'I was Slade's minder', newsletter and podcast [25-07-08]
A copy of the weekly highlights sent by email to subscribers of bbc.co.uk/northeastwales
LATEST UPDATES: Terracottapolis - Fending off the girls [for Slade!] - Blind bowlers - Festival time - Beatles exhibition - Move Deeside into England? - Town Talk - Wrexham's 160-year-old recipe - £4.4m craft centre opens - 007's Welsh twang - and much more...
Terracottapolis
Workers produced massive amounts of red bricks at Dennis Ruabon brickworks, once earning the Wrexham village of Ruabon the nickname Terracottapolis. Plus, listen how the bricks turned Liverpool red.
Entertainment
Holiday Fun - Info and weblinks about events, clubs and things to do over the school holidays.
Listen - Ruthin's £4.4m craft centre re-opens.
There are big live music festivals being held in Deeside and Wrexham:
Beatlemania's back!
A photo exhibition of iconic images of the Fab Four starts this weekend at Bodelwyddan Castle.
'I met the Beatles' - Dave: "Oh do I remember the Beatles at the Mold dance? Later... we went down behind the stage to the dressing room..."
Rants and Raves
007's Welsh twang - Janet: "His voice is unforgettable and slips at times into a Welsh brogue."
Blind bowlers - Arnold: "We are holidaying in Prestatyn and went on Wednesday night to the tenpin bowling alley on Ffrith Beach. After our game, we watched the Prestatyn & Rhyl Lions playing a team of blind bowlers for a challenge trophy - the blind bowlers won."
Fending off girls for Slade - Andy: "I was working on the door the night Slade came to town [Buckley], two articulated lorries full of equipment. What a noise! My job that night was in the dressing room with Slade keeping the crazy girls out..."
Town Talk
Eagles Meadow - KN: "It doesn't fit in with the current town centre surroundings. It looks like a hotel from the '70s."
Cefn - Sylvia: "I love reading all the comments about the old Cefn and the people who used and are still living there. I will be using this site often."
Flint's maisonettes - Eleanor: "What on earth is going on in the maisonettes now? Scaffolding everywhere but no-one knows why..."
Deeside's English?
Should Deeside quit Wales and move to England? That's what'll happen if Nathan has his way - but now there's mounting opposition.
Podcast - NE Wales Update
This week - we report from Gwersyllt in Wrexham after a fire in a garage left dozens of people homeless for the night; Frances Donovan and Alan Thompson cover the amazing story of Bethan Jennings who had the best surprise possible after going into hospital for an operation for cancer; and All Things Considered talks to surgeon Dr Gary Parker who's putting his skills to use in the developing world, thanks to members of a church in Rhyl.
Meanwhile, Roy Noble recalls the days when a hovercraft service used to link Rhyl and Wallasey with local historian Alan Stanway and Tom Singleton reports from the UK's top railway station - in Flint!
History today
Wrexham's 160-year-old recipe - Have you ever tried Wrexham's 'famous gingerbread' which was first baked in the 1850s?
Canals - Why the canal network comes to an abrupt end in Llangollen.
Weatherman Walking
There was a last minute change to the order of Derek Brockway's walking series on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One Wales so his episode featuring Llangollen is due to go out on Monday night.
PS. I'm on leave for the next two weeks but Alys will continue blogging.
Hwyl am y tro [Bye for now]