Green Man Festival – Wales’ largest music festival, which continues to buck wider trends by selling out year on year in record time – came to a triumphant close last night (Sunday) with a thrilling headline set by Father John Misty, marking the final stop on his European tour.

Festival goers soon after made their pilgrimage up the hill to witness the annual burning of the 30ft handcrafted Green Man effigy, celebrating the end of the festival after four sunny days of music, performance and arts.

Green Man this year sold out in record time once again, and the festival delighted and surprised 20,000 returning Green Man fans and newcomers at the foot of the stunning Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons.

Sharon van Etten, performing on the Mountain Stage on Sunday night, said:

“I love Green Man so much… it’s an honour to be here, we first came here about five years ago and we’re sorry it’s been so long, but it’s incredible to be back”.

The final day of Green Man began with the Mountain Stage bathed in glorious sunshine to the sound of Self Esteem performing songs from her acclaimed debut album, Compliments Please. Ezra Collective’s unique brand of joyful party-starting jazz lit up the Far Out tent later on, and the inimitable Sharon van Etten took to the Mountain Stage as the sun set over the Black Mountains for an unforgettable set.

Nilüfer Yanya’s dreamy indie-pop enraptured the evening crowd in the Walled Garden, and IDLES’ famously unparalleled live show resulted in one of the weekend’s biggest crowds at Far Out. The Growlers, Eels, and Skinny Pelembe also proved highlights of the weekend on stages across the festival.

Saturday had seen festival goers treated to a truly special headline set from Four Tet at the Mountain Stage complete with a full light and laser show, marking his first ever time headlining an outdoor festival.

Four Tet was preceded by incredible shows from Stereolab and Mercury-nominated jazz group Sons of Kemet. Australian rising star Stella Donnelly practised her Welsh in her typically hilarious stage patter on the Mountain Stage, before heading to the Green Man Records tent where she performed a secret set including a cover of Blondie’s ‘Time After Time’ and signed records for lucky fans. Jarvis Cocker drew a huge crowd at the Talking Shop for his long-awaited return to Green Man, reflecting on his distinguished life and career, before playing a secret DJ set at Round the Twist.

Also at the Talking Shop, Richard Thompson spoke in conversation with MOJO and Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals which has recently been adapted into an acclaimed film starring Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, discussed their careers and achievements. Elsewhere, a host of 2019’s breakthrough stars, including Scalping, Jockstrap, Beabadoobee, Porridge Radio, Black Country: New Road, and Art School Girlfriend performed rapturously received sets across the site, and The Big Moon were joined onstage by the Green Man Royal Mail postmen, where lead singer Juliette Jackson was proposed to onstage by her onsite postman boyfriend after meeting at Green Man five years ago.

Friday saw the winners of the Green Man Rising competition, Jerry, take to the Mountain Stage to kick off the weekend of music, with performances across the day from the always compelling Fat White Family, the stirring alternative country breakthrough talent Julia Jacklin, and the Chicago-based country soul stars Whitney, before the unparalleled Yo La Tengo performed a storming set as Friday night’s headliners. Elsewhere, Green Man first timers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Squid were some of the most talked about sets of the weekend, Khruangbin joined Maribou State onstage for a surprise collaboration performance, and over on the Last Laugh comedy stage, festival goers were treated to sets by Rob Deering, Matt Rees and Mawaan Rizwan.

Away from the music stages, the festival’s pioneering science and education area, Einstein’s Garden, once again showcased discussions, stalls and experiments for kids and adults alike, and Green Man welcomed a unique programme of Visual Art including spellbinding installations from Hazel Brill, Sean Harris and Jennifer Taylor. This year’s jam-packed Cinedrome schedule included the acclaimed Wild Rose, starring Jessie Buckley, as well as showings of old classics including Thelma and Louise.

The Little Folk children’s area continues to pioneer family-centric fun at UK festivals with a broad programme of entertainment and interactive exhibitions; this year’s theme was Outer Space.

Families were the first to stream into the site when the Settlement opened on Monday, for 5,000 enthusiastic festival goers (up from 3,000 last year) who turned their festival experience to a 7-day holiday in Wales. The Settlers warmed up for the festival with a programme of workshops, guided walks, bike riding, canoeing and adventures in the mystical Welsh countryside.

The Welsh Beer & Cider festival in The Courtyard kept festival-goers lubricated with the finest local beverages, with more than 150,000 pints being sunk across the weekend.

All in all a fantastic weekend – here’s to 2020!

Image credit: Pam Thomas

Bridgend College opened its doors today (Thursday 15th of August) in a special results day celebration event. Students studying A levels or equivalent qualifications were invited into the College’s Cyfleoedd hub to collect their results with their peers.

