Author: Rhys Gregory

Pembrokeshire Agricultural Society would like to thank all those who supported this year’s event with competitor numbers up on the previous year as well as a significant increase in the number of trade stands and ticket sales. The Society has praised the hard work of the huge army of volunteers, sponsors and exhibitors, without whom it would not have been possible to hold the Show. Brian Jones, Pembrokeshire County Show President, said, “Thank you to everyone who came and supported the Show. We were certainly blessed with two days of glorious weather which I’ve no doubt helped in bringing the…

Leading soft drinks maker Radnor Hills has acquired Highland Spring Group’s Welsh production site. The deal, completed last week, will protect jobs at the site located in Blaen Twyni, Swansea, and support the ongoing strategic growth of the Radnor Hills business. The acquisition also includes a 40-acre water source in the heart of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. The site has serviced major supermarkets in the UK with still, sparkling and flavoured natural source water drinks for several years. Established in 1990, independent and family-owned, Radnor Hills has a turnover of £64.4 million and produces over 400 million drinks every year.…

An award-winning young plumber from Blackwood is set to head to Poland this September to represent the UK in a renowned international competition where he’ll compete against national teams from over 32 countries. 21-year-old Coleg y Cymoedd apprentice, Ruben Duggan, has been selected to compete in the plumbing category of the upcoming EuroSkills 2023 competition, which will take place in Gdańsk, Poland, on 5th September. Now in its eighth year, EuroSkills is the biggest vocational education and skills contest in Europe. Held every two years, the competition sees hundreds of young people, under the age of 25, from across the…

THE Vale of Glamorgan Council is investing more than £2 million to upgrade the roof and external cladding at Penarth Leisure Centre. Work on the project will take place in three phases over a period of months to minimise the impact on leisure centre users. It will bring the building, managed by Legacy Leisure, up to modern standards of thermal insulation, meaning heat is better retained. More daylight will also be able to enter, with improvements made to the roof lights to increase performance. Contractors will be on site from early next week to install scaffolding, fencing and hoarding. The…

A 25-year-old former primary school teaching assistant has been sentenced to over 18 years in prison for possession of indecent images of children and the sexual assault of a child under 13. Tommy Lee Allington was arrested at his home in Penlan, Swansea, on April 28 and pleaded guilty to a total of 17 charges at his pretrial hearing in Swansea Crown Court. Last week (Friday, September 1) he was jailed for 18 years and eight months, with six years on licence, and ordered to be on the sex offenders’ register for life. Detective Constable Amanda Jenkins, who investigated, said:…

Construction work for a state-of-the-art bus facility, based at the heart of Porthcawl’s regeneration area alongside the Portway and Salt Lake car park, started last month. The Metro Plus project will form part of the wider Metro Plus programme, which aims to improve public transport links across the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) in south-east Wales. The new bus facility will include four bays, a covered station building, space for a kiosk, as well as various environmental enhancements, including a ‘green roof’, rain garden, outdoor seating areas and associated highway works. The contractors for the project are already establishing links with…

A popular employment hub operating in the centre of Port Talbot has been granted a lease extension by Neath Port Talbot Council members so it can continue its vital work. The Aberafan Shopping Centre based NPT Opportunity Hub offers residents a “single front door” access to all the employability services Neath Port Talbot has to offer namely, Communities for Work Plus, Workways NPT and New Horizons (Youth Service). The Opportunity Hub is there to offer residents aged 16 plus, who are unemployed, not in education, employment or training (NEET) or economically inactive, an easily accessible and welcoming venue in the…

Rhondda Cynon Taf is gearing up to welcome one of the world’s leading cycling races, as the Tour of Britain 2023 makes its way through the county borough. Some of the best cyclists in the world will take on the challenging Bwlch and Rhigos Mountains and race through Llanwonno Forestry in stage eight of the competition, which runs from Margam Country Park to Caerphilly. Many residents may remember when beautiful Aberdare Park was used as the launch location for a stage of the 2016 Tour of Britain, when riders such as Mark Cavendish and Steve Cummings competed and headed off…

Residents have been thanked for attending recent engagement sessions for the green events space at Ynysangharad War Memorial Park. The Council received lots of positive responses – and some common themes of discussion, and details about the next steps, are summarised below. As approved by Cabinet in May 2023, the Council will revitalise the unused area of the park that was formerly a pitch-and-putt golf course and later a footgolf course. The area’s current condition and undulating surface has little value for alternative use. The upcoming scheme will flatten the area’s upper plateau to create a dedicated green space that…

The new Castle Inn Footbridge in Treforest was successfully lifted into place this week – and final arrangements are being made to reopen Cardiff Road on schedule, ahead of the peak travel period on Monday morning. The old footbridge provided a key link over the Afon Taff between River Street in Treforest and Cardiff Road in Glyntaff, but was severely damaged by Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis. It has remained closed since 2020 as a replacement scheme was prepared, while the old bridge was demolished this summer. During the school summer holiday, a road closure at Cardiff Road has allowed…