Ethan takes final role before bidding farewell to Young 'Uns

* Ethan Le Cheminant, in his final role as Gomez Addams, with Heledd Edwards who plays Morticia. Below: Ethan without make-up.

* Another atmospheric scene from the Addams Family.

One of the stars of Llangollen Operatic junior section’s smash-hit shows of the past few years will take his final bow after playing a lead role in their new musical.

For the Young ‘Uns Ethan Le Cheminant has been Danny in Grease, Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, where he jointly won the best performer award with Celyn Orton-Jones for Audrey.

He’s now packing away his costumes for the final time as he leaves the group to study maths at university.

But not before he takes on his final leading role as Gomez Addams in their production of the Addams Family, which runs at Llangollen Town Hall from February 16-18 with a matinee at 2pm on the Saturday and all other performances at 7.30pm.    

Ethan said: “Young ‘Uns to me has been a place where I've learnt how to express myself creatively and have the confidence to then go and show that to everyone.

“It’s been a place where I've made many what I hope are going to be lifelong friends and been able to do shows and performances that I didn't know I was capable of.

“My favourite part of Young ‘Uns is always show weeks, all the excitement and hard work coming together for us to put out there to everyone, and the bitter-sweet ending of when it’s all over.

“Being able to go out and perform with some of my closest friends has been amazing and the most enjoyable part.”

He added: “Highlight was the Friday night show of Little Shop of Horrors. Most things that could've gone wrong did go wrong, a chair that should've stayed still moving, the plant pot not being stuck in place, the gun not going off straight away, all manner of chaos and yet somehow we still put on in my opinion an amazing show.

“I’m going to miss the people in Young ‘Uns the most - my fellow cast members I've gone all through my teenage years acting with.

“I’m going to miss my directors, Jo and Robin, who put in countless hours with me over the years perfecting parts and have been there as a pillar to go to whenever I needed support either with the show or just in general terms.

“I'll miss our Musical Director, Julian, who again has put in countless hours going over songs with me and bringing me along as a musician, and also being someone to nerd out to about music that I'd heard, someone I could talk to about the thing I’m most passionate about.

“And I'll miss our Producer, Pam, who has essentially been my stage mum since all the way back when I did Grease in 2019. She’s been there and has supported me the whole way through my Young ‘Uns journey, just like all of our production crew have.”

Producer Pam Williams said: “We will miss him incredibly but wish him well in everything he does.” 

The Addams Family will have a live nine-piece band and a cast of 27 including 10 principals ranging in age from nine to 18.

Co-artistic directors are Robin Crowley and Jo Lloyd, Producer is Pamela Williams, Assistant Producer Dee Smith and Musical Director Julian Cattley.

The cast is: Ethan Le Cheminant (Gomez Addams), Heledd Edwards (Morticia Addams), Katie Clark (Wednesday Addams), Ethan Roberts (Uncle Fester), Dylan Harrison (Pugsley Addams), Sam Gonzalez Jones (Lurch), Gracie Broadhurst (Grandma Addams), Leri Roberts (Alice Beineke), Will Robinson (Mal Beineke) and Freya Mortimer (Lucas Beineke).

Pam Williams said rehearsals are going really well with everyone putting in 100% to ensure that this very difficult and complex show is another hit.

She added: “The musical numbers are not well known but as soon as you hear them you fall in love with them and can't get them out of your head.

"The fact that there's a series called Wednesday, about the Addams' daughter, running now on Netflix makes our show very current."

* Tickets for the Addams Family, which are selling quickly, are available online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/llangollenoperaticsociety and also from Jades, Oggies and the Tourist Information Centre at £12 and £10.

Town Council to host area's first Death Cafe

Tea, cake and ... death will be on the agenda for a meeting at Llangollen Town Hall later this month.

Charlie Jones, facilities officer for the Town Council, has come up with the idea of hosting a free-to-enter Death Cafe there on the afternoon of January 31.

A Death Cafe is a scheduled non-profit get-together for the purpose of talking about death over food and drink, usually tea and cake.

The aim of these non-profit groups is to educate and help others become more familiar with the end of life.

The idea originates with the Swiss sociologist and anthropologist Dr Bernard Crettaz, who organised the first "café mortel" in 2004.

