Blog

07/05/2020

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is making £50m available in response to the significant impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the UK’s heritage. The new Heritage Emergency Fund will address immediate pressures over the next 3-6 months for those most in need alongside increased investment in essential digital skills across the sector, providing expertise in critical areas such as digital fundraising, use of social media and communications, running online events and activities. In addition, the National Lottery Heritage Fund is…

07/05/2020

Catriona Seed, a Clinical Nurse Specialist in palliative care, is rowing 75 miles for City Hospice to support the charity and patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. Catriona has set herself the challenge on her rowing machine, selecting 75 miles as her target to reflect the average mileage the palliative care team at City Hospice accumulate by driving around the capital in a week to visit patients. City Hospice provides palliative care for 550 patients with life limiting or terminal illnesses…

07/05/2020

A Cardiff textiles teacher is putting her expertise to use during the coronavirus lockdown by helping co-ordinate the production of thousands of much needed medical scrubs for Wales’ healthcare heroes in the NHS by volunteers. Nia Clements, who is head of design and technology at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr, in Fairwater, Cardiff, has helped set up production hubs throughout communities in South and West Wales, with support from the Welsh Government. In total, more than 100 volunteers are donating their…

06/05/2020

The Architectural Heritage Fund has awarded the Welsh Norwegian Society a grant of £4,000 which will help the society in its efforts to save the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay. The Welsh Norwegian Society is appealing for match funding to the public who love this iconic building and the hundreds of performers, artists and community organisations that have been a part of its story in the years since Princess Märtha Louise of Norway officially reopened the Norwegian Church in 1992….

06/05/2020

People who need wheelchairs and other mobility aids during the coronavirus crisis do not have to go without because of the national emergency. That’s the message from the British Red Cross, which provides short-term loans of wheelchairs and other mobility aids across the UK. The Red Cross is working in 70 hospitals, providing mobility aids that assist with patient discharge, while most of its 100+ community-based mobility centres remain open so people can order and collect items like wheelchairs. In…

06/05/2020

Pembrokeshire-born Ann Likeman hosted the special Singing for the Brain performance for Alzheimer’s Society last Thursday to help thousands banish the lockdown blues. Critically-acclaimed actress Vicky, whose grandmother had dementia, joined Ann via a video link for the sing-a-long… and  the broadcast has now achieved an audience reach of 210,000, with 1,400 people adding comments. Two other celebrities whose lives have been touched by dementia also supported the event. Scouting For Girls frontman Roy Stride, whose mother had early-onset dementia,…

06/05/2020

St Giles Hotels in the United Kingdom announced the creation of the Uplift Fund as part of its ongoing “Hotels with Heart” initiative. The initiative was formed five years ago to positively impact those less fortunate in the hotels’ communities through meaningful causes that matter to the hotels’ teams and the guests it serves around the globe. To help alleviate the burden and stress of its team members in the U.K., St Giles London and St Giles Heathrow hotels’ leadership team, spearheaded…

06/05/2020

World-renowned jazz singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Melody Gardot, put a call out to musicians across the globe to perform in place of a standard orchestra on her eagerly-awaited new single – entitled ‘From Paris With Love’ via Decca Records to benefit healthcare workers and other musicians. Like many, amidst the constraints of this pandemic, Gardot has been forced to put the recording of her newest studio album on hold.  The situation has inspired her to launch a personal initiative dedicated to musicians from around the world who…

06/05/2020

What an unusual and challenging few weeks it has been due to the pandemic we are all facing, and it’s not over yet sadly. Every day we are faced with new challenges, changes to laws, potential job losses, activity losses and most terrifyingly, lives lost. All of this has had an understandable impact on everyone, their health and well-being, financial stability and security, relationships and sense of being. It must be incredibly hard for those who have lost business, jobs,…

05/05/2020

British summertime has ‘officially arrived’, hopefully bringing some sunshine and warmth along with the longer days. Self-isolating at home has led me to make some rather wonderful decisions based in my need for something productive to keep me going; and the one particular decision I made yesterday may just inspire a few of this year’s articles (or all of them!) . Whilst aimlessly scrolling on the glorious Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest feeds that I have become quite obsessed with, a…