A MONMOUTHSHIRE manufacturer of food colourings and dyes is planning to nearly double its workforce two years after its move to a bigger unit. The Argus has learned ROHA and Simpsons UK Ltd, which currently employs 31 people, hopes to create ten
A NEWPORT theatre society says ghosts are playing a spooky role in rehearsals for a play in which a medium holds a seance. Newport Playgoers is preparing for its production of Noel Coward’s witty comedy Blithe Spirit at the Dolman Theatre.
COUNCILLORS opposed plans for a new caravan park in Chepstow after hearing it was to be situated off a “notorious stretch of road” which has claimed the lives of at least three people in recent years. Cllr David Dovey said changing the use of
A RETIRED Gwent speedway rider who was unsuccessful in his bid to take over Newport’s Hayley Stadium spoke of his disappointment following its demolition. Phil Morris, of Wyllie, said fans will now have to travel to Somerset or Birmingham to watch
HOMEOWNERS are being urged to take extra care when answering the front door to prevent themselves from falling foul of bogus callers and distraction burglary. The Consumer Council for Water has issued the warning against criminals who claim to
A NEWPORT man who walked out of unpaid work is on his “last chance”, Caerphilly magistrates said. Paul Townsend, 24, of Marshfield Street, was sentenced in March to a 12- month community order with 40 hours’ unpaid work, for taking £550 worth of
DEFINED as ‘meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’; sustainable development principles have become a legality within Wales. As one of only three countries in the
THOUSANDS of people are expected to see some of the very best in agriculture at this year’s Bedwellty Show. The historic show at the Showfield in Cefn Fforest promises everything from falconry and ferret racing to a dog showand a tug-of-war.
TALKS are continuing to avert a strike of toll booth staff on the Severn Bridges due to take place next week. Workers with Unite the Union are planning to hold a 24-hour strike on the Friday before the August Bank Holiday weekend. They will
NEWPORT has suffered from years of delay, inconvenience and danger from ill-conceived road plans. That’s according to the Newport Civic Society, which has called for a new motorway to the south of the city. Gwyn Kemp-Philp, the organisation
I’VE been back at my desk this week after a fortnight off watching the Olympics – and what a fantastic Games they were. Apparently 90 per cent of the UK population watched at least 15 minutes of the Games on the BBC. I don’t know
WALES stars Dan Lydiate and Toby Faletau will make their first starts of pre-season for Newport Gwent Dragons against London Irish at Rodney Parade tomorrow (kick-off 7.30pm). The pair are joined in the back row by openside Darren Waters, who has
MORE than 21,000 vehicles have been stopped by Gwent police since April last year as part of a drive against metal thefts which is now being adopted by other forces. Working practices developed by the force, which have also seen 862 people arrested
MONMOUTHSHIRE students’ A-Level results topped the Welsh average today. 98.7% of all students passed with grades A*-E, surpassing the Welsh average of 97.6%. Within this figure, 23.4% of students achieved the top grades of 'A*' and 'A' and 78.1%
TORFAEN students are celebrating achieving top A-level results today. Nearly 98% (97.9%) of pupils gained A*-E A-level grades, up from 96.5 per cent last year. This is above the Wales figure of 97.6 per cent. The percentage of pupils gaining
Newport City Council congratulated pupils and staff as the number of Newport A-Level passes went above the Wales and UK averages today. The proportion of students achieving the highest A Level A* and A grades is 26 per cent, remaining above the
A MAN hoping to become Gwent’s first police and crime commissioner has hit out at the UK government’s decision not to fund a mail-shot for candidates. Retired senior policeman and independent candidate Ian Johnston says the move puts him
THE countdown has started for this year’s Cwmbran Big Event – TakeTwo. The event will be held on September 22, after the original date in June was rained off. Thousands of people flocked to Cwmbran Boating Lake and the surrounding areas for
King Henry VIII School in Abergavenny saw an A-Level results with passes (A* - C) at 79% (up 1% on last year). Nearly one third of all student entries were at grades A*/A. The percentage of student entries achieving grades A* - E was 99.5% (up
A NEW award that recognises outstanding contribution to theatre by a young adult was presented to Only Boys Aloud singer Daniel Hampton at Newport Playgoers Society’s AGM. The Jonathan ConickAward commemorates a much-loved member of Playgoers who
ABRACADABRA! As if by magic, Disney Live! returned to the Wales Millennium Centre on Wednesday afternoon, delivering more than 90 minutes of music, mayhem and fun in Mickey’s Magic Show. The world’s most famous mouse Mickey and his friends Minnie
IF you were a keen viewer of comedy sketch shows in the 1980s the name Jimmy Cricket stirs up many a comical image. Remembered for reading humorous letters from his “mammy” while sporting an out-of-shape hat, a dinner jacket matched with a pair
