Not much info on this.
Plans for new Uni student accommodation have been drawn up that will see Gibbs & Dandy in Widemarsh St relocate near to Jewsons with their old business premises used to build Uni student accommodation.
 

The Little Princess Trust will be soon moving into 'The Hannah Tarplee Building' in Berrington Street Hereford.

The former Bob Gallier site has been transformed into a state of the art facility for this fabulous charity.

The Trust, founded in memory of 5 year old Hannah Tarplee, supplies the best real-hair wigs available, free of charge, to children and young adults up to the age of 24, who have lost their hair through cancer treatment or other illnesses, donations gratefully received here ➡️ https://www.justgiving.com/littleprincesstrust

Website ➡️ https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk 

The all new Hereford City Life Gift Card - the brand the Hereford Business Improvement District are behind.

Launching in the next few weeks - the official Hereford City Life Gift Card has 100 shops for the public to use their card in including big names like McDonalds, Primark and Marks and Spencers....to local independents such as Fodder Wholefoods, Avant Garde Hereford or Hey, Honey ....this is the perfect gift to give and receive and is ideal for companies to use as a thank you to their staff too!

Using this means the public also support local shops which is good for everyone.

Available later this month to order online or locally from Hereford Tourist Information Centre - watch this space for more details.

In The Hereford Times today:

Idea for new advertising board in Hereford unveiled

A NEW digital billboard could be coming to Hereford, if Herefordshire Council agrees to plans and does not think it would make the A49 dangerous for drivers.

Alight Media, based in London, has asked the council if it can put the digital screen – which would be 6.4 metres wide and 3.4 metres high – on land at the Richmond Place Club in Edgar Street.

Documents submitted with the plans showed the adverts would be mainly seen by traffic heading southbound.

And while consultants recognise there was currently no advertising at the site, it did feel as it was an "appropriate location for a landmark advertising site".

They said The Richmond Club Place had been severely impacted by the coronavirus lockdowns so money from adverts would "assist significantly to the survival of the club along with the opportunity to advertise upcoming events at the club to the local community".

Anything to distract drivers while they wait to cross Greyfriars Bridge.

Our good friend Just Jon Simpson shared this with members of our Hereford Voice Photo Studio this morning.

Jon wrote;

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"Went to take a photo on the walk home yesterday and saw a gentleman painting one of Hereford's finest views. Jonathan Roger a local artist was creating this piece for the upcoming h.Art week HACS exhibition at the Green Dragon in Sept. Looking forward seeing the finished work"

It is good to see the river path which runs alongside the Saracens Head pub on St Martin's Street Hereford has reopened.

Ian Rivers and rowsentinel is about to make history, he is arriving anytime in the Isles of Scilly

The land crew are now on St Mary’s Island awaiting Ian's imminent arrival (and Captain Paddles too of course! )

Former SAS soldier Ian has rowed 3400 miles solo from NY to the Isles of Scilly without GPS!

What a fabulous adventure, full of twists and turns and some terrifying force 10 storms too but you're almost home now Ian, we've been following you all the way, it's almost time to get the flags out!

More details - https://rowsentinel.com/

📸 rowsentinel

Former SAS Soldier Ian Rivers has successfully rowed over 3,400 miles solo across the Atlantic Ocean without a GPS! He left New York 85 days ago to begin his voyage to the Isles of Scilly.

We have followed Ian and Sentinel from the beginning and wow what a journey it has been!

A fabulous adventure, full of twists and turns and some terrifying force 10 storms too, Ian is not only a brave man he is clearly very determined and has completed his task, making history today!

Massive congratulations to Ian and the team at rowsentinel from all of us at Hereford Voice, it has been a privilege to have been able to follow you on such a thrilling and exciting voyage. You have truly achieved something incredible today and raised so much money for your charities, the SAS Association's charity and St Michael's Hospice - Hereford, thank you and congratulations!

We hope that you have enough strength left in your arms to raise a well deserved glass or two tonight

#HerefordVoice | #PositiveHereford | #Hereford

The popular Home Bargains store on Holmer Road is extending to almost double its current size into the unit next door, formally occupied by Bensons for Beds.

