Friends of the Earth film show planned

Llangollen Friends of the Earth has a special film showing at St Collen's Community Hall early next month. For details, see below ...

Santa sleighs 'em with alternative forms of transport

* Santa tries a hot air balloon.

In preparation for the Llangollen Christmas Festival Santa has been trying out some alternatives to his traditional sleigh.

Santa told us: “Sometimes I worry about how I’d manage if the sleigh broke down or something happened to the reindeer.”

He was recently spotted in a hot air balloon at Llangollen’s Balloon Festival and has also been seen around town about on a Segway. 

The 101 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers even let Santa try one of their armoured vehicles.

The reindeer needn’t worry about being replaced though because Santa has decided that the fastest, safest and most comfortable way to travel is definitely a sleigh.

Llangollen’s Christmas Festival will take place on Saturday November 26 and starts at 1pm with a parade through town.

You can see Sion Corn in his sleigh and then visit him in his grotto.

* ... aboard a segway

* ... and in a tank.

Crime boss needs your help with policing blueprint

A police boss is appealing for the public's help in drawing up a new blueprint for the policing of North Wales.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones is joining forces with Chief Constable Mark Polin for a series of consultation meetings across the region.

The next meeting is at Glyndwr University in Wrexham at 6.30pm on Monday, November 14.

Alternatively, people can fill in an online survey to let their views be known by going to:
www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2992284/Police-and-Crime-Plan-Consultation-2016-2017

Mr Jones, a former police inspector, said: "There is an open invitation to all members of the community to come and share their views with us.

“As a police and crime commissioner, I have a statutory duty to consult local people on policing priorities.

“I will be drafting the new Police and Crime Plan and in order to do that we need to be aware what local people believe that the policing priorities should be.

“These meetings are a way of gauging public opinion and in this instance we will be assessing what people think.

* Chief Constable Mark Polin, left with PCC Arfon Jones.

“I will be consulting jointly with the Chief Constable in these meetings but I will also hold additional meetings in other parts of the force area so we can garner views of both the urban and rural population in North Wales.

"Listening to local people is one of the most important parts of my role and it is vital that people have a true voice in policing.

“We are keen that as many members of the public as possible attend these meetings and not just local councillors who have their own channels to pass on their views,"

"This is the police service for North Wales and it is only right and proper that everyone has a chance to have their say.”

The Police and Crime Plan will set out the strategic priorities, aims and objectives for North Wales Police for the next four years.

Chief Constable Polin added: “Everyone has a right to be safe and feel safe. However,
the threats to safety are changing and people are now more likely to be subjected to crime committed online and the national rise in serious and potentially very harmful  threats, such as from Child Sexual Exploitation, are emerging locally too.   

“I want communities to know that we care, to be sighted on the challenges we face in safeguarding them and to feel informed about how we are, and will continue, to respond to those challenges with their help. Providing good quality policing services remains at the centre of what we do, and we are placing significant priority on this as an organisation.

“Hearing what our communities think about the service we deliver and the trust and confidence that they place in us is also incredibly important.”

The meetings will be held at Glyndwr University in Wrexham on Monday, November 14, at 6.30 pm; Rhyl Rugby Club, Vale Road, on Wednesday, November 30 at 6.30 pm: and  Penllyn Leisure Centre, Bala, Wednesday, December 7, at 6.30 pm. People wanting to complete the online survey should go to www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2992284/Police-and-Crime-Plan-Consultation-2016-2017

Chance to win panto tickets with county campaign

* Scene from the panto Peter Pan.

Shoppers could bag themselves a festive family treat this Christmas.

As part of the #LoveLiveLocal campaign anyone who uses the hashtag to post pictures of local purchases on social media is in with the chance to win one of three sets of family tickets to see Peter Pan at the Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl this Christmas.

The Denbighshire County Council-led campaign aims to encourage shopping at local businesses within the county.

The pantomime, which runs from Friday, December 9 to Saturday, January 7, stars Mark Little as Captain Hook.

Mark is best known for his portrayal of Joe Mangel in Australian soap Neighbours where he created one of Ramsay Street’s legendary characters.

Also staring in the panto are Derek Moran, from Channel 5’s leading children’s TV strand Milkshake, as Peter Pan and Juliet Cadzow, who plays Edie McCredie in the award winning CBBC children’s TV series Balamory, as Mrs Darling.

Wales’ very own Sean Jones, who plays Smee, is returning for his fifth consecutive pantomime at the Pavilion.

For the chance to win one of three family tickets, which offer entry for two adults and two children to Peter Pan, simply post a picture of a great product or service you have received at a local business in Denbighshire to #LoveLiveLocal on social media by November 30. 

Berwyn Station takes a trip into the past

* The waiting room restored to its Edwardian glory.

A small but dedicated bunch of railway volunteers have been hard at work restoring the iconic Berwyn station back to its Edwardian glory.

Built for the convenience of local landowners in 1865, the station soon became a popular stop for holidaymakers and tourists to the Dee Valley, due to its close proximity to the Horseshoe Falls, Chain Bridge and associated Hotel. 

However, in the 1950s the station building closed to the public and after the Ruabon to Barmouth railway line closed in the 1960s, the station gradually fell into disrepair.  Trains returned to Berwyn in 1985 thanks to the efforts of the Llangollen Railway and work has progressed in restoring the station back to its former glory.

