Get in touch ...

Know of something happening in
Llangollen?
Tweet
us on
@llanblogger

E-mail your contributions to: llanblogger@gmail.com

We are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/llanbloggercouk/139122552895186



Saturday, February 23, 2013

Get your council tax bill by e-mail

Denbighshire County Council is inviting people to sign up to the future and get their Council Tax bill by e-mail which is sent securely straight to tablet or PC mailboxes.

Having your bill e-mailed to you saves the Council money which it can then spend on vital services. It also saves on paper which helps the environment.

Anyone who is interested in the new scheme should contact revenues@denbighshire.gov.uk.

Please supply your name and address or even better your Council Tax reference number from what will be your last paper bill. If you want to talk to us then call: (01824) 706443, 706456, 706468, 706315, 706338, 706428

Friday, February 22, 2013

Watchdog member resigns over health shake-up decision

A story this afternoon on the ITV Wales news website says that a member of the local patient watchdog in North Wales has resigned, criticising its decision to support controversial changes to health services there.

These include the closure of Llangollen Hospital.

The ITV story says Huw Edwards, who is a Gwynedd councillor, described that decision as "despicable", and said he had "lost all faith" in the local watchdog.

According to the site, his statement reads: "I have lost all faith in the Health Council. Gwynedd’s Committee has opposed these recommendations in two meetings. There are no details at all about provision in the community that the Board refers to and that is totally unfair to the areas that will lose their local hospitals. The decision to move the specialist neonatal unit from Glan Clwyd is equally despicable. For parents in Gwynedd and Ynys Mon the cumbersome and impractical. I believe that the Health Council has behaved contrary to public opinion and also to their own plans."

* More on this story on the BBC North East Wales news website at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21548425

Mold Gold Cape to be shown in Wrexham

History buffs in Llangollen will be delighted to learn that the world-famous Mold Gold Cape will go on loan by the British Museum for public display in Wrexham this summer.
 
In partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales and Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives, this will be the third time the cape will have been displayed in Cardiff and will go on to be shown at Wrexham Museum, not far from where it was found.


* The Mold Gold Cape. 

The Cape will be on display for free at both venues as part of the Spotlight Tours organised through the British Museum’s Partnership UK Scheme.
 
The Mold Cape is a unique ceremonial gold cape and made around 3,700 years ago, during the Early Bronze Age.

A highlight exhibit at the British Museum, the cape will be shown at National Museum Cardiff from 2 July to 4 August and then Wrexham County Borough Museum from 7 August to 14 September 2013.

The cape is one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet and embossed-gold working in Europe.

Skillfully and carefully fashioned from a single sheet of thin gold, it is unique in design.

The cape was discovered in Mold, Flintshire in 1833 when workmen discovered a skeleton in a grave at the centre of a circular burial monument.

The accompanying grave goods, hundreds of amber beads, gold and bronze fragments, were divided up between them and the land tenant. The British Museum, recognizing its importance and significance - and at a time before a National Museum existed in Wales - devoted efforts and care in acquiring the cape and accompanying fragments for its collections.

It was given prominence in the British Museum prehistory displays from early on and in the 1960s and 70s British Museum experts looked at how the fragments were joined.

The original shape of the object only became clear after painstaking work at the Museum, piecing together all the embossed fragments to reveal its original form as a cape. Recent research has suggested that the wearer of the cape, amber bead necklace and the bronze knife may have been a woman.

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum said: “We are delighted that this exceptional object of national and international significance will be displayed in Cardiff and Wrexham this summer and are hugely grateful to our partners, the National Museum Wales and Wrexham County Borough Museum, for their collaboration as well as the Art Fund for their support.

"Through research on rare objects like the Mold Gold Cape, in recent years we have come to see British prehistoric societies very differently. These precious objects show us that societies in Britain must then have been extremely sophisticated, both in skill and in their social structure. They were not isolated but part of a larger European trade network, a web of trade and exchange from North Wales to Scandinavia.”

David Anderson, Director General, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, said: “We’re delighted that this priceless Bronze Age masterpiece from north east Wales will soon be on display here again at the National Museum Cardiff.

