Category: News

Legal eagles spread their wings

CYRIL JONES SOLICITORS WREXHAM-NEW PREMISES. Ppictured is Sian Fisher and Gareth Kelly from Cyril Jones's at the new premises in Wrexham.

One of Wales’s most respected and historic law firms is expanding.

Cyril Jones and Co (incorporating Stanley Williams) are preparing to open new offices in addition to their existing premises across the road in Grosvenor Road, Wrexham.

Three years ago the company merged with another Wrexham-based company, Stanley Williams and Co.

After riding the recession, partner Gareth Kelly says the move is a vote of confidence in the town – and in the future.

The firm, which also has an office in Shotton, has a long and distinguished record of providing legal services.

It was founded in 1919 by Cyril Jones, a veteran of the First World War.

Mr Jones represented the miners after the Gresford Mining Disaster of 1934 and was a Mayor of Wrexham.

He instructed Sir Stafford Cripps, barrister and radical left Labour MP, who offered his services free of charge to the Miners’ Union.

The company is still making history. Among those joining Mr Kelly at the new offices will be Sian Fisher, the first legal executive in North Wales to become a full partner at a law firm.

Since professional body rule changes in 2009 allowed Fellows of the Institute of Legal Executives to become full partners in law firms just one other person in Wales achieved the honour before Sian’s appointment was confirmed.

Mrs Fisher is the company’s expert in family law and specialises in matrimonial matters and helping people who need to secure Power of Attorney to sort out the finances of loved ones who suffer from either mental or physical capacity.

To cater for the increasing demand for Power of Attorney services Mrs Fisher revealed they will be running special seminars at the new premises.

Joining Mr Kelly and Mrs Fisher will be Marta Zembrowska, who spoke hardly any English when she arrived in Britain eight years ago has now trained to become the first Polish solicitor in Wales.

The new offices are being refurbished from top to bottom and should be open for business in August.

Mr Kelly said “We need to have more room to expand the business because the business is growing.

“We’re a long-established firm and we are constantly evolving with new ideas and new structures. This is another progression of the Cyril Jones and Co brand.

“We would like thank all our clients who have remained loyal to us over the years.

“We like to feel that when a client has come to Cyril Jones and Co they stay with us as many have for generations.

“I’m now dealing with grandchildren of people that I originally dealt with when I started here in 1984.

“We would not be able to offer the services that we offer without the very strong support that we have from our clients.

“This  expansion is down to them as well as being a vote of confidence in Wrexham and a vote of confidence in the future.”

Caption: Gareth Kelly and Sian Fisher

Tuesday June 21st, 2011

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Flintshire’s past ploughs £750K into its future

CADWYN CLWYD. Pictured is Cllr Matt Wright and Keira Derbighshire from Cadwyn Clwyd. CEIDIOG COMMUNICATIONS STORY.

A project that celebrates what makes Flintshire special has ploughed three-quarters of a million pounds into the county’s economy in the past two years.

Flintshire Sense of Place has been one of the biggest and most diverse of a raft of schemes totalling £2.4 million which have been run by rural regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd.

The money has come from the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007 – 2013, which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Agricultural fund for Rural Development.

Sense of Place Project Officer Keira Derbyshire has overseen almost 40 separate ventures to celebrate and commemorate the people, the history and the culture of one of the smallest but most diverse counties in Wales.

She said: “It’s been very exciting to be involved with this and to get down to the detail of what the people of Flintshire feel is special to them in terms of their heritage and culture.

“This is a county that is one of the most industrialised but which also has a thriving agricultural sector and a wealth of history from pre-Roman times through medieval castles and the industrial revolution to its part in the development of the atom bomb in the Second World War.”

The Sense of Place Project has seen major studies undertaken of Talacre and Gronant and Mold with a view to helping map out their future development and to realise their economic potential as well as a series of community booklets produced to celebrate eight different rural communities in the county.

Expenditure has ranged from £63,000 for the Talacre and Gronant Masterplan and £50,000 for Caergwrle Castle improvements to £1400 for Buckley Common Welcome Boards. One of the most significant projects has seen a series of eight booklets produced which describe the features and history of individual communities within the county.

These will provide a valuable resource both for local people and for tourists to the area while the research which has been involved in each booklet has involved all sections of the local community.

