Don Hale Blog

The Annual Lions Club of Llandudno Boxing Day Sea Dip is back for the first time since 'Lockdown'. Please go along for 11:30am on Boxing Day to support the Lions, the swimmers, and the two great charities the club are supporting this year. *The start of a previous Boxing Day Sea Dip - photo courtesy of Greg Robbins & Llandudno Lions Club. Ian Turner (*pictured left) previews the Boxing  Day Dip:  The Annual Lions Club of Llandudno Boxing Day Sea Dip is nearly here. This year 'Swimmers Registration' will be on the promenade in the gazebo's by the old Lifeboat slipway.  If you, or anyone you know, will be taking part this year, do please make sure you register before going into the water. Registration is FREE. The club needs to know how many swimmers are going in so the RNLI and St John Ambulance volunteers are aware of numbers. The two main charities nominated by the Lions Club of Llandudno to benefit from this years Boxing Day Dip are ' Ty Gobaith/Hope H

  BILLY – the Bright Blue Ball - a Welsh  children's adventure story for Christmas... The first in a series of fictional short stories by Don Hale. BILLY  – the Bright Blue Ball - a  Welsh  children's adventure story for Christmas... The first in a series of fictional short stories by Don Hale. BILLY woke with a start to the sound of a small boy tapping a coin on the shop window. As he slowly opened his heavy eyes, he could see someone staring back at him. It was unnerving. Billy was in the far corner of the window.  He felt rather uncomfortable and was perched on a soft pack of coloured plasticine, which was at precisely the same height as the boy’s eyes. Each day at exactly 3.30pm, this very same boy passed by the window with his mother on his home from school. It was an old-fashioned toy and gift shop in a small village on the Llyn Peninsula.  The window was a magnet for children of all ages. It seemed like an Aladdin’s cave in 1959 packed full of goodies. It had everything

THE UK ENERGY CRISIS: DON’T BLAME IT ALL ON THE UKRAINE SITUATION. Special feature by John Hatton (*pictured right).   The UK is now in an extremely serious energy crisis, but as the title states it’s not all down to the Ukraine situation.  Successive Governments over the last 50 plus years, have let down the British public, as every aspect of life in this modern world is ENERGY based.   The UK was the first country in the world to have an operational commercial nuclear power station generating electricity back in 1956.  A few additional nuclear power stations were then built, but as these were coming towards the end of their life, no plans were ever introduced to replace them. These Governments have all failed miserably ever since to plan-ahead regarding a situation to secure new energy requirements for a growing population.   This is due to no strategic long-term planning and is the main reason we are now in this current situation. The Government is currently in panic mode regarding

*NWRRC Christmas handicap race winner Nicola Wylie (*above), and (*below) club members pictured before the start of the race. Nicola wins Road Runners Christmas handicap race in freezing conditions on the Great Orme. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Don Hale, Mike Smith, and Kevin Slattery.   Nicola Wylie was the worthy winner of the North Wales Road Runners’ Christmas handicap race last Sunday as twenty-one fellow club members braved freezing conditions and a bitterly cold headwind to compete over a tough and hilly course. With all the start and finishing times adjusted to consider the age and ability of entrants in conjunction with noting recent parkrun performances, the runners then had to tackle a very challenging route from West Shore to the former WW2 gun sites on the Great Orme and back. The race proved to be a close-run event and  Nicola  ran with an unintentional pace-maker  Cheryl Frost , who was recovering from a fall and simply took part as a non-counting athlete.  *Nicola Wyl