Politicians seek talented young designers

Assembly Member Ken Skates and MP Susan Elan Jones are encouraging schoolchildren in Clwyd South to show their artistic side by designing their own Christmas cards.

The political pair are inviting pupils of every infant and primary school in their constituency to look forward to the festive season and enter their annual competition.

The winning design, which will be chosen by First Minister Carwyn Jones, will become the Labour duo’s official Christmas card and will be sent out to constituents, businesses, schools and voluntary groups across Wrexham and Denbighshire.

Last year’s winner was 11-year-old Ross Griffiths from Cefn Mawr, who now goes to Ysgol Rhiwabon, after his card was chosen out of more than 100 entries.

Clwyd South AM Ken Skates said: “There were so many great designs last year we decided to feature four on our card, and we’re hoping for just as good a response this time.
“The children in Clwyd South always seem to really get into the spirit of the competition and we’re extremely grateful to the teachers for encouraging their creativity and enthusiasm. I’m sure this year will be no different.”

 

MP Ms Jones added: “The competition gives us a good opportunity to engage with young people in Clwyd South, and it’s a fun way for them to learn a little bit about who represents them. The competition closes on November 14 as we need time to whittle them down and get the winning design printed, so the sooner the children get cracking the better!”

Prospective Picassos should ask their teachers to send their designs to Mr Skates’ constituency office at Unit 19, The Malthouse, Regent Street, Llangollen, LL20 8HS.

Beatriz to serve up Spanish dishes at food festival

* Beatriz Albo with one of her paella dishes.

A former research scientist who worked at a college on Deeside is recreating the dishes that her gran served up at the family’s award-winning restaurant in Spain.

 

Beatriz Albo has left the lab behind to spend more time in the kitchen at her home in Brymbo, near Wrexham, where she’s cooking up dishes she learned as a child from her gran Teresa, back home in the ancient city of Salamanca, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

 

She’s just set up her own company Sabor De Amor – named after her favourite song - while her version of paella along with Spanish specialities  chanfaina, garlic sauce aioli and olive tapenade are  winning plaudits among her growing number of fans.

 

Beatriz’s culinary creations will be on sale at Llangollen Hamper this weekend, now recognised as one of the UK's top 10 food festivals, which is supported by rural development agency Cadwyn Clwyd.

 

Cadwyn Clwyd’s contribution comes via the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Welsh Government.

 

According to Beatriz, Hamper Llangollen will the perfect shop window for her Spanish cuisine.

 

She said: “I’ve only been going a few months so I was very pleased to be accepted as an exhibitor by Hamper Llangollen – it will be a real chance to showcase my dishes to a much wider audience.”

 

Now a mum of two, Beatriz first came to the UK aged 24 to work at Deeside College, now part of Coleg Cambria, researching gum arabic, a flavouring and thickening agent, and later proteins in mung beans.

 

She went on to gain a doctorate at Manchester University and after the birth of her children Albert  and Susana, now aged 17 and 10, she began teaching science, most recently at Ruabon High School.

 

“I was covering maternity leave at Ruabon, teaching maths and biology and when that ended last summer I considered going back into pure research. However, I realised that as I hadn’t been involved in that for a long time, and hadn’t published papers,  it would be difficult

 

“My family and friends have always been very complimentary about my cooking and said I should do it professionally. There is a growing interest in Spanish food, with more and more tapas restaurants opening.

 

“When I was growing up in north west Spain my grandmother Teresa ran a restaurant in Salamanca called Roma. All the family worked in it – my uncles and my mother, so after school I would go along to help out. I remember the dishes she made, they were wonderful. After my great-grandmother died I lived with my gran for a while, so she wouldn’t be alone, and I learned more from her about cooking.

 

“I still have family in Spain and they often send me ingredients, such as olives from the local villages, and spices and herbs. That’s how I get the authentic taste of Spain in my dishes.

 

“After getting lots of advice I decided to start my own business making Spanish food to sell at farmers’ markets. However, I wasn’t sure what to call the new company. Then, one day when I was making strawberry jam at home my favourite song came up on my iPhone playlist – Sabor de Amor. It’s all about the taste of strawberries and home, and I thought it would be ideal.

 

“As I am a scientist at heart I made sure my kitchen at home met all the high standards needed to get the licences to create food at home to sell.

 

“One of the most popular things I’ve been making is a paella sauce: it’s a real concentrated stock with authentic flavourings in a bottle, so you just have to add it to rice and meat, or other ingredients,  to create the perfect dish. It really does taste like the one my grandmother used to make.

 

“I also make chanfaina, which is a regional dish from Salamanca that uses cheaper cuts such as offal, plus tapenades, which seem to be very popular with shoppers at farmers’ markets, like the monthly one at the Grosvenor Centre in Pulford.

