Leaving the armed forces and entering civilian live isn’t always easy. In fact it can be one of the most difficult changes in life when routine and certainty is replaced by ambiguity and unpredictability.
You could easily apply that description to leaving full time employment in order to set up your own business.
So the Wrexham Enterprise Hub has combined the two crossroads to form a clear way forward.
“Veterans into Business” is a free nine week programme covering essential topics needed to start up your own business such as legal structures, business plans, fundraising and social media.
It takes place on Saturdays so those veterans in work can take advantage of this opportunity.
First session begins June 1 at 10am and the course finishes on July 27.
Cllr David Griffiths, Armed Forces Champion, said: “The organisers have come up with a great idea for those leaving active service to gain all the necessary skills to go into business for themselves now they are veterans. It’s a great idea and I hope many veterans take advantage of this great free course.”
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You can put clothes and shoes (shoes must be in pairs) in clear plastic bags – so our recycling team can see what’s in them – and if you leave these next to your other recycling, our team will take them away to be recycled.
However, larger textile items such as bedding and curtains should be taken to any of our three recycling centres, where you can also still take your clothes and shoes.
You can recycle plenty of other materials at our recycling centres too. Our recycling centres are at:
The Government’s Environment Audit Committee recently published the report ‘Fixing Fashion’ which highlighted some concerning figures around clothing being disposed of in the UK.
Around 300,000 tonnes of textile waste (which includes clothing) is put into household black bins each year, which is either sent to landfill or incinerated.
Our own figures show that in Wrexham, between April 2018 and March 2019, we found 6,281 tonnes of textile waste in our bin collections.
These national and local figures are equally troubling and they show there’s a lot of room for improvement, because there are much better options for your old clothes than putting them in your black bin.
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “Textile recycling is an area we need to get much better at in Wrexham, specifically regarding clothes and shoes.
“If you put clothes and shoes in clear plastic bags and leave them next to your other recycling on your collection day, we’ll recycle them for you…you don’t need to fill your black bin with these items.
“Before going straight to your black bin, stop and ask yourself “can I recycle this?”… because a lot of the time you’ll be able to recycle it, and this positive approach will help us get better at recycling in Wrexham.”
Change is needed
The Fixing Fashion report shows that the way we make, use and throw our clothes away is unsustainable.
With textile production contributing significantly to climate change and synthetic fibres causing problems in our oceans, change is needed.
Children and schools across Wrexham – listen up – can you design a school packed lunch that’s healthy and doesn’t involve any single-use plastics?
Our Healthy Schools Team and our Recycling Team, in partnership with the Caia Park Health Team and Wrexham Dietetic Department, have a great competition for you to get involved in…
The competition theme is ‘eat a rainbow’, so we want you to be creative and colourful when designing the lunch, but it’s very important to keep it healthy and plastic-free.
Entries must be no bigger than A4 size and can include drawings, photos and descriptions. Please include what you’d store, wrap and transport your lunch in too!
Also, use all food groups from the eatwell guide, try to focus on low sugar and salt foods, include at least one portion of fruit and vegetables, and a drink of milk or water must be included as well.
Categories are Reception-Year 2 and Year 3-Year 6. Be fun, imaginative, healthy and tasty 🙂
Entry details can be found further down.
“I can’t wait to see some of the designs”
Lunchtime is a very important part of the day, and now more than ever it’s important to be aware of what we’re eating and the packaging we’re throwing away.
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said: “I’ve stressed many times the importance young people and their schools have in helping us to reach our recycling targets, so it’s great to hear about this competition that encourages children to design healthy and plastic-free lunches.
“Our school catering service has made a number of positive changes such as replacing plastic forks with wooden ones that can be recycled as food waste and the children having been getting involved in recycling too.
“A lot of the time, it’s the children educating their parents about these things, which is great…I can’t wait to see some of the designs.”
The deadline for entries is noon on Friday, June 14.
Please state on each entry your name, year group and school 🙂
And remember, the categories are Reception-Year 2 and Year 3-Year 6.
There will be one winner from each category and the winners will receive prizes delivered to their schools. All winners and runner-ups will get certificates too and their posters will be displayed throughout Wrexham schools and included in leaflets.
