County council proceedings may be webcast

Council meetings in Denbighshire could be broadcast over the web in future, after councillors gave the thumbs up to the idea of using more modern technology to engage people in local democracy.

Discussions have taken place after a former Minister for Communications and Local Government wrote to all authorities earlier this year, indicating that the Welsh Government was making £1.2 million in grants available to councils to assist with implementing the webcasting of council meetings.

Webcasting involves the live streaming of sound and vision of council meetings. The webcast can be made available on the Council's website as archived material.  This means that members of the public who are not able to attend meetings may either view them live online of  at a later date.

Officers from the Council have already held discussions with the Welsh Government and Welsh Local Government Association and a demonstration has been given to councillors.

Councillor Barbara Smith, Cabinet Lead Member for Modernisation, said: "This is a good way for the Council to communicate with residents and the public via social media. We want to be a  modern Council in our approach to using technology to do business and this is a great way of allowing people to access council meetings without having to leave their home or office.

"There is also the flexibility of listening and watching coverage of council meetings at times which suit the individual and Members were keen to support such an innovative project."

Action from day three of the Eisteddfod ...

There was plenty of action both on the field and in the performance area on day three of the Eisteddfod.

 

Another llanblogger guest photographer, Barrie Potter, was on hand to capture some of the action for us.

 

 

 

 

Aqueduct gets all lit up for big family event

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct will be all lit up this Friday during a programme of family entertainment centre on the World Heritage sire. 

The event, entitled Underneath the Arches - Pont Ffest 2013, will run from 7-11pm.

Gates will be open at 6pm on the Acrefair Football Club Pitch below.

  

Underneath the Arches is a family-friendly, 'picnic in the park' type event which will provide a rare opportunity to view the full majesty of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at close quarters. 

You will need to bring something to sit on and then all you have to do is relax, listen to music from a selection of local bands and enjoy the view. 

You can bring your own picnic with you, or purchase something from the on-site caterers, but barbecues aren't allowed on the site.

During the evening, as darkness approaches, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is bathed in coloured light. 

Later, there will be a fireworks display.

Top of the bill is Wrexham Band 'The Big Beat' - billed as one of the most exciting young cover bands in the UK at this moment. 

They will be on stage from around 9.15pm until 10.45pm. 

Local-born vocalist, Annie Hughes will sing a range of Musical showtunes from 7.45pm - 8.00pm. 

Annie has performed several times on London's West End and was a runner-up in the prestigious 'Search For A Twitter Star' show at London's Lyric Theatre in 2012. 

                            

		* The Big Beat, pictured right, are on the bill for the evening.

Calon FM, will compère the event.

There will also be children's fairground rides and other attractions on the night.

Free parking for the event will be at the Trevor Basin car park at the bottom of Station Road.

The walk from the car park takes 5 - 10 minutes, with a fair slope down to the Bont Bridge over the river and then up to the event field. 

A minibus will operate from outside the Telford Inn at the start of the evening and from the event field at the end of the evening.  There will be a charge of 50p per person each way.

Advance Tickets:  Adults: £4 / 5-16s and 60 +: £2 / Family: (2 + 4) £10.

To book online go to:

http://www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk/en-gb/events/2013/july/underneath-the-arches-(pont-ffest)/

Tickets can also be purchased from:

• The Tourist Information Centre, Queens Square, Wrexham. Tel: 01978 292015; The Tourist Information Centre, Mile End, Oswestry. Tel: 01691 662488; Cefn Mawr Post Office, Crane Street, LL14 3LN. Tel: 01978 823090

All advance rickets will be exchanged on the night for wristbands.

Tickets on the night: Adults: £5 / 5 - 16s and 60+: £2.50 / Family (2 + 4): £12

These can be purchased on the event field from 6pm onwards.

More parade pictures for you to enjoy

 

Gareth Ceidiog Hughes, our guest photographer, has provided some more fabulous pictures of yesterday's Eisteddfod parade, which we are delighted to share with you.

 

First Minister challenged over health shake-up

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood AM has accused the Welsh Government of “being in the dark” over failures at Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board.

 

The First Minister of Wales indicated that he knew nothing of governance failures at the health board until a recent report was published.

 

Leanne Wood said it was concerning that the First Minister had no awareness of these difficulties yet was pushing ahead with radical re-configuration plans.

 

These include closing four community hospitals, including the one in Llangollen, and moving neonatal intensive care across the border to Arrowe Park.

 

She also warned that in the Francis Report in England, the Department of Health accepted that it bears some responsibility for the failure of the healthcare system to detect and prevent healthcare deficiencies.

 

Ms Wood said:  “In recent weeks, three of  Betsi Cadwaladr’s senior people have left and now we see their failure to deal with deadly superbug infections in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and concerns over mental health policies at Ysbyty Bangor.

 

“Today, consultants told a National Assembly committee that they had no faith in the governance structure and that it is not fit for purpose.

 

“Yet despite these clearly deep-seated problems of governance and policy the First Minister has apparently only just heard of them. Where has he been?

 

“Health is completely devolved and the Welsh Government is responsible for it.

 

“In England, the Francis Report found that the Department of Health accepted some responsibility for the failure of the healthcare system to detect and prevent healthcare deficiencies, such as those at Mid-Staffordshire.

