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Thursday, November 15, 2018

Edie set to be a favourite with New Dot audience



* Sheila Hancock stars in Edie to be screened tomorrow by New Dot cinema.

Tickets are selling fast for this Fridays screening of ‘Edie’, a newly released film starring Sheila Hancock, set in the beautiful Scottish mountains.

“Online sales are way-up this month, it looks like we’ll have a really good turnout for this inspiring, feel-good tale of determination,” reports the volunteer-run, pop-up cinema.



Edie is 83 years old. When her controlling husband dies, she realises she has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to achieve an ambition she’d shared with her father - to climb Mount Suilven in Scotland.

She packs an old camping bag, waves goodbye to her disapproving daughter and sets off on

a life-changing adventure.



Llangollen Town Hall will be transformed tomorrow (Friday) into a big-screen cinema with balcony and floor seating, popcorn and a licenced bar.

Tickets for Edie are available at The Llangollen Oggie Shop on Castle Street, online and on the door.

* More details can be found at: www.newdotcinema.org, on Twitter or Facebook.


Charities urged to contact Aldi for free Christmas food



* Ken Skates AM and Susan Elan Jones MP. 

Charities are being urged to contact their local supermarket for a Christmas food donation.

Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones and AM Ken Skates want to make organisations such as soup kitchens and foodbanks aware of an annual Aldi giveaway which helps local people.

An Aldi spokesman said: “All our UK stores will close from 6pm on Christmas Eve until Thursday December 27 to give our colleagues a well-earned break, so we will be donating unsold fresh food to good causes in the local community. Each of our UK stores will select one charity from their local area.”

Interested parties should contact christmas@aldi.co.uk with their name, charity number (if applicable), a shirt description (eg soup kitchen, foodbank etc), their contact details and, if possible, the postcode of their three nearest Aldi stores.

Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones said: “It is important to note that only charities who apply via this email address will be eligible. The closing date for applications is Sunday, November 18 and successful applicants will require volunteers and transport to collect the food at 5.30pm on Christmas Eve.”

Ken Skates AM added: “Last year Aldi donated almost 500,000 meals from over 300 participating stores. Hopefully we can help make it even more this year. If you would like any more information, contact Lee Wright on 020 7300 6343 or email lee.wright@bm.com.”

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

MP threatens government over betting measures

Update:


The maximum bet on fixed-odds betting terminals will be cut from April after the government bowed to pressure.

Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones has vowed that Theresa May’s Government will be the first to be defeated in a Finance Bill vote for 40 years unless it changes its stance on fixed odds betting terminals.

Ms Jones (pictured), who is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, was one of the first MPs to sign a cross-party backbench amendment to the Finance Bill calling for the maximum stake on the gambling machines to be reduced from £100 to £2 from April 2019.

She said: “This is not about having a light flutter. Fixed Odds Betting Terminals are called the ‘crack cocaine’ of gambling because they’re highly addictive machines that are causing people to lose up to £16,000 a day. I’ve questioned Government Ministers about this and made it clear we need to act fast.

“Either the Government supports our amendment and we deal with this problem together or we  - a combination of cross-party backbenchers supported by the Labour Party front-bench - will use our votes in Parliament to defeat the Government. Too many people’s lives are being affected and we can’t wait any longer.”

Sion Corn tries hairy river ride to Christmas festival



* Sion Corn embarks on his trip with fellow adventurers aboard the Safe
and Sound Outdoors raft from Horseshoe Falls.
Sion Corn has been looking for the fastest way he can reach Llangollen to star in the town’s famous Christmas Festival at the end of November.
The Denbighshire tourist town is famed for celebrating various modes of transport like river, road, canal and steam train.

So the grand old man – he’s known as Santa Claus in English – has been giving them all a try to see which will get him there as quickly as possible so he can spend more time joining in the fun with the thousands of seasonal merrymakers who are expected to come flocking in to the big event on the afternoon of Saturday November 24.  
Latest to be given the Sion Corn transport test was a raft used for shooting the rapids on the River Dee from the Horseshoe Falls to the centre of town and operated by locally-based SAS – Safe and Sound Outdoors.

