Author: Rhys Gregory

Findings from fitness app Strava have suggested that many people around the world will already be set to give up their New Year’s fitness resolutions within the first few weeks of January. According to seasoned adventurer, ultra-marathon runner and TV presenter Huw Brassington, a big part of the problem is the setting – with many of us ditching the treadmills after only a few uninspired visits to the local gym. To overcome this and celebrate the launch of its Year of Outdoors this new year, Visit Wales has teamed up with Huw to showcase the country’s best outdoor running locations.…

A Welsh ventilation company is aiming for expansion as business continues to increase. DW-Air based at Ystalafera has a growing list of clients around the UK, providing clean air for all types of buildings from homes to offices, swimming pools and factories. The firm provides design, installation and maintenance, working directly with customers, or on a sub-contract basis. DW-Air was set up by Martin Leonard and now employs four staff, and has plans to take on more in 2020 to cope with demand. The firm received a £500 grant from the Kickstart programme, run jointly by Tata Steel subsidiary UKSE…

House prices in Wales have reached an all-time peak, with the average house price across the country now £193,254, despite a drop in overall sales in 2019. The figures have been released from Principality Building Society’s Wales House Price Index for Q4 2019, which demonstrates the rise and fall in house prices in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales. In 2019, the average house price in Wales grew by 3.3%, a £6,237 rise since December 2018 driven by first time buyers and holiday homes. Over the quarter in Wales (October – December 2019), house prices rose by 1.7%.…

TWO Wrexham finance firm bosses have raised £7,000 by completing a gruelling 240-mile cycling trek from Vietnam to Cambodia in aid of a hospice. Medwyn Edwards and James Parry, Directors of Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management, were part of a 24-strong team who tackled the two-wheel challenge for Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham. In total the group raised more than £120,000 for the hospice after riding from Ho Chi Minh City across Vietnam to Angkor Wat in Cambodia during a six-day stint in which they experienced a huge downpour, stifling humidity and chaotic road conditions. Father-of-two James Parry described the charity…

Five people in Swansea are celebrating today after winning £1,000 each thanks to their lucky postcode. The  neighbours netted the windfall when SA4 0XJ was announced as a Daily Prize winner with People’s Postcode Lottery on Monday 20th January 2020. People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Danyl Johnson sent his well-wishes to the winners. He said: “What brilliant news to start the week! Congratulation to our winners in Swansea, I hope they go and treat themselves to something nice with their winnings.” A minimum of 32% of ticket sales goes directly to charities and players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised over…

Acclaimed actor Luke Evans will take the lead in true crime drama The Pembrokeshire Murders, a three-part mini-series depicting the pursuit of a cold-blooded serial killer. Commissioned by ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill, the drama is from the makers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, World Productions, and will be executive produced by Simon Heath, the company’s CEO. World was awarded Best Independent Production Company at both the Broadcast Awards and the Edinburgh TV Festival in 2019. The mini-series is written by Nick Stevens (In Plain Sight) directed by Marc Evans (Manhunt, Safe House) and produced by Ed Talfan…

Tramshed Tech, the Cardiff-based co-working space, has partnered with Hodge and FinTech Wales, the not-for-profit association for the FinTech and Financial services industry in Wales, to launch the ”Fintech Wales Forum”. The three organisations will be working collaboratively on a series of events that will run throughout 2020, bringing together innovative start-ups and established businesses to develop solutions to common challenges. Aiming to provoke discussions around some of these challenges, these events will provide potential solutions and support interaction between problem owners and solutions providers. The first roundtable was held in January and focused on machine learning and bots and…

North Wales’ largest housing association, Adra (previously known as Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd) has just completed a refinancing deal worth £155m with new lenders. The company, with its headquarters in Bangor, is a leading north Wales supplier of social and affordable housing and was established in 2010 to take on the housing stock from Gwynedd Council.  Adra was previously known as Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) and is the largest housing association in north Wales. The housing association manages over 6,400 homes. As the demand for affordable homes and homes for social rent is set to increase across north Wales, securing £155m…

The Welsh Government has promised to look into the feasibility of three projects to boost enterprise and jobs in Bridgend. Following a meeting with the Ford Bridgend Task Force yesterday, Welsh Economy Minister Ken Skates said there are 21 businesses who have expressed an interest in the 1.2M sqft Ford site when production ends at the Bridged plant in September. He confirmed £100,000 of public money will be invested in the local area and region to encourage enterprise among the 1,200 Ford workers who will lose their jobs but want to remain working, also boosting businesses in Bridgend town centre and…

Award-winning Cardiff communications agency Effective Communication is one of the first Public Relations providers in Wales to be recognised as a Leading Employer by prominent gender equality charity, Chwarae Teg. Over the past year, Effective Communication – which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary – has been taking part in the game-changing Agile Nation2 Business Programme. The Llandaff-based company has built a workplace where all employees work to their highest potential while improving gender equality and diversity. The award is in recognition of Effective’s 11 employees regarding and rating the business’ practices and procedures as consistent with the FairPlay Employer Award©’s…