Hairy Bikers roar in to film at railway

* The Hairy Bikers, pictured left in green overalls, film at Llangollen Railway.

The forthcoming third episode of the popular Hairy Bikers series exploring heritage restoration projects is due to feature the duo's visit to Llangollen Railway.

Si King and Dave Myers came to Llangollen in the spring to help with a new locomotive project which aims to rebuild an example of an extinct Great Western express freight engine known as the ‘Night Owl’.

The project is being promoted by the Great Western Society at Didcot Railway Centre, Oxfordshire and the assembly work is being undertaken by Llangollen Railway’s engineering department. 

The project benefits from the fact that Great Western engines had many features in common and, by dismantling three derelict, ex-scrapyard locomotives which are surplus to requirements many of the parts needed for the rebuild have become available for incorporation into new framework.

The dismantling of the engines took place at Llangollen and during their visit the bikers assisted with the acquisition of parts from Great Western No.2861, a former heavy freight locomotive.

However, the major items missing from the list of components were two main driving wheels.

At 5ft 8 inches in diameter these had to be specially cast and the programme will feature the two presenters visiting the foundry where the wheels were specially made for delivery and, later, their assembly at Llangollen.

Project Engineering Manager, Paul Carpenter, said. “The programme will show what tremendous skills and abilities are available within the engineering team at Llangollen Railway. 

"The two presenters fully involved themselves with the work process during their visit which made a big impression on everyone involved. Their down to earth commentary on the tasks undertaken will make the processes comprehensible to viewers, as well as providing some light hearted entertainment.

“The successful completion of this project will produce a Great Western type of express freight locomotive which had otherwise been lost to preservation and it has been given No.4709 as the follow-on number in the Great Western series.”

George Jones, for Llangollen Railway, said: “The Night Owls, as they were nicknamed, were a batch of just nine large locomotives which mainly operated fast freights to London during the night.

"Locally the type is well remembered by rail fans for their appearance through Wrexham in the late
evening on the freight trains from Birkenhead conveying livestock to the markets at Smithfield in London, until that traffic ceased during the early 1960s.

“The trailer for next week’s episode showed the two presenters riding on the footplate of locomotive No.3802 at Llangollen and enjoying a hearty breakfast cooked in the traditional way - on the shovel heated in the engine’s firebox.”

The programme goes out on Sunday, 25 August 2013 at 9.00pm on BBC2.

Further details about the forthcoming episode will be found on the BBC2 website.

New stage group casts its first production

A new local amateur stage group has chosen the cast for its first production.

Llangollen Musical Theatre Group has been formed to complement existing organisations by staging contemporary musical theatre productions at the Llangollen Pavilion.

A Meet and Greet event, held on Tuesday, August 6, was extremely well attended.

Almost 40 people registered their interest in getting involved with the November 2013 production of the jukebox musical Return to the Forbidden Planet.

Auditions for the show, which is set on a spaceship and combines the story of Shakespeare's The Tempest with a soundtrack of 60s and 70s hits, were held the following week.

The show's director, Paul Brown, said: "The auditions highlighted what a wealth of talent there is in Llangollen and the surrounding area.

“Myself and our musical director, Nigel James, faced some agonising decisions. We're delighted with the cast we've assembled for what looks set to be a fantastic production.

"This is a truly rock and roll show, so it seems fitting that several of our cast are singers and musicians in bands that gig locally.

“Captain Tempest will be played by Geth Foulkes, who has performed at the Eisteddfod with his band The Sublimes.

“Bill Hughes, of rock covers band Rain, has previously starred in shows for Llangollen Operatic Society and Tip Top Productions and will be playing Doctor Prospero.

“Jo Potts will be a familiar face to Llangollen audiences, having starred in the Pantomime Group's productions for the past few years as well as playing bass with popular band The Truth. She'll be playing Doctor Prospero's daughter Miranda.

"We're also delighted to have some young up and coming talent on the stage. Lucas Howson has just sat his GCSE exams at Ysgol Rhiwabon, where he starred as Seymour in the school's production of Little Shop Of Horrors. He's studying theatre at Yale College from September, and I know he's going to be fantastic in the role of Bosun.

