Volunteers needed to become models for a day

Volunteers fighting to save Plas Madoc Leisure Centre are calling on members of the public to become models for a day.

The recently-formed Splash Community Trust is appealing for residents of all ages to offer their help by posing as ‘magic models’ and playing a part in the popular facility’s revival.

The centre, which could be renamed sPLASh Madoc or sPLASh Magic, will close at the end of April – but the trust wants to reopen it as a social enterprise as soon as the summer.

Committee member and marketing professional Alison Roberts said: “We will be producing material to promote Plas Madoc and we want to show it through the eyes of the people who use it.

“We want to give a true reflection of the fantastic fun to be had at the centre, whether it’s basketball or badminton sessions, swimming lessons, pool parties or roller discos – there’s something for everyone and we want to highlight that.”

Alison added: “Plas Madoc – and our whole campaign – is about the people, and we want to mirror this in our future marketing initiatives.”

Volunteers are wanted at the half-term roller disco from 1pm-2.30pm on Thursday, April 24, and the pool fun inflatables session at 6.30pm the same day, when there will be consent forms for children.

Trust director Greg Ogden added: “This is another way members of the public can help us, so please come along and show your support for Plas Madoc.

“We will continue to advertise key events and dates through Facebook, Twitter and the local press, so keep your eyes peeled, and remember that anyone with fundraising ideas can email jennymiller08@hotmail.co.uk or call Jenny on 07921 659099.”

The trust is still urging people to fill in a short online survey which will help keep centre users up to date and could help with grant applications. To complete it visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PMFUTURE

Plans progress to clone fallen historic oak

The BBC is reporting today that plans are progressing to clone a 1,000-year-old giant oak tree near Chirk which was felled by high winds.

For the full story see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-27065878

Dewi chosen to star with Bryn Terfel in Sweeney Todd

* Dewi Wykes with Bryn Terfel and the two other young singers

chosen to appear in Sweeney Todd, Tom Hier and Lauren Morris.

An unknown young singer from the Vale of Clwyd has been hand-picked by opera legend
Bryn Terfel to join him on stage at this year’s Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

Dewi Wykes, a 14-year-old pupil from Ysgol Brynhyfryd, in Ruthin, will play Tobias Ragg
alongside the great bass-baritone from Caernarfon and an all-star cast in a performance of
Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Bryn Terfel said: “It was a wonderful performance, the standard one would expect for
Llangollen, and to have a 14-year-old boy there is a real bonus.

“It’s a one-off performance and I can’t wait. It will be a special day in Llangollen when we
perform Sweeney.”

Alongside Bryn making the decision was Synfonia Cymru conductor Gareth Jones and he
believes young Dewi will make a big impression: “He will bring the house down, I don’t doubt
it for a minute,” he said.

“He has one of those faces that will fill even a big stage like the Pavilion – you’re going to get
everything from him.”

A delighted Dewi, who performed two songs from the show, Miracle Elixir and Not While I’m
Around, said afterwards: “At first I was so nervous I was shaking but as soon as Bryn Terfel
started clapping I got more confident.

“I think he enjoyed it and I enjoyed it too. I just can’t get over it now. It’s like dream.
“The first person I told was my nain because she told me about the auditions.”

Dewi’s mum, Jenny, said: “It was my mum and dad, Llinos and Tyrone Powell-Jones, who
live in Wrexham, who saw about the auditions in the newspaper so it’s all down to them.

“We entered but I never thought we’d get this far, it’s brilliant and he’s had lots of support.

“At Brynhyfryd his music teacher, Tim Healey, has been brilliant, and so have Nia Wyn
Jones, from Ysgol Maes Garmon, and Ann Atkinson, as well as Ann Davies who conducts
Cor Cytgan which Dewi is a member of and who are also singing at the Eisteddfod later in
the week.”

In all over 80 young singers tried out for the three parts and these were whittled down to just
12 for the final auditions when the roles of Tobias and the show’s star-crossed young lovers,
Anthony and Johanna, were decided.

Joining Dewi on stage will be tenor Tom Hier, 20, from Merthyr, and Lauren Morris, 21, from
Solihull, who also came through the final auditions and will take their places in the cast when
the acclaimed Broadway hit is staged at the Royal International Pavilion on Monday, July 7,
the curtain-raiser to this year’s six-day Eisteddfod.

