Author: Rhys Gregory

Spire Cardiff Hospital has completed a major investment programme, delivering state-of-the-art equipment to benefit patients and the climate. A new CT scanner has just been unveiled, which represents a £1.5 million investment by Spire Healthcare and will enable up to 20 patients a day to be scanned to detect cancer, cardiac disease and urgent neurological, gynaecological and orthopaedic conditions. The scanner will help provide diagnoses for both NHS and private patients, which will alleviate pressure on waiting lists and reduce waiting times for a scan. The new equipment uses the latest technology, which means that it will take less time…

Multiple New Zealand champion and WRC winner Hayden Paddon and co-driver Jared Hudson won this year’s Get Connected Rali Ceredigion. Recording his first ever all-asphalt victory, Haddon described the event as one of the best rallies of its kind in the world. After taking the lead on Saturday’s fourth and final stage, driving a Hyundai i20 N R5, Paddon consolidated his advantage over Sunday’s eight stages to cross the line 38.7 seconds ahead of 2019 Rali Ceredigion winner Osian Pryce and co-driver on this occasion Noel O’Sullivan in a VW Polo GTi R5. Driving a new Hyundai i20 N Rally…

Poor Rosie has been in the care of staff at  RSPCA Bryn Y Maen Animal Centre for more than 200 days and has had no interest whatsoever. Now staff at the Upper Colwyn Bay centre hope that Roise – who is a six-year-old domestic shorthair crossbreed – will find her perfect furever home soon. Centre manager Vicky Williams said: “Rosie is one of our long stay residents – and we just can’t figure out why! “Even though she is sweet, confident and so friendly she has been with us now for more than 200 days. It could be her colour…

Believe, the enchanted Christmas experience, is returning to St David’s Cardiff with tickets set to go on sale next week.  The wondrous Christmas grotto launched at St David’s Cardiff for the first time in 2021 to sell-out success and, due to popular demand, is set to make a return this year. Believe will open daily from Friday November 25, right up until Christmas Eve, Saturday December 24.   Believe invites guests into a mystical cavern to meet McJingles, one of Santa’s most trusted elves, along with Norbert, his magical reindeer friend. After hearing Norbert’s story, the children will take part in a festive craft activity decorating their own bag of magical…

A FAMILY firm proved to be a glass above during the pandemic after increasing turnover and taking on new staff. Approaching 40 years in business, Anglesey-based Peninsula Home Improvements credited new partnerships and diversification as having a positive impact on growth. Sales director Dylan Hulse – a graduate of the popular Leading Business Growth programmes at Bangor University Business School – revealed a more reflective approach played a major role in expansion of the award-winning Gaerwen business, one of the region’s leading suppliers of specialist windows, doors, and conservatories. As Bangor and Cardiff Metropolitan universities this month launched their second…

Six innovative engineering projects have been unveiled as voting opens for the 2022 Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award showcases the best of civil engineering, recognising projects that have a positive impact on the local economy and communities, while highlighting the positive benefits civil engineering has on communities. The shortlisted projects range from a new container port in Nigeria to the restoration of a peat bog on the English-Welsh border. They also include an elegant bridge connecting communities in Glasgow, flood defences in Lincoln, the renovation of a Grade II-listed ferry terminal on the…

A Catholic primary school in Cardiff has been praised for its ‘outstanding’ work in a number of areas in its latest report by Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales. The Holy Family RC Primary School in Fairwater had 163 pupils at the time of its inspection in June, with more than a third (36.9%) eligible for free school meals, more than a fifth with additional learning needs (ALN) and just over four per cent who have English as an additional language. In the report, the school was judged to be a “diverse community where contributions to its unique…

A new Families First Programme has been launched by Bridgend County Borough Council, as part of the Bridgend Young Carers Service. The programme is run in partnership with Whitehead-Ross Education, Welsh Government and Bridgend County Borough Council. Families First is one of a number of programmes which forms part of the Children and Communities Grant, which aims to address the support and needs of the most vulnerable children and adults in our communities. The scheme aims to assist households who are experiencing short or long-term challenges by making sure families receive support in a way that is appropriate to their…

Two Swansea-based initiatives are celebrating receiving funding from the Rural Development Programme. GPs and other health workers in Gower may soon be able to prescribe wilderness bushcraft courses to help boost local people’s health and wellbeing. Under an innovative new scheme, people needing a bit of extra support will be able to attend wilderness training courses run by local organisation, Dryad Bushcraft CIC, if prescribed by their local rural NHS health practitioners and SCVS rural co-ordinators. The initiative is just one of the two latest projects being funded by the Swansea Rural Development Partnership (RDP) which are designed to…

Pembrokeshire County Council planners can now consider a wider variety of planning applications for town centres in Pembrokeshire, thanks to the publication of a new report. The report by the Council’s planning authority supports a more permissive approach towards the development of multi-functional and vibrant town centres. Speaking after Cabinet’s endorsement of the report today (Monday), Cllr Paul Miller, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Place, the Region and Climate Change, said: “I strongly believe that the quality of our town centres is important for the wider economic wellbeing of Pembrokeshire. “However, there is no future in retail-only town centres. Instead, they…