Latest news with #Welsh-speaking
Leader Live
36 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Wrexham AFC unveil Patagonia-inspired third kit for 25/26
The Reds are set to compete in the EFL Championship for the season ahead, having enjoyed three consecutive promotions. Today (July 31), the club, along with Macron and United, have revealed the club's 2025/26 third kit - a striking tribute to the Welsh community in Patagonia on the 160th anniversary of the first settlers' arrival. Inspired by the flag of Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Argentina, the new design celebrates the enduring cultural ties between Wales and Patagonia - home to the largest Welsh-speaking community outside of Wales. The kit launch is accompanied by a new short film from Wrexham AFC and United, featuring two choirs - one perched on a cliff in Wales, the other in Patagonia - singing 'Yma o Hyd' ('We're still here'), a Welsh folk anthem of resilience and pride. You can watch that here... For Y Wladfa. Our new 3rd kit sponsored by @united. Celebrating 160 years since Welsh people first moved to Patagonia. 🔴⚪ #WxmAFC It's a powerful visual of voices joined across continents, echoing the connection between the two communities. The collaboration draws inspiration from United's REUNITED documentary, featured in Welcome to Wrexham Season 3. The film followed Patagonians with Welsh heritage as they travelled to Wrexham for the first time, deepening a bond that now lives on through this kit. Wrexham AFC CEO Michael Williamson said: "This new third kit is a powerful tribute to our shared heritage with the Welsh community in Patagonia." He added: "Through its celebration of Y Wladfa, it honours a 160-year bond rooted in resilience, identity, and pride - all values that continue to shape Wrexham AFC today. As we look to the future, we remain deeply connected to our past." Based on the colours of the Patagonia flag, the new shirt features dragon outlines within the blue Argentinian stripes, a Welsh dragon on the nape and the words 'Don't forget where you came from' on an internal tape around the hem. As well as referencing the opening titles to Welcome to Wrexham, it is a reminder that our Patagonian Welsh cousins will always have a home in the 'Land of our fathers'. READ MORE: The collar of the shirt is a white crew neck edged in red, as are the sleeve cuffs. The front features the Macron Hero and Wrexham AFC crest, both applied in heat-transferred silicone, and the United logo across the middle. Sleeve sponsors HP and back-of-shirt sponsors Meta Quest are also featured. The third kit is completed by white shorts with light blue stripes along the thigh edges and red details, and by socks featuring horizontal light blue and white bands, finished with a white top edge and a central red horizontal stripe. Macron CEO Gianluca Pavanello said: "The kit, conceived as a tribute to Y Wladfa, completes a Game Set for Wrexham AFC that we are truly proud of and that we hope will inspire the team to many achievements in the upcoming season. 'At Macron, what really sets us apart in designing kits for our partner clubs is the freedom to start from a completely blank canvas. With the home, away and third kits for 2025/26 season, we feel we have truly captured the spirit and identity of the club, blending tradition with innovation, all while keeping quality at the heart of everything we do.' United AIrlines chief advertising officer Maggie Schmerin added: 'We're excited to see the emotion of Reunited live on in this new kit and short film. 'Connecting people is at the heart of what we do and the symbolism of the Y Wladfa flag on the kit and the two choirs in the film is a beautiful way to honor the deep ties between Wales and Patagonia."
Cambrian News
3 days ago
- General
- Cambrian News
Llanbrynmair and Glantwymyn schools win gold for excellence in creating Welsh language environments
The two primary schools this year have achieved the gold Welsh Language Charter / Siarter Iaith award for 'going above and beyond' to create a vibrant Welsh-speaking environment, not just in classrooms but corridors, playgrounds and even at home between students, staff and families alike.
