The Fratellis and The Coral line up for Llanfest

* The Coral.

* The Fratellis.

Celebrated British rock bands The Fratellis and The Coral have announced their double headline appearance at Llanfest, the finale party of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, on Sunday July 7.

Wirral-based The Coral, who recently released their critically acclaimed new album Move Through The Dawn, will fill the International Pavilion with melodic and eccentric songs as well as renowned classics including Dreaming of You, Pass it On and In the Morning.

Also taking to the stage will be award-winning Scottish band The Fratellis who roared into their second decade with their fifth album, In Your Own Sweet Time in 2017.

The three-piece will rock the Pavilion with their famous top 10 singles, Chelsea Dagger and Whistle For The Choir as well as some new hits.

The show will be both bands’ first gig of the year in North Wales and one of the first opportunities in 2019 for fans in the region to see them live.

The two bands will be joined on the bill by Platinum-selling indie rockers Pigeon Detectives, with the likes of This is an Emergency and Take Her Back, and nineties power pop rock trio Dodgy with their nostalgic hits Staying out for the Summer and Good Enough.

This year's eistesddfod runs from Monday-Sunday July 1-7 and will welcome more than 4,000 performers and up to 50,000 visitors across the week.

Tickets will go on sale on Friday February 1 at 9am and can be purchased online at www.llangollen.net or via the box office on 01978 862001.

This year, the layout of the Pavilion has been changed with rear seating being removed and additional standing available at the front of the stage to increase capacity to more than 5,200, making it one of the festival’s biggest ever gigs. A tiered seating area will also be available in the middle of the arena.

There will be live performances from a range of artists from 2pm on the outside stages and support acts The Pigeon Detectives and Dodgy will perform in the main Pavilion, before The Fratellis and The Coral take to the stage.

The Coral frontman James Skelly said: “We’re really excited to join such a brilliant line-up for Llanfest 2019, to come together with other artists to support the ethos of global peace at a festival is something quite special."

Music Director of the festival Edward-Rhys Harry said: “The Fratellis and The Coral are the perfect mix of two iconic bands whose upbeat indie rock hits resonate across generations, the day is certain to bring thousands together to enjoy a high-energy finale to our 2019 festival.”

* For more information and to buy tickets go to www.llangollen.net or contact the Box Office on 01978 862001.

Tidy Town Team has another successful year

* Members of the Tidy Town Team do preparation work for Centenary Square last year.

Co-ordinator David Davies presents the 2018 annual report for Llangollen Tidy Town Team                       

Activity continues with a meet at least once a month and with no sign yet of the chance of retirement for the 18 members of the Team.   

48 full sacks of litter have been collected this year (double that of 2017) with the main problems area continuing to be the road into Llangollen from Trevor along by the “Hawthorn”. 

Litter from along the Panorama, on Dinas Bran castle hill and around the Wharf adds to our collection.  

Work in Cemetery Woods continues but unfortunately much of the yew hedge we transplanted there in the summer from around the Cenotaph area has failed to take.   

Young  yews, as we acquire them, are being planted along the precipice edge.  A challenge for 2019 is the removal of a couple of very tall Hemlock trees.

In partnership with DCC Countryside Services we tried our hand at hedge laying this year along the main footpath leading from the Town up to Dinas Bran Castle.   

We are pleased that one of our members subsequently participated in a hedge laying competition achieving a certificate for second place.   

We have repaired and repainted a few seats in Plas Newydd and undertaken significant gardening and hedge cutting work around the Llangollen Health Centre.  

Our services continue to be provided at the Town Christmas Festival day with our erecting stalls, traffic assistance during the Parade and fireworks and end of day clear up.   

Attendance at this event this year was enhanced with the use of the new Town Square area.   

A special thank you to the Team retiring from their activities of the past seven years of daily collecting horse manure from along the canal tow path and for the income generated  towards the cost of our activities.

Finally a big thank you to all Members of the Team for over 500 hours of voluntary work during the year and to our Supporters for their continued encouragement.

Mair aims to bag your used crisp packets

* Sheena Grindley, right, and Andree Beaverstock at the RAFA were first

to sign up as a crisp packet collection point. 

