"What was the highlight of 2016 for Llandrindod Wells?"

Many businesses are at the heart of the Llandrindod Wells community and so it's important to understand their opinion on the town. 

I recently asked some of the towns' business owners what they think the highlight of 2016 was for Llandrindod Wells. 

Junk n Disorderly: "2016 was a great year for Llandrindod Wells simply because of the good, positive vibes around the town. There were a number of new business and new ideas that came about in 2016 and they've done wonders for the community atmosphere."

Junk n Disorderly

J&M's Emporium: "The Christmas #latenightllandod was a real highlight for us. It was great to see everyone and all the business owners come together to create something special for the community!"

Jude Boutle, Llandrindod Town Champion: "What really pleased me about 2016 was the obvious change in attitude of the townsfolk. I ended the year feeling pleased and encouraged that people have started to really work together to make Llandrindod Wells an even better place."

Van's Good Food Shop: "The Radnor Fringe Festival was a really exciting event for the town with a variety of things happening. Also the Refugee Concert was great as it attracted lots of different people from within the community."

KDM Local Newsagents, Stationers, Game Store: "2016 was a great year for the town. In my opinion, it saw the rebirth of 'community' in a lot of ways. From lots of smaller groups of people joining together, to townsfolk getting behind larger events like the 2day trials, the Christmas Fayre and the Late Night Opening. One of the highlights for me has be the rise and continued growth of Llandrindod Pomarium Community Orchard, this has been truly joyous. My boys love it there. The bees, the flowers and the fruit growing and being shared and the outdoor events they are hosting. Definitely the highlight of 2016 for me!"

Radnor Travel Service Ltd: "The real highlight was how the businesses and community started to come together; especially at the Late Night Opening events. It was the best positive spirit I have known in the town during my 18 years of trading! I also loved the Xmas decorations and how people of Llandrindod were proud of living here. Although I live 20 miles away, I am so proud of working in Llandrindod and therefore love showing it off through my photography."

One of Laura's lovely photographs

Arvon Ales: "One highlight has got to be the brilliant Radnor Fringe Festival - seeing people of all ages smiling and enjoying the entertainment. Another highlight was an evening with Sam Lee at Rock Park (organised by the Radnor Fringe). This was a truly magical night sitting on straw bales and ending with an evening walk home and seeing the park being lit up with glow worms. I also loved how the town traders came together to bring the Late Night Opening at Christmas."

Radnor Fringe Festival - a real family friendly community event

Happy Home Gift Company: "2016 was a fantastic year for the town and working together with the other traders to bring forward events like the #latenightllandod was a real highlight. I also loved the positivity within the town and hearing so many positive comments. For example during the late night Christmas opening, loads of people in the community commented how lovely the town was with all the Christmas lighting and the real friendly community atmosphere. It's nice for people to look at Llandrindod now and see a town that has a thriving community and isn't looked down upon. We can only continue to build from here so we must look forward to what the exciting future may bring!"

Happy Home Gift Company

Of course there are always those with negative voices but we can all work together as a strong community to eradicate this opinion and prove to these people that the old Victorian Spa town of Llandrindod Wells can be a successful town in the 21st Century! 

Now as 2017 has well and truly begun; I hope we can all look forward to another successful year for Llandrindod Wells. 

Don't forget, you can visit the 'vision' tab at the top left of the page to discover more about this llandrindodlife initiative. If you'd like to get in contact with any ideas/suggestions etc. then I would love to hear from you! Just use the contact box to the side of this post.

'16 going on '17

"A look back at what happened in Llandrindod Wells during 2016 and a glimpse forward to what 2017 may possibly hold for the County town of Powys"

Oh, what a tremendous year 2016 was for the old Victorian town of Llandrindod Wells nestled in the beautiful hills of Mid Wales!

