Author: Rhys Gregory

Vale of Glamorgan farmer Rhys Jenkins has taken on the role of managing the 350-acre estate at Fonmon Castle near Cardiff airport, having been offered the opportunity after his family learned they are to lose the land Rhys grew up farming. Rhys’ family has farmed 250 acres of land in the Vale of Glamorgan for generations but recently learned that the owner of the land they farm is planning to sell it for development. This will leave the family with only their personally-owned smallholding, which is not big enough to support their business. The new owner of Fonmon Castle, Nigel…

Welsh Government and Life Sciences Hub Wales are supporting plans to build a 200 strong team of specialists at Wales’ soon to be launched Lighthouse Lab, which is set to create additional capacity for the UK’s Covid-19 testing strategy. Work to establish the UK Government’s Lighthouse Lab at Imperial Park in Newport is underpinned by a partnership with multinational diagnostics company, PerkinElmer Inc., a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world. Led by the Department for Health and Social Care, a series of partnerships has established a network of Lighthouse Labs across the country to increase the number…

SOUTH West Wales now has its very own Community Rail Partnership, designed to help communities get the most benefit from their existing railway lines. The new Community Rail Partnership, South West Wales Connected, will engage with communities across Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to maximise the role the railway can play in fulfilling the goals of the Welsh Government’s Well-Being of Future Generations Act. SWW Connected has been established by Transport for Wales and is hosted by 4theRegion, a membership alliance working to bring about positive change across the region. It is based in a dedicated community facility…

Not even a global pandemic has stopped a Pontypridd teenager from fulfilling his career goals and landing himself his dream job at a barbering salon. After discovering his grades were a cut above the rest, Coleg y Cymoedd learner Daniel Braund, 17, from Pontypridd, has bagged himself a full-time position with Hawthorn-based Lost Boys Club Barbers after achieving 100% in his barbering qualification at college. The talented stylist, who has just completed his barbering level 2 course at college, is excited to take his first steps on the career ladder, albeit working in a very different environment to what he…

Transport for Wales (TfW) and British Transport Police (BTP) are reminding customers of the need to wear face coverings on board public transport services – those failing to comply with the rules will not be allowed to travel and could be fined. It became mandatory to wear a face covering on public transport on 27 July and over the past two weeks, TfW staff and BTP officers have engaged and advised customers about the new policy.  They have encouraged customers, who are unable to explain why they are exempt from the requirements of the Regulations, to wear a face covering…

Scale model locomotives surpass expectations at auction in aid of Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway An auction house achieved sales that far surpassed forecast results at a highly anticipated Live Steam sale this month (August). The collection from the estate of Leicester-based Kenneth ‘Mike’ Abbott, which was sold by Gildings Auctioneers, resulted in 100% of 229 lots sold, with only seven lots selling below estimate. The final sale total was £132k against a pre-sale bottom estimate of £70k. The proceeds of the sale will benefit the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway. Railway enthusiasts competed online, on the phone and through…

Three orphaned baby hedgehogs have been returned to the wild after two months of rehabilitation and care, including being hand-reared by RSPCA officers when they were only days old. RSPCA Cymru took the hoglets into their care after their nest in Tavernspite in Pembrokeshire was accidentally disturbed. The tiny babies were left in situ for some time in the hope their mother would return – but sadly, she never did. The hoglets came into the RSPCA’s care on 8 June, and the three boys weighed just a combined 89 grams at the time – tipping the scales at 27g, 30g…

Indoor visits to care homes will be allowed in Wales from Saturday 29 August, subject to the strict controls set out in the guidance and conditions remaining favourable, First Minister Mark Drakeford will confirm later today (Friday 21 August). The First Minister will also say that from Saturday, August 22, extended households can expand to include up to four households in an exclusive, extended arrangement. Weddings and funerals will also be able to include a meal for up to 30 people, in suitably socially distant settings. However, he will also warn that despite the latest easing of lockdown restrictions in…

Following a hiatus lasting more than one hundred days, the English Premier League made a return to action on June 17th. 20 teams returned to action as they resumed from where the league closed down in mid-March. The question of the title was quickly decided as Liverpool romped home to their first top-flight trophy in 30 years and their fans duly celebrated the news. Liverpool supporters were relieved to see the EPL’s Project Restart come to fruition as a proposed abandonment of the division would have potentially robbed them of that title. It was a welcome return for the red…

Welsh Government and councils must prioritise supporting Tata Steel Port Talbot and Toyota Deeside, according to a far reaching report prepared for the Welsh Automotive Forum. The report by Ian Henry, head of Autoanalysis, follows similar studies he has carried out for WAF in recent years but his final conclusions have been published against a background of a global economic downturn, the Coronavirus and impending British exit from the EU along with the move to more electrified vehicles. He says supporting the steel plant which supplies products for vehicles bodywork and the Japanese engine plant which feeds into UK and…