Firefighters from Llangollen took part in an incident in which 40 people were rescued from a blaze at a property in Chirk last night (February 5).
* For the full story in the Denbighshire Free Press, see: https://www.denbighshirefreepress.co.uk/news/24915437.40-people-rescued-firefighters-evacuate-chirk-building/
Here is the latest column from Denbighshire Citizens Advice:
Q: We’re planning a summer getaway to Greece and I’m worried we’ll forget something important, which could ruin the holiday. What steps can we take to make sure we’re fully protected and prepared if anything goes wrong?
Booking a holiday can be overwhelming, especially if it’s been a while since you last went away. It’s unlikely anything will go wrong, but we’ve prepared a simple checklist to make sure you can relax into your holiday knowing you’re protected from the unexpected.
Check your passport is in date - especially for EU travel
Renewing your passport can take several weeks and isn’t something to leave until the last minute. Check the validity of your passport for your trip on GOV.UK by finding out the entry requirements of the country you’re travelling to.
If you’re heading to Europe, bear in mind EU countries don’t accept passports more than ten years old. This includes passports issued pre-Brexit, which may have longer expiry dates. Just remember, the golden rule for EU travel is: if your passport was issued over ten years ago, you’ll need to get it renewed.
Know your rights if something goes wrong
If your flight’s delayed long enough - usually two to four hours, depending on the journey - your airline must provide access to food and drink vouchers, phone calls and emails, and accommodation if you’re delayed overnight. If it’s cancelled, you’re legally entitled to a full refund or replacement flight to help you get to your destination. You’re also entitled to compensation if your airline delays, loses or damages your checked-in luggage.
Get travel insurance
Although it’s an extra expense, travel insurance can cover many of the things already mentioned, like flight delays and lost luggage, but also things like a holiday cancellation and medical emergencies.
Citizens Advice recommends getting insurance as soon as you book a holiday to make sure you're covered right away - but always check first to see if an existing insurance policy, or your bank account, covers what you need for your holiday. There’s no need to double up if you’re already covered!
The chances are your holiday will be problem-free, but early planning and preparation can make all the difference. If you need advice on a consumer problem, head to the Citizens Advice website.
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A cancer survivor from Llangollen has started a self-support group to provide help and advice to people using a stoma.
Moira Gleed’s own journey towards being fitted with the medical device, which connects the bowel to the outside of the body with a small disposable bag, began last June when she was diagnosed with Stage III bowel cancer.
After major surgery at the Wrexham Maelor hospital she was fitted with a permanent stoma. This means that when the bowel moves, waste exits through the stoma bag which is stuck to the skin and has to be emptied at regular intervals.
Moira said: “I’d been ignoring the symptoms of the cancer for some time and the doctors told me it could have been coming on for seven to 10 years.
“I had the surgery last July and, so far, it looks to have been successful. Becoming a stoma user myself has made me determined to share my experience with others who find themselves in the same situation.”
She added: “The new group I have formed, which is called Back to Front for obvious reasons, aims to support each other with kindness along the journey each person with a stoma takes and will provide a safe and confidential ‘what gets said in this room stays in this room’ environment while offering an opportunity for fellow ostomates, which is what stoma users are known as, and their companions or carers to have a cuppa and talk about what’s on their minds and look at latest products from suppliers.
“The friendly and informal monthly meet-ups will have guest speakers on a variety of subjects on alternative months.
“The group will be open to all ostomates wishing to offer their support and experience to the group and to people who have recently had or are awaiting surgery and to their loved ones and carers.”
Moira said that group meetings will take place on the first Monday of every month. While there will be no charge for membership donations towards the hire of the hall, speakers and refreshments are welcomed.
The meeting place chosen is St Collen’s Community Hall, off Regent Street (A5) LL20 8HU. Meetings will run between 2 and 4pm and the first one takes place on Monday March 3.
The meeting room is at ground level with ramps and has easy access to the toilets. Parking, which is next to the hall, will be free for the duration of the meeting.