Eisteddfod Musical Director Eilir Owen Griffiths said: “It was a brilliant day. It was a pleasure
to be here. I think we’ve got some fantastic individuals who are going to create a fantastic
ensemble.

“I think the young performers Bryn has chosen will be able to hold their ground next to the
big stars like Bryn and Wynne Evans.

“Lauren and Tom had a real magic together and to find a 14-year-old with the talent Dewi
has was just amazing and has made my day.

“We’ve found three young up and coming stars of the future and we at Llangollen can give
them that first stage on which to shine and that was the reason for holding these auditions.”

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Sondheim is set in 19th
London and tells the story of the crazed barber who murders his clients and supplies the
bodies to his accomplice, piemaker Mrs Lovett.

Dewi will play street urchin Tobias Ragg who works for Todd’s rival, Pirelli (Wynne Evans)
and then for Mrs Lovett.

Sondheim’s multi-award winning classic was first performed on Broadway in 1979 and
has since been a regular production across the world and on the big screen in 2007 when
superstar Johnny Depp played Todd and Helena Bonham Carter was Mrs Lovett.

Bryn Terfel, who took the role in 2002 in Chicago, is fresh from a performance of it by the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in New York last month when
Oscar-winner Emma Thompson played Mrs Lovett.

He said: “That was a fair crack of the whip with lots of blood and playing this man driven by
revenge.

“It was very impressive to have Stephen Sondheim there and telling you what he thought of
the performance. It’s his favourite work and has been performed all over the world and made
into a Hollywood blockbuster.

“It will be special doing it in Llangollen and with Gareth Jones there conducting the Sinfonia
Cymru and I can’t wait.”

It will be the first time he has performed on the International Eisteddfod stage since he
opened the 2006 festival, his first appearance at Llangollen in a decade.

Sweeney Todd will be the curtain raiser to six tremendous days at Llangollen which begin on
Tuesday, July 8, with this year’s concerts featuring Dutch jazz diva Caro Emerald, American
tenor star Noah Stewart, a new work by composer Karl Jenkins, the Cape Town Opera, the
Choir of the World competition on Saturday night and legendary British rockers Status Quo
closing the event on Sunday night.

To book tickets and for more information on the 2014 festival go to the website at
www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

Nominations sought for 2014 sports awards

Denbighshire's Community Sport Awards are back for a third year and are now open for nominations.

The awards aim to recognise the efforts of volunteers, coaches, players, teams, schools and clubs acriss the county for their selfless devotion to increasing the number of people participating in sport locally.

They also aim to mark the dedication it takes to increase the quality of sport provision in the county.

Over the last two years the awards have recognised over 20 individuals, teams, schools and clubs for their dedication to grassroots sport in Denbighshire.

There are also elite level athletes from the county representing Wales and Team GB in their chosen sports which the awards will continue to recognise.

All awards finalists will be go forward for the newly formed Sport Wales and BBC Wales Sport Personality Awards being held in Cardiff.

Nominees must live in Denbighshire, or be affiliated to a Denbighshire club relevant to their nomination and have achieved their success in the last 12 months up to the application closing date of Friday July 25.

This year's categories include Sports Performer, Junior Sports Performer, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Disability Sport Award, Young Inspiration Award, Lifetime Achievement Award and the Sport in School Award.

An individual or team will also be chosen from all the previous category winners for their outstanding achievements/contributions to sport and will represent Denbighshire for the next year as a Denbighshire Community Sport Ambassador 2013.

Jamie Groves, the county council's head of communications, marketing and leisure, said: "The Denbighshire Community Sport Awards has helped recognise and share some amazing stories of achievement by individuals and teams from Denbighshire over the last couple of years.

"Each year there are new nominations from various sport clubs and schools throughout the county, and last year are panel had a hard job picking just three finalists for each category from over 180 separate nominations.

"This proves to us that the quality of sport in Denbighshire is very high, there are plenty of opportunities for people to return to playing sport or to try a new sport as a beginner too. This is all down to the unselfish army of volunteers within our community clubs, so let's recognise this and celebrate community sport in Denbighshire again this year!”

Denbighshire Leisure services are also looking for suitable organisations that would like to link their brand to the Community Sport Awards as a category sponsor and a sponsorship package can be sent for more information.

For more information on the awards and details on how to nominate or sponsor this year's event please contact Matt Hilliker on 07798742290 or matthew.hilliker@denbighshire.gov.uk or visit www.denbighshire.gov.uk/sportsawards

Royal Yacht crewman speaks of his exciting years aboard

 

* The Royal Yacht Britannia in her heyday.

