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Saturday, January 25, 2025

Energy company serves up fish and chips on town car park

                                                                               

* The fish and chip van sets up on the Market Street car park earlier this afternoon.

A mobile fish and chip shop is spending this afternoon (Saturday) serving portions of food to people on Llangollen’s Market Street car park.

The service has been laid on by local power provider SP Energy Networks (Scottish Power) which says on its website that for those without power as a result of Storm Éowyn hot meals are being provided via food trucks at a number of locations.

Most of these are in Scotland, which was worst hit by the storm, but also on the list was Llangollen where, between 1 and 4pm, the food van was to be parked up outside the town’s Food Share office.

On its own Facebook page Food Share posted: “Free fish and chips for people without power in Market Street car park outside Food Share.

“500 portions when they’re gone, they’re gone ... please spread far and wide so that people find out about this. This is provided by Scottish Power.

Just after 1pm a queue was forming outside the truck as people began to collect their meals.


* Llangollen Food Share's Facebook post.

Trevor Hall features in sumptuous country house weekend



* The facade of historic Trevor Hall.

An historic Llangollen mansion features in a sumptuous £1,500-a-head long weekend aimed at book-lovers who also like to travel.

An organisation called Strong Sense of Place has a podcast, a website and a section dedicated to “travel and the books we love”.  

It has just sent details to potential travellers of a “Top Secret Very Exciting Project,” it says it has been working on behind the scenes and is billed as a “modern take on the traditional manor house weekend”.

Describing 18th century Trevor Hall on the outskirts of Llangollen, the blurb says: “Together, we'll make ourselves at home in this historic Georgian mansion surrounded by the picturesque North Wales countryside.

“We'll talk about books, share gourmet meals in the Great Hall, play parlor (sic) games, ramble in the Welsh hills, listen to stories by candlelight, and be dazzled by an illusionist from London.”

Clearly aimed at visitors from the United States, the weekend begins in Manchester on a Thursday where the group will take over a boutique hotel in the city center (sic), enjoy an evening pub meet-up and spend the night.


* The drawing room at Trevor Hall.

Next day the group visits the Elizabeth Gaskell House in Manchester for a private tour of the Victorian villa where the author wrote her classic novel North and South and entertained literary friends like Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens.

Later they move over the Welsh border to Llangollen – “a charming historic town on the River Dee in North Wales” and their destination of Trevor Hall.

There, the itinerary includes games and conversation in the drawing room, formal dinners in the Great Hall, cocktail party and full afternoon tea plus, on the Saturday night, a séance show with an illusionist from London..

The weekend also includes a guided walk along the Llangollen Canal.

Menus at Trevor Hall, according to Strong Sense of Place, have been designed in collaboration with Welsh caterers Chris and Amy Yapp.

“Their carefully crafted meals feature Welsh specialties — Glamorgan Sausage Rolls, Welsh Lamb Lolly Pops, Laverbread, Welsh Cakes, Bara Brith — and local ingredients, including salted butter, honey, and produce from local farms,” says the description.

Cost of the four-day weekend, for which there are two choices of dates next October, is $1,850 US dollars per person, double occupancy, or around £1,518.

* For more information on the weekend, go to: Spend a Bookish Weekend with Us in a Country Manor House

St David's Day concert at the Stiwt

 


Friday, January 24, 2025

Local health board has worst A&E waiting times in Wales

The Health Secretary for Wales has outlined ways in which Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, which covers Llangollen, is looking to reduce waiting times after new figures showed it had the worst A+E waiting times in the country. 

* For the full story, see: Betsi Cadwaladr have worst waiting time figures in Wales | Denbighshire Free Press

Latest county council roadworks roundup


Latest roadworks roundup from Denbighshire County Council is:  

PARKING BAY EAST STREET

28/01/2025

30/01/2025

Gwaith Dwr / Water Works HAFREN DYFRDWY

Atal Parcio yn unig / Parking Suspension Only

 

Verge

PANORAMA WALK

03/02/2025

07/02/2025

Cynnal y Lon Gerbydau/ Carrigeway Maintenance DCC HIGHWAYS

 

A539

GLAN YR AFON

HORSESHOE PASS VIEW

10/02/2025

10/02/2025

Gwaith Dwr / Water Works HAFREN DYFRDWY (DCC)

Ffordd ar Gau/Road Closure

 

NR CATTLE GRID A539 LLANGOLLEN ROAD LLANGOLLEN LL20 7UH

A539 LLANGOLLEN ROAD

20/02/2025

20/02/2025

2 Way signals is required for safe pole testing works. SUNBELT RENTALS (DCC)

 

40M DOWN FROM ALFRYN

GEUFRON

27/01/2025

29/01/2025

Gwaith Dwr / Water Works HAFREN DYFRDWY

Ffordd ar Gau/Road Closure

 

Hall St jct with A5 Berwyn St, Llangollen

HALL STREET

27/01/2025

28/03/2025

Gwaith Ar Wal Gynnal/ Retaining Wall Works OBR CONSTRUCTION,

 

OPP 10 Regent Street JNC QUEEN STREET AND CHURCH STREET

BROOK STREET

14/01/2025

26/01/2025

Gwaith BT/ BT Works SUNBELT RENTALS (DCC)

LLANGOLLEN

Ffordd ar Gau/Road Closure

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Latest weather update from the county council


Llangollen councillor Karen Edwards has forwarded to a llanblogger the latest update on the weather from Denbighshire County Council.

