Author: Rhys Gregory

The £11m Abbey Primary School has been officially opened at a ceremony held on Friday (5th May). Pupils, staff, and invited guests were invited to the ceremony at which a plaque was unveiled by Jeremy Miles MS, Welsh Government’s Minister for Education and Welsh Language. A number of pupils also recited poetry, sang songs and spoke about how important the new school is to them as part of the opening ceremony. The English-medium school, located on the site of the former Dwr-Y-Felin Lower Comprehensive School, has places for 420 primary and 50 nursery pupils. It has replaced the former Abbey…

A lively Pilgrim Fayre will be held later this month to mark the achievements of a project celebrating the historic links between North Wexford and North Pembrokeshire. The event on bank holiday Monday, 29th May 11am-6pm at St Davids Bishop’s Palace, boasts an exciting family-friendly programme of performance, song, guided walks, a medieval marketplace, traditional skills demos, and film screenings. It marks the achievements of the Ancient Connections project as it comes to a close and the launch of the Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, with a celebration of communities past and present. The event centres on a lively medieval marketplace hosting…

RCT’s cabinet are considering a proposal to create a dedicated green space to provide more options to host larger events at Ynysangharad War Memorial Park – having identified a suitable location that currently has no formal use, and that can be better used to improve the park’s visitor offer. The new event space could be created at the large grass area next to the Llys Cadwyn bridge access to the Pontypridd park. The area was previously used as a pitch-and-putt golf course and later a footgolf course – and its current condition has little value for alternative use due to…

RCT’s Cabinet will shortly receive an update on the progress being made towards delivering major regeneration projects in Pontypridd, aimed at improving the southern end of the town centre and boosting trade for businesses. At their meeting on Monday, May 15, Cabinet will consider a detailed report that outlines the latest position on the ‘Southern Gateway’ projects that are identified in the Pontypridd Placemaking Plan. These are earmarked for the former M&S/Dorothy Perkins/Burtons buildings and the old Bingo Hall site. Investment in Pontypridd town centre remains a Council priority following the £115m Pontypridd Regeneration Framework (2017-2022) that delivered Llys Cadwyn…

A man from Oldham has been sentenced for selling counterfeit tobacco in Newport. Haval Amin was given an eight-week custodial sentence, suspended for 24 months, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. His company, Timisoara Ltd, was also fined £30,000 by Newport magistrates court following an investigation by the council’s trading standards team. Trading standards visited Timisoara on Corporation Road in August 2021, following intelligence gained from previous seizures and a separate illicit tobacco investigation. During the visit, Amin was served with a closure notice for Timisoara. Around 9,500 suspected illicit cigarettes were seized, along with 300g of…

A recent report highlights the efforts made by Caerphilly County Borough Council to ensure that public toilets are accessible to all. During a meeting held on 19th April cabinet members reviewed the Caerphilly County Borough Local Toilets Strategy 2019 and approved the revisions and the updated Strategy for 2023. The 2019 Strategy set out several options for consideration to increase the provision of local toilets, which have been successfully incorporated by the Council. These include The Council working with third parties to successfully re-open the former CCBC public toilet facilities at Bargoed, Risca, Blackwood, and Caerphilly Bus Stations. The Council…

Graig-y-Rhacca Primary School celebrate the opening of their local Caru Cymru Litter Picking Hub. Caru Cymru Litter Picking Hubs, developed with Keep Wales Tidy, enable residents borrow everything they need to carry out a safe litter pick for free. This includes litter pickers, hi-vis vests, rubbish bags and hoops (essential for keeping bags open in breezy conditions). Pupils from Graig-y-Rhacca Primary School were joined by Graig-y-Rhacca Community Association and local councillors, to help litter pick their community in celebration of the new Caru Cymru Litter Picking Hub in Graig-Y-Rhacca Community Centre. Cllr Chris Morgan, Cabinet Member for Waste, Leisure &…

Parks in the Caerphilly county borough are set to benefit from innovative symbol-based communications boards. The boards aim to support interactions, play and fun between children of all ages and abilities, their peers and families during their time at play parks and promote inclusion for all children. Caerphilly is one borough set to receive boards as part of a roll out of 300 communications boards across Wales.  This has been made possible thanks to £26,000 funding from the Welsh Government’s Talk With Me programme, which shares speech, language, and communication skills advice with parents and caregivers for children aged between…

Powys residents have the opportunity to get a glimpse of what life is like on the frontline when a military show takes places later this month. Brecon Military Show will be taking place at Infantry Battle School at Dering Lines on Saturday 27 May between 12-4pm. The show, which is being supported by Powys County Council, will have a range of activities including: Bouncy castle slide Mini obstacle Wheelchair rugby Gurkha cultural show Gurkha Khukuri pattern Smoothie exercise bike Military weapon display Jungle and survival lane Climbing tower. Cllr Matthew Dorrance, Powys County Council’s Deputy Leader and Armed Forces Champion,…

£70 million in funding will support the next stage in the expansion of free school meals in all primary schools in Wales, the Minister for Education has announced this week. The introduction of universal free school meals for primary school pupils is part of the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. All primary school children and more than 6,000 nursery-age pupils attending a maintained school will be eligible for free school meals by 2024. To date nearly 5 million additional free meals have been served across Wales since September 2022.  The next phase of the expansion to provide…