Author: Rhys Gregory

Researchers at Aberystwyth University are collaborating on a €7m international project to help farmers to adopt more innovative agricultural approaches to make their businesses resilient and adaptable to external challenges. Through the four year project, researchers will work with European farmers to help them to implement a mixed farming approach, which is more efficient and mitigates the impact of climate change. Numerous benefits can be derived from interactions within mixed farming systems which integrate crop, livestock and forestry activities. Mixed farming can also bring about resilience to a wide variety of challenges, including extreme weather, market forces, and political, biological,…

Wales’ unsung contact centre workers have been celebrated as the 22nd annual Welsh Contact Centre Awards move online to honour those who adapted their ways of working to become our lifelines during the pandemic. Organised by the Welsh Contact Centre Forum and backed by headline sponsor, RingCentral, the awards recognise a sector which contributes £650m annually to the Welsh economy and employs 32,000 people who would normally be based in 250 centres across the country. However, we all know that 2020 has been a year like no other. As lockdowns disrupted the way we all live, work and access the…

Family-run business, Coles Funeral Directors is on a mission to raise £10,000 this winter for its charity partner, City Hospice, with the launch of its #CreateShareRemember campaign in collaboration with local artist, Nathan Wyburn. With all monies raised going towards the hospice’s ‘Recovery Fund’ to ensure its palliative nurse team can continue providing incredible care for vulnerable patients in and around the city, Nathan Wyburn will create a bespoke piece of art, ‘The Bigger Picture’. However, in order to create ‘The Bigger Picture’, Coles is calling for the public to submit some of the best or most treasured moments of…

A public house in Aberaeron has been issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice of £1,000 for breaching the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No.4) (Wales) Regulations 2020. The Black Lion public house in Aberaeron was seen by officers from the Public Protection Team to have been supplying alcohol and remaining open when prohibited under the Regulations. The Fixed Penalty Notice was issued on 9 December 2020 by Ceredigion County Council. The licensee may discharge liability to conviction for the offence if the penalty is paid within 28 days. The authority acknowledges the sacrifices made by the majority of Ceredigion licensed premises in…

Sally Jones-Evans is to be appointed the new chair of Principality Building Society’s board in April 2021, subject to regulatory approval. This follows an external search led by Board’s Senior Independent Director, Derek Howell. Cardiff-born Sally will become the first female chair in the Society’s 160-year history and will succeed Laurie Adams who is retiring from the Board next April as part of succession planning. She has been a member of the Society’s Board since 2015, including her role as the Chair of the Remuneration Committee. Sally is a former Lloyds Banking group executive and currently sits on the boards…

A project at Wrexham Glyndwr University which is the first of its kind in Europe is set to help lead change in Wales regarding wellbeing support available to students. Wrexham Glyndwr University and the University of South Wales (USW) have selected Elemental Software’s social prescribing software for a Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) funded initiative that is intended to drive change across Welsh universities and colleges in relation to how higher education students access wellbeing support. As part of the project – the first of its kind in Europe – Wrexham Glyndwr University is providing students with access…

Some uncertainty remains with businesses who deal with the EU on the provision relating to data after the end of the transition period on 31st December. The UK government stance is that GDPR is and will remain engrained in UK law during the transition period and into 2021. The EU is conducting a data adequacy assessment of the UK and if the EU grants positive adequacy decisions by 1 January 2021, it would mean that personal data can flow freely as it does now, without any action by organisations. With only weeks to go, the EU has yet to decide…

Free oil spill kits will be provided to respond quickly to an accident along the Cardigan Bay coast. Over recent decades, there has been an increase in oil production, transportation and consumption. The environmental impacts of oil spills include Ecological alteration, Physical smothering of organisms, Chemical toxicity and Loss of habitats or shelter through clean-up processes. The Cardigan Bay Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG), which is administered by Ceredigion County Council, have announced a new project, which will provide free oil spill kits along the Cardigan Bay coast, from St Dogmaels to Tresaith, Aberporth to Llangrannog, New Quay to Aberystwyth,…

The planning application for the Museum of Military Medicine has been approved subject to conditions set by Cardiff Council. The new Museum in Cardiff Bay will bring to Wales the most comprehensive collection of archives and exhibitions documenting the legacy of British military medicine and aims to host the UK’s first 8k immersive interactive video space. Following the planning committee’s announcement, the team behind the Museum of Military Medicine has also reiterated its commitment to work with communities in Butetown and its surrounding areas to create a venue that will serve and benefit local residents and attract tourism from across…

HUNDREDS of young entrepreneurs across Wales have been given an opportunity to sell and promote their products via a virtual Christmas market. The Wales Student Market gives students and graduates from across all Further Education and Higher Education Institutions in Wales the opportunity to showcase their products and services while tapping into an existing market of staff and students. During the festive period, many education institutions usually organise Christmas markets where students can sell their products. As this isn’t possible this year due to the coronavirus restrictions, the Wales Student Market was developed to help give the businesses developed by…