OHIO rapper Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) will be bringing his Lace Up Tour to Cardiff this October. After releasing the critically acclaimed Half Naked&Almost Famous EP which included the hit Wild Boy, MGKcompleted a 90-showHostile Takeover Tour
MUSIC icons Dexys are bringing their show from new album, One Day I’m Going To Soar, to Bristol’s Colston Hall next month. The band will give a live performance of the newalbum in its entirety, played in sequence, followed by a fewDexys favourites
POST-ELECTRO band Errors are lined up to play two gigs in Bristol and Cardiff this October. The Glaswegian band who released the critically acclaimed Have Some Faith inMagic LP earlier this year will also be releasing a brand neweight track mini-album
A MAJOR retrospective exhibition by pioneering photographer, documentarian and digital story-teller Daniel Meadows is currently on show at Ffotogallery in Penarth. Early Photographic Works, a partnership project curated by Professor Val Williams
THIS year’s Summer Show at the Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff, features excellent examples of work by Wales’ leading 20th-century artists including Gwen John, Augustus John, Ceri Richards, Sir Kyffin Williams, Josef Herman, Peter Prendergast, John
BBC One Show presenter Alex Jones and Only Men Aloud musical director Tim Rhys-Evans will co-present a magical evening of music at this year’s BBC Proms in the Park, in Caerphilly’sOwain Glyndwˆr Playing Fields, on Saturday, September 8, at 7.45pm
IT’S summer! The sun is out and the kids are off school, so what better way to spend your time than joining Caldicot Musical Theatre Society for their summer production of The Wind in the Willows, performed in the picturesque and tranquil setting
FEVER Pitch, the hugely successful play adapted by Paul Hodson from Nick Hornby’s best-selling book, will appear at Newport Riverfront this autumn. From the rootlessness of 1960s suburbia and through the Highbury turnstiles, Hornby was instantly
BEN Forster will play the leading role of Jesus in the first UK arena tour of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar. He will join Tim Minchin as Judas Iscariot, Melanie C as Mary Magdalene and Chris Moyles as King Herod to tour
ROCK giants Shinedown will play Cardiff University as part of a nine-date UK tour this winter. The Jacksonville, Florida-based four-piece unleashed their fourth studio album, Amaryllis, earlier this year and performed a handful of album launch
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) seized 18,881 litres of wine, 67,000 cigarettes and 92 kilos of tobacco from a container in Newport Docks. The haul was made up of 25,175 bottles of Corte Dorata, 'illicit whites' cigarettes not legally for sale
YOUNGSTERS in Machen are enjoying a new £140,000 play area and multi-use ball court. These have been opened at the village’s Welfare Ground, creating an added dimension to the playing fields there. The development is the result of a collaboration
WITH more than five decades in the spotlight, Status Quo’s work schedule is far from slowing down. The band, still fronted by stalwarts Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, are currently touring Sweden, though as Rossi informs me, the weather’s not
Who are you and where do you originate from? We are Aidan Bradley (keyboard and vocals), Jason Savory (guitar and backing vocals), myself Lewis Dallimore (bass and backing vocals) and Gavin Vella (drums and backing vocals). We are based in Pontypool
AMERICAN indie punk rock artist Franz Nicolay is heading to Cardiff as part of his UK tour on this August. Xtra Mile Recordings are proud to announce that the formidable and incomparable talent of Franz Nicolay has joined the label and will be
NEWPORT High School saw 86% of students gain an an A level pass with 15% of getting an A*/A or Distinction*/Distinction level. There will be 19 students going on to University, including Ross Ward who will read Mathematics at Cardiff University
A GROUP of bikers will be riding from Pontypool to North Wales and back again from August 17 to August 19 in aid of Wales Air Ambulance. Around 25 people will be taking part in the Mighty Moped Challenge and will be riding 300 miles to raise
TWO brothers from Chepstow are preparing to launch their own skateboard manufacturing business after scooping £4,000 in a Dragons’ Den-style competition. Morgan and Bleddyn Williams, of Beech Grove, impressed the judges, pitching their own sports
PEOPLE in Blaenau Gwent are welcoming the proposals for a £250 million motorsport centre at Rassau which would see not only the creation of 9,000 jobs over three years, but also a 3.5-mile race circuit, international kart track and motocross tracks
CAERPHILLY County Borough Council congratulated their students who passed their A-Levels today. The overall pass rate in Caerphilly county borough schools was 95.3% (A*-E) across all examination boards, down from 98.0% in 2011, which was the best
PARALYMPIC teams from five different continents who chose to base themselves in Wales ahead of the 2012 Games will be welcomed by First Minister Carwyn Jones at a special event tonight. Teams based in Wales include New Zealand, Australia, Mexico,
