Mohammed Anwar, owner of the Anwar fashionwear, fancy dress, accessories and Welsh-themed clothing store in the General Market on Henblas Street, celebrated 50 years of trading and his 80th birthday on Wednesday, July 25.
Mr Anwar set up the business in the General Market back in 1969 and has continued to trade there ever since.
The business hasn’t moved from its location in the market – even temporarily – in the last 50 years.
During those years, Anwar has grown to take up more and more of the General Market – which is informally known as the ‘Anwar Market’ by many Wrexham residents.
Mr Anwar said: “Having traded in Wrexham during the last 50 years, I’ve seen a lot of changes in the town.
“As well as seeing the changing face of other market traders, I’ve also seen some very big high street names come and go.
“It’s been a very interesting 50 years – and I’ve no plans to retire any time soon!”
Mr Anwar runs the shop alongside his son Shabab Anwar.
Shabab said: “We’re very grateful to all of the customers we’ve had over the years, and want to take this time to thank all the people of Wrexham who have kept us going.
“A lot of Wrexham people know the General Market as the ‘Anwar Market’, so it shows that we’ve got a very strong place in the hearts of the people of Wrexham, and we’re very grateful for that.”
Cllr Terry Evans, Lead Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, said: “I’d like to congratulate Mr Anwar for his 50 years of trading in the General Market.
“I wish them the very best for their continued trading in the future – and I’m sure the business will still be going in another 50 years.”
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We’re warning people to take care when using taxis following reports of a bogus driver out there. Police are aware and are investigating.
The only way that a private hire vehicle is legitimate if it is licensed by the Council and is pre-booked through a private hire company. It is illegal for a private hire vehicle to accept custom after being hailed down in the street. Only Wrexham licensed Hackney Carriages (‘Black cabs’) are allowed to ‘ply for hire’ for business in the street. The Licensing Section, in partnership with North Wales Police, work actively to combat unlicensed taxis and any report of such activity should be reported to them immediately.
A licensed private hire vehicle will display licence plates on the vehicle and the driver will wear an ID badge and display a copy in the windscreen. All private hire vehicles in Wrexham display distinctive yellow stickers on the rear passenger windows. All licensed drivers will have been DBS Checked for Criminal Records and DVLA motoring convictions.
A licensed Hackney Carriage will display a rear plate and an illuminated roof sign displaying the word ‘TAXI’.
To enjoy a safe journey, here are some helpful tips:
• PRE BOOK- Plan ahead and always pre-book through a licensed operator, alternatively use one of the Hackney ranks in the town centre.
• CHECK THE DETAILS- Ask for details of the car when making the booking and make sure that the driver knows the destination and the name it was booked under, when it arrives.
• CHECK THE PLATES- Make sure that the vehicle is plated with private hire licence plates on the front and rear of the vehicle. Private hire plates are white, Hackney plates are purple and on the rear only.
• ASK FOR ID- Ask to see the driver’s ID badge. He or she is obliged to wear this badge in such a manner as to be distinctly visible. There is no reason a driver should refuse to show this to the customer and they must have it in their possession to carry out licensed journeys.
• Do not give any personal details to the driver, other than what is needed to get to the destination.
If you suspect that someone is acting as an unlicensed taxi, you can report this to the Licensing Section on 01978 315786, alternatively contact the Police on 101. You can remain anonymous if you wish.
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We’re really pleased to announce that there will be free parking for Play Day this year.
Play Day takes place on Wednesday, August 7 and is attended by thousands of young people who take over the town centre for a day of fun, games and activities. It’s a day when the grown ups definitely take a back seat!
In order to ensure the town can maximise from the thousands expected to attend this year’s event there will be no parking charges in most town centre council car parks after 10 am in town centre car parks. Charges will apply before this time and this will be strictly enforced.
Free parking will not be offered at Tŷ Pawb multi story.
Cllr Mark Pritchard, said: “I am delighted to announce free parking for this event. Thousands of local children will descend on Llwyn Isaf and Queens Square and have a great time getting wet, messy and usually very tired by the end of the day. My thanks to all involved in organising this event and I hope everyone has a fantastic day.”
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Erddig allotments in Thomas Fields are taking part in this year’s National Garden Scheme for charity.
They’ll open their doors to the public between 2pm and 5pm on Sunday, August 4 to raise money for charity. Admission will be £3 for adults and children go free.
Refreshments will be available and there’s wheelchair access so why not pop along and show them your support?