There were plenty of smiles and cheers as students celebrated their success with family and friends. Amongst these students were some with incredible stories of success and determination.

Charlie Smith came to Bridgend College three years ago after being homeschooled for many years. After initially struggling to adapt to a structured learning environment, she successfully completed a Level 2 in Public Services thanks to her sheer determination and the support from her tutors. She has successfully completed a Level 3 course in Public Services during the past year and is thrilled with her results. Charlie now hopes to go onto University to study Paramedic Science.

Brianna Welfare was overwhelmed with her triple distinction in Creative Media Production and hopes to continue her studies in September at the University of West England, Bristol.

Liam Newman was thrilled with his triple distinction in a BTEC Level 3 qualification in IT. Liam is autistic and has praised the College for its support during his time there.

Liam said:

I don’t think I would have gotten this far if it wasn’t for Bridgend College. They’ve supported me both with my condition and with extracurricular activities. They’ve helped me significantly.”

Liam has secured a place at Cardiff University to study Applied Software Engineering but vows to keep in touch with the College in the future.

Bridgend College’s 6th Form College (partnered with Pencoed Comprehensive School) have had a successful day with the overall results A* – E rising to an impressive 99.4%

Amongst these was Kahlio Mader, who achieved 3 A* and 1 A and will now study Biomedical Sciences at St Hilda’s College at Oxford University this September. Kahlio also won Learner of the Year in Collaborative Courses at Bridgend College’s Annual Awards ceremony back in June 2019.

Lillie-Mai Jones has been accepted to the prestigious London Studio Centre to study BA(HONS) Theatre Dance, having gained an A grade in her A level Dance alongside her other qualifications.

Simon Pirotte, CEO and Principal of Bridgend College said:

We are so proud of the achievements of all our students today, both at Bridgend College and Penybont 6th Form. Some of the results we have seen have been nothing short of incredible and we wish all students good luck and success in the future.”

The College’s other successful provision, Twilight A level courses, have also boasted a significant increase in pass rates.

Law, a popular twilight subject at Bridgend College saw 17 A grades at AS level and 15 A and A* grades at A2 level. This year, the provision has seen a 20% increase since 2018 in A* – A grades and an 11% increase in A* – C grades, both at A2 level. A 7% increase was also seen at AS level in A* – C grades.

Overall, 59 Year 13 students are celebrating their ‘A’ Level results with an increase (based on provisional data), compared to 2018, in the percentage of pupils gaining 3 A*-C grades. 57.6% compared with 46.7% in 2018 (including the WBQ Skills Challenge Certificate). The percentage of pupils gaining 3*-A* to A has also increased – 10.2% compared with 6.7% last year.

Virtually all students at Penybont 6th Form who applied for Higher Education courses gained the grades needed to confirm their place for September.

It’s not too late to begin a University level course this September however.

For students who may have missed out on their grades or have changed their mind about the course they’ve chosen, there are options available at Bridgend College through their clearing campaign. Students will be able to apply through Clearing if they haven’t met the conditions of their offer, haven’t received any offers or if they haven’t made a UCAS application this year.

Bridgend College was crowned FE College of the Year at the 2019 Tes FE Awards and supports over 6,000 learners and employs over 600 members of staff over its four campuses.

Bridgend County Borough’s main reference library is set to be relocated as plans for the development of the former Sunnyside site get underway.

The Local and Family History Centre was originally located at Coed Parc, but moved to Ty’r Ardd in 2011 when that building became unsuitable and was purchased for development by Hafod Housing.

With Linc Cymru planning to develop the Ty’r Ardd site along with the former Sunnyside council offices and magistrate’s court, the service is preparing to move to a further temporary base at Y Llynfi in Maesteg before it becomes permanently relocated at all-new premises within the newly refurbished Maesteg Town Hall.

Members of the public will be able to take advantage of new, state of the art facilities.

Cllr Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations, said:

“As part of how we are meeting the challenge of dealing with vastly reduced budgets and ongoing national austerity, we are actively seeking ways of cutting costs by co-locating services instead of reducing or closing them entirely.

“By relocating the reference service to Maesteg, we can ensure that it remains available within the county borough, and that it is ultimately based within a newly-refurbished, fully accessible building that meets all future needs with the potential to be enhanced further.

“With parking located nearby and the town bus station located alongside the building, the town hall redevelopment is intended to create a state-of-the-art cultural hub that serves the county borough and beyond, and the relocation of the Local and Family History Centre will help to strengthen the long-term sustainability of library and culture services in the area.”