Sion Corn jumped aboard for his hair-raising trip along the fast flowing river and after arriving in town just a little while later said: “That was the most exhilarating ride I’ve had since one of my reindeers got at the Christmas sherry!
“It’s a definite possibility for speeding my arrival at the fete but the only trouble was my beard and green cloak ended up soaked.”

Thousands of seasonal revellers are expected to come flocking to Llangollen for the Christmas Festival on Saturday November 24.
Kicking off at 1pm with the famous parade which sees Sion Corn being escorted into town over the historic bridge by a colourful cavalcade of entertainers and local groups, the event features children’s fairground rides and games, circus acts, a magician, dancing and face painting.

There will also be a chance for youngsters to visit Sion Corn in his glorious grotto and put in their early requests for what they’d like to see him bring them on Christmas morning. 
During the afternoon visitors can look forward to an eclectic mix of musical entertainment from local groups on two outdoor stages and other on-street entertainment.

The fun-packed day rounds off at 5pm with the ceremonial switching on of Llangollen’s legendary Christmas lights and a firework extravaganza. 
Llangollen Christmas Festival is organised by a group of dedicated community volunteers. It costs over £4,000 to stage each year and is self-funding.

The festival aims to provide a free family-orientated event in the safety of the town centre with surplus funds being donated to Wales Air Ambulance and local community groups.
Over the last couple of years the police have estimated that the spectacular event draws over 2,000 people into town during the course of the afternoon.

For the second year the festival has teamed up with Light Up Local Food, a project aimed at promoting Llangollen-based food and drink producers.
Chairman of the festival committee Austin ‘Chem’ Cheminais, who is also the local town crier and a member of the town council, said: “With the help of the community we manage, each year, to raise just about enough to fund the event and give a little to charity.

“Last year’s festival was particularly successful, in spite of the weather, and the feedback from those attending was very positive.
“The ‘market’ feel to the event provided by Light UP Local Food was particularly commented upon and helped to attract visitors from much further afield.

“Once again we’re expecting a bumper crowd to come along and help us to give a great early start to Christmas.” 

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Battle to preserve WW1 soldiers' graffiti at Berwyn

Llangollen Railway volunteer Peter Dickinson gives a fascinating insight into the on-going efforts to preserve the graffiti of young soldiers heading off to fight in World War One found on the subway near  Berwyn Station



* The underpass near Berwyn Station.

Berwyn railway station stands prominently alongside the A5 road just over a mile east of Llangollen in North East Wales.

It was built to primarily serve the needs of the landed gentry who had established large estates in the vicinity.
The station opened in 1865 as an intermediate stop on the Llangollen & Corwen Railway, which ultimately became part of the Great Western Railway’s cross-country route linking Ruabon and Barmouth.
As space was at such a premium in the area, the station was built on a rock ledge cut into the southern side of a narrow gorge, overlooking the tumbling waters of the River Dee.
Whilst the station itself has a fascinating history in its own right and has since been preserved as part of the Llangollen Railway, it is not the main focus of this article.

For just metres away from the station’s platform can be found a series of poignant messages written by soldiers from the First World War. This is the story behind just some of these men, the structure they are on and the efforts being made now to conserve them.
From its opening until at least the mid-1890s, the station was connected by an access path to the Chain Bridge over the River Dee. This path crossed over the railway line at the eastern end of the platform and this became the scene for a fatal accident just a few days before Christmas in 1896.

On Tuesday 22nd December Charles Roberts, a blacksmith, and his wife Jane had been visiting friends near the station. Shortly after 9pm they were on their way home and as they approached the ungated crossing heard a train approaching them.
Assuming this was the mail train that was due to stop at Berwyn they continued across the track.  Unfortunately it was a ‘special’ put on to cope with the increased amounts of mail being carried in the run up to the festive period.
The crank of the steam locomotive caught the side of Jane Robert’s head and her body was found about fifteen yards from the crossing. Charles Roberts sued the Great Western Railway and received substantial damages.
The fatality and the increasing popularity of the walking route led to the Great Western Railway deciding to remove the crossing completely and replace it with a pedestrian underpass.

