Author: Rhys Gregory

Following the recent announcement by First Cymru that it will be introducing changes across a range of south and west Wales bus services, Bridgend County Borough Council is advising local residents that both the X1 and X3 services will be affected. The X1 service will move from a half-hourly timetable to an hourly one, and the X3 will move from an hourly service to running every 90 minutes. The changes will apply between Monday and Saturday across both services, and are set to begin on Sunday 29 October. In a statement, First Cymru has cited reductions in the amount of…

A cemetery garden in Cardiff, telling the story of a young mouse called Dorawho wishes she could tell her mother how much she misses her, has won a gold ‘Bereaved Community Award’ at the annual Cemetery of the Year awards. The prestigious award ceremony also saw Thornhill Cemetery receive a silver award in the ‘Large Burial Ground’ category. Designed tohelp young children cope with the loss of a loved one and provide a place of remembrance for parents who have lost a baby, the unique garden at Western Cemetery in the Ely area of the city, is the first of…

A Nantyglo man has been fined and ordered to pay clean-up costs for two incidents of fly-tipping in the Blaenau Gwent area. Jordan Oadley, of Dale View, was prosecuted for 10 offences relating to the two incidents after taking payment from members of the public to dispose of their waste. He was charged with offences including, knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited from a motor vehicle, failure to prevent unauthorised deposit of controlled waste, falling to prevent escape of waste in his control, knowingly depositing controlled waste and failing in his duty to ensure a written description of waste…

Powys County Council has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive. Emma Palmer, who is current Director of Corporate Services, was appointed Chief Executive at a meeting of the full County Council today (Tuesday). She will start her new role shortly, succeeding Interim Chief Executive Jack Straw, who was appointed in April. “I congratulate Emma on her well-deserved appointment and wish her well for the future,” he said. Emma is an experienced senior local government officer and has worked in the public sector in Wales for more than 24-years. For the past six years Emma has held executive positions…

Since launching in 2022, Taith – the Welsh Government’s international learning exchange programme – has awarded funding to allow over 11,000 people to learn, study and volunteer all over the world. Taith provides opportunities for learners, young people and staff in every type of education and youth setting to travel abroad to learn, as well as allowing organisations to invite their international partners to come and visit Wales. Since its launch in February last year, Taith has enabled: opportunities for over 11,000 people to take part in transformative learning exchange trips, exchanges between Wales and more than 90 countries, 142…

A TALENTED choir are in fine voice and going from strength to strength after winning a national singing contest. Welsh language learners representing Coleg Cambria emerged victorious in the Welsh Learners Choir Competition at the recent National Eisteddfod, held in Boduan, Gwynedd. Among the songs performed by Cor Cambria was popular hymn, Calon Lan. The college’s Music lecturer Tim Heeley congratulated the group on their achievement. “Having learnt Welsh as an adult myself, competing at the Eisteddfod was fundamental to me developing an understanding of the culture of Wales, as well as an opportunity to use the language,” said Tim.…

Youngsters at a primary school in Wrexham have been learning how to make an authentic pizza with a course on making the Italian favourite courtesy of a top chef. Stephen Griffiths, Development Chef at Harlech Foodservice, one of Wales’s leading food distribution companies, called in at Ysgol Maes y Mynydd, in Rhosllanerchrugog, to help pupils turn out Italy’s answer to Welsh rarebit. He had prepared a ball of pizza dough for each pupil and for staff members to join in, rolling them out and topping them with cheese, tomato, mushroom, sweetcorn, peppers, salami and even pineapple. They clearly enjoyed their…

A fund to support Welsh language feature films with international, big screen potential is now open for applications. Sinema Cymru, a collaboration between S4C and Creative Wales, will be delivered by Ffilm Cymru, and is aimed at developing a minimum of three feature films a year, with a view to progressing one for production funding. The £180k fund, which is financed by Creative Wales and part of the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru, is now open for applications from experienced film makers from within Wales. Up to £30,000 per project is up for grabs in the…

Financial advisory firm Dow Schofield Watts (DSW) has expanded its reach with the launch of a new corporate finance team based in Cardiff. The new team will be led by Koo Aseeley and Michael Dunn and will support businesses in Wales and the South West. Both partners have 10 years’ experience in financial services and most recently worked at Gambit Corporate Finance, where they completed an array of high profile M&A and fundraising transactions. Prior to this, Michael was an international trade finance specialist in the London insurance market, while Koo began his career with PwC in London where he…

Customers have been flocking to the seaside by train across Wales this summer according to new figures this week. Barmouth, Barry Island, Tenby and Llandudno all saw a significant rise in customers traveling on Transport for Wales services in July and August, despite the changeable conditions. Llandudno was the top single destination for the summer with 65,046 people visiting the town. This summer, the Cambrian Coast line saw the return of four-carriage for the first time in six-years thanks to a collaboration between Transport for Wales and Network Rail. As a result, the Cambrian Coast saw a 16% rise in…