Jon Underwood, a UK web developer, was inspired by Crettaz's work and developed the Death Cafe model in 2011.

There are currently almost 3,000 Death Cafes listed in United Kingdom and over 15,000 in countries across the world.

Charlie Jones said: "The Death Cafe has become an international movement and they help people to talk more easily about death.

"The Death Cafe is not a bereavement session just a place to have a chat over tea and cake.

"We hope people will consider coming along."

The Llangollen Death Cafe will be held at the Town Hall between 4.30 and 6.30pm on Tuesday January 31.

* For more details, email: facilities@llangollentowncouncil.gov.uk

Crane lifts roof frames for new Corwen station into place

 

* Nearly there ... the frame is guided onto the station roof.

* Steady now ... the frame about to be fixed in place.

* The 51-metre crane towers above the Corwen car park.

* This the superb aerial drone shot was captured by LR volunteer Richard Walliker, a qualified drone pilot with full permission to be onsite, and Wayne Ronnenback, Corwen Stationmaster.

* The Railway Trust team anxiously watches the process from the ground.

Another vital stop along the route to opening the new Corwen Station for Llangollen Railway’s trains was reached this morning (Tuesday) as the first of the huge metal frames to support the roof was lifted carefully into place by a towering crane.

At a total cost of around £1.25m, volunteers at the heritage railway have spent the last eight years working on extending the line through the Dee Valley from Llangollen to its final terminus in Corwen.

The new station, which has been under construction for the past year or so, is now heading for completion in time for when the entire line opens to the public in what is expected by railway bosses to be the second quarter of this year.

Richard Abbott, health and safety director for the Trust which has run the railway since it emerged from liquidation and the Covid lockdowns last year, said: “The pillars and subframe of the station are already in place and today our specialist contractors, Plant & Robinson Construction Ltd, began the job of adding the roof canopy frames.

“The 26 frames, each weighing just under one ton, will be delivered to the site by our suppliers based just outside Wrexham and lifted into place by a 51-metre-high crane we have hired for the job.

“Before being lifted into position each of the frames is being assembled from their 11 component parts by the contractors’ team and the whole job should take the next few days to complete.

“The next phase of the work is to fit the roof cladding.”

Railway chairman Phil Coles, who was watching the process along with fellow Trust members, said: “This is another important step in the extension of the line to Corwen, which has now been going on for eight years.

“The canopy has been paid for by the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund, administered by Denbighshire County Council, while the Welsh Government paid for the new station platform. The rest of the money has come from donations to the Trust over a number of years.

“So far we have spent just over £1m and the total cost of extending the line here from Corwen East is expected to be £1.25m.

“What has been done so far is a marvellous achievement and lots of the work has been handled by our volunteers who have an average age of 67, with some of them in their late seventies.    

“We are hopeful that the line to Corwen will finally be open to the public by the second quarter of this year.”       

Leaking roof crisis at museum leads to salvage operation

* Tidy Town Team volunteers move boxes of exhibits from the museum to the old courthouse across Parade Street.

Volunteers from Llangollen Tidy Town team moved into to prevent priceless artefacts at the town’s museum being damaged by rainwater pouring in from a defective roof.  

The dozen-strong group carefully moved dozens of items, including some 4,000-year-old Bronze Age bones and a Bible dating back two centuries, to a safe temporary home in a storage area at the old courthouse just across Parade Street on Monday morning.

The salvage operation was necessary because the vaulted roof in the 50-year-old circular museum building is now in such a dire state of repair that worried trustees say completely replacing it has become the only option.

But to secure grant aid for the work they are first aiming to acquire the building from its present owners, Denbighshire County Council, from whom they have been renting the former Llangollen Library for the past 20 or so years   

Museum trustee David Crane said: “We’ve been having major problems with the roof for some time but things have recently become much worse due to all the heavy rain.

“Water has been building up on the roof and then pouring in through one of the skylights which surround the roof.

“A roofing expert who looked at it for us said the roof was like a swimming pool and would cost more to keep on repairing than having the whole thing replaced.

“Another problem with the way the place is designed is that the drains from the roof run inside the building rather than on the outside.”

