Llangollen Railway fronts tourism brochure

* The new brochure featuring Carrog Station.

The front cover of the 2014 tourism brochure for North East Wales features a dramatic view of the Dee Valley as seen from Carrog station with a steam train departing.

The view encompasses the splendid scenery of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the valley of the River Dee with the availability of the heritage railway to provide easy enjoyment of it from the comfort of a traditional train journey.

In addition to this prime illustration, there is a whole page promotion given to the Llangollen Railway acknowledging its position as a major tourist attraction in the region which includes Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham.

As the only operating standard gauge heritage railway in the whole of North Wales, the Llangollen Railway provides a range of travel opportunities and activities for visitors to the region to explore the delights of the Dee Valley.

These will soon be enhanced when the railway's extension to Corwen opens later in the summer of 2014.

George Jones, for Llangollen Railway, said: "We are delighted that the front cover of the new brochure features the railway at Carrog within its setting of the dramatic Welsh scenery. The scenic view from the train as it runs between Llangollen and Carrog continually attracts praise from visitors who experience the journey and acknowledge the claim that the Llangollen Railway is among the best in Britain for its setting."

With a print run of 60,000 it will be distributed widely to key markets in the Midlands and North West – underlying the accessibility of the area to visitors. The brochure will also be distributed via advertising campaigns, promotion at exhibitions and by direct mail as well as via media and public relations visits.

Councillor Huw Jones, Lead Member for promoting Denbighshire, said: "This is a fantastic marketing tool, to encourage more visitors to the area; with so much to see and do is such a small area, it shows that Denbighshire is an ideal location for the family market as well as for the more specialist walkers and heritage enthusiasts.”

This brochure is available from all UK Tourist Information Centres and also the Exhibition Coach at Llangollen Station.

It can also be downloaded from www.northeastwales.co.uk or contact Denbighshire’s Tourism, Marketing and Communications Department on 01824 706072 for a copy.

Llan women involved in Dylan performance project

Two Llangollen women are taking part in an event which is part of the Dylan Thomas 100^th birthday celebrations and will be streamed live on the internet next week.

Lleisiau is a Wales-wide sonic/performance arts project, which celebrates the way the population of Wales uses its voice in a variety of unsung ways.

 

Performances will happen in Cardiff from May 8-10 and start at 7.30pm.

 

From the newspaper seller, to the town crier, a shepherd, a rag and bone man, a singer of alawon gwerin, a rapper, an auctioneer, performers have been recruited from across Wales by open audition, chosen for their distinctive use of voice in their daily lives, in Welsh, English or other languages spoken in Wales.

 

The result is an informal and experimental evening of live and pre-recorded entertainment.

 

Among those taking part are Rachel Morris and Francesca Simmons, a creative violinist, from Llangollen.

 

Rachel said: “It’s being live-streamed on the internet. I'll be reading a piece I wrote about the role of voice in personal identity and 'fitting in', and Francesca will be playing a saw, I believe!”

 

* See more at: http://www.chapter.org/lleisiau#sthash.WYwFLRKp.dpuf

Shȃn takes scary role in Sweeney Todd

Popular Welsh singer Shȃn Cothi is about to step in the shoes of Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson.

 

The former West End star (pictured below) will transform herself into the rough Cockney schemer, Mrs Nellie Lovett,  in Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street which will be the curtain-raiser for the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod on Monday, July 7.

She be performing alongside old friends, opera superstar Bryn Terfel and the top tenor Wynne Evans aka Gio Compario in the Go Compare TV ads, in what promises to be a sensational opening night.

 

It will be a homecoming for one of Britain's top singing actors, Eric Roberts, who hails originally from Llangollen and will be playing the part of Judge Turpin.

 

Meanwhile, Alun Rhys Jenkins, one of the Three Welsh Tenors, will be taking the role of Beadle Banford while, mezzo soprano Leah Marian Jones, the former company principal at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, will be performing as the Beggar Woman.

 

They will be joined on stage by schoolboy Dewi Wykes, 14, from Ruthin, who was hand-picked by Bryn to play Tobias Ragg.

 

Dewi was alerted to the auditions for the role by his grandparents, Llinos and Tyrone Powell-Jones, who live in Wrexham, who had read about them in the Leader.

 

Earlier this year Bryn earned rave reviews when he played the Demon Barber in Broadway production co-starring Emma Thompson.

