Podcast – NE Wales Update
uploaded 1pm Fridays
Coming up this week, the family of a man from Denbighshire with Multiple Sclerosis tell reporter Sarah Easedale about their battle with red tape; Bodnant Garden is the star of a new BBC Two Wales series; and we visit a programme in Rhyl for overweight youngsters.

Plus, Wrexham triathlete Matthew Bennett returns triumphantly from his epic trip, local opera singer Anne Williams-King chats to Jamie and Louise about life on the cruise ships and a vicar from Corwen aims to raise the roof for a good cause.

Read more:
Podcast [29-05-09]

2009-05-29 14:09:57

Springwatch presenter Simon King has been inundated since asking on last night’s programme for your reports of polecat sightings, including several in NE Wales.

Harrishawker1 writes: “I have seen 2 wild polecats in the last six months whilst out working the ferrets for the hawks. The first one was living in a rabbit waren and tried to attack the ferret we were working outside the hole. This was near Abergele. The second one was on the sand dunes doing the same near Gronant, Prestatyn, whilst out hawking.

“We also have a friend who lost a ferret whilst out in the fields near Prestatyn and he found it six weeks later whilst walking the dog but the twist is the ferret gave birth to kits a week later and they all have the markings of wild polecats.”

Meanwhile, BusterHarding points out that polecats aren’t necessarily the shy and retiring type: “We saw a polecat running across the Rhuddlan road in Rhyl!”

Here is the original:
On the look-out for polecats

2009-05-27 09:41:26

We’re due to move to a new look site next month which will be similar to our sister site, South East Wales.

The content production system [CPS] we’ll be moving into is that used by BBC News. Therefore, what you’ll get will be a fresh new look, including things like bigger and better use of picture galleries.

There are a lot more additions and improvements being planned. Our move to the new CPS will only be the first phase so, as they say, watch this space – and to Chappy, and others, please be patient.

Alys and myself spent two days training on the new system last week and we are due to start migrating content in a week’s time. Then the new look site will be tested prior to going live.

We’ll keep you updated.

More: Site changes [pt.3]

View original here:
Site changes [pt.4]

2009-05-26 11:12:57

— Update: Use our tags credit crunch and jobs for continuing updates on the jobs front in the region —

It’s becoming difficult to keep a tally on all the jobs going in the region what with confirmed losses and all the firms in discussions with staff about ’savings’ and possible redundancies.

Rexam Plastic Packaging, Deeside industrial estate, is set to close with the loss of 70 jobs.

Payne Security is considering closing its branch on Bromfield Industrial Estate, Mold, which makes personal ID cards, and 31 workers are at risk of being made redundant.

Meanwhile, 13 workers have been made redundant at Discover Leisure, Wrexham’s Industrial Estate, which is one of seven branches being closed by the caravan and leisure retailer.

These latest announcements take the losses in NE Wales to 1942 since the credit crunch began.

Tags credit crunch and jobs

Read the original:
Another bad week for the workers

2009-05-21 10:32:37

Podcast – NE Wales Update
uploaded 1pm Fridays
This week, we hear from residents in Wrexham who want a bail hostel closed down after it emerged a serial sex offender was housed there; we report from the trial of a Prestatyn man – accused of trying to kill his wife and unborn baby; and Clwyd South MP Martyn Jones chats to Peter Johnson about his retirement plans – reviving Wrexham Lager.

Meanwhile, Jamie and Louise try to help track down the owners of a stray goat in Mold; Chris Dearden gets a lesson in Nordic walking as part of the Prestatyn Walking Festival; and West End singer Mark Evans from Llanrhaedr tells Roy Noble about his plans to set up a summer school for budding stars.

Read the original here:
Podcast [15-05-09]

2009-05-15 13:48:38

North East Wales Search and Rescue member Gerald Davison took this photo whilst colleague Mark was taking part in a river rescue training exercise.

Suggest a caption using the box below!
PS. This is not really a competition and so there are no winners – it’s just a bit of fun!

