Author: Rhys Gregory

Denbighshire Leisure is lighting its attractions this week in green and purple in support of Carers’ Rights Day. The pandemic has impacted the lives and need of carers significantly with increasing demand. This year’s Carers’ Rights Day campaign is focusing on raising awareness of the rights that unpaid carers have and aims to empower them with information and support that will encourage them to challenge when their rights are not being met. Ruthin Craft Centre, Rhyl Sky Tower, Rhyl Pavilion Theatre, 1891 Restaurant and Bar, the Events Arena waterfall, Denbighshire Leisure Ltd HQ in Denbigh and Denbighshire coastal bus shelters…

One of the UK’s leading timber groups has made a key new appointment as it continues to address customer need. Premier Forest Group has appointed Steve Rogers as a specialist sales executive in a newly created business development role to support the expanding business.  Steve’s wealth of relevant experience will help the Welsh-headquartered business develop its range of cladding and hardwoods whilst providing their customers with an industry expert to assist them. Steve started his career in the timber trade over thirty-four years ago as a management trainee and has since gained extensive experience in sales; in his previous position…

THE Welsh Ambulance Service has introduced new technology to better support victims of domestic violence. Ambulance crews have been supporting patients to access Live Fear Free for help and advice on domestic violence since its creation using a bespoke telephone number. Now crews now have the ability to assist patients via an app on their Trust-issue iPad to speed up and streamline the process. Live Fear Free is a 24/7 helpline for women, children and men experiencing domestic abuse, sexual violence or other forms of violence against women. It is a main point of contact in Wales to access support,…

Since the start of the pandemic, parks have played an important role for communities the length and breadth of the UK.  Research conducted by Keep Britain Tidy earlier in the year showed that more than nine in ten people (93%) think that parks and green spaces are important to their local community  Now, those communities have spoken with the vote for the 2021 People’s Choice Awards, run as part of the Green Flag Award scheme, the international quality standard for parks and green spaces, which is celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year.  During October, the public were invited to vote for their favourite park and more than 32,000 did…

Following a recent decrease in Covid-19 cases in Secondary schools across Denbighshire it has been agreed to revert back to the Low level of interventions status. An increase in cases at the start of the school year saw Secondary schools change their status which enabled schools to implement additional measures to help control the spread of the virus. Recent weeks have seen a reduction in case numbers for secondary age pupils and based on this, the overall alert level for Secondary schools has been changed to Low. Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Denbighshire County Council’s Lead Member for Education, Children’s Services and…

A rural Welsh community has come together to save one of Dylan Thomas’ favourite pubs from closure. People living in the small village of Ystrad Aeron, near Felinfach, Ceredigion, are trying to raise £330,000 to buy and reopen their local, the Vale of Aeron, as a community enterprise. The pub, also known in Welsh as Tafarn Dyffryn Aeron, was a favourite haunt of legendary Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin when they lived in nearby Talsarn in the early 1940s. It is said the couple would walk across the fields from their home at Plas y Gelli to…

Cardiff Central railway station remained the most used station across Wales during a year that saw Britain’s passenger usage drop 78% compared to the previous year. This was the lowest level of journeys seen since at least before 1872 and is a result of the pandemic. The numbers are revealed in the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) estimates of station usage statistics 2020-21, which include the annual total of passenger entries and exits at each of the 2,500+ stations in Great Britain. Cardiff Central remained the busiest station with just under 2 million entries and exits, down from 12.7 million in 2019 – an 84%…

Not-for-profit trust Freedom Leisure that operates leisure centres in partnership with Swansea Council is inviting city employers to offer their staff free trial sessions to get active, stay healthy and feel great. Freedom Leisure area manager Nic Beggs said: “During the past 18 months we’ve all changed the way we work and prioritise our week. “Companies are now adapting their workforce to work flexibly – and this will give staff an improved work-life balance and the ability to access different types of exercise. “Our centres have been given a facelift in the last few years and, although they might look…

An orphaned seal that was rehabilitated by the RSPCA after being rescued from an island in the Irish Sea in 2016, has been seen again in North Wales – this time with her nine-day-old pup. The seal, nicknamed Admiral’s Ale, came into the care of the RSPCA’s Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre in Nantwich in late December 2016 after being found as an injured orphan pup on Walney Island. After receiving initial treatment and care, she was transferred across to finish her rehabilitation in deeper pools at the animal welfare charity’s East Winch Wildlife Centre in Norfolk, from where she was…

Merthyr County Borough Council is applying to Welsh Government for a financial package towards the £3.2m redevelopment costs of the Leisure Centre pools and nearby skate park. The design will incorporate the retention of both the main and learner pools, provision of a new leisure pool and work on the changing rooms. The Council is also putting together a project team to look at building a new skate park, co-designed by users of the current facility and moved closer to the leisure centre. “The redevelopment will cost around £3.2m and we’re making a financial application to Welsh Government which will…