Author: Rhys Gregory

Neath Port Talbot Council and Swansea Council has been shortlisted for the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) Overall Council of the Year in Service Delivery Award 2021. The prestigious award recognises the best and most innovative local authority in the UK. Focusing on their delivery of frontline services, the award seeks to celebrate those councils which are achieving excellent results in a wide range of different service areas. The seven shortlisted UK councils are: • Neath Port Talbot Council • Telford and Wrekin Council • Swansea Council • Wigan Council • Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council • Lancaster City Council • East Ayrshire Council…

All community vaccination centres in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board region are now accepting walk-ins from anyone aged 16 and over. This allows any 16 and 17-year-old who has been unable to attend their scheduled appointment to get their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The latest figures from the health board show that 99,000 people in Bridgend County Borough are now fully vaccinated. Anyone aged 16 and over who has not had their first dose can walk into a Covid-19 Vaccination Centre to receive it. With no prior booking required, the walk-in appointments are available at community…

Dozens of employers and organisations will descend on Bridgend town centre next month for Bridgend’s first outdoor Jobs Fair. The free event, which will be in various locations around Bridgend town centre, including Dunraven Place and Caroline Street, is being held between 10am-2pm on Thursday September 16. It has been organised by Employability Bridgend as part of Bridgend County Borough’s partnership with Jobcentre Plus. Both organisations will offer advice and support on a range of work, training and volunteering opportunities. Some of the employers taking part will include South Wales Police, Avon Cosmetics, First Cymru Buses, G4S, Careers Wales and…

Rhondda Cynon Taf sportsman Thomas Matthews is competing at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, and the Mayor is sending him a Message of Goodwill from back home. Thomas, aged 29, of Cwmbach, Aberdare, will be representing ParalympicsGB in the table tennis competition, having made his international debut at the Hungarian Open in 2013. Following Thomas, currently ranked as World Number 9, as he fulfils is sporting dream in Tokyo, will be proud parents Mandy and David. Councillor Jill Bonetto, Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf, said: “I send the best wishes of everyone back home to Thomas, who is representing Great…

St David’s Hall will welcome back audiences on Tuesday 31 August with its first live show in 18 months. The venue was closed to the public in March 2020 following advice from UK Government due to Covid-19 safety measures. However, following Wales’ move to Alert Level Zero, the Hall is back with a bang -reopening with the first live show with a full indoor capacity audience in Wales. Cabinet Member for Culture, Venues & Events, Councillor Peter Bradbury said: “We are delighted that the first live show with a full indoor capacity audience in Wales will be at St David’s…

Children and young people are being helped to recover from the pandemic by taking part in a range of sporting, cultural and play based activities this summer. The Summer of Fun has been incredibly popular with activities across Wales oversubscribed.  The multimillion pound initiative is part of a suite of measures designed to help children and young people aged between 0 and 25 to recover from the pandemic. The free events, which run until 30th September, have been providing leisure, recreational, sporting and cultural activities to support the social, emotional, physical and mental wellbeing of children and young people. Yesterday…

The Covid-19 pandemic has introduced a different perspective on conducting business. Though, it has negatively affected the health and business sectors; Covid-19 has fully stamped the need for the digital transformation of many companies globally.  The digital migration to no-coding and low-code applications was there but not fully implemented by many enterprises.  However, the pandemic wave has hastened the process forcing almost all companies globally to board the no-code software development technology for their business. Today businesses have experienced closure and no customers. This has triggered the need to invest in digital applications, which can access customers from the comfort…

The horse racing calendar turns its attention north of the border on Saturday, September 18, when the latest edition of the Ayr Gold Cup will be contested over six furlongs. Introduced in 1804, the Ayr Gold Cup is one of the most celebrated sprint handicaps of the UK racing season, evidenced by the long waiting list to be one of the 25 runners who will make the cut. That’s reduced from a field of 200 applicants, and it won’t be until the week of the race that spectators discover who will make up the final field. Former winning jockeys and…

From this week (Monday 23 August 2021), the National Governing Body (NGB) for netball in Wales will enter a new chapter and be named Wales Netball. In a bid to progress its vision of growing the game and inspiring success, the NGB has modernised the look and feel of the wider brand and provided clarity on the global netball stage. Until now, Wales was the only netball NGB that didn’t have its country within its name when it was formally Welsh Netball. This rebrand to Wales Netball now aligns the organisation to World Netball and Europe Netball. As well as…

St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire will host two concerts by the acclaimed Welsh National Opera Orchestra (WNO) this Friday (27 August). The concerts mark a welcome return by the Orchestra to form part of the programme of the annual Fishguard and West Wales Music Festival. An afternoon concert at 3pm will feature JS Bach’s Orchestral Suite No 3, Serenade by Richard Strauss and Haydn’s 102nd Symphony. An evening concert at 7.30pm will start with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No 3 followed by Richard Strauss ‘Morgen’ with soprano soloist Isabelle Peters and finish with Beethoven’s Symphony No 4. Both concerts have tickets…