News from Pengwern Community Hub

 

Information on waste and recycling services over Christmas

* There will be no recycling service at the Pavilion car park this Saturday. 

Denbighshire County Council is informing residents of waste collection arrangements over the festive period.

Collections will take place on the usual day even if it is a public holiday.

There will be no Saturday morning services at Llangollen Pavilion on Christmas Eve, says the council.

During Christmas and New Year residents are asked that:

• Waste and recycling containers are put out on their usual day of collection by 7am.

• Non-recyclable waste is contained within their black bin or pink sacks, recycling as much as possible.

• Extra dry recycling, if the blue bin or sack becomes full, can be presented in a cardboard box, except for glass which should always be placed in the designated recycling container for safety reasons.

• Ribbons, bows, excessive adhesive tape and plastic windows are removed from cardboard packaging and wrapping paper before recycling. Unfortunately, wrapping paper and cards containing glitter or foil should be put in the black bin as they are not recyclable and can contaminate the paper stream.

• Food waste (cooked and uncooked) should always be recycled – even meat bones can go into the orange kerbside caddy for composting at a specialized facility within the county. 

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “The council wishes all our residents a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

“We know during the festive period that households will have extra waste and recycling. Most of this waste can be disposed of and recycled through our kerbside collection services.

“By following the guidelines it will help our staff to collect waste and recycling as efficiently as possible during Christmas and the New Year.”

The council’s bulky waste collection service and bin deliveries are running as usual over Christmas.

Extra waste can be taken to one of three household waste recycling centres, at Denbigh, Rhyl and Ruthin which will be open to the public as normal every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

* Booking is essential and you can book at www.denbighshire.gov.uk/recycling

Ysgol Y Gwernant's big Christmas show is a sell-out

Ysgol Gymraeg Y Gwernant sent in these pictures of its smash-hit school play staged at the Town Hall last Tuesday. 

The colourful production entitled 'Shambyls Sion Corn', which involved a huge cast of pupils, was a sell-out as it was the first show by the school since Covid. 

Temporary road closure at Berwyn next month

Denbighshire County Council is making a traffic order prohibiting vehicles using part of the B5103 Chain Bridge Hotel at Berwyn for a period next month.

It says the closure is necessary to facilitate resurfacing by its works unit. Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout the period of closure.

The order is effective from January 20 until the completion of the works which is expected to be January 31.

In the first phase of the work the section to be closed to traffic is a Class III road known as Bryntysilio to St Tysilio Church which extends westward from its junction with the B5103 for a distance of approximately 70m. 

Phase 2 will involve the length of the B5103, Berwyn, which extends eastward from its junction with Bryntysilio to St Tysilio Church to its junction with the A542 for a distance of approximately 680m.

The recommended alternative route is, for phase 1, St Tysilios Church to Abersilio Maes Uchain to A542 Britannia Inn A542 to B5103 and, for phase 2, A542 to A539 to A5.                                                                 

   

Car's useful safety system came to my rescue

Kia XCeed drive by Steve Rogers

Safety aids are part and parcel of modern cars and barely noticed.... until they save your bacon.

Here is one such tale. I was side parked in a quiet street in the French city of Reims preparing to reverse. I thought the street was one way and started my move once a car in the opposite lane had passed. At that point the car emergency braked coming to a dead stop. In my mirror I watched a car cruise by so without cross traffic alert I would have broadsided that car.

Of all the collision stoppers this is the most useful. Drivers should be able to react to what is going on in front, but behind can be a different story and here it came to my rescue.

Suffice to say XCeed is well off for collision warning features.

What of the car? It was launched three years ago as an extra to the Ceed range and is a half hearted nod to an SUV on the basis that the suspension has been raised so it sits a little higher and comes with body armour bumpers, wheel arches and roof rails. It is also more expensive than the standard Ceed.

Asked back in 2019 was the model really needed a Kia executive replied: “We don’t build cars people don’t want.” He got that right because XCeed, which had a mild update this year, now accounts for 50 per cent of Ceed sales, helping the range to third in the sales table behind Sportage and Niro.

Apart from the higher ride height and slightly longer body this is just a variation on the theme and shares everything that is good about the Ceed. Plug in hybrid has been introduced with a 1.6 litre engine but my test car was the tried and trusted 1.5 litre petrol turbo. It’s zippy, without the adrenalin rush of a hot hatch, but proved to be surprisingly economical returning 49.9mpg over the best part of a 1000 miles and was regularly in the low fifties cruising the long, quiet French roads.

