Welsh language ignored by punters!

As a driving instructor http://www.caernarfondrivingschool.co.uk/ I was surprised (nay shocked) to learn how many people chose the Welsh language option when taking their theory test.

An article in the Daily Express showed how way down the list the Welsh language is in relation to Urdu or Polish in this country.

See the full article here.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/227985/L-test-drivers-who-need-help-to-read-English-road-signs

For your convenience I have uploaded the full report which was produced on the Driving Standards Agency website, following a Freedom of Information request made by someone (Not this website I may add)
http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/welshtest.pdf

As you can see on the file, Voice overs are available in many different languages and perhaps this is not surprising as the UK is multi national, but what is alarming is the fact that the Welsh language is bottom of this list compared to Urdu or Polish. Take a quick look here.

People requesting voice overs during the period from April 209 to March 2010 were as follows:

Polish 12,434
Urdu 18,816
English 104,581
Cantonese 2,441
Kurdish 10,026
Punjabi 5,541
Turkish 9,491

So? I hear you ask. So, how many requested the Welsh version?

Wait for it...........

13

That's not 13,000! That's 13 people!!!! throughout the whole of 2009 -2010!!!!!

Of all the language options only Kashmiri came lower with 5 requests!!!!

This is a big kick in the teeth for the Welsh Language and not one which bodes well for us here in Wales.

This is the website the report came from
http://www.dft.gov.uk/dsa/General.asp?nc=RGZV&id=17145

Makes you think if the money spent on the facility was worth it doesn't it?

Advertising boards

I received a request this week that asked me to highlight a heath and safety issue in Caernarfon.

The problem seems to be the placing of advertising sandwich style boards all around the town. It was put to me that not only was this a problem for the elderly and traffic, but it was also a big problem for the blind.

I had never thought about this before now, but having reviewed the situation in town, the person who contacted me certainly seems to have a point.

Walking down Pool Street, I came across ten boards which had people manoeuvring round them and in many instances stepping right into the path of moving vehicles. In other circumstances, vehicles delivering to shops were restricted and had to physically move the signs just to deliver.

I may be wrong, but I am sure the council banned the use of these boards two years ago? I also remember businesses having to pay for licences to erect any furniture outside their premises.

Palace Street is just as guilty and as such the whole town needs to be addressed by the council before an accident happens.

I have to say, I totally agree with the complaint and I am happy to highlight it here.

What do you think?

Beginning of the end for local paper?

UPDATE: Following Linda's response here are the drop in figures from the Trinity Mirror website which proves the original article I wrote is correct and not "off kilter".

Jan-June 2010 12.013 http://www.trinitymirrornorthwest.co.uk/_files/documents/sep_10/tms__1284741509_C&D_Herald.pdf
Jan-June 2005 14,736
http://www.icnorthwestflash.co.uk/mediapacks/circulation.pdf

Over 5 years it has dropped 2,723 which is 18.5% = 3.7% a year on average.

Here is the original article I wrote.

I've predicted this before and I'll say it again.

The Internet revolution is changing life as we know it.
The digital age is upon us and the way we receive our information is changing by the day.

I have predicted in the past that in the near future, books will become obsolete.
I told a friend of mine who was shocked by my prediction and said it will never happen.
I explained to him that we are entering a different age and Internet references are already used in schools instead of books. He totally dismissed my theory and now, a few years on we see the Kindle digital books on sale everywhere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle
E Books and E Pads and I Pads are the way forward. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_pad
Why buy shelves and shelves of books when it can all be stored on a tiny SD card?

Where am I going with this you may ask?

Well, another friend of mine told me (a few weeks ago) that the Daily Post was going to print two editions of their paper. A West and East version for North Wales.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-12126400

All well and good I hear you say as it gives us all the opportunity of more local news.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7937728.stm
But at the same time circulations of local papers across the country are way down and continue to fall because more and more people use the Internet for their news.
Click here to see a statement by Trinity Mirror http://www.trinitymirror.com/documents/IMS%2013%20May%20Final.pdf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jul/20/trinity-mirror-wales

So I have to ask, where does this leave the Caernarfon Herald?
Why would we need to buy the local paper if we've already received the local news in the Daily Post all week long? What can the weekly paper give us that we haven't read already? Is this the beginning of the end of what is a local institution?

