Welsh Government asked for cash to finish railway extension



 

* Ken Skates AM, Susan Elan Jones MP and Jim Ritchie,

chair of Llangollen Railway Company.

 

Clwyd South Assembly Member Ken Skates has called on the Welsh Government to help complete the first phase of the Llangollen Railway Extension.

After a site meeting along with Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones, Llangollen Railway volunteers and Denbighshire Council on Friday, the local representatives were told that the project is £160,000 short of its target to extend the heritage line to Corwen.

The AM immediately contacted Welsh Government officials to ask that they set up an urgent meeting with Denbighshire Council in order to hammer out a plan to complete the project.

Mr Skates said: “As everyone knows, Llangollen Heritage Railway is a jewel in the local crown and an important tourist attraction for the area. Everyone can see it has the potential to grow as an attraction and help bring in more visitors to the area.

“That is why I have been fully supportive of the extension project from the very start and a strong advocate of the line’s potential. 

 

"This funding shortfall is an obvious concern and I have asked officials in the Welsh Government to meet with Denbighshire Council and its partners to ensure this important extension to Corwen is put back on track."

 

Susan Elan Jomes MP said: "The great thing about the Llangollen Railway is the sheer enthusiasm and energy of the volunteers who do such a great job keeping the line running. 

 

"They believe passionately in this extension project and have pressed me hard to ensure its early completion because of the significant benefits it will bring both to the town and wider Dee Valley.

“Lots of work has been put into the extension plan by Denbighshire County Council and the Corwen business community to complete the historic link between the towns of Llangollen and Corwen and we mustn’t let this go to waste.”

Pie-maker to the stars heads for Llangollen

* Pie maker Robert Didier has branched out into bread.

James Bond’s favourite pie maker is on a new mission.

 

Robert Didier has returned to his first love - the art of baking bread which he learned from the Michelin-starred French master chef, Raymond Blanc.

His new range of artisan bread will be officially launched at Hamper Llangollen 2012, held today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, October 20 and 21, at Llangollen Pavilion.

 

It’s a far cry from when Robert ran a French Bistro in Borough Market, London, which was frequented by the likes of James Bond actor Sean Connery, Expendables 2 star Jason Statham, film director Guy Ritchie and former Chancellor Nigel Lawson.

 

After moving to North Wales in 2003, Robert established his Wrexham-based pie-making company, Orchard Pigs.

 

He's invested more than £20,000 to establish the bakery at his premises on Wrexham Industrial Estate.

 

Robert is now gearing up for the launch of the new range of more than 40 different types of continental bread including French, German, Polish and Black Sea varieties.

 

This year's food festival is being supported by the rural development agency, Cadwyn Clwyd.

 

Cadwyn Clwyd’s contribution came via the Rural Development Fund for Wales 2007-2013, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Welsh Government.

 

Robert said: "We don’t have a shop so Hamper Llangollen will give us the perfect showcase to introduce our new range of bread.

 

“We’ve got everything from carrot and parsnip bread which is a recipe from my English grandmother from the war which I’ve also adapted to create apple and cider bread.

 

“We even do a lava bread bread with real lava bread! You name it and we’ll give it a go."

 

Robert, whose French father was a chef, began his working life at Raymond Blanc’sbakery and patisserie, Maison Blanc, in Oxford, which supplied Harrods and many top London restaurants with authentic French bread and patisseries. 

 

He also did a stint in the kitchen at Blanc's double Michelin starred restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, in the Oxfordshire village of Great Milton.

Robert said: “I was extremely fortunate because at the time he was just a friend of the family. His standards are very high. Everything had to be precise.”

 

He then went stay in the Valence region of the south of France with his grandmother while working as a second chef in a bakery and patisserie, before returning to the UK a year later.

After working for Raymond Blanc for another 12 months, Robert opened his own French bistro, Petit Robert, in London.

 

He recalled: "We built a very good reputation for ourselves. Jay Rayner, the top restaurant critic and the One Show's resident food expert, noted us as one of his favourite restaurants.”

It was also the bistro of choice for Sean Connery and the film director Guy Ritchie while Madonna's ex-husband was filming the British crime-caper,Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

 

Ritchie was regularly joined by the cast which included football hard-man Vinnie Jones and action star Jason Statham, who appears in the explosive new blockbuster The Expendables 2, alongside, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis.

