Koffie Pot taken at 0130 hrs this morning. 

All of the lights were left on at the Left Bank in order that this photograph could be taken showing a superb glimmer and reflection across the very high river Wye.

Thank you to our friend David Barrett for this wonderful shot.

Herefordshire Council ignores the statistics provided by its own consultants as to the need for a bypass.
45% of peak hour traffic is heading for North Hereford with no need to cross the River Wye or traverse Hereford.

The time for the election is fast approaching.

The vast majority of comments in relation to the Council are negative - the conservatives are ruining the County, made up of tired old white men who know nothing, fat cat salaries etc. etc. 

Well perhaps now is the time for anyone who feels that they can do better and have business acumen to run such an organisation to consider putting themselves forward as candidates. You don't have to be in a political party to do so.

PS - Count me out - too old and could not put up with getting calls in the middle of the night about a blocked drain!

Might be posting something of no interest to others but ..............

My Surgery is Kings St / Bobbkestock Surgerys., about 10 days ago I called at Kings St Surgery to book a Flu Jab for Mrs U and me ........advised that they hadn't decided how it was going to be carried out ..........that should have warned me that " Failing to plan is planning to fail " .

Today I called into Kings St and asked when I can book an appointment . The Receptionist was at all times very professional and nice , started off by saying that she could fit us in at Bobblestock Surgery , that's fine , we can get there by bus but we will have a two hour wait for our bus home - that two hours will be spent in the Three Elms Pub trying to keep within Govt guidelines , so thank you but no . Kings St Surgery are no doing any flu jabs so what about Greyfriars Surgery at 16.45 , sorry no transport home so it's a 5 mile walk . Right Ho ! What about South Wye Medicial Centre at Asda , can you walk that far ! Yes we will take the appointments , OK we have to walk from and to the bus stop at the Old Market but it's a date .

In a few weeks time the medicial profession will be moaning that there a a high number of over 65 who haven't had their flu jab - thereby increasing the Dr and hospital work load - 

Food for thought ...........perhaps we should have enquired at the Supermarkets ! 

Just a quick reminder that duck pond day part 2 is next Sunday 7th October 9am -3pm.

We will continue painting the metal fencing and have a general clean up of the area.

We also have two new duck feeding signs kindly donated by vets for pets & printed by print plus to put up.we will try & arrange refreshments again.we are sure that castle house will help out like they did last time.

Hi guy's

Just to give you the heads up.

You may have noticed a reduced amount of new topics from me recently. I was on holiday from the 9th - 16th, we were back for just a day before I was admitted to hospital for over a week. 

After various scans etc they found a rather large gallstone 15-16mm. I was in severe pain and had a bad infection with a lot of abdominal swelling. The good news is that I am now recovering at home waiting for my operation scheduled for week commencing the 15th to remove my gallbladder.

I am feeling a lot better than I was a week or so ago, so you will see more activity on the forum because as you can imagine I am getting bored. 

Friday 21 September 2018

100 years ago Allan was killed in action during WW1 and as a result of his bravery was awarded the Victoria Cross. He is the only Herefordshire born person to have been awarded a VC

This Friday there will be two events to commemorate Allan.

At 10.00am in the Lady Arbour Garden at Hereford Cathedral a plaque will be dedicated in his honour.

At 11.00am at the Old Market shopping centre a statue of Allan will be unveiled.

Please try and take some time out to attend these events.

Policies for the People

We are in the party conference season and UKIP held theirs last week, if you didn't notice. They have published an interim manifesto which is worth a read as the next General Election is bearing down on us in 2020 if not before.

Topics covered:

1 Brexit
2 NHS Policy in England
3 Social Care and Mental Health Policy in England
4 Welfare and Disability Policy in England
5 Immigration
6 Housing
7 Education and Training
8 Transport
9 Foreign Affairs and Overseas Aid
10 Defence and Security
11 Veterans’ Issues
12 Police and Criminal Justice
13 The Prison Service
14 Agriculture
15 Fisheries
16 Economy and Trade
17 Industry
18 Energy
19 Environment
20 Small Businesses
21 Taxation
22 Children and Families
23 Sexual Exploitation & Paedophile Gangs
24 Animal Welfare
25 Combating Islamic Literalist & Fundamentalist Extremism
26 Constitutional and Political Reform
27 English Identity and Issues
28 Free Speech and Political Correctness
29 Cost Savings
30 Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland

