Author: Rhys Gregory

A food company from North Wales has created a new website to sell directly to the customer as a response to the problems caused by the pandemic. The venture has been so successful that Gwynedd-based Bwydydd Madryn are now planning to continue and expand www.blasus.cymru. The company was set up by agri-food expert Geraint Hughes in 2012 to promote and build routes to market for Welsh produce which he describes as the “best in the world”. The firm, which employs three other people including Geraint’s business partner, James Hughes, has recently opened a new warehouse in Pwllheli to cope with…

A pioneering service has been set up in North Wales to help parents who are abused by their children after a 70% increase in cases during the pandemic. Break 4 Change is a new support project, backed by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones, that’s been established with the help of cash confiscated from criminals. The therapeutic support provided by the Domestic Abuse Safety Unit North Wales (DASU) aims  to break the cycle of violence and prevent young people from becoming abusers in adulthood. The new programme offers support to abused parents – and to their young abusers…

A homegrown high-flyer is hungry for more success after landing his “dream job” running Europe’s most modern bakery. Ashley Dawson, 30, has been appointed as the manager of The Village Bakery’s new super bakery on Wrexham Industrial Estate that’s due to open this summer. The promotion comes six years after he joined the Village Bakery as their business sustainability and improvement executive when he masterminded a series of energy and water saving initiatives to make the company more environmentally friendly. Since then Ashley, who comes from Wrexham and is a former pupil of Welsh speaking high school Ysgol Morgan Llwyd,…

Usk, Monmouthshire has been named the best place to live in Wales. It is top of a list of 6 locations in the region chosen by The Sunday Times to represent the best of Britain in the annual Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide. The comprehensive guide is released online today and will be available in the paper on Sunday. The Sunday Times’s expert judges behind the guide assess a wide range of factors, from schools, air quality, transport and broadband speeds  to culture, green spaces and the health of the high street. They look for improving towns, villages or city centres, for attractive, well designed…

North Wales’ most exciting new attraction is coming to Rhyl in 2022, giving thrill seekers everywhere unparalleled views of the coast from the new ‘SkyFlyer’ 400ft in the air. Riders will be taken into the sky on board a gondola set on a 15m platform below the ‘SkyFlyer’. This isn’t a flight for the faint hearted, with 360° views reaching from Moel Famau, to the Great Orme in Llandudno, all the way to Liverpool on a clear day. Nearly twice as high as the Sky Tower in Rhyl, on the site of the old Sun Centre, this attraction will evoke…

The next seven days are critical for the survival of many independent restaurants, cafes and pubs across Wales, says the Welsh Independent Restaurant Collective (WIRC). The financial support measures currently in place will expire on 31st March, and with no word from Welsh Government on further support after that date, businesses are facing an unknown period of continued closure due to a lack of clarity on reopening dates. “Thousands of small independent hospitality businesses are staring into the void with no answer as to when they can begin trading and no indication of if and when they might receive financial…

The world’s first preserved railway celebrated a significant milestone last week when the 70th anniversary of the first two locomotives purchased by Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was re-enacted. The society was formed in 1950 to take over the railway following the death of its owner, Sir Henry Haydn Jones. The railway had just two locomotives – No 1 (Talyllyn) was not in good running order, leaving No 2 (Dolgoch) to provide a regular service. Therefore Loco 3, later named Sir Haydn and Loco 4, named Edward Thomas after Talyllyn Railway’s former manager, were bought from Corris Railway, which closed in…

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has opened its fourth Mass Vaccination Centre as part of its Mass Vaccination programme to protect its adult population from Covid 19 as quickly as possible. Working in partnership with Cardiff Council and Vale of Glamorgan Council to increase capacity for vaccinations, the new Bayside MVC will enable additional capacity of up to 3,500 vaccines per day, which will be dependent on vaccine supply. The new centre is located at the former Toys R Us site at the International Sports Village. The location of the site will be accessible for people in Cardiff and…

RCT Council has been notified it was successful in directly securing from Welsh Government more than £13m of funding for Highways and Transportation schemes – and will also benefit from new allocations to the Cardiff Capital Region Transport Authority. Confirmation of the following Welsh Government grants for 2021/22 was received on March 19: Local Transport Fund (£1.47m) – Major Economic Infrastructure Schemes across the County Borough, bus corridor enhancements along the Pontypridd-Church Village-Talbot Green-Brynna and the Porth-Tonyrefail-Gilfach Goch corridors, and the design and development of Park and Ride opportunities and further infrastructure schemes. Resilient Roads Fund (£2.75m) – progression of…

Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board has confirmed that its mobile testing facility for residents who have symptoms of Covid-19 is moving. The drive-through facility currently available at the Halo Swimming Pool on Marshfield Avenue in Pyle will close at 5pm today (Thursday 25 March) before relocating to the Richard Price Centre on Bettws Road, Llangeinor (CF32 8PF) tomorrow (Friday 26 March), where it will be available every day between 9am-5pm. A walk-through testing facility also remains in place between 8am-8pm at the Bowls Hall car park off Bridgend Life Centre (CF31 4AH). Booking for both facilities is essential and…