Councillor's concerns over pass road closure

* A council map showing the closure and alternative route.

LLANGOLLEN county councillor Stuart Davies says he has “grave concerns” about the temporary closure of a stretch of the Horseshoe Pass just as the busy summer season begins.

Cllr Davies has learned that Denbighshire County Council recently made an order banning vehicles from using a length of the A542 pass – one of the main approach routes to the tourist town – between the Ty Cerrig/PIas Norway junction and the White Hart/Pentredwr junction to allow carriageway reconstruction and resurfacing work to go ahead.

The county council public notice detailing the order says it will come into force on June 8 and remain in place for 18 months or until the completion of the works, whichever is the earlier.

However, the county says it is anticipated that the works will take about five weeks to complete.

The altemative route available for traffic will be via the A542, A5104, A494, Castle Street, Abbey Road and A542 and will be signposted accordingly.

Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout the period of closure.

Cllr Davies said: “I have grave concerns about this closure leading up to one of the busiest times of the year for the town.

“It will mean people having to divert through Corwen adding six miles or so on to their journey.

“I will be getting in touch with officers to make sure that the works are done as quickly as possible and to ensure that the closure is kept to a minimum period of time.”

Dog fouling campaign gathers pace

Denbighshire County Council's campaign against dog fouling is gathering pace, with 97 people receiving fixed penalty notices for allowing their dogs to foul in public without cleaning up the mess since January 2015.

Ninety-five people paid their fine within the given time period.

Action was taken after an individual failed to pay their fixed penalty notices for allowing dogs to foul in public.

This meant that the council needed to pursue the matter through the courts process.

A case heard at Llandudno Magistrates Court where the matter was proved in their absence. The defendant was fined £75, costs of £145 and a victim surcharge of £20.

There were also 43 prosecutions against people who had received a Fixed Penalty Notice for littering by dropping cigarette butts. The amount of fines issued by the court (including court costs and victim surcharge) totalled over £9,000.

Councillor David Smith, Cabinet lead Member for Environment, said: "The majority of the residents of Denbighshire act in a responsible manner by cleaning the mess left by their animals.

"However, there continues to be this anti-social behaviour from a minority of people who think it's ok to leave dog mess. Not only is this anti-social but it also affects the visual image of the area and the quality of life for residents.

"That is why the Council has been running a campaign, to educate the public about the dangers, but also to enforce the law where people are willingly refusing to clean up after their animals.

"Littering is also a problem that has been highlighted as a concern by residents and we are asking people to take their rubbish home with them or use the bins provided on the county's streets.

"Taking action through the courts is very much a last resort - we would prefer not to need to issue fixed penalty notices in the first instance."

* To report problems with dog fouling in Denbighshire, go to: www.denbighshire.gov.uk/dogfouling or call the Customer Services Centre, on 01824 706101.

Residents may get speedguns combat rat runners

A story on the Denbighshire Free Press website today (Monday) says residents of Maesmawr may be given speed guns to counteract the "rat running" traffic they are enduring as a result of roadworks on the A5.

For the full story see: http://www.denbighshirefreepress.co.uk/news/148070/llangollen-rat-run-makes-residents-lives-hell.aspx

Llan school triumphs in arts competitions

Llangollen schools have done well in county-wide creative arts competitions.

For the first time ever, Denbighshire schools entered competitions covering art, creative writing, film-making and music composition as part of the festival, Denbighshire Enrichfest 2015 - Get Inspired! 

Staged in collaboration with the Arts Council of Wales, the festival aims to showcase the talents of children and young people across Denbighshire who have been challenged and inspired to produce a wide range of work, adding value to their work in the classroom across the curriculum. 

This unique Denbighshire initiative reflects current thinking that the creative arts can have a beneficial knock-on effect on children's well-being and self-esteem and can engage them in a new and innovative way and get them inspired as never before. 

Having been inspired via enrichfest.2015, many of these children and young people, it is anticipated, will go on explore careers opportunities in the increasingly important creative arts industries sector in Wales and further afield.         

No sooner has the competitions phase of Denbighshire Enrichfest.2015 reached its climax in May and a glittering Awards ceremony staged, the exciting performance elements get underway, involving 200 Primary, Secondary and Special school pupils in performing arts workshops and masterclasses, tutored by leading practitioners from the world of musical theatre, led by Mark Puddle, a native of North Wales and a leading West End London performing arts entrepreneur.

The climax to these week-long workshops, which are being held in the north and south of the county, will be Showcase Performances at Llangollen Pavilion on Friday June, 19 from 5-6:15 pm and Rhyl Pavilion Theatre on Friday June 26, from 5-6:15 pm, when the public, including parents, teachers, governors, councillors and other organisations can see for themselves the fruits of all the hard work undertaken by the children and young people.

Overall Schools Competition winners are:

Young Artist: Daniel Bailes, Year 7, Blessed Edward Jones High School, Rhyl
Young Writer: Alexander Whetstone, Year 6, Ysgol Bryn Collen, Llangollen
Short Film Competition:  Ysgol Bryn Collen (KS1), Llangollen
Young Musicians: Ysgol Dewi Sant (Year 6), Rhyl 

Councillor Eryl Williams, Cabinet Lead Member for Education, said: "We have been thoroughly delighted with the response to the Enrichfest initiative.  It has captured the imagination of our children and young people and shows that there is a real interest in Denbighshire in the creative industries sector in Wales." 

