The members of the travelling community who made an uninvited visit to Ross Sports Club have moved on. And the Directors of the Sports Club, which leases the land from Herefordshire Council to run the sports facilities, has thanked everyone who helped turn what was a bad news story into a good news story for the town.

The travellers were served an eviction notice on Wednesday, April 20th after the Sports Club were forced to pay for bailiffs to issue a notice to leave. This came after the travellers ignored an enforcement notice from Herefordshire Council, which the Sports Centre had already paid £300 for.

As soon as Roger Parcker of Dawleys, a business based at the Industrial Estate in Ross discovered this, they offered to pay the bailiffs’ costs.

This gesture was greatly appreciated by the Sports Club, as the cost of dealing with the travellers, added to the recent vandalism, has made things very difficult financially for the CIC.

A Ross-on-Wye Town Councillor, Daniel Lister, also lent a hand in helping the Sports Club deal with the aftermath of the travellers. He helped members of the club to collect all the litter which had been left by the travellers, which filled many bin bags.

The sacks of rubbish were taken away by Greg Bundy, so that the sports centre was not faced with having to get rid of them.

The Directors of the Club have written a heartfelt letter thanking everyone who supported them.

Paul Flitney, one of the Directors, and other volunteers from the club were there on Monday to thank as many people as they could. They are also putting plans in place for improved security to prevent similar events happening in the future.

They said that the past week has been very difficult for the club but added: “from a negative a far greater positive has emerged and we would like to thank the great people of Ross-on-Wye for all their support, we have been touched by the generosity and community spirit.”

Barrie Sheldon, one of the candidates standing for election as the next Police and Crime Commissioner was sympathetic to the situation at the Sports Centre.

He told the Ross Gazette that a new PCC should review the police policies with regards to how they deal with travellers in Herefordshire as they keep aggravating local people.