Twenty Club founder member Betty dies at the age 97

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* Llanblogger pictured Betty Lowe in 2016 when she 

presented the Llangollen Civic Society Award to Rhodri

and Penri Thomas as the society's life president.

A founder member of the Llangollen Twenty Club died last Sunday just nine days short of her 97th birthday.

Betty Veronica Lowe was born in Acrefair on 17th November 1924, daughter of William and Gwendolen Lowe.

Her Llangollen roots go back a long way. Her great grandfather, Edward Roberts, landlord of the Grapes, was one of the early mill owners of Llangollen who established Upper Dee Mill.

One grandfather, Evan Evans designed the King’s bridge at Berwyn. On leaving school she attended a Housekeepers Course at the FL Calder College of Domestic Science, Myrtle Street, Liverpool. But she was also a gold medalist of the London Academy of Music and Drama During the war, she was heavily involved with caring for her mother at their home, Holmwood, at Berwyn.

As well as looking after her mother, she taught drama at Llantysilio for Miss Grace Lloyd Williams and also taught Drama and elocution, at several schools, including Howells, Denbigh, during the 1970’s.

As well as being a founder member of the Twenty Club, she was involved with Llantysilio WI, a member of the Eisteddfod floral committee for many years, Hanes, and was made Life President of Llangollen Civic Society, having been chair some time.

Betty passed away just as the dramatic society she helped to pioneer celebrated its 75th anniversary with a smash-hit production of French-themed TV comedy 'Allo 'Allo.

Llangollen Twenty Club gets its name from the fact it was founded in 1946, a year after the end of World War Two, by 20 people keen an the amateur stage, including Betty as a young woman.  

Chrissie Ashworth, who directed 'Allo 'AlloI and a number of previous shows, said: "Personally I learned a good deal from Betty, her observations and attention to minute details were important to her.

"She had many varied roles on stage over the years and I can vividly recall her in Madame de and The Coffee Lace back in the early 1970s.

"She taught elocution at the prestigious Howells School in Denbigh for many years and her cut-glass accent was legendary.

"She directed many plays and her word was law! She did, however, have a wonderful sense of humour and mimicry and was never afraid to poke fun at herself."

Chrissie added: "She loved her dogs and a familiar sight was Miss Lowe walking her little dog through town, along the canal or Riverside, very upright, dressed impeccably in a long coat and always wearing a hat!

"Thank you for your huge contribution to the XX Club, Betty. R.I.P."

Friends of Pengwern Association to hold its annual meeting

Friends of Pengwern Association is inviting people to its annual general meeting at 5.30pm on Wednesday November 24 in the Pengwern Community Hub.

A small buffet and refreshments will be available from 5.30pm with the meeting commencing at 6pm.

You can find out what the association has been doing in the community, have your say on future activities and services being delivered, and help to elect a committee of officers for 2021/22. 

Committee officer roles are chair, vice chair, treasurer and secretary. 

For anyone interested in running for one of the officer roles, nominations must be made to Adrian Roberts by emailing: adrianr@severnwye.org.uk no later than Thursday November 18. 

Nominations must be made in advance and will not be accepted during the meeting. 

Any person standing for election to the committee must be a resident of Pengwern or the wider Llangollen communities, and must be in attendance on the day of the meeting. 

All elections will be held by voting in a secret ballot and votes will be counted during the meeting. 

Should there only be one nominee for each officer role, no ballot will take place and all nominees will automatically be elected. 

Anyone wishing to chat about joining the committee can contact Pengwern Hub coordinator Heulwen by emailing: heulwen@sdcp.org   

Both Adrian and Heulwen say they will work with and support the committee going forward. 

The annual meeting will be offered online and if anyone is unable to attend in person they can contact Heulwen with their email address and she will send them a link. 

£51m to help families hardest hit by cost-of-living rises

 

A new £51m package of support will help families facing the cost-of-living crisis to pay their bills this winter, Welsh Ministers announced today. The Welsh Government is releasing extra funding from its reserves to target support towards lower income households, providing immediate support for people facing rising living costs this winter.  The first phase of the Household Support Fund will target heating and eating – providing families with extra help to pay their energy bills over the winter and giving extra funding to foodbanks and community food schemes. It comes as the UK Government has refused to reverse the cut of its £20 Universal Credit lifeline for tens of thousands of families and the Bank of England is warning inflation will rise to 5% by the spring, pushing prices even higher.

