Appeal follows fatal bypass collision

A motorcyclist has sadly died following a collision near Johnstown, Wrexham yesterday evening (Wednesday, July 10th).

Shortly before 5pm North Wales Police were notified of a one-vehicle collision involving a motorcycle on the A483 off slip onto the B5426 Johnstown.

Officers attended however sadly the motorcyclist – a man, aged in his 50’s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sergeant Darren Newby of the Roads Policing Unit is appealing for witnesses. He said: “I would like to thank those who have already been in touch, however we continue to appeal to anybody who have been travelling northbound on the A483 at the time and who may have witnessed the collision to contact us. Equally anybody who may have dash cam is also asked to make contact with us.

“Our thoughts remain with the man’s family, who are being supported by a trained Family Liaison Officer.”

Anybody who may be able to assist with the investigation is asked to contact officers at the Roads Policing Unit in Llay on 101 or via the live web chat quoting reference number X096824.

Suzuki with Attitude aims for new customers

Suzuki Swift Attitude launch report by Steve Rogers

HERE'S a puzzler. How can the most exciting part of a car launch happen on water?

The clue is Suzuki whose outboard marine engines are number one in the world and we had a 350hp V6 on the back, or should I say stern, of a six man inflatable dinghy for 40 mad but marvellous minutes on the Solent.

It was all part of a little treat for travelling 230 miles to the south coast to drive the Swift Attitude.

I will get to the car shortly but at the time of writing the adrenalin is still pumping after scooting to the Needles at 45 knots, bouncing across the wake of the other two Rib craft in our party and banking at what felt like insane angles for some tight circling. The last time I had this much fun was being driven in a Citroen rally car.

Enough, let's get back to business and the Attitude. Not so much a new model, just a special edition to keep the Swift kettle boiling. Swift is Suzuki's hero model and deserves all the credit going.

I liked it from the day it was launched in sunny Monaco in 2004 and it has got better and better. The only surprise is that the message has not got through to more people although Swift is off to a good start this year with more retail sales than Renault Clio, Citroen C3 and Mazda2 and is currently sitting behind the Honda Jazz in the supermini league table.

Attitude is based on the SZ-T, one above base, and has been spiced up with a mesh front grille, rear roof spoiler and front, side and rear carbon effect skirts along with polished alloys.

You get this for an extra 100 quid over the SZ-Ts £14,499 price tag. What you don't get is that model's 1-litre Boosterjet engine. Attitude has to make do with the lesser powered 1.4 litre Dualjet, not a bad motor but not as feisty as the brilliant Boosterjet which is arguably the best three-cylinder one-litre engine on the market.

I would be tempted to forego the Attitude's extra body armour in favour of the Boosterjet engine yet Suzuki is confident Attitude will have a broad appeal predicting it will take 40 per cent of Swift sales.

In a head to head it fares better on price than Ford Fiesta, Seat Ibiza, Nissan Micra and Hyunai i20 according to Suzuki research and does not do badly on specification either.

All Swifts get air conditioning, six airbags, privacy glass, DAB radio with Bluetooth but Attitude moves up a rung and apart from the body styling upgrades has rear view camera, Smartphone link display audio among the highlights of its spec list.

As has always been the case Swift is a great little car to drive darting though twists and turns without so much as a bye or leave and although I prefer the Boosterjet performance the 1.4 is no slouch and is good for 50mpg.

This is not going to be a great year for car sales but Suzuki is enjoying the highest market share in its history. Fleet growth is strong with Vitara and Swift popular choices so it is confident of hitting 38,000 sales just 500 down on last year. It could do more but it can't get enough supply for some of its models.

Key facts

Swift Attitude

£14,599

1,2 Dualjet; 90bhp

0-62mph 11.9secs; 111mph

51.4mpg combined

108g/km. 1st year road tax £150

Insurance group 25 

Arty Dinas Bran students back Nature for Health

* Ysgol Dinas Bran Year 10 students with the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct mural.

  ... and with the mural of Castell Dinas Bran.

Artistic students from Ysgol Dinas Bran have been working to help people appreciate the benefits of the countryside around them.

A group from Year 10 spent a morning at Pengwern Community Centre creating two murals as part of the Nature for Health project.

