Author: Rhys Gregory

A new eco-friendly police station that’s been kitted out with upcycled furniture and has a host of energy-saving features has been hailed as the greenest in the UK. [aoa id=”1″] North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones officially opened the new Eastern Command and Custody Facility in Llay and revealed that some of the refurbished desks and chairs came from the former divisional HQ in Wrexham that it’s replaced. The state-of-the art building, costing £21.5 million, has an 80 kilowatt solar array on the roof and rainwater harvesting for washing 85 police vehicles a week. [/aoa] Smart LED lighting…

A seven-year-old boy from the south Wales valleys has won the exciting opportunity to name a ride at Wales’ largest theme park. [aoa id=”1″] Jett Thomas, from Blackwood, Caerphilly, has been selected by Oakwood Theme Park as the winner of a Wales-wide competition to name three of the planes on its popular aerodrome ride. The Pembrokeshire-based park was looking for inspiration for the attraction, which features eight rotating planes themed around Croydon Aerodrome – London’s biggest airport at the time of the Peter Pan story. [/aoa] With five of the eight planes already named after individuals with connections to the…

A student from Cwmbran is aiming to take the fashion world by storm after winning a placement at one of the world’s leading retail businesses. [aoa id=”1″] Paige Leach, 22, has won a competition run by the British Fashion Council, and now will undertake a six-month contract with fashion house Givenchy. Paige beat a massive pool of students from across the UK to win the prize, and will be working from Givenchy’s base in Paris. [/aoa] Paige, who is in the final year of her fashion design degree at the University of South Wales (USW), said she was overjoyed with…

A new pet health report released by Welsh pet food producer Burns Pet Nutrition has highlighted a worrying insight into the minds of UK pet owners with findings showing that over a third of dog owners are ignoring significant red flags in their pet’s health, and that overfeeding could be a major issue. One in ten Welsh dog owners admit to feeding their dogs more than the recommended feeding guidelines and 47% of Welsh respondents confessed to ignoring guidelines completely. This is despite the fact that overfeeding is responsible for a number of significant health issues. Furthermore, a fifth of…

British Heart Foundation (BHF) Cymru and a number of Welsh health organisations want life saving skills to be taught in all secondary schools in Wales as part of the new school curriculum. [aoa id=”1″]BHF Cymru, BMA Cymru, British Red Cross Wales, St John’s Cymru and the Royal College of Nursing believe that adding CPR and life-saving skills to the curriculum, will give students in Wales the chance to understand how they can help in an emergency and will improve the odds of survival for the many thousands of people in Wales who have a cardiac arrest in the future.[/aoa] There…

The family of 21-year-old Lauren Griffiths, whose body was found at a property in Cathays, have described her as a “beautiful bubbly girl”. Emergency services were called to Lauren’s flat in Glynrhondda Street at around 6.10pm on Tuesday, April 30. Lauren’s family, who live in the Oswestry area and who are being supported by specially trained liaison officers, have issued the following statement: “Lauren was a beautiful bubbly girl. She loved being part of a large family and was a real people person. Lauren’s fun and unique dress sense always made her stand out in a crowd and she was…

One of the Great Little Trains of Wales has gone green after harnessing the power of the sun to help run the historic 154-year-old railway. [aoa id=”1″] The historic engines of the Talyllyn Railway, founded in 1951 and the oldest heritage railway in the world, still puff their way from Tywyn to Abergynolwyn and back on a diet of Welsh steam coal but solar power now helps out with the railway’s hefty electricity bills. That’s thanks to a £15,000 array of 40 solar panels Denbigh-based Hafod Renewables have installed on the roof of Wharf Station and which generates 12,000 kilowatt…

TWENTY-THREE of Wales’ most impressive and community beneficial property schemes battled it out for top honours at the RICS Awards 2019, Wales, last night (Wednesday 1st May), where Llwyn Celyn, Abergavenny – one of the earliest surviving domestic buildings in Wales – took the overall ‘RICS Project of the Year, Wales’ title. [aoa id=”1″] The annual RICS Awards, Wales – held at the Exchange Hotel, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff on Wednesday night – celebrate inspirational built initiatives in Wales, and the skills of the teams behind them, across eight categories. A remarkably little-altered medieval hall house built in 1421, Llwyn…

Global business Intelligence specialist Creditsafe has announced that it wants to bring business etiquette back to the boardroom and that starts with a group wide ban on mobile phones, tablets and computers in meetings.  2016, saw Creditsafe clamp down on mobile phone use in meetings and three years on the policy has shown such an increase in productivity and creativity that the business with sixteen offices across fourteen countries has pledged to bring etiquette back to business with a commitment to banning not only phones but all digital technology from meetings, and that’s just for starters! [aoa id=”1″]The business has issued guidelines…

TUI, the UK’s largest holiday company, has this week celebrated its first flights for summer to three new destinations for 2019 from Cardiff Airport. [aoa id=”1″] Holidaymakers from Wales boarded the first flight to Naples (Italy) today with Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Hurghada (Egypt) flights taking off later in the week, so customers can also now enjoy the popular destination of Croatia, plus the resurgence of Egypt with these new flights from Cardiff Airport. Flights to Naples have been added to support the new homeport for the cruise ship Marella Explorer 2 which will sail to some of the finest European…