Author: Rhys Gregory

Across Wales right now teachers should be settling back into the new summer term after the Easter break, ready to introduce new schemes of work or put into practice some new professional learning. In reality this is the sixth week that schools have been in lockdown. Headteachers and teachers have been working in repurposed hubs, setting home learning for their pupils, supporting the emotional wellbeing of their colleagues, pupils and parents as well as home schooling their own children all while dealing with the most significant global crisis for a century. On the whole the Welsh Government and the education…

Starting on 29 April until 3 May, Cardiff Music Festival will deliver a multitude of sounds directly to your home. University of South Wales (USW) Music & Sound students have been working hard to transform, what was originally planned to be a series of live gigs in Cardiff, into a real-time event of multiple live streams. In partnership with Keep Cardiff Live and Dazed, the USW students had to quickly adapt when the Covid19 pandemic brought with it a unique set of circumstances where those plans were no longer possible. Overcoming many technical challenges, the students will be hosting the…

Savills, on behalf of Aeron Properties Ltd, has let almost 10,000 sq ft of office space at 11-13 Penhill Road, in Pontcanna, Cardiff, to Jeffrey Ross Ltd. The property, which comprises 9,333 sq ft (923 sq m) of offices and 21 car parking spaces has been let on a 10-year lease at a rate of £10 per sq ft per annum. Penhill Road is located in a prominent position within the popular suburb of Pontcanna, just 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of Cardiff city centre. Jeffrey Ross Ltd. is a family-run firm of estate agents, with offices across the Cardiff…

Cancer Research UK nurse from Abergavenny has been asked to join the fight against Coronavirus and use her experience to help experts find better treatments. Mandy Edwards, the charity’s lead research nurse in Wales is helping experts across the UK to collate and co-ordinate crucial data from Covid-19 patients to be analysed, as part of the UK wide endeavour to find better treatments for the virus through research. The nurse, is part of a team of research nurses and doctors in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area, who are working on the Randomised Evaluation of COVID Therapy (RECOVERY) trial…

With most staff on Talyllyn Railway at Tywyn in Mid Wales having been furloughed due to the Coronavirus lockdown, two new recruits are doing donkey work trackside and at stations on the seven-mile line. The railway’s four-legged friends, Hamish and Lady Maude, are have been drafted in to graze the grass around Rhydyronen station and keep the trackside undergrowth in check. The line’s closure may be bad news for the team running the world’s first preserved railway, but Hamish and Maude are enjoying the absence of trains to fill their bellies! Talyllyn Railway’s general manager Stuart Williams explained that it…

A Welsh pet food company has donated thousands of pounds worth of dog food to a local rescue centre to help it keep going during the Covid-19 crisis as it struggles to stay afloat during such uncertain times. Kidwelly-based Burns Pet Nutrition, a natural pet food company that already helps over 40 rescue centres across the UK, is supplying much-needed food donations to South Wales animal charity, Hope Rescue. The family firm, which specialises in producing high quality dog food made up of all-natural ingredients, is providing the centre with three-months’ worth of nutrition to see it through the lockdown…

The remarkable efforts of centenarian charity walker Captain Tom Moore will be helping to brighten the lives of hospital patients and staff in North Wales during the coronavirus crisis. So far, the war veteran has raised more than £28 million for NHS Charities Together after completing 100 laps of the garden at his daughter’s home in Bedfordshire ahead of his 100th birthday. The money will be shared among the network of 170 NHS charities across the UK, including Awyr Las in North Wales. And things could get even better because Captain Tom’s fundraising is set to smash through the £30…

A social care leader says news that care home deaths from Covid-19 have doubled is “utterly shocking but not surprising” because the virus has been imported into them by patients discharged from hospital. Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, said the newly-published figures from the Office of Nationals Statistics (ONS)were an indictment of the failure to lock down earlier and harder. Accepting hospital patients into care homes had, he said,  played a major role in enabling the spread of the infection at such an alarming rate. The report from the ONS showed that in the week ending…

The UK’s largest retailer has announced its plan to provide a £30million package of support to local communities across the country, with a £500 grant available for local groups in Cardiff. In a recent letter to colleagues and customers, Tesco’s CEO Dave Lewis outlined plans to provide £30million of support for local communities including £25million in food donations. To further help local communities, a Bags of Help COVID-19 Community Fund has been created which aims to support as many groups as possible across the country with grants of £500. One of the first charities to benefit from the funding in…

South Wales Police officers were called to Blackmill Shop on Blackmill Road shortly after 7pm on Monday, April 27. A shop worker suffered minor injuries after she was struck by a missile – believed to have been from a crossbow – during the incident. Christopher Bessant, 34, from Brynmenyn, Bridgend and Esther Callow, 34, from Coity, Bridgend have both been charged with the armed robbery of the Blackmill Shop. They will appear before Bridgend Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 29 April, 2020.