International Eisteddfod countdown begins

* Greek dancers go through their paces on Centenary Square last year.

The countdown has begun to the 2019 International Eisteddfod in Llangollen.

The week-long festival line-up features some of the world’s most internationally renowned musicians, including French-Mexican star tenor, Rolando Villazón, salsa, pop and flamenco outfit, Gipsy Kings, and award-winning Celtic music band, Jamie Smith’s MABON.

Music Director of the festival, Edward-Rhys Harry, said: “We are proud that this year’s festival line-up spans genres and generations, crossing the boundaries of age, culture and creed. There really is something for everyone.”

Tickets can be purchased online at www.llangollen.net.

Full evening concert line-up is:

Monday 1st July – Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra

Sponsored by Kronospan

Returning festival favourite and Vice President of the Eisteddfod, Jools Holland, will entertain the Royal Pavilion audience with his legendary Rhythm and Blues Orchestra on Monday 1st July. The jazz, blues and swing showstopper will launch the 2019 concert series with an unforgettable toe-tapping extravaganza of live music.

Tuesday 2nd July - Classical Gala with Rolando Villazón and guests

Sponsored by Pendine Park

One of the music world’s most critically acclaimed tenors, Rolando Villazón will debut his phenomenal voice on the Llangollen stage. Villazón, who is known for his uniquely compelling performances with leading opera houses around the world, will be joined by the magnificent Welsh lyric soprano Rhian Lois for a spectacular evening of operatic greats.

Wednesday 3rd July - Saints and Singers: The Music of Wales

Wales has a world-wide reputation for its choral music, and Wednesday’s evening performance will showcase the Land of Song at its very best, with supreme Welsh vocalists Shân Cothi and Rhodri Prys Jones, accompanied by the British Sinfonietta Orchestra. Audiences will be treated to two rare opportunities: the premiere of a brand new piece for tenor, chorus and orchestra by Dr Edward-Rhys Harry, and the sheer majesty of the incredible cantata ‘Saint Teilo’ by William Mathias CBE. The evening promises to be a tremendously dramatic celebration of traditional music from Wales, bursting with glorious melodies and powerful operatic choruses.

Thursday 4th July - International Celebration with Jamie Smith’s MABON

Sponsored by Denbighshire County Council and Westminster Stone

International competitors from all over the world will come together in a vibrant carnival of cultures to showcase the very best from across the globe, as they weave through the audience with their giant flags in a vivacious display of international unity and friendship.

The evening will commemorate the International Eisteddfod’s unique founding values of sharing music, dance, peace and friendship, with the poignant Peace Message and the annual Rotary Peace Award.

Special guests for the evening, multi-award winning band, Jamie Smith’s MABON, will bring their distinctive self-styled sound to get feet tapping with their interpretation of Celtic traditions, refreshingly combining heritage with their contemporary sound.

Friday 5th July - Gipsy Kings featuring Andre Reyes

Sponsored by Linguassist

Hailing from the south of France, the group will bring their energetic set with infectious Latin rhythms to Llangollen for the very first time. Their music is warm, exuberant and hugely popular with trademark hits such as Bamboleo and Volare.

Audiences will be wowed by a heady concoction of rumba, flamenco and salsa combined with contemporary pop music, perfect for anybody who loves to dance.

Saturday 6th July - Choir of the World

Sponsored by Aldi

In a live televised concert, the festival's competitions will reach their exciting climax on Saturday, with the finest choirs from across the globe battling for the highly sought after Choir of the World 2019 title and the prestigious Pavarotti Trophy. Those taking part in the dance categories will participate in the breath-taking Dance Champions of the World 2019 finals, competing for the coveted Lucille Armstrong Dance Award. The evening will include a very special appearance from Royal Harpist, Catrin Finch.

Sunday 7th July - Llanfest 2019

Scottish indie rockers The Fratellis, best known for their worldwide smash Chelsea Dagger, Mistress Mabel and Whistle for the Choir, will headline Llanfest alongside Merseyside music legends The Coral, with their chart-topping tracks Dreaming of You, Pass it On and In the Morning.