 

Shan is delighted to be part of the iconic international festival, forged in the aftermath of the Second World War with the aim of promoting world peace and harmony.

During the first full week in July every year since, Llangollen is becomes a cultural melting pot where Wales meets the world.

Singers and dancers, often resplendent in colourful national costumes, travel from the four corners of the earth to be part of the unique event.

For the time being though, Shȃn is concentrating on learning the role of the formidable Nellie Lovett.

 

“It’s scary to be honest”, she said, having just finished her morning Bore Cothi - Morning Cothi - show on BBC Radio Cymru, “It really is a huge role and I’m fully aware the audience will be full of real fans of the genre, people who know Stephen Sondheim’s work inside out.

 

“And while I have watched every production I can to get a feel for the role, I want to put my own stamp on the part.

 

“I do have a lot to live up to however, as there have been some amazing performers who have played the role. People like Angela Landsbury, who was the original Mrs Lovett, and Emma Thompson who won critical acclaim in the role opposite Bryn in New York just last month.

 

“Performers of that quality are the benchmark really and I’m going to have to work hard to get this important role just right.”

 

“I’ve taken on something really big and a bit out of my comfort zone.

 

“I’m spending three hours a day learning the part and thinking about how I want to present this mature, scheming, rough old Cockney bird to the audience. It’s going to be some transformation to be honest.”

 

But Shân says she accepted the role the second she was asked knowing she’d be appearing alongside old mates Bryn Terfel and Wynne Evans.

 

She said: “I competed at Llangollen many times but this will be my first appearance in an evening concert. I really am looking to get my teeth into the Mrs Lovett role.

 

“She a cheery sort whose business is on a bit of downward spiral due to a lack of fresh meat and she really wants to be a bit more than a landlady to the mean and moody Sweeney Todd.”

 

Shân Cothi was born, the daughter of a blacksmith in a little village, Ffarmers, in Carmarthenshire and graduated from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth having studied music and drama.

 

After leaving university she was initially a music teacher at a South Wales high school but decided to turn professional, as a singer, after winning the prestigious Blue Riband prize at the 1995 Abergele National Eisteddfod. 

 

Since then her career has spanned a wide range of music styles from opera to oratorio and musical theatre, she played Carlotta in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera in the West End for 15 months, to traditional Welsh songs.

 

And she’s performed in some of the UK’s iconic venues from the Wales Millennium Centre to the Royal Albert Hall as well as abroad.

 

Bryn Terfel, Wynne Evans and Shân Cothi will appear in Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, sponsored by Pendine Park Care Organisation, at the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod on the evening of Monday, July 7.

 

This year’s Eisteddfod will also feature concerts by Dutch jazz sensation Caro Emerald and veteran British rockers Status Quo as well as a world premiere of a new work, Adiemus Colores, by top composer Karl Jenkins.

 

He will conduct his Latin American themed work with American tenor Noah Stewart, Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores and Latvian accordion player Ksenija Sidorova to the accompaniment of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod Orchestra.

 

The Friday night concert, Spirit of Unity, will feature the Cape Town Opera, Africa’s premiere opera company, famed for their "vibrant vocalism and high-octane stage performances".

 

Appearing with them will be Wales’ representative in Cardiff Singer of the World, Gary Griffiths, the Wales Millennium Centre Only Kidz Aloud Chorus under the baton of celebrity conductor Tim Rhys Evans and British Sinfonietta, one of the UK's leading independent professional orchestras.

 

The Choir of the World competition for the Pavarotti Trophy on the Saturday night is the blue riband event of the week-long festival which will close with a Sunday night concert by Status Quo.

 

For tickets and more information visit http://international-eisteddfod.co.uk/ or call the Box Office on 01978 862 000.     

Fiona's e-book novel has its paperback launch

A NOVEL which prominently features Llangollen has had its official paperback launch in the town.

The fantasy thriller The Last Changeling, which sees a breed of malevolent fairies battle for world domination, came out first as an e-book last year.

But after having sold around 1,000 Kindle copies, it has now been produced as a paperback version and its Llangollen-based author Fiona Maher hosted a special launch event at the Vintage Rose tearoom in the town on Thursday evening.

* Author Fiona Maher reads from The
Last Changeling at its paperback
launch in the Vintage Rose tearoom.

Fiona, who writes under the name of F R Maher, explained how the idea for the book came to her in a dream. 

