Author: Rhys Gregory

The importance of tourism industry collaboration and unity was emphasised by speakers at the annual meeting of an independent organisation that represents around 600 tourism and hospitality business across Mid Wales. The impact of Welsh Government legislation on the industry was one of the main discussion points at a members’ forum which followed the annual meeting of MWT Cymru (Mid Wales Tourism) held at Hafan yr Afon, Newtown on Tuesday. MWT Cymru chairman Rowland Rees-Evans, chief executive Val Hawkins, MBE, and Wales Tourism Alliance chairman Suzy Davies all stressed the need for tourism and hospitality businesses to stay united. Addressing…

Wales is preparing to stage the biggest hospitality skills event the country has ever seen early in the new year. The Welsh International Culinary Championships (WICC) is moving to the International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales), Newport, which will become Wales’ Hospitality Hub from January 22-24, 2024. The WICC, which was previously held in North Wales, brings together craft chefs, craft butchers and front of house staff to compete in three days of competitions. The event will be open free of charge to the public and hospitality trade. Organised by the Culinary Association of Wales (CAW), the 2024 WICC will…

A BUSINESS support service will expand across Mid and West Wales following an encouraging first year. Antur Cymru’s pop-up retail project in Aberystwyth had such a positive impact they have opened another test space in Newcastle Emlyn. And the social enterprise’s latest venture – Cymorth Busnes Lleol / Local Business Support – plans to add another location in 2024. Funded by UK Government and driven by Levelling-Up via Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire councils, the scheme also includes guidance and advice for start-ups, entrepreneurs, and independent traders across the region via a team of skilled and experienced mentors and advisors. Meanwhile, the…

THE inspiration behind a life-changing project helping socially isolated people into work has been nominated for a top award. Mel Davis, an Employability Mentor with Conwy Employment Hub, is a finalist in the Apprentice of the Year Management category of Grwp Llandrillo Menai’s 2024 Apprenticeship Awards. With no previous academic qualifications to her name, the Old Colwyn mum-of-four joined the Hub six years ago and was encouraged to return to learning for CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and to help lay the foundations for her future career. Mel went on to achieve a string of qualifications, including Diplomas Levels 3, 5…

There are nearly 5,000 children in foster care across Wales. 53% of those are aged 11+. Many of them have faced extreme hardship and adversity, and yet when asked, it’s the negative perceptions of wider society that hurt them most. Molly* is 14 and is in foster care in Bridgend: “As young people in care, we get judged before people even get to know us, people think we’re just troublemakers who do drugs and get pregnant underage. It’s just not true. “We’re just normal people like everyone else, apart from our story is a little bit different. Everyone is human, and we make mistakes, some of ours are down to the…

Cardiff Metropolitan University has won a prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Award, honouring outstanding work in developing an anti-racist learning model for education professionals. Diversity and Anti-Racist Professional Learning (DARPL), the key national provider in Wales which rethinks anti-racist professional leadership in education, picked up the award for Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. DARPL, developed by Cardiff Met, comprises professional learning provision and resources which support the implementation of the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan set-out by Welsh Government. DARPL was established by Chantelle Haughton, Principal Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Its vision is to…

Cardiff University and IQE have extended their strategic partnership in a move that will invest significantly in developing talent in compound semiconductors and help fuel the expansion of IQE’s South Wales manufacturing operations. The new agreement provides a further five-year commitment from both partners to expand research capacity in compound semiconductor technologies. Two new professorial chairs in compound semiconductors will be established, one in the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy and the other in the School of Engineering. Both will utilise the cutting-edge facilities available in the recently commissioned Institute for Compound Semiconductors based at the University’s Translational Research…

Principality Building Society has announced that it has renewed its charity partnership with Tŷ Hafan and Hope House Children’s Hospices for another year. The two charities who provide outstanding end of life care for children, and support for their families, were first announced as charity partners of Principality in 2022. Since then, the building society, it’s staff and members have donated over £250,000 to the two charities, through various fundraising activities. Principality marks the extension of the partnership with £10,000 donation to each charity, which will enable them to provide additional help for families currently being supported by the hospices…

The Age Cymru Partnership has released new research as part of its Christmas campaign, the hardest day of the year, to highlight just how lonely and isolating everyday life is for thousands of older people across Wales, especially during the festive period.  According to research from the Partnership nearly 85,000 people aged 65 or over in Wales say they will eat Christmas dinner alone this year.  More than 112,000 older people, equivalent to more than one in six, told the Partnership that Christmas Day is their hardest day of the year, while nearly one in five (18%) said they wish…

Neath Port Talbot Council’s successful conversion of the Grade II listed Plaza Cinema building into a community hub, business centre and gym run by the YMCA has won a top award. The project to provide a new Port Talbot town centre role for the spectacular art-deco former cinema has won Project of the Year in the annual CLAW (Consortium of Local Authorities in Wales) Awards. The CLAW Awards are open to all councils in Wales and are designed to reward excellence in the professional property management field. First opened in 1940 with the movie Babes In Arms, starring Judy Garland and…