Town Council hosts event to welcome 2019 eisteddfod

* Singers from the Kenyalang schools in Sarawak, Malaysia take the stage.

* Eisteddfod president Terry Waite 

addresses the audience.

Town Mayor, Cllr Jon Haddy, opens the event.

* Above and below, members of the North Wales Opera Studio perform. 

* Llangollen-based New Dance encourage the audience to take to the floor.

Llangollen Town Council hosted a special event at the Town Hall this afternoon (Monday) to officially welcome the 2019 International Musical Eisteddfod.

It included a variety of entertainment and the chance for people to meet and greet those connected with the festival now in its 73^rd year.

Town mayor, Cllr Jon Haddy, opened the afternoon’s programme by referring to the strong links which exist between the council and the eisteddfod.

The first musical interlude came from the North Wales Opera Studio whose singers provided a varied programme including traditional light opera numbers and a selection from the musical West Side Story.

Also singing - fresh from their flight from the Far East - were youngsters from the Kenyalang schools in Sarawak, Malaysia, who will be competing at the eisteddfod later this week.

A short film was shown featuring highlights from the eisteddfod over the years before festival president Terry Waite told the audience that they were the “inheritors of a remarkable tradition” in hosting the annual international occasion.

He said that in times when many arts events were facing financial problems people should rally round to ensure that the eisteddfod not only continues but also flourishes.

“This means the eisteddfod going on to bring harmony to a world that is so tragically divided,” he added.

The Llangollen-based New Dance troupe, which meets at the Town Hall every Monday from 7-9pm, then encouraged members of the audience to join them in a dance routine.

The event, organised by Town Council facilitator Charlie Jones, also received strong support from Llangollen Museum and the ECTARC language school.

Wool project finds permanent new home

* The fleece which Gwlangollen works with.

A new project which aims to knit together wool producers and users has found a permanent new home in Llangollen.

llanblogger recently featured the work of Gwlangollen which, through the use of traditional craft skills, processes suitable fleece to produce unique, handmade soft furnishings and gifts to be sold locally.

The project has achieved this by bringing together fleece producers who are interested in developing the necessary skills to process some of their own fleece, competent crafters who can pass on their skills to others, and volunteers who enjoy learning and making together.

However, at the time of the article Gwlangollen was desperately in need of  an affordable workshop with a small area of outside space somewhere in Llangollen where it could contribute to the visitor experience of the town.

Since then the project has been offered space to create a working wool museum in the Lock-Up Heritage Centre, near the traffic lights.

Project spokeswoman Gill Britten said: "A massive thank you to Sue Hargreaves and the Armoury Conservation Trust. 

"We are hoping our museum will be ready by September this year. Our outreach work and close links with the Pentredwr Community will not change."

Gill added: "Llangollen was born on the back of wool trade. One of our aims is to reflect its history, and the skills used, when it was still a cottage industry. 

"Most families were involved at some level with the production of woollen fabric, either for their own use, or for sale. It was a whole community activity.

"If you have an old spinning wheel, or weaving loom of any size, taking up valuable storage space, we would love to include your items in our display. 

"Likewise with any of the smaller items involved with these crafts, such as drop spindles, bobbins, lucets, beaters, shuttles and combs. Items can be gifted or on a short or long term loan. Obviously your contributions will all be appropriately recognised.

"If anyone has any leftover, undyed, knitting yarn (wool not acrylic), a woollen blanket, some tweed fabric, flannel, or a sheepskin, we will gladly display it or up-cycle, according to your wishes. At one time, all these items were created and sold in Llangollen.

"If you would like to contribute to the exhibition please contact me. I will willingly collect your items and help free up your storage space.

"Lastly, I’d like to thank all those who sent good luck messages and other helpful suggestions following my last post. I really appreciate your support."

* Gill Britten can be contacted on 07871 774651.

Explorer Bruce Parry heads for Fringe date

Explorer, film maker and environmentalist Bruce Parry is heading to Llangollen Fringe Festival.

Parry (pictured) is a documentary filmmaker, best known for his BBC series Tribe which saw him living with indigenous peoples around the world, and thereafter his work about globalisation and climate change.

More recently he switched from television to the big screen with his directorial debut, ’Tawai, a voice from the forest’ - his attempt to dive deeper into the heart of what he had learned on his many years travelling the world.

The Fringe will be hosting a screening of that film on Sunday July 21 at the Town Hall, followed by an interview and Q&A with Parry.

Tawai is a word the nomadic hunter-gatherers of Borneo use to describe the connection they feel to their forest home.

In this dreamy, philosophical and sociological look at life, Parry embarks on an immersive odyssey to explore the different ways that humans relate to nature and how this influences the way we create our societies.

From the forests of the Amazon and Borneo to the River Ganges and Isle of Skye, Tawai is a quest for re-connection, providing a powerful voice from the heart of the forest itself.

* Tickets are on sale now at £15. Festival tickets and dates and times for all concerts and events are available from www.llangollenfringe.co.uk or by calling the Fringe box office: 0800 1455779.

New Dot unveils summer film programme

New Dot Cinema's summer programme has just been announced. 

It includes First Man, the dramatic biopic about Neil Armstrong and the race to put a man on the Moon. 

The rest of the programme includes a beautiful French animation, a dreamy Italian tale, a French novelist who broke all the rules and a Russian ballet dancer's dramatic dash for freedom.

New Dot has made some changes for this programme to tickets and screening times. 

From now on, tickets will be priced at £6 across the board. No more two-tier pricing. 

Also, it is moving its screening time up half an hour. From now on the doors will open at 7pm and the film will start at 7.30pm. 

* Tickets and more information about any of the films can be found on our website: Newdotcinema.org

Hong Kong family return as eisteddfod volunteers

* Bill Kong, right, with his wife Selena and their son Daniel.

A businessman from Hong Kong is making his magnificent seventh trip to Llangollen International Eisteddfod to work as a volunteer.

And this time Bill Kong will be bringing with him the male voice choir he has been a member for many years and which will mark its 40^th anniversary by performing at the festival.

Wine expert Bill, 58, recalls being mesmerised by the intoxicating magic of the eisteddfod on his first visit as an audience member in 2013.

He was so taken with the atmosphere that he was determined to travel back to Llangollen to join the small army of dedicated volunteers who help make the iconic cultural event such a big hit and has been coming back ever since.

Bill’s links with Britain go back over 40 years to when he attended a prep school near Bewdley in Worcestershire then a public school near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire.

Later he went on to Manchester College, Oxford to study for a degree in social administration before returning to Hong Kong in 1984.

Bill joined the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir - HKWMVC - there a couple of years later after being introduced to it by a friend.

He performed with the choir in the London Welsh Festival of Male Voice Choirs at the Royal Albert Hall in 2004 at the invitation of the London Welsh and sang with it in the chorus of the Hong Kong Art Festival’s production of Tosca in in 1999, which is where he met his wife Selena.

When he’s not drinking in the joys of music Bill works as a consultant in the wine business in Hong Kong and has been a wine importer, educator, consultant to importers and a wine judge.

Bill said: “Selena and myself, along with our son Daniel who is now 14, will be arriving in Llangollen from Hong Kong once again.

“Apart from volunteering to welcome visitors from across the world, this year we will help as the field hosts to my own choir.

“Our HKWMVC will be bringing 36 choristers to take part in seven performances at the eisteddfod and three outside performances including Bala, Gresford and Wrexham.

“This year also happens to be HKWMVC’s 40th anniversary year and beside our multinational choristers we will be joined by our better halves, families and friends from Hong Kong.

“We will have close to 100 people attending this year’s eisteddfod and most will be in Llangollen, and at the eisteddfod, for the first time.

“Amongst our party will be a number of our choir’s founding members and our life president, Berwyn Evans.”

Bill added: “I am truly honoured to have been an ambassador for Hong Kong to the eisteddfod.

“I can’t believe this is my seventh year here with my family and we feel Llangollen is our second home.

“I must thank everyone at the eisteddfod and in the town of Llangollen for having given my family a most wonderful experience and the kind of hospitality that we can never forget.

“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on the field.”

Popular engine steams off for major overhaul

Seen passing Berwyn hauling the 15.10 from Llangollen in glorious sunshine on Thursday, the BR Standard Tank 80072 is undertaking its final steaming at Llangollen Railway this weekend.

As of end of play on Sunday June 30, the engine will be withdrawn from service for its 10-year overhaul. 

A railway spokesman said: "If you want a ride behind 80072 be sure to visit Llangollen Railway on Saturday or Sunday to see and hear this popular engine in action for the last time after ten eventful years."

Canal man Phil reaches Llan in time for eisteddfod

* Phil Thane at the helm of his boat Seren as it passes over the aqueduct.

* Looking out across the valley as Seren noses over the aqueduct.

* A panoramic view of the valley.

* Phil arrives in Llangollen at the end of his long canal voyage.

A former local town councillor has this afternoon (Friday) arrived safely in Llangollen after a mammoth 25-day trip along the canal network to reach the town in time for the International Eisteddfod.

Phil Thane moved down to Potton in Bedfordshire just over two years ago and has since rebuilt an elderly cabin cruiser named Seren.

Almost a month ago he set off aboard her to reach Llangollen and now, over 300 miles and 230 locks later, he has just berthed in the local marina.  

He intends to enjoy daily visits to the eisteddfod before casting off for home in about a week's time - again travelling all those miles and passing through the same locks in the opposite direction.

"It was a very pleasant trip and only rained for most of time," he joked.

"I'm glad to be visiting Llangollen again, a place of which I have many happy memories." 

Phil, who is a technical author by trade, has been writing a blog on his solo voyage for the Waterways World magazine.