Large audience enjoys town carol service

* The audience sings a carol during the service.

* Llangollen Silver Band provide accompaniment to the carols.

The Rev Phil Poole, to the right of the stage, led worship.

* Cor Canu Hardd take the Town Hall stage.

* Town Mayor, Cllr Jon Haddy, delivers a reading.

A large audience took part in the annual Llangollen Town Carol Service at the Town Hall yesterday (Sunday) evening.

Musical accompaniment, sung in English and Welsh, was provided by Llangollen Silver Band, which also performed a selection of numbers on their own including Winter from Vivaldi's the Four Seasons and Oh Holy Night.

The audience also appreciated the seasonal numbers provided by boys and girls of the local young people's choir, Cor Canu Hardd, conducted by Elen Mair Roberts. Immediately after leaving the stage to warm applause the choir had to dash off to its second appointment of the night, signing at the Eisteddfod Christmas Concert at the Pavilion.

Various readings from the Bible were delivered between the music by people including Town Mayor, Cllr Jon Haddy.

The service, which was organised by the Llangollen Churches Together organisation Cytun, was led by the Rev Phil Poole of Llangollen Methodist Church.

During a break in the service the winning exhibitors in the annual Christmas Tree Festival staged at the Methodist Church were announced. They were Best White Christmas: the Holy Cross Church; Best Traditional: Ysgol Bryn Collen.

Afternoon tea, prepared by volunteers, was served during the first hour of the event.

Inclusive dance competition to open near Llangollen

* Helen from Dolywern takes part in last year's Strictly Cymru final.

Wales’ first fully inclusive dance event, Strictly Cymru, is back for the second year running, with the first regional heats taking place near Llangollen this week.

Organised by the disability charity Leonard Cheshire, Strictly Cymru invites disabled dancers from across the country to take part and show off their talent.

The event is pan disability and aims to improve health, wellbeing and access to sport for disabled people across Wales.

First of the regional heats will be at Leonard Cheshire in Dolywern on Thursday and Friday, December 20 and 21.

This follows the success of last year’s competition, where participants reported significant improvements in their well-being as a result of taking part.

Helen from Dolywern, who had experienced extreme short-term memory loss and limited speech, now engages in conversation, has improved memory and an extended range of vocabulary. She came joint third in Strictly Cymru Grand Final last year.

Helen said ahead of the final last year: "It was a fun event to take part in. I’m amazed was in the final!"

Leonard Cheshire is inviting disabled people across the country to take part in the competition — from keen dancers to complete beginners.

Glyn Meredith, Leonard Cheshire’s Director of Operations in Wales, said: "Dancing improves people’s health, happiness and well-being, opening up opportunities that too often are not accessible for disabled people.

"Following enormous success last year, we can’t wait to see what this year’s Strictly Cymru has to offer.

"We know there is a huge wealth of talent among the community in Wales and this event is the perfect opportunity to bring people everyone together to show what they can do."

The event has been organised in partnership with Para Dance UK.

Patrick McGeough, Para Dance UK CEO, said: "We welcome the opportunity to partner with Leonard Cheshire on this amazing event, enabling the community of Wales to take part in dance, but also developing a legacy that can show and enable the community that everyone can be involved in dance whether that is for fun, creative or competitive reasons.

"We wish all the participants good luck and we look forward to meeting and inspiring everyone to get involved have fun and show that no matter what the ability that all of the community of Wales can dance!”

* For further details and to find out how to take part, please visit: www.leonardcheshire.org/strictlycymru

Mazie designs AM and MP's Christmas card

* Susan Elan Jones MP with Mazie Pemberton, holding her

winning card design, and Ken Skates AM.

A six-year-old schoolgirl has been chosen as the winner of a competition to design this year's Christmas card for the area's AM and MP.

Mazie Pemberton’s entry featuring a colourful tree was Ken Skates and Susan Elan Jones’s favourite out of hundreds submitted.

Her design has been made into the Labour pair’s official Clwyd South Christmas card and will be sent to hundreds of homes, businesses and organisations across the constituency.

Mazie, who is in Year 2 at Rhosymedre Community Primary School, was presented with her framed original, a winner’s certificate and prizes by the politicians on Friday morning.

Susan said: “We would like to thank all the children who took part, as well as their teachers. There were so many wonderful entries it was incredibly difficult to make a decision, so we have included the runners-up designs inside the card as well. The finished article looks fantastic, we’re delighted with it.”

Ken added: “It was brilliant to meet Mazie and present her with her prizes. We could’ve chosen any number of entries because there were so many excellent ones, but Mazie is a deserved winner. I’d like to wish all the children and staff a merry Christmas and a very happy new year. I hope they all enjoy their well-earned break.”

The runners-up were eight-year-old Evie Davies and six-year-old Isobel Paddock, both from Ysgol Acrefair, who will also receive certificates.

Freezing weather closes Ponderosa for the day

The Ponderosa Cafe on the Horseshoe Pass has closed due to bad weather today.

A post on Facebook this morning says ...

Morning everyone,

Due to freezing conditions on the car parks I have taken the decision to close the Cafe today.

The roads are treacherous with black ice in lots of places please only travel over if necessary.

