Author: Rhys Gregory

21-year-old Freya Curtis has opened the first LGBTQ+ themed bar in Merthyr Tydfil with the help of a £35,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales to part-fund start-up costs. With live shows, karaoke nights and drag shows, Sparkles is already proving popular with the local community. Four part-time jobs have been created. As the daughter of Marnie and Matthew Curtis who run Merthyr Tydfil Labour Club, Freya has grown-up in the hospitality industry. She worked for her parents before deciding to start her own business venture. Freya said: “I’ve learnt so much from my parents about how to run…

Forty-three years into her life, Gwenno Saunders has been many people. The disaffected Cardiff schoolgirl; the teenage Las Vegas dancer; the singer in indie pop group The Pipettes. There was a turn in a Bollywood film, a nightclub tour, a stint cleaning floors in an East London pub. Long before she would become an acclaimed solo songwriter in both Welsh and Cornish, a winner of the Welsh Music Prize, a nominee for the Mercury, a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, there were the days of Nevada, London, Brighton; of Irish dancing, techno clubs, messiness and chaos. Utopia, Saunders’ fourth solo…

An expanding family-run firm is investing £500,000 to create a new showroom centre for its blossoming garden rooms business. Rubicon Garden Rooms has already started the transformation of the site, a former farmyard near the North Wales/Cheshire border, to meet the demand from customers eager to use their garden spaces. Bosses said the demand for  its garden rooms, especially home offices, gyms, entertainment spaces, art studios and granny annexes, mushroomed during the Covid pandemic and has been growing ever since. The company specialises in making zero maintenance garden rooms using aircraft  technology learned by founder and managing director John Lyon when he previously…

PROUD parents and lecturers praised a talented trio who kicked off their officiating careers on the international stage. Dyfan Roberts, a Level 3 Sports student at Coleg Cambria Yale in Wrexham, was assistant referee for the Welsh Schools Football Association (FA) Under-18 Centenary Shield match between Wales and Scotland at Airbus UK’s Hollingsworth Group Stadium in Broughton. Dyfan was joined by former Cambria Sports learners Levi Roberts, who refereed the 1-1 draw, and assistant referee Jamie Monk. Lecturer Aled Ellis said to have them representing the college was a “huge moment”. “For all three to be on the pitch together…

Run 4 Wales Ltd (R4W) has announced that it has acquired Always Aim High Events Ltd in a move that sees the mass-participation event organisers join forces across Wales. The partnership brings together two leaders in the Welsh sporting industry with a shared commitment to deliver world-class events that give back to their communities and inspire more people to become physically active. R4W is a not-for-profit social enterprise and charitable foundation set up to promote, manage and deliver major sporting events. Established in 2012, it has grown into one of the UK’s best-known mass participation event organisers, driven by a…

UK-based adventure company, Zip World, has welcomed a new addition to its growing list of adventures – a small but mighty treetop course for toddlers. Located at Zip World’s Betws-y-Coed site, Tiny Trek is designed for children between two and five years old and aims to welcome little ones into the world of adventure by building confidence, resilience, and hand-eye coordination on their very first high-ropes course. Young explorers will be encouraged to hop, skip, and jump around the course suspended no more than 1.4 meters off the woodland floor, with a participating adult by their side. Before starting, children…

After winning Taylor Wimpey South Wales’ bedroom design competition, The Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School student, Darcey’s vision has been brought to life in the newly launched Dale show home at the Parc Llandaf development. The Year 7 student was announced as the winner earlier this year, after entering the competition which invited students at Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School  to submit their ultimate bedroom concepts. As part of her prize, Darcey’s winning design has been recreated in one of the bedrooms in the new show home at the Taylor Wimpey development in Cardiff.…

Following two successful years of flavour, farming and community, the Vale Food Trail is back for its third edition. Running from Sunday 25th May to Tuesday 3rd June 2025, this ten-day celebration promises a packed schedule of inspiring, delicious and thought-provoking events for all ages and interests — many of which are free to attend. This year, over 20 local producers, farms, food businesses and venues are taking part, offering a vibrant programme of tours, tastings, demos, workshops, exhibitions and more — all focussed on food that’s good for people, planet and place. Whether you’re a curious foodie, a keen…

Detectives from Counter Terrorism Policing Wales, on Wednesday 16th April, charged Shazad Ali, a 20-year-old male from Commercial Road in Newport, Gwent with offences under Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2011 (belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Islamic State). He was also chsrged with S12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (Inviting support for a proscribed organisation, namely the Islamic State), S1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 (encouragement to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism), and S58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (possession of material likely to be of use to a person preparing or committing an act…

Menter Môn is celebrating 30 years of making a difference across north west Wales this year. From re-establishing the red squirrel on Ynys Môn (Anglesey) to developing Wales’s first tidal energy scheme, supporting thousands of businesses, and promoting the Welsh language – the social enterprise has played an important role in the community and economic development of the region since 1995. To mark the occasion, a series of activities will be held throughout the year  – including an exhibition showcasing the organisation’s work over the past 30 years, a film capturing community memories, and an evening to celebrate the success…