The last in the series covers Nercwys and was launched in March and it joins earlier works on Caerwys, Gwernaffield and Pantymwyn, Hope and Caergwrle, Whitford, Northop, Nannerch and Ysceifiog, all of them assembled in a special wallet.

Another scheme has seen a former shepherd’s cottage uncovered from the woodland at Coed Nercwys, involving local schoolchildren, the Forestry Commission and the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in reclaiming the ruined building and the walls of the paddock.

The paddock had been transformed into a wild flower meadow with its walls rebuilt in traditional style and a time capsule buried in its walls by children from Nercwys Primary School.

It’s not just the rural and agricultural heritage that has been celebrated – the shipbuilding traditions of Saltney Ferry have been commemorated in a spectacular piece of artwork on permanent display outside the town’s Morrisons supermarket. Funding releases through the Sense of Place project enabled local school students to get involved in the design features of the sculpture.

Keira Derbyshire added: “There will be funds available to progress much of the work that has been carried out with Community Key Fund grants to facilitate the development and improvement of village facilities.

“Flintshire County Council also has money approved for village enhancements, including streetscape enhancements, and this could be used to implement some of the recommendations made in the Talacre and Gronant Masterplan and the Mold Sense of Place Study.”

Tourism Partnership North Wales’s Regional Strategy Director Dewi Davies is delighted with the commitment to Flintshire and said: “There is so much that Flintshire has to offer from the moment visitors cross the border from the Dragon on the road embankment and the Flintshire Bridge.

“And there are characters too that make it what it is, people like Thomas Pennant, William Gladstone at Hawarden and Daniel Owen, of Mold, the Welsh Dickens.

“Then there’s the incredible scenery from the Dee Estuary rising up to Halkyn Mountain and the fantastic landscape of the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

“It all links very well with our Giants North Wales which covers the whole of the region.”

For all enquiries about Cadwyn Clwyd’s projects call 01824 705802 or e-mail to:adam.bishop@cadwynclwyd.co.uk" href="mailto:adam.bishop@cadwynclwyd.co.uk" target="_blank">admin@cadwynclwyd.co.uk

Caption: CADWYN CLWYD: Pictured is Flintshire County Councillor Matt Wright, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Tourism and a member of the Flintshire Rural Partnership, and Keira Derbyshire from Cadwyn Clwyd.

 

Tuesday June 21st, 2011

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Royal composers help festival shine

