Dogs Trust Bridgend is saying a big thank you to its volunteer doggy foster carers who have continued to go the extra mile for their four-legged friends in recent months. This week (1-7 June) is Volunteers’ Week, an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering. Currently Dogs Trust Bridgend volunteers aren’t able to help out at the rehoming centre, but volunteer foster carers have been keeping busy doing their bit to help dogs…

Many of us are still experiencing self-isolation and social distancing is now the norm. If one good thing can come of this, is that we can use this as an opportunity to take more time for ourselves. We’ve put together a list of beauty tips to keep you feeling refreshed, looking your best and treat yourself from top to toe. Create bouncing waves and curls  – Give yourself a new look by creating bouncing waves, cute curls and voluminous tousled tresses…

Let me introduce you to Ciren. The current Mrs Nolan and I were walking through Cirencester in the days when we were allowed out and attended their Christmas Fair which was a splendid event. We could not resist buying this handmade steel dragon which is of some scale, (no pun intended), and we christened her Ciren after her place of birth. She sits in our conservatory snarling at the birds in the garden. In the recently enforced UK-wide house clean,…

Unemployed in Wales can get funding for training to gain key export skills ahead of full Brexit   UK including Wales has big shortfall in customs agents Welsh Government grant for training can go towards courses on customs skills  Funding to help recently unemployed workers in Wales do skills training can go towards courses on the customs expertise needed after full Brexit, the Welsh government has confirmed. As the UK government prepares for the end of the transition period on…

Image Credit Depop.com I have a confession for you all; I am sat in my room after an hour of dying parts my hair pink (temporarily of course) and am on the verge of dying the whole head just because I can. With no work and no school, it really does seem like an appealing idea for someone who has never really played with hair dye before in their whole seventeen years. It all started when my mum spotted some…

As a new Welsh Government digital campaign begins on Housing Advice during Covid-19, Housing Minister, Julie James, has called on the people of Wales to seek help now if they’re experiencing housing issues. Developed with Shelter Cymru, the campaign will direct people to the Welsh Government website where they will be able to access advice related to different housing issues. The campaign aims to inform and reassure people that help and support is available and make it easier for them…

  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…

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…

  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…

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…