Archif Newyddion / News Archive

October 2001

Fire at school. Posted Friday, October 26, 2001 by penllyn
Damage in excess of £50,000 has been caused to Ysgol Cymerau, the biggest primary school in the area at Pwllheli. The fire is being treated as suspicious by the fire investigation officers. Two fire appliances from Pwllheli and one from Abersoch attended the blaze that took 90 mins. to get under control. Nobody was injured by the fire but a great deal of damage was done to the school and resources.
The fire that started in the toilets spread to the reception and extensive damage was caused to the infants area and the classes of the first and second year pupils. The fire started early on Tuesday morning. The school is not expected to be opened on Monday as expected, but Elfed Griffiths the headmaster remained hopeful that temporary arrangements could be in place for the 340 pupils by Tuesday.

New local history resource Posted Friday, October 26, 2001 by penllyn
Three local schools are to take part in a new scheme to help preserve the histories of local people in audio and video. The schools at Penteuchaf, Llanbedrog and Crud Y Werin will be taking part in the scheme that has been put together by a partnership of local organisations, under the supervision of the local historian John Dilwyn Jones.
The nature of the project will involve local school children preparing and interviewing local people about their memories and stories about places like Nant Gwrtheyrn and Plas Glyn-Y-Weddw. The material will then be used as an invaluable historical resource by local schools and also transfered to video for sale to locals.
Nant Gwrtheyrn Trust Ltd, Plas Glyn-Y-Weddw, Bardsey island Trust, the National Trust, The Lloyd George museum and Ty Newydd Llanystumdwy. The scheme to be co-ordinated by Nant Gwrtheyrn is to be funded by the council with a grant of £9,870 that the council has received as part of the Environment Development Fund. (Assembly funding towards Wale's' areas of outstanding natural beauty).

Carry on Camping? Posted Friday, October 26, 2001 by penllyn
There were mixed signals this week regarding planning permissions and caravan sites. The owner of a'site' near Botwnnog who had lodged an appeal against a decision to close operations due to activity without seeking change of use permission was not upheld. Planning was, however, granted for an increase from six to ten caravans at Trefor. During the application in Trefor concerns were raised by many local councillors. The application was passed by a 9 to 6 vote.

Pistyll 'Twinned' with Edern Posted Friday, October 26, 2001 by penllyn
The old jokes about council workers only wearing out the handles of their shovels whilst leaning on them will finally have to be put to bed. There was evidence of extensive work being carried out recently after someone swapped road signs around in certain villages in Llyn. A sign welcoming people to Pistyll and asking motorists to drive carefully was now found welcoming people to Edern. People driving through Pistyll were welcomed to Edern. It is uncertain who was responsible for re-arranging the signs, but council workmen were quick to react and all is now back to normal.

Anthrax scare! Posted Tuesday, October 23, 2001 by penllyn
An Anthrax scare closed the Leisure centre in Pwllheli last week. A suspect package caused the building to be evacuated as council officials took every precaution with a package that contained a sports catalogue. The package turned out to be totally harmeless, with the 'white powder' turning out to be nothing more offensive than paper dust.
The whole building was evaquated apart from a group of pupils that were in the changing rooms. It was thought safer for them to stay put for about 2 hours rather then passing through the reception area where the sports catalogue had been opened. It remains doubtfull that anyone would seriously have focused on Pwllheli sports centre as the first location outside of America for an Anthrax attack, but you can't be too carefull , can you?.
Police and emergency services were soon on the scene but the area was again open to the public by late afternoon.

Ysgol Glan-Y-Mor Posted Monday, October 22, 2001 by penllyn
Ysgol Glan-Y-Mor Pwllheli are set to benefit from a £25,500 injection towards improving literacy and numeracy from the Lottery's new opportunity fund. £40.000 has been contributed by the local council towards the conversion of a Laboratory, into a new computer room. The Assembly has contributed £30,000 towards the purchase of Hardware and software, with a further £25,000 towards staffing costs.
It is envisaged that the room will be used by a 'homework club', allowing access to pupils after school hours to computers where they might not have access to at home. Another £40,655 was secured towards the running of 4 summer schools that will be run for 30 local primary schools during the next 3 years.

