Hereford Voice

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

CONGRATULATIONS Debbie McCauley who is this weeks winner!!

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.

Get your entries in by tomorrow! We have had a huge response on Facebook to this giveaway

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.

More photographs..

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.

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, Hereford FC General Manager, James Watts said: “

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.

Hi Matt, welcome to Hereford Voice! Yes there are plenty of fish, always fisherman sat around on the banks etc

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.

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

The iconic British sculpture, The Knife Angel, is coming to Hereford on 1st June 2021. Created to raise awareness around knife crime in the UK, The Knife Angel is made out of 100,000 confiscated knives received from 43 Police Forces across the UK. The sculpture has toured around the Country as a monument against all forms of violence and aggression. Standing at 27ft and weighing 3.5 ton, it is an incredible and powerful sight to behold. Beginning in June 2021, the sculpture will reside at Hereford Cathedral for 28 days. During this, a series of interactive workshops and events will take place, including an opening and closing ceremony, a dedicated youth conference, weapon amnesty and more. The Knife Angel Hereford Team explain who they are; “Alison Davies lost her son Mark to knife crime in December 2018 and together with friends Meryl Cain, Pauline Strong and Jan Jefferies wanted to raise awareness of the catastrophic impact violent crime has on individuals, families and communities. The team’s involvement with this project is carried out on a voluntary basis. The group are known as The Knife Angel Hereford Team.” The team are also looking for help in the form of funding and volunteers. For more information, you can read more by visiting the team’s website: www.knifeangelhereford.co.uk

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: 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.

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.

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, Cllr David Hitchiner, Leader of Herefordshire Council, said Matt went on to say,

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.. 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.

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: Resident parking and other restrictions will be enforced. *Excludes Friar St Military Club car park, at their request

B4224 FOWNHOPE UPDATE | The grading of the bank is nearly complete and a cellular membrane has been applied to help stabilise erosion (see pictures). Top soil will be applied next before the work begins to reinstate the road. The estimated reopening of the road is still Autumn.

Restricted opening of bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants Potentially on Saturday 4 July, the Government may allow bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants to reopen, but there is still some debate as to what will be permitted, what social distancing measures will be adopted and in what form. Herefordshire Council press release 👇

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. 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. Councillor Ellie Chowns, cabinet member for environment, economy and skills, said: The majority of the LEP funding has come from loan repayments from previous job-creating investment projects the partnership has supported.

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. Kind regards George West PE Teacher Weobley High School

Riverside Primary School in Hereford is taking part in a new national government study to assess and monitor the prevalence of Covid-19 among pre-school, primary and secondary school pupils and teachers. On the launch of the study, which will initially collect data from up to 100 schools from across England, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: Pupils and staff at Riverside Primary School will be tested weekly until the end of the summer term for Covid-19. Results will be returned within 72 hours with plans in place if there are any positive test results. Emma Shearer, Headteacher of Riverside Primary School said: Herefordshire Council has been working closely with Public Health England to support the school to take part, and parents, staff and governors have been consulted as part of the process and preparation. Karen Wright, Director of Public Health in Herefordshire added:

Hundreds of businesses across Herefordshire that did not meet the criteria for previous government Covid-19 grants could now benefit from a discretionary grant fund. To date, around £55.2m has been paid out to more than 4,700 businesses in the county in government grant funding support in response to the impact of Covid-19, however not all businesses have been eligible for these grants. The government has now introduced an additional discretionary grants fund which will help provide assistance to some of the businesses that have not had access to other support schemes. The discretionary grants fund managed by Herefordshire Council will award grants reflecting the size of business, level of fixed property costs and scale of impact experienced. The amount of funding the council has received is limited at £3.2m, so there is a set of eligibility criteria which each applicant will need to meet. Businesses eligible to receive this new funding must be a small or micro business, charity, or social enterprises with a turnover of not more than £10.2m and fewer than 50 staff. Applicants must be either a small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces; market traders with fixed building costs who do not have their own business rates assessment; bed & breakfasts which pay council tax instead of business rates or charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief. Cllr Ellie Chowns, Cabinet Member for Environment, Economy and Skills, said: Applications must be received by 23:59, Sunday 28 June 2020. Further details, the full eligibility criteria for businesses and how to apply can be found on the Herefordshire Council website at www.herefordshire.gov.uk/discretionarygrant