Author: Rhys Gregory

Principality Building Society has reaffirmed its commitment to paying the real Living Wage to its colleagues by becoming an accredited employer by the Living Wage Foundation. After listening to feedback from its colleagues across the organisation about the difficulties they are facing in to as a result of the cost of living crisis, Principality has also announced it will focus pay increases for lower paid roles this year, to support people as prices continue to spiral. The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate that is voluntarily paid by over 11,000 UK businesses who believe their staff deserve a wage…

Fans of Marco Pierre White will be licking their lips this Black Friday with the chance to snap up a special offer that will enable them to purchase a £100 voucher for just £60. Redeemable across the Marco Pierre White Restaurants estate*, including his Cardiff and Swansea Steakhouses, provides unbelievable value for money for those wanting to treat foodie friends or family or just to spoil themselves and have a delicious meal out – especially during the current cost of living crisis. With Black Friday having now become the annual shopping bonanza that sees bargain hunters snap up unbelievable offers,…

SmallSpark Space Systems, a Cardiff based aerospace and space technology venture, has secured a development contract with the UK’s Ministry of Defence, via the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) to use its Moore.AI technology to accelerate development of novel solid rocket motor configurations, for a broad range of applications. The proposal, which has seen significant support from the MOD, is one of the first to explore the direct application of AI-based assistive tools to engineers in the defence industry tackling novel problems without historical datasets. The contract, worth £292,565.75, within DASA’s Rapid Innovation Cycle, will see Moore.AI’s optimisation technologies adapted…

26th October was a life changing night for lucky bingo lover Karen Carpanini at Mecca Bingo on Carmarthen Road, Swansea, when she won a whopping £50,000 jackpot on the National Bingo Game, just ten days before her retirement.    Mum of two, Karen, 60, has been a nurse at Morriston Hospital for 42 years and officially retired from work this Saturday (5th November).    A regular customer at Mecca Swansea, she began playing bingo at the age of 18 at the bingo club in nearby Sketty, when Mecca was known as Top Rank, and her dad was a bingo caller there for 30 years.   Now a loyal player at Mecca Swansea, Karen says she loves the ‘homey atmosphere’ of…

Business leaders are backing trailblazing plans to produce low carbon hydrogen for industry and store CO2 under the seabed off the coast of North Wales. The North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council say the HyNet project will provide a once-in-a-generation boost, pumping £17 billion into the cross border regional economy, creating 55,000 permanent jobs and 6,000 new construction jobs each year in the process. At the same time, experts estimate the switch away from fossil fuels to low carbon hydrogen for businesses will potentially save 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year being emitted into the atmosphere by 2030.…

Spire Cardiff Hospital has received another excellent outcome from an inspection by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) – the second in a row since a visit in October 2020. HIW completed the unannounced inspection in July 2022, reviewing the hospital for quality of patient experience; safe and effective care; and the quality of management and leadership. In the inspection report, all patients surveyed rated the care and service provided at Spire Cardiff as either very good or good. Patients said they were comfortable and cared for in a professional and dignified manner. Processes were in place to help patients give their…

Applications for primary school places to start in September 2023 are now open and parents are encouraged to make use of all five choices to get the best chance of securing a school they want. Cardiff Council is also appealing to families to apply on time and to remember that a child is not automatically entitled to a reception place at a primary school where they attend the nursery. A new application must be made for a reception class place at primary school. Every area of Cardiff is served by a Welsh-medium community primary school, an English-medium community primary school,…

Plans have been agreed for upgrades at Swansea Point, Maesteg Park in St Thomas and Ynysnewydd Park in Sketty. Work has just started on upgrades in Brokesby Road, Bonymaen, Highmead play area in Newton, Ynystawe playground in Morriston and Dunvant Meadow and Dunvant Park. And improvements have also recently been completed at Hafod Park and Garnswllt play area in Mawr as well as at Denver Road, Fforestfach, and Heol Tir Du in Morriston. Brokesby Road, Highmead, Ynystawe and Dunvant are also set to see a selection of play equipment introduced including disability-friendly roundabouts, new surfaces, swings, slides and trampolines. Maesteg…

Margam Country Park has made it into the UK’s prestigious top ten parks and green spaces list following a public vote. To celebrate the fantastic Green Flag awarded parks and green spaces across the UK, the public voted for their favourite award-winning Green Flag site in the People’s Choice Awards 2022. The Green Flag Award is the international quality standard for parks and green spaces. During October, the public were invited to vote for one of their most loved 2,208 Green Flag awarded parks or green spaces and among the nation’s top ten is Margam Country Park in Neath Port…

A project to create a poignant ‘Poppy Walk’ of Remembrance in Milford Haven using the vast number of wreaths laid at the town’s war memorial has been completed. The people of Milford Haven came out in their hundreds to honour those who have given the ultimate sacrifice during wars at the annual Remembrance Service on Sunday. The fact that the service continues to be so well attended is a source of pride for the town but also means that the sheer volume of wreaths can cover the names of those remembered on the memorial. Chris Powles, a local veteran and…