BLACKWOOD town centre saw a 40 per cent drop in shoplifting incidents over Christmas, figures show. Only 22 incidents were reported between November and December 2013, compared with 31 incidents in the same period in 2012, according to Gwent Police.The
Mortgage borrowing last year reached its strongest level since 2008, the British Bankers' Association says The number of mortgage approvals granted to home buyers by Britain's high street banks lifted to a six-year high in December in a further sign
TWO people had a lucky escape after a car burst into flames on a main road into Newport tonight. Michael Salmon and his friend Sharon Smith, both from Caldicot, had been shopping at Morrisons when Mr Salmon's car, a diesel VW Golf, started emitting
TIME flies when you’re having fun as our reporter SOPHIE BROWNSON discovered when she tried out being a watch and clock repairer for a day at Newport specialist Leonard W Cole NOT the brightest at maths as a child, I’m ashamed to say that I used
STAFF at a Newport housing charity have been teetotal for the last month along with Radio One DJ Huw Stephens as part of Dry January. Rhian Stone, a corporate director of Solas in Newport, is one of nearly 1,000 people across Wales who have signed
THE celebration of Chepstow Bridge’s 200th anniversary was discussed at a town council meeting.The bridge, which is sometimes called the Old Wye Bridge and links Wales with England, will be 200 years old in July 2016.It is proposed there will be
Budget Vets is looking for a permanent home for a stray raccoon rescued by a caring local couple. The male raccoon, nicknamed Cyril, has been in the care of Newport-based Budget Vets since being brought in by his rescuers on 20th January. Used
A TOP salesman from Abergavenny who took the largest employment law advice company in the country to a tribunal has had his case dismissed.Nicholas Badman claimed he was effectively forced to resign from Peninsula Business Services because of the attitude
LOCK Ian Evans will miss Wales’ defence of the Six Nations title after being banned for 12 weeks for stamping.The 29-year-old was red-carded in the first half of Ospreys’ Heineken Cup defeat to Leinster in Dublin last weekend.Evans’
SEVEN Gwent police stations will re-open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, Gwent’s police and crime commissioner Ian Johnston confirmed yesterday, with two more opening for a few days a week. Caerphilly, Ystrad Mynach, Risca, Pontypool, Maindee
FIVE minutes with Newport's Andrew Corten, who was crowned British Pool Champion in 2009.If you had to be stuck in a lift with someone, who would it be and why?A famous American pool player called Earl Strickland. He's a very interesting guy and
A GRAMMAR expert has warned "if they take our apostrophes, commas will be next" after reports of councils culling punctuation from street signs. Grammar campaigners have used marker pens to fill in allegedly missing apostrophes in Cambridge, after
A STRETCH of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, near Abergavenny is closed for six weeks after it cracked due to bad weather. The 60-metre long part of the embankment on has 'slipped' away from the canal lining between Govilon and Llanfoist following
PLANS to create a wild flower ‘corridor’ from Cwmbran to Blaenavon, and identify other areas suitable for wild flower seeding, are among Torfaen council’s proposals to help bees and other pollinators thrive.There will also be a review
BRISTOL Rovers have issued a statement on their official website ahead of tomorrow's League Two clash with Newport County AFC at the Memorial Stadium. The statement reads: "With the bad weather forecast overnight, we will be keeping a close eye
TORFAEN cabinet voted in favour of spending more than £100,000 to keep 10 police community support officers on the streets.The council currently makes a 33 per cent contribution of £110,270 toward the costs of having an additional 10 PCSOs
Principality Building Society has raised almost £70,000 for its Charity of the Year, British Heart Foundation Cymru.Throughout 2013 staff at the society’s 53 branches and 17 agencies across Wales and the borders - including those situated
WALES will be in pot four for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign draw next month. Chris Coleman's side will be hopeful of breaking their major tournament hoodoo with third place in a five or six team group good enough for at least a play-off spot
THE former boss of a recycling firm who allowed a Ministry of Defence site to store waste in a way that could have caused a risk to human health faces jail.Jacqueline Powell, 58, was a director of Wormtech Ltd, a company that composted tons of food waste
UPDATE: 2.40pm NINE customers have been left without power in Maindee, Newport, this morning after a low vaultage fault underground. Houses in Marlborough Road and Eton Road are affected – with two teams of workers from Western Power working
THE case of Andrew Woodhouse, the Abergavenny businessman charged after injuring a thief who entered his premises, is understandably one of those which really captures the public imagination. The public reaction is almost universally in support
Bedroom Tax - Tenants can appeal and win! THROUGHOUT Wales, tenants are organising and fighting back against Westminster’s bedroom tax. The policy is defined not only by its cruelty, but also its incompetence. It appears to be a shoddy, ‘back-of-a-fag-packet
BEDWAS tighthead prop Joe Mills is poised for his regional debut after being named on Newport Gwent Dragons’ bench for the LV= Cup encounter with Northampton tomorrow afternoon (kick-off 2.30pm). It is set to be a rapid rise for the 25-year-old
CAMPAIGNERS against the development of the last green space between Cwmbran and Pontypool vow to keep fighting for its protection after a Welsh Minister gave housing plans the go-ahead. Minister for housing and regeneration, Carl Sargeant, has
‘A Regular Little Houdini’ is the story of a boy from Newport. This boy comes from Pill and wants to do magic. The play is Newport through and through and refreshingly authentic. This shouldn’t come as a surprise seeing as Daniel Llewelyn-Williams