A social enterprise in Flintshire, which supports the physical and mental wellbeing of its local community, continues to go from strength to strength with over 1.5 million visits to its leisure centres and libraries across the county during the last 12 months.

Aura Leisure and Libraries is a charitable organisation that runs many of the leisure centres, libraries and heritage services previously operated by Flintshire County Council. The social enterprise was established in September 2017 as a way to keep all libraries and leisure centres open for the community following an extended period of public sector austerity and budget reductions.

Providing culture, sport and leisure opportunities to the region, the social enterprise recorded an impressive 1.1 million visits to its leisure centres and 600,000 visits to its libraries in the last 12 months.

The organisation has also partnered with the Wales Co-Operative Centre to be part of its Social Summer 2019 campaign, which is encouraging families across Wales to make more use of the wide-range of family-friendly social enterprises over the summer holidays. Managing four leisure centres – which include three swimming pools, an ice-skating rink, an indoor skate park, 3G sports pitches, a ten pin bowling alley and a spa – and seven libraries, employee-owned Aura Leisure and Libraries provides year-round family-fun services and facilities for the people of Flintshire.

Discussing the importance of social enterprises in Wales, Paul Jones, Aura Leisure and Libraries’ Business Improvement and Performance Manager, said: “As a social enterprise, Aura has a unique and fantastic opportunity to determine its own destiny. Our ability, as social entrepreneurs, to maximise all available potential to make a difference to customers’ lives is central to providing a solid, financially robust, platform from which to improve and develop highly valued community services.”

With a growing number of visitors, the employee-owned organisation now employs around 260 people, many of whom worked previously in the local council leisure and library teams.

Aura Leisure and Libraries’ growth has also been supported by the £2.7 million it has received in investment and grant funding for vital refurbishments and expansions. In July last year, Mold Leisure Centre doubled the size of its previous ground floor fitness suite and added a second first floor studio. A few months later, Jade Jones Pavilion in Flint received a major refurbishment of its swimming pool changing facilities and an extension to its existing gym. An increase in fitness membership has been a direct result of the recent investments with Mold more than doubling to 1,500 members and Jade Jones Pavilion Flint now topping 1,000.

Earlier this year, Aura Leisure and Libraries also received £300k in grant funding from the Welsh Government for the re-development of Flint Library, due to be completed in early 2020.

The refurbishments are a testament to Aura Leisure and Libraries’ ongoing commitment to improve its facilities and services to continue to impact positively on the mental well-being and physical health of its members and its community.

Catherine Evans, Marketing Manager at the Wales Co-operative Centre, said:

“Social enterprises create huge value for the Welsh economy and they also create so many benefits for local communities, which is why our Social Summer 2019 is so important. We want to raise awareness with the public that there are social enterprises nearby, where they can visit over the summer holidays to enjoy themselves, while also supporting a wider social cause.”

With an ever increasing number of visitors and members, the organisation is an excellent example of the thriving social business sector in Wales, and its importance for the Welsh economy.

The ‘Mapping the Social Business Sector in Wales’ report, published earlier this year, found that the social business sector in Wales is worth an estimated £3.8 billion to the Welsh economy, a 34 percent increase on findings in 2016.

Social enterprises play a key role in creating job opportunities for local communities. The 2,022 social enterprises in Wales employ around 55,000 people and provide volunteer opportunities to an estimated 58,000 individuals.

In addition, around a quarter of all social businesses invest their profits in their social objectives and more than 75 percent pay the Real Living Wage to all their staff, compared to just 48 percent of Welsh SMEs.

If you want to support social enterprises like Aura Leisure & Libraries, you can learn more about the Wales Co-operative Centre’s Social Summer 2019 campaign by visiting: https://wales.coop/social-summer-2019/ or looking for the #SocialSummerCym hashtag on social media.

Image shows Mold Leisure Centre.

Image credit: Leaderlive.co.uk

The finalists for the annual Bridgend Business Forum Awards have been revealed.

Sponsored by Valleys to Coast Ltd and supported by Bridgend County Borough Council, the 2019 awards will take place on Friday 13 September at the Coed-Y-Mwstwr Hotel, Coychurch. The ceremony will be hosted by BBC TV presenter and journalist Sian Lloyd.

Following a rigorous judging process, the panel – consisting of the 2019 sponsors and Bridgend Business Forum representatives – selected finalists from across a range of sectors.

