Author: Rhys Gregory

For the first time in three years, due to previous COVID-19 restrictions, Swansea Building Society held its annual general meeting (AGM) as a live, face-to-face event again – at the Swansea.com stadium on Thursday, April 28. The Society also presented a substantial cheque to partner charity Maggie’s, donating more than a pound for each vote received. At the event, the Society presented a cheque for £2,500 to cancer charity Maggie’s, a figure rounded up based on the 1749 votes it received from members. At the event, the board of the Society presented and explained its best-ever set of results to…

A gardening club in Penarth has been given a boost with donations from J.G. Hale Construction, the long-term construction partner on a Wales & West Housing (WWH) social housing development for residents over the age of 55 in Cardiff. The donation of gardening equipment, planters, topsoil and a brand-new shed has been made by the Neath-based building contractor as part of its community benefits commitment to working with Wales & West Housing. J.G. Hale Construction is currently working on a £5.5 million transformation of the former Blue Dragon Hotel in Roath, Cardiff for the housing provider. The development project has…

A refurbishment of the CCTV system covering Bridgend County Borough is underway, with Bridgend town centre being the first area to receive the upgrade. Whilst there have been some delays due to hardware shortages caused by the current global supply chain problem, the new cameras will start to be installed in Bridgend Town Centre at the beginning of May with the planned rollout to other parts of the borough aiming to be completed by early September. All planning and survey work for the camera installations has been completed and the CCTV monitoring centre has been fitted with the latest technology,…

The art of letter writing could be considered on the wane in our digital age but not for a group of Cardiff schoolchildren and residents of some of the city’s care homes. Children from Millbank Primary School in Ely and St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Gabalfa have been putting pen to paper, exchanging correspondence, and building new friendships with older members of the community who live at The Forge Care Centre, Heol Don Nursing and Residential Centre and Ely Court Care Home. The intergenerational pen pal scheme has been organised by the city’s Hubs and Libraries service and is…

Cardiff Council wants to hear from Cardiff’s young people on key local topics that matter to them. A Citizens Panel of local residents from across Cardiff, who give their views on a number of consultation topics throughout the year, has been in place for some time and now a Young Citizens Panel is being created for 11-25-year-olds who live in the city. The council would like to engage with a younger panel with more specific topics and encourage young people to get involved from an early age in decision-making and local democracy. Having young people’s views and input on important…

On Tuesday, in the Senedd, the Welsh Government, supported by Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats, condemned the UK Government for their assault on human rights. Ministers blasted the UK Government on three key pieces of their legislation which they branded as callous, unconstitutional and in complete opposition to Welsh values and the founding principles of the Senedd. Ministers also outlined a bold new plan to release Welsh specific UN reports and explore a Welsh Bill of Rights. Counsel General Mick Antoniw said: “People should be under no illusion, the UK Governments actions clearly demonstrate a calculated effort to…

The Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles, has announced that Covid-19 measures for schools in Wales will be brought into line with guidance for businesses and other organisations. The Welsh Government has written to schools in Wales this morning to inform them of the changes. Since September last year, schools have applied measures to stop the spread of Coronavirus according to local circumstances, based on the Local Covid-19 infection control decision framework for schools. Schools will no longer be advised to use the framework. The change is in line with the Welsh Government’s long-term Covid-19 transition from pandemic…

Today, at Cardiff Crown Court, Natalie Steele, 32, was detained under the Mental Health Act for the act of killing her two-year-old son, Reid Steele in August, 2021. Reid Steed Steele’s family have released the following statement: “Our lives have changed forever. We will always have a piece missing from our family. Reid was the most loved, beautiful, funny, intelligent and loving little boy, who touched the hearts of everyone he met. Natalie really was a wonderful mother. “He had a wonderful life which was filled with holidays and fun adventures collecting shells and pebbles on the beach with Natalie.…

With fuel prices still fluctuating across the UK, drivers can save over £200 each year just by taking centimetres off the accelerator pedal. Analysing the top-selling petrol cars of the year, one of Europe’s leading price comparison sites idealo.co.uk has teamed up with Britain’s Coupon Kid Jordon Cox, to calculate the mammoth annual savings Brits can make by getting just five more miles out of a gallon. From Vauxhall Corsa’s, to Kia Niro’s and Nissan Qashqai’s, the data shows that fuel bills can be cut by up to 14% per year. In fact, Kia Sportage owners can save £209.96 (14%),…

Arts4Wellbeing Innovation CIC in Ceredigion is celebrating a £9,900 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to re-launch its volunteer-led community hubs.  Welcoming the grant, Sarah Wentworth, Cofounder at Arts4Wellbeing Innovation CIC, said: “We would like to express our huge thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund for your support. Arts4Wellbeing initiated seven social creative drop-in hubs in rural areas and trained up community volunteers so that the groups were run by the community for the community. Prior to the first lockdown six were running independently and self-sustaining and the seventh was about to go independent.  The groups had an…