Author: Rhys Gregory

Two firefighters have established a company providing fire and water services to special effects companies and art departments operating in the TV and film industries. Cardiff based Ryan Godfrey and Andrew Hearne, who have over 30 years’ combined experience in the fire service, established Dragon Fire and Water Services in late 2021, with the aim of utilising their in-depth knowledge of urban and rural fire fighting to change the way services are provided for special effects requiring rain, wet downs and fire cover for TV and film productions. Using their fleet of water carriers, dams and specialist pumping equipment, Andrew,…

While the nation was celebrating the Queen’s platinum jubilee, a group of Talyllyn Railway volunteers was hard at work on their own silver jubilee. Since the first Talyllyn Tracksiders working party in May 1997, more than 4,200 individual shifts have been worked by young people under the age of 14 years. Tracksiders allows family groups to work together on the famous Mid Wales line, which was the inspiration for children’s author Rev Wilbert Awdry’s Thomas the Tank Engine character. The 25th anniversary working party tackled lineside vegetation and footpath management, fence painting and prepared the incline at Nant Gwernol for…

A series of new walking and cycling routes in Swansea have been approved, helping to expand the growing network in the city. Swansea Council received confirmation from the WG of more than £8 million of transport funding to fund the design and construction of new routes which will help link up communities and make it easier for people to get about. Councillors have now approved where the money will be spent and will see new routes created across Swansea over the next 12 months. Part of the funding will also be used to improve main routes in the city for…

Works on Grangemoor Park are set to continue until the end of the Year. The park has been closed to the public whilst essential maintenance work – involving heavy machinery and the renewal of leachate and methane gas equipment – are carried out on the landfill site which is underneath the surface of the park. Once completed the works will ensure the landfill site is secure and the park will be reopened to the public. As the park is currently defined as a construction site under Health and Safety laws, unfortunately we are unable to allow public access at this…

Swansea International Jazz Festival is back with a line-up packed with legendary performers and familiar favourites. Swansea Council has joined forces with Swansea Jazz Club andthis year’s Swansea International Jazz Festival will be held at venues across Swansea from Thursday 23rdto Sunday 26th June 2022. The concert programme opens with Bruce Adams (trumpet) and Alan Barnes (saxophone), both award winning and highly respected musicians on the UK jazz scene, playing at Swansea Jazz Club at the Garage Music Venue in Uplands. The Maritime Quarter’s Dylan Thomas Theatre is the setting for festivals further five ticketed events, starting with the Simon…

Environmentally-minded pupils at Neyland Community School are encouraging parents and carers to ‘No Idle’ and tackle air pollution at the school gates. The School’s Eco Warriors Group is running a campaign to get parents and carers to shut off car engines as they wait to drop-off or pick-up pupils. Or, even better, leave the car at home wherever possible. The No Idle campaign comes as the UK marks Clean Air Day (16th June) which aims to draw attention to air pollution and the simple steps we can all take to reduce emissions. Following a meeting with Pembrokeshire County Council Pollution…

A Rhondda Cynon Taf deputy headteacher has been named as a Silver Award winner at the Pearson National Teaching Awards 2022. Nicola Richards, of Caegarw Primary School, has been honoured with a Silver Award in The Award for Teacher of the Year in a Primary School category for their outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the children they work with every day. The judging panel heard that Mrs Richards is an inspirational teacher who places staff and pupil wellbeing at the heart of the whole school curriculum. She firmly believes that a happy school is a learning school. Her sunny and…

Aberdare Festival made a RECORD-BREAKING welcome return over the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend! Over 16,000 people from Rhondda Cynon Taf and beyond flocked to the two-day event in beautiful Aberdare Park, enjoying a free screening of Disney’s Encanto, live performances from LA Performing Academy, the DB Big Band and poptastic tribute acts Beyonce Fierce, Stepz: The Experience, In The Mix and the Vengaboyz Experience. It was the first time the popular Aberdare Festival has been held since 2019 due to the Coronavirus pandemic and it was clear people were delighted to see it return – especially as it…

Free public access Wi-Fi has been switched-on in Bargoed and Ystrad Mynach helping people to access local and national public services and economic opportunities. Rhymney and Risca High Street were the first town centres to ‘go live’ with free public Wi-Fi earlier this year as part of Caerphilly Council’s ongoing Council’s ongoing support to regenerate our town centres. With funding from the Welsh Government Transforming Towns Fund and the former Rhymney Valleys Task Force Fund, the project to install Wi-Fi infrastructure began in 2020 and has seen the preparatory works completed in 7 key towns. The initiative forms a key…

A new 3G multi-purpose sports pitch has been officially opened at Brynmawr Foundation School by Wales & Dragons rugby star Elliot Dee. The pitch is the result of an investment of over half a million pounds, thanks to partnership working between the school; Blaenau Gwent Council and Welsh sport agencies. The new development at Brynmawr means all of Blaenau Gwent’s secondary/all through schools now have access to such provision. The school is overjoyed at the chance to be able to deliver enhanced physical education and sporting opportunities for pupils on site. As well as being used by the pupils of…