Author: Rhys Gregory

A hospital team is saving people’s sight and cutting waiting times by training staff to undertake procedures previously only carried out by doctors. The medical retina team in Singleton Hospital’s ophthalmology department has scored a second Welsh first in the space of a year. Suzanne Martin has become the first orthoptist in Wales to train to inject a sight-saving steroid implant directly into a patient’s eye. The steroid, Ozurdex, is used to treat diabetic macular oedema and retinal vein occlusion, both potentially sight-threatening conditions. Last year, Singleton’s Melvin Cua became the first non-medical practitioner (a clinician who is not a…

Aber Falls Whisky Distillery has grown its presence with supermarket listings across the UK. The multiple award-winning Welsh whisky from Abergwyngregyn – a rural village between the foothills of the Snowdonian mountains and the Menai Strait – will be present in Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Morrisons stores on a national scale over the coming months. The comprehensive supermarket listings give Aber Falls its biggest-ever presence across the UK since the brand’s launch and is part of a long-term expansion plan to grow the Welsh whisky category, while educating retailers and consumers on the brand’s history, and its vision for the future.…

A new Wrexham-based community choir will help a top music festival celebrate its 50th anniversary and two other major milestones. Organisers of the North Wales International Music Festival say the launch concert at St Asaph Cathedral on Saturday, June 4, will be a “big, brassy choral spectacular and it’s going to be loud!” The concert is a curtain raiser for the main festival’s Golden Jubilee event that’s taking place from September 17 to October 1. It’s all being made possible thanks to the support of the Arts Council of Wales and the headline sponsor, the Pendine Arts and Community Trust…

This coming Earth Day, Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I, a proud part of AB InBev, announce a major transport scheme at its Magor Brewery to reduce CO2 emissions, as part of the brand’s ongoing sustainability programme and ambition to reach net zero at its UK breweries by 2026. The brewer has partnered with logistics provider EV Cargo to switch half of the HGV delivery trucks at its Magor brewery from traditional diesel fuel to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), delivering an immediate 92% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per every kilometre driven compared to diesel. The move will significantly reduce CO2 emissions…

More than 100 of the world’s top riders will race through the heart of Mid Wales this summer as The Women’s Tour visits Welshpool for the first time. Stage four of the UCI Women’s WorldTour event will see the riders race from Wrexham and Welshpool on Thursday, June 9. Spectators can watch all the action by the roadside for free and highlights of the race will be shown on ITV4 in the UK, and around the world via Eurosport and GCN. Stage five, on June 10, will see the riders race from Pembrey Country Park for a gruelling uphill finish…

A more sustainable and eco-conscious method of treating vegetable seeds is the focus of a multi-partner research project involving one of the UK’s largest seed producers and Bangor University. Tozer Seeds have linked up with the university’s Biocomposites Centre to develop alternative seed treatments which are aiming to control disease as well as improve suitable characteristics for germination and crop establishment. The 18-month project, funded via the UK Government’s Farming Innovation Pathways programme, will see celery, parsnip, and coriander seeds treated with lasers and natural bioactive compounds. The strategies are aiming to not only disinfect seeds of disease-causing pathogens, which…

An award-winning Welsh gin company is using a free Welsh translation service to help make the language more visible in their business. Helo Blod is a free, fast and friendly Welsh translation and advice service to help businesses use more Welsh in their business. Siân and Andrew Brooks, co-owners of Gower Gin, wanted to use more Welsh in their business to grow their community of gin lovers.  Having first heard of the free service through social media they have been using Helo Blod to get their packaging, social media and website translated.   Gower Gin was started in September 2017, and they…

Three people have been convicted of murder following the death of a five year-old child in the Sarn area of Bridgend last summer. Logan Mwangi’s body was found by police officers in the River Ogmore at around 6am on Saturday, 31st July. The discovery was made by police shortly after the 999 call made by Logan’s mother, Angharad Williamson, who, together with defendants John Cole and a 14 year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Cardiff Crown Court charged with Logan’s murder. During a 10 week trial, the court heard how the defendants had colluded to…

Thousands of Snoopy fans have pawed their way across South Wales for the first week of the public art trail, A Dog’s Trail with Snoopy, all to raise money for Dogs Trust. Visitors from all over the UK, including some devoted Snoopy fans from Dundee, Cornwall and Norwich, as well as international visitors from America, have spotted the brightly coloured Snoopy sculptures out on the open-air trail through the streets and public spaces of Cardiff, Caerphilly and Porthcawl. Since the trail launched on Friday 8th April, the app has recorded more than 53,000 visits to individual sculptures – with around…

Wonderwool Wales 2022, the two-day show that celebrates all that’s great about Welsh wool and natural fibres, makes a welcome return this weekend following a two-year, pandemic enforced absence. The organisers are delighted with the enthusiastic response to their 16th show at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells on Saturday and Sunday. Such is the demand that Saturday is nearing a sell out with around 3,000 tickets already sold, but there are tickets available for Sunday either online or at the gate. Tickets cost £12 per day. “We are delighted with ticket sales and the general response to this…