Author: Rhys Gregory

An autograph letter by famous 18th century Welsh naturalist, traveller and writer Thomas Pennant sold for £800 at a leading Shropshire fine art auction house last week. Sent from his home at Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire on September 22, 1767, the letter sold to a Welsh buyer at Halls Fine Art’s books, coins and stamps auction in Shrewsbury. The letter thanked an unnamed correspondent for permission to use his engravings of birds which, he wrote, would be acknowledged “in the appendix of the old edition of the Zoology which will appear this winter’. Thomas  (1726-98) was one of the…

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver has been named Hay Festival Book of the Year 2023 after hundreds of book lovers nominated their favourite titles of the year online. An epic tale of love, loss, and everything in between, Demon Copperhead follows the story of Demon, a young boy born to a teenage mother in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis. A reimagining of Dickens’ David Copperfield, the novel charts Demon’s journey to adulthood and efforts to transcend the challenges around him. Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Demon Copperhead…

A community fridge in the Vale of Clwyd has collected over 7.5 tonnes of food for distribution in its first year – most of which would have ended up in landfill. The impressive milestone achieved by Oergell Gymunedol Dinbych (Community Fridge Denbigh), which is based at the Eirianfa Community Centre in Denbigh, has been hailed as a “big success” by Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth during a visit to see the group. As it celebrates its first anniversary, the organisation says demand is increasing as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. The community project is part of Bwyd Cymunedol…

The Development Bank of Wales and the British Business Bank have announced the appointment of two women business angels as lead investors with Women Angels of Wales (WAW), the business angel investment syndicate for women. Investment banker Sharon Pipe and insurance industry specialist Rachel Ashley join fellow business angel Jill Jones as lead investors and members of WAW, a syndicate of over 30 women that was set up in 2022 by the Development Bank of Wales. Established to help support women in the early-stage investment community in Wales, WAW is now jointly supported by the British Business Bank and the…

Team Wales has excelled at this year’s WorldSkills UK National Finals, claiming a total of 51 medals. Out of the 115 strong Welsh competitors that took part, Team Wales won 8 gold, 21 silver, 15 bronze, and 7 highly commended. In a display of outstanding excellence, their performance means 40% of Welsh competitors are now ranked in this year’s final league table. Among the top-performing colleges in the United Kingdom, institutions such as Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, Pembrokeshire College, and Coleg Gwent stood out. Their selection as one of the top six colleges in the United Kingdom underpins their exceptional training programmes.…

A community-minded bakery has pitched in for a second time to get behind a village football team that’s looking forward to the 25th anniversary of its rebirth. Coedpoeth United has clinched a £1,000 sponsorship deal with the Jones Village Bakery which is also proud to be celebrating its milestone 90th anniversary next year. Company managing director Robin Jones said he can think of no better way to mark the bumper birthday than by giving something back to the village where the bakery started. The sponsorship has paid for a stylish new kit for the squad which plays in the Wrexham and…

A Cardiff-based telecommunications firm has expanded its team and taken on additional office space to accommodate the increasing demand for services in the run-up to the switch off of traditional copper telephone lines. Experienced sales account manager, John Cutter, joins Blend Telecom from Complete, one of the UK’s leading providers of business supplies and services, to help prepare businesses for the inevitable disruption of the switch off in 2025 which will see telephone systems cease to work unless they move to a newer, digital system. With 10 years of experience and business connections across the region, John joins the team…

Megan Allpress, 26, and her mother Amanda Shehab, 56, are sailing almost 5,000 nautical miles to Australia from Cape Town on the third leg of their circumnavigation. Megan, a materials engineer from Cumbria, and Amanda, a retired company director from Wrexham, are currently sailing around the world on the Clipper Race, an event that trains people from all walks of life to race across the world’s oceans on board a 70ft racing yacht. Amanda and Megan are taking on this huge adventure together to fulfil a dream that Amanda had with her late-husband to sail around the world- the pair…

With the launch of the Balchder Bro programme this week, there is an opportunity for groups across the island to apply for practical support to promote and deliver community projects. Led by social enterprise Menter Môn, the aim is to give people the confidence to come forward with plans that celebrate what makes their area unique. Funded by UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, the focus will be on celebrating the Welsh language and Anglesey’s distinct identity through projects that will foster local pride. Elen Hughes has recently been appointed as Project Director with Menter Môn, she explains: “Working for the…

MUMBLES will welcome a new opticians to its High Street as local owners invest £420,000 in a Specsavers store. The store, which is opening on Monday 27 November at 10 Newton Road, will be spearheaded by Chris Jones, Lyndsay Hewitt and Dr. Philip Jones, who are also directors of the Swansea Kingsway Specsavers store. The 12-strong team will include four local new hires – Carys Abood, Fiona Stone, Mandy Evans, and Catherine West, who were all born and raised in the area. The store will have three optical test rooms, including state-of-the-art hospital grade technology, such as an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) machine, which can…