A steep pathway was excavated adjacent to the railway, almost as a continuation of the platform ramp, leading to a short 6-foot wide tunnel under the one railway track. The structure in itself may have been fairly unremarkable, but for the fact that it was finished in white glazed bricks.
The bricks seemed to have taken pencil markings readily, especially from the indelible type issued to soldiers during the First World War.


Teenage conscripts used their pencils to write notes on the subway's walls and many of these still survive today, albeit becoming increasingly at risk from water ingress and deterioration.
One entry on the walls shows that E. M. Morris and R. Roberts shared a cigarette together there on 6th July 1913.


By the time they returned on Christmas Day the following year, they had both enlisted in the Army and had quickly been promoted. Indeed R. Roberts signed his festive message with the ranking of a Lance Corporal. Some of the other scribblings indicated soldiers in light-hearted mood, including 'Balls from Belgium', 'Berlin Last Stop' and 'Hoof Hearted'.
Over subsequent years, the walls of the subway continued to attract more notes and messages in pencil up until at least the 1960s when the railway closed.


In our modern society, graffiti is often seen as defacement and vandalism in most situations. Yet after the passage of a century, the written WW1 messages on the subway walls have become poignant and important historical artefacts in their own right.
Despite the closure of the railway through Berwyn in 1965 and the subsequent removal of the railway track by 1968, the structure of the subway was retained.


However, this resulted in neglect and structural failures led to water ingress and deterioration of the pencil messages commencing.
The rebuilding of the line as part of the preserved Llangollen Railway and the subsequent piecemeal maintenance being afforded to the subway has reduced this deterioration somewhat.
However, in the 1990s the increasingly dilapidated condition of the nearby Chain Bridge resulted in its closure to the public. The connecting footpath from the station and associated subway were no longer part of a thoroughfare and began to deteriorate further.

During the mid-2000s the pencil messages were first spotted by David Gepp, a lecturer in photography at the Herefordshire College of Art. He recalled that ‘a friend said that there was a tunnel where soldiers used to hang around and have a fag. My wife and I went there and came across the name Alfred James Candy written on the wall of the tunnel. As we were going home I noticed a war memorial and pulled over to have a look. On the second line, there he was, Alfred James Candy’.
David Gepp’s discovery led to him arranging a temporary exhibition on the signatures in Llangollen’s Museum in 2007. This attracted considerable interest from the local media and the public, but unfortunately did not lead to any conservation work on the subway itself.

It was in their deteriorating and forlorn condition that I first came across the signatures whilst undertaking geology fieldwork in the area in 2011.
The following year I became a volunteer at Berwyn station and commenced a programme of regular vegetation clearance around the subway.
The nearby Chain Bridge reopened to the public amid much celebration in 2015 due to the sterling efforts of the local councils and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The restoration work on what is thought to be the oldest chain bridge in the world, also included resurfacing and restoration of the connecting path up to Berwyn station.  
The increased footfall from visitors once again put the subway and pencil messages back into the public limelight. Efforts were made to increase public awareness through free information packs and temporary displays at the station, including the display of commemorative wreaths and even a GWR WW1 stretcher.   

A major boost came over this past summer, when BBC Wales ran an article online about their significance and fears that they were being lost to the damp. Indeed water ingress has continued to deteriorate and engulf the pencil messages; with the central parts of the walls now almost entirely covered by algae.
Given the wider commemorations taking place and the increasing numbers of visitors passing through the subway, the media coverage has this time led to a concerted effort to ensure it is conserved and restored as sympathetically as possible.

With the blessing of the Llangollen Railway, I have been leading the conservation project and have been working closely with the Llangollen Museum, Denbighshire County Council and many other local stakeholders. Yet it is not as simple as just cleaning off the brick faces with soapy water – far from it!

