Author: Rhys Gregory

Llantrisant based insurance broker Gallagher has donated funding for essential hydrotherapy pool equipment at the Sandville Self Help Centre in Ton Kefig, Bridgend, through the firm’s annual charity awards programme. A £2000 donation for the respite centre has been awarded through Gallagher’s Community Fund, a nationwide initiative which invites colleagues from its 70-plus branch network to nominate UK charities to receive vital funding for projects. Sandville Self Help Centre provides a respite service for patients with chronic or terminal illnesses in South Wales. Established in 1983, the centre offers a range of complimentary therapies including reflexology, self-hypnosis, reiki, hydrotherapy and…

Local business, including a gin distillery and a company producing branded promotional materials have been helping Cardiff Council’s response to COVID-19 by switching their production streams at short notice to produce hand sanitiser and other personal protective equipment. Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Cllr Russell Goodway: “Having a flexible local economy that has been able to respond rapidly to the changing demands brought about by the outbreak of COVID-19 has been incredibly helpful for us as a local authority as we respond to the virus.” South Wales’ first full scale gin distillery, Hensol Castle Distillery are usually in the business…

Former NHS worker Anne Jones may have headed off into retirement but she is still doing her bit in the war against Covid 19 on the home front Having begun her career in Morriston Hospital in the 1960s, and finishing up working in admin in Singleton Hospital’s neonatal department, Anne, who has a daughter working as a nurse in Swansea Bay, was determined to help. Encouraged by her friends in the village of Norton, Gower, she decided to mobilise her sewing skills to make gowns for health board staff after hearing that those used for training had seen better days.…

When Paul Hornblow put-up a temporary closed sign in his shop window in Cardiff’s Morgan Arcade because of the coronavirus lockdown, he never imagined his own daughter would be struck down by the very same virus. Within days of moving his luxury watch business online the father-of-four’s eldest daughter, Ellis, a nurse at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Pontyclun, was diagnosed with COVID-19. It was a worrying time for the family, but thankfully she went on to make a full recovery and is back at work helping patients. Now Paul is showing the same fighting spirit with his business Watches…

Work is about to start on significant structures at the £135m Swansea arena regeneration project. Steel frames due to go up over the coming weeks will form the skeleton of the arena and associated buildings on the Swansea Central Phase One site. Hundreds of tons of steel will emerge above the site’s safety hoardings and will reach a height of 24m. Council leader Rob Stewart said: “Work on the arena site has continued during the recent period of restrictions, in line with UK and Welsh Government guidance which allows construction to continue. “In the coming weeks steel work will emerge…

Lockdown hit TV viewers are being offered the chance to travel along the Wales Coast Path from the comfort of their own living room – including locations stretching from Flintshire to Anglesey and the Llŷn peninsula, across Cardigan Bay and Pembrokeshire to the Glamorgan Heritage Coast and the Severn Estuary. ITV Good Morning Britain presenter Sean Fletcher will be meeting some of the many amazing characters who live and work along the 870-mile route which runs from Flintshire to the River Wye. The six-part series, Wonders of the Coast Path was filmed by ITV Cymru Wales before the Covid 19…

The Caring Foundation has announced that it will be donating and delivering meals to the Welsh Ambulance Service in Cardiff and the surrounding region. Uniting Richard Caring’s hospitality brands in Wales including The Ivy Cardiff and Bill’s Restaurant & Bar, company volunteers will be preparing 1,500 meals a week for the Ambulance Service, with dishes including The Ivy’s iconic traditional and vegetarian Shepherd’s pies, and Bill’s popular Green Chicken Curries and Macaroni Cheese. The Caring Foundation is a privately run, family foundation created in January 2020 by Richard and Patricia Caring. Richard Caring owns and operates multiple businesses in the…

A Cardiff-based business can continue designing and building sets for West End productions post-lockdown with the support of Lloyds Bank. Bay Productions, which works with renowned opera and theatre producers including Cameron Mackintosh and the English National Opera, has secured a six-figure funding package via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). The funding will support the firm’s cashflow while it is unable to operate as normal during the Covid-19 outbreak. The firm’s 50-strong team has seen a number of its projects paused. This includes the set for the new Disney musical, Frozen, which is scheduled to open in London…

A local mum and businesswoman has told how her daughter’s virtual birthday party inspired her to launch a fundraising event for the NHS where families dress up at home to raise money for the healthcare service. Bernie Davies, the Franchise Director of Introbiz Swansea and West Wales, has partnered with Swansea Building Society to launch #DressForNHS on Thursday May 7, 2020. Lora Mua, TV personality, model and the current Mrs Wales, has become an ambassador for the initiative and has pledged the first £50. Families are invited to pay £10 per household and dress up as their favourite superhero or…

National Dance Company Wales (NDCWales) will be launching its new online programme, KiN: Connected, on Thursday 16 April across its website and social media channels as part of the Company’s desire to create a community for dance online with audiences, participants and the sector. At this critical time, how we tell stories through dance is fundamentally important.  KiN: Connected will be an online programme which will include some of the most popular, and previously unshown works, as well as running dance classes for adults and children, and the launch of a new commissioning opportunity to support the sector and freelance artists at this time of creative…