Ian Rush comes to town. Posted Saturday, October 20, 2001 by penllyn
Welsh soccer legends Ian Rush and Mark Azelwood will be attending a fudraising event at Pwllheli on Oct 25th. The special fundraising event at the Pwllheli conservative club will raise funds for Pwllheli Football Club. More information can be obtained by phoning Llyn Sports on 613523. (tickets cost £10)

Pwllheli rygby club Posted Saturday, October 20, 2001 by penllyn
Pwllheli rygby club is set to get a £9,000 boost towards coaching young teams based at the club at Efailnewydd. There are eight local companies who have pledged between £500-£1,000 each towards the scheme that has attracted money from the Sports council for Wales through the Sports match funding programme. The funding will go towards the clubs training and development programme. This has seen teams from 8 year olds to under 16s formed and trained at Bodegroes. The Club boast 250 junior members and a weomens team.

Community skips Posted Thursday, October 18, 2001 by penllyn
Community skips will be found this week at- Sarn, Llangwnnadl and Abersoch.

Local Government Changes Posted Thursday, October 11, 2001 by penllyn
Following the local Government act 2000, Gwynedd Council has sent out A4 leaflets to all householders in Gwynedd showing the four possible future structures for the council. The four options have been published in the local press and we won't waste time putting them up here. The Assembly has issued guidelines on how to 'consult' with the electorate before they come to a decision. Gwynedd council has, however, been critisised by the conservative Assembly member for North Wales over the layout of the leaflet sent out. He says that it could confuse people. We have read the leaflet and tend to agree that the leaflet is confusing, but the councils own preferance is clearly stated in BOLD TYPE.
More salient points were raised by retired local councillor Mr Thomas John Williams of Nefyn. Mr Williams said that it was impossible for people to express an opinion without being details of the costs involved under the different options. He also questioned the point of having 83 councillors when agroup of 20 were in charge. Gwynedd councils assistant policy director Arwel Ellis Jones stated that the costs would be the same whatever option was taken, and that all options would have to be kept within the agreed budget. (no 'slippage' there then Ed.)
The main aims of the local government Act July 2000 are to make local Government - Work more efficiently, make it clear who is responsible for decisions and to make decisions more quickly. Householders are being asked to make their preferances known by filling out the form by 31st of December, and to attach additional comments prior to the council deciding what option they will adopt. Web users can also send comments to enquiries@gwynedd.gov.uk
BOLD TYPE

No Bull! Posted Thursday, October 11, 2001 by penllyn
Members of Bîf Llyn have secured a three year grant worth £200,000 towards improving the quality of the stock. The grant will cover 50% of the costs of artificiall insemination and hiring bulls. The project starts next year .

Community Skip Posted Thursday, October 11, 2001 by penllyn
A Community Skip will be found next week (15th-19th) in- Pwllheli at North Quaycar park.

Objective 1 Posted Thursday, October 11, 2001 by penllyn
Concerns about the lack of objective 1 money reaching the area seem to be being raised by many people. In recent meetings with community councils in Criccieth and Aberdaron, local M.P. Hywel Williams had to agree that there seemed to be little evidence of money being used in the locality. Cllr. Robin Hughes of Criccieth is reported to have said that he had lost all faith in the Eifionydd Partnership, ( One of the regional 'bodies' set up to oversee projects by Gwynedd Councils Economic Development Dept.). He also said " As far as I can see all that has come from objective 1 is jobs for the boys and nothing more."
A similar body was set up for Llyn called Partneriaeth Pwllheli/Llyn following a public meeting in Pwllheli last year. The Director of Planning and Economic Development Henry Roberts Chaired the meeting. Initial 'fast track' mature projects were submitted and an ideas bank was set up to collect ideas. Amongst the first round of projects from October last year were- lifelong learning centres in Caernarfon and Blaeunau a community scheme for young people in Caernarfon, Expansion and development of the skills centre on the vaynol estate in Y Felinheli.
Cllr Richard Parry Hughes has made many requests in the press over the past year for people to come forward with ideas. Henry Roberts was reported in the C&D Herald 21-6-01 "It is important in a rural area that ideas are put forward in order to take full advantage of Objective one funding". There seems to be a problem somewhere in the beuracracy of this scheme. Private enterprise abounds with ideas but frankly the lethargy, lack of vision and attitude of some in local government, stifle ideas.
Some of the larger projects by North Wales Tourism, ELWa and the WDA will work over a large geographic area and they will roll out grant schemes that can be applied for over time. No doubt such plans will filter into Llyn and be of benefit. (One project by the WEA features in our next story.) The problem is that a year has passed and the assembly has thrown large wadges of objective one money towards these big organisations who are now wandering what to do with it. One out of the seven years of the programe have passed and the organisations that presided over low gdp and high unemployment have done very little to remedy the situation.
Objective 1 was given to us in Gwynedd because gdp is less than 75% of the European avarage. It was hoped that 6,710 jobs would be created by 2010. ( At present there are about 3,000 unemployed in Gwynedd.) Unless the powers that be at local and regional level get their act together we will fall ferther behind the rest of Europe. It is doubtfull that people will ever be held accountable for their inactivity, but the citizens and communities of Gwynedd will suffer the consequences of their actions.
Much was heard about the celtic tiger in Eire under objective one, this funding won't come again. This subject will be covered again by us but in the mean-time more information can be obtained at- http://www.wefo.wales.gov
or contact- objective1@gwynedd.gov.uk

