Youngsters' art on show in Llan

Visitors to Y Capel in Llangollen and the studios at Ruthin Craft Centre are in for a treat over the next few weeks, as they will have the opportunity to view the results of a series of art masterclasses undertaken by primary school children in Denbighshire.

The 25 children are Denbighshire's first Criw Celf group and come together once a month to develop their artistic skills with specially selected professional artists.

Sian Fitzgerald, Arts Development Officer for Denbighshire said: 'Criw Celf originated in Gwynedd in 2007 and has been a partnership between Conwy County Borough Council and Gwynedd County Council for the past two years. In 2012 Criw Celf was developed across all the North Wales counties, making it the first pan-North Wales visual art project targeted at more able and talented year 5 and 6 pupils.

'A series of 6 masterclasses with professional and experienced artists have been undertaken in Denbighshire venues this year, giving an opportunity for those children who have shown talent and/or a special interest in art to develop their skills and experiences.' The Criw Celf members come from primary schools all across Denbighshire, from Llangollen and Corwen in the north of the county, to Rhyl and Dyserth in the south (and everywhere in between).

The first masterclass took place in January at Bodelwyddan Castle where the group worked with Cefyn Burgess to develop their drawing skills. In February, the young artists visited Ruthin Craft Centre and an exhibition of mythical beasts and creatures made from clay by Catrin Howell. Visiting the exhibition accompanied by the artist offered a privileged opportunity to ask questions about her inspiration and work before creating their own mythical creatures from clay. The group developed natural forms using recycled materials with Ticky Lowe at Rhyl Library in April.

They returned to Ruthin Craft Centre in May to explore the Japanese textile exhibitions with artist Mai Thomas. Mai set the group a challenging brief: to invent 10 new textile pieces to be bound in a book! Back at Bodelwyddan Castle in June, artist Jan Gardner worked with the group to develop their colour skills and knowledge. The last of the six masterclass will took place at Loggerheads Country Park in July where pupils finalised their work with Jan. A visit to Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno completed the artistic experience.

Jo McGregor, Criw Celf Co-ordinator for Denbighshire said: 'The members of Criw Celf have all worked hard to develop their skills with this diverse range of inspirational artists and have created some wonderful work, of which they should be very proud.

'Working with them over the last six months has been fantastic and I've seen a strong development in their work. I'm really pleased that nearly all of them are going to continue with Criw Celf next year, when they will get to work with some more exceptional artists and to further develop their skills'.

The programme was funded by the Arts Council of Wales and Denbighshire County Council with support from Ruthin Craft Centre.

Llan Brewery's "perfect" new beer

The Daily Post is repoorting that a brewery is confident it has finally concocted the perfect pint.
The report says:

"Award-winning Llangollen Brewery has created a new beer, called Holy Grail Ale.

The beverage has been inspired by a local legend involving the great Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis and Dinas Bran Castle, on the hilltop towering over the town.

According to the story, the castle is the final resting place for the Holy Grail, the cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper, and there is a tunnel all the way down to the abbey below.

Holy Grail Ale will be launched at Hamper Llangollen 2012, the annual food and drink festival in October.

The idea for the drink came to head brewer Ynyr Jeffreys-Evans came after reading a book called The Keys to Avalon, by author and historian Steve Blake.

Ynyr is in partnership with his cousin, Steven Evans, who has been the landlord of the Abbey Grange Hotel for more than 25 years.

He said: “We started the brewery, based next door to the hotel, about five years ago.

“It's got to the point where we need to increase the capacity again, so this October we’ll be going four times bigger to cope with demand.”

Government unit to bust business crime

This item from the Welsh Government may be of interest to the many businesses in Llan:

Business Minister Edwina Hart has announced she is setting up a Wales Business Crime Unit to help protect businesses from crime – a commitment set out in the Programme for Government.

Friday 20 July 2012

The Welsh Government Unit will provide overall leadership to raise awareness of business crime and its economic impact, and equip Welsh businesses with the knowledge and tools to be aware, vigilant and ultimately protect themselves from crime.
Mrs Hart told Assembly Members this would be achieved through online tools and guides with advice and good practice disseminated through business support activities and seminars. She said:

"Significant proportions of business crimes are e-Crime and as businesses continue to embrace the benefits of ICT and we move to a more digital economy the potential impact of e-Crime on business is increasing.
"The Unit will deliver a programme of actions to both protect and educate businesses across all sectors in business crime prevention and cyber-security, and provide an opportunity for businesses in the ICT Sector to add to their portfolio of service."

Mrs Hart said the Unit would work to ensure that Police forces in Wales are aware of significant business crime issues, both on an all Wales basis and at a local level, and able to take further steps to help protect business.
A Business Crime stakeholder/industry panel of experts with representatives from business (potential victims and responders), Police and Government will be established to act as a multi-agency engagement, advice and support group steering the development and implementation of the Business Crime Unit.
Mrs Hart said the provision of additional funding to cover the cost of a small number of warranted officers specifically targeted at business crime was explored but was not feasible as police management practices do not allow for specific targeting of resources in such a way.