Recently efforts have been focussing on the former ticket office, with a replica wooden counter having been commissioned and installed last winter.

Period fixtures and fittings have been painstakingly sourced from all over the UK, so that the room now resembles how it would have looked in the early 1900s. In the restored waiting room, traditional oil lamps are in the process of being installed, to compliment the surviving large original fireplace. 

The station will be open this weekend, with volunteers on-hand to recreate the workings of a traditional country station in the steam age. Enjoy cream teas in the station tea room, explore the riverside walks or take a nostalgic trip along the preserved Llangollen Railway. Steam hauled trains depart from Berwyn towards Corwen at 10.48, 13.08 and 15.18, and towards Llangollen at 12.10, 14.30 and 16.40.

In the underpass to the Chain Bridge at the eastern end of Berwyn station, there are poignant reminders of local sacrifice during the First World War. The white-glazed bricks that line the underpass seem to have taken pencil marks readily, with some of the still legible messages dating from 1914 - 1918.
 
One message is signed by R.Roberts in July 1913. Next to it and dated 25 December 1914, is written Lance Corporal R.Roberts - suggesting he had enlisted, been promoted and returned for Christmas leave. 

One message says "Berlin last stop", another is signed "Balls from Belgium". One is signed A. J. Candy – an Alfred James Candy is honoured on Llangollen’s War Memorial (unveiled by Capt. Best of Vivod on July 8th 1923) as having fallen in action. Four out of eleven soldiers' names that have been researched appear on the war memorial.

As a mark of respect, a commemorative poppy wreath will also be on display at Berwyn, along with an authentic GWR personnel stretcher.

Councillor's daughter wins top national award

The daughter of a Llangollen county councillor has taken one of the top honours in major national awards.

Sarah-Alice Davies (pictured), whose father is Stuart Davies, landed the title of Graduate of the Year in the 2016 Oil and Gas UK Awards the winners of which were announced in Aberdeen.

A former pupil of Ysgol Bryn Collen and Ysgol Dinas Bran in the town, 27-year-old Sarah-Alice graduated with a first class masters degree in Chemistry from Bath University in 2010.

She is currently an engineer working for the design department of Shell UK Ltd.

Awards judges heard how she became one of the first graduates to attain two international postings in difficult, remote locations.

Her competence has given her the opportunity to deliver the first shale oil to the Middle East from Jordan’s deserts and supervise rig and interventions operations in the jungles of Gabon.  

At the presentation evening, she described how while managing a team of local operatives in Gabon she identified the high level of competence shown by one man and helped secure his promotion after 20 years, adding: “It was pretty amazing to see his reaction.”

She also spoke of having to cope with elephants and gorillas along with leopards sleeping on pipelines while based in Gabon.

Sarah-Alice said: “As a young person finishing university you’re full of excitement and energy and you need to utilise every day.

“If you have the opportunity to go international I think you should definitely see the world.

“Experiencing different cultures, languages and religions is the way to win people over.”      

Twenty Club's Vicar of Dibley raises a litany of laughs

* The cast of The Vicar of Dibley.

Some truly inspired casting allowed Llangollen’s Twenty Club to present a divine piece of comedy with The Vicar of Dibley at the Town Hall last night.

This meant that each of the key characters in this ecclesiastical romp so familiar to fans of the smash-hit TV series was portrayed by actors of such competence – both experienced and new – that their parts fitted them like well-worn cassocks.

And this made for some truly hilarious results.

Revving up the laughs in the title role of Geraldine Granger, the lady vicar who arrives unexpectedly to take over the parish following the death of a long-serving incumbent, was the marvellous Louise Cielecki, a veteran of many local am dram performances and fresh out of drama school.

While paying due homage to Dawn French who made the part famous on the box, she also managed to come up with her own nuanced interpretation of the role which at times brought the audience to the verge of tears of laughter.

Another rip-snorting cameo was provided by Chris Sims as Jim Trott. No, no, no, no, er, yes, yes, it was. He had the dithering parish council member off to a tee, gruff voice, stooped posture and all.

There can’t be many young amateur actresses out there who could have handled so competently the role of dotty parish verger Alice Tinker as 17-year-old Carys Stallard. Again, this uncannily accurate portrayal of TV original Emma Chambers can only have come as the result of many hours of keen observation.

Those old Vicar of Dibley recordings must truly be worn out by now as it was the same happy story with Eric Jones who brilliantly doubled for John Bluthal playing the bumbling, bow-tied parish clerk Frank Pickle.

In his first play with the Twenty Club Graham Smith also shone brightly as foul-mouthed farmer Owen Newitt. He looked, spoke and moved so much like the late great Roger Lloyd-Pack who took the role on the telly that he could hardly fail to wring out the same abundance of laughs from this script.

Another relative newcomer who went down a storm as Hugo  Horton, the scatter-brained son of the lord of the manor, was Dan Pedley who we’re clearly going to be seeing much more of in the future.

Helping bind everything together with consummate skill were old hands Barry Cook as David Horton and Chris Dukes as Letitia Cropley whose well-intentioned but eccentrically flavoured culinary creations must have poisoned more people than a shedload of Borgia women.

At the end of the evening our sides were aching from the ministrations of the Vicar of Dibley and her crazy flock who held services on Thursday, Friday and two on Saturday.

And apart from the enormously talented team who created this litany of laughter we must also say a big thank you to Lyn Aston who directed the piece and John Clifford who served as her assistant.