Work starts on canal towpath facelift

 

* Work in progress on one section of the towpath between Llangollen

Wharf and the Motor Museum. Picture courtesy of Mike Edwards.

 

A historic canal towpath is undergoing a makeover this month as part of plans to make it easier for walkers, boaters, cyclists and a traditional horse-drawn boat to use.

Glandŵr Cymru, the Canal & River Trust in Wales, is repairing 1,500 metres of towpath along the Llangollen Canal so that the route can continue to be enjoyed by visitors throughout the year.

The £220,000 project has been made possible thanks to funding from the Welsh Government’s sustainable transport programme, TAITH, and support from Denbighshire County Council and Sustrans Cymru.

The works include widening and resurfacing the towpath along the World Heritage Site between Horseshoe Waterfalls and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, adding to the 16km of towpath that have already been improved.

The towpath will be closed throughout the works, which are expected to take approximately six weeks to complete.

Jim Forrester, chair of the Canal & River Trust’s North Wales & Borders Partnership, said: “The Llangollen Canal is one of the most visited canals in Britain and these improvements are vital because of the high number of visitors who use the towpath everyday. We want to ensure our canals in Wales are suitable for everyone to enjoy the beautiful scenery, wildlife and the 200 year-old canal network.”

Councillor Huw Jones, Denbighshire's Cabinet Lead Member for Tourism, said: "The council is delighted to be supporting this work as we see the canal as one of the Dee Valley's most valuable assets from a tourism perspective. It is vital that we work with our partners to make sure the infrastructure is in place to enhance our tourism offer and provide visitors with a pleasurable experience when visiting our waterways."

Glyn Evans, North Wales Area Manager for transport organisation Sustrans, said: “We want to make sure that this popular route is suitable for all, from children on bikes, to mothers pushing prams and those with mobility issues. Resurfacing this path will enable many more local people to walk or cycle for shorter everyday journeys, or for a pleasant day out.”

Linking Memories: Your Bridge – Your Stories

* The world famous Chain Bridge.

Do you have memories about the Chain Bridge? 

The Chain Bridge Project, a new £350,000 Heritage Lottery funded project, along with Menter Iaith Sir Ddynbich, are inviting anyone with memories of the famous bridge to attend the Linking Memories: Your Bridge – Your Stories event, between 10.30am and 4pm on Saturday, March 8 in Llangollen Town Hall.

The event will celebrate the bridge, its fascinating past, and more importantly, its significance to everyone who has used and enjoyed it. Your stories will help the project understand its past. 

Gareth Thomas, Llangollen's Town Clerk, is looking forward to Linking Memories.

He said: "This is a wonderful opportunity for local people to come and share their memories about the Chain Bridge.”

Sandra Baker, the Town Clerk for Llantysilio Community Council, said: "People in Llantysilio have many stories to tell about the Chain Bridge. I even have some of my own to share.”  

Linking Memories is free and open to everyone. Since memories come in any shape or form, feel free to bring photos, posters, and documents. There will be trained volunteers on hand to help to scan your items and take down your stories. 

If you are unable to attend Linking Memories on Saturday but would still like to take part in it, contact Samantha Jones at chainbridgeheritage@gmail.com or call 07936 590867. 

Stay in touch and find the latest updates on the Chain Bridge Project on Facebook, Twitter, and the project’s official website. 

VIPs see railway extension progress

* The AMs and others at Bonwm with the engineers' train alongside.

* Susan Elan Jones MP with the volunteers near bridge 28A.

 

 

* The decorated class 03 locomotive with the ballast train at Carrog.

 

Over the course of the past week a series of VIP guests has visited Llangollen Railway to see progress of the track extension to Corwen.

 

Last Thursday, a group including Clwyd South AM Ken Skates, North Wales AM Mark Isherwood, Plaid Cyrmu candidate Mabon ap Gwynfor and officers from Denbighshire County Council took a tour of inspection from Corwen.

 

In the inclement weather use was made of the Corwen Community bus to take the party along the A5 road where they could see the work completed on the station site with the footings in place, the repaired over bridge 28A by Plas Derwen and the new track laid through to the site of the former Bonwm halt.

 

Here they received a briefing about progress and the future potential for riverside erosion unless some remedial action is taken.

 

After a return to Corwen the site engineer for the contractors McPhilip's reviewed progress with the Corwen Flood Alleviation Scheme which has impacted on the railway embankment at the site where the phase 1 station is to be built.

 

All expressed themselves very satisfied with the progress of the railway to date and the prospects for opening through to Corwen later this summer, on a date still to be advised.

 

On Saturday - St David's Day - the railway played host to Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones who was given escorted access to the track bed and met volunteers at the rail head.