It says: "Following on from the last update, there is no change to the amber warning in respect of Storm Éowyn for wind, which is still effective from 06:00hrs through until 21:00hrs on Friday 24 January.

"However, a further two yellow weather warnings have now since been issued for strong winds and heavy rainfall over the weekend period. 


"The warning for wind is valid from 08:00 through until 15:00hrs on Sunday 26 January, with winds expected to be 50 to 60 mph quite widely, and possibly increasing to 70 mph around some exposed coasts and on higher ground. 


"The second weather warning relating to heavy and prolonged periods of rain is effective from 08:00hrs on Sunday 26 January through until 06:00hrs on Mon 27 January, with rainfall totals of between 10-20mm expected quite widely and possibly as much as 30-50 mm over higher ground, which could lead to surface water flooding issues before conditions are expected to improve on Monday morning.

 

"Preparations are in hand in advance of the arrival of Storm Éowyn with additional teams being placed on standby, external contractor support has also been arranged to assist with any tree related and surface water flooding issues, where necessary."


A statement from SP Energy Networks says:


Bad weather is expected from 24th January and could affect some of our operational areas.  

Whilst power cuts are rare, we have extra teams working both now and over the weekend to support any faults that may come in. 

To help us keep your communities safe, we’ve prioritised workloads which include postponing planned works and redirecting the teams to be on standby, to preparing contractors who support us with digging and tree felling. 

We will have our local Emergency Action Control Rooms open and ready to respond to events as they unfold. 

How you can help your community – remind them to be prepared for a power cut: 

* Have the national 105 emergency helpline on hand – it’s best to keep this on the fridge or saved in the contacts on your mobile phone. Report any power cuts immediately and we will keep you updated by text or voice alert messaging whilst our engineers are working to restore your power.

* Store a battery or wind-up torch – leave this somewhere you can access easily so you can use the torch to check on the fuse box and make your way around the house safely.

* Beware of fallen power lines – power lines may have fallen so beware of this when venturing out of your home. Always treat them as live and report them right away by calling 105.

* Keep your mobile charged – having your mobile phone charged means you can call for support if needed. It’s also worth having an analogue phone as this doesn’t run off the main electricity supply.

* Keep the heat in – if your power does go out, your heating might not work so keep extra blankets nearby and close window shutters, blinds, or curtains to help keep the heat in.

We also have a Priority Services Register for customers who may need extra support in a power cut. Find out more here

Click here for the latest information and updates about known power cuts in your area or visit our X/Twitter channel @spenergynetwork. 

Remember: If there are cables on or near the ground, please keep clear of them. These may still be live and able to conduct electricity through damp ground or metallic objects. If they are in roads or on footpaths, firstly dial 999, please stay on site if you can, tell the police and help keep passers-by well away, then also call us to advise and we will dispatch a team. 

Give a helping hand to Denbighshire birds


Can you spare an hour this weekend to help find out how Denbighshire and UK birds are doing?

From this Friday (January 24) until Sunday (January 26), the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch will once again take place.


The annual campaign that has been running for over 40 years encourages people of all ages to put aside an hour in their own garden or local park to count how many of each bird species lands nearby.


Across UK skies over the last 60 years, around 38 million birds have been lost from our skies, with popular species such as house sparrows and starlings struggling.


Denbighshire residents who are keen to lend a helping hand to local bird populations and do not have a back garden, can visit one of the many parks and nature reserves that are available across the county near their homes.



Denbighshire County Council Senior Biodiversity Officer Liam Blazey said: “Around the county you may see birds including the Long-tailed tit (who move around together in small flocks), goldfinches, starlings (who can form very large flocks over winter, and sometimes perform aerial displays called murmurations), redwings (a relative of the blackbird, who breed in the north of Europe, and visit us over winter).


“If you are having a go to support this great campaign in your back garden you might also see blue tit, great tit, and robins who are common visitors to household gardens.”


Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Biodiversity Champion, said: “It is so vital to keep track of the state of our local bird populations to help us help the birds that have decreased in numbers. Giving time to this survey can really help protect the future of all county and UK bird populations.”


* To submit your findings to the survey, log on to https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch