Author: Rhys Gregory

South Wales Police can confirm that a body of a man was found in a wooded area near Bryntirion, Bridgend, on Sunday, January 13, 2019. Mr Cook, 44, was last seen at his home in Bryntirion between 3.30pm and 4.00pm on Friday 11 January. When last seen he was wearing blue jeans, trainers and a dark Superdry hooded top and a flat cap. Formal identification has yet to take place however the family of Neil Cook, who was reported missing on Friday, January 11, have been informed of the development and are being supported by specially trained officers. The death…

Social media influencers have faced heavy criticism for promoting a ‘loot box’ website. When anything controversial happens, the high-profile YouTuber Jake Paul isn’t usually too far away. Both Jake and Brian “RiceGum Le” have recently featured a company called Mystery Brand in recent videos, where people exchange money for unidentified prizes. Buyers can then choose to open the boxes and sell on, without receiving the physical items. The controversy all comes down to gambling laws and whether or not the Mystery Brand website is breaking any laws in their respective countries, or certainly advertising using social media influencers (although these…

Leading regional practice RDP Law has welcomed Kerry Beynon as a partner. Dr Beynon will head up RDP’s commercial / corporate team and will spearhead the launch of the firm’s new Intellectual Property and Data Protection services. Dr Beynon, a key influencer in her field, speaks internationally on the subjects of Data Protection and Cyber Security and has spoken recently at GISEC (the largest cyber security exhibition in the Middle East, Africa and Asia) and at the European Cyber Security Week in France. She said, “As a leading practice with a strong ethos and identity I am thrilled to be…

GMB, the energy union, is calling on the UK government to step in to ensure that Construction of the £16million Wylfa nuclear power plant in North Wales goes ahead. The cancellation by the Board of Japanese company Hitachi is expected on Monday, and the GMB says it will leave the UK’s energy plans “reduced to tatters”. It is the second time that GMB has called on the government to be prepared to take action over Wylfa, after the future of the project became less clear back in December. The Union says that the UK needs at least six new Nuclear…

The new works will be among the highlights of the critically-acclaimed Bangor Music Festival which gets under way at the city’s Pontio centre on Friday, February 8. According to the festival’s artistic director, Dr Guto Pryderi Puw, a senior lecturer in music and Head of Composition at Bangor University, the two-day event will be a unique opportunity to explore some new and stimulating music. A number of the new scores written by university music students will be performed with high-energy boomwhackers – lightweight, hollow, colour-coded, plastic tubes which are tuned to a musical pitch by length. Dr Puw said: “The…

Swansea BID (Business Improvement District) has appointed a new ambassador, who will be a champion for the BID area businesses, giving further support by listening to their concerns and views, in a move designed to help the City Centre flourish. Kate Williams, who has a background in retail and hospitality, and is an experienced youth worker in Swansea, steps into the role at a pivotal time for the City Centre – with its ongoing regeneration making a positive mark upon the area. Kate’s focus is to get out and about every week and regularly meet with the 800-plus BID area…

As we enter the dreary month of January following the festivities of the Christmas period, most of us have probably set ourselves some new goals or targets to aspire to in 2019. [aoa id=”1″] Whether these goals have been part of an overly ambitious New Year’s Resolution to change your life or be a new you – or even part of a less ambitious aim of having a ‘dry’ January – we all know that very often we never actually achieve our goals. Whilst we may have the best of intentions to change something in our lives, we know from…

The quartet clinched their final places at the Welsh International Culinary Championships (WICC) at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, Rhos-on-Sea on February 28 after closely fought semi-finals at NPTC Group of Colleges in Newtown. Oliver Thompson, 20, from The Bull, Beaumaris and Thomas Martin, 22, a sous chef at 13 Market Street, Caerphilly, who were Junior Chef of Wales finalists last year, will get a second chance to win the coveted title. Joining them will be Sion Hughes, 20, Carden Park, Chester and Daniel Britton, 21, from Celtic Manor Resort, Newport. The other semi-finalists were Calum Smith, 17, and James Jarvis, 18, from…

South Wales Police is appealing for witnesses following a fatal collision in Maerdy, Rhondda, yesterday morning (Sunday 13 January, 2019). Officers were called to the scene on Oxford Street shortly after 8.30am, after a white Ford Transit van collided with a parked Iveco Daily van. Despite the efforts of the emergency services, the 73-year-old driver of the Transit died at the scene. His family have been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers. Anyone who witnessed the collision, or saw the van being driven along Oxford Street prior to it, is asked to contact the Road Policing Unit…

The latest NatWest Wales PMI® data signalled a further loss of growth momentum in December, with business activity increasing at the slowest rate in the current 29-month sequence of expansion. At the same time, new business growth eased to only a fractional pace that was below the UK average. Softer client demand meanwhile led staffing numbers to increase at the slowest rate for five months and backlogs contracted further. Ongoing Brexit uncertainty weighed on business confidence, which remained subdued in the context of the series history and below the UK average. The headline Wales Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted…