Author: Rhys Gregory

WELSH care company Abacare has recently (March, 2019) joined a growing list of care providers coming together to help recruit 20,000 carers in Wales by 2030. [aoa id=”1″] Abacare is just one of hundreds of businesses that are getting behind the recently launched WeCare Wales campaign. Peter Angelides, Managing Director at Abacare, which provides care across Wales and has offices in Bangor, Newtown, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Ystradgynlais, said: “Currently there are around 113,000 people in the social care sector and the number of elderly people over the age of 80 is expected to increase by 44% in Wales by…

Female dementia patients can visit their very own hair salon before enjoying afternoon tea or popping to the pub. Innovative staff at Swansea’s Cefn Coed Hospital’s Onnen Ward have recreated a hair salon and tearoom, called Serenity, in a bid to enhance the care given to their patients – visits to the facilities often help calm patients and help bring back memories. The move comes after colleagues on the neighbouring Derwen Ward set up a pub for their all-male patients and it is hoped that the ladies will be able to share those facilities, under supervision, in the future. Clinical…

A North Wales business that makes environmentally-friendly decking materials is flying the flag for manufacturing at Futurebuild, a major construction and built environment tradeshow in London this week, thanks to support from manufacturing organisation, Made in Britain. EcoDek has been manufacturing decking for gardens and homes made from recycled wood and plastic since 2002, repurposing around 3,600 tonnes of material a year to create its range of sustainable products. One of its most recent projects has seen it involved in the development of LivShare, a new concept of housing based on purpose-built, large shared houses with modern, modular construction techniques…

Cardiff partnership homes developer Lovell has appointed James Duffett as its new regional managing director for South Wales and the South West. James began his new role, based at the regional office at Greenmeadow Springs business park, Tongwynlais, Cardiff, at the start of this month.  He moves to Lovell after a 14-year career with Laing O’Rourke where he was commercial leader for major projects in the South West, responsible for key schemes in the residential, healthcare, science, and commercial sectors. His appointment follows the retirement of previous regional managing director Kate Rees. “James has exceptional commercial leadership skills and an…

A Valleys company specialising in the development of innovative additives for plastics is anticipating significant growth through export sales following a strong year of international orders. SteriTouch, based in Rassau Industrial Estate in Ebbw Vale, part of the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone, has received grant funding of £80k from the Smart Cymru programme as part of the company’s ongoing strategy of diversification and global expansion. The funding is being used for product development and the installation of advanced production and testing equipment, primarily for the new additive brands, SCOPIC and KONDUCT. Alongside continued investment in the SteriTouch range, the company…

Visitors to Cardiff’s Roath Park are being kept up to date with what’s going on at the popular amenity thanks to a £4,000 grant from Tesco’s Bags of Help Scheme The Friends of Roath Park group, which has been supporting the park since 2011, has used funding from the supermarket scheme to put up community noticeboards around the park to help keep local residents and visitors informed about what’s on. The funding has enabled the friends to provide more promotional space for local voluntary group initiatives, including assisting in the conservatory, litter cleaning and supporting with the upkeep of the…

The ferry industry is launching a public ballot for over 2,400 free pairs of ferry tickets during Big Ferry Fortnight, which runs from March 23rd – April 6th this year. All of Discover Ferries’ 13 ferry members, which operate more than 80 routes across the UK, Ireland and the British Islands, have come together to enable UK and Isle of Man residents to discover the large selection of ferry routes on their doorstep. The latest industry figures show that more than 38 million passenger journeys were made by ferry within the UK and to the British Isles, Ireland, France, Spain and Holland in…

Slim Chickens UK is launching ‘Tenders for Tunes’ – a national music exchange where old music can be swapped for a taste of their legendary life changing chicken. When it comes to good taste, Slim Chickens are about more than just the food. The Slim Chickens experience delivers freshly cooked, delicious chicken tenders in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, accentuated by their carefully curated playlist of the best of the blues, featuring classic hits by B.B King, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, to name but a few. So dedicated to your musical enjoyment, Slim Chickens even have their own Spotify playlist to enjoy…

A Welsh biotechnology business that generates renewable electricity is set to increase the amount of energy it produces, after receiving a £200,000 funding package from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. [aoa id=”1″] GP Biotec, based near Talgarth in Powys, uses industrial food waste and arable crops grown at its 600-acre farm to produce renewable energy through anaerobic digestion. The family run firm will used the six-figure sum to invest in state-of-the-art equipment, which includes two digester tanks. The development will complete the plans for the site that were outlined during the planning process in 2010, as well as doubling the company’s…

Latest figures from the UK wine industry detail a record-breaking harvest from last year, a doubling in sales both here and abroad and more land under vine than ever before. Further substantial growth is also predicted over the next two decades. A survey of the UK wine industry, conducted by its national association, Wines of Great Britain (WineGB), in conjunction with data analysts Wine Intelligence, confirmed that last year a record-breaking 15.6 million bottles were produced, 130% higher than the previous year’s crop in 2017 and far exceeding the previous record of 6.3m bottles in 2014. More production is forecast…