"Stuart Dillon, known to many as a member of local band The Docktors, will actually be reprising a role he last played 12 years ago. Stuart wowed audiences with his performance as Cookie when Ysgol Dinas Bran staged this show, and he can't wait to don his chef's whites once again! You can expect an incredible guitar solo during the song She's Not There."

The other members of the cast are Justine Bradey (Science Officer), NIco Decourt (Ariel the Robot), Tracey Rawlinson (Navigation Officer) and Jillian Handley and Leonie Anne Kirby (Damage Control Crew).

Return to the Forbidden Planet will be staged at the Llangollen Pavilion on Thursday 28th - Saturday 30th November.

Llangollen Musical Theatre Group will be staging a number of fundraising events throughout September and October, with the first being a walking treasure hunt around Llangollen.

+ More information is available on the group's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/llangollenmusicaltheatregroup, or by emailing llangollenmusicaltheatregroup@gmail.com.

Llangollen visited by locomotive film star

 

* The replica of the locomotive Planet is

visiting Llangollen Railway for a filming session. 

 

Llangollen railway has been turning back the clock to the early days of steam.

 

The  locomotive Planet and two vintage passenger coaches has arrived at Llangollen for a filming session.

 

The replica Planet normally resides at the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry.

 

It is a modern version of a locomotive design used on the original Liverpool & Manchester Railway, opened 1830, and was built in 1992. 

 

Quite apart from other details of its small design and appearance the tall chimney gives it away as a very early steam locomotive.

 

The engine, tender and two vintage coaches are at Llangollen for a brief filming session on the railway which will be used in a feature about the English artist Turner.

 

George Jones, press officer at Llangollen Railway, said: "It is wonderful to be able to host a visit by Planet which is a remarkable recreation of an early locomotive.

 

"It follows earlier appearances, in 2002, of the other L&MR replicas - Rocket, San Pareil and Novelty - which came to take part in a recreation of the Rainhill Trials of 1829 based around the station area at Carrog."

 

 

See picture below of loco as delivered to Llangollen Railway yard.

Couple to le-launch historic biscuit at Llan festival

* James and Natasha Shepherd have revived the Aberffraw Biscuit.

A sweet-toothed couple have revived the oldest biscuit in Britain that dates back to the 13th century.

James Shepherd and his wife, Natasha, have set up a company to make the historic Aberffraw Biscuit which was first baked in the Anglesey village of the same name 800 years ago.

The tasty scallop-shaped biscuit will be launched at the new products section of Hamper Llangollen, the 16^th Llangollen food and drink festival on October 19-20, which is now officially one of the UK’s top 10 food festivals.

The couple have taken the basic ancient shortbread recipe and use only premium Welsh ingredients to produce a very moreish biscuit in a variety of flavours.

James, originally from Llandudno, and Natasha, a Welsh-speaker from Trefriw, met at Leicester University, married 10 years ago and have two children Rowan, seven, and Jasmine, five, both pupils at Ysgol Bro Aled in Llansannan.

While Natasha continues to work part-time for a governmental agency, James – whose background is in journalism – is developing Aberffraw Biscuit Company and is co-founder of Yoller, a web design and digital marketing agency.

“We were watching the Great British Bake Off last October and they had a feature about the Aberffraw biscuit.

“We started chatting about it and realised that despite the fact we were both from North Wales and lived here all our lives, we had never even heard of it, never mind the fact it was supposed to be Britain’s oldest biscuit,” said James.

“The first thing I did was to buy the domain names for the website and then did some research to build an informational website and start developing a business plan.”

An enthusiastic home cook and amateur baker, James makes the biscuits and even designs the packaging.

Along the way he has received plenty of expert help. “I was introduced to the founder of Patchwork Pate, Margaret Carter from Ruthin, who does brilliant work mentoring young entrepreneurs.

“Then I was introduced to Roberet Price at the rural development agency Cadwyn Clwyd and he put me in touch Coleg Menai’s food technology centre at Llangefni and now I’m looking at rural business support grants.”

“From the start we wanted everything to be as authentic as possible, from the unique stamp for the scallop shape of the biscuit to the ingredients which include Calon Wen organic butter and Bacheldre Mill stoneground organic unbleached flour.

