Two more Llan festivals become Covid casualties

* One of the attractions from a previous
Steampunk Spectacular.

The coronavirus crisis has led to the cancellation of two more major festivals planned for Llangollen’s Royal International Pavilion this year.

The organiser of the Cogwarts Steampunk Spectacular posted on Facebook: “I regret to announce this year's Cogwarts Steampunk Spectacular has been postponed to 2021.

“I had hoped to hear from the venue in June, but as I understand it, they have not been told anything about opening by Denbighshire Council, who in turn are still waiting to hear from the Welsh Assembly.

“I was told that if they did open, the toilets would remain closed and that would just create too many problems.

“I cannot see how we could possibly observe social distancing on the train, or at the evening events, (both nights) and that just leaves the Bizarre Bazaar (without loos). So, rather than present a pale, stripped back version of Coggies, let's go full-throttle next year, shall we?

“Unlike my Faery Festival, many steampunks are, 'of an age' to be a little more vulnerable to the pandemic and the thought of anyone getting sick or even dying of Covid-19 after attending Cogwarts is unbearable - and would see the end of this event.

“I hope you understand I have done my best and I have only taken this step to safeguard our beloved Cogwarts in the hope it can run for many more years.

“All stallholder fees automatically transfer, and even if there is the annual rise in venue rental, I guarantee you will not have to pay a penny more.

“The stress of having to make this decision alongside postponing the Faery Festival with so much conflicting information, (go to work unless you can stay at home, lockdown easing, schools in or out, lockdown in Leicestershire, second wave or not), has resulted in me having a stroke at a relatively young age.

“I now have a year to recover and both myself and dear old Cogwarts will be back, better than ever next year.”

And Peter Stubbs, organiser of the popular Red Dragon music festival, posted: “Just to let all you Dragons know that we have had to postpone till 21-23rd May 2021, all tickets will transfer over to the 2021 event.”

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=821824611555356

Two new services to benefit Llangollen people

South Denbighshire Community Partnership has given details of two services to benefit Llangollen people.

They are:

* Its extended Meals on Wheels service which is now available in the Llangollen/Dee Valley area

* A new summer holiday online programme for families and children in both Llangollen and Corwen areas.

For further details of both schemes, go to Facebook Canolfan Ni Corwen, or its page, South Denbighshire Community Partnership.

Latest Citizens Advice column

Here is the latest column from Denbighshire Citizens Advice:

Q: In more normal times I do a lot to help my elderly mum, like picking up shopping, sorting out her finances, making important calls and organising her post. But unfortunately with lockdown in place I’m not able to see her as frequently, and though I’ve still been able to drop off her shopping, I’m no longer able to help her with the other things. I’m particularly worried about how much I’ve read about scammers at the moment, and I wondered whether there’s anything I can do from a distance to help protect my mum?

A: There are a few steps you can take from a distance to keep your mother safe and lessen your need to worry.

With your mother’s permission you can register her landline with the Telephone Preference Service. It’s free to register and doing so will reduce the amount of unwanted sales and marketing calls you receive. This won’t block all unwanted calls (it won’t work on calls from abroad or companies she’s given her number to already, for example), so your mother will need to continue to remain vigilant, but it’ll certainly lessen the number of them.

You can encourage your mother to talk to her phone provider to see what privacy services and call-blocking services are available. These services aren’t always free but are useful in ensuring any call coming through is from a trusted or known source.

In terms of unwanted post, with your mother’s permission you can contact the Mailing Preference Service to have her name taken off of any marketing lists. You can also contact Royal Mail and opt out of receiving any leaflets or unaddressed promotional material. Attaching a ‘no junk mail’ sign to her front door may also help with this.

When it comes to your mother’s finances, if you supply an organisation with a letter of authority from the account holder, this may allow you speak to them on her behalf. This may not always be accepted, so if you find yourself needing to take over your mother’s finances in the future, it’s worth looking into a long term solution like a Power of Attorney.

It’s also vital that you chat to your mother to help her spot the marks of a scam herself. At Citizens Advice we always advise the following:

●     Be suspicious if you’re contacted out of the blue, even if it’s from a name you recognise

●     If it sounds too good to be true it probably is

●     Never give out your bank details unless you are certain you can trust the person contacting you

●     Don’t be rushed – you never need to make a decision straight away and if you feel pressured say “no”, hang up the phone, or close the door.

Lastly, if your mother is receiving care from her local authority and you think she might be being scammed, it’s worth reporting your concerns to their Adult Safeguarding team.

This year's garden railway festival is cancelled

* One of the garden festival's railway layouts.

