Archives for January 2010

Rhyl teen's life was saved thanks to kidney-donor mum - Daily Post
Rebecca Brierley, 13, whose life was saved when her mum, Sally, gave her a kidney has told how the gift has changed her life.

Llangollen woman recovers after being given 5% chance of survival - Daily Post
Zara Roberts, given a slim chance of survival after a car crash which left her with brain damage, is well on the way to becoming a special needs teacher.

Wrexham boy dies after battling brain tumour - Leader
Alice Hedley has paid tribute to her nine-year-old "little hero", Arthur, who has died after a brave battle with a brain tumour.

Fans fury after X-Factor star Olly Murs' gig - Flintshire Chronicle
Angry fans have hit out after paying £15 to see X Factor runner-up Olly Murs - but he only did a four-song set lasting 20 minutes at Buckley's Tiv.
- Tivoli opening hours extended to 3am

Read the rest of this entry

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Welsh economy 'out of recession', says today's headline.

Whilst that's good news, the cuts have gone so deep BBC Wales' Nick Servini reckons no one's in any mood to celebrate as "this recession has changed the industrial map of Wales".

He's not wrong. Since May 2008 north east Wales has lost in the region of 3,400 jobs [tag: jobs].

Industrial estates across Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham, have seen the closures of factory premises:
- Indesit, Kinmel Park - 302 jobs
- Arquest, Greenfield Business Park - 85 jobs
- Marshalls, Llay Works - 55 jobs

The face of the High Street in towns and villages has been changed with post office closures, pubs and the loss of some big names like Woolworths and MFI in Wrexham to name just a few.

Established local and family businesses have been hit hard too:
- JT Vernons, Holt
- Dee Jays of Rhyl
- Seventh Heaven Beds of Chirk
- Ffrith Leisure on Ffrith Festival Gardens

On the upside, there are signs of success, with the Financial Times' House & Homes having lots of good things to say about Llangollen and Chirk - plus:
- Property prices on the up in Wrexham
- Third new hotel planned for Rhyl
- Hawarden Farm Shop reinvents itself

If you've any good news to confirm things are on the up - do tell us!

[Thanks to Karen Oliver for the use of this photo. Plus, view her photo study of Wrexham]

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Did you notice that the snowy weather brought birds closer to us - mainly because they were desperate for food?

Here's a great photo from Richard on Flickr who was out on Moel Famau with Carolyn when she put out her hand to tempt a robin with some bread.

I watched the BBC nature programme, Snow Watch, and they were telling us that country birds in particular were coming into towns and people's gardens because there had been so much snow that they couldn't find food.

Cue the bullfinch that dropped in on our bird table in Mold. I've never seen one before and, although I wouldn't class myself as a twitcher [I'm more of a twitterer], we felt lucky to see it.

Did you spot anything? The Snow Watch team are interested to hear.

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Seven-point plan to ease Flintshire traffic woes - Leader
A road expert has come up with a seven-point plan to solve the congestion nightmare that has plagued Shotton for years.

Parents to build respite retreat in memory of Llay teenager - Daily Post
A charity set up by the parents of Nicola Riley, 14, has raised close to £300,000 to send children with cancer, and their families, on holidays. Now, they want to build a dedicated retreat for families.

Jobs scheme has increased employment in Rhyl - Denbighshire Visitor
A "unique winning formula" has helped thousands of people back to work in Rhyl, MPs have been told.
- ConvaTec, Deeside, laying off 100 workers - BBC News
- Oswestry tax office to close with the loss of 22 jobs - Tizer
Tag: Jobs

Nigel Kennedy and Karl Jenkins at Llangollen International Festival - Daily Post
Violn virtuoso Nigel Kennedy and composer Karl Jenkins are among the big names headlining this year's Llangollen International Festival.

Police get tough - Leader
Police in Wrexham have stressed more raids are being planned at addresses around the town and search warrants are set to be executed in the coming weeks. The message to criminals came from PC Miles Hanmer in the wake of two-days of raids carried out on Thursday and Friday last week for investigations involving the misuse of drugs and handling stolen goods.

Prop Idol Roberts picked for Wales - Denbighshire Free Press
Prop star Eifion Roberts is set to perform in one of the world's greatest rugby competitions. The giant front row forward from Llanbedr DC is a surprise inclusion in Wales' 35-man squad for the 2010 RBS Six Nations Championship.

Read the rest of this entry

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Monday, 25 January - Related update: Calls to maintain WWII weapons site at Rhydymwyn

Contributor Brian sent us this photo showing the state of the former pattern makers and carpenter's shop building on the old Brymbo Steelworks site, Wrexham.

The photo shows the building - which is listed - in a dilapidated state and Brian is concerned that "the history and heritage of, not just Brymbo or north east Wales, but the UK, is at risk".

The timing of Brian's photo coincides with this week's launch of a joint BBC and British Museum project, A History of the World, highlighting local artefacts and objects which shaped history.

And among north east Wales' artefacts is cannon boring equipment invented by Brymbo Steelworks' founder John Wilkinson.

There's lots of reading material available regarding the steelworks site and wider community, its past and planned redevelopment.

Wrexham Council has an extensive Brymbo Steelworks online archive, while Brymbo Heritage Group is working to preserve Brymbo's history via people's memories.

Brymbo's redevelopment involves a number of groups, and hopes for the area.

Meanwhile, further information about Brymbo, such as its local groups and community councillors, can be gleaned via the Brymbo website.

