NEWBRIDGE this season celebrate the 40th anniversary of winning the Welsh Championship. How sad it would be if ultimately their celebration season ended in relegation to the Welsh First Division, now a distinct possibility. It was to their credit that
In the wake of the devastating tsunami, Haili-Leanne Mchugh has been seeking out some of the latest travel advice TOURISTS planning to travel to Thailand have been warned by the Foreign Office that 'all but essential travel should be avoided'. Once-popular
Safaris don't always have to be in Africa, as Ken Bennett discovers. DEEP in the forest of bright green ferns there was a resounding crash, a rustling and, after a short silence, a delighted bellow. Then, his blue eyes twinkling, a giant bear of a man
Until recently, few of us would even have heard the word tsunami. Now we're only too well aware of this thankfully infrequent natural phenomenom. While the communities concerned strive to reclaim their lost livelihoods, what can we do to help? First,
Travelscope is offering a three-month world cruise in a luxury liner, for that trip of a lifetime There are few experiences more aspirational than a world cruise, a global voyage following in the footsteps of famous explorers and travellers throughout
Claire Bowen gets a taste for the high life, with a London company offering accommodation which is just a little bit different HOW often have you walked along London's graceful avenues and wondered what lies behind the doors of the elegant houses? Uptown
INJURY woes are already overshadowing Sunday's Heineken Cup showdown between Newport Gwent Dragons and Newcastle at Kingston Park, writes Robin Davey. England star Jonny Wilkinson is out of the game and the Wales-England Six Nations opener on February
Brits get more friendly - survey. Overseas visitors reckon Londoners are growing more friendly towards them, according to a new survey. Foreign tourists also think the capital is a safer place than it was two years ago. These overseas tourists are also
AND then there was one -- Newport Gwent Dragons are the only Welsh team still in with a chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup. They now march on to Tyneside to meet group leaders Newcastle on Sunday with everything to play for. They
County suffered their first defeat in nine visits to Milton Road on Saturday, and with just one point from their last five games the message is clear. They face a hard slog to avoid relegation, and unless John Cornforth is able to strengthen his threadbare
Ken Bennett explains why he thinks the Portuguese are unsung culinary heroes I WONDER if Delia Smith and Nigella Lawson, the darlings of every aspiring home cook, have even heard of a recipe called, rather mysteriously, Heaven's Bacon? Or, then again,
OVER the last year the list of schools earmarked for closure in Gwent has grown as local authorities grapple with the problem of falling numbers of pupils. But for staff, parents and children, the value of a school cannot be measured in financial terms
A GROUP of young volunteers from Asia are flying thousands of miles to help out with community projects in a Gwent valley. Nine people aged between 18 and 25 from Kazakhstan, in central Asia, are coming to Torfaen for 12 weeks this summer. They will be
PUPILS at a Valleys primary school put their hands into their own pockets to make a hearty donation to the Asian Tsunami Appeal. The 400 or so pupils at Libanus primary school in Blackwood were each asked to bring 50p into school. The coins were then
GWENDA James paid a visit to her last round of patients yesterday before celebrating her retirement after 40 years of midwifery in Newport. Mrs James, 65 on Saturday, of Shirenewton, near Chepstow, trained in London and then moved back to her native Wales
A NEWPORT family of super-slimmers is starting the New Year a staggering 20 stones lighter. Newport mum Lisa Parnell, 33, her brother Edwin Cox, 31, and their mother Irene Heard, 53, made losing weight a real family affair. Lisa was recently voted Slimming
IT was just supposed to be a night's babysitting. Jeff Fisher was 21, living with his first wife in Underwood, Newport, when a friend and colleague at Llanwern steelworks asked if he would look after his six-month-old daughter for the night. Little did
Like everyone, all our thoughts are with the victims of the tsunami disaster which has so devastated vast areas of South East Asia. It seems almost crass to be talking about tourism in light of what has happened, but the economy of much of the affected
NOW Newport Gwent Dragons need to take their best home form with them on the road after this eight-try romp against Edinburgh for their third Heineken Cup pool victory of the season on Saturday. They followed up their stunning home success against French
Bask in Bermuda, take a jaunt to Jamaica or take up a UK hotel offer so that you can go shopping in the New Year sales From Cardiff SUNSTART has availability on a 14-night self-catering holiday at the 3 sun Flora apartments in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote
Ken Bennett outdoes Jules Verne by whizzing Around The World In 80 Minutes - Las Vegas style - and gives some dollar-saving tips along the way, too JOIN me on a journey that takes you from Egypt to Italy in eight minutes and from Paris to New York in
MAKING sure you don't get lost on the way to your holiday destination has never been easier, thanks to the internet. There is now a plethora of sites devoted to maps and route-finding, escape. takes a look at some of the best. www.mappy.co.uk is easy
ESCAPE has teamed up with Zabadak Hotels to offer readers the opportunity of unlimited stays in hotel accommodation for the next 12 months. Treat yourselves to a trip away this winter, or any time during the next 12 months. All you have to do is pay for
A GWENT cattle farmer who faked the identity of a beef heifer to get it accepted for human consumption has been ordered to pay almost £4,000 in fines and costs. Gloucester magistrates heard that Clive Jenkins, of Abergavenny, was caught with the help
COMMUNITY safety wardens in Newport received more than 200 complaints about firework misuse in less than two months last year, it is revealed in a new report. But there was good news on the fireworks issue - 45 shops refused to sell them to four under
POLICE investigating a murder on the Monmouthshire border are appealing to walkers and horse riders for help. The body of Courtney Davies, 53, from the Rumney area of Cardiff who was jailed for 15 years in 1986 for a violent robbery, was found in woods
A YOUNG nurse was taken to hospital after her car crashed into a fallen tree - an accident her father claims could have been prevented. Vicky Burles' car collided with the fallen tree on Manmoel Road, near Blackwood, just before 7am on Saturday. Her father