 

Robert said: “I am a huge James Bond fan and I couldn’t believe my eyes when Sean Connery, the ultimate Bond, walked in – he was an absolute gentleman."

 

“Catherine Zeta Jones was another who ate there while one of our regulars was Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor and the father of the kitchen diva, Nigella Lawson."

 

Robert and his family moved Bwlchgwyn, in 2003 after his restaurant was compulsorily purchased to make way for a new railway line.

 

He bought Nant y Ffrith forest, a 250 acre mixed woodland, and populated it with a herd of Oxford sandy and black pigs.

 

Robert explained: “We needed an outlet for the meat so Orchard Pigs was born. Orchard Pigs is the pseudonym for the breed of pigs we kept.

 

“We started off with Wrexham farmer’s market selling bacon and sausages and cuts of meat and it’s grown quite rapidly from then on.”

 

Robert’s company, Orchard Pigs, now makes a range of handmade pies and pastries -including their trademark Tractor wheel pie, using local free range produce.

 

He said: “Baking bread has always been a passion of mine so you could say I'm returning to my first love.

 

"We now employ three members of staff and we are investing £20,000 in the bakery side of the business. Most of it going on an oven to make stone-baked bread so it can have that true French feel."

 

Also starring at Hamper Llangollen 2012 will be a trio of Wales's top chefs.

 

Graham Tinsley, the star of ITV's Taste the Nation and a former captain of the Welsh Culinary Team, will be joined in the show kitchen by S4C favourite Dudley Newberry.

 

Completing the hat-trick will be the ever popular Dai Chef, who is returning to the event after an absence of several years.

 

Robert Price added: “Thanks to a whole host of indigenous companies, North East Wales is rapidly establishing a reputation as a centre of excellence for high quality cuisine.

“The food festival is a perfect shop window for the companies who form the backbone of our rural economy.

 

"The location of the Pavilion is absolutely spectacular - I can't imagine that any other food festival in the UK has a more beautiful setting."

 

For more information about Orchard Pigs go towww.orchardpigs.co.uk and for more information about Hamper Llangollen 2012 visithttp://www.llangollenfoodfestival.com/

Local eateries' hygiene standards revealed online

Figures for claimed hygiene standards of eateries in and around Llangollen are revealed online.

To mark the second anniversary of the introduction of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, or "scores on the doors" as it has been dubbed, Denbighshire County Council is highlighting the fact that are available online are the ratings for food establishments across the county, including Llangollen and district.

In Denbighshire as a whole, officers have visited 1,012 businesses over the past two years: 699 were rated '5', the highest possible rating; five rated '0,' the lowest score possible. In that time there were five prosecutions, five simple cautions and 59 improvement notices served.

The ratings can be viewed at www.food.gov.uk/ratings - rather than typing just the word "Llangollen" into the search facility, put in the "LL20" postcode and this gives you a geographical spread of establishments not just in the town but also in neighbouring areas such as Fron and Glyn Ceiriog. 

There are nine pages of  local ratings to look at, with scores across the whole spectrum being recorded.

Ratings can also be accessed on the move, for free, via the app for Android and iPhone.
Good hygiene is good for business - that's the message from the county council as it raises awareness of food hygiene issues amongst businesses

Recent data shows that currently just over 83% of businesses across Wales have a rating of 3, 4 or 5, compared with just under 77% this time last year, and there has been a decline in those businesses that have been given a low rating of 0, 1 or 2, from 23% in September 2011 to just under 17% now.

Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Lead Member with responsibility for Food Safety said: "The Hygiene Rating Scheme was brought in to introduce standards and more of a level playing field. Customers know a lot more about the scheme nowadays and so do people responsible for running food premises. They are fully aware of the cleanliness standards expected and the majority comply with the regulations.

" A national publicity programme was launched before the scheme began and we are taking this opportunity to continue raising the profile of the scheme. It seems as if the majority of people are heeding the message.

Emlyn Jones, Food Health and Safety Manager for Denbighshire said: "Our initial approach is one of prevention and education. We want to work with businesses to ensure they comply with the law and most importantly, ensure the health and well-being of customers who decide to purchase and eat goods purchased.

