Author: Rhys Gregory

With only 50 days to go until the big day, The Royal Mint Experience, based in Llantrisant South Wales, has announced its’ biggest ever Christmas event– transforming the home of coins into a magical Santa’s workshop. From coins in Christmas stockings to sixpences stirred into Christmas puddings, coins have a long association with Christmas. The centuries old tradition is the inspiration behind this year’s magical Christmas event at The Royal Mint Experience. In the lead up to Christmas, The Royal Mint Experience will be transformed into a magical workshop covered in a dusting of snow and adorned with hundreds of…

The many people looking forward to attending Swansea’s spectacular annual fireworks show on November 12 are being urged to plan ahead. Thousands are expected to enjoy the free Swansea Council display on the Covid-safe wide open spaces of Swansea beach and the prom. With the display taking place over the waters of the bay, the council hopes that as many people as possible will check the arrangements, plan ahead and aim to arrive in good time for the start. The event is due to take place from 6-8pm, with parking available at a number of locations including the Recreation Ground,…

Catch-up flu vaccinations for children and young people are being offered at a new drive-through delivered by the school nursing service. It means hundreds of pupils from across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, who missed their in-school vaccination due to illness, will be protected for the winter. The former Covid testing facility at Longlands Lane Playing Fields in Margam, pictured left, is being pressed into use for the drop-in service during weekends throughout November. These drop-in sessions will be in addition to those organised at all primary and secondary schools. Parents and carers are urged not to use the drive-through…

The shortlist has been announced for the 23rd annual Welsh Contact Centre Awards, ahead of November’s event at Cardiff Bay’s historic Coal Exchange. Thanks to the support of headline sponsored Jomo Recruitment, the Welsh Contact Centre Forum-led awards will celebrate a sector that contributes £650m annually to the Welsh economy. The event will also bring together the teams from across Wales whose commitment, adaptability, and support, provided essential lifelines for customers and businesses across the UK during the pandemic. Among the 21 company and individual awards, new categories will recognise the agility and dedication that allowed businesses to rapidly develop…

A rapidly-growing North Wales builder has started work on a £25 million scheme to build over 100 new homes in Colwyn Bay. Bamber Homes is a new division of the Mochdre-based Brenig Group and has been formed to develop the company’s private housebuilding projects. Their first venture is on a 13-acre site on Queens Drive, Colwyn Bay, where they will build a mixture of two- to five-bedroom houses and apartments on the former John Braddock and Mary Bamber convalescent centre site. The plans include 14 executive-style apartments in the John Braddock building, originally built as a luxurious mansion-style home for…

A new work by royal composer Paul Mealor is being premiered at a top music festival. The concerto written by Professor Mealor, one of the world’s most performed living composers who was born in St Asaph and brought up in Connah’s Quay, was jointly commissioned by the North Wales International Music Festival. The event is being held in a hybrid format for the very first time this year and resumes virtually later this month. Organisers say the support of the Arts Council of Wales and festival sponsors was crucial in enabling the hybrid event to go ahead. The headline sponsors…

A mountain rescue team is dealing with a record number of call-outs because of increases visitor numbers and extreme weather caused by climate change According to Tim Bird MBE, the team leader of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (OVMRO), they are being helped to rise to the challenge thanks to some ground-breaking technology donated by the North Wales Police and Community Trust (PAC). In a year when rocketing visitor numbers to Snowdonia have made the national headlines, the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (OVMRO) has responded to 110 call-outs to date and expects many more this winter. The new…

The Rhyl Pavilion Panto cast magically appeared at SC2 Rhyl for the official Cinderella Panto launch in search for Cinderella’s lost glass slipper. Soap opera star and Dancing on Ice winner Hayley Tamaddon, playing the Fairy Godmother, joined Buttons, Prince charming, Father Baron Hard-up and Cinderella in search of the missing glass slipper throughout the Ninja TAG arena. The cast are now asking the public to help them find the slipper throughout November so that Cinderella can go to the ball! The spectacular show of Cinderella at the Rhyl Pavilion Theatre has morning, afternoon and evening performances, from Wednesday 8th…

In a move designed to speed up the switch to electric vehicles, Welsh entrepreneur, Jarrad Morris, has officially announced the launch of Fleet-e, a company dedicated to assisting businesses and individuals make the switch in response to Local Authority and Government targets and the urgency to do so outlined at COP26. With a working valuation of £1.2million and a funding round due to launch, Fleet-e offers a wide range of electric cars and vans available to lease, ranging from the latest Tesla Model 3 and Jaguar i-Pace, to the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, and also provides support with installing…

One of the UK’s most celebrated hospitality entrepreneurs, Stephen Hargreaves, is blazing a trail for the modern age, by accepting cryptocurrency as payment at his luxury flagship hotel, The Cranleigh Boutique. In so doing, the hotel becomes the first venue in the North- West to include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Utrust Token and Tether, as accepted forms of payment.  It’s another ‘first’ for the Lancashire-born entrepreneur, who has built an extensive portfolio of exclusive businesses in Bowness-on-Windermere, including The Cranleigh Boutique, The Boutique Hideout House, Baha Pacific Street Food restaurant, The Fizzy Tarté cocktail & champagne bar, and Lake View Garden Bar,…