Author: Alice Gregory

The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) near Machynlleth is offering fully funded Carbon Literate Certified courses for businesses, community groups, town and community councils, social enterprises and other organisations in Powys. Bookable up until the end of 2024, CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain trainers will be welcoming groups from across Powys to take part in this two-part training programme. The training will support businesses and other groups to become more aware of sustainability related issues and to create a low-carbon culture within their projects and workplaces. The courses will also help participants to become Carbon Literacy Organisations (CLOs) by providing a…

Persimmon Homes has announced the successful unveiling of the Bee Hapus Community Garden at its Heritage Gate development in Llantwit Major. This vibrant community space is set to become a cornerstone of local environmental and social activities, and already there are enthusiastic community members taking on the task of its upkeep and development. The Bee Hapus Community Garden is a testament to the collaborative spirit of the Llantwit Major community and will be home to bees, bumblebees, honeybees, butterflies and moths. The community garden, now looked after by local residents, includes a spiral weathered steel-edged path, a bespoke seating area…

Talyllyn Railway’s popular annual “Stations at Stations” pilgrimage event on Good Friday raised a record £540 for Tywyn Parish Church’s partner diocese in Matabeleland in Zimbabwe. A specially chartered train travels up and down Talyllyn Railway, visiting six stations which host a selection of readings, meditations and prayers on the ‘Stations of the Cross’ to form a spiritual journey. The Venerable Robert Townsend, Archdeacon of Meirionnydd, was celebrant at the event, which is arranged with local churches and chapels. The Right Rev Cleopas Lunga, Bishop of Matabeleland, a long-standing friend and occasional visitor to Talyllyn Railway, wrote to thank the…

Award-winning Welsh property developer, Sancler Property has prioritised long-term sustainability in its latest completed project with leading green construction solution manufacturer, Duraproducts. The company, crowned NHBC Welsh Housebuilder of the Year 2021, has installed almost 1km of Duraproducts’ pioneering recycled and recyclable plastic kerbing solution, Durakerb – including straight kerbs, drop kerbs, and centre stones – at the Pludds Meadow development of 24 houses in Laugharne, South-West Wales, without any heavy lifting machinery. Elsewhere, at the Clos Hugdon development of 42 houses, currently in progress in Laugharne, a further 750m of Durakerb units is being installed this year. Durakerb has…

It’s easy to see how this musical stands the test of time, with themes like the cost of living as relevant today as it was when it was written in the early 1980s. The story follows a familiar vein of twins separated at birth, one, Edward or Eddie, growing up in privilege and the other, Mickey in poverty. They befriend each other as young boys playing in the street but are separated again when the wealthier family moves away. Years later the two boys find each other again when the rehousing programme in Liverpool moves the Johnstone family to the…

MS Society Cymru is thrilled to announce that Pip Beattie, an individual diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), has successfully completed her ‘Hockey Challenge’ fundraiser, raising an impressive £3,235 for the charity. This amount far exceeds her initial target of £1,000, marking a significant achievement in personal fundraising and awareness efforts for MS. The fundraising event, held on Saturday, 27th July at Whitchurch High School, saw Pip play four games of hockey, totalling 4 hours and 40 minutes or 280 minutes of play time. This challenge represented the four years since Pip first started experiencing MS symptoms. Just a year prior,…

CatSci Ltd, an award-winning innovation partner for medicines development, along with Reach Industries, have won an Innovate UK grant to accelerate the development of life-changing oligonucleotide therapeutics. This grant will fund a collaboration that combines scientific expertise with machine vision tools to streamline the synthesis, purification and analysis of RNA medicines. Based on Lumi Visual Intelligence platform developed by Reach Industries, CatSci and Reach will build a set of tools that blend local area monitoring with multiple global 3D mapping Lumi cameras, tracking movement between local stations to offer a holistic view of sample flow across the entire lab. This…

A lawyer and mum of three from Anglesey is a dab hand at baking and turning out scrumptious cakes but she’s no pushover – she’s working towards a black belt in karate. Welsh speaker Iona Lecras – her surname comes from her husband’s family connection to the Channel Islands – has just joined the private client team at Swayne Johnson’s office in Llandudno where she will specialise in wills, inheritance tax, powers of attorney and estate planning. Iona, 41, from Pentre Berw, on Anglesey, is the latest recruit to St Asaph-based Swayne Johnson, one of the oldest law firms in…

The National Cycle Museum is organising a special guided tour for people attending Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival on Thursday, August 22. Visitors to the Automobile Palace, Llandrindod Wells at 11.30am will have a chance to discover the history of the cycle over the last 200 years with a guided tour by one of the museum’s volunteer guides. The museum tour is included in the entertainment programme for the Victorian Festival which runs from Monday, August 19 until Sunday, August 25. It’s particularly fitting as the cycle has its origins in Victorian times. Admission is £7 for adults and children aged…

A Valleys family are celebrating 100 years of farming at Maes Bach in Tonteg, Pontypridd by fundraising for the Wales Air Ambulance Charity. In 1924, Alfie, from Hereford, bought a family farm from Marquis of Bute. Since then, each generation has taken a keen interest in working on the land. It is now run by Alfie’s grandson, Clive Johnson. Clive said: “Alfie, my grandfather, originally came from Hereford. He moved to Ynysybwl and bought our family farm 100 years ago. “My son Gwyn works with us, he is the fourth generation to farm here and my grandson Gethin, who is…