Hereford Voice

The prolific fly tippers were jailed following a two year fly tipping investigation in Bromyard. On 24 November 2022 at a sentencing hearing at Worcester Crown court, Zackery Biddle (23) and Jessie Biddle (26), both of Openfields, Bromyard, were handed lengthy prison sentences for their part in a two year tirade of fly tipping on Council land at Openfields caravan site in Bromyard, Herefordshire. A third individual, Declynd Mellings (21), also of Openfields, was ordered to carry out community work. The court heard how in May 2020, officers discovered that Zackery Biddle and Declynd Mellings used a false profile name to advertise waste collections on local Facebook groups, offering to be the cheapest around at a time when household recycling centres were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Officers from Herefordshire Council’s Community Protection team visited Openfields caravan site in May 2020 and found enormous amounts of fly tipping spanning across the site, which triggered a long and robust investigation. Officers searched the waste and found evidence which led them back to a customer who had paid money into a bank account to take away a large amount of house refurbishment waste, the arrangements having been made on Facebook. Officers were able to trace the bank account to Declynd Mellings, who was found to be working with Zackery Biddle. Zackery Biddle pleaded guilty to multiple charges of fly tipping and treating and disposing controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the Environment or harm to human health, namely by burning waste collected and allowing other hazardous chemicals to leak into the environment. The courts further heard how between the years of 2020 and 2022, Jessie Biddle operated his own waste collection service on Facebook and collected controlled waste and disposed of it at Openfields caravan site in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment and harm to human health. Officers were able to identify Jessie Biddle by a mobile phone number given to a customer and found that he had collected commercial waste from a shop in Leominster for the payment of £100 and had failed to provide the necessary waste transfer notes. CCTV footage showed the waste being driven out of Leominster by Jessie Biddle who admitted to fly tipping the waste at Openfields. The court further heard that Jessie Biddle had considerably profited financially by transporting scrap metal without authority to do so over a two year period. Zackery Biddle pleaded guilty to multiple charges of fly tipping and received a 54 week custodial sentence, receiving a one tenth discount for a last minute guilty plea. Jessie Biddle pleaded guilty to multiple charges of fly tipping and received a custodial sentence of 44 weeks, receiving a full third discount after pleading guilty at his first hearing. Declynd Mellings was considered to have played a lesser role in the fly tipping operation and was given a 12 month community order and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. Herefordshire Council further succeeded in these cases by applying a Criminal Behaviour Order to all three individuals which include conditions to prevent them from collecting, carrying, treating and disposing of any controlled waste and will be applicable for three years. Marc Willimont, Head of Public Protection at Herefordshire Council said: “Herefordshire council will not tolerate fly tipping. The community protection team have therefore worked tirelessly to bring these offenders to court after they went on a 2 year fly tipping spree using false Facebook accounts to avoid being caught. Their irresponsible and selfish actions have cost the council thousands of pounds of taxpayer’s money to clear the fly tipping. That said, the sentences given out by the court on this occasion are welcomed as they recognise the damage that these individuals have caused to the environment and the unnecessary costs to the council to clear”. The maximum penalty for fly tipping is a £50,000 fine and/or five years imprisonment. The twelve and ten month imprisonments for Zackery and Jessie Biddle are the most severe custodial sentences ever given for fly tipping offences committed in Herefordshire.

This funding award aims to capture the legacy from the success of the England Women’s Football Team and to take on the rapidly rising enthusiasm for football among girls and women in Hereford. The grant will help provide access to training for women to become coaches working mainly, but not exclusively, in female clubs. The club will provide free access to sessions at schools with one-off tournaments to encourage participation in clubs. School sessions can be in games, lessons, at lunch time, or after school, so there is great flexibility in timing. Hereford City Council agreed to award Herefordshire Football Association £5,000 to provide training and facilitation for women’s football, a much-needed addition to Hereford’s wide range of sporting activities. This will hopefully be a timely project, with so many being inspired by the lionesses success against the World Champions recently. For more information on Herefordshire Football Association, visit https://www.herefordshirefa.com/, or for more information on our funding awards, visit https://herefordcitycouncil.gov.uk/funding-award-for.../.

It's all just a constant coincidence..

POSITIVE HEREFORD! We often love to share the positivity of our fabulous city, like we have below, by regularly listing all the recent positive news! We will normally use images like these below.. Clearly our themes and ideas are contagious..👇 We are flattered that others follow our lead so often.

