More arrests in Wrexham murder hunt

Breaking news ...

Three more men have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Glynis Eileen Solmaz at her Wrexham home.

Police were called to a house in Bryn Hafod at 10.02am on Wednesday February 20 where the body of Ms Solmaz 65, was found.

Police were today granted a further 24 hours to question a 23 year old Wrexham man arrested on Friday February 22.

Earlier today officers arrested three more local men aged 52, 34 and 29.

All the men have arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to burgle and are currently being held at Wrexham police station.

Air ambulance attended Llan incident

Wales Air Ambulance has just given details of incidents its helicopter has attended in the area recently

These included one in Llangollen on February 13 when they were called at 1pm to attend to an adult male injured in a horse riding accident.

On February 17, the Air Ambulance was called to Llantysilio at 11.15am to deal with the an adult male casualty injured in a fall.

Wales Air Ambulance is the national air ambulance charity for Wales, providing emergency air cover for those who face life-threatening illness or injuries.

Its aircrews are on standby for everyone, in any part of Wales’ diverse landscape and communities, 365 days a year.

The same charity also operates the National Children’s Air Ambulance for Wales.

The charity is funded by public support and relies entirely on donations to raise £6 million each year to operate its three helicopters in the mid, north and south of the country.

To donate, call your nearest Wales Air Ambulance fundraising office on 0844 85 84 999 and they will process a donation over the phone.

Check out your local school's details

The Welsh Government have been promoting their My Local School website, which aims to provide school performance data for parents and others.

The site sets out to present information in a clear and simple format and data is displayed by school.  

It presents many of the outputs of the education system such as examination performance, but also some of the inputs such as finance.  

However, it stresses that it cannot measure other factors such as levels of parental involvement, support networks in place for pupils, external tuition and the levels of motivation that an individual pupil has to attain the best she or he can. 

The summary page is a data sketch of the school at a glance.  

From here you can also click on the individual tabs for more detailed charts and tables.  

The charts in the site tend to be over a five-year period so it is possible to see over time if the performance is up, down or level.  

The website can be viewed at: http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/about.htm?lang=eng

The summaries for each Llangollen school are:

Ysgol Dinas Bran

982 - Number of pupils on roll (Year 2012)

13.9% - Free school meals (FSM) - 3 year average (Year 2012)

16.8 - Pupil Teacher Ratio (Year 2012)

93.6% - Percentage attendance during the year (Year 2012)

£4,740 - School budget per pupil (Year 2013)

Pupils achieving the expected level in the core subjects at Key Stage 2

Year: 2012BBBBand 1 - Secondary school banding (Year 2012)

74.5% - Pupils achieving the expected level in the core subjects at Key Stage 3 (Year 2012)

58.7% - Percentage of pupils achieving the level 2 threshold including English/Welsh and Maths (Key stage 4) (Year 2012)

377 - Average capped points score (Key stage 4) (Year 2012)

More information: http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/school.htm?estab=6634027&lang=eng

Ysgol Bryn Collen

155 - Number of pupils on roll (Year 2012)

16.3% - Free school meals - 3 year average (Year 2012)

18.5 Pupil Teacher Ratio (Year 2012)

94.8% - Percentage atttendance during the year (Year 2012)

£4,334 - School budget per pupil (Year 2012)

76.9% - Pupils achieving the expected level in the core subjects at Key Stage 2 (Year 2012)

87.5% - Pupils achieving expected level in Foundation Phase areas of learning (Year 2012)

More information: http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/school.htm?estab=6632234&lang=eng

Ysgol Gymraeg Y Gwernant

119 - Number of pupils on roll (Year 2012)

11.5% - Free school meals - 3 year average (Year 2012)

17.1 - Pupil Teacher Ratio (Year 2012)

95.7% - Percentage attendance during the year (Year 2012)

£4,385 - School budget per pupil (Year 2013)

92.9% - Pupils achieving the expected level in the core subjects at Key Stage 2 (year 2012)

 

91.7% - Pupils achieving the expected level in the Foundation Phase areas of learning (year 2012)

More information: http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/school.htm?estab=6632263&lang=eng

Year: 2012* Ysgol Dinas Bran.*

Pupils achieving the expected level in the core subjects at Key Stage 3

Year: 2012

% Pupils achieving the level 2 threshold including English/Welsh and Maths

(Key stage 4)

Year: 2012

Average capped points score
(Key stage 4)

Year: 2012

 

Secondary school banding

Year: 2012

Pupils achieving the expected level in the core subjects at Key Stage 3

Year: 2012

% Pupils achieving the level 2 threshold including English/Welsh and Maths

(Key stage 4)

Year: 2012

Average capped points score
(Key stage 4

Year: 2012

 

Burn safely, fire service urges farmers

With a dry spell of weather predicted and with the controlled burning season drawing to a close, firefighters are appealing to farmers to undertake their controlled burning in the safest and most effective way possible.

