AM secures rail commitment from Transport Minister

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for North Wales, Aled Roberts, has secured a commitment from the Transport Minister that the Welsh Government will be working with Merseyrail to deliver long-awaited improvements to connections between north Wales and Liverpool.

 

Mr Roberts said: “The recent announcement by the Tory UK Government that billions of pounds worth of rail improvements are being delayed or cut back has come as a blow to the people of north Wales.

 

“We have been waiting years for improved connectivity between north Wales and the north-west of England and it is important that plans for improvement to the Halton Curve are not jeopardised by the Tory decision; a recent report commissioned by Merseyrail suggested additional services to Liverpool via the Halton Curve should end at Chester rather than go through to Wrexham.

 

“I am pleased that the Minister acknowledges my concerns and that she and her officials are committed to working with Merseyrail to ensure that the necessary works go ahead despite the UK Government’s misguided decision."

 

Storytelling at community garden

Llan resident's recipe for more fresh food

* Robyn Lovelock with her 13-week-old son Harris.

A LLANGOLLEN woman reckons she has the recipe to make it easier for people in the town to get hold of fresh, locally produced food.

Robyn Lovelock, whose career has focused on rural economic development, is setting up a food assembly, which is a new retail model that enables direct trade between local food producers and registered customers.

It aims to do this through an online platform as well as face-to face assemblies like pop-up markets that open outside traditional daytime shop hours.

“Llangollen offers a great range of locally produced food and natural products - but it can be difficult for working people to buy it during business hours,” said Robyn.

“For those customers, the Llangollen Food Assembly will offer an easy, convenient and sociable alternative to supermarkets.

 

“For local producers, we hope to provide a reliable, efficient and enjoyable retail opportunity.”

Starting in late summer, the Llangollen Food Assembly will take place on Wednesdays from 6-8pm at the Ponsonby Arms on Mill Street, Llangollen.

Customers will be able to quickly pick up their order, spend some time talking with producers or enjoying the pub’s own food and drink.

Elissa Gravells, owner of the Ponsonby Arms who is offering the assembly space for free, said: “It’s an initiative I’m keen to support as it is in line with the pub’s commitment to using fresh, locally-produced food.”

So far, Nant Ucha eggs, Pen Y Lan sausages, Garth Organic produce, Llynclys Hall Farm, Llanvalley Natural Products and Red Rose Cakes have expressed interest in becoming suppliers, according to Robyn.

She said: “There’s still a lot of work to do before we launch as we want to offer a comprehensive range of products to customers.

“I’d like people keen to supply meat products, baked goods  - especially bread - dairy and fruit and vegetables to get in touch along with established businesses and people making products at home, allotment groups with a glut, or anybody just starting out with new products.

“This is a great opportunity for suppliers of all shapes and sizes, as they can adjust what they’re selling week by week and only need travel to the weekly food assembly if they’ve met their minimum order, to make sure it’s worth their while.

“The idea is catching on fast in the region, with food assemblies also being set up in Brymbo and Tanyffron.” 

Robyn added: “The average farmer in the UK only receives 9-15% of the retail price when supplying through conventional supply chains such as supermarkets.

“The food assembly model means suppliers receive over 80% of the retail price so local producers can invest more in their businesses – employing more people, extending their range of products.

“If we can find more ways to keep that money in the Llangollen area, over time we can increase the number of jobs available and increase investment in local resources – while enjoying good quality food at reasonable prices.”

* For more information, visit the Llangollen Food Assembly Facebook page or call Robyn on 07799 896108.

Food Assembly factfile 

* Customers order their local produce online and pick up their orders from a designated hosting venue every week at a set two-hour time – typically early evening to attract customers who may not be able to buy local products during working hours.

* The idea started in France three years ago and has now expanded to Spain, Germany, the UK and Italy, working with over 4,000 sustainable producers and 500,000 customers. 

* There are currently 11 assemblies up and running throughout the UK in both rural and urban areas with more than 2,000 registered customers and 80 active suppliers. 

* The Food Assembly won the title of Best British Food Initiative at the BBC Food and Farming Awards this year.

Llan goes Charles and Camilla crazy

* The Prince of Wales is greeted by the mayor, Cllr Mike Adams, and town councillors. All pictures by Jeanette Robinson.

Crowds thronged the centre of Llangollen this afternoon (Tuesday) to see the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall stop off in the town on their way to visit the eisteddfod's opening day.

The couple, who were greeted by the town mayor, Cllr Mike Adams, and fellow town council members on the steps of the library, then went walk-about in the crowd and also popped into Gwyn Davies the butchers in Castle Street to meet customers and staff.

Later in the afternoon, the eisteddfod 's traditional opening day parade, which Prince Charles had waved off from the field, came through the town led by its president, Terry Waite, in an open-topped vintage car and with the pace being set by Llangollen Silver Band.

* The Duchess of Cornwall on walk-about in Castle Street.

* The eisteddfod parade makes its way through the town centre.

* Children from Ysgol Bryn Collen are cheered on the way during the parade.

MP recalls 7/7 bombings

Susan Elan Jones MP has been recalling the 7/7 London bombings that took place exactly 10 years ago today.

The Clwyd South MP worked in London at the time and her office was just down the road from Edgeware Road Tube Station where six people were killed out of a total of 52 in the combined attacks on the day.

Susan Elan Jones MP said: "Unusually, on that day, I wasn't in the office as I was working at home on a research project. But right across London, there was the same eerie ambience - sounds of sirens, but virtually no vehicles moving.

