Author: Rhys Gregory

The Welsh Government is making an additional £140m available to businesses to help them deal with the economic challenges of Covid-19 and the UK’s impending exit from the EU, Economy Minister Ken Skates has announced. The funding from the third phase of the Welsh Government’s Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) will see wider support being provided to secure jobs and help businesses develop, as well as additional help for firms affected by local lockdowns. To date, the ERF has delivered almost £300m of support to more than 13,000 companies in Wales. This has helped to protect in excess of 100,000 jobs…

New smoke-free restrictions for school grounds, hospital grounds, public playgrounds and outdoor children’s care settings are due to come into effect from 1 March 2021, the Health Minister has announced today (Tuesday 29). This will make Wales the first country in the UK to legislate for bans on smoking at playgrounds and school grounds. Similar restrictions on hospital grounds are in the process of being implemented in Scotland. The new smoke-free measures aim to protect people’s health from the harms of second-hand smoke and further de-normalise smoking behaviours for children and young people. Voluntary smoking bans are already in place…

Stagecoach Performing Arts School Cardiff has re-opened its doors to students this weekend thanks to support from the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) via NatWest. The school was forced to shut-down in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has used the BBLS funding to support its plans to re-open to more than 140 students as soon as possible. Stagecoach officially opened its doors on 19 September with new social distancing measures in place to ensure the health and safety of all staff and students. Measures include the introduction of new allocated ‘bubbles’ which place students in groups to prevent…

Cardiff-based video marketing agency, Aura Ads, has recently won global brand Huel as their newest client, after impressing the company leaders with impressive results while on a one month trial. The brand came to the Welsh agency in July with KPIs to increase paid social performance through the use of conversion focused video ads. Aura Ads’ trial video accounted for a large portion of Huel’s overall Facebook purchases whilst also generating  a 34% higher clickthrough rate, all while maintaining the same cost per acquisition. Ryan Walton, Founder of Aura Ads, says: “Huel were after a fresh pipeline of high quality creative…

Pete Holloway from Swansea didn’t learn to swim until he was 75 years old. Now he credits his favourite form of exercise for saving his life. When Pete took up swimming in 2015, he was 75 years old and trained three times a week with Swansea Masters Club at Wales National Pool in Swansea. He also enjoyed swimming during public sessions using the Free Swimming Initiative offered by Welsh Government. Before long Pete was competing at the Swim Wales Masters Long Course and Short Course Championships in all the freestyle events. In March 2019 when he was 79, Pete had…

COLEG Cambria staff covered thousands of miles and took part in a wide range of physical challenges during lockdown. Employees from across sites in Deeside, Northop, Llysfasi and Yale and Bersham Road in Wrexham participated in more than 125 virtual exercise classes while working from home due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As part of the Active Cambria programme, around 130 workers and their families kept fit and healthy with Pilates classes, yoga and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts. They also completed online challenges such as the Cardiff Metropolitan University sports day, and the Association of Colleges (AoC) Sport Go…

Welsh office furnishings manufacturer Orangebox has moved its Welsh Design Studio to offices on the Melin Corrwg Business Parc at Pontypridd. The company, which has its manufacturing site at Parc Nantgarw, Cardiff, has taken a three year lease on the 3,300 sq ft two-storey Unit 6 at Melin Corrwg, at a rental of £10.60 per sq ft.  Formed in 2002, Orangebox designs and manufactures seating, acoustic pods, tables for offices and hotels. It has offices in South Wales, London, Huddersfield, New York and Dubai, and manufactures in Cardiff and the USA. In addition, expanding healthcare recruitment specialist Care Ethics Ltd…

Wales international rugby stars Alex Cuthbert and Gareth Anscombe are teaming up with the manufacturer of Get Jerky, the award-winning, Welsh beef jerky snacks, to promote their free, new health and fitness app and website. Exeter Chiefs wing Cuthbert, Ospreys fly half Anscombe and Dean Jones, director of mobile media specialist Route Media, have launched technology company Fitap with the aim of connecting users with fitness and mental health services. The company has devised a comparison app and website – https://fitap.co.uk/ – which “opens a world of workouts around you with a few simple clicks”. They provide easy access for consumers…

“Anti-Sell” a book that helps freelancers navigate the tricky world of marketing has been recognised as one of the best Small Business books of the year, at the 2020 International Book Awards (IBA) and the eLit Book Awards. Written by Steve Morgan, owner of Caerphilly-based Morgan Online Marketing, Anti-Sell aims to support freelancers who struggle with the typical sales process, supporting them with the tactics and tips they need to generate leads, network and grow their business – without the stereotypical ‘hard sell’. Along with the top prize in the ‘Sales’ category at the IBA, the book also won Gold…

Wales is to become the first country in the UK to see smoking banned on the side-lines of children’s football games in a historic move by the Football Association of Wales (FAW) and FAW Trust. The decision by the FAW to introduce a no smoking policy on the side-lines of its small-sided, children’s football games has been welcomed by Health Minister Vaughan Gething and follows a campaign by ASH Wales aimed at de-normalising smoking and preventing children from ever taking up the habit, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and increased risks faced by smokers. It is launching the…