Generations of families have looked forward to Thursdays to read the Herald and it would be a sad loss to see it go.
But, with every story, you have to (quite often) read in between the lines, and for me, I can't possibly see a long life for the Herald if their mother paper is expanding to try and save itself.

We have to remember that for quite some time now, the local paper has been taken over by Trinity Mirror. The Mirror has to justify that it makes a profit and repeating the same news in a paper which will become surplus to requirement will mean spending their profits.

My prediction is this.
Not only will we see the demise of books as we know them. (same happened to records, tapes and Cd's as we now buy mp3's, same happened to video cassettes and DVDs as we now enter the Blue Ray and 3D age)
We will also inevitably see newspapers become a thing of the past. Newspapers will charge for online viewing.
Local papers will also be online and not available in shops. The demise will start with accumulating all local news into one standard and doing away with the smaller papers.

We are already seeing the Cambrian News charging online fees http://subscriber.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/subscribe.aspx?source=4&eid=82f825da-6251-4932-8d04-e3588995df66

The question is, when will we be looking at the last ever edition of the Herald? The Trinity Mirror Group have already got rid of the Herald Cymraeg as we knew it.

Just a thought, what do you think?

Review of the year Part 1

Review of the Year
Review of 2010 Part 1
January – June.

Here are some of the important events of 2010, I have listed then in their months with part two to come in the new year.

January
As usual a quiet month but one story which reared its head was that some sectors thought an archaeological dig in Cae Phillips would spoil the plans for the new Ysgol Hendre to go ahead. A Medieval burial ground of “National Importance” had been found and made the headlines at the time.

Gwynedd Council introduced their new “green” refuse collection service. This was to try and make people recycle more. Collections for normal waste would be made every two weeks.

Celtic Royal Hotel announces that if business does not improve they may need to close during the months of January in future years. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/july/celticroyal.html

February
Clic Agency involved in a new Sherlock Holmes DVD filmed on location in parts of Caernarfon http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/feb/sherlock.html

Major concerns raised by Councillor after hearing news that the old doctors surgery was to be transformed into a drug rehab centre. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/feb/old_doctors_surgery.html

Caernarfon Park given £37,000 face lift. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/feb/coedhelen.html

Big Weekend announced for the Faenol as Chris Moyles and Pixie Lott record live show from the venue. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/feb/bigweekend.html

March
Google uses Caernarfon Castle as its background to celebrate St Davids Day. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/march/google.html

Local publican and a big character in town was buried after passing away in February . Beno (Richard Merfyn Roberts) Hundreds turn up at his funeral.

A futile attempt to sue COL Editor dismissed in court. Local councillor shamed in court for his part in the proceedings. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/march/bobanderson.html

Death trap uncovered in Plas Maesincla http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/march/deathtrap.html

Noddfa announce successful funding http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/march/noddfa.html

Caernarfon Town Football Club rescue plan announced http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/march/ctfc.html

Closed meeting by Plaid Cymru “photo scandal” to choose new mayor elect http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/march/plaidmeeting.html

April
Big news for town announced on April Fools day! http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/april/april1st.html

Line up for Big Weekend announced, acts to include Rhianna, JLS and Cheryl Cole http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/april/bigweekend.html

Llais Gwynedd Councillor Gwilym Euros suspended following assault claims http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/april/gwilymeuros.html

Big Weekend Beach Clean in North Wales http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/april/beachsweep.html

Llanbeblig Cemetery drops to new low as vandals destroy the area http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/april/llanbeblig.html

Queen visit’s Caernarfon to the delight of locals http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/april/queen_visit.html

May
Gwynedd Chairman announced as Tudor Owen http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/may/gwyneddchair.html

Election results sees Plaid Cymru majority slashed as Hywel Williams keeps seat http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/may/electionresult.html

Big Weekend a big success at the Faenol. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/bigweekend/

June
New Signs erected in town to help find parking spaces. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/june/signs.html

Caernarfon’s Midsummer Festival a great success http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/june/midsummerfest.html

Karate breaking record completed at Hendre School. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/june/karate.html

Glyn Evans MBE dies. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/june/glyn.html

Christmas message

Cheers to you all!