See the original post here:
Caption competition

2009-05-08 12:02:39

We’ve yet to exploit [in an environmentally-friendly way] the Clwydian Range as a major draw for walkers and tourists and, spotting an opportunity to get back out on these fabulous hills, we’re in the initial stages of creating some content based on the landscape, its history and the people who make their lives on the hillsides and those who come to enjoy them.

With all that in mind, can you help us?

To get the ball rolling we’ve started a photo pool on flickr.com and we’d welcome your contributions to show off the hills along the range.

You can also share your ideas and comments [just post a message below] about the things we should feature and let us know about any weblinks.

True, there is an official site but there’s a lot more that isn’t mentioned.

John has already set up a great site dedicated to one of the most popular peaks, Moel Famau, but what about all the others?

We’ve previously mentioned some of the Iron Age hillforts and we’ve been promoting local walks that include the Clwydian Range as it forms part of the Offa’s Dyke Path.

Contibutors to our BBC Local site have also been emailing and uploading photos for some time showing local scenes and the range is ever present, from sunset scenes, and various walking events like this one.

So, it’s about time we pulled everything together and that’s what we hope to start to look at with your help and advice.

I’ll keep you posted about things our end and please feel free to get in touch either below or via email or twitter.

Here is the original:
Clwydian Range: Making a mountain out of a few hills

2009-05-06 10:51:56

I’ve been doing some good old fashioned research of late by visiting local libraries and archives to find information about drovers and their routes in NE Wales. It has made a change to use something other than a computer, typing in a search term in Google and clicking ‘go’.

I did the obvious trawl of trusted websites like Genuki to get up and running. I then tried some web searches of catalogues and indexes held in local libraries and archives to find reading material like this info for Denbighshire and available in the archives offices at Ruthin Gaol [an atmospheric location in which to work].

It was all so easy. I was reading a book first published in the 1940s called ‘Wales and the Drovers’ by P G Hughes while sitting in Wrexham Library. It made reference to an article published in 1945 which was worthy of note and, faster than you could type the search term ‘Caernarvonshire History Society Journal’, all it took was a short walk across the first floor of Wrexham Reference Library to find the journal and the article therein, A Drover’s Account Book.

The Archives Network Wales is another way to find out what’s held in local libraries and archives and also proved useful.

My thanks also go to people like John Turner who has taken it upon himself to photograph drovers’ roads.

And David Rowe from Mold Civic Society is forever a source of useful information. His suggested reading material was:

- Roads & Trackways of Wales by Richard Moore-Colyer (Lanmark Press 2001)
- Hidden Highways of North Wales by R.J.A Dutton (Gordon Emery 1997), includes local the packhorse trail starting in Caergwrle
- The History of Halkyn Mountain by Bryn Ellis, p209 details the Turnpike Trusts and charges

My article is a way into the subject of droving and will be added to when time permits. It tries to pinpoint some drovers’ routes as we look on BBC Local at ways of providing info about things to do and places to to visit as well as local history.

Originally posted here:
Drovers’ roads and digging up the past the old fashioned way

2009-04-29 10:33:06

— We highlight stories for your interest via our shared reader [what's this?] or which you can follow via http://twitter.com/bbcwrexham —

Chief didn’t get the job | CayCompass.com
Cheshire Police Assistant Chief Constable David Baines pipped our very own Chief Constable to the £120,000-a-year job as the Cayman Islands’ new Commissioner of Police.
Tag: chief

49 jobs could go at Wrexham’s Yale College | Evening Leader
Yale College officials say that as part of their financial consolidation plan, they will be consulting with its staff and unions about ways of tackling a funding shortfall which has arisen as a result of next year’s “challenging” settlement from the Welsh Assembly Government.

Boil your water – warning | BBC News | Local
Thousands of customers in Denbighshire and Flintshire are advised to boil their water after bacteria was found in supplies during routine tests.

See the original post:
Chief didn’t get Cayman Islands job and other links [29-04-09]

2009-04-29 09:50:55

Thanks to Tom and others for posting photos showing some of the steam engines and locomotives in action in Llangollen this week as part of the event, Steel, Steam and Stars II.

Meanwhile, listen to a BBC Radio Wales report from my colleague, Brendon Williams, on one of the footplates.

Originally posted here:
Photos: Locos steam into Llan

2009-04-21 09:14:01