"The thing that brought events home to me most was speaking to a work colleague, who had come out of the tube exit about 15 minutes before the bomb attack had taken place.

"In my view, every time politicians debate issues relating to civil liberties and surveillance, we need to do it through the prism of 7/7 and the need for proper security.

"I also believe we need to remember that people of many different nationalities. faiths and backgrounds were killed on 7/7 - and that our quest to understand people of different cultures is vital.

"This quest affects us every bit as much in North Wales as it does in London, and every other part of our country and our world."

Skates to write Labour's 2016 manifesto

Clwyd South AM Ken Skates said he was ‘honoured’ to be chosen to write the Welsh Labour manifesto for next year’s Assembly election.

First Minister Carwyn Jones asked the Wrexham-born Assembly Member to pen the party’s
pitch for May 2016 – and Mr Skates wants the public to help.

The pair will tour the country over the next few months asking people what they want to see and asking for help to shape the Wales of tomorrow.

Mr Skates said the manifesto would ‘bear the fingerprints and contain the hopes of three
million people’ from all parts of the country.

He added: “I’m both honoured and humbled to have been asked to write next year’s Welsh
Labour manifesto. It will be the boldest and most positive that any party has presented since
devolution, because it will contain the very best ideas from across the country.

“I am determined to present a visionary manifesto next year for Clwyd South, for North
Wales and for the whole of the country.  I intend to do so by calling on the creativity, ideas,
innovation and ambitions of people in every community and by travelling the length of
breadth of Wales to listen to as many as possible.”

Mr Skates will start his nationwide tour with an event in North East Wales later this month,
with details to be announced soon.

He said: “I have trust and confidence in the values of the people of Wales being the same as
those of Welsh Labour.  I want those values to underpin our future, so they should also flow
through the veins of my party's manifesto next year.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for us in North Wales to influence the Wales we
want. It's an opportunity I hope people will embrace.”

Mr Skates was elected as AM for Clwyd South with 42.4% of the vote in May 2011, following
in the footsteps of Karen Sinclair as the constituency's representative in the Assembly. He is
now the Welsh Government’s deputy minister for culture, sport and tourism.

In December he won the ‘Member to Watch’ award  at the Politician of the Year event in
Cardiff after steering the Welsh Government's  hugely successful youth employment scheme
Jobs Growth Wales and overseeing Europe’s most ambitious broadband scheme, Superfast
Cymru, in his previous role as deputy minister for skills and technology.

Global appeal launched for Eisteddfod

 

* The Eisteddfod attracts competitors and visitors from across the world.

 

An urgent global appeal is being launched secure the future of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

 

Organisers are hoping to raise £70,000 because this year's event is heading for a financial loss as a result of disappointing ticket sales.

 

With the 70th anniversary on the horizon, they are confident the event has a bright long-term future but say they need the cash to get over their short-term difficulties.

 

Supporters wishing to make a donation will be able to do so online via the Eisteddfod's website or by using Gift Aid envelopes that will be available at all the concerts during the week.

 

This year will be the 69th year the festival will have been held consecutively since it was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War to promote peace and harmony.

 

The iconic event has now grown into one of Europe's premier music and dance events, where "Wales meets the world" and the town of Llangollen is turned into a cultural melting pot.

 

Over the years it has attracted cultural icons like Luciano Pavarotti, who first took to the Eisteddfod stage as part of his father's choir from Modena in Italy in 1955 before making a triumphant return in 1995 when he was a global superstar.

 

This year competitors are expected from as far afield as Ghana, China, Hungary, India, Jamaica, Morocco, Nepal, Slovakia and Holland as well as from across the UK and Ireland.

 

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will be there tomorrow (Tuesday) when they will meet competitors taking part in the colourful Parade of Nations.

 

The appeal was announced by long-serving Eisteddfod chairman Gethin Davies who first attended the event as a young boy in 1951.

 

He said: "The Eisteddfod is an expensive festival to put on, and, like many other festivals, we have been walking a financial tight-rope for some time.

 

"By making swingeing economies in our expenditure, we managed a small surplus in 2014. 

 

"Sadly, although the economies set in motion in 2014 have continued in 2015, the disappointing sale of tickets for the concerts of this year’s Eisteddfod means that we are looking at a deficit of around £70,000 for 2015. 

 

"We are working with the Welsh Government regarding short-term assistance, but as yet they can give us no assurance of help. 

 

"Their advice was to make strenuous efforts to raise funds from our supporters in order to meet what is essentially a short-term problem. 

 

"The Eisteddfod board has submitted a three-year business plan to the Arts Council of Wales and is confident that if we can weather the present difficulties we can move into profit. 

 

"The Music Director has set out an extremely attractive concert programme for 2016 - including a household name - which we are confident will attract larger audiences, and the preliminary budget for 2016 shows a reasonable surplus.

 

Mr Davies added: "The International Eisteddfod has been a very important part of my life since 1951, when, as a small boy, I sold programmes for the Eisteddfod. 

 

"Over that period of 65 years, I have built up a treasury of happy memories of the wonderful competitors I have seen, the amazing concerts I have attended, and the incredible warmth, knowledgeability, friendliness and good will of the audience. 

 

"My children have also shared many of those experiences, and I would like my grandchildren, likewise to be able to enjoy this unique festival, and I am confident they will have that opportunity."

 

People who wish to make a donation can do so via the Llangollen International Eisteddfod's website: www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk