Changes to waste collection services

Denbighshire County Council has announced some changes to its waste and recycling collection services over Christmas.

There will be some changes to some normal collection days:

• Monday, 23^rd December will operate as normal
• Tuesday, 24^th December will operate as normal
• Wednesday, 25^th December will change to Thursday, 26^th December
• Thursday, 26^th December will change to Friday, 27^th December
• Friday, 27^th December will change Saturday, 28^th December
• Monday, 30^th December will operate as normal
• Tuesday, 31^st December will operate as normal
• Wednesday, January 1^st  will change to Thursday, 2^nd of January
• Thursday, 2^nd of January will change to Friday, 3^rd January
• Friday, 3^rd January will change to Saturday, 4^th January
• Normal service will resume on Monday,6^th January 2020.

Recycling Parks

Recycling Parks at Denbigh, Rhyl and Ruthin will be open to the public as normal every day except 25 December, 26 December and 1 January.  Winter opening hours are:

• Colomendy, Denbigh - Monday to Friday 10am-4pm; weekends 9am-4pm
• Lon Parcwr, Ruthin -  Monday to Friday 10am-4pm; weekends 9am-4pm.
• Marsh Road, Rhyl - Everyday 10am-6pm. 
• The Saturday recycling services at the Green Lane, Corwen will take place as normal on Saturday, December 21.

There will be no Saturday morning services at all on either 28 December or 4 January 2019.

Saturday recycling services will recommence as normal at Green Lane car park, Corwen on 18 January between 9am and 11am  and at Llangollen on 11 January between 9am and 11am.  

Christmas trees can be disposed of through the fortnightly garden waste service for subscribers, chopped up into pieces and placed in the bin.  Alternatively, people can take their Christmas trees to the recycling centres at Lon Parcwr (Ruthin), Colomendy (Denbigh) or Marsh Road (Rhyl).

Paper Christmas wrapping may be placed with the normal recycling but any wrappers made out of foil or has glitter should be disposed of in the waste bins.

Residents are asked not to over-fill their waste bins over Christmas and ensure they can close their bin lids, to avoid rubbish being strewn across streets during any strong winds.  People can place additional Christmas recycling enclosed in a cardboard box for collection. 

The Council is also reminding residents that bones from poultry can be placed in food waste bins.

Cantorion Collen to perform at Methodist Church

Surprise guest drops into Old Vicarage Christmas bash

* Santa hands out presents to youngsters enjoying their Christmas party at The Old Vicarage. 

The newly-formed mums and toddlers group based at The Old Vicarage care home in Llangollen held its Christmas party this morning.

And a special guest turned up with a sackful of presents for the young members.

Santa made a surprise appearance to the delight of the youngsters crowded into one of the lounges at the home.

They had already been entertained by the puppets of Fiona Collins, who hosts storytelling sessions for the group and became the National Eisteddfod's Welsh Learner of the Year in August.

Bethan Mascarenhas took over The Old Vicarage late last year and has since embarked on an ambitious series of initiatives to help keep elderly residents active and feel part of the daily life of the town.

And most of the activities she has in mind are aimed at encouraging them to mix with much younger people, like the mums and toddlers group.

Bethan plans more inter-generational events such as nursery rhyme and singing sessions.

She also has in mind enabling her residents to return to their former hobbies and passions and to use any specialist knowledge they might have.

She explained: “One of our men is a keen gardener and wants to involve local children in things like planting bulbs for next spring. We also have former teachers living with us who could help younger children with their reading."

The Old Vicarage recently received a visit from Older Person's Commissioner for Wales Heléna Herklots who was impressed by what she saw.

* For more details about The Old Vicarage, call: 01978 861866.

* ... and more presents come from Santa.

* Residents look on as Fiona Collins entertains with her puppets.

* Christmas fun for the young and not-so-young.

Planning for community Christmas lunch goes ahead

Organiser Mike Connolly says on Facebook: "If you know of anyone who might appreciate an invite to the Community Lunch on Christmas Day, please pm on here or give Val or I a call on the mobile number on the poster. Also can you let anyone local who isn't on facebook know about the lunch."  