An event billed as the “UK’s newest premier model garden railway festival”, due to be held at the town’s Royal International Pavilion this autumn, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The organising team for Llangollen Garden Railway Festival posted on Facebook yesterday: “Unfortunately, I am writing to you this evening with the sad news that the Llangollen Garden Railway Festival 2020 rescheduled for 3rd of October 2020 will not be going ahead as planned.

“The Event Manager Mr Keith Potts has been informed that the venue, where the show was due to be held, will remain closed until at least January 2021.

“This is totally beyond our control and we feel the disappointment that no doubt you will feel too.

“With the current uncertainty surrounding the Covid19 virus, it will be difficult to arrange a definite date for 2021 but we are hoping that we will be able to arrange another show for next year, depending on the prevailing circumstances.

“We thank you for your continued support and will keep you updated on any developments as they happen.”

Welcome back to Llangollen Railway says general manager

* Llangollen is due to open again on Saturday August 1.

General manager of Llangollen Railway has sent the following statement confirming the opening of the heritage attraction after lockdown on August 1.

She says: "We are extremely excited to be able to announce our reopening on the August 1 after over four months enforced closure. 

"We have put a great deal of consideration and planning in to the type of service we can offer to keep our passengers, volunteers and staff safe and adhere to social distancing and other safety measures. 

"We want our passengers to enjoy their day out and feel safe and secure while visiting our railway. 

"Tickets are now on sale for services during August."

She adds: "We would ask that you arrive 15 minutes before your departure time and not before, this will allow the previous passengers to exit the station and cleaning of the carriages to take place. 

"When you arrive, your tickets will be checked and you will be shown to your allocated seats.

"As part our reopening, we are offering pre-booked, non-stop services with limited capacity.

"Services will be a mixture of Heritage Railcar, Diesel and Steam, please check our revised timetable for more information.  

"Services will operate between Llangollen and Carrog non-stop return with a 20-minute stop at Carrog. The café at Carrog will be open for refreshments.

"Advance tickets are now available to purchase online and passengers will be able to travel from Saturday August 1. 

"Passengers can book a private compartment on our Steam or Diesel services and a small number of seats in our open carriage on these services will be available, strict social distancing will be in place.

"On our Heritage Rail Car service, we will have open carriage seating and strict social distancing measures will be in place. 

"All seating will be allocated and you will have to stay in the same seat for your return journey. Passengers will include children from one year old.

"Tea Rooms and station shops are open as usual but strict social distancing measure will be in place. 

"Two people at any one time will be allowed in the shop. The Station Café will be take away only and the Carriage Tea Rooms will be advanced bookings."

Overflowing car parks lead to 'plan your weekend journey' plea

* The car park at Horseshoe Falls was at capacity last Saturday.

Denbighshire Countryside Service is asking visitors to plan their journey this weekend and have alternative plans if they find car parks are full.

Last weekend was reported to be extremely busy across all countryside sites across the county as visitors took advantage of the lifting of restrictions.

Horseshoe Falls car park, which has a capacity for 45 vehicles, was closed by midday on Saturday and 103 vehicles were counted between Trevor Woods and Panorama Cottages. 

Significant number of visitors were attracted to the Horseshoe Pass and parked on the informal parking area opposite the cafe on the minor lane leading towards Moel y Faen Quarry and on the A542.

Car parks at Moel Famau and Loggerheads Country Park were full by the afternoon on both days. 

Vehicles were also reported parked on verges between the Moel Famau and forest car parks and barriers were lifted at Coed Moel Famau to try and reduce road side parking.

Councillor Tony Thomas, Cabinet Lead Member for Housing and Communities, said: “We expected last weekend to be busy and visitors took advantage of the lifting of restrictions to visit countryside sites across the county. 

“We are pleased to be welcoming visitors back to our scenic areas – it’s been a long wait.  People should plan their journey whenever possible and consider visiting at less busy times of the day.  They should also have a Plan B if they find car parks full. 

“Last weekend, we saw some examples of vehicles parked on narrow country roads and we urge people to park responsibly and make sure they allow space for passing vehicles and for any emergency services."

Fringe gets big-headed about new arts project

* One of the Massive Heeds - the Giantess.

* A Massive Heed called Barbara.

Historical, mythical and living legends of Llangollen will be celebrated in a unique art project as part of the town’s Fringe celebrations helmed by Glyndwr University staff and students.

The Massive Heedz project was initially conceived as a live-action spectacle by Ali Roscoe, lecturer in fine art at Wrexham Glyndwr University, and Alec Shepley, dean of the faculty of arts, science and technology.  

