Author: Rhys Gregory

Who says you can’t be green and glamorous? Certainly not the team at Amaryllis, Cardiff’s first eco-friendly hair salon, who are on a mission to keep their community tidy as part of their first-ever Trashy Hairdresser’s Day in August. Amaryllis directors Tiffany Hall, 30, and Rebecca Ryce, 34, are inviting local hair and beauty professionals to join them in a city-wide litter pick, followed by a Q&A session on how to make salons more sustainable. The event is part of a UK-wide initiative by the Green Salon Collective (GSC), with Trashy Hairdresser Days taking place in Manchester, London and Glasgow.…

Cyber Wales, the globally recognised ecosystem of cyber security professionals, is set to receive £50,000 of investment to help provide opportunities for networking and knowledge sharing, as well as supporting skills development and innovation. The investment is the result of a £700,000 fund created by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3), a network of 20 UK cyber business clusters, employers and local organisations, which includes Cyber Wales and its network of nine Welsh cyber clusters. Cyber Wales will play an integral role in UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration initiative. John Davies, the founder and chair of…

A brand new coworking and business support Hub in Rhyl has appointed its Community Manager as it looks to engage with potential founding members ahead of its launch later this year. Owain Colwell has been appointed as Costigan’s Community Manager and will be responsible for finding and supporting new members, sourcing and organising business mentors, arranging events and the general day-to-day running of the Hub. Costigan’s, on Bedfor Street, has been transformed from a semi-derelict pub into a new coworking space and coffee shop, thanks to £312,000 of funding from Denbighshire County Council, through the European Regional Development Fund. Owain…

An award-winning serial charity fundraiser, who once walked southern Britain’s highest mountain, Pen y Fan, 365 times in a year, is looking to peak again by ascending five mountains, in five countries, across three days – all to raise money and awareness for Help for Heroes and Cancer Research UK. Des Lally, from Brecon, in mid-Wales, is aiming to climb the highest mountains in Wales, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Ireland in just 72 hours, in a test of endurance requiring an overall ascent of more than five kilometres, a road trip in excess of 1,000 miles, and two sea…

EXTREME pressures on the Welsh Ambulance Service yesterday meant it had to declare a ‘business continuity incident’. The Trust has been receiving in the region of 2,000 calls per day via 999 for the last three days. Incidents this week were nine per cent higher than predicted, up 11 per cent from last Monday (12 July, 2021) and up 29 per cent from the same Monday last year (20 July, 2020). Immediately life-threatening ‘RED’ calls were also up by almost 30 per cent compared to last Monday. Call volume, coupled with lengthy delays at hospitals across Wales, meant that demand…

Plans have been approved for a new open-air courtyard in the heart of Cardiff’s historic Castle Quarter. Work will start this summer to demolish a former nightclub which sits in the space behind High Street and Duke Street Arcades. In its place, eight new spaces designed for independent hospitality businesses will be created around a central open courtyard. Adding to the feel of a ‘hidden’ courtyard, a new entrance will be created through an existing passageway off High Street Arcade. A new balcony will run around the courtyard at first floor level, opening up previously unused spaces above shops and…

An agricultural expert is warning about the potentially fatal impact of heat stress on livestock, after the Met Office issued its first ever extreme heat warning. The amber warning covers large parts of Wales, all of south-west England and parts of southern and central England and will be in place until Thursday, when temperatures are expected to peak. The Met Office launched its new extreme heat warning in June 2021 to highlight potential widespread disruption and adverse health effects. The warning came after all four UK nations recorded the hottest day of the year over the weekend. Rob Matthews, of…

Farming has a key role to play in looking after the environment and combating climate change but the production of food must not be excluded from the conversation, says Pembrokeshire beef, sheep and arable farmer Jayne Richards. Jayne, who farms with her parents Michael and Margaret and husband Ali at Jordanston Farm, St Mary’s Park, Jordanston, just outside of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, has no doubt that if it weren’t for small family farms up and down the country the environment would suffer. The aesthetic look of the Welsh countryside would change dramatically, with rural communities being lost. However, the family…

The people of Mayhill and Waun Wen will be able to discuss a wide range of community matters with key figures this Thursday (July 22). They can visit Mayhill Community Centre any time from 10am-2pm on Thursday to talk with people from organisations such as Swansea Council and South Wales Police. It’s part of the ongoing response by authorities to the area’s one-off public disturbance two months ago. Agencies already work in the community every day. The police responded to the May 20 disturbance on the night; the council helped the community immediately afterwards by leading the clean-up, making properties secure…

A green oasis giving staff, patients and visitors a chance to escape to the country has been unveiled in the grounds of Morriston Hospital. What was previously an unremarkable grass verge has been transformed into an amazing space with a grass-roofed roundhouse at its heart. It opens on to a wildflower-lined, open-air corridor with seating where people can enjoy some precious moments of tranquillity. Similar greening initiatives are taking place across Swansea Bay hospitals and dozens of other health board sites at a cost of £1.28 million – the majority of it funded by the Welsh Government. It’s all…