Santa steps in to help youngster with rare neurological disorder

* Santa gets ready to zoom into action and chat virtually about all things Christmas with Nightingale House Hospice’s young supporters.

Santa Claus is all for making children’s dreams come true and this year is no exception, after fundraisers at Nightingale House rallied to take the stress off one youngster and his family. 

Normally the very sight of Santa Claus in person can cause upset and distress for 15-year-old Jake Edwards-Owen from Johnstown.  

Jake, a pupil at St Christopher’s School in Wrexham has a rare condition known as Angelman Syndrome affecting around 1:20,000 births. As a result, he has severe learning difficulties, delayed development and very limited speech.

 

It is not unheard of for Jake to run away at the very sight of the real Santa, when a trip to St Giles’ Parish Church Christmas concert in Wrexham turned into a hunt by his mother for the youngster after he bolted from the pews as he caught a glimpse of the man himself coming down the aisle.

 

The hospice is organising virtual Santa Calls for 2020 and as the hospice’s Santa is an expert in Makaton sign-language the team were happy to help arrange an extra special call for Jake. 

All money raised from the event will go directly towards patient care and family support at Nightingale House Hospice.

 

Jake’s mum Helen Edwards said that as her son cannot communicate verbally a virtual chat with Santa from the comfort of their own home would be the perfect setting to eliminate any stress. Nightingale House is close to her heart as her late father used the facilities in 2004 so the family have always thrown their support around the hospice.

 

She said: “I rang the hospice and told them about Jake’s communications difficulties. When I spoke to Sam in the fundraising team, she couldn’t do enough to help us as a family. 

"Some people may think it’s unusual that a 15-year-old wants to see Santa so I wanted to see if I could go on the call with him. 

"They went one step further and told me that Santa signs in Makaton which Jake can understand and put plans in place to make it happen. I think he’ll be much more comfortable with this arrangement rather than seeing him face to face.”

 

Sam Amis, fundraiser at Nightingale House, said: “We are delighted to help Jake and his family have an extra special call with Santa this year and I’m sure he’ll have a long list of gifts he’d like ready to pass on to him. With many Christmas events being cancelled this year – we didn’t want our lovely younger supporters missing out on the opportunity to see Santa.

"The Santa Calls have been a magnificent success and we have introduced extra days to ensure he can speak to all the children who would like to chat.”

 

Helen added: “Thank you to Sam and the fundraising team at Nightingale House for making this happen for us – I am confident that our Santa Call will make it an extra special occasion for Jake and his younger brother Callum this year. Please support the hospice as it deserves every penny that it gets.”

 

* You can book a personalised chat with Santa direct from the North Pole via the website https://www.nightingalehouse.co.uk/event/santa-calls/or by ringing the fundraising team on 01978 316800. Santa will also send each child a personalised letter and a bag of magic reindeer food to sprinkle on Christmas Eve. Tickets are £15 per family (maximum of 3 children, additional children £5 each).

* From left, Jake with his brother 

Callum and Nana Jean.

Isherwood selected to fight Delyn for Welsh Conservatives

Mark Isherwood MS (pictured), the Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales since 2003, has been selected to fight the Delyn seat for the Welsh Conservatives in next May’s elections.

He said: “It is a privilege to have been selected as Delyn’s Welsh Conservative Candidate for the 2021 Welsh General Election.

“Twenty plus years of Labour Welsh Governments have been a disaster for devolution in Wales. The people of Delyn deserve better.”

Mr Isherwood, who is Shadow Minister for Local Government, Housing and Communities, Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces and North Wales, has also held the shadow briefs including Finance, Education, and Europe,  added: “Using my extensive experience as a Member of the Senedd for North Wales since 2003, I want to give the people of Delyn the voice and recognition in Cardiff Bay that they deserve.”

Still time to take part in climate change consultation

There is still time to have your say on plans by Denbighshire County Council to tackle climate and ecological change.

