Author: Alice Gregory

South Wales linen suppliers Star Linen UK has become one of the first companies in the hospitality sector to achieve the prestigious B Corporation certification – joining the growing movement using business as a force for good. The gold standard award recognises Star Linen UK’s commitment to sustainable business practices and ethical standards, solidifying its position as an industry leader in environmentally conscious solutions for the hospitality sector. Verified by B Lab, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement, the achievement demonstrates the company meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability alongside a commitment to goals…

The University of South Wales (USW) hosted Wales’ first digital catwalk show last night (Monday 22 April) as part of Cardiff Fashion Week 2024. The launch event introduced the concept of digital fashion to the audience – which included local fashion brands, designers and models – showing how clothes can be designed and created using specialist software and tailored to avatars, instead of using physical fabrics. Compared to traditional garment manufacturing, digital fashion is inexpensive, sustainable and isn’t constrained by creative barriers or production limitations – helping to reduce the fashion industry’s environmental impact and offering more freedom for designers.…

THE new owners of the Parc Dewi Sant site in Carmarthen have announced plans to convert the former Victorian asylum into a medical park with health and wellbeing benefits for the whole community. A number of NHS services currently operate on the site, and there is also a Swansea University facility teaching student nurses. All existing organisations on the site will retain their tenancy rights. The new owners have acquired almost all of the 38-acre site from Carmarthen County Council after the council put the location up for sale. Parc Dewi Sant Limited wants to develop the medical provision on…

Caerphilly-based MacManus Asset Finance has been named Asset Finance Broker of the Year at a prestigious UK-wide awards event hosted by Claudia Winkleman for Business Moneyfacts in London on 18th April. The largest business finance awards ceremony in the UK took place in front of more than 700 attendees representing some of the nation’s biggest financial institutions, at the Evolution Centre in Battersea, London. MacManus Asset Finance was established in 2005, by Chris and Rhian MacManus and trades from Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly. Making the shortlist of finalists at the glamorous event was a huge achievement for the Welsh business,…

A pair of stools by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson, an Omega watch, an Art Deco desk clock companion and a 1794 Cary’s Map of England and Wales were just some of the discoveries at a charity antiques valuation event in Newtown on Wednesday. The event was organised by Marie Curie’s Newtown Fundraising Group at the Monty Club in partnership with specialists from Shrewsbury-based Halls Fine Art. A fee of £1 per item valued contributed to £125 raised for the charity on the day. Alexander Clement, watches and Asian art specialist and senior general valuer, Maryanne Lineker-Mobberley, silver, jewellery and bijouterie specialist…

Farmer-led Abergavenny based charity Stump Up for Trees continue their mission to plant one million trees in the Brecon Beacons with the help of the Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund. One year ago, WWF, the RSPB and Aviva came together to launch the Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund, a fund making it easier for communities to take action for UK nature in their local area. From the Scottish Highlands, right down to the Cornish Riviera, nearly 250 groups took part, collectively raising over £2.5million, from over 12,000 supporters, to help bring UK nature back to life. In Abergavenny,…

Swansea University has renewed its commitment to the Libraries Together Passport Scheme and will continue to offer the local community free access to high-quality education and information through its libraries. The scheme, accessible to Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Powys, and Pembrokeshire public library members, alleviates the financial constraints associated with purchasing study materials and helps individuals enhance their research skills. It also inspires the discovery of reading for pleasure outside of education purposes and encourages environmental sustainability through borrowing, not buying. To become an external borrower of Swansea University Libraries, visitors must: Go to their nearest public library…

Alfie, a ten-year-old cat from Wales who went missing over two years ago, has been reunited with his family thanks to his microchip and lost and found pet database, Petlog. Owner Nicola Selwood-Parry, 47, from Newport, South Wales, and her family were heartbroken when their beloved pet cat, Alfie, went missing during a storm in February 2022. Nicola shared: “My 82-year-old dad had been in hospital for a month after being knocked down by a car. On the day I collected him from hospital, when I came home, I found Alfie wasn’t there. Alfie had been there when I left…

Launched last year, the Culture Collective is a student-led group organising events and activities at Coleg Cambria Yale in Wrexham. The latest was a showcase of arts, dance, music, literature, poetry, and fashion held at the college’s Ial Restaurant with ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners, supported by funding via the Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. More than 100 people in attendance were also treated to a tea-tasting session, with a selection of flavours on display from a wide range of countries including Japan and Algeria, and a performance by Big Ideas Wales Role Model Joseph George,…

Chambers Wales South East, South West and Mid has today (16 April) announced the finalists for the Wales Business Awards 2024. Hundreds of businesses of all sizes and from all sectors across the country entered to be in with a chance of winning a prestigious accolade and 49 companies have been named as finalists across 11 categories. Leading the pack with two nominations each are Cardiff firms Genesis Biosciences and Ogi, North Wales’ Adferiad Recovery and Idlewild Animal Sanctuary, Penarth-based business Finalrentals, Swansea manufacturer Waterless Limited and four businesses from south-east Wales: Arian Care, Hexa Finance Limited, Otium Concierge and…