Sarn Free I.T. Classes Posted Thursday, October 11, 2001 by penllyn
The new village hall in Sarn has been the venue for local people to come to grips with new technology. The Coleg Harlech W.E.A. have been running courses on a two day and two night basis. The seminars funded by objective one money are free of charge and around 80 local people have taken advantage of the opportunity. People of all ages are being taught a variety of skills. Bethan Russell Owen of the W.E.A. said " the response to the course goes to show how needed these skills are to the rural population in Llyn."
Other courses in the internet and web design are planned for the future. Penllyn .com welcomes these moves and hope that more people will be added to the numbers of local people involved in networking on a local level. As an aside we hope to see the 200+ a day visitors to our site increase and hope that all local businesses as they embrace this technology submit their new sites to our business directory. Also if you have any problems with the internet we are always ready to offer free, unbiased (if opinionated) help to all citizens of Llyn.

Local Government 'slippage' Posted Thursday, October 11, 2001 by penllyn
Warning bells were ringing loud at a recent meeting of Gwynedd councils principal scrutiny commitee. Corporate policy director Mr Ieuan Lewis spoke of concerns raised by the district auditor who said that unless matters that had been raised were addressed the council was in danger of losing capital resources such as grants. One of the main areas of concern regards 'slippage', a council term that equates to overspending. There was 'slippage' of £3million within a capital expenditure of £25million. An 8% overspend in the private sector would mean that heads would roll.
Mr Lewis is reported to have said- " The main reason for slippages include the lack of long term planning and weakness in the management procedure, such as a lack of management skills and lack of technical skills" The probable course of action will be to send people on managerial and skills courses at the tax payers expense. The policy department had asked all departments to cut back on the number of bids submitted.
Council Chief exec. Geraint Jones is reported to have said- " We have not lost any grant aid in the past due to slippage" To be fair to the council, 'slippage' does occur at other councils and we have no knowledge of other councils figures.

Council in the Dog House Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2001 by penllyn
A call has been made by Cllr. Alan Williams of Pwllheli to replace the dog warning signs in some parts of the town with a bigger version like those in Aberdaron. It appears as though dog owners in Pwllheli cannot read the small print on the anti-fouling signs.
Llanaelhaearn community councillors are also concerned after sending a letter dated 7th Sep. to the Officer in the Public Protection Dept. of the council. It was 'promised' that the Animal Warden would contact the community council, but nothing as yet had been heard, instigating another letter concerning dog fouling and No Fouling signs in Llanaelhaearn.

Foot & Mouth Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2001 by penllyn
Gwynedd council have unveiled the second part of their package to assist business following the downturn in business following the foot and mouth crisis. As part of a £1.8 million package, Gwynedd is looking at a range of schemes aimed at assisting some businesses facing financial difficulties.
Businesses associated with agriculture - blacksmiths, haulage, food processing. Tourist related - Hotels, craft shops, attractions, pubs and restauraunts, and other businesses that have suffered as a result of statutory restrictions.
Whilst this second round of aid is welcomed it shows a lack of support for those businesses that supply or service all of the above. Wholesalers and service industries, retailers and all sectors have been hit to varying degrees by the crisis. The mechanism put in place for applying for financial assistance is the same as that run in the spring and it would be interesting to see wether the same businesses apply this time as last, or will the assistance filter down supply chains and to the wider business community who have been affected.
Deadline for applications will be December 31st

Nefyn Allotments Posted Monday, October 8, 2001 by penllyn
Nefyn Community council have received notice from the Glynllifon Estate that the lease that has been held for over a hundred years on the allotments in Nefyn is up for renewal in 2002. The community council are to seek legal advice. Twenty one allotments will be affected and the council is sadened that this vital community resource may be under threat.