Last year the council declared a climate change and ecological emergency which included a commitment to make the authority net carbon zero by 2030, enhance biodiversity across the county and call on the Welsh and UK governments to provide assistance and resources to enable the council to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A public engagement event was held earlier this year asking for the public’s views and now they can have their say on the council’s draft Climate and Ecological Change Strategy which covers the years 2021/22 – 2029/30.

Members of the public can complete an online survey to give their feedback on the document up until December 7 at https://countyconversation.denbighshire.gov.uk/project/560

 

Welsh beef on the menu at three local schools

* Head cook Louise Roberts with Harlech Foodservices's Mark Lawton. Picture by Mandy Jones Photography.

Welsh beef is on the menu for pupils at Llangollen schools now a North Wales food distribution company has won the contract to supply over a million school meals a year for the county.

Harlech Foodservice won the three-year contract from a US-owned multi-national and have pledged that wherever possible the county's seven secondary and 48 primary schools - including Dinas Bran, Bryn Collen and Y Gwernant - will receive food sourced in North Wales.

Harlech Commercial Director Mark Lawton said: "This is a hugely important contract for us to win against competition from one of the biggest wholesalers in the UK.

"It shows we have the quality and the capacity to supply and deliver high quality food, including beef sourced from farms in North and Mid Wales, for well over a million meals a year.

"Pupils in Denbighshire eat 7,500 meals a day and each week the head cooks in each of the 55 schools in Denbighshire place their orders for some 35,000 meals and we have the capacity to guarantee delivery for that through our fleet of lorries and vans.

"It extends the service we provide for schools in North Wales where we already supply similar numbers of school meals for Gwynedd and Conwy which makes for over 100,000 school meals a month."

Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Denbighshire County Council's Lead Member for Education, Children's Services and Public Engagement, said: "We're very pleased to have been able to award this contract to a North Wales company because it is important that we support the regional economy wherever possible.

"Ensuring pupils at Denbighshire schools get healthy, varied and nutritious meals to improve learning and development is a priority for the council and this partnership helps ensure our School Meals Service can provide that.

"We know that the majority of their meat comes from their own farms and is prepared by their own butchers and that is another box we can tick.

"The contract has started and is going very well and Harlech have gone out of their way to adapt their systems to match with ours and it's good to know there is always someone on the end of the phone we can speak to.

"All the schools operate the same menu for the week and Harlech have that as well but it is still the head cook who orders for each school."

School Head Cook Louise Roberts places her orders twice a week and she said: "It works really well and the people we deal with at Harlech are very friendly and helpful.

"Most importantly it comes when I need it and that makes it much easier for me to organise the work and the menus.

"We have just done an American-themed week and Harlech were able to supply us with corn on the cob, potato waffles, donuts, ice-cream, milk shakes and burgers."

Harlech Foodservices bid for the contract through their membership of TUCO - The University Caterers Organisation - a framework which qualifies businesses to provide catering services for the public sector.

They recently signed a deal to supply meat to the expanding BBQ chain Hickory's Smokehouse which has 11 outlets from Southport to Worcester and other clients include Pendine Park Care Homes and the Portmeirion Hotel.

Welsh Conservatives choose Clwyd South Senedd candidate

* Barbara Hughes will fight Clwyd South for the Conservatives next year.

Farmer Barbara Hughes has been selected to fight the Clwyd South seat for the Welsh Conservatives in next year’s Senedd elections.

Mrs Hughes, who was born and bred in the constituency in Corwen, said she was delighted at her selection and planned to get straight on with holding the Welsh government to account for "failing policies".

She added: "I intend to stand up for local people, who deserve so much more than they get from the Welsh Government. Rural communities, like ours, are the backbone of Wales. We need more support and I will fight to make sure we get it.”

Securing more backing for local businesses is close to her heart, she says.

She runs a 220-acre dairy farm with her husband Derek on the Clwyd South border – as well as PYO pumpkin and strawberry ventures.

