County firms "positive" about future says survey

Businesses in Denbighshire remain positive about the future, according to a recent survey.

Denbighshire County Council’s annual Business Survey had more than 470 responses, with the majority saying they are more confident about the future than ever before.

The annual survey feeds into the Council’s March for Business month, which offers a wide range of training, networking and advice sessions to the county’s traders, based on feedback in the survey.

Cllr Hugh Evans OBE, Leader of Denbighshire, said: “I’d like to thank the businesses that took the time to complete this survey.

“It is important we continue to listen to the needs of entrepreneurs in the county and offer help and support based on their needs. That way we can offer training and support to businesses that will be a real benefit to them in pursuit of growth.

“I’m pleased so many businesses feel confident moving forward. Denbighshire is here to support businesses and we have a wide-range of projects to help and support businesses within our Economic and Community Ambition Strategy.

“I’m particularly pleased with the feedback on training needs, which shows we have been ahead of the game with our digital skills focus over the past couple of years.”

Mike Horrocks, Denbighshire’s Economic & Business Development Team and Programme Manager said: “A total of 80 per cent of businesses who took part in our events last year said that they’d taken the all-important steps to act upon the advice, information or contacts that they’d gained.  It’s that action that makes a real difference to the local economy.”

The survey, conducted by the council’s Economic and Business Development team, found more than 70 per cent of respondents said their business is stronger than it was in 2016 while only 1 per cent said it was weaker.

More than a quarter expect to increase staff numbers, while 63 per cent are expecting sales to increase.

The survey also found more businesses have taken up broadband and superfast broadband in the last 12 months, recognising that a digital presence and the skills to exploit this are crucial to future business success.

Last year March for Business saw 400 attendees take advantage of 13 events across 10 locations with the benefit of access to 45 business experts.  The 2018 programme of events will be announced early in the new year.

* For more information contact econ.dev@denbighshire.gov.uk or telephone 01824 706896.

Please find a link to the following video which details March for Business 2017 in English and Welsh for use online

Llangollen Flower Club's Christmas show

LLANGOLLEN CHRISTMAS SHOW AT THE TOWN HALL.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21st AT 7-30 PM.

GUEST DEMONSTRATOR WILL BE DAWN WEAVER FROM CHESTER

SHE IS A MASTER FLORIST, JUDGE AND TEACHER  AND ALSO A CHELSEA GOLD MEDAL WINNER.

MULLED PUNCH AND A MINCE PIE ARE INCLUDED IN THE PRICE OF £8.00.

ALL THE ARRANGEMENTS WILL BE RAFFLED ALONG WITH A HUGE CHRISTMAS HAMPER AND OTHER GOODIES AT THE END OF THE SHOW.

TICKETS FROM CLUB MEMBERS OR ON THE DOOR. DOORS OPEN FROM 6-45 PM.

A GREAT START TO THE FESTIVE SEASON  WITH PLENTY OF HINTS AND TIPS.

Entries sought for church's Christmas competition

* A colourful entry from a previous year.

Entries are being sought for this year's Christmas Tree Festival at Llangollen Methodist Church.

This is a popular event, taking place in December, where visitors are asked to vote for their favourite trees which go on display at the church in Princess Street.

As usual there are two categories, Traditional and Christmas in Another Country.

Organiser Janet Storm said: "As you can imagine it is a closely fought competition with much fun to be had in participation.

"You will need to supply and decorate a small tree, no taller than five feet (1.5 metres) using an appropriate Christmas theme.

"You might like to link the decoration to your business or organisation, or just be creative.

"Any lights used must be battery operated. Hard bases are provided for you to cover with a cloth or paper as you wish.

"It is an opportunity for you to promote your business with small business cards or promotional materials being allowed around the base of your tree.

"Setting up of the trees will take place on Thursday December 7, between 12noon and 4pm, with dismantling on Thursday  January 4, between 12noon and 4pm."
 
* To register your intention to enter, contact Janet and Elias Storm on: 01978 253177, or email them at: eliasandjanet@gmail.com  before Saturday December 2.

Hannay gives Twenty Club a ripping good hit

* Dan Pedley as Hannay.

A comedy take on a ripping good yarn of  British derring-do has given Llangollen Twenty Club a dashed good hit with its latest production.

Society regular David Edgar has taken the spy novel Mr Standfast by John Buchan and filled it full of laughs and the resulting two-acter, Hannay Stands Fast, which he also directed, is the newest work the Twenty team has ever performed.

Premiered at the Town Hall last night (Thursday) it had the audience in stitches for most of the action.