“We hope to see as many people as possible at our meetings, which are not just for Llangollen people but also those from surrounding areas, said Moira.
* For more information contact Moira Gleed, in confidence, on 07484 772772.
An extra £25m to renew Wales’ major roads and prevent around 30,000 defects and potholes has been announced by the Welsh Government.
The funding boost will see an extra 100km of the strategic road network resurfaced in the new financial year.
Roads that are most in need of repairs will be renewed, with thousands of potholes fixed.
Since 2021 the Welsh Government has spent more than £81m on resurfacing around 321km of roads on the trunk network across Wales.
Combined with the forecasted spend for 2025-26 this means that by the end of this Senedd term £118m will have been spent to repair more than 500km of road defects and potholes.
Ken Skates, Senedd Member for Llangollen and Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, said: "It is crucial that we fix our roads.
"I’m delighted to be announcing a further £25m of funding to help support a comprehensive refurbishment programme to improve the future resilience of our strategic roads network and prevent potholes.
“We are already working hard to fill potholes and renew, as fast as possible, key sections of our road network, but this additional funding will help to accelerate this work.”
Mr Skates has also pledged to announce details of new financial support for councils to fix more local roads. Details of the scale of support are due to be revealed in the coming weeks and will help fix potholes across Wales.
He added: “On rail we’re delivering £800m of new trains and on buses we’re going to legislate to take control of routes and timetables.
"On roads and pavements, we are demonstrating real commitment to fixing potholes as we seek to renew and enhance connections between communities.”
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* Centuries-old Llantysilio Parish Church was the "best thing" a New Zealand travel writer saw.
Two well-known Llangollen landmarks get a strong mention in a travel story which has just appeared in a New Zealand national newspaper.
Historic Llantysilio Parish Church and Llangollen Oggie Shop & Fine Foods in Castle Street are now hitting the headlines on the other side of the world.
The piece in the Sunday Star-Times is written by Alistair Deverick, an Auckland-based recording artist, producer and session drummer who was in the UK on a three-week holiday based around a family wedding in Edinburgh.
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He and his wife also took the opportunity to visit Wales where he has more
family connections.
In his
travel article he answers a question on the best thing he saw while in the UK
and says: “Very powerful for me was visiting the Llantysilio Parish Church,
built circa 1254, where my grandmother Eirlys Gwyneth Morris-Jones is buried, along
with her parents Dorothy and Hugh (the town doctor for 40 years) and my mum’s
namesake Ailsa, her aunt, who died when she was six from tuberculosis.”
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And responding to a question on the best thing he ate, he writes: “Shout out to Llangollen Oggie Shop & Fine Foods in Llangollen! We ate some of its oggies, which are a type of pasty and my god!”
And the
best souvenirs he bought while in the UK: “A big ugly Welsh dragon coffee cup
that I drink from daily.”
Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, is backing a call to raise awareness of scams when booking holidays online.
He is supporting a call from North Wales Police who are warning people to be aware of fraudsters when using Booking.com.
Mr Rowlands said: “These days more than ever we all have to be on the lookout for scammers and be especially aware of suspicious emails and messages you may receive about your holiday.
“It is a great shame that there are unscrupulous people out there who think nothing of targeting people who have booked their well-earned holidays and I would urge everyone to be extra vigilant.
“I am happy to add my voice to warn my constituents about this scam.”
The warning comes from Dewi Owen, North Wales Police, Cyber Crime Officer, North Wales, who says that Action Fraud is warning those using Booking.com to book their holidays or accommodation that they could be targeted with suspicious emails or messages from hotels who have had their account taken over by fraudsters.
Between June 2023 and September 2024, Action Fraud received 532 reports from individuals, with a total of £370,000 lost.
The advice is that no legitimate Booking.com transaction will ever require a customer to provide their credit card details by phone, email, or text message, including WhatsApp.
