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Sunday, January 10, 2021

Cittaslow to host community conversations

Members of the  Llangollen Cittaslow Committee are holding series of webinars around Cittaslow themes, inviting speakers from local groups to present what they are working on around that topic area, how it has been affected by the Coronavirus crisis and their priorities as they look towards 2021 and beyond.

The events are open to the public, with Q&A possible either verbally or via comments/chat and will be held on the following dates: -

    Community, health & wellbeing 21st January 2021
    Environment, food & farming 22nd January 2021
    Travel & transport January 27th January 2021
    Energy, housing, streets 29th January 2021
    Culture, Tourism, Employment 3rd February 2021

All events start at 7pm. Guest speakers, to be confirmed, will be invited to join a panel chaired by a Member of the Cittaslow Committee.

Webinars will be recorded so residents can listen to the sessions in their own time if they can’t join the live meetings. If you would like a link to join any of these webinars, please contact the town clerk as soon as possible: townclerk@llangollentowncouncil.gov.uk
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Saturday, January 9, 2021

Journalist who covered Llan Eisteddfod dies from Covid-19


* Kevin and Sally Hughes.

Tributes have been pouring in for a journalist who covered the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod for a number of years.

Kevin Hughes, who was also a Flintshire county councillor, died at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital after a long battle against Covid-19.

It came less than three weeks after he delivered a passionate appeal from his hospital bed to people to observe social distancing during the Christmas and New Year period.

Kevin, 63, said then: “I can't express it enough, be sensible and think about what you're doing. Every bed in here is full, they can't cope with any more. For the sake of a day, one night out, a Christmas dinner or a party, it's just not worth it. It's really not worth it.”

He had planned to do a Coast to Coast walk this year in aid of Hope House but his death follows that of his mother, June Margaret Hughes, 89, also from the virus on November 25 at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Kevin had visited her briefly in PPE and accepted that going to the hospital may have caused him to contract the disease but he added: “I don't know how I got it, whether it was visiting my mum, it might have been in the shop or in the garage. I just don't know.”

He was born in Chester and attended Queen’s Park High School, Handbridge, and leaves a wife, Sally, with whom he celebrated 40 years of marriage three years ago, sons Chris, Steve and Andy, and seven grandchildren.

Son Andy posted on Facebook: “At 12.45 this morning Dad passed away. He gave the biggest battle and we are so, so proud of him, not only in the final few weeks but over an incredible 63 years walking this earth, making his mark on it in a way that only he could.

“We can't believe how many people have been in contact from all over the world these last few weeks. It made us understand how loved he was.

“We can't thank the Critical Care Unit enough for the tireless efforts to get Dad to beat Covid. It’s just such a horrible, cruel virus that when it lands on your doorstep rocks your world.”

In a varied career Kevin Joined Cheshire Constabulary and was a police diver during his service and after his retirement worked for a time as head diver at the Blue Planet Aquarium, at Cheshire Oaks.

He moved into journalism with the Chester Chronicle and rose to be editor of the Flintshire Chronicle before his retirement and in recent years has worked for North Wales-based public relations company Ceidiog Communication with whom he helped to cover the Llangollen Eisteddfod for a number of seasons until just a few years ago. 

He represented Gwernymynydd as an active and committed Flintshire County Councillor.

He was also a passionate football fan, first with his native Chester and latterly as a season ticketholder at Premier League Aston Villa, a keen motorcyclist and photographer.

He was a former colleague of llanblogger journalist Phil Robinson, both at Ceidiog Communication and previously when they worked together on the Ellesmere Port Pioneer newspaper in Cheshire.

Phil said: "The small north Wales journalistic community has lost one of its most outstanding members which it could ill afford to do. 

"Kevin, who I was privileged to know for 20 years, was a big man - in stature, talent and heart."  

Ceidiog Hughes, the managing director of Ceidiog Communication with whom Kevin worked as a freelance for many years, said: “Every member of the team is heartbroken and our love and thoughts are with his beloved family at this extremely difficult time.

“Kevin was an unforgettable larger than life character who was loved by all who had the good fortune to meet him and call him a friend.

“As well as being totally professional and a shrewd operator in relation to work matters, Kevin was also full of mischievous fun and one of the kindest, most generous people I know.

“Kevin was equally popular with all our clients and they too are devastated by his loss. We will all miss him terribly

“He is a huge loss to his family and the community in Gwernymynydd which he served with great verve and distinction as their local county councillor.

“While fighting for his life in critical care, Kevin was determined to get out the message about the dangers posed by this terrible virus and I hope that people take heed and behave responsibly so we suppress it until the rollout of the vaccine is completed.”

