Wrexham and Chester didn’t make the shortlist of potential locations for one of Channel 4’s regional hubs.
The broadcaster announced its decision this afternoon.
Councillor Mark Pritchard, Leader of Wrexham Council, said: “We really put our heart and soul into this bid, so we’re disappointed we didn’t make the shortlist.
“The competition was incredibly fierce, but we felt we had something really unique to offer Channel 4, thanks to our partnership with Chester.
“We’re disappointed, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is still a brilliant location for creative businesses, and we’re really proud of our track record in attracting and supporting innovative companies.
“We will always be ambitious in trying to move Wrexham forward, and I’d like to thank the staff who’ve been involved with the bid.
“I’d also like to thank Channel 4 for giving towns and cities across the UK the chance to bid for this investment, and wish them well for the future.”
Wrexham library has a great selection of travel guides and phrase books to take with you on your holidays.
So, if you can’t decide where to go on your next break or you have already booked your holiday and want to learn about your destination, or you just want to escape to somewhere warmer and brighter through browsing a travel guide then visit Wrexham library for inspiration!
Struggling for room in your case? Don’t panic, you can download e-books and e-audio books to your mobile device or tablet before setting off!
If you have never borrowed a free e-book or e-audio book from your library, you have been missing out! Make sure you get your library card ready and download the app now. You will also need your library pin number, if you haven’t already got one just pop into your local library with proof of your address.
Last month we put out an appeal for local businesses to sign up to the “Safe Place” scheme to make sure that everyone visiting Wrexham can have a safe place where they can go to when if they’re feeling anxious, panicked, stressed or particularly vulnerable.
And we’re very pleased to tell you that over 20 businesses have now signed up and even more are completing their forms as we go to publish.
Cllr Joan Lowe, Lead Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said: “We’ve had an absolutely amazing response and I would like to thank everyone who has come forward to offer help under this very important scheme.”
The “Safe Place” initiative is being run by SWS (Standards of Wrexham Services) and is part of a national scheme. It gives people the security of knowing they, or people they care about, have a safe place to go in times of need. The safe place can be a shop, pub, library, council building or any place that is publicly available. A sticker will identify the place as a “Safe Place” and it will also appear in the national database.
Users will be registered and will carry a “Safe Places Card” with telephone numbers on which they should always have with them. Once in a “Safe Place” staff will be able to use the telephone numbers to ring a family member or close friend to come and provide support.
All training is provided by SWS and will last no more than 20 minutes.
Places already signed up are Boots Eagles Meadow, The entertainer , Martin Reese Jewellers, Starbucks Eagles Meadow, The Lemon Tree, Yellow Cars Taxi Travel and Sweets, Contact Wrexham, Avow, Dewis CIL, Wrexham Library , Rhos Library, Ruabon Library, Coedpoeth Library, Brynteg Library, Rhos Library, Cefn Mawr Library, Llay Park Resource Centre, Gwersyllt Resource Centre, Cunliffe Centre, Greenacres WCBC, Chirk Library.
There’ll be plenty of activities for all ages at Tŷ Pawb this week!
Whether it’s children’s crafts or live music you’re after, or if you just fancy a browse around the markets and galleries and a bite to eat at the food court.
Here’s the full list of activities and events this week:
Tuesday
1pm-3pm Childen’s activities Part of Love Your Markets festival.
Wednesday
1pm-3pm Childen’s activities Part of Love Your Markets festival.
Thursday
(please note – our children’s dance sessions, including Mini Movers and Junior Dance, will return next week)
All Day – Treasure Hunt Part of Love Your Markets festival.
1pm-2pm – Free lunchtime concert 4Square, a wonderfully talented string quartet will be performing in the People’s Square.
1pm-2pm – Mindfulness Drawing An activity to encourage calmness, happiness and creativity.
1pm-2pm – Men’s Sheds Take part in craft and design activities, play a board game or just to have a chat over coffee.
1pm-2pm – Tea, coffee, conversation and drawing activity Does what it says on the tin! Come along to Gallery 2 to join in.
6.30pm-8.30pm – Life Drawing Session An untutored session working from a life model. Cost is £11 per session. A concession rate of £8 is also available.
7.00pm-9.30pm – Open Mic Our second Open Mic event in the People’s Square! Open to poets, musicians and comedians. Turn up at 7pm if you’d like to put your name down to perform.
Saturday
10.00am-12.00pm – Saturday Art Club Get creative with a range of different activities every Saturday. For children 7-11 years. £6 per session (£4 siblings).
