Llan councillor opposes merger with Conwy

Llangollen councillor Stuart Davies has voted against the possibility of a voluntary merger between Denbighshire County Council and neighbouring Conwy.

A deadline of the end of November has been set for councils across Wales to consider expressing an interest in a voluntary merger.

Councillors in both counties met separately in September and agreed to investigate the potential of merger, providing doing so voluntarily would offer substantial financial advantages.

They met again yesterday (Monday) and agreed to a positive response to the expressions of interest request.

But during a debate on the issue at County Hall in Denbighshire, Cllr Davies argued against the idea.

He said: “My people in Llangollen are talking to me and saying, `what is the point of going to Conwy’. They don’t like the idea and don’t see the point. It’s over the other side of the mountain, and I tend to agree. I tend to look the other way towards Wrexham.

“I’m the guy who fought the fight to keep Llangollen in Denbighshire in 1999.

“I think there is still too much uncertainty in this for me and in my view we should be staying where we are.

“I’m not going to be voting for this recommendation myself.

“Like Wrexham, we should stand up and say no. I’m fed up with the Welsh Government telling us what to do.

“We should keep the status quo and for a few little bits and pieces go to Wrexham.”

Subject to the Welsh Government's response to the Expression of Interest, which is expected in January 2015, work will start on preparing a full business case for merger, to be considered by both councils in summer 2015.

Leader of Denbighshire, Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, said: "We were the first councils in Wales to publicly declare an interest in the potential of a merger with a neighbouring authority, but we must make it clear that this is an expression of interest and not a full business case for merger. We have agreed to formally explore the options, with a view to consider submitting a full business case in the summer. We believe there are a number of important reasons to proceed to develop a full business case.”

Leader of Conwy, Cllr Dilwyn Roberts, said: "There are similarities between the local authority areas - cost savings could be made. There is early encouraging support from the Welsh Government and there are advantages to voluntary merger over a compulsory move, but there are also risks to managing the merger process and the outcome. All this will be taken into account when a full business case is drawn up.”

During their discussions today, councillors in both Conwy and Denbighshire acknowledged that the impact on residents and local communities would be a key consideration.

To see a webcast of the debate go to: http://www.denbighshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/155310
Cllr Davies appears at 1.21.

Hosting Wales Rally brings "massive" opportunities to region

* The rally was at Chirk Castle on Saturday.

According to a story on the BBC news website, organisers of the event say hosting the Wales Rally GB in north and mid Wales gives businesses "massive" commercial and promotional opportunities".

For the full story see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-30074197

* The champagne finish of the rally.

Trio of stars to shine at eisteddfod concert

A TRIO of Welsh musical stars will top the bill at a Christmas concert which aims to raise cash to help bring competitors from abroad to next year’s Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

Rhys Meirion, one of the world famous Three Welsh Tenors, will appear alongside pianist Annette Bryn Parri and 14-year-old schoolboy sensation Dewi Wykes, who sang alongside opera legend Bryn Terfel in the production of Sweeney Todd at this year’s eisteddfod, at the concert on Sunday, December 14 in Llangollen Pavilion.

Masterminded by the eisteddfod’s Music and Staging Committee, proceeds from the big seasonal show will go towards the overseas competitor bursary fund which supports competitors from developing countries.           

Rhys Meirion, who was born in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, worked as a primary school headteacher at Ysgol Pentrecelyn near Ruhtin before leaving in 1997 to study opera at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Together with Aled Hall and Alun Rhys-Jenkins, he is one of the inconic Three Welsh Tenors and his album with Bryn Terfel, Benedictus, was nominated for a Classical Brit Award in 2006.

He has sung the part of Rodolfo with Frankfurst Orchestra, West Australian Opera and Opera Australia and took the title role in Gounod’s Faust in Hong Kong.

He joined English National Opera in 1999 and later became company principal from 2001 to 2004.

There he sang most of the leading tenor roles including Rodolfo in La Boheme and Pinkerton in Madam Butterfly.

He has also played the role of Alfredo in La Traviata, Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore, Nadir in The Pearl Fishers, Marcello in Leoncavallo's La Boheme, Duke in Rigoletto, Tebaldo in Capuletti e Montecchi, Tamino in The Magic Flute, title role in Ernani, Sailor in Tristan und Isolde, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Froh in Das Rheingold and Zinovy in Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk.

