Have your say on budget cuts

Denbighshire County Council is considering a range of cuts, as part of its efforts to cut £17 million from its budget over the next two years.

Now the Council is launching a debate called 'Cutting Our Cloth' , asking residents for views on how the impact of the cuts can be lessened on local communities.

One set of proposals totalling £4.6 million has already been agreed by Full Council. The current round of proposals worth £5.4 million are being considered, with councillors expected to discuss them formally in December and February.

Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, Leader of the Council, said: “The Council has worked really hard over recent years to protect jobs and vital public services wherever possible.

“We have managed to save £20 million by concentrating on  inefficiencies, bureaucracy and management, but the time has now come for us to make cuts.

“These cuts are unavoidable. They are the ‘least-worst’ options that the Council has to consider as it sets its budget for the next financial year”.  

Dr Mohammed Mehmet, Chief Executive of Denbighshire, said: “The budget situation in Denbighshire is certainly not unique and we are facing our biggest challenges since devolution.  

“Before final decisions are made on these proposals, the Council wishes to fully understand their impact on the public, on staff and on the wider community.

“While the scale of cuts facing local government in Wales will change the structure and purpose and councils will inevitably do ‘less with less’, they will still continue to provide vital services to residents and good quality, safe care to their vulnerable adults and children.

“And we are making a commitment in Denbighshire to continue providing the best possible services, despite the big challenges we face.”

A summary of proposals can be found on the website, www.denbighshire.gov.uk, together with a short online form for you to complete. 

You can submit your response online.  Alternatively, you can e-mail: public.relations@denbighshire.gov.uk or write to: Cutting Our Cloth, Communications Department, Denbighshire County Council, County Hall, Wynnstay Road, Ruthin, LL15 1YN or you can leave your comments at any council reception area.

If you wish your comment to be considered by the Council at its December meeting, it should arrive with the Council no later than November 27.

Ladies' self-defence class planned

A ladies’ self-defence class is to be staged in Llangollen next month.

Being organised by Paul Keates, of specialist training company RSS Ltd, it will take place on Saturday, November 15, from 12.30-3.30pm, in St Collen’s Church Hall.

Paul said: “I ran a course at the beginning of the month for the ladies from Metafit Llangollen who really enjoyed it and have asked me to run a second so the rest of the ladies can come, as I have the large hall this time I thought I would also open it up to the ladies of Llangollen.

“The course is an in depth one outlining the legal aspects of self-defence along with tried and tested techniques that have all been risk assessed and specifically designed for this course.”

The cost is £15 per person and more details are available at http://www.rssltd-training.com/#!Landing%20Page%201/c12br

Trains run again from Llan to Corwen

* One of the Special trains at the platform in Corwen. 

Trains are now running between Llangollen and Corwen for the first time in almost 50 years.

The operation of a sequence of three Corwen Specials heralded the arrival of the Llangollen Railway at the temporary station platform of Dwyrain Corwen East earlier this week.

The first two trains provided the opportunity for supporters of the Corwen Appeal and volunteers to celebrate the completion of the extension west from Carrog.

The first train with No.3802 leading and Black 5 45337 on the rear arrived on time at 11.35 having run non-stop from Llangollen. 

 

A large crowd of townsfolk were on hand to welcome the train and the regional media gave the occasion extensive coverage.

 

After a brief ten minute stop over the train reversed out.
 

Later the Black 5 lead the second train into the platform after 3802  had detached at Carrog, and the third train saw 3802 on the front for the final run.

Again crowds turned out from Corwen and district to witness this historic occasion. Many older people said they remembered the last days of trains in Corwen nearly 50 years ago and others recalled their childhood taking the school train to Bala.

The topping and tailing of the five coach train was specially arranged for this opening day, but showed how uneconomic such an operation would be for the course of normal day-day running.

The daily service, which operates in half term week from 27 October, will be hauled by one engine.

In the absence of a run round loop at the temporary terminus, the train will be propelled back to Carrog under the control of a driver in the PCV (Propelling Control Vehicle) at the rear of the train. Run round of the locomotive will take place at Carrog and the timetable reflects this operation.

The 2014 season of trains will conclude with Remembrance weekend trains operating to Corwen 8/9 November.

The post Christmas Mince Pie Special Trains will operate to Corwen from 26 December. There after a formal opening ceremony at Dwyrain Corwen East is planned for St David’s Day, 1 March 2015, followed by a full season of trains in 2015.

George Jones, for Llangollen Railway Trust, said: “This project has been a great challenge, but its completion a great achievement for all those involved in the many aspects of its construction. The further challenge is to tackle Phase 2 and build the proper terminus nearer to the town centre.”

Plaid candidate slams welfare cuts

The UK Government’s welfare reductions are cutting £1bn from the Welsh economy, the equivalent on £590 for every working adult in Denbighshire, new research by the respected Sheffield Hallam University shows.

In a speech to Plaid Cymru’s annual conference in Llangollen yesterday (Saturday), Mabon ap Gwynfor, the party’s candidate for Clwyd South, cited the report and said: “We want more than a change of government, we want a complete change of direction – none of the London parties are offering that."

 

He called for a programme of investment in communities such as Clwyd South in order to create jobs and a better quality of life.

