Holidays

 I shall be away for a few days, so no posts - I'm off singing science fiction folk songs (filk) in Norwich!

Citizen Scientists Testing the Waters

 An article in the Hereford Times has paid tribute to the over 500 citizen scientists who have been testing the waters of the River Wye for pollution levels over the past few years.  By now they have taken something like 50,000 samples!

It started with anglers from the Wye Salmon Association who were concerned about the water quality in the river, and expanded to other groups along the river like Friends of the River Wye and CPRE Herefordshire.

There is now a combined database available to view, created by one of the members of Friends of the River Wye, at WyeViz (the Wye Viz Wye Alliance Citizen Science dashboard).  100,000 people have visited the site so far.

Citizen scientists and their groups are also calling for the government to do more to clean up the river.  The main problem along the Wye is agricultural run-off.  A recent Welsh Government report (www.gov.wales on Control of Agricultural Pollution) says that only 41% of farmers are compliant with the environmental regulations, and they are visiting farms and sending out warning letters and enforcement notices, but there's still a lot more that could be done, if the funding and staffing levels were better.

The number of citizen scientists involved shows just how much local people love their river - and for every citizen scientist there are more people who love the river but can't get involved in that way.

From the article: "Andrew McRobb from CPRE Herefordshire said: “We started doing this monitoring because the agencies told us that they were lacking data. We’ve delivered data in spades and they need to act on it. Over five years of sterling work by volunteer citizen scientists has delivered evidence for the agencies and governments and led the way to the government funding a long overdue comprehensive Wye Catchment Plan. We can identify the problems, but only the government agencies can enforce the actions necessary to deliver real change”."

 

Forty Years of Wye Valley Beer

 Wye Valley Brewery marks its fortieth anniversary this year - that's a lot of pints of Butty Bach along the way!

Back in the 1990s, when I was an active member of CAMRA, we used to meet at the Barrels, the Wye Valley brew pub in Hereford.  We were among the first to see the pump clips for their new Dorothy Goodbody range.  Pete Amor wanted to show them to the ladies in the group, because he was slightly worried the artwork might be seen as a bit sexist - but we thought they were fine.  The beer was certainly fine.

Since then, the business has grown - brewing has moved to bigger premises, they've bought new pubs in the area, and they still hold their beer festival at the Barrels.  Founder Pete Amor retired, and his son Vernon took over.  Pete even made a little film, going round other independent breweries around the country, as a way of celebrating local breweries like his.

I regularly stock up with their bottled range, including Butty Bach and Wholesome Stout, from Londis. 

Dydd Hapus Sant Dwynwen

 

Happy St Dwynwen's Day - she is the patron saint of romantic love, and she was local to Mid Wales, being one of the many daughters of King Brychan.

First Snowdrop

 

I always look for snowdrops, and this year the first one I saw was on the patch of ground at the top of Backfold.  The first sign that spring is on the way!

Healthcare Fellowship Award

 Congratulations to Melanie Prince - she works in healthcare as a Point of Care Testing Co-ordinator, and she has been selected as one of six Healthcare Scientists in Wales to receive a Healthcare Science Service Transformation Fellowship.  She will be going to Norway in February, to study how the Norwegians organise urgent care pathways in remote rural areas, and she will be bringing back what she learns there to improve healthcare service locally.  It's a very exciting opportunity!

North Weir Trust

 The North Weir Trust are starting 2026 with three applications for funds:

three teenagers want support for an educational and charity based trip to South Africa 

a local forest school wants to support volunteer engagement and knowledge

and a local primary school wants to support love of reading.

The North Weir Trust was created to support all sorts of projects locally, and does really good work.

They have a website at nwtrusthay.org.uk