Full competition results: 

Young Artist Competition 

Reception/ Year 1 and 2:
1st  Alice Jackson, Year 1, Ysgol Bodfari.
2nd Sasha Davies-Jones, Year 1, Ysgol Bryn Collen, Llangollen
3rd  Ryan Jones, Year 1, Ysgol y Parc, Denbigh 

Years 3 and 4
1st Courtney Cox, Year 3, Ysgol Clawdd Offa, Prestatyn
2nd Alex Davies, Year 3, Ysgol Pendref, Denbigh
3rd Tom Priestley, Year 3, Ysgol Bodfari. 

Years 5 and 6
1st Ioan Beating, Year 5, Ysgol Mair, Rhyl
2nd Lori Roberts, Year 6, Ysgol Emmanuel, Rhyl
3rd  Jan Ranci, Year 6, Ysgol Mair, Rhyl 

Secondary
1st  Bayley Wilkinson, Year 9, Rhyl High School
2nd Daniel Bailes, Year 7, Blessed Edward Jones High School, Rhyl
3rd  Kieron Nolan, Year 7, Blessed Edward Jones High School, Rhyl 

Young Writer competition 

Reception, Years 1 and 2
Winner: Danielle Jones, Year 2, St Asaph Infants 

Years 3 and 4
Winner: Matilda Cook, Year 4, Ysgol Bryn Collen, Llangollen 

Years 5 and 6:
Winners: Libby Morrissey, Year 5, Ysgol Clawdd Offa, Prestatyn & Alexander Whetstone, Ysgol Bryn Collen, Llangollen 

Short Film Competition;
1st Ysgol Bryn Collen (KS1), Llangollen
2nd Ysgol Caer Drewyn, Corwen
3rd  Ysgol Bryn Collen (KS2), Llangollen 

Young Musicians: Music Composition On-line Contest:
1st  Ysgol Dewi Sant, Year 6, Rhyl
2nd Roan Pritchard, Year 6, Ysgol Emmanuel, Rhyl & Christopher Jones, Year 10, Rhyl High School. 

Major music event coming to Pavilion

Details of the programme are:

Both evening concerts begin at 7.30pm and will finish about 11.30.

Tickets are limited and you can buy from the website. (£15)

Friday eve.  7.30 pm
Whitefern Mountain String Band
Blossom Hill Bluegrass band
Baker's Fabulous boys
Ruben and Matt & The Truffle Valley Boys

Saturday eve. 7.30pm
Mind The Step (Appalachian Dance)
Kentucky Cowtippers
Grass Snakes
Ruben and Matt & The Truffle Valley Boys

WORKSHOPS
Sat (10 am - 12 noon)
Workshops - Banjo/Guitar/Mandolin/Fiddle/Dobro/D.Bass

1-30pm  - Vocal Harmony
2pm  - Appalachian Dance
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.30 pm    OPEN MIC

PICKIN' AROUND THE SITE

Cream of young talent in Mayor's Charity Concert

* Members of the Young 'Uns reprise their recent show, Half a Sixpence.

 

Pictures courtesy of Malcolm Potter.

 

THE cream of Llangollen’s young talent took to the stage at the Town Hall last Friday for the annual Mayor’s Charity Concert.

The show, proceeds from which are to be split between the town’s Christmas festival and the Wales Air Ambulance, opened with members of Llangollen Operatic Society’s junior section, the Young ‘Uns, performing scenes from its recent successful production of the musical Half a Sixpence.

They were followed by the recorder group and a specially formed rock outfit from St Collen’s School who played a song they had personally penned for the occasion.

Next on the bill came pupils from Ysgol y Gwernant with songs and recitations in the Welsh language.

During the interval the retiring Mayor, Cllr Bob Lube, presented cheques of £300 each from his charity fund to six local youth organisations.

The second half of the show began with a rousing set from Llangollen Silver Band and continued with solo musical pieces from harpist Lucy Mwale and acoustic guitarist Jamie Thomas who performed a number of his own compositions.

Finale came from the Silver Band who were called back for an encore at the end of their set.

The show was neatly compered by Llangollen’s town crier Austin Cheminais.   

 

 

* St Collen's recorder group during their performance.

* An up-tempo number from Collen Rockers.

* The girls from Ysgol y Gwernant take the stage.

Castle Street meeting planned for May 26

Town councillor Phil Thane has sent the following message about the Castle Street traffic initiative he is promoting:

Earlier this year Cittaslow Llangollen ran a Crowd Funding scheme to collect enough money to get renowned traffic engineer Ben Hamilton-Baillie to take a look at Castle Street and suggest some
possible solutions.

They got the money, booked Ben, and it's happening on May 26th at 7pm in the Town Hall.

Cittaslow Llangollen are hopeful this one day visit and presentation will kickstart some new thinking about an old problem. Everyone has an opinion about Castle Street, but Ben is an expert who has tackled many similar problems.

The presentation will last about an hour, and there will be time for questions. There will be free refreshments too, provided by the Spar.

* For more information about Cittaslow Llangollen, please visit
www.cittaslow.llangollentowncouncil.co.uk or
www.facebook.com/CittaslowLlangollen.

To download a flyer about the event on May 26th, click here:
http://bit.ly/1zVvP2s