Author: Rhys Gregory

A Welsh company that designs and manufactures prosthetic leg covers is expanding rapidly. LIMB-art, which was established by former Paralympian Mark Williams, has just become an accredited supplier to the NHS. It is the first time that prosthetic leg covers have been available to people on the NHS. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Preston and Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust are the first two Trusts to prescribe the innovative covers. To keep pace with the rapid growth of the company, Mark is opening new offices and a distribution facility. He is also looking to…

South Wales Police & Gwent Police become the first welsh forces to use mobile fingerprint technology on the streets. Police have the powers to take fingerprints to confirm the identity of a suspect. This month, South Wales Police and Gwent Police will be piloting new technology which will enable officers to take and search a persons identity using new fingerprint readers without having to take them back to a police station The mobile biometric device, named INK Biometrics (Identity Not Known), scans the  suspects fingerprints and will confirm their identity within 60 seconds if they are known to police databases.…

The NPTC Group of Colleges has launched a new initiative to encourage staff, students and visitors to ditch single-use coffee cups in a bid to reduce litter and waste. Reusable coffee cups are on sale at four NPTC Group campuses; Neath College, Afan College, Brecon Beacons College and Newtown College. Over 103,000 single use cups had been bought by the group between September 2018 and July 2019. To tackle this “throw away” culture, customers will now benefit from a 10p discount on every hot drink purchased when using a reusable cup. Many single-use cups are made of a difficult-to-recycle mix…

A beautician from Tycroes has raised over £1500 for Diabetes UK Cymru with a non-stop nail-a-thon lasting over 24 hours. This is the third year Lowri Vaughan-Hadley, 31, has staged the challenge. This year she broke her previous record by completing 33 manicures in 26 hours. The event raised a total of £1570, taking her total fundraising for the charity to almost £4500. Lowri launched her beauty business, Lowri’s Vanity House, in 2015. She was inspired to support the charity in honour of her mother, Michelle Hadley, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was just three years…

A reduction in the number of properties being made available for sale has significantly impacted activity in the housing market in Wales, according to the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Residential Market Survey. Anecdotally, surveyors point to uncertainty around Brexit as the key factor in the reduction in ‘vendor instructions’ during September, which they say has caused a slowdown in the market in Wales as a whole. A net balance of Welsh respondents to the survey (-16 percent) said that there were fewer properties coming onto the market last month. As a result, the number of newly agreed sales…

Their ideas and thoughts, gathered through public consultation this year, have been woven into Regenerating our City for Wellbeing and Wildlife, a draft Swansea city centre green infrastructure strategy. It aims to help deliver: a greener city, with fewer hard surfaces, to help create a city centre that is a more attractive place in which to live and more resilient to climate change; more use of nature to provide space for wildlife, bring people pleasure and offer an improved experience for visitors and traders. The strategy – developed by Swansea Council, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and the Green Infrastructure Consultancy…

A band of rain will arrive across parts of Wales, central and northern England during the early hours of Friday and then remain slow moving through much of the day. Within this area 15-30mm of rainfall is expected widely. 50-70mm may occur across high ground of western Wales and potentially the Pennines. The band of rain will clear to the southeast by Friday evening. What to expect Flooding of a few homes and businesses is likely Bus and train services probably affected with journey times taking longer Spray and flooding on roads probably making journey times longer Local authorities affected…

FinTech Wales, the not-for-profit independent membership organisation for the FinTech and Financial Services industries in Wales, held its first event last night in Cardiff. [aoa id=”1″] Held at The Park House in the centre of Cardiff, the event welcomed over 100 people from the FinTech and financial services industries in Wales. Speakers included Anita Kimber, Digital and Innovation Partner from EY with breakout sessions with attendees from London Stock Exchange, Capital Law, Innovate, EPSRC, Disberse and Angels Invest Wales. The event also marked the official launch of FinTech Wales, providing an opportunity for the organisation to talk about its…

A popular half marathon will be celebrating its 25 anniversary next year with a record number of runners – with one of the founders helping to hand out the medals. Around 3,500 competitors from around the UK are expected to take part in the Village Bakery Half Marathon on Sunday, February 16. Everybody who completes the course will receive a shiny gold medal and a packet of award-winning Welsh Cakes made by Village Bakery who have been sponsoring the event since the word go. The family firm were persuaded to support the race by their former employee, retired engineer Peter…

As the tragic effects of allergies continue to hit the headlines, a Welsh business is helping the food industry fight back. It is thought that up to 8% of British children and 2% of adults suffer with a food allergy – and the problem is growing. PiQ Laboratories, based at UKSE’s Ebbw Vale Innovation Centre, works with food manufacturers to test for allergens to help them make sure  labelling is accurate and food is safe. Ashleigh Hirst-Knowles, PiQ Laboratory Manager, said allergies are an alarming and growing threat. “Allergy is the most common chronic disease in Europe, with the UK…