Author: Rhys Gregory

A £200 million rail upgrade linking North Wales and the North West through a new super-hub at Chester can power a pandemic bounce back boom in the region. That investment would include £60 million to speed up the North Wales main line to Holyhead, £60 million to modernise and upgrade Chester Station and £80 million to connect Wrexham to Liverpool including £20 million for a new station on Deeside. The proposed investment package will be presented at Regional Recovery 2021, a high-powered online conference this month for the North Wales Mersey Dee area, to be attended by public and private…

Swansea Council’s cabinet is being asked to adopt a draft plan that aims to help deliver a greener city. The views of people across Swansea have already influenced the draft Regenerating Our City for Wellbeing and Wildlife strategy. It aims to help deliver: a greener city, with fewer hard surfaces, to help create a city centre that is a more attractive place in which to live and more resilient to climate change; more use of nature to provide space for wildlife, bring people pleasure and offer an improved experience for visitors and traders. The draft – developed in partnership by…

A total of 138 fixed penalty notices were issued by South Wales Police at the weekend, as a minority continued to breach Welsh Government coronavirus restrictions. The majority of fines were issued for gatherings and parties at homes, while proactive patrols also resulted in a number of penalties being issued for travel restriction breaches. Among the fines issued at the weekend were: A man who travelled from the Vale of Glamorgan to Port Talbot to buy a boat and was caught after his vehicle suffered a puncture on the journey home; Two men from the Vale of Glamorgan who travelled…

A visiting booth has been installed at a Denbighshire care home. The booth, installed at Dolwen in Denbigh which is managed by Denbighshire County Council, was designed and built by staff member Erfyl Jones, who is a support worker at the home. The booth has allowed residents at the care home, who have been unable to mix since December, to reunite. Once restrictions around visiting care homes have been changed, the booth can be used by families and friends visiting loved ones. Dolwen residents Olwen Lloyd and Janet Kenyon Thompson were the first to use the booth after it was…

A new platform developed exclusively for those making essential journeys to health sites across Wales has been launched by the Welsh Government’s public transport information service, Traveline Cymru. The myhealthjourney interactive website provides detailed information on the best public transport options for people attending appointments and for staff getting to and from work, whether that’s by bus, rail, community transport or active travel. Created with the support of local health boards, Healthy Travel Wales and funded by Transport for Wales, the platform’s dedicated journey planner allows patients and key workers to make the safest, most direct choice when planning essential…

A 24-year-old woman from Penparcau, Aberystwyth is taking on a physical challenge this March, to give back to the NHS team which she says helped her during a difficult time for her mental health. Kirsten Davies will run 15 kilometres in a fundraising event which she hopes will raise money for Gorwelion Mental Health Resource in Aberystwyth. Kirsten said, “In this current stressful climate, mental health is becoming a pandemic in itself. I am passionate about raising awareness about mental health and to let people know that help is out there and the help is in our local community. Gorwelion…

Welsh international star Harry Wilson has teamed up with a trailer firm to help pay for a new junior football clubhouse named in memory of a popular local councillor who did so much for the game in his hometown of Corwen. Two years ago the junior clubhouse and pitches were devastated by catastrophic flooding from the nearby River Dee which also affected other local sports facilities in the town’s Dee Park. But now the Huw ‘Chick’ Jones Clubhouse is the new headquarters of junior football in a town which has produced a conveyor belt of talent in recent years including…

Swansea University paramedic students have received their coronavirus vaccine as they continue to work on the NHS frontline. The students say they are delighted they have now been protected as they go about their duties helping support vital services. Sarah Board, a second year Dip HE Paramedic Science student, said: “Having transported a very unwell Covid patient into Bronglais Hospital this week, I felt far happier spending an hour in the ambulance treating her and being in such close proximity knowing I had had my vaccine. “It felt like having an added layer of PPE!” Josephine McCarthy, who is in her…

The owner of a horse sanctuary has been banned from keeping equines for a decade after she admitted causing suffering to horses in her care. Sandra Jane Kaverneng-Stolp (commonly known as Sandra Stolp), of Derwen Road, Pontardawe in Swansea, pleaded guilty to four Animal Welfare Act offences relating to 22 horses at Swansea Magistrates’ Court on Monday (15 February). A total of 137 horses from the Whispering Willows sanctuary – run by Stolp – were signed over to horse charities in November 2019 after concerns were raised about the condition of some of the horses. They were found at sites…

A Rhondda Cynon Taf student is following his dream and is heading to Harvard University in America to continue his studies. Steffan Dylan Jones, aged 19, is a former pupil at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun, and all the staff and his friends at school are delighted he has been accepted to study at one of the most prestigious sports colleges and university complexes in the world. Steffan, a Welsh athletics champion and former Nos Galan support runner, was one of just 2,015 students worldwide to gain a place at Harvard University out of 40,248 applicants. As well as studying four A…