Christmas Festival puts out the call for helpers

* Sion Corn arrives at an earlier Llan Christmas Festival.

Organisers of this year’s Llangollen Christmas Festival have put out an urgent call for able-bodied people to help run the big show.

Thousands of seasonal revellers are expected to come flocking to Llangollen for the town’s annual Christmas Festival on Saturday November 30.

Kicking off at 1pm with the famous parade which sees Sion Corn - the Welsh Santa – being escorted into town over the historic bridge by a colourful cavalcade of entertainers and local groups, the event features children’s fairground rides, food stalls, choirs, craft stalls, circus acts and face painting.

For the past few years there have been enough volunteers to help with the heavier work of putting up the wide range of stalls, sideshows and other equipment needed to make the festival a success.

But as the show grows in popularity more people are needed this year to lend a hand with this work.

Chairman of the festival committee Austin ‘Chem’ Cheminais, who is also the local town crier and a member of the town council, said: “We’ve usually had enough volunteers on hand to help with the heavier work but as the event gets ever more popular there’s more to do and we could do with a few extra willing hands.

“Three or four people would be enough but, due to the nature of the work, they’d need to be physically up to doing some of the heavier jobs.

“This is a key part of the behind-the-scenes festival organisation and we’d be delighted to hear from anyone interested in helping us out. They can contact us through our Facebook page, which is https://www.facebook.com/Llangollen-Christmas-Festival-311747955653208/

During the festival, which will once again benefit Wales Air Ambulance and local charities, there will also be a chance for youngsters to visit Sion Corn in his glorious grotto and during the afternoon visitors can look forward to an eclectic mix of musical entertainment from local groups on two outdoor stages and other on-street entertainment.

The fun-packed day rounds off at 5pm with the ceremonial switching on of Llangollen’s legendary Christmas lights and a firework extravaganza. 

Llangollen Christmas Festival is organised by a group of dedicated community volunteers. It costs over £4,000 to stage each year and is self-funding.

The festival aims to provide a free family-orientated event in the safety of the town centre with surplus funds being donated to Wales Air Ambulance and local community groups.

Over the last couple of years the police have estimated that the spectacular event draws over 2,000 people into town during the course of the afternoon.

For the third year the festival has teamed up with Light Up Local Food, a project aimed at promoting Llangollen-based food and drink producers.

Festival organisers have also arranged for free parking throughout the day at local car parks.

Questions asked about Vicarage Road area

Former Llangollen county councillor Stuart Davies (pictured) has let llanblogger have a copy of the letter he has just sent to Denbighshire's development manager Paul Mead and current local county councillor Melvyn Mile.

The development below my house in Vicarage Rd has triggered a new water storage facility being built to the west of it in the green belt.

It is a couple of hundred yards away from me and immediately below my neighbours.

From my time on the planning committee I know that putting in an application triggers a process. If it could be controversial, neighbours are advised and if they respond then it goes to committee.

This is an enormous development in a sensitive area, and yet neither myself or neighbours were advised or given the chance to comment and so it looks like it was a delegated decision to grant.

I finally managed to find the papers on line, the website is useless by the way.

It was done in haste, the agent for Welsh Water has a recurring theme in that she wanted it done quickly.

We heard and saw a tree being pollarded the other day, it turned out to be a walnut, in the words of the tree expert from Flintshire, extremely rare in North Wales.

They cut down the easterly one, the nut bearing one. So no more rare walnuts in this area. The tree expert allowed it in the application.

So, question, why weren't the neighbours consulted about the application? Why was a rare tree allowed to be cut down without any public consultation?

Is it because Welsh Water were on a mission to do it quickly?

There is another issue arising, there were springs in the field, the earthworks appear to have opened them up, with this rain we are experiencing, the water and spoil is running down across the excavations across Vicarage Road and in to the new housing development. Special soak-aways have been constructed both there and under Hall St car park to deal. Houses in Hall St on the A5 have cellars which could be affected when those soak-aways get full.

