Author: Rhys Gregory

Everyman, an independent network of boutique cinemas, with 32 cinemas nationwide, is due to open its latest five-screen venue in Mermaid Quay in the heart of Cardiff Bay next week (23 December). The new venue will feature a bar and lounge space and five screens featuring Everyman’s signature comfy sofa seating and a menu featuring Spielburgers, hand rolled pizzas, sundaes and cocktails. There is something for everyone at Everyman; alongside a delicious food and drink offering and top-notch customer service there is a varied selection of mainstream, independent and classic films, special events, launches and a diverse calendar of live satellite…

Keep Wales Tidy has joined forces with Brushbox, a Cardiff-based start-up, to promote the use of eco-friendly bamboo toothbrushes and oral health products. Both organisations are committed to trying to combat the estimated 3.6 billion plastic toothbrushes that end up in landfill or our oceans each year. Brushbox is the UK’s first sustainable subscription service, providing 100% biodegradable, vegan, cruelty-free, recyclable toothbrushes. Since its launch in 2018, Brushbox has delivered thousands of boxes across the country and has been listed as ‘the number one start-up business to watch’ in Wales. The aim is to make oral healthcare easier to manage…

A LITTLE boy from Wrexham who lost two much-loved grandparents just months apart has thanked a travel agents for helping to refurbish a special bereavement room which has helped him cope with their sudden deaths. Ethan James, 11, of Caia Park, has been one of the first youngsters to visit the new-look Sunshine Room at Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham which has been transformed with a grant from the Hays Travel Foundation. The foundation focuses on projects which support young people. The newly decorated space, which is used by the hospice’s Release bereavement service, has been designed to create a…

THE Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) has revealed key updates to the South Wales transport network, including the creation of a Porth transport interchange, and improved connections at the capital’s Cardiff East bus priority corridor. After its latest meeting, the CCR Regional Transport Authority, which comprises of elected transport portfolio leads from the ten local authorities in South-East Wales, has announced a series of updates to the Metro Enhancement Framework (MEF), Common Assessment Framework (CAF), Metro Plus Phase 1, and the Electric Vehicle (EV) Taxi strategy. Below is a summary of the key updates: City Deal funding contribution agreed for two…

South Wales Police is continuing to investigate a serious assault which has left a man critically ill in hospital. Officers were called to the incident on Commerce Place, Aberaman, at approximately 8.50pm on Monday, December 16. A 26 year-old man was taken to Prince Charles Hospital with serious injuries, where he remains in a life-threatening condition. The 52 year-old man who was arrested at the scene remains in police custody. A section of the street remains cordoned off while forensic enquiries continue. An incident room has also been set up. Detectives are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident, or…

Nisha Thomas will enjoy a traditional celebration with her family on Christmas Eve and then she gets to do it all over again with her “second family“, the residents who she looks after at the 40-bedroom Plasgeller care home at Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale. Plasgeller is part of the Caron group, a specialist provider of residential, nursing and dementia care, operating 14 care homes across mid and south Wales. Mum of three, Nisha has worked at the home for nearly 16 years and for most of them she has volunteered to work Christmas Day. She says she never hesitates for one…

Three people in Port Talbot are celebrating this weekend after scooping a £1,000 cash prize each thanks to their lucky postcode. The Station Terrace neighbours netted the windfall when SA12 6BZ was announced as a Daily Prize winner with People’s Postcode Lottery on Tuesday 17th December 2019. People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Danyl Johnson sent his congratulations to the winners. He said: “What a great surprise for our winners with Christmas coming up! I hope they go out treat themselves with their winnings!” A minimum of 32% of ticket sales goes directly to charities and players of People’s Postcode Lottery have…

Kind-hearted bakery staff jumped to it and put on their festive finery in aid of a much-needed hospice. The Christmas Jumper Day at the Village Bakery in Wrexham was organised by Kath Ashcroft, the company’s supply chain manager, to raise money for the town’s Nightingale House Hospice. Nightingale House is celebrating its 25th anniversary next year when they will need to find more than £3 million – the equivalent of £8,382 a day – to run the hospice and their outreach services. With only 20 per cent coming from statutory sources, they have to raise all the rest themselves, with…

A project aimed at giving disadvantaged young people in Flintshire the chance to play sport has been expanded to thanks to money seized from criminals. The programme run by the not-for-profit organisation, Aura Leisure and Libraries, has increased the number of sites where it operates from six to 10 as a result of a £10,000 grant designed to combat the threat of County Lines which sees vulnerable youngsters recruited by big city gangs to traffic drugs. The money came from a special fund set up by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones who went with Assistant Chief Constable Sacha…

Tributes have been paid to a World War Two Spitfire mechanic who has died at the age of 93. Ernest Simmonds, who prepared two of the iconic fighter planes that went over to France on D-Day, lived with his wife of 72 years, Gwyneth, also 93, at Pendine Park’s Hillbury House Care Home in Wrexham. He passed away after a short illness at Wrexham Maelor Hospital on Monday, December 9, and his funeral will be at Pentrebychan Crematorium at 10am on Monday, December 23. Earlier this year he spearheaded a call to support the annual Poppy Appeal In the run…