Plas Madoc campaign thrown £50k lifeline

The Daily Post is reporting that the campaign to re-open Plas Madoc leisure centre has been thrown a £50,000 lifeline by Wrexham Council.

For the full story, see: http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/plas-madoc-leisure-centre-thrown-7751462

Clwyd South AM Ken Skates, who has played a leading role in the campaign, said in a statement:

“I’m delighted that significant progress is being made and that the council has now decided that it should support our plans to reopen Plas Madoc.

 

"I would like to pay tribute to the remaining group of Labour councillors for their unwavering and unequivocal support for Plas Madoc and for the community, and for their determination over this major issue.

 

“Although the one-off £50,000 grant mentioned is only half of what the Trust and Labour councillors had appealed for, we have pulled off what appears to be a miraculous victory. I look forward to hearing more about how the council will support us.”

Prestige cycling event heads for Horseshoe Pass

The countdown has begun to welcome one of the UK's most prestigious cycling sportives to North East Wales.

And residents in Denbighshire and Wrexham are being encouraged to lend their support by giving a warm welcome on the day.

The Wiggle Etape Cymru 2014 race, taking place on Sunday, September 14,  starts and finishes at Bangor on Dee Racecourse and passes through communities in Wrexham County Borough before it enters into Denbighshire through the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Beauty.  

The route takes in several well-known climbs including the legendary Horseshoe Pass which incorporates a timed King of the Mountains challenge. 

This event was voted Sportive of the Year 2012 by readers of Road Cycling UK and has been widely acclaimed for its success by all of the top cycling media outlets. 

The event is being staged by Human Race, who are the UK's largest mass participation events company and fully is supported by Wrexham and Denbighshire Councils. 

Councillor Huw Jones, Denbighshire's Cabinet Lead Member for Leisure, said: "Cycling is becoming an ever more popular sport, especially in the wake of the tremendous cycling success at London 2012 and we are extremely keen to capitalise on this renewed interest in the sport.

"Here in Denbighshire we are working hard to establish the county as a centre for cycling excellence. We have the infrastructure to deliver this, with resources such as the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Cycling Centre at Llandegla right on our very own doorstep. 

"This year will be the fourth year in a row that Denbighshire County Council has been actively involved in assisting event organisers to ensure the safe running of this event and we are confident that it will continue to be a great success.' 

* For further information, please visit the website: www.humanrace.co.uk

Councillors approve £4.6 million cuts package

Councillors in Denbighshire have approved a package of cuts which could save the authority £4.6 million over the next two financial years.

At a meeting held in County Hall, Ruthin today (Tuesday), councillors discussed a raft of proposals identified by individual services to save the authority money, in light of the Welsh Government's annoucement that the authority would need to find an additional £3 million on top of the £6 million it was predicting.  

The implication of  Welsh Government's announcement is that Denbighshire County Council will need to find £18m cuts over the next two years.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance and Assets, said: "Over recent years, the Council has found its savings with little or no impact on frontline services.  We made a commitment to protect these services and jobs wherever possible and we believe we have been successful in doing this to date. However, with the significant financial savings we need to make over the coming years, inevitably there will be an impact on services, as we look to reduce or stop services altogether.   

"We have been working very pro actively as a Council on developing our budget strategy for 2015/6 and beyond,  to ensure that we are not having to take knee jerk reactions late in the year. We have developed a new system for providing our councillors with choices over where we make our reductions in budget and we have worked our way through detailed discussions on each and every one of our service areas. 

Leader of Denbighshire, Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, said: "We have done as much as we can through careful financial planning. The time has now come for very difficult decisions. 

"The financial settlement we are expecting from the Welsh Government later this year is expected to be worse than predicted, with the Minister announcing in June that we would need to find an additional £3 million on top of the £6 million cuts we were already planning to find. 

"That does mean that there are tough decisions ahead and a lot of our proposals will need to be worked up in terms of the finer detail.  Communication with our communities and residents is key and we are making a firm commitment to sharing the finer details when we are in a position to do so."

County agrees to support Conwy merger

At a meeting of Denbighshire's full council today (Tuesday), members agreed to support the idea of starting discussions with Conwy County Borough Council about exploring the possibility of a voluntary merger. 
Like all local councils in Wales, Denbighshire is currently planning for unprecedented cuts to jobs and services over the next three years, with the prospect of austerity until 2022.

At the same time, the Welsh Government's White Paper for Local Government Reform forces the council to choose between voluntary merger with another council by April 2018 - or the prospect of compulsory merger by April 2020. 

During the meeting, Denbighshire's Chief Executive, Mohammed Mehmet, told members the strategic decision facing the Council is whether, given the very challenging financial context, it is in its interest to pursue the option of voluntary merger, especially if that option could help to reduce the level of cuts the council is currently facing. 

He added: "Alternatively, the council could reject the voluntary merger option and concentrate its resources on managing the cuts and maintaining services without being distracted by a merger, at least for the next three years. The choice is a difficult one and should not be made without serious consideration." 

The White Paper consultation period closes on 1 October 2014 and members agreed that, subject to reaching agreement with Conwy County Council, both councils proceed to develop a joint expression of interest to voluntarily merge by April 2018 and to submit this expression of interest to Welsh Government by November 2014, provided the two councils can: 

 * Secure a substantial financial and support package from Welsh Government that is binding; and 

* That once the two authorities and Welsh Government agree the statement of intent in November 2015 that the agreement is binding on all three partners.

