Easter services on Llangollen Railway

* Corwen station taken last Saturday showing the canopy complete with classic dagger board, facia panels and valance. Photo by Richard Walliker.

* The railway's Class 08 shunter.

Llangollen Railway is running a daily Easter service from April 6-16, with a two-train service between Good Friday and Easter Monday April 7-10 and a steam loco at work on April 7, 8, 9 and 10 alongside diesel and railcar trains. 

Steam trains will also be running on April 15 and 16 and diesel and railcar the other April weekends. More information and a full timetable is on the railway’s website. 

The railway has also announced the return of its Driver for a Fiver, in which budding loco drivers can take the controls of an engine, and Berwyn Shuttle service, offering those with less time a shorter run up to the line’s first station. 

The railway’s Class 08 shunter will offer Driver for a Fiver sessions over the Easter weekend on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, April 7, 8, 9 and 10.   

The shunter will also be hauling Berwyn Shuttles on Saturday and Sunday April 15 and 16, alongside the scheduled Timetable A operation to Carrog. 

Work continues apace at the new Corwen station, with volunteers fitting out the station building, finishing the emergency exit and a contractor removing the impressive scaffolding used to erect the canopy, which is now complete.

Just over a week left to comment on Four Great Highways scheme

* A draft design showing the view from inside Lower Dee Mill.

Local people now have just over a week to study and comment on Llangollen's Four Great Highways project.

A statement from the team in charge of the scheme says: "Further to our e-mail last week, we are writing to let you know that the feedback form has now been added to Denbighshire's County Conversations Engagement Portal 

"We have arranged for the designs to be on display at Llangollen Library until Monday April 3 2023 to make sure everyone gets a chance to see them if they weren’t able to come along to our recent session at the Town Hall.  

"The designs are also available on the engagement portal at the above link and have been added to the Four Great Highways webpage.

"We’ve also extended the feedback deadline date to Sunday 2 April 2023 to make sure everyone has enough time to share their views with us and paper copies of the feedback form have been left at Llangollen Library for collection. Completed forms can also be handed in to the library and they will collect them on our behalf.

"We would be grateful if you could share this e-mail with your networks to make sure as many people as possible have the opportunity to provide feedback."

 

Gary plans 500-mile walk to help specialist children's unit

* From left: Sarah Bee, Lynne Ford, Curtis Langley and Ann Norwood, who all work at the Movement Centre, gather around Gary Fletcher.

A Llangollen man is planning to do a solo 500-mile charity walk to raise at least £10,000 for a local hospital’s specialist children’s unit.

Gary Fletcher, 44, aims to trek through France and Spain along the famous Camino De Santiago Pilgrim Trail.

He reckons it will take him between six and eight weeks, dependent on the weather or any injuries he might sustain along the way.

Gary, who recently sold his development site next to White Waters Hotel and is looking for another property in or around the town, says he is now busy training for his foot-slogging marathon by climbing local hills and mountains and sweating it out in daily gym sessions.

He has also mounted an intensive publicity and social media campaign to gain the sponsorship from local businesses that he needs before he can set off on the challenge in aid of the pioneering Movement Centre at the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen.

He said: “I really need to get this out there as much as possible to raise as much as I can for the centre and the children it treats.

“I have wanted to do something to help children in our country for some time. With the centre I have found the perfect charity to support as it relies solely on donations and private fundraising to continue its work supporting children of all ages with mobility issues.

“The work it does includes physiotherapy and other treatments to help young patients some of whom are taught how to communicate through movement with their parents and family.

“Others may have prosthetic limbs or debilitating illnesses which require constant ongoing treatment from the centre.

“The centre is one of very few in the UK that provides this kind of support and treatment and is life-changing in so many ways for children and their families.”

Gary added: “I am in constant contact with the centre, and I am due to meet with more children there to learn about their disabilities and the treatments.

“I have set up fundraising through a GO-Fund-Me account. All proceeds are paid directly from Go Fund Me to the Movement Centre. My account for fundraising is here https://www.gofundme.com/f/500-mile-walk-along-the-camino-santiago-trail

“So far I have raised £315 both online and cash donations. I have set the target to £10,000, but I ambitiously aim to raise £100,000 over the course of the next three months.

“I anticipate donations to really take off once I am on the trail and will post daily photos and videos showing my progress to various media channels. This will include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.”

