Author: Rhys Gregory

All non-essential shops in Wales will be able to re-open from Monday (22 June) as part the biggest unlocking of the coronavirus regulations to date, First Minister Mark Drakeford announced today (Friday 19 June). Retailers will be able to resume trading if they can take all reasonable measures to comply with the physical distancing duty in Welsh law to reduce the spread of coronavirus and protect shop workers and shoppers. The changes are part of a comprehensive package of measures being introduced step by step every Monday over the next three weeks. Pupils will return to schools on 29 June…

Three people in Cardiff are celebrating today after winning £1,000 each thanks to their lucky postcode. The Henke Court neighbours netted the windfall when CF10 4EB was announced as a Daily Prize winner with People’s Postcode Lottery on Friday 19th June 2020. People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Judie McCourt sent her well-wishes to the winners. She said: “What an amazing way to start the weekend! Congratulations to our winners, I’m sure they will be celebrating tonight.” A minimum of 32% of ticket sales goes directly to charities and players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised over £500 million to date for…

Welsh law firm, JCP Solicitors has appointed two new Directors, both of whom have been instrumental in ensuring the business continues to offer an efficient, uninterrupted service throughout the lockdown period. Chris Q Davies is a lawyer who has been promoted to a Director in the Commercial Property team.  Having spent 5 years developing his skills in Swansea, he is now assisting with the growth of the team in the South East Wales region and is primarily based in the firm’s Cowbridge office. His client base ranges from private and corporate landlords to landowners with significant property portfolios and he…

With businesses across Swansea City Centre making plans to re-open to the public, Swansea BID (Business Improvement District) is supplying PPE packs and hand sanitiser to its businesses, as a thank you gesture, to help them hit the ground running. Swansea BID has teamed up with Cygnet Distillery, located the heart of the City Centre, in York Street, to provide the distillery’s CYG80 products; which will support firms with the extra hygiene measures they are taking to enable them to re-open safely. Russell Greenslade, Chief Executive of Swansea BID (Business Improvement District) says: “We are pleased to see our BID…

When schools in Wales finally start reopening their doors later this month, they will welcome pupils back to a very different educational experience. Fewer sessions, smaller class sizes, staggered start and finish times, limited physical contact with their friends and regular hand washing are just some of the changes pupils can expect when they return to the classroom as schools ramp up health and safety measures to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. But as important as it will be to look after pupils’ physical health and personal safety, of equal importance will be protecting their emotional wellbeing and…

Around 10,500 jobs will be lost in the tourism and hospitality industry in North Wales even if it’s allowed to start trading again on July 1 – with another 2,000 at risk if it’s a month later. That’s the stark conclusion of a survey conducted by North Wales Tourism with support from the North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council. More than 320 businesses from across the region responded to the survey this week about the dire impact of the Covid-19 lockdown. The analysis showed that when they’re allowed to open, 60 per cent of them will be trading at 50…

Dozens of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in Swansea have volunteered for a clinical trial which has already seen life-saving results. So far, more than 50 people admitted to Morriston or Singleton hospitals have agreed to take part in the UK-wide Recovery trial. This tests a range of potential treatments against the virus. The study team at Oxford University has now confirmed that one of the drugs, the low-dose steroid dexamethasone, cuts the risk of death by a third for those on ventilators and by a fifth for those on oxygen. It has also shown that a treatment which had been…

With the majority of the population in Wales still at home, many are using this time to improve their health and fitness.  Here, Dr Peter Herbert, a Physiologist at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and a leading authority on fitness in the older generation discusses why it’s the middle aged or elderly that will benefit the most from leading a more active lifestyle. If any good comes from this pandemic it will be highlighting the importance of physical activity. In 2015, my research colleagues and I, presented four scientific papers from my work with elderly people, presented at…

Savills Cardiff has announced the acquisition of a 2.75 acre site at Plasdwr by family-run operator, Lewis Homes. Part of Cardiff’s Garden City development, to the north west of the Welsh capital, Lewis Homes will deliver a scheme of 56 new homes and apartments. The scheme, known as Dol Werdd, will form one of five distinct neighbourhoods within Plasdwr, each with its own individual identity. Lewis Homes has now secured reserved matters approval a mix of two and three story homes. The new homes will take a contemporary design and will be arranged over intimate streets and around high quality…

A careless driver who ploughed in to a cyclist before driving off and leaving him with life-changing injuries is today starting an eight-month jail term. Keaton Richards was driving his black Seat Leon over the bridge on Wood Street in Cardiff city centre at around 11.20pm on August 22, when he was in collision with a cyclist. Panicking, the 23-year-old and his passenger left the scene, abandoning the car on Sevenoaks Road, before returning home and reporting the car stolen. When interviewed by police Richards denied being the driver of the car at the time of the collision, insisting the…