MP welcomes extra £64.5 million for Wales

Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes (pictured) has welcomed the announcement that Wales will receive an additional £64.5 million as a result of UK Government funding allocated to Transport for London earlier this week.

The UK Government has so far announced over £2.2 billion of additional funding in Wales to support people, business and public services in the ongoing fight to tackle COVID-19.

This funding is in addition to the UK-wide measures that the people and businesses in Wales can access, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Simon Baynes said: “Transport organisations across the UK are facing hardship as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, and those in Clwyd South and Wales are no exception. 

"While the Government is urging people to work from home where possible and only travel when absolutely necessary, there are still those who need to travel by train and bus to work and people need to be able to travel safely while respecting social distancing once restrictions are gradually lifted.

"In addition, with schools, private hire and the tourism industry currently closed, life is particularly difficult for coach companies – of which there are a sizeable number in Clwyd South – and they like the rest of the transport sector need additional support during the Coronavirus crisis.

"I really welcome this additional funding, and encourage the Welsh Government to spend it wisely to help support Wales’ economic recovery from COVID-19.”

Young singer Shea raises £1,200 for charity during lockdown

* Keep singing: Talented young singer Shea Ferron.

During lockdown 17-year-old Shea Ferron, well known for his acting and singing in a range of local amateur shows, has raised over £1,200 for charity through his outdoor performances. In an article written originally for the Eistedfodd volunteer newsletter, he describes how he did it.

"I was very saddened to hear that this year’s eisteddfod was cancelled due to the current circumstances.

Eisteddfod week for me is one of, if not, the best week of the year.

I love how people from all around the world are able to come together and unite in the language of music, and really I’ve been using this as an inspiration during lockdown.

Two weeks before we were in lockdown I was seeing videos of Italian people singing on their balconies to entertain one another and this gave me the idea for my street concerts and fundraising concerts.

Within the first few days of lockdown I was having neighbours passing my home telling me that I should hold some sort of concert for the neighbours and at first I wasn’t sure how everyone would react but I gave the idea a go.

I went live onto my Facebook page and performed live for my street. The neighbours loved it along with 12,000 people who were watching online.

This idea has continued and we are regularly holding them each week and look forward to carrying them on post lockdown!

I take requests for donations each concert to raise money for the NHS and we have raised just under £200.

As well as this, I have been posting online videos onto my singing page on Facebook.

Taking part in the Musical Theatre Self Isolation Challenge has been great fun and something that has kept me busy!

My video raised £300 for Cancer Research in memory of a teacher from my primary school who sadly passed away.

This has developed into holding charity concerts online in a concert series I’m calling “From Stage to Sofa”.

I was first approached by North Clwyd Animal Rescue Centre, near Holywell, wondering if I’d be interested in supporting.

I didn’t hesitate in responding with a yes as we have supported the centre for a number of years having adopted two dogs from there. The concert was a success having raised £500 for the charity.

I have since held another in aid of Nightingale House Hospice and raised £250 and am looking to hold more during the weeks to come.

One thing I’ve found in doing these is that people have united (at a distance) just like they would at the eisteddfod.

Neighbours who would usually be a hermit in their homes have come out and socialised with us and relationships have developed with people who were new to the neighbourhood and were a little shy to get to know others.

One thing to look forward to post lockdown is the community spirit that has been developed and the long-lasting friendships that have been gained.

We can all take lockdown and have our own little eisteddfod within our own communities using the important message to unite."

Officers have busy weekend policing the lockdown

It was a busy weekend for officers, Special Constables and PCSO’s ensuring compliance with Covid regulations, says North Wales Police.  

They say over 2,500 vehicles were stopped across the force area - the vast majority of these were local people with valid reasons to travel.

Approximately 60 were from out of the area and were either reported for breaching COVID legislation or sent home having had suitable advice.

On Sunday, officers issued four fines to the occupants of one car who were driving back to Wales after a weekend visiting family in London. 

They were also issued with fines for not having their two and four-year-old children in child car seats.

