Author: Rhys Gregory

Picturing our Past / Fframio’n Gorffennol is a new app to be launched online on May 4 at a special event featuring Cornish-Welsh musician Gwenno, feminist filmmaker Michele Ryan and punk rocker turned S4C presenter Aled Samuel. A specially recorded trailer narrated by Cerys Matthews will be played during the event. The app encapsulates the milestones of Welsh filmmaking history, which respected historian Dave Berry, once referred to as “That fertile legacy”. The National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive has played a crucial role in the preservation of Welsh films and sound recordings and has now backed a bi-lingual product that breaks out of a book’s boundary, a unique combination of…

A new business loan facility has been launched by Go Business Loans, designed to help support small businesses seeking quick turnaround, short term lending. Go Business Loans will provide loans of between £2,500 and £20,000 to limited companies and LLPs in Wales and across the UK.   The new facility is bought to the market by an experienced team including Manging Director David Viera, who has spent over a decade in senior roles within the finance industry, and Head of Investor Relations, Max Woodman, who has a strong banking and investment track record including time at Barclays and Catalyst Finance. The…

All those who cannot work from home are being encouraged to access lateral flow self-test kits as they are rolled out across Wales. The rapid coronavirus testing kits will be available to collect from local test sites across Wales from Friday (16 April) this week. The Welsh Government is also looking at other collection venues for test kits to be made available, as well as being directly delivered to people’s homes. It is hoped that improving the availability of lateral flow tests will make regular asymptomatic testing for coronavirus more convenient and accessible for people not covered under existing schemes…

Bridgend town centre will host a community testing centre between Wednesday 14 – Tuesday 20 April. Based at the Evergreen Hall in Angel Street, the centre will be available between 9.30am and 6.30pm. No appointments are necessary, and the free walk-in service is available to all residents of the county borough. Designed to help identify people who may have Covid-19 without displaying any signs of illness, the community testing is aimed at residents who are aged 11 and over, are not displaying any symptoms of coronavirus, and who feel otherwise fit and well. Because it is possible for people who…

Young people in Oakdale, a community in the Caerphilly county borough, are enhancing their skateboarding skills thanks to the recent replacement of their local skate park. Caerphilly County Borough Council invested £50,000 through its Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) programme into replacing the previous skate park with a new concrete pour design, developed by experienced UK skate park contractor Bendcrete.  The WHQS programme will see over £260 million invested into the homes of Council tenants and local communities throughout the county borough. Thanks to additional funding via Play Wales, the Council’s Positive Futures team, who form part of Sport Caerphilly,…

The question of where technology will take us next is so broad that it is difficult to know where to begin. Our use of technology in our everyday lives has become so extreme that, even two years ago, it would have been difficult to forecast where we are at in 2021. A resident in Wales can become friends with someone in China by following them on social networking platforms like Instagram. We can pay for our meals by scanning a code on our smartphones. We can stream Swansea and Cardiff City football matches on our laptops. And we can accept…

The north east Wales college has again been awarded the Level Five Green Dragon Environmental Management Standard. All its sites in Wrexham, Deeside, Llysfasi and Northop have achieved the prestigious accreditation. It is the highest level of the Groundworks scheme that can be achieved via the Green Business Centre, a Cardiff-based environmental and quality auditing and training service that provides support to businesses and public organisations across the UK. Cambria was lauded for demonstrating effective management of its facilities and taking action to understand, monitor and control surroundings for students, staff and visitors. A delighted Rick Bedson, Head of Estates…

Cardiff and London-based law firm, Capital Law, has hired a former Serious Fraud Office lawyer to spearhead its business crime and investigations practice. Phillippa Ellis joined Capital in March 2021 from the Serious Fraud Office, where she has spent the last 5 ½ years leading teams investigating and prosecuting financial and economic crime across the globe. Based in Capital’s London office, Phillippa now leads the firm’s business crime and investigations practice – advising clients who are under investigations themselves, or who are conducting their own internal investigations. This strategic role sees her work closely with lawyers from across the business,…

An innovative mixed-use regeneration development in the heart of Swansea city centre has been hailed as a first for the UK. The Biophilic Swansea project will transform the site of the former Woolworth store on Oxford Street, providing affordable new homes and workspace alongside a community urban farm. The project will be delivered by Hacer Developments, with Wales’ largest provider of affordable homes, Pobl Group, joining as its residential partner. The pioneering scheme is the result of extensive collaborative working among a range of local organisations, including Swansea University, the Active Building Centre, Public Health Wales, and a number of…

FSB has recently made new appointments to its Wales staff team which will bring fresh experience and expertise to Wales’ most influential business organisation. Dr Llyr ap Gareth will take on the role of Head of Policy whilst Brett John will join the team as Deputy Head of Policy. Llyr is promoted from Deputy Head of Policy for FSB Wales into the new role, having previously worked for the Community Transport Association where he was employed as Support and Engagement Executive. Llyr ap Gareth, said: “It’s a real privilege to take on the responsibility of Head of Policy at FSB…