Author: Rhys Gregory

Revolucion de Cuba, the Havana-inspired cocktail bar group, is on the hunt for the UK’s biggest rum fan to become its official taste tester. The lucky recruit will land a £1,000 salary to sample and critique the plethora of delectable rum serves that Revolucion de Cuba has to offer – alongside 12 months of rum and street food! The unique job will require the taster to have a passion for rum and barrels of enthusiasm. According to the job description on the Revolucion de Cuba website, the individual filling the Rum Residency vacancy will be required to: Review the bar’s…

A pop-up garden made almost entirely of reused materials has been created in the Maindee area of Newport. Volunteer-run charity, Maindee Unlimited, has teamed up with Newport Makerspace to design and create a pop-up reuse garden to be located in the car park on Chepstow Road. This small-scale park innovation scheme has drawn inspiration from communities around the world transforming unloved areas into new green spaces known as ‘pocket parks’. As part of a project to explore the potential of reusing materials, the garden is made up almost entirely of reused materials such as old pallets, tumble dryers, and leftover…

Bridgend County Borough Council is pleased to have been awarded £930,000 as part of the Welsh Government’s Community Focused Schools Grant. The funding will be used to ensure more schools are able to operate and develop as Community Focused Schools, which reach out to engage families and work with the wider community to support all pupils. It is part of a package of measures which will provide more support for schools to ensure all children have the best start in life regardless of their background. The grant will help to fund practical ways of improving school facilities and enable greater…

To ensure Pride Cymru 2022 can be safely enjoyed by all, road closures will be put in place to prepare for the event and facilitate the parade. In preparation for the event, from 6am on Wednesday August 24th, the bottom of King Edward VII Avenue will be closed from the junction with City Hall Road down to the war memorial. From 6am on Thursday, August 25th, the following roads will be closed: Gorsedd Gardens Road from the junction with Park Place Museum Avenue from the junction with College Road down to City Hall King Edward VII Avenue up to the…

A new video shows how the face of Swansea city centre is changing as a £1bn transformation story gathers even more pace. As well as Swansea Arena and multi-million pound improvements to the look and feel of The Kingsway, the video also shows foundation work progress at the former Oceana nightclub site. A new office development is being constructed there with space for 600 jobs in sectors like tech, digital and the creative industries. The new coastal park next to the arena is also included in the video as part of the £135m Copr Bay district developed by Swansea Council.…

Leading building firm Kier Construction have been appointed as the main contractor to deliver the next stage of design and enabling works, to help the council transform Oxford Street’s former BHS/What! building into a community hub featuring council and community services. Work will be starting in earnest in the autumn to transform the building to offer people convenient access to key services from across the council and other organisations. Council leader Rob Stewart said: “The transformation of this building is hugely exciting. It’s really good news that Kier Construction are on board with this project. “They are one of Britain’s leading construction…

Children looking to be a prince or princess for a day can have their very own castle to play in if they head along to Oystermouth Castle later this month. Young visitors have the chance to come along as their favourite fairy-tale character at the special event on Bank Holiday Monday, August 29 from 11am – 4pm and  enjoy fairytales, music, singing and dancing with the likes of Rapunzel, Belle, Aladdin and Elsa The family fun day will give princes and princesses the chance to play out their dreams and fairytales in a proper medieval castle and learn a little…

In the coming months the council plans to replace bins in communities around the city which residents will be able to use for any kind of litter, which will either be new replacements for dog bins or worn out or damaged litter bins. Cyril Anderson, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said the new initiative is designed to upgrade bin provision across Swansea and to support residents and dog owners to do the right thing with their litter or pet’s poop. He said: “We’ve already got lots of separate litter and dog waste bins around the city. Our commitment is that…

The Afan Forest Park Visitor Centre in Port Talbot’s Afan Valley is ready to welcome visitors this bank holiday after significant public and private sector investment in new facilities to create an exciting new offer to visitors. As a result of £498,000 investment from Welsh Government via the Valleys Regional Park initiative and Neath Port Talbot Council, the popular tourist destination now has a brand new children’s adventure play area, enhanced car parking, updated shower and public toilet facilities, outdoor lighting in addition to new information panels within the visitor centre. Visitors will also soon benefit from new camper van…

The national recruitment crisis is hitting the local authority across all sectors, but it is the front facing service areas, such as the weekly waste and recycling collections, which are most noticeable for our residents. For some time, as a local authority, we have been struggling to recruit staff and cover absences due to illness and continued cases of covid 19. The depots have been working hard with our recruitment team to have a rolling recruitment programme running for a number of months which includes advertising on local web-based media outlets, utilising social media and using posters in the local…