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Yousuf Bakshi, 16, went from coding struggles to designing Snapchat filters used by Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran, as well as 78.3 million others. Originally from Cardiff, Yousuf Bakshi is just 16-years-old, and an A level student studying Physics, Maths, Computer Science and the Welsh Baccalaureate at Fitzalan High School Sixth Form. Yet he’s anything but ordinary. Since January 2017, he has also set up and been running his own small business, working with customers to create visual advertising on the…

  It is one of the greatest family musicals of all time and now a lavish new production of The Sound of Music is set for a return to Cardiff’s New Theatre. Playing the iconic role of Maria, a role that has previously won her rave reviews is The Voice finalist Lucy O’Byrne. Lucy became a household name when she was the runner up of BBC One’s The Voice in 2015. With Will.i.am as her mentor Lucy became the first…

  Cardiff Sinfonietta is thrilled to be joined by the internationally renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, and trombonist Matthew Gee for a performance of Christian Lindberg’s Liverpool Lullabies. Cardiff Sinfonietta is quickly gaining a reputation for bringing outstanding soloists to perform in Cardiff, and this concert is certainly no exception. Lindberg dedicated Liverpool Lullabies to Dame Evelyn Glennie, an artist who is an avid commissioner of new music, and has worked with many of the world’s leading composers. Her performance…

Dodging cultural and literal bullets, Israeli incursions and religion, Mark Thomas and his team set out to run a comedy club for two nights in the Palestinian city of Jenin. Only to find it’s not so simple to celebrate freedom of speech in a place with so little freedom. Jenin refugee camp, home to Jenin Freedom Theatre and to people with a wealth of stories to tell. Mark tells this story alongside two of its actors and aspiring comics, Faisal…

Ed returns to the road this year after a total sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run with his biggest ever tour to date and his brand new show called Spoiler Alert. He says; “I originally intended to call the show “I’ll Millennial You in a Minute”, but my promoter considered the title “off-puttingly baffling”. That’s my own chainsaw in the photo, by the way”. In the show, Ed explores the thin line between righteous complaining and brat-like whining and asks, ‘are we…

  Photo: CRC logo Groups of offenders are paying back for the crimes they have committed have contributed almost 175,000 hours of service to their local communities in South Wales this year. People completing Community Payback activity through the Wales Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) as part of their sentencing have collectively done 363,418 hours of service to their local area in 2017. Locally in South Wales, that figure stands at 174,534. Wales CRC works with local organisations to complete often…

Obstetric Bleeding Strategy for Wales (OBS) Cymru recently won the Efficiency through Technology Programme – High Impact Award at the MediWales awards. Founded in 1992, MediWales is the life science network and representative body for Wales. MediWales provides advice, support and business opportunities for members, whilst promoting collaboration within the life science and health technology community in Wales. OBS Cymru is an all-Wales collaborative quality improvement project to reduce harm from postpartum haemorrhage. The project is was originally funded by…

Leading organisations from across the Welsh food industry have made public pledges to radically change the way that they produce, manufacture, supply and serve their meals to include more vegetables, with the aim to make it quicker and easier for hundreds of thousands of adults and children to consume a healthier diet. Research shows that eating too little veg contributes to 20,000 premature deaths in the UK every year and that we should all be eating at least an extra…

    Photo: Cardiff University Logo A leading Welsh scientist whose work has helped cut the use of mercury in China’s chemical industries has been made an honorary professor of Tianjin University. Professor Graham Hutchings has been feted worldwide for his work on the acceleration of chemical reactions using catalysts. Research by the Director of Cardiff Catalysis Institute has led to a cleaner method for producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) using gold as a catalyst, rather than harmful mercury. Thanks to…

Students from Cardiff High School got the chance to see what life in the construction industry is really like when a team from the building consultancy responsible for the Olympic Stadium, Pinewood film studios and Daytona Speedway joined them in the classroom. Property and construction consultancy Gleeds, teamed up with educational charity The Transformation Trust, to organise a curriculum-aligned challenge which saw 35 students aged 11 to 14 take part in a specially devised workshop. The participants were split into…