Author: Rhys Gregory

Wales will be taking on New Zealand on Saturday November 5that Principality Stadium. With severe restrictions on the train network due to strike action, all those travelling via road are advised to leave plenty of time to get into Cardiff and into the Principality Stadium. The M4 motorway is expected to be very busy – please plan ahead – and avoid the congestion in Cardiff by using the park & ride facilities at CCFC Stadium in Leckwith, or County Hall in Cardiff Bay. With the kick-off taking place at 3.15pm – there will be a full city centre road closure…

Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Thomas, a fearless young military nurse from Seven Sisters rescued from the water after her transport ship was torpedoed went on to win the Royal Red Cross for her work in treated wounded soldiers. But sadly, not long after the end of World War One, she died from tuberculosis, thought to have been caused by the time she spent clinging to life in the sea. Betsy’s is just one of a host of moving stories in an exhibition entitled Heroes Gallery which begins at Port Talbot’s Aberafan Shopping Centre on Saturday, October 29th as part of the Mayor…

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council today agreed to renew its Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for the exercising of dogs and clearing up of dog fouling on land throughout the borough. The previous PSPO was introduced in 2019 for a period of 3 years and was due to expire at the end of October. The PSPO aims to help owners behave responsibly in areas that are enjoyed by others. It outlines requirements and restrictions for dog owners and ensures that shared spaces are usable for all Blaenau’s residents to enjoy. Blaenau Gwent CBC will continue to apply a fixed penalty…

The redevelopment of the County Borough Council’s Neighbourhood Learning Centre (NLC) at Gurnos has been shortlisted for two national awards. The building, which will open before Christmas as ‘a unique accommodation centre’ providing both housing and on-site training for residents aged 16-24, is one of the finalists in the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru’s Welsh Housing Awards. Shortlisted in the ‘Working in Partnership’ category alongside Merthyr Valley Homes, this award ‘celebrates partnership and collaboration across the housing spectrum’. The ‘Positive Placemaking’ category acknowledges ‘the critical importance of a range of bodies, organisations and local groups in revitalising and regenerating local…

The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) has reached a major milestone with the formal acquisition of the former Nant Helen opencast site and Onllwyn Washery in South Wales from opencast mining company Celtic Energy, Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething announced today. The 700-hectare site at the head of the Dulais Valley in south Wales  will now be transformed and developed to become the UK’s ‘one stop shop’ for railway innovation, from research and development, through testing, verification and certification, to applied innovation on mainline passenger and freight railways. Outline planning consent for GCRE was granted by Neath Port Talbot Council…

Updated goals for the pharmacy profession have been published this week, as the transformation of pharmaceutical care in Wales continues. The Welsh Pharmaceutical Committee’s vision for pharmacy, Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier Wales, was first published in 2019. Developed by the pharmacy profession, the 10-year plan aims to provide a clear direction for pharmacy professionals in every part of the NHS, focusing on meeting patients’ and the NHS’s needs now and in the future. The new goals refresh expectations of what the pharmacy profession can achieve in the three years to December 2025, including: undertaking a comprehensive review of how the…

Living rooms are an essential part of any home. Whether you’re a family, a couple, or single, it’s where you spend most of your time and is usually where you can relax, unwind, and even entertain friends or guests. Whether you have a modern or traditional style living room, you may feel that from time to time, you want to make some subtle yet effective changes to freshen the room up a little. Living rooms are an essential part of any home. Whether you’re a family, a couple, or single, it’s where you spend most of your time and is…

New York is a tremendously popular tourist destination for a reason. There are an endless number of things to do, landmarks to see, and shows to attend. To help you make the most of what is likely a limited time in New York we have comprised a list of some of the top attractions that will definitely make it a trip to remember. Yankee Stadium If visiting during the spring or summer, then a day spent at a New York City ballpark is a classic activity that will provide you with a quintessentially American experience. And if baseball is your…

‘Things aren’t what they were,’ states the tagline to Bob Dylan’s latest Rough and Rowdy Ways tour – and to be frank, Bob, that’s putting it mildly after the challenges and madness of the past gruelling three years. Things will never again be what they were – except it did seem like they could be for this 1 hr 40 minutes set, which provided very welcome and pure, unadulterated relaxation. This was a phone-free gig – which is a new one on me – and was more of a delight because of it (even if it meant delays checking in…

Occupier and investor demand for commercial property in Wales fell, according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Commercial Property Monitor. The survey points to a weakening in the market as the prospect of further interest rate rises weigh heavily on the outlook over the year ahead. On the occupier side, overall tenant demand in Wales fell to a net balance of -17% of respondents, the lowest figure since Q4 2020. There has been a downward trend in occupier demand for both office and retail space (net balances of -22% and -37% respectively). And tenant demand for industrial…