Author: Rhys Gregory

More than 1500 wildflowers have been delivered to a Denbighshire community as part of a biodiversity project. As part of Denbighshire County Council’s Bee Friendly project, 1500 wildflowers were delivered to the Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, Llanferres and Maeshafn community councils to develop their own wildflower habitats. The wildflowers were grown at Bodfari Woodland Skills Centre and were sourced from seed gathered from Denbighshire County Council’s network of roadside nature reserves. Each of the new sites will become a seed bank of local provenance seeds to be gathered, grown on or sown on new sites across the county as the project…

Following the successful launch of the Ceredigion Adult Carers Card launched at the beginning of October, Ceredigion is proud to be the first county in Wales to launch a Young Carers Card as part of the Welsh Government National ID Card initiative. The aim is that each area of Wales will have a Young Carers ID Card by 2022. The development of this card has involved working in collaboration with partners in the Welsh Government, Carers Trust Wales, as well as Young Carers. A Young Carer is someone who looks after a friend or family member who cannot manage on…

A civil engineering contractor carrying out emergency repair works on a road near Knighton, Powys, has been praised as it reaches the half-way point. Ruthin-based Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK was engaged by Powys County Council after a stretch of the B4355 suffered significant damage caused by flash flooding and further storms. The road collapsed in three separate locations, all within one mile of each other, in August. Jones Bros installed a temporary bridge to reopen the road for commuters and local residents, which coincided with the start of the school term, while designs were finalised. The civil engineering company…

A mum-of-seven revealed her violent partner tried to kick and punch her baby out of her womb when he discovered she was pregnant after finding a scan in a drawer. Gloria, 38, not her real name, was rushed to hospital but thankfully the unborn baby survived the brute’s assault which left the mum black from bruising from head to toe. An escape route was provided by  Clwyd Alyn Women’s Aid (CAWA) which receives funding from the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Arfon Jones. CAWA moved her into a refuge and gave her the support she needed to get her…

FinTech Wales, an independent membership association and champion of the FinTech and Financial Services industry in Wales, has named Sarah Williams-Gardener as its first CEO. A former Director of Public Affairs at Starling Bank, Sarah joins FinTech Wales just a few months after its first birthday. Sarah spent 17 years at IBM, latterly as Government Affairs Director working with Government departments, as well as working on commercial and innovation projects. Sarah was also a founding member of the team behind the challenger bank Starling. Since leaving Starling in June 2019, Sarah held an interim CEO role at charity Hope for…

The team behind the highly successful Oasis One World Choir, a musical project for refugees, asylum seekers and the wider community that runs out of the Oasis Centre in Cardiff, is to launch a Community Interest Company (CIC) to lead the choir into an exciting new era. A CIC is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are reinvested in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit. Project Manager Tracy Pallant, facilitator Laura Bradshaw and choreographer June Campbell-Davies have formed the new entity to ensure a sustainable future for the project, which they describe…

Staff and patients at Morriston Hospital received a special delivery when the team from Amazon in Swansea delivered a surprise for children in the paediatric ward. Marty robots, which help children learn about computer science and engineering, were delivered to children in Morriston Hospital by the team from the Amazon delivery station in Swansea as part of a commitment to inspire children to engage in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) subjects. The robots will be used to help facilitate virtual Amazon STEM workshops with play specialists and children in Morriston Hospital. The play specialists work with children who are in…

Wales’ leading rail-dedicated innovation programme is about to see its second batch of ambitious and creative candidates pitch their ideas. The 12-week accelerator programme looks to stimulate growth in Wales, offering an exciting opportunity for business innovators to develop their ideas which look to enhance the railway experience for customers. The pioneering scheme’s second cohort have been working closely with TfW over the course of the 12-week programme. The 11 start-ups – some of the brightest tech talent from across Wales and the UK – have received dedicated mentoring from business experts to develop their products, ideas and innovations. The…

A swan found with a large fishing hook lodged in his neck has been helped by the RSPCA. The swan – who would have experienced considerable pain and discomfort from the hook – was spotted by a member of the public at Roath Park in Cardiff. RSPCA inspector Gemma Black was assigned the call to track down the swan and successfully caught him safely on 30 October. “Luckily I managed to catch him whilst on land and took him to the vets where the hook was removed and he was given an injection of antibiotics,” she said. “As he didn’t…

Renewable energy has a key role to play in supporting the green recovery and responding to the climate emergency – that’s the message from Lesley Griffiths as a new report shows good progress towards meeting Wales’s ambitious renewable energy targets. Published today as day two of Wales Climate Week gets underway, the Energy Generation 2019 report shows over half (51%) of Wales’ energy needs are met from renewables and Wales is 83% of the way towards meeting its local ownership target of 1GW by 2030 – with 825 MW of renewable energy capacity in local ownership. The report also showed:…