North Wales Live
4 days ago
- Business
- North Wales Live
Life becomes a nightmare for hunderds of Welsh holiday let owners snared by hidden legal trap
Thousands of holiday let owners in Wales have been left bewildered after being hit with massive council tax bills out of the blue. It comes as an industry survey suggests nearly half of the country's self-catering businesses are now losing money, or barely breaking even, after failing achieve new letting targets set by the government. A little-known change in the law has seen many owners receiving council tax demands that often run into tens of thousands. Payments are often expected within seven days with the prospect of legal proceedings if they fail to settle. The huge bills stem from a legal technicality over the number of nights a property has been let. Although many owners believed they have met new letting thresholds set by the Welsh Government, and so thought they would not be liable for council tax, they've been caught out by a legislative pitfall. According to critics, it's left the holiday let sector in Wales on a 'cliff-edge'. The Professional Association of Self-Caterers (PASC) said it is currently dealing with hundreds of cases with more inquiries coming in every day from disbelieving owners bereft at the iniquity of the situation. A Welsh-speaking family letting out the family home in Abersoch, Gwynedd, is facing a three-year bill for £21,000 despite meeting all of what they thought to be their targets. They say Cyngor Gwynedd is understanding but the situation is placing intolerable demands on the property's 85-year-old owner. Meanwhile, a couple in Flintshire have received a demand for nearly £10,000. Colin and Rebecca Jones, from Afonwen, were left shocked to get a 'ridiculous' bill for a small two-person cottage just 8ft-9ft from the family home, a former mill with its old water wheel still in the garden. 'You can imagine the stress,' said Rebecca, an NHS personal assistant. 'It's horrendous. It's having a terrible impact on our lives and we're now having to look at all options, including annexing the properties and stripping out the cottage's kitchen.' Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now Since launching their business in February 2022, Colin and Rebecca have met what they thought were their required targets. In the first year, they hit 164 nights – way over the 70-night threshold that apparently existed at the time. When the bar was raised in April 2023, requiring owners to let their properties for at least 182 nights, they redoubled their efforts and, with price-cutting, they managed to meet the 182-night target in the subsequent two years. In the current financial year, they've so far let the cottage for 101 nights and are confident of reaching the target again. Hitting the lettings threshold is important as it qualifies owners for cheaper business rates rather than more expensive second home council tax, which often come with an added 'second home' premium. As this premium is as high as 200% in some counties - effectively trebling council tax bills – it can make the difference between a business succeeding or failing Colin and Rebecca were shocked to discover that, when assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), they were deemed to have failed to have met their letting targets. Like many owners, they believed that as the law only changed from April 2023, they only needed to reach the new letting thresholds from then on. They hadn't realised the 182-night rule applies retrospectively - meaning they missed the threshold in the first year. This made them liable for council tax for each of the past three years. Nicky Williamson, Wales policy lead at PASC Cymru, said she was not surprised so many people can't understand what's going on. 'We're getting lots of exasperated calls every day,' she said. 'It's very confusing and it's difficult for people to get their heads around what's happening. Assessments must be made on a daily basis, so we have situations where owners are getting notices on March 31 saying they met the 70-day target, followed by notices on April 1 saying they hadn't as the rules had changed. 'It's awful, a total minefield. But whether we like it or not, unfortunately it's the law. We're working with the VOA on this issue and, to be fair, they're doing their best within the legal limitations. But they're in a pretty impossible situation, now facing extra demands at a time when they're already dealing with huge backlogs.' The upshot is that the 70-night target was an illusion for most holiday lets in Wales in 2022-23. The situation has been compared to a football match where, late in the second half, players are told the rules have changed and the goalposts have been shifted. Local authorities are not at fault – they can only act on VOA assessments of a property's status based on the law at the time. The fall-out is sending shockwaves through a sector that's already struggling to meet the higher 182-night threshold. Of the estimated 22,000 short-term lets in Wales, feedback suggests around half are failing to hit the target. For owners, the ramifications are disastrous. In a recent PASC Cymru survey, 47% of owners now paying premium council taxes said they are now losing money. In North Wales, only Wrexham Council doesn't charge a second home premium. Elsewhere, it ranges from 100% (double) to 200% (treble). Councils justify the policy as a necessary measure to manage the proliferation of holiday and second homes, aiming to alleviate the housing crisis. But with tourism a major contributor to the Welsh economy, critics claim the approach risks hobbling the industry. Nicky noted the typical holiday let in Wales is a two-bedroom cottage. 'The average turnover for these businesses is £20,000 which, after costs, returns an average profit of £3,000,' she said. 