On Saturday, on the A539 at Acrefair, three men from Birmingham were reported for travelling to Wales to visit Snowdonia.

In Flintshire, one visitor from Wigan going to the Lighthouse in Talacre was advised regarding the restrictions and sent home.

In Conwy Rural and Anglesey, officers had a busy weekend engaging with motorists, and again most people had a valid reason for travel. 

However, vehicles from London, Manchester and Norwich received fines for breaching Covid regulations. A couple from Scotland, who were camping near Llyn Geirionedd also received summons notices.

In Denbighshire Coastal, police responded to various reports from members of the public in Kinmel Bay and Abergele, regarding possible breaches at caravan parks etc. 

All incidents involved key workers and we were able to reassure the community that all was in order. 

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Harrison said: ‘We will continue to adopt a proportionate response towards everyone – we always look to engage with our communities, explain the regulations, encourage people to do the right thing, and only where necessary will we need to enforce the regulations with a fine.

‘These results show that in the vast majority of instances, people are complying with the current restrictions. 

"We have received an overwhelmingly positive response from the motorists that we have stopped. We thank you for your support and understanding in these exceptional times, and we continue to work hard to make north Wales as safe as possible."

Making sure no-one goes hungry is Llan Foodshare's mission

* A Food Share volunteer wheels away more baskets of 

donations from local supermarkets. 

The small team of dedicated and unpaid volunteers at the heart of Zero Waste and  Food Share Llangollen were already busy enough before the coronovirus pandemic hit.

But the lockdown has given massive new impetus to the help they have been providing to the local community. 

In just the past eight or nine alone weeks the team has made 250 deliveries and collections of essential packs, parcels and surplus to those in need of assistance.

Here, team member Jane Louise Tornado explains what Food Share is all about ...

Food is the medium, love is the message. We care, you matter. 

We have two aims: Stop food waste, reduce food poverty.

It is for everyone. No-one in need goes hungry. Everyone shares the surplus.

We started in June 2019 by collecting food surplus from well-known supermarkets, mainly fruit, veg and bread, sorting it at home and then delivering it to people or taking it to community groups who could use it. 

We shared them with people who needed a bit of support to help reduce their food bills and also whoever wanted to join us in using the food to reduce waste. 

We were lucky enough to then be offered storage space at Pengwern Community Centre which we are rapidly filling!

* More donated supplies on the way to distribution by Foodshare. 

We post up recipes and have recently developed a meal planner that will have a weekly pack to make all the meals on it, which gives a variety of food. This is for supporting someone back on their feet if e.g. they have lost their job and are awaiting benefit payments.

Covid-19 has vastly expanded both what we need to do and what we can do, by means of grants and funding to do so. 

Currently we are open 2-2.30 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at Pengwern Community Centre. We also do deliveries on those days from 2.30-4pm.

So, what do we do?

1. We provide care packs to the over-70s – they can request or a relative can 

2. We provide food parcels to people from food we buy, supplemented with food surplus from supermarkets, in instances of losing a job, delay in benefits such as Universal Credit, and before Covid, for people who were on zero hours contracts and had weeks of no work or who wouldn’t use a traditional food bank but are happy to help share with us all reducing food waste, which in turn supports them and reduces their food bill

3.  We run a night surplus round four nights a week, delivering food surplus to people (fruit, vegetables, ready meals, meat, bread, pastries, packed food) this is between 7.45pm and 9.30pm we usually finish by.

4.  We share the food surplus (veg, fruit, breads) too at the four sessions we do each week at the community centre – anyone can join in with this – we post up when we have lots of eggs, bread, fruit, etc.

Care Packs and Food packs we do:

Approximate costs are (subject to fluctuations due to current availability)

Care Pack costs £12-£13 per pack depending on availability of items

Food Parcels cost: 1 person: £12.00, 2 people: £20.00, 4 people: £30.00 

Food surplus from supermarkets:

We have had soups made from surplus food which have been distributed with care packs and food parcels. Soups and meals numbers in the 100s now. Thanks to Steve at the Swan Inn, Pontfadog and more recently this week TynDwr Hall.

