IN just two weeks time the winners of the Hereford BID Business Awards 2017 will be announced.

There will be a special awards ceremony at the Shire Hall to celebrate the finalists.

Hereford BID continues to work to make Hereford city centre a great place to be and it is currently preparing for an event celebrating the county's blacksmithing heritage.

Ferrous2017 is a three-week blacksmithing festival in Hereford city centre which starts on October 20 with a live forging weekend.

During the festival, which is a partnership between Hereford College of Arts and Hereford BID, supporters of St Michael’s Hospice, residents of Hereford and visitors to the city are invited to spend 30 minutes helping to create artwork that will live on at the hospice.

Six hot metal forges will be set up in Hereford High Town: each run by an experienced blacksmith who will be able to guide members of the public through the process of creating a ginkgo leaf.

Over the course of the weekend, a thousand or so leaves will be made which will form part of the decorative finish to the ginkgo leaf arbour designed by leading artist blacksmith, Ambrose Burne.

After the festival, the arbour will be moved to its permanent home at St Michael’s to form part of a memorial garden.

To book one of the half-hour forging slots, visit the St Michael’s website at www.st-michaels-hospice.org.uk/event/ferrous

The scale model for the arbour is now on display at a shop in Gomond Street near Claire’s Accessories, Hereford - part of Maylord Shopping Centre.

St Michael’s hospice director, Ruth Denison, said, “We are thrilled to be working on such an exciting project with Hereford BID and Hereford College of Arts and the businesses in the city. The design for the arbour is beautiful and will really enhance the garden we are developing at the hospice."

Ambrose Burne is a talented artist blacksmith who qualified in 2007 and has been working for clients from his forge in Kington and as a lecturer at Hereford College or Arts.

He makes architectural garden ironwork to commission for clients in the UK and France and is also making a name for himself in the world of artist blacksmithing with recent exhibits in a number of exhibitions around the world, including the two international exhibitions which are part of the Ferrous2017 festival.

These are Transition, the international juried touring exhibition first seen in Ypres, Belgium last year, and Forged - 20 years of Artist Blacksmithing which started its tour in Ruthin and was curated by Del Done of Hereford College of Arts.

For more information go to www.herefordcitylife.co.uk/ferrous2017 or follow the festival on Facebook @Ferrous2017, Twitter @Ferrous2017 and Instagram @Ferrousfestival2017

The full Ferrous2017 event programme will be available from businesses in Hereford City Centre from the end of September.