Author: Rhys Gregory

Swansea’s historic Grand Theatre is to be home to a pioneering culture and digital hub – the first operation of its kind in Wales. The venue’s Arts Wing is to become a focus for more than 20 grassroots communities who will help develop a diverse arts programme. The hub will host new opportunities for the arts, cultural events, community activities and skills programmes. It will develop an ethnic street food café and offer a catering support service. Race Council Cymru, with the support of Welsh Government funding, will improve and upgrade the Arts Wing to provide new spaces for arts…

Rory Wilson, a distinguished professor of zoology at Swansea University, has been granted a Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany. The award is granted in recognition of a researcher’s entire achievements to date, and to academics whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future. Award winners are granted €65,000 to conduct research, and are invited to spend a period of up to one year cooperating on a long-term research project with specialist colleagues at a…

The Welsh Government funded public transport information provider, Traveline Cymru, is celebrating 20 years of “keeping Wales moving”. The service, which provides bilingual route, fare and timetable information for all bus, coach and rail services in the country, is marking its landmark anniversary this year after it was established in 2000. Over the past two decades Traveline Cymru has helped customers plan over eight million journeys across Wales through its website, delivered over 5.6 million pieces of transport information in one year alone, and seen its app used over five million times. In the last year, it handled nearly 100,000…

2424 capsules of nitrous oxide have been taken off the streets of Cardiff yesterday, through a successful forfeiture order which was granted by Cardiff Magistrates’ Court. Nitrous oxide – often referred to as laughing gas – is only permitted and legal if it is used legitimately, either in medical procedures where it is used for pain relief or in the catering industry, where the gas is used to aerate cream to make foam. Cllr Michael, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Recycling and the Environment at Cardiff Council said: “Unfortunately the nitrous oxide canisters, which are typically sold for £1 each,…

ASH Wales and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) are calling for urgent specialist support for pregnant Welsh teens after new figures showed that 30% are still smoking throughout their pregnancy – double the national average for mums-to-be in Wales. The latest figures released by Welsh Government reveal teenage mums-to-be are the most likely to smoke and to continue to smoke whilst pregnant with 30% of 16 to 19-year-olds smoking at the time of their baby’s birth and 33% at their initial assessment. This compares to 16% of all pregnant women across Wales that smoke throughout pregnancy and 18% that…

Europe’s top trailer maker has clinched a second deal to provide the driving force behind one of the world’s leading rally teams. Ifor Williams Trailers has supplied two of its versatile Transporta trailers to Cumbria-based M-Sport which has a string of international titles and rally wins to its credit, including three FIA World Rally Championship Manufacturers’ titles. To celebrate the new partnership flying Finns Esapekka Lappi and Teemu Suninen, along with British new hope Gus Greensmith, made a head-turning appearance for Ifor Williams Trailers at Autosport International 2020, a four-day event at Birmingham NEC which is live-streamed across the globe.…

Cardiff & Vale Health Charity and Health Board staff will be taking to the dancefloor, strictly style, when they take part in the annual Strictly Top Dancer event in aid of the Breast Centre Appeal at University Hospital Llandough. The team called Serendipity, aptly named after the Health Charity mascot Seren, is made up of eight dancers plus a reserve which are Simone Joslyn, Lucie Barrett, Georgina Burke, Sue Dickson-Davies, Molly Lewis, Melanie Wooton, Karl Whitcombe, Daniela Bridgman and Andy Mavrommati. Strictly Top Dancer is an annual event run by the Breast Centre Committee which aims to raise vital funds…

Leading wet wipe manufacturer Nice-Pak International has launched what it calls the “ultimate in plastic-free baby wipes with fully recyclable packaging”. The launch coincides with Nice-Pak introducing a series of pledges, which include encouraging its customers – such as brand owners and retailers – to choose sustainable alternative products. This marks the latest stage of proactive development by the company Nice-Pak to deliver responsible sustainability as a strategic aim. Its new Nice ‘n Clean Aqualettes brand features plastic-free wipes, a pre-biotic 98 per cent water formula and, significantly, 100 per cent recyclable packaging. The baby wipes are skin pH neutral…

Better Cardiff has announced a major refurbishment of the changing facilities at Fairwater Leisure Centre. Work will commence on Monday 3rd February and will include: Complete redecoration of changing rooms A new shower system Brand new hair dryers New drinking water fountains Dawn Pinder, Partnership Manager for GLL in Cardiff, explains: “ We’ve listened to customer feedback about the standard of the changing facilities at Better Fairwater Leisure Centre and will be investing £188,000 in a refurbishment programme. We anticipate work to take around ten to twelve weeks and temporary arrangemnets will be set up. To ensure as little impact…

Rachael Flanagan started with just a bucket and mop, but nearly 15 years on she is preparing for the next stage of growth by creating over 130 new jobs. Speaking about the firm’s 2020 expansion plans, Rachael Flanagan, Founder & Managing Director of Mrs. Buckét Commercial Cleaning said: “We’ve set out ambitious plans for this year and beyond. New services, customer growth and acquisitions will contribute to our 2025 target of £8m turnover. A recruitment drive is essential to support the company’s expansion plans.” “Mrs. Buckét is more than a cleaning business and I’m passionate about challenging the perception of…