A man who spent more than a decade working there gave a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour of one Britain’s most famous royal residences to members of Llangollen Methodist Church recently.

The Royal Yacht Britannia is no longer in service but Andy Jones, who is now a postman in Oswestry, spent 11 years of his Royal Navy service aboard the “floating palace”, as he fondly calls her, serving almost every member of the Royal Family along a host of world statesman like Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela.

Andy – nicknamed “Jonah” by his navy mates – was guest speaker at the latest meeting of the church’s This & That social group.

Recalling how he was inspired by the previous year’s Falklands War to join the navy in 1983, Andy trained at HMS Raleigh before serving aboard a warship as an officers’ valet.

He joined the Royal Naval crew of the Britannia in 1985 after answering an advert for stewards which was posted across the fleet.

Andy spoke of the famous ship’s compact dimensions, which saw all 240 of the ship’s crew crowded into the front section while everything aft of the funnel was royal territory.

* The Queen sheds a tear for the paying off
of the Royal Yacht Britannia.

He became one of a dozen stewards aboard and gradually progressed from serving senior crew members and royal staff to taking care of Royal Family members from princes and princesses to the Duke of Edinburgh  and the Queen herself in the latter years of his time in the Britannia before she was controversially withdrawn from service in 1997 to become a museum piece moored in Edinburgh.

During his time as a crew member he estimates that he circumnavigated the globe four-and-a-half times and calling at a huge numbers of foreign ports.

But because of the long working hours – all he recalls of Hong Kong is going briefly ashore to empty the royal dustbins  - it’s his time afloat that he remembers best.

One of his duties was to wait on tables groaning not just with the best food but also priceless royal possessions including the £500,000 Nelson Cup, awarded to the naval hero’s family by the nation after his victory at Trafalgar and, what he says was the Queen’s personal favourite piece, a table decoration consisting of two camels made from solid gold standing beneath a palm tree dripping with “dates” which are actually rubies.

In fact, so valuable were all the pieces on the yacht that an expert from Sotheby’s would come aboard at the start of every royal trip to make fresh insurance valuations of them in case any should go missing.

While the camels piece, given to her by an Arabian potentate, was the Queen’s most beloved piece of art, Andy, who would regularly serve her with it, recalled that her favourite tipple was a Royal Cocktail concocted from martini and a considerable quantity of gin.

But despite serving so many senior royals, he told his audience that the two most memorable guests he met aboard the Britannia were former US President Bill Clinton and the late South African President Nelson Mandela.

He told how he fondly remembered one day being overcome by the realisation that he was ironing one of Mr Mandela’s shirts  and about how he was frisked by two enormous American security men before being allowed to take in Mr Clinton’s breakfast tray one morning.

An anecdote which amused the audience concerned the time he had gone into the Duke of Edinburgh’s cabin to deliver his morning wake-up greeting and found himself unable to leave because the door had jammed.

As the duke took a shower in the adjoining bathroom Andy was desperately trying to open the door using a table knife from the royal collection when he felt a tap on the shoulder.

It was the Queen’s husband asking him what the b***** hell he was doing.

Andy said that like most crew members and members of the Royal Family he had been extremely upset to see the Britannia withdrawn from service after 43 years of loyal service and he recalled how the paying-off ceremony had been the only time in her long reign when the Queen had been spotted shedding a tear for the loss.          

Student sleuths solve grisly slaying

 

* Working on fingerprinting with Mark Watson, of Techniquest,

were, from left, Carys Stallard, 14, Llangollen; Mae Morgan, 13, Llandrillo;

Aaron Morrison, 14, Rhosymedre; and Callum Newell, 14, Chirk.

 

A grisly murder took place in Llangollen – but school student sleuths soon had the culprit bang to rights.

 

In fact not only did they find out whodunit but they also came up with a flood survival pack, and built a wind turbine, a suspension bridge, an electricity generator and a robot.

 

It was just another day at school for 200 Year Nine and Ten pupils of Ysgol Dinas Bran, Llangollen, and Denbigh High School as they worked with industry experts from Airbus, civil engineers, and experts on robotics and forensic science from Techniquest in Wrexham.

 

They were at a special Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) event at the Royal International Pavilion, organised as part of the Llwyddon’n Lleol programme, funded by the Welsh Government’s European Social Fund.

