Library's special reading event for children

* Join Mama G as she goes on an adventure 

into space launched from Llangollen Library. 

Denbighshire libraries are calling for children to sign up to read six books this summer as part of Space Chase, Summer Reading Challenge 2019.

The challenge asks 4-11 year olds to borrow and read any six library books over the summer. 

The theme for the 2019 Summer Reading Challenge is Space Chase, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.

Children will team up with futuristic family The Rockets for an exciting space mission as they track down books nabbed by a mischievous band of aliens. 

As children read library books for the Summer Reading Challenge, they will receive special stickers, some with mysterious smells. By adding these stickers to their collectable mission folders, young readers will help the Rockets solve clues, dodge asteroids and discover the missing books, having lots of fun and adventures along the way.

To take part in Space Chase, all children need to do is sign up at their nearest library, where they will be given a collector folder to keep a record of their Summer Reading Challenge journey.

Space Chase and runs until the end of September. 

There’s a whole programme of events and activities planned at Denbighshire libraries for families over the summer to celebrate the Summer Reading Challenge, including storytimes with a difference with Mama G, craft and making sessions and lego clubs.  Just contact your local library to find out how to take part.

Cllr Tony Thomas, Denbighshire County Council’s lead member for Housing and Communities, said: “The Summer Reading Challenge is one of the highlights of the year for us.

“We love welcoming thousands of children into our libraries to take part. Last year 30% of 4-12 year olds in Denbighshire took part – three times the Wales average. It’s free, it’s fun and it’s for everyone – and it’s a great way to encourage children to read over the holidays, to discover new authors and books, and to develop a lifelong love of reading and books.”

Sue Wilkinson, CEO of The Reading Agency, said: “At The Reading Agency, we tackle life’s big challenges through the proven power of reading. We know from our research that families and children love taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge, and we are proud to have been running the Challenge for twenty years this year. 

"The space theme has been chosen to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. Last summer, children worked with illustrator Adam Stower to come up with ideas for the Space Chase adventure, and we hope the Challenge will inspire all children to use their local library and to read lots of great books throughout the summer and beyond."

Jack Found coming home to play the Fringe

Musician Jack Found and his band will be playing the Fringe with the Dub Pistols on Saturday July 20.

Originally from Llangollen, Jack is now based in London and will be playing a series of major festivals this summer including Kendal Calling and has other dates in the next few weeks in Glasgow, Inverness, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds and London where he has been asked to play the prestigious Sofar Sounds. 

A new track, Spanish-ish, will be released just before the Fringe and will be played by Jack and the band on the Janice Long show on Radio Wales in session on July 22.

Jack said: “It’s great to be playing in Llangollen again, we played Llanfest last year to a great crowd, and I'm looking forward to returning to play with the Dub Pistols. 

"I’ve always loved attending events at the Fringe and think I first performed there when I was only nine. I’ll be playing different songs now though!"

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/foundjack/

https://www.facebook.com/jackfoundband/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9r24LQU3LU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EMX4mZqctU

School uniform pop-up shop for Pengwern

Friends of Pengwern has teamed up with the South Denbighshire Community Partnership and Citizens Advice Denbighshire deliver a pop-up school uniform recycling shop later this summer.

The shop will be located at Pengwern Community Centre every day, from 1-3pm, from Monday-Friday, August 5-9.

In preparation for the pop-up shops volunteers will be washing, ironing and, where necessary, repairing uniforms before bagging them into individual school designs and sizes.

Volunteers are vital to help the venture to be successful and organisers say they would be very grateful to hear from anyone willing to help.

Those interested should contact Emma Davies at Friends of Pengwern by Facebook message.

Denbighshire Housing has arranged for community activities to take place at the opening of the shop at Pengwern.

County launches Tourism Ambassador scheme

* Ambassadors: Fiona Sayle of Corwen Holidays, right, with 

Caroline Ellison of Corwen Old Police Station and Court House.

A new Tourism Ambassador Scheme has been launched in Denbighshire.

This free scheme is designed to improve the visitor experience for people who work in tourism, work with visitors, live or study in the area.

A series of interactive online training modules with quizzes have been produced on various themes such as Denbighshire towns and city, walking, cycling, history, and welsh language and culture. 

Each module takes 30-60 minutes to complete with text to read, images and films to watch as people learn in different ways.

There are three levels of awards – bronze, silver and gold, depending on the amount of modules completed. 

Each person will receive a certificate, pin badge and window stickers on completion of the awards. There is also online resources for people to download related documents, branding and links to relevant websites.

Councillor Hugh Evans, Leader of Denbighshire County Council, said: “The scheme aims is to create a baseline knowledge level and sense of place to ensure consistent messages are being communicated about the area. 

"The online training offers a flexible approach and enables everyone to learn at their own speed, convenience and location. We are hoping many businesses will embed the scheme into their existing staff induction programmes to increase their understanding of the local tourism offer and take pride in being part of a shared interest community. We are very excited to launch the scheme in Denbighshire as it is the first of its kind in Wales.”

A series of learning journeys will also be offered to Ambassadors, to enhance and compliment the online learning. 

People will have the opportunity to visit a variety of tourism highlights including the11-mile World Heritage Site, the Clwydian Range & Dee Valley AONB, and the Vale of Clwyd. Workshops to share best practice and encourage partnership working will also be organised.

A number of businesses who participated in the user testing have completed the modules and initial feedback has been very positive –

Fiona Sayle, from Corwen Holidays said: "I’m so pleased to have achieved my Denbighshire Ambassador Silver Award. Many thanks to Denbighshire Tourism for providing such an informative and interesting course. I would recommend all who are passionate about Tourism and Denbighshire to take up the challenge.”

The project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.

Ian Lebbon, Chair of Denbighshire Destination Management Partnership said: “I would encourage businesses, individuals and students to become Tourism Ambassadors to deepen their knowledge of the county and help boost our local economy. The longer-term aim is to create Ambassador high streets, communities and even towns and get our younger generation involved by establishing Young Tourism Ambassadors.”

* For more information on the scheme and to complete the modules visit: www.denbighshireambassador.wales / www.llysgennadsirddinbych.cymru

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