Major wild water racing event comes to Dee this weekend

* Photo: Pete Atkinson

According to an article by Nicky Cresser in the online magazine Paddle UK, this coming weekend sees the final National races of the 2024 British ranking series on the River Dee in Wales.

Nicky writes: "Saturday's Sprint race in Llangollen, Wales on the Serpent's tail is also doubling up as the European Canoe Association (ECA) Sprint Cup Final.

This is the second ECA cup event to the hosted by GBR in 2024 with more international wild water racing coming to the UK.

The racing is set to be tight in both series' and as we reach the culmination of British WWR's most successful season ever, we have the chance of further success in many categories.

In men's K1, the British ranking series has been hotly contested with four different winners to date.

Nicky Cresser, Nick Boreham and Leon Tomlinson are in the running for the championship having taken a win each with two races to go.

Alex Sheppy is the firm favourite in this category having won three races already and a strong position to win on the Dee Sprint.

The ECA cup standings are also pretty tight with British Athletes Alex Sheppy and Freddie Brown still in the running for the overall series win and will be joined on the start line by some big international names.

Ivo Lamers (NED) is currently ranked third, just five points behind Alex, Jan Sindelar (CZE) has medalled at Worlds and Europeans multiple times in the last couple of years and Etienne Wich is racing straight off the back of a bronze medal at senior French championships.

The women's K1 has been dominated this season by Kerry Christie who has won all but one of the National races that was snatched by former world champion, Hannah Brown.

Off the back of the success of coaching her athletes at the Paralympic Games, Hannah will be looking to push Kerry to the line and two wins will see her taking the series.

Again, the ECA cup ranking will have British interest too, with Kerry Christie and Molly Sandercock currently in top positions, and being joined on the start line by Dutch, Czech and German athletes, it's likely to go down to the wire.

The canoe categories have seen significant growth in the UK, both in participation and international success.

The Christie sisters have the Women's C2 sewn up having been undefeated this year, but juniors Elsie Landsborough and Ciara Maloney will be keen to get their first win.

The women's C1 is lead by Molly Sandercock, but Emily Mclean and Chloe Bracewell are leading the chase and are still capable of taking the win.

Andrew Crowhurst is pushing C1 and C2 (alongside his partner Phil Dean) forward, currently sitting on maximum points in both categories with only Nicky Cresser in C1 and Robert Jefferies and Jacob Holmes in C2 able to challenge for the top spot.

In the ECA Cup standings Molly, Chloe and Kerry are all in the battle for the win in women's C1, but this will be close with Czech and Slovak team members Alexandra Plachtova and Viktoria Scholzova putting their names in the mix on the Dee.

Kerry and Emma will be hoping to hold onto the top spot in the Women's C2 with Ciara and Elsie looking to move up the table. In the Men's categories, the British contingent will be looking to put in good performances to boost their rankings."

* For more information: www.wildwater.org.uk

Photographer speaks to Berwyn & District u3a

The fact that members of Berwyn and District u3a (University of Third Age) kept photographer Tony Mallon talking well after his allotted time was proof of how engaging he was. 

Tony spoke about his two-year project, headed by Historic England, to engage the people of Prescot, Merseyside, with the history of the town, and to record modern day history in the making through photography. 

He told members meeting at Canolfan Ni, Corwen, he is a socially engaged photographer, and in this case, success was measured by the number of people who joined in the memory fairs, and later, the excellent photographs taken by local people under Tony’s guidance. 

Berwyn and District u3a meets on the third Monday of the month at Canolfan NI. See website for further details: https://u3asites.org.uk/berwyn/home

Met Office issues further weather warning

The Met Office has issued a Yellow Weather Warning for snow and ice. Details are:

Between 12:00 (UTC) on Thu 21 Nov 2024 and 10:00 (UTC) on Fri 22 Nov 2024 Headline Wintry showers and icy patches are expected this evening and overnight, perhaps leading to some travel disruption

What to expect

• Some roads and railways likely to be affected with longer journey times by road, bus and train services
• Probably some icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths
• Some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces

Further Details

Wintry showers are expected to gradually move south this afternoon, then feeding inland from Irish Sea and North Sea coasts at times this evening and overnight, especially through the Cheshire Gap to affect parts of the Midlands and north Wales. Where these occur 2-5cm of fresh snow is possible, with this most likely on ground above 100m.

Icy stretches are expected to form on untreated surfaces during Thursday evening and overnight into Friday morning as temperatures drop below freezing, especially following any showers.

 

What should I do

Snowy, wintry weather can cause delays and make driving conditions dangerous. Keep yourself and others safe by planning your route, giving yourself extra time for your journey. Check for road closures or delays to public transport and amend plans if necessary.

Keep yourself and your family safe when it is icy. Plan to leave the house at least five minutes earlier than normal. Not needing to rush, reduces your risk of accidents, slips, and falls.

If driving, make sure you have some essentials in your car in the event of any delays (e.g., warm clothing, food, water, a blanket, a torch, ice scraper/de-icer, a warning triangle, high visibility vest and an in-car phone charger).

If you need to make a journey on foot, try to use pavements along main roads which are likely to be less slippery. Similarly, if cycling, try and stick to main roads which are more likely to have been treated.

