Sion Corn heads for Llan's first Christmas Festival since 2019

* Sion Corn checks out the swiftest route to 

Llangollen for the annual Christmas Festival.

Sion Corn has been checking out the best route to Llangollen ready for his guest appearance at the town's Christmas festival later this month. 

The popular annual event is making a welcome return on Saturday November 26 after a three-year break due to the pandemic.

A spokesperson said: "We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible to mark the start of the town’s seasonal preparations. 

"There will be a Grand Parade starting from the Pavilion ground at 1pm and proceeding to the Town Hall for the official opening where Sion Corn - the Welsh Father Christmas - will stay for the afternoon to meet and greet as many of his friends as wish to do so at the start of his busiest part of the year.

"There will be lots to do for children old and young and a wide range of seasonal treats and activities.

"At the end of the afternoon there will be the usual firework display at which time the town's Christmas lights will also be switched on.

"Sion Corn will once again be dressed in his traditional green as he makes his preparations and is already planning his visit. 

"After three years he has lots to do as he decides how to make the journey as rapidly as possible."

Still places left on first ever illuminated tractor run

* Getting their tractor ready for the big run on December 4 are 13-year-old Harvey and six-year-old Olivia Burke, grandchildren of agricultural contractor Alan Hughes of Garth. 

The area's new Rotary club says it still has space for modern or vintage vehicles festooned with fairy lights to join the first Llangollen Illuminated Tractor Run on Sunday December 4.

The recently launched Vale of Llangollen Rotary and Llangollen and District Young Farmers Association have organised the run. 

Tractors will muster at 3.30pm at Llangollen Pavilion and, after judging, will be waved off at 5pm by town mayor Councillor Paul Keddie and Rotary district governor Paul Dutton.

The route goes up Castle Street on to the A5 and then through Froncysylte, Chirk, St Martins, Overton, Ruabon, Trevor and back to Llangollen. 

Short stop-overs are planned in Chirk and Rhyn Park School car park in St Martins for local people to walk around the tractors and for children to get their photo taken with our Santa.

Spectators are asked to bring along some cash for a charity bucket collection.

A Rotary club spokesperson said: "Please, local farmers, get behind this new attraction and charity fund-raiser for the community.

"You can visit our website at www.valeofllangollenrotary.com and click the page for the tractor run to see the rules, how to register and how to pay for the entry."

Vale of Llangollen Rotary is ready to welcome individuals and couples of 18+ from the local community who want to be “people of action”. 

The club normally meets face-to-face, at Liberty Tavern, 20 Market Street, Llangollen on Monday evenings at 7.15 for 7.30pm.

* For more information on what the new style of Rotary has to offer contact Mike Lade on 07803 038858, valeofllangollenrotary@gmail.com or see www.valeofllangollenrotary.com.

Inner Wheel to host charity whist drive

 

Llangollen Inner Wheel is hosting a charity whist drive at the Welfare House in Market Street on Thursday November 10, starting at 7pm.

The International charity mwmbeers are supporting this year is Mary's Meals which supplyies mid-day meals to schoolchildren in the world's poorest countries. 

Not only does this feed the children but it encourages families to send their children to school.

Health centre invites patients to take part in survey

* Llangollen Health Centre.

As part of the national Access Standards for GP practices in Wales, Llangollen Health Centre is undertaking a Patient Experience Survey.

All our registered patients are invited to give their feedback via the link Patient Experience Survey

or QR code below.  

It only takes a couple of minutes and is completely anonymous.

Paper copies of the survey are also available at the Health Centre.

A Health Centre spokesperson said: "Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey."

Funky Juke goes hybrid and improves its star quality

Nissan Juke hybrid drive by Steve Rogers

Funky, quirky, trendy, call it what you will but no one can deny the Nissan Juke hasn’t captured the hearts of the nation.

It has sold in its hundreds of thousands since bursting on to the fledgling supermini crossover market in 2010. Twelve years on the Sunderland built Juke has hit another landmark...it has gone hybrid.

A natural progression given that all around are doing the same so we have a 1.6 litre petrol backed up by an electric motor giving a total output of 141bhp so it is no dead duck. Hybrid power costs £1,730 more than the standard automatic but Nissan say it is worth it for the extra performance, economy and lower emissions. Are they right?

With that amount of horse power Juke hybrid is quicker off the mark than the standard petrol and stays strong up to motorway speeds. The CVT gearbox makes it a bit noisy as the revs build but that is par for the course and unless you are always in a hurry it will barely be noticed.

Hybrid brings new technology and Juke gets e pedal. Once engaged e pedal brakes the car as the driver lifts off the throttle capturing energy for the batteries. It slows the car to 5mph and although it is not as effective as the Volvo system, which comes to a dead stop, it is a step forward and apart from harnessing battery power saves on brake wear.

We can tick the box on economy as well because after a long trip Juke returned 64mpg and over a week’s driving averaged just over 56mpg.

What about the rest of the car? I was spoilt with a top end Tekna+ so loads of kit and a lot of suede inserts along the dashboard and doors. It also has a stonking Bose sound system with speakers built into the head rest on the front seats.

Dashboard layout is more or less the same as the standard car with an 8-inch touchscreen for navigation, radio, phone apps etc, but thankfully Nissan has stuck with physical switches for the heating controls. It is ditto for the driver’s binnacle apart from energy flow graphics replacing the rev counter.