One of the first stages is to tackle the problem of the water ingress in and around the structure. Groundwater confined within the natural mudstone bedrock in the area naturally seeps out of the retaining walls on the approach to the subway, whilst further east it passes at depth under the railway trackbed.
Rainwater also passes down through the stone ballast that supports the railway track over the subway. Over time, small-scale deterioration of the brickwork and metalwork has led to this water working its way through the structure and running down the white glazed bricks, leading to the build-up of algae over the pencil messages.
Drainage improvements will be required to capture the water from around the subway and deflect it away; either along the sides of the track or through pipe under the railway itself.


A new waterproof membrane is likely to be required over the subway to stop rainwater passing through the ballast and getting into the structure. This will require the lifting of the railway track and ballast from above the structure, which can only be carried out at a time when the Llangollen Railway’s heritage steam and diesel trains are not running, i.e. in either November, January and/or early February.
Once improvements to the drainage and structure are carried out, the then work can start in earnest in recording and conserving the signatures on the subway walls.


Methods of cleaning off the algae are currently being explored with specialist conservators and a number of Welsh universities. This will hopefully uncover many more signatures and poignant messages hidden on currently obscured parts of the glazed walls.
Volunteers at the Llangollen Museum have already begun researching some of the messages that are still visible on the subway’s walls. One of these is the message by AJ Candy spotted by David Gepp over a decade ago, which reads "I really want --is baby".


Research into Candy’s life and military career has revealed that he is incorrectly listed on the Llangollen war memorial and was actually named Albert rather than Alfred.
It transpires that Albert James Candy was born in Cardiff in July 1887. His father died when Albert was only three and tragically his mother died in May 1895. Albert and his older brother Frederick were soon admitted into an orphanage in Somerset, where the trail temporarily goes cold. However by 1911, he had found work at a bakers and confectioners’ shop in Llangollen.

There is currently no record of when he joined up, but from the Commonwealth War Graves we have found that on 17th April 1917 James Candy 675653, Royal Field Artillery, “D” Battery, 285 Brigade was killed. He was buried at plot 4, Row D, Grave 14 in Le Grand Hasard Military Cemetery, in Morbecque, Northern France.
Further research is ongoing into the other names presently uncovered on the subway walls including E M Morris and R Roberts.


It is hoped that as the project progresses we can discover more about the soldiers and locals who used the walls of the structure to record their messages and stories.
Any further information or assistance in researching the messages would be gratefully appreciated by myself and the other volunteers actively involved this project.


* The approach to the subway.


* The cheeky message "HOOF HEARTED".


* R.Roberts & E. Morris 1913 and 1914.

* Unknown 1904 and 1907.

About the Author

Peter Dickinson is an active volunteer on the Llangollen Railway and his first book on the line, ‘Steam in the Dee Valley – From Ruabon to Corwen via Llangollen’ was published in 2015 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the railway opening. His latest book ‘The Ruabon to Barmouth Line’ is due for release by Fonthill Media before the end of the year (ISBN: 978-1-78155-214-8) .

* Peter will be giving a talk at the Llangollen Museum entitled ‘Rails to the British Tyrol’ on Wednesday 27th February 2019, focussing on the history of the Llangollen & Corwen Railway and featuring the graffiti. 

Monday, November 12, 2018

Discounted bus travel scheme is extended

The MyTravelPass discounted bus travel scheme for younger people is being extended to include everyone aged 16 to 21 resident in Wales.

Previously only open to 16 to 18 year-olds, Transport Secretary Ken Skates has announced today that the scheme is not only secured until March 2020, but will be available to many more people.

The one-third discounted offer began in 2015 when Welsh Government launched a pilot discounted bus travel scheme to provide all 16, 17 and 18 year-olds with discounted bus fares for any journey within Wales. The extension should take effect from early December 2018.

Existing MyTravelPass holders who have a 16 to 18 years pass, and who wish to take-up this exciting offer, need not do anything now, but should reapply shortly before their existing pass expiries.

Ken Skates said: “I’m pleased to announce that following the consultation exercise I undertook last year and talks with the bus industry we have been able to increase the upper age for discounted bus travel from 18 to 21 years.