If you receive any urgent payment requests that require immediate attention, like a booking cancellation, immediately reach out to the Booking.com Customer Service team via the details on the official Booking.com website and/or app to confirm that the message is legitimate.
Any messages purporting to be from Booking.com that contain instructions to follow links and/or open/download files should be treated with caution. Again contact Booking.com directly using verified contact details to verify that the link or file is legitimate.
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Volvo EX40 Ultra drive by Steve Rogers
Range anxiety. Is it a lot of fuss over nothing, or is it full on stress in an electric car?
Let’s put it to the test. I’ve got a 240-mile round trip in the EX40 with a potential range of 342 miles. Sounds good, although a full charge using my 7kW wall charger only produces 250 miles, but I’m okay with that.
It’s 6am and cold so the heating fan is needed to keep the windows demisted. Oops! Thirty miles has been wiped off the range and I haven’t left the drive. It is a common drawback with electric cars, power for the heating comes straight from the battery pack and reduces the range.
Turn the fan off and the miles are restored. A tip to keep warm without using the heating is to turn on the heated seat and heated steering wheel which, standard on most electric cars, because they are powered from the car’s battery. A bit extreme and only necessary if desperately trying to conserve energy, a bit like driving slowly when running low on fuel.
The journey is going pretty well, the Volvo is comfortable and relaxing to drive and I have engaged adaptive cruise control with lane hold to take the stress out of a busy motorway.
At the end of stage one I have 52 per cent left so in theory I could make it home without charging but that would be barmy so I park to recharge.
Two charging points, only one working but one is enough, but I need to download an app to my phone to pay for the charge. That takes several attempts and is annoying but eventually I go about my business and return half an hour later to an 80 per cent charge and plenty of miles to get home.
This was the first time I charged an electric car away from home and was a step into the unknown. Was it stressful? Maybe a bit but like everything, the more you do it the easier it gets. The Volvo helps by locating and directing to a charging station through the navigation and will calculate how much power will be left at the end of the journey.
What of the EX? Superb pretty much sums it up. Supremely comfortable and beautifully finished which is to be expected given its price tag. The keen eyed will spot that it is a rebadged XC40 Recharge now with a closed off grille and a whole lot of electrical gubbins under the skin.
A decade ago the Swedes stunned the motoring industry with a new minimalist style and vertical touchscreen. The communication system was groundbreaking with the functions of a home computer and Smartphone but could take a week trying to work out the menus and sub files. Nothing has changed, still information overload, and still as challenging.
Relief comes in the form of the excellent voice control which will carry out all the usual needs like adjusting the heating temperature, fan speed, heated seats and steering wheel, along with radio selections and navigation destinations. Without this I would be put off from buying the car.
This is the front wheel drive single motor version, there is also an all wheel drive twin motor with crazy acceleration, but trust me this is plenty quick enough. The performance of a hot hatch but without hot hatch handling. Comfort is the key here.
The Volvo sits in the premium division and is surrounded by worthy predators but can stand its ground on performance and range, and although pricey is decent value for money given the quality and excellent level of kit. Safety is a Volvo mantra and there are plenty of driver aids to keep you on the straight and narrow.
There is room for five, just, and although the boot is not the biggest in the class is perfectly acceptable with a flat loading area, and the storage cubby under the bonnet for the bulky cables is a real bonus.
The test car even came with a towbar because the EX can haul up to 1500kg, good enough for a lightweight four berth caravan although heaven knows what that would do to the range!
Buying an electric car is daunting, especially given the high prices, and some of the money saving benefits, like zero road tax, will disappear in April making it harder for the private buyer. It is a different way of life and long journeys need a bit of planning, but ultimately there is nothing to fear.
Fast facts
EX40 Ultra extended range
£58,355 (starts £45,955)
Maximum range 342 miles
0-62mph 7.4secs; 100mph
252bhp
Battery output: 69kWh
Boot: 452 litres
Insurance group 34
