Cheers! Railway's real ale trains are back after three-year break

Fans of brilliant beer are looking forward to the return of the Llangollen Railway’s popular Real Ale Trains this weekend after a three-year absence. 

The pandemic and last year’s financial troubles have prevented such an event from taking place since autumn 2019. 

The Welsh Phoenix /Ffenics Cymraeg will be running all day on Saturday June 11, with three3 daytime trips and two in the evening, leaving Llangollen at 6 and 8pm.

The bar will be based in an historic British Railways former travelling cinema carriage, which was restored and converted into a bar back in 2014. 

Visitors can enjoy a pint of draft craft ale or a glass of wine whilst enjoying the breathtaking scenery of the Dee Valley. 

* The railway's function coach will host the real ale trains.

The bar will be stocked with four local beers from Porthmadog-based Purple Moose and Stonehouse Brewery from Oswestry. 

The train will be hauled by a 1959-built Class 26 diesel locomotive No 5310. 

Volunteer organisers Iain Ross and Terry Pickthall can both usually be found at work on different parts of the railway, with Iain a steam and diesel locomotive driver and fitter. 

Terry is also a diesel locomotive driver and acts as the railway’s press officer. 

He said: “Iain and I thought it was high-time we helped resurrect our very successful Real Ale Trains and are looking forward to serving people a pint or two. 

"We managed our 1960’s weekend real ale festivals for many years with great success, but have not run a bar on a moving train before. 

"We’re both getting some practice in at pouring beer into a gently swaying pint glass, as we all know spillage of fine ale is a heinous crime."

Iain said: “We’ve all worked very hard through some very tough times to get the railway back on its feet and can now start to try and bring back some of the great events that we all took for granted, like our Real Ale Train and Classic Transport Weekend, which will take place on July 2 and 3." 

Tickets for the trains are available from the railway’s website and ideally need to be purchased in advance for the evening trains or from Llangollen station booking office during the day, which will be open on Saturday 11^th between 10am and 3pm.

Evening tickets cost £25, which includes two return trips on the train, a commemorative Llangollen Railway pint glass and a pint of draft beer of your choice (or glass of wine).  A full day ticket is available for £40.

Town Hall tea dance brings jubilee celebrations to a lively conclusion

* Julie Thomas's zumba group in action on the dance floor. 

* Dancers present a lively jive.

* A sequence dance in full flow.

Llangollen's official two-day Platinum Jubilee celebrations were brought to a fitting end with a tea dance held in the Town Hall this afternoon (Sunday).

Brilliantly organised by town hall facilities officer Charlie Jones, the free event saw a series of colourful and lively demonstration routines performed by three local dance groups.

A team of volunteers served a delicious afternoon tea consisting of sandwiches, cakes and scones with jam and cream on tables set with china teacups and saucers, white cloths and proper napkins evocative of the 1950s when the Queen came to the throne.

* People chat over afternoon tea at the meticulously laid out tables.

Llangollen celebrates Queen's Platinum Jubilee in style

* Market Street was closed to traffic to allow stalls and entertainment.

Llangollen has been celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in style today (Saturday).

The first of a two-day package of special events saw Market Street closed to traffic to allow an open-air market to be held with a variety of charity and community stalls.

Organised by Town Council staff and a group of former councillors, this attracted a large number of visitors to see performers including singer Chris Burton and Llangollen Silver Band while youngsters enjoyed a Punch and Judy show.

A second live entertainment programme saw a variety of acts take the stage set up in Centenary Square, with acts including Alfie Thomas, Leonie-Anne Kirkby, the Melodic Mondays and Shea Ferron who also compered.

Throughout the morning the Town Hall was the setting for a Jubilee Market run by members of Llangollen Inner Wheel.

This included plenty of stalls and home-made refreshments.

At 11am St Collen's marked the jubilee with a special Service of Thanksgiving led by Father Lee Taylor.

The Jubilee celebration continues tomorrow (Sunday) with a Vintage Tea Party and Dance from 2-6pm in the Town Hall.

This is billed as an afternoon of 1950s vintage film and dancing with three local dance teachers. Tea is served at 3.30pm and entry to the event is free.   

* Due to the adverse weather forecast it has been decided to use the fallback plan for the Churches Together Openair Service tomorrow Sunday June 5th. The joint service to celebrate Pentecost as well as the Jubilee will now be held at 11am in the Methodist Church in Princess St. All are very welcome to attend. There will be activities for children and refreshments will be served afterwards.

* Town crier Austin Cheminais teaches youngsters how to bellow out a good 'Oyez!' 

* Llangollen Inner Wheel hosted a busy jubilee fair in the Town Hall (above and below).

* Father Lee Taylor with the choir during the St Collen's thanksgiving service.

* Llangollen branch chairman Phil Stroud carries the Royal British Legion standard during the church service.

 * Alfie Thomas takes the stage in Centenary Square.

* Leonie-Anne Kirby sings in the square.

* The Melodic Mndays. 

* Shea Ferron entertains on the stage in the square. 

* Chris Burton plays and sings in Market Street. 

* Llangollen Silver Band were popular with the crowd in Market Street.

* Youngsters enjoy the Punch and Judy show in Market Street.

 * Some of the stalls lining a bustling Market Street.

Ysgol Bryn Collen children have fun celebating jubilee

Ysgol Bryn Collen held a jubilee party on the last week of school.

All the children had a ‘street party’ afternoon tea outside and enjoyed music and bouncy castles.

Couple's romantic marriage proposal on Llangollen Railway platform

The first day of the Queen's platinum jubilee celebration weekend turned into a royally romantic occasion at Llangollen Railway yesterday.