 

“Using those same principles, the Welsh Government must take responsibility for what has happened at Betsi Cadwaladr.

 

“While these failures have been taking place, reconfiguration plans for NHS services in the north have been pushed forward, including attempts to move neonatal intensive care over the border to England.  

 

“There is talk of new plans to change health facilities in the north of Wales, which could include sending more patients across the border to a service that the First Minister himself criticises.

 

“Given the Welsh Government’s lack of awareness of the problems at Betsi Cadwaladr, they should look again at the reconfiguration proposals. Any reorganisation to the NHS in the North has to put these problems right.”

Thousands turn out in the sun for eisteddfod parade

Parade pictures by Gareth Ceidiog Hughes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THOUSANDS lined the sun-drenched streets of the famous Denbighshire tourist town to watch Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod’s traditional opening parade pass by yesterday afternoon.

Temperatures soared well into the eighties as competitors from across the globe marched through the heart of Llangollen to the accompaniment of rousing cheers and applause from one of the largest crowds to watch the event in years.

A rainbow array of banners and national flags fluttered above them as singers and dancers from a host of nations walked in procession from the Eisteddfod field, down Abbey Road, across the historic centuries-old bridge and on into the town centre where the main roads had been closed off specially for the occasion.

Heading the parade, which took around 20 minutes to go by any one point, was the Welsh dragon flag and Llangollen’s bearded town crier, known as Chem, ringing a bell to let everyone know the main event was beginning.

Pace for the big parade was set by some stirring tunes from Llangollen Silver Band.

Behind them came a colourful cavalcade of competitors beneath their national flags including those of countries as far away as the United States, New Zealand and China.

The riot of colour continued when contingents of performers from Indonesia, South Africa and Canada passed by.

Interspersed with the overseas competitors in the parade line-up were a number of Welsh and English choirs and youngsters from local schools who had earlier enjoyed visiting the festival on the opening children’s day. 

TV cameras whirred and cameras clicked to record the unforgettable scenes as the world went by in the sizzling heat.

As usual, there was special applause for Llangollen stalwarts, the Heritage Dancers of India, in their vivid national costumes.

The crowd also reserved an especially warm welcome for Eisteddfod President Terry Waite who waved to them and smiled broadly as he drove past in his usual classic car, which this year was a red open-topped Triumph Herald from the 1960s.

And keeping up a pulsating beat as they brought up the tail of the parade were Llangollen favourites, the Karamba drum band.   

llanblogger celebrates its first successful year

* The couple who had their wedding reception aboard a steam train - still our most popular story.

* Above: snowbound A5 in March.

* Below (1): A dramatic rescue from the River Dee.

* Below (2) Part of the parade at last year's Christmas Festival. 

 

Today llanblogger celebrates its first birthday.

Since we launched on July 9 last year we’ve brought you over 1,000 stories which, we are delighted to say, have attracted close on 90,000 page views from our readers.

It’s been a momentous 12 months when our town has been at the centre of a number of big, long-running stories.

These have included the controversies over the axing of our Cottage Hospital and plans to replace it with a £5.5 million new health centre, and the construction of a Sainsbury’s supermarket on the site of the current Dobson & Crowther factory on the A5.

There has also been on the on-going argument over the future of the former River Lodge in Mill Street and the recriminations over how its fate has been handled by the Welsh Government.

Our blog started in a small way by reporting on how a fallen tree had blocked the canal one Monday last July. It attracted just a handful of page views.

But as word of the new blog spread, thanks to our presence on Facebook and Twitter, later stories we covered sent the viewing figures soaring.

For instance, when freak heavy snowfalls hit the town in March this year, we were bringing you almost hourly updates on how the white deluge was affecting Llan and its surrounding areas.

That led to the number of our page views hitting the 600-700 a day mark.

Our most popular story to date, however, remains the lovely tale of how a couple held their wedding reception aboard a steam train from Llangollen Station. Because the bride and groom had strong American connections, llanblogger went international by attracting many page views from across the other side of the Atlantic.

In fact, stories about our heritage railway are always popular with our readers and regularly lead to a high number of page views.   

The railway is just one of the local attractions we feature. As often as possible we highlight events at the Pavilion, Plas Newydd and in the Town Hall.

And entertainment isn’t the only reason llanblogger makes regular mention of the Town Hall because we go there every month to bring you comprehensive reports on the meetings of our Town Council. We are also represented on the group which is currently bidding for Cittaslow status for the town.

Politics features strongly in our range of coverage. Apart from the deliberations of the town and county councils, we also bring you stories about our local Assembly Members and Members of Parliament.

A range of local clubs and organisations and their activities also find regular space on our blog – from the group which nurtures our excellent community garden to the brilliant Silver Band, the moving funeral of whose stalwart member Albert Hammonds we reported on last summer.

Another area we take very seriously is providing our readers with information about things such as local roadworks and warnings on crime and safety matters from the police, fire and health services.

Quite a few local organisations now get in touch with us on a regular basis so that we can feature their events and activities on the blog but we’d love to hear from more of you.

All you have to do to get your information on the blog – completely free of charge – is email us at the usual address, llanblogger@gmail.com

As we celebrate our first successful year, we hope that you’ve enjoyed reading llanblogger as much we’ve enjoyed creating it, and please keep logging on!