Our local councils are trying to get us in some kind of shape. Denbighshire Council wants us to and Wrexham Council Council says at lunch times. Those in neighbouring Flintshire may be pleased to hear there have been no similar announcements made - yet!
Whilst these initiatives may be be helpful for those who need a gentle prod - it doesn't always work. In my gym I can't get on the machines for members of the local diet club, pre-op patients or GP referrals. And most of the time they're using the equipment to perch and chat, not to sweat off the calories.
There's a war of words going on between community leaders about the quality of shops in Denbigh. Some reckon the good shops are quitting the town, according to the , while others say talking down about Denbigh will make the situation worse. What do you think?
Do you realise just how big and popular the Colomendy outdoor centre - opposite Loggerheads Country Park - has become due to a £1m refit? I've been reading about it on because, of course, it's owned by Liverpool council.
The website says 75 Liverpool schools have signed up to visit the 130-acre site after adventure facilities were added, including Wales's longest zip wire. And a new climbing zone is said to be so impressive - scary more like, I've walked around it from the adjacent public footpath - that the Army apparently wants to train new recruits on it. What do you reckon to that?
Work to give run down Rhyl a new look along the front is gathering pace if photos showing the so-called development are anything to go by.
I suggest you bookmark the link to the webpage on as Denbighsire Council promise to keep it updated. It also includes links to showing the planned garden, children's play area, mini golf course, open-air theatre and paddling pool.
But not everyone thinks things are looking up for Rhyl as Will says: "I totaly disagree with everyone who has a good word for Rhyl." What do you think?
Village life is not as quiet as you might expect. Regular contributors who use the Cefn Mawr and Acrefair history sections can always be relied upon to come up with fascinating stories from the past.
Among the latest batch, David remembers the unsavory problems caused by migrating frogs; Huw shares photos and memories involving an escaped lion and a so-called red indian - plus the man who licked eyeballs to cure people's cateracts; and Marilynne talks about finding an ear in the Blue Bell pub in the '60s.
What do you think of a new mediation service which has been set up in Flintshire to bring together everyone in a community affected when young people are accused of causing trouble?
What happens is a trained co-ordinator enables community members, including the young people, and different agencies to look at the problem together and identify solutions by holding a so-called community conference. Project manager Pauline Bowe said: "This has successfully worked in Rochdale to resolve disputes within the neighbourhood."
You can read more about the service via the Flintshire Council website, . Do you have problems in your community and would you consider sitting around and talking about it with the young people concerned?
Marsh Residents Group in Rhyl successfully bid for money to regenerate the former tip site at nearby Glan Morfa. And now Denbighshire Countryside Service needs your suggestions on what should be done to make the area a countryside haven for wildlife and people.
Find out more via the council website, or tell us about your suggestions.
Welshman Glyn, a resident in the house on Channel 4, has come clean and confessed to cheating in an Urdd Welsh youth competition by copying some Welsh prose and passing it off as his own work. Tut, tut. I once won a box of pencils in rigged pass the parcel competition because I knew the boy stopping the music. You can apologise for past misdemeanors in our dedicated section, I'm sorry for everything.
So are we the least romantic people in the UK? A survey by on marriage proposals found that the once traditional romantic proposal is going out of fashion and that one in three couples simply "agree together" to get hitched. The survey found that 31 per cent agreed to get married without a proposal from either side. The least romantic place in the country is apparently North Wales, where 41 per cent had no proposal story to tell.
I recall a friend had planned to propose to his girlfriend atop a mountain in Switzerland on a skiing holiday. In the end, he blurted out his proposal in her parent's spare bedroom! Can you prove the survey wrong - are we an unromantic bunch?
You instantly fear the worse, don't you, when told that a friend or loved one is suffering from cancer. My wife was running in one of the 5km runs at the weekend and many of 6,000 entrants wore a note pinned to the chest carrying the name of a loved one who had died or was suffering from cancer. It was hard not to be moved by the touching messages.
And so it's great when we hear that people like Mike Peters do beat cancer. Plus Mike, singer with , has just announced he is to be a dad. Mike, married to Jules and who live in Dyserth, Denbighshire, with their son, Dylan, two, had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CCL), a cancer of white blood cells. Mike tells he feels "rejuvenated".