The project would have taken part as part of the annual Llangollen Fringe celebrations, which begin this today (Friday).

However, as the coronavirus pandemic put events on hold across the country, a decision was taken by the Fringe to adapt this year’s event to become a festival people could take part in online – which saw some major changes to the Heedz project.

Chris Stone, a member of the Fringe organising team, explained: “There was a big plan for this year’s project where we would be developing Massive Heedz for people to wear and there would have been a parade through the streets.

“However, for obvious reasons, that has now had to go online – like much of the Fringe.”

The change to the Fringe’s plans came as preparations were underway for its 24^th season – which would see, as ever, a mix of arts, music, theatre, comedy, storytelling and much more.

Public health restrictions meant that much of the original planned programme could not continue in the usual fashion.

However, as Chris added: “A lot of things are still going ahead - just in a different way.

“For instance, there has always been a  storytelling aspect and people will still be getting together and telling stories at three High and Mighty tall tales events online – they don’t even have to climb to Dinas Bran like they have done in the past!

“There’s a comedy session produced by one of our local comedians, who does a lot with the comedy club at the Town Hall, Silkie, and a fellow comedian called David Eagle – that will be great.

“There is a circus skills session with my daughter, who lives in Llanberis – she is doing a short online session where people can take part, and get told beforehand a few simple items they should be able to gather together online for the session.

“There’s a band for the day session, which brings together individuals who are not in groups and get them to play as part of a wider band. Again, that’s being put together online, and it’s going to be really good.

“Plus, of course, there’s the Massive Heedz project.”

For this project, participants are being invited to consider Legends of Llangollen to be celebrated in art

Chris added: “They could be historical legends of the town, or they could even be living legends – someone in Llangollen right now who should be celebrated.

“People then create a portrait of that person’s face or head. This could be a very simple thing, or very detailed – it entirely depends on how the artist feels and we don’t require people to be highly trained artists for this – everyone is welcome and the main thing is for people to have fun!

“They then send us through a full-body image of themselves somewhere interesting as well as their portrait of their legend as a separate picture, and a short paragraph explaining their choice. These are combined and we are going to create an online Massive Heedz portrait gallery!”

Ali Roscoe, lecturer in fine art at Wrexham Glyndwr University, said: “The plan for the portrait gallery is to bring together the images sent in to create these legendary characters – however they are legendary to the creators themselves - enlarging the ‘heedz’ of course.

“Next, with the help of our fine art students, my fellow lecturer Paul Jones and artists’ collective Datamosh, they will be transformed into an animation.

“This project is now one of two parts - with the second part planned to take place next year  in what would have been the original intended brief, which will see us actually make Massive Heedz for people.

“When that happens, our students will collaborate and help to make the Massive Heads alongside students from Ysgol Dinas Bran and their teacher, Ali McDonald.

“And hopefully, during the Llangollen Fringe Festival 2021 the Massive Heedz will appear in a celebratory opening parade!”

Anne Hill, a BA fine art student at Wrexham Glyndwr University, is among those who have been helping to bring the project to life.

She added: “Having been involved with the Fringe through Wrexham Glyndwr over the past two years, I was keen to continue my links with my fellow artists in these projects.

“This year has been different, but having adapted to using social media to share my degree show, this feels like an extension of that concept and hopefully next year we will get to show our Massive Heedz for real! 

“Last year, as well as helping the pupils at Ysgol Dinas Bran produce artwork for the Fringe, I was storyteller, sharing the information about the Legend of St Collen. And so my Massive Heed, Bras, is one of the colourful characters from

the legend.

“Some of us have been creating physical examples to show what is possible for the future - although we are now asking others to just design Heedz.”

Chris added: “It has been good working with Glyndwr – both Ali and Alec have been very helpful, and Ali brings everything together with a  light touch.

“I think it’s very good to have students from the school taking part – you have the links between the school, the university and the things happening in Llangollen town centre through the fringe.

“I also like the range of students Glyndwr brings to project, of all ages – it shows you can develop through life!

“By working with Glyndwr, we are developing those links both with Wrexham and with the various towns and cities the students at Glyndwr have come from – it all helps to link Llangollen and our events to the wider world.”

* The Llangollen Massive Heedz project can be found on Instagram at llangollenmassiveheedz

To find out more about studying Fine Art at Wrexham Glyndwr University, visit: https://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/FineArt/

To find out more about Llangollen Fringe – including how to submit your own Massive Heed, the full programme of activities, and ways in which you can join in, online, for free, visit: https://llangollenfringe.co.uk/index.php/en/