“I would like to thank the bus industry for agreeing to this improvement. We appreciate their co-operation, as although the Welsh Government pays, their participation is voluntary.

“We will continue negotiations with our bus industry partners during 2019 to identify any further enhancements, potentially involving some of the key issues raised during the consultation we might jointly achieve.

“Today’s enhancement of the MyTravelPass scheme will not only help young people in training or apprenticeships, and during the transition into work, but will hopefully also encourage more to use the bus for more of their journeys. This way, they will be helping to tackle congestion and air quality in our towns and cities."

The MyTravelPass scheme was originally established as part of a budget deal between the Welsh Government and the Welsh Liberal Democrats during the last assembly term.

* To keep in touch with the date from which applications may be made, visit www.mytravelpass.gov.wales or call 0300 200 22 33.

Police chief's Brexit fallout warning


* North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

Brexit will help blow a £5 million black hole in the pension pot of North Wales Police over the next two years – and could mean 133 fewer officers or a massive increase in council tax.

That's the warning from North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

And he says there is even worse to come because of proposed changes to the police pension scheme which would see a 10 per cent hike in employer contributions.

The £1.9 million shortfall next year would rise to nearly £5.3 million a year in subsequent years, putting an even greater strain on the thin blue line.

This latest blow comes on top of cuts of over £30 million that have already been implemented by North Wales Police since 2010.

As it stands, retired officers are paid their pensions through the contributions of currently serving officers, employers’ contributions from the force and then topped up by a grant from the Home Office.

However, the Home Office is proposing to increase the employer contributions by forces – without increasing the funding to match it.

One of the main reasons for the pensions bombshell, said Mr Jones, was the uncertainty caused by Brexit and whether or not a deal could be struck.

The proposed changes are based on the pre-Brexit economic forecasts of the Office of Budget Responsibility and reflect the uncertainty prior to the Brexit vote which continues to blight the forecasts.

Across the UK the police pensions cost is set to increase by £165 million in 2019/20, before rising to £417 million, which could mean 4,000 fewer officers next year and ultimately 10,000 fewer from 2020/21.

According to Mr Jones, the proposals flew in the face of an official review of police pensions  by John Hutton, the chair of the independent Public Service Pensions Commission, which had sought to ensure employer contributions to public sector pensions were affordable.

As a result, the stark choice is to massively increase police precept by £16.92 or to drastically reduce the number officers policing North Wales.

The commissioner has now written to all North Wales MPs and AMs to flag up his concerns about the “unaffordable and unnecessary cost pressures for policing in North Wales”.

He has invited the elected representatives to a briefing by him and the new chief constable, Carl Foulkes, in January.

In the meantime, he is calling on the Government to reconsider the "potentially disastrous" pension changes.

Mr Jones said: “The current proposals are for a 9.7 per cent increase in the employers’ contribution rate, potentially increasing that rate from 24.2 per cent to 33.9 per cent.

“Police and Crime Commissioners cannot, by law, set an unbalanced budget.  This means that this money must be found from increasing council tax, drawing from reserves, or by reducing expenditure.

“In North Wales, we estimate that the cost in 2019/20 will be £1.982 million, and £5.286 million in each subsequent year.

“Reserves are a one-off resource, and while they may be used to help in the short term, to rely on these is unsustainable. Therefore, the money must come from a combination of cuts and council tax.

“We’ve already suffered years of cutbacks because of austerity and the budget for 2018/19 is £31 million lower than it would have been had funding kept pace with inflation. 

“This means that in the last eight years, £162 million less has been spent on policing North Wales than would otherwise have been the case. 

“Whilst we continue to strive to deliver further efficiencies, unexpected and unnecessary cost pressures such as this put a major strain on our limited budgets.

“Reducing the budget a further £1.982 million would be approximately equivalent to 50 police officers while £5.286 million is approximately 133 officers. 

“To reduce the workforce by such a high number would inevitably impact on workload and morale, but would also impact upon the safety of our communities across North Wales. 

“Whilst other savings are in the process of being identified, staffing costs form 80 per cent of our budget, therefore a reduction in the establishment must be considered.”