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Archives for May 2006

The road to heaven (or is it hell?)

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:03 UK time, Wednesday, 31 May 2006

It's up to you according to which side of the fence you're on. Planned changes affecting the A55 and A494 around the Ewloe Interchange, Mold and the Northop turn offs seems to be splitting local opinion.

If you live in the path of the changes then you're likely to be angry at the prospect of a major road running through your back garden. Chris L has been the first to voice dissent.

But, if you're one of the thousands of commuters who get stuck in rush hour tailbacks at Alltami as you struggle daily on to the A55 at the Ewloe Interchange (traffic webcam), then you are possibly a little more optimistic.

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Excellent Urdd coverage

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 10:53 UK time, Tuesday, 30 May 2006

The newspaper is providing good coverage of the Urdd Welsh youth festival which is being held in Ruthin this year.

Among the stories, there is an interview with , 91, who competed in the first ever Urdd Eisteddfod in Corwen in 1929.

Don't forget you can keep up to date with news from the showfield by using Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales' Welsh language service - bbc.co.uk/cymru - and if you can't read Welsh, just switch on the online translator.

Finally, Rhian has been in touch to wish her daughter good luck as she is one of the many competitors. Are you going?

Did the earth move for you?

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:34 UK time, Friday, 26 May 2006

Well it certainly moved for people living in North Wales who mailed in overnight saying their windows and doors rattled. Initially they thought there had been an earth tremor - but it turned out it was a sonic boom from a Eurofighter jet.

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Welcome to all 100,000 of you!

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:30 UK time, Friday, 26 May 2006

The planning is over, the preparations are almost complete and the fun is about to start. For Monday is the opening day of the (), Europe's biggest youth festival which, this year, comes from Ruthin.

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No more secrets at WWII site

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 09:28 UK time, Wednesday, 24 May 2006

Well, that's what the experts said last night at a meeting to reveal findings into an archaeological survey at the former top secret WWII munitions factory at Rhydymwyn, near Mold.

For years the secrecy surrounding the served only to fuel rumour about what, if anything, could still be hidden in underground tunnels that once housed thousands of mustard gas shells during the height of production in the war years. And speculation has been rife for the last few decades since it was revealed that the works somehow played a role in the research into the first atomic bomb.

But last night specialists from Birmingham University, who have been surveying the site, released their findings to an expectant crowd. And they said there was nothing left in the secret tunnels - nothing.

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Wrexham to host Liverpool

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:48 UK time, Wednesday, 24 May 2006

Liverpool FC are returning to Wrexham again this year for a pre season friendly with the Dragons at the Racecourse ground on Saturday, 15 July, reports

What now for secret weapons site?

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 12:04 UK time, Tuesday, 23 May 2006

The public are invited to a meeting tonight (7pm) to learn more about the findings of an archaeological survey on the former top secret WWII weapons site, , Rhydymwyn, near Mold - and to discuss what should happen there in the future.

Today, is being reclaimed as a nature reserve but in the 1940s workers were reportedly manufacturing 40,000 chemical weapons shells every week and the site was used to evaluate research into the first atomic bomb.

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'Save our post office'

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 15:42 UK time, Monday, 22 May 2006

A village has launched a fight to save its post office from closure. The reports tonight that 800 people have signed a petition supporting Mancot Post Office which could be forced to close due to a government move to transfer traditional services to banks. Glenys Diskin, who has run the post office for 20 years with her husband, Alan, told the 'paper: "If a village like this can get that many signatures, there must be millions more across the UK who feel the same." The petition ask the government not to stop the Post Office Account Card, which is used to receive pensions and benefits.

Super Jumbo flies by

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Alys - Web Team Alys - Web Team | 12:04 UK time, Friday, 19 May 2006

Workers and locals near Airbus in Broughton, Flintshire, got their first glimpse of the A380 super jumbo in flight yesterday, as it circled twice over the factory where its wings are made. Around 6000 Airbus workers witnessed the flight, reports before the plane headed to Heathrow airport.

Andy from Broughton described it as an "amazing sight" and pictures sent in to the NE Wales website certainly confirm that view.

Is it a bird? No! It's the super jumbo...

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:00 UK time, Thursday, 18 May 2006

The world's biggest passenger jumbo, the A380, is due to fly over the region later this morning for the first time. The plane is taking a detour from the the Berlin Air Show so workers at Broughton Airbus UK factory - where the plane's wings are being made - can take their first glimpse of the aeroplane in flight. We're inviting you to share your photos and views of this special occasion by getting in touch with us.

