Author: Rhys Gregory

Cardiff Bus is offering travel advice to customers ahead of the Christmas and New Year period. Buses will follow their normal timetables until Thursday 24 December when a Saturday service will be in place with an early finish.  In addition to the Saturday service, services H59 and 98 will follow their normal Monday to Friday timetable with an early finish on service H59.  Services 15, 64 & 65 will follow special timetables. There will be no bus service on Friday 25 December. On Saturday 26 December there will be a special daytime service on routes 9, 11, 17/18, 27, 44,…

Swansea-based estate agent, Belvoir, is celebrating 10 years of finding the perfect home for Swansea Bay residents. The multi award-winning sales and lettings property firm was established by Ben and Daisy Davies as a husband and wife team in 2010 with an office in Swansea’s Castle Street. It expanded into Mumbles in 2015 and then into Sketty earlier this year. Just last month the company moved its Swansea office into new premises in Swansea Marina. The firm now boasts 20 staff across its three branches. Daisy says: “We are extremely proud to be celebrating a decade of successful years of…

Dr Nicola Bannister has been appointed Lloyds Banking Group’s new Ambassador for Wales. Nicola, who comes from South Wales, will lead the Group’s work in supporting people, businesses and communities as the nation begins to recover from the impact of COVID-19. A senior director, she has two decades of experience in the banking and insurance industry and currently leads a team dedicated to supporting Lloyds Banking Group customers in financial difficulty. In her role as Ambassador, Nicola will work with regional stakeholders, focusing finding ways of helping build financial resilience in Wales, providing support for Welsh businesses and improving the…

Cardiff-based consultancy business, Capital People, the sister company to established law firm, Capital Law, has hired three new recruits to strengthen its HR offering. HR and Learning & Development specialist, Nick Carter, was appointed to lead Capital People’s new HR consultancy team. Prior to his appointment at Capital People, Nick was Learning & Development Business Partner at Cardiff & Vale College, leading on HR and learning initiatives across the Cardiff Capital Region. Nick also brings his extensive experience of working within management, higher education, and defence, having served for 10 years as a commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force.…

THOUSANDS of jobs will be created and the region’s economy given a £1bn boost now the ground-breaking North Wales Growth Deal has been signed. Both the Welsh and UK Governments and the North Wales Economic Ambition Board yesterday (Thursday) formally approved the five programmes that make up the Deal, a key driver of the overarching Growth Vision for North Wales. Led by North Wales Economic Ambition Board – a collaboration of the region’s six councils, two universities, two colleges and private sector representatives – the programmes are made up of 14 projects covering low carbon energy, innovation in high-value manufacturing,…

A 20-year-old Bridgend man is starting a six-year jail term after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a six-year-old girl. In December 2019 the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, disclosed that Ethan Hopkins had sexually assaulted her on a number of occasions. Hopkins, who was 19 at the time, absconded when he learned of the allegations made against him but was arrested seven days later. Despite denying the allegations – claiming to officers he was never alone with the child and would have not had the opportunity to carry out the abuse – Hopkins was charged with…

Sports betting has been popular in the UK for centuries. Royalty made towns like Ascot and Newmarket famous for horse racing and there are now 60 Flat and National Hunt racecourses in Britain, including 17 multi-purpose tracks offering both disciplines. At the same time the less well-heeled bet via underground bookies in the East End of London who mostly offered a less than honest service. In the UK, sport is are an integral part of life. At 3 p.m. on a Saturday, football stadiums up and down the country welcome in swathes of supporters from both the home and away…

Over the past few years, the rise in online gambling has increased and is forecast to grow by more than 10 per cent until at least 2027. In the UK, bingo is a popular pastime that has been passed down through the generations and regularly by women and men of all ages and used to be most popular with older women before advances in online technology led to the launch of online bingo. There are still bingo halls where players can socialise, but increasingly players are turning to bingo sites where they can still enjoy a social experience and the…

Following extensive discussions, Welsh Government and the Welsh Local Government Association have set out a common approach for the return to school in January. With transmission levels continuing to increase across Wales, and uncertainty over what impact that might have on school staffing levels over the Christmas break, there will be some flexibility built in at the beginning of term. Cardiff Council has set out the following plans for January, however these may need to be adapted should the position in Cardiff see significant change between now and the start of term. In Cardiff, schools will continue to provide distance…

THE Rt Hon Simon Hart MP, Secretary of State for Wales, has addressed 125 members of Cardiff Business Club at its latest virtual meeting. Mr Hart discussed restrictions in Wales, the vaccine rollout, Brexit-Transition negotiations and answered member questions surrounding devolution and government funding. Mr Hart said: “Cardiff Business Club was around during the last pandemic in 1918 and is the living embodiment of how businesses can come through. We can rebuild, albeit a little differently to what was there before. “After a difficult month, a difficult week and difficult statistics, we are now seeing the vaccine roll-out and it…