What are single-use plastics?
Single-use plastics the hard-to-recycle stuff that tends to get used once, and then thrown away.
A great example of what might happen to plastics that aren’t recycled is shown in this video by Keep Britain Tidy of a poem by Steve Backshall, called Jemima Glitter and the voyage of Bob the Bottle.
Want to learn more about single-use plastics? Take our quiz and see how you get on.
For the first time since 2007, people in Rhos can hear the chimes of the Stiwt Clock after a mammoth community effort raised enough funds to restore the chimes and the clock.
An appeal for funds to do the works was launched in 2018 with a target of £10,000, which was supported by the community to the tune of £23,000! The appeal also marked 50 years since the closure of Hafod Colliery where many local people worked.
Other organisations also stepped in including Ysgol y Hafod, Ysgol Maes y Mynydd and Ysgol y Grango who raised money in several ways as did the Coop and Friends of the Stiwt.
Once £50,000 was raised CADW were approached and a grant of £50,000 was awarded. Work could now begin 🙂
The work was undertaken by Phillips and Curry and managed by the Stiwt’s Heritage Consultants, Tim Radcliffe Associates.
“Extremely proud of our achievements”
Brian Jones, Director/Truestee Stiwt Arts, said: “This is a very important building in our community and the restoration of the clock is the first project for us to return the Grade 2 listed building to its former glory. We are extremely proud of our achievements so far.”
Cllr David A Bithell Local Member for Johnstown and Member of Rhos Community Council said that Rhos Community Council pledged funding to start the project off and it’s been a great success and fantastic to see how the community can work together. Remembering history is very important and we are all pleased that the clock chimes again.
Photo shows Cllr David A Bithell, Rhos Community Council; Brian Jones, Director/Truestee Stiwt Arts and Leader of Wrexham Council; Cllr Mark Pritchard who attended an event to mark the restoration of the chimes recently.
The Stiwt was built in 1926 – the year of the General Strike – with a £20,000 capital grant from the Miners Welfare Association – the building is a symbol of the mining legacy of the area. Miners of the time contributed 1p per week, many from Hafod Colliery which closed in 1968.
“Unique historical record”
Originally the four-faced clock was hand wound every day. During the Second World War, after the winder climbed into the clock mechanism, he decided to chalk on the clock doors the dates and times of the air raids carried out on Rhos mountain. This unique historical record is still there today. In 1990 the mechanism was converted to electricity doing away with the need for it to be wound up daily.
The Trust also produced a video to help with the appeal:
The Stiwt is home to a beautiful 490 seat arch theatre plus three flexible event spaces, built and maintained by and for its local community. It was first opened on September 25, 1926 and completely refurbished and re-opened in 1999. The Stiwt is a registered charity and is run by the Stiwt Arts Trust Ltd.
If you’re looking for somewhere to hire for shows, events or room hire why not give them a call on 01978 841300 or email eirian@stiwt.com.
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The biggest music event in Wrexham is back with the start of FOCUS Wales tomorrow!
Taking place until Saturday, FOCUS Wales delivers an international showcase festival of emerging talent from Wales and across the world. Now in its 9th year it will welcome over 10,000 people to the town to see over 200 bands at venues across the town centre and host a jam packed programme of Interactive Industry Sessions, Stand-up Comedy, Arts events, and Film screenings, throughout the festival.
Acts announced for this year include Neck Deep, Boy Azooga, Kero Kero Bonito, 9Bach, Cate Le Bon, The Lovely Eggs, BC Camplight, Skindred, the Beths, Avi Buffalo, Islet, Snapped Ankles, Femme, Elan Catrin Parry, Lizzy Farrall….. too many to list here! You can take a look at the full line-up here.
But it’s not all about the music as it’s estimated that the festival brings with it an economic boost of almost £500,000 to the economy. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Cllr Terry Evans, Lead Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, said: “There’s no doubt that the hard work of the organisers of FOCUS Wales is bringing huge rewards to Wrexham and putting it firmly on the international stage of music events. Once again I wish them the very best of luck in what promises to be another successful event.”