 

She later saw a ballast train operate on the section of new track. For this occasion the diesel shunter locomotive carried appropriate decoration with Welsh flags and the Welsh train headboard "Y Cymro" (The Welshman).

Ms Jones said: "I was delighted to visit the railway extension works and meet some of the volunteers who are tackling this project.

 

"The achievement to date is tremendous and I am sure they will achieve their dream of having a train at the new station in Corwen later this summer."

AM makes council tax comparisons

Figures published today (Tuesday) suggest an average council tax rise in England for 2014-15 of 0.6%, while, under Labour, Welsh councils are facing rises of between 3% and 5%.

 

Just over half of Welsh local authorities have so far confirmed their council tax increases for next year, with the lowest agreed rise of 3%.  Swansea, Conwy and Ceredigion have confirmed rises of 5%.

 

Council tax in Wales has already increased by 148% since 1997.

 

Mark Isherwood AM, Shadow Minister for Local Government, said: “As Welsh councils continue to set inflation-busting council tax hikes, these figures show families in other parts of the UK are seeing very modest increases, a freeze or even cuts in their bills.

 

“Under Labour, council tax has risen by 148% and now hard-pressed households are set to see their bills rise again by double the rate of inflation.

 

“Council tax has been frozen for years in much of England and in Scotland, but Carwyn Jones’ Labour Government has refused to pass on a freeze to Welsh councils, forcing them to choose between cutting services or putting up council tax bills.

 

“Welsh Conservatives are a low tax party.  We want people to be able to spend more of their own money, which is why we support a council tax freeze to put more money in people’s pockets.”

Police seek information on shed break in Abbey Road

North Wales Police are appealing for information following a shed break on Abbey Road, Llangollen.

Sometime overnight between 02/03/2014 and 03/03/2014 unknown persons forced entry to a garden shed and stole an orange Husqvarna chainsaw.

If you noticed anything suspicious, or have any information relating to this incident please contact North Wales Police by dialling 101 quoting reference RC14031855.

Alternatively, you can provide information anonymously by calling Crimestoppers Wales on 0800 555 111.

North Wales Police has urged residents to always report suspicious activity to them at the earliest opportunity.

Public meeting planned over Plas Madoc

The group set up to save Plas Madoc Leisure Centre is said to be making rapid progress, with a variety of experts offering to help the takeover bid.

Spearheaded by Clwyd South AM Ken Skates, the Cross-Community Working Group has called a public meeting at 7pm on Thursday, March 13, at the Air Products Social Club in Acrefair.

The volunteers have held productive and positive talks with community activists fighting for the future of the facility, which Mr Skates believes could be reborn as a vibrant community hub capable of hosting events and encouraging wealth creation in what is considered one of Wales’s most deprived communities.

 “We are approaching the potential of Plas Madoc with broad minds and ambition. Our vision is to secure its future and ensure it rediscovers its rightful place at the heart of the Clwyd South community,” said Mr Skates.

“We have been humbled by the support offered from experts and residents and I would like to thank the working group’s members for stepping up to help without hesitation or fear. We want to succeed in saving Plas Madoc, but we need people to stay loyal and keep using it.”

The public meeting will provide an opportunity for the group to explain to residents how a community-owned leisure facility would work.

Mr Skates added: “We want to see a united campaign to give Plas Madoc a future. The fight for its survival has been divisive and heated, which is not unexpected as people care passionately about the county borough’s second most popular facility.

“Now we must all come together a work for something that unites us – a lasting future for Plas Madoc Leisure Centre.”

The working group’s plans would see the facility transferred to community ownership, with a new governance structure and minimal impact on staffing or services. Similar structures for operating leisure centres operate across the UK, the best known being Greenwich Leisure Limited, established in 1993.

The group says community ownership of leisure services enable savings to be made where councils are unable to find them, as well as opening up capital funding opportunities.

County has "cleanest streets in Wales"

Denbighshire has the cleanest streets in Wales, according to information issued by Keep Wales Tidy.

The organisation carried out surveys of the cleanliness of streets across all Welsh counties and the findings provide a snapshot of problems with litter and other environmental issues.  

The survey showed that 100% of the streets surveyed in Denbighshire received a Grade B and above, which showed the streets had a high or acceptable standard of cleanliness. Denbighshire was the only authority to have all of the streets surveyed reach the standard.
The survey also shows that Denbighshire is the only county in Wales that has seen a continuous increase in its cleanliness indicators, rising from 66.7 in 2008/09 to 71.7 in 2012/13 -  the highest in Wales.

The survey also highlighted:

* Denbighshire had the lowest percentage of graffiti, vandalism and fly-posting in Wales.

* Denbighshire had amongst the lowest percentage in Wales for pedestrian, business, domestic, construction an animal faeces litter and consistently performs better than the Welsh average

* Second lowest percentage of dog fouling in Wales.

Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Lead Member for Environment, said: "Providing cleaner streets for residents and visitors to Denbighshire is one of the Council's key priorities and it seems that all the hard work is paying dividends.

"We have teams of staff out and about cleaning our streets, as well as dealing with environmental crimes and we are regularly publicising our initiatives to make out streets cleaner. We are extremely pleased that our campaigns such as our anti dog-fouling initiatives are making progress and that people's behaviour is changing.

"Street cleanliness is everyone's responsibility and we must all work together to tackle the issues. Of course, there is never room for complacency and we will continue with our efforts to make Denbighshire streets even cleaner in the future."

Young stars audition to sing alongside Bryn Terfel

Singing for Bryn, auditioning at the Wales Millennium Centre for the chance to sign with Bryn Terfel in Sweeney Todd at this summer’s Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod were, from left, back, Elizabeth Smith, Meinir Wyn Roberts, Bethan Rumsey, Angharad Elise Thomas, front, James Hope, Rhys Nicholson, Daniel Lee and Owain John.

A young singing star from the Vale of Clwyd was among over 30 hopefuls to try out for a prestigious role alongside opera superstar Bryn Terfel at this summer’s Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

 

The great bass-baritone from Caernarfon (pictured below) will head an all-star Welsh cast in a performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway smash hit Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The show, first performed in 1979, will see Terfel play the title role of the murderous barber with a cast that also includes Carmarthen tenor Wynne Evans, Gio Compario of the Go Compare television ads.

 

And 11-year-old Owain John, from Llansannan, near Denbigh, took part in auditions held in Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre, singing Not While I’m Around, from the Sondheim show.

 

Now a shortlist will be drawn up from over 80 young singers performing at the auditions, in Cardiff and at the Royal International Pavilion, in Llangollen, on Saturday, March 8, so that Bryn Terfel can himself choose the three young unknowns who will take the stage alongside him.

 

The roles to be filled are star-crossed young lovers Anthony and Johanna and street urchin Tobias Ragg who works for Todd’s rival, Pirelli (Wynne Evans) and then for piemaker Mrs Lovett, Todd’s murderous accomplice.

 

The Anthony and Johanna roles are for tenors and sopranos over 18 while Tobias will be played by a ten to 14-year-old.

 

At audition each singer performs a song from the show and after the Cardiff event Eilir Owen Griffiths was impressed by the quality of the entrants.

 

He said: “The standard has been very, very high and it’s been very exciting.

 

“Everyone is coming very well prepared and they are clearly taking it very seriously but then there is a lot at stake because performing a major role alongside an icon like Bryn Terfel could be the springboard for someone’s career.

 

“Each of them has had to sing a piece from Sweeney Todd, a song by the character they are trying out for and I’ve been very pleased with the quality of the singing.

 

“One of our roles at the Eisteddfod is to provide an opportunity for young talent to flourish and there can be no bigger opportunity than to sing alongside a legend like Bryn Terfel.

“Just the chance to actually audition for a role like this is an experience in itself and one which will stand them in good stead in the future.”

 

Owain, who goes to Ysgol Bro Aled, in Llansannan, began singing in the village eisteddfod aged about three and already has National and Urdd Eisteddfod successes under his belt.

 

He is also a member of Only Kids Aloud and is due to sing with Bryn Terfel in Cape Town, in South Africa, this year.

 

He and his mum made the long journey down to Cardiff to audition because the Llangollen auditions clash with the Urdd Eisteddfod preliminaries.

 

He said: “I enjoyed singing the audition and I’m looking forward to singing with Bryn Terfel in South Africa but it would be great to sing with him at Llangollen as well and with Wynne Evans.

 

“I love singing and I go round Eisteddfods singing duets with my older brother Dafydd Cernyw, who is 13.”

 

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

 

Bryn Terfel has played the role before, in 2002 in Chicago but hasn’t sung it since 2007 although he will be fronting a performance of it by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in New York this month.

 

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

 

He said: “I’m absolutely thrilled I’m able to appear at the 2014 International Eisteddfod. I’m a proud Welshman and the International Eisteddfod is unique, the atmosphere, the colour, the audience, even the flowers, it really is a very, very special event.”

 

Eilir Owen Griffiths added: “It’s brilliant to have Bryn back this year and what an experience for those who come through the auditions to be on stage with him.

 

“It’s very exciting and the orchestra for the performance, the Sinfonia Cymru, is a very young orchestra also, conducted by maestro Gareth Jones.

 

“We need to be leaving a legacy and giving an opportunity for young people to shine.”

 

Sweeney Todd will be the curtain raiser to six tremendous days at Llangollen which kicks off 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

Llan Community Garden hosts special event this Saturday

Llangollen Community Garden is hosting a Wild Weekend for Wales event on Saturday, March 8.