Project aims to record eisteddfod's rich history

* Archivist Liz Parfitt (centre) with members from the Archive Volunteer Team.

As part of the Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod’s initiative to preserve precious memories of the festival for future generations to enjoy, the organisation has expanded its archive team.

The festival is launching its new project, ‘Archiving the Past’ to build on the momentum of the popular Memories stand which was a pop-up archive unit where festival goers were encouraged to share the memories of the eisteddfod since its first event in 1947.

The new archiving scheme has received the backing of Heritage Lottery Fund, which donated £19,000 to project. 

This support has enabled the eisteddfod to set plans in place to modernise the archives by digitalising the wealth of material collected over the years. 

The new push to gather footage, images and documents of the festival aim to make accessing the archives simple and easy to ensure everyone can retrieve eisteddfod history.

The festival’s new archivist Liz Parfitt has been working closely with volunteers on a 12-month project to catalogue and digitalise existing historical records and documents. 

Liz said: “I’m excited to have this opportunity to help the International Eisteddfod move its archival project forward with the digitisation of material and the development of a new archive website. Look out for more information on our progress in 2020."

Latest advice column

The latest column from Denbighshire Citizens Advice concentrates on the topical subject of parcel delivery ... 

Q: I bought my mum a Christmas present from an online store. I paid extra for next day delivery but it hasn't arrived. I tried to contact the delivery company but wasn't able to speak with anyone. The online store has said my parcel is with the delivery company and should arrive soon.  If it doesn't arrive soon, I won't be able to send it to Spain in time for Christmas. What can I do?

A: You paid for next day delivery so your goods should be delivered on the agreed date.

Because you bought something from a business to be delivered to you, it’s the seller’s responsibility to make sure the item is delivered.

As the seller used a courier, they should chase the courier to find out what’s happened to your order - it’s not your responsibility.

If you want the item:

Under the Consumer Rights Act, you can ask the seller to deliver the item again if the item wasn’t delivered by the agreed date.

Other steps to take if you want the item could be:

●     Cancel your original order and reorder it again from the same or a new online store

●     Check if a local store stocks the item(s)

●     Keep trying to contact the delivery company via tracking tools/phone/email

If you want to cancel your order:

You can cancel and ask for your money back because you haven't received your goods on the agreed date. Tell the seller that what has happened to your order is "a breach of contract under the Consumer Rights Act 2015" - as the delivery date was essential and they didn’t meet it.

You can find useful template letters and your rights on the Citizens Advice website.

Alternatively you can call 03454 040506, or 03454 040505 for a Welsh-speaking adviser. It’s open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and provides advice on consumer issues.

County welcomes government cash settlement

Denbighshire County Council has welcomed the draft budget settlement announced yesterday (Monday) by the Welsh Government, describing it as “better than expected” and is one of the highest increases seen in Denbighshire since 2007/08.

The council is currently reviewing its budget for the next financial year and proposals to identify efficiencies across the authority are currently being considered.  

The authority has said there will be no compulsory redundancies for April 2020.

This week's government announcement suggests that Denbighshire’s budget will increase by £6.2 million in cash terms, an increase of 4.3%.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance, said: “This settlement is definitely better than expected, but as we have pressures that amount to £11 million then we must still find savings in order to achieve a balanced budget.  

"These pressures include, for example, continued pressure on social services, education, school transport, waste services and pay increases.

“The council, like every other authority across the country, has been through stringent budget setting processes over recent years and some difficult decisions have needed to be made.

“We have previously made a firm commitment to Denbighshire residents to try and protect services that the public value and expect as much as possible. The council has a strong track record of doing this and we have tried to lead by example by being as efficient and effective as possible, reducing our budgets and making savings through not replacing some posts and identifying better ways of working or stopping some things altogether.

“Councillors will continue to scrutinise the budget over the coming weeks.

“However, this is one of the highest increases in settlement we have seen for some time and we will continue to host discussions with Welsh Government to provide a more sustainable footing for local authority finances in the future."