11.38am UPDATE: The driver of one of the cars involved in the Brynglas crash this morning was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital with minor injuries. A red Peugeot 306 and a black Ford Fiesta were involved. 9.10am A PASSENGER
THE Remploy factory in Abertillery will close for the last time today. Other sites in Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil and Wrexham will also shut, with the Swansea site to close later, with a total loss of 189 jobs. The UK government said the £320m budget
A TEENAGER accused of rape was one of three youths who tackled a knife-wielding man who tried to murder his wife, a court heard yesterday. Jurors at Cardiff Crown Court heard that Timothy Park, 19, who stands charged with six counts of rape
THE Welsh A-Level pass rate for grades rose slightly on the year before – but top A* and A grades dipped. Figures from the Welsh Govrnment show 97.6 per cent of entries in 2012 achieved A* to E, 0.4 per cent up on last year. But 6 per cent got A
WALES Education Minister Leighton Andrews praised Welsh students as their exam results came in today. Joining students picking up their results at Caerleon Comprehensive School, the Minister said: "The young people here at Caerleon Comprehensive
AN “UNBELIEVABLE feeling” was how Newport’s Olympic hero Fred Evans described his silver medal success as he returned to his boxing club last night. Dedicating his victory to his late mum and sister, who were tragically killed in a car crash six
GWENT is already feeling the effects of the Olympics legacy, with local sports clubs inundated with queries from people wanting to get involved. The city’s Wales National Velodrome has received 500 calls since the start of London 2012 – three times
IN the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Welsh athletes won 19 medals – three gold, six silver and ten bronze. I will judge the success of this year’s Olympic Games by how many medals Wales win in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Andrew Thomas Nutt, Heolddu
HEADPHONES, earphones, iPods – whatever? Have our kids been rendered deaf or merely oblivious to the sound of traffic? Three times over the past fortnight I have narrowly missed running down children so engrossed with their plug-in music systems
AS a former BT employee, now retired, it saddens me to see what abysmal broadband ‘service’ ( a misnomer if ever there was one) BT provides to its customers. Over two weeks ago, unbeknown to me at the time, BT decided to ‘cap’ broadband service
I ALWAYS enjoy the letters in “Your Say” and read with interest the regular contributors such as Mr A Nutt and Mr M West; however tonight’s Your Say (August 13) has caused consternation in my home, and probably many other homes in the former Islwyn
A WHALE which was beached on the banks of the Rivern Severn last night has been put down, despite a night-time rescue attempt. Sharpness and Chepstow Coastguards, British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) spent
IT may have looked like an event that should have been hosted by Gordon Burns but the modern pentathlon provided a fitting end to the Olympics. Samantha Murray’s silver was the last of Great Britain’s 65 medals and ensured the Games finished on
THE Severn Crossings face industrial action next week as around 70 toll booth staff at both Severn bridges are set to impose an overtime ban and hold a 24-hour strike. Talks will continue tomorrow between Unite and Severn River Crossing (SRC). The
ARMAGEDDON was being predicted in the North East of England in the summer of 2009. “Newcastle plumb new depths with shocking 6-1 defeat to Leyton Orient,” said an alarming headline after a humiliating pre-season loss. Nine months later Chris
THE University clearing service UCAS says 357,915 applicants have been accepted into a university or college, compared with 384,649 on results day last year. This represents a fall of 6.95%. About 79,000 UK applicants are still awaiting results or decisions
STUDENTS at Coleg Gwent's Crosskeys Campus have achieved a pass rate of 99.3% they said today. The overall pass rate at A*-C at the Campus is 77.5%, a slight improvement on last year's figure. A Level students at City of Newport and Ebbw
Some very happy Year 13 pupils with their results yesterday! #gwentexams http://t.co/RYYk7LDb — @RougemontSchool 17 August 2012
NEWPORT Gwent Dragons have confirmed the appointment of former Wales prop Iestyn Thomas as a scrum coach. The ex-Scarlets loosehead will work under Rob Appleyard, who has taken over responsibility for the forwards along with his role as defence
NEWPORT County’s new recruit Aaron O’Connor has fired the Exiles to the top of the league and is the Conference’s top scorer, but he insists he’s not even fit yet! O’Connor has been one of the standout performers for Newport so far this term, bagging
A further £600,000 is set to be spent on Blackwood Miners’ Institute, taking the total spend on the iconic venue to over £1.3 million. Caerphilly council has set aside the additional spend in its budget for 2012/13, with the money set to go on a small
NEW captain Lewis Evans is confident that he will be leading out Newport Gwent Dragons when they get their RaboDirect Pro12 campaign under way at the end of the month. A calf injury has forced the flanker to sit out the pre-season encounters against
