Author: Rhys Gregory

The countdown is on to this year’s sold-out IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea, with thousands of competitors, supporters and spectators expected to descend on the city next month. The popular triathlon, which combines swimming, cycling and running, returns on Sunday, July 12, bringing a significant boost to Swansea’s tourism, hospitality and hotel sectors. Organisers estimate the event is worth around £4.5 million annually to the local economy, with athletes travelling from across the UK and beyond, many accompanied by family and friends who will stay in the city over the race weekend. With the event now fully booked, Swansea Council is reminding…

Community groups across Blaenau Gwent are playing a vital role in tackling loneliness and social isolation, offering residents much more than just a warm place to visit. As part of Month of Community and during Loneliness Awareness Week, which runs from 15 to 21 June, a number of local warm hubs are being recognised for the positive impact they are having on people’s lives. Projects including Ebenezer Baptist Church in Abertillery, Men’s Shed BG, Tyleri Transition, Ebbw Fach Community Group, Tredegar Workmen’s Medical Aid Heritage Centre Warm Hub and Palpung Maitri House in Brynmawr are creating welcoming spaces where people…

Caldicot Library and Community Hub has been buzzing with activity thanks to a local community group that’s created the library’s first wildlife garden to attract pollinators and birds. The dedicated members of Friends of Caldicot Library took the initiative and applied to the Keep Wales Tidy scheme, Local Places For Nature. As a result, they received a Wildlife Mini Garden package to transform an area outside the town’s library into a haven for bees, bugs and birds. The new Buzz & Bloom Caldicot project, as it has been named, saw the friends group immediately get to work with the package,…

Primary school pupils across Blaenau Gwent are to benefit from ultrafast internet connections, as 17 primary schools in the area are upgraded to 1 gigabit (GB) per second broadband — enough bandwidth to run dozens of video streams, interactive lessons and cloud-based tools simultaneously without slowing down. The faster speed means schools can reliably use digital whiteboards, video conferencing, online learning platforms and resource-heavy applications all at once. The Welsh Government’s Tech Valleys programme is funding the upgrade, delivered in partnership with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and the Shared Resource Service, a technology services provider to the public sector…

North Wales has a bold new hub for businesses and creators to make their voice heard. Dragon Forge Studios has opened at Florence House in Mold, offering an affordable, professional production environment unlike anything else in the region. Whether you’re a business owner looking to build your brand or an individual ready to launch your first podcast, the studio provides a welcoming, high-quality setting to get started or grow your content. Rob Lewis, the award-winning financial adviser and managing director of Celtic Financial Planning is behind the venture. He said: “There’s a huge appetite for podcasting and video content, but…

Blake Morgan has appointed Bethan Walsh as a partner in its Commercial and Charities business group, further enhancing the firm’s charities practice in Wales and throughout the UK. Based in the Cardiff office, Bethan will lead the Charities practice, providing legal and governance advice to charities, social enterprises, and other not-for-profit organisations operating within the sector. A recognised charity law specialist, Bethan brings 14 years’ experience advising organisations ranging from newly established charities to some of the UK’s largest not-for-profit bodies. Her practice spans governance, formation and restructuring, grant-making, fundraising and regulatory engagement with bodies including the Charity Commission, the…

A move overseas is exciting and exhausting and full of admin all at once, and somewhere between the visa forms and the removal quotes the pension quietly gets forgotten, because it never shouts for attention the way the paperwork in front of you does. That is a costly thing to overlook, however, because what you do before you leave quietly shapes your income for decades, so anyone weighing up an overseas move should find out about QROPS and the other options well before the boxes are taped shut, and this guide simply sets out what to sort, and when. Does…

Something has changed in how a growing number of UK consumers think about what they put on their skin. After years of increasingly complex skincare routines built around synthetic actives, preservative systems, and multi-step regimens, there is a visible and measurable move back toward simpler, traditional ingredients. Tallow balms and honey-based formulations are at the centre of that conversation, and the shoppers driving it are not fringe wellness enthusiasts. They are the same people already applying the same level of scrutiny to their food, supplements, and household products. For many of them, sourcing natural health supplements UK from trusted retailers…

Buying a home in Wales is rarely just a financial decision. From Cardiff terraces to Vale period homes and post-war houses across the Valleys, a proper survey can help buyers understand what they are taking on before exchange. Why home surveys still confuse many buyers For many Welsh buyers, the home survey stage can feel like one more piece of paperwork in an already demanding purchase. Yet according to Elliot Anderson-Evans, a RICS-qualified surveyor based in Cardiff and founder of Elliot & Hill Surveyors, this is often where misunderstandings begin. His work regularly involves inspecting Welsh homes of many different…

A barman has won a £3.5 million mansion in Cornwall – along with £250,000 cash – and celebrated by telling his regulars that drinks were quite literally “on the house!” Darren Summers, 50, from Rhondda Fawr valley, South Wales, was pouring pints during a busy shift when the Omaze team walked in to tell him he’d won a prize. Moments later he became the proud owner of a spectacular four-bedroom contemporary home set within an acre on the clifftops above Downderry Beach, complete with panoramic sea views, a heated outdoor swimming pool and a hot tub. The luxurious property comes…