Author: Rhys Gregory

It’s National Tree Week – and what better way to mark the occasion than by making a start on a project to plant 5,000 trees all over the National Park?  As part of our celebrations to mark the Snowdonia National Park’s 70th anniversary, this week our Woodlands Officers will make a start on a special project involving planting 5,000 trees all over the National Park – one for each birth and 70thbirthday in Eryri (Snowdonia) this year. Planting 5,000 is quite a challenge, so to help us achieve this goal each Community Council within and around the National Park have…

A new exhibition looking at the impact of climate change has opened at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s (UWTSD) Swansea College of Art. Alternative Futures brings together a range of multi-media visual responses to the COP26 conference and the climate. The UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 13 November 2021. The COP26 summit brought parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The climate emergency is a critical learning opportunity. The nature of this complex problem requires…

A social care leader has urged the minority of vaccine-sceptic care workers in Wales to get fully jabbed as a matter of urgency. According to Mario Kreft MBE, it was a “life or death” decision because of the potential dangers posed by the newly-identified Omicron super variant of Covid-19. The new variant was first reported in South Africa last Wednesday and the early evidence suggests it has a higher re-infection risk. Experts warn that it appears to spread “very rapidly” and that it can be spread between people who are double vaccinated. It’s feared the vaccines could be less effective…

A planning application has been submitted for the first primary school at Cardiff’s ‘garden city for the 21st century’ After experiencing some delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing restrictions, the Plasdŵr development team has been working closely with Cardiff Council on the specification and have submitted for approval the planning application for the construction of the first primary school at Cardiff’s ‘garden city for the 21st century’. The new school is located in Plasdŵr’s Groeswen neighbourhood to the north of the development near Danescourt and Radyr. Plasdŵr’s district centre will also be located in this neighbourhood, making it…

A Caerphilly-based start-up that aims to support small businesses and fledgling freelancers has secured £150k in pre-seed funding from venture capital firm, SFC Capital. Revolancer is an online marketplace that connects businesses with quality-approved freelancers for digital projects, and is hoping to revolutionise recruitment in the digital skills market. The company was founded in January by Karl Swanepoel as a university dorm room project and has previously secured £13k from Aberystwyth University after winning their InvEnterPrize student enterprise competition earlier this year. Investing alongside SFC Capital is Edward Falzon, a Morgan Stanley veteran of 25 years, who will also be…

A holiday park in Borth is hoping to attract more visitors all year round after expanding its site with five new holiday cottages. Cambrian Coast Caravan Park used a six-figure loan from Lloyds Bank to purchase the farmhouse cottages, which are adjacent to its existing camping and static caravan site. The cottages can cater for groups of between two and ten people and are all kitted out with a stylish modern interior, two of which have been specifically tailored to ensure they are wheelchair-accessible. The business hopes to grow its annual turnover by around £150,000, as well as increase the…

New figures reveal the number of cigarette butts littered on Welsh beaches has more than doubled in a year, making Wales the worst nation in Great Britain for cigarette waste on beaches. The Marine Conservation Society 2021 survey of more than 3,500 meters of Welsh coastline show that despite a decline in overall beach litter, cigarette waste has reached an all-time high. The survey found an average of 64.2 cigarette butts per 100 metres of Welsh beach, a stark rise from 32.6 in 2019, and 9.5 in 2020. In response, tobacco control action-group, ASH Wales, and the Marine Conservation Society…

The NatWest Accelerator has empowered hundreds of business owners from across Wales to scale their businesses to the next level. Now, as the bank launches a specialist Wales Food and Drink Accelerator, NatWest Cymru Ecosystem Manager Gemma Casey outlines why now is the time to offer the sector this tailored support. Covid and climate –two very real crises facing the Welsh economy, not least the food and drink sector. No-one would deny that these global forces have, and will continue to, exert extreme pressure on the sector. Yet along with the inevitable challenges – closures, staffing, supply chain issues, skills…

The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Cymru has announced that Jane Reakes-Davies, Managing Director at First Bus Cymru, and Paul Dyer, Managing Director at Cardiff Bus, have been appointed as Chair and Vice-Chair of CPT Cymru’s Bus Commission. Jane and Paul will take up their positions on Bus Commission in December and they will play a vital role in bringing together bus operators to help shape bus policy in Wales. Jane Reakes-Davies will be the first female to occupy the role of Chair. Jane has spent the past 8 years in leadership roles at First Bus Cymru, and her background…

Two professional pastry chefs who were crowned the winners of a hit TV baking show, have returned to their former college to share their culinary expertise. Michael Coggan and Andrew Minto, who both worked as pastry chefs for Cardiff Bay’s Gin and Bake, beat some of the country’s top professionals in the industry to win Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals. After being announced the best patisserie team in the country, both chefs have chosen to come back to the college where they started their impressive careers to pass on their skills and knowledge to budding chefs at Coleg y…