Paul and bbc sso 2 web 2

North Wales provides not just gold for royal weddings but musical gems.
Anglesey composer Paul Mealor’s sensational success with his composition for the Royal Wedding has catapulted him to international stardom.
But the St Asaph-born musician returns to his roots this Autumn when he appears as one of the star attractions at the North Wales International Music Festival between September 24 and October 1.
Described by the New York Times as “one of the most important composers to have emerged in Welsh choral music since William Mathias”, the similarities between the two ‘Royal’ composers are startling.
Professor William Mathias started the NWIMF at St Asaph Cathedral in 1972. He taught for a short while in a Scottish university, Edinburgh, and was commissioned to write the anthem for the wedding of Charles and Diana in July 1981. He also was a frequent visitor to the United States and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Westminster College Choir of Princeton in 1988.
Dr Mealor, who grew up in Connah’s Quay and on Anglesey, is currently reader in composition at a Scottish university, Aberdeen, is due to take up a residency in Princeton University, and his composition of Ubi Caritas for Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s wedding, has put him in the classical music charts. He also launched a music festival – Northop – about 11 years ago.
“My first experience of the North Wales International Music Festival was turning pages for Williams Mathias when I was 10 years old – and I got it wrong!” admits Paul.
His retired parents, Alfred and Patricia still live on Anglesey and Paul makes the seven hour drive home as often as he can and has a composing studio at Pentraeth.
Paul studied composition privately from an early age with John Pickard, and attended the University of York where he studied with Nicola LeFanu.
“I then went to the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen and studied with the distinguished composer, Hans Abrahamsen (1998-99),” he said.
After gaining his doctorate from York he moved to Scotland to teach at the University of Aberdeen, where he is currently Reader in Composition, and has held visiting professorships in composition at institutions in Scandinavia and the United States. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
According to Ann Atkinson, the Festival’s Artistic Director, the coincidences involving the two royal composers were uncanny.
She said: “The parallels between the careers of Paul Mealor and William Mathias are absolutely amazing.
“It just serves to underline the fact that Wales is blessed with fantastic musical talent and we are thrilled that will be providing a showcase for Paul Mealor’s brilliant compositions.”
Paul Mealor’s links with Wales are very strong, his great uncle George Williams was Mayor of St Asaph and he also has family in Cardiff and Barry.
From his time in Connah’s Quay he developed strong ties with the Northop Silver Band, in which he played euphonium and trombone and conducted the youth band.
“I’ve been back many times to the St Asaph festival. It’s fantastic that North Wales has all these great musical experiences on its doorstep, it’s just brilliant, some of the best choirs and orchestras so near.”
Next year he has plans to visit America where he will be working with choirs during his residency at Princeton and he is also trying to complete a CD for Decca for this October.
At the NWIMF in St Asaph he will be involved with talks, concerts and performances, and festival musical director Ann Atkinson and the festival’s resident ensemble, Ensemble Cymru, will be performing his works and works that inspired and influenced him including the superb ‘Lark Ascending’ by Vaughan Williams
Of course, visitors can also hear THAT work – Ubi Caritas – the Royal Wedding music sensation, which will be performed by the 25 members of the Aberdeen University Chamber Choir inside one of the best acoustic chambers in North Wales, St Asaph Cathedral.
That work, which has sold thousands of copies in the two weeks after the wedding, has already catapulted Paul to fame. “I was at the Classical Brits Awards the other evening and met Shirley Bassey and Katherine Jenkins, which was wonderful.
“The trip to Princeton (where he will work with the Westminster Choir)was already planned but since the wedding it has now been extended to include New York,” said Paul. There he will he will work with the Antioch Chamber Ensemble, widely regarded as the finest professional choral music ensembles in America.
But how did he come to compose the Royal Wedding “hit” because contrary to popular belief it was not commissioned.
“I think Prince William and Catherine heard a piece of mine called Now Sleeps The Crimson Petal (which will be performed at St Asaph). Catherine in particular loved the piece and wanted it for the wedding.
“But in conversation with people at the Abbey I said I felt the words were not right for a wedding and I decided to re-set it. I took Ubi Caritas and a re-worked it, re-set the structure and changed the key.
“I previewed it last October in St Andrew where it was performed by three university choirs and I don’t know whether they heard it or whether their friends heard it.”
Is he afraid he will be remembered for just the once piece of music – despite the fact he already has a formidable body of work to his name?
“William Walton was asked if he thought he would be remembered for his most famous work Façade and he said something like: ‘If I am remembered for anything I will be pleased.’
“I’m very grateful for the exposure it has given me and hopefully people will be encouraged to look at the other work. I don’t know whether I’m going to be remembered, you can’t worry about history.”
Ann Atkinson added: “Apart from Paul Mealor, we have a superb line-up this year and more details will be released about the other artistes in the coming weeks.”

Tuesday June 21st, 2011

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Island of love should get royal moniker

Tre-Ysgawen Hall Hotel, Anglesey

 

The “island of love” put on the world map by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should be re-named Royal Anglesey, according to a top hotelier.

Neil Rowlands believes Anglesey owes the royal couple a huge debt for generating “absolutely priceless” publicity.

So the Chief Executive of the 19th century Tre-ysgawen Country House Hotel and Spa, at Capel Coch, near Llangefni, says the majestic new moniker would be a way of recognising their immense contribution as well as the island’s other royal connections.

In fact, he’s so grateful to the Duke and Duchess that he is naming the bridal suite at the hotel in their honour.

Leading to the Cambridge Suite is the luxury hotel’s new specially-designed carpet which also has a royal theme – it’s emblazoned with Prince of Wales feathers.

As part of the tribute, the chef, Iwan Williams is now serving up royal wedding delicacies like Asparagus Tarts and Smoked Salmon Blinis.

It can all be washed down with Pol Roger NV Brut Reserve Champagne which was quaffed at Buckingham Palace on the big day.

Guests at the family-run hotel can also use a specially prepared itinerary to visit places with royal connections on Anglesey.

By an uncanny coincidence, the hotel has another link with the Royal Family.

Tre-ysgawen Hall recently played host to the Queen of Lesotho, the landlocked African country that’s twinned with Wales.