Apologies for any inconvenience

Kind regards Simon Clemence

Llangollen Museum stages its Christmas Carol Concert

* People gather to sing carols during the concert.

Llangollen Museum hosted a Christmas Carol Concert at Valle Crucis Abbey last night (Friday).

By special permission from CADW a large number of people packed inside the ancient chloisters to brave the cold and sing a variety of seasonal songs accompanied by Llangollen Silver Band and Cor Meibion Bro Glyndwr.

The choir and the band also performed a number of solo carols and there were Christmas-themed readings by museum volunteers. 

Local supermarkets donated mince pies and mulled wine.

* Members of Cor Meibion Bro Glndwr perform.

* Llangollen Silver Band provides musical accompaniment to the carols.

Catrin Finch joins eisteddfod line-up for 2019

To celebrate tickets going on sale to the general public Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod has announced royal harpist Catrin Finch as the next addition to its evening concert line-up for 2019.

Harpist and composer to the Prince of Wales and vice president of the eisteddfod, Catrin Finch is one of the most accomplished and versatile harpists of her generation.

She joins a line up that already features jazz and bluesman Jools Holland, French-Mexican star tenor Rolando Villazón, salsa, pop and flamenco outfit Gipsy Kings and award-winning Celtic music band, Jamie Smith’s MABON.

Music Director of the festival, Edward-Rhys Harry, said: “We are very proud to announce Catrin as our next addition to the already star-studded line-up, which spans genres and generations, crossing the boundaries of age, culture and creed.

"There really is something for everyone and we’ll be adding even more early in the New Year, with the announcement of our Llanfest headliners for 2019.”

* Tickets are on sale to the general public and can be purchased online at www.llangollen.net or via the box office.

New Audi A6 comes out from the shadows

* The Audi A6.

* Audi A6 cabin.

Audi A6 road test by Steve Rogers

WHO'D be a car salesman trying to shift a big saloon?

Everyone is buying SUVs, aren't they?

Well yes, but there must be a decent market for premium wheels because Audi has spent a bucket full of money developing the new A6.

Trendy SUVs have been flying out of the showrooms all year but top end saloons are still filling executive spaces in company car parks. That is where A6 comes in although the competition is hellishly tough with BMW 5 Series, Jaguar XF, Mercedes E Class and the new Volvo S90 all wanting a slice of the cake.

A6 has always struggled against the highly rated 5 Series and more recently the much improved E Class which is why Audi has gone for broke with the new model.... and it shows.

There has been a big leap forward in technology, refinement, and comfort while the styling mirrors the new design theme seen in A4 and A8 and for me it is now the best looking of the trio.

The car is longer and wider and looks great in S Line trim sitting that little bit lower on the road. Of course the big winner is cabin space where a six foot back seat passenger can sit behind a six foot driver and not feel short changed on leg room. The extra legroom has not compromised boot space which is substantial and can be extended with the seat backs dropped.

No one in the premium sector can trim a cabin like Audi yet they have managed to make A6 look even plusher. The materials are top notch, the finish superb and it looks all the more special with the new twin screen layout first seen in new A8.

In S Line models you get a 10 inch top screen for navigation, radio, mobile phone connections etc with an 8.6 inch screen below for heating controls and the brilliant 12.3 inch virtual cockpit which fills the driver's binnacle with a Google map and dials which are interchangeable for size. Clever stuff.

Everything is digital and selected by touch and I particularly liked the soft click letting you know the selection has been successful. Another neat touch is the increase in backlighting when a hand hovers over switches to the side of the steering wheel.

The amount of information stored in Audi's MMI interface is incredible, pretty much what you get on a home computer. Trouble is it takes a lot of homework to find it and then remembering how you got there.

Both my wife and I remarked that the rear camera could do with a washer but it was five days before we found it had the very function, and in this case easy to find. It's just there is so much going on and some functions will never be used because they will never be found.

Driving new A6 really is something to look forward to. I used to steer friends away from S Line models because the ride wasn't up to scratch but the new suspension, which transformed A4, has done the same here. Even in sport mode the car is settled over poor surfaces while silky smooth is the order of the day on motorways which is where A6 will ply most of its trade.

Audi has developed a new four cylinder two-litre diesel which is so refined it could pass for a V6. With 400Nm of torque pick up is brisk and can catch you out. I put my foot down on a motorway slip road and was surprised to see I was doing 80mph in a flash. Sorry officer but I wanted to get safely ahead of the traffic.

But performance is not the big story here. It is economy. I had to do a double take when I noticed I got 53mpg on a 170 mile mainly motorway journey. We must have had a tail wind on the way home because it went up to 55mpg! That is astonishing considering I was nearly always hovering around 70mph and probably helped by the mild hybrid system which kills the engine when coasting between 34 and 99mph.

The engine is so quiet the driver is unlikely to notice anything has changed. I certainly didn't.

Perhaps for the first time in a long time A6 can offer itself as the best executive car. It no longer lives in the shadow of the BMW 5 Series, that's for sure. All four rivals mentioned earlier have their own special qualities and the final decision may come down to brand loyalty.

Fast facts

Audi A6 40 TDI S Line

£41,110

2-litre turbo diesel; 200bhp

0-62mph 8.1secs; 152mph

62.8mpg combined

117g/km. 1st year road tax £205

Insurance group 36