The ‘substantial financial and support package’ referred to will be negotiated with Welsh Government and put before both Denbighshire and Conwy members to consider before agreeing to proceed. 

If these conditions can be secured then that would allow both councils to reduce the level of cuts to services and avoid the possible failure of the project either because of local disagreements or change of position by Welsh Government. If they cannot be secured then the risks of voluntary merger are too high.

Sponsored walk in memory of Tesni Edwards

 

* Tesni's parents, Jason and Dwysan Evans, with Nadine Pilkington from Ifor Williams Trailers.

A trailer firm is organising a sponsored walk in memory of  Ysgol Dinas Bran pupil Tesni Edwards who died of an undetected enlarged heart.

 

The walkers, including Tesni's dad Jason, who works for Ifor Williams Trailers, will be raising money for the Wales Air Ambulance which was scrambled in a desperate bid to save the 14 year old after she collapsed.

 

Also taking part in the walk on Sunday, September 14, will be her mum, Dwysan, who is the Practice Manager, at the Pen-y-Bont doctors' surgery in St Asaph.

 

Tesni (pictured below) was taken ill a couple of weeks before her 15th birthday in April last year, despite never having shown any health problems before.

 

The Taith Tesni walk will follow the general direction taken every morning by Tesni to Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen where she was a popular pupil.

 

Hundreds of people, including Tesni's classmates and many of her Dad's colleagues from the trailer company's factories in Cynwyd and Corwen, have already signed up to participate.

 

Ifor Williams Trailers has pledged to match the amount raised by the walk with a donation.

The people doing the walk will be congregating at the Llangollen Tower sports field  where there is plenty of space for people to park their cars.

 

There will in fact be five options, varying in distance between 14 miles and 1.5 miles to ensure that as many as possible can be involved. The length of the longest walk represents a mile for every year of Tesni's life.

 

Buses are being laid on to ferry everybody who has registered to their departure points, with the first set of walkers leaving Llangollen at 10am so they can start the longest of the walks 45 minutes later from the front of the factory in Cynwyd.

 

According to the company, anybody who wants to take part needs to register so they can make sure they can lay on enough transport.

 

Mum Dwysan said: "We’re really pleased that Ifor Williams Trailers are organising the walk in memory of Tes.

 

"Until what happened with Tes, we hadn’t realised that the Wales Air Ambulance rely enormously on donations and for that reason we’ve tried to support them since then.

 

"Nobody knows when they might need the Air Ambulance as we found ourselves and that quick response obviously saves lives and that’s why we feel passionate about supporting them.

 

"I’m sure that Tesni would be proud of what we're doing  because anything positive that we can make out of this situation is a good thing.

 

"The pain we still feel is indescribable, it’s an ongoing battle every day.  It was horrendous and it’s been very, very sad for us all. 

 

"But we keep going and between us we’ve got two sons, Morgan and Findlay, so we’re here for them and we just try every day but it’s been heart-breaking."

 

Dad Jason, who's works in the stores department at Ifor Williams Trailers, revealed that many of the carriers and lorry drivers he deals with had already donated because they had been touched by what happened.

 

He said: "We’re hoping to raise a lot of money because this is such a fantastic cause.

 

"I always wanted to do something in memory of Tes and I think this is a great thing and I’d like to thank Ifor Williams Trailers.

 

"We’ve had a really good response and a lot of people including colleagues are going to do the walk."

 

According to Carole Williams, from Ifor Williams Trailers, everybody at the company had been deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Tesni.

 

She said: "The feeling of uselessness, in being unable to help alleviate the pain for Tesni’s family was overwhelming for us all.

 

"Tesni was a beautiful person, in the midst of embracing the adventures of life and on the cusp of making decisions that would have defined her future path. A huge hole has been left in the lives of all those who knew and loved her.

 

"Despite the best efforts of the Wales Air Ambulance crew to reach Tesni and take her to hospital, sadly Tesni’s condition meant those involved medically, could not help her.

 

"We liaised with Jason and Dwysan to discuss a fitting way of honouring Tesni’s memory.  We have also worked closely with Ysgol Dinas Bran, particularly the Deputy headteacher, Mr Dafydd Morris, and the Headteacher, Mr Martyn Froggett.

 

"We jointly decided that when the time was right, we would organise a sponsored walk with Tesni’s family and friends, work colleagues of Jason and Dwysan and all those wishing to walk in remembrance of Tesni’s life and show their support to her family."

 

For more information on how to register to take part in Taith Tesni or to make a donation email taithtesni@iwt.co.uk or go to the Twitter account @TaithTesni, the Facebook page, Taith Tesni or the Just Giving page, www.justgiving.com/Taith-Tesni

Open Doors event at Ysgol Dinas Bran

Ysgol Dinas Bran is holding an Open Doors event this Saturday, September 13.

People can go along and take a tour of the school and witness how it's changed since their school days.

Bookings are essential and to make the arrangements contact Jamie Roberts at the school on 01978 860669.Road, Llangollen

Church's wheely special night to mark Etape Challenge

A tapas and prosecco fundraising evening will be held in St Collen's Church Hall in Regent Street, Llangollen on Saturday, September 13, which is the eve of the Etapes Cymru Cycling Challenge.

The event, which starts at 7pm, is in aid of the provision of modern facilities in St John's Church in Abbey Road with the aim of making it a more adaptable venue.

Suggested donation is £10, and tickets are available from the Rev Andrew Sully on 01978 860231.





* Andrew Sully (pictured right) is himself a keen cyclist.