Joining the high energy line-up will be Leeds-based indie icons The Pigeon Detectives, with the likes of This is an Emergency, Take Her Back and I Found Out, as well as pop rock trio Dodgy, with nostalgic nineties hits Staying out for the Summer and Good Enough to open the main stage headliners.

Peugeot's latest load-lugger is a real good looker

 * The 508SW estate from the front. 

... and from the inside. 

Peugeot 508SW launch report by Steve Rogers

With SUV sales still booming is anyone interested in buying an estate car?

Peugeot hope so because it has just launched the 508SW estate and a mighty good looking car it is too. The French company has a strong pedigree with estates, my favourite was the eighties 505 with its third row of seats, a rarity in those days.

Demand for this size of car is shrinking with most of the sales going to the premium sector but Peugeot is banking on a reasonable hit from fleet and company car people and unlike many rivals believe diesel will account for nearly half of SW sales.

This is a strong area for Peugeot with three engine options, a 130bhp 1.5 and 160 or 180bhp 2-litre all will class leading low emissions, while the petrols also score well on emissions at 123g/km and 130g/km respectively for the 1.6 litre 180 and 225bhp outputs.

Petrol engines with the eight speed automatic gearbox have a new feature which switches the engine to freewheel when appropriate which Peugeot reckons reduces fuel consumption by around three per cent. A small amount but it all helps. A petrol plug in hybrid will come later in the year.

The 508 Fastback got huge praise from me for its stunning styling and designer Gilles Vidal has made a pretty good fist of the SW. Mirroring the glamorous rear end of the Fastback was never going to happen but this is still the best looking estate on the market.

Although 508SW does not lead the field on boot space - the cavernous Skoda Superb is the runaway leader - it is plenty big enough for most families and can outgun Ford Mondeo and Mazda6 with 530 litres with the back seats in place. The powered tailgate is good and wide, the boot sill one of the lowest in the class, but the biggest bonus is a flat loading area.

On the subject of space the SWs roofline is a tad higher than the swooping Fastback

so there is more back seat headroom, an area where its sister leaves taller passengers brushing the roof lining.

People with young families will appreciate ISOFIX fitting points on the two outer rear seats.

So what else can we look forward to? Apart from looks and strong engines running costs are predicted to be low helped by best in class trade ins, even better than an Audi A4, according to the experts.

Safety also figures highly and now brings in adaptive cruise control with stop and go function. I find this particularly useful on long stretches of motorway roadworks where cruise control can be set at a given limit letting the car do the rest, slowing and accelerating to order.

Of course the big news with Peugeot is still the futuristic i-Cockpit with its central 10-inch touchscreen and 12.3 inch digital head up display ahead of the driver.

We first saw the i-Cockpit layout at the launch of the switch free 308 when it received praise for its styling and criticism for the touchscreen because of the time it took to complete basic tasks like changing a radio station or adjusting the heating.

Peugeot refined i-Cockpit with piano style push keys which quickened the process and added a real touch of style to the otherwise bear centre console.

Does it totally solve the problem? To a degree but the best solution is a rotary dial behind the gearstick already favoured by several companies and I still prefer separate switches for the heating controls.

As for the cabin it is beautifully trimmed and shows how much Peugeot has done to improve quality and rid itself of the ridiculously outdated notion that quality does not matter. It is time that stigma was well and truly parked because Peugeot has spared no expense in creating plush surroundings.

We got a taste of how 508SW might drive with the Fastback and that was a big step up compared to the old model. SW is not set up to compete with a BMW or Audi but it not a car that shies away from taking on twists and turns.

Steering is quick and accurate while the suspension puts it in the middle ground offering a good compromise between comfort and go fast driving.

The 130bhp 1.5 litre diesel gives the best economy while performance is adequate. Anyone wanting extra oomph needs to sample the 2-litre where the 180bhp option is quite spicy.

Both petrol engines are feisty although noisy when pushed and given Peugeot's strength on this front I am surprised there isn't a lower powered petrol entry option.

