Prize boost for prestige eisteddfod competition

* Mario and Gill Kreft of Pendine with eisteddfod musical director Eilir Owen Griffiths (right).

A competition to find the world’s best young singers has been flooded with entries after a pioneering care organisation teamed up with opera superstar Sir Bryn Terfel to increase the prize money to £10,000.

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, revealed there's been a huge surge in entries as a result of a boost  to its prize fund by  Pendine Park and the Bryn Terfel Foundation. 

The finalists will compete for the Pendine Prize and a cheque for £6,000 while the two runners up will each receive £2,000. 

Arts-loving Pendine Park, who are long-term supporters of the Eisteddfod, have pledged to contribute £5,000 to the Voice of the Future competition with £3,000 coming from Sir Bryn's foundation and £2,000 from the Eisteddfod. 

As a result, the total prize pot is more than six times the £1,500 awarded in previous years and the aim is to catapult the competition into a whole new league. 

The idea is to showcase and nurture young talent, providing each year’s winner with support and a cash injection to advance their burgeoning careers. 

As well as being awarded the cash and the Pendine Prize, the winner will also have the opportunity to perform in future Eisteddfod concerts, where their talent will be showcased alongside other international performers.

Previous winners include Meinir Wyn Roberts, who will be special guest soloist at this year’s 70th anniversary opening concert, Elsa Roux Chamoux and Eirlys Myfanwy Davies, who performed with Sir Bryn Terfel and the world-renowned Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja at the International Eisteddfod last year. 

The prestigious Voice of the Future competition is open to anyone under the age of 28 and designed to advance the career of a young soloist. Entries for the 2017 competition will close on Friday, March 3, and hopefuls can apply on the Eisteddfod competitors’ website http://eisteddfodcompetitions.co.uk/. 

The festival’s Musical Director, Eilir Owen Griffiths, said: “The generous boost from Pendine Park and the Bryn Terfel Foundation has certainly had an impact on entries this year - they are flooding in and the standard is exceptional.  

“From the entries we have already received, we can promise spectators a spectacular performance and the category is certainly going to be hotly contested this year. 

“There is still time to submit any entry so we encourage any young soloists who would love the chance to compete to enter by Friday 3rd March so they don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity.”

Pendine Park proprietor Mario Kreft MBE said: "We are delighted to be sponsoring the Voice of the Future competition, particularly as music and the arts generally are an important part of our enrichment programme to improve the quality of life of our residents at our care homes in Wrexham and Caernarfon. 

"Our aim in supporting the event and providing the Pendine Prize is to help transform it into a truly international competition that attracts the best singers from across the world. 

"It is wholly appropriate that the Bryn Terfel Foundation is also involved because the Eisteddfod provided him with a stepping stone to his stellar career and he is keen to nurture the talented young singers following in his footsteps." 

The competition will span two days of the 2017 festival, which gets underway on Monday, July 3. 

The preliminary round, on Wednesday, July 5, requires competitors to perform up to eight minutes of music in one of four styles - Oratorio, Opera, Lieder or Song - to be sung in the original language.

For the final this year the selected competitors will take centre stage at the International Celebration evening concert on Thursday, July 6, when they are required to perform up to 12 minutes of music.   

Tickets for this concert, which also features international competitors and special guests, Principality Only Boys Aloud Academi, are available from http://internationaleisteddfod.co.uk/ or phone the Box Office on 01978 862001.  

The announcement about Pendine Park’s sizeable financial contribution was originally made by Ken Skates, the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure and the AM for Clwyd South, which includes Llangollen. 

Mr Skates, whose ministerial portfolio includes tourism and culture, said: “It’s a fantastic, incredibly generous investment by a very well-respected and responsible employer.

“I believe that in Wales we need to have what I call the ‘Martini arts’ because they are available any time, any place and anywhere. 

“Pendine is helping to deliver this in a social care setting, and I toast their success.”

Valle Crucis Abbey invaded by dragons

* Author David Wilson with his new book, Aaron Gray and the Dragon War, which features Valle Crucis Abbey.

Valle Crucis Abbey is set to feature in a new children’s book out next month.

The ancient abbey on the outskirts of Llangollen is the inspiration for St Jadis’s Abbey, the home of Cecil the Dragon in the fantasy novel aimed at ages 10+ which will hit bookshelves on March 1.

The book by David Wilson, called Aaron Gray and the Dragon War, is about a troubled child from a care home who gets sucked into a world of dragons and other magical creatures where he is forced to use every trick he can think of in order to survive.

The abbey is seen almost as soon as Aaron enters the fantasy world, when he lands just outside it ... in a pile of dragon dung.