What's on for families tomorrow

News from Denbighshire County Council ...

Families can come and enjoy some great forest fun activities including pond dipping and bushcraft skills with chainsaw carving and birds of prey on display at Moel Famau forest on Saturday 21st from 10am to 4pm.

It will be a great opportunity for people of all ages to come and learn more about our forests and the wide ranging benefits they bring.

Visitors will also be able to use the free Moel Famau shuttle bus to Loggerheads Country park to experience the medieval magic event and join re-enactors from the Age of the Princes group from 11am to 4pm.

Report on the future of Llan Community Hospital

Here is the report that suggests fate of Llangollen Community Hospital building.

You can see it at the link below:  

http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/861/opendoc/194480                 

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

Board Paper 19th July 2012

Item 12/69

Subject: Healthcare in North Wales is Changing:

Report on service change proposals

Pages 41 & 42 of report:

Central & South Denbighshire – changes to services currently provided

from Llangollen Community Hospital.

The ability of the NHS, local government and other agencies to improve services

in Llangollen has been restricted in recent years by the physical limitations of

existing health and social care buildings / estate and the lack of suitable,

accessible sites for an integrated development. It is also recognised that the

current hospital premises would require significant investment to ensure the

building was best able to support the provision of hospital services well into the

future.

There have been many reviews of services and the estate in Llangollen. The

most recent in-depth analysis of current services provision and future demand

was undertaken jointly by Health and Social Care in 2004/05. This work indicated

that a joint development such as an extended primary care resource centre in

Llangollen, with an enhanced range of primary, community, social care and

voluntary sector services would effectively meet the future needs of the

population of Llangollen. However this work was not progressed as there was no

site available for such a development.

More recently a number of meetings have been held with a range of

representatives from health, social care and voluntary sector services that

currently provide care in Llangollen. Following wide discussion, consensus was

reached that an extended primary care resource centre should be developed for

Llangollen. A wide range of services could be provided from the Centre such as

minor injuries, therapies and mental health. The centre would also allow the colocation of primary health and social care teams and voluntary services. This

would facilitate integrated one stop access to the full range of primary health and

social care services and a range of community based services.

The River Lodge site has been identified as the preferred site for this development and subject to the outcome of consultation on the proposals for Llangollen, a business case will now be prepared for submission to Welsh Government.

The needs of many of the patients who are currently admitted to Llangollen

Hospital will be met through the roll out of the new Enhanced Care at Home

model of care (as described above). Some patients will still require access to

community bed-based care and it is proposed that this is provided through a

combination of commissioning beds from local care homes and the use of Chirk

Community Hospital.

As a result of these changes the Llangollen Community Hospital building will no

longer be required to support service provision.

Llangollen Youth Band's first major outing

* The Youth Band at Ironbridge Gorge

Proudly wearing their new uniform of bright blue hoodies, the Llangollen Youth Band gave a slickand polished performance at the Ironbridge Gorge Brass Band Festival on Sunday 15th July.

 This-much loved festival, now in its eighth year, is held in the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron and has so far raised over £20,000 for Severn Hospice.

The weather was warm and sunny  - goodness knows how that happened considering how much rain there’s been this summer - and the young people took advantage of the day to listen to other youth and adult bands – including the Llangollen SilverBand of course  - and even managed to find time to fit in a visit to the “Enginuity” exhibition on the same site, where they enjoyed trying out various “hands on” scientific displays, as well as consuming gallons of ice cream!

Arrests made in connection with Llan burglaries

* Keep car doors locked, say police

llanblogger exclusive

Arrests have been made following a spate of burglaries from unsecure homes  in Llan.

As revealed by llanblogger, North Wales Police last week warned residents to be on their guard against the raiders, who stole items including golf clubs and garden tools.

On two occasions car keys had been taken followed by the car itself.

Inspector Julie Sheard said many of the burglaries could have been prevented if homes had been made secure.

The issue was discussed as a matter of concern by members of Llan Town Council at their monthly meeting on Tuesday evening.

And Sergeant Paul Hughes, a member of the neighbourhood policing team who was there to give an update on local policing matters, revealed arrests had been made in connection with the burglaries.

He said: “There were a number of burglaries last week.

“Thieves were picking up car keys from inside insecure houses, which happened on two occasions.

“This has generally been a problem in more isolated areas.

“We have been looking into this and I can say arrests have been made for these and related incidents.

“The investigation is ongoing and we would like to get the message out there that residents should be on their guard.”

Inspector Sheard said last week: “Always ensure windows and doors are locked when leaving home or going to bed.

“Do not leave car or house keys on display or near letterboxes.

“Vehicle owners should not leave any items on display and should always lock their behicle when unattended.”