She said: “We’ve had wizards and vampires, and I wondered what other supernatural beings would appeal to readers. 

“After a dream, I came up with the idea that it would be fairies - not the cutesy pink confections of modern cartoons, but the ancient malign creatures that haunted the forests, and stole children. 

“I called them metahominids - literally 'other men' - and I ask what if population pressure meant they started moving out of the country, and began invading our city spaces, like urban foxes? 

“What if we've been at war with them for centuries and the evidence was all around us? 

“If myxamatosis hadn't been developed for rabbits, but to spray on the barrows, the metahominid strongholds?”

Hero of the book is a young policeman named Watkin who gets caught up in a battle between a secret government department and metahominids in Kew Gardens.

In the melee, he is injured, and believes he has been involved in a UFO incident. 

However much he tries to find out what really happened, the government organisation, D9, evades all of his investigations. 

Dispirited, he gives up that line of research, and returns to his interest in UFOs. 

Watkin travels up from London to investigate the Beings of Bodfari, a legend that has been linked to UFO activity. 

En route, he stops off in Llangollen of which the author gives a vivid description taking in a number of well-known local sights and businesses such as Dinas Bran Castle, the Corn Mill, the railway station, the florists in Oak Street and the Watkin & Williams store in Regent Street. 

Coincidentally in Llangollen at the same time as Watkin is a D9 operative, travelling under the name of Sarah Deakin.

Her weapon of choice is a meaty survival knife, which she has brought to Llangollen to have its edges laced with silver - a lethal metal to all metahominids – at a local jewellers shop.

Fiona added: “The e-book has been fanastically well received, so I thought it was time I also produced it as a paperback.

“The e-book has sold very well all over the world, including Germany, Russia, America and China.

“I now plan to write a number of short stories and combine them into one book.”

The paperback version of The Last Changeling is available, priced £11.99, from Amazon.

 

The e-book version can be seen at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Changeling-Enigma-Wars-ebook/dp/B00B90EIRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365110490&sr=8-1&keywords=the+last+changeling

Latest roadworks bulletin

Latest roadworks notified by Denbighshire County Council are:

Birch Hill, Lllangollen, opposite Pren Ceirios, temporary traffic lights, to allow water works by Morrison Utility Services, May 6.

Abbey Road, Llangollen, outside Gelli, temporary traffic lights to allow water works by Dee Valley Water, May 9-14.

Regent Street, Llangollen, outside Prince of Wales, temporary traffic lights to allow water works by Dee Valley Water, May 15-19.

Fron Bache, Llangollen, road closure to allow BT works, May 6-8.

Berwyn Road, Llangollen, temporary traffic lights to allow retaining wall works by Conwy Structures, June 2-6.

 

Ensure you're registered to vote

Householders are being urged to ensure they are registered to vote ahead of the forthcoming European elections.

In order to vote in the elections on Thursday, 22^nd May, an individual’s name needs to be on the electoral register.

Citizens have until Tuesday, 6^th May to register.

There are a number of reasons why it is important to be included on the electoral register.

Elections can be called at short notice and if you are not registered you will not be able to vote.

Voting also ensures you have a say on the issues of the day while being on the electoral register can maintain your credit rating.

Registering is quick and simple. Just visit: www.aboutmyvote.co.uk and print off a registration form.

Alternatively, apply for the appropriate forms or check your name is on the register by contacting register@denbighshire.gov.uk

And you can still vote even if you are away on holiday by applying for a postal vote by 5 pm on Wednesday, 7th May, or by a proxy application form (not postal or emergency proxies) by 5 pm on Wednesday, 14^th May.

Jekyll & Hyde heading for Llangollen

Award-winning theatre company Limelight Productions aim to thrill audiences with their forthcoming  production of Jekyll & Hyde The Musical at Llangollen Town Hall from  Thursday 5^th to 7^th June. 

Glamorous, sexy and deliciously wicked in equal measures, Jekyll and Hyde is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic gothic novella.  

The Llangollen production features a talented cast performing some much-loved musical theatre songs such as This is The Moment, In his Eyes, the dramatic Façade.

Performances start at 7.30pm and there's a bar available. 

Tickets prices are £8 and £6.50 concessions. They are available from the box office on 01978 351315/07504031029 or Llangollen Tourist Information Centre in Castle Street.