Author: Rhys Gregory

A Welsh gym, which was forced to close during the pandemic, has reopened after support from one of Wales’ largest not-for-profit organisations Welsh Water, and award-winning soft services provider A&R Services. Dowlais ABC, an amateur boxing club in Merthyr Tydfil has been providing a place for local enthusiasts to train for over 70 years, producing well over 100 ABA Champions. But earlier this year, as gyms and leisure facilities began to reopen following the winter lockdown here in Wales the boxing club found themselves in a difficult situation. After a failed COVID inspection from the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association (WABA)…

A leading Welsh university has detailed its plan to help bring the latest in digital technology and 5G services to the region as part of a plan to develop North Wales into a centre of excellence for digital signal processing (DSP). The scheme was discussed during a visit to Bangor University’s DSP centre in Bangor, Gwynedd, from Jack Sargeant MS and Carolyn Thomas MS. Askar Sheibani, managing director at Deeside-based telecommunication equipment supplier Comtek Network Systems, which is working alongside the university on various infrastructure and connectivity-based projects, also addressed the visiting members about the centre’s link with private industry.…

As shoppers make up for lost time on post-lockdown-fuelled shopping trips, the retail gurus at St David’s Cardiff reveal the trends making us tick and most-wanted products. As the social scene came out of hibernation, St David’s reports its fashion and beauty brands have increasingly welcomed back shoppers keen to update their wardrobes and create hot new looks. Simultaneously, the lifting of travel restrictions has sent shoppers hunting for new luggage and holidaywear from swimsuits to sliders. And the return of weddings has seen pent-up demand unleashed for guest outfits, shoes, gifts and engagement ring cleaning and re-plating for brides…

Macmillan Cancer Support has secured more than £19million in welfare benefit payments for people with cancer in Wales during the Coronavirus pandemic. New figures from Macmillan’s Wales-wide network of benefits advice services shows the charity helped more than 7,400 people in Wales to claim an average of over £2,600 between June 2020 and June 2021. The services, funded by Macmillan Cancer Support and run in partnership with health boards and councils across Wales, were set up to help people with cancer cope with the huge financial pressures that many people face as a result of their illness. Debbie from Machen…

A Welsh business making artisan vegan jams, marmalades and chutneys is planning major expansion after weathering the storm wreaked by Covid-19, with the help of a community banking fund. Rhondda Cynon Taf-based Enjoy Rogue is looking to expand across the UK into supermarkets and also overseas markets, following a £40,000 loan from Robert Owen Community Banking Fund (ROCBF) in Newtown. Asher Flowers, the man behind the firm, said he really valued the person-to-person financial help he received from ROCBF during the pandemic. The entrepreneur said his long-term ambition was to make the business “the Number 1 brand for the at-home…

During Organ Donation Week, September 20 to 26, NHS Blood and Transplant is urging people in Wales to talk to their families about organ donation as more than 7,000 people, including 200 children, are predicted to be in need of an organ transplant. The hidden impact for these patients, which includes 198 people currently on the waiting list for a transplant from Wales, is being highlighted with the release of a new song from the ‘Harmonies of Hope’ children’s choir called ‘Invisible’. After a most challenging year for the NHS and people across the world, waiting lists for organs including…

Bridgend County Borough Council has confirmed which local roads will be temporarily closed to traffic in order help keep music fans safe during this year’s Porthcawl Elvis Festival. An all-day road closure will be in place along the esplanade between Porthcawl Marina and the Seabank Hotel on both Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 September. While timings may vary slightly in order to ensure the smooth running of the event, the road closure is planned to last between 6am on Saturday through to midnight on Sunday. Temporary diversions will be in place, and drivers are asked to pay close attention to…

Welsh Government support is helping a Caerphilly county borough-based business to future proof its operations by relocating and safeguarding jobs, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has announced. Hawker Siddeley Switchgear, which manufactures electrical switchgear and overhead line equipment, will use £500,000 of Welsh Government funding to move from its existing site at Pontllanfraith to the former British Airways interiors seat assembly factory in nearby Blackwood. This site provides an ideal location for the business, which counts Network Rail, Western Power Distribution, London Underground, Sydney Trains, and metro projects in China among key UK and international customers. A total of 196 jobs…

Cambrian Mountains Lamb is the second new Welsh product to be awarded the highly sought after UK Geographical Indication (UK GI) status, hot on the heels of Gower Salt Marsh Lamb which won the accolade last month. Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths has welcomed the news and congratulated the producer group on their achievement. From today, only legitimate ‘Cambrian Mountains Lamb’ from the region can be sold with the UK GI seal of approval. The application for UKGI status was supported by the Welsh Government via their Welsh GI contract, which is delivered by Menter a Busnes and was made…

Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths has outlined the next steps to introduce a new system of farm support which will reward farmers who take action to respond to the climate emergency and reverse the decline of biodiversity. The new Sustainable Farming Scheme will maximise the protective power of nature through farming and will be key in protecting the environment for this generation and those to come. The Welsh Government has already engaged with more than 2,000 farmers and stakeholders in the first phase of co-designing the new scheme and the next phase of co-design will take place in the summer…