“About the National Garden Scheme” (reproduced with their kind permission)
“The National Garden Scheme gives visitors unique access to over 3,500 exceptional private gardens in England and Wales, and raises impressive amounts of money for nursing and health charities through admissions, teas and cake.
Thanks to the generosity of garden owners, volunteers and visitors we have donated a total of £55 million to nursing and health charities, and made a record annual donation of £3.1 million in 2018. Founded in 1927 to support district nurses, we are now the most significant charitable funder of nursing in the UK and our beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and The Queen’s Nursing Institute.
The National Garden Scheme doesn’t just open beautiful gardens for charity – we are passionate about the physical and mental health benefits of gardens too. We fund projects which promote gardens and gardening as therapy, and in 2017, we launched our annual Gardens and Health Week to raise awareness of the topic.”
You can find out more about the National Garden Scheme at www.ngs.org.uk
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We’re supporting Play Wales this summer holidays to encourage children to go out to play and leave the couch behind!
Play is important for children. It helps their development both physically and emotionally, it keeps them fit, they learn problem solving skills and explore how things work. They develop social skills, learn to share and come to terms with different experiences, but most importantly it’s what children tell us they enjoy.
You can read more here about why play is important.
In Wrexham this summer holidays there’s loads to do from organised playschemes to just knocking a ball about on your local field or learning to skip.
“Lots of parks and green areas”
Cllr Andrew Atkinson, Lead Member for Youth Services and Anti-Poverty, said: “We’re encouraging children to get out doors this summer holiday rather than staying in with their devices. There’s loads of planned activities for children this summer but there’s also lots of parks and green areas where children can have a great time and make their own fun 🙂 Old favourites like hopscotch, skipping, even just kicking a ball, hide and seek or playing tag gets them outdoors with their friends and having fun whilst helping to keep them healthy. There’s plenty of time in the winter to be stuck indoors so please encourage your child to get out and have fun!
You can read about what our Play Workers have in store below
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Wrexham Family Information Service (WFIS) is running a drawing competition for children during the summer holidays with a £15 Cwtch Ceramics voucher for each category winner 🙂
And it’s simple to enter. All you have to do is ask your budding artists to draw a picture on what they think “family” is.
The competition closes at 5pm on 28 August and the winner will be announced on October 1.
Entries must be submitted on the entry form and you can collect yours from WFIS at Contact Wrexham on Lord Street, Cwtch Ceramics in Tŷ Pawb or download it below:
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From volunteering to a becoming a relief gallery assistant. Leigh’s story is truly inspirational and the opportunities could be there for you too!
We met Leigh at Tŷ Pawb this week to chat about how volunteering at the arts and markets hub has led to her landing her dream job as a gallery assistant.
After volunteering for about a year, Leigh applied for a Relief Gallery Assistant role and got the job!
She’s now working at Tŷ Pawb as well as studying for her degree at Cardiff University.
During her time at Tŷ Pawb, Leigh has gained experience in handling artwork, including pieces by Damian hurst. She’s also helped with lots of children’s activities, which is great as she would love to go into teaching in the future!
Jo Marsh, Arts Lead at Tŷ Pawb said, “We have lots of opportunities for volunteers to get involved with at Tŷ Pawb. Leigh is a perfect example of what opportunities volunteering with us could bring. She’s a pleasure to work with and is so enthusiastic to learn. I would just like to encourage anyone who would like to gain experience in invigilation, assisting with workshops, supporting events and applied arts retail to get in touch with our team and find out what volunteering opportunities we have available.”
As a volunteer at Tŷ Pawb you could be part of an exciting new cultural and community offering in Wrexham town centre. Meet your new best mates, develop practical skills and contribute to a vibrant local project that’s for everyone. Flexible hours are available daytime and evening, seven days a week. So, we can create a placement that fits you just right.
Whether you can give a day a week, or an hour a week, we’d love to hear from you!
If you would like more information about the volunteering opportunities available at Tŷ Pawb, get in touch with the team:
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There are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this number is expected to rise to 1 million by 2021!
That’s a frightening number of people and many of us feel that we’d like to take action now to find out how we can help and understand what maybe our family and friends, even ourselves, will have to go through if Dementia is diagnosed.
There is a very simple and easy way forward that’s also very enlightening – you can become a Dementia Friend at an information session to be held at Wrexham Library on Wednesday, August 7, between 1 and 2pm. The session is free and will help you understand how you can be more supportive in the future.
