Latest events at Pengwern Community Hub

Half-term events happening at Pengwern Hub in Llangollen are:

... and the Hub's March timetable is:

 

Denbighshire cabinet to discuss £1.1m boost for care home fees

Denbighshire County Council’s Cabinet will discuss the 2024/25 Care Home Fee increase at the next Cabinet Meeting, which will take place on March 19. 

The recommendation will be an increase of 8.8% for 2024/25.

Councillor Elen Heaton, Lead Member for Health and Social Care said: “The provision of care is at the heart of the Council’s priorities, and this is evidenced in our approved budget allocations for 2024/25, which prioritises protection for social care and education, despite the acute nationwide local government funding crisis.

"It’s within this context we’ve approached the issue of care fees with due diligence and prudence, recognising the need to balance challenging financial constraints with our commitment to prioritising care provision.

"We currently spend around £13 million on approximately 364 placements in 82 care homes. This constitutes a huge part of our Adult Social Care & Homelessness budget and totals 6% of the Council’s overall total net revenue budget.

"At our upcoming Cabinet meeting, I will be proposing an 8.8% increase in our care fees, following careful consideration of inflation and the Real Living Wage increase.

"If approved by Cabinet, our expenditure on care home fees will increase by around £1.1 million. Given that the proposed increase is substantially more than the modest 3.8% increase we’ve received in our settlement, this increase will significantly impact our budget at a time where savings targets loom large across various council services.

"However, whilst this decision comes with financial implications, it reflects our priorities as a council, and upholds our commitment to prioritising care provision in our community.

"We value our care providers in Denbighshire and remain committed to fostering an open and fair relationship with them. To this end, we consistently offer the opportunity for an ‘open book exercise’, where providers can openly share their financial information with us. This allows for a transparent discussion about the costs involved in delivering care services and helps ensure that public funds are being used efficiently.

"As Lead Member, I stand firmly behind this proposal, confident that it reflects our commitment to maintaining a sustainable future for the care sector in Denbighshire.”

Cavern's resident Beatles band to play at Town Hall

* Beatles Complete on stage.

* An audience in the Netherlands goes wild for the band.

A Beatles tribute band which has a residency at Liverpool's famous Cavern Club is heading for Llangollen in a couple of months time. 

Beatles Complete, who play at the iconic venue on Thursdays and Saturdays, have just started to venture out into theatres and will take to the stage at the Town Hall on Friday May 10.

They are known as the only tribute band that are similar in age to The Beatles when they first had their big break and the show is receiving wide acclaim throughout the UK. 

They began in 2020 with Max as George and Joe as Paul after Joe spotted an ad to start the band while purchasing a Hofner violin bass at his local music store. A year later, George, who is ex-LIPA, and Tom joined as John and Ringo.

The foursome were aged just 14 to 18 when they took to the stage at 2021’s International Beatle Week to make their debut both at the festival and as a band.  

Beatles Complete have performed at International Beatle Week for the last three years and are playing at the Pier Head in Liverpool in front of an estimated 10,000 people. 

All are big Beatles fans who grew up with parents who were also Beatles fanatics. 

They say that a combination of songwriting, musicianship and performance, live and in the studio, are the reasons for their love of Fab Four.

Some sample comments from their audiences are:

"These young boys are amazzzing. Must be seen"

"Absolutely Amazing fantastic show"

"Very talented musicians and vocalists. Brought back lots of memories from when I saw The Beatles on 7th December 1964 at the Apollo!' 

* Tickets are available from www.beatlescomplete.com Look for Tour Dates to find Llangollen.

Funeral details for well-known former postman

A man from Llangollen who was a well-known postman in the area for over 45 years has passed away. 

Doug Price – affectionately known as “Doug the Post” – used to live in West Street. 

He had two sons and four grandchildren. 

One of his sons, also called Doug, said of him: “He was very keen on shooting with a shotgun and beating. He was also the proud captain of the Ponsonby Arms darts team, who won quite a few trophies in the Llangollen darts league, and on watching Llangollen Football Club.” 

The funeral will be at noon on Thursday March 21 at Wrexham Crematorium. 

Friday's Merseybeats fundraiser for Eisteddfod cancelled due to illness

* The Merseybeats playing at their spiritual home of The Cavern in Liverpool.

