Be a good Christmas neighbour says county

Denbighshire County Council has issued a Christmas message, urging people to be a good friend or neighbour and look after those people who could otherwise be lonely this festive season.

 

Councillor Bobby Feeley, Cabinet Lead Member for Health and Social Care, said: “With Christmas just around the corner, many of us will be looking forward to spending time with our friends and family, we are busy organising food and presents and enjoying social gatherings.

“Sadly, Christmas is not so good for everyone, it can be a time when we are lonely, perhaps some have suffered sensory loss confining activity, their families may live away, or they may have suffered bereavement, so at this time of year, spare a thought for an older person you know who may be lonely this Christmas – give their door a knock, say hello, or invite them round for a cup of tea or a drink. Little things like these can often make a big difference, can make someone's day.
“For some people, this is what every single day is like, with nothing to do or look forward to. Many organisations, work tirelessly across Wales to tackle loneliness and isolation, organisations like Age Connects, Age Cymru, Red Cross and many others, who deliver essential befriending services that so many older people rely on; The Silver Line in Wales took over 275,000 calls last year from older people who just wanted someone to talk to. The positive impact of services like these is clear: it is estimated, for example, that spending £80 on befriending services could save up to £300 from other budgets by reducing the need for formal, high-level support. 

Councillor Feeley added: “Denbighshire has the second largest population of older people and we are working hard to encourage and support independence, thinking of new and imaginative ways to provide our residents with services to ensure sustainability into the future. Denbighshire's 'Ageing Well' programme has been a catalyst for much of the work, we are encouraging neighbourliness, involving communities and importantly tapping into that wealth of volunteers, who work selflessly to help care for loved ones, support children and grandchildren and sustain charities and communities wherever they can.

“We realise how important it is to have social contact, friends, hobbies, reasons to get up in the morning, it's good to recognise and air these things, and brilliant that so many of us are highlighting, a once taboo subject, and making great strides to tackle the problem head on."

 

Winter's Tales at Methodist Church

United carol service this Sunday

* Llangollen Town Hall: venue for the carol service this Sunday evening.

A united carol service involving churches of different denominations in Llangollen will be held at the Town hall this Sunday evening.

Refreshments will be served from 5pm and the service begins at 6pm.

Musical accompaniment will be provided by Llangollen Silver band.

Organisers say everyone is welcome.

Christmas play with a difference comes to St Collen’s

* St Collen's Church. 

A maverick vicar who approaches large companies to sponsor the nativity play at the church school, gets more than he bargained for. 

A leading children’s clothing store asks him to create two Jesuses, a baby and a toddler variety, so that they can show case their whole range.

A large car salesroom also responds positively on condition that he gives the Holy Family a car.

These are just two of the problems faced by Vicar Joe in Peter Read’s fictitious comedy, The No No Nativity, which will be performed at St Collens Church Llangollen tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday. The play is a double hander between Vicar Joe (Dave Edgar) and the school governor Marjorie Pritchard (Paula Sutton).

It was first performed at the Grand Theatre Swansea in 2010 and has been reprised by The Grown In Wales Theatre Company in a mini tour throughout North Wales.

The two final performances will be at St Collen’s this weekend.

In the play, a school choir sings two Christmas songs and they will be performed by Gwernant Primary School on Friday and Ysgol Bryn Collen on Saturday.

Peter Read is a Wrexham-born playwright who has won awards for his work, including five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe for his plays about Dylan Thomas.

He also wrote and directed the play about the Ladies of Llangollen performed at Plas Newydd this summer after being previewed at the Eisteddfod.

Grown in Wales present The No No Nativity is at St Collen’s Church Llangollen on Friday December 18 and Saturday 19 at 7pm. Tickets are £6 and £5 concessions. For advance tickets, call 01978 861768 or pay on the door.

Councillor's concern over Llan buses

One of the area’s county councillors has asked that issues related to the operation of some buses in Llangollen should be referred to a watchdog body.

Cllr Stuart Davies (pictured) said: “I am really concerned about the issues that are arising from GHA buses.

“I arranged for the operator to come to Llangollen last week to meet with passengers to discuss their issues and the attendance was very high.

“We were assured that the issues were being addressed but they seem to be on-going.

“Denbighshire County Council unfortunately no longer has control of bus companies and routes but can only point people to the Traffic Commissioners.

“I am asking our officers to put these concerns to the Traffic Commissioners and to ask that they be dealt with in a strong and forthright way.”

Llanblogger has asked GHA for a comment.

County's Christmas bin collections

Denbighshire households are being reminded of the Christmas bin collection times.

 

Refuse and recycling collection days over the festive period will remain the same unless the collection day is expected on  Christmas Day or New Year’s Day.

 

In these case the collections move to Saturday 26^th December and Saturday, 2^nd January the week after.

 

After Christmas, householders who pay for the garden waste collection service can dispose of Christmas trees in their green bins or sacks, but they may need some chopping up.

 

The three staffed recycling parks at Denbigh, Rhyl and Ruthin will all be accepting Christmas trees for recycling. Sites are open every day except Christmas day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

 

Residents in the Corwen and Llangollen areas will be able to take trees to the Saturday morning recycling service at the Highways Depot at Corwen (16^th January) and the Pavilion, Llangollen (9^th January).

 

All residents were sent a new collection calendar in November and information will be available on Denbighshire County Council’s website.

 

 

Tae Kwon-Do club's fistful of medals in top competition

* Llangollen's medal winners Harry Milne (6), Dylan Milne (14),

Lauren Milne (11) Charlotte Milne (10) and Caitlin McCourt (10).

Llangollen Tae Kwon-do Club came away with a fistful of honours from the British Taekwondo Championships in Derby.

 

Five students from the club, formed earlier this year at Llangollen Leisure Centre, won eight medals between them in the competition which is the biggest in the sport's calendar and this year attracted over 1,300 competitors and instructors from across the country including many world champions. 

 

Six-year-old Harry Milne was Llangollen's first medal winner, taking a bronze in individual yellow and green belt sparring and later adding another bronze in the team sparring event.
 

Lauren Milne (11) competing in the blue belt lightweight division won gold in individual sparring to become a British Tae Kwon-Do champion.

 

She then joined Caitlin McCourt (10) who was competing for the first time, in the team sparring event and added two more bronze medals to the Llangollen clubs tally.
 

Charlotte Milne (10) claimed a further bronze for Llangollen in her own blue belt team category. 

Finally, Dylan Milne (14) finished off an excellent year of competitions in which he had previously won many regional competitions, become Welsh and Scottish champion and also won three world titles in Italy in July.

 

He continued his winning streak by topping a very tough junior blackbelt heavyweight division to become British champion and then later added another gold medal in team sparring to take the total to eight medals from the group of five competitors who had been entered into the competition by Llangollen Tae Kwon-Do club instructor Roddie Milne.
 

The club classes are held in Llangollen Leisure Centre on Mondays 6-7pm (mixed) on Wednesdays 5-6pm for juniors and 7-8pm (mixed) and tigers classes for early years aged 3-5 in the community hall Fridays 4-4.45pm.
 

* If you are interested in any of the classes you can call Mr Milne on 07756 286203,
 or email llangollentkd@yahoo.com