Author: Rhys Gregory

A Ruthin-headquartered civil engineering firm has showed continued commitment to its award-winning apprenticeship scheme with the first intake of a targeted 50 people for the year.  Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK has welcomed the 21-strong group onto its level two plant operative programme. Jones Bros’ purpose-built training centre in Denbigh has enabled the firm to create tailored courses to its own specification, giving apprentices a wide variety of equipment to train on. The apprenticeship scheme has produced nearly 50 per cent of its current workforce, with many of its senior managers having started out as apprentices or in a trainee…

In the run up to International Women’s Day, Urdd Gobaith Cymru is proud to be hosting Wales’ first-ever Female Youth Sports Conference. The #FelMerch conference (transl. ‘Like a girl’) will be held over the weekend (5-6 March) at the Urdd’s residential centre in Cardiff Bay. Its aim is to inspire, support and empower young women between 16-25 to get involved in sports. 150 women from across Wales are expected to attend the conference, to enjoy motivational speeches and various workshops delivered by 20 inspirational and leading experts in their fields. The conference will also be an opportunity to share ideas…

Street Food Circus has announced its spring and summer line-up, taking the best of Wales’ street food talent back to some familiar locations. The Forest Feastival will return to its woodland site near the dunes at Merthyr Mawr for a four week run starting on the Easter Weekend in April. Freed from pandemic restrictions, Street Food Circus will be using more of the site, with new bar areas, live music DJs, circus sideshows and a Sunday Jamboree for the kids. Twelve of Wales’ street food superstars will be lined up for every sesion, with a rotating line-up to give everyone…

The annual Christ College Brecon Invitational Sevens Tournament took place on Sunday, 27 February with twenty of the top teams from across Wales and England taking part. Storms and rain subsided for a pleasant day which saw Ysgol Glantaf lift the all-important Cup, with Brentwood School securing the Bowl and Cardiff and Vale College picking up the Plate. In its 32nd year, the tournament was sponsored by Vale Veterinary Centre and hosted by Christ College Brecon on its top-class sports grounds in Powys. Teams from across the country took part, including Llandovery College, Hartpury College, Clifton College and Millfield School,…

A catering assistant at a care home has been hailed a budding Picasso after creating a “fantastic” portrait of his late grandad who was one of their much loved residents. Jack Skinner’s captivating artworks have touched the hearts of residents and staff at Pendine Park’s Hillbury Care Home in Wrexham who say they’re blown away by his incredible artistic talent. His skill was unknown to co-workers until Jack set to work on the portrait of his beloved grandfather, Frank Thomas, who died, aged 78, on December 22. The stunning result surprised and inspired them and he’s now been dubbed the…

Tears of joy flowed as women from across Conwy saw their highly personal artworks go on display at an exhibition at a library. The show, Emerging Woman Art Journey, features 13 paintings produced by talented tenants of the Cartrefi Conwy housing association over the course of the last three years. The courses were conducted by the acclaimed Shropshire-based artist Lisa Lochhead. The women attended courses organised by Cartrefi and now Llandudno library, in the town’s Mostyn Street, is staging the month-long exhibition which also features a short video in which the embryo artists talk about their work. Watching the video…

A stunt mouse with “star quality” that’s appeared in a blockbuster Netflix show and EastEnders is making her debut in a Welsh language TV comedy series. Tipper, the talented brown rodent, will feature in a key scene in one of the episodes in the second series of the award-winning sit-com, Rybish (Rubbish), on S4C. Produced by Caernarfon-based Cwmni Da, filming took place at a real-life recycling centre in Blaenau Ffestiniog. The first episode will be broadcast on S4C at 9pm on Friday, April 1. The plotline involving Tipper is being kept under wraps but it is known that she will…

The relocation of the dairy herd in 2020 gave father and son David and Tomos Adams of Llanfrynach Farm quite a conundrum.  But it gave light to a new business venture –launching their zero-mile Milk Shed – a vending machine on the outskirts of Cowbridge in the middle of a trio of storms. “Relocating was quite a challenge to start but it’s transformed our way of farming, possibly having the only off-grid milking robot in the UK, our cows now decide when they want to be milked each day in a robot powered standalone renewable energy system using solar power…

Cardiff Council will be engaging the publicon how the city can improve the transport network using data and technology to reduce congestion, improve bus travel and incentivise cycling and walking. Using real-time information an ‘intelligent transport system’ could use a range of measures to help people take decisions about the best way to move around the city on a given day or time, including: Having a transport user app for the public Ensuring that the new bus interchange is integrated into Cardiff’s highway network Developing integrated ticketing between different forms of transport Implementing SMART corridors to improve bus journey times…

The Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing Lynne Neagle has confirmed an additional £7.7m in funding to continue providing SilverCloud Wales – the free online mental health support tool for a further three years. The work will be overseen by Powys Teaching Health Board. SilverCloud Wales is a free online therapy service designed to help people who experience mild to moderate anxiety, depression or stress, manage their mental health and wellbeing. Following an all-Wales pilot scheme launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, the service has helped people access online mental health support. As we move out of the pandemic the…