Rhys was in Llangollen back in July when he stopped off in the town during his 200-mile sponsored walk to raise £250,000 for the Wales Air Ambulance of which he is official ambassador.

Annette Bryn Parri is a Welsh pianist, best known as an accompanist to opera stars such as Bryn Terfel, Rebecca Evans and Jason Howard.

She appears regularly on the Llangollen International Eisteddfod stage and also at the National Eisteddfod.

Born in Deiniolen, she studied piano with Rhiannon Gabrielson and graduated in 1984 from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester after studying under Marjorie Clementi.

Whilst at Manchester, she specialized in lieder, oratorio and opera, but her particular interest was in the Romantic composers.

In 1982, she won the Grace Williams Medal for composition at the Urdd Gobaith Cymru Eisteddfod in Pwllheli.

Schoolboy Dewi Wykes caused a critical stir when he appeared on stage with Bryn Terfel in the production of the musical Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street which was the curtain raiser to this year’s Llangollen Eisteddfod.  

He was hand-picked for the role of the young Tobias Ragg alongside the great bass-baritone in the of Stephen Sondheim masterpiece, bringing the house down with his stunning performance.

Also appearing at the concert, which starts at 7.30pm, are Ysgol Mogan Llwyd who were winners of this year’s Llangollen Eisteddfod Show Choir Competition, Mountain Lane Primary School and Llangollen Silver Band.

Tickets are available from the eisteddfod offices at the Pavilion, www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk/tickets (10978 862000), Glyn Davies the Butchers in Castle Street and Jades Hair and Beauty in Oak Street, both in Llangollen. 

Sounds of Africa come to Llan tonight

 

* HAJAmadagascar & The Groovy People play the Pavilion tonight. 

Following their acclaimed performance at the Africa Oyé festival this summer, HAJAmadagascar & The Groovy People are appearing at Llangollen Pavilion tonight (Sunday) as part of their current UK tour.

 

Haja and his band, who all hail from the African island of Madagascar, are traveling across England and Wales this November to bring their unique Afro-Trance grooves to brand new audiences.

“Our music reflects our being”, Haja says.

 

“We love our traditions, but we live in big cities at the same time. Tradition and modernity can live well together. Afro-grooves are endless.”

Paul Duhaney, Artistic Director of Africa Oyé, said: "We are delighted to be touring one of the standout acts from lasts year's festival."

 

HAJAmadagascar & The Groovy People
Sunday 16th November, 2014
Llangollen Pavilion, Llangollen
£10 / 7:30pm
Tickets via skiddle.com

Limelight stages a Dickens of a good play

IF there was anything Charles Dickens relished more than writing his stories it was either reading them aloud in public or acting them out with family and friends.

And this is the basis of the current presentation by Limelight Productions at Llangollen Town Hall, A Dickens of an Evening, written and directed by Peter Read, which sees action from some of the great man's tales cleverly interwoven with aspects of his own life.

Not all Dickens’s tales had a happy ending and this is the case with some of those portrayed on stage by a fine cast of players.

Because, despite the massive fame and prosperity his writings helped him achieve in his own lifetime, Dickens was apparently not a happy man, we discover.

His difficult and strained relationship with his wife Catherine comes painfully across as does his relationship, considered scandalous at the time, with young actress Ellen Ternan.

Pete Darby gives a powerful and masterful portrayal of Dickens and thanks to his magnificent home-grown whiskers manages to look quite a bit like him too.

A sensitive interpretation of put-upon wife Catherine comes from Eiri Jones and there’s a neat cameo of Dickens’s close friend and fellow playwright and novelist Wilkie Collins by young Limelight star Joseph John Scatley.

Equally at home in his role as Dickens’s agent John Forster is Christopher Bawden, and Hannah Lilly Baker makes a believable Ellen Ternan, while Ellen’s mother, Mrs Ternan, is skilfully played by Fiona Bassett.

Each of the performers takes on secondary roles and, in the case of Christopher Bawden and Joseph John Scatley this deftly includes some of the toys from Dicken’s childhood as he reflects back on his own early Christmases.