The story goes: “Behind Aaron and Julia was an ancient church. Grass and mud covered the floor and there was no roof over what once must have been the main room. Most of the church walls remained intact but seemed to have been made from whatever stones had been lying around at the time, stuck together by a strange muddy concrete.

"A group of five small flying creatures, about the same size as dragonflies, were flying around a well that was close to the main entrance, their wings glistening in the sunlight. Aaron could hear water flowing nearby, probably from the river that he'd seen while he was plummeting to the ground.”

Later the children walk around the abbey and past the pond before meeting a terrifying, green dragon who sends them on a quest through the valley.

David Wilson said: "My family shared a caravan on the site next door to the abbey, so I was there for about half of my childhood.

"I lived with my Grandma in Llangollen while I was at university, and was given my first ever dragon by a Llangollen shopkeeper. It seemed only fair to include a small part of Llangollen in my fantasy world, as my way of saying thanks."

Skates hails £10m scheme for small businesses

An Assembly Member has welcomed a new £10m Welsh Government scheme to help small businesses, which he says are ‘the lifeblood of our local economies’. 

Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford has just announced details of a £10m targeted relief programme to provide extra support for independent firms across Wales from April. 

Clwyd South AM Ken Skates (pictured) said: “I’m pleased to see the Welsh Government introduce this scheme and hope it will help ease the pressures which I know many small firms in my constituency and throughout Wales are under.

“Our pubs, restaurants, newsagents, butchers, barbers and so on are the lifeblood of our local economies, and the Welsh Government has been working closely with local authorities to develop the scheme and prepare for its implementation.” 

The scheme will support almost 15,000 businesses, including those which have seen their rates increase as a result of the independent Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) changes which comes into effect on April 1.  

Eligible retailers will receive up to £1,500 off their non-domestic rates bill if they have a rateable value of £50,000 or less in the 2017-18 financial year. 

Professor Drakeford said:  “Some retailers are concerned about increases in their rates as a result of the VOA’s revaluation. We are therefore providing a further £10m to help businesses which have been adversely affected.

“This new scheme is in addition to the £100m tax cut for small businesses in Wales provided by Small Business Rates Relief. It will provide vital support to ratepayers on high streets across Wales and offer these businesses extra support.”   
   
Retailers can find out whether they are eligible for the high street rates relief scheme in 2017-18 by contacting their local council.  

Ben Cottam, head of external affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, said:  “We welcome that the Welsh Government has made good on its commitment to easing the pressure on high street businesses. We also welcome the engagement with FSB on this issue in recent months.

“We would now encourage local authorities to engage quickly with businesses to ensure that all those who are entitled to this relief receive it as quickly and simply as possible.”

Young 'Uns' Bugsy Malone is a real blast

* A colourful scene from Llangollen Young 'Uns in Bugsy Malone.

As one of the top songs in the show says, “Everybody loves Bugsy”.

But it wasn’t just our hero who was adored by the packed audience at last night’s final Town Hall performance of the musical Bugsy Malone but the whole impressive cast.

The latest production by the Young ‘Uns, junior section of Lllangollen Operatic, demonstrated once more what a talented bunch of youngsters this outfit attracts.

They can sing, they can dance, they can act, they can do comedy. In fact, the whole works!

And that goes for everyone from the leading characters to the chorus, which at times looks as in it’s in its hundreds as it fills the stage with spectacle and sheer exuberance.

Bugsy, which the Young ‘Uns performed from Thursday to Saturday with a matinee yesterday, is one of the most famous all-kid shows around.

It’s set in roaring twenties New York and is packed with gangster rivalry, molls, rackets, speakeasies and general Prohibition Era naughtiness.

Except it has a nice touch in that the rival mobsters blast each other with custard pies and guns shooting a stream of goo rather than bullets, so they emerge after getting blasted covered in foam rather than full of holes.

It’s all about Fat Sam’s gang of hapless heavies taking on their equally useless opposite numbers from Dandy Dan’s operation.

Caught up in the middle of the chaos are nice guy Bugsy and the girl he falls in love with, singer and wannabe Hollywood star, Blousey Brown.

Taking the part of Bugsy is Cassius Hackforth, a Young ‘Uns veteran who shines in any role he takes on, and this was no exception as he gave another high octane performance. Celyn Orton-Jones made the perfect Blousey, offering a neat line in singing and acting.

Fat Sam was portrayed to perfection by Aled Morris and Shea Ferron made an excellent Dandy Dan. Tallulah, Sam’s goylfriend and his club’s headlining singer, was played with a high degree of confidence by Maia Molloy.

The show had some memorable settings, both in terms of the brilliantly painted backdrops and video excerpts featuring period shots of rolling newspaper presses and a gangster car chase, plus some modern footage showing Bugsy and Blousey in a flashback sequence driving away from outside the Town Hall in the rumble seat of a fantastic 1926 open tourer loaned by Llangollen Motor Museum.

