Ysgol Dinas Bran tops school meals picture contest

The catering team at Ysgol Dinas Bran have come out top of the class in a national competition for the most mouth watering pictures of school food.  

As part of activities for this year's 25th National School Meals Week Dinas Bran entered a competition for school caterers across England and Wales called #cookeditmyselfie which encouraged them to send in pictures of the food they prepare and serve daily.

The online competition took place on Twitter @NSMW and hundreds of photos were sent in showing what modern day school food looks like.

A judging panel, including last year’s winner, looked at every picture and Ysgol Dinas Bran was named as the winner and took the prize of £500 worth of equipment or marketing support.

Emma Williams, catering manager at the school, said:  “We have been heavily involved with #cookeditmyselfie this year.

"Not many days have gone by in the past few months where we haven’t posted a meal. The pictures show what we do every day, the food is great and the pupils love it. We use lots of local ingredients and prepare the food with love and passion."

Councillor Julian Thompson Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance Performance and Strategic Assets at the county council, said: “This competition gave school catering teams across the country the opportunity to showcase their service and the pictures submitted by Emma and her team at Dinas Bran were not of food or dishes devised specially for the competition – they were of food and dishes served on a daily basis.

"Emma has a highly motivated and dedicated catering team and the Denbighshire School Meals Service and Denbighshire County Council are rightly proud of their achievements."  

Venerable steam loco heads off to new owners

* No.2859 on Abbey Road as it heads off for its new owner's base where it will celebrate its centenary next year, having been built at Swindon in 1918.

A steam locomotive which has stood sentinel at the railway yard in Llangollen for the past 30 years has left for pastures new.

Great Western Heavy Freight loco No.2859 came to Llangollen from a scrapyard in October 1987 as an intended restoration project.

However, the cost of the task proved too much for the owners, the Llangollen railway GWR Loco group, who already had a project underway to restore a GWR tank engine.

After much heart searching, the owners agreed to find someone else to buy the No.2859 and the successful bidder brought an articulated lorry along to take the engine away to a restoration base at Congleton in Cheshire.

One day, when No.2859 has been restored to steaming condition, it may come back to Llangollen to operate on the line.

In the meantime, the proceeds from the sale are being put into speeding up the completion of Prairie tank No.5532 which the group now hopes to have in action once the boiler has been overhauled.

Operatic's Christmas event is next Tuesday

Llangollen express back to boost Ruthin

* Putting their shirts on Ruthin, Waterco are sponsoring Ruthin Rugby Club for the sixth season and pictured with top try scorer Josh Wilson, left, and 1^st XV captain Jordan Jones is Waterco Managing Director Peter Jones.

Flying winger Josh Wilson is back to boost one of North Wales’s top rugby clubs and is in hot pursuit of its try-scoring record.

The Llangollen express, who rejoined Ruthin this season after two years away at Chester, has run in nine tries in his first eight games back.

It is his second spell with the Blue and Whites and he is now past the 50-try mark for them and closing fast on the club record of 81 held by team-mate Gethin Hughes.

Things are looking up for Ruthin, who have just celebrated a short sponsorship deal with flood prevention and water management experts Waterco who are based in Ruthin and have offices in Chester and Manchester.

They have put their shirts on the Cae Ddol club, the only one of the original members of the old North Wales League never to have been relegated, and are also kitting out the 2^nd XV.

And Waterco’s faith is being repaid as the club, which narrowly survived the drop on the final day of last season, are up to fifth in Division One North of the Welsh National League and have already claimed the scalp of leaders Nant Conwy.

Their young side, coached by former Wales and Sale prop Eifion Roberts and Andy Williams, are fresh from two thumping home bonus point wins, 33-22 over Bethesda with including two tries from Wilson, followed up by a 31-0 thumping of Caernarfon.

Wilson missed that game but is likely to be back for the trip to Croesyceiliog this Saturday in the Welsh Rugby Union Cup.

The 25-year-old, who lives in Cefn Mawr, said: “It’s great to be back at Ruthin. I had a successful time here before when we won the North Wales Cup and that season I had 26 tries in 23 games.

“This season has started well too so I hope to score a few more tries.

“It would be brilliant to get Gethin’s record but I just love playing for Ruthin. They’ve done a lot for me and the expansive way they like to play means I’m going to get plenty of ball.

“I know they struggled last season and I hated to see that because they’re a top five club and a great club to play for but we’ve got a good young side and a good squad and we’re headed in the right direction.”

Pedr Jones, Director of Waterco whose clients include major construction and civil engineering companies across the UK as well as local authorities and utilities businesses, used to wear the blue and white hoops of Ruthin himself.

The prop played alongside Eifion Roberts in a very successful Ruthin Youth side which also included Bristol and Scarlets centre Rob Higgitt, the last man to score a try at historic Stradey Park.

He said: “Ruthin has always been a fantastic club with flourishing mini, junior and youth sections and almost all their first team began as little kids playing mini rugby on Sunday mornings.

“Their roots are in the local community and so are our own and we’re delighted to be involved with Ruthin Rugby Club for a sixth season.

“It’s great to see them on their way back again and the current side is young enough and good enough to make a big impression on North Wales rugby in the coming years.”