The line up is Active, Allure, GT Line and GT with prices ranging from £26,845 for the 130bhp diesel to £38,245 for the range topping GT 180bhp 2-litre diesel. Petrol is not offered until Allure and starts at £31,495.

Key facts

508SW GT Line

£33,245

1.6 petrol Pure Tech; 181bhp

0-62mph 8secs; 140mpg

41.8mpg combined

127g/km 1st year tax £170

Insurance group 30

Two outdoor events planned for this week

Two outdoor events are being held this week in the woods near Llangollen town.

The first of these is tonight (Monday) and is a bat survey through Pen y Coed Woods, meeting at Pengwern Community Centre at 9.15pm.

You can try something new, learn how to use a bat detector and discover the wildlife that’s on your doorstep.

This Wednesday there is a free, guided Mindfulness Walk through Pen y Coed, again meeting at Pengwern Community Centre, at 11am.

Those taking part are asked to wear suitable clothing and footwear for the outdoors.


Both events are part of the ongoing Nature for Health project, with many more events coming soon.

The project is a collaboration between Denbighshire Countryside Service and Denbighshire Housing.

Operatic scores double victory in amateur stage 'Oscars'

* The Llangollen Operatic team at the presentation evening in Hereford.

* Part of the production team from Joseph.
From left, Dee Smith, Pamela Williams and Jo Lloyd.

Llangollen Operatic Society came away with two wins plus a sheaf of nominations from this year’s amateur stage “Oscars”.

At the annual NODA  - National Operatic and Dramatic Association- Awards presentation evening in Hereford last Saturday the society’s junior section, the Young ‘Uns, had been nominated for Best Production of 2018 with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat while young actor Shea Ferron received a nod for Best Supporting Youth Performer Under-21 for his part as the Pharaoh in the same show.

Llangollen won both these categories.

The Young ‘Uns’ Cassius Hackforth had also been nominated for Best Youth Performer under 21 for Joseph. Nominated for Best Supporting Youth Performer Under 21 were Celyn Orton Jones and Erin Roberts as narrators for Joseph.

The award-winning Joseph was co-directed by Jo Lloyd and Robin Crowley. Producer for the show was Pamela Williams, assistant producer Dee Smith and Julian Cattley musical director.

In the society’s adult section Bill Hughes was nominated for Best Individual Performance Musical Theatre for his portrayal of Alfred Doolittle in the production of My Fair Lady in 2018.

Nominated for Best Supporting Individual Performance Musical Theatre was Alison Ravenscroft who played housekeeper Mrs Pearce in My Fair Lady.

As a show, My Fair Lady had been nominated for Best Musical Theatre Production in NODA’s District 1a 2018 and also Best Stage Management and Technical.

Jo Lloyd was the show’s director while Helen Belton produced with Leigh Mason as musical director.

New book explores Ruabon-Barmouth rail line

The cross-country Ruabon to Barmouth railway was originally built to fulfil the desire of connecting the town of Llangollen with the rest of the rapidly expanding network.

The local Victorian promoters received the backing of the Great Western Railway (GWR), which had an ambitious plan to reach the Cambrian coast and tap into the slate quarries around Snowdonia.

As time was to prove, the GWR was to be temporarily thwarted by the construction of a branch inland from Barmouth by the rival Cambrian Railway, resulting in an end-on connection between the two railways in the market town of Dolgelly.

The route developed into an important artery across rural Wales, bringing in its wake a revolution in agriculture, industry and daily life. Holiday traffic became big business, tapping into the big conurbations of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

The route would ultimately succumb to the Beeching axe during the 1960s, but even this did not go to plan following severe flooding a few weeks prior.

A new book, The Ruabon to Barmouth Line, explores the eastern half of the route, encompassing the towns of Ruabon, Llangollen, Corwen and Bala, and a brief introduction to the fundamentals of railway travel. The perfect companion for anyone visiting the preserved Llangollen Railway.

It's the perfect companion for anyone visiting the preserved Llangollen Railway.