The event, from 10am-3pm, is sponsored by Keep Wales Tidy will see groups all over Wales doing practical projects to help wildlife. This spring the main focus is on pollinators.

Members of Llangollen Community Garden will be:

Establishing their Coppice Area

• Thinning the sapling trees, clearing bramble, coppicing some of the ash
• Planting hazel
• Under planting with snowdrops (and hopefully primroses).

Planting 2 Fruit Trees

• Planting a plum and a damson. Food for the bees and us!

Planting Honeysuckles

• Putting up wires to grow a honey suckle along the stone wall behind the social area
• Putting up trellis and planting 2 honeysuckles to cover the metal fencing erected by DCC

Tidying up our existing Flower Beds

• The garden's existing Bee Beds need some tlc after the winter
• We will be planting some extra “bee” plants too, mostly from plant divisions from our own gardens

Log / Bug Piles

• As an extra to their pollinator plans garden members will saw up some of the many branches in the garden
• The aim is to create 1 or 2 smaller log piles in the children’s area suitable for future mini beast hunting

All welcome

• Wear footwear suitable for mud and old clothes. Gloves & tools provided.
• Also provided; tea, coffee, juice plus biscuits & cakes too. If possible bring a mug, but we will have some spares.
• Children welcome if accompanied by an adult.

Tell your friends

• Drop in for an hour or two, or bring lunch and stay all day!

               

University to move out of Tyn Dwr Hall

* UCLAN is moving out of Tyn Dwr Hall.

BOSSES say they will do all they can to avoid compulsory job cuts when the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) pulls out of Llangollen’s historic Tyn Dwr Hall later this year.

The university took over the Victorian mansion in 2009 and spent £2 million on refurbishing the building which has since been used as a centre to prepare students for careers working outdoors, through tree climbing and living in Mongolian-style tents in the grounds.

But, as part of a major cost-cutting exercise, UCLAN now says it has decided to cease to deliver these activities at the hall from this autumn.

 

A UCLAN spokesman said: “Following a review of operational activity and academic need, the university has decided to use alternative facilities to the Tyn Dwr Outdoor Centre.

“The centre is currently used to deliver elements of courses run through the School of Sport, Tourism and the Outdoors, and it will cease to deliver these activities at Tyn Dwr from the end of the 2013/14 academic year.

“In future years, the university will deliver these activities in other parts of its estate or by using external providers when required.”

The spokesman added: “The decision comes as part of the university’s need to achieve recurrent cost savings of £10 million from its non-academic cost base by 2015, while still protecting and enhancing the student experience.

“We are committed to consulting with the recognised trade unions and staff with a view to minimise, mitigate and reduce any staff reductions through a variety of means including voluntary redundancy, TUPE transfers if appropriate and redeployment.

“The university will do all that it can to avoid compulsory redundancies.”

The hall, which dates back to the 1860s and is reputed to be haunted, was given a fanfare opening following a £2 million facelift in February, 2009.

Tyn Dwr Hall was built by John Dicken, an iron master, as a holiday home for himself and his family, with the estate covering roughly 12,00 acres, including much of the Berwyn Mountains.

In later years it became a youth hostel and in 2006 when it was earmarked for closure there was an unsuccessful campaign to save it.

The university spokesman did not reveal how many staff are currently employed at the hall or what is likely to happen to the building once UCLAN moves out.

Llangollen Chamber of Trade & Tourism said in a statement: “Llangollen Chamber of Trade & Tourism is saddened to hear the news about the forthcoming closure of Tyn Dwr Hall by UCLAN.

“This is devastating news for the existing employees and yet another example of the damage caused by expenditure cuts in local government, particularly in the education sector such as this.

“We can only hope that a buyer is found very soon and can offer some safeguarding of employment opportunities for the employees currently working there.”

County Councillor Stuart Davies said: "I am horrified to hear about the job losses at Tyn Dwr, coming on top of the proposed redundancies from Dobsons it is even more important that we push for more job making opportunities in the town.

"Work is ongoing to facilitate more job making opportunities. I continue to liaise with AMs to further these aims and to try and safeguard existing jobs."

Fatal accident near Mold this morning

North Wales Police say they were called to a serious incident involving an off-road Land Rover at Moel Llys Y Coed, near Mold, in the early hours of this morning (Sunday).

 

In a statement, the police say: "The Land Rover appears to have toppled down a hilled public area. Sadly, the driver sustained fatal injuries.

 

"No other vehicles are thought to be involved and there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances."

Carrog to launch new community map

The local community in Carrog will be launching their new community map at an event in the Neuadd at 3.30 pm on Thursday, March 6.  

The map has been created by local artist Ben Davis with a lot of involvement from local residents. The images on the map have been drawn by children during workshops, and these have been painstakingly coloured in using photographs of real textures.  

