Railway happy with BBC broadcast

A BBC Radio Wales programme featuring Llangollen Railway went out at 7am this morning (Sunday).

And it's quality has won praise from railway spokesman George Jones who said: "I thought the mix of recorded interviews ran together very well to give a varied sound picture of a visit to the line and on to Corwen.

"It was well presented by the BBC team and comes over as a serious review of the operation with some lighter touches of humour.

"It was worth all the effort that went into accommodating the BBC team and providing the recorded material.

"Those who didn't hear it can still catch it through the replay which is available on the BBC I-player at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/cfocus

"It is also due to be repeated on Monday at 5.30am."

Vincent recalls the time he met Pavarotti

* Vincent Griffiths remembers turning down the chance to sing with Pavarotti. 

A FOUNDER member of the world-famous Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir has been remembering the occasion almost 60 years ago when he turned down the chance to join legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti in a sing-song around the family piano.

Vincent Griffiths, now a sprightly 82, was a young man in his early twenties when his late mother, Alice Griffiths, played host to Pavarotti and his father while they were competing at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 1955.

Mrs Griffiths opened her home in Beech House, Froncysyllte, to Luciano and Fernando Pavarotti for a week as the Chorus Rossini from Modena in northern Italy won the male choral competition.

Vincent, one of the first members of the Fron Choir and part of its line-up for 45 years, recalled: “My mother and father, Alice and William Griffiths, offered free board every year to people performing at the Eisteddfod. Over the years they had all nationalities there and enjoyed playing host to them.

* Alice Griffiths meets Pavarotti
and his father at the Bryn Howel in 1995.

“In 1955 Pavarotti, his father and two other members of their choir were staying at the house. I’d just been married to my wife, Nesta, and we were living in nearby Newbridge and I walked over one night to my mother’s in Fron to meet their guests.

“Of course, Pavarotti wasn’t famous then but he had a fine voice and was always singing.

“He was sitting at my mother’s piano. Neither he nor his father spoke English very well but when he heard I sang with a choir too Pavarotti invited me to join him in a song.

“I politely refused. Actually, I was due to compete against him when both our choirs were in the main choral competition that Saturday but that wasn’t why I turned him down. 
 
“I was a bit shy and didn’t think my voice was very good, although I had been one of the first members of the Fron Choir from the age of 15.

“We went on talking about music for half an hour and I recall that both Pavarotti and his father were very nice chaps.”

Vincent, a retired lab worker at the Monsanto factory near his home has a son, Peter, who lives in Acrefair, two grand-daughters and three great-grandchildren.

He added: “In the main choral competition the Modena choir won the competition. Both the Pavarottis had very good voices but, to be honest, I think the best choir on the day was a group of Moravian teachers from Czechoslovakia.

* Pavarotti performs at the Eisteddfod.

“After that, of course, Pavarotti became very famous but he came back to sing as the star at the Llangollen eisteddfod 40 years later. He was staying with his father at the Bryn Howel Hotel and I took my mother, who died about 10 years ago at the age of 93, to see them.

“We didn’t have long to speak to Luciano but I think he remembered my mother. Fernando spoke to us for longer and put his arm around my mother. It was nice to have that reunion.

“On the Sunday night, when he sang at the closing concert of the eisteddfod, we had front row seats and it was a terrific performance.

“He was definitely the best tenor I have ever heard because of the clarity and power of his voice.

“With the Fron choir, which I left about 20 years ago, I sang second tenor and then first bass. I must have competed at Llangollen at least 30 times over the years from 1948 and it was always a highlight for us.”

In 1955 larger-than-life Pavarotti was a slim 19-year-old trainee teacher who had joined the choir because his father, a baker, was a stalwart member of the chorus.

The moment the Modena choir won the male choral competition and the visit to Llangollen left an indelible impression on him and he often spoke of it.

The experience also helped shape his destiny and he once famously said that if he could win the first prize with a small choir from Modena, he could do anything.

Four decades after the 1955 appearance Pavarotti would still enquire earnestly about the lady in whose home he had been a guest.

He once said of his time boarding with the Griffiths family in Fron: “I remember well the house I stayed in. All the way from Italy, I was exercising my English. But when we are brought to the house in Llangollen and meet the family, I understand not a word. 
 
“I did not know there was such a language as Welsh. Even now I think how lucky they don’t write operas in such a language for me to sing. I would be out of work. It is impossible for us Italians to learn.”

Pavarotti said many times that he wanted to go back to Llangollen one day and that desire was fulfilled in 1995 when he made a triumphant return to headline at that year’s eisteddfod, marking the 40^th anniversary of his first visit to north Wales.

He accepted an invitation to be President of the Day, on condition that his father could share the Day Presidency with him, so for the first and only time, the Eisteddfod had two joint Presidents of the Day.

On the Friday of the festival he fought his way to the stage through adoring crowds to tell a packed house: "Forty years ago, my God it seems to be just yesterday for me. I have done so many things. 
 
“I always say that to the journalists when they ask me what is a day more memorable in my life, and I always say that it is when I won this competition because it was with all my friends. With me at that time there was a person that I would like to have the privilege to introduce: my Father.”

To much applause, Fernando Pavarotti walked on stage to join his son, and Pavarotti Jnr declared: "He is stronger than me he has a voice more brilliant than mine - at least that’s what he thinks

His father, who spoke no English, then came on stage and charmed the audience by putting his hands together and bowing to them with a beaming smile on his face.