Probably showing my age, but when I learnt to drive you were taught not to park on corners or opposite junctions. As I live on the test "Route", I am incensed by the sheer number of Driving Instructors who have their pupils pull up anywhere! Surely part of the Highway code is to have respect for other road users. People park where you cannot see round the corner and even facing the wrong way i.e.  towards oncoming traffic when they have to pull right out before they can see if the road is clear. Oh, and why can't people be taught that the spare stick on the steering wheel works those funny coloured lights on the corners of their car! 

From a grumpy old bloke who holds an Advanced Licence and HGV +C.

On Wednesday 19th September 2018 I sent an email to my County Cllr relating to a white line defect in the Parish. To date I hadn't received an acknowledgement ( some say that I should have reported this defect via the Herefordshire CC website - I tried but it was a bit too confusing for me )  As I hadn't receive an acknowledgement for the Cllr I sent a copy to our Parish Council  - received a reply from the PC Clerk stating that the County Cllr has been on holiday prior to the 19th September and will be back from holiday next Monday 8th October .The PC Clerk added that the County Cllr , like the PC Clerk does not ack emails whilst on holiday . I FULLY UNDERSTAND THAT - nobody on holiday should be expected to react to business emails on holiday BUT  I would have expected some sort of ack. to my email . I accept fully that for security reasons the Cllr doesn't want the world to know that the home is void , but I would have thought that the council can work out a system whereby the sender of the email receives some sort of reply which doesn't suggest that the Cllrs home is void . Perhaps the email could be diverted to a member of Council Staff to reply or send the email to the Dept who will deal with it .I regularly communicate with a CC Supervisor , if this person is away the reply I get is ********** is away from the office until DATE .So I am sure that they could sort out a secure system for Cllrs on holiday etc without breaching security .

With the exception of only a small handful of members, and I'm not one of them, nobody else seems to care or bother with this forum nowadays. From where I'm sitting it's a shadow of its former self and if this rot continues in its current direction, which shows all the signs of travelling downwards, your man Colin could just as easily throw his hand in and quit leaving us all with nothing but the Hereford Times for our source of what's going on in the shire.

Rather than just read a piece, make a comment. Throw the author a bone and offer up some encouragement. This here place, Hereford Voice, was once the 'must read' social network site for every single member of the Council hierarchy. Why? Because it and we mattered. Many were frightened to death of us and consequently were desperate to know what we were saying and then understand the possibilities that our views might gather momentum influence others and ultimately place them in a poor light.

This should matter to everyone. Cast your minds back to the former Council Offices in Bath Street. If it hadn't been for Hereford Voice and it's more vociferous commentators, notably Dippy, Gridknocker, Cambo and Amanda Martin, then these bast.ards who's mouths are permanently stuck solid to the publics fiscal teat, they'd have flattened it and built a Firehouse on its site. Only because of this place has the old working boys home survived and has the chance of providing the city with a much needed accomadation resource.

Use it or lose it! Do something yourselves before the rot becomes irreversible and people stop visiting this site because like us all they can't be bloody bothered anymore.

Herefordshire CC Press Release Herefordshire Council has launched a new publication to share news and information about council services with residents. Produced four times a year, Herefordshire Now will be available on the council website, with a small number of paper copies available through community outlets such as libraries and council buildings.

The magazine follows on from the positive response to the ‘How your council tax is spent’ publication, which was delivered to every household in March with council tax letters. Residents told us they welcomed finding out more about the council’s priorities and how their council tax is being spent.

Each issue of Herefordshire Now will include news about a range of council services, and information such as details of council-run courses and events. With a large number of people now accessing information on their digital devices, being online means that readers can easily link through to further information and see video content.

For people who would still prefer to read from a paper version, copies of Herefordshire Now will be free to pick up from community outlets such as libraries and council buildings. The cost of printing the magazine (£499) has been met by the council for the first issue, however it is planned to cover this cost in future through advertising.

Herefordshire Now is available at: www.herefordshire.gov.uk/news/herefordshirenow

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/16951041.fatal-crash-in-hereford-residential-street/