Hospital closure fury makes the headlines

The ongoing row over the imminent closure of Llangollen Hospital features on the front page of today's Dail Post under the headlines "Hang your heads in shame" and "Health chiefs blasted for 'scandalous' closure."

See the story at: http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/

 

A piece of acting brilliance from Twenty Club

There are only four people on stage in the Twenty Club’s current production of the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams at Llangollen Town Hall.  

But between them they produce enough raw acting talent for at least ten times that number. 

The title aptly sums up the glass-like fragility of three of the characters, who inhabit a claustrophobic apartment in an American town during the Depression of the 1930s. 

First, there’s the mother Amanda Wingfield, an ageing, out-of-tune southern belle who has been striving desperately to keep together her family following the sudden departure of her telephone engineer husband – who we never see apart from his a faded portrait on the wall – 16 years earlier. 

But given her controlling, meddling approach to life, who could blame the guy for doing a runner to the other side of the continent? 

Amanda is played with nothing short of brilliance by Rachel Morris using, like the rest of the cast, a faultless southern American accent. 

When she talks about all those “gen’lman cawlers” she used to receive in her gentile youth you really believe that she once lived in a “f-i-i-i-i-n-e” mansion set in the rolling acres of a plantation. 

Every nuance of the character is deftly conveyed, every movement of her body perfectly executed. 

In the apartment Amanda holds sway over her two children. 

One of them is son Tom, a man in his early twenties who is clearly too intelligent for his humble position on the bottom rung of the ladder at the local warehouse and squanders the days until he can escape to a new life of adventure in the merchant marine going to the movies, drinking bourbon and smoking endless cigarettes.

He fights against the smothering of his mother but never wins. 

Bringing Tom, who also steps aside to be the play’s sardonic narrator, vividly to life is one of the Twenty Club’s youngest members, Morgan Thomas.

Watching the consummate way he handles this mega-part – his character is on stage for most of the piece – it’s hard to believe he is still just 17 years old.  This is definitely an actor who is going places, and not necessarily only with an amateur group.  

Third member of the terrific trio is Anna Turner who plays Tom’s slightly older sister Laura, a painfully shy girl who lives in a world of her own which revolves round playing old gramophone records left behind by her absent father and gazing on her display case menagerie of small glass animals. 

Although she has far less dialogue than the other two other family members, Anna shines in the role, shuffling convincingly around the stage, wringing her hands and hardly daring to look anyone in the eye.

 

Her mother’s main aim is life is to get poor Laura married off – ideally to a man of substance so that she can continue to be financially supported by him when Tom makes his inevitable break for freedom just like his father did. 

She pleads with Tom to bring home any nice young man he might know from the warehouse for Laura to meet. 

He does just that – and this is when those fragile pieces of glass in the apartment start to get broken, in more ways than one. 

As this marvellously absorbing play has another two nights to run – tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) – it would be unfair to say just what impact the fourth character, Jim O’Connor, has on the complicated Wingfield clan. 

But it is fair to say the man playing this outgoing young man of Irish descent who has the gift of the blarney, Aaron Davies, does so every bit as brilliantly as his three fellow cast members.  

With the Glass Menagerie, which is a credit to its director Natalie Evans, the Twenty Club has a smash hit on its hands. 

See it if you can.

Support our Buy Local Day today!

* Carolyn Hutchinson at Vintage Rose is one of the businesses supporting today's Buy Local Day.

Today is an important day for all those Llan people who believe it’s vital to support local businesses – especially in face of the threat from the big stores.

Community group Keep Llangollen Special (KLS) is running the latest in a series of Buy Local days and calling on as many people as possible to do just that rather than spending their money outside the town.

There will be discounts and special offers at all participating shops, pubs and cafes.

Just look out for the Buy Local poster displayed in their windows.

KLS chair Mike Edwards, who has been working hard along with volunteers from his small team to put today’s event together, said: “The aim is to highlight the three main benefits of buying locally – personal service from knowledgeable staff, top quality goods and good value for money.

“Why go to an impersonal supermarket when you can stroll round town, do your shopping and meet friends for a drink?”

One of the businesses supporting Buy Local today and all the year round is the Vintage Rose tearoom in Oak Street.

It was opened by Carolyn Hutchinson three months ago to provide tea, coffee and a mouth-watering range of home-made cakes.