* Gary’s dedicated Facebook page fpr his challenge is at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091220251610

Roadworks planned for Barbers Hill

Latest roadworks alert from one.network is:

Barbers Hill, Llangollen, Denbighshire 27 March - 07 April   Delays likely - Diversion route   Name: Diversion   Location: Barbers Hill   Description: Streetworks / License - Streetworks   Responsibility for event: Denbighshire County Council   Current status: Planned

RAFA Club features in national magazine profile

Llangollen RAFA Club has featured in an RAF national news magazine ahead of its sold out ABBA Tribute concert this weekend. 

The profile on the club, which also recently had a disability ramp installed for wheelchair access to its outside green, is below:

Stage groups unite in show for earthquake survivors

For the first time ever three of Llangollen’s most popular amateur stage groups are joining forces to present an all-star variety and music hall show to raise funds for the earthquake victims of Turkey and Syria.

Llangollen Operatic Society, Llangollen Twenty Club and The Collen Players are combining their considerable talents to stage Llangollen on Show for Turkey and Syria at Llangollen Town Hall over two nights on Thursday and Friday May 11 and 12.

All proceeds will go to support the Disaster Emergency Committee in which 15 of the UK’s top charities have come together to supply a lifeline to thousands of survivors of the earthquake which devastated southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria on February 6.

Organisers say it will also be the perfect way to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III which will have taken place the previous weekend. 

The Llangollen entertainers have spent months planning for the big show which will see each of the groups involved showcasing their skills to audiences of up 250 on each of the two performances.

The Operatic, an all-singing and dancing outfit, will perform numbers from the smash-hit shows Hamilton, Six, Oliver Les Miserables and Half a Sixpence,  while the Twenty Club drama group will present comedy sketches – some specially written for the occasion – based on their hilarious past hits such as Blackadder and Absolutely Fabulous.

The Collen Players plan to provide a taste of the rip-roaring Victorian music hall shows for which they have rapidly become famous, with their founder, Lee Taylor, acting as chairman for the show, which starts each night at 7.30pm. 

There will be a bar and prize raffle on both nights and a number of local businesses have pledged their financial support.

Tracey Kempster Jones, one of the show’s organisers, said: “Llangollen is famously bursting with entertainment talent and this will be a historic occasion because never before have all three of Llangollen’s main stage groups come together to put on such a show.

“Almost as soon as all of us heard about the dreadful earthquake in Turkey and Syria we know we had to do something.

“Each of the groups taking part will be presenting an act based around their particular speciality, be it something from their past musical productions from the Operatic, selections of the stage comedies which the Twenty Club does so well, or the rousing sing-along material with which The Collen Players please their audiences.

“We’ve had some really dedicated people working on the show, both on stage and behind the scenes, and we’re counting on our respective regular audiences and others to come along to support this fantastic cause and have a great night into the bargain.”

* Tickets for the show, priced at £12 (no concessions) are available online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/llangollenoperaticsociety, or from Courtyard Books, Llangollen, and the Llangollen Oggie Shop in Caste Street or on the door on the night. Demand is expected to be such that organisers advise on booking early.           

New look for Llangollen's Riverside Park

* The new-look mini golf area.

Development work will give Llangollen’s Riverside Park a refreshing new look.

Contractors are working on a raft of new features for the site. 

The work has been made possible through the Welsh Government’s Brilliant Basics funding round for 2022/23 that is available to enhance parks and recreational spaces.

Brilliant Basics is a fund to deliver basic small-scale tourism infrastructure improvements across all of Wales in order to ensure that all visitors have a positive and memorable experience throughout all aspects of their stay.

A new 9-hole bespoke mini golf is due to be finished end of March with holes representing places and features of interest within Llangollen and the Dee valley.  

This will include an active travel interpretation map for the area and replaces the old course at the site.

New play equipment for the 5-12 year old age range will be installed early April.  This will include multi-use climbing frame and basket swing.

Work is underway at the bandstand to install electricity power points to increase opportunities for entertainment along with seating block created in to the bank area for spectators.

Green infrastructure has been introduced sat the park with trees to create shade, wildflower planting and shrub planting around the park.  A green space area will be extended by introducing grass up to and around the blocked dragon area.  

Paul Evans, Plas Newydd site manager, said: “While planning this work, we worked closely with Llangollen Fringe along with Llangollen Parks Community group and  Llangollen Town Council, who both provided some of the match funding towards the project. 

"We look forward to all works being complete very soon.”

Cllr Win-Mullen James, Lead Member for Local Development and Planning, said: “It is great to see this work underway at the Riverside Park and I look forward to seeing people enjoying the end result. I am also pleased to see the green environmental work taking place alongside a fantastic new play area for youngsters.”