'So it's easy to see why nearly half of all lets are now losing money when faced with large council tax demands, some of them unexpected. Being moved to council tax from business rates is associated with around half of Welsh self-catering businesses becoming non-viable.' Amongst the worst cases known to PASC involves a three-generation, Welsh-speaking family forced to give up their home of 50 years. After buying a derelict farm, they developed it into a five-star holiday let complex with four cottages, focusing on family holidays for more than 20 years. When they received a back-dated council tax demand for £37,000, they had no option but to sell up. Feeling misled When recovering council taxes, local authorities have some discretion. However, Freedom of Information requests by PASC Cymru indicate few are applying it. An exception appears to be Cyngor Gwynedd. According to the Abersoch owners facing a £21,000 bill, they're now stuck in an endless cycle of demands, followed by pleas for delays and clemency. Invariably these are agreed, only for renewed demands to arrive in the post a few weeks later. They too met all their official letting targets – or so they thought. 'We are a Welsh family from the area who have owned this house since the 1930s,' said the owner's daughter, who asked not to be named. 'We are not someone who has bought into the area. This is a family home handed down the generations that we still use as well as letting it out. 'The council must have hundreds of owners in a similar position. They tell us they are waiting for the government to sort it out. In the meantime we're facing large and unfair bills.' Many in the industry consider the rule changes amounted to retrospective legislation. Although VOA letters were sent to holiday let owners in October 2022, alerting them to the upcoming changes, awareness remains low. Even had the sector realised the implications at the time, few businesses would have been able to shift gears and increase lettings to make up the difference, having missed the busy summer season. Many in the sector feel misled. PASC Cymru said there's little holiday let owners can do. 'It's difficult to challenge the legislation,' said Nicky Williamson. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Feeling trapped The VOA is encouraging all holiday let owners to continue paying their council taxes or business rates whilst any cases are reviewed. A spokesperson said: 'Following Welsh Government's announcement of the new business rates criteria for self-catering properties, we wrote to all self-catering property owners in October 2022 to let them know about upcoming changes and how this would be assessed. 'If businesses feel they have been incorrectly assessed they can provide evidence for our teams to review. If a customer informs us that they are experiencing financial hardship we will prioritise their case.' In Afonwen, Colin and Rebecca now feel trapped. As things stand, making a profit is difficult enough without large and unexpected bills. Mothballing their holiday let would not only depreciate the property, it would attract an empty home premium. Like the second home equivalent in Flintshire, this currently amounts to 100% on top of standard council tax bills. From next year, Flintshire's empty home premium will be levied on a sliding scale ranging from 150%-300%. In an attempt to stop the two properties being considered separate homes, one option being explored is to link them together via an extension, and stripping out the cottage kitchen. It's an approach that's been tried elsewhere in Wales but PASC Cymru said a legal precedent has yet to be set. Colin, a quantity survey, is determined to fight for justice and has raised a formal complaint with the VOA. He said: 'This is not a second home, it is literally less than 10 steps from our back door. We do not go there for weekends or on holiday!'
Time of India
22-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
What happens to your brain when you read a poem? Science has an answer
Credit: Canva W e live in an age of doomscrolling, where content has become synonymous with 'reels.' Thanks to relentless swiping, our attention span flickers like candlelight in a windstorm. Amid this digital deluge, the humble poem stands oddly still, unrushed, unapologetically deep. Yet behind its delicate metaphors and winding verses lies a neurological tempest. Poetry, as it turns out, doesn't merely touch the soul; it tunes the mind. A growing body of research in psychology and neuroscience suggests that reading poetry can sharpen cognition, ignite flexible thinking, and gently coax the mind out of its mental cul-de-sacs. The poetry-cognition nexus At Goldsmiths University, a recent study published in the Creativity Research Journal has added empirical weight to what poets have long intuited. Led by PhD student Soma Chaudhuri and Professor Joydeep Bhattacharya, the study tested whether reading a single poem, Rudyard Kipling's If, a century-old meditation on character and resilience, could impact creative cognition. Participants were divided into groups and asked to read the poem, rate it, or engage with a non-poetic text of similar length. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years IC Markets Learn More Undo The result? A surge in associative creativity, that elusive ability to connect seemingly unrelated ideas. Like ivy tracing brick walls, thoughts found unexpected paths to follow. The gentle power of wandering Yes, we all have heard that building castles in the air will do no good, or it is not good to count chickens before they hatch. But, what if we say, these built castles can pave the way for your high intellect. One of the study's most striking insights was this: Those who allowed their minds to drift during poetry reading experienced the greatest benefit. What we often dismiss as daydreaming, the study suggests, may be a secret key to cognitive flexibility. Here, the poem becomes a kind of invitation. Not all who wander are lost. Guiding us not toward solutions, but to the fertile grounds where they grow. Your brain on verse Meanwhile, at Bangor University, another study added a neuroscientific twist. Welsh-speaking participants were read sentences crafted in the intricate poetic form of Cynghanedd. Though unfamiliar with the structure, they instinctively responded to it. EEG scans revealed bursts of neural activity, tiny fireworks in the brain triggered by poetic cadence. There is a rhythm the body remembers