“The biscuit has a great marketing story. When you think about it all the gift shops and tourist shops in North Wales all seem to sell Scottish shortbread and I would just like to get them out and the Aberffraw in.

The Aberffraw biscuit (or sometimes Aberffraw cake) and is said to originate from 13th Century Anglesey.

Legend has it that a Welsh king was holding court in Aberffraw and his wife was walking on the beach there and, spotting a pretty scallop shell, asked for a cake to be baked in the same form.

A far more realistic source for the biscuit was the famous pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

This pilgrimage to the church of St James in Galicia, north western Spain, began in about the 8^th Century with pilgrims wearing badges on their hat in the shape of a scallop shell.

It’s for this reason Aberffraw biscuits are sometimes also called James cakes. Under the patronage of King Gruffudd ap Cynan (1075-1137) or his son and successor Owain Gwynedd (1137-70), a stone church was built at Aberffraw with Romanesque features similar to 12^th Century churches on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

This building is the final link to the scallop shell of St James pilgrims and the small Welsh village of Aberffraw.

The Aberffraw biscuit also appeared in the famous Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery in 1892.

“Aberffraw Biscuit Co is all about resurrecting a piece of great history… the oldest biscuit recipe in Britain. We want to rekindle this gem of Welsh heritage and bring it to wider attention for people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities to enjoy,” said James.

The flavours produced are chocolate, lemon, orange, traditional and vanilla.

James worked for the Rhyl and Prestatyn Visitor, North Wales Weekly News, and the Flintshire Chronicle where he was news editor and finally at the group’s Chester headquarters as its digital editor.

He left journalism in 2011 to work for kitchenware group Meyer at Bromborough where he headed up their e.commerce division. He is still retained by the group in that capacity on a freelance contract.

Cadwyn Clwyd’s contribution to Hamper Llangollen comes 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 Price said: “One of the main aims of the festival is to provide a show window for our wonderful array of food producers.

“This year we have decided to have a special section devoted to new products like the Aberffraw Biscuit so that we can showcase what they have to offer.

“We were thrilled to be named as one of the top 10 festivals in the UK and this year’s event is looking as if it is going to be one of the best ever.

“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.”

Check out Aberffraw biscuits at www.aberffrawbiscuits.com and Hamper Llangollen at www.llangollenfoodfestival.com

Meeting will discuss town's new health centre plans

Health board officials have explained the reason behind a meeting of an organisation called the Stakeholder Reference Group at Llangollen Pavilion next month.

Llanblogger has had sight of an invitation to the meeting on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 11.

However, it wasn’t clear from the invitation who exactly belongs to the group, what the exact purpose of the meeting is and who is entitled to attend.

We sought and explanation from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which issued the invitation, and a spokesperson said: “The Stakeholder Reference Group is a group of local stakeholders for the South Denbighshire and South Wrexham localities who have met a number of times over the past two years in workshop style meetings to consider and review the proposals for changes to healthcare services in the Llangollen area. 

“The invited group has included local elected members, representatives from Denbighshire and Wrexham Social Services, the Llangollen Hospital Association of Friends, the Llangollen GP practice, the CHC, the DVSC and AVOW, acting on behalf of the third sector, and the leads within the health boards for primary care services amongst others. 

“One of the proposals was the development of a Primary Care Resource Centre – or more simply a Health Centre - within Llangollen.

“It is intended that the Stakeholder Reference Group event on the 11^th of September at The Pavilion will provide an opportunity for the current plans for the Health Centre to be presented back to the group and for an update from the Health Board to be given on some of the issues raised at a public presentation of the plans which was held on the 11^th June in the Town Hall.”

The spokesperson is still checking whether llanblogger will be able to be there to cover the meeting.

Dinas Bran celebrate fantastic set of A level results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen is celebrating another fantastic set of A level results.

And successful students are now plotting their courses to universities all over the country where they have been offered places. 

They will be studying a range of subjects from - Medicine to Law, Languages to Speech and Drama, International Politics to Vetinary Science. 