Hereford Voice will do all we can to highlight and help assist this very important campaign to save Hereford's Athletics Track. A spokesperson for the campaign told Hereford Voice; "It's time to act now! Hereford's athletics track faces losing its competition licence if action isn’t taken to refurbish its deteriorating surface. The athletics track, on Holmer Road, was built in 1988 and during the past 34 years it has been a popular facility for athletes staging training sessions throughout the year and summer race meetings. The track is used every night of the week by Hereford & County Athletics Club, HEREFORD GHOST RUNNERS, Wye Valley Runners, Hereford Triathlon Club, Hereford Couriers Running Club & Western Tempo Running Club. We need your help to raise awareness and to support this campaign" More details 👉 https://www.facebook.com/SaveHerefordsTrack

Thanks I will share this tomorrow and contact you when you get back if there is any response.

Some things don't change... So we posted this Tractor Run event and it generated a lot of interest, in just a few days it has reached over 10,000 And over 900 engagements, this big interest caught the eye of someone else too, strange that...

ELO Again return to The Courtyard this January with their ‘Re-Discovery Tour’, celebrating the truly universal music of Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra. Saturday 21 January, 7.30pm - Tickets £28.50 ELO Again present a dramatic taste of what an ELO concert would have been like back in their heyday, the whole experience is professionally re-enacted with impressive sound reproduction, light show and visual effects. The band perform all the big hits including Mr Blue Sky, Livin’ Thing, Sweet Talkin’ Woman, Shine A Little Love, Confusion, Last Train To London, Roll Over Beethoven, Wild West Hero, Don’t Bring Me Down, The Diary of Horace Wimp, Telephone Line, Turn To Stone plus many more. As the UK’s No.1 tribute show, ELO Again provide a spectacular live effect of ELO’s famous orchestrations, strings and vocals. Audiences can enjoy and relive the age of Glam Rock as ELO Again pay tribute to the beautifully crafted songs of Jeff Lynne. ELO Again will be in The Courtyard’s Main House on Saturday 21 January at 7.30pm. To book tickets, or for more information contact the Box Office on 01432 340555 or visit www.courtyard.org.uk.

Tesco Community Grants - Presentation of the £1500.00 cheque won by St Martin's FoodShare following on from the recently advertised in store support that we were promoting at the end of the summer. This a fabulous local community initiative in South Wye that we have been involved with since its inception a few years ago. This money will contribute to upkeep of the van used to transport collection’s from supermarkets and FareShare across the county, to their distribution points across the South of Hereford. To learn more about this absoultely brilliant local scheme Cllr. Kevin Tillett explains all about it in our recent interview that Hereford Voice had here 👉 https://bit.ly/StMFoodShare For more information follow the link St Martin's FoodShare

Hi Martin, please send us a phot oof the bike stood on its wheels and I will share this on our Facebook page.

We have plenty more material to add..but let's see how this pans out before we have to highlight this further..

We have added an image rather than just having a single link. Interesting news..

Jumping On The Bandwagon Trial Turning Off Traffic Lights Anyone that knows Colin from Hereford Voice will know that he has campaigned since before 2010 to trial turning off some of the traffic lights in the city using the catchphrase 'The Traffic Just Flows' when they are off.. Colin along with other local people including John Llewellyn-Perkins (sadly now passed away), Amanda Martin and John Harrington formed a group 'Hereford Lights Out' (now Hereford Transport Group) and even did a presentation to Hereford City Council back in 2011 kindly arranged back then by Cllr Jim Kenyon. In October 2013 we had a follow up meeting (see this article) this time arranged by John Harrington (IOC) and with the full support of MP Jesse Norman. We were also joined by Martin Cassini (Martin Cassini is a TV programme-maker and campaigner for traffic system reform. He advocates replacing priority with equality to provide a level playing-field on which all road-users can act sociably) spoke very well and put his weight behind turning off all lights! this is a popular debate and with that in mind and all the potential clicks guess who jumped on this bandwagon..

So we have run a Featured Fire Station Series for over a year or so, we publish about all the good work and training that HWFRS undergo on a regular basis by highlighting various stations. Guessing that if you put a few days in between topics it is less obvious...

