Blog

29/05/2020

  A software package to help Welsh language spellchecking and grammar checking has been released as a free download thanks to a partnership between Bangor University and the Welsh Government. The release aims to support Welsh-medium learners and their parents, home workers and small organisations during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – and beyond. The first version of the Welsh spell checker – CySill – was launched in 1988. Users have, up to now, had to pay a licence fee to…

29/05/2020

Decca Records and Disney Music Group’s Walt Disney Records are thrilled to announce the release of Disney Goes Classical, a brand new album evoking the colour, emotion and pure joy of Disney music on a whole new scale.   Featuring the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a host of celebrated names, beloved Disney themes have been expertly re-orchestrated and recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios, home to some of the finest movie soundtrack releases from the last century. The album…

29/05/2020

  It was in the early 1960’s that my parents and I moved to Wales, then found our house in Penarth. I was thrilled to be living at the seaside. Acker Bilk’s clarinet hit ‘Stranger on the Shore’ was playing from several transistor radios as we took our first walk along Penarth beach towards Lavernock Point with the beautiful, tall, elm trees. The beach is not beautiful though. There is no sand to run on down to the sea, which…

29/05/2020

Russell Tovey’s powerful and personal dance performance in the music video for British composer Fabio D’Andrea’s “Something left to Love” has reached over 1 million views in a few short weeks. The powerful video explores the breakdown of mental health  and is the available to view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kAltXpVxm8 It’s  the first ever classical video album – which consists of 24 original piano pieces by Fabio D’Andrea, each accompanied by a video starring a Hollywood actor, including Natalie Dormer and Emma Rigby, in…

28/05/2020

On the 20th May  the ‘Battle Cancer, You are Not Alone’ campaign launched with some of the world’s biggest stars behind it. An incredible line up of internationally recognisable names including Chris and Liam Hemsworth, Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender, many of which are also respected for being some of the fittest people in their industries.  The campaign which is set to raise awareness and funds for the Battle Cancer Move Forward Programme – a global initiative creating a network of…

27/05/2020

Image Author  P G Bell – Photographer Tiffany Mumford   I fell in love with books when I was three years old and my mum read me The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. It was the first time I’d ever really been transported by a story. Suddenly, I could leave my bedroom in Newport behind and explore the host of magical new worlds that Blyton conjured up. The words on the page were hers, but the experience was all…

27/05/2020

A Cardiff care home kept their residents’ spirits up by holding a special magical ‘Rainbow Party’ to recognise all the magnificent work NHS, care and key workers are carrying out in Wales in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. Staff from Tŷ Llandaff, a private nursing, residential and respite care home in Pontcanna, dressed up in rainbow coloured clothes, decorated the home with rainbow pictures and accessories and also produced a short video on its Facebook page for families and relatives…

27/05/2020

A keen knitter has answered a call from Cardiff & Vale University Health Board and now her creations are going to help field hospital and care home patients who are feeling anxious during this worrying time. Wales & West Utilities Susan Entwistle has been knitting twiddle mitts, which have historically been used by dementia patients to provide visual, tactile and sensory stimulation, for many years but now her creations are being used to support patients who are feeling anxious. Susan,…

26/05/2020

Royal Drawing School trained Geraint has relocated his studio from his lofty Canton warehouse to his Grangetown front room during lockdown. Geraint says ‘As with other industries, Coronavirus has put planned exhibitions, projects and residencies on hold for me. I’m adapting the way I’m working; I usually make large scale drawings so being limited in space has temporarily altered my scale and subject. I’m using domestic experiences and public health advice as my current inspiration. I’m seizing this opportunity to…

26/05/2020

The Morrisons Foundation was delighted to support Huggard with a grant of £10,000. The much-needed funds will go towards providing meals and support for 200 homeless people a day through the charity’s centre and for those who are rough-sleeping in Cardiff.   Richard Edwards, Huggard CEO said, “We would like to say a big thank-you to the Morrisons Foundation for it’s grant. As Wales’ leading centre for people who are rough sleeping, and homeless in Cardiff, we know the importance…