Author: Rhys Gregory

A female entrepreneur from Newport will reveal how she turned a small business running baby and toddler play groups into a successful company with over 40 franchisees when she appears at this month’s Ready Steady Grow – What Franchising Could Do For Your Business workshop in Cardiff. [aoa id=”1″]Helen Gillies, founder of Tots Play, will be one of the guest speakers at the event being hosted by NatWest and Darwin Gray Solicitors at the bank’s Entrepreneur Accelerator in One Central Square on June 20.[/aoa] She will share her journey of launching Tots Play in 2009 and the insights of franchising…

Swansea University has maintained its position as Wales’ top ranked university in this year’s Guardian University Guide. Published this month (7 June), the table ranks Swansea 31st  – the same position as last year – out of the country’s 121 universities by scoring each institution on a range of aspects, such as course and teaching satisfaction, entry scores, spend per student, student-staff ratios and graduate career prospects. [aoa id=”1″]The proportion of students satisfied with their course has increased significantly, with Swansea now ranked 4th in the UK. Swansea is also ranked joint 5th alongside Cambridge University for the proportion of students…

Carmarthenshire is hoping that the return of the Celtic Noir thriller Keeping Faith will continue to raise the profile of the county’s tourism offering and have launched a new Superfan Trail offering die-hard fans the chance to follow in the man character’s footsteps by mapping out filming locations. Series two started on S4C earlier this month with Welsh subtitles and is due to air in English on BBC1 in summer 2019. “Let’s hope that Keeping Faith does as much for Carmarthenshire as Gavin and Stacey did for Barry!” commented Peter Hughes-Griffiths, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board Member for Culture, Sport…

Economy and Transport Minister Ken Skates visited the new “Drone Zone” at Wrexham Glyndwr University this week to meet engineering students taking part in an international drone competition in north Wales next weekend. [aoa id=”1″]Hundreds of young engineers from around the world will be competing in the UAS Challenge, which is organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and backed by the Welsh Government.[/aoa] This is the first time a team from Wrexham Glyndwr, the only Welsh university in the event this year, has taken part in the competition which takes place from 16 to 18 June. Economy and Transport…

A kidney patient for over 35 years from Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, is running the Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff 10K for the 5th consecutive year to raise vital funds for race organisers and charity, Kidney Wales. Diagnosed with Chronic kidney disease in 1984, Brian Lewis, 67, from Tonypandy, has had many ups and downs with his condition. In 2013 it took a turn for the worse and he was told he needed to go on dialysis or have a kidney transplant. At this time he was also offered a third option, which was chemotherapy, a more aggressive and uncertain…

Abdulghalil Aldobhani, 22, from Cathays, and Shafique Shaddad, 24, from Butetown, have both been charged with murder. Aseel Arar, a 34-year-old woman from Birmingham, has been charged with assisting an offender. All three have been remanded in custody and will appear at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court tomorrow. Fahad’s family have been updated and continue to be supported by specially-trained family liaison officers. A 21-year-old man from Cardiff, who was arrested last night on suspicion of murder, is still being questioned. South Wales Police thanks the community for the support and information that has already been given during the investigation. Detective are…

Alexander Giles, 33, has been sentenced to six years at Swansea Crown Court today (Friday June 7th 2019) after pleading guilty to 23 charges relating to offences under the Explosive Substances Act 1883, which relates to chemicals and components that could be used in the manufacture of explosive substances or devices.  He also entered guilty pleas to three offences under Section 5 Firearms Act 1968 offences including possession of a Taser, two charges concerning the manufacture of Class A Drugs, and two charges of possession of Class A drugs. Giles was arrested following a pre-planned operation at his home address…

Yesterday, 12 volunteers from M&S Cardiff Capital and M&S Llanishen Cardiff joined Maes y Coed Community Centre to help rejuvenate its overgrown outdoor space, transforming its Wild Wood Area for local children taking part in summer activities. [aoa id=”1″]Maes y Coed Community Centre lies at the heart of the local community, providing fitness and martial arts classes, as well as community gardening and choir workshops for children, young people and adults. The centre was saved four years ago after two local residents prevented the centre being closed down by the council. The two volunteers have since turned into 34 volunteers…

Drivers are advised to plan ahead as the final phase of work to create a free-flowing motorway with a 70mph speed limit on the M48 Severn Bridge gets under way.   [aoa id=”1″]The work, which includes constructing a central reservation, installing kerbs, gullies and signage as well as safety fencing and barriers, resurfacing and road marking will require two weeks of full overnight closures between 8pm and 6am each night from Monday, 10 June until Monday, 24 June. [/aoa] Two full weekend closures are also required:  6am Saturday 15 June to 6am Monday 17 June   6am Saturday 22 June to 6am Monday 24 June  Drivers are asked to use the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge as an alternative…

Newport Wafer Fab (NWF), the UK’s leading 200mm silicon chip semiconductor processing facility, has completed a multi-million pound refinancing deal, involving a restructure of existing Welsh Government loans and a new asset finance facility from HSBC UK. [aoa id=”1″]The finance deal includes the early settlement of deferred consideration, the purchase of specialist, back end of line equipment to broaden the foundry’s manufacturing capabilities and a £3 million contribution to a new Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant designed to reduce utility costs by over £1.5m per annum.[/aoa] NWF is a critical component of CS Connected, the world’s first compound semiconductor…