, which you can watch online, will be filming live the landing at Heathrow Airport later this morning.

Police merger - protests pour in

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:14 UK time, Wednesday, 17 May 2006

More than 400 letters have been sent to North Wales Police opposing plans which could see the force being merged with the three others to make an all-Wales constabulary. Among the most prominent objectors is Sir William, who lives at Hawarden Castle, Hawarden, the home of his ancestor, former Prime Minister Sir William Ewart Gladstone.

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Excitement builds over youth festivals

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:01 UK time, Wednesday, 17 May 2006

Excitement is building in Ruthin as work has just begun to erect a 1,600-seater pavilion for the national Welsh youth festival, the Urdd, which is expected to attract 100,000 visitors, reports .

Meanwhile, in Connah's Quay, finishing touches are being put on plans for the town's second annual outdoor youth and music festival. This year the event, organised by local group Deecat, takes place at Wepre Park and features local unsigned bands who battled it out in an earlier competition for a place on the stage.

Going, going, gone!

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:57 UK time, Wednesday, 17 May 2006

Saltney historian and photographer Ron Reynolds has submitted some old pictures of the day the former Connah's Quay power station was demolished. Take a look...

Delve into your family's past

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 14:08 UK time, Tuesday, 16 May 2006

Flintshire Council is giving free access to a huge family history website which allows you to search your family history back hundreds of years. The Ancestry database gives details of all the UK censi from 1841-1901 and also includes birth, marriage and death records from 1837 as well as parish records stretching back to the 1600s and even earlier.

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The Da Vinci Code connection

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 11:05 UK time, Monday, 15 May 2006

Castell Dinas Brân Llangollen is playing its part in the intrigue surrounding Dan Brown's controversial book, The Da Vinci Code.

The book claims a conspiracy surrounded the Holy Grail mythology. And one Llangollen legend suggests the Grail was brought to Castell Dinas Brân for safe-keeping in the 1st Century.

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Take a walk - and see a ghost!

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 10:55 UK time, Monday, 15 May 2006

Two big walking festivals are being held in Wrexham and Denbighshire with a series of guided rambles. runs until Sunday and is designed to encourage people to exercise. Meanwhile, starts Friday and includes a ghost walk along Prestatyn Promenade in search of the so-called White Lady.

Tidal or wind power - which way's best?

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 12:51 UK time, Friday, 12 May 2006

Talacre Lighthouse Should tidal power be considered as an alternative to "ugly and unreliable" wind farms?

That's the view of Clwyd West MP David Jones who has backed the construction of a tidal lagoon off the coast of Kinmel Bay, according to the .

Do you agree with his comments which come as wind farm developers have begun new investigation work four miles off the coast of Abergele?

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Local voted best pub in Wales

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 14:00 UK time, Thursday, 11 May 2006

Congratulations to the at Llangollen which beat off competition from hundreds of other entries to be voted the best pub in Wales.

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Midge gig cancelled due to ticket sales

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 12:59 UK time, Wednesday, 10 May 2006

It was a case of 'goodnight Vienna' for popstar Midge Ure whose gig in Llangollen tomorrow has been cancelled because of poor ticket sales. Midge, one of the big names behind Live Aid and Live 8, was former frontman of Ultravox whose '80s hits included Vienna.

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Hospital to close

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 12:48 UK time, Wednesday, 10 May 2006

Campaigners trying to save Prestatyn community hospital say they're angry after members of Denbighshire Local Health Board voted today to go ahead with its closure.

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Living a secret life

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:53 UK time, Monday, 8 May 2006

For those on the outside, transvestism or cross dressing is probably not taken too seriously. But spare a thought for people like Tracey who writes: "I am female born the wrong gender and have pretended to be male for 65 years." Of a sex change, she writes: "It is painful, a long and difficult process but experience tells me it would have been worth it. Better a few years of hardship than a lifetime of unhappiness."

Tracey is not alone. Elen was the first to get in touch to share her experiences: "I had known about transvestites for a long time but had never imagined myself to be one; a bit of kinky dressing up in private was, to my mind, a very different matter from pretending to be a woman in public!"

You can read more of Elen's story and other people's personal experiences in My Story.

Ruthin Gaol - the hangman's back!

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:59 UK time, Monday, 8 May 2006

The lonely walk to the gallows by the last man to be hanged at Ruthin Gaol will be re-enacted on Saturday as part of Museums and Galleries Week.