 

A quartet of Wales’s best chefs will have a starring role at the festival. Graham Tinsley, executive chef at Carden Park in Cheshire and Conwy’s Castle Hotel, will be cooking up a Welsh feast with Mike Evans, hospitality lecturer at Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos on Sea, and Dion Jones, one of Europe’s finest young chefs.

 

The ever popular Dai Chef, now the resident chef at Bodnant Welsh Food, the centre of excellence for Welsh food in the Conwy Valley will be there too.

 

Robert Didier, a baker who trained with culinary legend Raymond Blanc will also unveil the UK’s most expensive loaf – made with champagne and 24 carat gold, at the event.

 

Cadwyn Clwyd’s Agri Food Officer, Robert Price, believes this year’s festival is going to be one of the best ever.

 

He said: “Thanks to a whole host of indigenous companies like Orchard Pigs, North East Wales is rapidly establishing a reputation as a centre of excellence for high quality cuisine.

 

“The food festival is a perfect shop window for the companies who form the backbone of our rural economy.

 

“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.”

 

For more information about Hamper Llangollen 2014 visit www.llangollenfoodfestival.com

 

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Children's author at the library

Libraries will be celebrating Denbighshire Children’s Book Week from October 6-10.

Over 1200 children across the county will be visiting their local library to meet one of the five popular children’s authors who are coming to Denbighshire this year.

The authors - Chris d’Lacey, Shoo Rayner, Caryl Parry Jones, Dan Anthony and Elen Caldecott - will be talking about their books and how they became writers, and encouraging children to read avidly and use their local library.

Elen Caldecott will be at Llangollen Library on Wednesday, October 8, meeting children from Years 3 and 4 Ysgol Gwernant at 9.30am, Ysgol Dinas Brân Year 7 at 11am and Ysgol Bryn Collen Year 5-6  at 1.30pm. 

“Children’s Book Week is one of the highlights of an annual programme of events in our libraries to promote reading”, said Bethan Hughes of Denbighshire Libraries.

“We know that meeting and speaking with an author can have a lasting effect on a child and his or her attitude towards reading.

"Children who have not yet discovered the pleasure of reading are often motivated to pick up a book because they’ve met its author, and this is so important in their development as confident and able readers.

"Libraries play a crucial role in supporting children’s reading outside the classroom, giving children free access to good quality books and the freedom to choose what they want to read, helped and supported by library staff to make good choices.

“We are delighted to welcome the authors to Denbighshire and thank publishers Firefly Press and Chicken House for their support.”

Pledges from Plaid Cymru's local candidate

 

* Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary candidate for Clwyd South.

 

A Living Wage for all and getting fairer funding to invest in jobs and the economy will be two of the main issues championed by Plaid Cymru during the 2015 General Election.

These were the pledges made Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary candidate for Clwyd South next May.

 

He also said that banning Fracking and improving health services were priorities as well.

 

Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “It's about jobs and the economy. Plaid Cymru, along with the SNP and Green Party,  is a progressive grouping of MPs at Westminster. It’s increasingly likely that there will be another hung Parliament with no one party having a clear majority.

 

"In that event, the Plaid Cymru progressive bloc could hold the balance of power. People can be confident therefore that a vote for Plaid Cymru counts and we can make a radical and positive difference at an UK level.

 

“Securing a Living Wage – currently around £7.65 an hour - for all is crucial to improve the quality of life of many families here in Clwyd South. There are 2,354 families in this constituency living with a problem debt, and at least 20% of our workers live below the living wage.

 

"Women especially would benefit as they are less likely to be paid the Living Wage than men due to women being more likely to be in low paid, part-time work. It’s important to see this as part of a larger economic package that helps small businesses by extending rate relief far beyond the current level and reducing VAT for the tourist industry to 5%.

“The introduction of a Living Wage alone could create a further 265 jobs in this constituency alone, based on the fact that more money would circulate in the local economy."

Mabon ap Gwynfor explained that securing a fair funding to create jobs and boost the economy was also a key commitment: “The HS2 High Speed train from London to Leeds will cost the tax payer £50bn. We will be paying for this, yet the only real beneficiaries will be London and the south east of England. By scrapping this wasteful extravagance Wrexham Council could be £9.5m a year better off for the next 12 years.

“People can vote for Plaid Cymru next year confident that we could be in a position to make a real difference to their lives.”

Mabon ap Gwynfor is a married father of three young children and lives near Corwen. He has been a long-time campaigner for improved health services, including the campaign to keep hospital beds in Llangollen and campaigning to keep neo-natal intensive care services at Wrexham Maelor.

 

He is the co-founder and chair of the North Wales Health Alliance, established to fight the downgrading of health services in the region. He is also a Parent Governor at his children’s local primary school, and a director of one of Wales’ National Theatres.   