For a small car Juke is quite roomy although the boot has given up some of its capacity to the battery pack. Back seat legroom brought praise from passengers but they laid into the lack of light. Juke has a high waistline and slim back windows which, they said, made it claustrophobic which goes to show bold styling is not without its pitfalls.

That heavy battery pack has another negative side effect. My guess is the suspension has been beefed up to compensate for the extra weight resulting in an overly hard ride which becomes obvious the moment you hit anything but a smooth surface.

The upside, if you can call it that, is smart handling through the twisty bits, but surely companies have enough technology at their disposal to come up with a better compromise when it comes to tuning suspension.

Equipment level across the range is reasonable but if you can stretch to Tekna+ you will enjoy, amongst other things, navigation, Bluetooth, mobile phone connections, heated front seats, heated windscreen, front and rear parking sensors and camera, auto dipping headlights, and keyless entry with walkaway locking and unlocking on approach, along with a strong list of safety features.

In its early years Juke had a love it hate it reputation. Not everyone liked its futuristic styling but attitudes soften as has the styling. The bulging ‘frog eye’ sidelights on the top of the bonnet have been toned down and now blend nicely above the headlights but otherwise that brave bit of styling by Brit Mark Weaver is unchanged.

Now the burning question. Is it worth the extra money to switch to hybrid? For me it is a no brainer. I am not ready to go electric even though I love driving them, but hybrid has to be the sensible choice because they give more economy, more performance and lower emissions, and a lot more people will come to that conclusion as we close in on 2030.

Juke had star quality back in 2010 and that star is even brighter with hybrid power. Would I buy one? Yes, if I couldn’t get a Toyota Yaris Cross.....

Fast facts

Juke Tekna+

£30,150 (range starts £27,250)

1.6 litre petrol auto; 141bhp

0-62mph 10.1secs; 103mph

56.5mpg combined

114g/km 1st tax £190

Insurance group 15

Boot: 354-1114 litres

 

MS calls out 'abhorrent' behaviour shown to councillors and candidates

Sam Rowlands, MS for North Wales, has called for more protection for local councillors and candidates from abuse. 

Mr Rowlands, Shadow Minister for Local Government was speaking during Local Government Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government, Rebecca Evans, in the Senedd. 

He said: “Recently a 2022 council candidate from Newport received hundreds of pounds-worth of damage to his car, and that isn't the first attack on his property, with targets to his house, nails pushed into his car tyres and social media trolling during the recent council and Senedd elections.

“In light of this Minister, what are your views on council candidates, who are willing to put their head above the parapet and represent their communities, having to deal with this abhorrent abuse? 

“This is not just a recent or single issue for one candidate. In May's elections, paint was thrown over cars owned by a long-serving Swansea councillor, which led to irreparable damage; we saw two councillors in Caerphilly receive abuse letters, calling them all sorts of things and the police had to get involved in that; in addition, a Cardiff councillor, who'd been a councillor for a long time, shared some horrific stories about some of the abuse that she has had to face up to over recent years. 

“You have outlined some of the work and the actions that you are undertaking.  It is really important that we protect our local councillors, our local candidates, from this disgusting behaviour.” 

The Minister said: “We have to give respect to anybody who puts themselves forward as a candidate for a community council, town council or county council election, because it does take an element of bravery to do that. Abuse of any candidate is absolutely unacceptable and we have to do everything that we can to prevent it.  

“One of the important things that we have to do is to help councillors understand that this kind of behaviour isn't acceptable, because there's often an inclination on the part of elected representatives to think that abuse just comes with the job, and it absolutely shouldn't. We have recently refreshed 'The good councillor's guide', and that very much is about helping those councillors understand what is and isn't acceptable in terms of the response that they receive and potentially the abuse that they receive, and it also then helps them to understand what support might be available to them.”

Long-time museum volunteer and author dies aged 77

* Janet Wakefield.

The funeral of a woman who involved herself deeply in Llangollen life over two decades and has died at the age of 77 will be held later this month. 

Janet Wakefield, who had lived with her partner of 25 years Keith Sullivan in a cottage on the canal since 2002, was the author of a series of popular local history books and for many years a volunteer at the town’s museum. 

Born in Eyam, Derbyshire in 1945, Janet spent her entire career in nursing. 

After completing her training in Edinburgh she joined the nursing staff at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield and later worked as a steelworks nurse, a district nurse and the matron of a nursing home in that city.      

Moving over to Wales Janet was a senior member of the nursing staff on Luke Ward at Wrexham Maelor Hospital until her retirement in 2005. 

While at Llangollen Museum she wrote and published three history books - on local pottery, breweries and ghost stories. 

She also wrote the words and music for a musical about a mischievous local cat, entitled The Life and Times of China Tom, which was performed at Llangollen Town Hall. 

Janet, who died on September 28, had a son, Stuart, a daughter, Rachel, and two grandchildren. 

Partner Keith said of her: “She involved herself deeply in the life of the town and will be sadly missed by many people.” 

Janet’s funeral will take place at Pentre Bychan Crematorium at 11am on Monday November 21 when the celebrant will be Charlie Jones from Llangollen. All are welcome to attend.