World War two plane flies over Llan

* The RAF Dakota which overflew Llangollen yesterday.

A number of local people yesterday (Thursday) reported seeing an RAF Dakota - the famous World War Two transport aircraft - overflying Llangollen on two occasions in the afternoon.

llanblogger asked the press office for the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, for more details about the plane painted with D-Day recognition white stripes on both wings.

This morning they have replied: "The Dakota was heading to RAF Valley to do a display for Valleys families’ day.

“Families’ days are when the station opens up to the families of service personnel so they can look around and see what their spouses/parents actually do.

“They also have various stalls and entertainments and it’s very much a social event as a thank you to them for putting up with the more unsociable aspects of the job.”

 

Dementia is society's biggest crisis, warns advisor

 

* Steve Ford, Dementia Care Lead  for Care Forum Wales.

 

A dementia expert from North Wales has warned the condition is the biggest crisis facing society today.

 

The stark message came from Steve Ford, the dementia advisor of Care Forum Wales (CFW) which represents more than 500 independent care providers in Wales.

 

There are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, a number that’s forecast to double within a generation, a fact that Steve Ford describes as the “dementia time-bomb”.

 

By 2021, the number of people with dementia across Wales is projected to increase by 31 per cent and by as much as 44 per cent in some rural areas

 

Mr Ford, managing director Pembroke Nursing Homes in Colwyn Bay, was speaking at a free training event organised by Care Forum Wales at Conwy Business Centre.

 

He said: “Dementia really is a ticking time-bomb as the baby boomer generation reach old age there is a logistical challenge that we urgently need to address. We need to plan now to meet these huge challenges.

 

“Nursing homes and care providers need to work together now to create solutions. We will all be affected in one way or another.

 

"We need to incorporate positive change into our working practices at the care and nursing homes in which we work. We need to be bold, creative and above all emphatic.

 

“There is a perception that old age is a burden when we really should be celebrating longevity.

 

“We really are facing this demographic time-bomb with an increased expectation of higher quality services versus ever decreasing accommodation resources and funding.

 

“That means we can expect the number of people with dementia to double by the year 2040. It is essential, therefore, that care home staff are given the skills, expertise and knowledge to deliver safe and effective quality care with compassion.”

 

According to Ceri Roberts, managing director of Cariad Care Homes, which operates homes at Criccieth and Porthmadog, the seminar was excellent.

 

She said: “There is a great deal I and members of staff that have been able to attend can take back and cascade down to other staff and all our care assistants.

 

“There is so much we can do to and it’s about thinking outside the box when we go about our everyday nursing roles. Dementia is a huge issue for us and ensuring we provide the very best care is of paramount importance to us all.

 

“Being made aware of best practice and being able to learn from Steve Ford’s knowledge and years of practical experience is really important.”

 

It was a sentiment echoed by Maggie Hawley, deputy matron of Cerrig Yr Afon, Nursing and Residential Care Home, at Y Felinheli.

 

She said “It’s important we work together to ensure best practice and that we are all delivering the very best care we can. Everything we have learnt today I will be endeavouring to pass on to our carers and staff.

 

“I’m delighted Care Forum Wales, through Steve Ford, has organised these free to attend training seminars.”

 

Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, described Steve Ford as a "first class practitioner".

 

He said: "The fact that people are living longer is a great thing, but with that comes this significant increase of those people who will have a form of dementia and, of course, some of those need a great deal of care.

 

"The benefit of having a training session conducted by somebody of Steve's calibre as opposed to somebody who’s maybe just an academic is that he actually understands day in, day out, how you get the very best out of people, how you are able to develop your staff team to ensure the very best quality of care, best quality of life and that that care is delivered with respect and dignity in a very person centred way."

Chain Bridge re-opens after over 30 years

llanblogger special report ...

 

 

* Eddie Butler performs the official opening of the Chain Bridge.

 

 

* The first 10 VIPs walk across the re-opened bridge.

 

 

* Llangollen Town Clerk Gareth Thomas with Sandra Baker, clerk to Llantysilio Community Council, who were both closely

involved with the project, make the crossing.

 

* VIPs disembark at Llangollen Wharf after their return boat trip along the canal. 

LLANGOLLEN’S world famous Chain Bridge re-opened to the public today (Thursday) for the first time in over 30 years.

Eddie Butler, rugby commentator and presenter of the former BBC Wales series Hidden Histories, officially unveiled the iconic structure - thought to be the oldest chain link bridge in the world - following its recent £350,000 facelift, which took just over a year to complete.

VIPs arrived by steam train at Berwyn Station for the official opening ceremony at lunchtime and, after walking across the newly-opened bridge, travelled back to Llangollen Station by canal boat.

Among invited guests were John Pickering, a direct descendent of Exuperius Pickering who built the first bridge, and Sarah and Jamie Robertson, descendents of Henry and Sir Henry Robertson who built the second and third bridge.  

Llangollen Town and Llantysilio Community Councils embarked on a painstaking project to restore the historic Chain Bridge about four years ago after buying it for just £1 after it had fallen into disrepair after years of neglect.

