Faenol Festival

Hi everyone!
Well, what a weekend! Only now recovering from one of the best ever festival's held at the Faynol.
Before I go on I'd like to thank the following people for their help and participation during the event.
First of all a big thanks to Bryn Terfel for putting on yet another wonderful show. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the first night and the Musicals evening.
Thanks also to Angharad Wynne who looked after us all every evening. A true professional and made life as easy as possible for us in the photo pit and backstage.
Thanks also goes to all the photographers present who shared a joke and a chat whilst waiting for the acts to come on. A special thanks to Gerallt who gave me some advice on cameras, apertures, shutter speeds and lenses.
Finally not forgetting Kev bach and Zowie from Champion fm for keeping Meriel company whilst I was taking photos.

Those of you lucky enough to be there on any evening no doubt enjoyed yourselves immensely and we can only look forward to next year's event. How Bryn will top this year's performance is had to comprehend, but this he has to do and this he has done year after year.

In Brief: my thoughts:

1st night
Highlights
Jamelia looking good in casuals (because her costume had been damaged in transit).
Shayne Ward singing the Darkness classic
Being able to go backstage to take photos of Shayne and Bryn
Girls Aloud for being Girls Aloud!

Down side:
Only being allowed to take photos of Jamelia and Girls Aloud during the first three songs. This is a nightmare for photographers as everyone is looking for a good shot and with the spotlights constantly shining directly in your face, obtaining a good shot in a short space of time is made more difficult.

2nd night
Highlights
Being able to take your time with photos and allowed to take photos with no restrictions.
Being able to go backstage to take photos of Bryn with all the Opera Stars.

Down Side
Having no 'culture' and not being a fan of Opera!

3rd night
Highlights
Brilliant performances by everyone
Michael singing the Queen classic 'Show must go on'
The none stop link from song to song

Down side
The cold weather and no large size sweat shirts left to buy at the market stalls!

4th night
Highlights
Receiving a pass to the BBC Cymru hospitality Marquee for drinks and a welcome reception
The awesome entrance from Bryn Fon including a rain coat, hat and umbrella (in anticipation of rain!!!)
The second stage for acts, so that the main stage could be set up for the next act, thus ensuring continuity.
No restrictions on photo taking
The fantastic response given by the audience to local band Frisbee

Down Side
Not enjoying the 'Welsh music scene' as much as everyone else present

Marks out of Ten?

11/10

Well done Bryn, once again you did us proud!

A breath of French Air

It was so good to see the Maes full of people this week.
After a truly dismal summer with the weather not helping us at all, the Maes was creaking with people visiting the French market.
I for one was pleased to see the Caernarfon 'Eye Sore' removed this week and Caernarfon return to normality.
As a World Heritage Site the Maes is certainly not the place for such a monstrosity and if this is to return in future, I for one, hope the council re-considers its location and places it somewhere far away from our historic treasure.

It was so pleasing to see the town this week looking as it should look - A Market Town!

Market problem
There seems to be a problem at the moment as to what day the market should be allowed to trade. The traders want to see if a change from Monday to Tuesday would be of benefit to them and the punters. This resulted in a confusion that saw the Market on the Maes for Sat, Mon and Tues!
Never the less, I was still a little bit surprised that a former market trader who now has a business in town decided to attack the current market traders.

Working together
It is not difficult to see that all the town's businesses should be working together (Including the market traders) and this should be for the good of the town.

The Bangor Business Forum seem to have the right idea of how to get businesses together and perhaps we should learn from this.
Everyone wants to make a living, but it seems that Caernarfon has far too many barriers and hidden agendas.
It's time to stop bickering and have a plan of action.

Not many members
Week in week out we hear a statement from the Chamber of Trade about different subjects.
I know from experience how difficult it is to get businesses on board this organisation.
Of those who used to pay subscriptions, not many were interested or had the time to attend meetings.
Oh yes, one or two had a moan even when we re launched it a few years back after it had been in moth balls for years since, but these people were the ones who had failed in the past and never did anything except attack those who tried.

It would be interesting to know which businesses the Chamber of Trade represent?
Of the businesses in Pool Street only 2 said they belonged to the group and most insisted they were not interested in what they were doing.
The same could be said for the rest of the town.
None of the larger stores we asked were involved in any way or form.
Tesco, Morrisons, Argos, Ethel Austin, W.H.Smith, McDonalds, KFC, New Look etc
For the Chamber to be successful, they need people to be involved, otherwise they don't represent the majority of businesses. At the moment this is the case.

This is a sad state of affairs and until we have an organisation working for the good of the town (and with this I mean WORKING and not moaning in the press) then the Caernarfon business sector will never have a strong voice.
Having a French Market is a step in the right direction, we need more things of this nature and learn from Bangor, Llandudno and Llanberis to name but a few.

See you soon!

Back to www.CaernarfonOnline.co.uk

Ty Gobaith

Hi everyone,
I was sent this today and hope you will all take notice and try to help.
Most of you will know all about Ty Gobaith already, so I hope you take notice.

Here is the message I received in both English and Welsh.

Dear Friends,

My name is Katrina Cameron and I work with the local community and businesses to help raise much needed funds for Ty Gobaith, the only children’s hospice in North Wales .

Tŷ Gobaith provides respite and terminal care for seriously ill children. We depend largely upon voluntary income to fund our vital services, and donations such as yours are essential to us. We need to raise in excess of £1 million each year to fund Tŷ Gobaith in North Wales .

