Maggie

I've had to set up a Flickr account for the Big Local project, and have put some of my pics on it. Thy were mainly ones of housing estates and public buildings for the project so nothing like as nice as the ones on here. I think I have set up the group (Gobowen, St Martins and Weston Rhyn Big Local) so that anyone can contribute so please do, with comments, new pictures etc .http://www.flickr.com/groups/1919594@N23/

Don't forget one of the most important hillforts in the world.

Wow well done all of you. I imagine there was a lot of hard work involved with this so glad it paid off.

Our little Big Local group did a leaflet just before Christmas with groups in all three villages listed, as we knew them at that stage. We want to keep that info updated. Think they went out with each local newsletter delivery. I've still got some in a box if you can think of anywhere to leave them, andalso might be a good idea to get the text list put onto this site; what do you think? Would it be possible to keep an open file for update by everyone on this site?

'Simple Simon', one of the members on this site, seems to be a good graphic designer.

Out the back of the school they have a big long area with trees and open spaces, and areas for activities, we had an LJC at the school once and I was surprised at how much land the school had, and how they were using it.

There is a new thread in Gobowen section called 'What's Gobowen Got', and it seems a good idea to think about everything we have in Weston Rhyn too. Kicking off with Bus service Primary School Post Office Village Institute Football pitch

There were over 1000 images by the time the competition closed. They weren't your usual cute sort of pictures of pampered dogs but pictures of active doggy dogs living a doggy life to the full, so I would imagine chosing just one of these dogs as a winner would be a very difficult task. We entered our dog. As in much of the canal forum stuff on line those joining in tended to be mainly from 'down south', and I didn't spot any local dogs but there were lots so I could easily have missed them. No word as yet about winners etc.

It's got a lot: Library, easy (very) links in and out for work (A5 and Railway). Heritage Scenery Wildlife what is that lovely oast house(?) behind the pub used for? Forest school at school

Well, I'm off to Newstead near Nottingham on Tuesday, for one of the free meetings organised by Big Local. Newstead won £400,000 from a Village SOS project and were on the telly ?last year about their ideas for regeneration (fishing pools and a music festival). They have turned waste land into a nature reserve and are building an 'earth' centre (i.e. earth in tyre construction) http://www.villageso...ct=all-activity Hope to learn a lot. :) (there is a bit of the BBC film on the SOS site, but I don't seem able to embed it in Community online: It is very interesting, and reminded me of what St Martins has tried to do on a smaller scale with Ifton Meadows and Arthans Pool.)

http://youtu.be/AICDkxz-CJo New song

Report in Shropshire Star tonight about Selattyn Walking Festival May 12th and 13th. http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/01/26/walkers-to-enjoy-new-shropshire-way-extension to celebrate the opening of the extension to the Shropshire way and the walks out from Oswestry. Has anyone got any further information?

Cllr Bill Jenkins died at home in St Martins on Sunday morning. He will be very much missed by all the various community groups and councils on which he has served over many years. He was born in St Martins and served his apprenticeship down Ifton Mine. He was a borough councillor for Oswestry for 16 years, and was made an Alderman for his services. He also served as a county councillor. More recently he has served as a parish councillor for Weston Rhyn, has been active in getting the Flood and Water forums off the ground in the area, and in forming new residents groups in the villages of Weston Rhyn and St Martins. His sense of commitment to the people of the area, and his strong belief in fairness for all is rooted in his membership of the Labour Party. His work was honoured by the Labour party a few years ago when he was presented with a plaque by Ian Lucas MP at a special ceremony. The Funeral will take place on Thursday 2nd February: 11 o/c at the Ellesmere Road Chapel, St Martins 12 noon at the Crematorium, Wrexham and afterwards at the Miners Institute, St Martins Bill is survived by Mary his wife and Sue his daughter They have requested red ties/ scarves, and red roses to be worn if possible No other dress code is specified, just respectful Sleep well Cllr Jenkins; You are leaving a big gap amongst us all in the three villages, and we will remember you by all the things you did to make this a better place.

http://www.earthcam.com/cams/iceland/reykjavik/ This is another amazing site to see auroras. It is the Peace Tower that Yoko Ono made as a memorial to John Lennon, and is a big Laser. When it is snowy and there are northern lights it is very beautiful. (But looks cloudy this evening).

