Author: Rhys Gregory

Applications are now open for the next Business Wales Start-Up Accelerator, a key initiative of the Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP). The ten-week, fully online programme will run from Tuesday, 30th September 2025 to Friday, 12th December 2025, offering targeted support to high-growth entrepreneurs across Wales. The accelerator is built for people with strong business ideas who want to take their concept to market and scale at pace. Through weekly webinars, focused masterclasses and one-to-one sessions with experienced coaches, participants build a resilient business model, secure their first paying customers and learn how AI tools can shorten research time and improve efficiency. Structured networking connects founders with peers, potential investors and sector specialists, while media activity helps them raise their public profile. Together, these elements shorten the distance between idea and revenue and open up routes to new markets. Applicants must live in Wales and present a pre-revenue idea capable of reaching £1 million annual turnover, creating at least…

A courageous carer has fought against devastating loss and life-changing illness to achieve her dream career and be crowned Learner of the Year. Emily Satterthwaite, who works at Pendine Park’s Penybryn care home, has had to overcome years of debilitating health issues, including being fitted with a stoma bag. She also suffered the loss of her beloved father and has supported both her mum and her partner through heart-wrenching cancer illnesses. But throughout even the most traumatic times she has never lost sight of her career goals as a senior care practitioner. Her resilience and unswerving dedication to those in…

During this year’s Eisteddfod yr Urdd in Port Talbot (26–31 May), the National Library of Wales hosted a special youth launch of its new 2025–2030 strategy — placing young people firmly at the heart of its future vision. Taking place on 28 May, the event was a highlight of the Library’s week-long presence at the festival, where photography served as the central theme. Among the photographers featured is Mary Dillwyn, one of Britain’s earliest female photographers — whose candid portraits of family life in 19th century Swansea, held in the Library’s collections, offer a powerful glimpse into Welsh history. While…

A £150,000 investment by the Development Bank of Wales in the Cliff Railway in Aberystwyth has put the iconic Welsh tourist attraction on track for a bumper season with 75,000 visitors expected to experience the newly refurbished Victorian railway carriages this year. Run by Constitution Hill Limited, Aberystwyth Cliff Railway it is the second longest electric funicular cliff railway in Great Britian at 778 feet long. It’s been an Aberystwyth landmark since 1896 and was electrified in 1921 before becoming a Grade II listed structure in 1987. The loan from the Development Bank has been used to carry out essential…

The British Business Bank has reached the landmark milestone of £5bn of lending across its structured guarantee programmes, ENABLE Guarantees and ENABLE Build, with more than £3bn delivered to businesses outside London and the South East. A total of £500m of funding has been provided in each of the North West, East Midlands and East of England regions. The ENABLE Guarantees programme is designed to encourage additional lending to smaller and medium-sized businesses. Participating institutions are incentivised by a government-backed guarantee to support defined portfolios of debt finance in return for a fee. Smaller and medium-sized businesses across the UK…

A former member of police staff has been convicted of passing on confidential information to her drug dealer boyfriend. Lucy Langmead, aged 44, from Pontypridd, was working for South Wales Police when she began a relationship in 2020 with Daniel Cozens, 37. An investigation by the force’s Anti-Corruption Unit found that between May 2021 and February 2022 Langmead accessed the police computer system and leaked confidential information to Cozens about his associates. Between May 2020 and March 2022 Langmead also accessed the police computer system unlawfully to obtain information concerning family members and associates. They were arrested and pleaded guilty…

The discovery of a large amount of fly tipped waste, which included bathroom furnishings, near a picnic site in Neath, led to a van driver appearing at Swansea Magistrates Court after concerned residents called in Neath Port Talbot Council’s Waste Enforcement Team. At the court on Thursday May 29th 2025, Richard Marc Holland, 47, of Jersey Road, Bonymaen, was fined £153 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs and a £61 victim surcharge after he pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. While the defendant was not seen to have deposited the waste, section…

A new affordable housing scheme has been launched in Pembrokeshire that helps first-time buyers to access the housing market and purchase their first home. Homebuy Pembrokeshire is funded by the Second Home Premium and addresses some of the issues buyers face when looking to purchase a home. Pembrokeshire experiences large variances in property prices across the County that can make many areas unaffordable for first-time buyers.  Despite saving a deposit and securing access to a mortgage, house prices can remain a barrier to home ownership. Delivered by Pembrokeshire County Council, Homebuy Pembrokeshire will help to remove this barrier by providing…

The Pencelli Hotel in Treorchy is thriving following its recent grand reopening! With the new owner having received important help from officers to secure funding and provide support for the building’s refurbishment, the Council is reminding businesses that support and grant opportunities are available to access. The former public house at Pencai Terrace had been permanently closed in 2022 after a series of intermittent closures during height of the pandemic. The building itself was in a poor condition, and a large amount of work was needed to bring it into a position to operate as a thriving business once again.…

An exciting new community sports hub under construction in Pontllanfraith is on track to open this summer. Senior councillors visited the site this week to view progress and were impressed with how the development is taking shape. The impressive £14 million development called Y Cwmpawd, is centred around  a new ‘Centre for Vulnerable Learners’ and will also boasts a 4-court multi-purpose sports hall, changing facilities and a small 3G pitch available for community use outside of school hours. The scheme forms part of the council’s ambitious Place Shaping programme, that delivers strategic investment across the county borough in facilities such…