The project received a large grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund plus funding from WREN, which distributes funds donated by FCC to the Landfill Communities Fund, Denbighshire County Council, Cadwyn Clwyd and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Acknowledged as a gem of the Dee Valley, the Chain Bridge was originally built in 1817 by local coal merchant Exuperius Pickering to open up a cheap transport route across the River Dee enabling him to transport coal to the A5.

It was later rebuilt by Henry Robertson in the 1870s and again by his son. Sir Henry Beyer Robertson, in 1928.

He rebuilt the suspension bridge which can be seen today, re-using the old chain links as suspension cables.

The bridge will now re-establish the strong link between Llangollen heritage railway and the canal, part of the Pontcysyllte World Heritage site.

Descendants of both Exuperius Pickering and Henry Robertson will attend the official re-opening along with the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Ken Skates AM, and Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones. 

Ken Skates said: “The re-opened Chain Bridge will act as the perfect addition to the wide heritage offer in this beautiful part of Wales.

“It sits at the heart of a World Heritage Site and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, making it a key part of the thriving tourism industry in the region.” 

* The first Chain Bridge (courtesy of Llangollen Museum). 

A distinctive engineering landmark, the bridge is of vital importance to the area’s industrial heritage and the re-opening has been welcomed by Nigel Clubb, chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Wales, who said: “We’re thrilled to see this prominent feature from Llangollen’s past restored to its former glory and that National Lottery player’s money has played a part in this.

“I would like to congratulate the project team on their hard work on bringing the bridge back to life and look forward to seeing it thrive as an important local attraction once more.”

Samantha Jones, Chain Bridge heritage officer, said: “This has really been a labour of love for all involved and it’s so exciting to see all that hard work finally come to fruition. Communities in both Llangollen and Llantysilio have really come together to ensure that the bridge becomes an important transport link once more. We can’t wait for descendants of those who built the original bridges to mark the next chapter in the bridge’s history with us.”

Meleri Jones, WREN grant manager said: “WREN is committed to funding projects that make a real difference to local communities, children and families.

“We’re delighted to have been able to support the restoration of the Chain Bridge and look forward to seeing the new bridge in use once more.”

* Stewarding duties for the occasion were performed by members of Llangollen's Tidy Town Team.

* The third bridge (courtesy of Llangollen Museum).

Valley Girls take high level canal paddle

* Valley Girls before embarking on their canal adventure.

INTREPID members of Valley Girls WI proved their organisation isn’t all “Jam and Jerusalem” by taking the water – 38 metres above the ground.

Joined by members of Chirk and Trevor WIs, the Llangollen adventurers took an exhilarating paddle along the canal where it flows high in the sky over Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. 

A spokeswoman for Valley Girls said: “We made the trip under the watchful eye of ProAdventure from Llangollen who were excellent.

“They are keen to encourage more local groups to try out activities with them. They have clients from all over the UK and beyond but say rarely do local groups have a go. But the Valley Girls can highly recommend them.” 

 

 

* Paddling along 38 metres in the air.

 

Expert airs views on easing Castle Street traffic

* Traffic expert Ben Hamilton-Baillie addresses the Town Hall audience.

THE scrapping of traffic lights at the A5 junction, the creation of special zones to help slow down vehicles as they enter the town and flattening of kerbs on the bridge.

These were amongst the suggestions put forward by a visiting expert to ease traffic problems on Llangollen’s busy Castle Street at a public meeting last night (Tuesday).

Earlier this year the Cittaslow Llangollen group, which aims to improve local quality of life, ran a crowd funding scheme to collect enough money to get renowned traffic engineer Ben Hamilton-Baillie to take a look at the town’s main street and suggest solutions to deal with snarl-ups.

After spending the day analysing conditions in and around Castle Street he presented his findings to a meeting in the Town Hall.   

Mr Hamilton-Baillie has an impressive track record of producing schemes to cure traffic headaches in towns across the UK and abroad, all based on balancing out the competing requirements of drivers and pedestrians.

He told an audience of about 60 people, including representatives of the town and county councils, that while he did not have any solutions he would offer a number of ideas to improve Castle Street which could form the basis of future discussion.

Explaining that many towns were now filled with “expensive kit” such as signs, signals and lights, to control traffic, Llangollen was “nowhere near as bad” as some other places.

He went on to give examples of schemes he had worked on, including London’s Exhibition Road and Poynton in Cheshire, where measures put in place to slow down traffic and create pedestrian areas even at once-busy junctions had been highly successful.

These had been based on introducing features such as paved areas which could be shared by vehicles and pedestrians.

Stressing that it was a “great mistake to treat drivers as idiots,” Mr Hamilton-Baillie that determining the safe speed at which vehicles could pass through a town centre was crucial to success and provided the basis for all other aspects of a scheme.

He also said that while red lights could be useful to stop traffic in some cases, he did not like to give motorists a green light, which suggested they were free to speed ahead when traffic lights change.

Giving instances of where lights had been removed completely making no difference to safety, he said: “I’m not sure the signals at the junction of the A5 and Castle Street are necessary. I would do something else.”

He also explained the importance of clearly defining the places where vehicles should change from highway driving to a much slower style.