We also provide care and support to families in their own homes and bereavement counselling for as long as it is needed.
None of the work that we do would be possible without the help of donors such as you, and we are very grateful to you.

I would like the opportunity to discuss with you how your club can make a difference to the short and precious lives of local children. Perhaps you hold annual fun days, or entertainment nights in your social club or we could even discuss having a Ty Gobaith day and we would benefit from tickets on the gate.
In return I would love to generate as much PR and press coverage as a thank you for supporting us.

If you would like to find out more or arrange a meeting please contact me at the Appeals Office on 01492 596 581.

Thank you very much and I hope to discuss how you can help out local children’s hospice very soon.

Katrina Cameron
Appeals Organiser



Annwyl Gyfeillion

Fy enw yw Katrina Cameron ac rwyf yn gweithio i godi arian hanfodol gyda’r gymdeithas a busnesau lleol, ar ran Ty Gobaith, yr unig hosbis i blant yng Ngogledd Cymru.

Mae Tŷ Gobaith yn darparu gofal seibiant a therfynnol i blant nad ydynt yn mynd i dyfu i fyny i fod yn oedolion, ynghyd a chefnogaeth ymarferol ac emosiynol i’w teuluoedd unâi yn yr hosbis, neu un eu cartref. Rydym fwy neu lai yn ddibynnol ar gyfraniadau gwirfoddol i ffynu ein gwasanaethau, a rhaid inni godi dros £1 miliwn yn flynyddol ar gyfer ein gofal arbennig.

Ni all dim o’r gwaith yr ydym yn ei wneud fod yn bosib heb gymorth gyfranogwyr fel chi, ac rydym yn ddiolchgar iawn.

Buaswn yn hoffi cymeryd y cyfle i drafod syt y buasau eich clwb yn gallu gwneud gwahaniaeth i blant terfynol wael a byr eu hoes. Wyrach y gellwch ddal Diwrnod Hwyl Blynyddol, neu Nosweithiau Adloniant yn eich Clwb Cymdeithasol, neu gallwn drafod cael Diwrnod i Dŷ Gobaith a’r elwa yn dod o’r tocynnau.

Carwn gynhyrchu hysbysebion yn y wasg i ddiolch am eich cynhaliaeth.

Os hoffwch fod mewn cysylltiad i gael mwy o wybodaeth, neu i drefnu cyfarfod, cysylltwch a fi ar y ffon yn y Swyddfa Apeliadau 01492 596581.

Gobeithiaf y gallwn drafod sut i helpu ein hosbis plant lleol yn fuan iawn. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Eiddoch yn gywir

Katrina Cameron
Trefnydd Apeliadau
Tŷ Gobaith,
Appeals Office, Vale Road , Llandudno Junction,
LL31 9SH
01492 596 581
07872 378 084

See you Sooon!

Back to http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/

Faenol Competition

Hi Everyone,

Well, if you are like me, you will be looking forward to this year Faenol Festival with great anticipation. Once again local boy Bryn has pulled out all the stops to make this years event one to top even the last one.

How can you follow up West Life? Simple, by having Girls Aloud, Jamelia AND Shane Ward on the same billing and that's only the opening night!

Once again we plan on giving you all the photos as they happen. Newspapers can't compete, because of their limited space and deadlines. Our Feanol coverage has been well received by our visitors every year and we plan on making this year's coverage the best yet!

If you haven't done so already check out our coverage website on www.CaernarfonOnline.co.uk/faenol to read up on what's happening and the stars profiles etc.

This year we are lucky enough to be able to offer you two free tickets for EVERY night (including seated tix for the Girls Aloud concert!)

However, we did not expect such a massive response as we have up to now, with people from ALL OVER the UK entering. We have literally received hundreds of entries and we will announce the winners on our Faenol website after the closing date (18th Aug). If you haven't entered yet then there is still time and remember only one entry per address. We received 50 entries from one person (unfortunately only one can be accepted).

We have also asked people to tell us which night they would like tickets for and this is how the percentage works out to date:

38% opt for Girls Aloud, 30% for the Musicals, 18% for the Opera Evening and 14% for Tan y Ddraig.

The figures doesn't necessarily mean that this is how ticket sales are going, it merely shows what OUR visitors want.

Best of luck to all of you who have entered and we look forward to seeing you there on the night.

See you all sooooon!

Back to www.CaernarfonOnline.co.uk

North Wales People

Hi Everyone,
What a breath of fresh air. A brand new paper/magazine for the area and all done by a local lad.
Ian Edwards a former journalist with The Herald has just launched his brand new paper called North Wales People!
Refreshing and colourful, the venture looks like becoming a really good seller as it covers locals from different parts of the community.

For far too long Caernarfon has had to rely on one media for the town. Then came Gwynedd Leader (which later changed to the Bangor and Caernarfon Chronicle).
Caernarfon Online was set up in 1999 followed quickly by Papur Dre (our very own local Welsh paper) and then came publications such as Gwynedd Council's own magazine delivered free to all homes, and now we have this excellent publication N W People.
I hope you will all embrace it as much as you have done COL and Papur Dre!

The new paper is out every month and we hope to let you know what's going in the next issue here on the town's website as soon as we hear from Ian each month.

Copies can be bought at nearly all the good Independent paper sellers and costs just 65p!

If you have problems getting your copy, then email us here at COL and we will make sure you get one. (Same applies to Papur Dre).
All that's left for me to say is Da Iawn Ian! and wish him all the best with his new business.

See you soon!

Back to http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/