Author: Rhys Gregory

A young French man’s inspirational learning journey since arriving in Wales from France as a shy 16-year-old, following the loss of his mother to cancer, has been recognised with a prestigious national award. Five years ago, Thibaud Gailliard could speak little English and had no formal qualifications or previous work experience to help his employment prospects in Wales. Luckily, Thibaud discovered a Traineeship Engagement Programme in Creative Media delivered by Risca-based training provider Sgiliau Cyf and quickly set about learning English, obtaining a long list of qualifications and improving his IT, design and music skills. Following the Traineeship, Thibaud progressed…

Digital technology is transforming the way medicines are prescribed and given to hospital patients – making it safer for them and freeing up nurses to provide more bedside care. Swansea Bay University Health Board is leading the way in Wales, with paper drug charts now almost entirely eradicated in 15 medical wards across Neath Port Talbot and Singleton hospitals. These have been replaced with HEPMA, or Hospital e-Prescribing and Medicines Administration, which automates the entire process. Gone are delays caused by illegible handwriting or by lost or damaged paper charts. Doctors and other prescribers now complete the prescription digitally, with…

Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board is creating a walk-in option at all of its community vaccination centres. From Monday (July 5), anyone over the age of 18, living in the Health Board area, will be able to turn up at one of the CVCs at a time and date to suit them and get their vaccine. It is for first dose only. Second dose appointments are not affected, as those clinics will run alongside the walk-ins. The latest figures from Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB’s vaccination programme show 88 percent of eligible adults have now had their first dose, while…

A suite of professional tourism-related marketing resources for businesses to use has been launched as part of Denbighshire’s Destination Management Plan. A communications toolkit with key messages to encourage a safe and responsible travel ethos has been produced. This includes encouraging visitors to plan, prepare and pre-book to ensure a positive experience, coastal safety tips, and outdoor safety messages to ensure people have the right skills, knowledge and gear before venturing out. The new Countryside Code is also highlighted to encourage visitors and residents to protect the environment by taking litter home, keeping dogs under control, following signs and keeping…

Students of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David are busy preparing to present an open-air performance of ‘Godspell’. After a very challenging year because of the Coronavirus restrictions, graduating students of the BA Perfformio and BA Musical Theatre courses as well as students from MA Perfformio and MA Musical Theatre have come together over the last five weeks to stage this well-known show. This tremendously successful rock opera needs no introduction, however when it was first produced on Broadway in 1971, it broke new ground in its treatment of the history of Jesus Christ.  Originally the show was created…

A North Wales PR agency has marked a strong first half of the year by being named small PR consultancy of the year at a national industry awards event. Outwrite PR scooped the prize at the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) Cymru Wales Dare Awards, which were held virtually. The Mold-based agency has welcomed a number of new clients and increased its team in the first six months of 2021, building on growth experienced throughout the pandemic. Outwrite, which has also retained existing clients over the last 12 months, has won accounts including Voneus, one of the UK’s largest…

A long-serving Macmillan fundraising volunteer will be one of the first people to take on the 25-mile Gower Peninsula Mighty Hike on Saturday 10 July. Mike Broomhall, 75, from Mayals in Swansea is the treasurer for the Macmillan Swansea Committee and is familiar with hiking challenges as for more than eleven years he was involved with organising the Gower Macmarathon. The Gower Macmarathon was the original idea of the Macmillan Swansea Committee and ran between 1998 and 2019. The volunteer-led event which successfully ran for 22 years, raised more than £2million to help people in Wales living with cancer. In 2019,…

Swansea residents are helping to add a splash of natural brightness to the city centre art gallery the Glynn Vivian. They have submitted sunflower seedlings they’ve been growing this year to transform the gallery’s Alexandra Road garden for all to enjoy this summer. As part of art project Land Dialogues, each sunflower will be recorded with the name of the person who donated it. Initially, sunflower seeds were donated by community garden GRAFT at the city’s National Waterfront Museum. Artist Owen Griffiths has welcomed dozens of seedlings and is now planning the gallery’s living installation. The project is helping the…

Cllr Jamie Pritchard is the new Deputy Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council. Jamie, who represents the Morgan Jones ward in Caerphilly, has been elected to serve on the council’s Cabinet alongside the Leader of Council, Cllr Philippa Marsden. “I am pleased to announce that Cllr. Jamie Pritchard has been elected to the position of Deputy Leader and I would like to take the opportunity to welcome him aboard,” said Cllr Marsden. “I look forward to working with him and the Cabinet to continue to drive through our ambitious plans for recovery and build upon our Team Caerphilly ethos and…

Work will soon begin to build a new car park as part of the recent 21st Century Schools investment for Hirwaun Primary School – to complement the Council’s safe routes in communities work within the local area. Hirwaun Primary has benefitted from a £10.2m investment delivered jointly with Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools and Colleges Programme. Contractor Morgan Sindall delivered a brand new school building in November 2020 while external work – including two Multi Use Games Areas, a woodland learning area and a grass sports field – were completed recently. Local school catchment changes will also come into effect…