Author: Rhys Gregory

FOUR new faces at a rising recruitment company are trained on further success after a stellar start to the year.  [aoa id=”1″] And they will be joined by yet another key staff member in the coming weeks as award-winning Supertemps continues with its expansion plans. Having announced it will open a base in north east Wales, the Colwyn Bay and Bangor-based business is growing its own workforce at a rapid rate. The arrival of five new recruits since the Spring is testament to the vision of managing director Sarah Ellwood, who in the last year has also overseen the launch…

People attending the Council’s complex needs day services have joined the battle against plastic waste by setting up their own recycling group. The recent publicity around plastic waste and the problems it causes led to the decision to set up the group, with everyone keen to do their bit to reduce the amount of plastic waste. With support from staff at the service, the group has been learning about the importance of recycling and how to separate their waste into different bins. There are currently more than 20 members who meet on a weekly basis to gather all the waste…

Works are now underway to deliver a 21stCentury learning environment for pupils at Ferndale Community School, as part of wider £2m improvements being delivered at the school over the coming months. The Council is investing £85m into Rhondda and Tonyrefail schools in time for the 2018/19 academic year, with support from the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools and Education Programme. New ‘all through’ schools are being delivered in Porth, Tonyrefail and Tonypandy, while a number of local schools are benefitting from improvements being made over the summer. Ferndale Community School will benefit from two new ICT suites designed to 21st Century Schools…

A deal has been agreed for RNLI lifeguards to continue patrolling four Porthcawl beaches until the summer of 2021. Coney Beach, Rest Bay, Trecco Bay and Pink Bay will all be covered by the RNLI’s seasonal beach lifeguarding service. The patrols will be jointly funded by Bridgend County Borough Council, Porthcawl Town Council and Parkdean Resorts, with the RNLI covering additional costs through their national and local fund raising activity. The sight of RNLI beach lifeguards on duty is always reassuring for visitors. We’ve been teaming up with the RNLI since the summer of 2016 and are pleased for the…

A proposed new income tax to fund elderly social care would be “throwing good money after bad” unless there’s radical reform of the whole system, it’s been warned. The idea for the tax of between one per cent and three per cent was recommended in a report by top economist Professor Gerard Holtham which was commissioned by the Welsh Government. Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales which represents nearly 500 social care providers, welcomed the report as an “important contribution” to the debate about funding. Whilst the prospect of extra funding would be welcome, Mr Kreft feared…

An event promoting jobs in the domiciliary care sector has been held in Swansea. Organisations running employment support and training programmes have linked-up with care providers to improve the recruitment process. They came together at the event which was organised by Swansea Working and Partner Beyond Bricks and Mortar, an employability service run by Swansea Council and its partners to help people looking for jobs access the support that is most relevant to them. Care providers gave a presentation outlining the work they do and the opportunities that exist so that those running employment programmes could pass on a better…

There are lots of fun things to do and enjoy in and around Neath Port Talbot during the summer holidays – outdoors or indoors and for FREE! If your children prefer indoor fun, encourage them to better their reading skills by participating in the Summer Reading challenge. This year’s Reading Challenge theme is Mischief Makers, which is inspired by the popular children’s tittle Beano in celebration of its 80th Anniversary. Neath Port Talbot libraries are holding a number of activities for this year’s challenge which can be found on the What’s On section of the Council’s website, together with other…

An award-winning bakery have come up with a novel way of launching a recruitment drive for 20 new apprentices. The Village Bakery have turned two of their delivery vans into mobile adverts by wrapping them with a special design to get out the message: “We Knead a hand! The vans’ delivery route takes them around Wrexham and the surrounding villages. [aoa id=”1″] They are looking for young people aged between 16 and 20 to become the next generation of bakers, engineers and admin staff at the family-run firm. The company currently employs more than 400 people at their two bakeries…

A special taskforce born when a virulent batch of the synthetic drug Spice hit the streets of Wrexham in April last year has won a major award. Then authorities in the town ruled enough was enough and decided something had to be done to tackle the worsening problem. That led to the creation of the taskforce which has a particular focus on Wrexham’s homelessness problem and an addiction to the cheaply manufactured Spice and Mamba which so often accompanies it. Now the taskforce has been presented with the Drug Intervention Award by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones…

A woman from Pontypridd has received a medal from Diabetes UK Cymru for living with diabetes for 50 years. Sandra Spray Hazlehurst, 72, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 18 years old but has never allowed the condition to hold her back. She worked for HTV for 25 years and has for the last 10 years been a Governor on the Board of the University of South Wales. Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong condition that affects around 19,000 adults in Wales. People with the condition don’t produce the hormone insulin, which controls the amount of glucose…