Meet Llangollen's Youth Parliament member

* Youth Parliament member Talulah Thomas.

A student from Llangollen has been elected as a member of the Welsh Youth Parliament.

The parliament, which will meet frequently over the next two years, includes 60 young people aged 11-18 from diverse backgrounds across Wales.  

Representing Clwyd South will be Talulah Thomas, a year 13 student at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd who is hoping to go on to study history and politics at university.

Parliament members will choose the issues they wish to debate and raise awareness of them at national level.

They will also gather views from other young people across the country and work with those with the power to make change.

Talulah said: “During my time as YPM, I hope to work closely with our local AM Ken Skates and MP Susan Elan Jones over these next two years.  

“My key issues are mental health education in schools, promoting culture and the Welsh language and Welsh youth participation in politics.

“I wish to be a member of the Welsh Youth Parliament because the political future of Wales rests with our youth, and our nation's young people must be engaged to ensure progression.”

She added: “I would encourage discussions within schools by starting an all-inclusive committee that will highlight the issues that are important to young voters, as their views are most important to me.

“I hope that this will reflect politics as an essential element of everyday life and create a bridge between the voices of young people and the Senedd in order to negate the rhetoric that it is inaccessible and elitist.

“I would like to create a Welsh language podcast with young people that will discuss and debate issues such as mental health, Welsh independence and the voting age. By using a modern form, I hope to raise political issues in a relaxed and accessible way.

“By being a member of the Syr IfanC Board and acting as the ambassador of my area, I have confidently developed group discussion and debate skills about issues, as well as contributing to the community.

“I have no fear of voicing my opinion and I would be very excited to have the opportunity to act on behalf of young people to ensure that we have the representation that we deserve as the youth of Wales.” 

New waste and recycling scheme gets green light

Plans to change waste and recycling collections in Denbighshire have been given the go-ahead. 

The changes will include:

·         a new weekly collection for recyclables such as paper, glass, cans, and plastic

·         a new weekly collection for nappies and incontinence wear

·         a weekly collection for food waste

·         a new fortnightly collection for clothes and small electrical items

The aim is to encourage more recycling on top of the council’s current rates (64%) to meet the Welsh Government’s 70% target by 2025, with an expectancy that the target will rise to 80% in future.

The council says if residents use the recycling service correctly, it should only result in a minimal amount of residual waste being created. 

As a result, the council will be changing the collection of non-recyclable waste to every four weeks for the majority of households.

Residents will be issued with a  bigger black bin if they need one, but overall, households would have more capacity each week for managing their waste than they have with our current service. 

The new weekly recycling service (using a Trollibloc system) would provide more capacity for recycling when compared to the current fortnightly collection with the blue wheelie bin.  

Residents will be able to free up even more space in their black bin by using new kerbside recycling services for textiles, small electrical goods, batteries and where needed, nappies and incontinence waste.   

The Welsh Government has already committed £7.9 million towards the service. This funding would be used to develop the infrastructure necessary to enable the council to change the service. 

Welsh Government are supporting the changes as the proposed changes mean that the carbon footprint of the new service would be much less. We would be using less fuel, recycling more waste and producing higher quality recycling suitable for use in the UK manufacturing industry, avoiding, where possible, the use of virgin materials sourced from the Earth’s diminishing resources.

Councillor Brian Jones, Cabinet Lead Member for Highways, Planning and Sustainable Travel, said:  “This has been a big decision for the council and these proposals have been explored and considered at great length.

“Whilst we are delighted that the change has been approved, the hard work of preparing for the changes and working with communities begins today. We have taken on board the comments received as part of a consultation we arranged and we want to make the transition to the new service as seamless as possible.

“This proposed new way of working will certainly make the county more environmentally friendly, it will make residents consider what and how they recycle and will also save money through implementing a more efficient and effective service."

Over the coming months, the council will be launching an information campaign to keep residents informed of the changes and any impacts on them and their community. The new facilities that are needed to support the service should be in place early 2021, with the aim of the whole county being moved across to the new service by July 2021.

Further information will be included on www.denbighshire.gov.uk/recycling

* A llanblogger reader submitted a Freedom of Information request to the county council regarding its garden waste scheme, and says this showed it has derived the following income from the scheme:

2015/16 £408k

2016/17 £390k

2017/18. £434k

2018/19 £390k (year to date)

llanblogger takes a short break

llanblogger is taking a short pre-Christmas break but will be back before the big day.

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