AM highlights importance of Llan Railway

North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called on the First Minister to take action to promote the economic benefits that heritage railways such as Lllangollen bring to Wales.

Questioning Carwyn Jones in the Assembly Chamber, Mr Isherwood said it is important that all levels of government and business activity have a better understanding of the positive impact heritage railways can have on the areas they serve, and asked what assessment the Welsh Government has made of the economic benefits that heritage railways bring to Wales.

Speaking in the Chamber, he said: “Writing in last November's edition of the 'Heritage Railway' magazine, its Editor, Robin Jones, referred to the Llangollen Railway big push into Corwen Central, as well as the Bala Lake Railway extension, highlighting the multiple economic benefits to local councils and others that heritage railways can guarantee.

"What action will you therefore take to ensure better understanding, at all levels of government and business activity, of the benefit that heritage railways, such as Llangollen Railway, can bring to the areas they serve?”

In his reply the First Minister said the Welsh Government understands how important heritage railways are, that it has supported them in the past and that it will continue to do so in the future.    

Mr Isherwood added: “As Heritage Railway magazine’s Editor said of Llangollen Railway’s big push into Corwen Central, ‘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.”

Twenty Club dig up a hit with their comedy creepy

The advance publicity material describes the Twenty Club’s latest outing at the Town Hall as “Agatha Christie meets the Addams Family” and that perfectly sums it up.

A Tomb With A View by Norman Robbins is a traditional whodunnit woven around a scary, crazy family called the Tombs not one of whom is anywhere close to normal.

Their idea of good time is squabbling amongst themselves like a pack of snarly dogs or bumping off visitors to the family home and leaving them pushing up the marigolds outside in the garden.

They live in a big tumbledown mansion called Monument House where we join the five Tomb siblings and their retainers – along with two mystery guests – as they gather for the reading of the last will and testament of the head of the family, a grim-faced, creepy old geezer whose forbidding portrait hangs on the library wall.  

It’s old man Tomb’s disembodied voice which narrates the introduction to the play, raising the question whether he’s actually dead or not.

And that’s what you continually have to ask yourself as one after another of the characters bites the dust.

To reveal any more of the plot would spoil things, so I’ll say only that there’s a nice little twist at the end.

Members of Twenty Club involved in the piece bring their usual versatility to bear in every one of the many roles.

Paula Sutton, devoid of any feminine touches, is the butch Emily Tomb whom one feels would like to sink her teeth into more than her favourite red apples, while her sister Dora Tomb, who loves to poison people with her home-brewed wine, is played with the perfect measure of eye-rolling madness by Rowena Owen.

Underneath a mop of mad-scientist hair is Mathew Oswald-Haggett who gives an accomplished performance as Lucien Tomb and another club stalwart David Connelly couldn’t be dottier as Marcus Tomb who thinks he’s Julius Ceasar and even wears a toga around the house.

Perfectly completing the lunatic row of Tombs is Sue Griffiths as man-mad sister Monica.

Stepping into the Twenty Club limelight for the first time is James Broderick. But on the strength of his neat portrayal of scheming family solicitor Hamilton Penworthy it won’t be his last.

Lyn Aston is as competent as ever in the role of Agatha Hammond, the sinister old housekeeper who has as many murderous tendencies as the rest of them, and Hannah Edwards makes a very believable Anne Franklin, old man Tomb’s live-in nurse.

Peregrine Potter, the nervous and shy visitor to Monument House who turns out to be central to the action, is played extremely proficiently by Twenty Club favourite Dan Pedley, and there’s a stylish performance from Esme Sallnow as his up-market associate Ermyntrude Ash whom you can also catch taking one of the lead roles in Llangollen Operatic Society’s forthcoming production of My Fair Lady.

This rewarding little comedy thriller provides a great night out and is a credit to director Jenni Lloyd and the whole behind-the-scenes team who help bring it to the stage.      

There’s one final performance of the play tonight at 7.30pm.

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Insight on Brexit for business planned

How to navigate Brexit will be on the agenda at a special business summit.

As part of Denbighshire County Council’s March for Business month, former Bank of England economist Neil Ashbridge (pictured) will be giving his insights on Brexit and how exporting businesses can prepare.

The event, run in conjunction with West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce (WCNWCC), is being held at the OpTIC Centre, on St Asaph Business Park on March 20.

Mr Ashbridge, who worked for the Bank of England for 42 years and sits on the chamber’s board of directors, will also speak to businesses on a one-to-one basis during the event.

He said: “Businesses want the UK Government and the EU Commission to reach agreement as soon as possible.  Increased bureaucracy moving goods and services across borders with the EU is a concern to businesses.

“Businesses need to plan ahead using various scenarios, identify risks with each and consider ways of mitigating those risks. 

“For those that trade externally, Brexit should be seen as an opportunity to broaden trading links - one of the reasons for leaving the Customs Union is to allow the UK to focus globally, rather than as has been the case over the last 30 to 40 years, on trade with the EU.  Growth in world trade will come from emerging markets in the long term.”

The event will also feature a chance for networking as well as information on services provided by WCNWCC, including certification services and bespoke training for new and experienced exporters.

