Author: Rhys Gregory

Street food and circus festival, the Big Banquet, is returning to Caldicot Castle for the August Bank Holiday Weekend. After a successful launch weekend in May, Big Banquet will be bringing flavours from around the world from some Wales’ best-known and up-and-coming street food chefs – all centred around a gravity-defying high-wire act. The Big Banquet will run across the summer bank holiday weekend from Friday 25 August to Monday 28 August. As well as the street food and high-wire shows, visitors can expect walkabout circus performers, a free circus school for kids, fire shows from the Pembrokeshire Fire Spinners…

Ian Gwyn Hughes, Head of Public Relations and Culture at the Football Association of Wales and former BBC broadcaster, has been presented with an Honorary Fellowship of Aberystwyth University. Originating from Colwyn Bay, Ian Gwyn Hughes was educated at Eirias High School, Colwyn Bay and Ysgol Glan Clwyd, St Asaph.  He went on to study History and International Politics at Aberystwyth. In 1982, he began his broadcasting career working for CBC (Cardiff Broadcasting Company) radio. By the end of the year he started working as a presenter and commentator for the BBC Wales Sports Department, and over the next three…

A COLWYN BAY school is one of the most proactive in Wales for inclusion and diversity. Ysgol Eirias has implemented plans and held educational sessions and workshops throughout the academic year, focused on engaging pupils, working closely with community organisations and stakeholders, and communicating positively with parents and carers on a wide range of issues. Understanding themes centred around racism, gender, LGBTQ+, sexual health and more have been driven by Citizenship Coordinator, Haylie Zachara. The school’s Diversity team includes a group of learners from Year 7 and above, who meet regularly to champion equal rights, present assemblies and conduct student…

Golfers from across South Wales came together at Clyne Golf Club to compete and raise funds for Swansea-based kidney charity, Popham Kidney Support, at its annual Golf Day on Friday, July 7. The competition, organised by Mr Kim Loosmore, raised an impressive £9,000 which will contribute to the charity’s target of £130,000 for the refurbishment of the Children’s Kidney Centre Outpatient Department in Cardiff & Vale University Hospital. Currently, there is very little natural light in the department, making it a dark environment. The refurbishment will maximise the natural light, creating a more welcoming, warm and comfortable place for children to undergo…

Carding Mill Lane, a public bridleway in Narberth, is to remain traffic-free after local landowners dropped a claim that they had a right to drive motor vehicles on part of it. Used by walkers, cyclists and horse-riders, Carding Mill Lane leaves Narberth Town Moor adjacent to the RAOB Club and links to Canaston Wood and beyond. In January 2021 the owners of land that was previously part of Plas Farm claimed to have a right to drive vehicles on part of the lane, declaring what they believed to be a private right of way over it. Pembrokeshire County Council did…

The next phase of the Castle Inn Bridge replacement in Treforest will start on July 22, using a road closure at Cardiff Road. The closure is scheduled for the school summer holiday to minimise disruption, while a FREE shuttle bus will run locally. The footbridge provided a key local link over the Afon Taff between River Street in Treforest and Cardiff Road in Glyntaff, but was severely damaged during Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis. Having been closed since 2020 as a replacement scheme was prepared, the structure has been demolished in recent weeks ahead of the upcoming installation of the…

An agreement that will enable £8m of outside funding to be secured from the Cardiff Capital Region to demolish and remediate the large derelict Cwm Coking works site in Beddau, making it ready for future development, has been authorised by Cabinet Members. On Monday, July 17, Cabinet approved an agreement between the Council and developer Persimmon Plc Group, enabling access to major funding from the Cardiff Capital Region Housing Viability Fund. The funding will be used to remove the disused coking works and decontaminate the land – to unlock a strategic site which is included in the Local Development Plan…

The Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council has asked the First Minister to intervene in helping to address historic issues associated with chemical waste deposited in the late 1960s at the Ty Llwyd quarry site near Ynysddu. Cllr Sean Morgan has written to Mark Drakeford this week (Wed 19 July) following a recent decision at a council meeting to make a formal approach for support. In his correspondence to the First Minister, Cllr Morgan writes, “My Council continues to manage the legacy of the former Ty Llwyd quarry above the community of Ynysddu. Environmental Health Officers continue to work with…

Powys County Council Chief Executive, Dr Caroline Turner, will leave the council at the end of July. Caroline has been absent from work due to ill-health since March. Cllr James Gibson-Watt, Leader of the Council said: “Caroline joined Powys County Council in February 2019 at a very difficult time for the council. The past four years have seen improvements in many areas of the council’s running and in the delivery of services, and this has been recognised by Estyn and Care Inspectorate Wales. Caroline led the council’s response to the challenges posed by Covid from 2020 onwards, ensuring that services…

Climate Change Minister Julie James visited Ramsey and Grassholm Island today off the coast of Pembrokeshire to assess the scale of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) which is affecting wild sea bird colonies around the UK. Ramsey and Grassholm are home to some of the world’s most important gannet colonies, with guillemots, Manx sheerwater, razorbills and peregrine falcons also nesting on their shores. The visit, organised by RSPB Cymru, follows reports of bird carcasses washed up on Pembrokeshire beaches with suspected HPAI. Just last week RSPB Cymru announced that Common and Arctic Terns, Gulls and the Atlantic Puffin had been…