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Four of the country’s top Asian chefs, including Partha Mittra from the , Shotton, Flintshire, have produced a range of new dishes giving a spicy twist to traditional Anglo-Indian meals which they will be taking to the Indian sub-continent for a British fusion food festival, reports the Bangladesh online news source, .
Rev Mike Fryer, pastor of Mold Christian Fellowship, was on a fact-finding visit to Israel earlier this month, when he experienced for himself the horror of a rocket attack.
"The missile landed 200 yards from the school in Sderot where I was staying. The room shook but I was unhurt," he tells the .
There's an interesting, if a little heated, debate going on in the Flint section of this website about what it means to be Welsh. Some non Welsh speakers who were born here are saying they're not less Welsh than people who can speak the language - and that they can't help their Scouse-sounding accent.
Micky makes the point very well: "As I was born in Flint and have lived here all my life, I can guarantee you that this Scouse sounding accent is as Welsh as any accent in Wales. Not all accents from my country sound like Tom Jones you know, that's as preposterous as saying that you are only English if you speak like the Queen!"
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Wrexham Council is hosting a disability equality event tomorrow in the town centre to put the spotlight on equal rights for all []. Inclusion is the best way to teach understanding. It's been a learning experience seeing Pete, who has tourettes [] in the Channel 4 programme .
And a fascinating US TV programme called , lets us understand more about the life of a family of people of mixed height.
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It's interesting that the town of Mold didn't feature too well in the Flintshire Council 'best communities' competition in view of claims that residents from the town look down on their neighbours [see previous blog entry].
Residents of Buckley may will be celebrating getting one up on Mold by winning the category, best town centre. Meanwhile, best kept village (under 1,000 population) went to Gwobor Gyntaf, Trelawnyd, with runners up Ysceifiog, Nannerch and Llanasa, reports .
St Asaph is to have four CCTV cameras installed to bring extra safety to the streets and help police in combating crime, reports
Which are the run down and derelict buildings in Rhyl most in need of renovation? Let us know because one of the schemes to regenerate the area is asking people which buildings they think need the most help, according to . But we'd like to hear your suggestions too.
Four porpoises became stranded off Gronant Dunes, near Prestatyn, in separate incidents over the last two months highlighting the need for a greater understanding of the creatures, say wildlife officials. Denbighshire Council biodiversity officer offers advice on the council's own website if you spot one. Alternatively, or for more information about marine strandings in Wales, visit .
It's pretty much guaranteed that you'll have an opinion - one way or the other! - on our very own Chief Constable, who is maybe trying to improve his image by writing his own weblog.
The man who is never far from the headlines [try searching his name on reveals some interesting behind the scenes stories like making his first arrest of the year on Sunday.
Reading between the lines in the blog, I get the impression he knows he's not the most popular of people in North Wales, but maybe that comes with the job and is nothing to do with the man.
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We all know rivalry exists in some way between neighbouring towns. It's one way we can do a little bit of harmless ribbing with friends from the next community. But the issue is starting to take a more serious turn between locals discussing this point on the Flint mini site.
People from Mold, and I'm a resident too, are being accused of being snobs, looking down their noses at those from Flint. Do you agree, because I thought we were a friendly bunch? And where else does the rivalry exist between communities? Is it the same between Holywell and Flint; Ruthin and Denbigh; and Rhyl and Prestatyn?
My family comes from North Staffordshire originally where you were considered 'posh' if you lived in green Newcastle under Lyme, a stone's throw from the urban sprawl of 'smoky Stoke'. The thing is, Stoke on Trent provided the places of work for those living in Newcastle so any snobs there were biting the hand that fed them! But that's a different a story...
A roadshow is coming to the region today to help local businesses and the councils to try to identify any opportunities from the Olympic Games when they are held in London in 2012. And with the large number of people from Poland and Portugal already living and working here, it could be an idea to gear up to look after athletes and tourists from these countries.
Wrexham Council was invited by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to host the roadshow with NEWI at the college's Wrexham campus today between 11am-1.30pm. A number of local Olympic hopefuls will be attending the event too. Visit for more info.
The current hot weather is thought to be partly to blame for the gorse fire at Coedwig Llangwyfan which firefighters battled over the weekend, reports . As temperatures in Britain are set to be higher than those of the Spanish costas over the next couple of days, how are you coping with the heat?
Almost 1000 signatures have been added to a petition protesting about the proposed changes to the A55/A494 Ewloe interchange, reports . The petition has been presented to Assembly Minister Andrew Davies. Some of you have been letting us know what you think of the proposals, including Jon who was originally in favour of the works but is now having second thoughts.
The transformation of the Eagles Meadow site in Wrexham will "change the face of the town forever", reports the newspaper. Work is progressing on the new leisure and retail complex which will include shops, apartments, restaurants and a bowling alley. It's not the only town in the area to be experiencing change - Liz reckons Mold is losing the small shops that made it special and Elaine recalls having to close a village shop which had traded for 150 years. What do you think of the changes in our towns?
The experiences of Indian doctors working in the NHS has been captured in a romantic Hindi film produced by a doctor working at Wrexham Maelor Hospital - and featuring his colleagues.
Nikhil Kaushik, 56, a consultant ophthalmologist and a Hindi film buff, made the film 'Bhavishya - The Future' including songs in typical Bollywood style and starring noted Indian actor Saeed Jaffrey, reports .
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It's a special day for all of Buckley today as people with any connection with the town will no doubt know. That's because today marks the 150th anniversary parade known as the Buckley Jubilee. It was originally started as a procession of chapel and then church groups and now includes anyone of any faith - plus family and friends who turn out to soak up the atmosphere.
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The investigation by ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ TV programme tonight reveals some worrying problems concerning school buses. But here in NE Wales, pupils have been raising their own concerns on this website for some time in the section, School buses.
There have been allegations of drug taking on the vehicles and bullying. Paul from Wrexham writes: "I thought most buses were now equipped with CCTV, especially the ones used for schools. Surely the offending pupils could be identified and punished appropriately."
What do you think?
Drivers who park illegally in Wrexham town centre have forked out £18,000 in parking tickets in just three months as officers have issued 600 tickets, or 50 a week, since new measures were brought in to reduce traffic problems, according to .
There's a chance to get a sneeky peek at how our super rich neighbours live because there is to be a £1m auction of contents from three historic homes.
The properties are Gyrn Castle, at Llansa, near Prestatyn, owned by the family of a 19th century Liverpool ship owner; Nantlys Hall, a Victorian mansion at Tremeirchion, near St Asaph, and Mostyn Hall, Mostyn, near Holywell.
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North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom is drawing up a plan to save the force from merger.
reports that the chief is designing a blueprint for a "common sense alternative" to government plans for an all-Wales superforce and which he will present to the North Wales Police Authority for their meeting on July 28.
Do you support the idea of a single force for Wales?
The fact that such an emotive word has been brought into usage shows we are living in worrying times. And you maybe even more surprised to know that it was used to explain the attitude of children in one community in Flintshire.
, the magazine for those working with young people, coined the phrase when spotlighting the positive work of Lyn Wakefield in Greenfield, near Holywell.
According to the magazine, Lyn, coordinator of voluntary organisation Youth Action Flintshire, noticed an increase in anti-Muslim sentiments so she organised for young people to attend a four-day course in London where they visited London Central Mosque, met the chair of Greenwich Race Equality Council and analysed media coverage of Muslim issues.
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Will you be going to this year's 60th anniversary of Llangollen's world music festival, the International Musical Eisteddfod because everyone else is!
If you're not, then there are opportunities online to soak up the atmosphere. Use to watch footage from the performances on stage. Plus, has put together a compliation of highlights and the webmaster is writing his own []
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What do you reckon to the plans by to make condoms available to secondary school children in the county? It follows a survey of 15-16-year-olds which found that almost half were sexually active and that one in four boys and one in three girls did not use a condom the last time they had sex.
Meanwhile, in Wrexham, the local council announced that they were considering setting up a pilot project at one secondary school which would enable children to have access to condoms and the morning qafter pill.
Pupil Leanne posted a message to share her experiences at one school in Wrexham: "Sex education consisted only of the embarrassed teacher showing us the scientific words for private parts. We didn't have anything really, and yet in my year alone, 4 girls fell pregnant underage."
| 08:36 UK time, Monday, 31 July 2006
