Author: Rhys Gregory

While the rugby season may be on pause, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and the regional teams are keeping the excitement levels high for fans every day of the week in a truly innovative way.  Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets have partnered with award winning tech startup doopoll (https://doopoll.co) to find out the fan’s ultimate XV from current and past players. Each day on social media, the regions asked followers and fans to choose their favourite player from each position on the field. The results have been incredible with the surveys gathering over 50,000 votes in total. Fans were…

Medito Foundation​ has launched the Medito app with a vow to make meditation and mindfulness freely accessible. Medito Foundation was founded by four friends, three of whom are from Caerphilly, South Wales; Steven Yorke, Gareth Yorke and Michael Speed. There will be no subscription fees, no paywalls and no ads. Medito is made for people, not profit. The app has been created by a team of volunteers from around the world who are dedicated to helping people to positively transform their lives through meditation. They also hope to help people to cope better with depression, stress, anxiety, and any other…

The 20 year-old man from Cyncoed in Cardiff who was arrested on Sunday under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 has been released with no further action in relation to those offences. Whilst in police custody he was subsequently arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosive Substances Act and the Misuse of Drugs Act. He has been released on police bail pending further investigation into those matters. Every year thousands of reports from the public help police tackle the terrorist threat. If you see or hear something that doesn’t seem right, trust your instincts and ACT by reporting…

A mum-of-three who works in a care home has written a heartfelt poem about protecting the residents and keeping the coronavirus at bay. According to care practitioner Michelle Williams, who works at Pendine Park’s Hillbury care home in Wrexham, she put her feelings into verse because she was struggling to cope and losing sleep because she cares so much about the people she looks after. Michelle, 52, who lives in Ruabon, wakes up every day hoping the virus doesn’t find its way into the home and infect her beloved residents. Before starting at Pendine Park, she worked in offices and…

Llantrisant based insurance broker Gallagher has donated funding for essential hydrotherapy pool equipment at the Sandville Self Help Centre in Ton Kefig, Bridgend, through the firm’s annual charity awards programme. A £2000 donation for the respite centre has been awarded through Gallagher’s Community Fund, a nationwide initiative which invites colleagues from its 70-plus branch network to nominate UK charities to receive vital funding for projects. Sandville Self Help Centre provides a respite service for patients with chronic or terminal illnesses in South Wales. Established in 1983, the centre offers a range of complimentary therapies including reflexology, self-hypnosis, reiki, hydrotherapy and…

Local business, including a gin distillery and a company producing branded promotional materials have been helping Cardiff Council’s response to COVID-19 by switching their production streams at short notice to produce hand sanitiser and other personal protective equipment. Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Cllr Russell Goodway: “Having a flexible local economy that has been able to respond rapidly to the changing demands brought about by the outbreak of COVID-19 has been incredibly helpful for us as a local authority as we respond to the virus.” South Wales’ first full scale gin distillery, Hensol Castle Distillery are usually in the business…

Former NHS worker Anne Jones may have headed off into retirement but she is still doing her bit in the war against Covid 19 on the home front Having begun her career in Morriston Hospital in the 1960s, and finishing up working in admin in Singleton Hospital’s neonatal department, Anne, who has a daughter working as a nurse in Swansea Bay, was determined to help. Encouraged by her friends in the village of Norton, Gower, she decided to mobilise her sewing skills to make gowns for health board staff after hearing that those used for training had seen better days.…

When Paul Hornblow put-up a temporary closed sign in his shop window in Cardiff’s Morgan Arcade because of the coronavirus lockdown, he never imagined his own daughter would be struck down by the very same virus. Within days of moving his luxury watch business online the father-of-four’s eldest daughter, Ellis, a nurse at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Pontyclun, was diagnosed with COVID-19. It was a worrying time for the family, but thankfully she went on to make a full recovery and is back at work helping patients. Now Paul is showing the same fighting spirit with his business Watches…

Work is about to start on significant structures at the £135m Swansea arena regeneration project. Steel frames due to go up over the coming weeks will form the skeleton of the arena and associated buildings on the Swansea Central Phase One site. Hundreds of tons of steel will emerge above the site’s safety hoardings and will reach a height of 24m. Council leader Rob Stewart said: “Work on the arena site has continued during the recent period of restrictions, in line with UK and Welsh Government guidance which allows construction to continue. “In the coming weeks steel work will emerge…

Lockdown hit TV viewers are being offered the chance to travel along the Wales Coast Path from the comfort of their own living room – including locations stretching from Flintshire to Anglesey and the Llŷn peninsula, across Cardigan Bay and Pembrokeshire to the Glamorgan Heritage Coast and the Severn Estuary. ITV Good Morning Britain presenter Sean Fletcher will be meeting some of the many amazing characters who live and work along the 870-mile route which runs from Flintshire to the River Wye. The six-part series, Wonders of the Coast Path was filmed by ITV Cymru Wales before the Covid 19…