Author: Rhys Gregory

HMRC’s one-month postponement of the Self Assessment deadline to the end of February is a welcome reprieve given the current staffing absences businesses, their accountants, as well as HMRC itself, are experiencing due to the Omicron variant. Lloyd Powell, head of ACCA Cymru Wales explains: “This New Year is critical for many SMEs and individual taxpayers who are coping with the uncertainty due to Covid-19 restrictions over the festive season, and so this extra month to get organised and file their returns for 20/21 is much needed at such an exceptional and turbulent time. It will also help HMRC’s resilience…

A group of GP practices has launched a new scheme to help the environment by recycling inhalers that are no longer needed. The Upper Valleys Cluster, which is made up of four general practices – Amman Tawe Partnership, Dulais Valley Primary Care Centre, Pontardawe Primary Care Centre and Vale of Neath Practice – is trialling the project until the end of January as a way of cutting down on harmful emissions. Patients registered with any of these practices can hand in their used inhalers at any of the pharmacies based within the cluster. When inhalers are thrown away and end…

An award-winning painter has boosted a research charity after hosting an exhibition in honour of her sister who has dementia. Fine art painter Angela Scott teamed up with leading ceramist Caroline Pearce for the special fundraising event, which raised money for Alzheimer’s Research. Angela’s sister, Jenny Holbrook, has been living at the Pendine Park’s Hillbury Care Home in Wrexham since March after her health deteriorated during the first lockdown. The talented artist wanted to show her gratitude to the staff at the home for their care and dedication and hosted an exhibition in the studio of her home at Sodylt…

THE Welsh Ambulance Service has revealed the most inappropriate calls made to 999 in the past year. Among them was someone who had eaten a mouldy tomato and someone who had got their plaster cast wet. One person with an earring lodged inside their ear asked for a “lift” to the Emergency Department, while another dialled 999 for a papercut. Of the 470,653 incidents recorded by the service in the last 12 months, nearly a quarter were non-essential, including someone with diarrhoea and someone enquiring about their medication. In the face of unprecedented demand, the ambulance service is reminding people…

FSB (Federation of Small Businesses), is calling on the Welsh Government to review and increase the funding available to support businesses in the sector hit by Covid restrictions introduced over the festive period to ensure that businesses stand the best chance of survival thorough the latest Covid crisis. Businesses in hospitality and those within the supply chain have reported a collapse in trade over recent weeks caused by significantly-reduced footfall and customer inhibition along with the impact of the latest Covid measures in Wales. Many businesses within the sector might normally have expected to make up to a quarter of…

A trio of high achievers are chasing exciting futures in medicine after scooping a Buckley school’s science prize. Elfed High School students Megan Howe-Thatcher, Matteo Molica-Franco and Hannah Jones are interested in becoming a surgeon, military pathologist, and vet, respectively, after being acknowledged for their academic performance with honours at the annual Synthite science prize. Sponsored by Mold-based chemical manufacturer Synthite, the prize endorses exceptional efforts in chemistry, biology, and physics. Dr Claire Cornmell, science teacher at Elfed, explained why the trio were selected. “Speaking as a science department about which students to put forward, those three names absolutely stood…

Cavegirl Fitness Training Group has raised over £5,000 for the Chemotherapy Day Unit at Glangwili Hospital by hosting an All Girl Tractor Run in July 2021. The Tractor Run started at Penfoel Farm and ended at the Railway Inn in Llanpumsaint. Participants enjoyed a hot drink and a bacon roll and had the opportunity to take part in a raffle. Lead Cancer Nurse Gina Beard said: “What an amazing sum of money! We are extremely grateful to the ladies from the Cavegirl Fitness Training Group. We are so humbled when the public choose to support our health board charity and…

The Conservative government’s stealth tax raid will cost the average family in Wales £370 a year by 2026, or a total of £500 million, research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. The figures show the scale of the cost to families of the government’s decision to freeze the personal tax allowance at £12,570 and higher rate tax threshold at £50,270 until 2025/26, compounding the growing cost of living crisis. The new analysis by the House of Commons Library has found an additional 85,000 people on low pay in Wales will be paying income tax by 2026, while a further…

Maps revealing areas of the world’s forests which have substantively changed over the past decade have been published through a European Space Agency (ESA) project that is managed and coordinated by Aberystwyth University. The space agency’s Climate Change Initiative Biomass project, which has brought together researchers from across Europe, has developed a way of estimating the weight of above ground components of forests. The research uses satellite data to produce high resolution maps showing which of the planet’s forests are being lost or expanding. They illustrate substantive losses of forests through tropical deforestation and timber harvesting in the Amazon and…

A long-lost painting by a renowned Maesteg artist is set to be displayed in the town’s redeveloped town hall. Christopher Williams’ artworks have been on display in Maesteg Town Hall since 1934 and are now set to be joined by another artwork which was thought to be long lost. The painting, which depicts the Llynfi Ironworks – his only known landscape of his beloved Maesteg – had been kept in storage since 1971 and was tracked down by a relative of the artist. Once restored to its original glory, the rediscovered landscape will be displayed at Maesteg Town Hall in…