Author: Rhys Gregory

Food Innovation Wales has launched a tool kit of useful templates and links to support Welsh food and drink manufacturers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Developed in collaboration with the Food & Drink Wales Industry Board, the resource includes over 20 templates which companies can use including observation checklists, visitor and return to work questionnaires, change of use guidance, contingency planning and measures to take when restarting a factory following shutdown. Professor David Lloyd, Food Innovation Wales and Food & Drink Wales Industry Board, said: “The COVID-19 outbreak has put a great deal of pressure on the Welsh food and drink…

CATRIONA Seed, a Clinical Nurse Specialist in palliative care, is rowing 75 miles for City Hospice to support the charity and patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. Catriona has set herself the challenge on her rowing machine, selecting 75 miles as her target to reflect the average mileage the palliative care team at City Hospice accumulate by driving around the capital in a week to visit patients. City Hospice provides palliative care for 550 patients with life limiting or terminal illnesses in Cardiff, in addition to services for patients’ families such as counselling and bereavement support. Explaining why she set herself…

It has become increasingly important to control the spread of Coronavirus through monitoring key symptoms, such as a fever. To reduce the risk to the key workers and patients of University Hospital Llandough from doing this manually, Oprema – the Cardiff-based multi-brand distributor of security equipment – and its partner, Dahua Technology – the world leading solution provider in the global video surveillance industry – have donated a thermal imaging solution which can automatically detect a person’s temperature in less than a second without the need for personal contact, providing the hospital with an accurate primary screening solution. The process…

The Welsh Government will support Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Wales with their running costs for up to three months, Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, Hannah Blythyn has announced. BIDs are partnerships that bring businesses and communities together to improve and promote their town and city centres. They also have a key role to play in the Transforming Towns agenda announced in January. There are currently 16 BIDs across Wales, 15 in towns and cities, and one Industrial BID in Blaenau Gwent. Providing funding support for their running costs will help ensure the BIDs can continue, and are…

As Wales considers the future of lockdown, Deputy Minister and Chief Whip Jane Hutt has praised Wales’ volunteers, and urged others to get involved as their services will be needed more than ever in the months to come. The call comes after more than 360 people came forward to help Carmarthenshire County Council set up furniture and equipment at the county’s four field hospitals. This was just 24 hours after the appeal for volunteers went live through the Carmarthenshire Association of Volunteering Services (CAVS) Volunteering Wales website and the connect2carmarthenshire.org.uk platform. Connect2Carmarthenshire, has been established to connect people offering help…

Thousands of small charities within the retail, leisure and hospitality sector will receive a £10,000 business support grant to help them respond to the financial challenges of Covid-19, the Welsh Government has announced. This new £26m package – an extension to the existing Covid-19 grants scheme announced last month – will support an additional 2,600 properties with a rateable value of £12,000 or below. This includes charity run shops, sports premises and community centres which, until now, have not been eligible for this type of support. Finance Minister, Rebecca Evans said: “We recognise and applaud the huge contribution charities make…

A consumer marketing campaign to increase the demand for liquid milk across the UK to support the dairy sector impacted by Covid19, is set to get underway. The impact of the global pandemic has had an immediate impact on the dairy sector with the closure of the food service and hospitality sectors leaving some processors without a viable outlet for their milk and milk products. The new consumer campaign will help balance the oversupply of milk from the closure of the food service sector. AHDB estimate sales by liquid milk processors servicing foodservice or wholesale markets have dropped by 50-60%.…

A Cardiff textiles teacher is putting her expertise to use during the coronavirus lockdown by helping co-ordinate the production of thousands of much needed medical scrubs for Wales’ healthcare heroes in the NHS by volunteers. Nia Clements, who is head of design and technology at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr, in Fairwater, Cardiff, has helped set up production hubs throughout communities in South and West Wales, with support from the Welsh Government. In total, more than 100 volunteers are donating their time and energy to aid the national effort against coronavirus by using fabric secured by the Welsh Government from UK…

Mid Wales’ only open-air theatre made of living willow is to broadcast a live online version of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Stream’ on Saturday (May 9).  The Willow Globe theatre, located at Penlanole, near Llandrindod Wells, will be empty due to Covid-19 restrictions but actors from The Wet Mariners are set to overcome the challenge of lockdown with their customary verve. Using the Internet as their shared platform, the actors will perform their parts at home, alone, to create a vibrant and original production of Shakespeare’s leading comedy for everyone to enjoy. The Wet Mariners is a company of professional actors who visit…

South Wales Police has charged a 29 year-old woman from Porth with the murder of John Rees, 88, from Trealaw and the attempted murder of three others following an incident in Penygraig in the Rhondda. Zara Anne Radcliffe will appear before Cardiff Magistrates Court this morning (Thursday 7th May). Shortly after 1.45pm Tuesday, police officers were called to the incident at a convenience store on Tylacelyn Road in Penygraig in the Rhondda. Officers are continuing to appeal to any witnesses who have not yet come forward to contact them on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 quoting reference 2000153856.…