Cllr Hugh Evans, OBE, Leader of Denbighshire County Council, said: “Brexit is an issue that will impact a number of Denbighshire businesses.

“Offering this summit as part of March for Business will give businesses all the information they need to make the right choices moving forward.

“It is important we support our county’s traders by giving them training and advice which will help their businesses grow, and help create jobs for our residents.”

March for Business is part of the Council’s work on developing the local economy through its Economic and Community Ambition Strategy, which includes a number of high priority projects to help businesses succeed.

It features 23 varied events offering almost 100 hours of content at venues across the county.

For more information on the free event visit www.denbighshire.gov.uk/marchforbusiness

Latest county snow update ...

Latest snow update from the county council, issued at 9.25am Friday:  

Roads closed:

·         A5104 Corwen to Llandegla

·         B4401 Corwen to Llandrillo

·         Horseshoe Pass 

·         Road  across the Denbigh Moors between Bylchau and Pentrefoelas. 

However, all main primary routes are passable with extreme care needed.

We have advised the public to only travel if absolutely necessary and if they do need to travel, they should consider delaying their journey, so that everyone is not travelling the same time this morning.

Schools:

All schools in Denbighshire are closed today.

Public Transport:

Arriva: Most services running but expect delays. Currently, we are notified of problems as follows:

51/X51 running Rhyl to Ruthin only. Not operating to Wrexham. Also not diverting via Brookehouse or Llanrhaeadr village.

Arriva reports no issues on 11s Rhyl to Chester or 12s Rhyl to Llandudno but these may be subject to delay.

Lloyd’s Coaches: T3 currently suspended.

M & H Coaches: No services on X51, 66 and 76.

Stagecoach 1/X1/2 Ruthin - Mold - Chester

Buses operating but expect delays. Llanarmon, Eryrys, Graianrhyd, Maeshafan not being served.

Coastline 55/X5 Ruthin - Corwen - Llangollen - Wrexham operating but expect delays. Not serving Llanfair DC/Eyarth.

Libraries:

Llangollen Library is closed today.

 

Snow update from county

The county council has this morning issued the following snow update:

The following roads are closed: 

·         A5104 Corwen to Llandegla

·         B4401 Corwen to Llandrillo

·         Horseshoe Pass 

·         Road  across the Denbigh Moors between Bylchau and Pentrefoelas. 

All main primary routes are passable with extreme care needed.

We would advise that people should only travel if absolutely necessary and if they do need to travel, they should consider delaying their journey, so that everyone is not travelling the same time this morning.

Due to the challenging conditions, our primary focus was on keeping the main A and B routes open as much as possible overnight.

Buses make return in spring timetable

Reinstated services in South Denbighshire will feature in this Spring’s bus timetable changes, following an autumn public consultation and recent tendering.

On March 11 the County Council is restoring some services lost in July 2016.

Reinstated are more evening services on the X51 between Denbigh, Ruthin & Wrexham, between Llangollen & Wrexham as service 5, and as 51/X51 between Ruthin, Denbigh & Rhyl.

Also reinstated are Sunday services south of Denbigh to Ruthin & Wrexham. This area has been without Sunday buses for 18 months.

Weekday daytime services between Rhyl, Denbigh, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Ruthin, Ysbyty Maelor and Wrexham continue broadly unchanged. These buses usually offer free Wi-Fi for passengers.

Retained at broadly the same level are services between Ruthin and Mold as 1, X1 and 2. The popular return journeys to and from Chester continue and this proved to be a significant feature of the recent public consultation. The operator will become M & H Coaches.

The County Council has guaranteed day tickets will remain at Stagecoach’s lower-then-average levels for at least the remainder of 2018. Later this year, M & H will be investing in brand new buses for the 1/X1/2.

These new vehicles will feature free on-board Wi-Fi for passengers. They will be the first brand new buses in Ruthin since 2009 and they will help to displace an otherwise ageing fleet, offering new standards for passengers, lower emissions and better reliability.

There will be an improvement to the afternoon service between Denbigh and Henllan on the 66. A suit of changes for Bodfari, Tremeirchion, Rhuallt and Cwm sees some journeys on some days operate via Henllan for Prestatyn & Rhyl.

M & H continues with the 76, although there will be some changes to the timetable, especially at the Graigfechan end, where consultees wished for a more appropriate time in Ruthin.

The 55 and X5 between Ruthin, Corwen, Llangollen and Wrexham sees timetable changes to improve connections at Corwen and already a new operator, Coastline of Rhyl.

There are minor changes to services for villages between Ruthin and Corwen such as Betws Gwerfil Goch, Cyffylliog and Clawddnewydd. The new operator for these is Llew Jones Coaches. These services will restore low floor easy access buses rather than the step entrance minibuses in use for the last 18 months.

Brian Jones, Lead Member for Highways, Planning & Sustainable Transport, said: “The changes we have made are as a result of the bus service consultation that highlighted a number of areas where the Council could improve bus services for passengers and communities. I would urge passengers to support these changes so that they become as sustainable as possible."

Printed public timetables will be available from March 5th, 2018 at libraries and County Council offices. They are currently available online at www.denbighshire.gov.uk/travel.