Home Bargains have confirmed to Hereford Voice that they will be closing their Hereford store on Christmas Eve in order to complete the expansion work before re-opening the newly refurbished extended store in Early 2022, which is likely to create additional employment, which is welcome news for Hereford.

A WELCOME AWAITS….

The land crew are now on St Mary’s Island awaiting Ian’s arrival (and Captain Paddles too of course! 🐻) Ian and rowsentinel are less than 40 miles away so he may decide to keep going and arrive tonight! Ian will be the first person to row across the Atlantic Ocean solo and without GPS from New York to the Isles of Scilly.

ℹ️ Former SAS soldier Ian is rowing 3400 miles solo from NY to the Isles of Scilly without GPS! He hopes to raise £500,000 for his charities, the SAS Association's charity and St Michael's Hospice - Hereford, more details ➡ rowsentinel.com

What a fabulous adventure, full of twists and turns and some terrifying force 10 storms too but you're almost home now Ian, we've been following you all the way, it's nearly time to get the flags out! 🇬🇧 👏

📸 rowsentinel

Ian, sentinel and Captain Paddles are just 60 miles away from the Isles of Scilly.

Ian may get his first glimpse of land for more than 80 days later today as he approaches the Bishop’s Rock Lighthouse.

Former SAS soldier Ian is rowing 3400 miles solo from NY to the Isles of Scilly without GPS! He hopes to raise £500,000 for his charities, the SAS Association's charity and St Michael's Hospice - Hereford more details rowsentinel.com

What a fabulous adventure, full of twists and turns and some terrifying force 10 storms too but you're almost home now Ian, we've been following you all the way, time to get the flags out!

He is 300 miles from Bishop’s Rock lighthouse, his finishing line and he will be able to see it from 20 miles away

What a fabulous adventure, full of twists and turns and some terrifying force 10 storms too but you're almost home now Ian, we've been following you all the way, you've got this!

Follow Ian's journey and donate here https://rowsentinel.com

If McDonald's get the go-ahead a new drive-thru would be located close to where the A449 meets the A40 in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.

A man has been jailed for the murder of Neil Parkinson, who was found dead in Cotheridge in Worcestershire last December.

Neil, who was 66, from Clifton-Upon-Teme was leaving his partner’s property in Cotheridge on Saturday 12 December when it is believed he was attacked at the end of the driveway. He and his vehicle were driven to a layby on the Ankerdine Road and set alight. 

On Monday (16 August 2021), Mark Chilman, 52, from Pencombe in Bromyard, was given a mandatory life sentence with a minimum of 22 years after a jury found him guilty of murder.

Senior Investigating Officer, DCI Dean Jones, from West Mercia Police’s Major Investigation Unit, said: “I’m pleased that a significant sentence has been handed to Chilman for the brutal murder of Neil Parkinson.

“Chilman committed a senseless act that ended Neil’s life prematurely, and he will now serve a considerable sentence in prison where he cannot cause further harm to the wider public.

“Neil Parkinson’s family have understandably been left devastated, Neil was simply leaving his partners home to return home to take care of his elderly mother when he was tragically killed in a senseless attack and my thoughts and condolences remain with them.”

Neil’s family have paid tribute to him: 

“Neil was a loving, caring, happy person who enjoyed life to the full; his infectious personality will be missed by all of his family and friends in our local community and further afield that he had met throughout his life.

“We would like to express our thanks to all parties involved in bringing the evil, calculated individual to justice that took Neil from us. This includes the Police force members that have been involved from the tragic start, throughout court and continue to support us at this heart-breaking time. We would also like to express our gratitude to the courts and jury members that have heard the case.”

Neil’s family continued: “As a family it’s been a very difficult eight months and our lives have been changed forever. The result from court today means we can have some peace now that the individual responsible for Neil’s death will spend time within the prison system away from society. We take a small amount of comfort that at least he cannot cause harm and the grief to anyone else, like he did to Neil and our family. We hope that during his time in prison he reflects and regrets his actions.

“Neil will be sorely missed by all his family and the memories of him as a loving father, grandfather, brother and son and will be remembered dearly for all the happy times.”