The two-act play  includes some marvellous sequences from Dickens’s work such as his trademark Christmas Carol and his seasonally-themed short stories A Christmas Tree and The Haunted Man.

There’s still one performance of a Dickens of an Evening to run at the Town Hall, which starts at 7.30pm this evening (Saturday).

Llan's Shop Local drive joins national campaign

The Keep Llangollen Special (KLS) community group is arranging to have its next regular Buy Local Day coincide with the national Small Business Saturday to be held on December 6.

Small Business Saturday UK is a grassroots, non-political, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to ‘shop local’ and support small businesses in their communities.

The day itself takes place on the first shopping Saturday in December each year, but the campaign aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses.

Mike Edwards, of KLS, said: “We have asked Llangollen Chamber of Trade & Tourism and Cittaslow Llangollen to join us in promoting this event and we would like to appeal to all
Llangollen and Dee Valley businesses to become fully involved.

“We will be preparing and distributing posters and promotion material and I am the lead
KLS committee member on this initiative and I would be grateful if business owners would contact me at: BuyLocalLlangollen@keepllangollenspecial.org.uk.”

He added: “I would strongly urge businesses and residents to fully back Small Business
Saturday which keeps money recirculating in our Local Economy to everyone's benefit.

“We are fortunate to have numerous and diverse local businesses run by hard-working local people which keeps Llangollen vibrant and viable, and we are asking residents to use those business or face lose them due to the difficult economic circumstances."

* For more information on Small Business Saturday, go to: https://smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com/

Trains through to Corwen "exceed expectations"

At the end of a short season for passenger trains on its new extension to Corwen, Llangollen Railway has hailed the operation a "great success which exceeded expectations".

In the first 10 days of operations after the first trains for supporters ran on October 22, nearly 4,000 passengers sampled a ride on the 2.2 mile extension beyond Carrog.

 

For seven days of the half term holiday the trains operated as one steam locomotive with four coaches for the scheduled three trains a day, when the engine ran with a special headboard, The Corwen Revival.

 

The trains early in each day were fully loaded with visitors eager to experience the journey to the new temporary terminus, known by the bilingual name as Dwyrain Corwen East.

 

* Black Five 45337 with The Remembrance as viewed from the access ramp at Dwyrain Corwen East on November 9.

Kevin Gooding, general manager of Llangollen Railway, said: "We are delighted with the public response to the Corwen train services. Visitors have come from near and far to sample the extended line.

"As well as those who travelled by train from Llangollen, others joined the train at Corwen to sample the reverse journey option.

 

"This is a passenger flow we wish to develop next year when a full season of operations will commence following an official opening for the station at Dwyrain Corwen East on March 1."
 

Ken Skates, Welsh Assembly member for Clwyd South, who was on the first public train on October 27, said: "It is fantastic to see this Welsh Government-supported project going full steam ahead after decades of incredible hard work and dedication by an amazing team of volunteers.
 

"While this restoration project has been a genuine labour of love for those involved, the unbelievable amount of blood, sweat and tear that’s gone into this fantastic achievement cannot be over estimated.
 

"They have turned a mission impossible into a reality and created something we can all be exceptionally proud of."
 

During the final weekend of trains, on November 8 and 9, the locomotive, Black Five, No.45337, ran with a special headboard, The Remembrance, to mark the national commemoration of the centenary of the First World War.

 

In addition, the owners of the locomotive, the 26B Loco Company, arranged for the nameplate Ayrshire Yeomanry to be fixed to the running plate, as formerly carried by long lost class mate No.45156.

The railway says that whilst the train operations were successful, some lessons have been learned about passenger expectations and that their needs will be incorporated into the procedures for the next series of trains to Corwen during the Mince Pie Special season from December 26.

 

In the meantime work will continue with the fitting out of the facilities at the temporary station which requires, amongst other things, the provision of electric power with a link up to the mains supply and the completion of a footpath to the entrance.

 

George Jones, for Llangollen Railway, said: "Everyone is pleased with the success of the trains on the extended line.

 

"However, the operation has demonstrated the limitations of terminating at the phase 1 station which is without facilities to run an engine around the train.

 

"This emphasises the need to proceed to the phase 2 terminal station nearer the town centre directly funding can be secured for this final stage of the extension project. Only then will all the advantages of serving Corwen be realised."