* Success: the tree in its final resting place ready for the the festivities.
Members of the Tidy Town Team were out in force to help put up Llangollen's official Christmas Tree in Centenary Square earlier this afternoon (Wednesday).
The large conifer, acquired and paid for by the Town Council, will be the centrepiece of the town's annual Christmas Festival on Saturday November 25.
* Placing the tree in its holder.
* A postcard depicting Castell Dinas Brân including the camera obscura and tearoom. Courtesy of Llangollen Museum.
A new podcast exploring the history of Llangollen's Castell Brân has been launched.
Created by Sarah Baylis and produced by Sally Harrison it is entitled Capturing the Castle: A Journey Through Time.
The podcast takes listeners on an audio-guided walk with Sarah, from
Llangollen Bridge up to the summit of the castle walking in the
company of the many ‘ghosts’ who’ve made the same journey over the last 200
years.
Their words - extracts from letters, travel journals, newspapers, poetry and song – are voiced by local people who responded to a call out for contributors to read the accounts of the historical characters.
Members of the community also feature, providing a modern perspective of the castle from both locals and visitors.
The recording also features traditional harp music performed
by Tom Parry, and the Victorian folk ballad Jenny Jones sung by Jennie
Coates.
Layered over time, these varied voices capture the history of the the castle - telling its story from different perspectives, and providing a
changing commentary on the picturesque landscape and the growth of tourism to
the Dee Valley up to the present day.
The 48-minute-long recording was recently featured at the Dyffyn Dyfrdwy | Dee Valley exhibition at the Dory Gallery in Llangollen, where it played on repeat in a small nook of the gallery, accompanied by historical postcards of the area.
Following the exhibition, it has been made available as
a podcast on Soundcloud and on the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB website.
The audio histories project has been commissioned by the Our Picturesque Landscape project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Hannah Marubbi, Partnership Officer for Our Picturesque Landscape
project said: “We are really pleased to share this fascinating new podcast,
creatively telling the story of one of the most iconic structures in the Dee
Valley, which has been attracting and inspiring both locals and visitors for
centuries.”
Cllr Emrys Wynne, Denbighshire County Council’s Lead Member for Welsh
Language, Culture & Heritage, said: “It is fantastic to see the history
of Castell Dinas Brân being shared in such an immersive way; this is a truly
innovative approach to telling the story of the castle. We are also delighted
that members of the local community were able to be part of this project,
providing them with the opportunity to champion their local area and celebrate
their heritage.”
* You can listen to the podcast at: www.soundcloud.com/ourpicturesquelandscape/capturing-the-castle. It is also being featured at an ongoing exhibition in Llangollen Museum.
Llangollen Flower Club is hosting a floral art demonstration, entitled "Christmas in Wonderland", by Don Billington of Liverpool, at Llangollen Town Hall on Tuesday November 21 at 7.30pm.
Doors open at 6.45pm and ticket price is £10 from club members.
* For more information, call 01978 860869.
North Wales Live is reporting that the Welsh Government is cutting the speed limit on a busy A-road in Llangollen to create a 20mph "buffer".
The Government has put forward a traffic regulation to cut the speed on a section of the A5 between town and Berwyn - slightly less than a mile away - from 60 to 40mph.
* For the full story, see: Welsh Government cutting speed limit on busy North Wales road to create 20mph 'buffer' - North Wales Live (dailypost.co.uk)
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Latest local traffic alert from one.network is:
|
Regent Street, Llangollen, Denbighshire 16 November - 20 November Roadworks, Delays possible Traffic management:
Some carriageway incursion Description:
INSTALL NEW MTR AND BBOX DIG IS A METER BY A METER SQUARE Works location:
ROAD OPENING & DIG TAKING PLACE ON FOOTWAY OUTSIDE NUMBER 20 Public facing description:
one.network has automatically assigned a category of Unclassified works to
this Works based on the information available. Please note: Works
Descriptions are not published by Hafren Dyfrdwy. Responsibility for works:
Hafren Dyfrdwy Current status:
Planned work about to start Works reference: ZU0070000/000041700404 |
Audi RS 6 Avant Performance drive by Steve Rogers
Believe it or not this mean machine is a family estate. Sometimes.