Read the Herefordshire Council statement in response to the publication of an Ofsted letter following a recent planned visit of our children's services department

Ofsted has published their letter this week following a planned visit of our children’s services on 7 July 2021, in line with the inspection of local authority children’s services (ILACS) framework.

During the recent visit inspectors reviewed our arrangements for children in need and children subject to a child protection plan.  They looked at a wide range of evidence, including interviews with staff, discussions with senior leaders and case discussions with social workers and team managers.  They also looked at our performance management and quality assurance information and children’s case records.

Ofsted identified three areas for priority action:

• Address inconsistent and variable social work practice to ensure that children are the focus of assessments, planning and interventions.
• The frequency and effectiveness of case supervision and the monitoring of children who are subject to child in need and child protection planning.
• Shortfalls in case-holding capacity for social workers, including newly qualified social workers, to allow them to respond effectively to children in need of help and protection.

Inspectors recognised the significant changes recently made to the senior leadership for children’s services and stated the following:
 

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“The new leadership team in place since March 2021 has completed a comprehensive critical evaluation of practice across the service.  This team has begun to understand the challenges that need to be resolved in order to improve practice; they have accurately identified the necessary priorities for improvement.  An improvement plan has been developed that appropriately addresses the concerns.  This has corporate backing, including a financial commitment to support the improvement plan.”

Councillor Diana Toynbee, Cabinet Member for Children's Services, Safeguarding and Corporate Parenting and Catherine Knowles, Director for Children and Families, shared:

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“We welcome the findings of the report, Ofsted’s priority actions reflect those identified by the new leadership team.  It was reassuring that Ofsted confirmed we knew ourselves well and recognised that our areas to improve have already been agreed through our newly formed, multi-agency, Children and Families Improvement Board.

“Our Children’s Improvement Plan forms the basis of the long-term vision and changes to Herefordshire’s children’s services.  The delivery of this plan is monitored through the Improvement Board that is independently chaired by Gladys Rhodes-White, Department for Education Advisor, to ensure that real and sustainable improvements are made.  This partnership approach will help to ensure that children are at the heart of everything we do and we support and help children, young people, and their families at the right time, in the right way.

“We are fortunate to have passionate and dedicated staff, managers, members, partners, foster carers and the children and young people themselves and we will continue to work together to achieve a Good Ofsted rating, but we recognise that this will take time.” 

You can view the full Ofsted report for the 7 July 2021 visit here. - We have also attached the pdf below

If anyone has concerns about the way they, or someone they know, have been treated by Herefordshire Children’s Social Care services, you can contact us at www.herefordshire.gov.uk/careconcerns or email CareConcerns@herefordshire.gov.uk

Herefordshire_Focused_visit_of_local_authority_childrens_services_July21.pdf

Over the next few weeks, you may notice some bin collections are later than normal

This is due to staff shortages.

Herefordshire Council are working hard to make collections, so please only report a missed bin if it has not been collected by 5pm - before this time, a crew may still be on their way to you.

The Council are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Landline phones will be axed by 2025: Digital switchover leads to fears elderly and vulnerable will struggle to cope if they're forced to rely on mobile technology

* Millions of customers will be pushed online for first time or must rely on mobile 

* Upgrade will impact services that rely on the existing telephone network like alarms, phones in lifts, payment terminals and red telephone boxes

* Concerns over older and vulnerable households which are not online, do not use a mobile phone or live in a rural area with poor connectivity being left behind

* Around 6 per cent of homes– roughly 1.5 million – do not have internet access

Is this going to affect you and your relatives? Technology taking over humanity. I have a smart phone but hardly use it. Still use the old style flip phone no problems. The internet is getting to be a joke with the sites' cookies wanting to collect all your data to sell on to third parties. The dictatorship wanting to track you 24 hours and social interaction a thing of the past - just do as your told or else. 

Ian and rowsentinel have been at sea for 77 days so he hasn’t seen land for 75 days since he left New York

He is 300 miles from Bishop’s Rock lighthouse, his finishing line and he will be able to see it from 20 miles away

What a fabulous adventure, full of twists and turns and some terrifying force 10 storms too but you're almost home now Ian, we've been following you all the way, you've got this!

Follow Ian's journey and donate here https://rowsentinel.com