Author: Rhys Gregory

George Orwell’s political fable Animal Farm has been voted the nation’s favourite ever school book, in new research commissioned for International Children’s Book Day 2021 (2nd April). The study1, conducted by Oxford Home Schooling, asked 2,000 UK adults which books they most enjoyed reading when at school and Animal Farm was selected by a quarter (25%) of respondents. The novella was followed in the rankings by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (21%) and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (19%). Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the most popular school book written by a female author (18%), placing sixth on the overall list. Orwell and Dickens both appear twice in the top 10, as does William Shakespeare, showing his timeless appeal to all ages. Romeo and Juliet is the UK’s favourite…

The largest provider of care services in Wales has doubled its workforce and trebled turnover in the last six years. A Mold-based North East Wales Carers Information Service (NEWCIS) has its sights set on further growth after a challenging 12 months for the sector. CEO Claire Sullivan is celebrating 20 years with the organisation and admits the Coronavirus pandemic has been the toughest period of her professional career. However, despite a series of lockdowns, NEWCIS has welcomed 5,000 new carers into the fold during that time and received up to 130 referrals a week since Christmas. That takes their total…

Specialist healthcare provider, Ludlow Street Healthcare, has appointed a new Operations Director to oversee business operations across all its sites and services. After 14 years with the organisation, Sarah House, Service Director at Pinetree Court Hospital, has been promoted to Operations Director. 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. Sarah joined Ludlow Street Healthcare in 2007 as a training manager, having previously been a care home manager, and progressively undertook a variety of managerial roles before…

A top food wholesaler is rewarding frontline staff with bumper pay rises of up to 14% to help fuel ambitious expansion plans. Harlech Foodservice – based in Criccieth in Gwynedd and Chester – announced they are putting up wages by an average of 5.37% for their 150-strong workforce with some employees receiving considerably more. With lockdown restrictions easing, the company has launched a recruitment drive to take on 50 more staff when the new tourism season gets underway. According to Mr Cattrall, they prioritised investing in front line staff as part of their drive to ensure excellent customer service. At…

St David’s Hospice is on the lookout for supporters who would like to take on an adrenaline-fueled challenge and shout ‘I’m a Hospice Hero, Get me out of here!” on the way down! Are you brave enough to follow in the footsteps of the celebrities and experience what it is like to abseil on the beautiful Isle of Anglesey? On Sunday 5th September, a team of Hospice supporters will abseil 120ft down the vertical rock face at Holyhead’s Breakwater Park to raise valuable funds for the hospice. At the top, you will be rewarded with stunning views of the park…

A former Welsh Water teacher has had her commitment to the development of education and sport in Rwanda recognised and been awarded a British Empire Medal. Mary Watkins, who spent 13 years working as a peripatetic teacher at the not for profit utility company, has worked tirelessly to develop and deliver education resources for school children in Rwanda.  This included developing resources for local children and helping train up future teachers in the area. Mary’s love of Africa stemmed from a trip with the charity Wateraid to Uganda in 2008.  The trip which included colleagues from Welsh Water visited communities…

ASW Property Services, a property services specialist covering Wales, the Midlands and the South West of England, has signed a three-year partnership with Valleys to Coast, a not-for-profit organisation that manages almost 6,000 homes, to provide reactive, void and planned maintenance services to its portfolio of properties. The partnership, which could be extended for a further two years making it five years, creates job security for more than 130 staff employed by ASW, and will enable the company to invest in apprenticeships. Some 45% of its workforce live within a 10-mile radius of Bridgend. It also provides certainty of a…

A hard-working Care Home Assistant and young mum from Treharris, South Wales can ditch the learner plates for a life in the fast lane after winning £1,000,000 on The National Lottery’s 50X Scratchcard. Sara Thomas (26) plans to pass her driving test and treat herself to a Jeep after scratching off the top prize whilst taking a well-deserved break on a work shift. Sara explained, “I popped to the local shop on my break to buy some bits and grabbed a Scratchcard whilst at the till. I don’t buy them often but I did get one a few weeks ago…

Music and theatre lovers in South Wales will be delighted to hear that producers of Cardiff’s Live Under the Starshave secured new dates for their inaugural live music and theatre attraction at Cardiff Castle this year. The event is now confirmed to take place from 2 – 11 August 2021. After being forced to delay their opening festival due to the winter lockdown, the producers of Live Under the Starshave now announced new dates for their series of live theatre and music events from the original date of March 2021 to August 2021. Live Under the Stars producers believe that…

Community Testing will be available for anyone over the age of 11, who DOES NOT have COVID-19 symptoms and who is NOT self-isolating, throughout most of April in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Community Testing will run from Wednesday, 7th until Friday, 30th April, and  located in Treorchy (Park and Dare Theatre), Aberdare (Coliseum Theatre), Pontypridd (Llys Cadwyn Building B) and Mountain Ash (Darren Las Community Building), with the centres open 7 days a week between 9am and 7pm. All centres are walk-ins with no appointment necessary, although last to queue entry will be 6:30pm. Further details are provided below. Community Testing will…