It’s crunch time for crisp packets in Llangollen thanks to the woman who has already led a successful crackdown on plastic straws and water bottles.

Fresh from her success with these two plastic-reduction campaigns which led to the town becoming the first in Wales to win coveted plastic-free status Mair Davies (pictured right) is now spearheading a new drive to clear local streets of the dreaded crisp bags.

If not correctly disposed of this highly common piece of plastic garbage can eventually cause major ecological damage.

She has already signed up her first crisp packet collection point, at Llangollen RAFA Club, and is now looking for more places willing to lend a hand in harvesting them in ready to be sold off in bulk for proper disposal and a small cash return which will be put towards the work of Llangollen Friends of the Earth (FoE).

It was through her membership of FoE that last spring Mair launched her smash-hit straw battle, aiming to have local catering businesses swap plastic for enviro-friendly paper versions.

Twenty-three Llan outlets, including pubs, restaurants and cafes, were persuaded it was a good idea and came aboard.

After straws Mair turned her attention to plastic water bottles with the goal of persuading  businesses in the area to offer free water refills of reusable bottles. This time 18 outlets flooded to her support.

Late last year the effectiveness of her campaigning led to Llangollen landing its prestigious plastic-free accolade from the respected Surfers Against Sewage eco organisation.

Another success came when Mair was awarded a £3,500 grant from the Welsh Government which is enabling her to run sessions across Denbighshire on how to effectively use the composting bins that many people now have in their gardens.

It’s now time for her to target those crisp packets and Mair explains that the kind of plastic they are made from isn’t generally popular with recycling firms as it costs more to process than they can sell it on for.

But she’s now found a company, Terracycle, a worldwide-based outfit whose UK arm specialises in handling hard-to-recycle plastic products such as cigarette butts, contact lenses,  toothbrushes – and crisp packets.

The return she’ll get on packets collected up is pretty meagre – about £2 for 2kgs or four binbags full – but all profits from the operation will be handed over to FoE in Llangollen.

Mair said: “I decided to turn my attention to crisp packets as there are so many of them about and, if not properly disposed of, they can cause major ecological problems.

“There was one story recently of a dead whale being cut open and a 30-year-old crisp packet being found in its stomach.

“The more I read about this the more depressed I became and that’s why I feel I have to do something about it.”

Town councillor Sheena Grindley at Llangollen RAFA Club, who like Mair is a member of the town’s Cittaslow Committee which aims improve the quality of local life, was the first to sign up to the crisp packet collection crusade.

And Mair says she’s now looking for other places in the town to get involved. Anyone interested can contact her by email at: cerimair@gmail.com, or by phone on 07969 891683.

Her next green project, still in its early stages, is the production of “ecobricks”.

She’s just led her first workshop, at Pengwern Community Centre in Llangollen, showing people how to stuff plastic bottles with small pieces of waste plastic which can then be turned into building materials, furniture or perhaps artwork.

Griffin is safe with its new handlers

* The iconic Vauxhall Via GT.

* The new Vauxhall Corsa Griffin.

Motoring with Steve Rogers

The Vauxhall brand is safe in the hands of its new French owners.

That was the upbeat message from Vauxhall's Customer Experience Director Peter Hope to motoring journalists gathered at Vauxhall's Luton base to drive some of the company's newest and oldest cars.

Hope said PSA boss Carlos Tavares wants to develop Vauxhall's 'Britishness' and make it matter more. The goal is a "mainstream domestic brand that develops a stronger bond with its British customers."

The marriage with Peugeot-Citroen will be no stroll in the park and job losses have already been announced at the Ellesmere Port plant but on the plus side there will be the opportunity to share platforms, engines and technology in an industry that is going through some of the biggest changes in its history.

Electric and hybrid vehicles will be coming thick and fast as the pressure grows to cut pollution, but back at the showrooms it is business as usual for Vauxhall building for the arrival of the new Corsa supermini.

We won't see it until much later this year but it will be new from the ground up sharing Peugeot technology. In the meantime Vauxhall is doing its level best to maintain interest in its top selling car.

To kick off Corsa's last hurrah a special Griffin edition offers fantastic value. And in this case fantastic is no exaggeration because it is stacked with kit.

