Over 150 take part in successful New Year's Day parkrun

* Competitors in one of the Old Railway Trail Parkruns.

Over 150 people took part in the latest Old Railway Trail Parkrun held on New Year's Day.

Number one spot went to Paul Jones of Shrewsbury Athletic Club in a personal best time of 16:48.

This was the run's 29th event since its launch in June 2023.

Event co-directors Mike Edwards and Michael Clarke said: "We wish to thank our wonderful local volunteers without whom the events would not take place. 

"Each week they get up early on a Saturday morning and give up their time to marshal, timekeep and so on at the events and encourage those who walk, jog or run."

Tickets now on sale for Live at Llngollen shows

Tickets are now on sale for a series of fundraising gigs at Llangollen Town Hall to raise money to support the core Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.  

The gigs, which will be held monthly in Llangollen Town Hall, feature tributes to ABBA, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, Slade as well as bringing the original Merseybeats, who performed with The Beatles in the 1960s, to town. 

Organisers hope to bring the Llangollen Community together and raise money for their annual music festival.  

There will be a "Live at Llangollen" night every month in the Town Hall atarting from Friday, January 19.  

With the festival bringing some of the world's biggest names to the North Wales town in Summer 2024, like Bryan Adams, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Manic Street Preachers, Sir Tom Jones and Paloma Faith, the party gigs will raise money for the festival's charity which helps brings competitors from across the World to Wales for its annual Eisteddfod. 

Life Vice-President of the Llangollen Eisteddfod Keith Potts and his team of fundraising volunteers are behind the monthly gigs. 

Keith said: "Every year, we welcome people from all over the world to promote peace and reconciliation through song and dance. This is part of our aim to work all year round and bring our community together.  

"We are delighted to have secured some of the most in demand tribute acts from both Wales and England for our monthly gigs. We hope the live concerts will prove popular and we raise much needed funds to continue our iconic peace festival.  

"This year, as well as bringing some of the world's biggest entertainers to town, we will be welcoming competitors from across the World to our Eisteddfod.  This costs money and these 'Live in Llangollen' gigs will help us do that." 

* S.O.S “A tribute to Abba” featuring Hannah Roberts (lead singer), Fran Cottington (lead singer), Shea Ferron (keyboard and backing vocals, Stu Nicholls (guitar), James Barber (bass guitar) and Alfie Ellis (drums).

The first gig on January 19 will feature S.O.S “A tribute to Abba”.  

The group made up of local talent will be playing the most iconic ABBA hits, including “Mamma Mia,” “S.O.S,” “Money, Money, Money,” “The Winner Takes All,” “Waterloo,” “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme,” and “Dancing Queen.”   

The group is a fantastic nod to the Swedish super-group Abba as they pay tribute to one of the best sounds in history. 

* Tickets, priced £10, are now on sale online at https://international-eisteddfod.co.uk/event_picker/live-at-llangollen/ and Llangollen Tourism Information Centre, Castle Street, Llangollen.  

All profits will go towards running the core Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. 

Operatic chooses Bad Girls the Musical as its next show

Llangollen Operatic Society has chosen Bad Girls the Musical for its next production.

Described as "powerful, uplifting and raucous," the entertaining British musical is based on the ITV prison drama series of the same name which ran from 1999 to 2006.

The show, to be staged at Llangollen Town Hall from May 22-25, is set inside the mythical Larkhill Prison and focuses on some interesting and varied female inmates including Shell Dockley, Nikki Wade and the Two Julies.

New wing governor Helen Stewart has her work cut out managing prisoner officers Sylvia "Bodybag" Hollamby and the ruthless, scheming Jim Fenner.  

Bad Girls sees the return of Chrissie Ashworth as artistic director, with Elen Mair Roberts as musical director and Sarah Marshall and Rob Stevens assisting with artistic movement.

Producers are Tracey Kempster Jones and Caroline Anthonisz.

Open auditions for the show take place from midday on Saturday January 13 at St Collen's Community Hall and the production team says it welcomes members old and new to come along. Email them at traceykempsterjones@btinternet.com to register and find out more.

Rehearsals will initially take place at the society's studio in Llangollen every Tuesday.

* The initial read-through of the new show at the Operatic Studio recently.

Live in Llangollen gigs will support this summer's Eisteddfod

 

* The team helping to put together the Live in Llangollen ABBA gig.

Organisers of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod will be hosting a number of fundraising gigs at Llangollen Town Hall to raise money to support their core Eisteddfod.  

Starting on Friday January 19, the Live in Llangollen gigs will be held monthly and feature tributes to ABBA, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd and Slade.

The original Merseybeats, who performed with The Beatles in the 1960s, will also be heading to the town. 

The Eisteddfod's Life Vice-President Keith Potts and his team of fundraising volunteers are behind the shows.

Keith said: "Every year we welcome people from all over the world to promote peace and reconciliation through song and dance.  

