Senior management changes at railway

* Management changes have taken place at Llangollen Railway.

Following the resignation of Kevin Gooding, who was general manager of Llangollen Railway, the board has decided to reorganise the senior management structure of the railway and not to fill the post.

The board decided, following an internal review, to reorganise the senior management structure, into three divisions (Commercial, Operations and Engineering), with the heads of division reporting direct to the board.

The other reporting arrangements, and the individual responsibilities of staff below head of division level, are unchanged.

As a consequence of the reorganisation the railway will shortly be recruiting a chief civil and mechanical engineer to work alongside the commercial division and the operations division.

This change is seen as meeting the railway’s strategic and business requirements in both the short and medium term.

A commercial manager was appointed earlier this year.

Peter Lund, chairman of Llangollen Railway Trust Ltd and Llangollen Railway plc, said:
“First, and foremost, I would like to thank Kevin Gooding for his hard work over a number of years on behalf of the railway. I wish him well in his new endeavours.

"Secondly, the two boards met together on Sunday and decided not to appoint a general manager. Instead, following an internal review, the boards unanimously decided to appoint a chief civil and mechanical engineer. The post will be advertised shortly.

“This is a really exciting time for The Llangollen Railway, with the new Corwen station being constructed which, I hope, will be operational within the next 18 months.

"Llangollen Railway looks forward to working with partners and stakeholders in 2018. The railway’s operational plans for 2018 are already well advanced and those will be published shortly, the final details having been agreed at the recent board meeting."

Museum to launch myths and legend project

Heritage Lottery has funded Llangollen Museum to run a programme highlighting the Myths and Legends of the Dee Valley.

The project, entitled Keeping the Story Alive, From History to Legend. Tales and Myths from the Dee Valley, aims to engage local community groups and schools along the central part of the Dee Valley, from Corwen to Chirk, in looking at the different myths and legends of their area and investigating the historical facts behind them.

Displays will be accompanied by a poster-size piece of artwork depicting a local legend, created by  children from local primary schools.

The programme will mean community groups producing short video stories focussing on seven stories.

In addition to a travelling display of work created by the participants Lynn Charlton-Blore will be telling a story in the museum at the launch on November 15, at 7.30pm.

Health centre friends to stage quiz

BT taken to task over digital issues in rural areas

* Cllr Mabon ap Gwynfor with Alwen Williams, director of BT Cymru Wales.

BT have been taken to task for a lack of digital infrastructure in rural Wales.

Mabon ap Gwynfor, county councillor for the Llandrillo/Cynwyd Ward on Denbighshire County Council, raised the issue of poor mobile and broadband coverage directly with the head of BT in Wales, Alwen Williams.

In an event held at Plas Isa, Cynwyd, Cllr ap Gwynfor explained to Ms Williams the difficulties that residents and businesses face with getting any form of digital reception in the area.

Cllr ap Gwynfor said: “Poor broadband is a real problem. But that could be overcome to a degree if we had good mobile coverage, because 4G is as good as most broadband coverage.

"Unfortunately, while the UK Government are planning to roll out 5G there are large parts of this area which don’t have any sort of mobile reception which in this day and age is quite simply not good enough.

“The Government and large organisations are putting everything on line – farmers are expected to fill their forms on line, citizens are expected to bank on line and most businesses rely entirely on digital communication. The lack of decent broadband or mobile coverage is holding us back here, and is impacting on our wellbeing and our local economy.”

Cllr ap Gwynfor asked Ms Williams to ensure that BT left no household in the area behind as BT rolled out their fibre infrastructure. He also asked that she work with EE, owned by BT, to look at installing a commercial mobile phone mast in the area.

“Alwena Williams was very sympathetic to my calls”, said Cllr. ap Gwynfor. “She’s from Gwytherin herself, and knows the difficulties that rural communities face. I am hopeful that we will see something positive in the future. I have spoken to her since, and she's been very helpful. 

"A Vodafone mast is due to be placed in Llandrillo, but the installation has not progressed much so far. I'm also in discussion with them to see what can be done to ensure the mast is installed as soon as possible."

