Author: Rhys Gregory

A popular restaurant group that’s served 350,000 diners and spent £1.3 million with North Wales suppliers this year has been honoured with a top award for its massive contribution to tourism in the region. [aoa id=”1″] Dylan’s, which has three seaside restaurants in Menai Bridge, Criccieth and Llandudno, received the Special Recognition Award at the 2018 Go North Wales Tourism Awards. The glittering ceremony at Venue Cymru, Llandudno was organised by North Wales Tourism which represents more than 1,500 tourism-related members across the area. The audience was entertained by Britain’s Got Talent finalist Gruffydd Wyn Roberts, from Anglesey. Other…

A Kilsby Williams tax manager took a walk on the wild side, as she trekked along the Great Wall of China for five days to raise vital funds for charity. After hearing about an opportunity to use her passion for hiking to raise money for charity, Rachael Day jumped at the chance to take on the challenge with her partner Alastair and his colleagues at Ensono. She quickly decided to join the Caerphilly-based IT Consultants team and hike a challenging 35km of the world’s longest wall. As part of the Ensono team, Rachael helped raise over £20,000, doubling the original…

The MIB reported last month that thousands of people are unwittingly breaking the law by driving other people’s cars without insurance, resulting in over 3,000 vehicles being seized between July 2016 and June 2018. Research by Tempcover, a temporary motor insurance provider, reveals that over the past few years, most insurers have been quietly modifying or removing ‘drive any car’ clauses after they were increasingly abused by motorists looking to dodge rising premiums. That means that you can’t assume that you can just drive someone else’s car. These days, many drivers are unlikely to find the ‘drive any car’ clause…

After nearly two years of painful and protracted negotiations, the UK government and the European Union have finally agreed a text on the EU – UK Withdrawal Agreement, despite numerous delays and missed deadlines. The text runs to 585 pages and covers three main areas: (i) the financial settlement; (ii) the rights of EU citizens; and (iii) the Northern Ireland border. (i) The financial settlement deals with the outstanding liabilities the government faces with respect to its EU obligations, as well as contributions to the EU budget during the transition period. Although an exact figure has not been specified, initial…

Grants totalling £150,000 have been awarded to seven organisations in Wales through Innovate to Save. [aoa id=”1″] Managed by Y Lab and funded by Welsh Government, the grants will be used to test new ideas that have the potential to improve public services and generate cashable savings. Y Lab, the public services innovation lab for Wales, which is a partnership between Cardiff University and Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation will provide support and guidance to the projects over a 12-month period as they test and trial their idea.  Further support will be offered by Wales Council for Voluntary Action. Their…

School children across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan have been holding sessions for older people in the local community to raise awareness of and reduce the risk of falling. Staying Steady Schools was launched by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board with the help of Cardiff University students who hosted a number of sessions in local primary schools where children teach older people about the risk of falls and how to reduce them. Following a successful pilot earlier this year, Staying Steady Schools was named a Bevan Exemplar for 2019. The Bevan Commission, Wales’ premier think tank for health…

The 50 staff at a television company being turned into a mini-John Lewis have given their unanimous backing to the idea that’s making history in the broadcast industry. [aoa id=”1″] Independent valuers are now being brought in to put a price on Caernarfon-based Cwmni Da which will become an Employee Ownership Trust. The owner and sole shareholder, Dylan Huws, is handing over company ownership  to the workforce in a move that will cement the £5 million a year firm’s future in the town. As part of the deal that’s a first in the UK television industry, he will sell…

Ice temperatures inside the world’s highest glacier on the slopes of Mount Everest are warmer than expected, according to new research by glaciologists from Aberystwyth, Kathmandu, Leeds and Sheffield universities. [aoa id=”1″] The findings are revealed in a paper published in Nature’s respected open-access journal, Scientific Reports. Lead author Katie Miles and Professor Bryn Hubbard  from the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University, travelled to Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and 2018 as part of the EverDrill research project. Working at heights of up to 5,000 m, PhD student Katie Miles and Professor Hubbard used a specially…

The donation after circulatory death (DCD) consent rate in Wales has also improved and is now 68% compared to England 59.8%. [aoa id=”1″] Wales now has the highest combined DBD and DCD consent rate in the UK at 80.5%, when compared to England (66.2%), Scotland (63.6%) and Northern Ireland (66.7). On 1 December 2015, Wales became the first country in the UK to move to a soft opt-out system of consent to organ donation. This means that if a person has not registered a decision to become an organ donor (opted in) or a decision not to become an organ…

Swansea University has teamed up with Plastic Free Swansea and Swansea University Students’ Union to bring the Refill Revolution to the city. [aoa id=”1″] Refill Swansea – which launches on 24-25 November at the Waterfront Museum – is part of City to Sea’s award-winning national campaign Refill, which is being rolled out across Wales with the support of Welsh Government, Dŵr Cymru and Hafren Dyfrdwy. The grassroots scheme will encourage people to ditch pointless plastic and make carrying a reusable bottle the norm by providing convenient Refill Stations in venues across the city, including Swansea University’s Bay and Singleton campuses.…