The 4theRegion Podcast

Bwyd Abertawe is Swansea's local food partnership, and is collaborating with 4theRegion and Castell Howell Foods to support an increase in the volume of veg grown on the Gower Peninsular and generally across the Swansea Bay area.  This project is part of a wide range of activities across South West Wales which seek to strengthen our local food supply chains and our regional horticultural sector. T...

Partners from across South West Wales come together to discuss some new initiatives to support the development of green skills across a variety of sectors.   This podcast episode is part of a series of conversations focused on the region's green economy. The Green Economy Conference, happening in November, aims to bring together businesses and organizations to discuss the growth of the green econo...

Following the Green Recovery Conference on the 27th June, we brought colleagues together to ask the question: How can South West Wales lead the way in green construction and the decarbonisation of our buildings? The Green Recovery Conference was held in the Brangwyn Hall with over 160 businesses joining us to discuss a number of solutions to the challenges we face on the road to becoming a greener...

In our new series, we'll be exploring the wider question of how we reshape our economy based on what really matters, and why we think attachment to place should be at the heart of how we think about this new economy.  Formerly known as Family Housing, Caredig are a nonprofit registered social landlord (RSL) based in Swansea. Caredig means ‘kind’ in Welsh, and encapsulates their vision of putting p...

In our new series, we'll be exploring the wider question of how we reshape our economy based on what really matters, and why we think attachment to place should be at the heart of how we think about this new economy.  We're interested in helping to create an economic system that is fit for the 21st century, one that counts more than money, more than GDP, more than profit.  So, what do we mean by s...

This week we're hearing from inspiring young people from Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. The future of our region is in the hands of the younger generation, and we're interested in what motivates young people to get involved in changemaking projects and how we can amplify their voices and encourage them to become facilitators of positive change. We hear from Neath Port Talbot Youth Council member L...

It's currently an exciting time to be in Swansea city centre with many developments taking place as part of massive investments, including the Swansea Bay City Deal. We spoke to a few of those involved the transformation of the city centre, including the digital arena, the restoration of the Albert Hall, new and existing community, maker and co-working spaces as well as schemes such as Swansea BID...

Tegryn Jones is the Chair of the Pembrokeshire  Public Services Board and Chief Executive at Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority. We spoke to Tegryn about his involvement with the Pembrokeshire Public Services Board, how the PSB works to improve the longer term well-being of people and communities in Pembrokeshire and key opportunity areas for development across Pembrokeshire. Public Servi...

Jayne Woodman set up The Menopause Team in 2019 to assist employers and employees in establishing significantly better menopause outcomes for women and organisations. With Menopausal women becoming one of the fastest growing demographic in the UK workforce, The Menopause Team provide workshops and strategies to help organisations become more resilient, understanding and supportive.  We spoke to Ja...

Sweet Pickings Swansea / Cyfoeth y Coed Abertawe is a community group tackling food poverty and waste by harvesting unpicked fruit (mainly apples) from trees around the Swansea area. Sweet Pickings have partnered with FareShare to collect and distribute the fruit to 24 organisations addressing food poverty, including Matt's Cafe, the East Side Food Bank and Unity in Diversity and have identified o...

Purple Shoots Business Lending (“Purple Shoots”) is a not-for-profit micro finance organisation and a registered charity that have been helping people to start their own micro businesses for over six years. We spoke to founder Karen Davies, about the beginnings of Purple Shoots, the success stories and her passion for helping others and uncovering hidden entrepreneurs. Purple Shoots: https://purpl...

Oriel Science is an exciting project that uses research from Swansea University to engage with the community and inspire people of all ages. Oriel Science had previously launched their first community-engagement project in September 2016 with a pop-up science exhibition, which welcomed over 16,000 members of the public during its 100 opening days. Now Oriel Science is bringing science to the commu...

