Author: Rhys Gregory

A Pontardawe woman who persistently played loud dance and rap music has been ordered to pay fines, costs and a victim impact surcharge totalling £2,314 by Swansea Magistrates. Adele Pugh, 36, of Lon yr Ysgol, Rhos, Pontardawe, admitted five counts of failing to comply with a noise abatement notice served on her under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act, 1990. All the offences took place in August this year. Neath Port Talbot Council environmental health officers took action after receiving complaints from the public. The music she was playing was described by the council officials as “bassy, dance and…

An exciting discovery has been made, in the run up to Halloween, at Llancaich Fawr in Nelson. Hundreds of ‘witch marks’, used in the past to defend a house against evil, have been discovered in the Tudor manor house.  The discovery was made at the Caerphilly county borough visitor attraction by Alicia Jessup, one of the site’s historical interpreters. The witch, or apotropaic, marks have been scribed into wooden beams and panelling, stonework and even ancient plaster.  Many of these marks are around chimney breasts and window and door frames once thought to be the most likely places that witches…

RCT Council requires a road closure to a section of the Llanwonno Mountain Route over a three-week period starting on November 5 – to carry out significant carriageway resurfacing along with important drainage work. From Thursday, a 1.65km section of Llanwonno Road will fully-close between its junctions with Pleasant View (Ynysybwl) and Hawthorn Terrace (Perthcelyn). Road users will therefore still be able to travel directly between Ynysybwl and Blaenllechau using the mountain route, but there will be no direct access between Perthcelyn and Ynysybwl/Blaenllechau. There will be a 24-hour closure in place over the first week of work (from November…

The Welsh Government has provided nearly half a million pounds to support electronic powerhouse Sony, in Bridgend, through the pandemic as well as a £3m grant to help the company secure local jobs and invest in its longer term future in South Wales, Economy Minister Ken Skates has announced. One of the largest employers in South Wales, Sony UK Technology Centre (UK TEC) is the manufacturing and customer service centre for Sony in the UK, and houses 29 related tenant companies. The company manufactures and produces cutting-edge camera equipment for the broadcast industry from its award-winning centre of excellence. Sony…

The £100m business grants element of the Welsh Government’s Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) has been fully subscribed with more than 5,500 businesses applying for support. Businesses can still however benefit from the £200m available from the third phase of the fund. Demand from businesses of all sizes across Wales has been received since the latest round of the ERF Development Grants opened to applications at 3pm on Wednesday. The eligibility checker for this round of the fund was launched earlier this month. The £100m business grants are part of the £300m made available in the third stage of the ERF…

Swansea based Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) has made a strong recovery from the lockdown with the appointment of three new members of staff. The addition of Tanya Absalom, Christopher Mason and Mark Jones takes the MAB team up to 14 members of staff in total; quite an achievement for owners David Lewis and Richard Hullin who opened the business in 2015. “We’ve grown rapidly over the last five years,” said director Richard Hullin, “however, this year has been unreal. Everything pretty much stopped at the start of the lockdown in March, but since the property market started up again, the…

On the eve of World Mental Health day (Friday, October 9) the Farmers’ Union of Wales hosted a virtual All Wales Mental Health conference, which explored the wider context of poor mental health in rural communities and what steps need to be taken by Government, decision makers and  policy shapers to address the situation, especially as Covid-19 is likely to put further pressure not just on people’s mental but also their finances. Speakers for the morning session, which was chaired by Farmers Guardian Chief Reporter Abi Kay, included Sara Lloyd, Team Leader, South Ceredigion Community Mental Health Team; Cath Fallon,…

As Halloween falls during Half Term this year it’s the perfect time to get the kids involved in some frightfully good arts and crafts. Cardiff Council has collated some art and craft ideas to have a fab-boo-lous time at home, creating Halloween decorations using recycled household items. 1. Ghostly Milk Bottles Use a black pen to draw faces on empty milk bottles, then carefully cut out a flap at the back of the bottles, towards the bottom. Put fairy lights or an LED candle inside the bottle to make them glow and use sticky tape to shut the flap. The lights…

New outreach workers will be employed by the NHS to support people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities – recognising the disproportionate impact coronavirus is having, Health Minister Vaughan Gething announced today. (Thursday 29th October) The Welsh Government is helping to fund the appointment of the outreach workers, which are being appointed in six health boards, to provide face-to-face engagement with BAME communities. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is funding its own engagement programme working with community partners. The appointments come as evidence shows the huge and adverse impact coronavirus has had on people from Black, Asian…

A search has been launched in North Wales to find volunteers to act as custody watchdogs to police the police. North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones is seeking up to nine independent custody visitors to help him. Mr Jones wants to appoint people to join the existing team responsible for visiting custody facilities in St Asaph, Caernarfon and Llay, near Wrexham. Their job will be to safeguard the welfare of people detained by the police and ensure their rights are upheld. Successful candidates will be expected to undertake at least 10 unannounced visits a year along with and…