Concerns have also been aired to me about the excavation and access road levels on the site. Could somebody check them please?

* Stuart Davies has received a response from a county planning officer which says the correct processes have been followed, adjacent residents notified and the responses of statutory consultees/technical informed. 

Chamber sends out invites to "critical" meeting

Llangollen Chamber of Trade and Tourism is to hold a critical meeting next month to discuss its future membership.

Numbers attending the chamber meetings have dwindled in recent years and it is felt that a new focus and direction is required to reinvigorate the organisation. 

The chamber says this comes as Llangollen undergoes a number of changes and begins to attract significant new businesses and development to the town. 

Llangollen's thriving tourism sector also makes an important contribution to the town’s success and the chamber is keen to attract more tourism and service businesses to complement the retail and food representatives.

The chamber is invting more new business representatives from the following areas to attend the next meeting at The Three Eagles, Bridge Street, Llangollen on Tuesday, October 8, at 5.30pm.

·       Tourism

·       Food

·       Hospitality

·       Retail

·       Leisure

·       Business

·       Entertainment

·       Creative/Arts/

·       Health & Well-being/Lifestyle

Existing members of the chamber are also encouraged to attend where positive ideas and contributions will be welcomed.

Chamber chair David Davies said: “Llangollen is in a unique position to elevate its position as a ‘must see’ destination when visiting North Wales. 

"We are included in the eleven mile corridor of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct’s World Heritage site and with our beautiful valley landscapes, the River Dee, Dinas Bran Castle and Steam Railway, not to mention excellent eateries and high quality accommodation attracting visitors, it is right that as a chamber we should push our town to the forefront of the minds of potential visitors and the media. 

"It is also important that our town benefits local residents from providing quality employment opportunities and an eclectic mix of shops to bolster the ‘shop local’ movement.  

“We want to attract new businesses to the Chamber and to Llangollen that complement our existing infrastructure. We are looking to work with entrepreneurs, schools and key stakeholders to support the town’s development in order to boost visitor footfall all year round, not just from Easter to October half-term.

“We look forward to getting stuck in and reinvigorating the Chamber with gusto and enthusiasm and encourage as many people as possible to come and join us at this exciting time.”

Toyota's comeback kid is good for Wales

* The new Toyota Corolla, outside and inside.

Toyota Corolla road test by Steve Rogers

When it comes to comebacks there have been some corkers.

Winston Churchill famously said "I'm finished" after he was sacked as First Sea Lord in 1915 and look what happened to him. 

Muhammad Ali regained his world heavyweight boxing title against the odds having spent years in the wilderness for refusing to fight in the Vietnam war, and who would have given Dennis Taylor a chance against Steve Davis when he was 8-0 down in the 1985 world snooker championship final. He won on the black ball in the final frame!

There are scores more, many less notable, and into that category falls the Toyota Corolla. The world's best selling car disappeared from our roads in 2006 to be replaced by the Auris but it never slipped easily into the Corolla's big boots so after 13 years in exile Corolla is back.

What's more the Japanese favourite is built in Derby and the hybrid engine built at Toyota's factory on Deeside which is good for Wales and the UK in general.

It is hardly worth comparing new and old Corolla because so much has changed since 2006 so what we are really looking at is how the new model compares with Auris.

Toyota will have spent billions of Yen developing Corolla, in particular making sure it will suit the needs of the vast European market where competition is so fierce it is like walking into a den of lions.

The upshot is a totally new car. It sits on the same platform as the C-HR, one of my favourite crossovers, and is a completely different animal to the nondescript Auris.

Corolla is a very decent car to drive and goes to show it is not just Volkswagen and Ford who build top notch hatchbacks, in fact you can now add a lot of other car makers to that list.

Toyota's focus is on petrol hybrid engines, 1.8 and 2-litres, with a conventional 1.2 turbo for those who do not want the extra cost of an electric motor. There is no diesel.

