AM praises search and rescue team members

North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has praised North East Wales Search and  Rescue Team (NEWSAR) for their “incredible commitment’ during the recent heavy snow fall in North Wales.

 

Over the weekend, NEWSAR was called to a remote farm on the Horseshoe Pass above Llangollen to rescue an elderly couple who has collapsed from carbon monoxide poisoning after by fumes from their emergency generator came into the house.   

 

Mr Isherwood, who met NEWSAR’s Deputy Team Leader, Chris Griffiths, at their base on the Kingswood Outdoor Education Centre at Loggerheads, near Mold, on Tuesday,  said the way in which the volunteer team has dealt with the increased number of call outs due to the heavy snow fall is extremely commendable.

 

He said: "North East Wales Search and Rescue are owed a particular debt of gratitude for their incredible commitment and for the long hours they have worked during this period of heavy snow fall. Although they normally receive about 60-70 requests for their services each year, they have received some 20 calls over the last weekend alone. This is all the more incredible given that they are all volunteers and that almost all their funding comes from their own fundraising efforts.”

 

NEWSAR covers an area of 1,126 square miles (2,918 square kilometres) comprising the counties of Flintshire, Denbighshire, Wrexham and parts of Conwy , Powys, Wirral and Cheshire . The team also responds to calls from West Mercia Police in Shropshire and Cheshire Police in Cheshire.

Mountain rescue teams are on standby 24/7, 365 days a year, whatever the conditions, with fast response times helping those in difficult to access areas.

 

Mr Isherwood added: “The teams in North Wales, North East Wales Search and Rescue and Ogwen Mountain Rescue,  have been pushing the boundaries of mountain rescue for a long time, supporting the Emergency Service response at incidents such as the recent heavy snow falls, the St Asaph floods and the search for April Jones in Machynlleth. However, teams across Wales share just £13,000 Welsh Government funding, which is only £1,000 per team, which contrasts with the £312,000  Scottish Government funding for the teams there, equivalent to £11,500 each.”     

 

Horseshoe Pass rescue drama

The Leader is reporting today how rescue workers battled for hours to reach an elderly couple who had been poisoned by carbon monoxide at their remote farm on the Horseshoe Pass.

See the full story at http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/121172/couple-poisoned-in-farm-snow-drift.aspx  

Railway battles to be open in time for Friday

 

 

* The scene at Llangollen station on Tuesday as work got underway to clear the station driveway of snow.

Heavy snow fall in the Dee Valley has presented the Llangollen Railway with a major challenge to be back in operation by Good Friday.

 

The snowfall last Friday and Saturday caused train services to be suspended over the weekend and no trains have been able to run so far this week when daily train services were scheduled for the school holiday period.

 

With platforms and the railway track piled high with snow in places the need to begin clearance work is being tackled by full time railway staff and volunteers starting at Llangollen station.

 

George Jones, for Llangollen Railway, said: "With no thaw in sight the need is for spade work to clear the public access to stations and platforms, as well as to clear the points and lineside mechanical equipment to allow trains to operate.

 

"The depth of the snow in places has not been seen for many years and it will require a tremendous effort to reopen the line in time for Easter.

 

"If we do succeed in running steam trains along the line to Carrog it is likely visitors to the Railway will have a momentous trip into a winter wonderland where near alpine conditions exist in this part of North Wales."

Marvellous readers' pictures

Another reader, Susan Stokes, has just posted this fabulous picture on our Facebook page, and it's so good we're including it on our main blogsite.

Reader Kathy Davies has sent a selection of pictures showing Llangollen in the big freeze.

But one of them isn't a scene from the latest artic spell and dates back all the way to 1982.

Snapped on January 28 of that year, it shows Castle Street under a layer of snow which doesn't look far off the depth it reached last weekend.

We thank Kathy very much for sending them in.

If you have any pictures to share with readers please send them in to llanblogger@gmail.com

* Castle Street under snow in January 1982.

* An icy River Dee.

* Fallen trees blocking Pen-y-Maes.

* Cars buried in the Hermitage.

* Grapes Hill on Saturday.
 

Latest weather updates

* Council staff clear the snow from Castle Street on Tuesday afternoon.

