Group could help get shopkeepers online

A local campaign group has moves to in mind to help shopkeepers in the town  make their presence felt on the internet.

The revelation comes from Mike Edwards, chair of Keep Llangollen Special, in response to a new report by Rotary International which says that small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK are missing a trick when it comes to supporting their local community.

Results reveal that almost half of SMEs do not support their local community, despite the fact that most recognise that community relations increases staff morale and makes their business more attractive to potential customers and employees.

Mike Edwards (pictured left) said: “Generally we have found when talking at a local level to businesses in Llangollen that they already fully support and many are involved with the community.  

“We do appreciate that small businesses have limited resources and their focus priority is naturally their business.  

“We do feel that Keep Llangollen Special can offer support to local shopkeepers and suppliers to help them exploit opportunities provided by the Internet and social media.” 

He added: “Social media such as Facebook and Twitter is a cost effective way of establishing and maintaining contact with customers and obtaining important feedback to understand those customers' needs.  

“We are currently investigating a number of initiatives to enable us to offer full business support to owners of local shops to enable them to compete on a level playing field with large Corporates who have greater resources available to them.  

“We have found that some local businesses do not have a Web presence and we would look to convince them that this is a cost effective way of boosting their turnover and attracting new custom both locally and further afield.”

Thomas and Friends steam into station

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends are making one of their popular visits to Llangollen Railway this weekend.

And fans were out early yesterday (Saturday) to get their place aboard the famous blue steam engine or just to see it go by.

There's another appearance today (Sunday), with gates open at 10am and Thomas arriving at Llangollen Station between 10am and 10.30am

Thomas and his friends are back on Thursday to Sunday, October 25 to 28.

Ticket Prices
Adults £15, Seniors £13, Children £10, Family 1 (1 adult & 1 child) £22, Family 2 (2 Adults & 2 Children) £40, Under 3's FREE

Search team helps Injured walker

North East Wales Search and Rescue (NEWSAR) was called by North Wales Police early yesterday (Saturday) afternoon to assist a well-equipped walker who had sustained an injury while walking in the Berwyn Mountains.

Team members deployed to the rather remote location and at the same time the services of the RAF Search and Rescue Force were requested as it was expected they could get to the casualty more quickly than NEWSAR volunteers on foot would achieve.

One of our team members was out for a day’s walking and was luckily only 2km away on a hill top when he was contacted to help co-ordinate the operation.

A statement from NEWSAR said: “The RAF did their usual excellent job and located the injured person and winched them off, before taking them to hospital.

“Their injuries are not considered life threatening.

“The team was stood down at 3.41pm.”

Food festival cooks up the crowds

* Visitors throng one of the main exhibition areas at Hamper Llangollen 2012.

This year's Hamper Llangollen food festival looks like a sizzling success.

Crowds began to flock into the town's International Pavilion as soon as the doors opened at 10am today (Saturday) and were still queuing to get in late into the afternoon.

And there's still another day of the event which has temporarily turned the town into a foodie heaven.

Hamper Llangollen 2012 facts

• Venue: The Royal International Pavilion, Llangollen
• Dates: Saturday October 20, Sunday October 21
• Times: 10am to 5pm both days
• Entry fee: £5, under 16s free
• Parking: On-site and nearby car parks
• Tickets available on the door

Community hospital plans could be left in "limbo" says report

* People in Llangollen at a public meeting last Monday held
 to protect local health service.   

The Daily Post today (Saturday) has a story which will be of interest to those fighting to protect health services under threat of change in Llangollen.

It says:

"THE lack of a guarantee of funding for the £70 million needed to build or revamp five community hospitals could leave thousands of patients in “limbo”.
That claim was made by North Wales AM Llyr Gruffydd who hit out at health chiefs for failing to get an assurance the Welsh Government will stump up cash to build a new £21m hospital on the site of Rhyl’s Royal Alexandra; £40m to overhaul Llandudno; £5.5m for a site at River Lodge to replace Llangollen and £4m to upgrade Holywell.
The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has put forward these projects as part of a consultation to overhaul the way health care is delivered. It is “confident” it will get the money from the Welsh Government’s capital building programme.
But the Plaid Cymru AM questions that assumption.
“The proposal to downgrade and close community hospitals across the North involves building new health facilities. But it is becoming apparent that, in some cases, this will take years to achieve, in the meantime, people needing localised care would be left high and dry.
“The capital to build new health facilities would come from the Welsh Government, which is facing drastic cuts in the block grant from central government. Does Betsi Cadwaladr have an assurance the money it needs is available? We need a guarantee Llangollen and other communities will not be left in limbo with no hospital and no health centre.”
Mr Gruffydd said the board’s proposal to place patients in private nursing homes “doesn’t really hold water”.
“Even as an interim move this won’t work because the capacity isn’t there locally,” he said.
The consultation, which ends on October 28, was revealing “many unanswered questions” on this and proposed cuts and downgrading of local hospitals such as Blaenau Ffestiniog, Ruthin and Chirk.
A health board spokeswoman said, as it was unable to “pre-determine the outcome of the public consultation”, it had not entered into detailed discussions with local nursing homes regarding placements should Llangollen Hospital close.
“However, if the scheme goes ahead, we will be in a position to utilise inpatient beds at Chirk Hospital, and as an interim measure, look at transferring the vast majority of services to the current health centre.
“Following the consultation each approved project will require a business case for funding from the All Wales Capital Programme: we are confident funding will be made available.
“The health board has already submitted a business case to Welsh Government for £5.7million to move primary care and the health clinic into Tywyn Hospital, Gwynedd: we are awaiting their response.”

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2012/10/20/70m-funding-guarantee-needed-to-build-or-revamp-north-wales-hospitals-55578-32067084/

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/