The result is highly unusual and eye catching, with lots of detail to explore.  Old photographs have also been included to give an insight into how people in the community used to live.

The project has been managed by the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and funded by the Communities and Nature Programme managed by Natural Resources Wales.

The highlight of the event will be a rendition of “Bro Edeirnion” by the local choir Côr Merched Edeyrnion.  The poem was originally written by W.E. Williams, a former headmaster at Glyndyfrdwy school.

Fiona Collins, the Village Hall Secretary and local storyteller is very excited about the launch. She said: "'The village community has been very much involved at every step on the process, and children and adults alike are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the finished map.  

"I have only lived in the village for ten years and have already learnt a lot about my adopted 'milltir sgwar' from the map  - and it's not even here yet!  The fact that members of the choir have agreed to come to sing their signature tune, Bro Edeyrnion, makes the opening event even more special."

For more information contact Ros Stockdale on 01978 869615 or ros.stockdale@denbighshire.gov.uk

Happy St David's Day

Happy St David's Day

from llanblogger!

Eisteddfod's gem of a fundraising idea

 

* Call me: Christine Dukes is collecting unwanted phones,

 jewellery and foreign currency to raise money for the Llangollen

International Musical Eisteddfod.

 

 

UNWANTED jewellery, foreign currency and mobile phones are helping Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (LIME) retain its place as Wales’s Mecca for music, dance, costume and culture from around the world.

 

A host of international stars headed by rock legends Status Quo will line up for this year’s festival from July 8-13, which will once bring visitors flocking from across the globe.

 

But keeping the whole glittering affair running requires a huge fundraising effort and, as the Llangollen’s Festival Support Co-ordinator Christine Dukes explained, new ways of bringing in vital revenue are constantly being explored.

 

One of the latest ventures is a gem of an idea to recycle unwanted jewellery along with foreign currency and old mobile phones.

 

Christine said: “We are always looking for new and novel ways of raising money to support the expense of staging our iconic annual festival and exactly a year ago we decided to sign up to be involved with an organisation called Recycling For Good Causes.

 

“It’s an ethical company which has been working successfully with a wide range of charities such as LIME since 1996.

 

“The idea behind it is that people bring in their unwanted items which are then collected by the company and sent away for recycling.

 

“Money raised from selling off the donated items is then sent back to the charity, which has no overheads to pay.”

 

Christine added: “It’s a very simple idea which we introduced exactly a year ago and in the past 12 months we’ve raised quite a healthy amount of money from it.

 

“Basically, people are invited to donate items that they no longer have a use for. That might be jewellery that’s gone out of fashion, foreign currency that could have been lying forgotten at the back of a draw for years or old mobile phones.

 

“Phones seem to become outmoded fairly quickly as newer, more sophisticated models are introduced all the time.

 

“The currency can be from the UK or any foreign country. It can be either coins or banknotes, and I think many people still have some of that kind of thing lying around at home which they’d like to get rid of and benefit a good cause at the same time.”

 

According to Christine, LIME has attracted enough donations over the past year to warrant two collections by the Midlands-based Recycling For Good Causes, and these have included a diverse selection of items.

 

“We’ve had quite a few foreign banknotes, watches and even old trophies which had been handed out for sporting performance. There have also been a fair number of mobile phones of all makes and ages. But the thing we’ve had the most of by far is costume jewellery, in all shapes and sizes,” she said.

 

“Some of the items of jewellery, such as necklaces, have been broken but the good thing with this scheme is that you can still get money for them.

 

“Being part of Recycling For Good Causes has been a great success for us but, up to now, the people making donations have mainly been those who are associated in some way with LIME.

 

“We now want to spread the word about it as far as possible so that other people are encouraged to let us have their unwanted goods which we can sell on to ensure the fantastic festival we stage each year can continue to be the amazing success that it is.

 

“Goods can be brought in to the LIME headquarters any day Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and we would be delighted to receive all donations.”

 

The curtain raiser for this year's Eisteddfod will mark the return of opera superstar Bryn Terfel to Llangollen.

 

The acclaimed bass baritone will be playing the lead in a special English-language production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street featuring an all-Welsh cast.

 

This year's will also feature concerts by Dutch jazz sensation Caro Emerald and veteran British rockers Status Quo as well as a world premiere of a new work, Adiemus Colores, by top composer Karl Jenkins.

 

He will conduct his Latin American themed work with American tenor Noah Stewart, Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores and Latvian accordion player Ksenija Sidorova to the accompaniment of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod Orchestra.

 

The Friday night concert, Spirit of Unity, will feature the Cape Town Opera, Africa’s premiere opera company, famed for their "vibrant vocalism and high-octane stage performances".