Funded through Natural Resources Wales, it is being delivered locally by Denbighshire’s housing and countryside service and the aim is to help people appreciate the benefits to their health and well-being of the natural environment on their doorstep.

The murals - one depicting the world-famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the other Castell Dinas Bran - will adorn the walls of the community centre.

Both pictures feature bees as a key part of the project is encouraging bees and other pollinators to enhance the countryside.

The work of the young artists will be inspected by Clwyd South Assembly Member Ken Skates in the near future.

Other Nature for Health projects planned are:

July

August

Major collision closes bypass

Wrexham.com is reporting this afternoon that part of the A483 is closed off this rush hour due to an incident, believed to be a traffic collision.

The incident has occurred close to Junction 2 of the A483, the turning for Johnstown, with several reports that emergency services are focused on the area immediately by the sliproad.

The air ambulance attended the incident at 5:09pm that is believed to have involved a motorcyclist, with the incident taking place just before 5pm.

Thanks to Georgina for the top image from near the incident who added: “A483 closed northbound and long delays southbound” with Traffic Wales later stating the road was closed in both directions.

* For the full story and updates, see: http://www.wrexham.com/news/air-ambulance-attends-incident-that-has-closed-a483-northbound-by-johnstown-170888.html

2020 chair gives latest update

* Castle Street is at the heart of the 2020 proposals.

The county councillor heading the group looking at streamlining traffic flow and parking in Llangollen has given a fresh update on its progress.

The 2020 Project aims to develop options for a safer and more pedestrian-friendly town centre and produce options to ease the chronic parking situation.

Many of the proposals worked up with the help of consultants to achieve these goals were published in a feasibility study document last February.

However, Llangollen county councillor Graham Timms, who chairs 2020, says the plan still requires one major aspect to be covered before being finalised.

He said: “Details of parking proposals still need to be looked at and we will be getting further information about where, when and why people park in the town.

“We have to look at the needs of all the different groups involved and strike the correct balance between residents, tourists and people who work in town.

“We might also have to look at changing the current parking regulations in a number of areas.

“Around the autumn there will be further consultation of the parking issue before the plan is finalised.

“We hope to have a working plan on parking by the end of the year and for the whole project by next April.”

Accroding to Cllr Timms, the latest estimate of the overall cost of 2020 is between £2-3 million and he said various avenues of funding the finished project were still being explored, including the Welsh Givernment, Denbighshire County Council and Visit Wales.

Big march bus leaves Llan on July 20

A coach is due to leave Llangollen taking local people to the big March for Change in London on  Saturday, July 20.

A spokesperson for the organisers said: "It’s the start of a national fightback against a government seemingly determined to deliver a No Deal or hard Brexit by October 31.

"While the truth may have become unspeakable recently, the fact is that we are stronger in Europe. We live in a globalised world and on everything from the climate emergency to transnational corporate tax dodging we have a better chance of addressing the issues we face if we stand together.

"So join Gwynedd Dros Ewrop and North Wales for Europe in London on what is set to be the biggest peacetime protest in UK history."

The bus leaves Llangollen at 7.15am from Berwyn Street (opposite Stan’s filling station).
LL20 8NF.

* For more details, see: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/march-for-change-20th-july-2019-dwyfor-meirionnydd-coach-to-london-tickets-64911747785

Eisteddfod attracts 33,000 visitors

* Competitors came from around the world.

 

The eisteddfod has revealed that this year's festival attracted more visitors than in recent years. 

A spokesperson said: "Despite disappointing pre-sales, the weather has been glorious and helped us attract 33,000 visitors throughout the week.

"There was an increase of over 20% in daytime visitors compared to last year and the highest number of participants for over four years.

"Specific highlights for us included the wonderful launch concert with Jools Holland playing with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and telling the audience that Llangollen was by far his favourite festival in the world, and welcoming new international groups from places as far away as Ghana, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the United States. 

“The competitions reached a climax on Saturday with local choir, John’s Boys from Rhosllannerchrugog, winning Choir of the World. It is only the third time that a Welsh choir has won the coveted title. 

"Our finale was Llanfest, the all-day party on Sunday.

"We couldn’t be prouder of the entire festival team, especially the 800 volunteers who have worked tirelessly. Without them our eisteddfod wouldn't exist.”