Andrew Martin

A ‘uniquely talented’ young soprano won one of the main prizes at an international festival – just 24 hours after tending the sheep on the family farm.

Longstanding friend and performer of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Jools Holland wowed the crowd with energetic performance on the festival’s opening night.

The world’s leading rally drivers treated fans to an awe-inspiring display of high-speed thrills and spectacular sideways slides through the legendary north Wales forests today (5 October), as spectators celebrated the coronation of a homegrown British champion on the first full leg of Dayinsure Wales Rally GB.

A Llangollen photographer is aiming to depict the harsh realities of the hill sheep farming community as their livelihoods face the uncertainties of Brexit. Phil Hatcher-Moore’s work has been chosen for a prestigious new project on British identity called Art 50, a word-play on the European Union article required to begin the process of leaving the EU, whose Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) subsidies have provided a much-needed buttress for farmers.

A leading North Wales timber company has invested £100,000 in a new ‘green’ business, turning by-products from its main operations into fuels. Ruthin-based Clifford Jones Timber, which is run by a family from Wrexham, has also taken on four new staff to help run Hunter’s Fuels, the newly-formed company which aims to sell thousands of kilos of kiln-dried logs, kindling, briquettes and firelighters across the UK.

What is thought to be the first wine bar in Wales is raising a toast to a special vintage. The highly-popular Gales of Llangollen is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

A special train is to be put on to ensure football fans from North Wales can be in Cardiff to cheer on the national team.

THE road beneath Stansty railway bridge is to close for several weeks for maintenance – sparking concerns over ‘horrendous’ congestion elsewhere in the town. Wrexham Council confirmed yesterday that the B5101 will be closed from July 21 for a duration of six weeks as National Rail undertakes essential maintenance works on the railway bridge.

The fight to stop overhead cables being erected across parts of rural Conwy and Denbighshire is over. Members of the Pylon the Pressure action group have accepted defeat in their long-running battle against the proposal by SP Manweb.