Blog

04/03/2020

Welsh actor and Hollywood star Luke Evans visited Cardiff this week to meet with pupils from Ysgol Gymraeg Treganna, The Hollies, and Llanharan Primary School, as well as nominees for the upcoming Into Film Awards, in an exclusive Q&A event. Luke spoke about the educational power of film watching, and the highlights of his career, including tips on how to get into the creative industries. The event was organised by Into Film, a UK-wide film education charity supported by the BFI through…

04/03/2020

Boyzlife consists of one member of Boyzone, Keith Duffy, and one former member of Westlife, Brian McFadden, and thereby manages to capture the audience of both.  This audience consists predominantly of 30-plus females so I felt a little out of place at first, but the friendly atmosphere generated by the boys meant that I soon got into the swing of things.  The audience seemed to know the words of every song, and, at one stage, Keith went into the crowd…

03/03/2020

In celebration of Cymru qualifying for their first consecutive Euro finals tournament, the Football Association of Wales and Literature Wales have joined to launch an exclusive Cymru Euro 2020 Poetry Competition. The competition invites the children of Wales to submit poems on the theme of Identity for a chance to win a host of fantastic prizes. The competition is open to children Year 6 and under living in Wales, and poems can be submitted in Welsh or English. Joining two…

24/02/2020

Lucie Jones is one of my favourite singers, so when I was invited to review her first solo concert, I didn’t take much persuading!  Lucie, who is from Pentyrch on the outskirts of Cardiff, first came to my attention when she reached the live finals of X Factor in 2009.  Controversially, she was booted off after a sing-off against Jedward.  Looking back, that seems an almost unbelievable decision by the judges.  However, Lucie was not bitter and has only positive…

24/02/2020

Disabled people from all over Wales have waltzed into 2020 for Strictly Cymru – the country’s renowned inclusive dance competition. Run by charity Leonard Cheshire, in partnership with the national governing body Paradance UK, the competition has seen dancers in both inclusive and wheelchair-specific categories compete in six heats across South Wales, in preparation for the grand final on 6 June. Strictly Cymru is now in its third year. Winning in the inclusive categories at the Carmarthen heat on 17…

20/02/2020

Dogs Trust Bridgend are making a special appeal for their longest serving canine resident, Conker who has been waiting for a home for over 250 days. The two-year-old Lurcher originally found himself in the care of Dogs Trust Bridgend in November 2018. Since then he has been adopted twice but sadly it was not meant to be and been waiting for it to be third time lucky since July 2019. He has been overlooked by more than 1,200 potential new…

19/02/2020

Air Marshal Sir Baz North, President of the RAF Association   Families of serving RAF personnel and veterans in South Wales who are finding life tough will be offered unique training to help them identify, and deal with, the symptoms of poor mental wellbeing. The Royal Air Forces Association, the charity that supports the welfare of the RAF family, is offering mental wellbeing awareness training at venues across the UK, some of which will be in Cardiff and Newport. The…

19/02/2020

La Voix is a supreme drag queen with striking red hair.  She effortlessly manages to tick the four boxes that make her a ‘quadruple threat’ of drag.  She is a fantastic singer, an amazing stand-up comic and impressionist and she always looks incredible!  She first came to national awareness through her performances on Britain’s Got Talent in 2014 and this led to Jennifer Saunders casting her in the Absolutely Fabulous Movie in 2016.  Since then, her popularity has escalated and…

18/02/2020

A ground-breaking Welsh initiative, which supports older people who suffer domestic abuse and is set to be extended across the UK, will present the debut of its next phase at The Angel Hotel Cardiff on Wednesday 19th February. The Dewis Choice project based at the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University (2015-2019) involved co-produced research funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Hosted by the Centre for Age, Gender and Social Justice, Dewis Choice continues to offer a holistic package…

17/02/2020

New research has revealed just how sedentary Cardiffians are, with more than half (57 percent) admitting they spend MOST of their spare time on the sofa and do next to no exercise. In fact, 43 percent of exhausted Cardiff adults said they love spending their weekends ‘just chilling’ after a hectic week and 56 percent admit they are a couch potato. And while six in 10 say they feel restless if they spend the whole day in the house, the average Cardiffian will spend…