Another giant of the world of opera, Wales’s own Bryn Terfel, will headline a spectacular curtain-raiser to this year’s International Musical Eisteddfod when he leads an all-Welsh cast, which also includes Wynne Evans, in a performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway smash Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street on Monday, July 6.

It begins six tremendous days at Llangollen which kicks off on Tuesday with the Parade and a galaxy of international talent at the Carnival of Nations concert.

It will showcase spectacular circus acts from across the globe including Cirque du Soleil's Bruce Bilodeau, acrobats from the Chinese State Circus and Spellbound, winners of Britain's Got Talent.

The following night will see the return of Karl Jenkins, the highest selling classical composer alive today, with the world premiere of his latest masterpiece, Adiemus Colores. 
 
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 multi-award winning Dutch jazz singer Caro Emerald will be making her Llangollen debut on the Thursday evening.  Earlier this year her second studio album, The Shocking Miss Emerald, went to No 1 in the UK album chart.

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 on the Saturday night is the blue riband event of the week-long festival and remains one of the foremost choral competitions in the international choral calendar.

Saturday will also feature a competition to find the dance champions of 2014 and to top the evening off Richard and Adam, who shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent, will appear as special guests.

Bringing the house down on Sunday night will be legendary British rockers Status Quo who released the first of their 100 singles almost 50 years ago and are still Rocking All Over The World.

* To book tickets and for more details on the 2014 festival go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

Prehistoric axe found near Llan

The North Wales News website is reporting today details of a prehistoric axe discovered near Llangollen.

For the full story, see: http://www.newsnorthwales.co.uk/news/134043/prehistoric-axe-discovered-near-llangollen.aspx

Radio programme on railway airs this Sunday

* Work on the extension to Corwen will be featured on the BBC programme.

A programme featuring Llangollen Railway and the Dee Valley, which was recorded in late March, is due to be broadcast on BBC Radio Wales this Sunday at 7am.

The visit featured a ride down the line in the heritage railcar and a trip out to Corwen to see the extension works.

There were interviews with various people extolling the scenic delights of the Area of Natural Beauty in the valley.

The BBC website includes a gallery of photos taken during the visit when the production team rode the Wickham railcar and visited the Corwen extension.

It can be viewed at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/galleries/p01zhkft

Free health checks for dogs on offer

Dog owners in Denbighshire are  being informed of free well-being checks for dogs taking place across the county next week.

The events are being facilitated by a PDSA (People's Dispensary for Sick Animals) veterinary nurse inside a Pet Check vehicle.

The free events will take place at:

Tuesday, May 27, Llangollen Market Street car park

Wednesday, May 28, Green Lane car park, Corwen

All events will take place between 10am and 5pm.

For further information about the pet checks, please visit: www.pdsa.org.uk/petcheck

Isherwood calls for answers on River Lodge

* The River Lodge site is earmarked for the town's planned new health centre.

Speaking in the Assembly, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has again called for answers regarding the role played by the Welsh Government in securing the Llangollen River Lodge site for a new health centre after it had been leased to a community group.

The River Lodge was bought by the Welsh Government in 2007 and leased to Powys Fadog Community Group. The Agreement to Lease ran out in June 2011.

Mr Isherwood says he has an e-mail he sent to First Minister Carwyn Jones on 31st March 2011 in which he included the words: `It has also been alleged to me that at a meeting with Powys Fadog, Chris Munday, Welsh Government, asserted that the Welsh Government are not talking to anybody about the site until after the expiry of the Powys Fadog lease'.

In this week’s Business Statement, Mr Isherwood called for a Welsh Government statement on the Llangollen health centre site.

He said: “You will be aware that the Cottage Hospital was closed and that a consultation on its demolition is ongoing, with a loss of beds and local services.

"You will be aware that there is a proposed new Primary Health Centre on the site of a former hotel in town, although there are questions about its viability, given proposals for access to that site and the impact that that might have more widely.

"You may say that it is a matter purely for the Health Board, as you frequently do, and therefore I ask this question in the context of the e-mail dated 24 March 2010 from the Health Department in the Welsh Government to the Local Health Board, saying: ‘The Minister (Edwina Hart) has also requested an update on the Woodlands Hotel’ (River Lodge) ‘and the proposed Health Centre in Llangollen by this Friday … Is there any reason why the current building couldn’t be demolished and the new Health Centre built on the site? We would like to be able to provide a positive brief to the Minister, if that’s possible’.

Mr Isherwood said in the chamber this week: "That was days before the Welsh Government launched its Options Appraisal (for the site), years before Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board published its proposals for reconfigured health services in Wales, years before the public consultation, and years before the Welsh Government started insisting that these issues were a matter for the Health board.

"Given this evidence, which is now publicly available, that the Welsh Government appeared to trigger the process, could we have a statement from the Welsh Government accordingly?”

The Minister for Government Business Lesley Griffiths AM, replied: “You referred to correspondence not even from this Government or this Minister for Health, and not even the previous Minister for Health - it was the one before that and a previous Government. So, it is a matter for the Health Board.”

Mr Isherwood added: “This is ridiculous! Carwyn Jones was First Minister then as now and the Health Minister involved, Edwina Hart, still sits in Cabinet in this Welsh Government. Their continual refusal to engage on this matter can only increase suspicion that they have something to hide.” 

Mr Isherwood is Shadow Minister for North Wales, Local Government, Communities and Housing.

How will today's Euro elections end?

News analysis website clickonwales looks at the possible outcome of today's Euro elections as far as Wales is concerned.

See the full story at: http://www.clickonwales.org/2014/05/the-real-europe-story/