"This is part of our aim to work all year round and bring our community together.   

"We are delighted to have secured some of the most in-demand tribute acts from both Wales and England for our monthly gigs.  

"We hope the live concerts will prove popular and we raise much needed funds to continue our iconic peace festival.  

"This year, as well as bringing some of the world's biggest entertainers to town, we will be welcoming competitors from across the World to our Eisteddfod. This costs money and these Live in Llangollen gigs will help us do that."

* All the gigs nights are £10 and run from 7.30 till 11pm. Tickets will be available from www.llangollen.net and the Llangollen Tourism Information Centre in Castle Street.

* The core Eisteddfod week concert programme.

Six months to go before Sir Tom Jones headlines at Eisteddfod

* Sir Tom Jones stars on July 2.

Exactly six months from now Sir Tom Jones will take to the stage to open the core week of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.  

And organisers have promised the “biggest and best Llangollen Eisteddfod for a generation”. 

Stars heading to the world famous Pavilion stage this summer have sold over 800 million albums between them.  

Nile Rodgers alone, legendary co-founder of the band Chic, has written, produced or sold more than 500 million albums worldwide.   

Bryan Adams and Sir Tom Jones have notched up 100 million sales apiece whilst just before Christmas Madness celebrated their first studio number one album. 

* Calan appear on July 3.

In October the peace festival, which has run since 1947 in the Denbighshire town, announced a partnership with Live Nation promoters Cuffe and Taylor.  

Since then, not a month has gone by without the announcement of another world-class superstar heading for Llangollen.  

The cavalcade of headliners includes Bryan Adams, Paloma Faith, Manic Street Preachers, Suede, Kaiser Chiefs, Tom Jones, Calan, Kerry Ellis, John Owen-Jones, Gregory Porter, Katherine Jenkins, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Jess Glynne and Madness.   

Dave Danford, Llangollen Eisteddfod’s new Artistic Director, said: “This summer there is no doubt that Llangollen will be the place to be.  

“In exactly six months time Sir Tom Jones will take to the stage amid our biggest and most high-profile festival for decades.   

“We are keen to stress that the core elements of our festival that long-time supporters know and love will remain.   

“As well as bringing some of the world’s biggest selling artists to Llangollen our peace message will be at the heart of what we do, our competitions remain at an incredibly high standard and this year our field will be bustling with activity on our outside stages.   

“This partnership with Cuffe and Taylor has not just ensured our amazing festival survives but also thrives beyond our wildest expectations.” 

* Katherine Jenkins appears on July 7. 

The concerts will start from Tuesday 18th June with multi-million selling Canadian superstar Bryan Adams.  

There will be concerts before and after the core Eisteddfod week of July 2-7 and the  concerts will finish with Madness on July 13.  

All this represents a remarkable turnaround for the festival. In July 2023 it faced an uncertain future after reporting heavy financial losses.   

The partnership with Cuffe and Taylor has lifted the festival to a new level, with competition entries the highest for a generation due to the increased profile. 

Cuffe and Taylor co-founder Peter Taylor said: “We are thoroughly enjoying working with the team in Llangollen. 

“The International Musical Eisteddfod is an historical event to be celebrated and we feel quite honoured that we are now part of this iconic peace festival.   

“Not only do we have some amazing artists lined up to bookend the event, but we have also programmed three incredible nights to take place during the core Eisteddfod week. We are all very much looking forward to what is set to be a brilliant week in a most beautiful location.” 

The festival will also see over 150 choirs and dance groups heading to North Wales to take part in the traditional and world-renowned Eisteddfod competitions. 

Groups from as far away as Burundi, Canada, China, Ghana, India, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, USA and Zimbabwe will be competing. They will take part in individual categories before the best choirs compete for the Pavarotti Trophy in the Choir of the World Final on Saturday July 6. 

Chair of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Professor Chris Adams said: “When our iconic festival was set up in 1947, its aim was to welcome the world to promote peace and reconciliation through music and dance.   

“This year we are doing this and more.  Over 800 volunteers will be welcoming competitors from over 40 countries this year as well as hundreds of competitors from across Wales and England. Our Eisteddfod is set to be spectacular but promoting peace will be central to everything we do.”   

* Tickets can be bought and other information can be found on the Festival’s website – www.llangollen.net.

The concert line-up so far:

June 18 – Bryan Adams

June 21 – Paloma Faith 

June 28 – Manic Street Preachers & Suede

June 29 – Kaiser Chiefs 

July 2 – Tom Jones (Core Eisteddfod week)

July 3 – Wales Welcomes The World (Core Eisteddfod week)

July 4 – Direct from the West End: Kerry Ellis & John Owen-Jones (Core Eisteddfod week) 

July 5 – Gregory Porter (Core Eisteddfod week) 

July 6 – Choir of the World (Core Eisteddfod week)

July 7 – Katherine Jenkins (Core Eisteddfod week) 

July 11 – Nile Rodgers & CHIC

July 12 - Jess Glynne

July 13 - Madness

New Qashqai - the electric car that's not quite that

Nissan Qashqai e-Power drive by Steve Rogers

Puzzling car this new Qashqai. Take the badge for instance, e-Power.

