Author: Rhys Gregory

GP recruitment figures in Wales have reached records numbers for the third year running, with 200 new GP trainees recruited this year, a 7% increase from last year’s figure of 186. North Wales will benefit from 29 new trainees who will join speciality training schemes in Bangor, Dyffryn Clwyd and Wrexham. Achieving 200 new recruits is a substantial increase from the original target of 136 but also the increased allocation agreed last year of 160 training places. The trainees have been recruited by Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), who over the last few years has established a number of…

Thousands of people across the city have taken part in the first Good Food Cardiff Autumn Festival.  Community groups, gardens, local businesses and schools organised 45 events and activities in the last two months, which attracted around 4,000 attendees and distributed more than 5,000 vegetable plants grown by Cardiff Council’s Bute Park Nurseries to encourage people to start growing at home. The Festival, a programme of physically-distanced and virtual events about growing, cooking and sharing food, was organised by Food Cardiff to tackle two major issues which have been exacerbated by Covid-19 – food insecurity and isolation. Alongside the growing…

More than 50 attendees at a Cardiff party have been fined for breaching coronavirus restrictions. South Wales Police was alerted to the large gathering at a halls of residence on Friday night (November 6), and on arrival officers found music blaring and dozens of individuals inside. The details of each person were taken on the night, and officers have since worked closely with Cardiff Metropolitan University to retrospectively issue 52 fixed penalty notices. Enquiries are ongoing in relation to another four. Cardiff and Vale Superintendent Jason Rees said: “It is unfortunate that our officers were left with little option but…

The winners of the inaugural Wales STEM Awards were announced on Thursday 12th November at a virtual awards ceremony hosted by Sian Lloyd. The awards were launched last year in a bid to recognise the innovative STEM work being undertaken in Wales, address the diversity gap and skills shortage, and inspire and raise the aspirations of the next generation. The ceremony saw finalists from across all parts of Wales compete for 15 awards in a variety of different categories, ranging from STEM Start-Up of the Year to STEM Leader of the Year. Head judge Dr Louise Bright, founder of the…

To mark the start of the 2020 series of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! at Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Bangor University is highlighting some of the castle’s history. Dr. Shaun Evans of Bangor University’s School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences provides the background saying: “Gwrych was constructed as a massive Gothic fantasy castle between about 1810 and 1825 by Lloyd Bamford-Hesketh (1788-1861) in memory of his mother Frances Lloyd and their Lloyd family ancestors. The Lloyds, or Llwyds, had been associated with the locality for generations, residing at a Welsh country house called Plas yn…

Health Minister Vaughan Gething has announced an extra £15.7m to nearly double the contact tracing workforce in Wales for the winter. The funding will increase the number of contact tracing staff in Wales from 1,800 to 3,100 in time for an expected rise in demand in December and through to the end of March. A new all-Wales team is also being set-up to support local teams when they have a surge in cases. “Contact tracing is a vital element of our Test, Trace, Protect strategy to stop the spread of the virus,” Mr Gething said. “The contact tracing system in…

A £60,000 fund will give “power to the people” to decide who receives cash seized from criminals in North Wales. The Your Community Your Choice scheme was launched to reward local crime busters across the region and North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones is urging community groups to bid for a share of the pot. Up for grabs are three grants of up to £2,500 for groups in each of the six counties of North Wales and three grants of up to £5,000 for organisations working in three or more counties. This is the eighth year of the…

Expanding asbestos-handling specialist City Environmental Services (UK) Ltd has invested £275,000 in buying larger premises in Adelaide Street, Newport. The company purchased the 3,694 sq ft detached industrial unit in Adelaide Street earlier this year for £173,600 and has invested more than £100,000 in refurbishing it to suit its needs. Property consultancy Knight Frank advised the seller on the sale. Tom Griffiths, from Knight Frank’s Industrial & Logistics team in Cardiff, said: “The industrial and warehouse unit with offices is detached and sits in a secure yard compound. CES have invested heavily to make the site suit their purpose and…

A major campaign has been launched to ensure qualified staff who work in care homes and domiciliary care in Wales are paid a minimum of £20,000 a year. Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, said they had been condemned to low pay for many years because of the “morally bankrupt” formulas used by local authorities and health boards to calculate the fees for social care. According to Mr Kreft, the heroic response of care workers in saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic had highlighted their true value and it was high time it was recognised by the…

With access to over 500 skilled operatives around the world, a Welsh maritime repair company is looking to expand. 4 Corners Marine Services has moved into a larger, 6000 sq ft unit at Cardiff Bay Business Centre (CBBC) from where they will co-ordinate the teams they engage to work on shipping around the world. Paul Robbins said he and his fellow directors Joel Reddin and Paul Rebhan are on target to achieve a global business in excess of a £5 million turnover within the next year and have ambitions much higher for the years to come. We could not do…