 

This aims to help young people across North Wales develop their career paths and the Pavilion event was designed to create awareness of the opportunities and the practical realities of the world of work.

 

The students worked with representatives of the aviation, construction, energy, science and technical industries to learn how they go about tackling practical problems.

 

These included studying flooding in Denbigh and coming up with a cheap and effective flood survival pack, building an indoor suspension bridge as well as an electricity generator, exploring atomic science, forensic science and robotics.

 

The day was hailed as a big success by Denbigh High School Curriculum Head Miranda Cookson who said: “We took Year Nine pupils who are in the process of picking their options for GCSE and Llwyddo’n Lleol have given them a real opportunity to work with STEM-based businesses.

 

“We want them to think about what sort of career they would like and the feedback from the children has been brilliant. They thoroughly enjoyed their morning there and would have loved to have been able to spend all day.

 

“It’s the sort of experience you can’t provide in school but through Llwyddo’n Lleol they have been able to get a real taste of hi tech industries.”

 

Ysgol Dinas Bran Deputy Head Teacher Mark Hatch was also pleased and said: “We have had the whole of Year Ten here and it’s been very worthwhile.

 

“As a mathematician myself it’s great to see how maths and science can be connected to the real world from flood risk management to robotics.

 

“The students have also been mixed up so they have had to work in groups with people they might not have worked with before and that involves other workplace skills of co-operation and teamwork.

 

“We’ve been involved in previous events provided by Jenni Edwards and Llwyddo’n Lleol and they have been very good as well and of great benefit to the pupils.

 

“We do computer programming and engineering at GCSE and here they can see the real life applications of those courses and there will be someone here today who wants to be a forensic scientist working on crime scenes and if we can inspire them then it’s great.

 

“When they next have a meeting with the careers adviser there should be things they can ask about.”

 

Mike Wellingtion, of civil engineers Martin Wright Associates, of Pulford, Chester, said it was a good opportunity to tell the students about the varied work involved in civil engineering, especially on the topical subject of flooding.

 

He had worked with the pupils on flood risk management in Denbigh and also in preparing a flood survival pack.

 

He said: “We are able to show them how we can work with the infrastructure and how people can make themselves more resilient in flood situations.

 

“It shows how we apply civil engineering to the problems of flooding and flood risk and schools see the value in that and events like this spread the word.”

 

Dinas Bran pupil George Fletcher, 14, of Froncysyllte, said: “It’s been very good and we’ve learned how to deal with flood risk and working in this area could be something I’d be interested in in future.”

 

Aaron Morrison, 14, of Rhosymedre, added: “It’s different from being in a classroom, it’s a different way of learning and it’s cool.”

 

Students from Denbigh High School also took part in the Royal International Pavilion event while a similar STEM day was held at Optic Technium in St Asaph for pupils of Prestatyn High School and Ysgol Glan Clwyd, St Asaph.

 

Both were organised by Jenni Edwards, Llwyddo’n Lleol Project Officer for Conwy and Denbighshire, and she said: “We want to get the students to understand the importance of STEM qualifications and of getting good grades and doing it through practical activities.

 

“It is vital in North Wales that we build a strong and skilled workforce because that will create a vibrant economy for the region and in turn create more opportunities for the future.

 

“We need young people who have the right skills, the skills that employers are looking for and events like this where they can work with professionals reinforces the message.

 

“They are meeting the people who do these things as their day job and tackling real life experiences and problems.

 

“They’re also seeing that employers don’t just look for qualifications but also for skills and social skills like the ability to work as part of a team.

 

“This has been very successful. The young people are enjoying it and enjoying the challenges and it gives them a lot to go back and think about.”

"All systems go" for bridge restoration

It’s “all systems go” for a major project to restore and re-open the world-famous Chain Bridge in Llangollen.
That was the message from town clerk Gareth Thomas to members at Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the town council.

Mr Thomas reported that the county council had just offered to contribute another £15,000 towards the ambitious scheme on condition that all the money was spent.

To ensure this is the case, he told members that the cash would be placed in a special reserved bank account.

The town clerk also reported that Welsh historic monuments agency Cadw had recently agreed to support the restoration of the bridge on the basis that it lies within the World Heritage site.

Mr Thomas told members: “It’s all systems go and we are still trying to get as much money as we can to take the project forward.”