I should say this is a user friendly car for driving in Europe because the headlights will not dazzle drivers so there is no need for those stick on deflectors, and the digital speed display in the driver’s binnacle can be quickly switched to kilometres.

You get a good feel for a car on a long drive and my impression was that someone with a clear vision has looked at the dashboard and said ‘how can I make this as user friendly as possible’ and has smashed it.

The driver display is crystal clear, steering wheel buttons easy to master, there is even a switch to knock off the lane departure warning. On most cars you have to scroll through menus on a touchscreen. Annoying.

The large central touchscreen is supplemented by clearly marked quick keys along with a perfectly laid out physical display for the heating controls. You could do worse than make this the perfect model for all cars.

XCeed is easy rather than exhilarating to drive, it handles well enough without too much body roll and is comfortable, coping with just about everything our roads throw at us. My only issue was with the clutch balance which neither my wife nor I could manage smoothly pulling away in first gear.

XCeed is a decent sized family car, a small increase in length adding a few more litres to the boot space while doing nothing for back seat legroom which is no better than average.

Kia cars are always generously equipped and if you go all out with the GT-Line S you are well catered for right down to heated outer rear seats and powered tailgate.

Is it worth spending the extra for an XCeed? Probably not because you can get everything, bar the bling, on a comparable Ceed, but 50 per cent of Ceed owners think differently.

Nothing much to dislike then but if I was to be picky I look at the stunning Sportage and EV models and ask isn’t it time the ageing Ceed family got some of that razor sharp styling?

Fast facts

XCeed GT-Line S

£30,395 starts £22,995

1.5 T-GDi 158bhp; 6sp manual

0-62mph 8.7secs; 129mph

44.8mpg combined

143g/km. 1st tax £230

Insurance group 17

Boot 426-1378 litres

Broken bus stop sign will be repaired says council

* The sign at the bus stop in Parade Street when it's working.

Only weeks after being installed an electronic sign at the bus stop in Parade Street has stopped working.

A llanblogger reader said: "At the beginning of December I was interested to see the improvement to the bus stop in Parade Street where a tall electronic timetable has been installed advising the schedule for all routes and another within the shelter specifically for the T3.

"However, as of last week the new indicators were both blank. Modernisation did not last long.

"Perhaps the weather defeated the system."

A spokesperson for Denbighshire County Council, which is responsible for the sign, said: “We are aware of an issue with the electronic signage at the bus stop on Parade Street and an electrician has been tasked with visiting the site on Wednesday.”

Health services issue alerts over high demand

Both the regional health board and the local health centre have today issued alerts about high demand for their services.

According to the BBC, an internal critical incident has been declared by the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, which covers Llangollen.

The board described demand on its services over recent days as "unprecedented".

It said this was due to a combination of winter viruses, parents seeking help due to concerns about strep A and injuries related to the cold weather.

This has meant extremely long waits for patients to be seen - particularly at A&E departments.

"A lack of available beds in our hospitals is currently leading to unprecedented ambulance delays across the health board and we are working closely with local authority colleagues to support medically fit patients to be discharged from hospital," it said in a statement.

"Similar pressures are being experienced in other health boards and English trusts.

"This morning, we have declared an internal critical incident, which means we are struggling to cope with the prolonged, significant demand on the health system in north Wales."

"We are experiencing massive demand for our services this morning.

"We are doing our very best to deal with this demand but we are having to prioritise your calls based on clinical need to ensure that our poorliest patients can access our services when they need to."

"Many common winter illnesses can be managed at home. Please use the symptom checker at https://111.wales.nhs.uk/ to see whether you need to contact us or whether your symptoms can be managed at home."

Meanwhile, Llangollen Health Centre said this morning on social media:  "We are experiencing massive demand for our services this morning.

"We are doing our very best to deal with this demand but we are having to prioritise your calls based on clinical need to ensure that our poorliest patients can access our services when they need to.

"Many common winter illnesses can be managed at home.  Please use the symptom checker at https://111.wales.nhs.uk/ to see whether you need to contact us or whether your symptoms can be managed at home.

"NHS 111 Wales and Public Health Wales have a range of resources and advice to support parents and carers spot the signs of GAS infection including a new iGAS and Scarlet Fever symptoms checker tool. This tool can help parents decide when to treat their child at home and when it is appropriate to seek medical advice.  https://111.wales.nhs.uk/encyclopaedia/s/article/streptococcusa(strepa)

"Thank you for your cooperation."