Even the smallest actions can make a difference and many staff here at the council have attended these sessions and have found them to be extremely useful and practical.
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There’s a fun day of activity with Proskills coming to Wrexham County Borough Museum on Friday 23 August between 10.30am and 3.30pm
You can have a go at mini golf on the forecourt or see who can score the highest playing football darts.
It’s also an opportunity to take a look to the museum at their latest Exhibition “Football Forever! Introducing the Story of Football in Wales and Wales in Football”
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Pupils at three English-medium primary schools have been congratulated for their efforts in speaking Welsh outside of the classroom.
Teams of pupils from Ysgol Heulfan, Ysgol Rhostyllen and Ysgol Penygelli have won the Bronze Award for Cymraeg Campus – an effort to get children and staff at English-medium primary schools to use Welsh, and to promote a strong Welsh-speaking ethos.
Each of the teams formed their own “Criw Cymraeg” – or Welsh Crew – to encourage their fellow pupils to speak Welsh during their day-to-day school lives.
They’re the first three to receive the award this year, with more schools due to be announced soon.
They organised Welsh language morning assemblies, placed posters throughout their schools displaying useful Welsh phrases, and challenged staff and pupils alike to make use of Welsh.
Ysgol Penygelli
The Criw Cymraeg at Ysgol Penygelli, Coedpoeth, is made up of ten children from Year 3 through to 6, and they’ve been hard at work for more than a year.
As well as organising displays and weekly assemblies delivered in Welsh, pupils also designed their own logo – which has since taken pride of place on their official Criw Cymraeg t-shirts (see photo below).
The Criw also hand out Welsh Speaker of the Week certificates to fellow pupils for their use of Welsh, and take part in after-school clubs to encourage other pupils to use incidental Welsh – with the aim of them then making use of it during break and lunch times.
They also designed a brochure to be distributed to parents of new Nursery children starting school in September; planned an afternoon of Welsh activities encourgaing children to learn about Welsh culture; introduced key incidental Welsh phrases in a whole-school assembly, and much more.
Ysgol Heulfan
The Criw Cymraeg at Ysgol Heulfan, Gwersyllt, has a group of 14 pupils, who between them represent each of the classes at the school.
They helped to plan the recent school Eisteddfod, along with initiatives to promote Welsh language around the school more frequently – including running a weekly Welsh-language assembly to keep the rest of the school up-to-date on their new goals. They also challenge staff and pupils to make use of a different Welsh language phrase each week through their “Phrase Cymraeg” initiative.
Kerry Woodcock and Steph Barnes, Cymraeg Campus leader at Ysgol Heulfan, said: “They are a very enthusiastic bunch, we are very lucky to have such an enthusiastic Criw as this makes our jobs easier.”
Some of the comments from pupils on the work of the Criw Cymraeg include:
“The ‘Phrase Cymraeg’ has increased the amount of Welsh I hear, especially from the dinnerladies.”
“We love playing Welsh games – we are getting more competitive.”
“Lead by example! You use the phrases and then your friends will.”
“Encourage people to use more Welsh or the Phrase Cymraeg all the time.”
Ysgol Rhostyllen
The Criw Cymraeg at Ysgol Rhostyllen have been working really hard to make Welsh cool, with activities including listening to music from Welsh language bands such as Yws Gwynedd, Gwilym and Daniel Lloyd and Mr Pinc. The team researched each band and listened to them while working.
The Criw also set up Welsh language assemblies each Monday to chat to other pupils about each of the bands – and have even received messages from the bands and performers in question, congratulating them for their hard work and urging them to keep going!
Teacher Beth Williams said: “Cymraeg Campus has totally changed the way we learn Welsh and has finally managed to convince all pupils in our school that Welsh is cool! We have big plans for the future.”
All schools aim to achieve the bronze, silver and gold awards. In order to complete these awards schools are expected to complete challenging but attainable targets that will promote the Welsh ethos and use of the Welsh language in their schools.
“Congratulations to all those involved”
Cllr Phil Wynn, Lead Member for Education, said: “Congratulations to all those involved for their efforts and hard work with Cymraeg Campus – the Bronze Award was very well deserved, and thanks to their dedication, I’m sure those schools involved will certainly be on their way to winning at the next levels in the near future.
“Cymraeg Campus is an integral element of our Welsh Education Strategic Plan (WESP), as it ensures that we’re not just promoting efforts to speak the language at Welsh medium schools alone, but throughout all schools, at every level.”
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