Be prepared for weather warnings to change quickly: when a weather warning is issued, the Met Office recommends staying up to date with the weather forecast in your area.

UK weather warnings - Met Office

Denbighshire County Council says it has resources on standby throughout the warning period to respond to any weather-related incidents should they arise. 

It adds that further updates will be provided if deemed necessary.

Please report any issues to the council's Customer Service Team between 8:30am – 5pm Monday to Friday, by:

1) email to customerservice@denbighshire.gov.uk

2) telephone 01824 706000

3) visit in person a One Stop Shop.

4) use an online web form, available on Denbighshire’s website:

www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/online-forms/online-forms.aspx

In the event of any emergency situation requiring an immediate response, contact should be made directly via the out of hours contact centre between 5pm – 8:30am including weekends on 0300 123 3068.

 

Annual Christmas quiz papers available soon

For the 18th year Llangollen will be staging a Christmas Quiz on behalf of Cancer Research UK. 

Organiser Judy Smith said: "After all this time it's still only £1 - although you might consider a donation - and it will be the quiz paper will be obtainable from the Tourist Information Centre in Castle Street from November 30."

Judy, who also organises the Llangollen Round Challenge also in aid of Cancer Research UK, said entries were still flooding in for the next event, which is scheduled for the weekend of May 31/June 1 2025.

She added: "We have almost three times the number we had on the same date last time round.  

"Be forewarned - there will be a limit! But we thank you all for your support in both our ventures."

County council gives fresh Adverse Weather Update

Denbighshire County Council has given a new Adverse Weather Update on its social media this morning, which says:

Further snow showers have been experienced during the early hours of this morning.

Our gritting teams have worked hard throughout the night to keep the road network clear. All main routes across the County are currently open and passable with care.

The yellow weather alert for snow and ice is still in place.

Our Highways crews will be deployed throughout the day today.

For more information on our gritting routes visit:

https://bit.ly/3AZXmpr

Llan's celebrity cat Raymond makes it to the BBC

Raymond, Llangollen's celebrity wandering cat, has made it to BBC News Wales.

An online story describes how the famous ginger tom has become a social media star in his home town thanks to his many adventures.

* For the full story, see: Raymond the ginger cat becomes a local celebrity in Llangollen - BBC News

Town council approves possible solution to save toilets

* Market Street toilets: a possible solution was approved by the Town Council last night.

Town councillors have approved a plan to work together with the county council in a bid to save Llangollen's under-threat public toilets. 

Suggestions that the Market Street conveniences could close along with all the others across the county in a bid to dig Denbighshire out of a massive financial black hole have caused deep concern in the town since they were revealed by llanblogger a few months ago.

A public meeting was called to hammer out the issue back in the summer with many people voicing their fears about the damage any loss of the toilets would mean to Llangollen businesses relying heavily on the tourism trade and also to residents themselves.

Although the meeting was inconclusive local MP Becky Gittins and Senedd Member Ken Skates have revealed they have been working behind the scenes to secure an amicable solution to the problem.

The Town Council has also been looking closely at the financial situation to see if anything can be done.

A possible answer was put forward in the agenda for the town council meeting last night (Tuesday), as llanblogger revealed recently.

A budgetary report from town clerk Gareth Thomas, which was considered by councillors, says: “In addition to the Town Council’s reserve requirements through continued working with the County Council to fulfil the Town Council and residents’ desires that the County Council continue to provide toilet facilities in Llangollen a solution has been proposed.”

The report adds: “The county council have indicated that if they can convert the existing toilets on Market Street to cashless operation and variable summer and winter opening times then this will reduce cost which will allow for the continued provision of the service.

“However, to facilitate this capital works are required to the building and the county council is applying to the Brilliant Basics Fund which assists in the provision of small-scale tourism infrastructure improvements across Wales and is open to local authorities and national park authorities.

“Total grant available is £300,000 with a maximum intervention rate of 80%. There is no minimum grant amount.

“The estimated cost of the works to upgrade the toilet facilities to allow for cashless payment is in the region of £40,000.

“During discussions with the county council, it was clear that a joint application would be looked upon more favourably and therefore it is proposed that the town council would contribute to the match funding requirement to a maximum of 10% and provision has made in the asset specific reserve to facilitate such a contribution in 2025-26.”

Town councillors agreed unanimously last night to take £4,000 from their reserves to make the 10% contribution towards the £40,000. 

The Town Clerk said he confident there was sufficient money in the reserves to cover the amount.

Cllr Jon Haddy said a move to a more efficient system could have been made by the county council in the past.

He added that while not many Llangollen people actually used the toilets and that they were used mainly as a support for local tourism, he had no problem with the suggested solution.

Cllr Scott Felton made the point that lots of the visitors who used the toilets were elderly and therefore didn't have the credit or debit cards to use in a cashless system.

He also asked what would happen to the three members of staff who currently work at the toilets.

The Town Clerk said: "We can't answer that and if we don't go down this route there will be no staff.

"Our contribution would be just an investment in the building."

The Mayor, Cllr Aled Morris, stressed: "The toilets would be still owned and run by the county council."