For £11,695 the spec list includes 7in colour touchscreen with navigation, DAB radio, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, cruise control, air conditioning, auto headlights and wipers, heated front seats and heated steering wheel. The only useful feature missing is parking sensors which you could probably get as a £465 option.

This could be the perfect Corsa... except for the engine. It is the 1.4 litre petrol with a meagre 74bhp which is slow off the mark, doesn't offer much mid range, and wheezes when faced with a climb.

The plus side are its price and low running costs - insurance group four, 40-45mpg real time economy, and emissions just low enough to qualify for £140 road tax after the first year's £205.

Should you prefer a Corsa with a more grunt look to the GSI, yes the GSI is back while the hotshot VXR models take a break, and it sounds like it will be a long one. Meeting emissions standards are causing quite a few difficulties among the car makers.

The GSI won't get close to a hot Ford Fiesta or Renault Clio and would come second to the Suzuki Swift Sport in a race to sixty but I liked the quality and design of the interior. Its price tag of £19,440, and that is without £650 worth of navigation, shows the Griffin Corsa is a real bargain.

Vauxhall has a wonderful heritage collection dating back to the magnificent Prince Henry (1911-1914) and moving through to the ground breaking H-Type of 1937, the first production car with monocoque body and synchromesh gears. Ten thousand were sold in the first five months at £159 a time.

I ran out of time before I could get my hands on something a little more up to date, the outrageously fast Lotus Carlton, all 177mph of it, so I had to be content with a bright red 1970 Viva GT.

It is believed to have been registered by Vauxhall as one of its company cars and was bought back from its owner in 2014 and beautifully restored at the Heritage Centre.

The GT would have been up against hot Ford Escorts and had pretty reasonable performance from its 2-litre with sixty coming up in 10 seconds and a top end of 100mph.

Back in 1972 I had a Vauxhall Viva estate, light green, and remember it as a pretty reasonable car, but driving this near 50 year old model brings home how things have moved on. The braking system would have been perfectly acceptable then but now it's downright scary - I nearly put the GT through the exit barrier at the Heritage Centre thinking it would pull up.... and it nearly didn't. My fault, of course.

The steering is not what you could call precise, movements have to be made a little earlier, and the engine, although feisty through a four speed gearbox, is noisy. Just goes to show how sound deadening has come on.

Yet driving a classic gives you a good feeling, and plenty of onlookers no doubt all thinking 'I wish I could have a drive in that'.

Dazzing panto even features the Red Arrows

* The cast of Aladdin at the Pavilion. Picture by Barrie Potter.

Llangollen Pantomime Group’s latest production has the lot – dazzling costumes and settings, great acting and singing, plenty of laughs and even a fly-past by the Red Arrows.

Just why and how the famous RAF display team makes an appearance I won’t divulge for fear of spoiling things for those yet to see Aladdin at the Pavilion.

But even without them, the rest of the enormous and talented cast are flying high.

And that’s especially notable as a high percentage of them are panto debutantes.

Taking the title role is Sophie Preston as the lad who soars from humble beginnings working in his mum Widow Twankey’s laundry to marry the beautiful princess.

Despite there being loads for her to do across the two acts Sophie shines in both acting and singing departments.

Another key role held down by a promising first-timer is Aladdin’s love interest Princess Jasmine. Riah Andrews takes flight in the part and can really belt out those songs.

At various points you’re left wondering if Peter Kay has nipped over to Llangollen to sneak inside the outrageous costumes of Widow Twankey.

But no, it’s actually David Lyne infusing the dame with a similar Lancashire accent and world-weary comedic touch which can’t fail to have the audience in tucks.

Another crowd pleaser par excellence is Llan panto regular Neil Barrett who makes a brilliantly snarling and nasty Abanazer, the villain who plots to do down Aladdin and his family at every turn attracting the required amount of hisses and boos along the way.   

Daniel May brings his stature marvellously to bear as the Sultan, again with a rather good Lancashire accent and understated line-delivery. It’s his first panto outing but, judging by this performance, it won’t be his last.

Llan stalwart Simon Orton-Jones, who also produces and directs the show,  has shown true dedication by apparently having his head shaved for the part of the Genie of the Lamp. But his tonsorial torture is worth every lost hair because the audience loves him every time he makes his entrance amidst an enormous cloud of smoke.