Enhancement works will be carried out to Widemarsh Street, Hereford, as part of the Hereford City Centre Improvements (HCCI) plan. The scheme, estimated to take 16 weeks, is scheduled to begin in February, subject to detailed design being completed, and will include the removal of the current 50mm kerb by lifting and replacing the road surface, with new channel blocks and drainage system. The existing Widemarsh St design was completed in 2011 and has been subject to a number of specialist design and safety reviews. All of these have concluded that the scheme is fully in line with design guidance and best practice. However, the public have continued to lobby local councillors as well as the Cabinet Member regarding incidents personal to them. In light of this a Cabinet Member decision made last year ensured that a budget to enhance Widemarsh St was included in the HCCI programme. Councillor John Harrington, Cabinet member infrastructure and transport said: “The existing layout of Widemarsh St was conceived with the best of intentions, conforming, I believe, to design and best practice guidance, and with the aim of promoting pedestrian safety. And this remains the professional view of officers and our public realm contractor. However, it is our opinion as an administration, that unfortunately and undeniably, the design has caused difficulties for some pedestrians, and this is something we were keen to remedy. “Widemarsh St is a key part of the City centre, being a popular route for pedestrians and vehicles, home to many shops and businesses, and providing an important link between Old Market and High Town. It is a central component of our transport network and economy, along with the status and appeal of Hereford as a visitor destination and place for local people to enjoy their leisure time. As such it is important that we listen to feedback from the public to make it as safe as possible. “We explored a wide variety of options, with emphasis on aesthetics, safety, ease of use, drainage and cost. Unfortunately, no matter which way we cut it in terms of trying to remove the kerb and its negative effects - balancing that out against best value in trying times financially - nothing provided the certainty that we insisted on other than this optimal solution of removing the kerb completely. This will be expensive but it is a cost we are certain we must pay to ensure this street scheme is what the visitors and residents of Herefordshire deserve. I am only sorry that it has taken so long to address”. More details can be found on the Decisions Page of the Council website. We also published an article back last December (2021) Here

If everything goes to plan the new store will open at about 10am in High Town Hereford (former Starbucks unit). The official grand opening is this Saturday (19th) with a LIVE show from Ollie Grove and the good people at Sunshine Radio. The perfect place for natural pamper products, luxury soaps or that quirky gift for someone who has everything. Essential oils, bath bombs, salt lamps, aroma diffusers. They have it all!! So join the thousands of satisfied customers who already shop with them in their stores in Abergavenny, Cwmbran and Monmouth. Steve got in touch with Hereford Voice recently telling us about his new business opening in the city, so we would like to take this opportunity to wish Steve all the very best of luck and we look forward to welcoming Mother Nature's Goodies to our wonderful city of Hereford. 😀

Here is a much more recent addition, yes we understand the some news will be published by many local outlets however on this occasion we thought that the illustration was quite amusing and somewhat confusing for some people! Hence our comments, which were clearly echoed by our shadow within their usual 13 minute window It took just 11 minutes this time, our comments clearly triggered a similar reaction..

Mason who is a pupil at St Francis Xavier school in Hereford who has recently just turned 9. Mason who is active competition climber and climbs regularly at Green Spider Climbing and at the boulder barn here in Hereford. He has recently finished the season by taking part in the The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) youth climbing series which is a national competition divided in to regions. Mason represents South West North Region which includes Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire in Youth category E... It is a 4 round series consisting of 2 roped rounds and 2 boulder rounds at 4 different centres across the region. Mason has trained hard for this supported by his local climbing community and his hard work has payed off as he secured 4 first places to become series winner of Youth category E South West North. He has had a great first year of competition climbing all over the UK 🏆 Midlands Youth Boulder Cup Winner 🏆 Young Climbers Festival (Sheffield) Winner 🏆 Rock Solid Bouldering Series (North East ) Winner 🏆 BMC YCS South West North Winner 🥈 Youth Boulder Cup (Sheffield) 2nd Place Mason will continue to have fun and train hard over the winter ready to see what next year will bring .. Congratulations Mason on your fabulous success in just your first year! The future looks bright!

Thank you

Old Hereford Pics (theme) As we also have our Old Hereford Pics page which has been operating since 2008, we often share some wonderful old photographs from our archives, however, in recent years some local pages have also jumped on the bandwagon with their groups also promoting the same old picture theme. Remember Chadds department store in Hereford? Who doesn't eh! Well we shared this old photo of one of their shopping bags.. And just 2 minutes later.. Some things do not go unnoticed

Themes Nothing more flattering than when someone follows your theme.. Early one Saturday morning we posted a Christmas themed article, you can see it below; You couldn't make it up, but you'll never guess what followed less than an hour later..

The fire service had some really challenging weeks over the summer this year, so we thought to would be nice to say 'Thank You For Your Service' (we've been saying this for sometime now, we like the way people in the Us say it to their armed forces). Our thanks to the fire service didn't go unnoticed the following morning.. But the most rewarding element for us was when we had a sincere response back from HWFRS Fire Chief Jon Pryce

We all love a nice animal rescue story, this poor horse got itself stuck and needed rescuing! We also do our best to promote 'Positive News' Our positivity sometimes catches on very quickly too! Wow just 2 minutes!

The Viking Hoard Day, we were so excited to get this news out there about this great up and coming event Such exciting news does not take long for others to catch on and spread the good word, anyone would start to think we are being stalked! Then of course there was the story about the Viking Hoard we broke about it coming to Hereford.. Our news reach must be bigger than we first thought because in a just a minute it appeared again, how incredible is that!

We all love Dinosaurs! This was a great local event and it prompted us to remind people the night before It also promoted a very swift reaction from others, just 9 minutes later 🦖 🦕