Other times it is a 170 mph supercar that would blow kids' minds on
the school run.
But is this the last we will see of the monstrous twin turbo V8 with its colossal horsepower and torque?
There will be a new A6 but with Audi
throwing everything at hybrid and electric we shall have to wait and see what
form the next RS 6 model will take, if we see one at all.
The Government has, predictably, changed its mind on the deadline
for killing off the combustion engine, and even though Audi has started the
clear out by dropping the TT the demise of the RS 6 is said to be ‘not
imminent’.
For now RS 6 is very much alive and kicking and had an upgrade
this year making it even more powerful.
This is the Performance version beefed up to give more horsepower.
The bi turbo unit is bigger, increasing boost pressure, while new alloys are 20
kg lighter. These are the sort of lengths you take to make your car faster than
the opposition.
The Performance has a self locking differential which ensures max power to all four wheels so there is no scrabbling for grip when the accelerator is stamped to the metal.
All these elements have shaved nearly half
a second off the sprint to sixty. For the record that takes just over three
seconds and I imagine another four or five seconds would see you crashing
through the 120 mph barrier.
Sounds manic, which it is, but we have to accept that this car is
too fast for our speed limits. The car is a hooligan and would be locked up if
it was human!
Just pressing the start button warns of trouble ahead if you are
not careful. It has a glorious roar to get the driver in the mood and can leave
you spellbound with just one blip of the accelerator. Floor it and you are
hurled back into the seat.
Top speed it governed to 174 mph but I'm pretty certain there is
another 20 mph under the bonnet with the limiter disengaged. The 850Nm of
torque is whopping so no worries about overtaking.
RS 6 has been revered as the world’s fastest estate car, whether
it is better than rival offerings from Mercedes-Benz and BMW can only be
decided on a track. On public roads the Audi feels immovable, hardly surprising
when it is being pushed to a fraction of its limits.
To put it another way, a driver would have to be stupidly reckless
to lose control such is the incredible grip from the quattro drivetrain. Apart
from that the RS is stacked to the gunnels with driver safety aids and it is
not at all intimidating to drive.
The adaptive cruise control is impressive and came into its own on
a drenched motorway where the lack of visibility was scary. Once set the car
takes over braking and accelerating from a chosen distance to the vehicle in
front. Using traffic sign recognition it automatically slows the car to a lower
speed. A new one for me.
As a family estate the RS Avant is sensible, to a point. It easily
accommodates five adults with a boot big enough to carry a sizeable piece of
furniture with the seats down, or a pile of luggage with the back seats in
place.
In reality an A6 Avant is more realistic as family transport given
the £127,000 for the RS Performance, and the costs that go with it. Insurance
will be sky high, you need to cough up big bucks for the first year road tax
and then there is the little matter of low twenties economy, although I did
manage 25mpg over nearly 700 miles. Good job the car has a 73 litre tank.
And you might as well go the whole hog with ceramic brakes. An
extra £9,200, you would get a good used car for that money, but my goodness they
are immense.
I have been saying for 20 years that none of the other premium
brands can trim a car like Audi and nothing has changed. This car is
beautifully finished although some of the technology is becoming dated and will
probably be refreshed in the new model.
Fast Facts
RS 6 Avant Performance
£126,970 (£140,000 tested)
4 litre V8, 8sp tiptronic; 618bhp
0-62mph 3.4secs; 174mph
22.4mpg combined
285g/km. First tax £2,365
Boot: 565-1680 litres
Insurance group 50
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All four mobile phone networks serving central LL20 areas of Llangollen are still down after an outage which began late on Saturday.
llanblogger has looked at the online signal checkers for EE, Three, 02 and Vodaphone this morning are all are showing problems with their services to the area.
EE simply points out that it is "aware of the problem with this site".
Three says: "Our engineers are working on masts nearby which means the rest of our network is handling more traffic than usual."
02 at least says "sorry" and explains that a phone mast close by isn't working. But it assures: "Our engineers are on the case."
And Vodaphone's checker is registering "current network issues" with the area's 2G, 3G and 4G services. LL20 doesn't currently have 5G availability, it shows.
There have been lots of complaints about the situation on Facebook.
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* 02's signal checker.
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