Once again it’s a family affair for the Orton-Joneses as Simon’s wife Tessa appears as Doner, one half of the mandatory comedy duo with Louise Lyne as Shish - both doing very passable scouse accents – and daughter Celyn is a winsome Soapy Sadie.

There are also some outstanding youngsters, especially Beatrice Lermite as the Genie of the Ring and Marybeth Hughes as Wishee Washee.

They’re backed up well by the experienced Karen Campbell as the Sultana, Mark Roberts as the wonderfully animated Officer Tai Chi and Justine Bradey as the narrator Scheherazade.

The costumes are truly eye-popping and the settings superb, not least the movie backdrops which illuminate quite a few scenes.

Also taking things up a notch are the six-piece live band headed once again by Helen Belton.

If you can’t wait to find out what the Red Arrows have to do with it all there are a couple more evening performances until Saturday and matinees on Saturday and Sunday. But I'd hurry as last night's opening show was almost a sell-out.

* Tickets are available online atwww.ticketsource.co.uk/llangollenpantoor in person from Gwyn Davies Butchers, Jade Hair & Beauty or by calling 01978 860297.     

Businesses in county remain optimistic about 2019

Businesses in Denbighshire have given their verdict on the county’s economy.

Despite a difficult trading environment affecting town centres across the UK and uncertainty over Brexit, the county’s traders are remaining positive according to Denbighshire County Council’s 2018 Business Survey.

More than 430 respondents took part in the annual survey, conducted by the Economic and Business Development Team, which helps inform the council’s March for Business month.

It found almost three quarters of businesses (73 per cent) expected to increase customer numbers next year while 65 per cent expect to increase sales in 2019.

Cllr Hugh Evans OBE, Leader of Denbighshire County Council, said: “We know it is a difficult time for high streets across the UK. That is why we have been supporting local traders with our #LoveLiveLocal campaign this Christmas, with free 1-2-1 sessions with business experts, as well as administering business rate relief in the county.

“The survey shows that despite uncertainty, Denbighshire businesses are working hard and planning for the future.

“It is also encouraging to see businesses talk about the positive interaction they have had with our planning and public protection team which supports businesses in a variety of ways as part of our Better Business for All scheme.

“Businesses have also told us about their training needs and we will make sure March for Business 2019 is tailored to meet those needs. During these difficult times we will continue to talk and listen to businesses and provide them with the support they need.”

Respondents also gave positive feedback on the improvements to mobile coverage, something Denbighshire County Council has been working with the Welsh Government and mobile providers on, while fewer businesses said they had issues collecting payment from debtors but more had issues securing loans.

Businesses also said training around social media, e-commerce, and improving the presentation of products were most important to them.

March for Business is four weeks of free workshops, networking events and advice sessions for businesses organised by Denbighshire County Council.

For full details of the 2018 Business Survey please visit www.denbighshire.gov.uk/business-survey

Debut performances at Llangollen Pantomime

* The cast of Aladdin which opens tomorrow (Thursday) evening.

*  Sophie Preston in the title role. 

New faces will take to the stage in Llangollen as the town’s Pantomime Group prepares for Aladdin.

The production at Llangollen Pavilion from January 17-20 will feature a host of debut performances as Llangollen Pantomime Group offers a packed show full of traditional fun, well-known songs and West End-style technical effects.

Among the newcomers is Riah Andrews who plays Princess Jasmine opposite Sophie Preston in the title role. 

The director, Simon Orton-Jones, said: “We’re delighted to welcome new members to the Pantomime Group this year which is refreshing the feel of the show.  Everyone is working hard to make this show the best yet and we look forward to taking to the stage later this week.”

Llangollen Pantomime Group was started by St Collen’s Church more than 30 years ago.  Today it  draws cast and crew from across the town and beyond. 

Llangollen Pavilion opens on Thursday with evening performances until Saturday and matinees on Saturday and Sunday. 

* Tickets are available online atwww.ticketsource.co.uk/llangollenpantoor in person from Gwyn Davies Butchers, Jade Hair & Beauty or by calling 01978 860297.