The Heather and Grass Burning Code states that burning is allowed only between the 1st of October and the 31st of March in upland areas and the 1st of November and the 15th of March elsewhere.

Many farmers will now be taking the opportunity towards the end of the period to undertake controlled burning of heather, grass and gorse on their land.

Staff from North Wales Fire and Rescue Service have been visiting livestock markets across the region in recent weeks to spread to word on safe controlled burning.

Gary Brandrick, Senior Fire Safety Manager, said: " We are urging all landowners undertaking controlled burning to notify us by calling our control room on 01745 535805. This will help avoid false alarms and crews being sent out unnecessarily as well as ensuring we are ready to respond in the event of a burn getting out of control.

"We are also asking these landowners to be responsible when it comes to controlled burning. The fires are set in areas where access is extremely difficult and water supply is limited - should the fire get out of control, this can place tremendous pressure on resources, with firefighters tied up for a considerable length of time trying to bring them under control. These fires can put homes, livestock and the lives of crews and residents at risk as firefighters are kept from attending genuine emergencies.”

Farmers are asked to follow the guidelines below if they are planning a controlled burn:

- Ensure they have sufficient people and equipment to control the fire
- Check wind direction and ensure there is no risk to property, roads and wildlife
- If a fire gets out of control contact the fire service immediately giving details of location and access
- It is illegal to leave a fire unattended or to have too few people to control it. - Always ensure a fire is completely out before you leave it and check next day to ensure it has not reignited.

No-go zone planned to stop cold callers

Police are aiming to join forces with county trading standards officers to set up a “no cold calling” zone in Llangollen.

The idea, which is aimed at helping to keep at bay nuisance doorstep traders, was outlined to members of the Town Council at their meeting on Tuesday evening.

Sergeant Paul Hughes, of the neighbourhood policing team, first explained how officers had been called about two weeks ago to deal with the occupants of a vehicle selling fresh fish in the Wern Road area of the town.

He said: “We had a call from a resident in that area who said these people were selling fish from the back of a van, which I understand was sub-standard for the prices they were charging.

“The people were from the north east of the country and were already known to trading standards.”

He added: “With trading standards we are looking at setting up a no cold calling zone in Llangollen.

“This means that notices will be placed on lampposts around the zone warning cold callers they are not welcome inside it.

“These schemes, which have been successful elsewhere, enhance the power of trading standards in that if complaints are received about callers inside the zone they can more easily shown to be in breach of restrictions.”

Sgt Hughes urged anyone having problems with cold callers to ring North Wales Police on the non-emergency line of 101, or even 999 if it is believed vulnerable people may be at risk.

Health service campaigners take to the streets

Th BBC North East Wales news website is reporting this evening (Saturday)  that hundreds of campaigners opposing a raft of changes to hospital care in north Wales - including the closure of Llangollen Cottage Hospital - have taken to the streets.

More than 300 people joined the demonstrations in Llandudno.

It follows a decision by the area community health council (CHC) not to refer Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board plans to the Welsh government.

See the full story and video at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21553317

County stamps down on dog foulers

Denbighshire has launched an anti-dog fouling campaign.

It features a raft of measures aimed at engaging with communities, educating people about the impact of dog fouling and robust enforcement action as well as a dedicated freephone number for residents to report dog fouling culprits and hot spot areas.

The number is 0800 230 0234.

Cabinet member for Environment, Councillor David Smith, explained: "While we know that most dog owners are responsible and always clean up after their dogs, there seems to be a stubborn minority who continue to allow their animals to foul and do not clear up after them.

"We cannot let this continue as time and time again, dog fouling has come up in resident's surveys and regular communication between residents and our councillors backs this up - it s one of the most common complaints we receive."
Denbighshire has already contracted environmental enforcement firm, XFor to patrol areas across the county and issue Fixed Penalty Notices for littering and fouling and will also work closely with North Wales Police through the Community Safety Partnership.

The Council would also like to increase community involvement and support with clean-up campaigns and is also working closely with Keep Wales Tidy Officer for Denbighshire.
Councillor Smith said : "Working with the community is key to the success of this campaign and I would urge people - if you see it, report it! If you know who the culprit is, we need you to tell us.

"With the best will in the world, we can't be everywhere and we need the community to help be our eyes and ears and we need to know where the hot spots are so we can specifically target them with increased patrols."

"Denbighshire has installed 90 new bins in new locations last year with more planned for this year and we recently asked members to tell us about hot spots, and now have a list that we will be attending to. We have also been working with Town and Community Councils."