Archive

  • More parents in Wales fund sports ambitions

    PARENTS in Wales are more likely to fund after-school sports for their children compared to the rest of the UK, despite being the most financially handicapped. According to the Aviva Family Finances Report, over two-thirds are willing to pay for

  • Torfaen to bid for £5m town regeneration money

    TORFAEN council has launched an attempt to secure up to £5 million to regenerate parts of the borough. Torfaen’s cabinet agreed to support an application for Welsh Government funding under the ‘Vibrant and Variable Places’ programme. The scheme

  • Wales school building projects gets £25m boost

    SCHOOL construction projects in Wales will receive a £25 million boost as part of the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools programme. The minister for education Huw Lewis welcomed the funding yesterday, which will allow work on some school projects

  • Argentinian choir visits Gwent

    A CHOIR from Argentina has joined with Gwent singers as part of a UK tour. The College Gospel Choir, from St George’s College in Buenos Aires province, began their tour on July 4. They arrived in Wales on July 7 and were treated to some of

  • No levy for late-night booze licenses - Monmouthshire council

    NIGHTSPOTS in Monmouthshire should be able to serve alcohol into the early morning hours without facing a hefty bill, according to a council report. The council’s licensing department feels it could not justify charging up to £2,500 annually for

  • Flats could be built in former Pontypool Register office

    THE former Pontypool register office is to be sold for £175,000 and looks set to be turned into flats. Torfaen council has been trying to sell the building on Hanbury Road since registration services were transferred to the nearby Civic Centre

  • Grant is helping disabled get jobs - Blaenau Gwent AM

    BLAENAU Gwent AM Alun Davies has praised the Welsh Government’s Employer Support Grant for helping 100 disabled former Remploy workers back into employment. The Employer Support Grant offers financial support for employers looking to offer suitable

  • Newport skip site fire still burning

    FOUR days after up to 600 tonnes of landfill material went up in smoke in Newport, firefighters were still at the scene today. A crew from Maindee were damping down hotspots at Able Skips, Nash Mead, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said.

  • Gwent crime ‘will rise’ over next year - police boss

    GWENT'S Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) expects to see the area's recorded crime rise "in the next 12-18 months." Ian Johnston told the Argus in May he was concerned officers were not classifying incidents correctly and consequently, recorded

  • Second phase of Pontypool market makeover starts

    THE second phase of a £2.3m project to regenerate Pontypool Indoor Market starts this month, and traders will be open for business as usual while the transformation takes place. Traders will officially operate from temporary new locations in the

  • Snake in the Grass, Blackwood Little Theatre

    Alan Ayckbourn’s tale of the supernatural and of the unearthing of dark secrets features a minimal cast of just three women and is fittingly set in a dilapidated back garden throughout. Middle aged Annabel (Yve Price) returns to the family home to

  • YOUR AM WRITES: South Wales East AM Jocelyn Davies

    THE financial crash in 2008 that led to the long recession that we’re still coming to terms with today, was more than a crash of banks. It shook all of our confidence in the way we do business in this country. Since then many have been looking

  • Ivanhoe film to be screened at Chepstow castle 100 years on

    A CINEMATIC centenary is celebrated in Chepstow Castle this weekend with the screening of a film made there in 1913. Ivanhoe was one of the first Hollywood films made abroad, a very important occasion for Monm outhshire. A hundred years ago

  • Warning after birds tangled in fishing line across Gwent

    NEWPORT-BASED Swan Rescue South Wales is warning carelessly lost and discarded fishing tackle are causing serious injuries to swans across Gwent. Peter Martin and Ellen Kershaw, who are both retired, volunteer as Swan Rescue South Wales, and have

  • Wales ambulance shake-up is welcomed by charity boss

    THE Welsh arm of the UK’s leading first aid charity has welcomed proposals to shakeup ambulance services in Wales. The plans, announced by health minister Mark Drakeford, will include separating patient transport services fromemergency work.

  • THE HEALTH FILE: Hard job of making organ donation work

    AND so the hard work well and truly begins... It may have taken several years for the idea of an opt-out system for organ donation in Wales to become a reality. But however long and tortuous the path from proposal to law, however much wrangling

  • Shirenewton Hall goes on the market for £3,950,000

    IS this the most expensive property in Monmouthshire? A spectacular country retreat, rumoured to have been previously eyed up by singer Katherine Jenkins, is on the market for nearly £4m. Shirenewton Hall was owned by two previous Sheriffs

  • Could you give a home to Newport's cuddliest bulldog?