And action is the right word because, throughout,  the stage was the scene of frenetic activity on the part of the multi-tasking and talented cast of just four.

The plot sees Hannay, an old-school British hero, recruited by British intelligence to root out a dastardly German master-spy who is threatening the security of the realm in the days just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Played to perfection by Dan Pedley, Hannay sets about his task with typical British phlegm and along the way enlists the help – and then wins the heart - of the stunningly attractive Mary Lamington, portrayed with real flair by Clare Wall.

The pair get themselves into a myriad tricky and often hilarious situations and meet up with a mind-boggling array of crazy characters which has the cast doubling, tripling and quadrupling up like mad on the parts.

Providing the engine of these multiple personas is society stalwart John Clifford who at various points appears as everything from a simple-minded bucolic to a crazy (female) Scottish housekeeper and from a surly gangster to a 1930s travelling football fan.

However, his fellow cast members, including a notable Gwyneth Marshman, are no slouches either and all appear in so many multifarious guises that at times one tends to lose track of who they are supposed to be at any given moment.

Prop shifting must have been another nightmare as the scenes change like a kaleidoscope.

A big budget production this isn’t, so it’s particularly enjoyable to watch a scene near the end where a frantic car cash is portrayed as a series of moving silhouettes.

And where else could you see a death-defying tussle between Hannay and the baddie, played deliciously by Si Kneale, fought out at the top of a couple of steel stepladders standing in for the Eiffel Tower?

The Twenty Club have got a real hit on their hands with this production which runs again this evening (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday).

Lease deal "shortly" for health centre pharmacy

* Llangollen Health Centre.

Health chiefs say they hope Llangollen Health Centre will soon have its own pharmacy.

A number of llanblogger readers have been asking when Rowlands would be relocating from Regent Street to the new £5 million centre which opened to patients in the summer of 2015.

We asked the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board for an update on the situation.

And a spokesperson replied: “Pharmacies which wish to relocate must follow a formal, regulated process, which can take a significant time to complete.

“On 5th June 2017 Welsh Ministers confirmed that it upheld the decision of the Health Board to approve the surgery’s relocation application.

“Rowlands and the Health Board are working together to finalise the formal lease agreement which is required, and it is hoped that this will be concluded shortly.”

Llan's Food Assembly features on BBC

A special feature on Llangollen's Food Assembly is available on the BBC's iPlayer Radio. 

Food Assemblies are a new way of buying local food which is steadily spreading across the country.

The idea, which started in France, is an online service that brings people together to buy their groceries directly from local farmers and food producers.

The aim is for everyone to get a better deal: communities get to know each other, farmers get a fairer price and the consumer gets locally sourced produced.

In the iPlayer feature Rachael Garside visits Llangollen Food Assembly which has been up and running for over two years and is one of five established Food Assemblies in Wales, with more to come.

See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05l5hr8/p05l5hl8

AM raises concerns over hospice funding

North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has made calls for the Welsh Government and Health Boards to provide more funding for charitable hospices in Wales.

Mr Isherwood raised the matter in the Assembly Chamber when he asked the First Minister how the Welsh Government is supporting the palliative care sector in Wales.

Carwyn Jones said his Government’s updated End-of-Life Care Delivery Plan, published in March, includes £6.4 million to provide specialist palliative care services, but Mr Isherwood said that is poorly targeted.

He said: “The majority of end-of-life care in Wales is provided by Wales’s 13 adult and two children’s hospices. You indicate a figure of roughly £6.4 million, but they spend £32.5 million a year to deliver those services in people’s homes, and also residential, day care and respite. So, they are having to raise over £2 million a month, and they’re keen to help you, the Welsh Government, and their local Health Boards do very much more.

“How can you, or will you, engage with them and ask them how they can help you achieve more? Perhaps a little bit more funding from the Health Boards and the (Welsh) Government would save massively more for Health Boards and liberate services to help tackle some of the other problems we’ve heard referred to today in different contexts.”

In his reply, the First Minister said: “In terms of engagement with the sector, it is the care boards that provide that level of engagement, and that’s why, of course, we work with them in order to identify the resources that are needed.”

Mr Isherwood added: “It is concerning that from April 2017 the funding provided by the Welsh Government to Local Health Boards to be spent on specialist palliative care is no longer ring fenced for this purpose. This means hospices risk losing this important financial contribution towards hospice care.

“As Marie Curie’s Report ‘Triggers for Palliative Care in Wales’, said: ‘There is much work to be done if Wales is going to achieve its vision of access to high quality care for everyone who needs it, regardless of their underlying condition."