Author: Alice Gregory

A charity that collects unwanted sports equipment from across Rhondda Cynon Taff, is helping to make sport affordable and accessible to over 1000 children each year. Play It Again Sports was established in 2016 by karate instructor Steffan Rees after he realised that children weren’t attending lessons because they couldn’t afford the classes or equipment. He also recognised that there was a mountain of unused and unwanted sports equipment lying around in people’s homes. As a result, Play It Again Sports was born. The concept is simple. People can donate unwanted sports equipment, clothing, and footwear at collection points in…

With pet theft reported to be on the increase in the UK, Dogs Trust, the UK’s leading dog welfare charity, has issued guidance to owners in a bid to prevent much loved dogs from being separated from their families. Today Thursday, 14th March, is Dogs Theft Awareness Day, and according to a recent report by Direct Line, 2,290 dogs were stolen across the UK in 2023, a six per cent increase on 2022. However, despite the very distressing nature of having a dog stolen, pet theft is not a specific crime. Currently, the crime of stealing a dog is treated…

Rambert returns to the Wales Millennium Centre this spring with Death Trap, which will be playing on 8 and 9 April 2024. Death Trap continues Rambert’s focus on storytelling and characters, and features awe inspiring performances by Rambert’s diverse company of dancers, with live music by an on-stage band. Bringing together Goat (2017) and Cerberus (2022), Death Trap is infused with Ben Duke’s irresistible, stylish and accessible sense of dance theatre, is darkly funny, and packed with originality. In Cerberus, we enter a world where dance is literally a matter of life or death. An ingenious adaptation of the Greek…

An eco-friendly adventure park has launched a novel campaign to celebrate Welshness – starting with a surprise delivery of traditional treats to a care home. Team members from GreenWood Family Park, in Felinheli, near Bangor, took dozens of Welsh Cakes and bunches of bright yellow daffodils to the Cerrig yr Afon home on the outskirts of the village. According to the attraction’s marketing manager, Kim Howie, it’s the first in a series of “Random Acts of Welshness” to generate national pride whilst having some feelgood fun at the same time. Kim explained the pioneering park, home to the planet’s only…

A young carer who spent her teen years in and out of education before getting a second chance thanks to the support of a Welsh college is looking forward to starting afresh and is urging other young people with caring duties to reach out for the help they need to succeed. 19-year-old JayLee Maylin Coles from Blackwood grew up caring for her four younger siblings and struggled to balance her studies with her caring role and general life as a young person, leading to a tumultuous relationship with education. Spending most of her teenage years moving around different schools and…

World-famous paintings have been reimagined with Marie Curie Nursing team members, including Healthcare Assistant Wendy Phillips from Swansea Bay for the charity’s Great Daffodil Appeal – The paintings are free to visit in a special exhibition at a London gallery at 56 Conduit Street, Mayfair this week – Artist Lisa Buchanan created the images, who has previously worked with Damien Hirst and Lakwena – The Great Daffodil Appeal is live until the end of March – donate and find out more at mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil – A first of its kind exhibition launches later this week, displaying a series of classic artworks…

Headline artists include authors Amor Towles, Ayọ̀ bámi Adébáyọ̀ , Colm Tóibín, Cressida Cowell, David Mitchell, Jeff Kinney, Jhumpa Lahiri, David Nicholls, Elif Shafak, Holly Jackson, Alex Wharton, Jacqueline Wilson, Sunjeev Sahota, Manon Steffan Ros, Marian Keyes, Michael Morpurgo and Oliver Jeffers; historians Alice Roberts, Greg Jenner and Tom Holland; politicians Theresa May, Andy Burnham, Julia Gillard and Rory Stewart; musicians Bonnie Tyler, Charlotte Church, Geri Halliwell-Horner, James Blunt, Jools Holland, Robert Macfarlane and Johnny Flynn; journalists James O’Brien, Caitlin Moran and Elizabeth Day; footballer and broadcaster Gary Lineker; actors Dame Judi Dench, Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Fry, Sir Lenny Henry…

A Welsh trailer maker has hooked up with a Celtic cousin to form a new partnership. Cornwall Farm Machinery has been appointed as a distributor for Ifor Williams Trailers (IWT) which has a global reach through its market-leading products. Rob Hattam, the general manager of Cornwall Farm Machinery, said the tie-up makes great business sense because of the shared interests and overlapping customer base of the two companies. Formed in 2010 and about to mark its 15th anniversary next year, Cornwall Farm Machinery has become a ‘go-to’ dealership for the agricultural community right across the county. It has built a…

West End star Steven Webb will join the cast of Dolly Parton musical Here You Come Again when it plays at Wales Millennium Centre this summer on its first ever tour of the UK. Here You Come Again is a rollicking and joyful new musical which brings together Dolly Parton’s biggest hits, fully authorised by Dolly herself. Steven will join the company as ‘Kevin’, a 40-year-old, has-been-who-never-was comedian, starring alongside Tricia Paoluccio, one of the co-writers of the show, who will reprise her celebrated role as ‘Dolly’ following US acclaim. Packed with iconic songs like Jolene, 9 to 5, Islands in…

Woman from Wales who left job to become award-winning pie maker calls for more over 50s to consider starting a business. In Wales, almost £7m has gone to 600 entrepreneurs over the age of 50 since the Start Up Loans programme began Nationally, 13% of all Start Up Loans have gone to business owners aged 50 or above, providing over £140m of finance for older entrepreneurs. A woman from Merthyr Tydfil who left her 18-year career as a social worker to start her own business making pies claims “you’re never too old to become an entrepreneur”. Clare Lewis, 54, is…