We had 35 adults and 30 children on our night surplus delivery list as at the end of April. And we have 20 more people come on to our lists in the last two weeks for help.

The last few weeks 

Overall, we have done over 250 deliveries and collections of packs , parcels and surplus in the last 8-9 weeks. These are either to an individual, couple or families, plus the VE Day distribution. 

There is a lot of admin, coordination, collecting of surplus food, shopping at wholesalers etc plus dealing with all the cardboard packaging afterwards! 

We have also been finding help and signposting people to other services to help them with housing, Universal Credit etc.

We have been very grateful to have funding so far as follows:

Denbighshire Council, Llangollen Town Council, The Welsh Food Poverty Grant via Flying Start, Llangollen Raffles, Evans Home Improvements and Joinery, Jane’s UAREUK birthday fundraiser and several private donations.

We have had donations of surplus food from businesses, for which we are very grateful and we have had two food deliveries from Flying Start from the Welsh Food Poverty Grant.

And last week we had a big delivery from a local resident who works at Kelloggs which will keep Llangollen breakfast bowls full. 

You can join our page at www.facebook.com/llanfoodshare

By the work we do at the foodshare we have built up trust also of the users and helped them by identifying other services that could help them/signposting.

Food Share was set in June 2019 and was run from home until we started doing sessions at Pengwern Community Centre, where we are now lucky enough to have a base.

It’s run by Jane, Kirsty, Steph and Lesley, with Jen also kindly running our Friday session to give us a rest. We are all unpaid volunteers.

The need is such that we have, through one of our volunteer’s other charities, set up another separate fund to help Wrexham residents who are struggling to access help.

We have had some really touching messages from people we have delivered too and a few tears shed all round. 

Our fundraising link to help us continue our work will be up in the next few days and we will share it with everyone. 

We are also hoping to find a local shop or two who can collect food for us and also a shop or two to have a virtual donation charity tin for us which can be used contactless.

We continue our mission to make sure no one goes hungry and that food is not wasted.

Latest roadworks in the area

Latest local roadworks notified by One Network are:  Castle Street, Llangollen, Denbighshire 20 May — 22 May Delays likely - Traffic control (multi-way signals) Works location: Castle Street Works description: 18/05/20-23/05/20/Jayne Valentine/Trial holing/multiway signals... Responsibility for works: Sir Ddinbych - Denbighshire Current status: Advanced planning Works reference: QR015S000000001470 Market Street, Llangollen, Denbighshire 20 May — 22 May Delays possible - Traffic control (multi-way signals) Works location: Market Street Works description: 18/05/20-23/05/20/Jayne Valentine/Trial holing/Multiway signals... Responsibility for works: Sir Ddinbych - Denbighshire Current status: Advanced planning Works reference: QR015S000000001473 East Street, Llangollen, Denbighshire 20 May — 22 May Delays unlikely - No carriageway incursion Works location: East Street Works description: 18/05/20-23/05/20/Jayne Valentine/Trial holing/3 way lights... Responsibility for works: Sir Ddinbych - Denbighshire Current status: Advanced planning Works reference: QR015S000000001469

Public back police boss's call for tougher coronavirus fines

* North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

A police boss is calling on the Welsh Government to do a U-turn and increase fines for breaking coronavirus travel restrictions after an opinion poll came out overwhelmingly in favour of the idea.

More than 90 per cent of people who took part in the survey conducted by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones backed his call for a big hike in the penalty for flouting the rules.

Last week the Welsh Government rejected calls by Mr Jones and Dafydd Llywelyn, his counterpart in Dyfed Powys, to introduce heavier fines.

The row came to a head after Prime Minister Boris Johnson eased the travel restrictions in England where people are now allowed to travel to take exercise.

It led to fears of an influx of people into Wales where the lockdown remains in place and where people can only take exercise in the vicinity of their own homes.

