Silver Band's successful Christmas Gala

* The Youth Band on stage.

Llangollen Silver Band held their annual Christmas Gala at the Town Hall recently.

The festive event, now in it's 8th year, featured performances from the Training, Youth and Senior Bands, carols and smaller musical ensembles.

Conductor Trevor Williams also announced the winner of the band's 'Young Player of the Year' award, which this year went to 14-year-old euphonium player, Elizabeth Mwale (pictured right.

Trevor said: "Elizabeth is a talented young musician who has achieved great success this year. She is also one of the first to offer to lend a helping hand with other jobs, such as helping younger players and decorating the band room."

The grand finale of the gala saw the packed audience singing and swaying along to the senior band's renditions of Christmas classics such as 'Merry Christmas Everyone' and 'Jingle Bell Rock'.

Band Spokesman, Robert Stock, said 'Our thanks go out to all players, parents and supporters of the band for attending this event. On behalf of the band I hope you all have a merry Christmas and to see you at one one of our events in the new year.'

Santa's quiz raises £353 for Air Ambulance

* The winning team with Santa.

Santa has thanked everyone who joined him at the Ponsonby for Santa's Magical Christmas Quiz.

The evening raised a staggering £353.83 with a pledge for a further £25 making a grand total of £378.83 raised for North Wales Air Ambulance.

Santa said: "Thanks to Paul and Lisa at the Ponsonby for their hospitality and John for his hard work behind the bar. The food and beer were brilliant.

"The declared winners, after a stewards enquiry, were Anon and On and On. A fantastic evening!"

County gives recycling and refuse advice

With Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year, it happens that recycling and refuse collections in Denbighshire  can take place on the normal day of the week throughout the festive period.

Residents who normally have a collection on a Monday will receive their collections as normal on Monday, 26^th December and Monday, 2^nd January despite these days being Bank Holidays.

Subscribers to the garden waste collection service are reminded that collections will take place over the holiday period.

Full details of collection days are on the calendars which were delivered during October and November or are available on the Council’s website at: -https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/resident/bins-and-recycling/bin-collection-dates.aspx

Recycling parks:  Recycling Park facilities at Denbigh, Rhyl and Ruthin, will be open to the public as normal every day except 25 December, 26 December and 1 January. Winter opening hours are:

DENBIGH and RUTHIN: Mon – Fri 10am - 4pm. Weekend 9am - 4pm.

Recycling – Llangollen and Corwen:  Saturday recycling services at the Highways Depot, Corwen will take place as normal on Saturday 19 December. However, there will be no service at the Pavilion Car Park, Llangollen on Saturday 26 December or at Corwen on Saturday 2 January 2017.

Saturday recycling services will recommence as normal at Corwen on 7 January between 9 - 11am and at Llangollen on 14 January between 9 - 11am.

Commercial recycling and refuse collections:  Businesses services from Denbighshire County Council will follow the same unaltered pattern as the household services .

Have your say on dog fouling plan

Denbighshire County Council wants to hear your views on a proposed order controlling dogs in public spaces in the county.

The Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) is being proposed in direct response to complaints and feedback received by the public relating to dog fouling and associated issues.

The Order, which would come into effect in March 2017,  would formalise the Council’s approach to dealing with dog fouling. The main requirement would be for all dog owners to pick up their animals’ mess.

Dogs would also not be allowed:

·        In enclosed children’s play areas

·        On specific beaches at Rhyl and Prestatyn between 1 May and 30 September (these will be signposted)

·        Specific permanently marked and maintained sports pitches (these will be signposted)

·        Cemeteries

·        All education property

·        Leisure centres

·        Bowling greens

·        Fenced multi-activity areas.

The Order would also require dogs to be kept on leads in specific locations and require dog owners to have the means to clear up after their animals.

A fixed penalty notice of £100 may be issued to offenders. The Order will be enforced by Kingdom local authority support officers, police community support officers and any other person authorised by the Council.

Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Lead Member for Environment, said: “The vast majority of dog owners are accountable and caring; however a small minority do not always behave responsibly. Complaints and feedback from Denbighshire residents has consistently raised the issue of dog fouling and nuisance behaviour from dogs that are not under proper control.

“The adoption of this proposed Order would make it easier for the Council to deal with the small minority of dog owners who behave irresponsibly. It will also assist us in our efforts to achieve clean and tidy streets in Denbighshire through creating safer areas to play sport and for use by the public.

“Crucially it will reduce the risk posed to the health and well-being of individuals. Coming into direct contact with dog mess can have all kinds of implications on health.

“We hope that people will support this Order. We believe it’s a major step in the right direction and we want people to have their say. We will consider the responses before the final decision is made."

To have your say, go to:

https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/your-council/consultations/Current-consultations.aspx  *

More fairy tales from Llan author Adrian

* Llangollen author Adrian Farrel's two books of fairy tales.

