Author: Rhys Gregory

Oscar-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins will deliver a video message to students who worked as crew on a new Andie MacDowell film shot in Aberystwyth as part of a special screening. The screening of My Happy Ending takes place this Saturday at Aberystwyth Arts Centre and forms part of the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies’ 50th anniversary celebrations. Twenty-four students as well as lecturers from the department worked with some of cinema and television’s most famous faces on the film, which was shot in Aberystwyth in 2021. Starring Andie MacDowell, Miriam Margoyles, Tom Cullen, David Walliams, Sally Phillips,…

According to new figures* 72% of the UK population say they are not planning on getting a new pet. The shocking results come as the RSPCA faces the biggest rehoming crisis in recent memory, with rehoming falling sharply at two national RSPCA centres. The RSPCA’s rescue centres and branches are “full to bursting” with unwanted animals as more animals come into care than are being adopted. Between 2021 and 2022, the charity saw a six percent increase in the number of dogs taken into care and a four percent increase in the number of cats. RSPCA’s two national rehoming centres…

Alun Williams, Chief Executive of Swansea Building Society, has announced he is stepping down as Chairman of Coastal Housing Group, culminating an illustrious nine-year tenure on the board. His dedicated service has left an indelible mark on the organisation, and he will be succeeded by Patrick Hoare, who is poised to continue the group’s mission of creating affordable, high-quality housing solutions for communities in need. Coastal Housing Group, headquartered in Swansea, is a leading housing association with a history of providing affordable and sustainable homes to individuals and families across the region. The organisation’s commitment to delivering high-quality properties for…

Dnyaneshwar Gaikwad, 89, and his wife Pushpa, 78 have retired from their popular vegetarian Indian café and mini-market in Cardiff after 43 years following a management buy-out that has been part-funded with a £100,000 loan the Development Bank of Wales. First established in 1980 on Lower Cathedral Road in Cardiff, Madhav serves up home-cooked vegetarian Indian street food. Chef Maruti Satpe and his wife Sadhana who is the store manager have taken over the business after working with the Gaikwad’s for the last ten years. With an average rating of 4.5 on TripAdvisor and Google, Maruti and Sadhana will continue…

An array of quality local food and drink is just a click away when traveling on trains between north and south Wales and England. Transport for Wales is rolling out an at seat ordering system on its Premier services which run between Cardiff, Holyhead and Manchester. Customers traveling on the service will be able to simply scan a QR code on their seat, select from a menu of Welsh and UK wide produce and a customer host will do the rest. Paul Otterburn, Catering Operations Manager for TfW said they wanted to make it easy for customers to access the…

Taylor Barry, 18, from Riverside, and Antonio Oracko, 19, from Cathays, were arrested after information was received about a car with suspected cloned number plates. Dashcam footage from a police car captured the moment the men tried to make off from officers by reversing the wrong way up a busy road. On Wednesday, August 2 at around 4.50pm, officers from South Wales Police Roads Policing Team were in the Riverside area of Cardiff after receiving reports of black BMW 1 series on cloned plates. Officers sighted the BMW at traffic lights on Clare Road and drove up close to stop…

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…