Author: Rhys Gregory

Work colleagues Chris Baylis and Joanne Baitup always dreamed of setting up a business together. The friends had worked for a local older person’s charity and when they had the opportunity, they decided to take the plunge taking over the vacant tea rooms in Glynneath. But just weeks later in 2020 calamity struck and the nation went into Lockdown apparently scuppering their plans. Undaunted, the pair launched a cakes and food delivery service covering a wide area between Neath and Aberdare to help the community get through those dire days. And now their hard work and commitment has paid off…

An award-winning dance club is reaching out to a new legion of twinkle-toed performers thanks to cash seized from criminals. Wisp Dance Club has transformed the lives of hundreds of young people with disabilities since being founded by Artistic Director Cher Mather in Mold in 1994. Building on almost three decades of success, the club has launched a new group, Wisp Plus, based in Wrexham and inspiring adults with additional needs to explore the world of contemporary dance and movement. They have had a helping hand with a grant of £2,500 from the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner’s Your…

Azets, the UK’s largest regional accountancy firm and business advisor to SMEs, has appointed Ritchie Tout as Tax Partner in the South Wales area and promoted Paul Haley to Partner and Head of Internal Audit for the West. Newly appointed Tax Partner, Ritchie Tout, trained in a Big Four firm with a portfolio including personal, corporate and professional partnership clients. After qualifying as a Chartered Tax Adviser, he spent 15 years at PwC as part of the management taxes team. Most recently he was a Director at Mazars, where he spent six years specialising in merger and acquisition tax work and…

Mary Immaculate’s Year ten boys’ basketball team have become the Welsh Schools Basketball Finals Champions 2021/22. This tops an outstanding season for the boys, where they’ve been unbeaten in the league and their 3 previous competitions. This is how their competitions went: Cardiff Regionals: Mary Immaculate 19-0 Eastern High Mary Immaculate 27-12 Cathays Mary Immaculate 24-10 Bro Edern Mary Immaculate 15-11 Glantaf Progress onto Southern finals: Mary Immaculate 13-6 Porthcawl Mary Immaculate 14-2 Garth Olwg Mary Immaculate 13-4 St Richard Gwyn Mary immaculate 14-5 Cwm rhymni Progress onto the National finals: Mary Immaculate 45-17 Bodedern Mary Immaculate 26-24 Olchfa The…

Almost 20,000 people in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot have had their first Covid booster jab at a community pharmacy. The new figures from Swansea Bay University Health Board show how popular providing vaccinations closer to home in these familiar settings has been. Building on the success of a pilot scheme, pharmacies across the area answered the call to administer the first booster last autumn, stepping up their efforts as Omicron cases soared in December. Some are still giving first boosters, a service which Adrian Grant, 50, from Swansea, has taken advantage of. Put off by long queues at vaccination…

It’s national finals week on Great British Menu, where the winners from the regional heats compete to earn a place on the menu of a spectacular banquet celebrating 100 years of brilliant British broadcasting. In tonight’s episode we saw, BAFTA-winning writer, actor and comedian Steve Pemberton join Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge, restaurateur Nisha Katona and food podcast host and comedian, Ed Gamble on the judging panel. They were tasked with picking a winner from eight innovative starter courses, but it was Nathan Davies who secured the first place on the menu at the banquet. Nathan boasts a varied career from…

Pioneering bus builder Wrightbus is taking its world-leading StreetDeck Electroliner to Cardiff as part of a UK-wide tour to demonstrate the capabilities of the vehicle. The zero emission rapid-charge double deck – the first ever EV from Wrightbus and the fastest charging on the market – was launched by the firm last year. Wales has plans to move the whole of its bus fleet to zero emission vehicles by 2035. Cardiff has already made great strides towards this goal, with almost a quarter of the Cardiff Bus fleet already made up of zero emission vehicles. The StreetDeck Electroliner is the…

A new survey has been launched encouraging residents, businesses and visitors to give their views on tourism in the Bridgend County Borough area. Tourism plays a big part in Bridgend County Borough’s local economy. In 2019, the last ‘normal’ pre-Covid year, total visitor numbers to the borough reached 3.72 million. The survey is seeking the views of the residents, businesses and visitors of Bridgend County Borough to identify what they feel are the strengths and weaknesses of the area, what type of activities and places do people go to when they visit the area and why, and what opportunities should…

Ysgol Harri Tudur/ Henry Tudor School has been supporting charities, thinking of and helping others during these challenging times. In the last two weeks, fundraising in school for the Ukraine via the Disasters Emergency Committee has reached just over £2500, which has been achieved through a bucket rattle and a mega bake sale.  (This fantastic amount will be matched by the UK government so is currently a minimum of at least £5000). It comes after a bumper fund-raising year in 2021, with £550 raised for the school’s wellbeing garden, just over £600 for Macmillan Nurses in October, £800 for Children…

A timetable for changes to Wales’ Test Trace Protect service has been published this week (Monday) as part of wider plans to gradually move beyond the emergency response to the pandemic. A new Social Care Transition Plans has also been published, which will set out new arrangements for care homes between April and June. The changes come as Wales takes further cautious steps to relax some of the legal protections which have been in place for most of the pandemic – face coverings will no longer be a legal requirement in shops and on public transport and the legal requirement…