Author: Rhys Gregory

Community groups, churches and chapels, voluntary and non-profit organisations that wish to improve and increase the range of facilities, activities and opportunities within Ceredigion are encouraged to apply to the Ceredigion Community Grant Fund. Grants are available towards the purchase of land, buildings, equipment and the upgrading of existing facilities. There are two grants: a Capital Grant Fund and a Policy Grant Fund. Capital Grant The Capital fund is currently open: 2024/2025 Capital Fund is open until 10 January 2025 – we are now taking applications for projects that can be completed by 1 March 2025. 2025/2026 Capital Fund is…

Scientists have devised a new way of creating alternatives to palm oil in our food and cosmetics. Demand for palm oil is set to increase by 40% in the next decade. It is well known to have a very harmful impact on the environment – destroying tropical forests and natural habitats. Academics at Aberystwyth University have worked with Sun Bear Biofuture to find a way of fermenting yeast to produce an alternative oil with similar properties to palm oil but without the damaging effects. By using cutting-edge fermentation and molecular biology techniques, the research team aims to reduce reliance on…

More than 4,400 Self Assessment customers avoided peeling the sprouts to file their tax return online on Christmas Day, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can reveal. In total, 40,072 customers – as well as spending the three-day holiday indulging in usual Christmas pastimes of eating, drinking and watching festive favourites on the TV – found time to go online and wrap up their 2023 to 2024 tax return, well ahead of the 31 January deadline. Festive filing statistics show that over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day: 15:00 to 15:59 proved to be the most popular time to file…

As New Year’s Eve approaches, many of us are excited to welcome friends and family into our homes for a night of celebration. And with over a third of UK households now shared with a dog, owners may be keen to include their canine companions in the fun. But for our four-legged friends, the loud noises, flashing lights, and unfamiliar faces can make the festivities overwhelming. Ahead of the countdown to 2025, Dogs Trust Bridgend has issued some top tips to help you ring in the New Year with your canine companion’s comfort and safety in mind. Dogs Trust’sTop Tips for…

Daring to Dream, the charity whose mission is to support the emotional health and wellbeing of adults in Wales living with physical illness, held its first formal briefing event – ‘Making space to talk about emotional health’. Opened by Sarah Murphy MS, Welsh Government Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, the briefing was attended by patients, medical and health board staff, and representatives from many health charities. During the event, the charity’s founder and chair Barbara Chidgey outlined empirical research demonstrating that emotional health plays an essential role in enhancing quality of life for people living with physical illness, as it…

Marking 20 years since the Boxing Day tsunami, BBC Cymru Wales announce a two-part anniversary special, ‘Tsunami 2005: One night in Cardiff’, telling the extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of Wales’ biggest ever fund raising concert to be broadcast early in the new year. In 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 struck off the coast of Indonesia, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people and displaced thousands as entire communities were swept away in the devastation. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. 14 counties countries around the Indian Ocean basin were impacted and…

On Sunday, November 10, around 9pm, an unmarked police car was patrolling along Mumbles Road in Swansea, when their attention was drawn to a red Seat Ibiza being driven at speed. When officers tried to stop the car, driver Ethan Grant failed to stop and drove away at speed. He was driving at speeds of more than 50mph and in some parts reached 70mph whilst being in 20mph and 30mph zones. Grant, 21, continued to drive erratically, running through red lights without slowing down and showing no care towards other drivers. As Grant neared a small roundabout with the junction…

Work has been carried out at a Denbighshire primary school to provide better energy efficiency for staff and pupils and lower long term building energy costs. Denbighshire County Council’s Energy Team has worked to tackle energy efficiency and lower costs at Ysgol Bodfari. The team has managed a number of projects across Council owned buildings including schools, to help improve building energy efficiency, reduce emissions and also usage costs over the longer term. The Council’s Energy team assessed the building to see what areas of energy use could be improved to increase efficiency. Work at Ysgol Bodfari included the installation…

A far greener Castle Square and the completion of several major new developments are on the way to Swansea in 2025 to boost city centre footfall and help attract more shops and other businesses. The schemes form part of a £1bn regeneration programme that will continue throughout next year and beyond. Led by Swansea Council and due to start in early 2025, work to transform Castle Square will feature a substantial increase in green space including lawns and planting. A new water feature for interactive play will also feature, along with new outdoor seating areas, a giant new TV screen…

“Blwyddyn Newydd Dda – Happy new year to you all. “I hope you had a joyful and peaceful Christmas. “As this year draws to a close, we can look ahead with hope to 2025. “Over the next year we will continue to focus on the things that you told us mattered most to you. “At the top of that list was more support for our NHS – so we’re investing more in equipment for the health service, speeding up how quickly patients are seen and cutting delays in patients being discharged so that they can get home more quickly. “We…