All students did well but there have been some exceptional performances, notably: Bethan Chandler 2A*s, 2As and a B – Durham; Elysha Cookson, "As, B – Warwick; Charlotte Evans A* and 3As, Oxford; Layla Morris, 2As, B, Liverpool; Alice Newport, 3As and a B, Liverpool; Adam Saunders, “As, B Cardiff; Beth Savage, 4As, Warwick; Larissa Davies, 2As, B, Manchester; Matthew Tipuric, 2As, B, C, Sheffield; Louise Cielecki, London Central School of Speech and Drama; Connor Jones, Cardiff, Amy Carter, Manchester and many more.

Headteacher, Alison Duffy, congratulated all students on their successes.

She said: “They have been a fantastic group of students who have given so much to the school, working with younger students and getting involved in charity events, our amazing choir and so on. 

"They really brought a new dimension to the school and we will miss them all.  All of our students now have the opportunity to build on the excellent foundation they have had here, as they move to a new stage in their lives.  We wish them well for the future.  Congratulations to you all.
  
"Our school welcomes students from Ysgol Dinas Brân as well as other areas to our Sixth Form where they quickly settle in and have done brilliantly. 

"The signing up date for Sixth Form for September 2012 is on Friday, August 2, between 10.00am and 12.00pm.  We look forward to seeing you then."  

* Early indications show that A Level results have improved overall at Denbighshire’s secondary schools in 2013.

The county council says that more students achieved A*- C grades at A Level improving to 77.7% this year; this is 1% higher than last year.
Significantly more students in Denbighshire were entered for post-16 qualifications in 2013 than in previous years.

There has been an improvement in pupils achieving the top A and A* grades, up to 22.1% which is nearly 2% higher than the 2012 figure,  however this is below the Wales average of 22.9%.  The county's school results are:
 
Grades         A*- C                 A*-E                 A& A*
2013                 77.7%                98.2%                 22.1%
2012                 76.7%                98.9%                 20.4%
2011                 73.0%                97.7%                 22.5%

170 candidates were awarded the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification's Advanced Diploma. This is an average of 94.5% - well above the Welsh average of 82.7%.

Councillor Eryl Williams, Cabinet Lead Member for Education, said: “Education remains a top priority in Denbighshire and I am extremely pleased to see our A level results continuing to rise.  “I would like to congratulate the students who have achieved the results they need and I wish them every success in their future education and careers.”

* Commenting on today’s A Level results in Wales, Aled Roberts, Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for North Wales and the party’s Spokesperson on Education said:

 

“Today’s results are the culmination of years of hard work by Welsh pupils and teachers.

 

“I am, however, concerned that the percentage of Welsh pupils who attained the highest grades has fallen for the fourth year in a row and is lower than rates in England and Northern Ireland. This is something I will be pursuing with the Education Minister when the Assembly reconvenes next month.

 

“I wish every student well in obtaining a place at either their chosen university or an alternative via the clearing system.

 

“Many will also be going on to study apprenticeships and I wish them well in their future endeavours.

 

“This is an important day in the lives of prospective Welsh graduates, employees and even future employers, and I have every confidence that the work they have put in so far will lead them on to exciting and interesting times ahead.

 

“I also want to offer encouragement to those who didn’t do as well as they had hoped.  They must remember that there are still a great number of options available to them and I urge any people who are unsure about their next move to speak to an available careers adviser who will be able to assist them and give them advice about their future plans.

 

“I am pleased that so many young people were successful in achieving the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma.

 

“With an overall A Level pass rate of 97.6%,  the same as last year’s, this is a day of celebration for students in Wales.”

County council set to launch new website

Denbighshire County Council has announced that it is launching a new website www.sirddinbych.gov.uk | www.denbighshire.gov.uk soon.

A council spokesperson said: "As part of our priority of  modernising the council to deliver efficiencies and improve services for our customers, the new website will make it much easier for our customers to access and use our services.

"We’ve introduced a wide range of new improvements including new online content that’s clear, concise and easy to understand, new and improved services for our residents, businesses and visitors, better website navigation for quicker access to services, and a fresh and modern design.

"Our website will be temporarily unavailable on Tuesday, August 20 whilst we make these improvements.

"We understand the inconvenience that this may cause and we would like to apologise to customers in advance for this temporary disruption to service."