Mrs Hughes, who is a Welsh speaker, said: “I understand the needs and challenges of working in business, because I have set up and developed my own from scratch.”

A mentor for the Welsh Government Farming Connect programme, she says she is also passionate about improving communication and connectivity.

“I want to see the digital agenda developed further. With Covid-19 and more of us working from home, we need to make absolutely sure that rural communities are not disadvantaged by slow broadband speeds.”

Increased funding for local schools and the health service are among her top priorities, she explained.

Mrs Hughes is a former National Vice Chairman for the Women’s Farming Union (WFU) and served as Dairy Chairman. 

She was also the first lady chairman of Wrexham National Farmers Union (NFU). She  won the NFU Cymru Wales Woman Farmer of the Year in 2011.

Married with three children and five grandchildren, in her spare time, she enjoys reading, swimming and equestrian sports. 

New coronavirus measures from this Friday announced

PUBS, bars, restaurants and cafes in Wales will be forced to stop selling alcohol and to shut by 6pm in a new round of restrictions that begin on Friday night ahead of Christmas, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said.

The new regulations that come into force from 6pm on December 4 will also see cinemas, bowling alleys and other indoor entertainment venues forced to shut their doors until they are reviewed on December 17.

The announcement comes just three weeks after the end of Wales's 17-day firebreak lockdown and amid another rise in coronavirus cases particularly among under-25s in 17 of the country's 22 local authorities.

Earlier this afternoon Mr Drakeford told a press conference in Cardiff that scientific and medical advisers believed unless further restrictions were put in place, the number of people in hospital in Wales with Covid-19 could rise to 2,200 people by January 12.

Modelling suggested another 1,600 people could also lose their lives over the winter period, he said.

Mr Drakeford told the Welsh Government's press briefing: "The measures we are taking are based on what the UK SAGE group of experts tells us has worked best elsewhere.

"From 6pm on Friday, our national measures will be amended to introduce new restrictions for hospitality and indoor entertainment attractions.

"Pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes will have to close by 6pm and will not be allowed to serve alcohol. After 6pm they will only be able to provide takeaway services."

* The Welsh Government is making a further £340m available through the Economic Resilience Fund to support businesses affected by the new changes to the regulations. It will include a specific fund to support hospitality and tourism businesses.

The new Welsh Government support is split into two funds: a £160m Restrictions Business Fund and a £180m sector-specific Economic Resilience Fund grant scheme.

The Restrictions Business Fund will enable eligible businesses in the hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors which pay non-domestic rates (NDR) to access grants of up to £5,000.

It is estimated around 60,000 businesses, with a rateable value of under £150,000 will receive this support.  

Businesses not on the NDR system, will be able to continue to apply to local authorities for the Lockdown Discretionary Grant of up to £2,000.

In addition, hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses will be able to access a sector specific Economic Resilience Fund grant scheme.

Small and medium sized businesses meeting the criteria could receive up to £100k. Larger Welsh-based businesses could receive up to a maximum of £150k.

This part of the package is expected to support up to 8,000 businesses in these sectors and a further 2,000 in the related supply chains.

More information about the funding and how it can be accessed will be published on the Business Wales website in the coming days.

Economy Minister Ken Skates said: “These are incredibly difficult days for businesses and these decisions have not been taken lightly.

“We expect today’s £340m announcement to support tens of thousands of businesses and help protect many more jobs and livelihoods. It must also be remembered that UK Government support is also available to businesses.

“We will continue to do everything we can to support our firms and our people through these challenging times.”

Health centre booking flu jab appointments for 50-64 year olds

* The huge queue for over-65s drive-through flu jabs at the Pavilion recently.

Llangollen Health Centre is now booking appointments for a flu clinic at Llangollen Pavilion on Sunday December 13th for the 50 to 64 year-old age group.

* If you wish to have a flu vaccination and you fall into this age category please ring the health centre on 01978 860625.