FOUR weeks after her disappearance, the family of missing Newport teenager Nida Naseer have released an emotional video appeal for the 18-year-old to come home. In the video posted on YouTube, Nida’s father Naseer Tahir, her mother Najma Tahir
CHAMPIONSHIP strugglers Blackwood will be attempting to "right a few wrongs" when they head north to take on RGC1404 tomorrow afternoon, writes Chris Kirwan.The Glan-yr-Afon Park outfit are hard hit by injuries and unavailability for the trip
Expressed in music, the idea of human happiness at a time when lives were generally brutish and short never ceases to amaze. John Dowland's six decades were a reasonable pitch beyond the norm but in him is reflected the bleakness of the age as
A “WHO’S who of television” crammed into the O2 Arena on Wednesday night.Graham Norton, Paul O’Grady, Ricky Gervais, Sex And The City’s Mr Big, Keith Lemon, Frank Lampard, a zombiefied Hayley Cropper, an animatronic penguin
NEWPORT County AFC have announced that the League Two clash with Dagenham & Redbridge at Rodney Parade has been rearranged for Wednesday, March 19, at 7.45pm. The fixture was originally due to be played on Saturday, January 18, but was postponed due
GWENT’S Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has led a pilot scheme designed to help paramedics better decide whether or not a patient they are attending needs to go to hospital. The Clinicians in Control project involves GPs working in ambulance
NEWPORT County AFC defender Byron Anthony is fighting fit after boxing sessions with Mo Nasir and hoping the Exiles can land another blow on his former club tomorrow. The 29-year-old centre-back has been sidelined since suffering a double fracture
TWO people had to be freed by fire crews after a car crash in New Inn near Pontypool last night. Two vehicles were involved in the accident outside The Teazer on The High Way, shortly before 6pm. Fire fighters used hydraulic cutting equipment
I WOULD like to apologise to readers for some errors that I made in my letter published in the South Wales Argus on January 9 2012 re “Plaid’s Car Loans”. To correct any misunderstanding, I should have referred to these unlawful payments as Essential
I’VE READ that Councillor Nigel Dix is accusing Plaid Cymru of being responsible for the appointment of Anthony O’Sullivan, the suspended Chief Executive of Caerphilly CBC. I would like to question whether the councillor really believes this, or
Alun Wyn Jones has given Welsh rugby a huge boost by signing a new contract with the Ospreys. Jones, a mainstay of the Wales team who captained the British and Irish Lions in their Test series-clinching victory over Australia in Sydney last summer
READING the news about proposed Welsh local government re-organisation, it comes as no big surprise. It was quite clear the present structure was problematic, with many councils being too small or under-resourced. However, in your Editorial
I THINK Brian Donovan’s recent attack on the Newport Labour-led council is a little unfair in the sense that many of the issues he attacks them for were handled in no better way than the previous Con/Lib Dem coalition. However, he is right in suggesting
THE choice of such a popular musical (do they actually get any more popular than Grease?) can be a double-edged sword. It can ensure large audiences (this is a production that fully deserves to be seen by full houses) but there is also a tendency for
FORTY pupils and staff from Rougemont School are running the Newport half marathon to raise funds for the cancer centre who have helped to support a number of their family members.Sixth form pupils at the Newport secondary school have chosen to fundraise
IT may not have the billing of The Godfather, Back to the Future, Lord of the Rings or Toy Story but part one of the Cross Keys versus Bedwas trilogy takes place at Bridge Field tomorrow afternoon.The two Gwent rivals meet three times over the next four
TEENAGE hooker Elliot Dee aims to give Newport Gwent Dragons fans a glimpse of the future when he goes up against Northampton at Rodney Parade tomorrow afternoon (kick-off 2.30pm).The 19-year-old from Newbridge is poised for his first home start in the
NORTHAMPTON may be heading to Rodney Parade without their stars but the Saints will still be looking to move a step closer to a spot in the LV= Cup semi-finals, writes Chris Kirwan.The likes of George North, Dylan Hartley, Tom Wood, Courtney Lawes, Luther
PUPILS from the New Inn Primary School rugby team went on an educational visit on Wednesday with Melin Homes to Rodney Parade, home of the Newport Gwent Dragons.The children were given a tour of the ground, met and chatted to the players and took part
THE chairman of governors at Rogerstone Primary School has resigned for personal reasons. Parents at Rogerstone Primary School, Newport, have been sent a letter telling them that Ernie Watkins had stepped down “with immediate effect”. It says
A CWMBRAN mum successfully launched a toddler group in Newport to support families of children who have received special care or neonatal intensive care. Three years ago, Anna Taylor’s daughter Isobel was born 10 weeks premature and received treatment
NEWPORT Market traders say business is finally on the up now the new bus station has opened in Market Square. Butcher Mike Turner described seeing “throngs of people” getting off buses and coming through the market, adding: “It can be very quiet
A CAERLEON man who was in a medically induced coma just three years ago will run the London marathon in April to raise funds for a brain injury charity.Nathan Laing, 29, spent more than 10 weeks in hospital, both in Cyprus and Newport, after being attacked
YOUNGSTERS at a Monmouthshire school turned palaeontologists when they took part in a dinosaur dig.Year 2 pupils at Gilwern Primary are getting hands-on experience before writing about dinosaurs for this term’s chosen topic.Using fossils that have
A DELIVERY man was crushed to death by a 300kg gate deemed in “poor condition” seven years before, an inquest heard yesterday. Appearing before Gwent coroner David Bowen in Newport, a jury heard how Ronald Paul Hayward, a 42-year-old delivery man