Off-roading concerns aired at Town Hall meeting

CONCERNS about off-roaders using parts of the countryside close to Llangollen were aired at a packed public meeting in the Town Hall yesterday (Thursday) evening.

The meeting, which was attended by around 100 people including representatives of Denbighshire County Council, local police and residents, was called to discuss issues arising from the use by 4x4 vehicles and motorcyclists of unsurfaced roads in the area close to the town.

People voiced concerns about the use of the Allt Y Badi as a "feeder" funnel to the Ceiriog Valley and uplands.

Illegal activities were the main bone of contention and the fact that the Allt Y Badi is classed as a highway.

A number of off-roaders were also at the meeting to counter the criticisms made against them.

Llangollen county councillor Stuart Davies, who was there on the night, said: “It was a well attended meeting with representations from all types of users and residents, and full and frank views were exchanged.

“People wanted to have Allt Y Badi declassified but I made the point that to do so would be a long and costly process with no guarantee of success and that in today’s current financial climate, where members are being asked to consider the closure of old peoples accommodation, closing a highway comes low on the list of priorities.”

Cllr Davies explained that the county council has set up meetings at which the authorities and stakeholders will discuss the issues and plan joint actions to address them.

He added: “I will be attending these meetings to put forward the views of constituents.

“I believe that closing or downgrading Allt Y Badi would entail a long and costly battle through the legal system because there are just as many user groups supporting the retention of the status of this road as are against it.

“I think the answers are therefore compromise and targeted upholding of the law and I believe this can be achieved through the meetings set up by the county council for next month when I will be pushing for this.”

Salmon stocking of Welsh Rivers to be phased out

A major change in the way Natural Resources Wales works to protect wild salmon has been agreed.

A comprehensive review of scientific research found that hatchery-reared young salmon have a much lower survival rate than young wild fish, and can harm existing wild salmon populations.

NRW now intends to phase out salmon stocking by 2015 and close its hatcheries at Mawddach, near Dolgellau and Maerdy near Corwen.

The proposal was confirmed this week by NRW’s board.

The Cynrig hatchery, near Brecon, will remain open and NRW will assess the possibility of developing a freshwater research centre on the site.

Ceri Davies, Director of Knowledge, Strategy and Planning for Natural Resources Wales said: “We are passionate about making sure that Wales has a healthy and sustainable salmon population. To do that, we need to use our resources as effectively as possible.

“We’ve done a lot over the years to improve water quality and, together with our partners, to improve habitats and resolve barriers to migration. We believe the benefits of these are now starting to have effect, and this will improve freshwater conditions for our salmon and other fish.

“Our rivers are an important part of our environment. They provide essential habitats for fish and other wildlife as well as giving people opportunities to enjoy the outdoors through angling and other water-based activities.”

NRW says it looked at a wide range of scientific evidence from the UK and abroad which suggested there are more effective ways to support salmon in Welsh rivers. A public consultation did not come up with any evidence to the contrary.

Salmon became extinct on the River Taff during the industrial revolution and stocking played a part in its recovery along with some other previously industrialised rivers.

A study has now revealed that, after stocking provided that initial boost to restore the population, more salmon would be produced if fish were left in the river to spawn rather than taken for hatchery rearing.

Money raised from the sale of the hatcheries will be used to improve fisheries in rivers which have previously been stocked, including work to improve habitats or to open new migratory routes.

And NRW will be working with partner organisations to implement these improvement programmes.
Over the last 10 years NRW, Welsh Government and the EU funded Sustainable Fisheries Programme has, in partnership with Rivers Trusts and others, invested millions of pounds t.o improve fish stocks.

This includes opening up over 1,500km of access to spawning grounds by building fish passes and improving more than 500 kilometres of habitat by, for example, fencing to keep livestock away from river banks and prevent delivery of sediments to the rivers.

The decision has gained support from Dr Stephen Marsh-Smith OBE, Director of The Wye and Usk Foundation, who said: “NRW have been very courageous in these proposals, challenging what are some extremely entrenched beliefs.

“Although it might be argued that given the weight of scientific evidence the cessation of stocking is long overdue, historically, changes to any fisheries management or byelaw have invariably been watered down to get past a minority of vociferous critics.

“This time the new organisation has gone with the evidence and honoured the sustainable principles enshrined in their name."

Ceri Davies of NRW added: “We recognise that there will be some debate around this decision, but scientific evidence shows that this is the best course of action to secure the future of wild salmon and angling in Wales.

“We have an opportunity to think creatively about the best way to support fish stocks so our rivers can continue to provide benefits to the wildlife, people and economy of Wales.

“We have agreed to develop a robust action plan to do this and will report back on progress.”