Author: Rhys Gregory

Two young girls from Swansea and Port Talbot have beaten entries from across the UK to win one of the top prizes in a festive postcard competition. Paul Morgan, who works as an Associate at Amazon in Swansea, entered five-year-old Lili-Rose’s design while Amalia Iagar who works at the Amazon Delivery Station in Port Talbot, entered five-year-old Aleca’s design into the national competition run across all of Amazon’s UK sites. As two of five runner ups in the 0-11 age category, Lili-Rose and Aleca both received a £100 Amazon voucher in recognition of their creative festive postcard design. The competition…

New research by Clarks reveals nature’s hidden gems across Wales that offer locals the chance of a socially distanced option for their Boxing Day walk this year. Clarks analysed over 5,000 TripAdvisor listings to showcase which parks, forests, beaches or hiking trails are among the least reviewed, but best rated. Beauty spots in Wales unsurprisingly make a few appearances in the UK-wide shortlist, thanks to spectacular natural scenery. Newborough Forest in Anglesey was in fact crowned the Best Hidden Gem out of all forests in the UK. Nercwys Forest in Flintshire is also named in the top 10 forests in the…

Amid the current health crisis, Furniture And Choice shares five tips to keep up with your Christmas traditions remotely Cooking together, craft competitions and online games among the best ways to stay connected to loved ones While Christmas rules may allow some family members to get together, this won’t be the case for everyone and certainly not for those with large families or friendship groups. However, there are many ways to have an amazing Christmas with friends and family even while social distancing or living on Zoom, without letting those all-important traditions fall by the wayside. Interior Style Advisor at…

Cardiff based FinTech, Yoello has been announced as a regional winner of Tech Nation’s Rising Stars programme. The award reflects Yoello’s rapid and continued growth – providing the hospitality industry with a cheaper, instantaneous and secure way to manage payments, has gone from strength to strength in the past 12 months as it has helped the hospitality industry navigate the changes in the market following the COVID-19 outbreak. In its third year, Rising Stars 3.0 is the UK’s only national competition for innovative, early-stage tech companies, designed to showcase the best in the country and to help companies on their…

Punching above its weight is Soulfit Gym in Llandybie. The business opened in January 2020 and has gone from strength to strength, despite having to end the year closed, due to Lockdown, for the third time! With hindsight there would not be many that would have chosen to start a new business this year but Lowri Thomas opened her Soulfit Gym on the Cilyrychen Industrial Estate, Llandybie on 2 January. Lowri set out to create a positive and eco-friendly gym that offers something for everyone from competitive bodybuilders to those that have only just started their fitness journey. Ashmole &…

Specialist healthcare provider, Ludlow Street Healthcare, has celebrated the end of a tough year by welcoming 35 team members into its 10 Year Club which honours all its long-serving team members. Ludlow Street Healthcare specialises in providing care for adults over the age of 18 with complex mental health problems, autism, learning disabilities, and neuropsychiatric conditions including dementia and acquired brain injuries. Of its 1,100 staff, 145 have been with the company for over a decade, including 35 new additions to the 10 Year Club who are a mixture of clinical and support staff spread across the company’s services. The…

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is opening additional mobile Covid-19 testing units in the Rogerstone and Gaer areas of Newport. The temporary units will provide a walk-up testing service to residents of Rogerstone, Gaer, Pye Corner and Graig. If you have any symptoms of Coronavirus (Covid-19) – a new continuous cough, high temperature or loss of taste and/or smell please book a test as soon as possible. If you have symptoms, you and any household members should isolate immediately. Your whole household should continue to isolate until the test result is received. If the test is positive, all household members…

Households in Swansea will be able to recycle more of their Christmas waste this year. In contrast, Cardiff Council won’t be allowing residents to recycle wrapping paper this year. Swansea Council will now be allowing some types of Christmas wrapping paper to be included in its kerbside collection service (green bag). In previous years, all Christmas wrapping paper had to be placed in black bag waste but following discussions with the reprocessors the Council is now calling on residents to check if their paper can be recycled this year to make it easier to keep to the three black bag…

Calls to tackle the cold homes crisis in Wales have intensified after a new government report revealed there were 2,000 excess winter deaths in Wales last winter (2019/2020), excluding those from Covid-19. Provisional figures* from the Office for National Statistics show that across England and Wales as a whole, there were an estimated 28,300 deaths during 2019/2020, a 20% increase on the previous year. Excess winter deaths are defined as the difference between the number of deaths in the winter months (December to March) compared with the previous (August to November) and following (April to July) three months. The latest…

A four-week pilot for asymptomatic serial testing with South Wales Police has been announced by the Health Minister. The main aim of the pilot is to trial a serial testing regime that will aim to minimise the number of Police staff out of work due to self-isolation following contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. A similar plan for Welsh school and college staff and students was announced last week which will start in January. Serial testing means Police staff identified as close contacts of someone who has tested positive would be asked to either self-isolate as…