Here's a quick summary of some of the amazing things that happened in Llandrindod Wells in 2016. (In no particular order)

Radnor Fringe Festival 

Llandrindod Youth Market 

Re-opening of Llandrindod's Grand Pavilion

#latenightllandod

Llandrindod Repair Cafe

Llandrindod LED's Masquerade Ball

Llandrindod Wells Theatre Company's performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 

Launch of the new town website promoting Llandrindod Wellness  

£6.6 million refurbishment and extension of Llandrindod Hospital to include a new birthing unit

Llandrindod Soup

The Big Lunch Street Party

Run for Bracken

Arvon Ales named as Camra Pub of the Year

Llandrindod Cycle Fest

Steampunk weekend

Development of Riversimple's hydrogen cell powered green car

Llandrindod's Just Move ladies social running group named Welsh Athletics Social Running Group of the year

Poppy Picnic

BBC MyRamble held around Llandrindod Lake

People power saves the railway crossing

Welsh 2day Enduro

Llandrindod Community Christmas Fayre, brought to the community by KDM Local and LED 

Llandrindod High School Christmas Fete

Dod Town Extreme granted a license to develop downhill mountain bike tracks

Light the Lights at the Albert Hall Theatre

The opening of many new shops and businesses

Launch of the Llandrindod Wellness 1km Route around the Lake

Flicks in the Sticks

Llandrindance at Powys Dance

Arvon Ales Folk and Blues sessions

And so, I think you can all join me in the agreement 2016 was indeed a special year for Llandrindod Wells. Looking through the list above clearly shows the town is on an upward trend and the past year was a massive year of growth for the community. It is a pleasure to be a part of this thriving community and I am proud of what everyone has achieved this past year. Who knows what the future may hold but it is certainly fair to say that the future of this town is bright. There is clearly much more to come as development is an ongoing process that doesn't happen over night but the community is coming back to life stronger than ever before. Let's make 2017 another successful year for Llandrindod Wells. 

2016 was also the year that this llandrindodlife blog launched with the aim of showing people and helping the community realise why Llandrindod Wells is such a great place to live. On the blog there were posts featuring some thriving local businesses such as HappyHomeGiftCo and Junk n Disorderly and also some posts focused on community events such as Llandrindod Theatre Company's performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  

These posts created lots of attention and it was lovely to get so much positive feedback and comments from people in the community.

Now looking ahead to what will happen to this llandrindodlife blog in 2017. This year is going to be a new start for the blog. New year is all about new beginnings and this year I will be bringing new energy to the community blog. I will do this by blogging more frequently about local events that I attend with the aim to raise the profile of the town's events to the wider community and even to people outside of Powys who read the posts and become interested in the town. 

I am also looking to blog more frequently about different businesses, shops, cafes etc. within the town. The posts I did last year were highly successful and I hope to build on this. So... If you are a local business, tourist attraction, service, shop etc and wish to be featured on the blog, please do get in contact. I am really looking forward to writing more blog posts about the businesses, shops and services we are so lucky to have here in Llandrindod so naturally I am eagerly awaiting people's responses. If you would like to get in contact with me, you can email me directly or use the contact form to the left side of this blog post. I do not want to charge for this service however, I would appreciate donations to enable me to further my running ambitions; the key here is flexibility and I would be happy to help out local businesses in return for example by making some of my time available to them. I am aiming to publish a post weekly about either an event, business or attraction in the community.

If your business, shop, service etc. were to be featured on this blog then your service will be reaching the wider community. I am helping people to understand what unique service you offer. This hopefully means your business will be boosted. Also, your service will not just be reaching people in the community but people all over the world as I share the blog posts on my personal social networking sites where I have followers that I know through the sport of running based in the USA, Canada, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Turkey, New Zealand, Italy, Australia and beyond. So you see Llandrindod is being put on the map!

In 2017 there will also be more llandrindodlife community running events organised. These will range from the llandrindodlife children's running group, social runs, one to one training sessions and lots more. Stay up to date with these on the llandrindodlife Facebook page. 

You can watch the GoPro footage of the first llandrindodlife social run here to whet your appetite for what will happen in 2017. 

Through the sport of running, I get to travel to some pretty amazing places around the world. Nevertheless, it's always a pleasure to return back to Mid Wales and run my local routes around Llandrindod Wells. My passion for this part of the world will never die and I hope you can share this feeling and be a part of this journey to demonstrate to everyone that we live in a town we should ALL be proud of.

Llandrindod Wells – the future of the town is in our hands. I look forward to working with all of you in the local community to enhance #llandrindodlife