Pwllheli Market Square Posted Monday, October 8, 2001 by penllyn
Pwllheli Town Cllr. Evan John Hughes added his voice to the long list of people complaining about the setts in Market square. This subject has been reported here four times already this year and quite frankly wer'e getting sick of it. Evidently Gwynedd county council isn't, and is sticking to the - 'we dont have the funds' line yet again. Litigation by some of the unfortunate people who are seen all to regularly tripping up may be the only thing that gets things moving by the council.

Aberdaron Beach Meeting Posted Monday, October 8, 2001 by penllyn
A meeting will be held on Aberdaron beach on the 18th of this month between representatives of the community council and Gwynedd county council. Long standing concerns (5 years) over the boulders, bollards and railings will probably be discussed yet again. We will report the outcome and movement towards the resoloution of the problems when and if they come. Representatives from the sailing club, the Church and local fishermen have also been invited to the meeting.

Pwllheli CCTV Posted Saturday, October 6, 2001 by penllyn
The long running issue regarding the lack of funding for CCTV in Pwllheli continues. It appears as though the council has found the slow motion button or even the pause button on this issue. Pwllheli Town Cllr Ian Roberts is quoted to have said- " I have lost all faith in Gwynedd council, and I do feel as though we have been mislead over the years" - It seems as though the Cllr has finally seen the light-Ed..
Gwynedd's Chief Executives extra large 'in box' will shortly receive another letter from Pwllheli Town Council concerning this issue. A recently well reported injection of funds all over Wales yet again failed to reach as far as Pwllheli. The Chamber of Comerce and Town council have both been asking for CCTV for years. It seems as though the CCTV in the Marina will remain the only lenses focused on Pwllheli.
It was reported that the lack of funding for monitoring the screens was the problem with the project coming to Pwllheli's town center, even thogh funds for the capital costs of the equipment were available from the Home Office.

Pharmacist Shortage Posted Friday, October 5, 2001 by penllyn
A national shortage of pharmacists is causing concern in Pwllheli. In a recent Pwllheli Town council meeting, Cllr. Ian Roberts expressed concern at the fact that at certain times the chemists in the high street were not accepting prescriptions and forcing elderly people to walk all the way to the chemists in Cardiff Rd. to get their perscriptions filled. It was proposed that a letter be sent to the chemists owners L Rowland & Co., asking them to alternate the dispensing between the two locations.

Flu Clinics Posted Thursday, October 4, 2001 by penllyn
Clinics are to be held at Llanaelhaearn throughout this month for flu vaccinations. Phone 750514 for more details.

Pwllheli Caravan Park Posted Thursday, October 4, 2001 by penllyn
Pwllheli Town Cllr. Elfed Griffiths called for the establishment of a caravan Park possibly on land adjacent to the hafan development in Pwllheli. There is at presnt no facility of this kind within the confines of the town. The nearest sites would be at Penyberth or Abererch. Towns on the continent have such places within the towns confines and if people were going to be attracted to Pwllheli by sailing events and the like there would be a need for this kind of development.
Cllr. Wyn Elias backed his fellow councillor and said that there was already a need to cater for mobile homes, touring caravans and campers visiting Pwllheli. The Town council have sent a letter to this effect to Gwynedd council.

Community Skips Posted Thursday, October 4, 2001 by penllyn
Community skips will be found this week from the 6th-12th at- Tudweiliog, Llaniestyn and Nefyn.

Fire at pub Rhyd-y-Clafdy Posted Monday, October 1, 2001 by penllyn
A fire has destroyed a pub i Rhyd-y-clafdy near Pwllheli. It is beleived to have been a fatal fire with reports that a body of a woman has been found in the remains of the flat above Ty Hwnt i'r Afon. The fire was reported to Gwynedd fire service at 1.45 this morning but the fire was well established by the time fire crews arrived. An investigation is in progress. Fire Officer Terry Williams said it was too early to say what the reason for the fire was, and fire investigation officers were trying to find the reason for this tragic fire.
Adroddiad y BBC


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