Author: Rhys Gregory

A University of South Wales (USW) lecturer is hoping his efforts to become an astronaut will be an  inspiration to students who may want to follow in his footsteps. Ilias Lappas, who is a senior lecturer in Aeronautics at USW and course leader of the BEng/MEng (Hons) Aeronautical Engineering courses, is waiting to hear if he has reached stage 3 of the selection process to become a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut. Just over 23,000 people from UK and the European Union applied after the ESA last summer started looking for a new team of astronauts for future space missions,…

Protected local dark skies will light up the end of the month as part of a national inaugural event. As part of the very first Welsh Dark Sky Week 2022 (19th – 27th February), the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB will be hosting a week full of dark sky activities and events to celebrate our protected dark skies. On average 95 percent of the three national parks and five AONBs of Wales fall within the highest two categories of dark skies, including the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB. Cllr Tony Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities and the…

A man and a woman from Pyle have been handed a suspended prison sentence and disqualified from keeping dogs for 10 years after they neglected 21 dogs. James Steven Daniel Gilheaney, and Joanne Denise Gilheaney both of Cae Garw Travellers Site in Pyle, Bridgend, attended Swansea Magistrates Court on Friday (11 February). They both pleaded guilty to all three offences under the Animal Welfare Act in that they both caused unnecessary suffering to 12 dogs by failing to provide adequate or effective professional veterinary care and attention for their skin diseases, that they failed to meet the needs of 21…

FSB Wales has published new research today on the future of business support. Building Businesses: Building Communities Through Business Support in Wales provides an overview of the changing landscape of support for small businesses in Wales and points to the importance of business support architecture in recovering from the pandemic and growing the Welsh economy. The current support available from both Welsh and UK governments has played an essential role throughout the pandemic, helping many small businesses navigate through the challenges presented by Covid. Numbers of small businesses accessing funding after March 2020 rose to 78%, as Welsh firms battled…

The mother of a young soldier killed while serving in Afghanistan has told of her pride after ex-forces veterans paid tribute to him during a stamina-sapping fund-raising run. Truck driving instructor Kevin Dandy, who works for McCarthy Distribution in Wrexham, raised more than £1,000 for the Royal British Legion and a further £250 for the Curtis Palmer Programme run by the charity Pilgrim Bandits. A former reserves fitness instructor with the Royal Signals, Kevin summoned up phenomenal determination to complete a series of 5K runs, each one with a rucksack strapped to his back containing 25 kilos. Prior to the…

Luxurious holiday resort brand Luxury Lodges has partnered with leading managed holiday rental company Landal GreenParks to help manage its portfolio of UK-wide destinations following a surge in the demand for staycations. Luxury Lodges owns four exclusive hotel-quality resorts across the country including Dylan Coastal Resort in west Wales, Whitbarrow in the Lake District, and Burn Coastal Retreat and Clowance both in Cornwall, all of which have benefited from recent multimillion pound investment and improvements. The new partnership will see Landal GreenParks showcase the sites on its platforms and support the management of the rental side of the business. The…

A fast-growing bakery has hired an industry high flyer to turbo charge its ambitious expansion plans. Passionate foodie Lesley Arnot has been appointed as commercial director at the Jones Village Bakery in Wrexham after moving from the world’s biggest bakery company, Grupo Bimbo. Her meteoric rise to the top tier of the UK’s food industry began when she was among the first intake on the pioneering graduate scheme at Asda after gaining a classics degree at Newcastle University. From there she moved to Tesco where she worked for nine years in a number of buying roles and was promoted to…

With yellow weather warnings in place across many parts of the country this weekend, one of Wales’ leading insurance brokers is urging at risk businesses to ensure they are protected. The Met Office has issued a weather warning for Storm Eunice, which is likely to affect the UK on Friday bringing a period of very strong winds that could cause significant disruption. The impact of flooding can be devastating for businesses, and as sea levels are rising across the globe, severe flooding seems less of a risk and more of a certainty. Business owners in high-risk flood zones are concerned that…

A multi-million-pound investment has been announced at Swansea’s Singleton Hospital to tackle long waits for eye surgery. A new operating theatre dedicated to ophthalmology procedures is set to open in the summer of this year – allowing the health board to carry out around 200 additional operations a month. It’s hoped that figure will increase over time, with the possibility of weekend and evening sessions being introduced. The new modular theatre will be attached to the Day Surgery Unit on the opposite side of Sketty Lane from the main Singleton site. It is costing £3.3 million, with a further £700,000…

The Royal Mint Experience in Llantrisant, South Wales, has unveiled a brand-new exhibition to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee through coins, medals, and sketches from her reign as the first British monarch to ever reach this milestone. To celebrate this once in a lifetime moment, The Royal Mint Experience will display a number of unique artefacts to the public for the first time including the 1935 Silver Jubilee crown issued during the reign of King George VI. This was the first modern commemorative coin issued by The Royal Mint and features the intricate ‘George and the Dragon’ design.…