THE INTERNATIONALLY renowned Welsh National Opera Orchestra will perform at St David’s Cathedral on Friday 19 July at 7.30pm as part of the Fishguard Festival of Music. The orchestra are regular visitors to the festival and St David’s and will be joined this time by their music director Tomáš Hanus.

Opening the concert will be Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major with soloist Thomas Verity. This will be followed by Bruckner’s majestic Sixth Symphony.

WNO Music Director Tomáš Hanus said: ‘We are delighted to be visiting St David’s as part of our tour this summer. It is a joy to be able to bring some wonderful music to the Western corner of Wales and a fantastic opportunity to showcase the exceptional musicianship of this fantastic ensemble in a cathedral setting.’

Fishguard Festival of Music Artistic Director, Gillian Green MBE added: ‘I’m very pleased to be able to welcome the WNO orchestra to the Fishguard Festival for our opening festival weekend. It’s wonderful to have such a world class orchestra here, I’m sure the concert will be truly memorable.’

Tickets for the concert are priced £15 to £28 for adults with concessions at £5 and £1 for children and young people. These can be booked via www.fishguardfestival.com. A festival bus will be available for concert goers from Cardigan, Newport, Dinas , Fishguard and Goodwick and is also bookable online. The full festival programme is also available to view on the festival’s website.

DESCRIBED by the Guardian as a “brutal confrontation on the miners’ strike picket lines,” Strike: An Uncivil War is Daniel Gordon’s feature documentary that tells the story of the Battle of Orgreave. It was the most violent confrontation between Miners and Police during the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike in Great Britain and can be seen at the Torch Theatre Cinema, on Wednesday 3 July.

The year-long Strike was the most divisive and violent industrial dispute that Britain has ever witnessed, and using powerful personal testimony, previously hidden government documents and a treasure trove of never-before-seen archive material, Strike: An Uncivil War follows the events at Orgreave, which took place on 18 June 1984.

Witness at first hand the stories and recollections of the people on the front lines of this incredible moment in time, which split communities and the nation in two, and which has ripples that still resonate to this very day.

“This is a tough, valuable, forthright film about one of the nastiest, ugliest moments in postwar British history. Since 1985, the debate about fossil fuels has, of course, changed. But it is still staggering that a government planned wholesale mine closures with no thought for and no interest in what would happen to the communities affected,” concluded the Guardian this week, who gave the documentary four stars.

Strike: An Uncivil War (15) will be screened at the Torch Theatre on Wednesday 3 July at 5.15pm. Ticket prices: Standard: £7.50. Concession: £7.00. Under 16: £6.00. To book your tickets or for further information, contact the Box Office on01646 695267 or visit torchtheatre.co.uk.

A LEGAL challenge against Pembrokeshire County Council for a recently granted approval for a £6m expansion of a south Pembrokeshire holiday park has been turned down, county planners heard.

Back in February, Pembrokeshire planners were informed a legal challenge to a November 2023-granted application for works at Heritage Park, Pleasant Valley/Stepaside had been launched.

The holiday park scheme had previously been backed twice by county planners after a ‘minded to approve’ cooling-off period was invoked as it was against repeated officer recommendations to refuse.

The controversial scheme by Heritage Leisure Development (Wales) Ltd includes the installation of 48 bases for holiday lodges, a spa facility at a former pub, holiday apartments, a café and cycle hire, equestrian stables, a manège and associated office, and associated works.

It is said the scheme, next to the historic remains of the 19th century Stepaside ironworks and colliery, will create 44 jobs.

Officer grounds for refusal, based on the Local Development Plan, included the site being outside a settlement area.

Along with 245 objections to the current scheme, Stepaside & Pleasant Valley Residents’ Group (SPVRG Ltd) – formed to object to an earlier 2019 application which was later withdrawn – also raised a 38-page objection, with a long list of concerns.

A failed legal challenge to try and overturn a council decision to approve three separate planning applications at Heritage Park was launched in 2021 by SPVRG Ltd, which failed in early 2022; the council awarded costs of £10,000 despite external legal fees paid totalled £34,000 plus VAT.

At the June 25 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning committee members heard the recent judicial review call by SPVRG Ltd had been refused by the high court, the grounds put forward “not considered to be reasonably arguable”.

Committee chair Cllr Simon Hancock said a council request for SPVRG Ltd to pay costs incurred by the county council in defending the claim had now been submitted.