The last moments of the life of William Hughes will be staged throughout the day. It is part of the gaol’s execution exhibition which is open every day throughout May. Use the weblink to find out more about the gaol's past.

A Bagful of Goals

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 14:49 UK time, Friday, 5 May 2006

Have Wrexham football fans Les & Brian come up with an alternative to the offical England World Cup song? Les, 62, says he and Brian, 60, who are both well known newspaper journalists in Wrexham, temporarily ditched their Welsh Dragon shirts and wrote and recorded the song, A Bagful of Goals, for fun. Find out more and listen to the song.

BAE comes under fire

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:26 UK time, Friday, 5 May 2006

Defence company BAE Systems was defiant over its decision to sell its 20 per cent stake in aircraft builder Airbus in the face of shareholder anger yesterday. reports that the company faced a barrage of questions at its annual general meeting from shareholders concerned about the security of jobs - many of which are based in Broughton, Flintshire.

Find out what workers and other people are saying by reading their comments on the messageboard.

Corwen parking protests

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:17 UK time, Friday, 5 May 2006

Locals staged a protest in Corwen yesterday against plans by Denbighshire Council to do away with free parking.

Residents have already collected a 1,500 petition and staged an earlier parking protest on the A5 to demonstrate their anger against the fees ranging from 40p an hour to £2 for all day parking.

You can read more on the website of local newspaper, the .

D-day looms for community hospital

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:14 UK time, Thursday, 4 May 2006

As D-day looms for Prestatyn's under-threat community hospital, plans to reveal its fate have caused outrage - because the all-important public meeting takes place in Rhyl, reports .

Feeling is already running high in Prestatyn about the plans. Resident Gareth writes: "After many years of providing excellent care facilities to the town's people the local health board in their wisdom are trying to shut this much used resource for the people of Denbighshire's second largest town."

Workers big on barnets!

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:09 UK time, Thursday, 4 May 2006

Workers and their hair styles are one of the topics of discussion in our local history section. For Vicky & Maureen have been in touch to raise the issue of steelworkers and textile mill workers who were big on barnets - so much so they'd go to work in their curlers!

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Castle treasures saved

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:16 UK time, Wednesday, 3 May 2006

'There's no need to sell off the family silver!' That's what the taxman has told the Myddleton family, who lived for generations in Chirk Castle after they offered 20 artefacts in lieu of inheritance tax.

There had been fears that the paintings, furniture and vases and other heirlooms might have to be sold privately. But they can now stay at the castle, provided they remain under the care of the National Trust. has the full story.

Arts festival highlights

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 10:23 UK time, Tuesday, 2 May 2006

Highlights at this year's (May 19 - June 5) include the Hallé Orchestra, Carlson Dance Company Workshop and Performance, An Evening with Author Jasper Fforde, a Salsa Dance Social and a Jive Dance Masquerade Ball. There are lots of events for children too, including arts & crafts sessions, storytelling, drama days and toy workshops. Download the programme from the website.

Busting myths about migrant workers

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 10:09 UK time, Tuesday, 2 May 2006

Wrexham Council has published a leaflet, , designed to 'bust myths' concerning foreign nationals living and working in Wrexham, the numbers of which has risen sharply in the last two years. It has been produced as some local residents raised concerns about the change in the population make-up of Wrexham.

Meanwhile, Swati Sharples, who lives and works in the region, has produced a short film for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales talking about her journey from her home in India to North Wales. And in our Food mini site people like Wrexham shopkeeper Monika, who sells produce from her native Poland, talk about culinary differences and similarities.

Joy at last for Wrexham fans

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 08:00 UK time, Tuesday, 2 May 2006

The worrying could at last be over for Wrexham fans as the takeover of the club has been agreed, with contracts exchanged between administrators and local car dealer Neville Dickens. reports that if creditors and shareholders agree, Wrexham can move out of administration, preserving their league status. The news emerged just before Wrexham's home 1-1 draw with Oxford United on Saturday. Meanwhile, supporters have been having their say in the Fans' forum.

Thumbs up for Talacre

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Nick - Web Team Nick - Web Team | 07:25 UK time, Tuesday, 2 May 2006

Talacre and Gronant beaches have been awarded a Yellow Flag rating - the highest award rural beaches can achieve, says the website - after undergoing inspections laid down for the quality of water and sands over 20 weeks.

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