Arfon Jones, the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “I would like to send my sincere condolences to Kevin’s family.

“As two ex-police officers we had a great deal in common, as well as our interest in local government politics and football.

“I always used to think of Kevin when Aston Villa was mentioned and he offered to take me to a match many times.

“It’s fair to say we were on the same page, neither of us suffered fools gladly with the same ability to be outspoken at times.”

Mario Kreft MBE, the proprietor of the Pendine Park care organisation, also thought very highly of Kevin.

He said: “Kevin was a big character with a big heart who was interested in people and could get on with anyone.

“I know from sponsoring Llangollen Eisteddfod he was particularly adept at interviewing some big stars, including the likes of Francis Rossi from Status Quo, Burt Bacharach, Joseph Calleja and Rolando Villazon who were all charmed by him

“I remember when I mentioned we are taking some football programmes to an orphanage in Africa and he offered to chip in with a few. He turned up with a whole box of Aston Villa programmes and some brand new Villa shirts. That was just an example of how thoughtful and kind he was. Nothing was too much trouble for him.”

His predecessor as Flintshire County Councillor for Gwernymynydd and Nercwys was Nancy Matthews who served from 2004 until she stepped down in 2016 and she said: “There was nothing half-hearted about Kevin. If he took a job on he did it completely and properly and he has been a fantastic county councillor for us.”

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Coronavirus update from the Welsh Government

Latest coronavirus update from the Welsh Government (dated yesterday) is:

 

 

  • The Technical Advisory Group has published a paper about the new variant strain of coronavirus and education: https://gov.wales/technical-advisory-group-variant-concern-and-education-wales
  • Travellers from Israel, Botswana, Mauritius and the Seychelles will be required to isolate on arrival in Wales as changes are made to the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Wales) Regulations 2020.
    • Equivalent measures to those in place for travellers from South Africa are being introduced for people travelling to the UK from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique, Angola and to the Seychelles and Mauritius following the emergence of a new strain of coronavirus.
    • The sectoral exemptions for travellers arriving from these countries will be removed and all travellers arriving into Wales who have been in these countries in the previous 10 days will be required to isolate for 10 days and will only be able to leave isolation in very limited circumstances.
    • More information: https://gov.wales/written-statement-health-protection-coronavirus-international-travel-wales-amendments-17

 

Coronavirus in numbers

What to do if you have symptoms of coronavirus

Where to find the latest information

o   The First Minister held today’s press conference. You can watch again at: https://twitter.com/WelshGovernment/status/1347517298882473986

o   The slides used in today’s press conference are available at: https://gov.wales/slides-and-datasets-first-ministers-coronavirus-briefing-8-january-2021

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Friday, January 8, 2021

Message to the people of Wales from the First Minister

First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford has sent out the following message to the people of Wales.

Once again, I’m asking for your help to keep Wales safe.

The coronavirus pandemic has taken another significant turn.

Cases are very high in Wales and a new strain of the virus is spreading very quickly across the country. Our NHS is under real pressure.

We must all once again stay at home. I know this is will be a very difficult time for everyone.

But it’s more important than ever that we all follow the rules. We can’t stop now

It’s so important that we limit contact with other people to prevent this awful virus from spreading and protect ourselves and our families.

We all need to work from home if we can. 

If we have to leave home, we must keep our distance from others, wash our hands regularly and wear a face mask in indoor public places.

The vaccine is here and is being rolled out. It offers us the path out of this pandemic and there is real hope for the future.

There is a lot of hard work going on to set up more clinics and arrange appointments for people to come and have the vaccine at one of the mass vaccine centres or at GP clinic near you.

It will take time to vaccinate everyone. We must all play our part to keep ourselves, our families and our communities safe. 

The situation is serious and the whole of Wales is at alert level four. This means you must stay home.

By pulling together we can keep Wales safe. 

Thank you for everything you are doing.

More information about alert level four lockdown is at: https://gov.wales/alert-level-4 

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Winter weather update Friday, January 8 at 4pm

Here is the latest situation in the county:

Roads: Snow showers will be less frequent throughout the afternoon and it will become drier this evening although there is still a risk of ice overnight into tomorrow morning.  All routes will be gritted at 4pm this afternoon and again tonight at 11pm with gritting crews remaining on duty overnight to patrol the network. Further gritting actions will be carried during the daytime tomorrow.

Bus services: Passengers are advised that were snowfall is forecast over the weekend some bus services may be disrupted, sometimes significantly, depending upon local conditions.

Waste collection: Any residual waste collections missed today (Friday, January 8) will be collected next week once conditions have improved. Customers are advised to put their bins out daily from Monday (January 11) from 7am until collection. This also applies to garden waste green bin collections.

