Author Topic: Everything to do with Conwy  (Read 626921 times)

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Offline MrFalafel

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #75 on: October 26, 2010, 03:10:22 pm »
Yes, the Feast was great today! I'm still stuffed from eating so many wonderful things!

Did you find any Falafel's to eat?  L0L


Sadly no. One has to travel to London or make falafel oneself to get a good one. 
But the Indian ladies in a green kiosk in the castle parking lot sold the most amazing Indian street food. Proper idly in a sambar! I ate their twice. Best food I've had since visiting India last summer. I should have marched over to the Raj and grabbed the chef by the collar and led him to where the ladies were cooking to have them teach him how to cook proper Indian food :lol:

Offline Trojan

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #76 on: October 26, 2010, 05:53:20 pm »
And I'm going to plead the Fifth Amendment!!        $eu

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.   
 ¢¢##

Hmmmm....I know you're from London Yorkie. You don't happen to play the drums do you?


Offline DaveR

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #77 on: October 27, 2010, 12:26:48 pm »
Very disappointing news in the Pioneer today, that Conwy's Civic Hall is to close. I would suggest that, as closures of this nature become more widespread due to cutbacks, then it is time for the community to 'step up' and take over these facilities themselves by forming a non-profit group to run them....or lose them for good.


Curtain closes on Conwy Civic Hall
Published date: 27 October 2010 | Published by: David Waddington


Civic Hall by SnakeCorp, on Flickr

THE closure of a Conwy theatre has been mourned as ‘the end of an era’ by community groups.

Conwy Civic Hall will no longer be accepting bookings after December of this year, with all events already planned to be moved to alternative premises throughout the county.

In a letter to theatre groups and organisations who use the venue, Conwy County Borough Council confirmed the closure would save “at least £20,000 every year” but that the lounge area of the building would still be available during library opening hours.

Rhian Williams, Section Head for Culture and Information, said: “The future of the Civic Hall has been uncertain for many years, however, the decision to close was made in September as one of a number of measures given the current financial climate.
“There are a number of venues available for community use in the town and we will help groups to find the one that most suits their needs.”

Margaret Norwood of Civic Hall Amateur Players (CHAPS) was devastated by the news.

She said: “We’re absolutely dismayed that it’s such short notice. We will get to show our pantomime but we had already started talking about our next show.
“Teenz & Kidz aimed to do their panto in January and the North Wales One Act Play Festival booked their event for March.
“There is nothing like Conwy Civic Hall - it’s an essential community resource. It’s got everything.
"The future of CHAPS is now in question. We’re celebrating our 30th year this year and I’m pushing the fact that this might be our last pantomime because there is nowhere else for us to go.”

Alison Shaw of Conwy Folk Club said the closure marked “the end of an era” and would be “chipping away another little bit of culture” in the town.

Conwy’s popular four-day North Wales Bluegrass Festival may also be affected by the closure of the performance space.

Organiser of the event, Gill Williams, said: “It’s our main venue. With our capricious weather if it poured down with rain for four days we knew we could pack the people in the Civic Hall. It’s probable we will end up with a bigger marquee on our Bodlondeb site, but we won’t have the movement of the people from the site to the town, which is going to have an effect on businesses.

“The Civic Hall is the perfect size with room for 240 people, great lighting, excellent quality of sound - it does what a great little theatre supposed to do. And when it’s full and the music is going it’s got an amazing atmosphere. It really is a shame.”

http://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/94889/your-say-curtain-closes-on-conwy-civic-hall.aspx

Offline MrFalafel

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #78 on: October 28, 2010, 09:39:21 am »
Such a major impact to the town's culture just to save £20k? Seems like a savings that will do more harm than good. Such a shame :(

Offline DaveR

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #79 on: October 29, 2010, 10:03:45 am »
Such a major impact to the town's culture just to save £20k? Seems like a savings that will do more harm than good. Such a shame :(
Maybe CCBC are hoping that Conwy Town Council will take over the running of the Hall? And why not, its just the sort of thing they should be doing.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #80 on: November 02, 2010, 01:05:22 pm »
I see that the 'house on the hill' in Conwy, Bryn Corach, is up for sale:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31659338.html

Offline DaveR

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #81 on: November 02, 2010, 01:47:09 pm »
What;s interesting is that I've found out that the Council are in exclusive negotiations with a Developer with regard to the Civic Hall, Library and Quayside. Maybe that's the real reason they want to shut the Civic Hall?

Minutes:

The County Valuer and Asset Manager presented a report in order to obtain Members’ approval for the Council to enter into a Lock-out Agreement with a Developer for them to explore the development potential of the Library, Civic Hall and Quayside, Conwy.