Because Josh Taylor-Smith chose a visit to the heritage attraction yesterday as the perfect time and place to pop the question to his wife-to-be Becky Cook.

A railway spokesperson said of the marriage proposal on the station platform: "They intend to get married at the railway and will begin planning their big day with our team this coming week." 

Last meeting for Llangollen 2020 group

* The 2020 team, from left, Graham Timms, Donna Hughes of Cadwyn Clwyd, Melvyn Mile, Austin Cheminais and Robyn Lovelock.

As the £1.75 million scheme is completed and the road works and temporary traffic lights in the centre of the town disappear the Llangollen 2020 group met together for the last time in Castle Street. 

A group spokesperson said: "The ambitious project was just an idea back in 2017 and it took four years to draw up the plans and find funding from the Welsh Government and Denbighshire County Council. We are immensely proud that the community have been involved throughout that time and have been consulted at every stage. 

"Whilst the work on Castle Street has finished there are still two other projects that the Llangollen 2020 group have been actively involved in that will be built over the next two years. 

"Firstly the A5 Castle Street junction and the junction at Hall Street and Hill Street will be remodelled in the coming months. Secondly the Four Great Highways Project by the bridge will be part of a multi-million pound investment in the Dee Valley which will happen over the next two years."

The spokesperson added: "We would like to thank the huge number of people who have made this project possible. Denbighshire officers and the contractors have been tremendous. 

"We’d also like to express our heartfelt thanks all the great people who live in Llangollen for their support and for being so understanding over the last few months during the construction phase. 

"It has been good to work closely with so many people who have actively participated in the consultations sharing their ideas  about what is now officially Denbighshire’s busiest town centre street. 

"All four members of the team decided to step down from local politics at the recent elections. Although we won’t be involved in local politics any longer we will still have a huge interest in the town and how it develops in the next few years." 

No-frills SUV that's strangely appealing

Honda HR-V drive by Steve Rogers

The debate started as soon as the HR-V rolled on to the drive.

David, my Honda-loving neighbour, had seen photographs and did not like the new look so was eager to see the car up close. Compared to his three year old HR-V the third generation model is a radical shift in design.

It is a no frills, smooth sided SUV lacking any wow factor yet strangely appealing. It looks great from the back, its coupe style tailgate set off with a smart full width light bar and the high nosed front is interesting with a pronounced body coloured grille.

The shape is a nod to the first HR-V in 1998, itself radical, neither ugly nor attractive but still one to turn heads. Strangely that model did not last going into hibernation for seven years before returning with a more conventional design.

Back to the here and now and we have a self charging hybrid HR-V that has grown in all directions providing practical family motoring. Flip the tailgate and drop the back seats and you have an enormous area of space.

A lot of thought has gone into the model with some clever solutions to free up space. The hybrid’s auxiliary 12v battery has been moved to the engine bay and the fuel tank to under the front seats which allows the back seat cushions to drop deep into the floor creating a completely flat load area. And, of course, there are the so called magic back seats which lift up cinema style so take a walk through the car!

It is a brilliant idea, perfect for carrying tall plants or a medium sized bicycle and must be patented because no other manufacturer has copied it.

Yet this HR-V flatters to deceive when it comes to space. It is roomy with the seats down but with the seats in place the 304 litre boot capacity is a lot less than many of its competitors. May be Honda decided to sacrifice some boot space for rear legroom which is generous and better than many rivals. That said the middle seat is ridiculously narrow. Strange when everything else is so well thought out.

If David was still pondering the shape he was knocked out by the HR-Vs cabin. It is a simple, uncluttered attractive layout with high quality trim everywhere you look.

As expected there are plenty of high tech bits and bobs, mainly housed in a centrally mounted nine inch touchscreen. There is in car wifi, Android auto, wireless Apple CarPlay and you can run mobile phone aps through the car. To my delight the heating controls are manual and separate from the screen.

Something else Honda is pleased with is the air diffusion system through neat little L shaped vents. Instead of a blast of air in the face with the blower at full pelt air is directed around the cabin and is really effective.

This HR-V is hybrid only the 1.5 litre petrol engine boosted by an electric motor and boy is it efficient. Over nearly 400 miles of mixed driving we never dropped below 58mpg and at week’s end finished on 59.3mpg.

The majority of electric driving is mainly around town or at low speeds but cuts in whenever directed by the computer so don’t be surprised to see the EV light come on doing 50-60mph on the open road. Regenerative braking returns energy to the batteries and has incremental levels via steering wheel paddles. If only all self chargers had the paddle function.

Acceleration is punchy and feels quicker than the official time but slamming the throttle to the floor brings up the only real negative. The engine is instantly noisy and because of the CVT gearbox holds on to the din until lift off. If it was a manual gearbox you would change gear.

I took David for a spin and it was not long before he commented on the improved ride and more comfortable front seat. This HR-Vs revised suspension set up is better able to cushion against poor surfaces and while it not the sharpest handling in the class it is well behaved through twists and turns with minimal body roll and should satisfy any driver.

Honda has priced HR-V to compete with Toyota C-HR its main rival. It starts around £28,000 and is very well equipped from entry level with Advance Style topping out at £33,835. An optional sports package adds £2,250 but is it worth bothering for a family SUV?

HR-V sits in a pool of high flying rivals and apart from a noisy engine under flat out acceleration excels in most areas so make sure it is on your list. As for David, he is still thinking about it.

Fast Facts

HR-V Advance Style

£33,835  - £36,910 tested

1.5 litre petrol hybrid 129bhp

0-62 10.7secs; 106mph

67.3mpg combined

96g/km. 1st tax £135

Boot 304-1274 litres

Insurance group 31