 

Appearing with them will be Wales’ representative in Cardiff Singer of the World, Gary Griffiths, the Wales Millennium Centre Only Kidz Aloud Chorus under the baton of celebrity conductor Tim Rhys Evans and British Sinfonietta, one of the UK's leading independent professional orchestras.

 

The Choir of the World competition for the Pavarotti Trophy on the Saturday night is the blue riband event of the week-long festival which will close with a Sunday night concert by Status Quo.

 

To book tickets and for more details about the urban dance competition go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

First sod cut at Cilmedw factory site

llanblogger exclusive ...

* At the sod-cutting ceremony, from left, are town crier Austin Chemenais,

Ken Skates AM, County Councillor Stuart Davies, Llangollen Mayor

Cllr Bob Lube, managing director of Dobson & Crowther Paul Holden and

Nick Scott, CEO of developers J-Ross.

* A general view of the Cilmedw site.

The first sod has been cut on the site of a new factory for the Dobson & Crowther  printworks at Cilmedw.

The ceremony this morning (Friday) was performed by the Mayor of Llangollen, Cllr Bob Lube, watched a group of VIPs from the company, developers J-Ross and the world of local politics.

The new factory will allow Dobson & Crowther’s current premises nearby on the A5 to be demolished to make way for a planned new Sainsbury’s supermarket.

Building work at Cilmedw is due to be complete by late summer with work starting on the supermarket shortly afterwards.

Clwyd South Assembly Member, Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology in the Welsh Government, who was at the ceremony said: “This is a great day for Llangollen and the Dee Valley.

“It is vital that we attract high quality, skilled jobs to rural areas, particularly for younger people, and this project will do precisely that.

“It will not only secure Dobson & Crowther’s future but also open up opportunities for job creation and help Llangollen to become a stronger and more vibrant community.”

UPDATE

* Keep Llangollen Special has submitted the following statement in response to the story:

"Keep Llangollen Special regrets that the Mayor of Llangollen and other dignitaries have chosen to associate themselves in a supportive manner with the job losses at Dobson & Crowther.

 

"Having researched this particular niche industry in detail, KLS forecasted these losses - from an original workforce of 110, now 60 – over two years ago.

 

"Billed as safeguarding precious jobs at Llangollen’s largest employer, this was the crux of granting planning permission despite powerful objections, including well-founded predictions of these job cuts. There are no other firms in North Wales where these people’s skills will be sought after, which leaves them especially disadvantaged in the job market.

 

"The smiles to camera will not be shared by these victims of broken promises. We call on those present to show at least a little contrition for their plight and undertake to procure resources to help them retrain in new skills to help them support their families.

 

"Given the new building and new machinery, we predict further jobs in line with European competitors who are more productive and run with fewer employees.

 

"In particular, we call upon Councillor Stuart Davies to apologise for falsely blaming the job cuts on objectors."

Chair, Keep Llangollen Special

  

Health board spends almost £800,000 on staff redundancies

The BBC has a story this morning which reveals the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which covers Llangollen, has spent almost £800,000 on redundancy payments for three staff.

For the full story see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26376046

Owner's ambitious plans for Old Armoury's future

* Ambitious plans ... the Old Armoury.

The woman who rescued an historic Llangollen building from dereliction has revealed her ambitious plans for its future.

Sue Hargreaves bought the empty and rundown Old Armoury, dating back to 1834, two years ago and embarked on an extensive renovation programme which has seen her introduce displays giving a flavour of its past uses as a lock-up jail and a police station.

And at the end of a fascinating talk about the project at Llangollen Museum on Tuesday night she gave details of her plan to complete the transformation of the building, which lies between between the A5 and Hall Street.

The scheme would see the armoury once again separated from the shop next door as it originally was before the first floor was turned into an army drill hall running the length of the first floor above the two buildings in the 1870s.

The ground floor of the armoury would then house a full reconstruction of the original lock-up while a small community hall, for exhibition and educational purposes, is created upstairs.

While the ground floor of the property next door would remain as a shop, a studio flat would be created above it, with income from its letting being used to help pay for the running of the armoury and hall.

In her talk, Sue Hargreaves said that when she bought the armoury two years ago she knew very little about it but immediately began looking into its history.

She started her investigation from the basis that it had been a police station but soon found there were no details of this use recorded at the Denbighshire county archives in Ruthin.

However, she did find a number of valuable documents including an original floor plan for the building, showing accommodation for a jailer and two cells downstairs with a small courthouse upstairs.

The building was in a poor condition and volunteers from Llangollen’s Tidy Town Team stepped in to clear it up and strip it back to basics.

Sue then decided to recreate, as faithfully as possible, the building’s earliest days as a lock-up and police station.

However, she is clear that it was never a fully-fledged jail but rather a place to hold prisoners temporarily until they could be brought before the magistrates.

By September 2012 the building was ready to be shown off to the public during Denbighshire’s Open Doors history event when it attracted 300 visitors on just two afternoons.