You could be forgiven for thinking this is an electric car - e for electric.

Except it’s not, well maybe a bit.

Time to get to the point. This Qashqai has a petrol engine but it does not drive the wheels, that is the job of the electric motor, that is powered by a battery that is kept topped up by the engine.

All of which makes the e-Power a very interesting car, a halfway house to full electric without the worry of range anxiety.

Is this the way forward? Nissan is certain it is and is not interested in developing plug-in hybrid vehicles. Arnand Charpentier, the company’s product strategy expert said e-Power “is a better solution that can also educate the customer ready for a full electric vehicle.”

So another milestone in the Qashqai’s remarkable story. For me it is the most significant car of the 21st century so far, starting a trend that has consumed the car industry for nearly two decades.

Nissan named the car after the Qashqai tribe who live in the mountainous regions of Iran. Maybe they thought if the car was a failure at least everyone would remember the name. Well it didn’t fail and is still the UK’s best selling crossover SUV even though there are around 30 more just like it.

The e-Power model is a late edition to the third generation Qashqai and is odds on to become the best seller. It is a couple of grand dearer than a standard petrol but makes so much sense. I enjoy driving electric cars, my car of 2023 is the BYD Seal, but I am not ready to go down that road yet.

This seems like a decent compromise. A car driven by an electric motor but without the worry of running out of battery before finding a charging station. The turbocharged engine is nearly always purring away in the background and the most I managed on electric only power was two miles before the engine seamlessly stirred back into life to keep the battery pack topped up.

There is also help from regenerative braking provided by the e-pedal. When selected the car slows when you lift off the accelerator, generating power for the batteries, and, once you get used to it, providing a smoother drive because there is no need to hit the brake pedal saving on pad and disc wear.

It slows the car to a 4mph creep rather than a dead stop which would be better, just like the Volvo system.

As the car gets its power from an electric motor acceleration is brisk and feels quicker than the official sixty dash time with smooth changes through the six speed automatic gearbox. Nissan reckon 53mpg and I only missed the target by 3mpg over nearly 600 miles. The car’s long term computer record covering nearly 1,000 miles showed 49.7mpg so this is no idle boast.

Inside has been given a total revamp with the driver’s digital binnacle full of information selected from a steering wheel switch along with an excellent head up display detailing speed, navigation instructions, and speed limits.

There is a clear set of switches to control the heating with all other major functions accessed through a new 12.3 inch touchscreen with superbly clear graphics for navigation and the crystal clear all round camera.

My Tekna model is near the top end of the range and has a spec sheet as long as your arm. My favourite is the heated windscreen, all cars should have one. Driver safety aids are plentiful as well.

Qashqai does not need to prove itself to anyone. It is an astonishing success story as well as providing thousands of jobs at the Sunderland plant where it is going to be built for a long time to come after the promise of further investment.

It has always managed to stay ahead of the game and is really on the front foot with the e-Power model.

Fast facts

Qashqai e-Power Tekna

£38,140

1.5 litre turbo petrol; 188bhp

1.97kWh battery and electric motor

0-62mph 7.9secs; 105mph

53.3mpg combined

120g/km. First tax £210

Boot: 455-1379 litres

Insurance group 26

Llangollen Railway in running for two major awards

* The heritage-style canopy of the new station at Corwen.

Llangollen and Corwen Railway is steaming towards two top awards. 

The attraction is a finalist in the 2024 Heritage Railway Association Awards and has also been nominated for the Steam Railway Magazine Award. 

In a New Year’s Eve post on its Facebook page the railway said: “We are ending the year with some more great news. 

“ We are delighted to announce that Llangollen and Corwen Railway are finalists in the 2024 Heritage Railway Association Awards. 

“We have been shortlisted for the Infrastructure Award for our magnificent station at Corwen. The Heritage Railway Association Awards will be held in February. 

“We have also been nominated for the Steam Railway Magazine Award which is voted for by the public, so we would be very grateful for everyone's support in voting for Corwen via the link below. There are some excellent finalists and the top spot will be hotly contested. 

“Our brand new island platform, heritage-style station, has been hand built by volunteers with an average of 60+, which is a phenomenal achievement by all concerned.” 

In the Steam Railway Awards Llangollen faces competition from nine other railways across the UK. Voting closes on January 18.  

* To vote, go to: https://www.steamrailway.co.uk/read/hra-awards?fbclid=IwAR2u8mPF56QqGyrHJxFx5zVcK75faBVzfHPuKok7aVks3E5vuFNpWjsUeoc