Author: Rhys Gregory

The headline NatWest Wales Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – registered 61.5 in October, up from 57.1 in September, to signal a marked expansion in output. The rise in business activity was the sharpest for four months and the steepest of the 12 monitored UK areas. Anecdotal evidence suggested that the upturn was due to greater client demand and a stronger increase in new business. Welsh private sector firms indicated a marked rise in new business during October. The pace of…

Careers Wales and leading social mobility charity Speakers for Schools today announces a nationwide partnership, making work experience opportunities and inspirational career talks available to students in Wales aged 11-19 and in state education. In a bid to help disadvantaged young people catch up post-Covid, this new partnership will help the next generation connect with employers across the UK and allow them to experience the world of work after 18 months of missed career opportunities. It builds on the current work of Careers Wales which has 570 careers advisers, business engagement advisers andcareers and work-related experience co-ordinators in place to…

A group of North Wales volunteers and businesses have come together to ensure a warm Welsh welcome to refugees being resettled in the area. The ‘Croeso Cymreig – Welsh Welcome’ community project collects food and gifts donated by local firms, to create welcome hampers that are distributed to refugees making a new home in North Wales. Led by Paola Dyboski-Bryant of Bangor-based Dr Zigs Bubbles, the project aims to demonstrate how welcome refugees are in Wales. Paola said: “Many resettled refugees arriving in Wales have suffered hugely in their journey to get here, and arrive with nothing. Often they have…

he waiting is over and the nominations for the 2021 Sport Pembrokeshire Awards have been revealed! A total of 80 nominations have been received in 12 categories for individuals and teams involved in a variety of different sports across the County. The three finalists in each category will be announced in the Western Telegraph on 17th November. The overall winners will be unveiled at the ceremony at Folly Farm on 26th November, organised by Sport Pembrokeshire. The awards are sponsored by Valero, the Western Telegraph, Folly Farm, and Radio Pembrokeshire. Cllr Paul Miller, Cabinet Member for Economy, Tourism, Leisure and…

Views are being sought on a draft plan to develop Welsh language education over the next 10 years in Neath Port Talbot. Neath Port Talbot Council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan 2022-32 aims to support and further develop the Welsh language in schools and in the wider community. The plan is linked to Welsh Government’s vision to have 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. Neath Port Talbot’s Cabinet agreed to a public consultation on the draft plan at a meeting on Monday 1st November. The consultation will run for 9 weeks, from Friday 5th November to Friday 7th January. The…

UK Government has confirmed which projects have been approved to receive funding from the new Community Renewal Fund in Bridgend County Borough. Set up as a precursor to the Shared Prosperity Fund which will be launched next year as a replacement for EU structural grant funding, the £220m national scheme is designed to support people and communities across the UK who are most in need. With a total of £46m allocated to projects across Wales, Bridgend County Borough will receive £785,149 for the following initiatives: Enterprise Bridgend (£213,126) Enterprise Bridgend aims to support people, especially women, who have been furloughed…

Bridgend County Borough Council’s Cabinet have approved funding for a new community hub at Abercerdin Primary School in Evanstown. The school which will jointly fund the project alongside the local authority is planning to create the hub as a community outreach centre once the school’s ground floor basement is renovated. It will house a creche for children from birth to three years of age, meeting and training rooms, and a community café for vulnerable adults to retrain and access support with CV and interview techniques. Headteacher Helen Gentle said: “The community hub is a project involving the school and the…

Public consultation is set to take place over plans that could transform the centre of Pencoed and deliver some of Bridgend County Borough’s biggest ever transport infrastructure improvements. Between Monday 8 November 2021 – Sunday 30 January 2022, people will be asked for their views on ambitious plans to address long-standing traffic congestion issues in Pencoed which have prevented new development and economic investment from taking place. If approved, the £17m plans will enable the eventual closure of Pencoed’s level railway crossing by rebuilding the Penprysg road bridge so that it can accommodate two-way traffic, and creating a safe, all-new…

Do you know someone who regularly goes the extra mile for others, is an outstanding charity fundraiser, or has put the local area on the map by achieving something special over the past 18 months? As the year comes to a close, the Mayor of Bridgend County Borough is asking local residents to put forward their nominations of individuals, groups or businesses who are worthy of a Mayor’s Citizenship Award. Past winners have included a nine-year-old who fundraised to help koalas in the Australian wildfires, a man who wheeled four marathons and six half marathons after being diagnosed with a…

Applications for grants are being invited now for projects within Powys which will promote social inclusion, reduce poverty, and help develop and sustain our rural village communities. Funding of up to £7,000 is available to support 10 projects through Arwain, the county’s LEADER programme, which aims to get residents, businesses and communities involved in delivering innovative solutions to address economic, social and environmental challenges.* The types of projects that may be funded include pilot projects – small scale and time limited activities aimed at testing out a concept or to try an innovative technique; feasibility studies to undertake research into…