All week
Scavenger Hunt Throughout half term, children can take part in our Scavanger Hunt around Tŷ Pawb, inspired by our current exhibition, ‘Is This Planet Earth?’.
How to book a place
If you’d like to come to any of the events listed above, book your place by phoning Tŷ Pawb on 01978 292093 or email: typawb@wrexham.gov.uk
Making sure kids get the chance to explore the great outdoors is incredibly important.
So when the weather got as bright as it did earlier this week, we thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up!
Our Environment Team joined schools in the Caia Park area and Keep Wales Tidy at Caia Community Woods for a day of bug-hunting and litter-picking.
Children were provided with bug jars – equipped with magnifying glasses so they could examine their finds – by Alasdair Thomson from our Ranger Service, and litter pickers by Shane Hughes of Keep Wales Tidy.
Pupils from Ysgol Hafod Y Wern and the Wrexham Early Years Centre scoured the woods and neighbouring grass for bugs and litter.
After catching and examining a number of creepy-crawlies and clearing litter from the community woods, the children settled on the grass for a well-deserved picnic.
The event marked 10 years since the start of the Welsh Government’s Plant! scheme, which was set up to create a national forest of native broadleaved trees by planting a tree for every child born or adopted in Wales since January 1, 2008. The scheme funded the planting of Caia Community Woods in 2011.
The event was also attended by representatives from the Plant! scheme and Cllr Ron Prince, ward member for Cartrefle.
“Fantastic to see children involved”
Councillor David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “It’s fantastic to see children getting involved in caring for their local environment and taking an interest in nature and wildlife.
“This event highlights some of the important work we’ve undertaken to improve the quality of our green spaces.”
The town centre is gearing up for the popular monthly Street Festival and this month it promises to be another cracker, with live entertainment, street food, street bar, children’s activities, craft and artisan food stalls!
The fun starts at 10am, with the live entertainment starting at 11.00 on the main stage in Henblas Street. Amy Dickin, Dancing Shoes, Gary Rowley, Ifton Colliery Brass Band, Wrexham Singing Hands and Sian Griffiths are all booked and ready to entertain visitors.
Techniquest will be open for you to take a look around, this month they have: an installation from British Ironwork Centre, Diddy Car races which allow participants the opportunity to win a Diddy Car, Science Busking, local guides and brownies information stand, a Robot themed area with a special appearance from a guest robot (from the university). There is free table tennis available too, and we have put together some information on the science behind table tennis, looking at spin, force and velocity. The pop-up planetarium will be offering tours of the night sky throughout the day.
New for this month – 20 amazing hand-decorated goody bags are up for grabs, with 10 at Ms Flamingo stall on a first come first served basis. Where the remaining 10 are will remain a mystery until Saturday morning. Local businesses have given generously to the bags and thanks must go to:
Martin Rees Jewellers
Aballu
Abode Above
Geckos
A Touch of Class
The Lemon Tree
Just Desserts
Quaintways
Sweets and Treats
Dot to Dot café
Bev’s Been Baking
Emz Cakes
Ms Flamingo
There will also be a weaving demonstration and chance to have a go yourself, on the tWIG Gallery stand.
“Not for the faint hearted”
For the more energetic a 135ft climb up the impressive St Giles Church tower, one of the Seven Wonders of Wales, will thrill with amazing views of Wrexham and you can see as far as the Berwyn Hills, the Mersey Estuary and the Cheshire Plains. You need to be fit for this one though as it’s not for the faint hearted – all for just £4.
The Street Festival is brought to you through a partnership between the Wrexham Business Group CIC, Wrexham Savers and Wrexham Matters, local businesses and volunteers.
The sheep at Tŷ Mawr will be getting their annual shearing on Thursday 31 May and you’ll also be able to learn about the different ways in which wool has been used over the years, have a go at some wool craft yourself and take a tractor ride down to the fields where the sheep live when not being sheared. The fleece from the sheep will be for sale on the day.
Both events are from 1:30pm to 3:30pm and some charges apply.
There’s also free tennis coaching sessions available at Acton Park on Tuesday 29th May and Bellevue Park (ages 6-14yrs) on Thursday 31 May. Both sessions are from 1:30pm to 3:30pm just pop down the tennis courts on the day.
We’ve got some exciting news from Wrexham’s new Markets, Community and Arts hub…
Tŷ Pawb has been just been announced as the Lead Organisation for Artist, Sean Edwards’ presentation for Wales in Venice 2019 at the 58th International Art Exhibition, the Venice Biennale.
The Venice Biennale is one of the largest and most prestigious international art exhibitions in the world!
Wales in Venice has been a part of this Exhibition since 2003. It’s a chance to present the most exciting and creative artists associated with Wales to an international audience.
