Special loco heading for Llan Railway

* The Small Prairie loco No. 4566 on the Severn Valley Railway this summer.

LLANGOLLEN Railway is expecting a special visitor next spring.

Arrangements have been made for GWR Small Prairie No.4566 to attend the Spring Steam Gala which will take place over three days from Friday - Sunday April 8-10.

Featuring an intensive timetable of both passenger and freight trains, a great collection of historic steam locomotives and special attractions along the line, the event aims to offer something for railway enthusiasts and families.

Normally resident at the Severn Valley Railway, No.4566 will be travelling by road to visit the line and will be in operation alongside the railway's own home fleet.

For more details, visit the website: www.llangollen-railway.co.uk

MP explains her position on Syria bombing vote

Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones has issued the following statement explaining her position on last night's vote to allow the RAF to bomb in Syria:


I would like to thank all my constituents who have contacted me since the atrocities in Paris, Beirut, Sinai, Tunisia and Ankara with their views on how best we should deal with the global threat that our country and the rest of the free world faces from ISIL/Daesh.

With our security services having foiled at least seven serious terror plots in the past year and our country's threat of attack at 'severe' level, I am not surprised that most people in our area paid little regard to the argument peddled by some that we as a country are to blame for standing up for the security and defence of our nation.

I received a very wide range of opinions from hundreds of constituents regarding whether the United Kingdom be authorised to extend targeted air-strikes from Northern Iraq across the border into Syria. Some constituents felt we needed to go further than Government proposals and that the UK should send ground troops. Others expressed a purely pacifist position - against any form of military action in Syria or anywhere else in the world at any point.

But most views I received stood between these positions. Some felt we should 'stay away' yet others spoke of the need to support the UN resolution by joining France, Germany, Russia and the US in targeted air-strikes, as one constituent put it: "Labour is an internationalist party; it is right that we show solidarity with President Hollande and the people of France".  Others pointed to the logical inconsistency (a view I have long held) of supporting air-strikes against ISIL/Daesh in Northern Iraq but not across the Syrian border in Raqqa where ISIL/Daesh have their headquarters.

Both among constituents who favoured air-strikes and those who did not, there was strong support for the Vienna talks held by the international Syria Support Group and the way in which that group had brought together a wide coalition of nations. The UK is indeed now part of a coalition of over 60 nations, and it is incumbent on us to work with other countries to cut off the flow of finance, fighters, and weapons to Daesh/ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

What struck me most from communications from constituents was the very thoughtful nature of most of the emails and letters, with one constituent, who was personally against air-strikes, expressing the views of many by describing the decision as "finely balanced". Another constituent described how air-strikes had enabled the Kurds to stand up to ISIL/Daesh. Others feared that there would be inadequate ground-troops in Syria and feared that Britain might have to send ground troops (something I do not feel that we should support).


I appreciate the very considered feed-back from my  constituents. I read every single piece of correspondence from my constituents on this issue. While I was not immune to receiving some limited and unacceptable abuse, this was happily rare, compared with that received by some MPs in other parts of the country. I know most of my constituents will be aware that I do not get intimidated by any attempts of bullying, whether on social media or any other way! Any attempts to intimidate me in the exercise of my representative duty will not succeed.

One issue that concerns me immensely is that we must always challenge the casual racism that insinuates ISIL/Daesh is anything to do with ordinary Muslims, as it is Muslim people who have been on the receiving end of more ISIL/Daesh brutality than that of any other faith group. Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are always wrong. In an area like ours which is home to only a very small number of Muslims and Jews, I think it is particularly important that we all challenge abusive comments against people of these faiths.

Finally, I realise that Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Shadow Cabinet have been viciously criticised by groups like the 'Stop the War Coalition' and by individuals like George Galloway for allowing Labour MPs a free vote on the decision that came before Parliament. Although I have always been open about the fact that I did not vote for Jeremy Corbyn in September's Labour Leadership election, I believe that he and the Labour Shadow Cabinet deserve heartfelt praise for that courageous decision. They acted in the spirit of the democratic socialist party that Labour is; not the narrow sect that some people would like to turn the Labour Party into.

It was that openness to allow Labour MPs to choose in line with conscience, careful consideration and constituent opinion, that led me to go into the same division lobby as Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson, Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn and many other MPs. The key factors for me were: it made no sense to allow our RAF to undertake targeted air-strikes in Iraq but not across the border in Syria, the location of ISIL/Daesh's headquarters; and that I could not reconcile the unanimous resolution of the UN that we should take all necessary measures to counter ISIL/Daesh into a false choice between military and non-military action. The motion that MPs supported makes a clear commitment to seek to cut off ISIL/Daesh's sources of finance, fighters and weapons: it is right that it does so.