"We will also continue with enforcement action against those individuals or companies that fail to comply with improvement notices or who wilfully neglect to follow the stringent guidelines in place. There is simply no excuse for it."

Parking problems aired by town councillors

* The A5 is one the area's of town affected by parking problems.

 

The problem of parking came up for discussion by members of the Town Council at their meeting on Tuesday night.

Cllr Mike Pugh said “lots of liberties” with parking were being taken in Castle Street in particular.

He revealed how he had recently seen a vehicle left parked right by the traffic lights without attracting the attention of enforcement wardens.

Cllr Pugh added: “There ought to be a system where people are prosecuted for things like this by the traffic wardens or the police.”

Concerns were also raised about parking on the busy A5 opposite Stan’s store.

Cllr Tim Palmer said there was a “strong argument” for the whole of Berwyn Street and Regent Street, which form the main A5 through the town, having double yellow lines to prevent all parking.

It was agreed that all these concerns should be raised with the county council or the police. 

Campaigner replies on Town Council health discussion

We have received this letter from campaigner Martin Crumpton  in response to the story we published on Wednesday about the discussion at the previous evening’s Town Council meeting on proposed health changes in Llangollen:

Dear Llanblogger,

I read your article entitled “Town Council works out response to health shake-up” and I write in response to set the record straight.

I and other campaigners found out about Betsi Cadwaladr’s intentions at the beginning of August, as did everyone. Being somewhat seasoned campaigners, we knew that we had to begin our work immediately, even before the ten-week consultation period had begun, on September 20^th.

We were not alone in knowing we had to use every day available to us: so did Conwy, Prestatyn, Ruthin, Flint, Mold, Chirk, and many others in the same boat as us. The common thread of all these campaigns is they were either wholly supported by their town councils or actually led by them.

A number of us asked the Town Council for a public meeting. They could have done this themselves, without us prompting them. Instead they advised against it, so we had to organise our own public meeting, and even call for a local referendum.

The Town Council claimed they didn’t yet have enough information to give a response, yet as of their last Town Council meeting, 16^th October, neither they nor we know anything materially different from what we knew in early August.

They promised to give their reaction at the next convenient Town Council meeting, but at that meeting they decided to attend the consultation instead, to find out more detail. As before, they’re no wiser now than they were at the beginning of August.

We, the campaigners, on the other hand, have lobbied the Press and got several front page stories, had our message broadcast on BBC Radio Cymru and the BBC News website, gained the support of Mark Isherwood AM, Aled Roberts AM, and Llyr Gruffydd AM, and now Ken Skates has come on board with our message that we need to retain the hospital until its proposed replacement is up and running. We have written to the Health Minister, Mary Burrows, the Health Council, spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, organised a number of petitions and communicated our news far and wide in the community.

The Town Council, by comparison, has done nothing until twelve days before the end of the consultation period, and hasn’t even agreed the wording of their “response”. That’s to be finalised by the Town Clerk, apparently.

Perhaps this shows how high a priority the issue is with the Town Council, but we note the remarks by Cllr Mike Pugh and Cllr Tony Baker which fly in the face of the Mayor’s and the Town Clerk’s assertions of being “proactive” and “thoughtful and diligent”.

We could have joined forces and been far more effective, but the Town Council did not engage with us, and made no effort whatsoever to galvanise the town’s residents.

There will be a deciding vote [on the health service changes] in The Senedd in December. Perhaps the Town Council would like to become proactive, thoughtful and diligent in the little time we have left and engage with the people it purports to represent.

It could do no worse than look to other town councils in Conwy, Prestatyn, Ruthin, Flint, Mold, Chirk, and many others in the same boat as us and take their lead from them, instead of being the odd one out.

Martin Crumpton

"Mindless vandalism" at Riverside Park

* Picnic tables were torn out of the ground and dumped in the bandstand at Riverside Park, says a councillor.

A member highlighted what he branded an act of “mindless, wanton vandalism” during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Town Council.

Cllr Tony Baker said it happened in Riverside Park where vandals had recently ripped two picnic tables out of the ground and thrown them on to the bandstand.

However, he said he believed whoever was responsible had been caught on CCTV in the process.

Town clerk J Gareth Thomas said the tables had been taken away for repair by the county council’s countryside services team and that when they were returned to the park the intention was to anchor them more firmly into the ground.

A number of councillors mentioned other instances of anti-social behaviour in the town and Mr Thomas said he would invite a police representative to attend the next council meeting.

He also told members that it could be time to start looking at replacing some of the town centre’s CCTV cameras as technology had moved on since they were first installed some years ago.

Work on new locomotive steaming ahead

* An artist's impression of how The Unknown Warrior will look on its launch day in 2018.  

 

 * Daniel Williams, left, from Wrexham, and Jon Zuloaga from Spain have been working on The Unknown Warrior.

 

SPECIALIST engineers at Llangollen Railway are steaming ahead on an ambitious £1.5 million project to build an entirely new locomotive to mark the centenary of the end of World War One in six years time. 

And early next month railway buffs can see for themselves how the steam engine, to be known as The Unknown Warrior to commemorate those who died in the 1914-18 conflict, is taking shape in the railway’s own workshops. 

The LMS-Patriot Project  was launched by heritage railway enthusiast David Bradshaw with the aim of building a new Patriot class loco, the originals of which ran in the 1920s and 30s.

This will tour heritage railways across the country and will also be capable of running on the mainline rail network.

 

Target date to have it rolling is the 100^th anniversary of the Armistice on November 11,  2018.

Cash for the project is coming from pubic donations, legacies , commercial sponsorship and grant applications.

It has received the endorsement of the Royal British Legion, and the engine will carry a Legion crest above its nameplate.

Many original LMS drawings have been obtained for the project and, where necessary,  draughtsmen are preparing new drawings using computer techniques which produce them in 3D.

Assembly of the The Unknown Warrior began in 2009 led by Dave Owen, chief mechanical engineer of Llangollen Railway Works.

Other workshops around the UK are making components for the new loco, including the Boro Foundry at Stourbridge, the South Devon Railway, LNWR Heritage and Tyseley Locomotive Works.

To mark Remembrance Day, visitors will be given guided tours of the project on Saturday and Sunday, November 3 and 4.

They will see that the massive steel frames – or chassis - of The Unknown warrior have now been laid using heavy gauge steel plate and enormous castings at a cost of £48,000.

Dave Owen, the man in charge of the project, explained that the next stages are to install the steam parallel boiler.

Roughly the length of a single-decker bus and three times as heavy, this will cost £500,000.

Fundraising for it began in May this year  with the national launch of an appeal at Crewe.

LNWR Heritage in Crewe, the company founded by pop mogul and steam enthusiast Pete Waterman, will be building the boiler.

Next after the boiler will come the fitting of the loco’s six 6ft high wheels iron wheels, which are now being cast at the Boro Foundry at a total cost of £60,000.

The “tyres” which encase the wheels and the axles on which they will turn are both being sourced from specialists in South Africa.

While some of the components for the engine are new, others are being reclaimed from scrap or bought from private railway collections.

The chimney which will sit proudly on top of the finished loco is actually from an original Patriot class engine and currently sits on the workshop floor ready to be lifted into place.

While Llangollen Railway runs almost entirely on volunteer power, the workshop has about a dozen paid and highly specialised staff, many of whom are working on the Patriot project, which will bring in much-needed revenue for the heritage operation.

If building The Unknown Warrior has an international feel because of where its components are coming from, so has the workforce.

Because among those involved on Patriot is 21-year-old Jon Zuloava from Bilbao in northern Spain who is currently on a spell of work experience in Llangollen.

He said: “I have been here since April and have enjoyed working on the project very much as it is so interesting.”

To keep the project steaming along, regular cash contributions are needed.

As Dave Owen said: “This is a very expensive thing to build and the people behind it have come up with a scheme in which various parts can be sponsored

“That can be anything from a simple nut at £2 right up to a complex driving wheel casing for £9,000.”

He added: “I’d say this has been a complex project to work in within the range of basic engineering but everyone is finding it very interesting.”

Llangollen Railway spokesman George Jones said: “It means great cudos for us that our workshop is putting this unique steam locomotive together.”    

On November 3 and 4 the Poppy Train will run out of Llangollen Station proudly wearing its own poppy. 

The service will depart at 11am, 1pm and 3pm on both days for a period of quiet reflection.  

There will be free entry to the workshops to see the Patriot project at specific times on both days with a valid train ticket.  

Tickets: Adults £12, seniors £10, children £6, family £30.