Author: Rhys Gregory

The Caring Foundation has announced that it will be donating and delivering meals to the Welsh Ambulance Service in Cardiff and the surrounding region. Uniting Richard Caring’s hospitality brands in Wales including The Ivy Cardiff and Bill’s Restaurant & Bar, company volunteers will be preparing 1,500 meals a week for the Ambulance Service, with dishes including The Ivy’s iconic traditional and vegetarian Shepherd’s pies, and Bill’s popular Green Chicken Curries and Macaroni Cheese. The Caring Foundation is a privately run, family foundation created in January 2020 by Richard and Patricia Caring. Richard Caring owns and operates multiple businesses in the…

A Cardiff-based business can continue designing and building sets for West End productions post-lockdown with the support of Lloyds Bank. Bay Productions, which works with renowned opera and theatre producers including Cameron Mackintosh and the English National Opera, has secured a six-figure funding package via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). The funding will support the firm’s cashflow while it is unable to operate as normal during the Covid-19 outbreak. The firm’s 50-strong team has seen a number of its projects paused. This includes the set for the new Disney musical, Frozen, which is scheduled to open in London…

A local mum and businesswoman has told how her daughter’s virtual birthday party inspired her to launch a fundraising event for the NHS where families dress up at home to raise money for the healthcare service. Bernie Davies, the Franchise Director of Introbiz Swansea and West Wales, has partnered with Swansea Building Society to launch #DressForNHS on Thursday May 7, 2020. Lora Mua, TV personality, model and the current Mrs Wales, has become an ambassador for the initiative and has pledged the first £50. Families are invited to pay £10 per household and dress up as their favourite superhero or…

National Dance Company Wales (NDCWales) will be launching its new online programme, KiN: Connected, on Thursday 16 April across its website and social media channels as part of the Company’s desire to create a community for dance online with audiences, participants and the sector. At this critical time, how we tell stories through dance is fundamentally important.  KiN: Connected will be an online programme which will include some of the most popular, and previously unshown works, as well as running dance classes for adults and children, and the launch of a new commissioning opportunity to support the sector and freelance artists at this time of creative…

Detectives investigating the serious assault upon a 21 year-old man from Tremorfa in Cardiff have charged a second man with attempted murder. Kamal Legall, 25, from Fairwater, will appear before Cardiff Magistrates today (Tuesday 21st April). Two other men previously arrested in connection with the attempted murder man have been released from custody while enquiries continue. Keiron Hassan, 32, from Ely, was remanded in custody following an appearance at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Friday (April 17). He has also been charged with attempted murder. Officers were called to Harris Avenue, Rumney, at 3.25pm on Monday, April 13 following reports of…

Transport for Wales is working around the clock to ensure the safety and wellbeing of key workers who are using their services, as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. TfW staff are working through the day and night in an effort to ensure trains are cleaned frequently, using the best available products whilst focusing on high contact points. Over the past six weeks, additional cleaners have been employed to cover both the day and night shifts at train depots throughout the Wales and Borders network, as well as the deployment of extra onboard cleansers on trains. Leyton Powell, Transport for Wales Rail Services Safety and Assurance Director, said: “The safety and well-being of our customers…

Academics at the University of South Wales have developed a new rapid diagnostic test for Covid-19, to detect whether people are actively infected with the underlying SARS-CoV-2 virus.  The test, which is low cost and quick, uses a different method and chemicals to the current accredited tests, avoiding any supply bottlenecks for the components. In just over a week the USW researchers, led by Dr Jeroen Nieuwland and Dr Emma Hayhurst, adapted a technique that they have been developing since 2016 for the diagnosis of urinary tract infections. The new test is being evaluated in collaboration with Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. Over the…

Economy, Transport and North Wales Minister Ken Skates has thanked iconic Welsh whisky and spirits brand Penderyn on diverting its expert distillers to produce much needed hand sanitiser for the NHS in Wales. As a result of the demand for hand sanitiser gels and liquids during the current Coronavirus pandemic, Penderyn is now producing hand sanitiser liquid with an 80% alcohol strength. The company was keen to help in these very challenging times and is producing 10,000 litres of hand sanitiser on a weekly basis with the first batch due in NHS hospitals and centres this month through a partner company, Lovair…

Learning Welsh is one of the ways people are entertaining and improving themselves during the lockdown, new figures suggest. When Welsh classes across the nation were forced to stop, the Welsh Government’s sponsored organisation the National Centre for Learning Welsh quickly moved their community face to face lessons online to ensure they could continue – helping their students to carry on with their learning and maintaining social contact to combat loneliness. Rather than proving a barrier, there’s evidence that attendance at the lessons has increased since they moved online. The centre also launched Facebook live lessons for beginners at 3pm on weekdays. The twelve lessons…

New e-learning resources aimed at helping workers furloughed as a result of  coronavirus to learn new skills are now live, Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates has announced. The newly launched, informal e-learning provision is aimed at helping furloughed workers to improve their  knowledge levels across a broad range of areas, while supporting their  mental wellbeing and helping them to prepare for the future. Budding learners can visit the Working Wales website where they will be signposted to a range of free online resources that will help them to refresh their skill sets. Minister for Economy, Transport…