Costumes were also marvellous and a credit to the huge and dedicated behind-the-scenes team.

This was another triumph for director Chrissie Ashworth and producer Pamela Williams so it has to be fedora hats off to them and of all those multi-talented kids.         

Business networking day planned

As part of its March for Business campaign Denbighshire County Council is hosting a Taste for Local day of information and networking, bringing together the county’s food and drink producers and hospitality business across the region.

To be held at Myddelton College, Peake's Lane, Denbigh LL16 3EN on Wednesday March 8, from 10am-4pm, the event includes:

• Food and Drink trade displays
• Presentations from government and industry speakers
• By invitation only business lunch consisting of locally produced ingredients, and a menu to inspire use of Denbighshire’s food and drink products
• Afternoon training workshop for hospitality businesses

* For more information, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taste-for-local-blas-lleol-tickets-31414215765

Bird boxes donated to Ysgol Y Gwernant

Locally based Marches Ecology has donated and installed several bird boxes at Ysgol Y Gwernant in
Llangollen.

Here, Max Ellson of Marches Ecology is pictured with some of the Eco Committee pupils (from left to right) Lottie Ellson, Harley Coates, Dylan Claybrook and Winnie Bather.

The wooden box incorporates a live-stream camera which it is hoped will enable pupils throughout the school to follow the lives of birds in the nest, Springwatch style.

Pupils are being encouraged to monitor all the boxes and will help with their annual maintenance.

Marches Ecology, established in 2006, is a specialist ecological consultancy serving both private clients, from individual house owners to multi-national companies, and public sector bodies. Further information can be found at www.marchesecology.co.uk.

Louisa raises £2,000 + by completing charity challenge

* Louisa Jones, far right of picture, celebrates completing her Far East challenge with fellow riders. Intrepid Llangollen Operatic Society member Louisa Jones has just completed her mammoth 280-mile charity cycling expedition through the Far East, raising over £2,000 for three charities Back in 2012 Louisa Jones, 38, took part in a gruelling 260-mile cycling expedition through India in aid of three women’s cancer causes, raising over £3,000 along the way. Over the past couple of weeks she's been back into the saddle for the same three charities - Breast Cancer Care, Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust and Ovarian Cancer Action. This time she joined a group of 70 women to cycle 450km (280 miles) from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Here's Louisa's final report on her trip ... On Tuesday afternoon we completed the final stage of our amazing journey by bicycle across two beautiful south East Asian countries. After a short early morning transfer from the hotel to our bikes, we set out on a 25 mile route along a highway, which took us to the outskirts of the city of Siem Riep and to the finishing line at the UNESCO world heritage site of Angkor Wat. Some of us noted how 25 miles seemed by now like a leisurely walk in the park compared with some of the distances and conditions we had encountered during our challenge. Never thought I would be saying that! It was another extremely hot and windy day and by now the effects of the heat and the physical exertion were starting to tell on a number of ladies, with heat rash and stomach bugs doing the rounds. The frustration of those who were suffering or had to spend time in the support bus was always very sad to see as everyone puts so much into this challenge and wants to complete every stage, no matter how tough. After a snack stop along the way, we regrouped around 1 mile from Angkor Wat to decorate our bikes (and ourselves) with balloons and ribbons prior to crossing the finishing line. We then set off slowly as a group along the final stretch causing quite a spectacle along the way, not to mention a disruption to the traffic! Crossing the finish line amidst much cheering and whooping was a brilliant feeling and a very emotional one too and I don't think there was a single dry eye. So many of the ladies had overcome huge personal challenges and illness to even get to Vietnam and Cambodia in the first place, so to actually complete this epic journey was a massive accomplishment. The remainder of our time here has been spent celebrating and perusing the vibrant, bustling markets of Sian Riep before we fly home. A number of us also resisted the urge to have a much needed lie in and got up at 4am yesterday to witness the sun rising above the ancient temple at Angkor Wat, which was a truly magical moment well worth surrendering sleep for. Heartfelt thanks to all who have followed my challenge and for the donations and words of encouragement I have received along the way. Personally, I have raised well in excess of £2000, every penny of which will go straight to the excellent charities supported by this mission. As a group, we raised a staggering £360,000 and overall, the four groups that undertook this particular event have raised £1.3 million, which is incredible. The past week and a half has been a truly phenomenal and unforgettable experience and I'm really happy that I took the plunge and decided to do it. I can't recommend this type of challenge highly enough to anyone who wants to set themselves a personal goal whilst raising money for good causes and visiting new places and I believe firmly it is within all of us to complete something like this.