"Having one of Britain’s most famous ancient artefacts and one of the most important European Bronze Age finds on display in Wales, where it was originally found, is a wonderful and unique opportunity for local people and visitors to enjoy and to find out more about their heritage and early past.

"Working in partnership with museums such as the British Museum and Wrexham County Borough Museum enables precious artefacts such as the Mold Cape to be accessible to all. The Mold Cape is of great importance, in both local and national contexts and is also of international significance to our understanding of cultural expression and power relations in Early Bronze Age Europe, reflected both in life and in death.”

Councillor Neil Rogers Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council said: “The last time the Mold Cape came to Wrexham Museum in 2005 it attracted 11,500 visitors in just 12 weeks. That fact more than any other illustrates the huge level of interest amongst the local public for both archaeology and our shared prehistoric heritage.

"So I am naturally excited at the prospect of the Cape’s return to the town. The exhibition at Wrexham Museum will tell the story of its discovery and by looking at the evidence for other similar sites in the area, attempt to set it in its contemporary archaeological context.

"The display of the Cape would clearly not be possible without the co-operation of both the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales and Wrexham County Borough Council is extremely grateful to both bodies for their on-going support in continuing to bring our shared National treasures to Wrexham.”

The Mold Gold Cape was featured as one of the top ten treasures in the 100 objects in “A History of the World” in partnership with the BBC. This project was awarded The Art Fund Prize in 2011 and the prize money awarded has formed the basis for The Spotlight Tours.

Councillor tackles fire in wood store

The Leader is reporting today how a quick-thinking Llangollen councillor tackled a wood store blaze.

To read to full story see: http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/120260/quick-thinking-llangollen-councillor-tackles-wood-store-blaze.aspx#

Latest roadworks in the area




Latest roadworks to be announced by Denbighshire County Council are: 

A5, from Glyndyfrdwy to the telephone exchange, temporary traffic lights until March 19 to allow resurfacing work. 

A5, from the Berwyn Arms to the telephone exchange,  Glyndyfrdwy, 10mph convoy until March 8 to allow resurfacing work. 

Hatchery Lane, Trevor, from the A539 to the junction opposite Trevor Mill House, road closure until March 5 to allow drainage works by Dee Valley Water.

Police hand out three anti-social orders

Police in Llangollen have recently handed out Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Orders to three people in the town.

The details were given to members of Llangollen Town Council at their meeting on Tuesday evening by Sergeant Paul Hughes of the neighbourhood policing team.
Giving one of his regular updates on policing activity in the area, he explained how the orders – known as CRASBOs – differed from Anti-Social Behaviour Orders in that breaching one was a criminal offence.
For a breach, the maximum penalty is five years imprisonment for an adult or a two year Detention and Training Order for juveniles, 12 months of which is custodial.
Sgt Hughes said that over the past few months, his team had handed out three CRASBOs after much hard work to compile a case against the recipients.
The first, he said, had gone to a male from the Plas Madoc area who had been coming to Llangollen for around 12 months and had been the subject of numerous complaints of anti-social behaviour. mainly related to alcohol.
Sgt Hughes said he had been causing a particular problem for elderly residents in the Hill Street area.
He added: “We obtained the order against him two weeks ago and he is not allowed to enter any of the 30mph zones around the town.

“The order lasts for two years and if it is breached there will be a custodial sentence.”
Sgt Hughes said the other two CRASBOs had gone to a male and a female who had been associating with the other male recipient.

He added: “They were causing untold trouble – anti-social behaviour and drink related - and the order means that for the next two years they are not to go within 50 yards of Hill Street.”  

Welcoming the action, the mayor, Cllr Jon Haddy, said: “The problem with ASBOs is that there was no penalty if they were breached."

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Anger as watchdog fails to oppose hospital closures

Ther BBC North East Wales news website is reporting this afternoon (Thursday) that patients' watchdog body the Community Health Council has decided today not to refer the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board's proposal to close several community hospitals - including Llangollen - minor injury units and X-ray departments to Wales' Health Minister Lesley Griffiths.

The decision is said to have been greeted with dismay by North Wales Assembly Members campaigning against the moves.

See the full story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21535311