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Snow chaos causes traffic gridlock in Wrexham and Flintshire - The Leader
The Leader has a round-up of how the recent snow and ice have caused a number of accidents on the roads.

Staff prepare for closure of leading Dyserth employer - Rhyl Journal
Anglia HomeServe's Dyserth plant is to close with the loss of more than 150 jobs. It's another blow to an area which lost 300 jobs when Indesit's Bodelwyddan plant closed last summer.

Driver caught doing 105mph in a 30 zone in North Wales - Daily Post
A driver on the A548 in Towyn is to be prosecuted for reaching 105mph in a 30mph zone, reports the Daily Post which also other examples of the speeds reached by motorists caught by cameras or speed detectors.

Wrexham town centre key to city status bid - The Leader
Welsh Secretary Peter Hain is backing Wrexham's bid for city status and says transforming the town centre will be key.

Big cat alert in Denbighshire? - Denbighshire Free Press
A couple walking at the Alwen Reservoir claim to have spotted paw prints the size of a man's hand! It's one of many suspected sightings of big cats in the area.
Big cat sightings

[If you want daily updates, follow us on Twitter or use our Google Reader]

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

There's usually a couple of stories to be told when looking at old photos like this family photograph contributed by Michael Gregory. It shows his mother, Jean, when she was a young girl, as well as his grandfather, Henry George Bishop, in the 30s.

And to those of us who don't know the people pictured, just look at the detail in the background, a rich tapestry, don't you think? There's the castle on the Dee and the chimneys of Courtaulds' that disappeared from the skyline in 1980.

Michaels tells us that Henry was a manager at Courtaulds' Castle Works between 1935-37.

Meanwhile, local historian Vicky Perfect explains that Courtaulds converted the former Muspratt Chemical works to Castle Works, demolishing the old chemical works to build Castle Works in 1920.

Production started in 1922 but was closed by 1977. The chimneys were demolished in 1980.

-More about Courtaulds in Flint courtesy of Flint Local History group

Read the rest of this entry

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

We want to hear if a Good Samaritan has helped you in the snow. Use the form below. In the meantime, here are some of the good news stories we've come across.

There's free food for people in Rhos, today [and which has received its fair share of snow over the last week].

For a planned conference at the Stiwt, involving personnel from North Wales Police, has been cancelled and rather than let delegates' food go to waste, staff have been delivering it door to door to people in the Wrexham village.

Wrexham fans turned up at the Racecourse this morning with their shovels and brushes to clear snow from the pitch, or face having an eighth successive game postponed.

Mum of three Linda Murrary - "has been hailed a hero" - delivering meals on wheels to vulnerable people across Flintshire.

Rachael Connell, headteacher at Wrexham's Brynteg CP School, has been paying tribute to parents for helping to clear snow from the school to keep it open as much as possible during the cold snap.

And, despite the drama, there was a happy ending for Maria Hollis, 30, who gave birth on the M53 after getting stuck in traffic during last week's blizzard.

Husband Kevin managed to flag down a passing ambulance - but Maria gave birth to baby Maggie minutes before arriving at hospital.

There have been other stories of homeowners helping struggling motorists on the roads from Wrexham up to Coedpoeth and Minera. Some made sandwiches and prepared flasks while others helped to push vehicles out of trouble.

And then there's the story of kind taxi drivers in Wrexham, who gave food and a bed for the night to a stranded passenger - and then drove her home for free the next day.

Have you got any similar stories to share?

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Flintshire's finest foods - Flintshire Chronicle
A project has been launched to put the food of Flintshire in the spotlight - and on to more plates. The plan is to map out who is producing what and how much and to see how it could best be marketed.

North Wales Police runs up £750,000 bill on hire cars - Daily Post
North Wales police has run up a £750,000 bill in just five years for hiring cars. It works out at a cost of more than £400 a day - enough to buy one family car, such as a Vauxhall Astra, every month.

Bogus callers take 'substantial' amount' of cash from elderly Wrexham woman - Leader
Police are appealing for witnesses after an elderly woman in Penycae had a "substantial" amount of cash stolen from her home by bogus callers.

Rhyl seafront development project back on - Rhyl Journal
Work is finally expected to start on a multi-million pound development in Rhyl. Progress on the resort's ambitious £85 million Ocean Plaza development, located on the former Ocean Beach funfair looks set to go ahead this year following news of a buyer being found.

Cracks appear in Chirk bridge - Tizer
Pontfaen on the B4500, near Chirk, was shut by Wrexham Council to all traffic and pedestrians after a crack appeared on the bridge on Tuesday afternoon.

Read the rest of this entry

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Updated: 11 January 2010

Here's a round-up of snow photos from around north east Wales being shared on the web by locals.

Read the rest of this entry

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Just starting to get my head around Rugby League and what it means for Wrexham FC due to the Celtic Crusaders moving in and agreeing to ground share at the Racecourse Stadium.

So where better to start my education than the BBC sport forum, 606, which is full of armchair pundits?

But, with talking points like 'What the rugger family think of us' [among the threads on the Wrexham FC fans' forum] and 'Crusaders not wanted here' [in the section for Celtic Crusaders banter], clearly there's a lot to take in.

There's talk the opening game could be a sell-out for the Crusaders.

When's the last time Wrexham did that?

So, whether you're a supporter of the Crusaders or Wrexham FC, that's got to be good for the town itself. And you can't argue with that, can you?

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Reddit
• - What's this?