Talk on railway history planned for June

Llangollen Railway will be welcoming heritage specialist Fiona Gale (pictured) on the evening of Thursday June 1.

Until her retirement she was the county archaeologist in Denbighshire and has been a consultant and mentor to numerous community groups.

She has organised, led, or participated in, hundreds of events, guided tours, talks and lectures and in 2020 was was appointed an MBE for her services to heritage in Wales. 

On June 1 she will be presenting her illustrated talk on 'Denbigh, Ruthin & Corwen Railway in the Vale of Clwyd'. This will be held in the Henry Robertson Suite at Llangollen Station, with refreshments available.  

From the 1860s until the 1960s, the Vale of Clwyd was served by a railway which connected Corwen in the south to the North Wales coast line via Ruthin and Denbigh. 

Recently a project in Ruthin to refurbish a crane connected to the railway has worked as a catalyst for a wider project, collecting memories of the line, examining some of its features and researching a little of the history. The talk will explore some of this work. 

Tickets cost £5 each and are available to pre-book through Llangollen Railway's website: https://llangollen-railway.co.uk/denbigh-ruthin-corwen-railway-in-the-vale-of-clwyd-an-illustrated-talk-by-fiona-gale/. 

Due to the size of the venue, only 50 tickets are available and these are being offered on a first-come-first-served basis, so organisers advise people to book now to avoid disappointment. 

Council cash brings power to Riverside Park bandstand

Supplying power to the bandstand in Llangollen's Riverside Park has been completed thanks to cash support from the county council.

A number of projects have been undertaken across Denbighshire to enable communities to host more sustainable and cost-effective events in their areas.

Total value of the schemes supported is £128,000. Also in the programme were sound, lighting and storage improvements at Y Ganolfan, Llandrillo and an upgrade to the kitchen at Carrog Hall.

All projects have been supported by Denbighshire Council’s Community Development Team which has been on hand to offer guidance, facilitation and act as liaison with internal departments as required.  Further projects are expected to be completed by November 2023.

Councillor Rhys Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities said: “This has been a fantastic opportunity for community groups and event organisers to improve facilities across the county. Many of these locations are a crucial hub for community engagement and events and we’re pleased to see the funding has led to improved infrastructure in Denbighshire and we look forward to bringing the remaining projects in receipt of funding into fruition soon.”

* For support in developing a community project or idea, please get in touch with Denbighshire County Council’s Community Development Team via email: communitydevelopment@denbighshire.gov.uk

Llan artist's new exhibition to open at Dory Gallery

A new exhibition by Llangollen-based painter Edward Bell, who designed album covers for stars such as David Bowie and Elton John, opens at the town’s Dory Gallery later this month.

Edward Bell was born in 1950 and he studied at the Royal College of Art.

During the 1970s he was a freelance photographer and illustrator for Vogue, The Times and Penguin Books.

In the 1980s he was a portrait painter and album cover designer for David Bowie, Elton John, Hazel O’Connor and Kim Wilde and others.

During the 1990s he spent 10 years in Southern Ireland where he became a landscape painter and ceased producing commercial art.

In the 2000s he became an inner landscape painter, which means he doesn’t usually paint real places but the impression or idealisation of landscapes.

It's more of an abstract interpretation than realist rendering. In other words, it represents an artist’s own inner landscape.

Bell also lived in Paris and spent long periods in India, Florence and Venice. And for over a decade he has lived and worked in Llangollen, Wales.

His previous exhibitions have been in London and Shropshire.

The exhibition at The Dory Gallery in Regent Street, which runs from May 25 until August 20 and takes over from Jac Williams’s Honest Agriculture exhibition, features his new paintings are produced with oil paint on canvas or board. They explore ‘lies inspired by the photographic eye’.

He explained: “The images are chosen and stolen from Pandora’s Reticule, plucked, juxtaposed and coaxed to sing.”

Opening times for the exhibition are 10am - 4pm on Saturday and Sunday or by appointment.

The Dory Gallery, , which occupies the former National School for the Poor and was later the doctors’ surgery, officially opened in June 2021 and aims to be a creative and cultural space showcasing the best in contemporary art.

The gallery is run by Suzanne Mathieson and artist Tony Mallon.

Latest Citizens Advice column

Here's the latest column from Denbighshire Citizens Advice:

Q: I’ve just had my bathroom retiled, but I’m not happy with the work.  

At first, things seemed to be going well, but then the tradesperson left to do another job and I had to chase them for updates. They did eventually come back and finish the job, but the work was pretty rough around the edges. They also left all the old tiles and plaster for me to dispose of, which I wasn’t expecting. I’ve now got the invoice, but I don’t think the price reflects the work done or the service I got. Can I challenge this? 

A: It’s always frustrating when you run into problems with home improvements. 

You mention that the job looked “rough round the edges”, if this is to a degree you could consider the job unfinished or unsafe, you should be able to get the tiler to come back to fix it. You could also suggest removing the old tiles might be considered as part of finishing the job.  

If the tiler considers the work complete, it’s worth knowing you’re protected by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which says the tiler should have completed the work with ‘reasonable care and skill’. If they haven’t done this, they’ve broken the law. The Act means you’re legally entitled to ask the tiler to fix the problem (if they provided the tiles as well as the service) or get money refunded (if they just provided the service and you bought the tiles). They should fix the problem or refund you in a reasonable amount of time, without causing too much inconvenience. As you’ve received the invoice for the work but not paid yet, now would be a good time to ask them to fix the issue or you can negotiate a lower price for the work. 

