Llan Railway marks Remembrance weekend

* Driver Malcolm Lees with the Remembrance Special.

A strong remembrance theme is running through the programme at Llangollen Railway this weekend.

Yesterday (Saturday) saw the last weekend service trains of the season running with a commemorative headboard attached to locomotive No.3802 by driver Malcolm Lees.

Visitors were also invited to see how work is proceeding on the new Patriot steam locomotive, The Unknown Warrior.

This is being built in the on-site engineering works in time to celebrate the centenary of the First World War armistice in November, 2018. Visits continue today (Sunday).

Plan to put Llan on the map

Llangollen Chamber of Trade and Tourism believes the production of a new town map is a good idea.

At their meeting at the Hand Hotel on Monday evening, chamber members were told by secretary Ian Parry about an approach he had received from businessman Mike Smart of Wrexham who aims to come up with a map on the same lines as the one produced for the recent Hamper Llangollen food festival.

A single-sheet publication, on one side it would feature a large scale plan of the town centre while on the other it would have a smaller scale map putting Llangollen into the context of the surrounding area.

Mr Parry said it was his information that the new map would be financed through adverts printed around the edges.

He stressed that the chamber was not being requested to help pay for the project but was simply being asked for its opinion on it.

A number of members gave their support to the idea, including Gill Thomas who said: “Websites are all very well but people like to have a piece of paper in their hands.”

Jades has visit from hairdressing VIP

* Beverley C, fourth from right on the front row, with the Jades team.

On the back row is William Wilson.

STAFF at Jades Hair and Beauty in Llangollen welcomed a VIP guest recently.

Celebrity hairdresser Beverly C called into the salon to show the team some creative cutting and colouring.

Formerly known as Beverley Cobella, she became the first woman to be awarded an MBE for her services to hairdressing when she was honoured by the Queen in 2008.

She has twice been voted British Hairdresser of the Year, in 2001 and 2002 - the first female to win the award.

Beverley also won London Hairdresser of the Year in 87/88 and 88/89, was awarded Best British Hairdresser in 1990 in Japan and received the British Masters Award in Australia in 2005.

She spent the afternoon at Jades along with William Wilson, head of technical and creative directions for Goldwell Hair.

New loco spruced up for its weekend visitors

Members of the LMS Patriot group were on hand in the shed at Llangollen Railway this week to give the frames of The Unknown Warrior a coat of black paint ready for when it is shown to visitors this weekend.

The locomotive is being faithfully built from scratch by volunteers from the group to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War Armistice in 2018.

The smokebox now features the door with smoke deflectors attached.

Escorted parties of visitors will be given guided tours of the building project tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday to coincide with the railway's Remembrance weekend.

Council approves plan to breath new life into county

Councillors in Denbighshire have formally approved a blueprint aimed at breathing new life into the county's economy.

At a meeting in Ruthin earlier this week members unanimously agreed that the council should  implement its draft Economic & Community Ambition Strategy, 'Developing Opportunities, Creating Confidence' .

One of its headlines is the need to work together to make Denbighshire a place where businesses existing and new, grow and flourish, towns and communities are vibrant and prosper and all residents enjoy a good quality of life and can participate in the local economy.

The council has based its strategy around six key themes:

• Having the right infrastructure for growth
• Businesses that are supported and connected
• Maximised economic strengths/opportunities
• A high quality skilled workforce
• Vibrant towns and communities
• A well promoted Denbighshire

The council hopes that by taking action to tackle the issues set out in the strategy, results will be seen in reduced unemployment, higher household incomes, more successful and sustainable businesses, less deprivation, more people able to participate in the local economy and a higher profile for Denbighshire.

Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, Leader of Denbighshire and Lead Member for Economic Development, said: "Economic development has been highlighted as one of Denbighshire's top priorities in our corporate plan for the term of this council. There has been both extensive and intensive work carried out over the last 12 months to develop the strategy and I am confident that the emerging priorities are the right ones for Denbighshire.

"We want Denbighshire to be a county with high levels of employment and good levels of income in all of its towns and communities and the council has a significant role to play in enabling growth and opportunities for development.

"As we all know the economy, both nationally and internationally, is in difficulty and the strategy highlights our intentions to play our part locally with clarity and conviction, where I firmly believe we have a significant role of enabling growth and developing opportunities.

"In order to achieve this we recognise the work that is happening at a regional and national level and will embrace this agenda as part of our strategy. While we have worked hard to identify what we think are the right things to focus on, we have also listened to the views of residents, community groups and organisations from the relevant sectors.  

"It has been important to us that there is a buy-in from these individuals and groups, so that we can move forward this important priority for Denbighshire. Now the hard work of delivering on this plan really starts."

Shop window competition announced

Businesses in Llangollen are being encouraged to take part in a window dressing competition to coincide with the town’s annual Christmas Festival.

Judging will take place the week before the festival, which is on Saturday, November 30, and there will be two categories, retail/commercial and charity/not for profit.

Winners will be announced on festival day.

Businesses wanting further information are asked to contact the Town Clerk on 01978 861345.

Llan set to go with the FLO

* White water rafting is one of the sports featured in FLO.

THE UK’s first outdoor multi-sport festival gets under way in Llangollen later this month.

Chester-based registered charity River Legacy, which provides funding, facilities and support for paddle sports in England and Wales, will host the event called FLO – Festival Llangollen Outdoor Sports – in the town from November 15-17.

Centred on Llangollen International Pavilion, the event aims to bring together what River Legacy describes as “the highest concentration of talented, outdoor specialists from across North Wales, providing a range of activities in order to provide a fun and exciting weekend festival”.

The charity says it will feature activities from running to climbing, swimming to boating, zip-wiring to cooking and have “something for everyone”.

According to the FLO website – www.flo-llangollen.com – on the Friday afternoon, from 2-4.30pm, the pavilion and its programme of activities will only be open to local schoolchildren.

On the Saturday, the pavilion will become the hub of the event and will host a range of ‘come and try’ activities, including kayaking, climbing, biking on a pump track, segways, abseiling from the balconies, paintballing, bushcraft skills and mountain yoga.

The nearby River Dee will be the setting for an extreme slalom event, starting at noon.

The Sunday will see a programme of lectures on a range of outdoor themes from 4pm.

These will include Rob Moffat on his kayaking expedition to Borneo and Lawrence Crossman Emms on mountain biking photography.

A charity raft race will see competition starting at 10am, and an hour later will be the start of a fell race.

Visitors to FLO are expected to use local hotels and a campsite run by River Legacy will be open from 4-9pm on Friday for registration.

Entry to the event is £5 for which you can try a wide range of activities.

Organisers say their target is to bring 1,000 people into the town over the weekend and for FLO to become an annual event.