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There's a being hosted at today and among the line-up are dance group, . The college is .

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Given the choice would you flatten Hightown flats or refurbish the 70s building?

to consider the building's future because officials reckon £17m is needed to bring them up to scratch.

There's a similar issue going on in Flint regarding the which we've blogged about previously under the headline, love and loathing for home.

There's certainly love for Hightown's flats - and that's backed up by the people interviewed in tonight's .

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I've been doing some good old fashioned research of late by visiting local libraries and archives to find information about drovers and their routes in NE Wales. It has made a change to use something other than a computer, typing in a and clicking 'go'.

I did the obvious trawl of trusted websites like to get up and running. I then tried some web searches of catalogues and indexes held in local libraries and archives to find reading material like and available in the [].

It was all so easy. I was reading a book first published in the 1940s called 'Wales and the Drovers' by P G Hughes while sitting in Wrexham Library. It made reference to an article published in 1945 which was worthy of note and, faster than you could type the search term 'Caernarvonshire History Society Journal', all it took was a short walk across the first floor of Wrexham Reference Library to find the journal and the article therein, A Drover's Account Book.

The is another way to find out what's held in local libraries and archives and .

My thanks also go to people like who has taken it upon himself to photograph drovers' roads.

And David Rowe from Mold Civic Society is forever a source of useful information. His suggested reading material was:

- Roads & Trackways of Wales by Richard Moore-Colyer (Landmark Press 2001)
- Hidden Highways of North Wales by R.J.A Dutton (Gordon Emery 1997), includes local the packhorse trail starting in Caergwrle
- The History of Halkyn Mountain by Bryn Ellis, p209 details the Turnpike Trusts and charges

My article is a way into the subject of droving and will be added to when time permits. It tries to pinpoint some drovers' routes as we look on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Local at ways of providing info about things to do and places to to visit as well as local history.

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--- We highlight stories for your interest via our [what's this?] or which you can follow via ---

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, Ceiriog Valley, is fighting closure - with old socks! The stunt is based around their campaign, Save Our Community School, aka SOCS, to drum up support for their cause.

Wrexham Council is holding a public meeting to discuss the plans for closure on Wednesday 6 May at the school. Campaigners are urging the community to turn up to show their support for the school.

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Podcast - NE Wales Update
uploaded 1pm Fridays
This week, we report from the following the . tells us how she escaped from a fire at her home with her four children, residents in Rhyl explain why they're hiring security guards for their street and for a St Asaph gardening firm. courtesy of the and with members of the .

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UPDATES: Family fire rescue drama - Latest photos - Band wins big gig - Town Talk - Happy with the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ? - News Round-up - Nicknames - Wrexham rants - Podcast - The weirdest - And more

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Thanks to and for posting photos showing some of the this week as part of the event, .

Meanwhile, from my colleague, Brendon Williams, on one of the footplates.

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Podcast - NE Wales Update
uploaded 1pm Fridays
This week, we mark the 20th anniversary of the with interviews with some of those directly affected by the tragedy in North East Wales; organisers of festival explain why this year's event has been cancelled and Science Cafe discovers how a Deeside firm is making good use of waste products. Good Morning Wales discusses the merits of home births, the phone-in programme asks if health and safety concerns are being taken too far after hanging baskets were banned from Abergele and the celebrates his 105th birthday with reporter Matthew Richards.

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Protesters in Rhosymedre are planning to stage a mass picnic as part of their campaign to try and prevent the Cefn Druids football team's ground from being moved to an area known as 'The Rocks', reports the . The protesters are trying to get 'village green status' for the site however website contributor Al from Rhosymedre thinks there are plenty of other green spaces in the village while Christine remembers football being played on the site in the '70s. Do you live in the area and what are your views?

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Ruthin is joining in the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth by renaming the master suite at the Castle Hotel The Darwin Suite, reports the . Darwin stayed in the hotel almost 180 years ago during a geological field trip to north Wales.

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For once there's some good news on the jobs front as the reports that Prestatyn's former Woolworths store is to be taken over by discount retailer ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Bargains with the creation of between 30 and 40 jobs.

I was surprised to read at the end of the article that there were 200 Woolworths shops in total in north Wales, so at least that's one less empty shop.

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The old Hippodrome cinema in Wrexham has finally been demolished and makes for rather a sad sight in the town centre. Many people have shared their happy memories of watching films there.

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--- Update: Use our tags and for continuing updates on the jobs front in the region ---

These losses bring the total to 1406 in 2009 in our region alone. And you can add that to the 1600 job losses in 2008 which we started counting in May when the credit crunch began.

Also this week came the news that nine jobs are going with the 25 years to the day it opened.

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What's the connection between the traffic problems at Shotton and Welsh lamb from a Denbigh farm served by Jamie Oliver at the G20 leaders' dinner last night?

Well, the answer is...

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