 

 

Latest update from the county council:

Highways teams, contractors and individuals have been working round the clock but are now reporting significant progress in clearing the large number of roads which have been impassable since the heavy snowfall last week.
At it's peak, huge swathes of county were covered in several feet of snow and clearance efforts were particularly hampered by extreme and treacherous weather conditions. A strong breeze saw roads becoming blocked again by drifting snow no sooner than they were cleared. Efforts on some major roads, like the A5, were further hampered by a number of fallen trees and abandoned cars.

Cabinet Lead Member for Environment, Councillor David Smith, said: "This was an exceptional weather event and our highways staff were telling us they'd never seen conditions like this.
"Our priority was to clear the major roads and gritting routes first of all, which is now more or less complete.

"In the meantime, we have also been mapping the large amount of minor roads and country lanes, some of which are blocked hedge to hedge with snow, and we are now increasingly able to turn our attention to these and good progress is being made on clearing these today."
Staff have also been deployed to clear the town centres in Llangollen and Corwen in time for the Easter weekend and we are making good progress."

Earlier ...


* Bache Mill Road, Llangollen is closed.

A tree has fallen and is putting strain on considerable sized branches that may also come away and create a serious safety hazard.

* The heavy lifters have been in town this afternoon.

Teams of county council workers were using bulldozers and other heavy vehicles to shift piles of compacted snow from roads in the towns centre, including Castle Street, Market Street and Regent Street.

* A meeting due to be held tonight by the campaign group Keep Llangollen Health Services to discuss tactics in the wake of the closure of the cottage hospital has been cancelled due to the weather.

 

The meeting was to have taken place at the Hand Hotel at 7pm.

 

But organiser Mabon Ap Gwynfor said: "Unfortunately, due to the unseasonal snow we have cancelled tonight's meeting at the Hand Hotel.

 

"We'll reorganise it and contact you with the information as soon as possible."

Keep an eye on your neighbours

As most areas of North Wales returns to a form of normality following the inclement weather, people are reminded to keep an eye on vulnerable members of the community.

 

The majority of roads are now passable, but some of the estates in Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire remain impassable as do the roads to the remote rural properties.

 

“All the agencies have worked together to address the issues, but we have to prioritise, and we are asking people to consider their neighbours,” said Chief Inspector Dave Roome.

 

Alistair Read of the North Wales Mountain Rescue Association explained: “There are some isolated pockets and we are advising people to plan ahead given the forecast. People should conserve food and look at energy supplies, we would ask people to make an assessment of their vulnerability and preparedness due to the uncertainty of the weather.”

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As the snow falls again this morning (Tuesday) Llangollen gets a number of mentions in this weather update story from the BBC North East Wales website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21930029

KLS urges wide consultation on new tourism plan

Community group Keep Llangollen Special (KLS) has written to the company preparing a sustainable tourism strategy for the area stressing that a range of interested parties must be consulted as it is being drawn up.

In a letter to the consultants working on the project, KLS chair Mike Edwards (pictured below) says: “We trust you will be consulting fully when formulating your strategy and talking to residents, retailers, producers, hoteliers and outdoor activity providers etc.

“We are a constructive, properly constituted community organisation and our principal aim is to protect and promote the identity, image and brand of Llangollen.

"We have been holding monthly Buy Local days on the second Friday of every month since the middle of last year. “The aim of these is to support and promote independent local businesses (retailers and suppliers) to keep money circulating in the local economy rather than being it being exported to corporate HQs elsewhere.
 
“We are working with Cittaslow Llangollen and the Town Council to support Field2Fork encouraging residents to buy local fresh produce sufficient for their immediate needs and not buy and waste excess food as they are persuaded  into doing by supermarkets.

“We also want to promote local food producers and farmers whose meat products have trusted provenance and help particular local butchers, greengrocers, delicatessens and cafes who will shortly face severe competition from an out-of-town supermarket who propose to export £18.4m pa out of the Llangollen economy.
 
“We are actively investigating a number of key schemes to promote these aims.

“If your consultations are open and truly involve local residents, we would be happy to share our ideas and plans with you.

“One of the problems we have identified is that there are numerous organisations in Llangollen some of which have their own agenda and there is a need to pull these fragmented interest together because at the end of the day surely everyone is interested in protecting and enhancing everything which is special about Llangollen and the Dee Valley.”