The armoury is still open to visitors on request to Sue who has made her recreation of the police station and lock-up as authentic as possible by kitting it out with props such as a Victorian policeman’s truncheon and handcuffs.

She told her audience at the museum that she had just submitted an application to the county council for listed building consent to carry out the alterations which will enable her to finalise her renovation plan.

“I want to restore the building to the same size it used to be, with no drill hall above, using the first floor of the armoury as an exhibition and education centre,” she said.

“We would have art and sculpture displays and perhaps Welsh classes there. I have had enquiries from a number of organisations who say they would be interested in using it once it is set up.

“We would form an organisation to run the building and the shop and flat next door. Its provisional title is Llangollen Arts Community and Education (LACE).

“The shop next door would stay as it is and have a studio flat above. The income from letting the flat would supplement the lock-up and the community hall.”

Old Armoury facts

·   The building was designed by the county architect for Denbighshire and is the only known building in Llangollen constructed from limestone.

·    Its first “keeper” was  a David Davies who lived in Chapel Street.

·    Sue’s research shows one of the lock-up’s prisoners was an Edward Hamer of Chirk who was arrested in 1860 after being found in possession of a chisel and poker and suspected of being about to break into a dwelling. He and another man, Thomas Humphreys, were eventually acquitted of the crime when they appeared at Ruthin quarter sessions. Sue has a recreation of Hamer lying on a bed in one of the cells – with his poker and chisel hidden underneath it.

·  Denbighshire was the first non-metropolitan county in Britain to set up its own police force in the 1840s, but Sue has been able to find very few details about the armoury being a police station. However, one piece of evidence for this comes in a reference made to Llangollen Fair in the book Wild Wales by George Borrow in which he details a family holiday through north Wales in 1854. The fair was held in a square (now Victoria Square) a principal feature of which was a police station, according to the author.

·   In 1871 the building was sold to local solicitor Charles Richards, with the purchase price apparently being less than the original cost of construction. In 1879 it became a base for the 9^th Denbighshire Rifle Volunteers, which is why the drill hall was built above both the former lock-up/police station and the adjacent shop. It was at this time it became known as the armoury.

It's almost time for the Accrington Pals to march

It's almost curtain-up time for the Twenty Club’s production of Peter Whelan's classic play The Accrington Pals.

* David Connolly, Andy Evans, Ally Goodman and Andrew Sully in a scene from the play. 

 

The Llangollen-based group is staging the moving First World War drama from March 6-8 in Llangollen Town Hall to mark the 100^th anniversary of the start of the conflict in 1914. 

The Accrington Pals is based on the true story of how the smallest town in England raised a volunteer force to fight in the war, contrasting life at the front and in the 1916 Battle of the Somme with the women left behind.


* Left: Director Rachel
Morris with the famous
Kitchener recruiting
poster from World War
One.



* Right: Natalie Evans
and Anna Turner
rehearse for the play.


* Pictures by Dave Roberts

* For more details visit facebook.com/twentyclub.

Plas Madoc closure decision delayed

Wrexham.com is reporting that Wrexham councillors have voted to delay a decision on the closure of Plas Madoc leisure centre until a review of the issue has been carried out.

For the full story see: http://www.wrexham.com/news/reprieve-plas-madoc-closure-reviewed-41456.html

County gives reasons for bottle bank removal

* The recycling area now minus the bottle bank.

Denbighshire County Council has been explaining the reasoning behind the removal of the bottle bank from the Market street car park which was highlighted by llanblogger recently.

A council spokesperson said: "Our request to reduce the number of bottle banks was because the site was uneconomical due to the very low volumes.

"Before countywide kerbside recycling, the contractor was getting 7-8 tonnes of glass from the site every month, it has now dropped to a less than 1 tonne per month.

"Our request for the contractor to remove banks meant that instead of coming to the site every 5-6 weeks, he would have to attend at least twice as often and collect a fraction of the volume every time.

"It's just not viable for them to do this, particularly given Denbighshire is on the fringe of the operating area.

"The last remaining issue is whether the council could pay the contractor a premium to attend. Our estimate is that it would probably cost in the region of £100 per tonne to retain the service in Llangollen as we wanted it and that is an unjustifiable rate.

"If householders (the only people who should use the bottle banks) instead put their glass bottles with their fortnightly recycling collection at home it will actually generate more revenues (£20 per tonne) for the council and deliver greater value to the taxpayer.

"Several local authorities in England are currently removing all their recycling banks because reduced volumes have made them more expensive to operate than their household collections.

"In Denbighshire, all the plastic bottle and can recycling banks were removed three years ago because the costs became excessive given that household collections were offered everywhere."

