Author: Rhys Gregory

Green Key programme goes from strength to strength in West Wales as more businesses embrace sustainable tourism. Four unique places to stay have been awarded the international Green Key award this summer. Guests can be reassured that these properties are helping protect the environment by operating in a sustainable way. The new additions are; Under Starr Skies in Llanwrda, Carmarthenshire The School House B&B in Pencader, Carmarthenshire The Old Rectory in Newport Pembrokeshire Twr y Felin Hotel in St Davids Pembrokeshire As well as the new additions Folly Farm Zoo and Top of the Woods Camping & Glamping have both…

Volunteers have helped make sure that a children’s centre playground in Swansea is at its sparkling best during the summer holiday. A team from the city’s Valuation Office spent a day at the playground, part of Hafan Y Mor at Singleton Hospital. The centre is for children with complex long-term needs, and the all-inclusive playground and sensory garden outside has been hugely popular with them and their families since it opened in 2014. Cerian Bidder, who has family links to the centre, works at the Valuation Office where staff have a day each to give time to charity. Hafan Y…

The Welsh Government and Bangor University are joining forces to help ensure that the seas around Wales are clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse. [aoa id=”1″] Bangor University’s research vessel, the Prince Madog will be used to gather data from the seas around Wales which will assist the Welsh Government to fulfil its marine and fisheries evidence requirements. Gathering evidence from the seas around Wales is essential in order to maintain good standards in our marine environment. This involves developing appropriate targets, indicators, assessment criteria and monitoring programmes to acquire relevant data. [/aoa] After Brexit, it is clear that…

The UK’s largest recycling, waste management and energy recovery company, Viridor, is cutting its annual road miles by more than 160,000 across the busy route between Cardiff and Bristol, the company has announced. [aoa id=”1″] Viridor, which owns and operates the Trident Park Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) in Cardiff, diverts in excess of 350,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste from landfill and generates 30MW of electricity for the national grid – enough to power around 50,000 homes. Trident Park ERF Operations Manager Tim Stamper said the annual reduction in road miles (162,268) was being achieved by moving most of its incinerator…

Study finds that brands fall behind providing a consistent omnichannel experience lacking with providing flexible delivery methods and modern customer support services as only 6% of brands meet the desire for same day delivery and only 32% of brands offered a live chat service on their website.  [aoa id=”1″] Swansea-based Veeqo,  the retail automation platform that helps retailers sync their inventory across multiple sales channels and fulfil customer orders, has released its 2019 Omnichannel Retail Report – a new research study that analyses where brands are thriving and failing with modern customer experience. The study found that while brands are…

UK businesses looking to maximise and future-proof the commercial success of their innovations can now get an in-depth picture of the market, competitors, opportunities and risks thanks to a brand-new service launched by Wynne-Jones IP. [aoa id=”1″] The intellectual property firm, which has offices in Cardiff, Cheltenham and London, has launched a Patent Analytics Service giving clients an insight into the patent landscape to support them in making informed decisions about their business strategies. Headed up by Matthew Veale, who has a search specialist background, the team will be using PatSnap and a suite of other state-of-the-art patent analytic tools…

Ahead of this Saturday’s Ulster Rally, sponsored by Northern Ireland-based convenience store chain Today’s, Aberdovey driver Tom Cave prepares for what could be the most significant event of the season. [aoa id=”1″] Tom currently shares the British Rally Championship lead with fellow Welshman Matt Edwards, both level-pegging on 68 points and with two wins, a second place and a DNF apiece. The penultimate event in the six-round season is shaping up to be a pivotal point in the chase for the title.  Therefore, with the nine timed special stages providing 93 miles of competition over the fast and technically demanding…

A business owner and cyclist from Devauden has set down an ambitious challenge to fellow road cycling enthusiasts: scale a legendary Welsh mountain three times in one day. Andy Williams, co-MD of Chepstow-based PR agency, Cohesive Communications, is encouraging cyclists to join him as he tackles the Bwlch x3 Challenge. Inspired by the ‘Club des Cingles’ of Mont Ventoux, the challenge is to summit the Bwlch mountain three times, via three unique, paved routes, in one day. Famously, the Bwlch mountain towers above the meeting point of the Rhondda, Afan and Ogwr valleys. Bwlch x3 involves over 1500 metres of…

A nature-loving duo will be inspiring families to embrace their “inner wildness” and help beat stress with “camp fire” cooking at a top food festival. [aoa id=”1″] Forest school and bushcraft experts James and Lea Kendall will be hosting interactive cooking workshops throughout this year’s Llangollen Food Festival to reconnect parents and children with nature to boost their mental wellbeing. The couple, who run the highly successful Woodland Classroom in Wrexham, will be unlocking the gastronomic secrets hidden in Wales’ hedgerows and forests and creating a range of mouth-watering treats during the festival, which takes place on October 19 and…

The UK Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Register, based at Swansea University, has been awarded just over £1m investment from UK charity, the MS Society. The Register is a ground-breaking medical research study that seeks to collect information from people with the disease about what it’s like to live day-to-day with Multiple Sclerosis. Established in 2011, it was the first UK-wide register of its kind for MS. It’s estimated that over 100,000 people live with the disease in the UK. MS is one of the most common non-traumatic causes of disability in young adults worldwide. MS is a disease of the central…