Prince Harry is patron of a charity that works in Lesotho and took his big brother out there to see it at first hand.

Other notable guests at the hotel have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Attenborough, along with pop stars JLS, Alicia Keyes and David Essex who got married at Tre-ysgawen Hall last year.

Hollywood superstar Demi Moore was a regular visitor when she was filming on Anglesey a few years ago.

But it is the “Kate and Wills” effect that has seen the popularity of Anglesey as a tourist hotspot skyrocketing.

The couple have now returned to live on the island while Flight Lieutenant Wales continues his tour of duty as a search and rescue pilot with 22 Squadron based at RAF Valley.

The regal nuptials at Westminster Abbey, in London, caused a global media frenzy and dozens of TV crews from around the world just couldn’t get enough of Anglesey.

As a result, Anglesey can now lay claim to being the UK’s most royal island with credentials dating back to the Tudors and the Plantagenet bad boy King John – not to mention the Welsh princes whose powerbase was on the island.

Mr Rowlands revealed the number of enquires and hits on the hotel’s website had “gone through the roof” since the couple’s arrival on the island.

He said: “We have TV crews from all over the world coming to Anglesey and, like Tre-ysgawen Hall Hotel, many businesses are inundated with bookings and requests for information.

 “You just cannot buy this level of positive global publicity – the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are fantastic news for the island in general and the hotel in particular.

“Re-naming the bridal suite and calling it the Cambridge Suite in their honour is the least we can do as our way of saying a genuine thank you.

“It will remind visitors that Anglesey is now the island of royal romance and love.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Mr Rowlands’ wife, Emma, a fellow director of the hotel.

She added:“The royal couple have obviously taken Anglesey to their hearts and Anglesonians have taken them to our hearts too.

“They are already proving to be fantastic ambassadors and the fact that they chose an Anglesey composer to write much of the music for their wedding speaks volumes about their love of the island.

“The Kate and Wills effect allied to our rich royal heritage which includes the Tudors and the Welsh Princes means we can now realistically claim to be the UK’s most royal island.

“Royal Berkshire and Royal Deeside in Scotland have already set the precedent and I think it would be entirely appropriate that we re-brand ourselves Royal Anglesey.”

Go on a royal tour

Anglesey can claim to be Britain’s most royal island with links to the royalty of England and Wales – from the Tudors and the Plantagenet bad boy King John to the Welsh princes whose powerbase was on the island.

Edward I built the last of his great castles at Beaumaris to dominate Anglesey, the traditional home of the Princes of Gwynedd whose own palace had been on the other side of the island at Aberffraw.

Just further down the coast near Cable Bay is Barclodiad y Gawres, the Neolithic burial place of a prehistoric king with its stunning views down the west coast towards the great sandy sweep of Llanddwyn, voted by the Sunday Times one of the ten best beaches in Europe.

On Llanddwyn Island, is the tiny church of St Dwynwen, daughter of the fifth century Celtic king and Wales’s patron saint of lovers while another royal princess has her coffin in Beaumaris Parish Church.

Siwan – or Joan – was a daughter of the notorious King John and was married to Llywelyn the Great. Her empty stone coffin has a plaque over it explaining that it was moved from the Priory of Llanfaes on the North Wales coast and had been used for many years as a horsewatering trough!

Also at Beaumaris is the Royal Anglesey Yacht Club which was granted its charter in 1885 by Queen Victoria who “danced the gallop” as a teenage visitor to the Marquess of Anglesey’s home at Plas Newydd, overlooking the Menai Straits.

The Marquess commanded the cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo where he lost a leg to a cannon ball and his blood-spattered trousers are still at the National Trust property along with his and the world’s first articulated wooden leg on which he walked six miles a day once he returned home.

Wales’s own great contribution to the cavalcade of royal history, the Tudors, came from Anglesey from Plas Penmynydd in the village of Penmynydd between Menai Bridge and Llangefni and there are Tudor tombs in the church and a Tudor rose in the stained glass windows.

A king’s ransom was lost on the coast of Anglesey when the ship the Royal Charter was wrecked off Moelfre in 1859 with the loss of over 450 lives as it brought Australian gold miners and the fortunes they had made home to Liverpool.

William and Kate’s own part in the life of the island is also part of the itinerary, you can visit Trearddur Bay where they named the new lifeboat.

Tuesday June 7th, 2011

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