Wales in Venice 2019 is commissioned by Arts Council Wales and delivered by lead organisation Tŷ Pawb with guest Exhibition Director Marie-Anne McQuay and Assistant Curator Louise Hobson.
The presentation in Venice includes a co-production by National Theatre Wales and is supported by Bluecoat, Liverpool. Funders: Arts Council Wales, the Art Fund, Contemporary Arts Society Wales.
Sean Edwards’ presentation is curated by Marie-Anne McQuay, international curator and Head of Programme at Bluecoat, Liverpool, in partnership with Tŷ Pawb.
His work was selected following an open call for proposals in March 2018.
Jo Marsh, Arts Lead for Wrexham County Borough Council and Creative Director for Tŷ Pawb said: “It is a huge honour for Tŷ Pawb to have been announced as Lead Organisation for Wales in Venice 2019, this is a fantastic opportunity for the organisation and for Wrexham.
“Through working with Sean Edwards and Marie-Anne McQuay on this exciting project, we will be flying the flag for Welsh arts, and bringing an international limelight to Wrexham and Tŷ Pawb.
“As lead organisation Tŷ Pawb will have the chance to shape the delivery of both the exhibition and public programme, keeping our ethos of inclusivity at heart.”
Sean Edwards
A chance to see the work of an award winning Welsh artist
Sean Edwards’ proposal will see the creation of a major new body of work that will foreground his interest in social class and the everyday, influenced by his own experiences of growing up on a council estate on the outskirts of Cardiff in the 1980s.
Sean studied at the Cardiff School of Art & Design and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Since then he has continually contributed to the development of the Welsh artistic landscape through his own artistic practice and through supporting the development of emerging artists. He is now a lecturer in Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art and Design.
In 2014 he was awarded the Gold Medal in Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod and is also a former recipient of Arts Council of Wales’s Creative Wales Awards.
The exhibition is commissioned and managed by Arts Council of Wales with support of grant in aid from the Welsh Government.
Lead Member for Communities, Partnerships, Public Protection and Community Safety, Clr Hugh Jones, said: “To be raising the international profile of Tŷ Pawb so recently after opening is extremely significant, setting out our stall at such a prestigious event as the Venice Biennale.
“On behalf of the whole of Wrexham I would like to congratulate Sean Edwards for being selected. We are all looking forward to bringing his work back to Wales to be shown at Tŷ Pawb in 2020.”
An opportunity ‘beyond belief’
On being selected for Wales in Venice, Sean Edwards said: “I am delighted to have been selected to represent Wales in Venice. I look forward to working with the outstanding team at Tŷ Pawb, independent producer Louise Hobson and again with curator Marie-Anne McQuay.
“To have the opportunity to produce the exhibition I proposed during the section process is one thing in itself, to be able to do this under the banner of Wales in Venice is an opportunity almost beyond belief.”
Marie-Anne McQuay, International Curator and Head of Programme at Bluecoat, Liverpool said: “After a long and productive curator-artist relationship here at Bluecoat and previously at Spike Island I am so pleased to be working with Sean Edwards once more and this time on something as prestigious as Wales in Venice 2019.
“Edwards is one of Wales’ and the UK’s leading artists under forty and I know that he will realise an exhibition which will resonate in the contemporary moment. Our enduring partnership with Tŷ Pawb will also give the project depth and reach within Wales and beyond.”
If you didn’t sign up to our mailing list by Thursday, May 24 we might not be able to send you these news round-ups or other really useful things like bin reminders and job adverts.
For the last fourteen years, Ian has worked in leadership roles at public organisations in places such as Manchester, Merseyside and North East Wales.
Since 2014, he has been at our neighbours at Flintshire County Council, as a Chief Officer leading on changes to a number of big, strategic programmes.
“Really excited about new opportunities at Wrexham”
A resident of Wrexham, the new post will be a welcome professional return for Ian to his home turf.
Ian said: “I am really excited about the new opportunities I have here at Wrexham. It’s my local council, and while I know there will be challenges to come, I relish the prospect of working with everyone here for the benefit of everyone in Wrexham.
“As a committed public servant with more than 25 years’ experience, I know I’ve a lot to bring to the role and I’m ready to face the challenges the role might bring.
Cllr Mark Pritchard, Leader of Wrexham Council, said: “We’re obviously very pleased with Ian’s appointment, and look forward to working with him from later this year.
“I’d like to thank all those elected members who sat on the Appointments Panel for their help during the appointments process, along with interim Chief Executive Clare Field and our teams in HR and Legal.”