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Over the next few days thousands of music lovers and hundreds of bands from Wales and around the world will be making their way to Wrexham for the ninth FOCUS Wales festival.
The acclaimed international music event will take place at multiple venues around the town from Thursday to Saturday this week and, once again, Tŷ Pawb will be right at the heart of the action!
Tŷ Pawb will host three stages of live music, three days of interactive industry talks, a Bands FC art exhibition and it will also be the main box office HQ and collection site for festival passes.
Our food court, bar, shops and galleries will be open for business throughout the festival.
So whether you’ve already got your tickets, or if you fancy just coming along to sample some of the buzzing festival atmosphere, read on to find out what you can expect to see at Tŷ Pawb over the weekend.
Every day from 10.30am-5.30pm we’ll have FREE live music (no festival pass required) on the Shepherd’s Hut stage at the end of Tŷ Pawb’s food court.
See the official FOCUS Wales guide for the full line-up.
Free Bands FC exhibition
You’ll be able to catch Bands FC’s first ever exhibition in Wales during FOCUS Wales at Gallery 2 in Tŷ Pawb!
What is Bands FC? Bands as Football Teams, Football Teams as Bands. It’s simple but very effective! Take a look at their website for a taste of what to expect.
The exhibition is free on all three days of the festival but please note access will be restricted for conference events on Thursday and Friday 11am-12pm and 2pm-3pm.
2 stages of live music every night
If the daytime entertainment gets you in the mood for more, you might want to grab a pass for the evening entertainment!
There will be top bands performing on the People’s Square stage and in the Performance Space on all three nights of the festival from 5.30pm till late.
Visit the FOCUS Wales website for more information on festival passes and the full line up of performers for the evening events.
Interactive Conferences
There’s a full timetable of interactive events taking place in Tŷ Pawb’s Performance Space each day of the festival.
Activities will include panels and discussions with experts from all sectors of the music industry, as well as ‘speed meeting’ networking sessions.
Topics will include everything from promoting your music on social media to the future of independent music venues. There’s even a talk with Bethan Elfyn and Huw Stephens covering ’20 Years of Welsh Music’ on the Saturday!
You’ll need a festival pass to attend the conference events. More info here
See the full list of FOCUS Wales events
The FOCUS Wales website has all sorts of ways for you to keep up with what’s happening where during the festival – including a festival app!
You can also pick up a copy of the official festival guide at Tŷ Pawb.
There is nowhere quite like Wrexham during FOCUS Wales! Make sure you don’t miss out on this amazing event!
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Wrexham General depart 06.35 Liverpool Lime Street arrive 07.59
Liverpool Lime Street depart 17.37 Wrexham General arrive 18.50
Wrexham General depart 19.09 Liverpool Lime Street arrive 20.14
The Saturday Timetable is:
Wrexham General depart 06.19 Liverpool Lime Street arrive 07.31
Liverpool Lime Street depart 17.37 Wrexham General arrive 18.39
Wrexham General depart 19.10 Liverpool Lime Street arrive 20.24
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said “This is great news and this service will be welcomed by rail users in Wrexham and North Wales. I hope it is the first of many new routes connecting the region with Liverpool, including Liverpool Airport.”
Steve Rotheram, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Metro Mayor, said: “One of the Combined Authority’s key priorities is the delivery of major improvements in connectivity for our area.
“The Halton Curve is one of many ambitious rail schemes across the Liverpool City Region that have been delivered by the Combined Authority, working together in partnership with a number of organisations.
“Thanks to this, there are now more frequent trains between Liverpool and Chester and the first direct services between the city and Wrexham since 1975.
“With future plans to expand further into North Wales and an aspiration for direct Liverpool to Cardiff services, this is just the start of us realising the potential benefits that re-opening the Halton Curve will bring.”
This new service will be in addition to a new service running hourly from Chester which will travel via Helsby, Frodsham and Runcorn.
In July 2017, work began on the much anticipated Halton Curve project following £14.4 million investment from the Local growth Deal and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority funded scheme to re-open the 1.5 miles of track to regular passenger services between Liverpool, Cheshire and North Wales.
