Author: Rhys Gregory

Swansea Council is set to commit almost £250,000 to fund a floodlit all-weather sports pitch in Pontarddulais. It will replace the former tennis courts at the town’s comprehensive with pupils using the new facility during the day and it being made available to the wider community in the evenings and at weekends. A report going to the council’s cabinet next week says it would be a big boost to school and grass-roots sport in Pontarddulais with a lasting legacy for many years to come as there are no similar facilities in the town. Cabinet members are being asked to approve…

Swansea Council is set to extend its pandemic funding for its key leisure facilities to keep up their high-quality services for residents across the city. The council’s ruling cabinet is due to discuss a possible extension of funding arrangements for its contract-managed premises, including the LC, community leisure centres, the Wales National Pool Swansea (WNPS) and Plantasia. The support could be in place until March next year and would cover the facilities’ pandemic-related losses and recovery plans. Robert Francis-Davies, the council’s cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, said: “Our leisure facilities are key to creating an active and healthy…

A mobile coronavirus testing facility is now available to the public at Ysbyty’r Seren, the field hospital set up by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Located on the Bridgend Industrial Estate, Bennett Street, Bridgend, CF31 3SH, the facility is a drive-through testing centre with booking required. It is open to the public from 11am to 4pm, seven days a week. A walk-in mobile testing facility continues to be available at the Awel-Y-Mor Community Centre in Hutchwns Terrace, Porthcawl (CF36 5TP) between 9am and 6pm daily, with no appointment needed. And a walk-through testing…

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Cabinet approve plans for an Employee Volunteering Scheme. A report was considered by Cabinet at a virtual meeting on 9th June where they approved the proposed Employee Volunteering Scheme and agreed to implement the Scheme with a review to be carried out in 12 months on the uptake and benefits of it. The Employee Volunteering Scheme aims to increase volunteering opportunities for employees at CCBC, allowing the release of employees to volunteer and support the local community. CCBC recognises many of its employees already volunteer in their local communities – this Scheme is a way the…

The new Minister for Climate Change has said that the Welsh Government’s new Programme for Government will have a central  focus on the environment while warning “we will all need to do much more to reduce our carbon emissions over the next 10 years than we have in the last 30”. Speaking on a visit to meet school pupils at Lisvane and Llanishen reservoirs, Julie James will say: “We’ve made significant progress in bringing emissions levels down in recent years, but we now have to go further and faster if we are to stand a chance of tackling climate change.…

Health Minister Eluned Morgan has urged people to holiday at home this summer. International travel re-started in May but strict rules are in place to reduce the risk of coronavirus – and new variants of the virus – entering the UK. This means travel will be very different than it was pre-pandemic. Wales is following the same traffic-light approach as the rest of the UK for international travel. Countries are classified as green, amber and red depending on their public health status and vaccine rates. Only a handful of destinations have green status. Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: “This is…

World Gin Day is a global celebration of all things gin, held on the second Saturday in June – this year it’s on Saturday 12 June 2021. It may come of no surprise that gin sales are absolutely soaring, up 30% over the past 12 months alone. You can’t go into a supermarket, bar (or pub) or food market without a variety of gins on offer. New HMRC figures show a record number of distilleries were registered in the UK in 2020 – growing by over 100 in 12 months – for the first time. Despite the pandemic, the number…

A Welsh gin produced from recycled coffee grounds will launch on World Gin Day this Saturday (June 12th). The coffee based but caffeine free spirit is the latest product from Grounds for Good, a lockdown-launched range, created in October by medical doctor turned beauty entrepreneur Dr Rosie Oretti and friend and fellow beauty expert Amy Adams. With a shared love of coffee and a value for all things sustainable and ethical, Rosie and Amy’s first products were three body polishes of repurposed coffee grounds destined for landfill, followed by candles. And now Rosie is taking the brand forward with the…

RSPCA Cymru have rescued a lamb in the Llŷn Peninsula who was stuck on a cliff edge without grazing and being pecked by birds. The animal welfare charity was alerted after walkers spotted the sheep stranded on the ledge at the Trefor Sea Stacks. No grazing was available on the cliff edge for the lamb, while she was surrounded by nesting shag birds who would peck her every time she moved. The young sheep was in urgent need of help – and without this rescue faced a 20-metre drop, where she would have fallen on rocks and landed in the…

Taylor Wimpey has been announced as the latest housebuilder to build at Plasdŵr. The leading UK housebuilder has submitted plans to build 337 homes in the Pendown neighbourhood of Plasdŵr, to the south of Pentrebane Road, near Fairwater and St Fagans. Taylor Wimpey is expected to start on site later this year and will join lead developer Redrow, as well as Bellway and Lewis Homes, in building a new community at Plasdŵr. This latest development, Gwêl y Garth, will border Redrow’s existing Cae St Fagans development. It will provide a range of two, three and four-bedroom family homes, 30% of…