Let the tiler know you understand what you’re entitled to. Speak to them in person, or contact them in writing/over email, there are template letters on the Citizens Advice website, either way make sure you have a written copy of anything agreed. Before you contact them, it’s a good idea to take photographs to use as evidence of the problem. Make notes about what happened, including dates and times. You should also gather any paperwork and receipts - was there any prior written agreement about who would dispose of the old tiles? Was the final cost was in line with estimates or quotes given to you at the outset of the work. If not, there is advice on the Citizens Advice website about steps you can take. 

If you’re struggling to come to an agreement with the tiler, there are other steps you can take to solve your problem  these include using ‘alternative dispute resolution’, which is a way of solving disagreements without going to court. There are full details about how to do this on the Citizens Advice website.

Llangollen Youth FC Under 16s take league title

Llangollen Youth FC Under 16s Pictured) won their respective league last night (Wednesday). 

A 3-3 draw versus Borras Park Albion on Dinas Brân school pitch was the point they needed to secure the title.

A club spokesperson said: "It is a magnificent achievement by all the players, coaches and everyone involved in the youth section."

* The final scoreboard.

Quilting group takes first prize at Midlands show

* Ladies of the Block Club with their winning quilt.

A group of quilters from Llangollen have sewn themselves a place in the honours after landing a top prize at a competition in the Midlands. 

As part of her small business, Bright Quilting, Carie Mason runs a number of classes for all levels of patchwork and quilters.

She instructs everyone from beginners to the more experienced looking to try something new.

Carie's group entered into the Group Quilt category at the Quilt and Stitch Village Show at Uttoxeter Racecourse one weekend recently and were delighted to take first place.

* Their first place rosette.

Carie said: "I have completed several beginners courses and the ladies were keen to learn more. 

"I started the Block Club initially for these ladies but one or two of those with experience joined too. 

"The group has eight ladies and to show them how they can make a large quilt we start a project with the aim of entering it into a quilt show.  Many months and many blocks later we created our quilt. 

"It is made of scraps of fabric which are acquired from everyone's sewing, making what we call a Scrappy Quilt. The quilt is called Sunshine Over The Scrap Box as it was quilted with a sunshine pattern.

"We entered the competition and to our surprise and happiness we came first and received a rosette and silver plate. It was a fantastic day and it was great fun to be part of."

Kia's new Niro ticks all the boxes

Kia Niro drive by Steve Rogers

Here’s a Kia that can’t stop winning awards.

This has been quite a year for the new Niro chalking up UK Car of the Year best crossover, and Women’s World Car of the Year among a string of gongs.

Niro laid the foundations for Kia’s electric programme in 2016 as the first hybrid model.  From its humble beginnings it is now the second best selling model, offered as hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and all electric, in fact more than 40 per cent of the company’s sales have electric power.

So what makes Niro so appealing? It is not a car to take to a track day, or attempt to go off-roading, but when it comes to performing its duties as a medium sized family SUV it ticks all the boxes.

New Niro really is new, sitting on a new platform, a restyled body that is bang on trend, and an eye catching digital dashboard, taking styling cues from Sportage and EV6 which were the first to receive a radical change in Kia’s design direction.

Let’s get straight into the cabin because that is where we can see some of the key changes. Niro has grown in every direction bringing it more into line with its rivals so there is more space for passengers and luggage which has grown by 15 litres.

There is ample room for four adults, five with a bit of a squeeze for the one in the middle, and backseat headroom is fine. This is, after all, a high sided SUV and Kia has avoided getting sucked into the current trend of a sloping coupe style roofline which can have taller folk brushing heads with the roof lining.

A neat addition are USB-C ports in the front seat back rests making it easy for passengers to charge mobiles and the like. There is also wireless charging in the centre console on all but the entry level model.

The new dashboard layout has the wow factor and mirrors the wide screen design first seen in new Sportage although it looks even better with a gentle curve towards the central touchscreen. The graphics are pin sharp and the system takes no time to fathom because the most used functions, heating and radio, are separate with physical buttons. If you want to be pampered voice commands will do the job so the driver’s eyes are always on the road.

My HEV model uses a 1.6 litre petrol engine backed up by a 32kW electric motor that contributes 43bhp and charges on the move, but what about this for a clever new feature. A green zone mode can be configured so the car automatically switches to electric drive in built up areas, or roads near schools and hospitals, to reduce noise and exhaust emissions.

Neighbours would also be pleased if ‘silent running’ was employed.

Don’t expect too much in the way of performance. Acceleration off the line is no more than adequate and the engine note is a tad noisy if pushed to the top end of the rev range but given the Niro’s family role flooring the fast pedal is not likely to happen that often. Economy, with the help of the electric motor, is good so low to mid fifties should be a given.

Safety features high on the spec list and there is plenty of it including adaptive cruise control with stop and go function, and cross traffic avoidance which saved my bacon while reversing out of a side parking space in a Kia XCeed a few months ago. It brakes the car when an approaching vehicle is picked up in the radar sensors.

Niro is one of those annoying cars for people like me who have to look beyond the gushing promotional spiel because it is more or less faultless, and it has the bonus of a seven year warranty.

However I did find one area that is perhaps below par and that is a lot of hard plastic below the waistline and the boot side walls, but I am still giving Niro a nine out of 10.

Fast facts

Niro HEV 3 6sp automatic

£31,560 (starts £28,810)

1.6 litre; 139bhp

0-62mph 10.8secs; 100mph

61,4mpg combined

106g/km. 1st tax £185

Boot: 451-1445 litres

Towing capacity: 1300kg

Insurance group 21