Author: Rhys Gregory

Commenting on the latest ONS UK Labour Market figures (July 2018), Gareth Edwards, Executive Search Director at UK leading specialist recruiter Acorn said:  “With the Bank of England deferring a decision on raising interest rates in May, the UK economy seems to be recovering from the slowdown seen in the first quarter of the year. A strong performance seen across all the major sectors has raised expectations that the monetary policy committee would now vote for a rate rise in August. “This week’s UK labour market data was expected to further confirm this forecast, but it is still not yet…

The STAMPEDE cancer trial has been responsible for improving the lives of hundreds of prostate cancer patients in Wales. The trial’s 10,000th patient was recently recruited, making it one of the world’s biggest cancer trials. This is an incredible achievement for prostate cancer research as a whole, especially here in Wales. In 2005, the very first patient was recruited to the study at Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff. Today, STAMPEDE is the largest ever prostate cancer treatment trial, and Velindre remains the largest recruiting centre. Many patients have also been treated on the trial in Singleton, Glangwili General and Bronglais…

Nearly 1,300 sites were identified as unsafe by Gas Safe Register’s inspections team last summer due to dangerous gas appliances being found, 18% higher than the number of unsafe sites recorded in winter months. Despite these findings, a survey of more than 2,000 UK adults found that one in five (19%) would only consider getting their gas appliances checked if they stopped working. Unsafe gas appliances can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and resulted in 201 call outs from the fire and rescue services last year. To keep the nation gas safe this summer, Gas…

Hot on the heels of the hugely successful Volvo Ocean Race, spectators can once again experience adrenaline-fuelled on-the-water action as the Extreme Sailing Series™ breezes in over the Bank Holiday weekend, 24th – 27th August.  Crowds of visitors lined the waterfront of Cardiff Bay for the event last year, basking in the sunshine as some of the world’s finest sailors competed in the only UK Act of the global and annual professional Series, enjoying a family friendly weekend wrapped around the intense competition.  In addition to the epic action involving Olympic gold medallists and round-the-world sailing legends just metres away…

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) has jointly launched the Wales Global Academy with the University of Wales to provide a focus for its vision of taking the best of Wales to the world and bringing the best of the world to Wales. The University has been at the forefront of forging global educational collaborations for many years, offering exciting opportunities for learners from around the world to engage in programmes of study that lead to University awards. Many of these programmes are offered through a number of collaborative partners who attended the launch and took part in…

The University of South Wales (USW) is once again this year offering bursaries to graduates who want to retrain as cyber specialists. USW runs the only Computer Forensics Masters degree course in Wales that is accredited by the Government security headquarters – GCHQ. And the institution is now offering bursaries to cover course tuition fees for graduates who are currently working outside the cyber sector, as part of £500,000 funding being made available by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The bursary is supported by the Government’s new National Cyber Security Programme and forms part of the…

The Dragon Hotel is the first establishment in Montgomery to sign up to Refill scheme, which aims to clamp down on single use plastic bottles. Refill is a national tap water campaign which aims to make refilling your water bottle easy and convenient by signing up refill stations. There’s a downloadable map app that lets you know the locations where you are welcome to fill your bottle for free. Attending a particularly warm Montgomery Street Fair, Sharon Bishop expressed her gratitude and support for the scheme saying: “Thank you for letting me refill my reusable water bottle all through the…

A £90 million investment in Denbighshire’s schools has seen more than 3,500 pupils benefit from improved facilities. The first phase of the Denbighshire County Council and Welsh Government funded 21st Century Schools programme has seen new schools built as well as major re-developments of existing sites with a quarter of the county’s pupils having their educational experience transformed. The first phase of the programme has seen a new £24million replacement school of 1200 places for Rhyl High School and Ysgol Tir Morfa, a £16.5m extension and refurbishment for Ysgol Glan Clwyd in St Asaph and a new £10.5 million joint…

Before the snow-storms forced the cancellation of the final shows in early March, Thriller Live was wowing audiences. Now it’s returning to Cardiff’s New Theatre from 23 – 28 July to fulfil those lost dates, and bringing with it all the magic of the world’s greatest music entertainer, Michael Jackson. Thriller Live first opened in the West End at the Lyric Theatre in January 2009 to rave reviews and is now one of the top-10 longest running shows in West End history. It never fails to get the audience on its feet and has received more than 3,500 standing ovations…

The Pembrokeshire branch of the Farmers’ Union of Wales in conjunction with Pembrokeshire County Council and Dyfed Powys Police, held a successful information day to help farmers get up to speed on scam awareness. The event was held at Mountain Farm, Haverfordwest, and heard from Sandra McSparron and Rebecca Elliott, Trading Standards Consumer Safeguarding Team, Pembrokeshire County Council, as well as Paul Callard, Dyfed Powys Police Financial Crime Team. FUW Pembrokeshire CEO Rebecca Voyle said: “This was an excellent opportunity for farmers to find out about telephone, mail and online scams which affect rural communities. I would like to thank…