Also available are wedding and occasional cakes – all with the emphasis on being home made by Carolyn who has an associated business called Libby’s Cupcakes which she also runs from the Vintage Rose premises. She named that company after her young daughter, Libby.

Carolyn said: “Since we opened the tearoom it has been going very well and local people have really been coming out to support me.

“I am backing Buy Local Days like the one today because I think it is so important to support our businesses in the town.

“I try to buy everything I need for my businesses from suppliers in Llangollen and I also operate my own loyalty card scheme for local people.

“For Buy Local Day today I am offering a free cup of tea or coffee with every cake bought by my customers.”  

For more details of KLS, see its website at www.keepllangollenspecial.org.uk and for Carolyn's website, see http://www.libbyscupcakes.co.uk/

Hospital services ro relocate at end of week

llanblogger exclusive

 

Angry Assembly Member brands move as a "scandal"

 

 

* Services will move from Llangollen Hospital this week.

 

A number of health services currently based in Llangollen Hospital will be relocating at the end of this week.

 

That is the message from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB).

 

llanblogger contacted the board earlier this week to ask for confirmation or otherwise of rumours that the hospital will close this week or early next as a result of being axed in a major shake-up of services proposed by BCUHB.

 

One suggestion had been that the final death knell would be sounded today (Thursday). 

And, indeed, some sources say the hospital is now closed to all intents and purposes, with services already operating from Llangollen Health Centre. 

 

The board statement says: "From Monday 11^th March all outpatient and dressings clinics, phlebotomy (blood sampling) and physiotherapy appointments that were previously based in the Hospital will be held in the Llangollen Health Centre, adjacent to the GP Surgery. The Health Centre is located on Regent Street, part of A5 road to Chirk.

"A Minor Injuries Service will also be available at this location, initially running from 9:00am to 3:30pm, Monday to Thursday, the same hours as apply in the Hospital at present.

 

"The Health Board and the GP surgery are working closely together to ensure that these services continue to be available in the town, in line with the commitments given by the Health Board during the recent consultation, until the new Primary Care Resource Centre is available.

"Director of Primary, Community and Mental Health Services Geoff Lang said: “The relocation of services to the Health Centre will help us to develop our collaboration with our partners in the Llangollen GP Practice, and we intend expanding some of these services over the coming months. 

 

"This is an important step towards the integrated care we want to be able to provide for the town and we are very grateful for the support and help of the Llangollen GPs and Health Board colleagues as we develop health services for the area.”

Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru’s AM for North Wales, said: “The decision to close Llangollen hospital before alternative provision has been put in place – whether a new care centre or enhanced home care – is a scandal.

 

"In the past few days, we’ve seen ambulance backlogs at the Maelor because of a shortage of beds, so where is the sense in prematurely closing Llangollen Hospital?

 

“I am also sceptical of when we will see a new health centre in Llangollen. I very much doubt one will be in place within two years as some of the health board’s cheerleaders have claimed.”

New lease of life for Penllyn Chapel

* Penllyn Chapel in Brook Street.

 

A landmark Llangollen building with a long and varied history is set to take on a new lease of life.
Penllyn, in Brook Street, began in the early Victorian era as a school and later became the base for a number of different churches.

Now, it is take on a new role as a community centre offering a range of activities and services.

Penllyn was built in 1846 as a British School with the aim of providing basic and non-sectarian education for the children of non-conformists in the area and in its heyday had over 200 on its register.

The building was then taken over by the first of a series of church groups in the 1870s, the last of which, one affiliated to Victory Churches International, held its final services there a few months ago.

Penllyn was left to be administered by a small group of trustees who recently agreed to allow its use – free of charge – by Llangollen’s newly-established City Church.

A joint venture between St Collen’s Parish Church and the Greater Manchester-based City Church, this is a Pentecostal-based organisation with strong community-based aims.

Currently housed in St Collen’s Community Hall off Regent Street, City Church is possibly best known for its regular Community Bite sessions offering daily hot lunches free of charge to anyone is need of them from the area.

According to the man in charge, Pastor Brian Smith, the meal sessions will be transferring permanently over to Penllyn sometime within the next few weeks, with the church’s Saturday evening services moving over first on March 16.

He said: “Under the terms of a trust Penllyn has to be used for worship, and the trustees are kindly allowing us to use the building free of charge for as long as we want.

“We provide our Community Bite meal service free to anyone in the area who wants to come along.

“We serve hot meals, prepared by a chef who gives his services free of charge, such as soup and a roll or cheese on toast and all the food we use in donated to us.