So nice to receive a Christmas card from a dear old friend this morning. Better late than never I suppose. It was surprising to hear from him after so long. (he was always one who was late with everything so no change there ha ha). Thank you dear friend, you were always a blast!

You know, little things like this re-kindle those nice warm thoughts you had for people who you thought were long gone.
It gave me a new lease of life and makes me look forward to another good year.

I hope you all had a wonderful time this Christmas and enjoyed yourselves as much as we did, where ever you are.

May I wish you all a Happy New Year and lets make this one the best yet.
x

Christmas Time

Hi everyone,

So glad to see so many hits on the blog and so glad to see my feelings about driving people away from town is backed by so many of you.
It seems not only do many of you think the by pass will be the death of Caernarfon, many of you are also sceptical about if the Land Train and if it's any good for the town or if indeed it's driving people away.
Having said that, I have had a couple of positive messages regarding the train (one from Mr Thirsk himself who disagreed what was said and denies they were responsible for the loudspeaker?). I have to say though, I heard what I heard.
But quite honestly this has raised quite a storm amongst you lot with many of you justifiably worried about loss of trade in town and the town's future in general.

For many years we've seen businesses fold and because of this we need all the help we can get. It's such a shame that so many are trying to do it alone instead of together.
I hope the council reviews what the train is doing or not doing for the town in the New Year.

Anyway enough of that, Ti's the season to be jolly and within days, the grand old man with his reindeer will soon come a knocking.

The snow has stopped a lot of things but it didn't stop the karate Christmas party at Ysgol Yr Hendre. Children from all corners came to the splash with parents and friends all joining forces to make sure the kids had a great day.
Over 60 children had a feast of Christmas food, drink and games with father Christmas making an appearance at the end with presents and booty bags for everyone.
We even had fun competitions where both adults and kids took part!
What a great feeling of community spirit we experienced throughout. Therefore may I take this opportunity in thanking everyone who helped out: from the servers to the cleaners, the cooks to the DJ and not forgetting Father Christmas himself!!

I was glad to be a part of the organising team and hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did.
The photo above shows me holding a Piniata Santa which was kindly donated by one of the parents.
May I take this opportunity in wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd.

Driving People Away

Now that the plans for the' Caernarfon By Pass' has reared its ugly head we see that the main point of having this road is to drive people around instead of to Caernarfon. In my opinion this is a totally stupid and unacceptable plan.
Make it difficult for people to get here and they won't! This is NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!

The same has happened in Caernarfon over and over again. Our resident Historian T Meirion Hughes is on record as stating the death of trading in town is down to the Train Station being removed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IWiO0iLVIk
Following the removal of the station, Caernarfon had to endure a 'fly over' or inner relief road which also served to deviate from the town.
More recently we've seen the one way system on Bangor Street help close down shops in the centre. What next?

Well shocking as it may seem, a venture, supposed to attract visitors into town is said to be driving people away from it.
Local shop keepers are up in arms that the Land Train owned and run by John Thirsk is killing trade in their shops. Many of them have complained to the council but at the moment it seems to be falling on deaf ears.
The Chamber of Trade are sitting on the fence on it.

Personally, I do not like the train. As a driving instructor I have been stopped unnecessary by the train when approaching the town centre, having already stopped at the zebra crossing.
I was appalled whist covering the official lighting of our Christmas tree for the website last week when I witnessed someone on the trains loudspeaker advertising across the ceremony.
This was totally unacceptable and many people present were disgusted with the hard sell.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sELHEXogJm0

In my personal opinion the train is an accident waiting to happen and (I hope I'm wrong) soon we may see a fatality as the train drives up a congested Pool Street and down a narrow lane for Pool Side, when other vehicles are not allowed. This is ludicrous!
I ask this? How can driving people away from the town centre help our businesses?

Come on Chamber of Trade, stop ducking out and support the businesses who've complained. Or are you ignoring them simply because they are not members?
Or perhaps is it just because the same Mr John Thirsk is currently your acting chairman following the suicide of the former chair?

People wouldn't complain without reason now would they?

Caernarfon needs help and it needs it fast!