    NEWPORT’S cuddliest bulldog is looking for a new home. Two year old Nelly has been a resident at RSPCA’s Newport animal centre since April this year. She is a white American bulldog and enjoys the company of humans who are secondary school

  • Tribute paid to cyclist who died in Abergavenny crash

    THE family of Ben Carroll, the cyclist who died after colliding with a van on the A40 near Abergavenny have paid tribute to him today. Ben Carroll He was the oak tree at the centre of all his friends; tall, strong and dependable. He always

  • CWMBRAN BLAZE: Accused 'planned to marry' fire victim

    A MAN accused of the murder of three generations of the same family including his girlfriend told police he had plans to marry her. In a police interview following his arrest, Carl Mills told police he had got engaged to girlfriend Kayleigh Buckley

  • German couple in Raglan crash thankful for help

    A COUPLE who were in a car accident while on holiday in Gwent, have written to say thank you for the help they received. On the morning of May 28, Markus Kollas, 52 and his wife Chris, 47, from Seligenstadt, Germany, were returning from a visit

  • Glorious shops in Cwmbran

    I HAVE today visited Cwmbran town centre. What a glorious place it is. There were people bustling around, the shops were full and the atmosphere vibrant. I visited several stores and I must say the customer service was spot on. I regularly shop

  • Preferring a reply in person

    RE: Reply by ScraptheWAG to my letter printed on the date July 5. Thanks for the suggestion about writing to the local Assembly Member, but wouldn’t it be better if he felt it incumbent upon himself to reply publicly to the question, so that we all

  • Arctic Convoy real heroes

    I THINK it indicative of the values of our leaders have in relation to today’s society when an Olympic Gold medal winner equals Knighthood, M.B.E. etc, waiting time, a month or two. Russian convoy sailors working 24 hours, day after day in the

  • Blackwood disabled bays

    I WAS first approached in 2007 by local residents with their concerns that Caerphilly County Borough Council had removed disabled parking bays from Blackwood High Street and replaced them with Loading Bays following the Town Centre regeneration.

  • Senghenydd memorial

    IN October 1913, the world’s worst mining disaster in Senghenydd left the community devastated, with 440 men and boys dead, 205 widows and 542 orphaned children. For 100 years the people of Caerphilly have waited for an appropriate memorial. Now their

  • Council cuts are class war

    REGARDING Torfaen Council’s plan to cut £40 million from the budget over 4 years (on top of the £30+million they have already made) and Cllr Anthony Hunt’s request for suggestions as to where the public would like these cuts to fall, may I suggest

  • Abersychan tots 'graduate' from nursery

    IT IS A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME event for many people – donning a graduation cap and robes and collecting a certificate for all your academic hard work in your studies. But for the pupils at Brynteg Nursery in Abersychan that day came rather early as

  • Man wanted over prison licence breach

    GWENT Police are appealing for help in finding a man who has breached his licence conditions after being released from prison earlier this month. Dafydd Merkel, 27, was serving a 45-month sentence for burglary. He was sentenced at Cardiff Crown

  • ARGUS COMMENT: Welcome for Ebbw Vale racetrack

    IT IS NOT a foregone conclusion just yet, but yesterday’s council backing for the £250 million Circuit of Wales plan for Ebbw Vale has moved the project a major step forward. Blaenau Gwent councillors voted unanimously to approve the plans which

  • Rebuild of blaze-hit Chepstow school to go ahead

    PARENTS of Thornwell School pupils have been informed pupils will break up earlier than planned so work can start on its rebuild. Written by headteacher Linda Davies, the letter states the children’s final day will be on July 18 to prepare for

  • Student robbed after Newport night out

    THREE men and a youth are on trial for allegedly pulling a knife on a student during an early morning mugging. Morgan Hanford, Gary Radford, Dwade Stock and a teenager, who can’t be named, all deny robbing James Gould in the early hours of January

  • Return of ex-Caerphilly boss to cost council £65k

    THE return of former chief executive Stuart Rosser is set to cost Caerphilly council £65,000 for his temporary reappointment. He is set to return to the helm of the crisis-hit local authority following the arrests and suspensions of its top two

  • Lions hero Dan Lydiate thanks Dragons

    DAN Lydiate has thanked Newport Gwent Dragons for making his Lions dreams come true as he prepares for life in Paris. The blindside flanker arrived back in Wales yesterday after helping the British and Irish Lions win in Australia and end a 16-year wait

  • Stars to make world record bid at Abergavenny festival

    GOALKEEPING legend Neville Southall and hip hop star Tinchy Stryder will lead an attempt to break a Guinness World Record at a music festival in Monmouthshire. The duo will be key players in helping secure a world record by scoring 1,860 penalty

  • Upgrade plan for M4 at J28 in Newport

    JUNCTION 28 of the M4 at Tredegar Park, Newport, will be upgraded as part of a series of key road improvements announced by economy, science and transport minister Edwina Hart. Details of the scheme, including timescale and cost, have yet to be

  • 150 Newport jobs secured after takeover of Newport steel firm

    ONE hundred and fifty jobs have been secured following the takeover of Newport-based Mir Steel. International steel and minerals group Liberty Commodities has taken over the Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) producer, formerly known as Alphasteel, which currently

  • Tickets for Newport County festival go on sale today

    TICKETS for the inaugural Newport County festival go on sale today, organisers have announced. Newport County AFC and the Supporters Trust, in association with businessman Iftekhar Haris, announced they are launching the Newport County festival

  • CHRIS KIRWAN SAYS: There's so much more to ace Halfpenny

    “Leigh is fearless, courageous and is one of the best full backs in world rugby.” The words of interim Wales boss Rob Howley after Mr Halfpenny was named Six Nations player of the tournament. The full-back scored 74 points to help retain the title,