In Llangollen, with its two main roads, he suggested the creation of paved areas in the road to highlight these spots – around the Sarah Ponsonby pub in Mill Street and in front of St John’s Church in Abbey Road on the A539/A542 and near the end of Brook Street and the junction of  Market Street on the A5.

Mr Hamilton-Baillie also suggested the creation of pedestrian areas in Queen Square and around Royal Gardens, site of the town’s war memorial, to help slow down traffic passing along Castle Street.

Another of his ideas to achieve the same aim was to flatten the kerbs on the bridge.

Other possibilities were the re-siting of pedestrian crossings in front of the Bridge End Hotel and close to Stan’s supermarket to more practical areas for pedestrians.

On the often thorny issue of parking along a stretch of Castle Street, he said it was “no bad thing” for traffic to have to pause as it passed the row of cars.

However, he said it would be more practical to have short blocks of parking rather than one long line as at present.

At the end of his hour-long presentation, which was followed by a question and answer session, Mr Hamilton-Baillie told the audience: “Llangollen is not in crisis but you need to have a clear vision of which way you want to go.”

Town councillor Phil Thane, who arranged the exercise, said Mr Hamilton-Baillie’s ideas would be discussed by the town council at its meeting this week and there could then be discussions between the authority and Denbighshire County Council.

UB40 will be together on eisteddfod stage

* UB40 will close Llangollen 2015 on Sunday July 12.

The music legend who formed one of the world’s top reggae bands has spoken about the bitter feud with his brother who's in a rival version of their original group.

Ali Campbell, the legendary voice of UB40, will be one of the star attractions at the Llangollen International Music Festival this year.

He will be reunited on the eisteddfod stage with percussionist, trumpet player and vocalist, Astro and keyboard player, Mickey, all three being founding members of the original UB40.

Campbell and Mickey left the original UB40 in 2008 but the vocalist admits things just weren’t the same until Astro joined them in 2013 after he walked away from the remaining UB40 band members.

He said: “It was, and remains, a very acrimonious and bitter split. My brother, Duncan, betrayed me. I used to go to him for advice and told him I wasn’t happy with the way the band was being managed.

“He agreed with me that the band was being badly represented and business decisions were being wrongly taken and told me the best thing to do was walk away and refuse to sing any longer which is what I did.

“The next thing I know Duncan has taken over as lead vocalist and has been murdering my songs ever since.”

He added: “But once Astro decided he had to walk away - the original UB40 doing a country album being the final straw - and join Mickey and myself it’s being like going back to our early UB40 days.

“High energy, packed sell-out audiences and we are back on our mission taking reggae music to the world.

“Llangollen, I can promise, won’t have ever seen a concert like the one we intend to put on. I know Status Quo were there last year, well I can promise you this, we’ll smash them."

The gig on Sunday, July 12, will be the final concert of Eisteddfod week and is being sponsored by the Village Bakery.

Managing Director Robin Jones said: "We're very proud to have supported the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod for a number of years because it is such a fantastic festival that puts Wales on the world map.

 

"We can't wait to be in the audience when Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey bring the curtain down on this year's. I'm sure it's going to a brilliant concert."

 

Other big draws during Eisteddfod week include Oscar-winning music legend Burt Bacharach, the immensely popular Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, heart-throb tenor Alfie Boe and TV choirmaster Gareth Malone.

 

There will also be the world premiere of a new work to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Welsh colony in Patagonia in a concert that will also star former royal harpist Catrin Finch.

 

According to Campbell, now 56, who was born and raised in Birmingham, he can't wait to experience the magic of the Llangollen Eisteddfod.

He said: “We are promoting reggae to packed audiences right around the world and are really looking forward to Llangollen.”

“Reggae just gives you something different, a freedom I suppose. It’s probably the youngest genre around but I listen to music from all around the world and the reggae influence is massive. It’s so influential."

Campbell, who now lives in Christchurch on the south coast, added: "We are in the middle of world tour which is going brilliantly. The simple truth is we are the hottest reggae band around. If you want real reggae and the real UB40 then it has to be us.

“In the last year we have performed in Australia and New Zealand, where I was one of the three judges on New Zealand’s Got talent, and Papua New Guinea.

Father-of-eight Campbell added: “I just want to put on the best show possible and that’s what I promise UB40 fans who come to see our shows. Llangollen won’t have seen anything like it, it’s that simple.”

The Llangollen International Music Festival's musical director, Eilir Owen Griffiths, said: “We try to ensure as many genres as possible are represented at the Eisteddfod and I’m sure the audience will be thrilled to hear Ali Campbell, the legendary voice of UB40, with Astro and Mickey performing all those top UB40 hits.

“It promises to be a wonderful final concert and it will be a great way to bring the curtain down on what promises to be another fantastic week-long festival.   

He added: “The unique atmosphere will be evident on the Eisteddfod field throughout the week as hundreds of competitors and thousands of visitors mingle with spontaneous performances breaking out.

“It’s a fantastic event and, like many of our volunteers, staff and supporters, I absolutely love it.”

* To book tickets and for more details on the 2014 festival go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

Castle Street traffic meeting tonight

This meeting is tonight ...