Bangor Street and the Celtic Royal letter

http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/july/celticroyal.html

Caernarfon Online recently published the concerns of the Celtic Royal Hotel (see above link) and to be quite honest I hadn't realised how run down Bangor Street has become. We have touched on it in the past but, living here and seeing the streets every day you tend to accept things as they are and not notice how run down things have become.

Bangor Street in particular is beginning to look like parts of old Scotland Road in Liverpool, with premises boarded up all along the street, AND ON WHAT USED TO BE THE APPROACH ROAD INTO TOWN.

Time and time again, business owners on Bangor Street have expressed their concerns. Ty Bach Twt, Caernarfon Pine, Soled Out, Adfer, Bruce Edwards Prince of Wales and ATS have all closed down. Surely this can't be just because of the recession??? Surely there is more to this and perhaps the warnings of the business owners may have some substance?

It must be aggravating for the Celtic Royal Hotel as they strive to give visitors the very best experience whilst visiting our town, only to have boarded up buildings right opposite them.

The two photos above show just how derelict buildings attract fly tipping. Not an image vistiors want to see.

Amazing!

As a great lover of football, I was over the moon to see that England and Wales will be matched in the European Championships. What a great chance for the Welsh to put themselves on the map. England will still be shell shocked after being dumped by the Germans in this years World Cup, so what better time to play them?
Obviously I am not holding my breath for a Welsh win, but as a lover of the old Home Internationals, I look forward to it already.

I hope you are all enjoying the World Cup as it slowly reaches the semi final stage and more than likely don;t know who to support this afternoon as Argentina play Germany.
After wars with both countries I can't say with any conviction that I'd rather one win or the other.

* Update: The Germans won 4 -0 so I guess that makes them favourites?

Caernarfon Town FC

How sad to hear that Caernarfon Town and their manager have parted their ways. I was one of many who really enjoyed the recent mini series on TV following the Canaries. I hope that the new board can make a good appointment as the Town looks forward to their first new season under the new owners.
Running a football team can't be easy and with money an issue, the Canaries need all the help they can muster. I, for one hope that someone like Gerald Parry will be approached as with his experience, he would be a great choice to try and get Caernarfon on the path to winning ways.
I am not sure if he would consider the role, but cannot think of anyone else who could do a good job with local talent.
I wish the new board all the best for the coming season and hope they find a worth manager to take us back to where we belong. Come on the Canaries!

Somethings make you realise how good life is.

Sometimes we take things for granted and other times we realise just how lucky we are.
Summer is upon us once more and the holiday season will soon be starting.
Today I received the most wonderful news and on top of that, the World Cup is in full swing. OK perhaps England are out but I can still enjoy the rest of it, can't I?

We live in such a beautiful part of the world and quite often we take everything for granted. Funny how good news makes you relaise how great life is, to the extent you find yourself smiling at strangers in the street.
Lets all appreciate life here in Caernarfon and whistle a happy tune.
Despite all the town's problems, things could be worse. Lets all take stock and enjoy ourselves. Life is just too short to be miserable. Caernarfon can be a wonderful place, so let's all try and make it the envy of everywhere else.

Ok talk over....
That's my attempt on getting you all set for a wonderful summer this year! :-) Have a good one! I certainly will!

Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa

OK, OK, hands up, I know I should have done it before now, but at long last I have.

At the grand old age of 48 years old, I scaled the heights of England & Wales' tallest mountain!

I was sick of hearing over and over again Radio 1 presenter Chris Moyles going on and on and on about his trek up Kilimanjaro, months after he achieved it, but didn't realise at the time how much of a feat it actually was.

Now I know I cannot possibly compare Snowdon to the Himalayas, but for me it may have very well have been!

I wouldn't consider myself unfit (far from it) but karate training isn't the same as mountain walking/climbing.

The effort was well worth it though and as the two linked photos show, the views were breathtaking.

If you've never done it, then I urge you to do so, but do it before you get to 50!!!
Check these photos out!
http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/june/cwellyn.html

24 inches of wood smashed in 37 seconds!

I was lucky enough to be inovled in a great sponsored Karate break this weekend as we set ourselves a target to break 24 planks of wood in under a minute. Have a look at how we did by clicking this link. http://www.caernarfononline.co.uk/2010/june/karate.html

Things like this makes life so worthwhile as everyone joined in the fun.

Next year we plan to break our record and try to do it in under 30 seconds. We weren't sure how fast we could do it as it was a first for us. Now we have a target we know it can be beaten the next time we do it.

Our incredible time this year was 37 seconds! Well done all the students who collected so well for the sponsorship.

The World Cup

Here is something I have really been looking forward to for four years. The World Cup!

Like many of us here in the North, I hate the ""South Walian" game of Rugby, even with a name like Gareth Edwards (no I wasn't named after him) but I love the game of the Gods - Football!

It's such a shame Wales failed to qualify yet again, but it sure won't stop me watching it all from start to finish. (If any of you guys are trying to give me a call and it goes straight to answerphone, then chances is that a game is on).

Like many others, we will all be glued to the TV many hoping for an England disaster! Personally I would like to wish our neighbours all the best and hope they do well (after all we are all Brits aren't we?) Roooo- ne---ey!

Whoever wins, we can all look forward to the next tournament in four years time when hopefully Wales will have got their act together at long last and will qualify for the first time since the 50's (when we qualified by default!)

If facilities in Wales were better, then perhaps we would breed better players? Without investment in our youth, we will never amount to much..... and personally (again) I feel having the league of Wales has done very little to build our talents.

I was sorry to see Caernarfon Town having to play as "exiles" all those years ago and have always thought it was the beginning of the end for our beloved CTFC.

Let's hope that the 2010/11 season will be good for our local side and we can once more rebuild from our disastrous 09/10 season.

Come on the World Cup and come on the Canaries! We wish the new Board all the best in making Caernarfon Town a top team in Wales once again!

By the way, there has been a warning issued by the council that, some very bad and stupid drivers will be visiting Wales over the next four weeks so please watch out for them!

However, you shouldn't worry though, as they will all be easily recognisable - they'll be carrying a white flag with a red cross on it.