Author: Rhys Gregory

Cardiff Bus is taking over from Santa’s sleigh this month when it makes a special festive delivery to dementia patients at a local hospital. [aoa id=”1″] Cardiff Bus staff are transporting an abundance of donated gifts to Llandough hospital on December 21st. Gifts including chocolates, perfume, socks, books, and nail varnish, which have been collected by Cardiff Bus staff throughout December, will be delivered to patients during the day. They will be gifted to those being treated on Ward East 18, which provides specialist support to people living with dementia and other progressive brain diseases. The donations are part of…

Two people from Cardiff have appeared at the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey today (Friday 21stDecember) after pleading guilty to explosives offences. Edward Harris, 27, from Ely in Cardiff was sentenced to five years in prison for two counts of possession of explosives, two counts of manufacture and four counts of possession of  a document containing information useful to terrorism contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. A second person, 51 year-old Natalie Parsons was sentenced to two years in prison for two counts of possession of explosives. They were arrested following a joint operation by…

Kindle House, the independent boutique store in Ystradgynlais has beaten off stiff competition from across the UK to be crowned the People’s Winner of Save The High Street’s Britain’s Best Shop Window Competition. [aoa id=”1″] The inspiration for their winning design came during a trip to one of their suppliers back in January. Owner, Emma Purvis said “Our supplier had built a full-size house front in their show-room to display their products, we took one look at it and thought, that’s our Christmas Window!” Their current Christmas display is the first one where they’ve enlisted the help of retired D&T…

Nearly 800 people voted in Cardiff Cycle City’s first ever Cardiff Cycling Awards. The award ceremony took place last night in a packed Ride My Bike Cafe. The winners of the five categories were: Award 1. Biggest Contribution to improving Cycling in Cardiff NextBike Award 2. Cardiff School doing most to encourage cycling to school Radnor Primary Award 3. Worst street/path for potholes in Cardiff Newport Road Award 4. Worst junction for cyclists in Cardiff Newport Road generally! Award 5. The I Loves the ‘Diff Award for the Most Cycle Friendly Business Cardiff Metropolitan University The awards party also heard…

Local Lottery millionaires, ‘The Catering Girls’, delivered a millionaire worthy gold lottery playstation to the shop where they bought their winning £25,476,778.30 EuroMillions ticket in November 2017. Julie Amphlett, Sian Jones, Louise Ward and Doreen Thompson- four of the six lucky Catering Girls who banked £4,246,129.72 each when they hit the jackpot with their life changing EuroMillions ticket – unveiled the new shiny gold playstation in One Stop in Sandfields. The six-strong syndicate all gave up serving up dinner dishes straight after their win and have since splashed out on trip-of-a-lifetime holidays, properties and a new tumble dryer and mattress!…

A partnership between R&M Williams and Bristol Airport has this year created 150 new job opportunities for the construction sector in Wales. [aoa id=”1″] Cardiff and Swansea-based R&M Williams has won three building contracts with the Airport, the latest awarded this month with news that a new £5million Airline Crew Building project will be built by the firm. The projects, worth a combined total of £18 million to R&M Williams, are part of ongoing development which will enable to the Airport to handle up to 10 million passengers by the early 2020s. In the past 12 months, the company has…

Staff and students at Cardiff-based St David’s Catholic Sixth Form College, have come together to raise over £1,800 for the homeless community in Cardiff. With the money raised, St David’s has provided 64 people with a place to go this Christmas. Just £28.18 buys someone three meals, a bed, a shower, a health check and treatment, expert mental health and addiction help, advice on housing and employment, and a way out of homelessness through education and training. During their pastoral tutor sessions for the first two weeks of December, the students looked at homelessness across Cardiff; gathering statistics and researching…

Welsh business confidence dipped nine points to 20 per cent in December, according to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. [aoa id=”1″] The decline in confidence was largely due to companies feeling less positive about the wider economy, with economic optimism falling by 17 points to 14 per cent. But businesses’ confidence in their own prospects remains steady at 28 per cent in Wales, while the UK average dropped five points to 26 per cent. A net balance of 18 per cent of Welsh firms now plan to hire more staff over the next year, down 11…

A 23-year-old Cardiff University student has launched his own virtual reality company for the property and retail sector to help tackle some of the challenges both industries face in the digital age. [aoa id=”1″] George Bellwood, a marketing student in his final year of studies, founded Virtus Tech, a B2B company which uses virtual and augmented reality to tour retailers and view homes on the market, blending real and digital experiences for customers and homebuyers. He got the inspiration for Virtus Tech during a lecture about retail industry issues and, with a background working in retail, he decided he wanted…

Familiar faces from the rugby world were given a work-out at Sardis Road last week, when they faced stiff competition from a community group doing wonders for physical and mental health in Cwm Taf. Former Wales captain Ryan Jones and Scrum V presenter Phil Steele joined in a tournament at the Pontypridd RFC ground following the success of a walking rugby project, which is supported by the Taff Ely primary care cluster and has attracted the support of the WRU. Four teams braved a near-freezing pitch in the hour-long tournament, including Ryan, Phil, USW Women’s Rugby, Cambrian and Play It…