Author: Rhys Gregory

A 33-year-old man has been jailed for 10 years for grooming two young girls and sexually assaulting one of the victims. Alexander Sands of no fixed abode, but from the Preston area, appeared for sentencing at Mold Crown Court on Friday, 21 August. He previously admitted meeting a 13-year-old girl in the Pwllheli area following sexual grooming and assaulting the child by penetration following incidents in 2022. As part of a separate investigation by Lancashire Police, he also admitted attempting to meet an eight-year-old child following grooming, which took place in the Leicestershire area last year. Sands was sentenced to…

A Swansea peace campaigner whose work has inspired people around the world has been presented with a Leadership and Excellence Award at a special ceremony in the city. Pam Evans MBE, founder and director of Peace Mala, received the award from representatives of Live Awareness for National Development (LAND) Pakistan and Swansea Council at Swansea Guildhall on Friday, August 14. Peace Mala was established by Pam in Wales in 2001 and promotes friendship, respect, understanding and peace between people of different faiths, cultures and backgrounds. The organisation’s educational work encourages global citizenship and challenges prejudice and intolerance. The award was…

The Pembrokeshire Eco Park has been officially opened by the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, Llyr Gruffydd MS. The opening ceremony took place on Tuesday, August 18, bringing together the minister, Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Resident Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett, council officers, partners and stakeholders. The Eco Park has been operational since November 14, 2024, and represents a significant investment in Pembrokeshire’s environmental future. Its modern facilities support sustainable waste management and resource recovery, while helping the county move towards a more circular economy. The site has been designed to maximise the value of…

Plans for a new 32-bed residential dementia care home in Ferndale have been approved by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council. Members of the council’s Planning and Development Committee granted full permission for the development on Thursday, August 13. The modern care facility will be built on the former Chubb Factory site and will replace the existing Ferndale House Care Home. The council has committed to keeping Ferndale House open until the new accommodation is completed. Current residents will be offered the opportunity to move into the new home, while its established workforce will transfer to the new facility. The development will…

How long does it take from opening the app to doing the thing you came for? If the answer involves closing pop-ups, rejecting notifications, finding the correct tab, dismissing an upgrade offer and then waiting for the content to load, the app has already exhausted your patience before you even get started. That time and effort are more significant than they once were, because digital entertainment is no longer competing only within categories. A streaming service is competing with a podcast, a mobile game, a group chat and a 30-second video. The problem is not a shortage of things to…

I have a short list of questions I put to any company selling links, and it has nothing to do with domain rating. Who decides a site is good enough. What standard are they applying. Can I see the work while it happens. What happens when one lands wrong. And what am I actually paying for. Five questions, and most suppliers answer two of them well. Below I run Harringtons Media through all five, focused on the two services I would be buying from them: guest posts and niche edits, the format usually sold as link insertions. Pro Tip: read…

Five temporary public toilets have been installed near Swansea seafront following the closure of the city’s civic centre. The individual toilets are located in the upper car park next to the former civic centre and are available to visitors using Swansea Bay and the nearby beach. They replace the public toilet facilities that were lost when the civic centre closed to the public. Services previously based in the building, including Swansea’s central library, have moved to the new Y Storfa development in the city centre. Long-term plans are being developed for the regeneration of the civic centre site. Swansea Council…

UK cost inflation, tighter regulatory compliance under the CDM regime, and increasingly interdependent project requirements are placing greater pressure on early decision-making. Complex construction projects may involve occupied sites, phased handovers, multiple contracts, strict consent requirements, and extensive safety obligations. At the same time, project costs and programmes often become effectively fixed earlier than teams assume. This raises an important question about what construction planning must include before work begins and how those early inputs affect delivery. What Front-Loaded Planning Actually Buys You Front-loaded planning allows uncertainty to be resolved while drawings, budgets, and sequences remain adjustable. Once a site…

The splash pad at Victoria Park in Cardiff has been closed until further notice after a fault was discovered during routine cleaning. Cardiff Council initially announced that the popular attraction would close on Thursday, August 20, for essential cleaning before reopening the following day. The council said cleaning would usually take place during rainy weather when the splash pad was quieter, but dry conditions had made that difficult this summer. However, a fault was identified while the work was being carried out and the facility was unable to reopen as planned. The council has apologised for any inconvenience caused and…

Some of Wales’ most innovative businesses, organisations, educators and individuals have been named as finalists in the Wales STEM Awards 2026, sponsored by Cardiff Metropolitan University. The shortlist brings together organisations and individuals from across Wales who are making a difference through science, technology, engineering and mathematics, from pioneering start-ups and emerging technologies to education programmes, community initiatives and inspirational STEM ambassadors. Now in their sixth year, the Wales STEM Awards recognise those driving innovation, advancing research, developing skills, tackling the STEM diversity gap and inspiring the next generation. This year marks a new chapter for the awards, with the…