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For the past three years, we’ve conducted a Welsh language survey to get the views of Welsh speakers in the county borough about how they prefer to communicate with and access information from us. The survey also asked them which language they used socially and in the workplace and how often they spoke Welsh.
The latest survey took place over February and March and the results are now in.
Encouragingly the survey suggests an increase in people contacting the council in Welsh.
Over the past three years, there has also been a steady increase in the number of people contacting the council via social media and the website in Welsh.
We’ve listened…
One point that was highlighted in the last two annual surveys, was that people feel it’s important for bilingual staff to clearly identify themselves as a Welsh speaker. Because of this, we’ve issued all Welsh-speaking staff with a lanyard which incorporates the ‘Work Welsh’ orange logo.
In the survey, it was also identified that some people didn’t realise that the council provides services bilingually. As a result, we’ll be working on promoting our Welsh language services and raising awareness amongst Welsh language speakers.
A number of comments were made about the lack of Welsh speaking staff members within certain departments. Therefore, we’ll be looking at our new and vacant posts list and identifying gaps in service delivery to ensure that we have sufficient Welsh speakers in all departments.
Work to be done
We know there is work to be done to improve, and to ensure this happens we are setting up an online focus group of local Welsh speakers to help us better understand the barriers they may face when using Welsh in the wider community.
Cllr Hugh Jones, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for the Welsh Language at Wrexham Council said “I’m pleased that we are seeing an increase in the number of people choosing to contact us in Welsh and I’m particularly encouraged to see an increase online as this is an area where we’ve concentrated on in the last few years. It’s important that we give our Welsh speaking residents as many opportunities as possible to contact us in the language of their choice. I hope that many of our residents will take up the offer of becoming part of the focus group so that we can views and comments from as wide cross-section of our Welsh speaking community as possible”.
If you would like to be part of this online focus group please get in touch with us at cymraeg@wrexham.gov.uk
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One of the world’s most prestigious art exhibitions has just opened- and Tŷ Pawb is playing a lead role in getting Welsh art involved!
La Biennale takes place in Venice every two years. Established in 1895, the Biennale has an attendance today of over 500,000 visitors across its main sites.
Wales in Venice has been a part of this key marker in the art world calendar since 2003. It’s a chance to present the most significant and timely artists associated with Wales to an international audience.
Last year, we announced the exciting news that Tŷ Pawb had been chosen as the Lead Organisation for Wales in Venice 2019.
Sean Edwards is representing Wales in Venice this year. His presentation at La Biennale is led by Tŷ Pawb, working with international curator, Marie-Anne McQuay.
Sean’s exhibition, Undo Things Done, is his most ambitious and emotionally resonant to date; a poetic enquiry into place, politics and class intertwined with personal histories.
Sean’s presentation also features a radio play, Refrain, co-produced with National Theatre Wales. It is performed daily by Sean’s mother and broadcast live from her home in Cardiff into Sean’s exhibition at the Venice Biennale.
Refrain will also be presented as a Wales wide radio project in November by National Theatre Wales and Tŷ Pawb in the final month of the Biennale.
‘A first for Wrexham’
Tŷ Pawb’s involvement with Wales in Venice is a first for Wrexham and presents a unique opportunity to become established internationally as a centre of excellence for the Arts.
As Lead Organisation, we are also delighted that Sean’s exhibition will be coming here to Wrexham in 2020 – the first presentation in Wales and the wider UK. This will be another huge step in helping to put Tŷ Pawb and Wrexham on the international arts map.
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 be selected 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 outstanding 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.”
International recognition for Tŷ Pawb
Lead Member for Communities, Partnerships, Public Protection and Community Safety, Cllr 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 on his stunning and moving solo exhibition for Wales in Venice. We are all looking forward to bringing his work back to Wales to be shown at Tŷ Pawb in 2020.”
Sean Edwards’ Wales in Venice presentation will be on show at La Biennale from May 11 – November 24 2019. It’s already attracting lots of coverage in the international press. Definitely one to look out for over the coming months!
You can follow Wales in Venice on social media to keep up to date with the day-to-day happenings from the exhibition:
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.
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