Mr Jones launched the poll “out of frustration” after seeing a tweet from a North Wales Police officer which said: “I had one guy from Liverpool laugh at me and said me that a £30 fine is only like a parking ticket…What else can I say.”

The commissioner retweeted it and tagged in First Minister, saying: “Hey @MarkDrakeford @fmwales you want evidence to increase fines, how about this from a North Wales Police officer?”

The strength of feeling about the issue was demonstrated by the fact that his retweet gained 50,000 impressions.

Fines for people who breach the travel restrictions start at £60 and go up to £120 for repeat offenders, although the amount can be reduced to £30 if the penalty is paid within 14 days.

Around 2,000 people took part in the poll and 91 per cent of them were in favour on increasing the penalty, with 65 per cent of them opting for a fine of £500.

Another 15 per cent wanted the fine to increase to £250 while 11 per cent of respondents recommended a fine of £100.

Only nine per cent of people who participated didn’t want any increase.

According to Mr Jones, a former police inspector, the poll had demonstrated clearly that the Welsh Government was “out of step with the mood of the Welsh people”.

He said: “The tweet from the frustrated police officer hit the nail on the head because Welsh police forces are being denied the tools they need to do the job.

“What this survey shows is that the Welsh Government are not listening to their own people and are ignoring the needs of police officers on ground.

“I will be drawing the attention of the Welsh Government to the findings of the survey and I will also be raising this matter at a meeting of the four police and crime commissioners and the four chief constables in Wales.

“If people know they stand to be fined up to £500 for travelling to Wales, they are not going to come.

“We need a realistic deterrent to reduce the number of people coming to Wales for leisure and exercise purposes which is not allowed under Welsh law.

“Increased penalties will ensure we have the capacity to deal with anybody who continue to flout the restrictions.

“Our priority as police forces is to protect life and that’s the bottom line for me.

“What’s crazy is that the restrictions in Wales are tighter than England but the penalties in England are greater. It doesn’t make any sense.”

MS praises Llan care home boss for promoting testing for all

* From left, Old Vicarage residents and staff highlight the need for general testing by holding up a banner outside the home.

After hearing the concerns of a Llangollen care home boss about the lack of Covid-19 testing for all residents and staff Clwyd South Senedd Member Ken Skates raised the issue with the Welsh Government, he says.

And at the weekend the campaign paid off after Health Minister Vaughan Gething announced that Coronavirus testing will be extended across the board.

Ken Skates said: "I raised the issue of testing for care home residents and staff with the Welsh Government after Bethan and other local people contacted me with their concerns. 

"I know from visiting care homes in our area what a remarkable job they do, and I'm acutely aware that they are all having to deal with the many new challenges that coronavirus has brought on top of the usual demands of providing professional and compassionate care to the people they look after.

"I welcome this announcement by the Health Minister and hope it provides reassurance that the Welsh Government is committed to supporting our care homes."

Previously only residents and staff in care homes with confirmed case of Coronavirus were tested.



From this week every care homes in Wales will have access to testing.  

Care homes who have not reported an outbreak or any cases of coronavirus will be able to use an online portal to order testing kits for their residents and staff. 

Test kits would be provided for the whole care home, this includes all residents and staff.  The system will be rolled out shortly.

The new policy will be in an addition to the existing testing arrangements that test:

• all residents and staff of care homes with ongoing cases prior to May
• all residents and staff members of care homes reporting an outbreak
• all residents and staff in the larger care homes, with more than 50 beds.

• all individuals being discharged from hospital to live in care homes regardless of whether or not they were admitted to hospital with COVID-19.

• all people who are being transferred between care homes and for new admissions from the community. 

Vaughan Gething said: “How we tackle Coronavirus continually changes as we receive more emerging evidence and scientific advice.


“We have been very clear in our approach that our strategy is about reducing harm first and we will adapt policies in order to do this. Today is a step change in how we will be testing in care homes, adapting our policy so that every resident and member of staff can be tested for Coronavirus.

“I hope this brings further reassurance to those living and working in care homes and their families.”