Any food waste collections missed today will be collected on the next scheduled collection day, Friday, January 15.

The pop up recycling service in Llangollen on Saturday, January 9, has been cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions in the wider area. We ask that residents who booked online to re-book their slot any time from Monday, 18 January for the Saturday, 23 January event.  The Council will contact customers who booked through the contact centre to organise a new booking. We would like to thank residents for their understanding during this time

Previously reported:

Roads: All routes have been treated twice overnight and gritting teams are on duty and are patrolling all routes today.

We are experiencing some difficulties on the following routes across the network:

Road Closures:

Horseshoe Pass, Llangollen

All routes to Moel Famau

These roads remain open at present and are passable with care:

Nant y Garth Pass

Rhydtalog

Llandegla

Clwyd Gate (Ruthin-bound from Mold)

Bus services: Passengers attempting to use bus services are asked to plan for some disruption, owing to snowfall.

The X51 service between Denbigh and Wrexham is currently suspended south of Ruthin.

All services between Ruthin and Mold are currently using the A494 main road and are not diverting via villages.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

The 192 service Melin y Wig to Llangollen will not operate.

Schools: Ysgol Brynhyfryd, Ysgol Bro Famau, Ysgol Carreg Emlyn, Ysgol Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, Ysgol Tremeirchion, Ysgol Bodfari, Ysgol Pant Pastynog, Ysgol Betws Gwerful Goch, Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn and Ysgol Bro Cinmeirch are closed to children required to be on school premises. Online learning continues unaffected for all schools. For more information visit www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/education-and-schools/emergency-school-closures.aspx

Housing: The Council’s housing contact centre is still open but presently only responding to urgent and emergency calls.

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County public toilets to close due to pandemic

Denbighshire County Council is informing residents it is closing all of its public conveniences from 4pm today, Friday, January 8.

The Council made the decision to close its public toilets to keep public convenience staff and residents safe during the current increase in coronavirus cases.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, said: “Due to the recent increase in Covid-19 cases in Denbighshire the decision has been made to close all public conveniences until the end of this current lockdown period.

“With the new variant of the virus being significantly more virulent, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep both staff and residents safe while using the facilities.

“We would like to thank residents for their understanding and the Public Convenience Team will use the closure period to carry out an extensive clean, and maintenance check of all 21 public convenience facilities throughout the authority, ensuring that they are ready and fit for use on re-opening at the end of the lockdown period.”

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Welsh lockdown extended by a further three weeks


Lockdown measures in Wales will be strengthened as a new, highly infectious strain of coronavirus continues to circulate, the First Minister has said.

Speaking at the Welsh Government's daily press briefing, Mark Drakeford said the new strain has quickly taken a "firm foothold" in north Wales, where cases of the virus are rising quickly.

He added that the new strain is expected to become the dominant form of the virus in south Wales too.

It had already been confirmed that the level four lockdown restrictions introduced at midnight on December 19 will remain in place until at least January 29.

Today, Mark Drakeford told journalists that safety measures would be strengthened for shops, workplaces and schools.

Mr Drakeford told journalists: "We will be strengthening the alert level four measures in three main areas.

"First, we will work with our major supermarkets and retailers to make sure that people are safe when we go out shopping.

"I want to see at least the same level of protection today as was very visible in the early period of the pandemic.

"Those who work and shop in supermarkets need to be confident that the numbers in those stores are carefully and consistently controlled and that all other measures are in place to keep us all safe."

Mr Drakeford said he has received more correspondence on safety in shops than almost any other issue.

He there was some "anxiety" from the public that the visible protections in shops in the early days of the pandemic were, in some cases, no longer as apparent.

Although there is no evidence that the new strain causes a more serious illness, it is adding to the pressure on the Welsh NHS, the First Minister said.

He added: "Most young people will now be taught online until January 29. Unless there is a significant reduction in cases of coronavirus by the next review, this will continue until the February half term.

"Vulnerable learners and children of critical workers will continue to have face-to-face learning and childcare remains open.

"We will use the coming weeks to work with our scientists, unions and local authorities to plan for the future.

"This will not be a simple choice between closing schools and colleges now and reopening them in February."

He said the Welsh Government was looking at the "possibilities for a phased and safe return of some students during this period, such as those studying for qualifications, the youngest children who find distance learning the most difficult and vulnerable children."

Mr Drakeford told journalists:

  • More than 2,700 coronavirus-related patients are being cared for in Welsh hospitals today

  • There are now 143 people with coronavirus in critical care beds.

  • The number of people in critical care has reached the highest point in the pandemic.

Ministers have just carried out a three-weekly review of the current restrictions. The next update will be on January 29.
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