Author: Rhys Gregory

Right across the UK, Christmas 2022 will be a time for tradition, but nowhere more so than here in Wales. For centuries, the Plygain was a part of the festivities, with Welsh people up and down the country congregating together in the early hours of the morning to sing carols a capella.  Of course, few people are prepared for a 3am march through their village or town for some midnight singing, but plenty of other Welsh Christmas traditions live on. Examples of this include the Porthcawl Christmas Day beach swim and Boxing Day Lido Swim in Ponty, the New Year’s…

Eight University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) students are training hard in readiness to compete at the national finals of this year’s WorldSkills UK competition-based development programme. Five are students at the University’s Advanced Manufacturing Skills Academy and three finalists are studying Cyber Security and Network Infrastructure at the University. They will join 500 finalists competing for gold, silver and bronze at the competitions, which will take place in venues across the four corners of the UK. These competition venues are Barking & Dagenham, Belfast Metropolitan, Blackpool & The Fylde, Cardiff & Vale, Edinburgh, and Middlesbrough colleges, which will host a total of…

The UK’s biggest retro festival brand Let’s Rock have announced the headliners and performers for Let’s Rock Wales, happening Saturday May 27 at Cardiff’s Bute Park. Let’s Rock Wales 2023 will be headlined by Soft Cell and Wet Wet Wet in an incredible line-up which also includes Tony Hadley, Imagination, Nik Kershaw, Go West, Heather Small, Heatwave, Hue & Cry, Five Star and many more. Electronic music pioneers Marc Almond & Dave Ball aka Soft Cell have sold over 10million albums worldwide and enjoyed twelve UK Top 40 hits in the early ‘80s, including their mega global No.1 smash “Tainted…

Cardiff’s celebration of the iconic arcades returns to in-person events for the first time since 2019, with a full week of events, experiences, exclusive offers, and celebrations across the city centre. Opening with City of Arcades day on Saturday 29 October, the week will include over 35 events across the seven arcades, and various other city-centre locations; including Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff Story Museum, and Cardiff Central Market. Starting the week with a packed line-up, Saturday’s events include live music performances, walking tours, an Autumn Harvest Pudding Club, food tasting, jewellery-making, a Halloween themed drag show, and a poetry reading…

A new development that will turn a former brownfield site in Llantwit Fardre, near Pontypridd, into a neighbourhood of 95 homes has opened to the public. The development, called Coed Derw, is a project by homebuilder Bellway and will include 87 two, three and four-bedroom houses for private sale and eight affordable homes for rent or shared ownership. The first homes were released for sale at the start of October, when a sales office was opened on site. The land, off Llantrisant Road, was once home to the chemical and care product manufacturer Clariant, but it was left vacant after…

Tramshed Tech, ‘The Home of Startups in Wales’, has opened its new co-working hub in Barry’s Goodsheds complex, offering workspaces, business support services and skills training to entrepreneurs, startups and scaling businesses. Since Tramshed Tech opened its first co-working space in Grangetown, Cardiff in 2016, it has developed an award-winning brand and class-leading reputation, supporting a growing community of members. As well as developing an award-winning Startup Academy, Tramshed Tech has secured partnerships with industry leaders across the UK and Europe unlocking an impactful network to their members and delivering access to programmes such as the Barclay Eagle Labs and…

Hodge has strengthened its Board with the appointment of a new Senior Independent Director. In addition to the main Board, Penny will sit on the Audit, Risk and Remuneration committees. Penny Bickerstaff brings financial, operational and advisory experience to the role, as a former Finance Director and Big Four Partner. She has worked closely with FTSE 100 groups including Barclays, Legal and General and Marks & Spencer, and with UK Government departments on issues including audit, risk, strategy, regulation, change and transformation. A chartered accountant, Penny also brings some prior board experience to her new position, having served on several…

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and Bangor University are leading a six-year project aiming to stop useful energy going down the drain. They have piloted a system that recovers energy from wastewater at Penrhyn Castle and Garden – a fantasy castle and garden owned by National Trust Cymru in north Wales, UK. Using the new technology, the researchers are extracting heat from the hot wastewater flowing out of the kitchens at between 20°C and 55 °C, and use this to preheat the cold water coming into the kitchens. The heat recovery system has been operational since February 2022 at Penrhyn…

Social enterprises across Wales have scooped prestigious awards for making a difference to lives and communities over the past 12 months. The annual 2022 Social Business Wales Awards marked the ninth year of the ceremony, which saw prizes awarded to nine social enterprises and social entrepreneurs from across the country. Winners at the event last week included a credit union that managed to lend more money than ever to people during the cost-of-living crisis, an organisation which restores and recycles bicycles to encourage people to travel on two wheels, and a society which rescued a community’s only pub from closure.…

This year, The Rickshaw Relay Rides Again (1×60), made by BBC Studios for BBC One, will see Matt Baker MBE and a team of five incredibly inspiring young people, all of whom have been supported by BBC Children in Need funded projects, take on a relay-style ride over five days. Each rider will take a section of the journey, travelling through their hometowns and visiting places across the UK which hold a particular significance for them along the way. The Rickshaw Relay will take place between Monday 17th October and Friday 21st October and this year, in a first for…