“We attract anything from a handful of people to a roomful.

“Moving into Penllyn will allow us to expand further into the community as there is a kitchen in the building and room to store our food, which we do not have at the community centre.

“We will move our Saturday evening services over to Penllyn right away and, within weeks, we will also transfer Community Bite over there too.”

He added: “We want to build bridges with the community and help the community build bridges within itself as people meet new friends in the church.

“At Penllyn quite a bit needs to be done to the building, such as plastering and painting, and we are now looking for donations to help us to do that.

“We are also seeking charitable status for the church which will enable us to apply for grants.

“In the future we plan to also use Penllyn as the base for a local credit union and surgeries giving free advice to those with debt or legal problems.”     

Pastor Smith said City Church, which is part of the Passion for Jesus Ministry, had its base at Kearsley, near Bolton, and three sister churches to the one in Llangollen are located in and around Greater Manchester.

* Trustee Betty Johnson with the old documents.

The Llangollen church, he added, currently has 35-40 people who attend regularly.

In transferring Penllyn to City Church, trustees came across of number of elaborate hand-written legal documents dating back to the 1840s.

A number of these, measuring over 3ft square, meticulously detail the conveyance of the land on which it was built from its original owner to the school it originally was.

Trustees are arranging for these valuable artefacts to be handed over into the safekeeping of Llangollen Museum.

Phone calls warning issued by county council

Denbighshire County Council has issued a warning to businesses in the county to beware of receiving unsolicited telephone calls claiming that the Enhanced Small Business Rates Relief provisions will be ending on 31 March 2013.

The caller claims to be able to save the business money by gaining a reduction in the rates payable after this time for a fixed fee payment.

The council says this is incorrect. 

A spokesman said: "The Welsh Government has recently announced that the Enhanced Small Business Rate Relief provisions have been extended for a further 12 months in their current format. T

"This means that businesses will continue to enjoy the same level of relief in the 2013/14 billing year as they have had in the current year at no additional cost."

Llan Country Market opens for new season

* Llangollen Country Market opened for the new season on Friday – St David’s Day

Llangollen Country Market has opened up for business at the start of what it hopes will be another busy trading season.

Nationally, the country market concept goes back to 1919 when they were run by the Women’s Institute (WI).

That is how they were known until about 20 years ago when they took on a more modern and business-like look.

But whatever name they have gone by, the basic principle of the markets has never changed – selling home-made food and crafts of the highest quality at the keenest prices.

Llangollen Country Market has been trading since 1977, first at the Memorial Hall and later at the Town Hall where it is still based.

It is part of a 300 to 400-strong national country market network and, more locally, is one of a society of five markets also including those at Wrexham, Ruthin, Denbigh and Rhos-on-Sea.

All the country markets are registered as social enterprises and overseen by a local committee – the one in Llangollen has 10 members.

In the “season”, which runs from early March to just before Christmas, the Llangollen operation is open to customers every Friday between 9.45am and 12.45pm, with doors open from 9am for those looking for early bargains.

Market secretary, Gill Thomas, said: “We don’t have stalls as such and everybody is organised into sections selling different things, such as crafts, plants and vegetables, jam and eggs, with several producers in each section.

“Our producers come from within a 10 to 15-mile radius of Llangollen and include people from Wrexham and Corwen.

“The things we sell are all home produced and nothing is bought in.

“All the producers have food handling certificates and everything they sell is prepared to the highest standards. We liaise regularly with environmental health officers from the local council.

“When one of our producers sells something they pay 10 per cent to the market committee who use the money to cover overheads such as renting the Town Hall for the day

“If they don’t sell anything during the day they don’t have to pay the committee anything.”

Gill added: “It’s really hard work because we have to entice our customers by offering them something which is not available elsewhere.

“However, quite a few businesses have started on country markets as it’s a good way of testing your products.

“Here at Llangollen we are doing quite well and last year, for the first time, we had a stall at Llangollen Food Festival.

“It was a bold step for us but we did it to upgrade our profile.”

Looking to the future, however, Gill believes things might get quite a bit tougher for the town’s country market.

She said: “I think we will be hit pretty hard by the new Sainsbury’s supermarket for which there is planning permission in Llangollen

“We made objections to this at every stage in the planning process because our market relies heavily on passing trade and if someone driving through the town sees Sainsbury’s first they will stop there, buy what they want, get back into their car and drive on through town without stopping to look at anything else.”