 

Mabon ap Gwynfor (pictured right) told delegates at the conference said:  “Instead of investing in job creation to strengthen the economy and generate more wealth, the Government is choosing the slash and burn option, hurting our most vulnerable and deprived. This lessens the life chances of thousands of people, making life even harder for them, but it takes a huge chunk of money out of the Welsh economy, resulting in more job losses, more poverty and greater dependency.

 

“Arguing that austerity is a programme of cutting public expenditure back to what they disparagingly refer to as ‘within our means’ is just smoke and mirrors. If they have enough money to maintain and develop a new generation of Nuclear Weapons; if they can build a brand new superfast train line from Leeds to London; if they can afford to let £85bn in unpaid tax by corporations and millionaires leave our economy, then they can afford to ensure that everyone has a decent standard of living, with a roof over their heads.

 

"By cutting Trident and HS2 alone, every council in Wales would on average have an extra £17million a year to safeguard frontline services.”

 

Mabon ap Gwynfor added: “We need to invest in our people and communities. Business rates are crippling many of our smaller businesses. Plaid Cymru would take 70,000 businesses in Wales out of business rates altogether; we would ensure public contracts go to local business to create 50,000 local jobs; and we will fight to ensure a living wage for all. Because we believe in the potential of our neighbours and communities. We see them as our nation’s most valuable assets.”

Dobson & Crowther factory nears completion

* llanblogger reader Mike Edwards has kindly sent in this picture of the new Dobson & Crowther factory at Cilmedw in Llangollen which is now nearing completion.

Plaid to stage annual conference in Llan

Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales, is to stage its annual conference in Llangollen later this month.

For more details see:
http://www.partyofwales.org/events/2014/10/24/party-of-wales-annual-conference-2014/?force=1

Friends create red hot chilli business

 

* Living dangerously: Dominic Haynes and Llyr Jones.

 

Two friends have turned their love of chilli peppers into a red hot business - after donning face masks and protective clothing to get it going.

 

Dominic Haynes and Llyr Jones, who launched their enterprise after being made redundant, came up the idea of creating a chilli jam while sat in their local pub.

 

They had to wear protective gear to create their first jars of jam in Dominic’s kitchen using ghost chillies – judged one of the hottest varieties in the world.

 

Their Dangerous Food Company is now going from strength to strength, winning a Great Taste award in September, and will be unveiling their latest products at Hamper Llangollen food festival this weekend, October 18-19.

 

Supported by rural development agency Cadwyn Clwyd, the event in Llangollen’s Royal Pavilion is recognised as one of the UK's top 10 food festivals.

 

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

This year’s festival sees a quartet of Wales’s best chefs take a starring role. 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.

 

The two 31-year-olds, who live just 80 yards apart in St Asaph, were both working for an Irish dairy company when they came up with the idea of combining chillies with British fruits to make a spicy relish to go with cooked meats, cheese, fish and vegetarian dishes, explained Dominic, from St Asaph.

 

“We were pitching the idea to Asda about a ready-made chilli jam to go with cheese but we didn’t really think the variety was very good. So we were sat in the pub talking about it and decided that we could make our own.

 

“It took us 38 attempts at making it – some of them definitely not fit for human consumption - before we finally came up with a version that we liked and started to trial it with our friends.

 

“Then we were both made redundant so we decided to start up in business together, as we’d already worked together for 10 years. At first we made it in my kitchen -although it had just been refitted after the floods. However, making vast quantities of chilli jam in a tiny kitchen in a cottage did have some drawbacks, particularly the smell.

 

“Now we have a base in St Asaph, at the Old Courthouse, and the jams are made at Patchwork Foods in Ruthin for us, as we needed a food production base that met strict criteria.

 

“The staff still have to wear protective clothing though, especially when they make the ghost chilli variety, as it’s so hot.

 

“We have met some officials in the food industry who find it difficult to understand how our products are classed as a jam. However, we can call jam that because of the fruit and the sugar content.”

 

They now make around 1,000 jars a week of their jams, in five varieties, all of which will be on sale at Hamper Llangollen food festival  - red chilli with a hint of lime, jalapeño with bramley apple, habanero with mango, bird’s eye with morello cherry, and the hottest: ghost chilli with blueberry.

 

Ghost chillies, also known as bhut jolokia, measure up to 1.5million on the Scoville scale – the universally accepted gauge of hotness – making it one of the hottest chillies available.

 

 

Dominic, a former pupil of Blessed Edward School, Rhyl, concentrates on business development and marketing for the company while Llyr, who grew up in Bala, looks after the production side. They are planning to expand by taking on a new part-time worker to help them at food festivals and other events.

 

The Dangerous Food Company’s jams are on sale at 20 outlets in North Wales, including Tweedmill Shopping Outlet’s new Farm Shop along with Bodnant Welsh Food Centre and local farmers’ markets. They are also available to buy online at www.dangerousfoodco.co.uk

 

 

Helen Roberts, from Cadwyn Clwyd, said: “Hamper Llangollen will be a great showcase for a wide variety of food and drink producers, all of which are helping to boost the economy of this part of North Wales.

 

“The Dangerous Food Company is a wonderful example of how two friends can create their own business, putting their dreams into action, and we are delighted to be able to bring their products to the attention of the thousands of people who will be visiting Llangollen later this month.”

 

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