Author: Rhys Gregory

A STUDENT with autism and his caring family have created hundreds of craft and art packages for children with learning difficulties and additional needs during the Coronavirus lockdown. Matthew Hayes volunteered to create the packs for Flintshire charity DAFFODILS, who were supported throughout by the Steve Morgan Foundation, which donated £6,776 to the project. The 20 year-old from Bryn-y-Baal, Mold, an Independent Living Skills (ILS) learner at Coleg Cambria Northop, was diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at just four years old, and began attending DAFFODILS soon after. DAFFODILS is a source of comfort for children with a range…

PETPLACE has joined forces with one of Wales’ most popular tourist attractions in a bid to save it from extinction. The Welsh Mountain Zoo – the National Zoo of Wales – in Colwyn Bay is facing the biggest crisis in its 57-year history, with gates closed since March 22 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Their dedicated team has continued to provide care and support for more than 140 species, but with no revenue coming in they are struggling to meet the site’s monthly running costs of more than £120,000, including food, heating and bedding for the animals. The public…

A revolutionary new approach to treating breast cancer has been put on the fast track at Swansea’s Singleton Hospital. Patients previously had to make the round trip from as far as Aberystwyth every day for 15 days to receive their radiotherapy there. Now thanks to pioneering work at the hospital’s South West Wales Cancer Centre, the treatment is spread across just five days. A huge investment in new equipment within the radiotherapy department allows higher doses to be delivered safely and without worsening side-effects. This is how most radiotherapy for breast cancer will be delivered from now on – and…

After years of straightening her hair Elinor ditched her straighteners in 2012, embracing her natural hair. Elinor recalls not liking her own curls growing up and being forced to straighten her hair, due to a lack of self-confidence and pressure to conform. This carried on for years, until Elinor decided to embrace her natural curl pattern. However, a few years into her curly hair journey and working in her first Job in London, Elinor was pulled aside and it was suggested that she wear her hair straight as this was smarter for business. So, the idea to create a curly…

Establishing a vegetable plot, redesigning the garden and learning how to cook are just some of the must haves on Wales’ new normal bucket list. According to research carried out across Wales by The National Lottery ahead of the £15M ‘Must Be Won’ Lotto jackpot draw this Saturday (27 June), more than half of us (66%) have changed our wish list since the Covid-19 outbreak and now dream of the good life, and a millionaire lifestyle much closer to home. Forgetting travel to exotic locations, adrenalin-inducing skydives or marathon running challenges, Wales’ wish list is now motivated by keeping our…

As part of the Bryn Celli Ddu public archaeology landscape project led by Cadw and Manchester Metropolitan University, archaeologists have released a new Minecraft world of the site, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Who needs Google Street View when you can explore the renowned passage tomb via Minecraft? In a truly interactive twist on the virtual tour, the virtual version of Anglesey’s Bryn Celli Ddu will allow young people to explore one of the most impressive Neolithic burial monuments in the British Isles: a passage tomb, consisting of a stone-built passage into an artificial earth mound, which terminates…

With an ever increasing number of hurdles for residential landlords to jump over, Ceris Clift, property lawyer at Greenaway Scott considers if the Coronavirus pandemic could be the last straw for many private landlords. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2018 the percentage of people living in private-rental properties in Wales was lower than the UK average. There was a reported increase from 9% in 2007 to 13% in 2017; however constantly evolving laws together with recent tax changes and pandemic may now be putting some individuals off from becoming residential landlords. Private tenancies in Wales have historically…

A 75-year-old psychologist has proved mind can triumph over matter by completing a marathon walk in aid of the North Wales NHS charity on two artificial hips and a pair of stiletto shoes. Fay Harris also suffers from ME and has twice broken her neck but it didn’t stop the keen horsewoman who has a smallholding near the village of Mynydd Llandygai from tackling her own Lockdown challenge. She decided to match the 26.6 miles of the cancelled London Marathon by walking a 2.6-mile figure of eight route round the village every day for 10 days and finished off by…

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General and Ian Price, the CBI’s Wales Director, have today written to First Minister Mark Drakeford. They urge him to put jobs and training, especially for young people, at the heart of economic recovery plans. Businesses recognise the need to prioritise health and adapt to new ways of working following the Covid-19 crisis. But that must not delay urgently implementing an ambitious recovery plan that responds to the scale of the economic challenge Wales faces. As people begin returning to work safely, two priorities stand out: jobs and investment. Unemployment is the biggest threat to livelihoods…

New research showing how people across Wales have been affected by the coronavirus crisis has been published for the first time. The new monthly telephone version of the National Survey for Wales asked 3,000 people from across Wales questions on wellbeing and loneliness, employment, finances, food poverty, GP appointments, social care, and education to find out the how the pandemic has affected their lives. Whilst the coronavirus crisis has brought unprecedented amounts of uncertainty the survey shows that people in Wales are generally happy with a good sense of community spirit, but are understandably more anxious than normal. Key results…