Author: Rhys Gregory

The headline NatWest Wales Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – registered 50.2 at the start of the third quarter, up from 48.4 in June. The latest figure signalled only a fractional rise in business activity, but nonetheless, the first expansion since February. The slight increase in output was reportedly linked to the reopening of businesses and clients, despite customer orders continuing to fall. That said, the rate of growth was much slower than the UK average. New orders across the Welsh…

Initial figures from the National Adoption Service indicate a 36% increase in adoption enquiries during April – June 2020 in comparison to the same period last year. The news comes alongside the announcement of the £2.3 million support fund from the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services, Julie Morgan. In March, the National Adoption Service adapted quickly to the challenges presented by the pandemic and restrictions on face to face contact and travel. Visits to prospective adopters and adoption panels moved online so the service was able to continue in its work to find families for children with an…

A BRAVE student who recovered from a terrifying horse-riding accident to complete her A Levels is gunning for Paralympic gold. Leonie Saffy, from Ruabon, shattered her pelvis and hip, and fractured a femur bone during the shocking ordeal. It happened just weeks before the country went into lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic; Leonie only made it back to Coleg Cambria Yale in Wrexham in her wheelchair for a couple of days, to say goodbye to her friends and lecturers before closure for the academic year. However, she says college staff and classmates kept in touch via email, social media…

As society gradually returns to normal and people across a range of industries begin to go back to work, businesses are under increasing pressure to ensure that employees feel safe and supported in a COVID work environment.   To give business leaders a ‘peace of mind’ during this challenging time, Cardiff based Customer Experience company Insight6 Wales, have launched a COVID  Staff safety checker. This unique instant feedback system allows businesses to gather real time information on staff safety and wellbeing every day. It offers a constant, open channel of communication between staff and their employer and will trigger an instant dialogue where concerns about safety are raised.    This comes following the widespread unease being reported amongst UK employees…

The last resting place of a historic Anglesey-built fast sea raiding vessel featured in a 1951 British film has been pinpointed by sonar in a new survey by experts from Bangor University. The revolutionary MTB – motor torpedo boat – 539 was designed and built on the Menai Straits 75 years ago to rocket along at almost 50mph driven by three massive 1500 horse-power Packard V-12 petrol engines and was armed to the teeth. It was 75 feet long and boasted twin torpedo tubes on each side and an array of heavy machine guns so it certainly packed a punch…

Care home owners in Wales have described the extra £22.7 million in emergency funding announced by the Welsh Government as a “temporary sticking plaster”. While the additional money was “most welcome”, sector champions Care Forum Wales say the overwhelming priority must be to devise a national action plan to implement long-term structural change to mend a system that’s broken and fragmented. The money being made available to local authorities is in addition to the £40 million made available to local authorities in April to support the social care sector to meet the skyrocketing bills in the wake of the coronavirus…

With the demand for fast, reliable internet connectivity never being so evident than in the past few months, with a greater reliance on online services and many more people now working from home, Ceredigion has been chosen as a trial area for a UK Government initiative aimed at increasing fibre broadband in rural areas. The trial provides an opportunity for both businesses and residents to take action to solve their connectivity issues to bring about positive changes to the both the economy and the standard of living within the county. On 27 July 2020, the UK Government launched a pilot…

Antibodies from people who have recovered from Covid-19 could be given to patients in intensive care with the virus at Morriston Hospital. The therapy, known as convalescent plasma, has been introduced into two urgent public health research studies taking in Wales, alongside the treatments they are already trialling. It’s hoped the antibodies, contained within plasma collected from people who have had the disease, could help patients critically ill with it – as well as others in hospital with Covid-19 but not in intensive care. Swansea Bay is one of six Welsh health boards participating in the two UK-wide studies, REMAP-CAP…

Jazz Langdon, a former Welsh Language Sabbatical Scheme student at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) has been named Welsh Learner of the Year as part of this year’s Amgen festival, a competition organised by the National Eisteddfod, BBC Radio Cymru and the National Centre for Learning Welsh. Jazz, who lives in Narberth and teaches in Tavernspite, came to UWTSD in September 2018 to study with Rhagoriaith, the University’s Centre for Welsh Language Services to undertake a year-long Welsh language course for teachers. Having very little knowledge of the Welsh language when she started the Sabbatical Scheme course,…

The RSPCA has issued a reminder to the “well-meaning” public not to seek to refloat beached or stranded cetaceans or aquatic mammals. A sub-adult dolphin – approximately two metres in length – found at Penycwn beach in Pembrokeshire had to be put to sleep, after being found weak and thin on 25 July. It is understood members of the public had earlier returned the dolphin to the sea in an attempt to help the animal, who was then seen trying to swim on his side – and was clearly very unwell. However, the RSPCA say animals found in this way…