A gig by chart-topping Merseyside band The Merseybeats due to be staged at Llangollen Town Hall this Friday evening has been cancelled because of illness.

The band, who performed regularly at The Cavern in Liverpool and appeared there with the Beatles, were due to play in the latest fundraiser for the Llangollen Eisteddfod's own charity which helps to bring in overseas competitors.

But this afternoon (Tuesday) organisers said: "Unfortunately, due to illness, the Merseybeats event has now been cancelled.

"Full refunds will be issued to ticket holders. The Eisteddfod will automatically refund the ticket purchasers."      

County council looks at plan to shed all its public toilets

* Llangollen's public toilets in Mark Street.

Denbighshire County Council is considering a plan to dispose of all its public toilets in a bid to save around £200,000 a year in running costs. 

A report on the issue is due to be discussed by the council’s communities scrutiny committee this Thursday. 

A officers’ report says the council needs to make savings as it faces an “unprecedented” financial challenge and the closure proposal is part of a corporate process to pinpoint savings in the 2024/25 budget. It has already been discussed by councillors in budget workshops. 

The report says: “The provision of public conveniences (PCs) is a non-statutory duty. Many local authorities ceased providing this service many years ago. Some neighbouring authorities still provide this service in certain areas but have reduced it in recent years and/or are currently looking to reduce this provision.” 

Denbighshire currently has 20 PC sites across the county, including Llangollen. Some are free to use, and some have a facility to charge users. The report reveals that none of these sites break even financially. 

Because the council believes that the provision of PCs in local communities is important, it says it will be looking to transfer as many of them as possible to other groups or organisations, such as city, town and community councils, so that they continue to operate but at no cost to DCC. 

The council is currently in the process of transferring PCs in Corwen to the local town council, which it believes could become a model for other areas. Any PCs that it is unable to transfer to another owner could be closed. 

Another way of reducing the impact of the plan, says the report, is to expand the Community Toilet Grant scheme, under which the council pays local businesses £500 a year for allowing the public to use their toilet facilities free of charge. 

It is believed that some businesses would be receptive to this offer because it would increase their footfall and some people would probably feel obliged to buy something at the same time as using the loos, explains the report. 

The annual budget for providing PCs is £270,000 but costs such as decommissioning could reduce the saving to about £200,000. 

The report adds that a redundancy process for people working in the toilets would also need to be pursued.

MS urges people to have their say on Brook Street transport plan

Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, is urging people to have their say on plans for walking, wheeling, and cycling in and around Brook Street in Llangollen.

Mr Rowlands, Shadow Minister for Local Government, said: “I am delighted to see that residents are being given the opportunity to share their views on what they think about the suggested ways of making every day journeys in and around Brook Street safer and easier. 

“Llangollen is an extremely popular tourist destination and as chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Group on Tourism, I think it is really important that any work carried out enhances the town. 

“The active travel consultation is now open and I would urge people who live work or travel in this area to make sure they have their say.”

Denbighshire County Council is working with Sustrans to make walking, wheeling, and cycling for everyday journeys easier and safer in and around Brook Steet.

In March 2023, Denbighshire County Council alongside Sustrans asked the people who live, work, and travel on Brook Street to tell them which parts of Brook Street work well and which don’t.

The community response was that people were worried about vehicles travelling too fast, there were too many cars at school drop-off and pick-up times, roads were difficult to cross, and the footpaths were too narrow. As a result, Sustrans, working together with the local community, have found some ways to fix to these problems.

Sustrans, on behalf of the council, is now seeking feedback from the people that live, work, and travel on the selected streets who could benefit from the proposals, what they think about the plan for Brook Street that has been developed collaboratively.

Residents can find out more about the project and share their thoughts and feedback by going to Brook Street Active Travel Design.

An online survey is available until March 28 or you can attend an in-person workshop at: Workshop 1 at Ysgol Bryn Collen / Ysgol Gymraeg y Gwernant, on March 14 from 2.30-4pm or Workshop 2 at Llangollen Town Hall on March 14 from 6-8pm.

A paper version of the consultation can also be requested by contacting Sustrans Cymru via email: llangollen@sustrans.org.uk or by writing to Sustrans at Sustrans Cymru, One Canal Parade, Dumballs Road, CF10 5BF Cardiff.