Author: Rhys Gregory

A musical stage adaption based on the bestselling picture book, The Smartest Giant in Town, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is headed to Carmarthen’s Lyric Theatre over the Easter holidays. Following a critically acclaimed run at Little Angel Theatre in London last summer, The Smartest Giant in Town has embarked on a UK-wide tour which includes two dates in Carmarthen on Thursday and Friday 21st and 22nd of April. Celebrating 20 years since publication this spring, The Smartest Giant in Town is a heart-warming and vibrant tale about friendship and helping those in need.  The bestselling book is brought…

A 200-year-old hotel in Llanelli is set to get a new lease of life after its new owners secured significant funding from NatWest. Nickesha Graham-Burrell and Balfour Burrell obtained a £420k funding package from the bank to purchase The Ashburnham Hotel in Pembrey following the retirement of its previous owners. The Burrells plan to strengthen the impressive reputation and operation of the £650,000 annual turnover business including considerable investment in landscaping and internal refurbishments at the seven-acre site, and a future vision to add guest lodges to the grounds. The couple also plans to improve sustainability by installing electric vehicle…

Hay Festival has unveiled the full programme for its 35th spring edition in Hay-on-Wye, with more than 500 in-person events over 11 days, 26 May–5 June 2022. Tickets are on sale now to Friends of Hay Festival at hayfestival.org/wales or on 01497 822 629. Public booking opens at noon this Friday 8 April. Returning for its first in-person spring event since 2019, Hay Festival is the world’s leading festival of ideas, bringing readers and writers together in sustainable events to inspire, examine and entertain. This year’s programme launches the best new fiction and non-fiction, while offering insights and debate around…

Silver Circle Distillery is set to open a pop-up tasting room and craft spirits shop in Chepstow town centre later this month. Founded by Nina and Joe Howden in June 2019, Silver Circle Distillery creates award-winning, handmade craft spirits in the Monmouthshire village of Catbrook. A new tasting room and shop on Moor Street in Chepstow town centre will sell a variety of Silver Circle’s best-selling spirits, and a curated collection of food & drink themed gifts and curiosities. Initially opening on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for a temporary period of six months, the shop will also offer Make Your…

A Welsh nursery business, Green Giraffe Day Nursery, has received a six-figure funding package from HSBC UK to acquire a new site in Penarth as it continues to grow. The new 2300 sq ft site will allow the company to accommodate an extra 50 children per week in its outstanding care facilities. The nursery will be Green Giraffe’s fifth site and provide a ‘home-from-home’ Montessori style education, a method of teaching based on collaborative play, hands-on learning, and self-directed activity. Additionally, the nursery will offer a bilingual environment of both English and Welsh. Leigh Collier, Financial Director at The Green…

One of Wales’s leading environmental charities is hosting a ‘Paws and Pick’ dog friendly litter pick in Bute Park, Cardiff, on Saturday 9 April 10.00am – 12.00pm. ‘Paws and Pick’ is one of this year’s 300 clean-up events taking place across Wales between 25 March – 10 April, as part of this year’s Spring Clean Cymru. Keep Wales Tidy is calling on individuals, households and schools to clean-up the streets, parks or beaches on their doorstep. At the dog friendly litter pick event, the charity will also be promoting their dog fouling campaign and giving away doggy treats, dog poo…

John Owen-Jones is a West End and Broadway actor and singer. John is best known for his performances as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. John remains the youngest actor in West End history to have played Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and has performed as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera nearly 2000 times. John has appeared in concert at the The Royal Albert Hall in London, Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and Carnegie Hall in New York. Also for BBC Proms in…

The University of South Wales (USW) has signed a strategic partnership with Newport Live – a charitable trust providing sports, leisure, and cultural activities in Newport – to help support the health and well-being of people in the city and beyond. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the University and Newport Live focuses on the development of a range of mutually-beneficial activities that address shared core values, including a passion for participation and success, the promotion of equity and inclusion, and a commitment to being socially conscious and environmentally responsible. This partnership will offer a range of benefits for both…

Getting a divorce is widely recognised as being one of the most stressful times in a person’s life. But lawyers say there are many common misconceptions about the process and that it doesn’t need to be difficult if couples access the right advice at the right time. Emily Finn, a divorce and family law solicitor at national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP, dispels some of the myths surrounding the divorce process. We are common law spouses There is no such thing. The claims that a non-married couple can raise against one another are limited in comparison to those in a…

The Royal Mint Museum has announced the winners of its annual short-story competition which invited primary school children across Britain to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen. More than 550 young people aged between 9 -11 took part in the creative writing task which celebrated Her Majesty’s 70-year reign, as part of a year-long programme of events marking this momentous occasion. In a special online event, guest judge and children’s author and illustrator Alex T. Smith read out the winning story and praised the hundreds of entries which focussed on the Platinum Jubilee through the eyes of…