Author: Rhys Gregory

Portal Educational Training has grown its management team with the appointment of Yvonne Bradley as work-based Learning Contracts’ Manager following a period of major expansion. [aoa id=”1″] Yvonne will manage Portal’s work-based learning contract ensuring that Portal reaches the achievement and attainment rates set by the companies they work with. Yvonne’s appointment comes following 18-months of growth in the business, which has seen its team in North Wales quadruple to cope with demand in the region and triple its overall staff headcount across Wales in the past three years. [/aoa] Speaking about her appointment, Yvonne said: “I am thrilled…

Ceredigion-based Llain Activity Centre has reopened under new ownership three years after closing, with the support of six-figure funding from NatWest. The entrepreneurial family team of Rhodri Davies and Gethin Williams have used £550,000 of finance from the bank to purchase the previously unused activity centre on the outskirts of Llanarth. [aoa id=”1″]Rhodri and Gethin acquired and opened the centre at the beginning of this year and are engaged in a continuous refurbishment programme generated from the centre’s income to transform the rundown site and upgrade the accommodation facilities.  By converting unused buildings into accommodation, Llain Activity Centre can now…

Visitors to Cadw sites will travel through time this summer, as the real characters of Wales’s historic sites return for Legends Live! — a fully-immersive historical events programme. [aoa id=”1″] Announced by Cadw this week, Legends Live! 2019 will ‘pop up’ at six monuments this summer — Castell Coch and the Castles of Caerphilly, Chepstow, Harlech, Conwy and Kidwelly. Summer 2019 marks the third annual return of the authentic interpretation series, which was designed collaboratively by Cadw historians and Past Pleasures — the experts behind interpretation at the Tower of London and Warwick Castle. [/aoa] Each event is unique to…

Some of the world’s best adaptive surf athletes – including former world champions Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart (AUS) and Bruno Hansen (DEN) – are amongst the competitors who have travelled to North Wales to take part in a world-first inland surf competition this week. [aoa id=”1″]The Welsh Adaptive Surf Championship will take place Friday 5 and Saturday 6 July 2019, on the man-made waves of Adventure Parc Snowdonia. It will be the first international adaptive surf championship to be held on an inland lagoon anywhere in the world.[/aoa] Twenty-four surfers – male and female – representing thirteen nationalities will take part…

An extra cash boost has been given to South Wales Police to help tackle knife crime. In May, The Home Office allocated £1.2 million to the force in a bid to make the region safer. The money is being used to extend the ‘Op Sceptre’ knife crime team in Cardiff and create a new team in Swansea to focus on reducing knife crime on the streets of South Wales. Cash will also help fund preventative community-based work with young people, targeted operations and back-office functions to keep the Op Sceptre officers on the streets. Chief Constable of South Wales Police,…

The Welsh Fitness Awards is delighted to announce that applications are open for the 2019 Welsh Fitness Awards. The Welsh Fitness Awards glittering black tie ceremony will be held on Thursday 19th September 2019, at Voco St David’s Hotel – Cardiff Bay. Hosted by Radio X’s Polly James. Launched in 2017 as the South Wales Fitness Awards, however due to the phenomenal growth and success they have now become the Welsh Fitness Awards. The categories for this year’s applications are: Personal Trainer of the year Fitness Club of the Year (Single Facility) Fitness Club of the Year (Multiple Facility) Fitness…

A pioneering fitness firm is helping industry leaders run up profits while losing weight and improving their health and wellbeing. [aoa id=”1″] Fast Way To Fitness has helped thousands of people to get in shape over the years via a series of innovative and ground-breaking programmes focused on hard work, eating the right food and creating a positive mindset. Based in Mochdre, the company has come a long way since being launched by managing director Ben Owen in 2011. [/aoa] Having graduated with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science from Cardiff University, the 32 year-old decided working as a…

HUNDREDS of visitors descended on Coleg Cambria Llysfasi for an event showcasing the best of farming, food production and agriculture in North Wales. [aoa id=”1″] Activities including a farmers’ market, sheep shearing competition and LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Open Farm Day attracted crowds and competitors from across the region. There were also forestry chainsaw demonstrations, rural arts and crafts, sheep dog trials, tractor rides, a digger challenge and more. [/aoa] Head of Llysfasi Iain Clarke thanked everyone who attended and said: “Despite the weather in the run up to the weekend we had a dry day with more than…

Work to improve the exterior of Singleton Hospital’s main block will start this month at a cost of around £400,000, with Welsh Government support. [aoa id=”1″] The project involves removing the cladding to the side elevations of the main block, and disruption will be kept to a minimum. It will take 20 weeks to complete. However it is only the first phase of a multi-million pound project to replace all cladding on the main block. [/aoa] Recent tests have identified some structural-related issues with the cladding installation. Preparatory work will begin during the week beginning Monday 8th July, with work…

A top class business is being sought to undertake construction work pivotal to the rebirth of a former south Wales industrial heartland. [aoa id=”1″] The company that succeeds in the Europe-wide competitive tender process will transform a key area of Swansea’s former Hafod Morfa Copperworks site. They will make the area, including the historic Powerhouse building, ready for Wales’s Penderyn Distillery to expand there and to fit it out as a new distillery and visitor centre. [/aoa] Robert Francis-Davies, the council’s cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, said: “This will be a high-profile work and we want a top…