As his second book of fairy tales is published Llangollen resident Adrian Farrel says he just can't stop writing as new stories keep popping into his head.

Adrian's latest collection, More Tales from the Wood, contains another 18 original tales.

"Just as in my first collection, these are fairy tales with the same smell and sound of the ones with which we grew up, but they all have a twist or a satisfying ending," he says.

In this collection you can meet the Fisherman who stubbornly refuses to be in debt to the wizard, you can enter the Chocolate Shop that is only sometimes there, and you can see inside the world of The Shapeshifter.

You can also learn the difference between a gnome and pixie, and why you should never confuse either of them for a faerie.

Some stories, like The Little Mermaid and The Emperor's New Clothes, give a new slant on familiar tales, but most of the stories just seem to be familiar because the essence of a good fairy tale is so deeply ingrained in all of us.

Adrian adds: "These stories are like those by the Grimm brothers or Hans Christian Andersen, but a whole lot more fun.

"We don't need sanctimonious or pious tales in today's world. What we need are stories that reflect how life is or how it should be. That is what I have tried to achieve, although sometimes you may have to sit back and let the subliminal message sink in."

And Adrian, whose day-job is with telecommunications companies standardising how the Internet works, is continuing to write.

He says: "I seem to be at my most creative when I am travelling for work. On a recent trip to Korea I managed to complete three new tales, so it looks like I am well on the way to book three!"

"Tales from the Wood and More Tales from the Wood are available in Llangollen from the Courtyard Bookshop and from Zingiber.

They can also be bought online from Amazon or direct from the publisher at http://www.feedaread.com/

Christmas carol concert staged at the Town Hall

* Llangollen Silver Band provides musical accompaniment for the carol concert.

Churches in Llangollen came together for their annual Christmas carol concert at the Town Hall this evening (Sunday).

Favourite carols, including Once in Royal David's City and Come All Ye Faithful, were interspersed with seasonal songs and readings.

Providing musical accompaniment was Llangollen Silver Band and there were selections from the newly-formed Youth Choir and the singing group Stage to Stage accompanied by a three-piece band.

The evening came to a rousing finale with I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday and Merry Christmas Everybody.

A collection was taken on behalf of the charity Embrace the Middle East.

Police boss slams report into North Wales force

* North Wales PCC Arfon Jones.

The latest inspection into North Wales Police has been blasted as "inaccurate, wasteful and stressful" by the man elected to hold the Force to account.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones, a former police inspector, claims the report published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary fails to recognise the work done by the Force to improve.

The report, by HM Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams, follows one last year which rated North Wales Police as ‘good’ but this time says it ‘requires improvement.’

But Arfon Jones doesn’t believe the headlines of the report are supported by its findings and content.

He adds that seemingly continuous inspections are actually getting in the way of North Wales Police doing their job and requires a team of three including two police officers to work on them full-time and diverts others from their duties.

According to Mr Jones, HMIC take no account of the priorities which saw him overwhelmingly elected as Commissioner earlier this year.

It is the second such report in two years and for the first time included an assessment of how well Forces tackle the problem of abuse of authority for sexual gain by members of its workforce.

This year’s report found that North Wales Police was good at treating the people it serves with fairness and respect but has limited capacity to seek out and assess intelligence about potential corruption and could do more to recognise the signs of ill health involving mental health issues, including stress at work.

Arfon Jones said he was pleased that HMIC had recognised that NWP is good at treating people it serves with fairness and respect and had acknowledged and commended the significant efforts of North Wales Police officers and staff.

But he added: “I don’t believe the ‘requires improvement’ judgement reflects the tremendous work carried out across North Wales on a daily basis to keep our communities safe and they should not be disheartened by this report.

“North Wales Police is the most improved Force in England and Wales in terms of victim satisfaction and I don’t believe the headlines of the report are supported by its findings and content.

“The reference to a ‘drop in performance’ since 2015 is inaccurate as it is not comparing like for like – the subject areas of the 2015 inspection were not a part of the inspection this time round.”

He was also critical of the number of inspections being carried out, their expense and their focus and he said: “The Force is having to make a significant amount of investment of both time and resources just to respond to the inspection regime.

“The public of North Wales would be surprised by the sheer volume of inspections and the level of resources being diverted from the front line just to prepare for these inspections.

“HMIC continue to highlight areas they believe require investment without any apparent appreciation of the competing pressures, including financial pressures, that we face.

“The irony is not lost on me that they express concerns on the area of stress at work with no apparent awareness of the stress caused by their inspection regime.

“It’s particularly frustrating that the Police budget is being top sliced to fund HMIC’s significant growth in resources.

“But they fail to give any consideration to the priorities that I set out in my Police and Crime Plan.

“The legislation is clear. I hold the Chief Constable to account and HMIC should let him get on with delivering an efficient and effective police service that the people of North Wales deserve.

“I appreciate that it is important to have a system of rigorous appraisal of the Force but it should not be to the detriment of our vital frontline services.”