Author: Rhys Gregory

Two Fashion Design students at the University of South Wales (USW) have designed leggings for Team Wales athletes – made from sustainable materials – to wear at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Bethan Jones and Olivia Soady, both in their final year, won a design competition set by Commonwealth Games Wales in partnership with USW. The students worked closely with Onesta, an award-winning sustainable clothing brand based in Llanelli, to bring their designs to life, and in total, Onesta manufactured 360 pairs of leggings for Team Wales. They were officially revealed last week (Friday 1 July) when the Queen’s Baton…

FoodCycle, the charity that aims to make food poverty, loneliness and food waste a thing of the past for every community, is in urgent need of volunteers as it opens its doors in Cardiff. This marks FoodCycle’s third Project in Wales in less than 12 months, having launched FoodCycle Newport in 2021 and FoodCycle Swansea in May 2022 to great success. Opening on 27th July at the Wyndam Street Centre in Cardiff, the weekly free meal will provide great food and conversation every Wednesday at 6.30pm for anyone who wants to come along. FoodCycle South West Regional Manager, Alex Hatherly…

The founder of the charity Horses4Health has been discovering the wonderful countryside of Mid Wales and Shropshire as part of The Great Horses for Health Event. Sophie Gifford and her friend Ali Lock rode their horses, Jack and Fil, 70 miles in six days covering a section of Glyndwr’s Way in Mid Wales before crossing the border into Shropshire along the Jack Mytton Way. The ride has already raised almost £700 and is growing daily. They used Brandy Farm, a tourism and equine holidays business at Felindre, near Knighton, as the base for the start of her ride from June…

The headline NatWest Wales Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – registered 53.6 in June, down from May’s reading of 56.1. Latest survey data signalled a sixteenth consecutive month of Welsh private sector expansion. Some firms linked growth in business activity to sustained improvements in demand conditions. That said, the rate of growth eased to a six-month low amid reports of supply constraints and a slowdown in new order growth due to the rising cost of living. Overall, the rate of increase…

A new Welsh horse health scheme aimed at reducing the need for antibiotics has held its 100th clinic – just five months after its launch. The Equine Health Clinics are part of Arwain DGC – a project designed to help combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animals and the environment in Wales. There has been an enthusiastic and positive welcome from horse owners and vets to the equine scheme, which is already halfway to its target of completing 200 health clinics by the end of June 2023. A hundred clinics have been completed and are able to offer one-to-one free advice and…

Ambitious plans to increase the number of pupils at Pentyrch Primary School and establish 32 places in a new nursery unit for three-year-olds have moved a step closer. After a wide-ranging public consultation process on the proposed changes took place in the winter, the plans were published in May. Now the Council’s Cabinet is to review objections at its meeting on Thursday 14 July and has been recommended to approve the works going ahead. Cllr Sarah Merry, the Council’s Cabinet member for Education, Employment and Skills, said these were exciting times for Pentyrch. “The Cardiff Local Development Plan means that…

Even more tourism businesses in Swansea now have the chance to apply for funding to improve the quality of their visitor offer. Applications are open for small accommodation providers based in rural or semi-rural parts of the city that employ 25 people or less. It’s the second round of Swansea Council’s tourism support fund, with grants of up to £8,000 available for successful applicants. Eight tourism businesses benefitted from the first round of the scheme, which is part of the council’s overall £25m economic recovery fund. Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Investment and Tourism, said: “Our…

An engineer’s report has confirmed the structure of an earth bank forming part of earthworks at the front of Abbey Primary School in Longford, Neath, is stable. Concerns were raised on social media after heavy rain led to a run-off of some topsoil from the bank on Wednesday, June 29th , onto the school access road and footpaths. The school was not closed and the contractors carrying out the works cleaned up the soil and have been working with Neath Port Talbot Council to prevent any further topsoil run-offs. This was an isolated event. The school has also implemented an…

embrokeshire’s Cabinet has been recommended to approve an ambitious ten-year plan to provide Welsh-medium education to more children in Pembrokeshire than ever before. Known as WESP (Welsh in Education Strategic Plan), the plan sets out in detail how the expansion of Welsh-language teaching in the County will be achieved over the next decade, in line with Welsh Government targets. It follows 12 months of consultation with members of the public, schools, statutory bodies and scrutiny committees. Cllr Guy Woodham, Cabinet Member for Education and the Welsh Language, said the education authority is proud of its achievements in Pembrokeshire to date,…

he current temporary traffic arrangements at High Street in Llantrisant will change from Sunday evening. This follows a request from local businesses to improve access, and is made possible with the school exam season now over. The Council continues to undertake essential, emergency repairs to the large wall at High Street, following its deterioration. Specialist contractors are working to partially rebuild and repair the wall – a time-consuming process that is complicated by the presence of other structures in close proximity. A one-way traffic system (southbound, down the hill) has been in place to ensure safety, particularly for pedestrians walking…