Yep, Incoming CME (coronal mass ejection), first wave hit at 3 p.m.,and there were big ground current surges in Norway; looks to be the biggest one we have had in years, and bigger than the one that gave us a glancing blow a couple of night ago (with auroras seen in northern England). But I bet it will be cloudy and we won't get to see anything. Look for greenish lights in the sky to the north. A long exposure with your camera may pick out more. 2 nights ago the interference caused radio feeds from remote earthquake monitoring equipment in Iceland to stop for a while, and internet problems were felt across the northern parts of Europe and North America. This one is bigger. One of my favourite sites is http://www.spaceweather.com/ which has a real time map of the extent southwards of the northern lights, it's pretty big already (5.30). Apparently one problem they are all expecting is that satellites will reboot. Would be great if we saw northern lights in Shropshire.

Here is the latest newsletter from Big Local national organisation: http://cdf.msgfocus.com/q/12gGAmSSkRdRQ/wv There is a lot of stuff in it that is not really relevant to this forum, and as usual notice of free courses which anyone in this area can attend, and their costs will be met. But I'm not going to clutter up this site by cutting and pasting onto here; have a look yourself if interested.

Yes! My miscopying from an obscure reference. Point proved.

Let the water out before trying to open the bottom gates? Know its tricky going down because you have to make sure enough water is coming down the locks with you so that the next one down is full enough to avoid getting stuck on cills between them. Simon, If you want to come along through Frankton Locks towing another narrow boat, at the end of March we would welcome your muscles (date not fined up yet for epic journey, but round about 28th or 29th going down, back a few days later). Part of the canal sculpture project, to deliver them to site by water, so exciting and also sustainable transport! Chirk Bank leg of the delivery looks like it will be posponed until later. I am NOT a fountain of anything and object to the slur. I have no idea whatsoever what optically simulated luminescence is, but suspect it involves eyes of toads and dancing around bonfires naked at full moon. Might be wrong though.

Brief Update: I have applied to LJC for some funding to get this off the ground, so I now need anyone who is interested to get in touch. I am thinking to physically start meetings after Easter, which gives time to put something in the Wren and to get a group of people together, and to get some ideas about what people want to do. I am wonderring what sort of time and days suit the most people?

I've got the book 'Wats Dyke Way Heritage Trail' by Pete Lewis, in front of me now. It goes from Llanymynech to Holywell roughly along the course of Wats Dyke, a Dark Age boundary rampart and ditch built at the turn of the 8th to 9th century AD. (and therefore just after the more famous Offas Dyke). The section we are interested in goes from Old Oswestry, dog legs off the line of the dyke around the footpaths past Pentre-wern so that it can cross the A5 by bridge, then down to the B5069, then into Gobowen, up old Chirk Rd, rt past church, along school lane to a kissing gate, then along footpaths until meet the Dyke again near Henlle Lane. The instructions around Gobowen are a bit confusing. (if you are interested then Henlle lane is an easily accessible section of the dyke where you can see that there is something impressive). The trail then follows more closely the line of the dyke, to Nefod, then it follows the right bank of the Ceiroig along the lanes and tracks, Rhyn Lane, Glynmorlas, through the wood to Pen-y-Bryn, then Plas y Coed, then Sodyllt Hall, where it does another big dog leg around the hall to end up opposite the Boot Inn and Erbistock, from where it follows the river to Overton Bridge. Once over the border into Wales the trail becomes more easy to understand; The book and the trail have been part of a Welsh Funded initiative. There is a website too: http://www.watsdykeway.org and an association! By the way, until the houses were built on the dyke in Gobowen no-one was very sure of the age of the dyke. Some people had thought it was Roman, others that it was a Dark Age structure. Archaeologists examined soil layers buried by the Dyke's construction using optically simulated luminescence and were able to give a date of beginning of the 9th century, thus solving THAT riddle.

Answered my own question about who the architect was: someone called T.Raffles Davidson. Quinta Church has a good website, where there is 'reprint' of old article about its history (and lots of other interesting stuff about the evangelical revival in Wales). He is renowned as architectural illustrator, did a lot of those iconic drawings of arts and crafts buildings etc, such as Lutyens houses, that you see around, and also books about buildings and style (Google him if interested)

No idea, but who is George Falconer? Suppose first place to ask would be Quinta Church. Does anyone know who the architect was? Always thought it had the look of some of the gothic victorian buildings in and around Chester.