Author Peter Dickinson is an active volunteer on the preserved Llangollen Railway and first encountered the line during his geology fieldwork as an undergraduate in 2011.

Since then, extensive research and his volunteering at Berwyn Station has brought him into contact with many who knew and worked on the line. A greater emphasis has been placed on the social impact and characters involved with the line than more traditional railway histories, providing a unique insight into the line's history.

* At 160 pages, the book, priced at £18.99, is illustrated in mono and colour. It can be ordered online at Waterstones and will also be available in the Llangollen Railway shop.

Latest from canal man Phil as he heads for Llan

* The view of the canal from Seren's cockpit.

A former local town councillor is now well into his three-week canal boat trip to reach Llangollen in time for next month’s International Eisteddfod.

Phil Thane moved down to Potton in Bedfordshire just over two years ago and has since rebuilt an elderly boat named Seren.

Phil, who is a technical author by trade, is writing a blog on the voyage through the canal system for the Waterways World magazine - and he’s also going to keep llanblogger readers up to date on his progress, which involves 316 miles and 232 locks - each way.

Here's his latest blog update, penned yesterday (Saturday) ...

Bright and sunny this morning, though it soon turned grey. Having dried out the inverter it works again and the fridge is on, which will be useful if ever the weather turns warm.

I’ve tried to shield it from future downpours but in the long term I should re-site it, probably in the engine compartment.

Three lots of locks today, and thankfully got help with all of them, I made an early start on Buckby locks, but after the first two came to a halt as CRT had padlocked them to save water. I guess the policy precedes the recent weather, there was so much water some locks were overflowing. We had to wait until 10.00 and a queue built up. That’s the idea of course, when there are boats waiting they double up and the lock is used less often.

After Buckby locks I passed through Braunston tunnel. It’s about a mile long and quite spacious (the Grand Union was widened in the 1930s) I followed a boat through but none came the other way so we didn’t have to test that the tunnel really is wide enough for boats to pass.

After that, Braunston Locks then a long lock-free stretch to Calcutt locks. About an hour from Calcutt we had a thunderstorm, heavy rain and hail and strong wind. I avoided most of it by edging up to the bank and letting the wind pin Seren there, I wasn’t going to get out and moor!

I was thinking of stopping above Calcutt Locks but as I approached I cought up with a guy in an old narrowboat who was planning to go through, so we went together. The locks have big paddles operated by ‘modern’, ie 1930s, hydraulic gear so they fill and empty quickly. We made short work of the three then I cruised on to Stockton, stopping near Stockton top lock.

* You can follow Phil on his blog at: https://pthane.co.uk/blog

Latest Citizens Advice column

Here's the latest column for the Citizens Advice Service ...

Q: I’m having problems with a builder I employed to build a kitchen extension to our house. The foundations are laid, and he’s knocked through the back wall - the back of our house is now a tarpaulin sheet. We paid an initial deposit upfront, and then two further amounts in cash for materials. He’s now asked for more money - but I’d like to see more work done first. We had a bit of a row, and he hasn’t turned up for the last two days. What should I do next?

A: There are various things you can do.The Citizens Advice consumer service (03454 04 05 06) is a good first port of call.

If you think your relationship with the builder can be salvaged and you’d like him to finish the work, you can try to sit down with him and agree - in writing - a schedule of works and payments you’re both happy with.

This written contract, if you don’t have one already, should cover exactly what you’re paying for and everything you’ve agreed on, like timings, payments, who will pay for materials and subcontractors. If you pay any future installments by credit card rather than cash you’ll also benefit from extra protection from the card provider. It’s a good idea to take photos as the work progresses and keep copies of your communications and any receipts.

If you feel the situation with that trader can’t continue you can complain in writing to him or his company and ask for some money back. If you believe the work is substandard you can report problems to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice consumer service.  If he’s a member of a trade association they also might be able to help.

If that doesn’t work, look for an approved alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme - this is an independent third party who can help you to reach a compromise. The trader may already be a member of a scheme. If not, they should provide you with the name of a certified scheme and say if they are willing to use it.