Rebecca Evans, Minster for Finance and Local Government said: “Families across Wales are facing a real cost-of-living crisis thanks to rising prices and cuts to key benefit payments. “To help tackle these unprecedented challenges, we are making £51m available to develop our own bespoke Household Support Fund to help with some of the costs families are facing. “Where Westminster has failed to support families, the Welsh Government will step in and back our communities through this challenging period.” Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt, has outlined the first measures, which will be funded. More than £38m will be made available through a Winter Fuel Support Scheme for households in receipt of working age means-tested benefits. Eligible households will be able to claim a one-off £100 cash payment. It will be available to all eligible energy customers regardless of whether they pay for their fuel on a pre-payment or a credit meter. More than £1.1m has also been provided to support and bolster foodbanks, community food partnerships and community hubs. This will help them address food poverty, food insecurity and provide a wider range of services to help people and families maximise their income. It includes the extension of the successful Big Bocs Bwyd project to a further 25 schools. Ms Hutt said: “We are very worried the cost-of-living crisis, coming so close to Christmas, will force families to turn to high-cost lenders or illegal loan sharks to help make ends meet “This fund will help raise awareness of the alternatives out there which can help. “Most of the powers to address this cost-of-living crisis lie in the UK Government’s hands but we want to do everything we can to help families through this winter. “We will support you, your families, your businesses and your community through these unprecedented times.” * Further announcements about the Household Support Fund will be made in the coming weeks.

Three people taken hospital after house fire

The Daily Post is reporting that three people have been taken to hospital after a house fire in Denbighshire yesterday.

Up to 20 firefighters were battling to bring the the blaze in Pandy near Glyn Ceiriog under control at the height of the fire.

* For the full story, see: https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/twenty-firefighters-battle-north-wales-22164767

Visitors enjoy railway's autumnal steam delights

* Driver Dave Owen adjusts the commemorative headboard on the 3802.

* Passengers enjoyed a sunlit journey down the Dee Valley.

Trains over the weekend at Llangollen Railway were steam-hauled, to the delight of visitors.

The GWR loco No.3802 was back in action after its trip to Loughborough for the seasonal gala event for rail fans at the Great Central Railway.

On yesterday's Remembrance Sunday the engine was suitably decorated with a poppy wreath and commemorative headboard.  

The train timetable was adjusted to accommodate the Remembrance service in Llangollen and passengers enjoyed a lovely sunlit journey down the Dee Valley when the autumnal colours were at their best.

The next trains will operate on Saturday December 4 when the heritage railway's Santa Season begins.

Essential engineering work will now commence in Llangollen station.

Medical emergency during annual Remembrance Day service

* The parade heads off along Castle Street.

The annual Remembrance Day service in Llangollen was cut short this morning by a medical emergency.

Around halfway through the traditional ceremony to remember the fallen of two world wars and other conflicts in Centenary Square an elderly man in the crowd became ill.

He was immediately attended to by a number of medically trained personnel, from the emergency services and elsewhere, who were amongst the large crowd of onlookers. An ambulance was also called.

After being given some first-class attention he was able to sit up and appeared to be making a recovery.  

The ceremony halted for a few minutes and as the man was receiving treatment the parade marshal announced that in view of what had happened the decision had been taken to cut short the service, with some hymns being left out.

The ceremony, which included the traditional two minutes' silence, the laying of wreaths and music by Llangollen Silver Band, ended with a parade of various organisations through the town centre.     

* A large crowd gathers for the service in Centenary Square.

 

* The Silver Band plays.

* The parade arrives in the square.

* The service begins, led by the Vicar of Llangollen, Father Lee Taylor.

* A wreath is laid on behalf of the army by Warrant Officer Chris Lingard.

* A wreath is laid by local schoolchildren.

* The mayor, Cllr Austin Cheminais, lays a wreath on behalf of the town council.

This week's work on the 2020 project

Work planned for week starting November 15 on the Llangollen 2020 project is:

• Lay paving on Castle Street west from the junction with Market Street, heading north
• Preparation work on Castle Street west at the junction with Parade Street.
• Start to excavate the footpath at Market Street north, heading west