even when the mind does not. Where thought meets feeling The University of Exeter added a further dimension. Researchers there scanned participants' brains while they read texts ranging from technical prose to lyrical verse. Emotional passages lit up the right brain, where we feel music and memory. Complex lines activated the left, where we solve puzzles and decode meaning. And when subjects read their favourite poems, something rare occurred: Regions associated with recognition, not just reading, lit up. The lines weren't processed, they were recalled. The brain treated them like personal truths, not borrowed words. Some lines don't pass through the eyes. They take root in the chest. A cognitive tool in disguise Another study at the University of Liverpool introduced what they called the 'a-ha moment,' those poetic twists that prompt reevaluation of a line's meaning. Think Wordsworth's solitary maiden, or a sudden revelation in a Frost poem. These moments lit up parts of the brain linked to non-automatic processing, nudging the reader out of habitual thought patterns. Here, the poem acts not as an answer, but as a mirror turned slightly askew. Suddenly, the familiar becomes strange again. It's this disruption that makes poetry cognitively powerful. Where prose tells, poetry suggests. Where speech fills, poetry leaves space. Applications beyond the page The implications are both poetic and practical. Professor Bhattacharya suggests poetry be used in schools, not just as art, but as cognitive training, particularly in subjects requiring conceptual leaps. Even in the workplace, he believes, poetry could replace coffee-fueled scrolling during breaks to rejuvenate lateral thinking. In a time when distraction reigns and attention is currency, poetry demands depth, patience, and presence. And in doing so, it exercises muscles we didn't know were atrophying. The final stanza Emily Dickinson once wrote of the mind being wider than the sky. Neuroscience is only now beginning to catch up to that metaphysical truth. Poetry, long relegated to the edges of utility, may be one of the most quietly transformative tools we possess. So, when the day dulls and your thoughts clutter like too many tabs on a screen, try reaching not for noise, but for nuance. For rhythm. For resonance. Because somewhere between metaphor and mind-wandering, poetry might just be the scaffolding on which new thinking is built. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
Business News Wales
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Business News Wales
Filmmaker and Director of Arts Awarded Honorary Fellowship
Catryn Ramasut, Director of Arts for the Arts Council of Wales, has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Cardiff Metropolitan University for her dedication to the industry. A strategic leader and entrepreneurial media practitioner, Catryn has over 25 years' experience transforming creative industries and arts organisations. A Cardiff-born, Welsh-speaking woman of mixed heritage, she brings a distinctive perspective to Wales's evolving cultural landscape, the university said. Catryn was the inaugural Chair of Welsh Government's Creative Wales, and is a former long-standing board member of Chapter Arts Centre. She is Wales' representative on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Creative Industries Council and has recently been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Welsh language broadcaster S4C. In these roles, she has demonstrated her ability to provide strategic direction, foster growth in the creative industries, and champion diversity and inclusion. She is also Co-Founder and former Managing Director of Cardiff-based ie ie productions, known for producing acclaimed films including 'American Interior' and 'Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm'. Most recently, she co-produced 'Brides' which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Catryn said: 'This Honorary Fellowship is meaningful recognition from Cardiff Met of the journey I've taken across both the arts and creative industries. My path hasn't been conventional – I've had to take risks, forge my own way, and create opportunities where they didn't exist. To have that work acknowledged by an institution developing the next generation of creatives shows how far we've come in recognising diverse routes to leadership.' After meeting in Bangkok in the 1960s, Catryn's Thai father and Welsh mother settled in Wales in the 1970s. Growing up in Cardiff and educated through the medium of Welsh, Catryn developed a deep appreciation for Welsh arts and culture that would later shape her professional vision. Her dual heritage, entrepreneurial background and Welsh-language education remain central to her identity and approach to creative leadership, the university said. Dr Bethan Gordon, Dean of the Cardiff School of Art and Design at Cardiff Metropolitan University, said: 'Catryn brings a unique perspective to Wales's cultural landscape. Her work strongly resonates with Cardiff Met's commitment to community engagement and reflects the diversity of the communities we serve locally and nationally. 'It's an honour to present Catryn with an Honorary Fellowship – her contribution to the creative industries complements Cardiff School of Art and Design's day to day academic delivery, as well as our strategic ambitions – and we look forward to working together moving forward.' During the graduation ceremony at Wales Millennium Centre, Catryn gave advice to students from the School of Art and Design: 'You are stepping into uncharted waters. Be enthusiastic – build your skillset, learn from others, know your strengths and identify where you need to develop. 'Remember that this sector thrives on connections and collaboration. Relationships are key. Embrace opportunities even if they seem beneath you and approach them with positivity. These experiences teach you how the industry really works. Once you've built your toolkit, back yourself. Take risks, challenge conventions, and use your diverse perspectives to drive innovation. It's a learning curve with setbacks, but that's how you shape your creative future.'