With many great things happening in Swansea including the City Deal, the new digital arena and other major construction projects, it's the perfect time for the return of TEDxSwansea. TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to 'Ideas Worth Spreading' with many independently run events across the world. We spoke to organiser Mark Davies about his ambitions to grow TEDxSwansea to become a flagship ev...

Today's episode features an inspiring conversation with a friend and member of our alliance Louis Halton Davies, founder of Web Marketer, which is a Carmarthenshire-based digital marketing consultancy. Having graduated university in graphic design, Louis honed in on his passion for digital marketing, which led him to management of Visit Swansea Bay, taking the website from 100k annual users to ove...

Dolen Teifi are a non-profit organisation and charity which aims to provide affordable and accessible transport to communities within Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. We speak to Dolen Teifi's Development Officer, Rod Bowen about how they're helping people to reach essential community services, how the organisation operates and the importance of community-lead transport, particularly in rural areas...

In this Election Special bonus episode, we're bringing you a recording of the online hustings event hosted by the Wellbeing Economy Alliance for Wales. With the Senedd elections less than one month away, here's your opportunity to meet some of the candidates and hear what they have to say about their vision for Wales. In particular, do they really understand what we mean when we talk about a Wellb...

Today we speak to Ant Flanagan, director of Gower Power Co-op CIC. Gower Power is a community co-operative owned and controlled by its members. In Swansea alone, Gower Power have put over £1.5 million of renewable energy assets into community ownership across 3 projects and helped to establish over £2m in social impact funds for the benefit of the Swansea community. Gower Power are excited to anno...

In this episode, we speak to Dave Kieft, group director of RD Group, which comprises EFT Consult, RDM Electrical & Mechanical Services and DRS Facilities Management. We're really pleased to have RD Group as members of 4theRegion and helping in our mission to make the region a more prosperous place. Dave shares his experience in using business as a platform to give back to the community, creating t...

This week we speak to Andy Middleton from TYF in St. Davids about the importance of not only building back better, but building back in a way that is fit for the future.   ___ Featuring Dawn Lyle - 4theRegion Andy Middleton - TYF, www.tyf.com

Green infrastructure is a key part in major developments across our region, including the Biophilic Living Swansea development, community gardens and other regeneration projects across the South West Wales Region. What is considered green infrastructure, what's planned for the region and how can green developments help businesses and communities to build back better?   Featuring: Dawn Lyle & Zoe A...

With lockdown restrictions slowly being eased in Wales, it's time to consider what this means for the reopening of the visitor economy and tourism sector. We spoke to Andrew Campbell, Chair of the Wales Tourism Alliance about his thoughts on the return of tourism in our region, what preparations businesses must make and the future of tourism and travel for Wales.

Dawn Lyle from 4theRegion speaks to Barry Liles OBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Skills and Lifelong Learning at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David about the transition to remote learning and teaching, accelerated by the pandemic and the importance of digital and employability skills and maintaining lifelong learning. Are you a learner who has been impacted by the switch to online learning? W...

Dawn Lyle and Zoe Antrobus from 4theRegion talk to Puffin Produce, Bluestone Resort, Castell Howell, Pembrokeshire Eco Champions, Matts Cafe and WRAP about food waste in hospitality, retail and in our homes for Food Waste Action Week 2021. Food waste is a massive contributor to climate change - and over 70% of food waste comes from domestic kitchens - so we can all make a difference.  Do you peel...

Biophilic Living Swansea is a mixed use development that includes affordable and shared ownership housing, as well as retail and commercial space. In this episode, Carwyn Davies, director of Hacer Developments and Andrew Nixon, director of Powell Dobson Architects share an engaging presentation about this innovative development. The vision for Biophilic Living Swansea is to enable reconnection wit...

We speak to Eifion Williams, CEO of Circular Economy Wales about current community projects such as the Community Fridge and Precious Plastics and the launch of Wales' Complementary Currency, the Celyn. Backed by the Welsh Government’s Foundational Economy scheme and inspired by successful economic models in Sardinia and Switzerland, the Celyn is a complementary currency known as a mutual credit s...