He added: “We have had to look at a number of options, including moving out of this building. But finding somewhere else to go and then moving our entire collection would not be easy.

“We have therefore come up with a plan to buy the building from the county council and at the same time apply for grant aid to cover the cost of renewing the roof.

“We estimate that the purchase and roof renewal would cost in the region of £130,000-£150,000 in total.

“We are hopeful of being able to get external funding but if we aren’t successful the only thing left would be to close the museum, which means the town would lose a very valuable asset.”

The Tidy Town Team, led by David Davies, formed a human chain to move a large number of boxes containing valuable exhibits from two storerooms on the museum’s upper floor,  which are most at risk of water damage, just across the road to the old courthouse.     

Another museum trustee Suzanne Evans said, so far, none of these artefacts, including Bronze Age bones found in the hills near Llangollen, a 200-year-old family Bible and a rare map of properties on the Chirk Castle estate, had been damaged in any way but were being moved before the rainwater reached them.

Trustees say that, despite their ongoing battle with the roof, the museum, which is one of the largest independent and accredited ones of its type in the county, would hopefully be opening again to the public following its Christmas break early in February.       

Llangollen county councillor Karen Edwards, who helped the Tidy Town Team with the salvage operation, said: "Llangollen Museum is a major asset to the town of Llangollen, providing an invaluable service to our community. 

"It was heartening yesterday to see the community come together to help the museum temporarily relocate their collections in order to safeguard them for the future. 

"I wholeheartedly support their efforts to establish a safe space for the future of our town museum." 

Llangollen mediation expert offers free business advice

A Llangollen-based expert is offering free advice on how to overcome risks faced by modern-day businesses. 

Selana Kong, managing director of the International Dispute Resolution and Risk Management UK Centre (IDRRM UK), is offering two mediation sharing webinars over the next few weeks.

She said: “These are for UK business leaders, people managers, legal professionals and newcomers from Hong Kong

“If you are looking to reduce business cost and risks, join us in two free webinars and find out more about how international mediation and intercultural business strategies can help you avoid disputes and achieve more success in 2023. Webinars will be conducted in English with Chinese summary.”

The free webinars are:

* Topic: International Mediation Experience Sharing  Date: Wednesday, 25 January 2023 

Time: 1:00 pm 

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqdeyupjosGNGqHSiJ_w0kgycA7MOVO77t                                   

* Topic: Intercultural Business Strategy

Date: Wednesday, 1 February 2023 

Time: 3:00 pm  

Registration: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vf-urrjgtGtWvEsPAWxW41Hf16_9svH6d

Wales football boss stops off at Ysgol Dinas Bran

* Rob Page on the pitch at Dinas Bran.

* Above and below: Rob Page watches some pitch action.

* The manager meets a group of fans.

Students and staff at Ysgol Dinas Bran welcomed a celebrity guest earlier today in the shape of Wales football manager Rob Page.

On its Facebook post this afternoon the school says: "Well, what an experience our school football teams have had today.

"We spent the morning with Rob Page where he gave our year 10 team a coaching session and then spent time with all the teams from year 7 to sixth form where he presented to them on his experiences in football and how to deal with setbacks and build resilience to be able to succeed.

"He also spoke about being Welsh and what that means to him. Our students were also given an opportunity to ask him questions. This has been a brilliant experience for the students.

"A big thanks to Mrs Gardner for arranging this opportunity to our students as a thank to them for representing our school.

"Thanks to Rob Page and Steve Williams and all at FAW."

Work starts on new look for Riverside Park

* Contractors have started work on the old mini golf course at Riverside Park.

Work has started on face-lifting facilities at Riverside Park in Llangollen.

A spokesperson for Denbighshire County Council said: “Contractors have just started on site at Riverside Park on building a new nine-hole mini golf course on the site of the old course which was in a state of dis-repair.  

"This is part of the Welsh Government's Brilliant Basics funding to enhance parks and recreational spaces which was obtained successfully last year by the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB and supported by Llangollen Community Parks project and Denbighshire County Council’s StreetScene.

“As part of the funding, work will also start on some green infrastructure work and adding new play provision for 5-12 year olds."