Author: Rhys Gregory

Learna Ltd, a healthcare education company based at Cardiff Medicentre, has won a Silver Award in the flagship competition for the educational sector. The Learning Technology Awards, which took place in London, saw Learna fight off stiff competition in its sector to come second to the multi-national online language training company, Speexx, in the Best Online Distance Learning Programme category. Learna delivers postgraduate services to a global community, enabling continuing medical education through its Study PRN website and Diploma-Msc.com programmes, in conjunction with the University of South Wales. More than 2,000 medical professionals from over 100 countries have  so far graduated with…

Patients at the Marie Curie Cardiff and the Vale Hospice on Bridgeman Road, Penarth, met cast from the New Theatre’s production of Beauty and the Beast – including The Beast/Prince Sebastian, played by Hollyoaks and West End actor Ben Richards. The New Theatre’s spectacular family pantomime also stars comedian Mike Doyle and Stephanie Webber who visited the hospice last year, as well as Naomi Slights as Beauty. Lisa Riley, Gareth Thomas and Danny Bayne also star in the show, which promises a production packed full of sensational special effects, beautiful costumes, music, comedy, dancing, and audience participation. Between performances on…

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…