Cheers: Llangollen's Mayor, Cllr Paul Keddie, went along to the town's two junior schools to hand over the commemorative mugs purchased by the Town Council for each of their children to mark the coronation on May 6 of King Charles III.
There are English versions for Ysgol Bryn Collen and Welsh language ones for Ysgol Y Gwernant, both bearing the council's logo on the reverse. At Ysgol Y Gwernant the school dog Twm was amongst the proud recipients (below).
The funeral of Phil Stroud, chairman of the Llangollen branch of the Royal British Legion, took place yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, with a service at St Collen’s Church followed by committal at Pentrebychan.
Mr Stroud died aged 70 at home on May 5 after a short illness.
Originally from Manchester, he served for over 20 years in the army with the King's Regiment, and leaves his wife of 23 years Marie, children and grandchildren.
In his introduction to a moving service, in which Royal British Legion standard bearers led the funeral procession down the aisle, Father Lee Taylor spoke fondly of Mr Stroud who he said had been one of the first people to welcome him when he moved to the area just under five years ago.
Father Lee also praised his strong record of service to his country and later the Legion and recalled his sense of humour which he said had prevailed even through his illness.
In the eulogy, Mr Stroud’s Legion comrade David ‘Dai’ Thomas gave an account of his life, including how he joined the army in his late teens in 1972, serving through until the early 1990s when he left the army to begin a civilian job as a tanker driver.
After leaving the service he had become a mainstay of the Legion, serving as the local branch’s treasurer, then chairman and as a standard bearer.
He also involved himself with many aspects of the Legion’s welfare work with former armed forces personnel.
Later at the crematorium there was the sounding of the Last Post and a farewell song.
Donations were invited to the Legion’s Llangollen branch or the armed forces charity SSAFA.
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Denbighshire County Council has issued a temporary traffic order for Abbey Road in Llangollen (copied above).
This covers resurfacing works by the council on a 1.1 kilometre stretch starting from June 19 when a 10mph speed limit will be in force together with a convoy system.
The order states that no work will take place between July 7 and 11 due to the Eisteddfod.
* The council has also announced it is to close a section of Maesmawr Road for carriageway patching between May 30 and June 2.
Llangollen & Corwen Railway’s new £1.25m Corwen station saw its first steam-hauled test train yesterday (Monday).
This was to test the water tower and run-round line that will be used for all services from Saturday June 3.
The train was hauled by a 1943-built Austerity tank locomotive No 68067 and was driven by Harry Barber, who was been a volunteer at the railway for over 30 years, and fireman Phil Morrey.
Dedicated volunteers are putting the final touches to the new station before it is officially handed over to the railway's operations department for a grand opening weekend, starting on June 1 for LR members.
June 2 will see a special ceremony where Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, chairman of both Network Rail and the Heritage Railway Association, will formally open the station, which has taken six years to build.
Members of the public will be able to ride trains into the new station over the weekend of Saturday June 3 and 4.
The two days will feature a busy hourly train service using steam, diesel and railcars and a large model railway layout of Corwen as it was in the 1950’s on display in Corwen’s Canolfan Ni village hall. A vintage fire engine will also be on display at Llangollen station.
Phil Coles, chairman of Llangollen Railway Trust, said: “Seeing our station open on June 2 will be a very special day.
"It is the realisation of the vision of our founders 50 years ago to reopen the railway between Llangollen and Corwen.
"It’s been quite a journey, but we have finally made it. We’ve seen such incredible commitment from dedicated volunteers and supporters; from those who have laid the bricks and tracks to those who helped secure government Levelling-Up funding for our station canopy, including our local MP Simon Baynes.
"I am proud to have been
part of the team that has put a station back on the map in Corwen after Dr
Beeching closed the original nearly 60 years ago."
* More information and advanced tickets for the opening weekend can be found by visiting https://llangollen-railway.co.uk/.
Denbighshire County Council says that Tower Road, Llangollen, has been closed to facilitate urgent works to repair a leaking water main by Hafren Dyfrdwy.
* Gary plots his progress on a map of the Camino Trail.
Painfully blistered feet continued to trouble Llangollen's Gary Fletcher during the second week of his solo 500-mile charity walk to raise at least £10,000 for a local hospital’s specialist children’s unit.
Gary Fletcher, 44, is trekking 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.
Early last week the blisters became so painful that he had to stop for a while to allow them to heal in the Spanish town of Estelle.
He mentions this on the Facebook page on which he is reporting his progress.
His sister Michaela comments on his post, sympathising with his pain and telling him to "keep rockin' on!"
Eventually back on the trail he had a stopover in the town of Hormilla, just outside Najera, towards the end of the week.
He mentions having a "nice clean room for 30 euros" in the local hotel and how the heat was increasing as he marched deeper into Spain.
Gary, who recently sold his development site next to White Waters Hotel and is looking for another property in or around the town, spent weeks training for his foot-slogging marathon by climbing local hills and mountains and sweating it out in daily gym sessions.
He 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.
Before leaving he said: “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.”
His regular posts on Facebook detail how he set off aboard the Eurostar from London bound for Paris on May 6.
* You can sponsor Gary at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/500-mile-walk-along-the-camino-santiago-trail
Latest local roadworks alerts from Denbighshire County Council are:
A542 OPPOSITE 3 HILL STREET HILL STREET 30/05/2023 30/05/2023 Gwaith BT/ BT Works MJ QUINN (DCC) LLANGOLLEN Ffordd ar Gau/Road Closure
carriageway MAESMAWR ROAD 30/05/2023 02/06/2023 Cynnal y Lon Gerbydau/ Carrigeway Maintenance AARON MACDONALD (DCC) LLANGOLLEN Ffordd ar Gau/Road Closure
Wrth / Nr FRONDEG ABBEY ROAD 06/06/2023 07/06/2023 Gwaith Dwr / Water Works HAFREN DYFRDWY (DCC) LLANGOLLEN Goleuadau Traffig Dros Dro/ Temp Traffic Lights
Tu Allan i Ysgol Dinas Bran / Outisde Ysgol Dinas Bran DINBREN ROAD 31/05/2023 02/06/2023 Torri Coed / Tree Cutting SHIFT TRAFFIC (DCC) LLANGOLLEN Ffordd ar Gau/Road Closure
Wrth / Nr DALMORE ABBEY ROAD 22/05/2023 24/05/2023 Gwaith BT/ BT Works MJ QUINN (DCC) LLANGOLLEN
A539 Abbey Road ABBEY ROAD 19/06/2023 30/09/2023 Ailwynebu/ Resurfacing DCC WORKS UNIT (PETER PAR LLANGOLLEN No traffic management to be on site 01/07/23 - 12/07/23 due to International Eistedfodd Confoi 10 mya/10 mph Convoy