* If you have any views on the removal of the bottle bank, please send them by email to llanblogger@gmail.com

Old hospital could be sold to housing association

* The former Cottage Hospital could be sold to a housing association,

according to the health board.

The former Llangollen Cottage Hospital looks set to be sold to a housing association.

In view of speculation about its fate, llanblogger submitted a Freedom of Information request to its owners, the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, asking what plans it had for the 137-year-old building on Abbey Road, which has been empty since the hospital closed last March.

We also sought details of the asking price if the building was offered for sale on the open market.

In its a reply, the board says: “Local health boards in Wales are required to act in accordance with a protocol established by the Welsh Government where it is determined whether surplus land can be used to implement the Welsh Government’s objectives for the delivery of affordable housing in Wales. 

“The health board is therefore currently considering the sale of Llangollen Hospital to a local housing association.”

The reply adds: “We anticipate that the sale to the housing association will proceed. 

“However, should the property be offered for sale on the open market we would in the first instance seek advice from local agents in respect of an asking price.”

There are no details about which housing association the board is in negotiations with.

The hospital now lies empty, boarded up and surrounded by security fencing after it was closed almost a year ago despite an intense local campaign to save it from closure.

Its death knell was sounded after the health board revealed plans to build a new £5.5 million health centre on the site of the old River Lodge on the A539.  

This scheme was given the go-ahead by Denbighshire’s planning committee last week.

The replacement facility means the axe will also fall on the existing Llangollen Health Centre in Regent Street.

The health board said recently that it would follow the same process for disposal of this building – a former primary school – as the hospital, first exploring the possibility of using the site for housing and then offering it for sale if this is not feasible.  

Eat a hearty breakfast to support charity

Fancy eating a hearty breakfast to kick start your metabolism and help raise funds for a good cause at the same time?

 

Then why not join the Inner Wheel for The Big Breakfast on Wednesday, February 26 at The Community Hall, Regent Street, Llangollen, from 9 - 10.30am.

All proceeds are in aid of Cancer Research.

There will be a knitted garments stall, raffle and bring & buy.

Tickets are £6 per person.
 

Skates urges people on to the ice to try curling

* Ken Skates, right, in his curling days.

 

A WELSH Assembly Member who is a former champion curler is urging more people to take up the sport after the success of Team GB at the Winter Olympics in Russia.

Great Britain’s men won a silver medal at the Sochi Games last Friday to add to the bronze won by the women’s team earlier in the week.

And Clwyd South AM Ken Skates, who won a First Province of Wales Premier League title when he played for the Mid Wales Marauders, said he hoped more people would try their hand at the ‘fantastic’ sport as a result.

“Curling is a fantastic sport and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone who has had their appetite for something new whetted by the success of our British teams at the Winter Olympics,” he said.

“It requires a lot of discipline, persistence and patience, but it’s also great fun. The Welsh Curling Association is based in Deeside and there are several teams across North East Wales. There are also a number of curling taster sessions planned next months for people who are interested in taking it up – go and give it a try!”

The taster sessions at Deeside Leisure Centre, Queensferry, are from 5pm-9pm on March 3, March 10 and March 17. The fees are £5 for adults (21 and over) and £3 for juniors, and no equipment is needed. 

Denbighshire makes its views clear on council merger

Councillors in Denbighshire have met to discuss their response to the initial recommendations of the Williams Report.

The Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery has recommended that Denbighshire County Council merges with Conwy County Borough Council

Councillors in Denbighshire agreed the following:

* Denbighshire would not pursue a voluntary merger option

* The council notes that enforced mergers will not happen before the next Welsh Government Elections in 2016, which realistically means that mergers are off the agenda for at least the next four to five years.

* It is urging the Welsh Government to respond positively and urgently to the report's recommendations on improving leadership and performance and simplifying funding arrangements in the public sector.

* Until any proposal for the future is agreed, the Council will concentrate its efforts on delivering its ambitious Corporate Plan and manage the cuts while maintaining priority services for residents.

Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, Leader of Denbighshire, said: "The Council has had time to consider carefully its response to the recommendations included in the report.

"The council has made its views known in the past that the public sector should concentrate its efforts on improving leadership, culture and performance rather than divert its attention to large scale reorganisation of public services. That view has not changed and whilst we will make our feelings known to the Welsh Government, only time will tell what the outcome will be."

Dr Mohammed Mehmet, Chief Executive of Denbighshire, said: "We have taken the decision not to merge voluntarily as we don't believe that large scale voluntary collaborations have worked in the past and there is no confidence that they will work in the future.

"There is a lot of uncertainty around whether these proposals will actually happen and if they will, when will the changes be implemented.  Such uncertainty is not good for the public sector and the time and effort involved in preparing for merger that may or may not happen would be much better directed to delivering our priorities.

"Our efforts continue to be focussed on providing the best services possible for the people of Denbighshire."