When tomorrow's Hansard is published, I would urge everyone to read the outstanding speech made by Shadow Foreign Secretary, Hilary Benn, towards the end of the Parliamentary debate. The speech well illustrates how our commitment to pluralism, freedom and the security of our nation and all those who face suffering matters in a dangerous world. 

Twenty Club auditions for gritty Lancashire classic

* Grim up north: Twenty Club is to stage Love on the Dole next spring.

FOLLOWING their second sell-out production of Fawlty Towers, Llangollen Twenty Club are heading north to 1930s Lancashire for their next production.

Love on the Dole, by Walter Greenwood and adapted for the stage by Ronald Gow, will be directed for the club by Christine Dukes and will presented next March.
The Great Depression has gripped everyone in Hanky Park, Lancashire.

Despite the joy of her recent engagement, Sally Hardcastle and her family are struggling to make ends meet.

Her brother, Harry, faces an uncertain future - out of work, a baby on the way and facing the dreaded Means Test.

When a powerful rival for Sally's affection makes his feelings known, she's offered the chance to save her family from being torn apart. But can Sally sacrifice her integrity to secure the happiness of the people she loves?

The club is looking for actors to take on a range of parts covering all ages.

Full character profiles can be found on the event page here. 

Auditions will be at on Wednesday December 9 at 7pm at The Hand Hotel in Llangollen (ask for the Denbigh Room).

To register your interest to receive more information about the audition, go to:  facebook.com/twentyclub or email contact@twentyclub.co.uk

Festive celebration at the Abbey

Free after three parking for Christmas

Denbighshire County Council has announced that the "Free After 3" parking scheme will again operate in Llangollen this year to help support the town centre in the run-up to Christmas. 

The scheme provides free parking in all council operated pay & display car parks in town centres after 3pm on a daily basis.

Llangollen car parks are also free all day this Saturday.

The scheme operates until the 31st December 2015.

Llangollen car parks involved are:

* East Street
* Hall Street
* Market Street
* Mill Street

Support urged for Small Business Saturday

 

Denbighshire County Council is urging residents to support their local businesses on Saturday.

 

The day has been designated Small Business Saturday and a national campaign has been launched to encourage people to consider shopping locally.

 

The county council is supporting the initiative and has launched its own publicity and marketing campaign.

 

Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, Leader of Denbighshire, who is also the Lead Member for the Economy, said: “Our teams of staff have already been out and about talking to businesses and encouraging them to display posters and we have been delighted with the response.

 

“We want to emphasise the importance of shopping locally and accessing the wide variety of goods and services that can be accessed in our own communities.  We would ask residents to help us spread the word about the campaign and lets see our town centres thriving on December 5.

 

“We hope that the council’s free after three parking initiative where people can park for free in our pay and display car parks in the town centres will also encourage more people to visit town, rather than visit out of county locations."

 

* To find out more information about Small Business Saturday, please visit: www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com

County gives details of its financial position

Denbighshire County Council says it continues to invest in major projects, with over £200 million either spent or planned for projects county-wide.

 

The authority says it is also protecting key services during difficult financial times.

 

Councillors meeting in County Hall, Ruthin yesterday were updated on the current budget position.

 

The council needs to save £15.7 million over two years. 

 

£7.8 million has been identified for 2015/16, with a further £5.2 million in 2016/17.  Further work is going on to identify how the council can bridge the gap.

 

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Assets, said: “The vast majority (82%) of the savings made so far have been efficiency or other measures which have not negatively had an impact on services to the public and that has been down to careful planning and making savings through working more efficiently.

 

“We also kept our Council Tax increase low, with the increase of 2.75% being one of the lowest in Wales and this level of increase is the working assumption for 2016/17. Residents have asked us to keep any increases to a minimum and councillors agreed this was the right thing to do."

 

At the same time as dealing with a funding cut, the council set priorities to

protect and invest in important service areas such as schools, social care and the roads and has continued to achieve this throughout the budget process.

 

Some of the headline investments:

·         £96.8 m for schools

·         £18.4 m for roads

·         £21.5 m for social care

·         £16.1 m for floods and coastal defence

·         £26.8 for  economic development and regeneration

·         £6.7 m for leisure and libraries

·         £9.3 m on other key projects.

Leader of Denbighshire, Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, said: “We are on schedule to deliver all of the savings identified for this financial year and are proposing a further set of cuts for the following 12 months.

 

“However, our approach is to trim down on services through being more efficient, identifying budgets that are historically underspent and cutting our cloth accordingly. 

 

“We are committed to protecting key services as much as possibly can and identifying savings through looking at all aspects of our services. This way of working provides confidence that the Council is working to protect public money through investing in those areas needed and saving costs through careful planning and monitoring.”