My test car was the 1.8 litre and I had my doubts when I saw it produced a lowly 120bhp, not much for such a big engine. Yet with the help of the 53kW electric motor it is quite lively up to 60mph when performance tails off and the engine starts to sound a little gruff. At least the combination of engine and electric motor provide enough mid-range pick up for confident overtaking.

The big question is what's it like on economy? This is a self charging hybrid so travel on electric power is generally limited to slow speed movement around town although it comes in handy when scraping along in heavy traffic reverting to electric power so saving fuel and cutting exhaust emissions.

I have driven lots of hybrids in the last 10 years and more often than not have been disappointed with fuel consumption but I can have no complaints with Corolla. Over 750 miles of mixed driving the computer showed 66.2mpg and on one 300 mile round trip I hit 70mpg. Now that's what a hybrid is all about.

To get the best results from a hybrid driving style has to be moderated, no harsh acceleration or heavy braking, particularly into roundabouts, and that is exactly the tactic I employed on the trip that returned 70mpg.

On the motorway I kept to a steady sixty and drove as evenly as possible on A roads. I doubt I would have done any better in a diesel.

Corolla had to be a better all rounder than Auris and it is. It sits on Toyota's new platform, is 60 per cent stiffer, has new multi-link rear suspension, and steering which is sharper and gives the driver a much better feel for what is going on down at the front wheels.

Everything is neat and tidy along the dashboard with a central 8in touchscreen, clear instrumentation and a variety of graphics to monitor hybrid progress.

Cabin space is just on par as is boot space so if the latter is an important factor then check out the opposition because there are some that do better.

As comebacks go Corolla has achieved its aims. It is well built, has numerous safety features and a decent spec list although I am damned if I could find a USB charging point. Surely they haven't forgotten to fit one?

Verdict: Corolla isn't as engaging to drive as a Golf or Ford Focus but is up there with Mazda3, Seat Leon and Kia Ceed. 

part from an enthusiastic driver who is going to notice? And anyway, this isn't a car for the enthusiast, it is a full- blown family motor and the family is going to be very happy with it.

Key facts

Corolla Design Hybrid

£25,830 (starts £21,080)

1.8 litre; 120bhp

0-62mph 10.9secs; 112mph

55.4-65.9mpg combined

83g/km. 1st year road tax £110

Boot space: 361 litres

Insurance group 15

Police appeal for witnesses following collision

Police are appealing for witnesses following a serious collision on the B5126 Mold Road near Northop this evening at 17.55hrs.

They say: "We were called to reports of a collision between two cars, a Toyota and a Chevrolet. One of the drivers was taken to hospital in Stoke with serious injuries.

We are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the collision or has dashcam footage to get in touch on 101 Ref X143181

The road is currently closed and will remain so for the next couple of hours."

Rotary seeks Dial a Ride drivers

Range of local groups showcased at Cittaslow event

* Visitors check out some of the stalls at the Sunday event.

* A range of local food and drink on display.

Sixteen local groups, as diverse as Llangollen Guides to the Quakers and from South Clwyd Beekeepers to Friends of the Earth, took part in Cittaslow Sunday yesterday.

Cittaslow is an international network of towns in 30 countries across the world that have adopted a set of common goals and principles to enhance their quality of life for residents and visitors.

Cittaslow Llangollen hosted the special Sunday event at the front of the Town Hall to showcase the wide range of organisations which contribute to the life of the town.

Also with stalls were the Twenty Club amateur dramatic group, Llangollen Health Centre, Dial a Ride, the International Eisteddfod, Run Free Fell Runners, the RAFA Club, Extinction Rebellion, Llangollen Christmas Festival, Llangollen Prostate Support Group and Shape My Llangollen, which is preparing the local contribution to the county's next Local Development Plan.

Freshly-made local food and drink was available throughout the event.