Members agreed with the recommendation, but stated that the Lock-out Agreement should be no longer than six months.


http://modgoveng.conwy.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=547&MId=2498&Ver=4

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #82 on: November 02, 2010, 02:23:16 pm »
As I've already said I don't really concern myself with council issues.  Although I am becoming more interested the older I get. One question I'd like to ask is: While they're cutting funding and closing local much needed local amenities to save money such as the Civic Hall, schools and hospitals, are they curbing their own personal excessive spending for example dinner dances etc costing thousands of tax payers money. Their expences bill on the whole could be considerably reduced are they still recieving ridiculous bonuses and so on.  I'm only voicing my concerns to issues which have been thrust down my throat in local newspapers and the like, I want to see in the NWWN what cuts have been made to THEM. )*)&
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #83 on: November 02, 2010, 03:08:31 pm »
Just seen this on Oscars

Civic Hall - resist the closure meeting, in the Civic Hall tonight at 7:30pm
Be There please!
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Yorkie

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #84 on: November 02, 2010, 03:32:44 pm »

Hmmmm....I know you're from London Yorkie. You don't happen to play the drums do you?



No I just play the FOOL!   _))*

Offline DaveR

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #85 on: November 04, 2010, 06:19:24 pm »
Pleasing to see that so many people want to resist the closure plans. The ideal way forward is for a community group, formed of representatives of the hall's main users, to take over the premises themselves. How dare CCBC think they can casually close a community facility and just hand it over to a commercial developer - it sadly shows once again the arrogance of these people who think they are our masters...

A BATTLE plan has been drawn up by supporters of the Civic Hall in Conwy, who will fight to save it from closure.

A petition, Facebook page, letters to the council’s chief executive, a benefit concert and a sit down protest were some of the ideas mooted at the energetic meeting on Tuesday night.

Last week it emerged the Civic Hall has become one of the first victims of the spending cuts after Conwy County Council confirmed it would close it in December to save £20,000 a year.

Although the library will continue, the upstairs area used by local clubs will be shut. The downstairs lounge space will only be open during library opening hours.

The news came as a huge blow to the town as it’s the third largest performing space in the county, after Venue Cymru and Theatr Colwyn.

Conwy County Council has entered into a six-month agreement with an unnamed local hotelier which means the Civic Hall could be developed into a commercial enterprise if the authority approves of the firm’s ideas for it.

On Tuesday around 100 representatives from the user groups of the Civic Hall met to discuss the its future.

Many of the organisations who use it say the closure will mean the end for them too, as they can’t afford to rent anywhere else.

The meeting was also attended by town councillors and the mayor of Conwy Vicky Macdonald, who questioned why the local county councillors Tony Tobin and Joan Vaughan weren’t present.

She said: “We hadn’t been told of the closure. It’s been handled in a disingenuous way.”

The group discussed leasing the space from the local authority, and there were suggestions of raising the hire fees which have stayed the same since 1984.

Cllr Macdonald suggested Conwy Town Council could set some money aside from its budget to help fund it.

David Hughes, of the Civic Hall Amateur Players drama group, said to much cheering: “The council needs to step aside as we could do a better job of running it.”

And Sue Holt said: “We’ve got to get the community behind us and force the council to keep it open.”

Sian Lewis added: “We need to send letters to councillors, and Ken Finch, the acting chief executive, to show how much concern there is.

“Why not arrange a public meeting and invite them all here?”

Karen Roberts, chair of Kaleidoscope Drama Group in Deganwy, said: “If this hall closes there’s nowhere else for us to go. They’ve suggested Ysgol Aberconwy, but there are no dressing rooms there and you can’t lump all the children in one room because of child protection laws.

“We have 40 children on our books, as does the Teenz ‘n’ Kidz drama group.

“If it closes young Welsh stars like Elgan Llyr Thomas, the recent winner of the Bryn Terfel Scholarship, will not have the opportunity to learn how to perform.

“Rising stars like Elgan started with local drama groups. We could lose a generation of talent from the Conwy area.”

It was decided that a new committee will be formed made up of users. Queues formed of people eager to join.

As Phyllis Pritchard said: “The Aberconwy Historical Society has been coming here for 60 years.

“We’ve got to do something as they are just kicking us out onto the streets.”

Goronwy Edwards, Conwy's cabinet member for communities, was asked by the Weekly News why nothing was mentioned about the Civic Hall’s closure to Conwy Town Council during his recent visit there. He replied: “I was there to answer questions. If there is a group which wants to take it over who have viable ideas, then the door is open.”


http://www.northwalesweeklynews.co.uk/conwy-county-news/local-conwy-news/2010/11/04/campaign-launched-to-save-conwy-civic-hall-55243-27594572/

Offline DaveR

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #86 on: November 05, 2010, 08:49:55 am »
The group working to keep the Civic Hall open have now set up a Blog page:
http://saveconwycivichall.blogspot.com/

Offline Alison

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #87 on: November 05, 2010, 03:39:13 pm »
there's also a Facebook group called " Save Conwy Civic Hall"

Offline DaveR

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #88 on: November 05, 2010, 05:17:15 pm »
there's also a Facebook group called " Save Conwy Civic Hall"
Welcome to the Forum, Alison.  :)  I've found the link to the Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115157115214249

Offline Bellringer

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Re: Everything to do with Conwy
« Reply #89 on: November 06, 2010, 10:56:38 am »
Electricity cut in our part of Conwy this morning from just after 8 for the best part of a couple of hours. Anyone know what the cause was?

Upset our breakfast routine and had to search for the old kettle to put on the gas!!