Author: Rhys Gregory

Take one Farmer’s Market, mix with an array of succulent street food, add a dash of live music from the bandstand and a waterside location in Cardiff Bay in early summer and you’ve got a recipe for Cardiff Food and Drink Festival 2025. Wales’s biggest free food festival will take place in the Oval Basin from Friday 27thJune to Sunday 29thJune and promises to serve up a real treat for the tastebuds. New to the festival this year, ‘Packed’ will be cooking up authentic Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches, dripping with gravy and spicy giardiniera pickle. You’ll also find new flavours…

Swansea Council is taking a new early step in transforming the city centre Castle Square into a greener, more welcoming space. Preparatory work already carried out on site includes the re-laying of high-voltage cables to reflect the square’s future design which the council has created with the help of much public engagement. The next step – taking place over the coming days – will be the careful removal of the Leaf Boat sculpture. It will be put into safe storage while the council, in liaison with others including the sculptor, decides on a future Swansea location for the artwork. The…

A Church Village man who failed to attend a Fly-tipping Enforcement interview has been fined almost £1000 in his absence at Merthyr Magistrates Court. William Jones of Station Road, Church Village had been invited to attend an interview under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) in relation to some fly-tipping that had been discovered. A Streetcare Enforcement Officer discovered a large pile of waste fly tipped at the side of the road at old Roman Road, Ynysybwl. The waste consisted of builders’ waste – plaster board, roofing insulation, roofing felt, timber and floorboards. Following detailed investigation and inquiries,…

Work has recently been completed on installing solar panels onto a community centre roof. Ringland community centre has become the latest of Newport City Council’s buildings to be powered by clean, renewable solar energy. A total of 112 solar PV panels have been installed onto the roof of the centre, with a total capacity of 56kWp. The installation, led by the council and supported by Newport Norse and Inspire Green, is expected to save around 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. This is the equivalent of planting 149 trees. The centre has also become the first council site…

UK Government’s Employment Minster Alison McGovern MP visited Blackwood Miner’s Institute last week for a roundtable discussion on welfare support. The event, hosted by Ruth Jones MP, coincides with the Government inviting feedback on its proposals to “Get Britain Working”, which include strengthening workers’ rights and overhauling Jobcentres, with a public consultation that runs until 30 June. Caerphilly Council’s Employment Support Team were part of the discussions as well as representatives from external organisations and their customers. The Employment Support Team uses the UK Government Shared Prosperty Fund and Welsh Government funding to deliver community-based employability support. The team aim…

Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery’s new arts prize, Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed,opened this May. Launched as part of Cyfarthfa’s bicentenary celebrations, the exhibition features the work of 76 artists working in Wales, who have explored the existing collection artworks at Cyfarthfa Museum and Art Gallery and ‘juxtaposed’ a contemporary response. Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed has been made possible thanks to support from the Cyfarthfa Foundation which is the charitable organisation championing the long-term development of Cyfarthfa Castle and Park at Merthyr Tydfil. A panel have judged the submissions with three winning pieces announced: for painting, Daniel Lazenby; photography was awarded to Konrad Gwozdz;…

One of the UK’s largest and most technically challenging road projects has officially opened, completing the £2bn Heads of the Valleys Road upgrade programme helping to deliver better transport and fix our roads. The final phase of the Welsh Government funded upgrade programme , which was designed to deliver prosperity to some of the most deprived areas in Wales, has already created 2,200 new jobs across the country with almost a half of those employed living in the local area and coming from a disadvantaged or long-term unemployed background. The £1.4bn Section 5&6 – Dowlais to Hirwaun final phase is…

Online raffle platforms are websites where participants can purchase tickets for low prices and stand to win big. Prizes include cash, trips, vouchers, or further raffle entries. These raffles are hosted on specialised websites that streamline ticket buying, promote the raffle, and notify winners.  Raffles are typically hosted by charities as fundraising events, but the world of raffles has changed significantly since scratchcards and community fundraisers. Today, raffles are also used by commercial entities for marketing, blurring the line between gaming, promotions, and gambling. Raffle websites use the latest technology to ensure a user-friendly experience, user privacy, secure payments, and…

In Wales, rugby is more than just a sport – it’s a powerful tool that can be used to connect  communities and improve people’s mental wellbeing. Whether you participate as a player or observe as a supporter, rugby has proven itself to be an effective avenue for dealing with the pressures that come with everyday life. And at a time where mental health issues are of a growing concern, rugby is beginning to play a significant role in helping individuals and communities thrive. With that being said, let’s take a look at a few of the ways rugby is having…

Two men who were caught dealing class A drugs in the Llandudno area have been jailed. Liam Coleman, 25, of Lon Cymru, Llandudno, and Daniel Thompson, 27 of no fixed abode, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court this week, Monday 9th June, after admitting to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and cocaine. Thompson was arrested in Colwyn Bay by officers in March 2022 in connection with unrelated matters when officers discovered he was in possession of cannabis and cocaine. He also had two phones which were seized. The phones belonged to Coleman and Thompson and included details of messages…