Author: Rhys Gregory

Neath Port Talbot Council has made an early start in delivering its ‘Recover, Reset, Renew’ agenda by strengthening a key front line community team that supports people who are going through a difficult time in their life. The eight new Local Area Coordinators will join an existing team of six to help support more people and communities across the county borough. Local Area Coordinators work with those who are at risk of going through a crisis in their life or help people recover if a crisis has already happened. Including people who are elderly, people with physical or mental disabilities,…

Coychurch Crematorium have donated £15,000 to Bridgend Samaritans after they were nominated as its chosen charity. The charity was chosen by the Coychurch Crematorium Joint Committee, which includes councillors from Bridgend County Borough Council, in recognition of their enormous support to children and adults through difficult times. We are delighted with this very generous donation from Coychurch Crematorium. This will have a major impact and reassurance for our branch. A spokesperson for Bridgend Samaritans Set up in 1972, Bridgend Samaritans is one of 10 local branches across Wales which work hard to support their communities and conduct crucial outreach work…

There are just a few days left for learners, parents, school staff and governors to have their say on ambitious plans to transform secondary education in mid Powys, the county council has said. Powys County Council wants to address issues with the current operating model of Ysgol Calon Cymru, a dual stream secondary school operating across two campuses. The campuses are located in Builth Wells and Llandrindod Wells. In September 2020, Cabinet considered a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) which identified a preferred way forward that could address these issues, which was: A new 11-18 English-medium campus in Llandrindod Wells; plus…

Community broadband projects in Llangors, Pennorth and Llanywern and in Llangynidr have reached the stage where properties are now being connected with ultrafast fibre to the premises. Both schemes have been supported by Powys County Council (PCC) and have made progress thanks to the hard work of the community groups involved and their chosen supplier, Beacons Telecom. The connections, to households that have registered an interest and are willing to sign up to a 12-month contract with Beacons Telecom, are being funded by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport through its Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme and…

RCT Council will shortly undertake repair work to a 200m section of retaining wall and parapet wall adjacent to the A4054 Cardiff Road at Taff’s Well. The scheme will initially remove vegetation from all wall faces, which will enable the repointing and reconstruction of the majority of the parapet wall, reconstruction of one area of the retaining wall, and resetting of copings. The Council has appointed Centregreat Ltd as the contractor to deliver the scheme, starting from Wednesday, January 19, lasting around 12 weeks. The scheme is funded by the Council’s Supplementary Highways Capital Programme for 2021/22, using dedicated funding…

Two of Cardiff’s parks have received Benches of Hope, donated by Netflix to commemorate Ricky Gervais’ After Life, to create a space for residents to talk or reflect. Victoria Park and Parc Cefn Onn will both benefit from a wooden bench with a plaque, which are scheduled to be installed on Wednesday 19thJanuary. They are each inscribed with a quote from After Life season 3, “Hope is Everything”, and a plaque with “This bench is donated by Netflix to commemorate Ricky Gervais’ ‘After Life’.” The benches have been commissioned alongside suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – who…

Wales’ fishing community is being invited to submit applications to a £1m fund to primarily help mitigate the ongoing impact Covid is having on the industry and adapt to the rapidly changing market conditions for seafood products. The European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) is co-financed by the Welsh Government and the European Commission and has supported many projects in Wales since being introduced in 2014. The funding will support investments in the small scale coastal fleet and aquaculture, together with improvements to the marketing and processing of fishery and aquaculture products. However, any project selected and supported under the programme…

Following the success of the first Data-AI Fast Track Programme launched by the Welsh Contact Forum (WCCF), the University of South Wales (USW) will be delivering a second postgraduate qualification , in support of an innovative accelerated programme in latest data science and AI skills and knowledge, to handpicked STEM graduates as part of a new partnership The Data-AI Fast Track Programme, led by the WCCF and a consortium of leading financial services and technology businesses, is a 10-month intensive fast-track programme, providing accelerated work-based learning and development, combining industry placements and academia. Graduates will complete the Postgraduate Diploma in…

Andy Feltham has joined AI and intelligent automation company, We Build Bots, as its Product Director. Andy brings nearly 20 years’ experience in product innovation, having previously been given the title of Master Inventor by IBM. Andy was awarded this title in recognition of an extensive patent portfolio, and his other previous roles include Emerging Technology Manager at IBM and VP of Innovation at Filament AI. He joins WBB at a time of considerable growth and innovation. We Build Bots, a specialist in conversational AI and intelligent automation, helps businesses looking to automate repetitive back-office customer service processes, allowing customer…

Caroline Sabin’s follow up to her sell-out show Mysterious Maud’s Chambers of Fantastical Truth in 2018 and more recently, Castell Coch in 2021, will tour this Spring. In Pursuit of Maud will feature Caroline Sabin’s dark comedy hallmarks…including the characters Igor and Maud and an experiment that’s gone horribly, horribly wrong. Opening at Insole Court, Cardiff on 14 – 19 and 21 – 26 February, followed by The Ulcheldre Centre, Anglesey 5 March and Torch Theatre, Milford Haven on 30 March, In Pursuit of Maudwill be a blend of musical, comedy, theatre, dance and film, and you may even recognise…