Author: Rhys Gregory

Teams of local volunteers in South Wales are hard at work packing up hampers of seasonal eats and treats, ready to hand-deliver them to older people in need. Thanks to support from the Asda Foundation, volunteers from Royal Voluntary Service, the national volunteering charity, will be hand-delivering hampers packed with festive fayre to people that are supported by the charity at home and in the community.  Karyn Morris, Commissioned Services Operations Manager for Royal Voluntary Service in South Wales, said: “Loneliness can be a real problem for those without family or friends nearby, particularly older people, at Christmas.  In recent…

A kind-hearted Mid Wales and Shropshire company has ensured that 50 children from struggling Newtown families will receive a gift this Christmas. [aoa id=”1″] As Rees Astley Ltd, Independent Financial Advisers and Insurance Brokers, will be celebrating its 50thbirthday in 2019, the company decided to donate a toy for each year it has been in business. The donation was made to Newtown Salvation Army’s Christmas Toy Appeal which is supporting local families who are struggling to buy gifts for their children this Christmas. “So far this winter the Salvation Army in Newtown has received 160 referrals for children’s toys, so our…

COLEG CAMBRIA is going for gold after celebrating a year of Duke of Edinburgh Award success. [aoa id=”1″] The north east Wales organisation has 20 times more DofE participants than it did two years ago and has just announced a record number of entrants into the gold award scheme – double the amount they had in 2017. This year also marks Alan Lowry’s 30th as a coordinator for the DofE; he says the resurgence of the scheme reflects the college’s culture of health, fitness and wellbeing as part of the Active Cambria programme. “The DofE has just grown and grown…

A children’s charity has revealed that more than 140 referrals were made to authorities over child neglect concerns in North Wales over the last year. According to NSPCC Wales Appeal Board Chairman Alan Peterson, it is contacted on average 55 times a day by adults from across the UK worried about neglect. The charity’s helpline hears from concerned adults with reports ranging from children being left unsupervised or with inadequate clothing, to being screamed at or living amongst mouldy food and animal faeces. Many of these concerns were so serious that they were referred to agencies including local authorities and…

Broadcaster and writer Guto Harri, who worked for former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, has received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Wales. [aoa id=”1″] Guto received the honour during USW’s annual winter graduation ceremonies, held at the Treforest Campus. Born in Cardiff, Guto studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University before undertaking a postgraduate course in Broadcast Journalism. He started his career as a journalist at the South Wales Argus, before moving into Welsh-language radio, national radio and television. [/aoa] He became the BBC’s chief political correspondent in 2002, before moving onto the role of North…

Promising Christ College 1st XI player Beth Wood has won a prestigious Hockey Writers’ Club National Youth Award for her contributions to hockey for school, club and country.  Beth, who joined the College from Brecon High School in September 2017, played a key part in the U18 side that retained the Welsh National Championship title in March and is the current 1st XI team’s top scorer, with an incredible 24 goals in 10 matches (a school record)! She also plays for one of Wales’ leading club sides at Cardiff Metropolitan University – Cardiff Met Hockey Club – and has also…

Bus stop alterations and route changes are set to come into effect from January due to the demolition of Cardiff’s St David’s House in the city centre. [aoa id=”1″] The area, which is located on Wood Street opposite the new Central Square development, is being redeveloped and will see the withdrawal of the existing bus stops on that street from Sunday 6thJanuary. These include service 4, which will depart from the Royal Hotel bus stop on Westgate Street; and service 18, which will follow the same route as service 17 entering the city centre via Westgate Street, not serving Wood…

Two years ago, when the UK government finally confirmed the scrapping of the Severn Bridge tolls for good, the joy across Wales was mitigated by the simultaneous news that plans for the electrification of the main railway line between Cardiff and Swansea had been cancelled. There has been much celebration – and traffic congestion – this weekend, when tolls were banished and businesses across Wales are ready to embrace it. Robert Lloyds Griffiths, Director of IoD Wales, is among the many long-term advocates of the development and said: “We in the IoD have consistently expressed the view that transport connectivity…

Budweiser is to be brewed with renewable electricity as AB InBev UK inks a deal with Europe’s largest solar energy company, Lightsource BP, to purchase 100% renewable electricity for its UK operations. [aoa id=”1″] The 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) will roll out 100 megawatts of solar power, making it the largest unsubsidised solar energy deal in UK history. Lightsource BP will fund, develop and operate solar installations that will generate enough electricity for AB InBev’s breweries to power the equivalent of 18,000 homes. AB InBev’s two main UK breweries, based in Magor, South Wales and Samlesbury, Lancashire, produce…

Wales’ largest building society committed to supporting three charity partners – homelessness charity Llamau, Cancer Research Wales and the School of Hard Knocks, which uses sport to help disadvantaged communities – for the past three years. Colleagues at Principality’s 53 branches and 17 agencies across Wales completed a range of activities to raise the big total for the three causes.  These included a  midnight mountain walk up Snowdon, sleeping rough at Llamau’s annual ‘Sleep Out’ at Cardiff City Stadium, as well as  trekking 16 miles across the south Wales coast dressed as superheroes. Julie-Ann Haines, Chief Customer Officer of Principality…