Small business awards go up for grabs

The FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards 2018 are now open and firms in Wales have until  December 1 to enter for free.

The awards will celebrate the best of Wales’ 246,000 small and micro businesses and their vast contribution to both regional and national economies.

The winners of 12 award categories will be announced at an award ceremony in February and will then go forward to the national UK FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards final, where the overall FSB UK Small Business of the Year 2018 will be announced, in May 2018.

Janet Jones, FSB Wales Policy Unit Chair, said: “I’m thrilled that FSB will be taking the opportunity to highlight the excellence and diversity that is found in our SME sector in Wales. The categories offer the opportunity for a whole host of talent to be celebrated at the awards ceremony in February.

“SMEs play a vital part in Welsh life – contributing so much to the economy and making our country a more exciting place in which to live, work, study and visit.”

The 12 FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards categories are:
• Business Exporter of the Year
• Ethical – Green Business of the Year
• Business and Product Innovation Award
• Digital Business of the Year
• Microbusiness of the Year
• Start-up of the Year

• Scale-up of the Year
• Family Business of the Year
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• Employer of the Year
• The Triumph Over Adversity Award
• Welsh in Business Award
* For further information and to enter the awards visit www.fsbawards.co.uk

Latest plans for re-jigged constituencies unveiled

Latest proposed changes to Wales’ parliamentary constituency map have been published by the Boundary Commission.

They entail significant alterations to the local Clwyd South seat.

* See the following report in Wrexham.com:

http://www.wrexham.com/news/proposals-for-wales-parliamentary-constituency-map-sees-big-changes-for-wrexham-clwyd-south-138827.html

Another boost for Llan food and drink

Hot on the heels of another successful Food Festival (pictured), Llangollen will be the first town in Wales to host a prestigious training opportunity being funded by the Welsh Government and the European Union.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) business members of the Llangollen & Dee Valley Good Grub Club will have the chance to work with celebrated food consultant and chef Nerys Howell through two introductory training sessions.

The first will be a Masterclass in Welsh Menu development and marketing, aimed at local chefs.

The second will be working with local food producers to help them make the most of marketing opportunities at food festivals.

Participants in both introductory courses will then have the option of arranging one-to-one sessions with Nerys back in their kitchens.  

With years of experience in the food, drink and hospitality industry, Nerys works across the UK and overseas promoting food and drink from Wales.

She is the author of Wales On A Plate (2009) - a bilingual book which includes traditional and contemporary recipes for Welsh produce and brings to life the traditions, lifestyles and cooking of Wales.

The book was shortlisted for the Gourmand International World Cookbook Awards in 2010.

As a consultant, Nerys has developed menus, recipes and food opportunities for clients including the Millennium Centre and the National Museum Wales, and has also catered for the True Taste of Wales awards, billed as the Oscars of the Welsh food industry.

With the Llangollen Food Festival celebrating its 20th year this year, and the town’s also hosting the first Food Assembly in Wales (now with nearly 600 registered customers), Llangollen’s reputation as a hub for great local food is growing.

It will soon feature in a BBC Wales programme, looking at how the Food Festival, the Llangollen Food Assembly, and the Llangollen and Dee Valley Good Grub Club are working together to get Llangollen on the food map of Wales and the UK.

The training from Nerys Howell aims to help the area solidify its reputation and lead to even more exciting food and drink offerings for the growing number of tourists visiting the region.

Funding for the training is through “Wales – A Food Destination” a project of LANTRA, an organisation supporting individuals and companies to achieve personal and business growth in the environmental, food and agriculture sectors. 

Membership of the Llangollen & Dee Valley Good Grub Club is open to Welsh food, drink and hospitality businesses within 15 miles of Llangollen who want to help increase the use, availability and visibility of locally produced food and drink. 

* For more information and details of current members, see the website www.GoodGrubClub.wales, or contact Robyn Lovelock, Secretary on DeeValley.GoodGrubClub@gmail.com