The all-important shortlisted businesses and individuals include:

Business Student of the Year, sponsored by Graham Paul Chartered Accountants:-

Daniel Ralph, Blue Bench Media – nominated by Bridgend College

Start-up Business of the Year, sponsored by Business in Focus:-

•             Family Crosspoint

•             Assisted Mobility Services Ltd

•             Leaf Kitchens and Bedrooms Ltd

Service Business of the Year, sponsored by Berry Smith Lawyers

•             A&R Contract Cleaning Specialist Ltd

•             Apollo Teaching Services Ltd

•             Neuro Physio Wales Ltd

Manufacturing Business of the Year, sponsored by MAKEuk, the manufacturer’s organisation

•             LMg Solutions Ltd

•             Camplas Technology Ltd

•             Rockwool Ltd

Entrepreneur of the Year, sponsored by Magenta Financial Planning

•             Virtual Wales

•             A & R Security Services Ltd

•             Blues Matters

Innovative Business of the Year, sponsored by Development Bank of Wales

•             LMg Solutions Ltd

•             Spectrum Technologies Ltd

•             Wales Interactive Ltd

Professional Service Business of the Year, sponsored by SME Finance Partners

•             Apollo Teaching  Services Ltd

•             Howells Solicitors

•             Thomas and Thomas Solicitors

Tourism Business of the Year, sponsored by Handelsbanken

•             Awen Cultural Trust

•             Bushcraft Adventures Ltd

•             The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales

The winner of the Creative Industries Award, which is sponsored by Cymraeg Byd Busnes, will be formally announced at the awards ceremony in September.

Ian Jessopp, Chair of Bridgend Business Forum said:

“Congratulations to all of our finalists for this year’s Bridgend Business Forum Awards. The Bridgend Business Forum Awards give businesses from every sector in the county borough the opportunity to showcase and celebrate their success and achievements.

“We’ve had another fantastic response this year with plenty of strong applications from both new and previous applicants. We believe we have selected some very deserving winners and runners-up who we look forward to presenting with their awards and celebrating their achievements in September.

Cllr Charles Smith, Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration added:

“The Bridgend Business Forum Awards aim to recognise and celebrate the endless hard work and achievements of local businesses.

“I continue to be very impressed with the quality, enthusiasm and passion of the businesses that enter. These awards demonstrate that Bridgend County Borough is an exciting place to work and run a business and the council is proud to support these accolades.

“I would like to wish all of the contestants the very best of luck, and look forward to meeting the successful applicants at the awards ceremony in September.”

Sponsors include: Valleys to coast Ltd; Berry Smith Lawyers; Cymraeg in Business; Development Bank of Wales; MAKEuk, the manufacturer’s organisation; Handelsbanken; Magenta Financial Planning; Graham Paul Chartered Accountants; Business in focus; SME Finance Partners and United Graphic Design.

To find out more about the awards ceremony and shortlisted businesses visit www.bridgendbusinessforum.co.uk

Bridgend County Borough Council’s Flying Start setting based in Sarn is making big strides to give children the healthiest possible start in life.

They’ve become the first local Flying Start setting to complete the Welsh Government’s ‘Healthy and Sustainable Pre-School Scheme’ and have also achieved a bronze ‘Small Workplace Health Award’.

The scheme is aimed at childcare provisions, including playgroups/cylchoedd meithrin, nurseries and childminders and covers seven aspects of health – nutrition and oral health, physical activity and active play, safety, hygiene, mental and emotional wellbeing, environment, and workplace health.

Sarn Flying Start also run ‘Give me 5’ sessions each term where parents are invited to attend the setting every day for a week to see how their children participate in physical activity sessions. Parents are also able to join in with a number of other special activity sessions including no buggy days, treasure hunts, busy feet sessions, obstacle courses, and healthy cooking.

The Flying Start team also ensure that each child has access to drinking water and healthy nutritional snacks throughout all of their sessions.

Cllr Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations, said:

“I am incredibly proud of the work that goes on in our Flying Start settings across Bridgend County Borough.

“Our Sarn setting in particular has done extremely well in becoming the first of our 16 Flying Start settings to complete the ‘Healthy and Sustainable Pre-School Scheme’, making a huge difference in the development of our pre-schoolers.

“It’s also fantastic to see so many parents and children getting involved in the ‘Give me 5’ sessions and leaving their cars and buggies at home to walk their children to playgroup. I’d like to say a big well done to everybody involved and look forward to seeing our other settings completing the scheme soon.”

Each Flying Start setting also uses a healthy eating dragon mascot Dewi, who the children are able to take home weekly to encourage them to stay active, eat healthily and re-inforce the importance of brushing their teeth in the home environment.

Sarn Flying Start has also achieved the bronze health and well-being standard, which is recognised across Wales.

For more information about Flying Start settings or the ‘Healthy and Sustainable Pre-School Scheme’ please contact the council’s Childcare Development Officer, Kate Parry, on 01656 642649 or email kate.parry@bridgend.gov.uk.