Author: Rhys Gregory

Monmouthshire’s towns and villages are gearing up for festivities this Christmas with a reminder to shop local. This on-going, successful campaign to ‘bring the magic back’ to Monmouthshire’s high streets is being delivered in collaboration with local businesses, town councils, chambers of commerce, schools, Monmouthshire County Council and Visit Monmouthshire. Celebrations begin in Usk, where residents can enjoy a special late night shopping evening on Thursday 2nd December, pop along to find unique gift ideas from independent retailers. Caldicot’s Christmas celebrations begin on Saturday 4th December when locals can enjoy the Christmas market, festive pantomime, and the official light switch-on…

Community groups in the Caerphilly county borough benefitted from £10,633 in grants between July and September this year. Caerphilly County Borough Council administered these grants though its Voluntary Sector Grants budget and the Welsh Church Acts Fund scheme.  The council’s Grants to the Voluntary Sector Panel were updated on this spend during a recent remote meeting. Grants allocated through the council’s General Criteria Awards included support for a range of community groups including Penuel Baptist Church, Blackwood Musical Society and Tredomen Allotment Association. The Welsh Church Acts Fund provided £5,000 of funding to enable the Friends of the Cefn Fforest…

A Blackwood man has been sentenced in relation to charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Companies Act 2006. Local Builder, David Hughes (aged 50) of Pen-y-Cwarel Road, Wyllie, was found guilty of 5 charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 at Newport Magistrates Court on November 11th. Hughes, who traded as DH Builders, had previously pleaded guilty to 5 charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and 2 charges under the Companies Act 2006 however, no further penalty was imposed for the Companies Act Offences. Hughes was sentenced…

A festive scheme to encourage people to use local businesses in a sustainable way in the run-up to Christmas is being launched by Newport City Council It will be paying for people’s local bus journeys from Monday to Saturday (excluding Sundays) between 1 and 24 December. Free bus travel will be available on all journeys that start and end within the city boundaries on services run by a registered operator. Councillor Jane Mudd, Leader of Newport City Council, said: “This initiative is aimed at providing a boost for our wonderful local businesses as well as encouraging the use of more…

RCT Council has started work to deliver a Welsh Government-funded drainage scheme near Heath Terrace and Llanwonno Road in Ynyshir – to upgrade a culvert inlet and increase its resilience during heavy rainfall. The scheme started on site from Monday, November 29, utilising £127,500 secured from Welsh Government through funding available for small-scale drainage works – complementing the Council’s own contribution towards the £204,000 scheme. The Council has appointed Hammond (ESC) Ltd as the contractor responsible for delivering the scheme, lasting around 12 weeks. Upcoming work will increase the capacity of the existing inlet and improve its resilience – upgrading…

The Welsh Government’s commitment to end homelessness will be made clear in the Senedd later today as Climate Change Minister Julie James launches the Ending Homelessness Action Plan. The Minister, who says that when homelessness occurs it should be ‘rare, brief and unrepeated’, will also announce a new £30million funding pot over five years for local authorities. Under the Private Rented Sector Leasing Scheme, private property owners will be encouraged to lease their properties to local authorities in return for a rent guarantee and additional funding to improve the condition of their property. Local authorities can then use these properties…

Gone are the days when a holiday meant jetting off to another country to enjoy sangria on the beach. With more options than ever, going on a staycation in the UK has become a popular option for many in recent years. The big push towards staycations began with the COVID-19 pandemic where travel restrictions meant that we couldn’t get away to our favourite overseas vacation spots and so, were encouraged to holiday in the UK. This meant that the UK population got to see new places around the country with North Yorkshire being the most popular staycation county in 2020.…

After such a challenging 18 months, it’s no surprise that many people up and down the country are now looking at their lifestyle and habits and trying to suss out what they can do to live for longer in good health, or what measures they should put in place to support family if the worst should happen. Life insurance experts, Reassured, recently did a study into life expectancy up and down the UK, and found out the average number of birthdays that new-borns in Wales can expect to celebrate using the latest ONS data. The figures showed that in Wales,…

Oral hygiene is of high importance to everybody. Everybody must clean their teeth twice daily and undertake regularly scheduled trips to the dentist for check-ups and treatment. After all, it has been reported that oral health is an unrecognised barrier to general health, so it is crucial to take these matters more seriously. These needs may become pressing as they reach the 40s and 50s too. There is no room for compromises here. Here’s why oral hygiene is so important for middle-aged modern workers. Offering a Workplace Perk Workplaces are becoming increasingly involved in their employee’s personal life. The well-being…

When we find ourselves in a stressful routine, it can be very difficult to see a way out. By the time that we have noticed that we should probably make some changes, those bad habits have become fully ingrained. It can be particularly tough to see a way towards making positive changes at this time of year. We all know the feeling of just trying to get through the cold, dark winter days until the holiday break, and then it’s January before we know it and we are just trying to get through to spring. The important thing to remember…