To keep up with Ruthin Rugby Club go to http://www.rygbirhuthun.com/ and to see what Waterco are doing go to https://www.waterco.co.uk/

TT ace McGuinness to guest again at LlanBikeFest

* One of the stunts performed at a previous LlanBikeFest.

Legendary 23-times Isle of Man TT winner  John McGuinness will be guest of honour for a second year at LlanBikeFest 2018 –  the Llangollen Motorcycle Festival – at the town’s Royal International Pavilion on August 4 and 5. 

Despite being chair-bound and battling pain from horrific injuries he sustained when he crashed at the North West 200 in Northern Ireland in May, John (pictured below) reckons he had such a good time at LlanBikeFest in 2017 that he is raring to return.

“I will definitely be at LlanBikeFest in August,” he said.

“It’s a weekend of fun and a great family affair. I feel completely re-charged. Everything feels good – but it’s been a long journey.

"Hopefully I will be in better shape next year and there is no reason I can’t bring a few more of my bike collection with me and just enjoy it.”

LlanBikeFest co-founder John Hutchinson said: “John’s courage at this year’s festival was amazing. He worked so hard to talk with fans and well-wishers that we virtually had to drag him away to take breaks occasionally. We are absolutely delighted he will be fit enough to enjoy even more of the event this year.

“As John said, LlanBikeFest is a great weekend for families as well as bike enthusiasts, with free entry for accompanied children aged 16 and under,  and lots to see and do -  hundreds of motorcycles of every type on show, spectacular riding displays, birds of prey, rides and children’s’ entertainments, plus a great line-up of bands both days.”

Star entertainments will include jaw-dropping stunts by champion trails rider Steve Colley and Savage Skills, the UK’s leading freestyle mountain bike team, plus beautiful birds from the Talonted Feathers falconry.

llanblogger takes a short break

llanblogger is taking a short break and will be back in a few days' time

Magazine highlights opportunities of Llan Railway

* Llangollen Railway volunteers at the end of the station site in Corwen.

A national railway magazine has highlighted the opportunities arising from the expansion of two heritage railways in the Dee Valley area.

Writing in the November 2017 edition of Heritage Railway magazine, a monthly journal reporting on the UK steam railway scene, the editor, Robin Jones, says that extensions to the Bala Lake Railway and the Llangollen Railway will offer a myriad of opportunities at Bala and Corwen, highlighting to local councils the multiple benefits to their economies that heritage railways can guarantee.

Reviewing the development of the heritage railway scene since the first volunteer-led preservation of the Talyllyn Railway in 1951, Robin Jones puts the spotlight on the former rail route between Ruabon and Barmouth, closed by Dr Beeching in 1965.

He says, the two heritage railways on the former track bed in the corridor of the Dee Valley are now adding themselves to the list of lines that go somewhere to somewhere, offering so much more than a steam ride for its own sake in the middle of nowhere. And both of them richly deserve your support at this stage.

Llangollen Railway’s big push into Corwen Central is making rapid strides each month.

It will not only be railway passengers who will benefit, being able to alight and visit the town centre’s shops and pubs, but coach operators who will see the line as a way of getting their customers into Llangollen.

Indeed, coach tour operations will have a big part to play at both of these lines, being able to offer their passengers rides on two heritage railways which pass through some of the most beautiful scenery Britain has to offer, simply by turning off the main road into a car park.

Then there is Bala Lake Railway whch is now just 80 yards short of the land it needs to complete its extension on ‘virgin’ land into Bala town centre, and give passing tourists a big reason to stop off there and spend their money in local establishments.

The scheme will benefit everyone – not least of all the railway, whose current out-of-the-way Bala terminus is by comparison ’finicky’ to find and misses out on much potential custom.

Both lines, says Robin Jones, need further public support in terms of donations or share purchase, and this is the time and place to jump on board.

Commenting on the editorial, Liz McGuinness, Interim General Manager at Llangollen Railway said: “We entirely agree with Robin Jones’s comments as to the prospects for Corwen when our new terminus opens in 2019. 

“Whilst the current temporary platform at Dwyrain Corwen East has become established as our western terminus over the past three years, it is not operationally convenient and lacks the immediacy of access to and from the town centre and car park.

"Terminating trains at a station central to the town, the bus interchange and the car park will open up a new market segment to attract passengers from North West Wales.

"With the Bala Lake Railway just ten miles away, visitors will be able to sample two contrasting lines using the Traws Cymru T3 bus as a connection.

“There are not many places in Britain where a ride on a big standard gauge steam train can be readily contrasted with the smaller train of the narrow gauge in the midst of countryside that can boast an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or a National Park.

“We are grateful to Robin Jones for promoting the need for support to assist the completion of our major development project. Businesses in the Corwen and Bala townships would do well to support the ambitions of either line in the expectation of increased economic activities arising from visitors to the railways at their new terminus stations.”

Heritage Railway, edition 235, is now on the shelves and includes progress reports for both the Bala Town station project and the Corwen Central development.

* See: https://www.heritagerailway.co.uk/corwen-gets-new-stairway-to-heaven-but-more-cash-needed/